Eye on the Triangle

Brian Jurado 0:00
The views and opinions on Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State Student Media. Hello everyone you are currently tuned into Eye on the Triangle here on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 Raleigh.

Hello everyone this is Brian Jurado, the Public Affairs Director here at WKNC 88.1, Eye on the Triangle took a little winter break. But now we're back with some more weekly news and great interviews for these next coming weeks. Today's episode is going to start out with the weekly news of technician news editors Sam, Heidi, Emily and Abigail. Following the weekly news Maha has an interview of DJ duo Smilez and Sparklez. Hope y'all enjoy today's episode.

Abigail Ali 0:56
Hello, guys, welcome back to Eye on the Triangle. My name is Abigail Ali. I'm the news editor at technician and today I am here with,-

Heidi Reid 1:04
Hey guys, I'm Heidi. I'm the assistant news editor at technician.

Emily Vespa 1:08
Hey,I'm Emily, I'm the other assistant news editor at technician.

Sam Overton 1:11
And I'm Sam, I'm one of the managing editors at technician.

Abigail Ali 1:14
As you can tell we have a new person. Yes. Yes, Sam is our boss. And she is here to join in on the tidbits and all the good stuff that we have to tell you today. So yeah, let's get started.

Emily Vespa 1:28
Okay, Roses are red, violets are blue. If you liked the bachelor, then this one's for you. I came up with that rhyme all by myself. So thanks, guys. So starting January 23. If you didn't know the Bachelor is back. And if you want to go to a live viewing party, you can go to the Dirty Bulb Brewing Company, um, in Durham, and it's called the event called Rosé and Roses. So they're going to have rosé and there's also going to be bachelor bingo. And this is the most interesting part, weekly fantasy drafts for the Bachelor, which I've never heard of. But if you're into sports, then maybe you would like this too. So it's gonna be from 8 to 10pm every Monday night.

Heidi Reid 2:06
If you love fantasy football, this one's for you.

Emily Vespa 2:10
You would totally get into The Bachelor too. And you can do your weekly fantasy drafts and maybe they'll even start doing like sports betting but for the Bachelor.

Sam Overton 2:17
So those who are massive fans of both The Bachelor and football, this one's for you.

Emily Vespa 2:21
What's the over under on this one, I don't know.

Heidi Reid 2:23
You know how when people like lost their fantasy football drafts, they had to like spend 24 hours in a Waffle House or something. Yeah, they should do that for this.

Emily Vespa 2:30
Yeah, like up the, up the stakes a little bit.

Heidi Reid 2:34
Yeah, I agree.

Abigail Ali 2:34
Yeah. It sounds like so much fun. Honestly, I don't watch The Bachelor. But that sounds so iconic. Like, could you, it's like a movie viewing for the Bachelor. And then there's like a game like that's so fun.

Heidi Reid 2:46
I bet there's like such good commentary to since you're in such a big group of people.

Abigail Ali 2:49
Literally like people are probably feuding by the end of that. That's amazing. Wow, I love it. Okay, so for my tidbit, I only have two this week, because we have some long ones. And we have a guest person. So we're going to keep it, I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet. It's probably not going to be but that's fine. Anyways, for my first one, I thought about shouting out coffee shops, because my new, I've had some new favorites. And this semester, I, well actually over break I've been really enjoying just like going to a coffee shop and doing whatever work I need to do. And I don't know, these are some I really liked that have been really chill and mellow. So for those going back to school, listen up. So the first one I'm going to recommend is Iris Coffee Lab. It's kind of close to Glenwood in Raleigh. And I really like this one just because it's so colorful and pretty on the inside. It's kind of like, halfway a basement, like you have to go downstairs to get into it. But it's still very bright and beautiful and very tranquil and quiet. I don't know, it's just very nice and welcoming. And there's always the same people working in there. And they're all just so sweet. So I highly recommend for people just like who like a very, like, chill atmosphere. The next one is Idle Hour Coffee and this one, heads up, parking is really hard there but once you get in there, it's a, like, kind of like an older building and it's just very pretty. And I know it gets like a lot of natural light and stuff and they always have very creative like pastries and they used to have like a mushroom cupcake that looked like exactly like a mushroom which was really funny and cute. And yeah, they were really cool and have cute, like cups like my friend got a cappuccino and it was in like blue China like the the really decorative China and it was like the cutest thing ever. And yeah, that one's a lot more spacious. So people who really like open, it open, like place to study or like chill and hang out with your friends. I really recommend that one. And they have outside seating if you're into it. And then the last one is Black and White Coffee Roasters, they are connected to Videri which is the chocolate factory in Raleigh if you don't know, and because of that, I highly recommend you get their mocha because it is the best mocha you will ever have in your entire life. And also the inside is absolutely stunning in my opinion. It's very small on the inside, which is a downside, but everything is just so beautiful. And it literally looks like a Pinterest photo in there. So like I just love it. And they also have outdoor seating, which is really really nice. And it's by the train tracks, which I think is cute. So yeah.

