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t m c » p u l s e | m ay 2 0 1 7 31 NA M E : Steven Powell, RN OCCU PAT ION: Registered nurse at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center I N T ER EST: DJ/Music HOW TMC EMPLOYEES SPEND THEIR SPARE TIME B y S h a n l e y C h i e n B y day, Steven Powell works as a registered medical- surgical nurse at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, where he treats veterans suffer- ing from spinal cord injuries. By night, he's DJ Nursic— a portmanteau of nursing and music, his two loves—at KTRU Rice Radio 96.1 FM. His live show, "The Revelry Report," airs Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. On a recent Tuesday, Powell, 29, finished his shift at the hospital at 4:30 p.m. and raced to the Rice University radio station, still wearing his scrubs and stethoscope. It's a cramped space. Every inch of wall space is stacked with vinyl records and CDs, and most surface areas are covered with KTRU stickers and decals. Powell often wears his long hair up in a bun at the hospital, but when he's on the air, he lets it down, whipping it back and forth to the rhythm of the eclectic mix of indie rock and rap blasting in the studio. "From an early age, I knew I wanted to do something in music," he said. "I just didn't know what or necessarily how to get into the music industry." Powell grew up in 10 differ- ent cities on four continents— including Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina; Moscow, Russia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Doha, Qatar—thanks to his father's job with Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Eventually, the family settled in Houston, where Powell finished middle school and high school. But no matter where he lived, he always carried with him a passion for music. "My mother was one of those people who didn't try to force anything on me, neither did my dad," Powell said. "My mom signed me up for a bunch of dif- ferent classes, everything from tennis to martial arts. Out of all the different lessons she signed me up for, the one that I had the most enjoyment with was piano, so I continued to do music through the piano. That evolved into … learning the saxophone." Powell also picked up an interest in percussion and joined the drumline at the start of high school. After his senior year, he signed a contract with global nonprofit Drum Corps International, which allowed him to compete and tour throughout the country before starting college. Powell attended Tulane University in New Orleans, starting in fall 2006. His reasons for choosing Tulane were two-fold: First, music is deeply rooted in the city's culture and, second, he would be part of the first class accepted after Hurricane Katrina. "New Orleans just had that devastation, so I was curious how the city would rebuild itself and I wanted to be a part of that rebuilding process," he said. During his freshman year, Powell volunteered with relief efforts and helped rebuild houses in New Orleans' Musicians' Village in the Upper Ninth Ward. Throughout college, he stuck close to music, DJ-ing for Tulane's radio station, inter- viewing hundreds of local and national musicians for his radio show, and playing a major role in the Tulane University Campus Programming group, which booked and produced concerts featuring artists including Ludacris, Lil Wayne and Third Eye Blind. (continued) ON T H E SI DE