Dance Party Master Class with DJ Jake Rudh

You know a party is legendary when it has been going for over 25 years. Meet DJ Jake Rudh, the man who started it all. In this episode of 87.9, Glenn and DJ Jake Rudh discuss party essentials, including music selection, curating ambiance, and how to not look like a divorcee when you dance. 

Produced by Propellant Films
Starring: MJ Mattheson as Glenn Sheen and DJ Jake Rudh (as himself)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Your job as a DJ is to to keep the happiness going throughout the evening, not just yourself. And if you're hitting on all cylinders, everyone's happy, including the DJ. You could be a relationship therapist. I've been told that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

I have not. Yeah. I've been told the opposite. I've been told I've ruined relationships. Okay. They said my energy just brings the and the vibe down. I was like, I don't mind being the fifth wheel, seventh wheel, ninth wheel, eleventh wheel, and they're like, we're good. We have enough wheels.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Is Judy still in the Twin Cities?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Got it. Okay. I mean, what if all of a sudden you see her out on the transmission dance floor? Is she a dancer? I think she is without me. Um, you know, she was just um She's had her core group of friends, but you were never invited, type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Or how do you know all this? I've just been around the block. Yeah. Well, I've stayed in the one house in the block, apparently. You know, with the that weird house with the shuttered windows and the ferrets. And the ferrets. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I see why. Right. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I gotta get out there. I gotta shake my ass. Yeah, man. It's time. It's time, Glenn. It's 87.9 K Who Radio, and it's time for the Hey, who are you K who interview? That's right in the studio with me today, to my left. And if you're looking at us from the cameras, it'll also be to my left. We have in the studio DJ Jake Rood. Jake, thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Glenn, it's an honor to be with such an esteemed professional as yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Sir, that is high praise coming from you. Uh, although I am more of a recent fan of your work, I have been told that you have been around a very long time in the scene. I, in fact, uh went to your dance party on uh last Wednesday, uh transmission.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So that was you standing alone all night.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah, you saw me.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, I was there more of a dark shadow, but definitely now I'm putting two and two together. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Oh, there was probably other bald guys kind of standing there too.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Not that I recall, but that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Well, I'm glad you noticed me. Um, I had a great time. I was I was nodding a lot. Um, it was a lot of good uh music that I wasn't quite um used to.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

You came up and requested air supply. I remember this. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And I was um couldn't go there.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yeah, I was wondering why.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, well, you know, that's a little bit on the soft side for what we do on Wednesdays at transmission, but I did respect it.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

I appreciate that. Yeah. So, Jake Rude, you're celebrating 25 years of this dance party. Yeah, indeed. That's gotta be wild. I mean, that's a really long time for a dance party to go.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Apparently, it's one of the longest running club nights in America right now. Really? I've been told that a few times, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Oh my gosh, congratulations. Thanks. That's fantastic. I can see why. I um I could see everyone dancing, and I thought that must be that must be great to feel free enough to move your body without judging yourself or others judging you.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Amen to that. That's what it's all about. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Well everyone seems so free and welcoming and kind. Uh, and uh I'm not used to that. Okay. Um I'm I'm sorry to hear that, Glenn. That's okay. And you know, I'm I'm newly single. Well, it's been two years, but I'm newly into it. I heard from a friend. He's like, if you want to go to a place that's full of good vibes, good people, great music, and and just a free welcoming dance party, go to transmission at VFW.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Apparently, transmission is for lovers because I this is something I'm keeping track of. 17 people have met at Transmission, have gone on to get married. Not that, you know, saying that that's the ultimate goal, but I think it's pretty wild and cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

So you're telling me there's a chance that if you go to transmission and just be free and and open yourself up and lose your inhibitions, you might meet the love of your life.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

There may not be another air supply fan there, but you may meet someone. Never is. You may meet someone, and it's again, that's not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is just to be yourself out on the dance floor and have a great time and not be judged and not judge others.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

That is something that's great because my my previous experience with dancing was um high school. Yeah. Yeah. And I go to the high school dance, and you know, we'd always like roll our eyes and we'd leave the floor if like, you know, the backstreet boys came on just to show that we were like men, um, and you know, like, well, I'm not dancing to that. And then we would uh not ever dance um when anything else came on either. Mostly just chew a full pack of winter fresh gum and then hang out in the gymnasium and try to shoot basketball for the one time that no one is gonna yell at us for not being good at it.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Slow dances, stepping on toes. You never did that.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Slow, I didn't know. I only dance fast, and I don't dance, so no, I never slow danced. Okay. Um, no. I met my wife in high school though. Um she she we actually went to prom together. Okay. Sorry. My ex-wife.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah. Yeah. Um what was her name? Judy. Judy. That's my mother's name.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

