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DJG



Last Updated: 12/28/2009

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Status: Single
City: DALLAS
State: Texas
Country: US
Signup Date: 9/18/2005

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 

DJ G Kisses The '80s Goodbye

By Daniel Rodrigue

Published on December 22, 2009 at 8:42pm

The posters and online invites promoting Hailey's Club's upcoming "New Wave New Year's Eve" event each tell the story concisely enough: The party will serve as "DJ G's Last '80s Dance Night."
And, as advertised, after ringing in the New Year with what will undoubtedly be a memorable final set, Jonathan Graham aka DJ G will retire after six years of helming one of the area's longest-running, well-attended, money-making DJ weeklies. So, it's fitting then that the final Thursday will coincide with Hailey's immensely popular year-end bash.
For the night, Graham has assembled the promising electro/new wave/dance bill featuring Houston's Twisted Wires (whose debut single was released over the summer on Italians Do It Better), Orvahnt's Engine (a side project of Plastic Sleeves) and Denton' s own Vulgar Fashion.
"In my mind, I see myself at a crossroads," Graham says, a month before he starts his new gig—student-teaching high school English. "I've been going through an alternative certification program. I'm still gonna play music for people, but I just can't have something like a weekday residency and an early, respectable daytime job. What I'm going into isn't like a job where I'd say, 'This is where I work.' It's more like a 'this is what I do kind of thing.'"
But, while Graham sees this as an "identity" change of sorts, he says he won't quit DJing entirely; rather, he'll continue guest DJing from time to time alongside both Blixaboy (aka Wanz Dover) and DJ Gabriel at Fallout Lounge.
Meanwhile, although DJ G is leaving, Hailey's won't be retiring '80s Night just yet. In the new year, Yeah Def (the 2009 Dallas Observer Music Award-winning Best DJ) will step into the DJ booth.
Back in 2005, though, when DJ G first helmed the weekly, he never thought it would have lasted into 2010. But, he says, he's "thankful and grateful" it did. And, as he "retires," he says it's the relationships with the regulars that he'll miss most.
Vulgar Fashion's Julie McKendrick and Andrew Michael (also of Mistress) are two of the regulars he points out.
"Julie is someone who's been coming to '80s Night since, like, forever," Graham says. "So, I wanted her new act on the bill as a thanks for all her support over the years. It has been an advantage of mine to have regulars coming back every week for years. I know what these people like. Certain records are inseparable from their faces at this point. I see them walk in, and before they hit the floor, even before they get a drink, I've got their song cued up." —Daniel Rodrigue

You can find the original article here
7:06 PM 
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Wednesday, December 09, 2009 
New Year's Eve this year is going to be a special one for me as it will be my last 80's Dance Night. I've been playing new wave at Hailey's every Thursday for the last six years, and it's all coming to an end on December 31st 2009.

The club will be opening early (8pm) to accomodate the three bands I personally booked to play with me on NYE: Vulgar Fashion from Denton, Twisted Wires [Italians Do It Better] from Houston, and Orvahnt's Engine (formerly known as Plastic Sleeves) [Down Low/Bunker Records] from Dallas. All three of these bands are really excellent electronic acts that will compliment what I do on 80's Dance Night. Visuals will be provided by Tommyboy [Arawa.FM].

There will be free champagne at midnight and a photobooth in the back room. Doors are at 8pm, the schedule is below:
8pm- DJG
9pm- Vulgar Fashion
10pm- Twisted Wires
11pm- Orvahnt's Engine
12am- countdown and DJG
I will be doing my 80's Night thing before, between, and after the sets. There is a $3 cover before midnight which will go directly to the bands (one of which is driving in from Houston and taking a pretty large paycut to play this show). I recommend getting there early so you don't miss out on any of these great bands, I can't say enough how solid the music is going to be. There will be NO COVER after midnight for those who only want to come and dance.
6:01 PM 
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009 
It's going to be a new wave new year's eve this year, that's right... NYE falls on an 80's Night.  There's going to be three bands plus plenty of retro music.  It also happens to be my last 80's Night after almost 6 years.
You get three GOOD bands and one DJ for $3

Here's the lineup:

