I know I've written before that I DJ. Music is my passion. I can not play an instrument, well, I do play the djembe, and I think I'm ok at it, but other than beating on a goatskin, no other ability. I kind of think of myself as a music ambassador, I can and will introduce you to new music or remind you of an old gem...it is a gift.
I had a gig tonight, and it was a weird sort of thing. I was DJing for a friend of a friend's wife's daughter, his step daughter. He had heard from a few people that I was good and he wanted to hire me. I put him off for a few days, I wasn't sure he was serious, and I tend to be selective on what jobs I take. But I finally agreed, and we decided we would talk turkey, ie $$ at a later date. You see, he is business partners with a good friend of mine, so I see him a lot. From the time we agreed I would be his SpinMaster General, I was VERY available to him, his wife, the bride and the groom. I gave them all my cell number, all of my email addresses. Heck, I EVEN gave his daughter all of my info too...I mostly gave it to her due to her hotness, but still...SUPER AVAILABLE....
Nine months pass, I would text the mother of the bride every few weeks or so to see if things were progressing, because as the DJ I need some input from them. All good she tells me, and I'm pleasantly surprise. You have no idea how much easier this makes my job...well, maybe YOU do Cat, but the rest of you, no clue. But three weeks prior to the wedding, I get a frantic text, if a text can even be frantic, from the mother of the bride(MOB) telling me she needs help..she is stressed. We set up a meeting, and things go really well. We pick songs, and work through the list of things that I need. To me, the most important thing for me on THAT DAY is my contact person for the bride. It can not be the bride, too busy that day. It has to be a person I can go to and get to easily on the wedding day with any concerns and questions. My go to person at the wedding. Usually it is a sister a good friend, sometimes it is the mom. MOB tells me my "point people" that day are her, and Kelsey, who is someone I know. All my questions will be filtered through one of those 2. All decisions are to be made by them. This is a HUGE amount of responsibility. But this system works great.
Wedding day!! Raining. Pouring. Old Man. Snoring. The rain stops, and we set up at noon. All is good. Get to wedding an hour early, right on time. Ceremony is good. Drinks, dinner, speeches all go off without a hitch. Now, I must tell you I usually have another person with me when I DJ. Sometimes it is Luds, some time Anne. They will help me by getting my drinks, asking and answering questions, and sometimes running interference. This is also a very important job, at least to me. This time I am lucky to not only have Anne with me, but also my homie NY Al...he just moved here from NY and he is one of my besties. During the dinner, or right after, the MOB tells us she is no longer making decisions. She is tired and it is up to us. Cool. The typical wedding stuff happens, and then it is time to PAR-TAY!! I always ask for a list of songs they would like to here, just to get an idea of what they like, if for no other reason. So I had received maybe 50 or so songs. I also like to take requests. I want the party people to have as much fun as they can, it makes me look good...so if someone wants to hear "the thong song" by Sisqo and I have it, I am playing it.
Sometime during the night I was informed by the FOB(father of the bride) that I was straying too far from the list....whoa.... At no time was I told I could ONLY play from the list. This was alarming. But I stuck to my instructions, and played only from the list. I had to tell people that I didn't have what they wanted, per the MOB. oh, I'm sorry, but bull. shit. I told people, not on the list, cant play it. They were kind of shocked that there was even a list. But we got through the night. And we all had fun.
It was great to have NY Al with me. He helped me set up, break down, and would move my speakers in the tent, oh did I mention this was an outdoor wedding and it rained on and off all night?? He gave me great advice on how to handle this little "lack of communication" that took place this night. He supported me, as he always does, and I needed that. I was taking this personally, and it was not personal, it was business.
At one point in the night I told Anne that I thought I was done doing this. I am too old, and too good to have to put up with this bullshit. She was not happy. She said I should not quit doing something I loved so much. I told her I wasn't sure I loved it anymore. I also told her I was being a baby, but I was going to think about whether or not I was going to do this anymore...On they way home, NY-Al and I had a great talk about the night. What we did that was good, and bad. How we handled the little problem this night, and what we could have done better. We also talked about the setup and breakdown and how we could be more efficient. Finally we talked about the girls, and who they were checking out. I said me, and he said it was him...figures. He was wrong.
Tonight was not perfect. But it was fun. We were good. We left the reception, but before we left, we did two things. First we did a final sweep,to check if we left anything behind, Nope, we didn't. All good. Next we went to talk to FOB and MOB. Thanked them for the opportunity. Thanked them for thinking of us. Thanked them for the great food and drinks. We agreed to settle up the money part later, they were drunk, I think, and we were sweaty. They told us we were great. Really great. I'm not going to let this night stop me from doing this. I do need to get better, at least on the business end of things, and I will. But I am good at this, and I love it. See you at the DJ table...
