Good Gig, Bad Gig.

I too did the staff party for my main hotel residency and it was a bit of strange night overall but nothing to do with the DJing really. More on that towards the end of the review. It was actually a night I was looking forward to because the staff were looking forward to it (and they deserved a good night) and also because the manager insisted that I join in and not stay behind the decks all night. She said she considers me part of the team which is nice.

I hadn't done a staff party for the hotel for 3 years. This was simply because they hadn't had one in that time. The offers have always been there and I did quite a few the first few years I was there. It is my way of saying thank you and as Benny more or less said, it kind of keeps them sweet too.

So, it was held at the hotel and the theme was a mad hatters tea party. I had intended to go as Tweedledum from the last Alice in Wonderland film but didn't have time to get something sorted as my brother only went and had a heart attack and I really didn't feel like doing anything. It was a couple of days before. Thankfully he's out of hospital now and recovering quickly.

The night was going pretty well with a few games and a decent dance playlist playing in the background. The majority of the staff were all enjoying themselves. Every now and then I would nip back over to the decks to play any requests. It was quite a chilled out night really and then the last 2 hours arrived. I was sat down having a drink and chat with the manager when over walks this stunning looking girl and her equally stunning looking friend. These 2 were part of the house keeping staff, the people I don't get to see. The main girl (who apparently is a model back in her homeland of Poland) was quite abrupt with me...."Mr DJ, please change the music so we can dance...this is ****"
I was quite surprised by this, as was the manager. I really didn't expect that especially as the majority were dancing to the tunes that were now blaring out of the speakers. I asked her what she wanted and she shouted at me "R&B....play R&B!!!".... no worries there so back to the decks I went with a bottle of wine the manager handed me as I got up from my seat. On came the tunes, up on the dance floor she got and so did quite a few others and it was like that until the end.

She even came over and hugged me, kissed me on the cheek and said "Top DJ, Mr DJ you are great"..... I thought she certainly looked the part but it was a case of good looks, crap personality. I even said to one of the staff that all the guys may well be standing there with their tongues hitting the floor but not me, personality counts for a lot but she kind of made up for her rudeness earlier on with her compliments. I just thought it was funny that she said she wanted something you could dance to when the music playing was dance music!!

The 'strange' part of the evening that I mentioned at the start of this was when the music had finished and everyone was sat down chatting and playing drinking games. The music had to finish at 11.00pm with it being a Sunday but the majority all stayed in the room. There was a guy sat down joining in who wasn't staff. Apparently he was a guest that was booked in who'd arrived late. The manager had told him to come and join in. Anyway, I chatted to him outside over a cigarette and he said he was staying at the hotel all week because he was working in Frimley for the Lakeside darts. As both a follower and player of the darts I asked him if he could get free tickets but he said he couldn't. No problem with that, I thought I'd ask anyway because I can never get tickets for it.

The funny thing was, Monday afternoon I am sat there on the phone to my brother catching up with him and seeing how he feels when a notification comes up on my laptop screen that someone has tried to call me via facebook. When I finish my call I notice I've missed 2 calls from the same person so I call them back. They only ask me what I am doing Monday night as they have a free ticket for the darts for me!!
Monday night I am at the darts and sat just below where BT Sport were doing the interviews with the players and the guy doing the camera work is the guy from the hotel the night before. The guy I went to the darts with who is a fellow DJ and knows absolutely everybody (he's done a few university parties at Lakeside) shouts up to the player that's just been interviewed because he knows him (last years winner Scott Mitchell). They've finished the interviews and all look down at us. Camera man notices me and shouts "Glad you got tickets mate"

All a bit strange.

Another party for me last night and another staff party. This time it was for the staff of the shopping malls in Basingstoke and this time I was getting paid for it.
It was held in a nice restaurant with stupidly easy access. I wasn't told that much about it in advance so didn't realise that the 100 guests were having a sit down meal and then an awards ceremony which would see me actually start playing music properly at around 9.30pm.