Sam Overton 5:36
I'm a huge fan of Iris Coffee Lab and for people, if you've seen Avatar lately, if you're a fan of Avatar, let me tell you what, they make blue smiley face lattes-

Abigail Ali 5:47
Yes they do.

Sam Overton 5:48
-over at Iris.

Heidi Reid 5:48
Also small coffee shops are just so nice for studying in because like who wants to be on hill all the time? That's boring.

Abigail Ali 5:54
Exactly. And you get a little treat.

Heidi Reid 5:56
Yeah, a little sweet treat as well.

Emily Vespa 5:58
Everyone likes a little sweet treat.

Sam Overton 5:59
Yeah.

Heidi Reid 6:00
Okay, so as you guys know, I'm an advocate for a lot of things.

Abigail Ali 6:03
Advocate.

Sam Overton 6:04
No way.

Heidi Reid 6:04
One of them being listening to music on mediums other than Spotify or Apple music because I love Spotify, hate Apple Music anyways, listening to like vinyl and cassettes is fun because it forces you to listen to the whole album you get cool album art. So I'm going to give some suggestions on where to find these things in Raleigh because I am the number one professional in the triangle area at this. So first up is Sorry State Records. Their record store is downtown and the inside is super cool. They also have like a, like a usually like stacks of like local ziens and advertisements for local shows right inside the door. They have both new and used music, including vinyls and cassettes. Some of the new ones are a little more on the pricey side, which is kind of to be expected if you're buying new. And they also have really good sections for both indie and alt rock. And the other sections. They have a pretty good punk rock section too, but they're all on the smaller side. But yes, anyways, super cute inside Go check it out. So next up is Father and Son. I'm not usually a huge advocate of Father and Son because I think it's kind of mid for their other stuff. So expensive. But I found a lot of really good vinyls there in the past for ridiculously cheap like I don't think they know what they have when they slap prices on it like, like completely honest because a lot of their cassettes are $1. Plus it has a great location because as you know, I'm also a huge advocate of the warehouse district. Yeah, so lastly, Hunky Dory is really good too. Not the Raleigh one but the dur-, Durham One, Raleigh one's okay, the Durham one I prefer. There's also a bar inside so it's just a fun place to hang out. There's also a vape shop inside not an advocate of that, but that's also there if that's something you like and it has a very large selection of all genres both new and used. And they get a special shout out because they have really good selections of old r&b and alternative country which is harder to find. So everyone go check it out. It's a great way to discover new music.

Abigail Ali 7:49
What was it called?

Heidi Reid 7:51
The last one? Okay, let's let's do a little review. Yeah, the first one is Sorry State Records, which is in downtown Raleigh. Next up is Father and Son which is in the warehouse district and Father and Son is like a big vintage store. They have lots of stuff and then Hunky Dory, there's one Raleigh and there's also one in Durham but the Durham one is better

Emily Vespa 8:06
Nice.

Heidi Reid 8:07
Thank you and goodnight.

Emily Vespa 8:07
I know whenever Heidi says the word advocate I know it's gonna be a good tidbit. I wait every week-

Abigail Ali 8:13
It's true.

Emily Vespa 8:13
-for the advocate segment. And I'm so excited that you did another one.

