Welcome to Arizona!

I don't know why it's taken me so long to write about this event- it took place on March 14th.  My Facebook page seems to be more current and interactive and I use this blog to talk about things near and dear to me that maybe require more verbiage. I guess I had to collect my thoughts on this one. 

In March, I headlined the largest event I've ever played.  I've done larger events but as secondary entertainment or on a "second stage". I'll share my thoughts on the subject as we go through the pictures.  Citibank was in town for a reward retreat for top performers throughout their company.  People came from all over North America. 

This is load in at 11AM in the Gold Room at the Arizona Biltmore.  The hotel staff were incredibly concerned about my lighting rig getting close to the ceiling.  It was still a foot away but that's actually gold leaf pressed up there. It's LED lighting so, thankfully, it doesn't get hot- that was another concern.  Old school theatrical and nightclub lighting can get very, very hot.

That's percussionist, Bopa King Carre from New York City in the left of the shot.

Doing sound check here.  That's electric violinist, Grey DeVio also from New York City listening to himself.  I was to be center stage with my DJ workstation, Bopa on my right with a set of Latin drums and other percussion.  Grey was to be on my left with his electric violin.  I would take the lead as DJ and they would add live elements as the mood/energy presented itself. 

Here the three of us are being scolded about how loud it is.  (When there are 1000 people in the room, we will be hard pressed to equal the volume that they will be making)  We were a bit loud admittedly, but there was an energy level and an attitude about what we were doing that made it seem louder in the middle of the afternoon than it was in reality.  Sometimes, I think my stage clothes and leather and chrome boots make it seem louder than it really is.  Live acoustic drums don't have a volume knob.  To a certain degree, we had to match those or be drowned out.     

This part of the event is actually going to be the "after party"- more of a straight up night club experience from 10P to 2A after the Hoe Down earlier in the evening which I'll describe next. When the afterparty stage was set up, I unplugged my work station and moved that out to the Squaw Peak Lawn and plugged it into another sound system for the Bar-b-que/Arizona/Hoe Down/County Fair thing they were doing from 6P to 10P. 

Side note- Many years ago, when I was still living in LA, I came to Scottsdale AZ for a big grand opening for a regular corporate client.  In addition to me, they had hired a couple of local entertainers.  There was a trash can percussion band and a belly dancer and a caricature artist if I remember.  The trash can band was to go on first.  They had filled the stage with barrels, trash containers and various other interesting junk that they could make sounds on.  The 3 percussionists had ragamuffin/street urchin costumes that they wore well and they certainly knew their stuff. Several hundred event attendees gathered in anticipation because it did generate some interest.  They started the show and within 30 seconds, they lost the crowd.  They had no showmanship, no stage presence and there was no amount of cool costuming or interesting gadgets on the stage that could save them or the show.  It was a shame because I did enjoy the crazy beats they were creating.  The event coordinator shut them off early thankfully.  It was up to me to get the event back on track. I played one number at half volume as they were clearing the stage and then I shouted "Hello Friends!" and went into the next track at full volume and I danced and smiled a bit.  I  had no lighting or any specific stage show, it was me filling the stage with my personal presence.  It wasn't even my music, it was someone elses songs, but it was as if I had turned the switch on for that event.  The mood changed immediately to what it should have been for the occasion. 

Back to this event.  I gotta say, I was feeling very naked and exposed on this big stage. I usually have my lighting rig and my speakers close by. All I had was my work station/podium like back at the Scottsdale gig all those years ago.  I was feeling the pressure of 1000 people. I was feeling my 46 years. I was feeling the pressure of the largest professional fee I've ever collected.  I dug down and FILLED that stage with myself, that's what stage presence is. 

The sun is setting on Piestewa Peak in the background. The new politically correct name is "Piestewa Peak", but it will always remain "Squaw Peak" to me.

Somebody snapped a pic from the stage.  I was leading the masses in a line dance of some sort with my wireless headset mic.  I'm in the front there just to the right of center in this shot.  

I'm usually pleased when I have more than half of a room dancing. I connected with virtually the whole crowd of 1000 people.  

Here's a little bit of video that I shot from the stage. That's a LOT of dancing bodies. 

The event planner and the corporate client were telling me early in the evening about a local dance band they had on opening night of their conference/retreat, three nights before, and how good they were and how many people danced and danced. They came back to me later and said, that they didn't know what they were talking about. They had been pleased with 150-200 people dancing with a great band and a big lighting rig and everything. They had no idea that I could connect with the WHOLE crowd with just my personal presence and recorded music.

My only regret here is that when I say so, it's boasting, but if somebody else were to say it, it would be a compliment. It's MY blog and here's the video to prove it so I hope I don't come across as arrogant.   

One more thought before I move on to the afterparty: Part of "reading a crowd" music-wise, is how they are dressed.  When the event planner from New York hired me, we chatted at length about not wanting to do the obvious Arizona things because they are usually stereotypical, not authentic, and could come across as cheesy.  I only know a tiny handful of people who wear cowboy hats or boots around here. They had distributed cowboy hats and bandannas to the attendees for this bar-b-que dinner and, in a strange way, it threw me off.  I probably played more country music while the food was being served than I should have.  I didn't even become conscious of it until after the meal was winding down.  Reading the crowd is something so second nature to me, I just did it automatically even though I had consciously intended to go light on the country music.  Since the wearing of cowboy hats was artificially disproportionate to the actual number of country music fans, I almost blew it.  I caught myself in time thankfully.  

