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Fire and Ice in the clubs

Pyromaniac Lord of the Black Vinyl Arts to occupy Garf’s

Who: DJ Swamp

Where: Garfinkel’s

When: Wednesday, June 9

Tickets: $10

Cross a skilled turntablist with a Jim Rose Circus performer and you may scratch the surface of this thing they call Swamp.

Reknowned for bizarre onstage antics such as busting vinyl and bloodying himself with the shards, scratching razor-sharp needles across his tongue and setting himself on fire, Swamp just may be the DJ of the Apocalypse.

He definitely looks the part – shaggy headbanger hair, black wardrobe, black fingernail polish and black scowl. If he was a canned pasta he’d be Scary-O’s.

Appearances and masochistic tendencies aside, Swamp is at his core a supremely skilled DJ. Winner of the 1996 USA DMC championships he continues to push the envelope of the art form nearly a decade later with innovative scratching techniques that bridge all genres of electronica.

Musicians of all genres aren’t afraid of Swamp either. He toured with Beck during the artist’s ground-breaking Odelay era, he’s the man behind the Bloodhound Gang’s goofy-nu metal anthem Mope. He’s worked with Morcheeba, The Beastie Boys, Papa Roach, Rob Zombie, Soul Wax and so many more.

Swamp is well rounded as an MC as well, with a quirky, unpretentious delivery that’s completely winning from the first word.

Don’t let that fool you though. He’s still scary as all hell.

DJ Swamp descends on Garfinkel’s this Wednesday night with Mat the Alien. Tickets are $10 in advance from the Electric Daisy Internet Cafe.

For more information call 604-935-4282.

Stop, collaborate and listen...

Who: Vanilla Ice

Where: Tommy Africa’s

When: Friday, June 11

Tickets: $20 first 50 people, more afterwards

Admit it, you liked him.

You liked Ice Ice Baby. You listened to it on cassette in your first ghetto blaster all the time.

If you were a girl, you probably even thought he was hot with his tattoos and his blond flat top with the shaved designs on the side.

To the extreme he rocked the mic like a vandal, lit up the stage and waxed the chump like a candle.

He burned bright and fast though. By the mid-90s no one would admit to liking him. It was the Death Row Records death threat thing. It was almost like Suge Knight could somehow kill you from prison using Jedi mind tricks if you uttered Vanilla’s name.

But with the onset of ’90s retro chic, it’s okay to like Vanilla Ice again.

Seriously.

There’s even more of him to love now with the release of new album Bipolar .

He’ll be on the mic at Tommy Africa’s next Friday, June 11. Tickets available only at the door, $20 for the first 50 and increasing as the night goes on.

For more information call 604-932-6090.