DJ Eldon

This is not my original image and was used with the permission of Dj Eldon

All the pictures to follow are by Sonya Gallegos

Tramway to 98th with DJ Eldon

Two blue haired freaks wandering aimlessly through a broken city is what we appeared to be. But not today. Today we had purpose. We had a plan. Although, at first, I’ll admit we couldn’t decide what to listen to. But do you blame us for this one?

The plan was good. Start on tramway and drive down central all the way to 98th street, viewing the entirety of the city called Albuquerque along the way. This city, like so many others, has many faces, and my plan was to see as many of them as possible in one day. But again. What to listen to?

We considered a few DJs, both local and not, but none of them seemed to fit. We needed a DJ who represented not just the city properly, but also the sound. It was then we decided on one DJ and one mix. Which now that I think of it should have been a no brainer. We decided to listen to DJ Eldon.

To anybody involved in the electronic scene in New Mexico this DJ needs no introduction, and yet I’m going to give him one because that is a major point of these words. I want you to know them and their music, and I want us to see each other for who each of us really are.

Eldon is not just a part of the House Music scene here, he basically helped create it, and that is the first thing you should know as you crank this mix up. When you’re listening to DJ Eldon, you’re not just hearing his mix, you’re being given a lesson on our culture. Rave Culture, and where it came from.

But this music didn’t just start with rave culture, and that is the first lesson I feel DJ Eldon has taught me. So many people have contributed to this sound, and this movement, and yet so many of them have been lost and forgotten by time and death.

It is the nature of the underground to be a secret and yet in doing that, we make it possible for those we’ve loved through this sound to be forgotten, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can remember them. They can be our rainbow in the clouds.

His mix starts with a poem by my all-time favorite poet Maya Angelou, and you can hear in her voice just exactly what she and the DJ mean to say to you. To be a rainbow in the cloud is to be a bright light even if the world is crowded and confused, lost in the madness.

We all have that power to contribute with love and intent, and house music is an extension of that. House music is our love language, and with this mix DJ Eldon knows exactly what to say.

It’s smooth, classic, sophisticated and in the words of DJ Sonya G, “Soulful Tribal Funky Disco.”

As the drive began, we could feel ourselves already falling into the mix perhaps more than the city around us. We dodged knocked over shopping carts, people wandering in the streets, other cars not paying attention, and of course the need to stop and eat everywhere we saw. With us eventually stopping at a local spot called Golden Pride to eat a breakfast burrito in the car while the mix still played.

Food has always been a huge part of our journeys because, well, you need it, and also because we’re always stoned and hungry, so it made sense that we’d integrate that with this drive.

“Live every day like you’re out of town, and you’ll never get bored.” Sonya said from the passenger seat. I had no choice but to agree.

We scarfed and hurried so we could return to the road only to find the broken, shattered part of this unique city. For all the joy and beauty, we have felt from this place, there’s also sorrow and suffering, and you can see it on central as much as anywhere.

I’ve grown with this city even though I am not from it and seeing its change has affected me in a way that I just can’t compare, and yet, as I say that, I see so clearly how that emotion is connected to house music, and therefore, Eldon himself.

As a teenage boy I found the music in the night, and looking back, I realize so many of those late nights hearing the beautiful house music I love so much, were organized, and made possible by Eldon. To say he is just a DJ is selling it short. He has expanded the knowledge of House Music lovers in New Mexico in such a profound way that it’s impossible to measure his impact.

The awareness of what he’s playing and yet the smoothness with which it all blends is at a master level I’ve only seen in House Music Legends. Which is what Eldon is. His influence having a far greater presence with each song that plays.

I realized by the time we reached Nob Hill, and the graffiti art, that this isn’t just a mix, it’s a display of how far house music has come, how much it’s seen, and yet how far it still has to go.

The eternal hope of this music, our music, is that it’s inclusive and always welcoming. It wants you to find it. It wants to save you. It wants to inspire you. But most of all, it wants you to share that with others.

That’s something I have been taught, but not just by Eldon’s music but also his words. He has been places we haven’t, and he has seen things we never will, and yet with every conversation I have with him there is a reminder that all of these things he saw, he knew he was meant to share with us. Something that inspires me not just in music, but in life.