No way. It is not the same person. Definitely not the same person. There'd be a time travel issue there. Yeah, yeah. It'd be it'd be difficult. But I met I met Judy actually at prom. Okay. Um, we went to well, we didn't go together, but I was there and she was there. So we went to prom together. Yeah. You know, well, at the same time. Yeah. And um, you know, I just never really danced. Uh and uh to see what you've created, the whole space of people who are free to be open in themselves is is is pretty magnificent. Does it ever blow your mind when you just look out on the dance floor and and something you're playing and something you've done has made the whole energy of the space change?

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Sometimes, yeah. I mean, it blows my mind that here we are 25 plus years later and it's still happening, and that it's a Wednesday night and not a weekend night, and that the club is still full. So different generations have found this place now, and it just continues. But I think that's because transmission plays, you know, kind of like timeless artists that uh span different genres and decades. Artists like David Bowie and Blondie and Talking Heads, and you know, new generations fall in love with that, whether it's being introduced from their parents or or older siblings or what have you. But the uh it just continues and I'm not complaining.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Man, I I do have a couple questions about about those bands too. And um, I've I've I've heard of David Bowie, mostly just from the movie The Labyrinth.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Um didn't realize he was a real singer. I was like, This this guy can act and he can sing, right? And then I didn't follow up at all until recently.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Um, but um, did you know his real name was uh Davy Jones?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Indeed, and you know why he had to change it. No, yeah, from David Jones or David Jones from the monkeys, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Oh, no way. He hit first.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

He got big first, he didn't want to have the same name as a monkey.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

No, I suppose. So I figured it was because uh he didn't want to be misconstrued as like the the ocean, you know, Davy Jones's locker. And I assumed that he didn't want to like, oh, the career was it's kind of like going up against Poseidon if you want to start a singing career, you know, like Poseidon's probably got it covered.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

You're going deep here, Glenn.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Oh, I see what you did. Yeah, yeah, into the trench. Um I'm also confused about Blondie because um, does that mean did she think she was really blonde, or did she have to stay blonde her whole life because she became blondie?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Um, you know, they were named that because she would be walking down the streets of New York, and you know, a truck driver or a cabbie would be like, Hey, blondie, you know, and it it stuck. No way. Yeah. Wow. So sometimes cat calling's okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Uh I'm not saying that. Oh, okay. Yeah. My bad. Uh I would, I would, I don't, I don't, I don't do that either. Right. It's gonna cross that off. Um, also, you mentioned the talking heads. Um, they sing a lot for talking heads. Shouldn't they be called the singing heads? Yeah, yeah. Next. Yeah. Oh, sure. Um, uh, the cure. Yeah. Did they ever find it? Ha ha. Next. Oh, all right. Um, B52s. Yes. Named after bombers, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

You know. When do they serve? Um, that's very good. So you did not do more alternative or new wave or post punk in your music career. Is it always been more on the Christian rock side, or what have you done? Oh, I've never really done anything but talk.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

It's been talk radio. This explains a lot. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I I'll leave the music up to the artists, you know. I I consider myself an artist uh when it comes to uh the language of English.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

B52s, you know, uh, you're here in the Twin Cities, you're starting to come down to transmission. They are a core staple band that we play at the club. They're coming to play live with a little band called Devo on September 20th at the Mystic Lake Amphitheater. No way. I'm very honored to bring them to the stage that night, and you should come out and you can dance at the Mystic Lake Amphitheater as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

You're telling me you're oh you're bringing out Devo and the B-52s? Definitely. Do the B-52s fly in a B-52 bomber to their gigs?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I wouldn't put that past them.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Okay. That's awesome. Okay, amazing. Enough, enough about these amazing bands that uh, you know, you you've turned me on to some music that I I really hadn't paid attention to.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So, what brought you down to transmission if you didn't know any of this music? I'm intrigued.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Well, I'd heard from lots of people that it was a great thing to go and do, especially if you were looking to get out there. I was able to uh go and be scared at a dance floor. There's something interesting about that. I my adrenaline was peaked. I was nervous, I was sweating uh more than I usually do. Yeah, but all I was was sitting in a room with really nice people dancing to some really nice music, but I was still scared and exhilarated. And that made me feel alive.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

