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Heh. There were only 2 who were obviously under the influence last Thursday, and they stuck out like sore thumbs - one propping up a wall & the other wanting to dance with everybody & everything :lol: Everybody else seemed to be on the level. Not bad out of a class of 30 I thought. There's hope for society yetQuote:
Originally Posted by Benny Smyth
Dont even go there - I had a 16th birthday cut short as 2 guests were hospitalised from drink and drug related issues.
So the continuation. The guy is offered a mic to do his speech for the father but opts against, this save me a review to go with one speaker. Then I get a few requests from the kids and play some chart stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Attack the Dance Floor
As said room is a mix of ages, kids, 30 somethings, 40 somethings all the way up to 90 somethings. After playing about an hour of chart one of the guests comes over and berates me. Look around the room do we all look like kids. Play some 50s and 60s some rock and roll. So I look and dont agree plus the think with new popular music is all people are supposed to enjoy it.
What the guy means is I want to dance with my missus to some rock and roll songs, perhaps just asking this might have achieved the same ends without upsetting the DJ. So i play some rock n roll, some motown, some early soul and bring it back to the 70's - bar one or two dances its dead. Guy asks me for a couple of chart hits, people get up. So I decide balls to the old duffer, end the night with some songs I like...
Went home feeling crap and unhappy about the rig. A few learning points picked up however and got paid so not all bad. I've taken on a few walkins this month (while my back is playing up) so hope the rest are better experiences
School prom tonight, 7pm to 10.30
Nearly 7.45, total number of audience so far?
Zero. Ah well.
Oh dear. Mine was a prom too, and about 100 people all told including I dunno how many kids from a local school for differently abled kids. It was excellent fun from start to finish despite being a bit mithered by one or two of the kids for lists of my next 10 upcoming songs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
Out came my almost forgotten technique of geeing up the kids.. still nowhere near 'DJ scream if you wanna go faster'. Ooo, the control, the powah! Cheese was always going to be required, and they asked for it in spades. And wow, how pretty were some of the teachers? Oh my! Oh yeah, and how hot was it in the function room? Gah! I hate to think what a proper summer's night will be like in there. I suspect it'll be me playing to an audience of me in those cases. Til I get me a gazebo that is :D
Anyway, fabulous night. The last 2 songs: Don't Stop believin (massive amounts of singing).. Bill medley Jennifer warnes thing.. and then because I still had 3 minutes left (sneaky bugger wot I am!) The Proclaimers' '500 miles'.
Oh and at the end of the night the photographer realised he'd packed his flash away into a case, which was by now in the van.. so his group photos were gonna look a bit ropey. Til I turned the gigabar back on, on all white. Muhahaha. Sorted.
Glowing feedback from all the teachers, one said it was all a massive improvement on last year and erm.. yeah so that's prom number 2 out of the way.
Off tomorrow night (yay!) Another wedding this Saturday though, but the playlist I've been sent looks like a corker. Still none of my real favourites on there though.. why doesn't anybody ask for Deelite, Betty Boo, Beatmasters etc anymore? :wah: One day, ONE DAY, I'll get to play 'Who's In The House' again.. and I'll bust out my running man in front of the lights like back in the day :lol:
Well tonight I have a Salsa Karaoke Wedding so i'll keep you posted
:youdaman:Quote:
Originally Posted by Attack the Dance Floor
Can't top that. :)
Well as hinted at earlier, last night was " interesting ". Year 11 prom, 100+ guests, so took the full rig. Caretaker wanted some Rock wound up high, so we had AcDc Thunderstruck at full pelt. Cue the Zumba Lady next door complaining. Oops. :o:o ( Did sound really nice, though )
The evening was swelteringly hot, and I was melting. An hour playing to myself, guests come in and immediately have buffet. Eventually, we get some sort of response, and requests for all manner of hip and trendy, profanity riddled unsuitable bilge. Hardly moved a soul. Hey ho. :(
And the most interesting thing? Somebody has the nerve to come up and ask for Macarena, and Cha Cha Slide, and guess what? You're ahead of me, aren't you? ;) Dancefloor is absolutely rammed. Quarter to ten, organiser says to send them off at ten to watch the fireworks outside, and they won't be coming back in. Since I'm booked till ten thirty, I view this as a result. :approve:
Someone asks for See You Again, by Wiz Khalifa, and everybody in the place is on the floor. Incredible. They go outside for the fireworks, and I tear down the kit. Home before midnight, happy little bunny. :D
Tonight's is complete contrast, retirement party in a hotel in Scarborough, tiny rig, no lights needed, as venue has its own. Variety is indeed the spice of life.
