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Just keep away from my Alter ego, Wayne. :Naughty:
One of the more mature clients sent a younger guest up clutching his phone, with piccies on of Richard Hearne.
Doesn't mean anything? Don't know how old you'll need to be to remember, but he was Mr Pastry.
Never mind the little ones, we're about to have to deal with a load of 19 and 20 year olds who have never had a normal Xmas or NYE as adults :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Imagine
Julian
The only experience I have of this area is the person who used to entertain children when I was a child - I must have been to at least 10 of his shows as a child, if not more, and he is still going (entertaining the children of the people he entertained 20-30 years ago!):Quote:
Originally Posted by Imagine
http://www.randini.co.uk/index.php/6
Yes, he's a magician, but heck, all I remember every time I've seen him is children sat down, engaged, and mesmerised by him! If you were to get the chance to see him 'in action' at a public event, it would be more valuable than any day of training could provide.
I don't think there's a child born and brought up on the Isle of Wight who hasn't seen at least one of his shows. Quite a feat - but goes to show the level that can be achieved in this niche.
So...today's gig....a UV show (actually HATE these) for what I thought was a crowd of 7 year olds and turned out to be too cool for school 10 year olds....urgh.
It's only a 3 year difference, but it throws the entire kids party thing on its head. Not too many games (only two in fact, Limbo and Space Hopper racing), no winners medals (I saved a fortune with the price of those at the moment)...and a LOT of technical problems.
Now when it comes to kid's parties, I'm a proper blue coat/yellow coat entertainer. I play games (lots of them), I have fun, I give out medals, I deliver humour which goes above the guests' heads and into the parents heads...they're normally a lot of fun.
And then they hit 10 years old. GAWD it was blimmin' hard work. Sooo...basically a yr 6 disco then with minimal games, a lot of cheesy action songs and a bit of snow...what not to like?
Dancing? Minimal (they've forgotten how to do that during Covid :( ). Games, complicated....it's waaaay easier to organise space hopper racing for a group of 6 year olds than 10 year olds...trust me!
But it got worse!
Engine Lighting was playing up (schoolboy error I might add). Don't get me wrong....it's blimmin' brilliant but relies on the pinky & pirky upfaders to work...my last gig used decks 3&4...this one didn't. I couldn't in the name of all that's holy work out what was going wrong with the lighting and resorted to a static scene with a lot of UV presets and some Derby's going off (the kids loved it...I didn't).
And then....things went bang (literally) during the penultimate song of the afternoon. My UV lighting other than the WashFX's (brilliant UV effect) contains a couple of Equinox 400w UV canons. They work, and work very well...until teamed up with an 1800w snow machine on the same 5 gang socket. Pop - one half of the rig goes out 2 songs before the end..WTH? (I lost the right hand PA, the mic's, the snow and the lighting from that side). Turns out that the 5 gang had a fuse change during my last PAT test from 13a (which would have handled things OK) to 5A...why????
OH well..let's repeat tomorrow and see what happens....
Had a very rare moodlighting only hire tonight.
Battery powered so literally down in a few minutes.
Blue and gold was the colour scheme. I'd had next to no dialogue with the couple but I asked the tog if the light blue I'd done (which to me matched the chair sashes) got the vibe.
Turns out the groom is a Rangers fan so it was a bit light. I stuck them on full navy blue and it looked :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored:ing brilliant.
The bride thought it looked great, I caught up with the groom later on and told him I have a season ticket at Ibrox, turns out the colour scheme was decided way before we won the league in May and started putting gold into our theme but it worked out.
Apart from making the lights do some funky stuff after the buffet I had the night to myself to work on my website.
They had a band who were really good but they took up SOOOOOOO much space and had loads of dead air between songs. They took almost an hour break at the buffet too and their lights just went mad.
Punters don't know what they don't know and as I said, this was a really good band but if we'd to go side by side I'd wipe the floor with them :zip:
Rules. Safety, don'tcha know? Before we restart WW3 over fuses, cable power handling and the 8th Edition, I'll discreetly :zip: and bow outQuote:
Originally Posted by Imagine
Stage presence Jim. You've got it, or you haven't. I must be honest, I know whereof you speak. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ
OK, my gig.
18th Birthday, fairly local ( 45 minute drive, slow roads), organised by Dad, who doesn't live with family any more ( traded Mum in for a newer model, as far as I could see. This resulted in " Frock Wars", and my did they put on a show :eek:), so information seemed to come at arms length. Agreement was for a downstairs gig, and we were upstairs. :mad: Kit was rejigged, and then the fun began. Having got my chosen lights wired up, they wouldn't play ball at all. I finally realised that a combined power/DMX lead I'd recently made seems to have used a faulty DMX lead. Further testing required before next week, I reckon.
Music: anything and everything. Modern, Anthems, classic party, even Oops for Grandma! ( Yes, that's right :daft:) Sincere round of applause at the end, but I was disappointed as unlike last week, when I'd had exactly the lighting I wanted, under total control, this week it was mainly left to run itself, and not as effective, partly due to me picking the wrong kit for the right reasons. Ah well.
