Cielo (NYC) presents

DJ Willie Graff
with resident DJ Miki

Visuals by Galina

Doors open 9pm
$15 cover

Willie Graff:

Willie Graff was born to American parents on the island of Ibiza, the nerve center of electronic music. He started developing a taste for music at a very early age because of his father, a music lover and music programmer for a radio station during the heyday of Ibiza in the 80s. Willie was fortunate to experience the white islands magic at the tender age of 13, when he began frequenting local nightclubs and listening to house music. Willie got his first DJ residency at a beach club playing all styles of music at the age of 14. After only one year, he was spinning in many of the popular bars on the island as well as on Ibizas most popular radio station, Cadena 100. It was at this time that Willie was discovered and asked to guest DJ at Ibizas world famous club, Pacha. A few months later, he became Pachas youngest resident DJ and is still there today during the summer season. Willie has played in some of the finest clubs all over the world in recent years in the following countries: Germany,Russia,Dubai, Spain, France, UK, USA,Switzerland... Willie is a music purist who doesnt like to limit himself to any particular style of music. He plays an eclectic array of house music, but is best known for his deep & moody trademark sound. Willie relocated to New York City three years ago to accept an invitation to be resident DJ of New Yorks most reputable club, Cielo. In the last few years, Cielo has gained international recognition as the premier house music club in America. Cielo has won numerous awards including, Best Club Venue in the US by Dancestar in 2004, Best Club 2005 by Club World and many more. Go to www.cieloclub.com for more details. Willie has played alongside some of the worlds top DJs and producers in recent years. Furthermore, has just started producing music and will have his first record released in September 2005 on the German label, Out Of Orbit. In addition, he will be mixing Cielos first compilation with Nicolas Matar to be released in May 2005. At present, Willie is in an enviable situation enjoying the best of both worlds: Pacha, Ibiza during the summer months and Cielo, NYC the rest for the year. Not bad for a 22 year old! The best is yet to come.

DJ Miki:

Deejaying began as a hobby for Miki, who grew up in Nis, in southeastern Serbia. But in 1991, when he opened Zombie, one of Serbia's more forward-looking dance clubs, he found himself on the forefront of the scene-maybe too far ahead. While Zombie, a small space with modern design, was "pretty successful for Serbia," the crowd was select. "Now it's a big audience over there," Miki says. "You can bring a DJ and have 10,000 people over there because they are crazy about house music and everything." Things changed in January 1995 as regional conflict intensified. "In the early'90s, everybody was about war; they didn't care so much about dance music then.

"Because of the war, I closed the club and left for Italy," he says. Miki, who had already spent time in Ibiza, found that Milan was ripe for new rhythms. At the urging of a friend, he began spinning again.

He became the resident DJ for weekends at Siam Society, spinning loungey stuff. Miki's rep flourished, and he scored gigs playing fashion shows for casual lines such as Anna Molinari and DSquared, and at Nicola Giducci's club Plastic.

Drawn to the music-oriented lifestyle of Ibiza, Miki split his time between the island and Italy. From 1999 to 2000 in Ibiza, he ran Bar 22, where he deejayed chill-out and soulful house, and got on the bill at superclub Pacha. There, his style changed. "From Ibiza, I take something more deep, more ambient, " he says. "You have to live in Ibiza for a couple of months to understand what's going on there. Actually, it's a hippy island. It's quiet; people are nice."

In 2002, he and his wife, Anna (who can be found working the door at popular locales such as rednofive and RiNo), traveled around the U.S. for six months before settling in Chicago. Miki promoted and spun at Gramercy's House Blend nights. "It was kind of successful - 150 to 200 people - but the area was really disgusting," he recalls.

Dj Miki also presently has a residency at Red Kiva.

-John Dugan/Time Out Chicago

Visuals by Galina:
Galina Shevchenko is a Russian born Chicago based video artist. She works across the mediums of live video performance, animation, and video installation. She has been involved in Chicago's Vj scene for several years, starting at the Select Media Festival at Heaven Gallery in 2002.

Galina had performed at numerous venues around Chicago including Rodan, Smart bar, CrowBar, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Victor Hotel. Her most recent video work took part in the curated program from Live Box Gallery at Berlin's Director's Lounge international Video Festival. Two of Galina's films were featured at New York's Red Shift Film Festival.

She is also a member of Chicago based short films collective Group 312 films and Collaboraction theater
company. Galina's art work is represented by Gosia Koscielak Studio and gallery http://www.gosiakoscielak.com, MokaGallery www.mokagallery.com, and Live Box Gallery www.liveboxgallery.com