Good Gig, Bad Gig.

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Originally Posted by Daryll

, all played , well expect for one little :Censored: who keep asking for Eminem and skillrex,

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Daryll, Daryll, Daryll. While I'm not a true afficionado of their work, I love some of their songs to bits. How about a nod in the direction of the only decade worth playing, the 70s, with Breakn a sweat? :whistle::D:D

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Originally Posted by alphawave

.... But then again it is a easy night compared to some weddings i have done,so maybe i will..

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Anything would have been an easy night compared to last night.

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Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ

I had a cracking party at mine.

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Jim, a word of advice. When I've posted what a total :Censored: of a gig I've had, tales of your house party with debauchery and alcohol can be regarded as sticking your head above the parapet. :Naughty:
Happy New Year. :(

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

Daryll, Daryll, Daryll. While I'm not a true afficionado of their work, I love some of their songs to bits. How about a nod in the direction of the only decade worth playing, the 70s, with Breakn a sweat? :whistle::D:D


Anything would have been an easy night compared to last night.



Jim, a word of advice. When I've posted what a total :Censored: of a gig I've had, tales of your house party with debauchery and alcohol can be regarded as sticking your head above the parapet. :Naughty:
Happy New Year. :(

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That's what you get for grafting on the annual arsehole's of the world unite night out :P

Instead of doing a report on every booking, I thought I would do a report on my whole year for 2015.

Here goes ;
I turned up, played some music, packed up and went home.

Seriously - that is about as exciting as things seem to get for me :D

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

How about a nod in the direction of the only decade worth playing, the 70s,

:(

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in the 70s when there was a lot of enthusiasm around for music generally--but my wife got fed up


GREAT MINDS ETC.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

I had a cracker of a party at the hotel on New Years Eve.
Yesterday was a write off. I didn't even get dressed and we didn't bother opening the curtains. Watched the darts, drank tea and scoffed a stack full of bacon and brie sandwiches, hence the late report.

I was anxious and nervous all day for some reason on New Years Eve. Not sure why?
80 guests of differing ages and everyone up for a party from the word go. Started at around 9.15pm and played through until just after 01.00am.
There was one group of around 25 people that were all family and to be honest, they made the night as they danced to everything. This encouraged others to get up which was great. Loads of different genres played which all went down well.

When I arrived I was grabbed by a lady and taken to her table. I knew I recognised her but wasn't sure where from and then I saw her husband and the other couple sat at their table. I'd DJ'd at both their weddings during the year. One in April and the other in September. They'd both booked because they knew I was DJing which was really nice....more on them in a second.

One of the ladies was celebrating her birthday on New Years Day and at 15 minutes past Midnight the staff bought out a cake for her. Everyone sang to her and it was really nice. Everyone seemed to just click with each other even if it was the first time they'd met. When the bar closed at 12.30am the staff all joined in dancing and everyone was having a great time. I had a bottle of champagne behind the decks with me which is what I always do on New Years Eve (if I am local of course and can leave my equipment overnight). I was stood at the bar just before it closed to get a pint as I'd run out of champagne and one of the guests asked me if I wanted a drink. I declined the offer saying that I was drinking champagne and bought a pint instead. 5 minutes later he brings over a bottle of champagne for me and says "Happy new year. Thanks for a great night. That's from us" and pointed to his table.

As the night came to a close the dance floor was still busy. One of the guys whose wedding I had done in September came over and asked for the microphone. He was a tad sozzled but got everyone to applaud me and then rather embarrassingly went on to say that I had DJ'd at his and his friends weddings and that I was great. He hugged me, everyone clapped and cheered and then I played the last song (a request for Hey Jude). Lots of hand shakes followed, a few kisses and a couple of requests for cards.
The manager came up afterwards, thanked me and told me that the big table had already booked again for next year.

Back at the hotel tomorrow for their staff party. Something I always do free of charge as a thank you for their support during the year. I've been told that they want me to join in and I am not allowed to stay behind the decks all night and that there are a "few drinks with your name on them".

Nice!:beer1:

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Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions

Back at the hotel tomorrow for their staff party. Something I always do free of charge as a thank you for their support during the year. I've been told that they want me to join in and I am not allowed to stay behind the decks all night and that there are a "few drinks with your name on them".

Nice!:beer1:

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Same for me this coming Friday. No alcohol for me though as medication prevents. Always a good night though with many good friends and several new ones this year.

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

So yeah. I'm now all done for the year and I'm not back in action again until February.

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Seems that I spoke too soon. Tonight, I'll be DJing for a belated Christmas party for the staff of a venue that I work with quite a lot, and I'll have to do it with a mahoosive bruise on my forehead. :daft:

Well - I'm back in the saddle again

To be honest, I was dreading it after the failure that was NYE (I was beginning to doubt my own abilities to entertain people after that one although having re-watched the video footage....it wasn't actually as bad as I remembered it).

However, tonight my faith has been restored and I'm sitting at home now with a cold beer watching back through the video footage feeling very chuffed with myself :beer1:

This one was booked back in October last year. It's a local-ish "special" school (can you use that phrase? That's what comes through on their paperwork and cheques!) who have attained Outstanding status from OFSTED and decided to reward the teachers and other staff with a party.....well you do, don't you :)

So, I got the gig (even though I was the dearest quote :rolleyes:) and turned up on cue this evening not quite knowing how it was going to go.
Oh boy.....was this a good way to restore my faith in party-goers. Think NHS party but with considerably less booze!

