On most Sunday nights-slash-Monday mornings, Anita Sabrina Romero, AKA Ras'nit, provides the soundtrack at one of the busiest 3 a.m. clubs in the city, Mangia Italiano. At the decades-on bar and restaurant, nightly concepts either cycle out quickly or tend to stay around for a while, without much in between, and her Sunday night residency has certainly reached that point of feeling like a permanent fixture on the South Grand landmark’s weekly calendar.
She’s also appeared as a guest on a variety of benefit and fundraiser lineups there while keeping up a steady presence at solid shows around town.
Thought consistently being listed on various reggae event calendars, that genre’s a part of her wide-ranging sound, but only a part.
We’ll occasionally reach out to local club DJs to get their take on their playlist, musical history, side projects and personal curiosities, a loose, untimed, unrushed series of conversations. Ras’nit’s the first person to write back, for which we thank her.
Did you have a record player around the house when you were a kid? If so, who made the record purchases? Parents? An older sister or brother?
My parents had an old school, wooden, turntable chest. My brother and I would play and perform to Michaell Jackson’s Off the Wall album, using a tennis racket as a guitar. They also had Donna Summer and Saturday Night Fever. Of course. They eventually got us our own album, Grease, which we loved to perform to also. I caught my parents slow dancing one evening to The Platters.
What was the first purchase you remember making? This could be that cartoon theme song 45, or the first “adult” buy at the record shop. Or both!
My first record purchase was The Go-Gos' We Got the Beat and Cyndi Lauper’s She's So Unusual. I need to get the latter one, again. Some gems!
Getting current, what media do you use in a live set? Vinyl? Mp3s? CDs? Or is it anything goes/whatever serves the moment? Ditto: what type of software do you use, if spinning digitally?
When I spin, it is mostly all vinyl, and I play some CDs as well because there is so much I don't have on vinyl. Soon I will find a tape player to plug in!
What makes for a good night? A really tight set, with excellent segues? Or audience vibe? Maybe a combination of both? Discuss getting into The Zone, basically?
A good night for me would entail an abundance of people (which hardly happens since I usually spin late on Sunday nights) that dance and really feel better having stepped out and found someone not spinning things they are accustomed to hearing. No matter how varied the genres. No technical difficulties. Sometimes it takes everything in me to muster up the energy to make it there. Yet once I start, people arrive and give me props for what they're hearing. It is worth it, every time
Whose sets turn you on, either in town, touring, or residents in other cities? Who would you travel to see spin, whether that’s a day trip or a drive across town?
My favorite DJ's to hear spin are all mostly on (or were on ;-}) 88.1 KDHX. Seriously. Every genre represented in the best way. I am very thankful for that station and all those wonderful ambassadors of music! Also 18andCounting, MAKossa, Ras Tre, B-Wise, Crim Dolla Cray and Massive Hi-Fi. I don't even have to leave town!
What are records or tracks or artists that would never leave your crate? How about a record, track or artist or that’s been a mainstay in recent weeks, or months?
Records that never leave the crate I take: Off the Wall, something by Bob Marley, Garnett Silk, Bad Brains and The Clash. Recent mainstays have been an old 45 of my abuelita from Ecuador called Mi Viejo by El Piero. It's beautiful. There's a video on You Tube! I also really like Black Mountain, which I bought just from liking the name and hoping it was good.
If you could design your perfect night, would might it include? Sharing the bill with a live band? Video projection? A big audience? A massive collection falling into your lap on the day of a gig? Basically: draw up your own bliss.
My perfect night would have some of my favorite bands and DJs playing as well. As well as to have as many of the tribe gathered together. Yowie, Demonlover and R6 Implant. Outside by the River, maybe in CementLand!
