Two decades of wonderful whimsical WORX

Twenty years ago yesterday (nobody posts on Sunday right?), skratchworx.com was born/launched. Happy birthday/anniversary, to my babies.

It was largely a response to an old boss who after seeing a pre-internet demo of hypertext markup language (aka HTML) proclaimed that it would never catch on, and a need to do something better than what the DJ internet was offering at the turn of the millennium.

So I applied myself to the joys of the pre-Wordpress content management system world and along with a generous scoop of hand coded HTML created skratchworx. And somehow its still functioning.

Ten years later, to access the ad budgets of marketing departments who maintained (despite the content proving otherwise) that skratchworx was a turntablist site, I rebranded to DJWORX. But to me, they’re exactly the same thing, just in a different skin.

I had planned to do something special to commemorate this 20th event. Maybe not quite as ambitious as my 15th anniversary box set (called XVCV) complete with all four flavours of DVS vinyl. I got an same day three out of four sign on. But it was an all-or-nothing thing for me.

For the tenth anniversary, I had a 7 inch picture disk made complete with theme tunes from Ed Williams aka Mista Ed and Ray Arkaei , a 7" printed slipmat sourced in the US, and letterpress printed sleeve from local artisan Phylecia Sutherland. And a beautiful thing it was too.

I wanted to do something to commemorate a full two decades. But I’ve done nothing of note except write this piece.

So why no party?

It’s rather easy to explain —?these days, I don’t look back. I’m always looking forward.

Skratchworx and DJWORX were things I did. And they were fearless and amazing. Just imagine the unflinching sphincter clenching fun I’d have with recent events in the ever-changing DJ tech industry. Popcorn would be in short supply.

But I'm not that guy anymore. And spending time reliving the past stops me from getting on with the pressing matters of now and the future, something that’s a very precious and dwindling resource.

I do have some unfinished business though. And for posterity, DJWORX seems like a good place to post a few final articles. I have ideas I want to get out in the wild.

But for now...

I'm told that people miss DJWORX, so I'm down for a little nostalgia and would love to read your comments and welcome any questions. Consider it an AMA if you will.

But I’d love it even more if you invested in my limited-edition illustrations at The Worxlab. Because that's what I do now.