Pah! Three hours sleep, and I'm still playing.
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Pah! Three hours sleep, and I'm still playing.
well a video paints a thousand words apparently.....so I will say no more
Bank Holiday Sunday
Dickys Disco @ The Lightwood Tavern (first gig there)
and the Last song of the night
https://youtu.be/QjVqoaEdUcA
They want to book me again, apparently
First weekend back at it and far better than the last couple.
Saturday was an all day wedding booking, attended music from 1 till 5, then 2 hrs karaoke to keep daytime guests entertained finishing with a night time disco.
I know the club its an upstairs hike but not the worst going. Stage is tiny however so had to save the light rig to get some lights on. Playlist went down a treat but low take up on the Karaoke until the last 15 mins which I find typical. The room was changed over as they sang which was funny as we got to stay in the room but the guests were moved around like sheep.
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Onto the night and bar a break for eating the dance floor was crammed all night long. As a DJ its the one thing that makes your day, and I even had one of the women up to guest DJ for a laugh. I love the universal sign for DJ now (hand to ear and pretend to scratch with other), just never had an entire dance floor doing it.
Woke up on Sunday to an email from Paypal - they'd sent me a £20 tip for making it an awesome day. Feedback is good, money is better but made my day.
Sunday night I was asked by one of the companies I get work from to cover a karaoke night. Headed off found the place it was a bar in a community centre with very agreeable bar prices. Had a modest crowd of around 25-30 people. Met the resident guy who had set up, he paid me, I replaced half the gear he had left as it was really bad.
After about 30 mins requests poured in and it was both an easy and enjoyable night that flew over. I sang about 5 times myself with good applause each time, even doing a few songs I like but cant sing that well as I was quite comfortable with the crowd.
Thursday night wedding for me last night at my hotel residency for a lovely couple.
I was providing Disco + Background Music and Microphone system + Red Uplighting.
Wasn't sure how it would go with it being midweek but it was good.
I set up the day before as the room was free and the Bride was there with her Mum sorting out some table decorations. She wasn't available to meet me when I met the Groom a couple of weeks ago to go over everything. She was really nice and got a bit tearful when I turned all of the uplighting on to show her just before I left.
There were supposed to be 100 guests attending for the evening but I'd say there were 60 possibly 70 at the most. It was a very chilled out affair to start off with and I thought to myself "It's that midweek scenario". There were lots of young children there and so I expected them not to last until 11.30pm and thought that the numbers would be pretty thin on the ground come finish time.
It was hard work at times. When I did my usual bit at the beginning and congratulated the Bride & Groom and got everyone to give them a massive round of applause, I had to ask twice and encourage everybody because the response was....well, a handful of people started clapping and cheering and that was it. It was like this when the Bride & Groom cut the wedding cake too. A handful of people got up to take photos. Something that has become common for me, especially over the past 4 or 5 weddings I have done is that the Bride & Groom have had their first dance after the Bride has danced with her Dad. It's happened in the past but the last few wedding I have done have all done it.
The Bride danced with her Dad to a really nice song by Heartland called I Loved Her First. The words were really nice and I could see the Dad welling up.
Then the Bride & Groom danced to Lifehouse - You and Me which was another song I had in my music library but had never played before.
As agreed in our meeting, the next song was to be The Specials - Monkey Man as it was one of their favourites and I thought beforehand "this should be good". It actually went down very well and I played a couple of other Ska / Two Tone tracks before going in to the usual current chart stuff.
As I said earlier it was quite a mediocre response from people. The request list I had featured lots of 70's and 80's classics and some cheesy / party classics and I worked my way through them. The Bride & Groom danced to most of the stuff along with their friends but the older crowd didn't really seem that interested. There was a table of around 20 towards the back of the room that didn't get up all evening and it looked like the hardest thing in the world would be for them to actually crack a smile. I tried some 60's and rock n roll but just one lady bothered to get up and join the dance floor.
I had a couple of incidents that slightly annoyed me.
Firstly, one of the ushers came bounding over with a pint of lager. He leant right over to talk to me with the pint hovering above my mixer. I told him to keep the pint away in the nicest possible way and he made a sarcastic apology and then went back to the dance floor and spilt half of it.
