About DJ Jester
http://www.filipinofist.com

DJ Jester the Filipino Fist aka G. Michael Pendon grew up in bucolic West Columbia, Texas, a tiny town fifty miles south of Houston. The youngest of four children to caring but strict hard working Filipino immigrants, the latch key kid received hand-me-downs in the form of Michael Jackson, Sting, and Thompson Twins tapes. That early consumption of music eventually gave way to his knack for picking out and buying his own music. By age 12, he had already bought every Weird Al and Dead Milkmen tape he could get his hands on. His earliest inklings of dreaming of being a DJ came, though, when he watched DJ Daddy Rich perform with 3rd Bass on the Arsenio Hall Show.

Years later, when Pendon attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, he turned that dream into a reality. While rapping, Djing, and managing a band called Bucketfunk, he introduced himself to the world as DJ Jester the Filipino Fist. As an American Studies major, Jester concurrently worked as Arts editor of the school newspaper and as the hip-hop buyer for legendary San Antonio indie record store, Hogwild. It was there that he realized that he wanted to do “something music related” for life.

In 1998, Jester formed the short-lived Underdog Turntablists, San Antonio’s premier scratch DJ crew. After only a year together, the Underdogs were voted BEST DJs in the coveted San Antonio Current Music Awards, but family and career took precedence and the Underdogs each went their separate ways. Jester went on to win BEST DJ two more times without the Underdogs in the Current Music Awards. Jester started a new crew, the Supa Brotha Scientists (with DJ Klassen, DJ Shon, and DJ Donnie-D), in early 2000.

In December 2000, Jester self released his debut CD, River Walk Riots. Going through post-college career panic, Jester accepted a marketing position for health food company, Boca Foods. This “job” came in the form of driving the Boca Burger Mobile up and down the East Coast and Midwest for six months in 2001, flipping burgers at high-profile events like the Boston Marathon and the Kansas City Jazz and Blues Festival. Being the canny entrepreneur he is, while on tour, Jester would market River Walk Riots to every indie record store and radio station he could find along the way. This eventually led to Jester gaining a cult-like following and critical acclaim in national and international press, mom and pop record stores everywhere, and college radio. Aquarius Records, the oldest independent record store in San Francisco, called him “the best thing since Kid Koala,” while Asian pop-culture mag, Giant Robot, praised RWR as “an indie hip-hop masterpiece.” Jester’s willingness to think outside the rap box while rocking the party made him wildly popular in San Antonio and beyond. His live set often includes mixes of cross-genre pop culture references like Willie Nelson, the Greatest American Hero, Richard Simmons, Public Enemy, and George Strait. His very personal take on American culture/music through his Djing seems to win over almost any crowd.

Jester has appeared in Spin, URB, XLR8R, the Wire, Giant Robot, Pulse, Tokion, Paper, and countless other magazines. He was even named a “hip hop hunk” on www.hiphophunks.com, and is a freelance hip-hop writer for URB. He has since stopped distributing CDs out of the back of a truck and is distributed worldwide through Revolver USA and TRC Distribution. He has played the South By Southwest Music and Media Conference three times and continues to spin with the Supa Brotha Scientists. In 2002, he released two discs: an experimental studio project CD, Introducing the Neat Beat, with his band Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine and a solo CD, Heavily Booted. In December 2002, one of the Love Machine tracks appeared on Scratch Attack, Vol. 2--a compilation on the San Francisco area-based label, Hip Hop Slam. Another Love Machine track also appeared on commercials for Fox Sports’ broadcast of the Philips Fusion, a California extreme sports competition. He has shared the stage with MC Paul Barman, Mix Master Mike, Christian Marclay, Atmosphere, and Sage Francis, among others. Handpicked by Kid Koala to tour in 2003, Jester traveled North America, the UK and Europe as a member of Kid Koala’s turntable band and opening act including a performance on the BBC curated by Radiohead. Catching the ear of a promoter in Japan, this led to a solo show in Tokyo. In 2003, Jester was also named to URB Magazine’s prestigious NEXT 100 list.

To find out more about the Filipino Fist, go to www.filipinofist.com. For interview requests, bookings, or questions, please contact Mike Pendon at (210) 383-3134 or e-mail djjester@filipinofist.com.