Miniature candles flicker on each table at Harry’s Velvet Room, illuminating the lounge in a relaxing, romantic glow. The setting serves as a suitable atmosphere for Apsaras Dreaming, a new trip-hop trio composed of a deejay, a violinist and a cellist. Situated near the bar, the deejay cranks out lazy drippings of hip-hop and down-tempo funk as her bandmates chime in with their own smooth stylings.
Apsaras Dreaming is the latest offshoot of the pop-dance band Poi Dog Pondering, and includes violinist Susan Voelz, cellist Alison Chesley and Carolynn Travis, Poi’s longtime manager and a regular on the local deejay circuit for more than two years.
Travis, who goes by the deejay handle “Hello Kitty,” has scaled many barriers in the entertainment industry, from being a female in the male-dominated music business to struggling to get gigs in a market flooded with deejays. But her most accomplished feat is overcoming a hearing-impairment disorder in order to bring on the beats.
Travis suffers from an ear disorder called otosclerosis, a hereditary disease of the inner ear (her father, mother and a brother have also suffered from it). Perception of hearing loss from the slow-developing condition is so subtle that many people with otosclerosis only become aware of their hearing loss when friends or relatives call it to their attention. By the time Travis had realized what was going on several years ago, she had already lost 90 percent of her hearing.
In order to restore some of her hearing, Travis underwent a surgical procedure and got some high-tech hearing aids. Thanks to those steps, she now hears 40 percent better.
Travis grew up listening to soul music in Detroit in the 1960s and ’70s, and she incorporates the sound into her twangy, trippy set every Thursday at Wicker Park’s Bar Thirteen. But she knows her limitations, and admits that even her high-powered hearing aids prevent her from hearing certain frequencies.
“I will never take my hearing for granted because of all that I’ve gone through,” Travis says. “And sometimes when I’m [spinning records], I have to take a break because the loud music isn’t good for my ears.”
That’s why her next move is to become an advocate for hearing protection. At most concerts and clubs, she says, the music is turned up so high that it can’t possibly be safe on the ears.
“I would love to see people take a 20-minute break from the music,” she adds, “it would be wonderful for the ears.”
In the meantime, Travis continues to turn music lovers on to her style. “There’s all these great records out there that never get heard and people take them for granted. And because I’ve been blessed with my hearing, I just want to be able to play and say, `Here’s something cool that you’ve never heard before.’ And then I just watch the heads nod and fingers snap.”
