In an increasingly digital world, it can be easy to lose a sense of identity. But amid a homogenized cultural landscape, an increasing number of young people are taking up a hobby that lets them showcase their progressive tastes: DJing.
“When I first started playing around with my first DJ controller, I didn't really have any idea what I was doing,” said Wichita DJ Dale Small. “I knew this button did this thing or whatever, but I was taking the music that I loved to listen to and mixing it and making new and weird things that I liked even better than the original ones.”
Small, who goes by DJ Dalé for club events and DCOM for more alternative, punk and goth events, took on the hobby almost two years ago after receiving a Denon DJ controller for their birthday. Like many young people, Small had limitless access to music growing up.
“I had every, pretty much every single song at my fingertips by the time I was 7 years old,” Small said. “That alone is crazy to think about, just from a cultural, socioeconomic perspective, but from a creative and DJ perspective.”
After hosting a show with some friends, Small started spinning at venues around town. They said they like performing in spaces that offer a safe environment for people to have fun, without the hassle of being harassed. The music Small plays varies widely and includes electronic house music, punk, industrial and dark wave.
“I am kind of on the fringes too, but I'm okay with that,” Small said. “I'm not a DJ because I want to be popular or because I want to make a lot of money or whatever, or do these big shows. I started DJing because I just really enjoy music, and it's fun.”
Small is among a crop of new DJs who have popped up over the past fews years and play at various places around town, usually outside the traditional nightlife scene in OldTown.
Places like Goth Nite at Kirby’s Beer Store, which plays dark wave and synthwave music, and Vinyl Night at Good Company, where DJs spin using traditional vinyl records.
Anna Fleming and Tamara Lopez, who go by The Electro Divas, have a monthly show at Rhonda’s Place near Harry and Hillside, with Small playing electronic house music.
“We've been doing that for about a year now,” Fleming said. “I think that's been one of the best opportunities, because we just get to get in there and just mess around and practice and just see what we can do.”
DJs Small considers among their peers include DJ Girl Groovin, the Electro Divas, DJ Shay, Jayde Stone, Act of Contrition, DJ Hylle, Hidden Street, Lotus Flow, DJ Powers and DJ Moo. They also credit the work that organizers like Tribal Roots has done to raise up the local electronic music community, as well as the help and mentorship of DJs who have performed in Wichita for decades.
“House music has always been a really great part of Wichita's music community,” Small said. “We have kind of like legacy DJs, like people like Marc Lujan and DJ Carbon.”
Small said they refer to Lujan as “an elder in the house music community.” DJ Carbon “paved the way for open-format DJs here in Wichita,” they added.
A scratching legend paves a way for all those that follow
James Bobetski, who goes by DJ Carbon, has been DJing since he was 14 years old. More than three decades later, Carbon has not been just a staple in Wichita’s nightlife scene, but he can be seen DJing at many events including weddings and grand openings.
“My cousin was a DJ in nightclubs, and I was a young kid that wasn't supposed to be there, that would carry his crates of vinyl into the club, and then I would sit there and watch, and I just fell in love with what he was doing,” Carbon said. “I wasn't supposed to be there, but I was.”
When Carbon turned 21, he started DJing around Wichita, including spaces like Finn’s Lounge and Club Indigo. For 19 years, Carbon performed twice a week while maintaining a full-time day job. Now he DJs full time.
While he was coming up, Carbon said he had to find his lane as a DJ while competing with others.
“You had a lot of people that said, ‘This is what I like, and this is what I'm going to play.’ And then you had other people that said, ‘This is what everyone likes and this is what I'm going to play.’ And you had two ends of the spectrum,” Carbon said.
“I would play things that people knew and liked, and then as the night would go on, I would creep over. …I kind of walked the path between the two, and I think that's a necessary thing for general-population nightlife that I don't think some of the newer guys are aware of,” he said.
In his free time, Carbon teaches DJ lessons. He said he’s had students from 6 to 60 years old. One of his favorite things as a teacher is witnessing his students move the dance floor.
“The first time I saw one of my students perform a set and get a huge round of applause, I'm like, ‘Oh, this is it. I am living. You are all now my children. I am adopting all of you because I will live vicariously through every experience, because I remember that.’
“It's amazing to see this new generation get exposed to it and buy into it. I think a lot of people get into it for the art. I don't know how many of them are in it as a business. And there's, again, there's a balance of those two things.”
Although he approaches DJing in a pragmatic way, Carbon said he welcomes newcomers to his profession.
“You know, I try my best not to be an old, ‘Get off my lawn, you rotten kids’ guy, and try and encourage people,” Carbon said.
“I just want everyone to win, because there's more than enough room in this town for everyone to succeed. We do have enough of a population base for everyone to be employed, a place for everyone to have their home.”
Even after decades in the business, Carbon said he still loves his job because it offers him an outlet to wordlessly connect with others over the shared love of music.
“Why do I DJ? Because I remember the first time I mixed in a record that people didn't see coming, and I saw a whole dance floor shift and elevate, and I'm chasing that high ever since, you know, 30 plus years later, I'm still after it every time, and that connection is just so beautiful.”
