Why don't customers and guests read the script?
Friday night was a 30th with the remit of mainly 90's dance and modern pop. We ended up in R&B, mild cheese ( which along with Anthems, were on the banned list. Birthday girl was throwing serious shapes to all of these, by the way ) and very little dance music.
So, Saturday rolls round for a 50th for Mr Jackson, in Driffield. He's there as well, just nearer the town centre. He very kindly showed me some tips for using the Prime GO ( that took a lot of prising out of his hands, once he'd seen it, I can tell you ;) ) and tweaked my laptop loads for the new VDJ setup. That was a bit of a head scratcher, until we found the answer hiding deep in the settings of the system.
It also led me to a very squeaky bum episode later, as we hadn't had the laptop connected to a speaker while we did this. I get to the gig, connect the prime up first, as it's so quick, and start background while I set lights and laptop rig. Time to take over with laptop/VDJ, and it sounds like I've plugged into a Dalek! ;););) Blimey! It's a thousand times worse than when the VMS power supply died.
A fault finding dialogue ensues between us both, and finally Dave suggests the tried and tested " have you tried turning it off and on again" method. Phew, success, it's crystal again. Once more, guests had no idea of the chaos behind the decks.
Anyway, venue fills up nicely, and we all hold hands and try to contact the living. Some heavy duty cheese is requested by the truck(le) load by birthday boy's significant other, and rather than filling the floor, it's met with total apathy. Guests trickle away slowly from around 9pm, so it's looking a lot less packed. I'm so glad I don't use trussing any more, I'd have been throwing a noose over it. Over four hours of losing the will to live, playing humorous requests for guests, and wanting to pack up, until birthday boy admits defeat, pays me and goes home. I've now got the finish line in sight, speeding ever closer from the planned midnight to just after eleven. Yay, result. :D
Except:
One guest.
Over four hours of asking for requests, and she sits glued to the wall. I'm within seconds of switching everything off, and she comes up and asks for some Sash. I've got maybe fifteen guests left, and the floor's rammed. We're now in full 140bpm mode for the last half hour, and ( by my own exceedingly low standards ) I pulled off some cracking mixes. Bar staff decide that it's time for last orders, another fifteen minutes of music, and pack up. Good call dear, good call.
So, I'm out and in the van as fast as I can, hitting the road over half an hour before normal, and just to be sociable, I go to see Dave, who is also packing up. That's unusual, he's normally still rocking when I get there. I give him a hand to carry kit out, marvel at how people manage with small SUV's/people carriers, and go home.
Once again, huge thanks to Dave for his help, patience and assistance. Man's a star.
And we're back in the game
Regular readers of the member's side of things will note that my last few weddings weren't the danciest of affairs. Although they got praise from the people that mattered, they were all the type that leaves you driving home wondering what you'd done wrong and if you could have done it differently.
So, I went into tonight's wedding with more than a little trepidation. I've spent the last 4-5 weeks being a kids entertainer and having the time of my life. Truth be told, I was dreading weddinging again. I really needn't of worried.
After a LOT of technical glitches before the first dance, the night went like an absolute charm. Venue at capacity, full dance floor for much of the evening and apart from a couple of "do not plays", the night was my own with just a preference to keep the music policy 80s - 00s (whoops....I kicked off well and truly in the 70s disco era....to a rammed floor!). From there it went into 80s and 90s cheese (no...not THAT type of cheese) and then into 00s and 10's dance music to finish. An absolutely awesome night :)
Got a bit of kit sorting/maintenance to do during the week. It seems that such a busy year has taken its toll on certain items (I certainly need to look at somehow making new fronts for the LOVE letters)
Never, never, never prejudge.
On paper, I got the plum job between myself and Mr Jackson. I think it was only because his hotel is posher, and my van doesn't fit in the car park, really. :D 30th Birthday, with the musical remit of 90s and noughties bangers, classics, and lots of party ones.
This was reiterated when the two birthday girls, and one Birthday boy turned up, lovely folk, and a fancy dress theme. Well after the standard hour of background, away we went at a hundred miles an hour, with Cha Cha Slide, Macarena, Superman, Oops, the full cheeseboard. Wow, I thought, just wait till we get into all the 90s dance, we'll really be rocking.
Except they all seemed to go to sleep at this point, and we went off into a parallel universe, where we were full on Grunge. :confused: That went down a storm, and while they all loved it ( as did I, getting a chance to show that DJs can string together bangers from all Genres, not just party ones ) it wasn't what we expected. I enjoyed it, the clients and guests enjoyed it ( and said so ) but it just didn't live up to ( early ) expectations.
As an aside, for the second time in a week, one Polar broke the noise regulations. I think tonight we had a guest sleeping directly above the disco, so reasonably understandable.
Mind you, I reckon I did get the plum gig, cos Dave had packed up and gone home when I went round to see him!