We have to show each other the way, and the directions are in the music we play for each other. By the time he plays a great mix of a Sade song I love so much, we could feel ourselves transitioning from the East to the West as the city was changing.

We had reached downtown. The tall buildings and the homeless sleeping on the street below them were the backdrop now. A beauty and a sorrow we just could not ignore. And still we had to carry forward.

Not just with life, but also because the light was green. All you can do sometimes is remember. Remember so at least one person doesn’t forget. Does that make sense?

Well downtown we stopped at this new spot on 5th street that was a mini food market much like the ones we see in bigger cities. You had a stand for pizza, and one for burgers. Another for chicken tenders, and even a little bar with a moon in the back.

Albuquerque is growing, and trying to be better, and we’ve got to see that about it. For all we’ve failed at still this city tries for us, I suppose we should try back.

We settled on some cheese curds and a Detroit Style pizza to share as we rushed to eat before the money on our meter ran out. Being downtown again, hearing the cars, and the people, and all the life, was desperately needed, and exactly what I wanted.

As the mix moved into what I call Futuristic Disco, the city changed again. Now we had left downtown and were moving into the westside. A growing part of the city, and still always the same. Colorful, dirty, and real. Such a true way to describe this city and the people in it. We are changed by this world and yet still we shine. Again, like a rainbow in the clouds.

The drums of the mix start kicking in more at the end, a great representation of that New York Tribal sound Danny Tenaglia has championed for so long. Before that, the music was soulful and uplifting like Chicago house, and its at this point I remember Eldon again, is using this music to teach us. We have new school emotional house, soulful Chicago House, tribal New York house, and a little bit of that New Mexico flavor to throw it all together.

Perhaps it’s the many pieces of art I’ve seen along this drive that have inspired me, but this mix is much like a painting being done right in front of you. With every brush stroke the image becomes clearer to those of us around, and yet you realize it was always clear in the painter’s head. We just simply had to wait long enough to see it finished.

By the time the mix comes to an end, and we’ve reached 98th street we are looking down at the city we spent all day covering, but only down one street. Still so much more to see, and hear and feel, and yet it’s amazing to think we actually did that. Seeing one end to the other is an act that I feel is being lost in electronic music.

We want the hits. We want the now. We want the 1,2,3 jump. How am I tell you, that the beauty is in the journey, the moments you had along the way and the people you chose to share them with.

Of all things Eldon has taught me both with his music and with his words, it’s that the people who make this culture are what matter and they are the ones who give this music purpose. I feel grateful to have been able to take this drive, and also to have had such a beautiful soundtrack along the way.

In just under two hours I saw the heights, nob hill, the university, downtown, the Rio Grande, and of course, the entire city itself, looking down from the end of it.

There’s more to be said about this DJ, and about this music, but for now, I’ll leave it at what we’ve said so far, and maybe If I’m lucky you’ll come back and learn more.

And when you’ve learned enough, the only hope is that you’ll know what I do. The point of this music and this culture is to share it with others; to remember the forgotten. To make sure they are not lost to the underground.

My only hope is that you bump this music and let it fill the air that surrounds you, and even if you don’t cruise from Tramway to 98th, you’ll still by the end know what New Mexico and House music stand for. Because DJ Eldon taught you.

If you want to hear him live soon, his upcoming shows are at patio 201 on May 20th for an Architects of Rhythm takeover with Justin Roberts. After that he’s playing with JT Donaldson in Santa Fe on July 3rd, and then with Gene Ferris in Albuquerque on August 5th.

This summer, like many summers before it, will be filled with the beautiful sounds of house music, and I am so happy to say that. Not everybody has made it to this point, though, and as I sit here writing the final words to this one, before I go on to the next, I just wish to say thank you to DJ Eldon.

Thanks for showing us House Music, thanks for staying true to those who aren’t here, thanks for that one day you talked to me for like an hour just about the Paradise Garage. And Ron Hardy. And the Music box.

But most of all, thanks for stopping and sharing a word every now and then. Your word. Which isn’t just a voice, but also a part of House Music history.

Enjoy this one, you guys. It was an honor living it, and now it’s an honor writing it. Have fun this summer, and if we’re lucky. I’ll see you on the dancefloor.

Or not.