Hold the House

The four large black bouncers standing at the front entrance of Club Shelter are looking at me rather suspiciously. They might be wondering what a goofy white kid is doing here. Alone. On a Friday night. One of them asks if I’m here for the goth party next door.

"No. DJ Spinna," I answer.

"Spinna?" one asks. "This way."

Before I even pay the admission fee, they’re patting me down. As I’m hesitant with the instructions, the bouncer searching me laughs and asks if it’s my first time here. The safety precautions continue after I enter the club: A security guard tells me I have to check my jacket before heading upstairs to the dance floor. I wait in line for half an hour. My anticipation to see New York City’s best DJ hold down a set of Michael Jackson and Prince is turning into bitterness over slow-moving staff members who are having problems hanging jackets up.

These feelings of resentment disappear once I’m upstairs moving to M. J.’s "I Got This Feeling." My white-boy shuffle feels out of place at a party where the majority of the audience is black and knows how to get on the good foot. But people are so wrapped in their own dance steps to the King of Pop’s catalog that they hardly notice me.

The question now is this: Could a DJ play six hours of artists who have received decades’ worth of airplay and keep the crowd moving?

DJ Spinna, a Brooklyn native known for eclectic sets of hiphop, house, classic soul and funk breaks, answered my question in short order. A musical archeologist and vinyl junkie, Spinna was here tonight not only to entertain, but also to educate.

He spliced Jackson’s "Human Nature" with SWV’s sampled gem "Right Here," into Nas’ "It Ain’t Hard to Tell." Then, while playing a Jackson 5 instrumental of "ABC," he cut into the tired Naughty by Nature anthem with the same instrumental loop, "O.P.P." This time, however, the crowd didn’t seem forced to scream, "You down wit’ O.P.P.!" It just came.

The best DJs know how to read their crowd and make dated tracks feel new again. It only made sense when he played Jackson’s "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" twice in a row. The crowd reacted with cheers. Even louder the second time around. He peppered the rest of the set with rare dance floor mixes of both artists, throwing in sister Janet’s "Nasty Boys" and "When I Think of You" for the girls who were having too much fun already.

Although Spinna holds a residency at Shelter on Friday nights, flipping a wide spectrum of underground urban cuts—highlighted on his recent album, Here to There (BBE/!K7)—once a month, KeiStar Productions holds a monthly theme party that showcases only a handful of artists’ music. I’m already rubbing my privates for next month’s May 16 gala at Pepper’s Lounge: a whole night dedicated to Stevie Wonder, titled "Wonder-Full."

DJ Spinna—Soul Slam III, Sun., April 18 at Club Shelter, 20 W. 39th St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-719-4479