I love that you had that experience, and I love that that is your takeaway.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Hey, speaking of dancing, I I know when I was there at your uh dance party, I I didn't dance, I just nodded a lot. And I was kind of trying different versions of the nod. And I don't know if you were busy working, but maybe could I just show you a couple of my moves and then you kind of tell me which one looks best, or like maybe what I'm giving off?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

I'm not saying that I am a good judge of dance moves.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Okay, fair.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

I've seen every move under the sun 10 times over, but uh I'm certainly willing to give it a try, Glenn. I would appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Like, how about I'll give you a nod and you you tell me what what's what I'm giving off. If, like, you know, people look at me in the corner and okay, so I'm there, and at first I'm just like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Right, okay, yeah. It looks like you're constipated, like you're trying to get move something through your system that's probably not a good good look. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I mean poop. Oh right. Maybe it was more of like an emotional thing I'm trying to push through.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

It very well could be.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Wow, okay. So this is another nod, a better nod when I was like into the song. Uh I'd be like, Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah. Okay. This tells me so much about your past with Judy. Just the way you're looking right there. And yeah. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

That's amazing. Okay, so what's the one? I would avoid that as well. That was one of my best ones. Yeah. Okay, what about this one? Um, uh, I remember you you you some of the music you played was kind of punk and kind of heavy, and everyone was like, you know, uh, like feeling it, and I was feeling it. So I remember I was doing this one a lot. Mm-hmm. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

That's does that show like dominance or if you want to, you know, change that to actually maybe moving your body rather than your neck, that would be a wise thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Yeah, I'm starting to realize that I really just need to stop nodding and need to start actually dancing. You got it, man. That is what it is, isn't it? Well, I appreciate that. Thank you, Jank. You bet. Hey, you know, I do uh uh have to we do have to uh take a quick break here. But our listeners, you stay here. We got Jake Root in the radio. K who 87.9, stick in there. This is great, man.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

You're you're really good at this. I feel it's I'm uh a little, you know, a little sleepy. Sleepy? Yeah, you know, DJs have late nights, and I had a very late night last night, so I'm I'm half awake. Yeah, and I feel like this is gonna hopefully we don't bore your listeners or viewers.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Oh, they're so bored all the time. Are they the number one thing? I I've heard that um this show is uh to some people's uh it's like they're ambient. Yeah. Um so some people only listen to it before they go to bed. Yeah. Okay, well, we can help out with that. Oh, definitely. Yeah, no, they're they they love this. They're snoozing hard right now. Okay, yeah. Okay. Oh, and I think we're coming back. Here we go. 87.9 K Who Radio. Uh, that was uh ad for Tobin's Topiary. We got trees up to our knees. All right. I want to talk more about you and and and and how you got into this world because here you are.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Did you ever have any kids, Glenn?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

No, no, not that I know of. No, but no, I've only been with one woman and we never um okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Why?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Why why um just curious?

SPEAKER_01 12:44

I'm a I'm a father and just was wondering if you were there. I mean Congrats. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know you could be like this cool and be a dad.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Actually, dads are the coolest.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Dads are the coolest.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

I'm not calling myself cool, by the way, but a lot of men who I meet who are cool are very much dads. Dads. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong. I should have a kid, and then women would want to be with me. That's up to you. I'm gonna write down. That's up to you. Yeah. Find adoption center. Okay. Uh so can I ask you this? What what what what excites you the most about now that you're here, now that you're living this life, what excites you about it? Because you you're obviously passionate, you keep doing it.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Yeah, I think uh the number one thing for me is just connecting people to music and the the music that they love. And I'm very request-friendly. So half of what I play air supply, though, apparently. Apparently, not air supply, and no offense. That's to our Australian friends, kind of all out of love, you know. Shit, there you go. You're good, Glenn.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

I try. You're good.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yeah, I know the one song. 50%, probably of what I play every Wednesday are requests. So No way. Yeah, but people who come down to transmission know kind of what they're getting into. So it's 60s, good garage rock and psychedelic and 70s glam rock and uh first wave punk rock and post punk and 80s new wave and synth pop and 90s brit pop and indie rock and everything under the sun in those worlds kind of mesh and gel really well together.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

And that's fantastic. I feel like you're like a chef and you knew all the ingredients, whereas I'm just like, uh, cheeseburger, please.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

I know what you're going for.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

I think you're great. I think you see it all. I think you see the forest and the trees. Is that what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

That's a a great song by the Cures called A Forest. You should try to request that next time. And if someone sees that you requested that, that might help you.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

You're kidding. That's a beautiful thing. So, speaking of the future, what is next for Jake Roode? I know you said you're gonna be introducing Devo and the B-52s. That's that's so amazing. But is what's next on your docket? What are you excited about this upcoming year?

