DJ Markie keeps Denver club scene’s heartbeat pumping

Resident Tracks DJ, Markie, has developed a well-known name and sound in Denver’s ears and airwaves. The DJ social-butterfly talked with OFC about Tracks’ fabulous women’s First Fridays, what makes the space so special and why late nights are worth it.

What attracted you to Tracks when you started DJing? What’s kept you there so long?

I was regular at Tracks since I moved [to Denver] in 1997. When they opened in the new location on Walnut, I would hang out in the ’80s Room. DJ Garth Geisler was in there every week, just blowing up the room. I’d bug him to play specific songs and he would. One night he told me he was moving on to something else and asked if I wanted to play. I freaked! He got me an audition – I got the gig.

The greatest thing are the people that come to Tracks and the love that just hangs in the air. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean.

What’s unique about DJing for Babes Around Denver’s First Fridays?

Mostly, it smells better. And if you peek in the restroom there isn’t nearly as much pee on the floor as on a regular night! Seriously, though, there is a unique energy on First Fridays. Part of that is it’s a special event being only once a month.

I remember once playing ‘Let’s Hear it for the Boy’ saying on the mic, ‘what boy? I don’t see any boys!’ There were actually four or five and they yelled up to me. So I said, ‘Ladies, can you all give it up for our gay brothers down here?’ And all the women in the room ROARED.

What’s the best thing about it?

It’s the moment when everyone in the room, including me, can forget what’s troubling them outside our walls – when I get the perfect song they didn’t even know they wanted to dance to, but when they hear it, a shrill comes up. I get goosebumps. I have them now, actually!

How do you identify?

Gender, for me, is complex. In the LGBT world I’m little bit of B and quite a bit T. It’s not always one or the other. I have some friends who identify as transgender who either have or want to transition to be a woman full-time, but that’s not me.

I have a supportive partner who I love so much. We’ve been together nearly four years. It’s always been important for me to always be the same Markie regardless of how I’m dressed. And without even trying or realizing it, Beth has taught me to be so much better at that.

Talk to me about Markie’s ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles.

I enjoy being a femme when I play, though it’s harder on my feet. I don’t think the community cares – they just want to hear good music. But I hope when they see me in something sparkly, glittery or just really girly it sends a message that this is going to be a gay ol’ time!