VJ Vision FAQs

This page features some of the more commonly asked questions posed to VJ Vision regarding his performance career.

Q: How long have you been a DJ?

A: I have been a DJ since 1979.

Q: How did you get started?

A: It was difficult to afford the equipment needed to DJ at that time. A good turntable with pitch control cost between $1,200 and $1,500. My best friend (we were both 16) received $50,000 in a trust fund from a car accident he suffered as a child. He used that money to buy a Mercedes-Benz and a complete DJ sound system. It was great. I had the largest collection of vinyl in the town where we lived. He borrowed about (50) of my records and we learned how to use the equipment. We learned how to change the pitch and speed of records. We learned to sample sound effects and speeches into songs. We learned to incorporate special effects like echo and reverb into our mixes. We recorded our mixing sessions onto cassette tapes that I still have somewhere in my house. My favorite mixes featured the sounds of trains and animals we sampled onto "Stairway to Heaven". We also experimented with the music of Queen because you could sample & alter the voice of Freddy Mercury. It was pretty interesting stuff to hear in 1979.

Q: What had been your first DJ performance?

A: My first DJ performance took place on a stage in my high school in December, 1979. I earned $30 for 2-hours work. I remember the first song I played that night had been "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc.. I still have the 12" on vinyl.

Q: When did you first DJ in a nightclub or bar?

A: In December, 1982, I performed as a DJ in a small lesbian bar located in a remote coal mining town in the mountains of West Virginia. I had been attending West Virginia University at the time. I posted messages throughout the campus offering my services as a DJ. One of the messages I posted had been in a hard-core punk rock bar (I forget the name). It was a dark and dirty place…But, I remember that they played great music. I finally got a phone call from the flyer I posted in that punk rock bar to play in another bar. I had no idea what to expect. I did not know anybody in that other bar. They asked me if I did not mind performing in a gay bar, I said, "no…it is ok…as long as I get paid". They kept asking me to play Boystown Gang: "Cruisin' the Streets". It was a 20-minute song. And, I played that song about 3 or 4 times that night. In the end, I got paid $25 for working 4-hours on a Friday night. They wanted me to return to play again…But, I never went back. People ask if I paid my dues as a DJ…I think I did.

Q: How did you get started mixing and performing music videos?

A: In 1983, I studied video production and post-production at Rutgers University. I learned to assemble edit and mix visuals on JVC and Panasonic equipment. I purchased my own video editing equipment and started to record and assemble sports highlights off TV. I created about 10-hours of sports highlights and I mixed dance music onto the images. I approached all the bars and nightclubs in the area where I lived to offer my "mix videos". There had been a very popular dance club called: "Pier Pub" located on the boardwalk in Long Branch, New Jersey. The manager of the bar loved my sports compilations. He did not know I had mixed music on them. I told him to listen to the music on the videos. I returned to the bar a week later and he enjoyed the music I had mixed on the videos. He asked if I would be interested in working as a DJ at his place for $150 per night. Of course, I could not wait to DJ at that bar because it was the hottest dance club on the Jersey shore at that time. I had been scheduled to make my "big-time" DJ debut in March, 1984 when a fire broke out on the boardwalk and the bar had burned down. I lost my "big" opportunity at the time… And, I felt sad because I knew the DJ who worked at that bar left his vinyl in there overnight so I wondered what happened to all his great music after the terrible fire!!!???

Q: You lived about an hour from New York City. Did you ever perform in New York?

A: Yes. I liked to hang out at the Peppermint Lounge, Danceteria and The Ritz. In July, 1985, I approached John Montenero (better known as "Monte") who had been the VJ at The Ritz. I gave him one of my sports compilation videos and my business card. I called him a week later and he told me to come into the bar. On that night, I did not have to wait on line and I did not have to pay a cover charge. In fact, I had been placed on the "guest list" and I simply walked right into the best club in NYC. I found Monte and he took me into the DJ booth which had been located on the ground floor facing the stage area. He showed me all the audio & video equipment that they used to mix videos. It was great. The videos played at The Ritz came from "Rockamerica". They have been around since August, 1980 providing music videos for clubs and bars. Anyway, I started to work at The Ritz as an assistant to Monte from time to time. I did not earn a lot of money. But, it had been the first place in which I mixed music videos for a live audience!!!

