Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Excalibur]

Packed up and in the van in dead on 30 minutes (yet more Brownie points scored with the venue), unloaded at my lockup and home before 1am.

A perfect night in every sense of the word

Sore point Son, sore point. So sore that it's likely to be Supporters, PM, or even elevated to a phonecall!

OK, the bits I can publish here. Two gigs in consecutive weeks covering for Dave Jackson at one of his venues. This one wasn't on my favourites list, and it has slipped even further lately. Reason? If you'd met him, you'd know. The car park is awkward, crowded, too small and not fit for purpose. Access to the upstairs function room is either up the same amount of steps as the average Wetherspoons toilet, or a lift and a fire door, with added obstacles to make life interesting. I choose trolley and lift, which baffles the owner.

Gig 1, surprise 50th anniversary. They got the wedding rig, as it can be one of the smaller ones, and would suit room and access. Nice people, basically friends of a similar age group, and younger aged family. Basically a split, and they didn't really overlap much, except for Abba! ( Could have played that all night long to packed floors ).
The oldies didn't really come alive to the classics of their era, and the younger ones didn't really want Brightside and Sex on Fire. Bit of a damp squib, only lit sporadically by ABBA and The Usual ( cheese flavoured ) Suspects. The demon drink was involved for some, and it was one of those where you really feel it ran an hour too long. Guests of honour were delighted, and came to say so, which means a job well done.

Gig 2, small wedding. Early start, and again I arrive early, to try and find a suitable space in the car park. It's no good arriving with minutes to spare here, get in early and wait.
I upset the owner early doors, just to start things off in the usual manner, and get set up. Guests arrive, and we're on background music, until we have the grand entrance of bride and groom ( who have been in the room for half an hour previously, but we can suspend disbelief, can't we children? ) to cheers and confetti.
Then it's buffet time, except despite what I'm told, it isn't ready. Well actually, the cold bit is, but the hot food in warmers isn't, apparently. Buffet thus becomes a two tier effort. We have the first dance, then a wait for the Dad/Daughter, Mum 1/Daughter and Mum 2/Son dances. We then officially declare party time to a less than excited crowd. My big problem was people leaving and returning from toilet breaks, smoke breaks, bar breaks. Many people thus missed their requests, but at times I had a very healthy floor. Cheese/Children's songs seemed to be the way forward mainly, and then the dreaded wedding fatigue/children's bedtime hit. Another booking that was an hour too long, leaving me playing to a handful of stragglers.
Bride thanked me profusely, so yes, another job well done. All that was left was to get out without winding the owner up further, which I failed to do. I mean come on, why can't we get a full disco carried down steps in one trip in ten minutes? Is it too much to ask for?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address please.

[djdj]

Sore point Son, sore point. So sore that it's likely to be Supporters, PM, or even elevated to a phonecall!

OK, the bits I can publish here. Two gigs in consecutive weeks covering for Dave Jackson at one of his venues. This one wasn't on my favourites list, and it has slipped even further lately. Reason? If you'd met him, you'd know. The car park is awkward, crowded, too small and not fit for purpose. Access to the upstairs function room is either up the same amount of steps as the average Wetherspoons toilet, or a lift and a fire door, with added obstacles to make life interesting. I choose trolley and lift, which baffles the owner.

All that was left was to get out without winding the owner up further, which I failed to do. I mean come on, why can't we get a full disco carried down steps in one trip in ten minutes? Is it too much to ask for?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address please.

I have Dj'd here More times than I care to mention, The car park is always a challenge! Although not as bad as when they used to plant a 30ft Christmas Tree in it. The Maple room is an interesting one it has it's own lighting system but has more switches then the Space Shuttle. All of the staff are usually quite nice and easy to deal with and most of the punters are not an issue. The owner however is rather set in his ways and can be difficult at times. Onwards and upwards Pete - speak soon!

