I hereby dedicate today's sole post to the greatness that is Kid Koala, aka Eric San.

He swung by Austin yesterday to play for us Central Texans. Before the show began at Mercury, he made an appearance at 33º. A simple livespeaker/2 decks/1 mixer setup and a folding table. He'd spin something for us and chit chat for a bit. He's wonderfully down-to-earth. Goofy little Canadian-Asian that he is, grin wide and attitude sunny, he even let us listen in when the promoter called while he was chatting. He put his cell phone on speakerphone mode and the crowd quieted down. He politely asked the guy for fifty or so guest passes but the promoter just laughed and told him he didn't just hear that.

In addition, my friend Cameron went with me. He brought his 10" Emperors Main Course In Cantonese single to see if Eric would sign it. He was more than willing to do so and he even drew one of his stylized DJ heads. It looks fucking sweet, too.

The show itself was awesome. I may just be clueless about this, but I found it simply stunning someone could spin, distort, and scratch two-plus records so perfectly without headphones. He did this for a large portion of his set. He played "Drunk Trumpet" and other shamefully few tracks of his I recognize. Grinning the whole time, this is a guy who really enjoys what he's doing. Even when they had some electrical grounding problems, he whipped up a quick musical diversion from his extensive collection of vinyl. Some wierd instructional LP that maybe fifty people have heard, but under manipulation by a master DJ.

So, Mr. San, I bow before thy masterful turntablism skills and your quick wit. May your musical career never falter.