DJ Ron Slomowicz: What inspired you to pick up your first piece of vinyl?
Kimberly S: Hearing music on the radio… I probably picked up my first piece of vinyl when I was two or three years old. My older brother remembers this record I used to put on all the time and I don’t even remember it. I do remember as early as five years old playing my parents’ and brothers’ records like Lynn Anderson and stuff that was crazy. I definitely fell in love with all kinds of music at a very early age.
RS: So what got you interested in DJing?
Kimberly S: What got me interested in DJing was my love for music. When I was a senior in high school, a couple of guy friends that I hung out with were DJs and they’d throw little parties and stuff. I worked at a record store at the time and I would sell twelve inch records to them. I started buying twelve inches and putting tapes together without mixing, just like recording them together.
RS: Did you learn how to mix yourself or did someone show you the ropes of how to work with turntables to mix?
Kimberly S: I met a guy who worked at a lesbian bar here in West Hollywood called The Palms. It’s a small place that’s been around forever and he was playing to like six girls and was having the best time. James Donaldson was from Chicago and he always had a big smile on his face so I went up to him and I said if you teach me how to do this, I’ll give you some discounts on vinyl. I was managing a small record store in Primrose Beach at the time and he said OK. He taught me how to count music, mix at the proper beat (the one on the one), how to cue up a record and run my fingers across the vinyl. He gave me a couple of lessons and I practiced on his old Technics turntables with dial pitch controls and a Radio Shack mixer hooked up to a boom box at home. He was really excited to have a protégé and he let me drop in on his set. If I let the beat drop, he’d say to speed this one up and help me fix it. He really helped me out and about four weeks later he helped me get a job at The Palms.
RS: That’s awesome.
Kimberly S: So from there I played for girls at the Palms for eight years.
RS: So after eight years at The Palms, what opened your eyes to other clubs?
Kimberly S: A friend of mine was a fledgling lesbian promoter and she hired me to do her club at that time. I wound up played a couple of clubs that she promoted and went on from there. I ended up quitting The Palms because I was planning on DJing part-time, maybe once a month for my friend and working on my Karate training and working towards opening a school one day. Then I got hooked up with Sandy Sax from Girl Bar and that’s pretty much where I was discovered, by Sandy and Jeffrey Sanker, who does all the circuit events. He liked what I was playing and she had already put the bug in his ear that she saw talent in me. I played in the backroom opposite the big Circuit DJs on Saturday nights at Sandy’s club The Factory where Girl Bar was, and my room would close after the big room so I started creating a following. Jeffrey loved my music and booked me to play my first White Party.