Good news, even with an electrically locking door and stairs, with a little help from a reliable looking staff member, I was loaded in half an hour, and clutching two cups of Ronald's finest five minutes after that. :)
Something I learnt the hard way a few years back... I now always run a smoke machine or similar off its own socket - I never share it with any other equipment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Imagine
My one & so far only tech snafu at a gig was caused by a well used multi gang extension cable. I now regard them as consumables with a limited lifespan. Obvious when you think about it!
Last night's gig was another wedding & I was informed by the venue there'd be no first dance and no the couple didn't want to get in touch to discuss anything. What could possibly go wrong?
They'd booked an early start of 6pm so I got there in time for that & set up. The room looked very gothic & halloweenish, as did the happy couple when I saw them. The bride asked me what was on tonight's playlist & I said whatever you like. Oh just wedding stuff. You know. Ah then at about 10.30 can I play ntrance set you free? Sure. Then about half eleven that Mariah Carey Christmas song? Erm okay...
Riiiiight. Wedding stuff then... Whatever that means.
So guests filled the room eventually & I announced them in to cut their cake.... Then we settled into the game of finding out what makes them shake their booty. Nothing. Absolutely nothing ilicited any kind of response from them until way after the buffet. I decided to don my 'dj desperate' hat & play sure fire floor fillers for a bit. Nope.
Come about 10.30 I hit hotcue 2 on set you free. The dancefloor was suddenly rammed to bursting & a request came in for Children of the Night. I joked I didn't have it which prompted the bride to storm over. Surely you've got that mister DJ! Yes of course I have. I couldn't live without it, more is the pity...
An hour of furiously selecting & mixing clubland followed & the party went right off. Even the grans & grandads were throwing shapes! As is natural in these circumstances a request came in to play some Motown from a youngish lady. I politely said I'd tried that earlier to no avail but I'd try to fit some in later. I lied.
Keeping the BPMs between 135 & 150 I neared the slot for the darn Christmas song & teased the intro over a couple of drum breaks. The time was right. The time was now. I looped the last clubland track, pared it down to just beats & let Mariah loose.
It did the trick. Stuck for other ideas afterwards I went back to clubland again, easing it back into EDM territory to set up black eyed peas Dirty Bit which would take us to the last song...
Hmm . But what to play? I didn't want it to be too raucous .... So opted for Never Forget. I fake ended things & shouts came for one more song. I said ok they can have one more if they do one more thing for me:. Big up the bride & groom one more time... Into take that & the bride had a face like thunder. Apparently she can't stand take that!!! Whoops. Plan B then, as the groom suggested Bohemian Rhapsody. Saved!
I apologised for the never forget error personally to the bride afterwards hinting that sometimes it's handy to let people know if there's any artist that makes you want to vomit :lol: She said fair enough & good save, thanks!
All in all a gig that turned out way better than I expected. Usually when the couple are so 'easy going' & don't seem it necessary to contact me I end up being their personal jukebox. Thank the deities I was wrong this time.
Never explain, never complain - no apology required on your part for playing a song you had no idea the bride didn't want to hear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nakatomi
Yes, yes, yes....I get all that. But a 5 gang should be more than 5A. All of the appliances plugged into it are correctly rated and should blow independently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
Bring back the 6" nail :whistle:
Smoke yes....I get it and have ALWAYS had that thing plugged in separately. I've got an interesting story about my poor old hazer which blocked a few weeks ago which involves wiring the newly purchased evaporator heat sensor the wrong way round....but that's for another day and involves some really bright glowing metal :zip:Quote:
Originally Posted by rth_discos
I didn't actually realise just how much power a simple pump and fan motor (that's all a snow machine is after all) actually drew!
Right...second of the weekend and yes it's another kid's party (believe it or not, I'm starting to enjoy these more than even weddings....the guests are more polite, there's a DEFINITE finish time as they have to be out of the hall, Karen doesn't tend to stay and I'm a big kid myself)
Luckily I learned my lesson from yesterday and today ran nice and smoothly for a room full of 7 year olds.
Have to admit, it was a good one from my side of the booth and the parents were absolutely over the moon. Apparently they were nervous because they've hired people purporting to do kids parties in the past who have, well.....stood in the corner and played music. Best compliment from mum was "I didn't have to do anything....you just walked in, set up and took over!". Well yes, that's what I do with a kids party....doesn't everyone? :daft:
Something I have noticed recently and I think I'm going to build on it. I've always had a pair of wigs in the games box, one an old scare wig from a Halloween surgeon costume and one a purple afro type thing. I occasionally put them on for a giggle and today kept changing between the two. The kids are actually noticing this and think it's funny. So....a couple more have been added to the arsenal tonight! If I come to be known as the kids DJ that changes hair a lot....so be it (it'll go well with my new trademark purple beard!)
Right - time to do some research to make life a little easier for Soundswitch now. By all accounts I can connect a midi controller to it to fire off the static scenes without going through all the screens on the Prime4 (which can be a pain in the wossits when you're trying to introduce a game, get the game music ready, bring the lights up all at the same time). Whether it'll work with the P4 or whether it's just a lappy thing....that's what I need to find out.