VJ - VeeJay

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. " John F. Kennedy

We're going to touch base on something that while still in it's infancy is still slowly starting to take over with it's innovative concept. VeeJaying was at first the name for a host who would introduce music videos, or segments that were rooted in the music video industry but, it's evolved to somewhat no longer include that personality as a VJ. And now, VeeJaying is starting to really gain more and more recognition due to it's inception of not only just using the talents of a DJ, yet by pushing the boundaries further to increase the challenges of a DJ not just as a self styled musician, but as a visual artist. To explain to those that are unfamiliar with what VeeJaying is; a VeeJay is the culmination of mixing two distinct different forms of media together to make one new media that appeals to a wider range of audiences. By merging together music with visual forms of media a club goers experience is further heightened by the veejay's use of both forms of media.

An example; think of entering the club - the night starts out just like it were a normal club, but then you look to the back wall seeing a huge size white screen there, the music starts to pour out pumping up, building to a crescendo of sounds. The club's room gets lighter on the back wall as you start to see images from a projector; you see with the beat of the music lightning striking, altering, changing colors - going from normal colors to a negative type image, then splitting off to create four smaller images of it, with in the center of the screen now you start to see a new image starting to slowly fade in - you see it there it is an animated image of a character dancing moving to the groove. Yet, what's that you came with some friends you're there to celebrate one of their birthday's, so you go up to the DJ's booth, asking if he can announce your friend's birthday - he gives you a look "no problem" he says - as the night progresses - you hear the DJ's bassy voice that just exudes cool. A voice directs everyone to look at the screen, and there you see flashing in a myriad of colors, spiraling, has it reads "Happy Birthday To Emily - Everyone Say "Happy Birthday To Emily" followed by "Everyone At The Beat Club Would Like To Thank Emily For Celebrating Her Birthday With Us Tonight."

Now, how cool is that?

What's incredible though, is that while I was in my teenage years DJing I had a residency at a local roller skating rink. It was great, we had turntables, cd players, vhs players, dmx light controls - but we had two video cameras; one set at the rink, the other at the small dance floor behind the DJ booth. While by no means was it pioneering anything, it allowed myself to think of how cool would it be to incorporate video into the events that I worked. Another example of incorporating visuals came from the 90's Canadian Broadcast, and Made show "Electric Circus" switching between the DJ, the Host, the Crowd, Videos - it blended it all together perfectly, yet it just wasn't meant to be, and sadly "Electric Circus" was ended December 12, 2003. But it's roots came from the American dance show "The Soul Train."

When I was learning how to DJ - I read in not just one source but from many different sources saying that to DJ properly, those who are new to the art need to know where their roots are coming from so that they can know where they are going. It's so true looking back at what was the "edge" how it evolved over the years, but if you knew the roots you could see a faint repetition of history. Though, what is becoming an art of it's own "VeeJaying" has been around for many years carried by a few unsung heroes who looked at it has the evolution of doing a performance. In the DJ Industry there is a lot of competition in the industry, due to downloading sites that use shareware, or even sites that change videos to MP3's, the advent of software programs that take care of mixing songs together which require less imagination - anyone can now be a DJ. But to those of us in the Industry, we're going to have to evolve - we are going to have to once again do what we do best, push the boundaries. I believe that as VeeJaying becomes recognized more and more - we're going to see the DJ Industry evolve further. I for one, am really excited to see this evolution taking place, especially when I was young working at the roller skating rink we had to use music videos when we worked, we had to play anywhere from five to eight music videos each session, and to make use of the video camera. Seeing this just brings me back to my younger years with excitement, and glee - just like when I did my first gig.