Philly DJ killed in hit-and-run remembered for creating ‘sanctuary on the dance floor’
The sudden death of the longtime DJ, a decades-long presence at Bob & Barbara’s, has left a hole in Philly’s queer community and the house music scene.
June Rodriguez, 54, was riding his bike home after his shift at Bob & Barbara’s Lounge early Saturday morning — he refused to own a car in order to stay in shape — when he was killed in a hit-and-run.
Rodriguez was turning onto North 56th Street from Lancaster Avenue in Overbrook around 3:45 a.m. when the driver of a red SUV swerved into him and drove away, according to Philadelphia police.
In between angry sobs, his mother, Miriam Rodriguez, described a violent death that ran so counter to the way he lived. She said her son’s chest was crushed, his spine severed, and the driver just left him on the cold street.
“Growing up, he was always a good kid and everybody loved him, he had that kind of charisma,” she said. “It’s hard for somebody to come and hit him with a car and not do nothing about it.”
Police are investigating, looking for tips that could lead to an arrest.
Meanwhile, the sudden death of the longtime DJ, a decades-long presence at Bob & Barbara’s, has left a hole in Philly’s queer community and the house music scene.
Born in the Bronx, Rodriguez was always into music, said his mother. He took to the oldies and the salsa music his mother would play when cleaning the house. His love of music spread to dance and he eventually got into breakdancing.
Rodriguez’s love of music was contagious, according to those who knew him, and garnered him many friends when he arrived in Philly around the mid-aughts.
Though straight, Rodriguez was a longtime member of the drag show DJ team at Bob & Barbara’s and well-known among Philly’s LGBTQ community, playing at pride events.
When Rodriguez’s only son, Skye, came out to his father as transgender, the DJ was “fully on board” and seamlessly began introducing him as his son, Skye Rodriguez said. Rodriguez was even trying to get his son to leave Reading and move to Philly, where he’d have access to a larger LGBTQ community.
“He wanted me to be as happy as possible,” said Skye Rodriguez. “He was like, ‘You know, I’ll do anything I can to get you here.’”
In the days after his death, longtime friends and acquaintances have flooded social media with remembrances.
Bob & Barbara’s mourned Rodriguez in a Facebook post. He’d had a decades-long relationship with the bar working as door greeter, security, and occasional barback over the years. His latest venture there was learning how to bartend, according to the lounge.
“His passion for music radiated through every part of his life and he created an expansive and diverse community through his art,” read the post.
Cameron Guthrie, a longtime friend who met Rodriguez in the now-closed Liaison Room, said Rodriguez was so beloved because of how supportive he could be, even to borderline strangers.
“He was everybody’s biggest fan,” said Guthrie, who also DJs, and remembers how Rodriguez was constantly telling him he should be playing in New York City, especially when his music wasn’t finding an audience in Philly.
“When others would read you to filth, he’d root for you.”
The community Rodriguez built has been visible in the days following his death. Outside of the online tributes, his son said a local music festival, called Departed, dedicated proceeds from its after-hours party Saturday to his funeral expenses. Rodriguez was slated to play the after-hours event.
“I didn’t realize how many friends and people loved him until I went to the set that he was supposed to play the other night, and saw how many people showed up for him,” said his son.
Guthrie and other DJ friends organized a similarly popular dance party at Penn Treaty Park Sunday. A GoFundMe that said Rodriguez created “a sanctuary on the dance floor” has raised more than $17,000 for funeral expenses.
Safe streets advocates, meanwhile, are calling attention to the dangerous conditions on the strip of road where Rodriguez was killed.
A long stretch of Lancaster Avenue has long been identified, by the city’s own calculations, as one of the most dangerous in the city, part of the 12% of Philadelphia streets that account for 80% of traffic deaths and serious injuries. It’s been listed on what’s called the high-injury network for years.
Just in September, a 77-year-old pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run on Lancaster Avenue and 54th Street, not far from where Rodriguez was killed.
The strip does have a bike lane, but advocates say it should be protected to prevent reckless drivers from using the lane as a shoulder or turning lane.
“The frequent appearance of one road on the high-injury network is proof that the current configuration is unsafe for everyone, and PennDot, who controls the street, is not doing enough to fix it,” said Philly Bike Action in a statement, adding Rodriguez is the seventh cyclist fatality in the city this year.