Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Excalibur]

However, the new laid back / go with the flow me seems to be attracting all sorts – with a degree of success.

A young lady attended a wedding I was DJ for and was hosting a joint 14th birthday and emigrating party (they are moving to Oz), and asked her mother if she would book me to DJ for her.


And as an added bonus, mother came up and booked me for the family emigration party in a couple of weeks on a Monday night – bonus all round.

I've just found out that a karaoke night I did in January at a really average sports club has landed me a lovely wedding this weekend. Seems the bride had a " friend of a friend" who was unavailable, so asked family for advice. " You need the Lad/Old Git we saw doing karaoke last week at the sports club. Lots of fun, witty repartee, total superstar".
A cold wet night in January doing Karaoke has led to a plum wedding in August at a nice price. Every gig is a shop window.

Now I mentioned my new laid-back approach – well basically they asked for a song, I played it, they asked or another, I played it and it didn’t get much more complicated than that -which to be fair is how most my discos are now which suits me.

At the end had about a dozen or so come over to thank me and even called a legend multiple times – I am assuming this is still a compliment in teenage talk ?

Blimey Chris, there's thinking outside the box, and then there's sheer genius! Giving the customers what they want. That's a big step into the unknown for a service industry!

Mod note: For anyone who thinks I'm having a pop at Chris, that aligns closely with my standard operating procedure. Not exactly, but very closely, I take requests, I play requests. It's not really rocket science, is it?

[Excalibur]

In a sports club, overlooking the pitch, car park, and other areas of interest. More interesting than asking for anything decent musically. R& Bilge was main diet.
The young 'uns were hard work, and I didn't have enough relatives brave enough to come up and ask for Abba and Tina until near the end. A lively last hour, looked better than it was. Staff happy enough, and it was the handiest of handy access.
Wedding today, I fancy this one. Really lovely couple, playlist of Usual Suspects from advance request slips ( Shania's on there three times with Man...) and modern Country, which seems to be popular round here.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Wedding today, I fancy this one. Really lovely couple, playlist of Usual Suspects from advance request slips ( Shania's on there three times with Man...) and modern Country, which seems to be popular round here.

I've got a 40th birthday party tonight at a nice fancy bar in town, loads of 90s dance and house......but golden rule for me is not to get too excited by a playlist because if I had a penny the amount of times I did and found out it was only really suitable for 2% of the crowd.........

[mattydj50]

I've got a 40th birthday party tonight at a nice fancy bar in town, loads of 90s dance and house......but golden rule for me is not to get too excited by a playlist because if I had a penny the amount of times I did and found out it was only really suitable for 2% of the crowd.........

That was like my wedding request list a few weeks ago, 90's dance, 00's and 10's dance and Happy Hardcore. And me feeling unwell.

80 guests and only 36 turned up, including 8 kids. Had a sax player who was kept waiting and waiting.... Because the bride stormed off after the cake cut, but before the first dance. She was later to have been seen heading for her room in floods of tears, never to return. The groom got drunk!

A fly on the wall I would like to have been later!!!

[Nakatomi]

Another straggler from the days of a venue taking bookings on my behalf tonight, and despite my requests to prod & poke the customer into making contact with me I didn't hear a dickybird until I showed up to do the gig.

The couple were very pleasant & laid back (phew) - but I knew I didn't have their first dance. Luckily I'd made a point of getting an audience with them in good time. Could I find the darn track though? I couldn't buy James Arthur A Thousand Years because my debit card is currently cancelled (long story - I got skimmed on holiday during the week) & neither of my credit cards would work either (so I also couldn't buy more ILM credits either boooo!). The official story would be that somebody lent me their account so I could buy it - not that an enterprising scamp played it on their Spotify account & recorded the audio with OBS. That would be a little bit illegal!!

Anyway everything turned out nicely in the end & it was a storming night. I rattled my way through 108 tunes in 5 hours thus:

Sister Sledge - Lost In Music (Dimitri From Paris Remix)

Beyonce Wedding Intro - B&G grand entrance 'thing'... I MUST get this on video sometime!

