DJ Bernard "Short Lunch" Walker at P.J. Clarke's in 1982. Photo by Charles Chamblis courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Before we put Bernard Walker's face on the cover of City Pages ("One Nation, Invisible" 8/18/04), we didn't know his name. The only thing we knew for sure about the photograph, taken by the late Charles Chamblis and collected by the Minnesota Historical Society, was that the guy looked familiar to local DJs. Some identified the location as the upstairs disco of the Taste Show Lounge (actually, Walker says it was P.J. Clarke's). Others put the year at 1982 (note the Lionel Richie album on the wall). Beyond that, we didn't know if the DJ was even playing hip hop: He just looked hip hop.

Lionel Richie's 1982 debut (thanks to Stonedsoul for noticing!)

As it turns out, Bernard Walker DJ'd in Minnesota under the name "Short Lunch" for some 15 years. "I was the silent guy back in those days," he says now, speaking over the phone from his home in Midland, Texas. "I really didn't start talking until I was 18. Then I started doing a little bit of rapping, and I won four DJ-of-the-year awards." Today Walker is a nurse's aid, and plans to attend nursing school in the near future. He was told about the cover by his daughter, who phoned City Pages to answer the question we asked on Page 3: "Do you know who the DJ is?"

By the time that picture was snapped, Short Lunch was 24 years old. He had landed his first gig at St. Paul's Elk's Club in the mid-'70s, when he was still too young to drink, and went on to spin regularly at P.J. Clarke's. He performed at parks and gymnasiums with such DJs as Big Funk, Kyle Ray, Billy Bump, Kansas City, Farrow Black, and other Twin Cities hip-hop groundbreakers. Walker remembers entering several competitions in the early '80s, sometimes held in the Elk's parking lot, where he rapped while scratching and mixing.

"It was just like playing the dozens," he says. "You'd talk about the next guy's haircut and clothes. Then he'd get up there and take his turn. It was what we called a battle, but we were all friends."

Walker's best friend was his partner Big Funk, who also grew up in St. Paul, and has since moved away. "My name goes after his name, because he was the headliner," says Walker. "I was just the young cute guy."

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