Who:
Welcome to the website and blog of Mark The Magnificent. My real name is Mark Ellison and if it’s not yet obvious, I’m a DJ who plays Open-Format and House Music sets.
What:
What do I do? This might take a while…lol. I’m a motorcycle riding, photography shooting, jewelry designing, acrylic paint painting, Hefeweizen beer-drinking, cigar-smoking, open-format playing, house music slaying, Sun Valley visiting, Brooklyn-living, magnificent DJ.
Seriously though, there are a lot of things I do, but they all fall under a creative umbrella. Being a DJ however, will always be how I label myself first. I usually tell people when asked “What do you do” that I’m a DJ and that’s my bread and butter but consider me as a DJ that does a hella lot of other creative things too.
When:
I had been messing around with music production probably two years and DJ-related stuff a year or so before attending New York’s Scratch Academy. I don’t really count that time, however, since I had to unlearn a lot of techniques and habits that I incorrectly learned from watching bad DJs and other YaaT (Youtube as a Teacher) sources.
I graduated from Scratch Academy in 2021 and that’s when I decided to go official with everything. So let’s just say for the sake of convenience that I’ve been officially at this since 2021.
Where:
I was born and raised in Gary, IN (shouts out to Freddie Gibbs, Jlin, Kym Mazelle, and others for representing the 219), but I currently live in Brooklyn, NY pending a move to Phoenix, AZ later this year.
Why:
My story of why I DJ is probably no different from the thousands of other DJs but for me, it was MY truth. Music has always been one of the three things that made sense to me… photography and motorcycles being the other two.
I worked corporate for way too many years to remember and one day decided I wanted a change. Now, I’m not knocking corporate life because I managed to finally get to a point where I had a comfortable living. I wasn’t eating steak every day but I wasn’t eating Ramen anymore if that makes any sense. Anyway, while I was comfortable money-wise, I still felt that I wasn’t doing what was right for me. So I bought some equipment, watched probably too many YouTube tutorials, and enrolled myself into DJ Scratch Academy in NYC. Fast forward to today, I graduated from Scratch (during COVID no less) and I’m doing what I truly feel I was here to do.
-M