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When house is a home
Randy Deshaies finds life in Marz; plus Unlocked Groove and hip-hop at Hoffa’s
BY DAVID DAY
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The Boston house community is a close-knit group comprising a few committed promoters. Outside the impenetrable fortress that is Lansdowne Street, two or three promoters divide up the city. MARZ ENTERTAINMENT has been holding court at the Phoenix Landing for three and a half years; its night is called BUMP, and its main DJ and promoter-in-chief is RANDY DESHAIES, a brawny kid from Rockland who began coming to Boston to see the big names at Tym Ryan’s Culture night at Axis. "Josh Wink was my first show," he says before a recent Sunday-night spin cycle. "I was just out of high school and I was floored. It was very unique, very underground." Inspired, Deshaies began to promote and DJ while working toward a degree in mechanical engineering. "I met a couple of kids from Brockton and we started throwing parties on the South Shore." Years later, he finds himself with a legacy of gigs. He counts Fred Everything’s appearance at the Phoenix Landing near the top. "It was our two-year anniversary, so we were peaking at the right time, and he brought the heat. People were climbing the walls." What makes a good DJ? He leans back. "It’s all about the energy. It’s like that old saying, ‘It’s not what you play, it’s how you play it.’ " Deshaies still DJs around town at spots like Avalon and the after-hours nightclub Rise, and he recently played a new spot called Underbar in the Theater District. His Marz Entertainment clique includes Sergio Santos, Ryan Obermiller, and DJ John Pacheco. "Randy is always on the lookout for new talent," says Pacheco. "I was into the early rave scene, I was always a heavy dancer. For me, DJing is about bringing the party to the people." Upcoming events at Bump include its annual Halloween party this Sunday with East Coast Boogiemen, Olivier Desmet from Amenti Music on November 6, and, on November 13, Arlington-raised Pete Moss, a former Axis regular who’s gone on to acclaim with producers like the aforementioned Josh Wink. As DJs like Moss move away and nights come and go, Deshaies keeps the Phoenix Landing close to his heart. "The owners are very supportive, and the sound system is one of the best in Boston. And this was our Cheers! for the underground — Boston is in my blood, it’s a very tight-knit scene, and there’s a camaraderie there you don’t get in other cities. You got your boys and they got your back." Deshaies’s next DJ gig is November 5 at Rise with San Francisco’s Behrouz. Also at the Phoenix Landing this week: Circuits’ favorite DJ/producer supersquad throws a record-release party Wednesday as UNLOCKED GROOVE launches its record label. The brilliant decks-and-EFX guy GYS will be followed by Dan Paluska, a/k/a Six Million Dollar Dan, playing a live set of clonky buttmusic. Headliner HEEMIN YANG, one of the most-respected DJs in Boston, has promised a set featuring some of the brightest stars in Germany . . . BLACKLISTED SUNDAYS is a new third-Sunday hip-hop monthly night at the Harvard Square restaurant Hoffa's Swiss Alps; it kicks off this Sunday with "Beyond the Beat," a benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims hosted by WMBR’s DJ NOMADIK. The event, an attempt to fuse Def Poetry Jam–style spoken word with a cappella rap, features some of Boston’s toughest spitters, including DRE ROBINSON, TERMANOLOGY, NBS, and ILLIN P. David Day spins Thursdays at Middlesex Lounge and Fridays at Enormous Room. He can be reached at circuits@squar3.com.
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