Meet Paul Vitagliano | DJ & Events Promosexual

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Vitagliano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
My situation is slightly different, as my “own business” has basically been my club DJ career, which I started in 1981 — and it still blows my mind I’m still doing this 42 years later!

I’ve definitely been “hired” to DJ and spin at nightclubs (like a residency gig) over the years, but the majority of what my DJ career means is naming, creating, and promoting my own special events, and finding and choosing the right venues to do them in. And the right (or wrong) venue can make or break if the event will be a success.

And while this means that everything basically rests on my shoulders (doing all the related promotion, and hiring staff etc.), it means that I have complete control on my vision of what I want the night to be. And that includes what the music will be, and hopefully what the vibe and crowd mix will be.

I’ve never been a fan of having to spin music for crowds that don’t really know me, or my style. And playing a night of all top 40 or hip-hop is something I pretty much never, ever do.

So the successes are really rewarding, but the failures (throwing a party where the turnout is very low) can be depressing. But it just makes me to keep fine tuning what I do.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
What sets me apart from other club DJs (and more specifically gay DJs) is that I basically provide the antithesis to what a gay dance club is supposed to sound like. And that’s because I’m a rock and punk rocker at heart, and edgy and eclectic alternative music is my wheelhouse and passion.

And while that absolutely limited my choices to where I could play, it’s what gave me the drive to forge my own path and find other people like me; mostly the “gay misfits” who just never fit in or felt comfortable at the more mainstream gay bars and dance clubs. And no shade, but yeah: couldn’t stand the music those clubs played!

So I had to work extra hard to find my underground audience and tribe, and I certainly had more than a few flops that just never caught on to attract a healthy, consistent turnout. But the ones that did catch on, caught absolute fire.

So the lesson is: if you a true talent with a truly creative idea, you gotta stick with it. Sometimes timing is everything, so just keep going for it until YOUR time becomes right.

And with an event like Dragstrip 66 (which I co-created and that lasted a crazy 20 years) that impacted so many people’s lives on a positive level, it elevated me to beyond just DJ status. It gave the freaks and the misfits a place to find each other, and be elevated and celebrated. So with that, the word “tastemaker” becomes part of my resume’ and my legacy.

But the greatest part of that and what I’m most proud of, is that my events were always very mixed and brought together gay, straight, bi (and everything in between), and also lots of women and people of color. Basically a truly diverse melting pot that gave everyone the same all-inclusive platform for fun and self-expression.

It’s a beautiful thing that one can never predict will happen, but the fact that it did and remains what I continue to do is what I want the world to know about when it comes to my brand.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is the question I never have the right answer to! Because I’m actually a bit of a hermit and not the bon vivant scenester that people would assume, because I’m a DJ etc.

My fail-safe (nee lazy) response is: hang out in Silver Lake (my hood since 1990) or DTLA if you want to find the coolest and most diverse, off the beaten paths spots to eat, drink, and be merry!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Early in my DJ career, my shoutout is to the club Celebration in Boston, which hired me with no experience whatsoever, except for that I worked at the radio station they partnered with.

Next would be Bruce Jope who managed a club called Man Ray in Cambridge, MA. He hired me to be one of the main DJs and it’s where my DJ career really exploded and got me noticed on a national level.

A few years later in my career, it’s Craig Kostich at Warner Bros. Records (the VP of the club and alternative music dept.) He hired me to move me to Los Angeles to do college radio promotion. And again, something I had no previous experience doing. But my love and knowledge of the music was more important, because the promotion part I could learn while doing.

And getting to Los Angeles completely changed the trajectory of my life and my career.

Website: https://linktr.ee/djpaulv

Instagram: https://instagram.com/djpaulv

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bornthiswayblog

Facebook: https://facebook.com/iamdjpaulv

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PaulV513

Image Credits
Tony DiMaio