DJ Ricky Fatts six nights a week; Claude Von Stroke
By DAVID DAY | September 26, 2006
Claude von Stroke |
Boston club king DJRICKY FATTS is a busy man. “Right now I’m DJing five nights and promoting one. I got Tuesdays off. Wednesday nights I’m at the Wonder Bar, Thursday night’s Saint, Friday night Redline, Saturday night Felt, Sunday night’s Saint, and Mondays I help promote the industry night at Saint. Usually I’m not too busy until around Christmas time, but it’s been an odd year.” Since getting his break as a lighting technician on Lansdowne Street more than 10 years ago, Fatts has seen a lot of changes. “It was definitely a lot better at one point. The big clubs pretty much died, the wanna-be New York lounge blew up. The Euro scene kinda disappeared, the Latin scene started to come up. It seems to be getting better now. It seems people are getting a little tired of the lowest-denominator-type nights, of the same old same old, which is definitely a good thing, and club owners are starting to get a little more creative again.”One such club is Redline in Harvard Square, which has given Fatts free rein on its Friday Alternative night. “I’ll play some Stevie Wonder to Salsa to Kraftwerk to whatever the hell I want and people are receptive. Everyone from Harvard professors to off-duty cops to college kids to friends of mine that want to go out in Cambridge. Sometimes we’ll have people visiting Harvard Square like from China or whatever and they’ll come in. So I’m everywhere. I try to get a lot of Latin in there too. I’m Latino, and there are also a lot of Latinos that end up comin’ out.” If he can’t get it done in the club, he will do it on the low, in after-hours loft parties. “They’re getting rid of so many of the artist loft spaces around town so it’s kind of tough, but you don’t want to start getting the word out too early.”
As a long-time Boston resident, Fatts knows just about everyone in clubland, and he leverages these people to make the after-hours work. “You plant people at a few clubs around the city at the end of the night to go around and tell everyone that they know. Each person goes to the people they know that have big mouths, then you text the actual address. Kinda word-of-mouth-type thing. It just goes out and you do it all that night. Try to get in and get out without getting into too much trouble.” His knowledge of the scene also gives him a historical perspective. “Back in the day there were a lot more parties like that, and I’m trying to get that going because those are still the most epic most fun parties that people still talk about today. It might get a little too hot or too funky in there, but other than that you can hang out as long as you want — as long as people are awake.”
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