Former President Donald J. Trump (p.k.a. DJ Trump?) will be disc jockeying at an upcoming appearance at Mar-a-Lago.
I know you have checked the date, and no it is not April 1st. And yes, this information comes straight from the office of the former President, confirming Trump will DJ at his Florida property.
Unless you were living under a rock this weekend, you would have seen Donald Trump losing to Joe Biden in the U.S. Presidential race. There was a collective exhale that was full of hope and relief. This last election marked the country’s need to make changes and get out of what felt was like a toxic relationship. On Saturday, November 7 several media outlets started reporting election results with Trump losing as Biden became the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election. It felt like the whole world was also celebrating with the United States including artists and celebrities who also shared in the spirited weekend. Read more
Donald Trump’s hospitality rider has been leaked, and it’s quite the list of requirements.
We now know the Donald prefers his soft drinks, Mountain Dew and Coca Cola, half-chilled, and that his Double Stuffed Oreos must be stacked in rows of 8.
Standard breakfast items such as bacon, eggs, white bread, butter and chorizo are part of the rider, because let’s be honest: he doesn’t hate everything south of the U.S.-Mexico border. And if that seems unhealthy then feast on some of the other food items on the list, which includes frozen Hungry Man friend chicken dinners, Sara Lee cherry and apple pies (but no ice cream? How un-American!), 4 tubs of Cool Whip, Krispy Kreme GLAZED (yes in caps) donuts and an entire tray of Kraft AMERICAN (again in caps, but no surprise here) cheese singles.
Maceo Plex is asking for the dance community to get involved in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the wake of last week’s disturbing events there which have seen Trump-supporting Nazis and the Ku-Klux-Klan rally and spew hate in the name of white supremacy.
The rally, which was met with counter-protests by those standing for equality and human rights, resulted in three deaths as of today, including that of a young 32-year-old paralegal who was ran over by a 20-year-old Nazi who drove his car into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters. At least 19 others were injured by the vile actions of the now-identified Ohio man, who remains in custody and charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of failing to stop.
The voices in the dance music community that spoke about the events and the tragedy were many, with producers, DJs and other notable members of our scene speaking up to denounce the world and ideology of Nazism and white supremacy in today’s America, and with many taking a stance against President Donald Trump and his failure to even acknowledge the problem in Charlottesville. Despite the overwhelming evidence at his disposal, Trump failed to call a spade a spade, refusing to use the term “Nazis” or “white supremacist” during his speech, instead taking a middle avenue and using general terms to condemn “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides.”
Maceo Plex, however, is standing up against it and has an idea on how to get involved. In a tweet posted today he calls for dance music to come together to promote and dance for unity and peace, and to fight the Donald Trump-supporting Nazis in Charlottesville.
Let’s do a free party in Charlottesville to promote & dance for unity & equality, and fight those @realDonaldTrump supporting neo nazi’s.
â Maceo Plex (@MaceoPlex) August 14, 2017
So far Soul Clap have joined in, but we expect more to volunteer their mixing services to the cause. Can we make this happen please? 6AM is fully behind it!
We’re in!
â Soul Clap (@soulclap) August 14, 2017
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That Moby does not approve of Donald Trump shouldn’t come as a surprise, nor should the fact that he has used his hard stance against the current President of the United States to announce his latest LP.
Available now for download, More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse is the second album to come from Moby’s band, Void Pacific Choir following their debut with These Systems Are Failing. The announcement on the release came through a satirical White House press release in the form of a video by John Miller, “a publicist that Donald Trump invented in the 1980s to speak to reporters on the phone.”
Moogfest, based in North Carolina, is joining the resistance.
The festival has announced that one of its central themes in 2017 will be Protest, featuring a Protest Stage, workshops, conversations, art installations and even classes to discuss and address the issue that is so important in today’s America.
The current political climate is underscoring a nation that is as divided as we have seen it in the last few generations, with newly-elected President Trump causing controversy with each Executive Order he signs. While we already explored what this all means to the dance music scene in the United States, Moogfest is the first festival to take an actual stance against the “discriminatory politics” that have negatively affected its home state of North Carolina since House Bill 2 was passed there, a piece of controversial legislation that allows for discrimination across gender, sexual orientation, and class.
In an official statement, Moogfest explained why it has chosen Protest as a central theme for this year’s edition, underscoring the pivotal role of the recent women’s march as well as Martin Luther King Jr. in inspiring this initiative, âWe are inspired by this movement and the spirit of those that came before it. The fight against inequality echoes our own mission to design radical instruments for change and reflects the legacy of Bob Moog, the inspiration behind Moog who believed that true innovation comes through collaboration, not exclusion. Moogfest is transformed, by the urgency of our times, and we invite you to keep marching with us into the future.â
Information on who will be involved with the Protest Stage in May 18-21 during Moogfest will be shared via the festival’s social channels in the coming months.
