“I had a band coming out of high school and we would play around the city a lot. We started throwing our own party called Shin Dig, which were these loft parties we would move around to different places. We would have a few bands play and artists would show their work. It was ten dollars to get in with an open bar… It was a total shitshow at the time. People started to notice us and gave us nights to play at bars around town. That’s how I started DJing. I got into bartending at Beatrice and DJed there too. When Beatrice closed I stopped bartending and kept up with DJing, navigating through it all, finding the right places. Now it’s a lot easier to manage, I guess cause’ I’ve been around for a while.I DJ at the Soho Grand, those guys are all really nice; it’s like family. I am there on Fridays, PH-D on Mondays and some other places throughout the week.
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“My grooming habits are pretty minimal. I have one product that I swear by. I can’t live without Nivea Baby. It’s a super thick moisturizer and I use it on my hands, my hair, everywhere. Instead of using products in my hair, I use it almost as a putty to give it a little shine and make it more manageable. That’s definitely something that nobody knows [laughs]. I bought it one time in Croatia and can’t live without it. My father is Croatian and I have a lot of family there, so we go there every summer, and it’s the only place I have ever been able to find it. I’m very protective of it, too [laughs]. My girlfriend isn’t even allowed to use it. Seriously, one of my worst fears in life is running out of this stuff. I have tried to find it online but you can’t buy it anywhere, so in my closet I have a stack of them. I keep one on me at all times, there’s even one in my DJ bag.”

“I am pretty sure I have hyperhidrosis, where you have excessive sweating. So I get Botox in my armpits and it works really well. It’s pretty amazing actually. I have to do it every five or six months, it’s like sixteen shots per armpit, but they are little ones. It’s great and insurance covers it.”

“I get my hair cut at Dop Dop on Mercer. I don’t really shave; I just have a trimmer and buzz. I shave maybe once or twice a year, clean-shaven. I can’t really grow a full mustache. A few years ago I wanted one pretty badly and I grew it as long as I could, but it still looked like a little Puerto Rican kid [laughs].”

Photos by: Aimee Blaut

Tags: Beatrice, Croatia, DJ, Dop Dop, Franco V, Nivea Baby, Ph-D, Shin Dig, Soho Grand Hotel