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everyone wants to be a DJ, no one wants to dance

danioffline.substack.com · 1,218 words · saved by 1 readers

When I was 15, I used to sneak out the house to go clubbing. Climbing through my bedroom window, crawling to my Rav-4, holding my breath as I turned the key in the ignition, then slowly pulling away in the deep blue stillness of a Thursday night, I had the sense that I was participating in something holy. In the sacred vacuum of my car, only the earthy paper-like smell of air conditioning could bear witness to my dreams of transgression and independence. I didn’t know it yet, but I was becoming an artist. I present this example to mark a paradox that troubles the title of this essay. Pure, anonymous participation in something strange and beautiful is often that which draws us to the center of it all. The best writers I know are devoted readers. The best musicians I know listen to music, constantly. Is it such a problem that everyone wants to be an artist these days? Maybe the issue is an inherited impulse to be creative, but primarily as an exercise in value-making. Participation in th

everyone wants to be a DJ, no one wants to dance Dani Offline Sep 11, 2025 31,676 373 7,042 Share This is not an essay about nightlife, not exclusively. When I was 15, I used to sneak out the house to go clubbing. Climbing through my bedroom window, crawling to my Rav-4, holding my breath as I turned the key in the ignition, then slowly pulling away in the deep blue stillness of a Thursday night, I had the sense that I was participating in something holy. In the sacred vacuum of my car, only the earthy paper-like smell of air conditioning could bear witness to my dreams of transgression and in

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