Abigail Ali 8:16
And Heidi is a big advocate of good music.

Heidi Reid 8:18
I am, I'm a huge advocate of a lot of things.

Abigail Ali 8:20
But I love that you brought up vinyls because I have recently become a big vinyl girly and I love that I just get to listen to my favorite music on very nice speakers in a row like it is just, I don't know, it's become one of my favorite things ever. There's just something about getting a good vinyl that just makes your heart warm.

Heidi Reid 8:38
No, it's so fun. Also, I love how it forces you to listen to the whole album. Because like I love listening to new music, but sometimes it is such a chore so like having a vinyl that you can't like physically skip, you have to put a lot of effort into skipping songs when listening to like a vinyl or cassette. Like, I like how it forces you to do that. And you get to discover fun new music.

Abigail Ali 8:54
Yeah.

Sam Overton 8:55
Do you like Girl Scout cookies and also beer? Well, then I have the event for you.

Heidi Reid 9:00
Thank God.

Sam Overton 9:00
The Girl Scout cookies and beer pairing is at the Glass Jug Beer Lab and RTP on Saturday, January 21. They're offering two beer flights, one with four Glass Jug beers and one with four guest brewery taps and are basically going to pair the beers with a different girl scout cookies. So if you're above the age of 21, and you're a big fan of Girl Scout cookies and or beer, and if you're not a fan of Girl Scout cookies, I have some words for you. But in general, but this should be a really cool event. The Facebook, it doesn't look like the Facebook event is open for the public yet but there should be more information coming out soon. So it's in like a couple of weeks.

Heidi Reid 9:40
What do you think the Girl Scouts have to say about that?

Sam Overton 9:44
I don't think, I think you should ask them.

Heidi Reid 9:46
I think I should.

Sam Overton 9:47
When they knock on your door in a few days time you should be like, hey, do you know about this event? What, what kind of, do you think Budweiser goes with the caramel delights? What do you think?

Emily Vespa 9:56
Ask them what their favorite beer pairing is for each one, what would they recommend.

Heidi Reid 10:00
I'll get their hot take and it's also like free marketing for the events. Anyways, the event sounds really fun and everyone should go check it out because that sounds interesting. Like I've never thought about cookies and beer being paired like that's an interesting thing.

Abigail Ali 10:14
It could be really interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I'm into it.

Emily Vespa 10:17
All right, get ready to rodeo Raleigh. The sidewalk ends and the wild west begins at the world's toughest rodeo.

Heidi Reid 10:24
Oh my god.

Emily Vespa 10:25
On Saturday, February 12 at 7:30pm at PNC Arena, the nation's top cowboys and bareback riding, saddle back riding and bull riding we'll all be performing at the world's toughest rodeo. And tickets include entry to the pre-show at 6pm. And you can go do pony rides, you can meet the Cowboys,-

Sam Overton 10:43
Wait, I want to go back to the nation's top cowboys. How do they select, what's the criteria for the nation's top cowboys?

Abigail Ali 10:49
I actually know this answer.

Sam Overton 10:50
No way.

Abigail Ali 10:51
Yeah, so as we know, I used to be a horse girl and my family is actually into rodeoing and, well not anymore. But like my step brother still does it. And also my stepdad is very yeehaw. And so like he watches a bunch of like yeehaw stuff. And basically they go, there's like circuits like competition circuits and people go around, like how you place and stuff will get you points. It's like a sport, like they just get points in like,-

Emily Vespa 11:19
You can also get, if you go to the show early, you can get photos in the clown barrel. This is what the website said and it made it seem like a big deal. I have no idea what clown barrels are. But if you get a ticket you can also take a photo on top of a live bull named Sonny.

Abigail Ali 11:35
I want to meet him.

Heidi Reid 11:36
I want to meet Sonny, I want to go into a clown barrel and I want to meet the nathion's top cowboys.

Emily Vespa 11:40
Kelvin, I have to get a bottle in the clown bro. Like it has to happen. This sounds so much fun.