Hey, that would make a great song title. :) Well, it applied last night, retirement party in Scarborough. Absolutely sweltering in my little disco alcove, ceiling fans in the main area, and the buffet was being served in the basement, which as you might guess, was beautifully cool, and it also had lovely tables and chairs, so was doing good business, to my detriment. Ah well.
They wanted to talk, not dance, and I couldn't blame them. Predominant age group was older, so I pitched music there. With an hour left, a trickle of dancers appeared, and asked for something modern, which worked quite well. You know what the next request was, don't you, dear readers? Oh yes. " Can I have some 70's "? Apart from some impolite :muppet: who wanted half a dozen tracks near the end, that was it. ( When will folk realise that we're more likely to play requests that actually are ( polite ) requests, and not commands ) ? Grrrr. :mad:
I think the only way I could have got them to dance was by herding them onto the dancefloor with a cattle prod.
Well well, they sometimes used to say to me "hey you're working alongside somebody tonight.. EASY NIGHT for you!" and tonight would have been the exception that proved the rule in that yes, after the distorted Behringer based PA wailings of an acoustic rendering of Jam & Weller songs it was an absolute doddle to get people to dance & keep them up all night long. And this was in spite of a 70+ song playlist I'd been given to work from. There was a lot of good stuff in there though & the night was predominantly indie guitar based music.
All of which went down really well, except with a couple from THAT table. I call it THAT table because every time I get static from a customer they've been sitting at THAT table. I dunno why, but the troublesome folk just seem to gravitate towards it. Heh. The reason for their po-facedness? Oh just that I hadn't yet played any Motownish tunes. Well that might be because I'm working to a honking great big list the bride sent me & there's no mention of anything Motownish on there, but I'll tell you what, I'll work some in, in about half an hour. Okay? They nod & go away...
So I go through the motions of getting the crap rock (GnR Sweet Chile, Jon Bovi Prayer, Summer of 96 from Brain Adams) out of the way & launch into the Winehouse/Ronson Valerie thing by way of Dexy's song about Eileen being covered in something.. and then.. get into 'You Can't hurry Love'. Po faced couple are just about to sit down, cos they're knackered dancing to the last 2 songs. I strongly point them back onto the dancefloor, laughing. They go back & take in a mini motownish set with the rest of the heaving floor. So heaving infact I was concerned for my stands a few times. The room seats 120 people fairly easily, but if 100 are pogoing to Chelsea Dagger it gets a shade tricky.
Last orders was 11.45 as usual & then I played out with my 'last two' songs... wished the couple well & the rest of em a safe journey wherever they were headed.. and waited for the 'MORE!' screams and whistles.. "Ah alright then... One more it is".. finishing with the Dirty Dancing Time of Your Life effort.
Round of applause to finish, and the woman from the po-faced couple earlier came over to have a chat. Uh oh, I thought. Nope, nothing like that. She piled the praise on, which was a great turnaround from her & hubby giving me evils an hour previous.
Loading out, I wish I hadn't left my cattleprod at home. People sitting in a nice circle outside the back door of the venue, right in the way of me packing gear into the car. No amount of excuse mes was going to make 2 women in my path move their chairs. Walk around, they said. You've got legs! Ahhh yes, so I have. But I'm not a fan of having to carry speakers over people's heads because they couldn't be bothered to move a chair 2 feet back, I thought... :muppet:
I'd just shut the boot of the car when I saw one of said ladies throwing up all over the table. Now I bet I'm not the only one to have wished her to move back :lol: Stay classy, lass.
