DJ Fifth Ace : Dan Koch
On a long stretch of highway between Canton, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in early 1982, a young boy traveling by car with his family was perplexed. "Mommy, how do know the words to all the songs that come on the radio," the boy asked with an acute interest.
"Mommy just loves to listen to the music, and after a while, the words just stick with you," said the mother, hoping the answer would be enough to fulfill the boy’s query.
"I like it, too, Mom! Make the car dance again!" asked the boy as he attempted to snap his tiny fingers to the beat of "Get Ready" by the Temptations, but not quite getting the same sound from his snap as the snaps from the others in the car. As the car swerved back and forth down the unoccupied highway to the music, the boy closed his eyes, smiled, and soaked in the sound of the radio hoping one day he, too, would know all the words to the songs like his mother.
From standing on hard-shell suitcases singing along to "All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley at age three, to trying out for a 1988 middle school talent show with aspirations of being the first white rap artist (way before Eminem!), to rocking countless karaoke crowds with dead-on renditions of "Let’s Stay Together" by Al Green, DJ 5th Ace has had a penchant for entertaining others by way of music his entire life. Possessing, as more than one acquaintance has explained, "a little too much soul for one white boy", the 5th Ace knows exactly what it takes to get a good dance party going, and also what it takes to keep it going!
A true, self-taught connoisseur of popular music, he continues to educate himself on the music of yesteryear, as well as keeping up with all of the contemporary jams! Older folks get into conversations with him about music of the 50’s and 60’s and walk away impressed as if he lived in that era, while younger people talk music with him and walk away enlightened, taking music facts away from the conversation that they weren’t aware of beforehand. This knowledge, grouped with superior beat-mixing and extraordinary creativity, makes DJ 5th Ace truly an asset to the world of entertainment!
And if you are driving in Pittsburgh and you see a vehicle swerving back and forth rhythmically in the middle of the day, beep your horn and check your FM dial! It may very well be DJ 5th Ace, singing along with the radio- word for word, just like Mom!
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