On March 1, Charles Ku was getting married to the love of his life, Tampa actress Marlene Peralta, at Armature Works in Tampa Heights. Two weeks later, the Red Bull Thre3style regional champ was still spinning at clubs like American Social and Franklin Manor. Some even wondered if DJ Ku would play the infamous Cardi B pandemic rant, which was remixed by Brooklyn DJ iMarkkeyz before landing on international pop charts in Bulgaria and Brazil last weekend,then arriving on the iTunes store's top 10 less than a week later.
Forty-eight hours later, Ku, 34, had virtually no gigs at all. Following in the footsteps of nearly every other promoter and event planner in the country, clubs in downtown Tampa, Harbour Island and Ybor City—including Franklin Manor, American Social and The Ritz, where Ku holds a Monday residency—voluntarily went dark to protect their patrons and themselves from the spread of the novel coronavirus. A day later, on March 17, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all bars and nightclubs to close for 30 days.
Ku, famously active on Twitter, encouraged his followers to go vote, “then take your ass back inside.” He heeded his own advice shortly after that, and watched every one of his local and out of town gigs disappear.
“100% of my income is now on hold,” Ku told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in an email. “The worst part of it all is that there's no definitive way of knowing how long this will last.”
Ku had already taken a few gigs off to start social distancing, but added that no one is ever prepared to lose their jobs.
“As a career DJ of over 15 years, one of the biggest lessons I've learned is to save your money. Myself and my fellow DJs aren't promised work like a regular 9-5 job so putting some money aside when you can is crucial,” he added.
In his downtime, Ku, who’s easily the foodiest DJ in Tampa Bay, started a mini-social media campaign to have Publix partially sponsor his quarantine by sending cases of cantaloupe green brewed iced tea. In the beginning of the isolation, he supported Renzo’s by ordering a chicken milanesa, but for the most part, he and Peralta have been cooking for themselves.
He also started explaining why blaming China for the novel coronavirus is racist; Ku implored his followers to get learned on the virus destroying their livelihood.
“Some of my direct family work in the medical field. My sister has been giving me warnings about this and how important social distancing is for a while now. It's something that people shouldn't take lightly,” Ku told CL. He commended Franklin Manor and The Ritz for having the foresight to close early, but also understood why some spots waited until the last minute.
“It's a tough reality for a lot of people (myself included), but ultimately, I'm glad the mandate happened. Before so, it placed a lot of DJs like myself in awkward positions,” he explained. “Feeling guilty about coming in and not coming in at the same time… Knowing we should be socially distancing ourselves, but also knowing if we told the club that we weren't coming in anymore, it's essentially like quitting your job.”
Before Hard Rock Tampa finally closed altogether last Friday, Ku wondered out loud about why DJs were still playing the lobby bar and why some DJs were trying to throw house parties. Some people choose to believe whatever makes their lives easier, but Ku explained that he chose to listen to scientists and medical professionals on this one.
“We are all in this together and the longer people disregard what the CDC says, the longer we're going to be in this funk,” Ku added. “That one extra paycheck isn't helping anything in the long run.”
Since DJ-ing is about way more than the two hours behind the ones and twos, Ku’s been staying sharp on his skills, too.
“There's a ton of work that goes in preparing those sets. Hours of music hoarding, searching, organizing, labeling, practicing, and creating new ways to introduce it happen behind the scenes every week,” Ku explained. That’s not even counting the marketing and branding most DJs have to execute themselves. When the clubs finally reopen, DJs have to be up to speed on all the music that’s coming out while everyone is staying home.
“Even though we're not being paid right now, we have to act like we are,” Ku said. “I'm forcing myself to spend time behind the decks at home for at least an hour or two every day to keep the swords sharp.”
He has a message for Publix, too.
“If anyone from there is reading this and wants to send more cantaloupe green tea, slide in the DMs.”
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This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2020.