WRATH: Junior Vasquez at Boston Pride
Besides the obvious PRIDE, there are six other ways to make your summer more interesting. Over the next few weeks, EDGE will unveil its "7 Deadly Sins" of summer series in celebration of Pride month. Here's the first in our ongoing list on how to be so bad, it's good.
Wrath. It's a scary word.
Being on the receiving end of someone's brute loathing is never an enjoyable experience. But some moments are scarier than others, and there's a unique moment of panic--the "oh, shit," factor, if you will--that presents itself when you realize that the jerk you just flipped off in traffic was actually a cop (you couldn't see the siren!)... the guy you're badmouthing at the company Christmas party is actually your new boss... and the ex you just dumped an earful on for "sneaking around behind your back," was actually "sneaking around to plan your surprise birthday."
Oh, sigh.
And then there's Junior Vasquez, the legendary DJ/Producer who had one of the most highly publicized client fall-outs in the dance industry's history. Junior will get nothing but love from fans this Saturday, June 14, when he spins at Boston Pride at Night at EPIC @ The Roxy (chrisharrispresents.com).
But looking to the less loving past, he remembers when he suddenly and notoriously found himself the object of Madonna's disaffection.
"That one will haunt me for the rest of my life," says Junior about the infamous song "If Madonna Calls," a 1996 track he put together by layering a personal answering machine message from the material girl over one of trademark thumping, tribal beats.
The message from Madonna disclosed in the song was pretty innocuous: "Hello, Junior. This is Madonna. Are you there?" went the recording. "Call me in Miami."
But for a pop icon who is widely reported to control her business affairs with the iron fist of a really, really sexy dictator, the unauthorized release was enough to put the kibosh on her relationship with Vasquez: a friend, a collaborator, and a fellow club icon.
As late as 2003, Madonna's rep Liz Rosenberg told New York Magazine, "I can assure you that Madonna will never work with Junior again."
"I was stupid," admits Junior now. "I thought I was being clever."
Still, Vasquez remains one of the few people out there to take Madonna's wrath... and live to tell about it. And his moxie, his boldness, and his willing to push the envelope doesn't fall so far from Madonna's boundary-crossing tree.
"I like being controversial," says Junior. "I won't stop doing that. I'll keep doing whatever I can get away with, because if you don't cross boundaries you don't get attention."
"We all know she [Madonna] would have moved on, anyway," adds Junior. "Of course, we might still be friends."
You're bound to burn a few bridges along the path of a superstar career, and Junior has long been at the forefront of inventing the full package of DJ as Brand, Image, Personality and Superstar. "I'm the definition of the 'rock star life,'" he says of his globe-spanning, revolutionary career, one that has endured its fair share of rock star controversy, too. Besides the conflict with Madonna, Junior is candid about the long battle with crystal meth addiction and crazy partying that left him "a mess" even during the highest points of his professional life. Today, he is three years sober.
But that doesn't mean he's any less willing to indulge in some sonic intoxication.
"My personality is always in the present," he says. "I don't even think of yesterday. Life is like DJing. The crowd doesn't know what I'm playing next because I'm not living in the moment of the song. I'm already thinking about how to fuck with their heads with the next one."
Vasquez will bring that inventiveness to his set at Boston Pride, owing in large part to his seminal role in defining the very nature of modern House music.
"I can tailor to the pure fans," says Vasquez of his approach. He can also bring a wealth of experience to the DJ booth, mixing cutting-edge anthems with classic styles--styles he invented, by the way--that even the youngest generation of club goers has been raised on.
"There are all these kids in the club who want music that's reminiscent of the beginning of House," says Vasquez. "I was at the forefront of that. It's my stronghold, and they give me props for it."