Curtis Clay ( Washington DC), Nov 2009

Curtis Clay – Architect, DJ, Author, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Howard University is a practicing Architect in Washington, DC.  He has been published in the book African-American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, the journal Open Dialogue, has spoken at the Goethe Institute of German Culture, presented at the Design DC conference, served as a peer reviewer for papers presented at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture conference, DJ’d across the USA and internationally in Greece, Italy and Spain.

His most recent publication IDIOM (http://69.25.104.81/bookstore/detail/880977) where he served as Executive Editor presents writings which offer varying perspectives on religion, beauty, ethnic oppression, architectural history, art, and theater in conjunction with several photo essays on seven cities throughout Italy.  He received his Bachelors of Architecture from Howard University and his Masters of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.  His architectural research addresses fundamental questions of social and cultural representations in Architecture with a strong emphasis on broadening the potential of how historical precedents are used in contemporary practice.  His DJ sets are filled with Afro-Latin rhythms, house, Brazilian rhythms, Funky Disco, Soul and recently has been trending deeper and techier in his musical sets.

Well, people, we’ve had DJ’s, we’ve had artists, and we’ve had world travelers…but in the Nov 2009 edition, we’re gonna get all three in one shot. Curtis Clay is one of our favorite people for a variety of reasons, he’s a thinker, an author, an amazing DJ, and an all-around decent dude. Let’s tune in to get Curt’s perspective on Art, Morris Day, and his version of The Great Boombox Experiment. Check him out…

Curtis Clay

photo by Abby Greenawalt of Pitchfork Studio @ http://www.abbygreenawalt.com/

1- What’s your favorite Vacation spot?

I absolutely love Barcelona…  The culture, the music, the food, the people, the vibe, the history, the architecture, the siestas, the beach, the shopping… just everything about the city makes it one of my favorite places to visit.  The first time I went, I had only planned to be there for 4 days.  On my second day I linked up with a friend from the University of Illinois who had some friends there.  After one day of kicking it with the locals they made me check out of my hotel and crash at their place.  I ended up staying for 9 days!  If I was not scheduled to meet the woman I was dating at the time in Madrid, I would have stayed even longer!  Generally, my favorite vacation spots are where I know someone who lives there.  In the same way I believe it is unfortunate when people come to DC and only see it through a tourist lens, I try to always visit places where I know I’ll have a local view on food / culture / music / nightlife, etc. to ensure I get a true view of anyplace I visit.

2- If you could change the outcome of any movie, what movie would it be, and how would you change it?

Do you mean if I could write Jar Jar Binks out of “Star Wars”? lol! This is a tough one…. For a classic, I’m going with “Purple Rain”.  I think showing Morris Day and Jerome dancing away during “Baby I’m A Star” at the end just totally drains any believability out of the fact that The Time were out to KILL Prince on stage and embarrass him trying.  I really think they should’ve shown Morris & Co. looking at Prince with contempt rather than enjoying the performance as much as they were.

3- What did you want to be when you grew up?

I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was growing up.  My parents thankfully gave me the freedom to try out a bunch of things in my youth. I played piano for a while, I had hoop dreams, but DJing was always inherently a part of me before I even knew what DJing was.  I used to stay up late and record mixes off of BMX and then when I moved to Springfield off of Majic 108.  Then I’d take two boom boxes and make them face each other and press play on one and record on the other and basically cut and paste my own versions of how songs should loop and go together onto the other cassette tape.   I know you know what I’m talking about.  The most memorable one was I took the drum break from the Force MD’s “Itchin for a Scratch” and extended it to about 5 minutes. It probably took me about 3 hours to do.  But before I even really knew what mixing was, I had an inherent need to reorganize songs differently than how they were presented to me on the radio.  But purchasing DJ equipment on my meager salary from cutting grass just wasn’t an option.  Hell, I could never even afford a pair of Jordans! So my DJ dreams were dashed for quite some time.

