Spinnergate: Here are some of my thoughts about DJ Dan's and Christopher Lawrence's statements today that they had no knowledge of alleged vote rigging by their "marketing manager" in this year's DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs online poll. First, let me just explain what should be obvious: I'm not out to get anyone. I like DJ Dan. I think he's one of the best DJs in the world, as my fave-DJs list to the lower right attests. I also think he's one of the more genuine people in dance music. I might have met Christopher Lawrence once or twice and I have no reason to doubt his skill, popularity or general sincerity. He seems nice, too. But I'm a journalist and my first loyalty is to the truth.

That said, I find a lot to quesiton about the pair's statements that they knew nothing about the situation when a "marketing manager" allegedly arranged for multiple votes to come from the same IP addresses in the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs contest this year (essentially rigging the vote, according to the mag's own accusations). A little background: These are two L.A.-based guys who share the same booking agency, who have headlined a national tour together, and who, last year, miraculously ended up bosom buddies at numbers 4 and 5 in the world. I noted that this was an "eyebrow-raising" occurrence in a piece critical of the poll published in LA CityBeat last year. What are the chances? Especially for DJ Dan, who went from number 24 in the world (with, according to the magazine's own prognosis, little chance of rising) to number 5 in the world, passing Paul Oakenfold, among others. Lawrence had released one compilation in two years when last year's poll was tallied, and as recently as 2003 he barely cracked the top 35. It just didn't smell right, and obviously DJ Magazine got the message and looked closely at the votes this year.

Now, Dan and Lawrence are saying that they had no idea what was going on. They didn't suspect a thing? And let me ask this: What the hell is a marketing manager? In 16 years of covering dance music, I've heard of DJs who have had managers, booking agents and publicists, but never "marketing managers." And if this since-fired "marketing manager" was indeed some diabolical vigilante working solo with allegedly unwelcome-but-great benefit to his clients, why not name him/her? Why weren't the pair in closer communication with this marketing manager? Why didn't they ask how they ended up 4 and 5 in the world last year? In the duo's efforts to claim innocence, I find more questions than answers.