Neal Augenstein, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – The mohawk hairstyle has been retired, but DJ Mohawk Adam says he’ll be mixing old school music and technology with new at the upcoming 30th reunion of Poseurs nightclub.
The DJ was a prominent character at the Georgetown nightclub, which was the first in the region to feature music videos.
When Poseurs opened in 1983, Mohawk Adam and fellow DJs Adam Sartwell and John Kaminski chose what videos to play from monthly tapes sent by pool distributor RockAmerica.
“Adam [Sartwell] and I would meet up before the club opened. We’d watch the entire thing from front to back,” says Adam. “There was mainstream, there would be more underground with industrial and hip hop. We’d make notes of what we liked and try everything out on the crowd and see what people liked.”
Now with digital music, there’s no shortage of music choices.
“You can get online freebie downloads from the labels in some cases,” he says. “It’s just a lot easier to get exposure to new music.”
The wealth of music to choose from presents a challenge in finding time to listen to it.
“It’s almost to the point where you get buried in it sometimes, but it’s still enjoyable,” says Adam, who now lives in Massachusetts. “There’s still lots of good stuff out there. You just have be a bit more discerning I suppose.”
Adam says he’s glad to hear music on mp3.
“I’d rather not be a laptop DJ,” he says. “I DJ with CDs, I prefer to hold something tangible, maybe that’s just me being old-fashioned.”
For those who attend the Aug. 4 reunion at Rock & Roll Hotel, it’s unlikely Adam will be sporting his trademark hair do.
“I guess it was 10 years ago I realized I didn’t want to be tomorrow’s hippie,” he says. “I wanted to move on. Everybody’s got mohawks these days.”
With the passage of 30 years, many at the reunion will look different.
“I just want to have whatever hair I have and not be judged on it,” he says.
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