[DeckstarDeluxe]

It's been quite a while since I posted here but the gig I did on Friday absolutely warrants crowing about. Through let's say, various connections & circumstances I managed to snag myself a spot at a bar to play at Leeds First Friday's 15th birthday party - in Bar Fibre's Penthouse no less. For the uninitiated, Leeds First Friday is a big monthly social event for transgender folk, their friends & allies. People who go have a broad spectrum of tastes & I wanted to reflect that as much as possible without being too 'Fibre'-y (think the kind of stuff Capital Dance plays all day long & you won't be too far wrong).

First of all I was of a mind to DJ the event without hauling laptop & controller around (they wouldn't fit in my handbag anyway ).

So Pioneer Rekordbox was the order of the day. About 6 weeks ahead of time I started prepping in earnest making edits & remixes of tunes I thought would go down well. The idea was that I might play until midnight when the Penthouse would be opened up to regular VIP card holders & I could have the option to go on til 3am - so I amassed a collection of classic house tracks too - 450 odd in total on the main USB stick - and an emergency premix - and a warmup premix - and backups & backups of the stick. I didn't have any way to check the USB would even be read by a CDJ2000 let alone work.

By sheer coincidence it turned out a regular of the LFF event lives not far from where I work & said I could pop round & check my Rekordbox exports worked on their CDJ900.
They did, so that was a load off my mind. Ah but by the time Friday came around I'd added loads more tracks to the collection so as Friday night approached I got nervous again.
I arrived at the venue at 5.30pm but we weren't allowed in until just after 7pm (I was to start at 9).
On getting in there, first I had to switch the gear on.. I knew the power switch was on the right hand side at the back of the decks & mixer but where?
Hahaha.
I got the first player to read my stick just fine, pressed LINK on the second.. both players could see all the tracks yay!
I found deck one's channel on the DJM900NXS.. but not deck 2... hmmm. I checked the input selectors... nope still nothing.
Lucky nothing was enclosed & I traced the RCA cable from the back of deck 2.
It was free at the other end!
I plugged them into the mixer & I was in business.Everyone started to arrive after a ceremony out on the street & I played my premix until I got a great intro from the coordinator and a rousing round of applause as I pressed play on deck 1... An acappella of Pink's 'Get the party started' - edited so she sings 'get this party started on a Friday night' as opposed to Saturday night..

Here's how it went down...

Pink - Pink Party Friday Acapella (Keyed)
Lizzo - About Damn Time (Purple Disco Machine Remix – Extended)
Dimitri From Paris, Chic - Le Freak (Dimitri From Paris 2018 Remix)
Spiller - Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (Extended Vocal Mix)
Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing Groovefunkel (Quantised)
The Human League - Don't You Want Me (Purple Disco Machine Extended Mix)
Jackers Revenge, Lissat - Voulez Vous
Donna Summer - I Feel Love Juski Edit
Abba Vs Robin S - Gimme Gimme Gimme Love Juski Edit
Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie Juski Edit
Sister Sledge - We Are Family Juski Edit
The Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme (Original Vocal Mix)
Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me (Feat. Duane Harden)
Madonna - Into The Groove Juski Edit
Yazoo - Don't Go Juski Edit
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax - Juski Edit
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams Juski Edit
Animotion - Animotion - Obsession Juski Edit
Livin Jam - Dreamer (Juski Edit)
Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
Sclub 7 - Don't Stop Movin' (Jewels & Stone Remix)
Steps - Tragedy Juski Edit
Cher - Believe (Juski Edit)
Gala - Freed From Desire (Full Vocal)
The Original - I Luv U Baby (Dancing Divas 1995 Remix)
Tori Amos - Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix - Radio Edit)
Tim Deluxe Feat. Sam Obernik - It Just Won't Do
Lady Gaga - Born This Way Juski Edit
Whitney Houston - How Will I Know Found Love Juski Mash
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (David Solomon Remix - Extended)
Erasure - A Little Respect (Juski's 2017 Rework)
Garbage - Cherry Lips Juski Edit
Zz Top - Gimme All Your Lovin Juski Edit
Metallica - Metallica - Enter Sandman Juski Edit Alt (yes REALLY...)


