May 24th Wedding Reception at the Izaak Walton League in Sioux Falls, SD

30 05 2008

Saturday was kind of a cold and windy day here in Sioux Falls, SD.  I had a wedding ceremony/reception that I DJ’ed at the Izaak Walton League.  The weather was a little too nasty for an outdoor ceremony, so it was held inside - the same place as the reception.

 I arrived to set-up over two hours early, and had everything set up fairly quickly.  While I was finishing up, the bride came over to me and asked if she could change her first dance song for later on in the evening.  She wanted a song that was not in my library, so I quickly grabbed my laptop, hopped into my truck, and drove into Sioux Falls.  I remembered Denny’s had free Wi-Fi, so I pulled over in their parking lot, downloaded her song, and headed back to the Izaak Walton League.  Now that’s customer service!

The ceremony went off without a hitch, and the dance got going later on in the evening.  There was a wonderfully diverse crowd in attendance and everyone danced the night away.  I was treated to some of the best Electric Sliding, Cupid Shuffling, and Cha-Cha Sliding that I have ever seen! 

 I was able to snap a few pictures later on in the evening that I’ll include with this post.  It was a great night.

 This next Saturday, I’ll be heading down to Sioux City, IA for a reception at the Orpheum Theatre.  I’m a sucker for historic buildings, and this one looks awesome!  I’m really looking forward to this one.



April 2008 Wrap-Up

7 05 2008

Well, April was a great month for me, except for one little thing…………but I’ll get to that later.

For the month, I DJ’ed 2 proms and a wedding reception.

First up was a wedding reception/anniversary party at the Cherry Creek Grille in Sioux Falls, SD.  The couple was actually married a year ago without having a reception, so they decided to have it one year later.  The party was great.  The lower level banquet facility at Cherry Creek only has 7′ ceilings, so I wasn’t able to crank my lights or speakers to their ideal height.  But, after changing things around a little bit, I had no problem adapting to the space.  The night went great, and I received many compliments on the music selection (there was a pretty diverse crowd.)  The bride and groom were very awesome people and I was honored to be a part of their special night. 

Next up was the Parker High School prom.  This was the third year in a row that I have been the DJ.  The students were awesome and danced the night away.  I had a lot of fun, and stepped out from behind my turntables a couple of times to lead the crowd in the “Electric Slide” and the “Cupid Shuffle.”  Everything went great and I hope be back again next year.

The next Friday was the night of the freak snow/ice storm and I was headed to Sioux Center, IA for the High School prom.  Like Parker, this was my third year in a row performing for the students.  Wow, what a great crowd!  They were so full of energy and danced the night away.  At the end of the night, a group of 5 or 6 guys performed a perfectly choreographed dance to an N’Sync medley.  It was a great way to end the night right before the last song of the night. 

Well, that one little thing that made the month not so great happened on the way home.  At about 2AM, I hit a patch of ice on a bridge about 4 miles outside of Sioux Falls.  My truck and cargo trailer slid all over the place on the bridge.  I thought I could save it and pull out of the slide, but I wasn’t so lucky.  My truck crashed into the rail and my trailer swung around and crashed into the side of the truck.  Long story short, the truck was totalled.  I had to lay my 2002 Durango to rest.  It was kind of sad, we’ve been to a lot of gigs together over the years.

I decided to move forward and bought a 2005 Durango last week.  I also bought a nice new trailer to transport all of my gear.  I’m excited to hit the road with the rig later in May.  I’ve got a Sioux Falls wedding reception on the 24th, and a Sioux City reception on the 31st.  Let’s jsut hope that I don’t run into any more freak storms!