Picture of the Day
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Friday
April 6, 2007
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Disclaimer: No disrespect to DJs, chimps, or 2-year-olds

Lately I've been thinking about the commercial and artistic possibilities of training a chimpanzee to DJ. How hard could it be? Give the chimp some records to choose from, teach him to put them on a turntable, charge $500 for a 2-hour set. It could work. As if to test the theory, while showing movies and playing 45s at Fremont Coffee's customer art show tonight, Dylan's 2½-year-old starting picking records out of my crate and put together an excellent set. He was pretty selective, too, choosing only those whose covers appealed to him. He brought a really nice energy to the evening. Childish enthusiasm rules!

I had also brought a fog machine in the hopes of creating a psychedelic vapor sculpture with the projector. Many of the grown-ups were quick to express their disdain for fog, wondering aloud if they'd been trapped in a cheesy rock video. Bowie, however, couldn't get enough of it and quickly learned how to operate the machine. He danced and jumped for joy, waving his arms through the swirls of light. His glee opened the eyes of those whose prejudice had blinded them to the beauty.