Keeping it Live

Moses Lake DJ keeps people dancing

MOSES LAKE — DJ Live moves his digital turntables rhythmically forward and backward, sculpting and scratching the hip-hop groove like a sonic artist.

He counts the beats per minute, keeping the rhythm on Saturday night at LakeFront Bar and Grill in Moses Lake.

Dancers never lose a step or leave the floor as he bounces from Fergie's "Fergalicious," to Nelly Furtado's "Maneater," to Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack."

The story lines of the songs match. The beats always mix, weaving music from one CD into another. Song requests are cycled in.

As a DJ, he strives to be the first to play the next popular hip-hop, reggaeton or R&B song. He never stops learning new music, he said. He never stops teaching it either.

DJ Live, otherwise known as 24-year-old Luke Clark, sees himself as an ambassador of fun.

He makes his living deejaying in Grant and Adams counties, where not one of the cities and towns has a dance club.

He stays in Moses Lake, where he says pop music rules, hoping a dance club opens up. It may be awhile, but not because there's a shortage of people looking to go out dancing.

"The music scene here needs more acceptance," Live said of the two-county area.

The sound of loud, thumping hip-hop music and large crowds upsets some people in Moses Lake, he said.

Hip-hop music draws in violent elements of the community, said Mike Wilcox, one of the owners of LakeFront. The bar, where Live usually works on Friday and Saturday nights, has gone about two months without an altercation, Wilcox said. The Moses Lake Police Department recently praised the bar for its record of cracking down on fighting, he said.

"What's nice about Luke is he can also help act as security, because he's a big dude," Wilcox said. "I never wanted to be the fight club of Moses Lake, nor will I be."

Live, of Moses Lake, has been deejaying for more than two years at parties, clubs and quincea-eras. He says he won't stop turntabling until he loses touch with the latest trends in music. His musical influences range broadly from Seattle rapper/producer Sir Mix-a-Lot to Bakersfield, Calif.-based metal band Korn. A broad range of musical knowledge is crucial, Live said.

Live first started deejaying at a cantina in Bakersfield. As he became the regular DJ three to four nights a week at the cantina, business boomed, he said.

"I'd heard DJs on the air, thought that was cool, but never thought it was something I could do until I put my hands to it," he said. After practicing for awhile, he found out he was good at mixing beats.

So he bought some basic equipment with a $3,500 loan from his parents. He paid it off within months.

Now he has a microphone, two digital turntables and a five-channel mixer. And he has a lot of CDs, his most important tool.

Live hasn't followed the path blazed by other DJs, who moved on to bigger markets, like Seattle. Though he strives for the kind of notoriety required to sell out gigs in big cities away from Moses Lake, he's staying here for now. He's a Central Washington native and his family lives here.

"The advantage to staying in Moses Lake is if you know what you're doing there aren't a lot of other DJs to compete with for work," Live said.

"He brings in a bigger and better crowd than we have any other night," said Jennifer Wilkes, a bartender at Porter House Restaurant and Lounge in Moses Lake. "During the week, when he deejays here, we get the younger crowd, the ones who want to be out celebrating, having a little fun."

Wilcox, from LakeFront, said he looks for a DJ who knows the Moses Lake area, can promote themselves and draw a crowd.

Live said if the local bars survive, it means job security for him. He grabs the microphone and promotes the Thursday night Texas Hold'em tournament at LakeFront.

"You have to be social with everybody, take song requests, have new music, talk on the microphone and be confident," he said. "That's how you build street credibility."

He also promotes himself, selling the mixed CDs he put together using songs from various artists.

"It's a party starter," he said. "That's what you want people to throw in their CD players as they're heading to the club."