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Okay, well, I mean, today we just announced uh John Waters coming to the Parkway Theater. I'll be bringing him with uh some really goodies on the big screen at the theater at the parkway, one of my favorite venues.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

The parkway is very cool. I've been there quite a few times. They do movies. Um, well, they do movies and and and they do live music. A lot of great live lots of good stuff and the popcorn. Popcorn is good. Sometimes I'll go to something just because of popcorn. If only there were like an easy way to make popcorn at home. But that's a modern science question for the ages. Uh I also saw that um you uh have a New Year's Eve party.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

New Year's Eve has traditionally been at First Avenue. I've done that the last five years. Amazing. Those have been amazing parties. Oh, that's so cool. Um, Glenn, you should definitely come down. I don't know if I'm doing it at First Avenue this year. That's uh TBD.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Yeah, New Year's Eve I always avoid because there's a pressure to smooch someone. And um just don't want to go through that experience where no one wants to smooch you. Yeah. So do you have a talk therapist, Glenn? What's that?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I'm just just curious. Do I have a no I don't have a talk therapist? Okay. There's just some heaviness throughout this interview that keeps coming up, and it would be nice to maybe go beyond that.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

I I I've been told lately I've actually gotten better, which is kind of sad.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, I don't see that, but that's cool. I don't feel it either. Right. Yeah. But dance therapy is definitely a thing. So you think there's there's it's proven that if you dance a lot, you're just a happier person. So is that real? A thousand percent real.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

You know, okay, how about this? I promise to myself and to the listeners, if you go out to the next transmission you go to, I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna be there every week now. Okay, and I'm gonna be moving, I'm gonna move my arms, I'll be ambulatory. Okay. I'll be I'll be moving my legs. I might take a while to get to the hips because I don't want to I don't want to like, you know, I don't want to scare anybody away because I I'm worried like I've got so much energy in my hips. Um I took uh uh I tried to take a salsa lesson, but it it turned out to just be a class on how to make salsa.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Um so Jake Rude, we're at the end of the Kahu interview. I just have one last round of quick questions for the Kahu questionnaire. If you wouldn't mind, uh shoot from the hip. We're just gonna ask you a couple questions that got sent in by our listeners. Um, some of them are too sleepy to send in, so we just use chat TBT. Okay, Jake, would you prefer mountains or beach?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

That's a good question, but I will do beach.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Okay, you you heard it here, we're doing the beach. Okay, Jake. What kind of pie would you describe yourself as?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Well, um, I think I will go with um key lime, because it's refreshing. Okay, delicious. Love that. That's kind of a lame answer.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

That's not lame, it's delicious. People love key lime pie, and it's not always easy to find. All right. If you were given a key that opens anything, it'll unlock anything in the whole world. What would you unlock?

SPEAKER_01 17:46

The secret to happiness and world peace?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

That's a good one. I feel selfish. I would have just said uh an old uh trunk that I lost the key to that had a bunch of my comic books in it from when I was a kid. It's okay, Glenn. It's like no, see, I'm just so selfish. I mean that's why she laughed. Possibly. Yeah. Yeah. That's honest. Okay, one last thing. Jake Rude here in the studio. We have to ask before you leave if you could say one message to future generations out there. For anyone that listens on and beyond into the ether of the internet, what's one message you'd like to share with future generations?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Remember to dance.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

That's a good one. You know what? I'm gonna practice. I'm gonna go home tonight. I'm gonna turn off all the lights in the basement, I'm gonna lock the door, I'm gonna close the vents so the ferrets don't get in. That's a whole thing. Wow. I'm gonna put on some music and I'm gonna dance. I'm gonna dance. I'm gonna try and I'm gonna lose myself to the music and dance, and then I'll practice and feel good enough to show up. And uh, when I get to transmission, I will be freaking out.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

DJ Jake Rude, thank you so much for being here today. It's been an absolute treat to have you in the studio. Glenn, it doesn't get better than this. I mean, I mean, I honestly don't think it does, and I'm really sad it's ending, but it is what it is. Hey, you out there, 87.9, K who heads, don't you turn that dial. Please don't turn that dial because we have an hour long rock block coming up right now. Next, that's right. We've got you too, not the band you're thinking of, Y O U T W O. It is a parody cover band. We only have the rights to play that, and it's an hour long. Enjoy yourself and have a great day.