Another prom on Thursday, if I've got my facts straight it's a big un. 160 16 year olds :eek: Then it's more wedding fun with a pretty 'weird' playlist (Canadian bands feature a lot in it) and on Sunday I'm doing a marathon 50s & 60s set outside in the grounds from 10am-4pm. The venue don't own a gazebo, so I'm off out in the morning to get one. Wooo wooo. Gonna need plenty of slick in my hair that day :lol:
I like weekends like this one :)
Friday night saw me at a rugby club for a surprise 30th, and unusually it was indeed still a surprise for the chap.
Went through the usual shenanigans of "shhhh....they're here......SURPRISE!!!!" and then straight into a background set for an hour (oh well, it was a warm night and the doors to the patio were open).
One of the birthday boy's brothers comes up and announces his son's a budding DJ and could he come and have a look behind the scenes (I'd seen this kid keep coming up and looking things over). OK - why not? Thinking it'd be a five minute look and then he'd clear off. Nope - he was there right until the end, nattering about lights, smoke machines (he's obsessed with them) and sound systems (poor misguided lad thinks QTX gear is the nuts). Hopefully he learned something whilst he was there. He was keen enough, but wouldn't go anywhere near the mixer despite me encouraging him to have a go whilst it was quiet.
Eventually got cracking on the playlist I'd been given. This was the one I was wondering about a couple of days ago...how to go from ACDC et. al to the Macerena (it was a "varied" playlist to say the least). Cranked up my nice shiny new DSR18 for the heavy stuff - absolutely no response (and to be honest wasn't expecting it either). Very chuffed at the hurricane of air pressure coming from under the booth from the new sub though ;)
Into the cheesy stuff - boom, full floor (hey ho! standard evening's fayre then). Lots of hugs, fist bumps and business cards given out, and the client even went so far as to say "you're a brilliant DJ"....shucks :)
A little weird at the end however. I was booked until midnight. Bar staff come over at 11:30 and ask what time I'm playing my last track. Well....erm....midnight was the reply. Apparently not the case though. The midnight bit is the time the client has to be OUT of the venue and the doors locked. "That's not going to happen" came my more than amazed reply, and indeed it didn't. It was 10 past midnight I was fully de-rigged, in the van and on the way home :)
Tonight - a wedding. Not my normal sort of wedding in that I'd never met the bride and groom (I hate it when that happens). Everything's been done by phone and email (their choice). They got married abroad last month (that's my third one of these so far this year), and tonight was just a celebration.
Lovely little pavillion out in the sticks, a couple of beer tents on the sports field, a nice warm night.....hmmm.....how full's the floor going to get?
Met the groom and stood chatting and he conceded that a full dancefloor probably wasn't likely but do the best you can.
Time passed......I was supposed to kick off with background music from 6pm (was actually ready 30 minutes early), until 8pm when the first dance was scheduled. Because of the warmth of the pleasant country evening, this was put back to 8:30, then 9:00. I'm twiddling thumbs and getting bored with Bouble. I also ran out of Candy Crush lives in the process :(
Eventually, first dance time (hooray....showtime). First dance done, everyone buggers off outside again. I'm only on until 11:30, but already this is going to be a long night. Start working through the playlist I've been given (it wasn't a long one but thought I'd get some of the less dancy stuff out of the way whilst it wasn't going to clear an already dead floor). Eventually at 10:30, I stick on the Usher, Beyonce, Cheryl Cole....boom! And it stayed that way right up until the last dance (they'd requested Never Forget and raised the roof with the singing). Lots of thanks, praise and all the rest of it, in the van just after midnight (again) and finally home :)
That's it now until a 40th in a very posh hotel next Saturday. I know it's silly 'o' clock in the morning - but I'm going to allow myself a well earned glass of Chardonnay then hit the hay until the morrow :)
As I sit here this morning I'm not quite sure what to make of last night's wedding. Everyone had a great time (once I'd eventually got going) and so that should be good enough but I'll explain anyway (as I usually do).
