After mastering the turntables for over 30 years, DJ Jesse Saunders is considered by many within his field to be one the founders of modern house music. He is largely responsible for one of the most successful house festivals in the nation—House Music Reunion—and is even publishing a book (House Music: The Real Story) on the genre. And in spite of the fact that Saunders calls Las Vegas home, he looks at what most consider to be “the entertainment capital of the world” as nothing more than an airport out of which to fly to and from gigs, as he absolutely refuses to play here.
Saunders tells us that as a rule he won’t play anywhere he lives because he doesn’t want to be treated as just another “local DJ,” but on the rare exception that he has decided to play here, he has immediately withdrawn because of his personal convictions. As an example, Saunders originally accepted an opening residency at Jet nightclub, but eventually withdrew because he wouldn’t play for people he felt weren’t really there to enjoy the music. “Why would I want to play house music for a room full of people who really want to hear hip-hop, but are only in my room because they were sat in there for the bottle service?”
Bottle service, Saunders claims, is slowly killing what nightlife once was really about in Las Vegas. “It used to be about being there for the music; now it’s about whose table has the most money and the hottest drunk girls at it.” No opponent to the obvious need for profit-making in the industry, Saunders completely understands that in order to keep the doors of a nightclub open and the bottom-line thriving, you have to pack in as many people as possible, and most importantly, keep them spending as much money at the bar for as long as possible. But he feels the constant thrusting of bottle service onto customers is taking everything away from what a nightclub should really be about—the music.
“The only way it would get back to where it needs to be [in Las Vegas] would be if they totally cut the bottle service out, and that ain’t going to happen.” While it certainly isn’t uncommon for the mainstream electronic entertainers we feature to use the Weekly as a forum in which to voice their opinion about the quality of the music that tends to make it to Top 40 status, Saunders takes it a notch further by comparing all that he sees wrong with Las Vegas nightlife today with the pitfalls that he sees in the modern-day recording industry. “It’s like the whole hip-hop and rap game. They could do the good and conscious thing when they put something out there, or they could put out a bunch of garbage. And that’s what most people do. They put out stuff that totally messes up the mentality of our nation’s youth, just because someone is putting money in their pocket and telling them that’s what they need to play.”
Quite a bold statement, but Saunders has earned his say. After 17 years of hosting a widely publicized outdoor festival that invites people from all walks of life to join together for their common love of house music, he has proven that it is possible to keep things all about the music, even in today’s hectic entertainment environment. Over the years, the House Music Reunion has grown from an audience of 500 music-lovers with barbecue grills and quilted blankets, to now giving Saunders and his team the daunting task of finding an outdoor venue capable of accommodating as many as 10,000. And even after nearly two decades of successful growth, this event has stayed true to its beginnings. “Nobody has ever had to pay anything to get into the House Music Reunion, and they never will,” Saunders tells us with pride, “And the best part is that there is even a three-year waiting list for DJs who are looking forward to even being able to play at the festival—for free!”
Whether Saunders is able to instill his passion for music into the hearts of those who make the decisions in the Las Vegas nightlife industry remains to be seen, but his goal remains the same. Over the next many years he plans to expand the House Music Reunion into a touring production that will reach fans coast-to-coast by finding like-minded corporate sponsors who realize the power in what he is doing. There’s always hope that maybe then he will make an exception to his rule and finally include Las Vegas in his plans.