I just got done shoveling snow (again) and thought I would take a few minutes to update this blog. Even though “wedding season” has been over for a few months, I had a handful of weddings over the last couple of months.
At the end of January, I made the drive to Pierre, SD to DJ a Renaissance themed wedding reception at View 34. If you haven’t been to View 34 in Pierre, I highly recommend checking it out – it’s a beautiful building that has an amazing view. The reception that I DJ’ed was fairly small, and the bride and groom were a fantastic couple. To match the theme, I wore a costume that I rented from Dakota Costume here in Sioux Falls. If you need a costume for anything, I highly recommend visiting them. Their service was great, and I got just what I needed at a very fair cost.
Here’s a pic of my outfit:
On February 6th, I DJed a wedding reception at Chef Dominiques in downtown Sioux Falls. Another great venue, but it’s a little challenging for DJs. The dancefloor is in a separate room from the dinning area, so I had to make a few announcements on the “dining room” PA in order to move the guests out to the dance area for the first dances. Plus, the ceiling was rather low, and the DJ setup area is a little tight, but I altered my setup a bit and made it work. The bride and groom told me to not worry if nobody danced, since they didn’t expect a dancing crowd, but it ended up being a very lively crowd that danced the night away. They requested that I not play the typical wedding songs and also lay off of the hip-hop and country. So, the playlist consisted of a bunch of great danceable oldies and soul. It did have its challenges, but the night ended up going great!
Here’s a couple of pictures of the dancefloor before dancing began. I ended up using my Colorstrips as a “wall wash” and placed my moving heads on the floor behind the speakers to spotlight the disco ball.
Up next is a dance at SE Technical Institute with my good friend Jeff on Feb 24th. After that, I have a total of 6 Proms before the wedding season gets underway in May.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” – Martin Luther King, Jr
I had the pleasure of DJing at the Liebrary Bar again this past Saturday. As always, it was a fun night.
If you need a little something to listen to, here is my DJ set from the evening (actually, it’s the first hour and a half or so – using real vinyl as well as Serato.)
Hope you like it. Some of the lyrics are explicit (since it was a bar setting) so keep that in mind when listening to it cranked up in your cubicle at work.
Below are links to the audio recorded live at the 2009 West Central High School Winter Formal in Hartford, SD. The night is split up into 2 parts, but both parts have a lot of good Top-40, Country, and even Classic Rock.
It’s hard to believe it’s already December. As I look out my kitchen window this morning, I see a thin layer of snow on the ground, with more to come soon. Since it’s been awhile since I my last post, I thought that this would be the perfect morning to sit down with a cup of coffee and update the ol’ blog.
My wedding season officially ended for the year in late October, but I’m still keeping busy with company parties, school dances, and nights at the Liebrary Bar in Sioux Falls. In early November, I DJed a birthday party in Wagner, SD which was my first gig on the reservation. The week after that, my wife and I got away for a week and recharged our batteries on a beach in Mexico.
Warming our tootsies in Mexico
After we got back, I had a weekend off, then traveled up to Huron, SD the next weekend for a smaller company Christmas party complete with Karaoke. Even though it was a relatively small crowd, the party was still a lot of fun – especially toward the end when I had the opportunity to break out a lot of my classic rock records for the “older” crowd (CCR, Boston, Eagles, etc.)
This Saturday, I’m heading down to Vermillion, SD once again to DJ the High School Winter Formal. This is actually the 5th year in a row that I am DJ’ing this particular dance. It should be a lot of fun – Vermillion is definitely one of my favorite schools to DJ at. After that – next Friday (the 11th) I’ll be DJing down at the Liebrary in Sioux Falls, followed by another school dance in Hartford, SD that Saturday, I’m really looking forward to both of these events.
Anyway, here is a video of the company party that I DJ’ed this past Saturday:
A lot of us “vinyl” DJs now use Serato (computer program) to manage all of our music. Although it may look like we are “cheating” since we have a laptop in our face, we actually are mixing the music with the vinyl on the turntables.
Just for fun, over the holiday weekend, I did a little mix using all real vinyl. Hope you like it.
On Saturday, Sept 19th, I DJ’ed a wedding reception in the Ice Cream Capital of the World – Le Mars, IA. It was a wonderfully emotional reception and an awesome time! I really did not want the night to end, and it was definitely one of my favorite receptions of the year!
Here are some kind words from the bride and groom:
“You are by far the best DJ we have ever heard!! Spinning with your head??? WOW, AMAZING!!”
Although I didn’t catch any footage of me “spinning with my head”, here is a video from the night:
