DJ Exclusive: YoYo Burkhardt

DJ YoYo Burkhardt in pose

At first seeing the big alien like YoYo I am a bit taken back, but Yo will tell you himself he is sentimental about his first shape appearance and is loyal to it! I love it! YoYo plays a very eclectic mix in his set and I have seen him recently at the Attic to experience this. Yo keeps a steady flow of tunes going that reach a grassroots and classic sounding pastiche of Lou Reed sounding new artists and skirts through a few genres to be sure! I wil be going when I get the notices for sure...

Here is YoYo......

Are you DJing currently and where? You bet! If I'm in SL I'm DJing. Currently I have two weekly club gigs; The Velvet and The Attic. There's a once-a-month spot at a cafe in Meisterbastler-Kreis.

there are other occasional spots, like at The Mercury Room and a couple other places. I'd love to DJ more, but pesky RL gets pretty demanding.

The Enigmatic YoYo 

When did you start DJing? I really began around 1993 at a community radio station in Bekeley, California. As for Second Life, I started deejaying in September of 2010, just a couple of months after first wandering inworld. Discovering I could DJ there was the "glue" that made me stick. My purpose!

First Club? My first couple of SL gigs were at a roller-skating rink that's now long gone. Very soon after I began spinning at the two clubs where I hung out the most. 

At The Attic I was playing my typical "anything-goes, kitchen-sink-eclectic" sets (just like I do now), and at The Vault I was following their theme of vintage swing, big-band, jazz, lounge, and rhythm & blues. Lots of Louis Prima and Sinatra. I got requests for Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing" a lot. That place was fun!

Most unusual thing you saw while DJing? Hmmm, well - - these days it's gotta be anything "mesh" on my ancient computer's old mesh-intolerant viewer. I see folks who look like bad conceptual art, or someone's nightmare about a geometry test.

Favorite music? Yes, it is!

Pre Rez Yo

Influences? The collectors record shop where I grew up, it was one of a kind and VERY eclectic. Once I was old enough, it's where I had my first job, and where I got my education.  Umm, what else - - College radio. The long-lost free-form FM radio. Dr. Demento, the sprawling and meandering 4-hour version of his show, many years ago, a very different animal.

What do you listen to at home?Anything. Everything.  "The only bad music is boring music."  Sorry to not get specific, but my tastes are still all over the map, and I'm always hungry for more. Name a genre and I might veer more towards the vintage stuff, perhaps. But I also I want to hear what's new, or something old that I may have missed. I'm still enjoying the stuff I listened to in my teens. In the car I'm usually listening to oldies rock & roll or classical.

Do you have a regular set you play, a “go to” set? I'm always wary about repeating myself too much, though there's certain artists you'll often hear. I love finding a thread of music that blends together well, and if it spans multiple genres, all the better. I love a good segue. 

I've had liteners say things like; "This set is very - - 'you'", and not be able to explain it or identify it further, and I take that as a compliment. 

I want to expose what's new, but not forget the old and familiar - - and vice-versa. I try to explore and maybe educate the listeners, somehow, and hopefully brighten their day. Sharing music, getting to DJ, it always brightens mine...

When can we hear you DJ usually?

Monday nights, 7pm at The Velvet. Wednesdays at 6 at The Attic. The first Sunday of the month in MBK at 5. Locations and more info are on my profile, and joining my DJ group ("YoYo's Yahoos") will get you notices about those appearances and other surprise gigs.

Cream and sugar or black? No coffee for me, thanks, I'm driving!

Cat or Dog? Dog, though it's been a few years. Other people's cats are fine, but not to live with, thanks. Ker-choo!

If you could take one thing from your inventory for real-life use, what would it be, and why pick it?

One of my dashikis, maybe. They look so groovy and comfortable!

Best SL Memory?

November of 2010, the day I met my girlfriend. Sitting and talking on a grassy hillside with a view of the ocean.

There was also the time when I was a wide-eyed newbie, and a woman demonstrated to me the "guerilla theater" opportunities of having alts. She staged an impromptu quarrel with "herself" - - a twin version of her avi - - and it seemed I was the only other person in the busy club / laundromat that knew what was really going on. Grasping the implications and possibilities gave me a rushy "Twilight Zone" feeling. Blew my mind!

Thank you for interviewing Yoyo! See and hear you out there soon!

Top Picture by Yoyo Burkhardt

Bottom Pictures by Pie Cartauld