Despite officials of other major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Chicago publicly announcing that they will remain sanctuary cities, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has ordered county jails to comply with federal immigration detention requests in fear of a loss of millions of dollars from federal funding. This is effectively erasing the county’s position as a “sanctuary” for immigrants in the country illegally, a response to an executive order signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump that threatened to cut federal grants for any counties or cities that donât cooperate fully with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
âIn light of the provisions of the Executive Order, I direct you and your staff to honor all immigration detainer requests received from the Department of Homeland Security,â stated Gimenez’s three-paragraph memo address to the interim director of the corrections and rehabilitation department.
While Miami never accepted the label of “sanctuary city,” it has continued to act like one by refusing to indefinitely detain inmates who are in the country illegally and wanted by ICE since 2013. Now, however, the county does not want to lose its federal funding and is changing its stance on the matter, even though Miami-Dade county officials have insisted that their policy was not one dictated by principle but rather simply because the federal government doesn’t reimburse for the expenses.
via Office of the County Mayor
âI want to make sure we donât put in jeopardy the millions of funds we get from the federal government for a $52,000 issue,â said Gimenez. âIt doesnât mean that weâre going to be arresting more people. It doesnât mean that weâre going to be enforcing any immigration laws.â Trump’s response came, of course, via Twitter.
Miami-Dade Mayor drops sanctuary policy. Right decision. Strong! https://t.co/MtPvaDC4jM
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, went on record to speak against Gimenez’s move, claiming that it âflies in the face of Miamiâs long history as a city of immigrantsâ and predicting it will âdrive a wedge of distrust between law enforcement and our immigrant community.â
But what does this mean for the dance music community of one of the country’s most vibrant cities, and for the countless thousands who land in Miami for major annual dance music events the likes of Miami Music Week, Winter Music Conference, Ultra Music Festival, iii Points, Art Basel and more?
The cornerstones of dance music are ones of undeniable inclusiveness and pervasive acceptance. A first descendent of disco, house music found its beginnings in Chicago, thanks to the iconic parties that featured the music of pioneers such as Frankie Knuckles, Leonard Remix RRoy, Chip E and of course Farley “Jackmaster” Funk. There is absolutely no doubt that spiritually and aesthetically house music, and by default all dance music that came later, developed in the U.S. out of the need of oppressed people, African Americans, gays and Latinos, to build a community through dance. The same was true later in the UK, when the need of young people dissatisfied with the meaningless materialism of Thatcherâs England to build an alternative community of music gave birth to the Acid House movement there. The aim was to unify people of all races, backgrounds and sexual orientations, not to divide.
And now, a week since Donald Trump has taken the oath of office, we are seeing an America that is as divided as ever, with Miami going against current as the first major city and dance music hub to comply to Trump’s threat with regard to “sanctuary cities”. Miami has long been a city built by immigrants, and immigrants have for decades played a fundamental role in shaping the city’s culture into what it is today. Statistically speaking, Miami-Dade is a county where more than half of the population is foreign born, and it is safe to assume that the same can be said of the dance music community that resides there.
Then there’s the case of the visitors that roll into the city annually for the aforementioned major music events. As things stand now, with Mayor Gimenez unable to find any sort of backbone to stand up to the Trump administration for more than a single day before rolling over, if you’re in the city because you either live there or are in town for a festival, you are no longer offered sanctuary protection. If arrested and wanted by the feds for immigration-related purposes, you will face deportation or long, indefinite stints in detention centers under Trump’s new plan.
More broadly, however, there is no denying that Trump’s executive order and general rhetoric goes against the very fabric of dance music culture. The city’s new policy is hurting the dance music community rather than listening to the people of Miami and to those who come to the city every year to celebrate diversity. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared: âI want to be clear: Weâre going to stay a sanctuary city. There is no stranger among us. Whether youâre from Poland or Pakistan, whether youâre from Ireland or India or Israel and whether youâre from Mexico or Moldova, where my grandfather came from, you are welcome in Chicago as you pursue the American dream.âÂ
âWeâre going to defend all of our people regardless of where they come from, regardless of their immigration status,â Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said at a news conference with other city officials. But perhaps no official went as far as Bostonâs mayor, Martin J. Walsh. âTo anyone who feels threatened today, or vulnerable, you are safe in Boston,â Mr. Walsh said at a news conference. âWe will do everything lawful in our powerful to protect you. If necessary, we will use City Hall itself to shelter and protect anyone whoâs targeted unjustly.â
The same cannot be said of Miami now that it has effectively turned its back on the very same immigrant population that had always been considered to be the backbone of the city. It’s perhaps a little too early to predict how the immigrant community in the city will respond, and certainly it’s hard to know how the dance music community that calls Miami home will react to the events transpired just yesterday.
On Saturday January 21st, the day after Trump’s inauguration, millions across the United States and the world took to the streets to participate in the Women’s March, a worldwide protest in support of women’s rights and other causes including immigration reform, health care reform, protection of the natural environment, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, freedom of religion, and workers’ rights. Discwoman, a New York-based platform, collective, and booking agency representing and showcasing cis women, trans women and genderqueer talent in electronic music, took part in the march with a clear message for Trump: the techno community will be fighting against his divisive agenda.