8pm- DJG

9pm- Vulgar Fashion- Denton TX
http://www.myspace.com/vulgarfashion

10pm- Twisted Wires [Italians Do it Better]- Houston TX
http://www.myspace.com/twistedwiress

11pm- Plastic Sleeves presents: ORVAHNT'S ENGINE [Down Low]- Dallas, TX
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Plastic+Sleeves

12am-2am- DJG


Visuals by Tommyboy [Arawa.FM]

There will also be a photobooth, and FREE champagne at midnight.
$3 cover before midnight
NO COVER after midnight
Doors at 8pm.
18+
Hailey's Club
Denton TX


 

3:13 PM 
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009 
Contrary to what the Hailey's website and a few other local show listings say, DJG is NOT playing the "Horrorble Halloween Party" on Saturday Night at Hailey's.

The ONLY Halloween night I am hosting is this Thursday at Hailey's: This is...Thriller Night! You can expect to hear your favorite Halloween songs from the 80's (and a few classics not from the 80's) as well as Halloween inspired music and all things dark/spooky (post-punk, goth, industrial, darkwave, etc). It's still 80's night so there will also be some of the usual retro hits, oldschool jams, cult classics, and rarities that 80's Dance Night with DJG is known for.

Hailey's is already decorated for Halloween so put on your costumes!

THIS Thursday @ Hailey's Club
Doors @ 9pm.
NO COVER for 21+
FREE for under before 11pm, $5 after


 

7:50 PM 
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Thursday, October 22, 2009 
DJ NATURE | HEY DJ

Very few weekly parties have dominated Denton nightlife the way the Thursday night '80s party at Hailey's has. At times during the past five years, it seemed as though it was impossible to throw a conflicting event with any degree of success on a Thursday in Little D. Nobody would show up.
DJ G had the city locked. And why not? The music selection was on point, touching on the classics but never dumbing it down, while keeping the dance floor steaming hot.
Now, as he approaches his final days at Hailey's (the end of his Denton tenure will be New Year's Eve), we thought it would be a good time to talk to him about this legendary night and his plans for the future.


Q: Your '80s night at Hailey's has been THE night in Denton for years. How did it come to be?

DJ G: Not long after the club opened I approached Glen Farris, who was hosting a sort of indie-dance night at the time. I told him I have records that influenced the artists he was playing and that they simply must be heard in this kind of setting. Next thing I know, I had a job and ended up turning the night into my idea of an '80s night. I knew that the music from this era means something different for everyone, so from the start I strove to appeal to a wide audience and challenge the idea of what an '80s night could be.

Q: Did you know you had a great thing going from the first night?

DJ G: As with most nights, it takes a little while to get things going. But with a clear vision of what I had in mind and a strong direction in terms of marketing and delivery, it took off.

Q: What are some of the staple records from that night?

DJ G: Oh man, there are so many, but I will be brief aside from some obvious ones: "Warm Leatherette" by the Normal, "Bostich" by Yello, "Mesopotamia" by B-52's, "Don't Go" by Yaz, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by the Smiths, "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, "Apache" by Sugar Hill Gang.

Q: You're also holding down Sundays at Hailey's. Tell us about that night. I heard something about ping-pong tables?

DJ G: For Your Pleasure is a whole different thing. I'm playing in a different mode as patrons are playing ping-pong and pool. Philly soul, roots reggae, jazz-funk, Afro-Brazil with a wild twist of glam. This coincidentally all ends up being my favorite artists and styles from the '60s and '70s. No '80s. No electronic. We've got plenty of dance nights. I love that stuff immensely, but not on that night. I invite people to hire me to play house music at a party and see what fun that can be.

Q: This New Year's will be your last night at Hailey's. How do you feel about
quitting the weekly gigs, and what are you looking forward to in this next phase in your DJing life?

DJ G: I have worked hard, had fun and enjoyed it immensely. I am very grateful that I have had the creative freedom and privilege to have the residencies that I have had thanks to Hailey's. 2010 will see me putting the finishing touches toward my new profession as a high school teacher. I will always be playing music for people, so I look forward to gigs on weekends in Dallas with friends and like-minded folks.


The lowdown
Real name: Jonathan Graham
Age: 31
Where to hear him: Thursdays and Sundays at Hailey's in Denton. haileysclub.com
Styles: Underground disco, proto-house, classic industrial/darkwave and '80s retro.
6:36 PM 
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Thursday, September 24, 2009 
New Years Eve will be the LAST 80's Dance Night with DJG.