Secondly, I had said over the microphone a number of times about requests. I wasn't getting much from the guests but 2 girls came over at one point and one of them was quite rude. One of the girls had been up dancing to most of the music. The other one hadn't moved from the bar and it was that one that was rude. She came over, made a comment about the music being rubbish (she was drunk and the majority including the Bride & Groom were dancing) and then said "Can you play something decent like Sean Paul. Do you have anything like that?". I told her I did have it and I would try and get it on if I could but at that time I wasn't playing that genre of music.
She did the classic "Get it on next mate as I am going soon". I said I'd see what I can do. She huffed and puffed and then swore as she walked off and I thought to myself "You can stick Sean Paul if you're going to be like that". I actually did play it an hour or so later just as she was being carted out of the room by (I guess?) her boyfriend.
Lastly, the silliest things can sometimes be a red rag to some people. A guy came over to me during the evening and said "Have you got Uptown Ranking?". I said "Uptown Funk? or Uptown Top Ranking?"....He replied...."The old reggae one, Uptown Ranking by Anthea and Donna"..... I replied..."Oh, you mean Uptown Top Ranking by Althea and Donna....yes, I've got that. I'll put it on when I am playing some reggae no problem". He stood there and looked at me and said "What's wrong with now?".
The guests were dancing to Footloose if I remember and cue'd up was Love Shack. I had an idea of where I was going but he wanted it UTR on next. I explained why when I shouldn't of wasted my time because he wasn't happy at all. All because of a bloody song that I said I'd play but not at that exact moment. It was silly and he stood at the bar giving me the evil eye for ages. I did eventually play it and he didn't even move!
Last song of the night was Madness - It Must Be Love. I encouraged everybody to get up and join the Bride & Groom on the dance floor for their last song. For a split second I was encouraged as I saw the table of older guests who seemed to be super glued to their chairs suddenly get up. Whilst everyone else that was left joined the dance floor, that lot got up and left! I had to chuckle to myself as I couldn't believe it.
Despite all of that it was an ok night. Hard work at times but the Bride & Groom and the majority of their guests had a great time and I was applauded at the end.
I never into a conversation about when I'm going to play something. I just say "yeah, no problem" then get it on as soon as practicable. They're not interested in explanations! (There's always the ones who demand it "next" tho').
I had a 'i loved her first' father & daughter dance the other week. I find it a bit creepy, lyrically.
As for requests, the more reasonable people are, the more likely I'll play something for them soon. If they get stroppy, forget about it altogether!
Birthday parties Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was a marquee in Lincolnshire. I'd had a phone call form the organiser's son in the week. He's a pro lighting engineer, working for an event company.
" We'll put four washes on the dancefloor, and a couple of speakers. We've got a little mixer, if you can give us XLRs "
Disingenuous little oik.
The four " washes " were the biggest Chauvet moving heads I've ever seen, controlled by a Surface Pro tablet, with some touchscreen enabled software.
The " couple of speakers " were a pair of twin 18" Martin subs, about as tall as me, with a pair of EVs a long way above that. The amp rack was filled with some mighty EV amps, Lord knows how powerful, but allegedly capable of drawing 32 amps at full chat!!
The " little mixer " was a fully digital sixteen channel Yamaha! Needless to say, a lot of my kit stayed in the van. ;) Playout and lasers were all I brought in. I was offered as much food and drink as I wanted, and a bed for the night! ( Well it was rural Lincolnshire :D ) I unplugged at 2am, and the party was still going ( well all they had to do was lash their ipod in, after all )
Sunday was on paper the same. The marquee however was only a few paces square, and the Hog Roast fella had a gazebo about as big. I squeezed into one corner, with speakers on the Ultimax poles, and a powerbar behind. I ran a line into the house as well, and had a small PA and some tripars in the conservatory. As it was the middle of a big housing estate, smallest speakers possible, and low volume was the order of the day. Couldn't have been more different from the day before.
