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[title]Lust is in the air with Valentine’s Day on Thursday 14, and we’re likely to see certain trends continuing in mainstream clubs: celebrities hosting or deejaying parties, porn-star appearances and burlesque shows amping things up. If Tera Patrick were in town, we’d have all three at once. The adult-video superstar (owner of production company Teravision and designer of lingerie) is a regular attraction in Chicago clubs—she’s even done burlesque at the Admiral. Now, she’s working the DJ circuit. We got her on the phone to find out why on earth we should care.
Time Out Chicago: Why would an adult star like you want to deejay?
Tera Patrick: A good friend of mine, Hideo—a big club DJ in Los Angeles—brought it up to me because I had been hosting parties for the last five years. I’d been invited to guest spin and I thought, Why not make it into a career for myself?
TOC: How do you describe your style?
Tera Patrick: I love to play rock. I play a lot of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, some mash-ups of Fergie and Metallica. I’ve been listening to a lot of hip-hop. I’m always listening to Sirius Top 20 when I’m driving. So when I’m in the club, I play the popular songs because, y’know the kids, I’m talking 18 to 20, they really like to hear the young stuff.
TOC: You’re a people-pleasing DJ?
Tera Patrick: Yeah, I try to be, because I don’t want to get booed, that would be the worst!
TOC: Has it taken awhile to get accepted as a celebrity DJ?
Tera Patrick: I’m good friends with Dave Navarro and he’s been deejaying for a while with Skribble, and Tommy Lee—I’ve met him a couple times. I think girls get taken more seriously than guys, I don’t know if that’s because we’re hotter. The first DJ gig I ever did was at Sound-Bar in Chicago [last September]. I was supposed to do a Mistress Couture fashion show and they’re like, Why don’t you deejay?
TOC: What did you play?
Tera Patrick: I played a real variety of music—from Tom Petty to Steve Miller. At first I wasn’t too confident. I was playing my music, then I realized I’ve got to play what the club wants to hear, too. So I started playing some Timbaland. The crowd really loved it and that gave me confidence to do it again.
TOC: So you’ve got skills?
Tera Patrick: It’s taken a while to learn the technique. Beatmatching was a little confusing for me in the beginning. I was like, How can you go from 70 to 140bpm? It’s all about presentation. Getting up there on the turntables, I have blinged-out headphones and I put the music up loud enough for headbanging. If you look like you are having a good time, then everybody is confident in you. I don’t think people expect me to be perfect, I think they expect me to have a good time.
TOC: Is there a different rush with deejaying than working on films?
Tera Patrick: When I’m working on films, no one is in the room with me. I have to project what I want to convey. You don’t get to feed off that crowd energy. Deejaying is like being a rock star. People are cheering, people are staring at you, people are dancing. I’m the director.
Keep an eye on future listings for Patrick’s next Chicago visit.