KNOW a KAOS DJ: DJ Domenica, Glamorous Baubles
/What's your name? DJ Domenica
What's your show called? Glamorous Baubles
What's your show about? My show is a freeform radio show where the concept is that I am a stately, glamorous aging diva who wants to share her trinkets with you. It is a curio cabinet of the many different types of music that I love and have accumulated in my head all these years. It is definitely an electronic music-focused show, but I play other genres I like: 60s femme pop, bubblegum psych, experimental ambient, straight up girly pop, 80s and 90s r&b, classic disco. Mostly it is underground and left-field electronic music though.
When and how did you start at KAOS? I originally started getting involved in KAOS in 2002, when I was dating a current KAOS DJ at the time. Even before that I had wanted a radio show on KAOS because I was a huge fan of the station.I started my first show, Dark Woods Casino Party, in 2003 and it was on from 1 to 3am after Excuse All the Blood. I did unspeakably embarrassing things in that first year like read my own poetry on the airwaves. Thank god they put me on at 1am. I was 19, what can I say.
I then co-hosted “Ooooo” with Jenny Jenkins. I came back to doing my own show eventually. It was so good I even got physical fan mail because of it! I also worked at KAOS in numerous capacities, as I became completely obsessed with radio and KAOS in particular. I did everything I could there and sadly neglected my college studies because I was so obsessed with the radio. Oopsy!
I moved back to Olympia, and thus KAOS, in 2018. I got a new show called Feel the Drive, that was exclusively electronic music-focused, especially Italo disco. The Covid-19 pandemic put an end to that show in March of 2020. Now I am back for the time being.
Do you remember the first song you ever played on-air? I do kind of remember! I remember there was a Rookie Radio training session where I played Windy and Carl’s “Left Without Air” and Xiu Xiu’s “Sad Pony Guerilla Girl”. I remember even then thinking that was a great juxtaposition.
What’s the most memorable moment you’ve had live on the air? Belting the outsider music classic “Here Fluffy” by Gloria Balsam live on the air on Hello Olympia for a fund drive. Another favorite is when a friend of mine and I were DJing together on the air, bantering, and we had left a cassette single tape of LaTour’s “People Are Still Having Sex” playing accidentally in the background and it hilariously just started playing in the middle of our conversation. It was so funny I nearly peed myself. I have too many great memories to mention here.
How do you prepare for a show — or do you just wing it? I pick out the songs I am going to play ahead of time and just dump it in a playlist, or on my Bandcamp playlist. I bring physical media when I can and often pull stuff from KAOS’s physical CD library. Live on the air, I ALWAYS wing it. All the song choices are totally live and off the cuff. Which usually works out but not always.
What’s something you wish more people knew about community radio? Radio isn’t dead, it isn’t dying, and we need community radio more than ever in the age of AI and algorithms and isolation. I also think podcasts are not the same as a good live radio show on a station like say, WFMU. There is nothing like live community/college radio. Okay maybe it is all past its prime but WHATEVER it is still important and pivotal. Get involved and advocate for yours in your town
What’s the last song you completely fell in love with? Eli Escobar’s “i’ll wait all day (4 U)”.
What record made the biggest impact on your life? When I was young, absolutely The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead. I know Morrissey is a huge tool but I can’t even explain how much that album changed my life.
What was your first concert? Laurie Anderson at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thanks mom and dad for helping bust my head open like that.
What music-related hill will you die on? Latin Freestyle is perfect music. I would kill to go on one of those Freestyle cruises with Stevie B and Lisa Lisa that they have in the NE corner of the USA.
What’s your favorite local music memory from where you grew up? I grew up in South Florida in the 90s, so there wasn’t much to speak of. But I also spent a few years of my late teens in the Seattle suburbs, and that definitely has some key memories attached to it. I was obsessed with Carrie Akre (of the Seattle band Goodness) in the early 00’s and I saw her at the first Vera Project location. My first actual Seattle show was Quasi at the Graceland (RIP).
What’s your favorite local band or artist right now?
Olympia: Axenfeld Loop, s. Maiden, Daniel Terrence
Seattle: Meridian Arc/Old Dark House/Corey Brewer, Somesuprises, Afrocop, Nox Novacula, Dark Chisme
Portland: Strategy, Pulse Emitter
What genre do you secretly know way too much about? I am pretty open about all of my taste and interests, “bad” or good. But I know all about pure unadulterated pop music. I am an avowed poptimist after all. So I always know which Ariana Grande song is playing at a given time, for instance.
What artist do you like that would surprise your audience and friends the most? Merle Haggard.
What artist do you not like that would surprise your audience and friends the most? LCD Soundsystem.
If you could interview any musician—living or dead—on your show, who would it be?
Sylvester (disco diva)
What are a few of your desert island discs?
Pet Shop Boys - Pop Art (because it has the most of their songs)
The Associates - Sulk
Legendary Pink Dots - The Tower
Roxy Music - Roxy Music
Donato Dozzy - Plays Bee Mask
Christina Vantzou - No.1
