The Story Behind the Soundtrack

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a home filled with every style and genre imaginable, and I was the kid who operated the family record player. By age 10, I was building a personal record collection that still grows today.

My DJ journey officially started at Braddock Heights Roller Skating Rink on Saturday teen skate nights, then moved to Tully's in Frederick, MD. In those early 90s club years I'd roll in with a hand truck and four to five crates of vinyl. That's where I learned the craft: mixing, reading the room, and building a high-energy vibe that kept people coming back.

I became obsessed with finding versions of songs you simply didn't hear on radio, the kind of long, extended mixes that change the feel of a moment. I remember hearing Z104 play a longer version of "Family Man" and trying to figure out how to get that exact cut. A record store finally clued me in: 12-inch singles. That discovery opened a whole new world and turned "digging" into a regular habit.

It went deeper in DC near Dupont Circle, where white labels and underground 12-inch dance records meant you often had no idea what you were buying until you dropped the needle. Those finds became the kind of virtually-unknown, if-you-know-you-know records that separate a set from a playlist.

In the mid-90s, I was introduced to weddings and discovered a whole new side of the business. I learned the full process: leads, contracts, client meetings, planning, and delivering. Things were different back then: mainly cocktail hour and reception-style events. The company I was working for gave me invaluable experience, and we'd regularly pull doubles on Saturdays and Sundays: an early afternoon wedding followed by an evening one. When both events were at the same venue? That was an incredible win.

For over a year in the late 90s, I worked a four-day grind: Thursdays at Tully's running a club night, Fridays and Saturdays doing weddings and events (often in DC; imagine hauling a trailer through the city, dealing with parking, and setting up a full sound system for college parties), and Sundays at a weekly teen night in Chambersburg, PA. That schedule taught me everything about reading a room and managing music across wildly different crowds. And yes, we were still spinning records and CDs. It was wild.

My go-to system back then? I called it "The Big Show." It lived up to the name. Full lighting package with trussing and par-cans, two double 18" subwoofers, four 18" scoop-style subs, and JBL 3-way speakers. It was serious firepower for the era, and I was ready to rock the party.

From vinyl to CDs to the MP3 wave, and now a vinyl resurgence, I've digitized everything and kept the hunt alive. I don't just have the "radio edit." I have the right version for the right moment: originals when the crowd needs familiarity, and epic versions when the energy can go to the next level.

Along the way, I spent over four years as a resident DJ at Cellar Door in downtown Frederick, packing the place out on Fridays and Saturdays. That residency sharpened my versatility and instincts, like how to pivot genres, control momentum, and keep a room moving for hours.

All of this is decades of digging, collecting, and refining. It means I don't just show up with a playlist. I show up with context, depth, and the ability to read a moment and pull exactly the right track at exactly the right time. That's why music depth matters: it's the difference between playing songs and creating an experience that people remember long after the night ends.