52nd City

DJs @ Pop's Blue Moon

For years, Pop's Blue Moon has been a haunt I enjoy hitting before the crowd actually rolls in for the evening. Since jam bands and bluegrass aren't my particular cups of tea, I tend to enjoy a sip at the Moon in late-afternoon, often driven to drink by another stellar class at WU. At that time, the sun's pouring through the glass block front walls and the whole room takes on a wonderful glow.

All that said, I wound up there on a recent Monday and a DJ going by J. Public was at a rig that included two turntables, a laptop, a mic and surely much more. The first set was chilled-out dub reggae, which completely works in the space; the second was a much harder, drum-and-bass set, which was odd in the DJ and his small crew enjoyed a breath of... fresh air, let's say, over a long, mid-set break. One would've thought the chill tracks would've come after, rather than before the... fresh air, but that's just me.

A long way of saying that Pop's Blue Moon now features DJs on Monday nights, after years of six-bands-a-week booking. Honestly, I enjoyed it.