Abigail Ali 11:45
Okay, so my next tidbit is pretty short. But it's kind of fun, especially if you're a big reader like I am, or also in the realm of studying. Wake county libraries are going to be open for two hours longer from now on, which I think is really, really exciting because people really love going to like the local libraries. For students specifically, I know if you go and take your student ID and just let them know that you're a student, you can get a library card for free, which is really, really nice, especially if you're a big reader, because I know my friends complain all the time about getting books and reading them and being upset that they paid money for a book that's not good. And so going to the library is a good way to like save money on books. And also, if you wanted somewhere that's not campus that you can study. I know the public libraries are great places to do that, because they're quiet. There's not as many people and I don't know, sometimes parking on campus, it's kind of annoying. So like, I think parking's easier at those but yeah, so the new hours are going to be 9am to 9pm, Monday through Thursday, 9am to 6pm on Fridays, and then 1 to 5pm on Sunday. And I got this from the news and observer. And they emphasize that this gives people more time for, to like study and use the computers in there because I know a lot of people use public libraries for computer access. So yeah, this is pretty exciting.

Heidi Reid 13:14
That's really exciting. I actually made an ins and outs list for 2023 and libraries were the first thing on the in list so that worked out.

Sam Overton 13:22
books are so expensive nowadays.

Heidi Reid 13:23
Yeah, they are. And also like, why would you buy a book even if they weren't expensive when we have libraries, which are like such a nice public thing to have.

Emily Vespa 13:30
And I'm pretty sure you can rent the movie or not rent, you can just get the movie Avatar at the library

Sam Overton 13:35
The new ones? Guys, if you're a fan of Avatar, check out your local comic.

Emily Vespa 13:41
And I also love this because I actually feel like the library I, this year I got the library card for like Wake County. Yeah. And I feel like they have such a good selection of books like, I was really surprised. Like they have a lot more books then. Especially like, like the one at NC State. The library doesn't have a lot of like fun reading books. But I am super happy with all the books there. So you should definitely check it out.

Heidi Reid 14:01
I love Hill, but it's just textbooks, like half the books, no one has touched in a decade and there's gonna another decade by before someone touches the.

Emily Vespa 14:07
Yeah, and they have cool like tables, like at least at the Oberlin one they have like, really cool tables of like recommendations that are really, I've always found like good ones there. So.

Heidi Reid 14:16
Okay, so for my last tidbit, I'm doing a shout out to the NC Supreme Court because they did some good things last month, in December. So here are the quick highlights. So one, they invalidated the later, the latest voter registration law. Yay. You don't need voter ID to vote because voting is like a basic right, you know, and next they've ruled the map in this year's Senate election, as an illegal gerrymander, which is also good because I feel like a lot of politicians just ignore gerrymandering in general. And lastly, they removed a Confederate statue in Winston Salem.

Emily Vespa 14:48
slay.

Heidi Reid 14:48
and the Supreme Court. You do more than the US Supreme Court could ever imagine.

Emily Vespa 14:54
Yeah, that's actually awesome.

Sam Overton 14:55
That's sort of like a love letter to the NCAA Supreme Court.

Heidi Reid 14:58
It was.

Sam Overton 14:58
So much more.

So, did you know that a tiny home is also called an ADU or an accessory dwelling unit? Yeah, crazy, right? It's easier than ever with a pre approved set of designs released by Raleigh City Council last month. This ended a eight year long debate. Eight years is a long time to be arguing over something, eight years ago, I was 12 years old. That's how long.

Heidi Reid 15:24
people are passionate, people.

Sam Overton 15:26
People are passionate about their tiny homes. Have you seen HGTV lately, people care about their tiny homes. So new new rules state that people are allowed to build them attached to their homes, detached, or above their garage? Like I just imagine like a levitating tiny house.

Abigail Ali 15:43
Like the frog or like the attic above a garage you can like make an actual room and people rent it out.

Sam Overton 15:49
Anyway, moving on. Some of the designs are 288 square feet, and some are as large as 800 square feet which is pretty much like the size of my apartment. I think. That's a pretty decently sized tiny home right there.

Emily Vespa 16:01
Is it even tiny?

Sam Overton 16:02
is, it's just a home.

