DJ Uncle Mike: Two Turntables and a Willing Audience

RecRoom Miami_opt

You won’t find strobe lights or disco balls, but there is vinyl—a whole room full of it. It’s a visceral experience, no doubt. Pull a record out of its sleeve and DJ Uncle Mike will likely oblige. He’s in his element, and he wants to make sure you are too.

A music-label veteran, Uncle Mike knows his way around a record. He hand-selected each of the 8,000 pieces that line the walls of the Rec Room (and, incidentally, the additional 2,000 at the Rec Room in Miami) from some of his favorite stores, secret warehouses, and holes-in-the-wall, where he knew he could get his hands on the “really hard to find stuff.” There’s a little bit of everything, an eclectic mix of vintage music reaching back to the 1940s—but he’s probably not going to extend his playlist much past his self-imposed cutoff year: 1984.

Uncle Mike started out as a DJ back at Bungalow 8 and is thrilled to be part of this new incarnation. “Music is my life, and I am happy to do something I like for my profession.” He appreciates what Amy Sacco started and
considers himself “a small cog in a big wheel of people who are trying to provide a unique experience for their guests.” Given the music he plays, he calls his sets a “what-used-to-be mentality.” Playing vinyl at the Rec Room is his “comfort zone,” and his goal is to make some “happy faces.”

“In the Rec Room, vinyl is part of the decor, the aesthetic, the interest, the culture, and the function of the space.” He credits Bobbi Rossi for the overall design, which places vintage radio stereo receivers and other period pieces and memorabilia interspersed between shelves of records. “Music is an interactive part of the experience here. It brings up old memories, and it starts new conversations.”

You can find DJ Uncle Mike at No. 8 every Thursday night. “It’s a pleasure to work in a place so together that people always leave in a good mood.” And he certainly does his bit to ensure you get a big hug from the room too.

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