Brian Howe is a team player. Although it’d be a cakewalk to hog all the credit for keeping a big room like Rise in business long after its initial virginity was stomped to pieces by 6-inch stilettos, as well as, more recently, developing his Denver namedropping XM Satellite Radio show into one of their most ear drummed dance broadcasts, he fervently refuses to do so.

Howe knows that he couldn’t have possibly accomplished any of it single-handedly. First of all, in both instances, a friend was responsible for referring his services. Secondly, Brian relies on a network of DJs around the world to keep him in the loop regarding which tracks are packing which dance floors.  Furthermore, where would any disc jockey be without tunes and the hundreds of thousands of songwriters, session players, vocalists, engineers and producers represented by all those recordings?  Nowhere is where.

"The bigger the ego, the quicker it can be deflated. If I have anything to say at all, number one, it’s about Denver.  Number two, it’s about unity-everyone getting together and doing their thing. Last thing, with anything that I do, I don’t care if my name’s on it or not. Nine times out of 10, anything that I produce or design or remix doesn’t even have my name on it ’cause that’s not important to me. It’s about being able to do the job that a client’s gonna like. Period."

Howe has certainly learned a thing or two (or three) about satisfying clients given his dozen

years as a full-time producer. Originally spawned in the metropolis of my birth, San

Francisco, Howe first fell head over heels for electro, or more accurately, heels over head into a head spin.  "When I first fell in love with music, I was a break dancer and I loved electro beats. Afrika Bambaataa, big fan. ’Tour de France’ by Kraftwerk was one of my all-time favorite tracks." Never trust a DJ who doesn’t dance. As a DJ’s primary role is most often to facilitate it, who better to fill those particular dancing shoes than one who first got his party started on the floor (or even cardboard, as the case may be)?

The management at Rise can’t think of anyone in a better position to deliver the musical chairs variety that their customers have come to expect from the club. The bottom line is that bar sales don’t lie. If the patrons are digging the party, they’re willing to part with more hard-earned cash for Patron or whatever beverage floats their particular boat. "If you wanna do it for free, then go ahead and play whatever you want to.  If you actually wanna make a living at it or if you actually wanna keep your job and make the bar money, you gotta be wide open. Period. You don’t have to be scared and think that people aren’t gonna like you because you mixed in ’I Love Rock & Roll’ by Joan Jett."

Amen, brother, amen. Image Magazine looks forward to sharing a Miami pad with Howe

& company next March.