It was a wedding for a lovely couple around 25 miles out of town. The booking came via my wife as she was designing and making the wedding dress and mother of the bride dress. The whole thing was being held at the brides parents house and the evening reception was in a very large marquee on their grounds. I'd like to say garden but it was far bigger than that. The bride and groom were very down to earth however, the parents were some of the poshest and well spoken (that voice) I've ever met and I found myself almost acting differently whenever I spoke to them (which wasn't much to be honest).
I'd met the bride & groom a couple of weeks ago and we'd gone over everything and they didn't really have many song requests. They just wanted a good party and for me to be up for taking requests (something I always do anyway). They paid a bit extra as they required an early set up and also stated (well, the brides parents did) that the music had to stop at 11.00pm because they didn't want to upset the neighbours. 100 guests attending from 1.00pm and those guests would be there all day. No additional evening guests.
So, I get up early yesterday morning having loaded my van up the night before and I eventually arrive at the address at 10.00am as advised. It's baking hot already but access is relatively easy (on the way in) and only a trip of about 40ft back and forth a few times to where I am setting up in the marquee. I thought to myself "I'll be done in 30 minutes easily". I meet the mother of the bride for the first time and I sense that I am not her cup of tea straight away. Not sure why, it was just a feeling I had.
I'm as polite as I can be even though I feel as if I am being spoken down to and I get on with the job of setting up. The brides sisters are there and are very friendly and sorting the tables decorations out. It's a lovely hot morning and there was a nice vibe. Then one of the sisters comes over and introduces me to the marquee guy. I've been left 2 power sockets as I'd requested but he tells me that he'll be on hand when I get back later that evening because he wants to "make sure that there are no issues" - Excuse me? In my meeting with the bride and groom I'd asked how the marquee was being powered and if there was a generator and they said No. The power was coming from the house. This meant that everything was coming off that power and the marquee guy said he was slightly concerned that the Disco equipment may trip the power when turned on and that the mother of the bride didn't want a generator used.....er, ok.
Just as I finish setting up and I'm ready to jump back in the van the mother of the bride beckons me over to her. She tells me what I've already been told by the bride & groom in our meeting and that's that the music MUST finish at 11.00pm and that the sound levels must not be too high because she wanted to be able to talk during the evening. Fair enough.
So, I get back to the venue for 7.30pm as I am due to start at 8.00pm with first dance at 8.15pm. I was advised that the cake cutting and speeches were being done during the day and they'd be "attending dinner" at 7.00pm.... I thought to myself when I first heard that..."If they're having a simple fish & chips then no problem but anything else and it would not be an 8.00pm start that's for sure"....Previous experience told me that and I was correct. Beforehand I'd said I wouldn't interrupt them or get in their way but I'd make sure somebody knew I'd arrived for their peace of mind and I'd stay out of the way until given the nod. All I had to do was connect up my laptop to the backup HD4500. I take a seat on a bench in the very nice garden....ok grounds....and I'm sat there for around 20 minutes before I get to see someone. It is the best man. He was going to walk right past me had I not said "Good evening". I told him who I was and he just looked at me. I asked if he'd had a good day and he mumbled a few words that I couldn't really understand and then walked off. I met the marquee guy who looked a bit on edge. He told me what I'd been told earlier about the power and we had a short conversation about it. Then I met the photographer and he was hot and flustered. A very nice guy though and we sat chatting. "What time are you supposed to be doing the first dance?" he asked....I looked at the time and saw that it was 8.10pm...."In about 5 minutes" I replied and he laughed.
I could see that the guests were still eating and said "We're going to be a tad late aren't we"....He laughed again..."I should think so" he said "They're about an hour behind for some reason and have only just sat down and are on their starters"....."What!!!???????!"
8.15pm past and so did 8.30pm as we chatted and then he went inside to take more photos. 8.45pm came and went and when we got to 9.00pm he was back outside chatting with me. "I reckon we're looking at 9.30pm" he said flustered..."I've been here since midday"....I'd been sat on the bench for ages now and every time a guest had nipped to the porta loos I'd said hello and asked if they'd had a nice day. To be fair they were all very nice and one lady in particular stood there and chatted to me for a while and it transpired that we'd worked at the same company many years ago....freaky eh!