Bruno Mars - Marry You - Instrumental (Official Instrumental) ... cake cut....

james arthur 1000 years - 1st Dance

Heartland - I Loved Her First (Father of Bride & Bride)

Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance

Abba - Mamma Mia Juski edit 135bpm

Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)

human league - don't you want me juski edit

Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much (UK Dance Mix)

Cornershop - Brim Full of Asha

Bryan Adams - Summer of ´69 Food time, but people mostly decided to keep dancing..

Vengaboys - We`re Going To Ibiza

Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

Kylie Minogue - Better The Devil You Know REQUEST

Earth Wind & Fire - September Juski Edit

Abba & Mark Ronson - Gimme Uptown Funk

EWF - Boogie Wonderland Juski Edit

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head -

Spiller - Groovejet (Extended Vocal Mix)

Wham - Club Tropicana Juski Edit

Erasure - A Little Respect

cyndi lauper girls just wanna have fun juski edit -

Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky Juski Edit

Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline

PROCLAIMERS - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

John Travolta & Olivia Newton John - Summer Nights Juski edit

Tina Turner - Proud Mary

Chubby Checker - Let's Twist Again

Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There

Queen - Don't Stop Me Now 2011 Remaster

Bon Jovi - Livin On a Prayer

Guns 'N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine EDIT

Kevin Rowland & Dexys Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen

Los Del Rio - Macarena

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock REQUEST

Wham - Wake me up before you go go

S Club 7 - Reach

Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5

Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca REQUEST

The Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You

Five - Everybody Get Up

Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)

Britney Spears - Baby One More Time Juski edit

Will Smith - Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme (short)

B Witched - C'est la vie

spice wannabe edit

Girls Aloud - Love Machine

Tom Jones & Mousse T. - Sex Bomb

Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet At about this point I was asked by guest if I could play any throwback R&B.. so here we go towards that...

Flo Rida Feat T-Pain - Low

Usher - Yeah Juski Edit

Nelly - Hot in Herre

Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love

Panjabi MC - Mundian To Bach Ke

Fatman Scoop - Be Faithful juski edit

Nelly Feat. City Spud - Ride Wit Me

Mary Mary - Shackles Praise You -

Christina Aguilera feat. Redman - Dirrty

Shakira - Hips Don't Lie Juski Edit

Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On

Robbie Williams - Rock DJ

SClub 7 - Bring It All Back Juski edit

Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight REQUEST

Steps - Tragedy Juski Edit

Whigfield - Saturday Night

SHAM ROCK - Tell Me Ma

DJ Casper - The Cha Cha Slide Juski Edit

Steps - 5 6 7 8

Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

N TRANCE Set You Free.. then it's charva choons time..

Basshunter Feat. DJ Mental Theo's Bassheadz - Now You're Gone

DJ Jurgen Presents Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone

Cascada - Everytime We Touch

Special D. - Come With Me

Scooter - The Logical Song

Ultrabeat - Pretty Green Eyes (Radio Mix)

Xtm - Fly On The Wings Of Love

DRUNKENMUNKY - E

The Killers - Mr Brightside

Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Green Day - Basket Case

ELECTRIC 6 - GAY BAR... at this point the bride asked for a bit more R&B so...

Ginuwine - Pony

BLACKSTREET FEAT DR DRE - NO DIGGITY

EVE FEAT GWEN STEFANI - LET ME BLOW YA MIND

Destiny's Child - Jumpin' Jumpin'

Tlc - No Scrubs

Rihanna - Pon De Replay

Mis-teeq - Scandalous

Shaggy - It Wasn't Me

Sugababes - About You Now REQUEST

Busted - You Said No

Mcfly - 5 Colours In Her Hair

Miley Cyrus - Party In The USA

holly valance - kiss kiss

Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

Mary J. Blige - Family Affair

Mark Morrison - Return of the mack

Five - Got The Feelin'

Pitbull feat. John Ryan - Fireball REQUEST

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - Can't hold us

DJ Otzi - Hey Baby

The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Hermes House Band - Country Roads

BILL MEDLEY & JENNIFER WARNES - THE TIME OF MY LIFE (I'VE HAD)

Journey - Don’t Stop Believin’

About as weddingy as a wedding can possibly be, but some interesting left turns & the floor was respectably busy (and messy) all night long.

That was like my wedding request list a few weeks ago, 90's dance, 00's and 10's dance and Happy Hardcore. And me feeling unwell.

