FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE + LEISURE
RECORDING FLASH GORDON PARKS
Interview by Lance Scott Walker | Photography by Anthony Rathbun
Local DJ and ethnomusicologist FLASH GORDON PARKS has made a documentary called This Thing We Do , a selection of interviews with a cross section of local DJs including legends like KCOH ’ s DON SAMUEL , mixtape and club pioneer DARRYL SCOTT , Vinal Edge owner and radio host CHUCK ROAST , producer and radio / party DJ DEF JAM BLASTER , music journalist MICHAEL SMITH and artists from all disciplines and eras including GRACIE CHAVEZ , DJ GOOD GRIEF , DJ COZMOS , DJ STYLES , DJ SUN , LITTLE MARTIN , THE ARE , WITNES , CEEPLUS , BBC and others musing on long lost venues like CLUB WAXX , DEEP PHAT , MAGIC BUS and stalwarts like CARRINGTON ’ S . They even get into the club legacy of RAY BARNETT . It ’ s a Houston history lesson that spans its radio , clubs , parties and record stores . DAMIEN RANDLE of K-Otix shot and edited the hour-long documentary .
Have you gotten some feedback , some places that would be interested in that ? I got a few . I was able to show it at the Contemporary Arts Museum in town . They really enjoyed it , and it ’ s been getting a lot of love everywhere I ’ ve shown it . I ’ ve shown it in Austin and in Dallas , and I ’ m going back to show it in Dallas next week .
I noticed how thorough it is in that , in the credits , you ’ ve got everybody listing off anybody you might have missed . Yeah , because initially there were so many directions that I wanted to go with it , but I knew that it would just be a really difficult thing to try and get all those people under one umbrella . So I said , okay , instead of overexerting myself that way , I ’ ll just reach out to the people that I have at least a relationship with , or some type of connection to , and start from there , and from there possibly listen to who may have influenced them or inspired them or people that they feel are important in terms of contributing to culture at large in the city . I wanted to make sure that I did something that gave you a good cross section of the diversity .
Who was the most illuminating as far as opening you up to a world that you maybe didn ’ t realize existed ? I learned a lot from talking to Chuck Roast about the punk scene and the noise scene and just all the various experimental music that he was involved in in the ’ 80s .
www . flashgordonparks . com To read the full article , visit www . localhoustonmagazine . com .
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