Brenda is the New Black

Written by Jeffery Taylor

Standing just a little over 5’6”, DJ Brenda Black smiles sweetly for her mug shot on the back cover of a recent issue of New York City’s HX Magazine. The words stamped above the photo declare her “Vlada’s Most Wanted.”

Her crime? Playing fierce music at this popular Hell’s Kitchen watering hole (house specialty: 15 infused vodkas!) for the past two years, most recently on Wednesday and Friday nights. She was also found guilty of “Best DJ” three years in a row by a jury of readers of the aforementioned publication. Armed with music from every decade and every style, this smooth public enemy knows how to spin with sass and bust a beat, and should be considered extremely dangerous, especially to those who have imbibed a few cocktails.

A self-described “Manhattan girl,” Brenda Black was conceived in Brooklyn, grew up in the East Village, and has relatives in every borough. Her parents came to the United States in the early ‘60s from Puerto Rico. “That’s why I’m so cute! ‘Cuz I’m Puerto Rican!” she says in a faux Latina accent. And she is. Very.

But cute only gets you so far in the dog-eat-dog world of Manhattan nightlife, especially now that anyone with an iPod can claim to be a DJ. “One of the things that was very important to me was to offer people a different kind of sound than they’re hearing everywhere else,” she says. “I have nothing against pop music and mainstream, and I love a good pop/house mix, but there’s just so much other good music out there that is not getting heard.”

She’s not trying to put down any other venue, but, she ruefully adds, “You could go from bar to bar, and you’re hearing the same ten songs. I want people to say, ‘We’re going to go hear Brenda Black because we know we’re going to hear stuff we’re not going to hear in every other bar in this neighborhood or around town.‘”

That certainly seems to be the case at Vlada, which is consistently packed for their Friday night party, Booty Bump, and Sugar, the Wednesday night party she helms. Sugar is all about electro, monkey beats, and pop/hip-hop mash-ups. “Monkey beats” is a term she got from a fan to describe really funky beats, which are, in her words, “a little bit thicker, a little bit heavier, a little bit more experimental.” You can download podcasts from her website, djbrendablack.com, to hear some of her sounds.

Brenda got her first taste of real house music at the tender age of 5. Before she was old enough to even go out to clubs, she was getting schooled by her older cousins, who would be getting ready for a night at Paradise Garage. “I’d be watching my cousins put on their cute outfits, and they’d let me put on their lipstick or their wigs while they were getting dressed,” she remembers.

Her cousins would come home from the legendary gay club, where Larry Levan presided over the turntables, and would play his mix tapes. “Club music was always in the house,” she says. She remembers listening to DJ Jazzy Jeff: “I would hear his music, and he would do things at the turntables that was just incredible.” She also cites Blaze, Masters at Work, and Danny Krivit from Body and Soul fame as some of her strongest musical influences.

In 1999, Brenda started DJing herself. She got her first big break spinning for Candis Cayne’s Monday night show at Barracuda in Chelsea. As fate would have it, the regular DJ called in sick. “They asked me to fill in,” she remembers, “and I literally have not stopped working since.”

Though the majority of her work is at gay clubs and venues, Brenda herself is straight and plays straight parties and private events. She currently has a regular gig at Bubble Lounge, a gay-friendly establishment in the chic TriBeCa district of Manhattan, and at 49 Grove, a swanky destination for private parties and special events in the West Village. “I don’t accept a job because it’s a gay place or it’s a straight place. I accept it because it’s a job.” She says in a hushed tone, “Don’t tell the straight people, but I kinda like the gays better!”

And the gay boys love her right back. In 2007, Brenda spun to rave reviews at the Pines Party on Fire Island. With Abel on the main floor, Brenda commanded the alternative dance floor with her more progressive, eclectic style. Brenda was also a regular at High Tea and played at the Blue Whale’s Low Tea. This past summer, she dropped her beats at Sip ‘n’ Twirl, where she promises to return next year.

In addition to the Pines Party, Brenda has played such outdoor events as Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre opening night parties in Central Park and at Heritage of Pride’s Rapture Pier Dance (that’s ladies’ night, the night before the “other” pier dance). “It’s great to be able to play in places like that,” she says. “It brings all your senses alive.”

She also spins regularly at the David Barton Gym in Chelsea, which she says “has surprisingly become one of my favorite places to spin. I say ‘surprisingly,’ because it’s not a traditional party/club atmosphere, but it’s such a great audience to spin for. They’re looking to have music to help them with their workout. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s mostly a bunch of really hot guys that I get to look at while I’m spinning, you know what I mean?” We know what you mean, gurl.

In 2006, Brenda appeared on the television show Queer Eye in an episode featuring a transgender male named Miles. The Fab Five made Miles over and had a big “coming out” party inviting people who had known him as a female but who had not seen him since his transition. The party took place on a private boat that cruised around Manhattan, and Brenda was the featured DJ for the event. She had met Carson Kressley years before in her Barracuda days where he became one of her fans, and she has since played private events for him, including one of his book release parties.

Brenda is also a part-time music journalist. She writes music reviews for HX and has been published in DJ Times and various travel publications. She also designed the musical soundtrack for the off-Broadway play Fabulous Life of a Size Zero.

DJing, however, is her true passion. She’s not in it for the fifteen minutes of fame like some of the iPod DJs you might find at some of the local bars. “Most of the DJs I know who are really serious, they’re not trying to get famous; they’re trying to make music. Any fame they’re trying to garner is more recognition for their work, as opposed to recognition for themselves.”

Brenda told the owner and manager of Vlada, “’I want to give the audience something else. I want to be able to stand out from all the other bars in the neighborhood, gay or straight, by exposing them to a lot of new music. I’m not talking about anything weird, I’m just talking about good new music.’ And they said, go for it. And it’s been working,” she happily reports.

“I think that’s another reason why the vibe is so good,” she continues. “It’s not that people don’t want to flirt or hook up. It’s not that they’re not there to socialize. But they are also coming because they want to hear the music. The crowd is there, open and hungry and willing and enjoying it.”

If that’s such a crime, put her in jail. Honey, the acoustics would probably be fierce!

Be sure to check out djbrendablack.com for upcoming special events as well as her weekly podcasts.

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Brenda is the New Black

Written by Jeffery Taylor

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