Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[djdj]

Well after three cancelations Two for Friday (Sorry again Peter ) and One for Saturday
I ended up at a local Hotel, Nice smallish Upstairs function room but lift available so not all bad.

Background music while the 50 guests had their food and a general mix of tunes.
Strange I have now played Paradise BTDL twice in two gigs, (Time to get to the bar via the downstairs toilets then)
Good crowed 12.00 finish turned into 12.45 but as I am trying to get a residency at the hotel it was worth the effort.

[Nakatomi]

... that's what Tony, hotel staff member said when I arrived with my laptop & controller. Oh really? We'll see, I said.

A room of 100 people, booked in for a residency murder misery night. Everything was late - the murder mystery players, the food... and by the time the tables were cleared & the final scores were read out it was five minutes past eleven. "and now I'll hand you over to our superb resident DJ...". Hit them with Uptown Funk, moderately loud to begin with.. and then it was drowned out by the sound of at least 50 chairs moving outwards and people putting on their coats.

WHAT?! Mariah Carey got played next to a decent response - if you call a decent response even more people putting their coats on & leaving

Which ultimately left me with about 30 people, all very very drunk women baying for Christmas music - even John & Yoko!

Ended the night a couple of minutes after midnight after a 'fake' finish... and got a torrent of abuse from the alpha blonde for my trouble.

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day. NOT.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I can tell you now what my gig tonight will be like.........very quiet because nobody will be there.
It's down to lack of communication somewhere (not on my side I might add). Venue has been chasing the company, company has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth so the booking has been cancelled.

Invoices already put through for the whole lot of parties. Oh well.

Two more to go before New Years Eve. Looking forward to being relatively 'normal' (whatever that is) on Christmas Eve as not working.

[RobKennedy]

I've been working at the same venue for most of December and while I've really enjoyed it I actually feel sorry for the staff.

Relentless christmas parties for the month and most of the staff look like they've lost the will to live !

It's the unrelenting tide of people out for their christmas party who do not know how to behave after a few drinks - most people are great fun but the staff, security and DJ can all spot the "special ones" at 100 yards after a few years.

I'm focusing on New Years Eve at this point, as December is pretty much done now bar a couple of "groundhog day" christmas parties.

[Imagine]

Just two primary school discos for me this week so far, with the last adult one on Saturday and a family party on Sunday afternoon (and indeed, the only party this year where the fella in the big red suit is making an appearance).

So...last night. It's a regular one split into two 45 minute sessions. I think the head had possibly had a stressful day though.
First off, asked to turn it down. Really? I could hear the kids talking over it. Never mind, soon got a hall of 100 or so 5-7 year olds doing the Cha Cha Slide and the like. Tried my faithful limbo set out (which normally works a treat)....nope. The kids didn't get for some reason that they had to move round once they'd been under. End result, gridlock at the limbo bar so gave that one up fairly soon. Nearly time to finish the first one, lets do a massive Hokey Cokey. The head nearly had a heart attack and asked me to wind that one up after just a couple of verses (not like her at all I might add!)

Seconds away, time for the older kids. This was DIFFERENT!
Normally, I run the same formula for both parties, but seeing as things like games weren't going down too well in the boss's eyes, I stuck to just music....and was richly rewarded. There were a couple of kids who were ringleaders, where the moment I put the dance version of Black Magic on, they were bouncing around in front of the rig with an upraised arm. The other 100 or so followed suit.

On to Marvin Gaye in the dance stylee....same again. There was no stopping this lot. Whip Nae Nae (urgh)....but that actually knew the dance and did it en-masse. Mr PSY's new one followed Gangnam and then they asked for the YMCA. Wasn't sure about that but it worked, followed off with a mass Macarena.....still with arms in the air.

Why can't adult parties be like this?

What was a little worrying was that these are the next generation of party go-ers, and already the trait's there to "put my song on next" and when you don't...they're standing there asking why.....

Just to add to the head's stress, no sooner had the kids left the building and I started putting stuff back into the van, the fire alarms decided to throw a wobbler (nothing to do with me....it was triggered elsewhere in the building). No matter what they did, they couldn't reset the thing. Oh well.....I'll leave you to it

[Nakatomi]

What was a little worrying was that these are the next generation of party go-ers, and already the trait's there to "put my song on next" and when you don't...they're standing there asking why.....

Make them learn - the more they pester, the less likely they are to hear their request Like the people who turn all nasty when they want me to play over time... do they not think that insulting me is weakening their chances somewhat? hur hur hur.

[Excalibur]

Make them learn - the more they pester, the less likely they are to hear their request Like the people who turn all nasty when they want me to play over time... do they not think that insulting me is weakening their chances somewhat? hur hur hur.

Folk would do well to remember that you catch more wasps with jam than vinegar.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

It's true (don't know about the jam vs vinegar thing though).
I did a booking once where one of the guests was being a complete pain in the proverbial all night.
When I arrived he thought he was funny shouting out "Disco Dave has arrived" from his table. I just smiled at him sarcastically.
During the evening he kept coming over asking me what was next or calling me "fella" or "son" when he looked about 12 himself.

At one point he asked for a song and did the "everyone will love it mate" line. I can't remember what it was but it was so off the radar to what I was playing at the time.
I told him that if I got a chance I would try and get it on at some point but couldn't promise anything. I guess he saw that as a "yes" and kept pestering me.
When it came to the end of the night I was under strict instructions to finish on time. He came over and asked me to play one more and I said I couldn't. He kept on and on and on and eventually I told him that he'd been a pain in the and in the nicest possible way he could "do one".

Funny thing is.... I think he respected me talking to him like that rather than taking his sarcasm all evening. Strange world eh!

[mattydj50]

Why do people think that the best way to get a request played is to simply SHOUT the name of the track or artist at you. Even better when you are wearing headphones. And are not looking at them.

[Excalibur]

Why do people think that the best way to get a request played is to simply SHOUT the name of the track or artist at you. Even better when you are wearing headphones. And are not looking at them.

Well my guests can ask for anything they want tonight, any way they like. Four fellas, twenty eight women, I'm playing party songs and we haven't even started the meal! Could be " interesting" especially since I've seen the last two requests on the lost!

Bad news, venue staff are not little rays of sunshine.