Preview
CALGARY SOUL LAUNCH PARTY
Friday, November 14
Night Gallery
Visiting the calgarysoul.com website is like peeking in on our city’s sensuous and nocturnal inner being. Rich gold tones mingle with hazy shots of Calgary at night, while the adage "words can’t touch what the soul is" invites you to listen to the music and experience the website fully. It is a true testament to local DJ Jeff Humphreys’s vision of Calgary’s first soulful music website devoted to a dance culture based on true community.
After a brief stint in Toronto as a designer, Humphreys returned to Calgary with a new love – a vocal house sound he discovered while listening to Toronto DJ Peter Bosco and other area DJs. Humphreys decided to bring that sound back home and take his own spin around the turntables.
"I thought to myself – if the music’s in Toronto and I’m moving back to Calgary, I might as well bring it with me," says Humphreys. "So before I left, I bought a stack of records, came to Calgary and bought all the gear."
Having seen a similar website focusing on Toronto’s DJ culture created by Bosco, he hatched the idea to have a site dedicated solely to the purpose of playing and promoting Calgary’s most soulful mixers.
"I wanted to make it specific to Calgary because I wanted a sense of community," says Humphreys. "There doesn’t seem to be a lot of DJs that play soulful music. I wanted to make a central place where we could all be found. I just love the music so much that I just wanted to let other people hear it, too."
Getting by with a little help from his friends, Humphreys created the website on a relatively tight budget. Humphreys designed the site, a close friend did the programming at no charge and local photographer Jeff Moore shot the Calgary images. The photos are particularly evocative images of Calgary from different angles. They’re not your typical Calgary tower skyline shots – it’s a softer, more soulful look at the city’s nooks and crannies.
Each DJ featured on the site has one or two mixes available, whether it’s a sample from one of their nights or just a mix of favourites. The site currently features Humphreys, local guests Rob Faust, DJ Rice and Sideshow Sid and out-of-towner Peter Bosco, the DJ who inspired it all. The music can be burned, downloaded or streamed over the Internet, and all the mixes are available through RealPlayer. There is also a bold editorial currently that succinctly expresses the feelings of the people involved in the local DJ scene.
Humphreys is emphatic about having his site dedicated to cultivating the local community and doing it properly no matter how long it takes.
"I don’t want to put people on there just to make it look like I know a lot of DJs or just to have a lot of names," says Humphreys citing the importance of respect between DJs within the scene. "I want to keep this site positive, the people on the site are real, and everyone knows they’re professionals. Who they are is probably more important than the music they play."
As the site gains popularity, Humphreys will have to start thinking about finances. He has nailed down quality content, but given that he finances the site himself Humphreys will have to find a balance between money and art.
Sponsorship and advertising are a necessary evil of any business of this kind so Humphreys is keeping a tidy record of his stats and hits and hints at putting together a business package, but for the moment he is revelling in a different kind of success.
"Right now, I’m not worried about generating any money," says Humphreys. "One of the wicked returns is just hearing from people – you know, the feedback you get from some random stranger who dropped you a line and said ‘wow, thanks for the site, loved the music, keep up the good work.’"
Word of mouth has been the most effective way to spread the news about the site. "I think dance culture in Calgary is fading away a bit," says Humphreys. "There are a lot more Top 40 bars opening, the Embassy closing, The Cherry Lounge losing their house night. This might be a way to bring that community back. I think it could create something new and special in Calgary, something that hasn’t been around for a lot of years."
The website is the first step in that process."I think it’s a good tool to get the word out. Even in Calgary, you go through these cold snaps, with -30 C weather for months on end. It’s cool for people to be able to hop online, listen to a mix and get their fix." |
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