Emily Vespa 16:04
10 year long debate.

Sam Overton 16:06
Listen, a tiny, a tiny house can become a tiny home with these new rules from Raleigh. Aging homeowners like them that can be used for short term rental. I'm sure they'll be really popular with Airbnb and VRBO. And what have you. And a little note for fans of The Hobbit. Have you ever wanted to be a hobbit? Have you ever wanted to feel like a hobbit? Well, now you can. With your new accessory dwelling unit in Raleigh. You can have your tiny little house you can decorate as you'd like maybe you have a little log cabin. Maybe you have a little like modern moment but either way you will be a big person and a tiny house. You can become a hobbit.

Heidi Reid 16:41
My ADU is going to be in a hillside except it's going to have like a tiny wooden door in the hillside. So I'll really be like a hobbit.

Sam Overton 16:49
A big circuit probably exists.

Heidi Reid 16:50
And now, with this pre approved design.

Abigail Ali 16:55
Okay, guys, that is all we have for you this week. As always, thank you for joining us and we will see you next time. Bye.

Brian Jurado 17:06
Up next Maha interviews, DJ duo smilez and sparklez.

Maha Syed 17:13
Hey, what's up everyone? This is Maha with WKNC on 88.1 FM HD one in Raleigh. I'm here with smilez and sparklez. Hey, guys, how are you?

male speaker? 17:22
Hi, doing great, how are you?

Maha Syed 17:24
Good. Good. So can you tell the audience who you are and what this is?

female speaker? 17:30
Yeah. So we are smilez and sparklez. We're a DJ couple regional to Raleigh, North Carolina area so far anyway. And we've been DJing for almost three years, but really out in public for probably only about six or seven months? I'd say

Maha Syed 17:47
Yeah. Six or seven months? Wow. You guys sound fantastic. I would have thought you've been doing this for like 10 years.

female speaker? 17:56
Thank you. That's very nice of you.

Maha Syed 17:59
So how did this happen? How did this start?

female speaker? 18:03
It's a funny story. I mean, I think a lot of people have similar stories to this. So we were in COVID in like March and April 2020. stuck at home. Working still, we both have full time jobs but but kind of bored on the weekends at night, right? There was only so much TV you can watch or games you can play. And so actually a good friend of ours bought a little mini mixer because we love music. We've always loved music, music has been a part of our lives forever. And we both connect over it so much. It's been a big part of our relationship. So our friend bought us a little mixer. And we just started playing around in our garage actually, became like a little DJ studio for us

Maha Syed 18:44
An actual GarageBand.

female speaker? 18:49
I never thought about it that way. But I guess we are. And yeah, we just started getting better and realizing that we were pretty good. And our friends would tell us we're good. And we're like are we actually like good? Are they just being nice? And then we actually just got an opportunity to play out in public and realized how much we actually loved to perform together and make people dance and happy and yeah, that's how it started.

Maha Syed 19:11
That is so awesome.

male speaker? 19:13
We added a lot of mixes out to SoundCloud start.

female speaker? 19:16
Don't listen to the early stuff.

male speaker? 19:18
There's a lot of stuff we've taken down.

Maha Syed 19:20
You have to start somewhere, I guess

male speaker? 19:23
Yeah. But that was fun too, just starting to kind of share music with the world and get reactions and build the following.

female speaker? 19:31
And we love to listen to our mixes. We love the playback because it's like it's like an artifact of something that we've built together. And we're very collaborative with it. We definitely don't see eye to eye 100% of the time but we ebb and flow with you know, taking each other side basically and the mixes that we create are really cool to listen back to we listen to them a lot actually.

male speaker? 19:51
Yeah.

Maha Syed 19:52
I'm curious to know, what are some of these like forbidden soundtracks that you guys took down?

male speaker? 19:58
They're just ones with terrible transitions.

female speaker? 20:01
Sound audio, at first we didn't know that we had to download the music before we could record it. So it was like our phone sitting by a speaker. Those are not online anymore.

male speaker? 20:12
And we have friends out there who will still say that they're good mixes. But I mean they're good, like, song placement. But when we hear the transitions, it's just cringe worthy. So yeah, we can't even put them up anymore.

female speaker? 20:26
It's fun, though. If you, if you listened to the first couple, and now you listen to our mixes, you'd see how far we progressed.

male speaker? 20:32
Yeah.

female speaker? 20:33
Which is kind of fun, too.

