Eyeworld

141 EW IN OTHER NEWS September 2015 by Maxine Lipner EyeWorld Senior Contributing Writer recalled with a laugh at the incredu- lous response he got when he shared that he was an eye surgeon. He found that building his DJ skills requires work. "For DJing you really have to know the music," he said. "All day long when I'm not practicing ophthalmology, I down- load music. I have my own studio at home, so I'm always playing music and listening and queuing up sets, preparing for the next gig." He puts in a lot of time preparing for the types of events that he has become known for in ophthalmology circles. "For each of my gigs I put in about 40 to 60 hours of time." At each of his events he plays a wide variety of music. "I'll bring old stuff, new stuff, house, rhythm and blues, pop, rock, and hip hop," he said, adding that it takes a little of everything to make sure it sounds right. He's also not afraid to take chances. "Sometimes I get a roar from the crowd and sometimes I have to change directions if it's not working," he said. At each event, Dr. Jackson has all of his set already lined up, but will remix on the fly if he needs to change direction. He likens losing the sound of the crowd to dropping a lens into the vitreous during cata- ract surgery. "As a cataract surgeon, if I lose a piece of lens into the vitreous it's kind of like, 'Ugh,'" he said. "It's the same feeling when you lose the crowd or music goes out or something crazy happens during a gig." For the most, Dr. Jackson only performs at professional venues, but there have been a few exceptions. He was the DJ at the sweet 16 parties of the daughters of a good friend. Dr. Jackson also performed at his own son's 8th grade graduation several years back. "The thing is, for those [kinds of parties] you can't be explicit," he said. He had to use more appropriate music, and it's actually harder to get the sets right because he had to download all of the "clean" versions of songs, which don't have the remixes. "It's not re- ally my style," he said. "I'm the late night club guy. That's my thing." Dr. Jackson also "spun" at a milestone of his own, his 50th birth- day—a proverbial white party where everyone dressed accordingly. At the Breaking in Ironically, his road to working professionally in this area began at the AECOS launch party he did back in 2012. "I asked a couple of the guys from House of Blues sound and lighting to help me get some equipment in there and they did," Dr. Jackson said, adding that it was a large, crowded venue and he had paid them to help. "They went back to the House of Blues and said, 'If you guys are looking for a new fea- ture DJ, we found him.'" The man- ager at the time gave the surgeon a chance to build his professional chops. "He hired me but said, 'You do what for a living?'" Dr. Jackson Congress in Boston about 5 years ago. He followed this up by DJing at the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (AECOS) launch party in Chicago, and has since expanded his range to include professional gigs. "The story is that I always liked it and wanted to do it. Then one of my friends said, 'You can't do that for real. Who are you kidding?'" Dr. Jackson recalled. "I said, 'I'm going to show you that I can do it.'" The ophthalmic surgeon made good on his word. Among other things, he now professionally DJs for the popular events company Live Nation. M any ophthalmologists unwind to music in their off hours. Mitchell Jackson, MD, takes it to a whole other level. This ophthalmic surgeon can frequently be found moon- lighting as a professional DJ at the Foundation Room in the House of Blues Chicago. He also takes on in- termittent gigs at major ophthalmic meetings and other key occasions. Dr. Jackson first tried his hand at this in a milieu where he was very much at home—working ophthal- mic events, beginning at a party at the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Rocking it as a DJ Dr. Jackson DJs a party at the 2012 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress at the House of Blues Chicago. continued on page 142 Mitchell Jackson, MD, is spinning to his own beat

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