It's been a great 5 years, but unfortunately my upcoming teaching schedule will not allow me to be out in Denton till 3am on a weekday night. I don't know if Hailey's will be continuing 80's Night with another DJ or if they will be reformatting the night. In the meantime, come out and dance...keep bringing in your requests...and I'll see you tonight.

Thank you for all your support.
3:14 PM 
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Thursday, August 06, 2009 
Facebook users can now become a Fan of DJG....

DJG on Facebook
2:06 AM 
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Friday, April 03, 2009 
DJ G Celebrates Five Years of '80s Nights

By Daniel Rodrigue
Published on April 01, 2009 at 9:35am


After thumbing through one of his 30 or so milk crates of vinyl records, Jonathan Graham slips one of the discs out, slides the jet-black vinyl record free of its sleeve and pops it on his turntable.

It doesn't matter which record he chooses—Graham's heard all the songs before. As DJ G, he's played them before too. And most of the crowd who comes to Hailey's on Thursday nights have heard the songs before, as well.

Yet hundreds of people show up every Thursday night, some of them dressed in their best Reagan-era outfits, to shake their asses on the dance floor to music from the '80s.

"There's '80s music, and then there's good '80s music," Graham says. "To me '80s music is not just a novelty. It's a nostalgic kind of thing, yeah, but it's celebrating good music. Some of the music seems dated, but a lot of it doesn't. A lot of the good, timeless music came out of that era. People still connect with it."

Last week, about 450 people connected with the era at DJ G's latest show. Expect a comparable crowd on April 9, as Hailey's celebrates the fifth anniversary of its '80s Night event.

But DJ G wasn't the first person to spin '80s tracks for Hailey's; the night grew out of Glen Farris and Paul Peffer's Axis '80s Indie Dance Night. On one of those nights, Graham approached Farris while he DJed in the sound booth. "I told him, 'I've got these records, I've got to do this'," Graham recalls. "'You want someone like me to do this.'" His enthusiasm and brashness paid off. Plus, it helped that Farris was sick of the endless requests for Tiffany and Kenny Loggins.

The crowds were pretty small at first, according to Graham, but before he knew it, there were long lines out the door and into the street as people waited to get in to the club.

"Within a few months, there would be 400 people coming through the door every week," Farris says of DJ G's work. "It's paid the bills for Hailey's for a long time."

And Graham is the one who has maintained the night's popularity, balancing the '80s staples he knows the dance floor wants to hear with "forgotten songs that slipped through the cracks." As such, he's just as likely to spin Madonna or Duran Duran as he is D. Train or Bauhaus.

"But it is a job," Graham adds, "and there's a bit of customer service to it. I always try to make it exciting for me."

And it still is, he says. Next week's show should be quite the party—and Graham even has a few tickets to the Morrissey show the next night to give away. Fitting. —Daniel Rodrigue

12:55 AM 
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 
Every Wednesday (when no show is posted) @ RGRS



The Church
Clan of Xymox
Sisters of Mercy
My Bloody Valentine
The Jesus & Mary Chain
House of Love
The Chameleons UK
Cranes
Lush
Mighty Lemon Drops
Spacemen 3
Loop
Galaxie 500
Dream Syndicate
Television
XTC
The Jam
Wire
Nico
Virgin Prunes
The Damned
Dead Boys
Lords of The New Church
Chrome
Hawkwind
The Cramps
Birthday Party
Big Black
Killing Joke
Pere Ubu
This Heat
A Certain Ratio
Swans
PiL
Cabaret Voltaire
Front 242
Chris & Cosey
DAF
Section 25
A Certain Ratio
Skinny Puppy
Severed Heads
Bowie
Iggy
Eno
ect...


8:50 PM 
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Friday, March 13, 2009 
April 9th @ Hailey's - 80's Dance Night with DJG - 5 Year Anniversary Party

Free Morrissey Ticket Giveaway- First 75 people through the door will be able to enter a raffle, winners to be drawn later in the evening.

Photobooth provided by Haley B. Photography

$2 U-Call-Its until midnight


6:07 PM 
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