Fingers)'(

Fingers never really had a particular interest in music, and is only really getting into DJing because his other friends have been doing it and he’s beginning to feel left out. He comes from a middle-class, suburban home, where he shuffled his way through the educational system without any major incidents and moved on to the nearest state university to pursue a degree in economics (with a minor in psychology). His parents supported him through school, so he was able to buy cassettes and CDs when he liked (never vinyl records, though) and he could occasionally indulge in musical whims: he bought a used Roland 606 from a pawn shop during a moment when he was fascinated by sampling technology and, not knowing its market value, sold it back to the pawn shop for $20 when he got bored with it. The same thing happened to a guitar, an ill-fated hamster, a Dungeons & Dragons gaming set, and a screenprinting kit. Despite his financial security, he did have a part-time job during high school at a chain fast-food restaurant, where the only music-related thing he learned is that you shouldn’t call banda music “mariachi” music, especially in the presence of those Latino guys that were always working the fryers.

Fingers used the funds from his lucrative consulting job to buy all the top-of-the-line gear on a whim, which he may or may not be using in a month. Too impatient to learn through trial-and-error and observation, he purchased several “How to DJ” instructional videos and has hired a local wedding/event DJ to teach him how to mix records. His musical influences have mostly been top-40 chart-pop, not-so-indie rock, and whatever hip-hop and r’n’b that iTunes recommends to him. His musical style is a generic mix of Trance and House, mostly chosen from whatever tracks show up on DJ-charts, whatever Beatport suggests when he logs in, and any tracks that his DJ friends mention more than once.

Fingers feels quite good about his infrequent gigs over the past few months, which some people in attendance have described as “surprisingly decent.” Some guy from a downtown event promoter has expressed interest in booking him as an opening DJ, and there is some hope that he might even get booked out of town. He hasn’t played with any internationally-known DJs (or nationally-known, for that matter), but he once picked up Richie Hawtin from the airport for a gig, and he had very polite things to say about the mix-CD that Fingers insisted on playing the whole drive into town. Other DJs have said that Fingers is “a very nice guy” and “vaguely memorable.” He has enjoyed moderate success with his first track, “Sigh, Shrug, and Continue,” which has garnered support from a handful of B-list DJs—although maybe they were just providing support to increase their own profile in the industry.

Fingers doesn’t really know what he’s up to next. He’s been digging this DJ thing alright, but it doesn’t feel all that important to him.