I am from Santa Barbara. This is where I went to my first clubs, my first raves, a la Big Sam who brought techno (back when all electronic dance music was called techno) to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is where I turned my love for dancing and my hatred of 'that soulless repetitive crap' into something beyond a passion, but a life style and a huge part of my essence. I love Santa Barbara, it is beautiful and wonderful place to be. But recently I have realized something.

I have been in the nightlife scene since 1991/2 and since I moved back here in 1998 (after a stint in the Army and honing my DJ skills) I have been working my ass off for Santa Barbara. I have thrown small parties, huge parties, legal parties, illegal parties, and fundraisers. I helped bring EDM to the clubs as a weekly, pushed new sounds, gave new talent their first break, brought big talent to their fans, brought the music to the masses through the airwaves, brought it into store fronts, fashion shows, basically any nook and cranny I could find in Santa Barbara I made sure the music was represented. I've pushed new sounds that I was criticized for by my peers, only to watch them play it themselves (sometimes years) later, I've followed proven methods, I've blazed new trails, I've had losses, I've had success, I've bled, I've sweat, I've been elated, and I've been destroyed. I've talked shit, I've had shit talked, I've made friends, I've lost friends. Basically I have 'been there, done that', and it has been one hell of a ride.

Recently, some of you who know me, know that I have been getting frustrated and, how shall we say, bitter. I realize now that I had hit a point in my career that I wasn't learning or growing anymore. These things are critical for me. After winning DJ of the Year from the Los Angeles Music Awards and getting such a wonderful response from my original music at Winter Music Conference, I see the next steps I need to take to get the growth and opportunities to learn that I crave. As wonderful as Santa Barbara is, there is only so much growing that can be done here and it is time for me to put my focus and energy elsewhere. I do want to thank you Santa Barbara, I couldn't have gotten to where I am without you, or all the people that have supported or rivaled me, both of which made me strive to learn and be better.

There are a lot of exciting possibilities that are present for the local scene, and there are a lot of things that could potentially cause a lot of damage. But if there is one thing that my long standing presence has taught me is that there are a lot of people that come and go (especially in Santa Barbara), but the music somehow stays alive.

For those of you newbies (really anyone who has been in the scene less than 8-10 years), my unsolicited advice is to take lessons of those who have been here, blazed the trails that you think you are blazing, know your history. Know who Big Sam is, Mouse, the Beatnix Labs crew, the Full Circle crew, Altered Staetz, Calvin Riley, Patrick B, Pat Harper, the 12 Monkeys Crew, and all the other local originators. To quote the famous song, "everything you did has already been done".

With that said, my birthday of May 1st and that weekend is when I am making my Santa Barbara retirement official, I will be playing my final events and hope to see you all party with me one last time on an epic level. Go big or don't bother.