BACKGROUND
Growing up in the 1950s meant being inundated with racism, sexual repression, anti-communist hysteria, and misogyny, and the constant pressure to submit to hidebound conformity. Along with many of his generation, PreSkool burst into adolescence determined to change his life, and it all began with music. Rock and roll was the soundtrack for his generation - and has been for every generation since.
Music saved PreSkool. It saturated his life; it changed his consciousness; it inspired his intellect; and it moved him to political action. In 1964 -- in perhaps his first political action DJ gig -- PreSkool took over the public address system at his junior high and blasted the Rolling Stones’ “It’s All Over Now” (which was banned from local AM radio at the time for the line “playing her half assed games”).
In the late 60s rock and roll was the adjunct to our revolution, which did not end in 1970. Working with others, PreSkool put on over 100 concerts in streets and parks in the SF Bay Area, from small block parties to major events attended by over 50,000 people. Including, in 1974, breaking the ban on rock and roll in Golden Gate Park, which had been in effect since 1969, by presenting the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Starship.
Fighting for justice is part of PreSkool’s heritage. His grandmother was a socialist and a local leader in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. His uncle defended civil rights organizers and communists in the late 1950s and early 1960s. PreSkool spent most of his life as a political activist and suffered the repercussions so often
inflicted on radicals in America. He has been arrested many times and spent months in jail in and considers it an honor to follow in the footsteps of courageous Americans from Alice Paul to Stokely Carmichael.
For the past twelve years, based in Williamsburg NYC, PreSkool , as a DJ, has been able to share his love of and wide knowledge of music, along with his deep appreciation of the many genres of contemporary music and his unusually eclectic taste. He has held residencies at the many of the bars and clubs in Williamsburg and Manhattan, including Supreme Trading, Savalas, The Woods, Macri Park, 151 Rivington, Union Pool, Glasslands, Manhattan Inn, Boogaloo and High Horse Saloon.
His nights on the decks will take you back to Motown in 1962, to San Francisco in 1967, into the Lower East Side in 1984, and through the multitude of genres liberated and enhanced by technology ever since, with stops in Trenchtown, Compton, Johannesburg, and London. PreSkool’s current focus is on contemporary underground dance music, as shown during his monthly residencies at Black Bear Venue, A Mind Blown and Fourth Friday dance party at Union Pool.
PreSkool still dreams of dancing in the streets with people getting ready for the change that’s coming. He dreams of musicians who feel obligated to the community and who strive to be part of the solution. He dreams of music that expresses the exuberance, dedication and intelligence of people fighting to create a better world. He hopes to inspire these dreams in everyone who hears the music he spins.
The revolution actually will be televised, and it will have a beat and you’ll dance to it
Contact: info@djpreskool.com