He called me Melsy

There are not many DJs that had it like AM did. First off he had the skills. This is a DJ that kept the crowd interested and was never disappointing. His schedule was insane. Practically everyday he was booked either traveling the world doing high profile celebrate parties, performing at festivals or appearing on some tv show. And through all the mad media, hype he still maintained gigs with his friends where he got to let loose and play us the music he truly loved.
I met Adam by in my teenage years before he was a DJ. We both loved music and that is pretty much how we bonded. I was there when he first started. His roommate Ethan had the turntables. When Ethan went out of town we would end up in his room making a mess of things. One time Ethan got so mad at Adam for messing with his set up that he locked the door to his room. We spent a couple of hours trying to break the lock until finally Adam said, “Fuck it! I am going through the window.” Like spider man on a mission to save the world, he got into that 3rd floor, apartment block window.
I loved spending time with Adam. I would sit for hours and listen to music. Friends would come by and have freestyle sessions. Adam wasn’t much of a turntablest then. Listening to someone learn to DJ is like listening to someone learn to play the drums. But we had fun anyway.
The reason why, at that point, I spent so much time around him is because I was infatuated with the turn tables myself. When I finally got my set I called AM and said, “I don’t know what to do?” He came over and showed me the basics on the mixer. He told me to practice scratching I should get a record that was recorded live and the bits where the audience cheering. “Because there’s no beat,” he said.
In the 90’s I went away to collage in S.F. and when I came back AM was on his way to stardom. In these past couple of years, since I’ve been putting myself out there as a DJ, Adam has been good to me. He’s passed a couple gigs my way. No matter where he’s spinning he would stop and talk for minute. He always honored our old school friendship.
It is sad when someone great is gone. To know that I will never dance to an live AM set again is getting me down. I was hoping to DJ with him one day. I wanted to make him proud. That his little Melsy had grown up.
To AMG, someone that majorly inflected me. RIP