***FIRE ALARM *** apparently triggered by somebody vaping in the loos - which killed the main PA (VOID!!! VOID PA!!! FLIPPING GORGEOUS SOUND!!!) for a while - circumvented by cranking the booth monitors & pointing them out from the booth


New Order Vs Dua Lipa - New Monday Rules
Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin Juski Edit
Snap - Snap - Rhythm Is A Dancer Juski Edit
Kylie - Can't Get You Out Of My Head Juski Edit
Nicki Minaj - Starships Juski Edit Acapella Intro
Bob Sinclar - Rock This Party
Pitbull Ft Tjr - Don't Stop The Party
Tinie Tempah - Girls Like (Feat. Zara Larsson)
Chris Brown - Yeah 3x
Rihanna - Only Girl
Martin Solveig Feat. Dragonette - Martin Solveig Feat. Dragonette - Hello
Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
The Black Eyed Peas - The Black Eyed Peas - The Time (Dirty Bit)
Soul Central - Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own) (Danny Krivit Re Edit)
Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives (Dancing Divas Remix)
Tensnake - Coma Cat
Sunkids Feat Chance - Rescue Me
Pulse Featuring Antoinette Roberson - The Lover That You Are (Soul Solution & Hex Hector Club Mix)
Alex Gaudino - What A Feeling (Extended Mix)
Loveland - Let The Music Lift You Up Full On Vocal Mix
Ultra Nate - Free Juski Edit
Incognito - Always There David Morales Remix
Source Feat Candi Staton - You Got The Love
Kings Of Tomorrow - Finally (Original Extended Mix)
Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye Almighty Mix Extended

Requests? WHAT REQUESTS? I can hardly believe I smashed it just by educated guesses like this.. but apparently I did.


I messed up a few mixes a tiny bit - loops take some getting used to on CDJs but I was blown away by how responsive those players are compared to my trusty Denon MC7000.
The feedback I've had since then.. this might not be my last stint there... not bad for my first attempt on CDJs huh? I finished just after midnight, an absolute wreck wrapped up in spent nervous energy.. I packed up (put my USB sticks in my pocket & headphones in a bag LOL) & by 1am was at The End having a gentle decompress & some very large gin cocktails.


I got to bed about 5am, woke at 8.30 & drove home. That left me a couple of hours to chill, then load the car (goodbye van!) & go to my favourite castle for a wedding.
How on Earth I managed that on so little sleep I've no idea but the client was very happy at the end of the night.

Love the vibe there, PDM is one of my must see DJs too.

[Excalibur]

I have Dj'd here More times than I care to mention,

And you will be doing more from now on.

The car park is always a challenge! Although not as bad as when they used to plant a 30ft Christmas Tree in it.

If the car park were my biggest problem, happy days.

The Maple room is an interesting one it has it's own lighting system but has more switches then the Space Shuttle.

Most of which don't seem to do much. Once upon a time, it must have been magnificent. In common with many venues, they turn their lights on, despite them detracting from the experience, rather than adding to it.

All of the staff are usually quite nice and easy to deal with and most of the punters are not an issue.

Agreed, they are on the same page as me, all lovely folk.

The owner however is rather set in his ways and can be difficult at times.

Especially so when I'm loading in or out.

Onwards and upwards Pete - speak soon!

Phone switched on.

[Imagine]

Sore point Son, sore point. So sore that it's likely to be Supporters, PM, or even elevated to a phonecall!

Oh dear oh dear. I can feel the phone ringing like the emergency message thing yesterday sometime soon

[Excalibur]

After last night, it would appear so. It would also appear that the state of current music output is so parlous that us oldies are not at all out of touch with young tastes.
Last night was supposed to be a 21st at a golf club, covering for a chap I do a few for. ( I seem to be the Golden Boy there, the manager is always pleased to see me, unlike other venues and management, who will remain nameless ) The 21st turned out to be an 18th. No worry, I had a Spotify playlist, of eighty songs. Of these, about five were unusual, the rest were Indie Classics, Anthems, The Usual Suspects, and Cheese.

