There will be more than parking for the TDJS truck at 10th and Madison (Image: The DJ Sessions)
A pioneer of livestreaming and the Seattle DJ scene and the power behind the mobile DJ truck that lights up Seattle streets from Belltown to Broadway is eyeing E Madison for a new headquarters on the backside of Pike/Pine.
Early planning with the city describes a home space for The DJ Sessions studio on the street level of the long ago 5 Point Cleaners building at 10th and Madison just across from the IHOP.
Area entrepreneur and DJ music champion Darran Bruce has grown The DJ Sessions over decades as a pioneer in the dance music space, operating an innovative live-streaming platform, podcast series, and event production company. The Bruce-driven organization operates with two primary facets: a high-reach digital media platform and a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable arm.
According to the early planning, “The DJ Sessions Event Services” headquarters is envisioned as an “event space and media production studio for live-streamed and recorded internet-based shows, interviews, musical performances, cultural presentations, and private audience tapings with a limited invited live audience.”
Permitting for the studio describes a “limited” audience component as the project will require a formal “change of use” with the city to allow assembly. “Audience attendance is limited to invited guests, participants, and cast audience members and is not general public walk-in admission,” one filing reads. “Certain productions or events may include a cover charge or production/event fee.”
We’ve reached out to Bruce to learn more.
The building has long been a just-off-the-beaten-track part of the Pike/Pine arts and nightlife scene. Black Rock Spirits set up offices in the long ago service station turned dry cleaners that was once the home of the Studio Paradiso art center and the Seattle Metaphysical Library. The building began 2022 as a COVID testing center but it and a “health and testosterone” clinic that set up shop there were short lived.
CHS reported in 2023 as Black Rock helped foster a group of food trucks on the property and opened the Tequila Lab event space in the building. That event space has since been shuttered, according to online listings, and Black Rock has moved to 19th Ave.
The 1959-era building remains held by its longtime family ownership.
Other recent plans for the building included a new lounge and restaurant but that venture appears to be on ice.
If it moves forward, the E Madison investment will be a major step for Bruce who cut his teeth in Seattle’s public access television scene and has grown The DJ Sessions into “a $1.5 million-a-year operation.”
Bruce, meanwhile, remains phenomenally busy with The DJ Sessions and its mix of events, livestreaming, and industry reporting.
While the TDJS mobile DJ truck isn’t always appreciated, spotting the pulsing, pulsating vehicle is a sure-tell sign that you are part of the Seattle nightlife party.
Plans are underway for “The DJ Sessions Event Services” studio at 1000 E Madison. Learn more at thedjsessions.com.
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