Blues Muse (October 22-24, 2010)

Recorded Muse-ic

Julie Brown (Boston, MA)

Julie has DJed around the country at East Meets West, Emerald City Blues Festival, Down Home Blues, Mile High Blues, Show Me Blues, and more. She also DJs regularly in Boston, where she lives, dances, works, and occasionally sleeps. Check out her two favorite Boston-area venues: Blues Cafe(link http://www.bluescafeboston.com) and Blues Union(link http://www.bluesunionboston.com). Julie's musical tastes span from the soulful to the sultry, the dirty to the demure, but always with a healthy dose of attitude. What she loves most is to see you out there dancing and feelin' it!

Mike Marcotte (Washington, D.C.)

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Mike Marcotte discovered dancing in 1999 near the height of the swing craze. He first took lessons from the same person he teaches with today, Donna Barker. Together they helped cultivate a thriving blues dancing scene in Washington with the hard work of Capital Blues members, notably Rachel Stirling and Corey Wright. In addition to the two national events bamBLOOZled and Red Hot Blues 'n BBQ, Capital Blues hosts a weekly dance every Thursday at Glen Echo's Back Room.

Mike’s father instilled an appreciation for jazz at an early age. A student of classical cello and jazz piano in high school, it was only natural that he got more involved with the music as a DJ after starting as a dancer. He learned the most under the wing of Rayned Wiles at K2, and before long was working events across the country including Lindy Focus, Philly Lindy Love, St. Louis Blues Lindy Exchange, Frankie 95, every DCLX, a host of others, and head DJ for ILHC.

Whether it’s Blues or Swing, Mike likes a dance floor that’s having fun, feeling challenged yet inspired. He tends to draw from a variety of genres as he puts together a set. While creating a groove is important, mixing it up -- something learned well from Rayned -- always keeps things interesting. This is a DJ who loves to dance, so don’t hesitate to ask him in the middle of a set.

Bill Speidel (Norfolk, Virginia)

DJ Bill Speidel has been playing tunes for us since the first Blues Muse in 2008. We last saw him at Blues Muse 2009, where fellow DJs took to banging pots and pans with ladles and anything else they could find to accentuate the bass line during his closing song. Just goes to show, there’s whole a lot more than just wailing clarinets, saucy trombones and sultry blues divas hiding in this wild man’s musical bag of tricks.

Mike Legett (Philadelphia, PA or is it Cincinnati, OH?)

Mike’s love of blues and jazz has been obsessive for some time, and once she started running a weekly blues dance out of her home in Atlanta in 2008, she committed herself to the art of DJing. She has since gone on to DJ sets around Atlanta, Orlando, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Austin. She prides herself on providing a variety of styles and eras in each of her sets, and strives to create a sound that is both unique and inspiring; she also aspires to expose people to new music, and to challenge their dancing.

John Brooks (Boston, MA)

John Brooks has honed his craft in Boston, joining the ranks of the enthusiastic talent occupying the Northeast. He got his start in 2007 at house parties, patiently growing his playlist with music that will make you move. Drawing from acoustic blues, gospel, soul, trad jazz, and driving Chicago blues, John brings whatever the floor needs. He's been a favorite at weekly and monthly dances in Boston, and has also DJ'd at Austin Blues Party, Mystic Blues, and East Meets West. He brings his own brand of awesome sauce wherever he goes.

Dan Repsch (Philadelphia, PA)

Dan is a Philadelphia native whose obsession with music has been life-long. He’s taken to DJing because he loves sharing his music, inspiring other dancers, and guiding the energy of a dance. He’s constantly challenging himself to bring new material to his fellow dancers and works hard to offer a variety of music in his sets that stays true to the roots of the dance. He loves all styles of music and his sets tend more toward vintage-style jazz and blues, but he can bring the funk if the dance calls for it. Dan was a primary instructor and DJ at Penn State until his graduation, and since his return to Philadelphia has become a regular DJ for Philly’s many weekly dances. Dan has traveled to teach and DJ at exchanges and dances across several states on the east coast, and is always looking for the next travel opportunity.

Breanna Perry (Nashville, TN)

Breanna’s DJing spans the United States, just like she does (and that’s not a fat joke). Originally from the leftmost coast, Breanna got her start dancing and DJing in 2006 in Nashville, TN, her current Southern home. From there, she hungrily took on all the music she could--dirty, sweet, hot, groovy, sassy, you name it, as long as it makes you say "UNHHH!"--and she loves everything from Alberta Hunter to Koko Taylor to Lucky Millinder to Sidney Bechet. She took to traveling soon after she started dancing and DJing, and has since played sets in plenty of places, like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Knoxville, and Oberlin, to name a few. She looks forward to playing everywhere else, too!

Christine Moser (Boston, MA)

Christine grew up listening to the blues, and got her start DJing in her home scenes of San Luis Obispo and San Francisco under the mentorship and influence of locals such as Steven Watkins and Cid Galicia. Past events she has DJed include SLOX 2008-2010, Blues Muse 2009 and Down Home Blues 2009-2010. She has continued to broaden her understanding of blues music, enjoying the wide variety of styles that blues encompasses. As a passionate dancer, she focuses on finding songs that evoke movement and a story. As a musician, she will steadfastly claim the harmonica as the sexiest instrument in blues to date.

Suzanne Sluizer (Albuquerque, NM)

Suzanne first began to DJ as an FM radio “rock jock” in Illinois longer ago than she cares to remember, and she now calls Albuquerque home. She fell in love with blues dancing in 2007, while attending a workshop with Steven Mitchell and Virginie Jensen. Suzanne has spun sets at Duke City Blues, Enchanted Blues, Austin Blues Party and most recently at Down Home Blues. Suzanne loves sharing her passion for blues music. She has a special affinity for women blues players and will be spinning a “Women in Blues” set at Blues Muse.