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The Ministry of DJ Sam ‘the Man’ Burns, D.C.’s House-Music Legend
His 40-year career turned dancers into parishioners, and partygoers into family
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
When the clock struck midnight, DJ Sam “the Man” Burns always began his sermons on the decks the same way: “Good morning, Washington, D.C.!” And at some point that night, he would inevitably remind wallflowers of his number one rule. “No texting on the dance floor,” he’d shout.
“He’d just start screaming at people. Telling them to get off his dance floor,” says DJ Carlos Mena, who knew and spun alongside Burns for over 15 years. “‘If you’re standing on my dance floor with a drink, watching other people dance, you can leave. There’s a place across the street where you can do that.’”
Samuel Andre Burns, who died suddenly on March 7 at the age of 63, was Washington, D.C.’s tireless champion of Chicago house music. As a resident DJ at the Eighteenth Street Lounge’s Underground Soul Sessions, he leaves behind a seemingly endless tribe: educating and mentoring countless DJs and artists over his four decades behind the decks, as well as inspiring multiple generations of Washingtonians to dance their troubles away. For me…
