First gig: Malt House
My very first, public DJ gig was on the patio at the Malt House in Madison, Wisconsin. The way this gig came about was kind of a long story.
Before the COVID crisis, I loved visiting the O’So Taphouse on Madison’s East Washington Avenue for Turntable Tuesdays. Bartenders let customers bring in records to play on the house turntable and sound system. I think staff secretly just wanted to play hardcore metal music, but I showed up with old soul records that seemed to be crowd pleasers.
By the spring of 2021 as the COVID crisis seemed to wane (though we know now there would still be peaks and valleys of the spread of the contagious disease), I was craving Turntable Tuesdays, and I called O’So so see if they would have their record player plugged in for the night. The guy who answered the phone said no, but I still wanted a beer and to get out of the apartment. I stopped in and found that the bartender was my friend Mark Garthwaite, who worked with the Wisconsin Brewers Guild. Mark is an intrepid advocate for small, craft brewers in Wisconsin and always has the latest news in the brewing world.
I told Mark that I missed Turntable Tuesdays and he knew about my dream of becoming a polka DJ. I had already had the Magazine Magazine article published and friends cheering me on. I told him a great place to play polka would be at the Malt House. With a text message to his friend, Bill Rogers, Mark got me in the door. Madison is such a small town.
On Memorial Day weekend, the weather was perfect and the Malt House patio had just enough people to feel full while still having some COVID-era physical distancing. It was bliss to share the records I love and a set list I practiced playing in my living room during some very dark days. The COVID crisis showed us how fragile our community supports and connections are. Yet it was music and the arts that pulled us through the saddest of times.
Polka is happy music. Gathering after a long, COVID winter was a happy time that called for happy music. I’m so grateful to the Malt House for being a passionate home to good music, excellent beer, and my first DJ gig.