Friday in Columbus: Daymon Day Eve

Nick Tolford & Co, Envelope & Detox, Freaky Franz & Cornelius Jackson, DJ Johnny Cashola, DJ True Skills are performing at Skully’s Tonight for Daymon Day Eve.  
The 5 dollar cover raises money for parade costs.
I wrote a story about the Daymon Day weekend in the Other Paper.
I didn’t get to use quotes from everyone I talked to..

So after the jump, Mike O of Nick Tolford & Co, Johnny Cashola, Envelope and Freaky Franz all speak on their experiences with Daymon Dodson, and the Daymon Day Parade.

Mike O’shaughnessy of Nick Tolford & Co and El Jesus de Magico

I met Daymon… wow, maybe in like 2000 or 2001 down at hip-hop night at Bernie’s. I don’t think there was one certain point where I ‘met’ him, it was sort of like we were just both around at the same time. All the rocker kids went to Bernie’s for hip hop night because the music was always good, it was always fun, and always packed. I think, for the same reasons, Daymon came out to pretty much every el Jesus / CDR associated show.

I learned from Daymon that it’s easier to bring a community together than you might think. Daymon brought crowds of people together that you might not expect; people gravitated toward him. He’s the reason we could do a show like Greenhouse Effect, Cheater Slicks, and el Jesus de Magico and have it packed with all the hip hop kids, all the old rockers, and all the young trouble makers. If you think about it, it’s a weird bill – you’d never think noisy ass rock bands would be able to hold the attention of backpackers that are into clean beats – but if Daymon was standing there watching Tom Shannon shred the room with feedback, he was always surrounded by as many dudes in baggy jeans as dudes in tight jeans. This is also why it made so much sense to have him as ‘The Jesus’ in the Last Supper photo re-creation we did for el Jesus. We were just as honored to have him in the center as he was to be there, I think. And we weren’t ripping on religion, he knew that, because we’d had so many conversations about mystical bullshit that he knew it was beyond some sort of lame attempt to downplay the importance of the image. He was the center of so many normally disparate music scenes that he essentially ended up merging just by existing. I mean, it’s not like he had some master plan to get everybody together. He was just as into going to a rock show as he was clowning on the mic next to Prizm djing at some house party, and he would clue you in on what to do the next night, or what show was going to be good, cos he had better taste than anybody handing out handbills. The thing was, he was this real nice, god-fearing dude hanging around all these criminals and druggies and miscreants, and he never pushed his politics on anyone – it’s like, just by him wearing a shirt that said “Token” summed it up perfectly.

The first Daymon Day parade was pretty emotional, really. I mean, we were out on tour (el Jesus) when BJ called to tell us he’d died. I think we were driving in California drinking champagne and listening to “St. Elmo’s Fire” by Brian Eno. Every time I hear that song it takes me right back. Everyone just went silent. I felt a million miles away from Columbus. I was almost like, alright, turn the van around, let’s go be with our friends. We can’t miss the funeral. But, shit, Daymon would have wanted us to spread that good Columbus word the best we could. I was glad to be with Tony, Jon, Sarah, and Dave, who were all just as close with Daymon as I was.
So, seeing the turnout for the first parade was great. It was my first chance to really be with everyone and remember Daymon together. I had to put sunglasses on when we started marching because I got a little misty. I had the shivers, the hairs standing on the back of my neck listening to everyone chanting. All these Betty and Bobby Buckeyes dropping their beanbags and running up and asking what the deal was, I couldn’t even talk to them. My hope is that they start scheduling games around the Daymon Day parade. It’ll just keep getting bigger, next thing you know OSU will want their band to march with us. Think we could teach them “Bitch, You Don’t Know Shit”?

I think the parade is going strong mainly because of Tony(Envelope), honestly. Dude got all the permits and the cops wrangled up – we both know he has a special relationship with Columbus’ Finest – and he’s a tireless promoter when he’s hyped about something. Now, I don’t think it’d fall by the wayside if Tony didn’t organize it, don’t get me wrong. It’s like, Daymon was a catalyst, he gave us all a reason to get off our asses when he was around. Now that he’s not, we’d be knuckleheads to just stand around and talk a bunch of shit when we should be doing something fun and creative and constructive and bringing everybody together. You know, there’s gonna be a point where I’m too feeble minded to remember anybody’s name, and young kids aren’t gonna come visit me in my rocking chair asking for stories about how cool So What was back in the day. I hope at that point Daymon Day is still going, Tony Envelope pushing Detox down High Street in a wheelchair with turntables on it and a huge crowd of the next-next generation chanting ‘Ra-cst Jo-oe’ behind them in green Chucks.

Envelope rapper/ Co-organizer of the Daymon Day Parade

1.How did you meet Daymon?

I met Daymon in the late 90s through the Bernies/Thieves World/Columbus Hip Hop Expo circuit.

2.What Daymon, Przm, and Camu teach you?

They all taught me different things, but the one thing they all taught me was the need to be original.

3.What are some memories you have from the parade?

looking around and seeing everyone smiling.

4.Why do you think the parade is so strong after 6 years?

It has meaning.

sorry man, i kinda struggled with the questions today. i think i could of wrote a book on the subject. but i decided to make my answers as simple as possible.

1.How did you meet Daymon?

 I met Damon at a party at camp David he took a liking to me and my friend Lil Eric cause 1.) we were the two youngest people there chillen and 2.) we knew everyone and was always busy causing trouble there.

2.How did he affect your life?

He always was in a good mood and as a younger kid being around him the positivity he let off was contagious. Although a lot of time it was sarcasm and joking about people.

3.What are some memories/feelings you have from the parade?

The first year I went I think someone had like an almost life sized cut out of him and that shit was tight.

4.Why do you think after six years the parade is going strong?

I think Damon is a hard person to forget for many reasons and people aren’t ready to let go of him and hopefully it stays like that. If there is a way to come back for it every year or I can give a hand to keep it going I’ll bend over backwards for it. I mean shit he gave me the crown as the prince of this city