Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Nakatomi]

Wayne, well done Son, you know it makes sense.

Justin, despite the lack of details, I reckon I might have swapped you.

Me? Curate's Egg, yet again. 60th Birthday. Birthday girl was into 90s Dance/Clubland. Grandchildren and friends wanted " Charty". Another faction was heavily into the Cheeseboard. Add in Morrissey- First Of The Gang, Depeche Mode, and we're not in danger of making my Top Ten gigs of all time.

We finished early, courtesy of Dave Jackson's well trained staff, and the clients/guests were well pleased. That'll do for me, I'll take that.

Let's see .. band names among the following...

The Ruts
The only ones
Vain
Volbeat
The YoYos
Church of Confidence
Cheap and Nasty

All at sea with those make no mistake!

The glam rock, the punk hits, the heavier rock like motorhead, still a challenge for me but I can sort of make sense of it & string into a set. There's definitely a gap in the market up here for someone who knows their alt back to front.

Just had an email thanking me for my efforts anyway .. despite them "picking most of it" it's apparently all about knowing when to play it. Picking most of it indeed! Pfft 70 tracks amounting to under 3 hours playing time, of which I managed to get through 46 after guest requests. I played all the must-plays.

Would I rather have had a night of guests bouncing off the 4 walls to predictable party classics? Hmmmm I dunno

[Corabar Steve]

The Ruts
The only ones
Vain
Volbeat
The YoYos
Church of Confidence
Cheap and Nasty

All at sea with those make no mistake!

The glam rock, the punk hits, the heavier rock like motorhead, still a challenge for me but I can sort of make sense of it & string into a set. There's definitely a gap in the market up here for someone who knows their alt back to front.

[Excalibur]

Friday, female birthday ( 52 ) in a quite nice social club. I had a playlist from Hubby which looked good, yet got torn up very early on. I couldn't for the life of me get any sort of cohesion, especially when every time the birthday girl made a ( vague) request, I seemed to play something she hated. She said she was " an 80's child" so I put Wham on to kick off an 80's set. She didn't like Wham!!

Hubby was delighted and impressed with my flexibility and adaptability. My client and much of his family were impressed, and said so. Me? Just another in a run of parties that never come alive, seem under populated, and unenthusiastic. It's a big letdown after some of the frantic fun fests which marked us being released into the wild again.

And you can bet your life that tonight's escapades will be in Supporters, for various reasons! It's purported to be all Afrobeats, African House, and " other popular music genres".

Seems I will quite likely have an Amanuensis ( Watch it Peter, that one's from Latin. Just cos you did it as a Modern Language at school.... ) For non classical scholars, tonight that means a " Professional " " MC", who will either tell me what to play, have a bash himself, ( should be a laugh when he gets a battered VMS4.1 set up in my preferences, not CDJs or whatever is now industry standard), or give it up as a bad job. I'm not sure whether I'm dreading this or eagerly awaiting.

[mattydj50]

And you can bet your life that tonight's escapades will be in Supporters, for various reasons! It's purported to be all Afrobeats, African House, and " other popular music genres".

Seems I will quite likely have an Amanuensis ( Watch it Peter, that one's from Latin. Just cos you did it as a Modern Language at school.... ) For non classical scholars, tonight that means a " Professional " " MC", who will either tell me what to play, have a bash himself, ( should be a laugh when he gets a battered VMS4.1 set up in my preferences, not CDJs or whatever is now industry standard), or give it up as a bad job. I'm not sure whether I'm dreading this or eagerly awaiting.

You loved it really!!

[Excalibur]

You loved it really!!

Didn't like seeing all those red lights on Sonny Jim's crappy controller feeding my new speakers!! I think they apply a brake when they're overdriven like that, cos they say limit, and than back off almost instantaneously.


This week: What an awesome venue! It's fairly local, near all sorts of Rivers, Marinas and Locks. It's an old Banqueting Hall, fallen into disrepair over the years, and being restored slowly. It's deriving income as a plant based ( vegan ) cafe, and I shall be taking a coach trip back there in the foreseeable future for a wander round.

The disco: 30th Birthday, leaning heavily to 90's Dance, Trance, and Rave. Mmmmm, nice. Was asked to go big on the lights, and use smoke. With around thirty guests, one Polar was amply big enough. Once they actually came into my room, the dance floor never emptied completely, and I got to play some absolute gems ( which were appreciated as I fed them in, you've got to love it when their little faces light up as they recognise Sandstorm, Insomnia and the rest).

Client and guests very happy, I overran by a quarter hour just because I was actually playing for the daughter of the owner ( who was having a boogie herself to Common People) and it was so relaxed. If they can get it done up enough to become a wedding venue, it will be a winner. Three mile from York, and still in the great outdoors. They were impressed when I told them of the wedding setup I could provide. I foresee more work there, if all goes well.

[Nakatomi]

Tonight was the best worst gig ever!

Due to a communication snafu I didn't hear from the client until yesterday (Tuesday) . To my surprise I discovered I was to be paired up with a live sax player.