It was a 7.30pm start and usually (as I have said previously), if a meal is on the cards I will not hang around. I mentioned this to the organiser on arrival and asked if she'd like to me play background music even though the restaurant was playing its own. She insisted I be on site so I got the restaurant to ditch its background music and I cherry picked slower and chilled out tracks from the 200+ requests I'd been given on arrival (I sent the organiser request sheets via email when she booked me as I always do).

A great atmosphere was created by playing some of the requests and whilst I was playing some of them a guy came over and asked if I'd play a David Bowie track.
It was a pleasure, no problem so I firstly played Star Man and then Let's Dance and the whole place cheered which was really nice. It actually sent shivers up my spine.

A few people left after their meals and as the night went on I noticed the numbers drop but there were always people dancing.
As we approached midnight there must have been around 30 left but they were all still up for it and were into the dance tunes (Gorgon City, Felix J etc).
The staff of the restaurant were really getting into it too and it was they who thanked me when I'd finished, nobody else did!!!

I was out of there by 20 past Midnight as I'd started taking stuff down as we approached the end of the night to make the exit quicker.
A good night overall, especially for a Monday night. I woke up this morning thinking it was Sunday. I am not working this weekend so it made up for that a bit too.

It also gave me a chance to use the new(ish) set up on the light rig and the addition of the Dynamos rather than the H2O's is better I think. They are linked master / slave and do the opposite to each other and work well. I'd almost be tempted to use all 4 of them but will see how it goes. I do like the Swarms though as they give quite a decent coverage and look nice.
Good stuff.

It was my first wedding reception of the year last night. I rolled up with my gear & found a trailer blocking my usual spot by the rear door of the venue. Great - there's a band on!

I started to unload & was greeted by the band manager/sound guy/dad when I walked in. Nice bloke, and he was full of solutions to our problems such as me plugging into their RCF PA rig :O 2x 312 active tops & 705-AS bin.

Band set up, I set up (new wireless DMX modifications to my lights really do save me aggro) and the band went off on a soundcheck. After that, they asked for my XLRs & gave me UNITY at their desk (wireless mixer!). That was jolly nice of them I thought.

The first dance, I decided to check having been told by the band it was The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris... ahahahaha no. Christina Perry - A Thousand Years. I announced the cutting of the cake and was generally ignored - they had no tog so it was up to guests to take pics. Onto a brief musical interlude before the first dance intro and a very lukewarm cheer for the B&G.

The bass coming out of the 705-AS bin at this point sounded awful. Boomy and with gaps all over the place (high and low bass notes just vanishing yet others were way too prominent). I don't know what was up but it sounded truly cack. Maybe a lifetime of being used & tuned for band PA as opposed to 'real' music.. who knows. Anyway I winced my way through until the band's first set.

They were way too loud to stand next to without earplugs, so I went a-wandering for a while. Nearer the end of their set I returned to my pulpit & we did a handover.. I went off into request land & noticed immediately whatever problem there was with the bass earlier had disappeared. So THIS is what an RCF rig should sound like then. Nice. Worth that much money? The sound guy claimed they'd bought it for a mere £500 - a local retailer matching a Teutonic price. I somehow very much doubt that unless it was a good few years back.

Band came on for a second set & it's safe to say they had just about every dancer in the room up. I was putting off requests for some tracks thinking the band'd do them (Mr Brightside etc) but it turned out they'd left them alone. So on my return for the last half hour I launched into Mr Brightside. Oh my God! It didn't sound like crap. Or rather, it sounded much less crap than I've ever heard it. After that I was asked to announce the coach was waiting for those guests in need of a lift home, so bang off went most of my crowd. The remainder had a ball though, and we had a great finish with Don't Stop Believing (one of the bride's favourites - how did I guess? Heh).

Early on with the nasty booming bass I really missed my altos (!!!). They may not go all the way down but where the bass stops is consistent & there are no nasty humps like I heard initially. Later on, lord only knows what they'd done but it sounded amazing. As I'd always imagined RCF should sound. Am I tempted? Hell yeah. Have I got a grand to lay out on a subwoofer? Not yet.