The dance floor was very sporadic, but when I hit one they loved, the floor was rammed. Oasis, Killers and Abba were top of the favourites, and at the end, they sang their little hearts out to Thank You For The Music. ( I'd run out of end of night tracks that weren't Oasis, and that was a four minute Abba track. Sorted).

The venue staff are vigilant on drinks on the dancefloor, and these lot were the best behaved in that and many other areas I've had in a long, long time. Come the end of the night, staff, guests, Parents and DJ were all very happy. I was congratulated by all and sundry, wasn't hassled/hustled to leave by staff, and generally had a great, if slightly strenuous night curating the excellent playlist. I really needed a night like this.

[Nakatomi]

A few weeks back I got a call from a lovely sounding lady enquiring about booking me for a birthday party over the coronation weekend. Oh? You're available, she said .. oh wonderful! She later let slip it was an 18th birthday party for her daughter. On a farm. In a marquee.

Wait. What??

I apologised immediately & explained I'd be reluctant to fulfil this one. An 18th can be trouble by itself without bringing potential open ended timings into the mix. No she said, don't worry I promise it'll be just fine.

You know what, it was too! Loadin was nice & easy into the marquee & power was responsibly sourced from the nearby house via a ring main extension run through conduit.

I was cautious, and rather than my beloved podium i took my trusty old truss booth with me & put my console on that. Good job I did too, the way the wooden floor was bouncing around.

A had a small selection of requests to work through , mostly modern country which went down a storm with the young farmers.

Appen I saw more than a few young ladies take tumbles on the slippery floor later too.

The music ranged from old to current, with a bit of clubland chucked in for good measure.
1am was the allotted finish time & the baying for one more was quickly dealt with by my client.

A real tonic, this one. Mixed like an absolute devil through it for 6 hours & I'm now feeling quite tired

[ppentertainments]

A few weeks back I got a call from a lovely sounding lady enquiring about booking me for a birthday party over the coronation weekend. Oh? You're available, she said .. oh wonderful! She later let slip it was an 18th birthday party for her daughter. On a farm. In a marquee.

Wait. What??

I apologised immediately & explained I'd be reluctant to fulfil this one. An 18th can be trouble by itself without bringing potential open ended timings into the mix. No she said, don't worry I promise it'll be just fine.

You know what, it was too! Loadin was nice & easy into the marquee & power was responsibly sourced from the nearby house via a ring main extension run through conduit.

I was cautious, and rather than my beloved podium i took my trusty old truss booth with me & put my console on that. Good job I did too, the way the wooden floor was bouncing around.

A had a small selection of requests to work through , mostly modern country which went down a storm with the young farmers.

Appen I saw more than a few young ladies take tumbles on the slippery floor later too.

The music ranged from old to current, with a bit of clubland chucked in for good measure.
1am was the allotted finish time & the baying for one more was quickly dealt with by my client.

A real tonic, this one. Mixed like an absolute devil through it for 6 hours & I'm now feeling quite tired

With a shift in direction I have taken on a few non-wedding bookings to spice things up a little. A 21st was done a few weeks ago, many older birthdays and even a christening is in the diary.

You know what, I am loving them lol. Not being snobby but these are all higher end functions - not a christening in your back street WMC - and have found people actually very pleasant and friendlier than your usual wedding crowd.

Even I mixed the music at the 21st - bit much like work but ok for the odd occasion I suppose

[Nakatomi]

With a shift in direction I have taken on a few non-wedding bookings to spice things up a little. A 21st was done a few weeks ago, many older birthdays and even a christening is in the diary.

You know what, I am loving them lol. Not being snobby but these are all higher end functions - not a christening in your back street WMC - and have found people actually very pleasant and friendlier than your usual wedding crowd.

Even I mixed the music at the 21st - bit much like work but ok for the odd occasion I suppose

It's good to break out of one kind of gig, if you've been in the wringer a while isn't it?

