San Antonio DJ Sue Problema’s New York tour landed her there in the midst of the Spurs-Knicks Finals

San Antonio DJ Sue Problema didn’t imply to time her first New York tour to coincide with the NBA Finals, nevertheless it labored out that approach — and far to her profit. Credit score: Courtesy Picture / DJ Sue Drawback

Of all of the weekends to finish up in Brooklyn enjoying a string of reveals, San Antonio DJ Sue Problema couldn’t have picked extra of a banger.

In a accident, she lined up a three-show tour that spanned June 5-8, the height of final month’s riveting Knicks-Spurs championship collection. It wasn’t deliberate — she’d had the primary gig booked 5 months in the past — nevertheless it ended up turning right into a musical reunion for expat San Antonians whereas giving her an sudden jolt of publicity.

Rebecca Gonzales took on the deal with Sue Problema when she was a zine-maker within the late ’90s. Since then, she’s constructed a status for spinning deep-cut alternatives in genre-hopping units — an strategy bolstered by her day job as an archivist for Bexar County.

Gonzales’ New York jaunt allowed her to do greater than exhibit her crate-digging expertise. At one level she ended up spinning for a “sleeper cell” of Spurs followers gathered at Doris, a Brooklyn bar co-owned by her good friend from residence, Jessica Warner.

The New York Instances even featured the celebration in a narrative about Spurs followers throughout the town’s 5 boroughs cheering on their group’s first Finals run since 2014.

“We had no thought the Spurs could be enjoying, however as we had been getting nearer and nearer, we realized we’d be rooting for the Spurs in New York,” Gonzales stated of her set at Doris. “We put our jerseys on inside. I introduced an H-E-B bag, and everybody liked it. It was a terrific expertise.”

Due to the timing, Gonzales stated she briefly apprehensive about performing as a San Antonio DJ on the Knicks’ residence turf.

“With the playoffs, I used to be like, ‘Oof, how is that this going to land?’ The flyers all stated San Antonio,” she stated. “However no person gave me a tough time. It really felt actually good to signify San Antonio.”

Certainly, Knicks followers greater than tolerated Gonzales’ particular look. She stated the journey was a terrific alternative to develop her music community and meet extra folks like those that made her tour potential within the first place.

“It was actually by way of associates, music associates, connecting me with different folks,” she stated. “The tour ended up being a good way to fulfill people in New York, too.”

To make certain, the trek allowed her to leap between music scenes and subgenres. On the membership Cassette in Queens, she served up an evening of boogie and disco. At Mama Tried, a divey Brooklyn spot, she performed the file launch present for Skirting, a longtime good friend’s band.

And at Barbès, a legendary venue recognized for bringing in worldwide expertise, she closed out the journey with a cumbia set alongside Milagro Verde, a Bushwick-based Peruvian chicha band.

“Each nation has its personal interpretation of cumbia,” Gonzales stated. “Peru has chicha. Ecuador has synthesizers. Mexico leans Colombian. I like tracing these histories.”

One other fortuitous spotlight got here when she landed a set at The Lot Radio, the Brooklyn‑primarily based on-line station that’s turn into a coveted cease for DJs worldwide. The chance got here by way of San Antonio-raised Andy Beta, a music author she met whereas attending highschool.

Beta, who now lives in New York, holds a residency on the station and is the writer of Cosmic Music: The Life, Artwork, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane, a critically acclaimed biography launched this spring.

“Once I instructed [Beta] I used to be coming to New York, he requested if I wished him to see about getting me on The Lot,” Gonzales stated. “I ended up with a one‑hour recorded set — an enormous deal for DJs — and it wasn’t even a part of the unique tour plan. Only a very nice shock.”

Whereas Gonzales’ journey to New York allowed her to meet up with associates and indulge in loads of SA vibes, music in the end drove the go to. She arrived with a suitcase lined in cardboard and packed virtually totally with data.

“I introduced some shirts, two pairs of pants, an additional pair of footwear — after which simply data,” she stated. “Music is my obsession. I am going down rabbit holes for hours.”

Certainly, Gonzales’ residencies again residence additionally mirror a DJ who treats vinyl data much less like collector’s gadgets and extra like a residing archive.

Along with disco nights at Little Loss of life, locals can discover her behind the decks on the Summer time Vinyl Collection at cocktail bar Jue Let within the Pearl District. The DJ runs the latter by way of ¡Viaje! World Vibrations, the global-music enterprise she co-owns with DJ Rambo Salinas.

“[Jue Let] has been a great new residence. We’ve been trying to find a spot that looks like residence and has a great sound. That’s actually essential to us,” Gonzales stated.

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