DJ Dave

I like good photojournalism. I also like people who seek the truth, and are man enough to admit it when they goof up.
I listen to shortwave radio at night, trying to find intelligence amongst the static. Sometimes I take pictures. I also like to eat bread pudding, drink hot milk and scratch my bum.
The only foreign language that I'm reasonably fluent in is morse code.
In a world of efficiencies – speedier and more efficient communication via cellphones, the internet, and a myriad of devices such as digital cameras , iPods and the like, as well as the corporate world full of companies that incessantly strive to increase production efficiency and look after “the bottom line”, it's easy to forget that the most memorable things; the things that really add richness and timbre to our lives, are inefficient.
I'm a big fan of the meandering road less taken, and I'm a big fan of taking it for no other reason than that it looks interesting, with no particular idea of when the trip will end, or what you need to get out of it in order to move on.
Life is not about increasing after-tax profits by an extra 0.5%, or producing 10% more widgets per hour. It is not about having a 401 (K), a fancy stock portfolio, or an impressive new car. All of these things are fine, and can be useful means to more meaningful ends. There are other things in life that are far more important and that really enrich our lives though. That little old Jewish couple walking hand in hand down Fairfax Ave are really cute and touching beyond words. There is a town in California that claims to be the home of the world's tallest thermometer. There is a 5 story-high mirror in the Arizona desert that exists solely to magnify and focus moonlight. People come from all over the world to bathe in moonlight at night in the middle of the desert; some even do it in their underwear. An old lady was sleeping on Bronson Ave last night on the sidewalk next to her shopping cart. She didn't look particularly crazy or dishevelled. She looked like someone's grandma. I looked at her, saw her humanity, and wondered how she came to be there, and who she is.
Quite often, I lie on my sofa, stare at the ceiling, zone out, and get lost in my own thoughts. I might do it for 5 minutes, or for 45 minutes. I never feel guilty for wasting the time because it is never time wasted.
I'd like to propose a toast to life's great and endlessly fascinating inefficiencies. Now if you don't mind, I need to go and use the bathroom.
Check out my photo site here (Opens in a separate browser window).
Above is myself as a guest on Raul Campos' show "Nocturna" on KCRW Jan 24th 2008. To the right of me is studio assistant April, and Raul facing me on the mic.
I haven't put much information about my professional life on this site in the past, but as I no longer live in Los Angeles, I'd like for people to be able to find me, and hopefully these words are trackable by a google search. I was the in-store DJ at Virgin Megastore on Sunset Blvd since it opened in December 1992 until the day that it closed in January 2008 - I'm known to many as "DJ Dave from the Virgin Megastore" - not a name I chose, or was particularly keen on at first, but people started calling me that, so it kind of stuck. It is my voice you hear on the phone when you call any Virgin Megastore in the US, and also my voice on most of the Virgin Megastore radio and TV commercials that air. I also provide pre-produced programming to all Virgin Megastores in the US, so if you hear a British DJ in a US Virgin Megastore, it is probably me.
Sadly, the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood closed for good in late January 2008 - a 15 year run full of great memories and good times! I am now the in-store DJ at the very cool Virgin Megastore on the corner of Stockton and Market Streets in San Francisco. Come and visit me there!
Some other clients to whom I have lent my voice and places where my voice has been heard are:
-Virgin Sound And Vision
-United Airlines
-Taco Bell
-Comedy Works Denver
-BT Infonet
-"Movies, Games and Videos" (British TV show airing on the national Independent Television Network in the UK)
-Groove Radio 103.1 FM Los Angeles
-grooveradio.com (under the umbrella of Enigma Digital, founded by Bob Ezrin)
-KODS-FM Reno, NV
-KHTZ-FM Reno, NV