Maha Syed 20:34
Yeah. So my third question is, how do you find the time and money to DJ and parent, following COVID, when everything kind of went back to normal, quote, unquote?

male speaker? 20:46
Yeah, so yeah, so we are parents, parents of two kids. And we both have full time jobs. It's very taxing. But I think, you know, we try with everything in life to keep it all in balance.

female speaker? 21:03
As much as possible.

male speaker? 21:04
As much as possible. And I think where we were always listening to music, now, we're really bonding over music. And you know, like, when we put the kids down at night, we don't necessarily go watch TV, we might go into the garage, and you know, work on the next set, or mix or something like that. So.

female speaker? 21:25
It's a therapy, honestly, music has always been therapy for both of us, I think, and it's an outlet, it's a creative outlet, our work is very stressful. And parenting is extremely stressful. So this is, to us, fun. And it's a way to just let ourselves be creative and let go and make people happy. And so it's, it's not a stressful part of our lives. It's a fun part. And we've always said, if it becomes more stressful than fun, then we'll probably back off a little bit, because we just have so much going on. But for now, it's a really big positive for us.

Maha Syed 21:57
So I have like, two little branching off questions. So, um, you two ebb and flow, what kind of like genre do you gravitate most towards?

male speaker? 22:09
Well, it's interesting. I mean, so we, we got into we liked, you know, EDM music before we really knew what that meant. So you start listening to, you know, some of these, like ultra live sets of like Afrojack or Tiesto. While you're working out.

female speaker? 22:29
Lots of progressive stuff.

male speaker? 22:30
Yeah. And then. And then we like kind of, we just shift like, we got pretty heavy into Dubstep and bass. And like, our favorite DJ actually is Seven Lions and for the different mix that he has, but and so we started really kind of recording in that space. But then, as we've been around Raleigh, Raleigh really rallies around a lot of house music. And so I think when you listen to us now, and what we enjoy, plain is what other people and us like to hear, which we call party house. So there's songs that everyone knows everyone can sing along to everyone can dance to, and they're over a house beat. So it's up tempo. It's fun.

female speaker? 23:16
Yeah, we just like making people happy and making people dance. So it's anything that's high energy that's going to make you want to get on the dance floor. Yes.

Maha Syed 23:23
Trust me. I know. I remember that event for inners, shuttle phase. I was there, yeah, with capital city. And it was fantastic. That's actually why I was so excited to meet you two. Because I was like, they're parents and I was like, I need to be way less, like close minded. So I was just like, this is like really awesome. I was, I was breaking a sweat, like.

male speaker? 23:57
And I think the thing that we tried to do too, is you, you try to curate sounds for each type of event. So that was an, I mean, everyone can can hear our live sets up on our SoundCloud, we'd record them. But like that was three o'clock in the afternoon, the weekend before Thanksgiving, we called it soulful celebration. It was like a lot of songs that kind of made people just feel good and happy around family. And then like we played Club Ora at nine o'clock on a Saturday, and that was more you know, there were some hip hop and there was more trap and there was you know, a lot of party house and things that you would want to hear at nine versus three in the afternoon.

female speaker? 24:43
We try to curate it based on who we know the audience is going to be but also keeping it really versatile. We don't like to play the same type of music for the entire hour or three hours. We like to make you-

Maha Syed 24:53
Thank you. That's wonderful. It's um, you kind of describe it like how it is to, I don't know, dress appropriately for an event or something,

female speaker? 25:02
Yeah, basically, it's very similar. Yeah.

male speaker? 25:05
Yeah. We did a pool party in the summer. Obviously, that's got a different vibe. We both came up from Florida. So we've got a lot of like Latin that we mix in from our time there.

Speaker 7 25:16
Yeah, you'll probably always hear at least one Latin house song in every set because we just love it. So much. It's like, how could you not dance to Latin house?