Did one of my favourite regular bookings last night. A black tie event playing alongside a Palm Court Orchestra, we had a great MC, a jazz singer and a demonstration from a 6 time UK Champion ballroom couple. I was playing 20’s - 40’s period music in the intervals and then finished the night off with Motown and party classics. It’s all in aid of the local Helicopter Ambulance service.

Was booked for a birthday party in a pub I've worked at a couple of times. Was told mixed music will do during the booking.

Went to sent up, they had advertised it as a 80's night (with motown too). Just happens that that's my favourite type of event. I just love that era.

Second outing for my new micron booth too, but this time instead of using my MC6000, took the Alto zmx122fx (Fancied having some room for my mouse, I personally hate using mousepads on laptops)

Anyway, set up as usual, sound first. Onto the sound test, nothing. Checked all levels, nothing, checked wires, nothing. Starting to get a little worried. But, being a total muppet, noticed that I had not turned on my mixer. :daft: . That's a first for me.

For the lighting here, I asked if I could use haze. Yes, so I took my ADJ Dotz Tpar system (I use the foot control, much better sensitivity control), 2 acme dynamic spins, 2, mini dekkers, and a RGB lazer.

Let say the lights went down really well when the haze was on. Got so really good comments. They loved the laser with the haze.


Turns out that the birthday girl is a big fan of Dolly Parton, a cake was even brought out styled on Dolly. Great night.

After I packed up, having a drink and slice of pizza (courtesy of the venue) whilst chatting to the land lady, one of her daughters interrupted. "I don't care what your talking about, but book him for everything. He's the best DJ we've ever had."

(I don't consider myself to be that good, I guess that as long as you are playing music that they like, your doing a good job.)

I've been booked on the spot for Halloween and NYE (4 hours min, will extend if necessary), and any other events which they fancy running.
The NYE booking was a strange one, I asked them about that last year, and they said they don't put anything on. Looks like they have changed their mind for this year.

Looks like I've made a good contact there.

Fingers crossed all the gigs I do for them are as good.

Nothing this weekend, but next weekend I'm working with a comedy impersonator. Stu Arnold from BGT for a birthday event.

Good on you!!

I had the weekend off (back on it from next weekend) and I went out with a mate to see a SKA covers band called A Special Kind Of Madness.
I have to say that they were great. I NEVER dance but I found myself skanking away with the other 40 something's in a rammed venue.
The first hour of their set was pure Madness then they had a 30 minute break and came back with an hour set of The Specials.

The reason I mention this even though I wasn't working was because there was a DJ before, in between and after the band had finished.
For the most part beforehand he was playing R&B and Chart music and it was totally the wrong crowd for that stuff.
For 15 minutes before the band came on he played The Beat, Bad Manners and The Selecter but that was it and then afterwards........well, NIGHTMARE!!

The cheesiest of the cheese was blasting out of the speakers (Jive Bunny Megamix for example) and the place soon emptied out.
Why oh why on a night like that the DJ didn't get into the theme of the night I will never know. The place was open until 03.00am I think and the band had finished by Midnight. There must have been 400 at least in the venue yet that whittled straight down very quickly once the DJ started playing the party stuff. If he'd kept to the theme of the evening I think we and many of the others would have stayed and carried on for another hour or so.

The band had finished on a high with massive applause to Skinhead Moonstomp and then out of the speakers came bloody Dancing Queen. You should have seen the looks on the punters faces!

Great covers band though if you ever get the chance to see them.

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Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions

Good on you!!

I had the weekend off (back on it from next weekend) and I went out with a mate to see a SKA covers band called A Special Kind Of Madness.
I have to say that they were great. I NEVER dance but I found myself skanking away with the other 40 something's in a rammed venue.
The first hour of their set was pure Madness then they had a 30 minute break and came back with an hour set of The Specials.

The reason I mention this even though I wasn't working was because there was a DJ before, in between and after the band had finished.
For the most part beforehand he was playing R&B and Chart music and it was totally the wrong crowd for that stuff.
For 15 minutes before the band came on he played The Beat, Bad Manners and The Selecter but that was it and then afterwards........well, NIGHTMARE!!