Q: Where did you go after working at The Ritz?

A: In 1986, I attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where I earned an M.A. in Journalism. I got elected Social Chairperson of the Graduate School at UNC and I hired myself to DJ every graduate school event on campus…It was great because I helped to influence many foreign students.

Q: You are now a very successful DJ in San Antonio, Texas. What brought you to San Antonio?

A: I moved to San Antonio in 1988 with my mother and grandparents. We are Italian and we are a very close family. We had a mutual friend in the city who suggested we check it out. I loved San Antonio the moment I came to visit and I told my mother that I wanted to live here.

Q: Where is the first place you worked as a DJ in San Antonio?

A: In August, 1988 I approached the manager of the Bonham Exchange and I offered my DJ services. I had been told that it would be very difficult to get hired at that place. I compiled a play list of House and progressive dance music that I had purchased on compact disc. At the time, no DJ had been using compact discs. Everybody had been using vinyl. I had traveled throughout the world in 1987 and I purchased compact discs in New York, London and Singapore. I had a huge collection of more than 1,000 compact discs. The manager of The Bonham at that time had been Joe P. He had been very impressed with my play-list of compact discs. I offered to provide him with a FREE audition. He brought me in on a Monday night and I performed for his team of DJ's. At the end of the night, I had been offered a DJ job in the video room at a rate of $5 per hour.

Q: Did you DJ with video or compact discs at The Bonham?

A: I performed with both ¾" video and compact discs at the same time. I had been the FIRST DJ in San Antonio to perform with CD's. That is a fact. I brought portable CD players with me into the Bonham, I placed them on top of the turntables and I connected them into the mixer. I would also bring in a portable VCR and I would play my sports compilation videos tapes. Those sports compilation tapes allowed me to DJ with compact discs in the video room of the Bonham. Of course, I also mixed in the original videos into my sports highlight tapes. It was a pretty cool experience to see what I did at the Bonham at that time.

Q: What kind of music did you play at the Bonham?

A: They wanted me to play Depeche Mode, Dead or Alive, New Order and Erasure. I played that music. But, I also played a lot of "House" music. I believe that I had been one of the first DJ's to play House Music in San Antonio. I remember playing Marshall Jefferson, Ralph Rosario and Fingers Inc. at the Bonham in 1988.

Q: Where did you perform after leaving the Bonham?

A: I found myself on St. Mary's Street. I might have been the first ever DJ to perform on the St. Mary's Street Strip. Rick French who owned "Wacky's" brought me into DJ at his place in 1989. I earned about $40 per night playing for him. Then, I performed for the grand opening of Joey's Bar on the strip. About a week after Joey's Bar had opened, I jumped next door and helped to open "City Lites". It had been at "City Lites" that I got established in the city of San Antonio. They promoted me as: "CD/DJ Miguel". There are still people in San Antonio who I see from those days. It was a BIG deal. We had everyone from the city come into that place including Sean Elliott of the Spurs and others. I feel that my work at "City Lites" was very important because it helped other DJ's who wanted to use compact discs.

Q: What other events have you performed in San Antonio?

A: In 1991, I performed with Selena at La Semana. I did not meet her. I had been far from the stage overlooking the huge crowd on a scaffold. I got nervous trying to climb the scaffold with my music. It was a great event, though. I played Hip-Hop and House music in between the band sets that night. There must have been at least 5,000 people dancing below me.

Q: What is your most memorable performance?

A: I have many memorable performances. And, I try to record all of my performances. I enjoyed playing for my grandmother at "City Lites" in 1989. They had my name: "CD/DJ Miguel" on the marquee in front of the bar. I was very nervous performing in front of my grandmother…But, she was very supportive of my work. In 2007, I performed in front of my mother at Acenar on the Riverwalk. We had a huge crowd and she really enjoyed watching me perform. I think my greatest performance had been at The Bonham on Halloween night in 1988. I can remember that had been a crazy night. Great costumes, beautiful women and great music…It was a night I will never forget.

Q: What is the strangest thing that ever happened to you as a DJ?

A: There are (3) moments that I can remember that were very unusual. In 1993, I performed a huge New Years Eve party at a party room in an apartment complex in San Antonio. The capacity had been 75 people and we had more than 300 people…It was insane. I had to turn up my amps so loud to hear the music that one of my speakers caught fire. It happened right after midnight (thank God). I grabbed the speaker while the music was still playing and I raced through the crowd to remove the flaming speaker from the building. I was lucky because it was raining. I threw the speaker onto the sidewalk and the rain put out the fire. I could see smoke rising from the poor speaker. I returned to the party and I started to worry…How am I going to DJ for 300 people with only (1) speaker. About 10-minutes later, the police entered the room and ended the party!!! (Ha, Ha)

Q: What were your other (2) strangest moments?

A: One night I had been performing at "City Lites" and I heard somebody yell to "get down". There had been a gang shooting a gun from outside into the bar. I got down into the DJ booth and I reached up to put on a Sound Effects compact disc. I located a track with police sirens and I turned on the volume full blast…It was great!!! I did not continue to work at "City Lites" much longer after that incident. The bar had started to go downhill because of gangs in the area. My other strangest moment occurred during a "private" party at Revolution Room in 2006. I had set up my LCD screens in the Blue Room. About an hour into my performance I see about (15) TABC agents enter the room. It was a raid and they were on hand to end the party for a serious violation of TABC rules. During the raid, I changed the music and I started to play a morbid track by Bach. It is a composition that everyone has heard. And, I have an orchestral video for it. It was great to see this gang of TABC agents raiding the bar to the music of Bach. I will never forget it!!!

Q: Did you perform at the Lila Cockrell Theater?

A: Yes…I performed at the theater in January, 2008. It was a very interesting performance in that I played and mixed opera music videos and opera performances for 3-hours. I listened to opera for about a month in preparation for that event. And, I had been very pleased with my performance that night. I brought about (12) LCD screens with me. It took nearly 12 hours to set-up everything. Also, I had my name mentioned in the Express News the next day for that performance. Unfortunately, I did not record that performance because I did not have time to set-up the DVD recorder!!!

Q: When did you perform at The House of Blues?

A: I performed at The House of Blues in Dallas on November 29, 2007. It was a very special performance for me. I brought my LCD screens and set them up on the stage. Then, I plugged into their house sound. It might have been one of my greatest performances. The highlight of the performance had been when I played NWA, "Straight out of Compton". Can you imagine playing the music video for that song at the House of Blues…They went crazy!!! (Thank God I recorded that event).

Q: What was it like to DJ at the top of the Tower of Americas?

A: It was difficult. I had to get my LCD screens and sound equipment to the top of the tower in an old, slow elevator. The elevator tech had just "repaired" the elevator so I volunteered to try it!!! Your ability to hear is affected at the top of the tower so I had to turn up the volume during the party. I thought about playing excerpts from the film, "Towering Inferno" but I had been discouraged to play the DVD by a friend of mine. (good decision)

Q: Talk about your performance at the Freeman Coliseum?

A: That was fun. I performed on a huge stage with the Elizondo Orchestra. Mr. Elizondo is a great guy. His orchestra would perform for 45-minutes. During their performance, I did not see anybody dance. Then, I would start to play my music videos and I got everybody in the coliseum dancing in front of the stage. They stopped dancing when the orchestra started playing again. It was funny. Later, I got on the microphone and playfully "challenged" the orchestra to a battle…It was great!!!