#Discowoman present at the #WomensMarch in Washington D.C. earlier today ????????????â€ïž???????????????????? #techno A photo posted by 6AM (@6amgroup) on
It’s been an interesting week in politics, there’s no denying that. Not even a week has passed since Donald Trump took control of the United States executive branch and the media is having a field day.
Despite winning the electoral college vote and thus the presidency, Trump seems to be putting his personal ego on the line once again. To begin, he ordered his White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to turn his first official press conference into a targeted attach on the media for reporting of a sparse crowd during Trump’s inauguration last Friday. That is to say that Spicer’s first ever press conference as Trump’s White House Press Secretary, and thus Trump’s first order of business for him, was to address the attendance numbers (or lack thereof) during the inauguration, something he did by blatantly lying when he referred to the gathering as âthe largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, periodâ, a statement that has been proven to be categorically false.
Spicer didn’t stop there. He took to the press conference lantern again this week to deliver another strange address, this time affirming that President Trump is a firm believer that he lost the popular vote in the election due to a rigged system that allowed millions of undocumented immigrants to vote for his rival, Hillary Clinton. Spicer confirmed that this is Trump’s belief, stating that it “has been a longstanding belief he has maintained. A concern that he has about voter fraud thatâs based on information thatâs been provided.” When asked about what that information is, Spicer declined to comment. After all how could he, when there’s absolutely no proof of such a thing?
Spicer’s string of interesting unpopular public opinion doesn’t stop there, and goes on to touch the world of dance music. In 2014 he took to Twitter to attack Daft Punk during their Grammy performance with Stevie Wonder: âDaft Funk — this is your 10 seconds in the spotlight – u r blowing itâ.
Despite claiming to be an early fan, Spicer apparently forgot that Daft Punk have been considered standout music producers for decades,with six Grammy wins throughout their career. He then went on to say they should “grow up” for wearing helmets during the performance, as you can see from the tweets below:
Daft Funk — this is your 10 seconds in the spotlight – u r blowing it #GRAMMYs #Grammys2014
â Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 27, 2014
Â
@DanDoranBlum was an early and still fan but come on helmets? tey need to grow up â Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 27, 2014
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Dave Clarke is the first non-American DJ to publicly announce he will not be playing any gigs in the United States while the country’s new president, Donald Trump, is in office.
The British electro and techno producer took to his social networks to announce the decision, saying that he has been thinking about it for some time and that despite “maximum respect for the influence of American music and some US culture” he has chosen to not renew his work visa to tour in the States.Â
The reasons? He claims past negative experiences in the U.S. from a professional standpoint did sway him to come to this conclusion, but admits that it mostly boils down to a personal decision that is dictated by politics and, specifically, the man that took over control of the Oval Office three days ago and is set to remain as President of the United States for at least another four years. Dave went on to label Trump as a “Misogonyst Narcissist Racist President,” and while admitting that democracy appointed Trump to office, it remains his decision of free will to not enter or tour the country.
“This is not punishment for those that love my music but a decision that I base on my intuition,” he went on to write, stating that he will continue to book U.S. artists that make great music for his events in Europe.
It will be interesting to see if any other artists will follow suit in their decision to boycott playing in the States as a response to Trump’s appointment.
Read the full statement below:
While as of writing, and until tomorrow’s inauguration, Donald Trump remains the United States’ President-Elect, many of the decisions he as been taking as he readies to take control of the Oval Office have been questionable at best.
The latest, and one that concerns us as active members of the dance music scene and more broadly of the arts, is the news that the incoming president’s transition team is using the Heritage Foundation blueprint to come after arts funding. If these new reports are in fact correct, tomorrow will not only mark the beginning of the country’s 45th presidency, but also the beginning of the end of federally funded arts programs.
These reports, which we sourced from The Hill, detail how Trump’s transition team has been deliberating on ways to reduce federal bureaucracy and cut the national budget. Plenty of agencies risk ending up on the chopping block, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the entity behind PBS, NPR, and other public TV and radio outlets. On one hand Trump plans to privatize CPB, and on the other he allegedly intends to kill the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in their entirety.
What does this mean exactly for America and its arts and humanistic endeavors? Without the NEA and NEH, artists and educators will likely remain incapable of continuing with their projects due to lack of funding and grants, resulting in the death of exhibitions, vital research, productions, and public programs. Although it is not news for Conservatives and the GOP to be targeting the arts, with some succeeding to cut budgets, Trump plans to kill the programs in their entirety. The reports point out that this move goes hand-in-hand with the blueprint Trump and his team were provided by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Overall, there will be cuts to the departments of Commerce, Energy, Transportation, Justice (why??), and State, with the team aiming to reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years. Needless to say, and as you may have guessed, Trump plans to use those savings to add $450 billion to the deficit by inflating military spending thatâs already more than the next seven countriesâ defense budgets combined.
It has to be said that these news are not confirmed nor final, but come as reliable predictions based off of the blueprint being followed by the transition team. The motions would need to be passed and with moderate GOP members already pushing back on Trump’s plans for the Affordable Care Act it is entirely likely that some will side with Democrats in ensuring the arts won’t be oppressed under Trump’s presidency.
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