Francisco Collazo: “I Love Playing Live Because That’s When I’m at My Best.”

Here’s the latest installment of our monthly mixtape series, which is curated by GUN$ Garcia. Today she brings us Francisco Collazo, the host of the goodie parties that happen around town, with regular nights at The Dolphin.

Our Teresa McCullough spoke with Francisco about his parties, his music and his large feet.

Between DJing, promoting events and doing sound for other events, when do you sleep?

I rest as much as possible on Mondays and Tuesdays. Otherwise I have very long days and nights. It’s a sprint, and a marathon but I have a lot of passion for what I do, so that fuels the fire. To be perfectly honest, it is a very busy schedule to maintain and I’m no Superman. I do get burned out from time to time and have to take vacations pretty frequently.

I heard you wear abnormally large sneakers. What is that struggle like?

The struggle is real! I have a very limited selection of sneakers that I can purchase. Especially in person, I literally get laughed at whenever I go into a store and ask them, “Do you have anything in a size 15?” It’s a very sad life I live.

How is your mixtape different from your live sets?

When playing live, I’m feeding off the energy of the crowd, depending on the time of my set and the particular atmosphere. That leads me in the direction of the story I’m telling. I honestly don’t think I’m good at making mixtapes. I love playing live because that’s when I’m at my best. DJing for as long and as often as I do, it’s very difficult to create energy when you’re home alone to make a mixtape. I haven’t practiced in my home for more than 7 or 8 years. I just listen to music constantly to learn it. This is the first mixtape I’ve made in a couple years. But, when making a mixtape, you’re in the lead and can pretty much tell your own story. It’s all about you, and not them (the live crowd), which can be creatively satisfying.

What can we expect on this new mixtape?

I’m going to make it a little weird but still accessible enough and clubby for the average dance music enthusiast. It’s definitely going to be underground, and a well thought out representation of what you would hear at a goodie party held at The Dolphin. We call it “deep techno vibes,” which is mainly tech house. But we also play some dubby tracks, full on banging techno and actually songs with some choice beautiful vocals. We’re not minimalist. We understand. We vibe together!

If you had to describe goodie in a sentence or a haiku, how would you portray it?

Hmmm … It merely started out as an outlet for me to play a different style of music. I think that was the same for my partner Rob Paine. We both had our other successful house music events (Sundae & The Shakedown) that have been running for more than a decade each. We both had the hunger represent ourselves differently. Let me actually answer the question now, haha: goodie is a forward thinking underground dance party.

Tell us about the next goodie parties you have lined up…when / where / guests?

goodie is currently being held every third Friday at The Dolphin Tavern. For the next few months, we’ll be at The Dolphin Tavern on Friday, November 21st and December 19th. Plus we have plans for one of our special events on New Year’s Eve, and New Years Day. We typically – and very fortunately – don’t book many guest DJs. Rob Paine and I play the majority of our events. We’ve been able to build up the vibes with just the 2 of us, which is very satisfying.

Biggie or Tupac?

Biggie all day, everyday!