So, everyone is still eating. The desserts are just coming out and it's 9.20pm. I haven't played a single track yet and I haven't been inside to turn on the equipment and set up the laptop. The photographer is knackered and still has some other photos to take as well as the first dance photos. He goes off to see the Bride and Groom as he wants to suggest that they get a move on because things are running very late. I decide to enter the marquee and turn on my equipment and get ready for when I eventually start so that I have as much time as possible. I wasn't annoyed as such, I just wanted to make sure that I gave them as much music as I could in whatever time I would eventually have. I hadn't met the brides father until then and he came over, introduced himself and then also repeated the "sound levels" and "11.00pm finish" speeches. He was a very well spoken and seemed like a very regimented person.
Eventually (after more photos taken outside had delayed the start even more), they finished their meal and I looked at the time....9.42pm....wow! The bride and groom chatted to me and at just about 9.45pm I did my bit on the microphone and introduced the first dance. Now, beforehand when we'd met, the couple couldn't make their minds up about their first dance...It was a choice between Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud and Kodaline - The One. I had them both cue'd up ready because eventually (the day before) the groom had confirmed Kodaline would be their first dance with Ed Sheeran to follow.
I made the big introduction and pressed play on the Ed Sheeran track instead. First time I'd ever done anything like this in well over 500 weddings and it played for around 20 seconds until I realised. The couple didn't say anything. I could see them laughing at eachother and then I thought "There's 2 ways I can do this. I either let it play and therefore they don't get the song they wanted OR I stop it and apologise or say something else"..... I opted for the latter. I tried my best to make a joke of it and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, that was the practice.....This is their real first dance" and away they went. They gave me the thumbs up, everyone laughed and I seemed to have got away with it. I felt myself burning up with embarrassment but nobody seemed bothered and a while later the couple came over and laughed about it and said it was memorable. They also apologised and said it wasn't my fault at all because they couldn't make up their minds so they were happy either way. If I'd known that 100% I wouldn't of stopped the song. It was just after the first dance that the 'happy' (not) Best man came over quite drunk and said "If I were them I'd ask for my money back" and then he walked off. I put my lack of concentration down to having to wait over 2 hours in the sun with no drink. I didn't get offered anything all evening and had to ask a waiter for a glass of iced water.
It was 9.50pm when the dance floor started rocking. The guests were mainly older and I'd been asked to play some 50's rock & roll so that's what I did. Before I knew it, it was gone 10.00pm. Some current chart, 80's classics and lots of requests and I look at the time....10.45pm. I've still got the likes of Sweet Caroline, American Pie and Brown Eyed Girl to play which were 'must haves' and then the last song of the night so I opted for the shorter version of American Pie.
Last song of the night was Semisonic - Closing Time and literally everyone danced and sung along and it ended the night brilliantly. Lots of clapping and cheering and then that was it. I'd had no comments about the sound levels throughout the evening which was good and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves....now it was the tough bit....getting packed down and out. I couldn't park near the house when I got back so first of all I went and got the van and got as near to the house as I could. I eventually got everything packed down and said "Excuse me" about a million times as people congregated outside the marquee and right in my path as they waited for taxis and mini buses. It was 11.35pm when I was sat in my van which wasn't bad. I was just about to drive off when the father of the bride came over. I expected a "Thank you" or a "Well done" but nope.....He asked me if I was driving in a certain direction as a taxi for 4 guests hadn't arrived. He asked "How much would it cost if you dropped the 4 of them off?" and he pulled out a wad of notes...I explained that it was in the opposite direction anyway but I could only take 2 if I wanted to. He put his money back in his pocket and walked away back to where they were standing. Then one of them came over and asked the same question, almost pleading with me to take them. They wanted to get in the back of the van and I said that I wasn't having it. I couldn't take the risk. They understood and in the end I finally got to move off. I was just about to put my foot down and get out of there when the father of the bride launched himself in front of the van...."Oh do us a favour" I thought....He wasn't asking me about giving them a lift this time. He actually apologised and said he'd had an excellent evening and shook my hand....
....and then left me with this gem..... "I really enjoyed the music you played and that's a rarity because I don't often say that about you type of people"
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