" As soon as I can " is my standard answer.Quote:
Originally Posted by musicology
Absolutely.Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
Two very good ones this weekend
Friday @ The Cuckoo, this is a weekly residency that I share with my friend Mac with his 'CMC Music' disco
My turn this weekend (actually done the last three) Here's a quick video of the laser show I run towards the end of the night. You like that?
https://youtu.be/q4dSUj3z7EA - make sure you click the little cog wheel on the bottom right of the Youtube player and choose 1080p then wait a few secs for the resolution to switch otherwise the video looks aweful
Saturday - a really good combined birthday party at a local venue (Bowling Club) that hires out their function room for private parties. I used the same rig as the Cuckoo and I have worked this venue twice in the last month, initially booked by a private client, then by one of the club regulars and now the commitee have handed me the residency for any private functions coming their way. Not every Saturday but should give a nice flow of work coming in, especially as they are about to extend the building so they can move all the snooker tables into the new room and make the old room into a full dancefloor area. Makes me think I am doing things right :)
Rich
Looking at the vid, I think you would get more drama by switching the other lighting off and just letting the lasers do their thing. Possibly with just the addition of a strobe. It would then look more like you are giving them a light "show".Quote:
Originally Posted by dicky
You can't argue with success. Well done that man. :thumbs_up:Quote:
Originally Posted by dicky
Mixed weekend for me. Friday turned out to be for a local Rotary Club, which I only found out when I arrived for the early setup. ( My customer had been an absolute nightmare to deal with, from start to finish. Not stroppy, just a real struggle to deal with. ) I was to come on after a meal and speeches, for a couple of hours. Easy money, eh? Started well enough, arrived mid afternoon to set up, as that was by far the best way. Set up a small rig, which was more than big enough for the venue, and guests. Returned later to be told they were running an hour late. So be it, I was ready to rock and roll, so that made no odds to me. The ( very interesting ) speeches finished, and at least half the guests left. :( ( Do you think they'd seen me before? :D ) I played to a largely and dwindling crowd for an hour and a half, packed up and went home richer monetarily, but poorer in spirit. Customer was happy, and a couple of guests came up to praise and thank me at the end, but I wasn't buzzing driving home.
Saturday's 30th birthday needed a markedly different rig, so I went to start the van, to move it to load up. I'd had problems with the ignition switch previously, and fitted a brand new switch assembly, bypassing the problem. Turned the key, and the :Censored: thing fell to pieces!! A quick phone call revealed that the suppliers of this switch had a similar alternative in stock, so after dashing off in the car, this was fitted quickly, and I was mobile again. Phew!!
Loaded up, and set off, arriving safely, in good time. Access wasn't bad, and I got a rig set up in the somewhat cramped alcove. The birthday boy wanted to do a set with his " band ", so the big mixer was employed, as was the HDmix. Smart move, as I was given a CD of backing tracks to play. ( Big surprise, as I'd repeatedly been told they only needed a line in, and a couple of mics. ) We had what passed for a soundcheck ( I was pleased I was behind the PA, and not in front, as it wasn't exactly polished and mellifluous. )
Anyhow, off we went, and the evening was rock based, and fancy dress. Ozzy's suave, debonair older brother took over the DJ'ing :D:D and he started working through the playlist. Unsurprisingly, quite a bit of his back catalogue got an airing, to the approval of many guests. :) I ( oops, HE ) got asked for all manner of thrash metal, which the birthday boy loved, as did most of the guests. Most. Not his Mum, who would come up every half hour, and ask for more mainstream fare.
The band did their bit, and I blessed the HDmix, as I simply loaded the tracks from the CD into the crate, and sent them to a deck as needed. Doddle.
There was a slight lull while the buffet was dealt with, and I was given a welcome plate of very tasty grub. Then followed a somewhat manic few hours, with downloading and playing requests from the guests, balancing between those, the playlist, and Mum's requests for " lighter stuff", Eagles, Queen, ELO, Rod Srewart, et al.
Time flew by, until we got into the last hour, when with a couple of requests from Mum, we got into a purple patch featuring lots of 70's party and Glam Rock, which went down an absolute storm.
"
Birthday boy was having a ball, and asked at twenty past eleven, when I was finishing. " Midnight, as per contract " I said. " Well just put one from Thunder on, and finish with November Rain ", he replied. Halfway through, the bar staff asked me to announce that the bar was closing, so that made sense. I finished ( Ozzy's brother had gone home for some cocoa ;) ) to a round of applause, and packed up in an entirely different mood to the previous night, and even sixty miles of motorway home didn't seem a chore.