First of all I’d like to give credit to Mixmaster Mike’s girlfriend who was very Brooklyn and wore her New York Yankees hat backwards and warmed up the crowd with loving but tough hand gestures. Secondly the signed T- shirt I would have received if I had listened to the security guard who told me “buy your merchandise then stand in the queue to the left” was far too much considering that Mike had already charged me $42 to watch him never change vinyl and play “Scratch Live” on his PowerBook for one hour and seventeen minutes.

This said Mike is a fucking good DJ and he was doing some interesting cuts and mash ups that maintained a huge level of appeal for the short time that he played. But as far as pushing the art of turntablism forward as he so profoundly claimed in an interview in BMA a few weeks ago this is very skeptical. Instead Mike’s show manages to promote an ultra smooth and commercially creative mix of a Saturday night set at Academy – Most prominently displayed when Nirvanas “Smells like teen spirit” sent the audience into a moshing frenzy for the 30 seconds it was played. Mike however manages to incorporate aspects of turntablism in his DJ show, rather than entertaining the crowd with the rare and considerably less commercial sport that is displayed in the DMC championships (from which he was supposedly banned from for life with fellow turntablist Qbert for fear that they would embarrass the competition).

I’m not sure about the rest of you but I went to see Mike for his hardcore turntable skills. Changing vinyl is half the fun and having to work with what’s already on the record rather than sifting through an mp3 collection or queuing up a pre produced scratch. Oh yeah and where were the cameras? Although I was standing in the front row and could still see what he was doing I want cameras! But hey I guess this just reflects the kind of show that he was playing.

As for a review of the night I had lots of fun, D’Opus created a good hip hop vibe sporting his own brand of smooth Aussie beats on the MPC and affable scratches that were accompanied by two local rappers whose names I am not yet sure of but certainly fit the bill. Danielsan was fantastic as always and managed to hype up the somewhat conservative crowd that were there for the fame and glamour. I give Mike two stars and think he needs to drastically reconsider his policy of not doing an encore. I left disappointed but still impressed.