June Profile:Mustafa Affiliations: Glass Bead Players (GBP), Hazy Daze Collectif, Ambient Gangstahs, and the I.C.E.D. Contact: Email Mustafa

Do you mind telling us a bit about yourself and your aliases? Such as Professor Wrinklescreen, GBP and more that we do not know of?
Where to start? It would be unfair of me to give away too much, (not to mention spoil a great deal of fun). For the record, I am a 29 year-old queer sorcerer/minister/party promoter/visual artist/tax accountant/writer who has a penchant for imaginary countries. As Mustafa al-Laylah Bey, I'm a member of the Moorish Orthodox Church, an anarcho-Sufi organization with festal cabals worldwide. As just plain, old Mustafa, I am an ambient/experimental DJ and co-founder of the Glass Bead Players. As Professor Wrinklescreen, I have had the inestimable honor of producing and performing hand-worked visual shows for 13 different promotion Crews in this city over a period of 5 (or is it 6?) years. As Chica Nery, I have sometimes haunted the imaginations of closet case raver boys as a gender-fuck Santeria drag queen. The list goes on for a while: Nazelle Twaing (The senile Southern satirist), Paizo Zeses (The Hermetic Fool), Zephyr-Thoth (the Shamanic Scholar), Dr. Killwalrustitty (Discordian High Priest of the Falling Sky Cabal, POEE), etc., ad nauseam. After all, "Pseudonyms mean you never have to say you're sorry."

How did you get immersed in this subculture?
I was introduced into the dance subculture August 20, 1988. I still celebrate it as a bit of a birthday. It was the night a friend of mine named Sean McNeely took me out for a drive in his Ford Mustang convertible. I still vividly recall the smell of fresh cut grass in the summer breeze and how bright everything seemed. We went to a number of dumb clubs that night. But the sense of freedom that had entered my life that evening was irreversible. Prior to that I had danced in my room mimicking Balinese Legong and Barata Natyam routines. Once out though, I utilized these steps in a way only a 16 year-old can. Very shortly after that, I was collecting VIP cards from all of the teen clubs I could (Level V, Monopoly's-Metropolis-Metro, DV8, Club Eyes, etc.) and dancing 'til dawn at the after-hour acid house loft spaces and warehouses in Deep Ellum. From that point on I always kept my ear to the ground for the unmistakable pulse of the underground. That eventually took me to some of my first warehouse/field "raves" here in town back in the early 90's. Shortly thereafter, I made friends with Ian Collingwood, Sean Holland, and the rest of the Hazy Daze Collectif and soon became their "Spiritual Advisor" and "Minister of Propaganda". The story from there gets pretty voluminous and well tangled.

Who inspires you musically and/or otherwise and why?
I find inspiration in the some of the strangest places. For instance, I just started to hunt down versions of "Must Must/Dama Dum Must Qalandar" which are Pakistani Sufi devotional hymns sung in this amazing style called "Qawwali". Why? Two reasons: 1) The sound is just phenomenal and very ecstatic (especially the version done by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan remixed by Massive Attack) and 2) The subject matter: the Qalandariyya in Sufism are these lawless dervishes (or mystics) who act according to their true nature as dictated by God, and often times this runs completely contrary to the ideals & laws of the society in which they live. The Qalandars are notorious drinkers and smokers of ganja, singers and dancers. Very-Old-Skool-Ravers. But getting back to the question; If I had to choose some major influences to the type of music I listen to or play out, I would have to say that the works of Bill Laswell and Coil influence me the most. Just between those two artistic behemoths there are hundreds of releases spanning 20 + years utilizing state of the art technology with a deeply Gnostic esthetic.

What are your favorite tracks?
Right now? Hmmm. I've been really impressed with the new Boards of Canada (Geogaddi), Prof. Griff's "European on Me" (w. Umar Bin Hassan), this collection of 15th century tavern ditties called "Une Fete Chez Rabelais", Serge Gainsbourg's "Cargo Culte", "Gelaga Puhun" for Gamelan Gong Genggong, "Tonggeret" by Idjah Hadidjah, and The Residents rework of Hank William's "Hey, Good Lookin'"

What do you think of the current state of the Dallas scene?
Which one? I think the big mistake is to assume that there is just one dance music scene. I think we may have something like a series of rhizomes that support a number of different outgrowths each supporting both themselves and all other rhizomes. In that sense, the health of this "organism" greatly depends on the health of each node. If one node becomes cancerous or parasitic then the natural reaction is to jettison it to its own devices. The same is true with more positive nodes as well where one node holds the possibility of "infecting" others with strategies that increase its immunity. This has happened before in the past to a minor degree, but I think we are going to see a whole lot more of it, this fractious behavior. Amerika as a whole is going through the same thing. We can no longer seriously say that Amerika represents this or that anymore because there's just too much going on. Any attempt to consolidate things just leads to the type of open despotism you get with King Bush II (as opposed to the friendly despotism of Clinton). As above, so below.

When is the next GBP event and how can we find out about it?
Our final GBP event for this year will be on Bastille Day (July 14, 2002) at Red Blood Club in Disney Ellum. Barzakh be damned! Instructions and guidelines can be had by bugging me and the rest of the 1st Class Members (Drs. Cox, Ketley, and Walker) incessantly and/or signing on to our (dis)information platform glassbeadplayer@hotmail.com

Do you want to thank anyone?
I would like to take this time to thank every loving living soul out there for getting it right and sticking with it especially my housemates at the Tekke on Richmond and the people of Delladanza. I would also like to give special thanks to all of my brothers and sister in the following groups for letting me play with them: the Khalwat-I-Khidr (Moorish Orthodox Church), the GBP, the Ordo Templi Orientis, the Hazy Daze Collectif, Jumble Tribe, Purple Dimension, the Ambient Gangstahs, the Hot Tub Mystery Religion, & the Invisible College of Esoteric Disk Jockeys. Individually, I must thank my long-suffering and highly tolerant mother and all of the dynamic duos that have made my life both balanced and ecstatic: Philip and Loni Walker, the Drapers, the Greggs, the Words (teehee), the Aydts, the Olivers. And finally, I would like to re-dedicate my absolute and undying love to my Beloved, of whom little can be said and even less known. All fruits of my achievements reside with him.

Do you have anything else to add?
It's really odd; I've found that the closer I get to thirty the more tenderness I feel for those people who are just now coming into this culture. I think it's some bizarre paternal nesting instinct. I feel sad that they missed so much. I feel proud to see them make their mark on this culture with such abandon and confidence. I feel sympathetic when I see them start to wise up to the unspoken rules that keeps all of this together and running in the face of mind-numbing obstacles. And I feel positive that some of them (when in the presence of just the right mix of elements) will begin their own path of self-discovery and begin the arduous and rewarding path towards the accomplishment of the Great Work. Salaam. Mektoub.