Q: What is your favorite kind of music?

A: I enjoy progressive dance music, electronic, techno and rock. I am known as a Hip-Hop DJ in San Antonio. I am very familiar with Hip-Hop and I have competed in Hip-Hop DJ contests on the East coast. I like Hip-Hop and I especially love Soul Train. I grew up listening to the Temptations, Slave, Parliament, the Commodores and Sly & the Family Stone. But, I am really a trance/techno DJ playing Hip-Hop!!!

Q: Where do you get your music videos?

A: I subscribe to video pools for professional VJ’s. Every month, I receive about (300) different music videos from every genre of music. These are the latest videos in the area of Hip-Hop, Trance, Country, Latin, Rock, & Top-40. It is a real challenge to watch and familiarize myself with everything that I receive. It is the part of my job that people never see or understand.

Q: How are your music videos different from the videos we see on MTV?

A: The music videos I receive are licensed for public performance. The fees I pay to purchase these videos allows me to play them in public. Also, the music videos I receive are unedited and uncensored. Many of the videos that I play are never shown on American TV.

Q: What are some of your favorite music videos of all time?

A: There are so many of them. I like Benny Benassi, "Satisfaction". I like Fedde Le Grand, "Put Your Hands Up Detroit". I enjoy Kanye West: "Gold Digger".  One of my favorite videos would have to be a crazy clip from the wrestler, John Cena, called "Bad Bad Man". It is a parody of the ‘80s featuring Madonna, Gary Coleman, Mr. T and others. I will always love the video for Iron Butterfly, "In Gadda Da Vida". It is (17) minutes in length. And, it might be the best music video made in the '60s. The video for "Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie is a classic. I like music videos that are fun & sexy. They have to make people want to dance, too.

Q: Do you ever meet some nice girls when you perform in the clubs?

A: I enjoy meeting all kinds of people when I am performing…It is the BEST part of my job. Believe it or not, I am a shy person. Nevertheless, I meet many nice girls when I perform…And, I want to talk to them. But, it is difficult to get to know them because I am very busy and serious about my work. If a girl wants to get to know me, she should make arrangements to meet me at the end of the night or when I am not working.

Q: What advise do you have for anybody who might want to get into what you do?

A: It is difficult. First, you have to concentrate on a particular type of music. It is almost impossible to be familiar with everything. Focus on your favorite kind of music. Learn the history of that music. Listen to music all the time. Purchase equipment and practice mixing everyday. If you cannot afford new equipment, buy used equipment from pawn shops or local music stores. The more equipment you can purchase, the more jobs you can do. In the beginning, do not have high expectations…You have to take whatever is offered to you. If you want to expand the business, invest in a van to store and transport your equipment. Also, it is a good idea to make business cards that are creative and easy to read. Establish a DBA at the court house. Join a DJ association like NAME or the ADJA. I am a member of both organizations. These organizations will provide you with benefits including DJ insurance for your equipment as well as liability insurance that will protect you if someone should get hurt as a result of a negligent act. Finally, if you want to become a good DJ, it is very important to listen to what other DJ's are playing and how they are mixing the music. Listen to how they talk on the microphone. What do they say…And, how do they say it. What are they wearing? That can be important if you want to perform weddings or exclusive engagements. Look at what kind of equipment they use. How do they set-up the equipment? How do they carry and transport the equipment? Most of all, it is important to have respect for other DJ's. I have been performing for nearly 30-years and I have respect for every DJ in San Antonio trying to earn an honest living through music.

Q: What are your future goals in this business?

A: I would like to own my own dance club. If there are potential investors reading this page, I would encourage them to contact me. Also, I would like to generate more corporate opportunities. I am currently the official DJ for Whataburger and I am one of the "house" DJ's for Neiman Marcus. I get good exposure from working with these corporate entities. Ultimately, I would like to be the first ever DJ to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!!! (sorry Dick Clark)