WTUL's DJ of the Month highlights a DJ (or co-DJs) each month, giving listeners insight on their favorite albums, most memorable experiences at WTUL, and more!
This October, we sat down with DJ Dominomnom to learn about her favorite finds in the WTUL stacks, who she'd want to interview at the station, and her best station moments. Lastly, she put together a specially-curated Spotify playlist for listeners! Make sure to read more below!
How long have you been a DJ at WTUL?
I apprenticed eight years ago. Got my first graveyard shift the following semester. Then found my way to Fridays kind of by accident the following summer. I've been doing Tunnelvisions every Friday since for seven years.
Listen to DJ Dominomnon's Spotify Playlist:
What is your favorite song or album that you've discovered in the stacks?
Ahhh you can ask me that?! Preposterous! This could be an entire interview in itself. A song I definitely wore out for a solid few years was a version of Q. Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses" performed by a band called Flight (CD is in the stacks). I would say the albums I love to wear out are weird and rare world records. Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll; Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa; Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore from Haiti 1960 - 1981; and most recently, a friend was hanging in the studio and randomly excavated Disco Bhangra: Wedding Bands from Rajasthan. These albums are gold. Pls put them back when you're done.
Which local artist has been one of your favorites to play on-air?
Whoa, this might be an even tougher question to answer. I'm gonna give you two. Tank and the Bangas Green Balloon has been really hitting it for me lately. I think they've really honed in on something special and watching that evolve over the years is magical. If you ever get a chance to see them (especially if it's at The Music Box), DO IT. That album just got moved out of the merits which makes me sad, but find it in the local stacks!
Also, Ken Stokes, a former WTUL DJ, has a project called Maison Blanche. He did an album called NOLA Vapours that was heavy on my rotation because it was dedicated to a bunch of New Orleans establishments that "ain't der no more." As a lover of sharing weird insights to the history of New Orleans, I got a real kick out of this one. All of his releases have been so rad. There's so many I want to talk about and so many friends I really wanna hype up right now, but I'll stop here.
Which artist would you want to interview on WTUL and why?
Is this one of those 'Alive or Dead' questions? I'm gonna go ahead and say it is. For whatever reason, I can't think beyond these two bands right now but some living artists I'd want to interview is Ruben Nielsen from Unknown Mortal Orchestra or Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon. I kind of interrelate them in my head because larger bodies of work are things I listen to alone all the time, especially when I'm riding my bike. Maybe it's not so much that I want to interview them, but that I just wanna get to be a fan and tell them I love their music.
There's way more deceased artists on my list. Far too many to account for. One I'd want to interview is definitely Louis Armstrong. I played an old interview of his on the air for his birthday this year. He just really gets what music is supposed to do for people. I would also love to interview Connie Converse to figure out what ever happened to her and to figure out how she wrote songs. I think the wildest interview would be if I could interview my great great grandpa, Bill Gallaty Sr. This year, I discovered he was a great trombone player in the city playing in brass bands and playing jazz before it was called jazz. Also, Amy Winehouse and also like, every great singer ever. These are people I'd love to learn from and the list goes on and on, so I'll stop. Now that I think about it, I often play snippets of interviews of the deceased on my show so it's kind of like I do get to interview them!
What is your most memorable moment at the station?
I think my favorite moments are when I try to do something off the cuff, like roll with a theme, and things end up magically synching into place. A good recent example of this was the show I did for Louis Armstrong's birthday. In that instance, I was braiding snippets of this old interview as an interlude between a bunch of jazz songs I picked on the fly. The snippets I picked out (at random without ever hearing them before) magically referred to artists I had cued already. It was spooky. Moments like that are what really make me happy to be here - experiencing something align alongside the listeners. Taking risks on songs by throwing them on-air before I've ever listened to them and being moved in some way. Learning the histories as I go and sharing them. That's my favorite part. I also love the amazing interviews and live performances I've hosted over the years, but this is what it's really all about for me.
Listen to DJ Dominomnom's show Tunnelvisions every Friday from 2pm-4pm on WTUL New Orleans 91.5 FM!