WEEKEND

WHAT A WEEKEND

(Mobile Beat. Issue 94) Many years ago, when I first broke into the DJ business, doing two gigs in one day was a pretty common occurrence. As part of a large multi-op company, it was almost routine to do an early afternoon wedding and then pack up the gear and head to a high school dance, bar gig, or even another wedding on any given Saturday. Now that I have my own operation, with several associates, it’s pretty rare that any one of us has more than one gig on the same day. However, as I was reminded this past October, it can happen--and sometimes more than once within the same weekend.

I started Alexxus Entertainment ten years ago, once the multi-op owner I worked for decided not to convert the company’s record album collection over to CDs. As the years went  by, and I started feeling further removed from the high school and college crowds, the company’s focus has shifted to wedding receptions and company functions. While we still do some college and high school dances, they often fall to one of my associates. As a result, my shows are pretty much contained to every Saturday night and an occasional Friday night schtick.

That all changed on a weekend this past October

On this particular weekend I had five events booked. Unfortunately, one of my DJs also works as a service technician for a local company, and as it was his weekend to be "on call" he was unavailable to take a dance or two. My other associate was able to take one of my Friday night weddings, but had other commitments for the rest of the weekend. That left four dances, two days, and one DJ--me--who had never attempted that kind of schedule in his 12-year history as a mobile DJ. "Mobile" would definitely be the key word of the weekend.

My adventure began at 10 o’clock Friday morning. As part of its Homecoming festivities, one of our local universities had a mini festival to kick things off. My task was basically to play background music and make periodic announcements about other activities as they were going on. The hours went by pretty smoothly, although there seemed to be an enormous desire among the students to hear New Kids on the Block songs. Still, the clock was ticking. I tried to pack what I could early so that, when 3 o’clock arrived and the college gig was over, I could hustle across town to set up for that evening’s wedding. That left me just enough time to get home, grab a shower, and get into my formal gear before tackling job #2: The Friday night wedding.

It had been two years since I last did a high school event,

The reception was fantastic. In fact, in lieu of a dollar dance, we "auctioned off" the bride and groom, with the bride bringing in an astounding $400! I played until 11 o’clock, but by the time I packed everything up and made the trek home to bed, it was closer to midnight. Still, two dances were done. I only hoped Saturday would go as well.

Even though I had a full slate of Saturday dances, the day started off with a bridal consultation. After getting her questions answered, I headed out the door. The wedding reception started at one o’clock, and typically early afternoon weddings are a quieter affair. To my surprise, the guests were really energetic and weren’t afraid to drink a little . . . and then a little more. By the time the dance was scheduled to end, I realized I might have done my job a little too well, since they asked me to stay late. Under normal situations, I’d take that to be a big compliment, but on this particular day it meant every extra minute I played was one less minute to get to my final dance. I ended up playing 15 minutes longer before packing up the van and driving 30 miles to my final gig, and biggest challenge of the weekend: a high school Homecoming dance.

It had been two years since I last did a high school event, and although I was pretty confident I was up on all the new music, you never know what new surprises they might throw at you. I managed to get set-up before the first kids arrived. Half of the students filtered into the gymnasium where I was playing, while the other half headed into a makeshift photo studio for pictures. The early part of a dance like that is always a challenge. I knew I had to play enough "good" music to keep the place energized, while holding back the "good stuff" until everybody was there. Once the gymnasium started to fill, however, I knew I needed some kind of an ice-breaker to get things kick started, so I attempted something I routinely do at wedding receptions, but never tried before at a high school: a snowball dance. I called all of the student council members to the front of the stage and told them to find a dance partner. I then started playing a song, but every time I yelled "snowball" everyone on the dance floor had to go out and find a new dance partner to bring to the floor, thus doubling the people on the dance floor each time. The students responded tremendously, and I was on my way!

Early on I had at least three students request Madonna’s "Like A Prayer," so I knew there was something significant about it. When I finally played it the whole student body--approximately 300 of them--sang along word for word. A few songs later students formed lines from one basket hoop to the other as they all joined in the "Cha Cha Slide." There was never a lapse moment in the evening, and as it came to a close I ended with Big & Rich’s "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy," followed by an encore rendition of "Like A Prayer." The last two tunes created a scene that was reminiscent of the final scenes of the movie "Dirty Dancing." Over two dozen of the students rushed up onto the stage. They sang and danced and some did their best air guitar impressions, while in the middle of all of them was this 40-year-old plus disc jockey just getting lost in the crowd.

In all I spent 26 hours over a 36 hour period doing what I love to do the most, and I wasn’t even close to being tired . Since that weekend I’ve had to re-think my position on doing more high school dances. Sometimes weddings can be too routine. And sometimes company functions can be too stiff, with everyone more worried about keeping a "low profile" rather than enjoying themselves. In both formats it seems that there are times that only the amount of alcohol consumed dictates how involved the guests get. But there’s something about the sheer natural energy of youth that seems to rejuvenate us. And maybe I need to be rejuvenated from time to time.

When I first began doing this job 12 years ago, a veteran DJ who was teaching me the ropes told me, "This job is just like any other job after awhile. It gets to be pretty routine. But every once in awhile, maybe once out of every one hundred dances, something so wonderful, so exciting happens that it keeps us going."

Well, after last October’s successful marathon weekend, I’m good for another 99.