Maha Syed 25:23
I don't know. I love Latin house music. So that's, I mean, I just can't think of even being friends with anyone who doesn't listen to that. But um, yeah, so another question I had, another depart. So do you have plans for a family band in the future?

female speaker? 25:43
That's really funny. Our son who is eight actually loves to DJ and he got into it for a while, he has a little board, a little mixer. We had, I think it was his seventh birthday, we threw him a DJ theme party. And we literally had like disco balls and like LED lights all spread out throughout our house. He played music for his friends. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Just a huge music and dancing fan. So they're very much a part of each of us. Like you can see them. You can see us in them. And I don't know that we'll ever have a family band. But they came out to the Friends Giving Back show, the interfaith food shuttle. They loved it. They danced the whole time. They were really into it. So I've always said, I honestly think our son could be an amazing DJ someday, because he's very technically adept. Like, he just picks things up so quickly. And there's a lot of technicality that you need to learn as a DJ. So I think he'd be amazing. I think our daughter would be too. I would totally push them in that direction.

male speaker? 26:42
Yeah, they, and they call themselves Smilez Jr. and Sparklez Jr.

female speaker? 26:47
It's adorable.

male speaker? 26:48
Yeah, our son did a transition live during the Friendsgiving set. And our daughter was out there. I don't think she left.

female speaker? 26:56
She was shuffling. She was actually shuffling with capital city shufflers.

male speaker? 26:58
Yeah, she's a future capital city shuffler.

female speaker? 27:01
It was adorable.

Maha Syed 27:02
She was shuffling with me, too. That's how I met them.

male speaker? 27:06
And if you saw them around the house, like she picks up our glow sticks and starts just doing them in the mirror. She's a natural.

female speaker? 27:13
It's really fun.

Maha Syed 27:14
Yeah, I mean, kids, like pick up this stuff really fast. Like, on Tiktok. You can scroll through and there's like, all these like reels that I see of kids just like playing it, like faster than I got it when I like first did it. It was, it's insane. It's so, it's like second nature for them or something like that.

female speaker? 27:36
They're growing up in the age of technology at their fingertips at all times.

male speaker? 27:40
And we embrace that, I think, you know, one thing that we really tried to do with them, we have fallen in love with like, just the EDM scene and the openness and friendliness of of everybody, if you go to like a music festival. And so I mean, you could catch us as a family on the weekends watching like a San Holo set together.

female speaker? 28:00
They love GRiZ.

male speaker? 28:00
Yeah, my son loves GRiZ. Like, there's just a kind of a connection that we're building there with them through music.

female speaker? 28:07
Yeah, it's special.

Maha Syed 28:09
Yeah. So what are the most important things to both of you when you started smilez and sparklez?

male speaker? 28:18
Gonna go first. I mean, I think that we wanted to well, one, we're still figuring out who you are. You know, and I think when we first started out, we wanted to be a lot of things to a lot of different people. But the most important thing was that we wanted to have fun with it. And, you know, smilez and sparklez were names that we were kind of given just by friends before we even started DJing. So then they naturally became our DJ personas. But, you know, I think we just wanted to make sure that we were connecting through it, and we were having fun, first and foremost, and then that oozes out to everyone else that we're around. And, you know, we want people to just feel the positive, happy energy that we're trying to put out there. Because, you know, just trying to make people happy is the mission.

female speaker? 29:13
That's honestly similar for me. I think there's so many things that are happening in the world that are tough, intense, hard, difficult to deal with, people have personal things that they're going through. And so because music has always been a therapy for us, we just want to share that, like we just want to make people happy. We want to make people dance. We want to show them a good time. Like if you come to a smilez and sparklez gig, you will not leave in a bad mood. I promise you. You will leave sweaty and tired. But you will not leave in a bad mood. And I think that's just important. And that's we just.

Maha Syed 29:44
And I did. Yeah, that's actually really true.

female speaker? 29:49
that's awesome. I love that.

