Sounds Like Now

A blog by saxophonist Brian Sacawa

The death of Dubble8

November 20, 2008 at 5:25 pm · Filed under Baltimore, Blog: Fall 08

It was a sad day when I learned that Erik Spangler, my great friend and co-conspirator with Hybrid Groove Project and Mobtown Modern had decided to put his DJ name, DJ Dubble8, to sleep. While in Iceland of all places, I saw an investigative television program that described hardcore neo-nazis in America. One of the things that caught my attention was their use of the number 88 (a.k.a. Dubble8) as one of their maxims. Surprised, I told Erik when we got back, but he thought that it was such an obscure reference that he still felt comfortable with it. Fast forward a few months to the middle of the Presidential election. The neo-nazi connotations of 88 came to the forefront of the American MSM as Erik reported on his site:

A news story about a couple of snotnose skinheads planning to assassinate Barack Obama among 88 other black people has focused on a ridiculous neo-nazi meaning attached to the number 88. While it is true that the 8th letter of the alphabet, H, repeated twice can abbreviate a couple of unfortunate German words, it can also stand for Hip Hop. It is also an extremely lucky number in Chinese culture. I chose my alias of DJ Dubble8 because of my birthdate, August 8th (8/8). The day before the “skinhead-88″ story broke, it also occurred to me that as of this year in 2008 I have lived in 8 states (Virginia, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Massachussetts, New York, Florida, Maryland). 8/8 is the time signature of Baltimore Club, the dance music of my city . . . I’m putting the alias to rest, with sadness, as of today.

So from now on, Erik’s just going to be Erik Spangler on all his projects. That’s cool, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a name like Erik Spangler, but I think he needs a new DJ name. That’s why I’ve decided to issue an official call for submissions to the Rename DJ Dubble8 Foundation. If you’ve got a name you’d like considered, send me an email or add a comment with your suggestion. When I’ve collected a handful of names, we’ll take a poll to see which one wins. I thought DJ ESP was cool, though it’s already taken.

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5 Comments »

steve wrote @ November 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

If you change your DJ name, the terrorists won. Fight the (white) power!

brian wrote @ November 20th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Well, there are some people, neo-nazis included, who likely think that the terrorists did win. Got a new DJ name suggestion?

erik wrote @ November 21st, 2008 at 11:50 am

Y’all can speculate all you want, but I’m performing as Dr. Spangler’s Beat Lab these days. The “Doctor” part of the name reinforces mad scientist connections and reflects my new use of the theremin, a whole table of odd electronics. Being billed as “DJ ___” leads some people to think you’re only playing other people’s records rather than making original music, so I’m experimenting with a new set of assumptions.

I think the negative associations around 88 will fade– the neo-nazis don’t own this number, and I’m still keepin my website as dubble8productions.com

Fuck ‘em

brian wrote @ November 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pm

Okay, so I guess Dr. Spangler’s Beat Lab it is. You heard it straight from the artist’s mouth right here.

cory wrote @ November 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 am

Speaking of assumptions, the title of this post scared me! I’m glad to read it is merely the name that will die, as opposed to the person. That said, here’s my ‘vote’ for “Dr. Spangler’s Beat Lab.”