It wasn’t until I was a Senior in High School, about to turn 18 that my parents sat me down and gave me two options:

1. I could decide what I wanted to be, go to college and they would pay for it.

2. I could join the military.

But whichever I chose, I had to get the hell out of their house!  Since push-ups aren’t my thing, I quickly decided I wanted to be an Architect and went to Howard.

4- What’s your favorite museum?

Architecturally, and for what it represents to the entire profession from the 1990’s to the present, clearly the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain by Frank Gehry would be the obvious choice.  However, Renzo Piano, the architect of the recent addition to the Art Institute of Chicago did a small museum in Basel, Switzerland for the Beyeler Foundation that has always stuck with me since I visited.  The way it is situated on the site, the way natural light is used, the way materials are used, and the incredible detailing found throughout the building make it an incredible building.  It also has one of the largest collections of drawings by one of my favorite artists, Alberto Giacometti.

Beyeler Foundation

Guggenheim Bilbao

5- What’s your automatic cure for boredom?

Quite honestly, I have sooooo much music, particularly, music that has not ever received a proper “headphone listen”.  There is a difference between just casually listening to music while you’re cooking, studying, or on the phone vs playing music through headphones where you do absolutely nothing else but focus on the music itself.  It gives you the opportunity to actually STUDY the music.  I have developed new appreciations for records I’ve had in my hands for years after listening to them through a pair of quality headphones.  When I’m bored, I listen to music.

6- What bad habits do you need to break?

Maybe its because I’m engaged now and I just love spending time with her, but I have become a pretty private person, and a mentality has developed within me which tells me that I don’t need any more friends.  As silly as this may sound, I have some amazing people in my life and I use their presence to justify not letting anyone else in.  Maybe it is because I fear they will never be able to “live up to” the standard of the people I already have in my life? It is a terrible habit as it creates a behavior where the moment I feel the slightest hint of shadyness from a MFer I don’t really know, I’ll write their ass off!! My feeling is, why be bothered? I am blessed to have a bunch of tremendous people in my life which breeds the unfortunate behavior of being less likely to be open to new people.  I’m lucky to have people in my life that have no problems telling me exactly what they feel, sometimes too honest! Lol.  I’m working hard on this.

7- What’s the easiest way to bribe you?

I’m too stubborn to be bribed man!  I stand strong for my principles, almost to a fault.  I suppose, offering me the opportunity to DJ for a crowd of people playing whatever type of music I like would be enough to get me to accept getting paid less than what I know I’m worth.  Many DJ’s, including myself, want so bad to share music with as many people as possible, that we sell ourselves short in what we should be paid in order to share what we love with people.  I’m lucky to have a job that pays the bills and allows me to make DJing something I do strictly for fun.  You have to give respect to those that only DJ for a living and are adamant about standing on their principles of only playing quality music and not succumbing to the musical tastes of the masses.  That is a tough hustle.

8-What was your nickname growing up?

‘Cinnamon stick’.  I was always skinny as a board until I went to grad school and started drinking beer instead of liquor.

9- What’s your favorite Fall activity?

Fall is that time of year where you transition from being outside all the time, to being inside all the time, so every Fall, I reorganize all my shit… my clothes, my music, my books, my pictures, my digital music files, my ipod, my furniture… everything.  I feel like it’s that time of year to prepare your nest at home for all of the time you will be inside.

10- What’s the one luxury item you HAD to have?

I was in Jamaica for a wedding and went to the Gallery of West Indian Art and absolutely fell in love with this original painting by a Cuban painter named Abel Garcia Matos and just HAD to have it.  I had no intention on purchasing a piece at that time and I ended up buying this huge painting (30” X 60”) that just stopped me in my tracks.  One of the women I was with just walked up to me while I was staring at it and said, “You know you have to buy that right?” It was so obvious to both of us that it represented me and I bought it without even asking how much it cost.

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Parting Shot

“Without the heart, there can be no understanding between the hand and the mind.” – unknown

There ya have it, folks. Be sure to check out Curtis’ book IDIOM ( just hit the link up top, and it’ll take you where you need to be. But be sure to come back!!!!)

~ by ten2one on November 10, 2009.