The cheesiest of the cheese was blasting out of the speakers (Jive Bunny Megamix for example) and the place soon emptied out.
Why oh why on a night like that the DJ didn't get into the theme of the night I will never know. The place was open until 03.00am I think and the band had finished by Midnight. There must have been 400 at least in the venue yet that whittled straight down very quickly once the DJ started playing the party stuff. If he'd kept to the theme of the evening I think we and many of the others would have stayed and carried on for another hour or so.

The band had finished on a high with massive applause to Skinhead Moonstomp and then out of the speakers came bloody Dancing Queen. You should have seen the looks on the punters faces!

Great covers band though if you ever get the chance to see them.

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Funny you say that, I was working with a Ska band at a birthday party a while back and they said it was a nice change to have a DJ who played appropriate music (Northern, 60’s Mod, Mod revival etc).

There’s no excuse really, there’s plenty of good compilations out there that any DJ could put a complimentary set together for that sort of gig.

Last night was an 18th.

I normally avoid these like the plague...mainly because I'm not big on what passes for music in the modern day charts. But, it was nice and local and I'd been recommended off the back of a wedding last year.

The easiest get-in in the world....park by door, open van, straight onto the stage.

Now, I'd been sent a playlist of around 30 songs and looking at it, it was going to be your typical 18th with plenty of stuff like Usher and the like. So, I start plugging through as the guests arrive. Shock! Horror! It's a family affair. Granny's arrived, aunts, uncles and just a smattering of teenagers. The playlist isn't going to cut the mustard on this one.

After the initial 90 minutes of people arriving and standing at the bar chatting, one of the aunts comes to the stage and asks me to start on some 90's club stuff. "It'd by my absolute pleasure" was the reply.

Boom! Floor full of bodies throwing shapes (seeing the age group in attendance - I really didn't expect a 90's set to do too much). And then guests start plucking up the courage to ask for some requests.

So, we somehow went from 90's club into a cheese set (the link there was the Vengaboys somehow), and then from cheese into a proper good old fashioned rock set (feel the wooden stage bouncing :) ).

The floor was rammed from the time I played the first 90's track to the time the venue turned the lights on at 11:45 at the end of Hey Jude (yes, I was asked for a couple of Beatles numbers towards the end for the oldies).

On to the venue.....how rude.
I was booked until midnight. The bar staff come up at 11pm and tell me to call last orders, which I queried. It's strange to call last orders an hour before the end of the night. Apparently the venue being booked until midnight means that everyone's out and they're locking the doors at the witching hour....it's not when I turn off the sound system. So, a quick word with my client and we're allowed to party until quarter too (she hadn't been made aware of the early finish either and also assumed midnight was the end of the disco).

This venue is in the middle of nowhere. There's no way in the world it's because of noise complaints because there's nobody within around 3 miles TO complain - it was literally down to the bar staff wanting to get home!

Naturally I took my time to ensure that my kit was neatly packed away (the cables normally get shoved into a big bag and sorted tomorrow), and the guests made their last pints last just that little bit longer ;)

That's unfortunately it for me until March now. I've got nothing in February - I've not even had any enquiries. So, I'll be using the month by productively sorting out the lock-up, cleaning and repairing stuff, and working on my strategy of sorting out my web sites (I have three now....all of them needing some serious SEO work done to them).

Good gig tonight though funny story which highlights why I always get paid in advance and how I go wonky when I agree to take money on the night but I'll report back on that tomorrow.

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Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ

Good gig tonight though funny story which highlights why I always get paid in advance and how I go wonky when I agree to take money on the night but I'll report back on that tomorrow.

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A policy I don't want to adopt, but I'm considering. Client had to borrow money to pay me! :eek:

Wayne, almost a polar opposite of yours. The nicest venue staff I've met in ages. Shame some of the punters weren't as amenable. I'll be down to simmer by morning I hope. :mad: