Vehicles for human transport that have two wheels and require balancing by the rider date back to the early 19th century. The first means of transport making use of two wheels arranged consecutively, and thus the archetype of the bicycle, was the German draisine dating back to 1817. The term bicycle was coined in France in the 1860s, and the descriptive title “penny farthing“, used to describe an “Ordinary Bicycle“, is a 19th-century term. Early bicycles There are several early, but unverified claims for the invention of the bicycle. A sketch from around 1500 AD i ..read more

Well, so much for regaling you with some hilarious past experiences from my life in the DJ world. Trust me, I wrote them out. It was a good exercise and definitely helped jog my memory and put these gems to paper. But, here’s the thing…. I can’t print this stuff. lol. Feels like I should sit on these and save them for a steamy memoir or screenplay. I’ve got a business to run man! Back to your regular programming. JT James is a DJ, producer and writer based out of Vancouver, Canada. A veteran of the DJ and recording worlds. he has produced several projects in the genres of hip hop and electroni ..read more

Endlessly scrolling an Instagram feed occasionally has it’s benefits. Such is this case with this little jam that I found through a comment rabbit hole on a relatively well known DJ’s page. I can’t recall who the heck that was, but I do remember the comment on their post thanking them for their support. I liked the music I was hearing from DJ Unknown’s post, so I went to the other page. From there I saw some posts prompting this next song. It’s a bop with big buildups and breakdowns utilizing a vocal chop of the first hit rap song ever, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang. Clever use and a ..read more

As this year’s New Year’s Eve festivities ended and I changed out of my fancy sweat pants and made the long commute from party headquarters in my living room to bed, I didn’t even think of the coming significance of the next day. For many the new year is a time of renewal, but for me it usually means a little bit more. Only this year I totally forgot. You see, 8 years ago on New Year’s Eve was the last time I drank alcohol. I knew it was going to be the last, or at least I hoped at the time, so I went in pretty hard and now count January 2nd as my “second birthday”. I find it a good sign that ..read more

The past few weeks of work have incredible. I haven’t felt this stoked DJing in almost a decade. The positive energy and enthusiasm from party goers has been fantastic. With most major restrictions lifted, dance floors were opened after almost two years of their relegation to an illegal activity. It’s crazy how much everyone has realized what they’ve been missing. Myself included. It was like everybody 21 and under was having their nineteenth birthday all at once last weekend. And then some. Epic. – JT View this post on Instagram A post shared by essential entertainment (@essentialdjsvancou ..read more

Well, so much for regaling you with some hilarious past experiences from my life in the DJ world. Trust me, I wrote them out. It was a good exercise and definitely helped jog my memory and put these gems to paper. But, here’s the thing…. I can’t print this stuff. lol. Feels like I should sit on these and save them for a steamy memoir or screenplay. I’ve got a business to run man! Back to your regular programming. JT James is a DJ, producer and writer based out of Vancouver, Canada. A veteran of the DJ and recording worlds. he has produced several projects in the genres of hip hop and electroni ..read more

Here’s a little jam a came across on my Instagram scroll. More and more this is a place where I find some really cool music. Not so much on FB, which I spend less and less time on these days, but more so on the aforementioned platform and Tik Tok. These are vital channels for artists and having one of your songs pop in this fashion can result in some serious traction. So much so, that Billboard now has a chart to specifically address this and uses metrics from socials to inform the chart positions in other Billboard categories and overall sales numbers. I’d love to show you that chart, but it ..read more

Having a little more spare time than I’m used to, I was lucky to find some inspiration as of late working with a couple talented songwriters/producers. It was yet another reminder of how important collaboration is in the creative process. I spent a lot of hours delving deep into my DAW of choice, Logic. I’ve been a champion for this program for over a decade and can’t say enough about its features and work flow. Ultimately, there are some other great programs out there, with Ableton coming in a close second, but for my money Logic has always been the king. Biggest con for the program would be ..read more

Endlessly scrolling an Instagram feed occasionally has it’s benefits. Such is this case with this little jam that I found through a comment rabbit hole on a relatively well known DJ’s page. I can’t recall who the heck that was, but I do remember the comment on their post thanking them for their support. I liked the music I was hearing from DJ Unknown’s post, so I went to the other page. From there I saw some posts prompting this next song. It’s a bop with big buildups and breakdowns utilizing a vocal chop of the first hit rap song ever, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang. Clever use and a ..read more

As this year’s New Year’s Eve festivities ended and I changed out of my fancy sweat pants and made the long commute from party headquarters in my living room to bed, I didn’t even think of the coming significance of the next day. For many the new year is a time of renewal, but for me it usually means a little bit more. Only this year I totally forgot. You see, 8 years ago on New Year’s Eve was the last time I drank alcohol. I knew it was going to be the last, or at least I hoped at the time, so I went in pretty hard and now count January 2nd as my “second birthday”. I find it a good sign that ..read more