For a start, the easiest load in/out in the world. I'd been told to park next to the school hall and it was direct access. I've heard this many times but tonight....it was true. Literally 20 feet from van to stage - bonus :)

'Twas a lightweight rig (with the t-bar containing the Swarms which I'm actually warming to now I've tamed them with DMX but that's a story for another day) and I was setup and playing background within 20 minutes. This is going too well. I even got a cuppa from the head teacher whilst I was setting up!

Guests arrive and it seems like an age until they finish their hog roast (oh, go on then...just this once :) ) and the lights go off for the party to start. The wait was well and truly worth it. I was rewarded with lots of dancing from loads of teachers who although had brought intoxicating substances onto the premises, weren't the usual unruly and demanding shouty crowd I've become accustomed to of late. Yes cut throat was there, but she was soon ignored and didn't give me any grief. They were a really nice, polite bunch of people who had a couple of glasses of whatever they brought with them and enjoyed the night. No abusive language, no "my song's next because I'm going home soon"....it was a really pleasant evening to do :)

There was no cheese either! Although I had an age range of 20 to 60 year olds, the majority of the night was modern chart stuff, with a little 80's and a generous slab of 90's clubland.....heaven!

Packed down at 11:30 (it was a nice early finish) and was in the van by 11:50. The only thing that marred the evening was the fact that the fenland washes are flooded at the moment, but the automated road signs didn't actually indicate this until I was about to actually dive into about 5 feet of water on the road....so a nice hour long diversion to get past the 2 miles of flooded road then......Cambs County Council will be hearing from me first thing on Monday morning!

Tomorrow - a nice easy 6 yr old birthday party :)

Have a good weekend folks. I'll be at home tomorrow night with a glass or two of something red and Australian - well and truly using up my new unit quota for the week ;)

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

Seems that I spoke too soon. Tonight, I'll be DJing for a belated Christmas party for the staff of a venue that I work with quite a lot, and I'll have to do it with a mahoosive bruise on my forehead. :daft:

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Benny, Benny, Benny, what did we warn you about before your NYE gig? The subject of Elf and Safety was raised more than once. :Naughty:

Still, in today's litiginous society, at least you'll be able to sting the venue owners for a considerable sum. ;):):)

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Originally Posted by Imagine

Well - I'm back in the saddle again

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Me too, tonight.

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Originally Posted by Imagine

'Twas a lightweight rig (with the t-bar containing the Swarms which I'm actually warming to now I've tamed them with DMX but that's a story for another day)

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I may well let mine run riot tonight ( it's an 18th ), but I've been dabbling with DMX on them already. I'm really excited about using my Equinox battens as well, especially since they can run on 2 channel DMX. Means one of my dinky litle controllers will do just fine. May even see what they do on my LEDJ controller, though I suspect that won't exploit the full capabilities of the batten.

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Originally Posted by Imagine

Have a good weekend folks. I'll be at home tomorrow night with a glass or two of something red and Australian - well and truly using up my new unit quota for the week ;)

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Close. It begins with A.
Argentinian. :wine:

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

Benny, Benny, Benny, what did we warn you about before your NYE gig? The subject of Elf and Safety was raised more than once. :Naughty:

Still, in today's litiginous society, at least you'll be able to sting the venue owners for a considerable sum. ;):):)

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The Elf was absolutely spot on with his safety on NYE. Unfortunately, my bruise came about because I fell victim to the immortal words "Benny....you've got a van, haven't you?" :rolleyes:

Right, gig report.

My 'dry January' of gigs (not alcohol) came to a sudden halt a couple of weeks ago when one of the managers at a venue I work at very regularly asked if I would be so kind as to do the staff Christmas party. Of course I bloody would!

It was held in a pub just up the road from the venue on Friday. A very small room, and I did seriously overdo it with lighting and sound, but I wanted to give these guys bang for buck (even though I did the gig for free in a 'back scratching' kinda deal - they do look after me, so it's the least I could do). I also had it in my mind that I would need the four plinths, and subs as most of the staff are under 25 (and a higher percentage of them are 18-21) and when the gaffer told me that they were planning on going on into Birmingham, I knew that I had to make it clubby to keep them there.

So the night starts off with me playing some music as background, then a buffet was served. I had never seen so much food on for such a small room (but the number of attendees filled the room and spilled out into the main bar area). What followed next was a 'Guess the intro' Christmas theme quiz, followed by a 'Guess the film' quiz, followed by a 'Venue' theme quiz, followed by pass the parcel. I ended up hosting those as it was decided last minute that I'd probably be better on the mic (and here was I hoping that I'd be dossing for the first few hours!).

After all was done, I kicked off with a bit of pop but delved into the club stuff quite quickly. There were a few older folk in there and I did feel a bit sorry for them that there wasn't a bit more variety, but most were a younger crowd and I didn't want a mass exodus before the end. They danced all the way until the 11:30 finish time, got a lot of hugs and thank yous and I was home, unpacked, showered and in bed by quarter past one.

One thing I did find interesting though - I had two RCF 905 subs and 2 408 tops. It seems that most people go to eat at this pub (as opposed to meeting friends there for a drink) and the more I cranked it, the more I was waiting to be on the receiving end of a complaint, but no. Nobody said a word (to me, at least) and I had it pretty loud.

Great night, the clients were happy and I had fun.

Now, back to doing sod all. ;)