The last few birthday parties I've had were for good fees & customers didn't flinch at the prices. Sometimes I'd much rather take a 60th than a wedding - especially if it's anything like the last one I did where it was mostly vocal house I needed to play

[Imagine]

So last night then....the 19th hole of the local golf club and I'd been looking forward to this one far more than I should have been.

This was a wedding "after party", they got married 6 weeks ago with a very small ceremony. Even better, they were my age group as were 99% of the guests.
I always knew this was going to be good. I replied to the initial enquiry email to say yes I can do it for £XYZ and she was on the phone to book within a matter of minutes with a brief of "music from the 70s, 80s and 90s". OH YUSS!!

Last week the playlist came in and it was good to her word. No restrictions on what to play other than absolutely no Come On Eileen....no problem from this end
Even betterer, I'd offered the chance of using the Retro show seeing the age group of the guests and the musical styles, and they didn't have to think twice about that idea.

Now this was a bit of a silly idea on my part for several reasons:
* The retro show had been moved towards the back of my storage unit as it's not been out since Covid - it took a LOT of digging to get to it.
* Since it's not been out since Covid, I needed to bring it home and make sure it actually worked and wasn't going to catch fire
* The van's been off the road all week having open heart surgery so the light screens came home a couple at a time in the family Zafira. Because of this, the light boxes have annoyingly been stacked in my lounge all week because it was going to be too much of a faff to take them back to the store, and finally
* I've not USED the retro show since I got the NV200. Know what? For the first time since the poor old Hiace departed my driveway I noticed the smaller load space. It was proper Tetris getting it all in

Funny, there's been a Faceache thread on the local DJ group bemoaning DJs that have "multiple setups", "can't see the point", "the couples don't care"....etc...etc...etc. It actually appears to be some new kind of snobbery to only have a "one size fits all" setup. Count me out on that one chaps!

Well last night they DID care and it DID make a difference.

They've also been bemoaning those of us with multiple PA setups.

Last night, I took out the Yamaha combo...overkill for that venue but I need it for a tented affair on Monday night and thought I'd take the opportunity to blow the dust off it since it hasn't been used since last September (oh boy....that system still causes a tingling feeling somewhere very private when it's in full flow! ).

So the night itself....only around half (maybe a few more) turned up - I counted around 50 heads, mainly of the more mature generation. Background for the first 90 minutes whilst they got comfy and ate grub and then it's party time. I was promised a full dance floor and they didn't disappoint. Despite mostly being the wrong side of half a century old, they danced their socks off

The only problem is that there's no easy way to get photos in that particular venue of the dance floor - it ALWAYS looks a bit empty. The 1980s definitely won the night both with lighting AND music, including guest requests aplenty. I couldn't put a foot wrong apart from Mr Lewis and his News team which cleared the floor within seconds - strange for an 80s night.

The guests were so polite that they actually appreciated the midnight finish (like me, they were well past their bedtime) and instead of baying for one more, gave me a round of applause for my efforts. Many hugs and thanks followed as I was clearing away and even though I was working with heavier stuff than I've been used to of late, I was still out of the venue 30 minutes after I turned everything off.

The only downside of the night is that I'm now absolutely shattered. Although it's an easier setup to bolt together and take apart than the modern stuff, I'd forgotten how HEAVY it is. Thank Gawd I use digital sound rather than turntables, vinyl and amps.

Day off on Sunday, only to return to the store on Monday to sort out the mess I've dumped in there and switch over to the Rustic show for Monday evening's shenanigans which promise to be fun. It's an ex blank-canvas wedding venue which converted to a glamping site during the lockdowns, and he's now hosting the first of hopefully many two-day team building events (could be lucrative for he and me ) The company holding this event wanted a "wedding DJ" (whatever one of those is) to do the evening entertainment and I was the first call the site owner made having done several weddings there in the good old normal days. Bad news, it's going to be wet and windy on Monday in this neck of the woods....it'll be a bobble hat for the night then