80 guests and only 36 turned up, including 8 kids. Had a sax player who was kept waiting and waiting.... Because the bride stormed off after the cake cut, but before the first dance. She was later to have been seen heading for her room in floods of tears, never to return. The groom got drunk!

A fly on the wall I would like to have been later!!!

The happy hardcore would've made me a bit queasy too. Hate that stuff!

[ppentertainments]

Another straggler from the days of a venue taking bookings on my behalf tonight, and despite my requests to prod & poke the customer into making contact with me I didn't hear a dickybird until I showed up to do the gig.

This is REALLY starting to boil my wee with residencies at the moment - to the extent this past week I have handed back 2 bookings to residencies as I know they are going to be demanding, yet less than 2 weeks to go and not a sign of any information at all.

[Excalibur]

I like Farm brides. They understand that animals and staff have to be fed.

I met this couple last week, and got on with them so well. Bride is noted for attention to detail, which showed in my little " party bag " which had among other goodies, a napkin, knife and fork! The food? Wow! Suffice to say that Jeanette is miffed that I didn't have tupperware boxes in the van to bring more home with me!

Right, well due to venue rules, I had an easy ride as I wasn't allowed to play background music outside during the canapes, so although I turned up on time for that, I had nothing to do. I could even have had an ice cream, they looked absolutely lovely, the guests were enjoying them outside in the good weather.

I was already set up inside for the night, and had given the dreaded sound limiter a good working over. Having adjusted the Polars tone controls, I reckoned I was fairly safe.

I introduced the Bride and Groom into the room, and it erupted! Father of the bride's speech was awesome, and when they'd all been done, I played background while each table in order went outside for their wonderful food. The blighters were dancing while they waited for me to call their table numbers! I had a playlist to work from, plus requests, and we got to the coach arrival time easily, floor never emptied totally.

At the end I got handshakes from Father of Bride, venue owner ( bride says he was very keen to know about me, if I was local. Could be more work there mayhap.) and thanks from an exhausted bride. A great night, marred only by the poor wifi on my two phone networks. If I visit again, I'll check venue wifi.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I've got a 40th birthday party tonight at a nice fancy bar in town, loads of 90s dance and house......but golden rule for me is not to get too excited by a playlist because if I had a penny the amount of times I did and found out it was only really suitable for 2% of the crowd.........

Actually turned out great this one. Loads of good house tunes plus some garage and dance. Let me crack on so had a good old mix. Venue had an inhouse Void system and things wrapped up at 11.30 because they're off to "da club".

The happy hardcore would've made me a bit queasy too. Hate that stuff!

I'm not into a lot of genres but I get the appeal of why people. Happy hardcore however is just rubbish (not the word I'd use if it wasn't for forum rules )

[mattydj50]

This is REALLY starting to boil my wee with residencies at the moment - to the extent this past week I have handed back 2 bookings to residencies as I know they are going to be demanding, yet less than 2 weeks to go and not a sign of any information at all.

Bearing in mind that I am on holiday in Greece currently, I got an email from my residency on Friday asking if they had booked me for Saturday 23 September, as she couldn't find anything. Unsurprisingly, neither could i, and told her that I had nothing at all in for that night. So it became booked. But she then said that as I said I had nothing at all for that night that meant the other function hadn't been booked either. Correctamundo.

So, reinstate panic and contact Peter, who is the first can of the rank to ride shotgun for me. No dice son, he's on a job already. I start casting nets but suddenly get an email telling me it was a false alarm, as they have booked a band.

My thoughts turned to whether any consideration will have been given to background music during the meal and between and after the band's sets. While I don't really care, what I don't want is a desperate phone call the day before, knowing my contact drawer is empty.

[Excalibur]

I'm not into a lot of genres but I get the appeal of why people. Happy hardcore however is just rubbish (not the word I'd use if it wasn't for forum rules )

Now you see, I find it quite jolly. Wouldn't be the first time I've finished the night at over 140 BPM! Not often, but I have done.

My thoughts turned to whether any consideration will have been given to background music during the meal and between and after the band's sets. While I don't really care, what I don't want is a desperate phone call the day before, knowing my contact drawer is empty.

Note to Mr Western, phone reception in the Hope Valley is appalling. I fear I shall be unreachable.