On Point With: Kim Dazy

Stonewall’s resident DJ darling Kim Dazy is ready to be back in the booth… just in time for some major Pride partying!

Thotyssey: Hello Kim, Happy Pride Month! How is June treating you so far?

Kim Dazy: Hi Jim! Yes, Happy Pride! So far June has been hot, lol… but high energy! People are getting out, finally dancing… making this Pride month exhilarating.

We are making up for lost times! How did you spend your long, dreary year of lockdown?

Yikes, it was longgggg. I spent a lot of time visiting my mom, and I did work from home remotely teaching. I cooked a lot, and binged The Handmaid’s Tale, which was my quarantine binge to catch up to this season–crazy show, so good! And I rocked out to Spotify’s New Music Fridays and Gaga’s Chromatica, which I feel got robbed by the quarantine.

It did! And now the record’s a year old already.

Facts! It is, but I’m looking forward to playing lots of thumpy remixes from that album for Pride.

That’ll be something at least, now that Gaga’s cancelled her tour again!

So sad! We had tix, too. So far, postponed… so we shall see.

Where are you from originally, and was music always a Thing for you while growing up?

I’m a Jersey girl, born n’ raised… proudly! Yes I said it, lol! House and dance music has always been my jam. I loved making cassettes for friends (yep, aging myself) and ran around to Michael Jackson’s Thriller album every evening after dinner on my blue-n-white plastic record player as my mom played her favorite Atari game called Burger Time. Also, the neighborhood kids and I would make paper guitars on the weekends–with paper straps–and rock out to Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister playing in a boom box. The original guitar heroes! It all started then!

Aw, I need me some Burger Time now!

Yasss, classic video games never die… like The Goonies!

Now on HBO Max! How did you ultimately get into DJing in the bar scene?

I originally started as an 80s music DJ, believe it or not. I have a soft spot for 80s music… big time. My very first regular gig was at a gay club in Sayreville, NJ called The Colosseum, which sadly is closed now. That began in 2001. From there I got started doing a weekly 80s night at [historic NYC lesbian bar] Henrietta Hudson in 2002. That led to a weekly Friday night residency there, where I showcased mainly dance and hip hop for the next 11 years and grew a name for myself. Then I did many guest spots and residencies including Paradise in Asbury Park, the Boatslip in Provincetown, and Gay Days in Orlando to name a few. Now I’ve been at the famous Stonewall Inn as a resident DJ the past four years.

Henrietta is apparently rebranding as a wine and cheese lounge. Much has been written about the decline of the lesbian bar in recent years, but monthly lesbian parties like those thrown by girlNATIONnyc (which you spin for) are still pretty popular. What do you think might be the future for lesbian bars and gay women’s nightlife?

Great question! I think our community is so on the way to being recognized in such a positive manner–with each Pride becoming more and more mainstream each year, if you will–and the need to segregate the community by having girl bars versus boy bars will eventually become a thing of the past, in my opinion. I love, love, love being a part of the Stonewall family, because everyone is accepted and treated equally–no matter what gender, race or orientation. I’d prefer a mixed place over a strict girl bar any day.

Speaking of the Stonewall family, I always got that vibe that all the staff and entertainers are very close. Is that true?

Totally true! Y’ know, I felt that vibe from the staff the moment I became part of them. The love and appreciation flows around that building each night, and we have mad love for the people that want to be there, let loose and be themselves!

I love asking bar DJs this question: what are your thoughts on song requests? Annoying, no problem, or depends?

DEAD! So, depends… it’s all about the approach. If someone is nice, patient, asks once… then I’m apt to play it, if it fits into the set and night. Rude, drunk or obnoxious people who ask every two minutes with a whack song will not get their request. It’s all about the approach to me.

That is fair! I think everyone would ultimately be happier if they just trusted the journey the DJ takes them on and stop treating them like Spotify.

Yes, you said journey! So true. I’m the DJ that’s all about the journey… but a recognizable one, where guests can dance and know the music and most songs with a crazy, amazing track mixed in here and there that he or she may have never heard, and they’ll be like, holy sh*#…what the F is this? I gotta get this!

That sounds like the perfect night! So, Stonewall has slowly been bringing back its branded nights and adapting to all the changing protocols. Have you been there doing your thing these past few months?

No unfortunately, I haven’t yet. I will be, though. They have been doing a lot of amazing drag on the weekends since about March, and now things should resume as far as the dancing element.

On Pride Friday (June 25th), you’ll be spinning the “VaXXXed Pride” dance party!

Yes! The Friday “Vaxxxed” party is upstairs at Stonewall, presented by girlNATIONnyc and Danielle Presents! We are expecting an enormous, safe crowd, which will be made up of party people previously vaccinated, or who have tested negative prior to the party with a rapid test. This will be the first real dance event for me in a year and a half, so I’m over the moon and ready to bringggg it.

Then you’ll be back at it on Pride Proper!

The Sunday “Re-United Pride” party will be at the gorgeous Hudson Terrace [now re-opened and renamed Harbor], presented by Cynthia Russo Events, LovergirlNYC, Las Reinas and Stacy Lentz, hosted by Mare Mazz. There are six DJs lined up–NYC’s best of the best! We’re all hyped to throw it down for this one.