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Music

Pulse Nightclub’s Resident DJs Are Looking for Work

As the club remains shut for the police investigation into the mass shooting, four DJs are looking for bookings
Photo by Ale, via Flickr

The four resident DJs from Pulse, the Orlando gay nightclub were 49 people were fatally shot by a gunman on June 12, are looking for new work as the club remains closed for an ongoing police investigation.

In a post on Facebook Ray Rivera, AKA DJ Infinite, wrote: "There there are four misplaced DJs looking to go back to work asap."

Along with Rivera, the club's three other DJs—DJ Flawless, DJ Simon2001, and DJ Cheresse Young—are now looking for clubs to play bookings at, or for new residencies.

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Rivera was in the booth, playing at the Latin Night at Pulse at the time of the shooting. He told the New York Times: "I was playing reggae—don't remember what song or artist, but it was reggae—when I heard shots." He said at first he thought it was firecrackers, but then realized it was gunshots. "I ran away through a side gate; I saw bodies on the floor, people on the floor everywhere. It was a chaos, everybody trying to get out."

Rivera, who had worked at Pulse for three years, told the Times he left all his gear behind when he fled from the club.

Since the massacre, which was the deadliest mass shooting in US history, there has been an outpouring of support for the victims, with the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida raising nearly $6 million on GoFundMe. Over the weekend, dozens of clubs and bars held fundraisers with profits going to GoFundMe campaign, and there have been vigils across the country for the Orlando tragedy.

Pulse was founded in 2004 by Barbara Poma in honor of her brother John who died of AIDS in the 90s. The club was a pillar of the LGBTQ community in Orlando, with patrons describing it as a welcoming space where people could be themselves. One regular told THUMP in a previous interview that Pulse "opened [her] life to a whole new world."

Speaking to NBC News, Poma said the club would eventually reopen but did not specify when; the site is still a police crime scene as authorities investigate the shooting.

For more information on how to book the DJs available here.