Maha Syed 29:51
Um, so what is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened during a set? Any set, this could be even in like the GarageBand days, literally anything.

female speaker? 30:03
How many bad transitions in the garage, first of all?

male speaker? 30:06
There's been a lot of bad transitions, yeah.

female speaker? 30:09
I would say honestly, just anyone who has ever DJ'ed live for an audience, I'm sure that they've experienced doing a bad transition. It's happened. It's definitely happened to us. And I don't think there's anything more embarrassing, discouraging when you know that you just screwed up. And probably somebody noticed it. That's the biggest thing. Like, there's so many little errors that people do that most people don't notice, except for maybe other DJs in the audience where they're like, Whew, that wasn't ideal. Yeah, just bad transitions.

Maha Syed 30:38
Yeah. What do you, what do you guys mean, when you say like um, what is the technical thing of transitions? Is it like the, so I know it's going from one song to the next. But like, when you're DJing? What does that look like? Instead of conceptually, like what it sounds like, you know?

male speaker? 30:55
Yeah. So yeah, so I mean, 101 is just making sure the beats match. Like if you can hear one song being overlayed to another and you're not hearing like, bom bom bom bom bom bom, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

female speaker? 31:10
Yeah, it's very easy to hear.

male speaker? 31:11
Yeah. And yeah, yeah. And that is the first thing that you hear. And then, you know, sometimes you can hear like, way too much noise.

female speaker? 31:21
Yeah, if two people are singing at the same time, and it doesn't go well together. Like you're not timing it well. It's, it's basically, when you can tell the song has just changed to another song, it's probably not the best transition, it should be as seamless as possible. But it takes time and effort and a lot of practice.

male speaker? 31:40
And a lot of bad transitions.

Maha Syed 31:44
Okay, now I'm getting it. So, I mean, I do like audio work. And I'm sure some people in the audience do like audio visual photography, or whatever. I guess it's like, making things like smooth and seamless, like when you're watching a movie or listening to like a really long song, right? That's what you're talking about?

male speaker? 32:01
yeah, for sure. Yeah. And no dead air. That is the other thing.

Maha Syed 32:08
Yeah, I was gonna ask, did any of you. I don't know. You read my mind.

male speaker? 32:12
Yeah. If there's silence. Yeah, even, even just like lounging around. If music just stops. I don't know. My head kind of pops off. Like, why isn't there music playing? Yeah, what happened? Yeah.

Maha Syed 32:27
For everyone listening in the audience, where would you like to direct everyone to where they can find your upcoming sets, local events, and anything that you guys are doing in the area, you guys sound really upbeat and awesome, which is honestly great for seasonal depression.

female speaker? 32:43
Absolutely. Our Instagram, it's where we post everything in terms of our next gigs, where we can be. We also have a linktree in our bio that links to our SoundCloud for all of our mixes, all of our live sets, tickets for upcoming events, that kind of thing. But our Instagram handle is smilezxsparklez. So pretty easy to find, I don't think there's anybody out there with the same name.

male speaker? 33:06
Same with the SoundCloud. Where all the mixes are. I think we have like, gosh, at this point, loading the live sets, all and all, maybe like 18 or 19 mixes up on SoundCloud right now.

female speaker? 33:16
A lot of content.

male speaker? 33:18
A lot of variation.

Maha Syed 33:19
And that's through the Linktree, right?

male speaker? 33:21
Yep.

Maha Syed 33:23
Totally. Well, it's been an honor like talking with you guys and learning more about you. I really appreciate you taking your time out to speak with me. Um, yeah. And bye, guys. Thanks.

female speaker? 33:36
Thank you so much.

male speaker? 33:37
Thank you.

female speaker? 33:38
Thanks, Maha.

Maha Syed 33:39
Yeah.

Brian Jurado 33:39
Well, that is all for today's episode. I want to thank Heidi, Emily, and Abigail, and Sam for their great news tidbits. Also want to thank smilez and sparklez for their time, it was great learning about your process through DJing. Hope everyone had a great first week of classes and tune in next Sunday at 6pm for a new episode of Eye on the Triangle. Music for today's episode has been Tupelo Honey by Chris Hogan, licensed through the YouTube audio library.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai