Peter Pan is a DJ (and a model)

Friday night I went to a new club that goes by the ominous name of “Kauz”, which translates into “oddball” or “little owl”. I didn’t encounter any birds (nor anyone resembling Athena, for that matter) but I sure did run into some oddballs. And they make for a nice little parable on life.

“Kauz” is basically a time machine. It’s one of those places where thirty-somethings can safely let their hair down and relive moments of youthful lightheartedness. As a reminder, the decorators have put up dozens of 50s and 60s vintage lamps that suffuse the interior with the mellow red and golden glow of a bygone era. Call it cheesy, call it classy, it’s pretty darn effective in spreading Peter Pan Syndrome. All the people I ran into that night, some of which I’ve known for a long time, haven’t changed their views that radically compared to when they were eighteen. Some behavioral patterns haven’t changed at all. Maybe we’re comfortable with how we’ve led our lives so far, which would qualify as a good thing. I have a hunch though that there’s a strong element of “not-planning-to-take-hard-decisions-unless-I-have to” contributing to that paradoxical state of feeling retro yet being firmly grounded in the present and enjoying its benefits.

As it turned out, the modern embodiment of Peter Pan was right in our midst that night, sitting on a scuffed leather couch behind a low-slung DJ stand. It was a sight to behold: this middle-aged, paunchy guy with the shaggy beard operated the turntables like a real pro. The way he slightly tilted his heavy frame to his right whenever he reached for a new record, exposing his artfully tattooed arms. The way he put it on, spun it to its intended position with his index finger while intently listening through his earphones to confirm by audio. And the way he finally faded into the new track releasing the record without missing a beat.

Here’s a guy in his mid-40s, doing what he’s been doing since he was a teenager in an environment that, by most standards, he should have outgrown a long time ago. The turntables keep spinning, just the tunes are different. That said, it was strangely comforting to see the guy sitting there, in the midst of the buzz, fully concentrated on his mission, on getting the fades right and keeping the mood up. I guess as Peter Pan you need to be in it for the long haul. It’s a lifelong project.

Earlier that day, I had read a random piece of news about a friend of a friend, whose life couldn’t be more contrasting. He’s a financial whiz who used to work for an extremely prestigious hedge fund and also happens to be a male supermodel. He can basically be at the office and at the same time stare at you sternly from a huge Dolce&Gabbana billboard on Piccadilly Circus or Times Square.

The model is naturally opportunistic and bounces from one job to the other, always in pursuit of new opportunities, monetary or otherwise, of optimizing life, of eliminating slack. The DJ is very content with what he does. He does it well and seems very relaxed about it. Despite their differences, both are what you’d call “regular guys”: down-to-earth and easy to talk to. The model has got the looks and the brains, which counts a lot, admittedly. But he’s not arrogant about it. He’s just more relentless in his pursuit of the next step up than similarly gifted people.

It seems like there’s two versions of Peter Pan. One version stays connected to his younger self by being static: he keeps spinning records like he always has. The other version does it by being (and feeling) dynamic, by constantly looking for marginal improvements in order to get more mileage out of his efforts. Ultimately, it’s the same thing. You can dwell on the past to perpetuate the feeling or take the “faster, higher, stronger” attitude. That said, the DJ approach to Peter Pan reeks a bit of nostalgia. And nostalgia is a dangerous friend. It’s tempting to seek solace in the good old times but it’s unproductive and futile – what’s the point of fighting something as irreversible as time? Who knew, though, that Peter Pan is such a gifted shape shifter.