Yessss!!!! Finally! I might get some good old banging dance music out accompanied by live saxophone whipping the entire room into a frenzy!

WRONG!

Nope, said sax player was to play along with his own backing tracks. The majority of which were instrumental cover versions of dance music hits ... Why, lord, WHY?

Between him & my remit of playing mostly clubland tunes we decimated the crowd & I got to finish an hour sooner than planned.

Lovely couple though & great guests too.

Like I said, the best worst gig ever!

Saturday sees me take on the last of my covid related postponements. This couple had booked yarns ago & their original venue has sadly (not sadly - the loadin was atrocious) gone under. And the venue they ended up at... Well let's just say I'm on double my usual residency fee for the same work. That's clever, Trevor.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Ball hair under 100 miles for Saturday's gig but it was great

Basically playing in the sitting room of a very beautiful old country pile. Lovely couple, lovely guests and loads of fun.

Turns out one of my mood lights is hunky dory after I thought it was gubbed due to a spilled drink, some weird FCPX nonsense meant I had to get a bit creative when editing down the video and speaking of which, after 4 months fighting with Wix dynamic pages, I've now worked out how to get videos up and working on my website again.

[Excalibur]

Wow! Picked up a last minute wedding in Whitby on Friday, through a singer. Details of the aftermath in Another Place.
First time working with a sound ceiling, and once the staff had wound it up to eleven, it was effing loud on the floor, but quite quiet on the stage. Bride was lovely, staff were lovely, and guests weren't bad either. The playlist I had was 90% what most of us would play at 90% of weddings. Solid gold stuff. Finished on midnight, packed up in record time, even with a twenty yard carry, and hammered it back across the moors. Bed time 2.30am.

Saturday was an 18th Birthday in Leeds with another top notch playlist. Ranged from Chordettes-Lollipop, and Mickey and Sylvia-Love is Strange to Pretty Green Eyes and Children Of The Night! Loads of 80's, Disco, and other fine music in there too. Very low numbers, very sparse dancefloor, but a good night was had by all, and I got asked for cards by multiple guests. 11.30pm finish, another speedy pack up, and pausing the motorway gallop only to refuel at Ronnie's on the M62 at Castleford, before bed at 1.30am.

Sunday. BPM. Unbelievably, Dave Jackson arrived earlier than the appointed time, despite having not switched his gear off until 1.30am! Lad's a star. It's perhaps fortunate that his battery powered vehicle wouldn't go there and back without a charge, so we jumped in my oil burner and headed off, via Wakefield to drop some kit off at Sounds Towers. I thought under the circumstances, arriving at noon was quite creditable. We looked round the show, met Shaun ( Flatliners) and Matthew Western, had another look round, and headed home through the roadworks, where Dave fell asleep, and I reckon I was five minutes away from doing so, but fortunately, the bottleneck cleared, and we made it home.

Not entirely Disco related, but Monday: Went off to pick up The Hound Of The Baskerville, aka Bella. Female GSD. Absolutely gorgeous, and very mischievous. After getting used to each other, I went off to a site visit/client meeting after tea, and returned to more chewing and antics! She's in bed now, and peace has descended on the household. ( Unless you're one of the four cats, in which case it's all out war!

I think I'm having a day off tomorrow, but don't see it being very relaxing.

[Imagine]

Just a kid's party for me this weekend just gone.

Well...I say just a kid's party....supposed to be 20+ guests but due to positive tests and general nerves from parentals....only 12 made it. It makes it damned hard work with numbers that low I can tell you. Got a 5* review from the very chuffed parents for my efforts in several places though so all's well with the world.

I actually have an entire weekend off next weekend - the first in a very long time and I'm looking forward to it. Three parties in three days the following weekend though

Today....playing with various lighting setups in SoundSwitch (this could be a VERY long job!)
Tomorrow - I might also take a day on the sofa and watch a couple of decent films....I'm shattered at the moment (been trying to do way too many things within the business at the same time and really should learn to pace myself).

Enjoy the GSD. I had a black one several years ago (a cross between a Flat Coat Retriever and a Black 'n' Tan GSD). Mad as a bucket of frogs but as loyal as you could get!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Not entirely Disco related, but Monday: Went off to pick up The Hound Of The Baskerville, aka Bella. Female GSD. Absolutely gorgeous, and very mischievous. After getting used to each other, I went off to a site visit/client meeting after tea, and returned to more chewing and antics! She's in bed now, and peace has descended on the household. ( Unless you're one of the four cats, in which case it's all out war!

I think I'm having a day off tomorrow, but don't see it being very relaxing.

Congrats. We rescued a female GSD from a manky junkie last August. It's been a lot of work undoing 3 years worth of neglect and trauma but it's great fun and she's a joy.

When I first got back to gigging she'd sit at the door waiting up till the wee hours until I got back home. Now, if she pops her head down the glass bannister at the top of the stairs to make sure it's not a burglar then goes right back to bed and that's only if she can be bothered.