The lawn element ended at 10PM and I quickly rolled my workstation back into the gold room and plugged back into the other sound system and lighting rig and they let everybody in 5 minutes later. Everything sure looked good!

 

I played for about 30 minutes to find the groove and get every body settled in for the long haul and then I introduced Boppa and Grey. It was so good, it almost immediately changed from a dance party to a rock concert. People rushed the stage to feel the energy we were creating.  It was at a level that was off the charts!  We hadn't rehearsed anything.  We had chatted by phone and exchanged a couple of emails on the subject and had decided on a basic direction to go but we wanted it to remain free-form so that it could live and breathe and respond to the crowd. 

Sadly, we got to play for about 20 minutes and because of the volume of those live acoustic drums, we had to go back to just live DJ work by myself...  at a little lower volume.  The event was scheduled to go until 2AM but it wrapped up just before 1AM. I like an event to end instead of die out.  1AM was a good END time.  Left them breathless and wanting a bit more instead of a dozen drunken hangers-on.  It had been a long week for the attendees as they had done a community service project early that morning and many had early flights to catch the next day.  

I gotta give some love to the best roadie/sound tech/stage manager/wardrobe mistress/personal assistant/right-hand-man in the history of the craft. I couldn't have pulled off this event without my best buddy, Scott Blood, from Orange County CA. His work was brilliantly intuitive- he just anticipated what I or what the event would need next and he took care of it.  He and I were loading equipment at 9AM, rolled on to the site at 11AM, loaded out at 2AM and got back to the shop and 3AM.  Even after 18 hours, I didn't hate him. 

Wedding in the round

I've waited for some time after this wedding to post this.  I regret that I'm not a photographer- first, I don't have a great camera and second, I'm there to do DJ work and not take a bunch of pictures.  I try to snap a couple here and there to post interesting things as I see them. I've waited for some time because this particular wedding looked so much better in my mind and heart than my photo abilities could capture. 

This photo was taken before all of the fresh flowers were placed on the chairs.  After the flowers were done, I was busy doing my work as a DJ and guests were arriving- no more time for snapshots.  I had seen this type of a set up on some wedding blogs and on pinterest but this was the first time I had seen it in practice. 

People, individually, are pretty smart, but as a crowd, there seems to be a separate mentality and they need some direction.  Although everybody thought it was really charming, it completely tweaked their melons as to how to work it.  "OK, so where do we sit?"  "How do we get in?"  Even though I wasn't an usher or anything, I had to explain to several people that the 10 or 12 chairs at the center were reserved for the parents and the bridal party but other than that, they would just enter the spiral right there on the left and go in as far as they'd like and sit themselves down. When the ceremony started, it made so much more sense to them.  Everybody had a front row seat as the bride and her father made their way AROUND the aisle, not down the aisle...  It was a beautiful thing.  

Instead of a guest book, attendees were invited to write their good wishes on these tags and put them in the antique jewelry box. 

I express my regrets again that I'm not a great photographer- I couldn't have captured this young woman's beauty.

There are 'strata' of people.  There are those that are beautiful as measured by the standard of the the glamour magazines. There are those that are beautiful because of their humor, their kindness, their generosity...  there are some people that are rather 'homely'  Please don't take offense... I've often wondered too if my life in entertainment might have been different if I was a homely man perhaps?  At least I don't have a big goiter growing out of the side of my neck with a greasy eyeball sticking out of it or anything...

I've seen brides of all kinds over the years.  I am usually able to weed out most 'bridezillas' in the consultation process so my customers are mostly wonderful people.  I don't care how pretty or rich someone is, I won't put up with abuse.  This bride was not only charming and sweet but beautiful in the physical realm as well.  That said, I've seen some physically beautiful brides blow it with the wrong dress or with a bad make-up job by a friend or family member as opposed to a professional make-up artist.  I've seen others that were rather ordinary when I met them during a consultation but who really shined on wedding day with great hair, makeup and the right dress. 

This was a Vera Wang gown and when I heard that she had altered it with a thing on the hip and some other adjustments, I thought she was crazy but when I saw it, I knew she was exactly right.  She chose the perfect dress, she changed it up slightly and made it her own, it was the perfect hair, the perfect make-up, the perfect veil. 

To top it all off, she was/is just an absolute sweetheart. 

Behind the scenes

My father spent his life in retail and was passionate about things like going to a fashion show in New York and finding things that he could sell in his stores in northern Arizona.  They would arrive, he'd put an ad in the paper, make a display and people would come and buy the things that he planned for them to buy.  He loved it! 

I love what I do and I enjoy all of the equipment and services and artistry and other things that go into an event behind the scenes.  I'm kinda like my father, I enjoy seeing people come to an event and have the good time that we all planned for them to have.   

Setting up an LED screen behind the stage and some testing in progress. 

Somebody snapped a shot of me setting up some sound equip but it became a silhouette with the screen being tested.

"Recharge!" was the name of the event.  You can see my DJ workstation behind the pillar in the right of this shot.

I snapped this one just before the event was to begin.  Room is all set.  This event had 500 people but this venue holds about 800 for concerts and such.  The balcony on the right and behind my head has more space than is evident in this shot.  They are doing an expansion that will accommodate about 1500 soon.

 My friends- The Lisa Pressman Ensemble playing some great jazz for about 45 minutes.  I played most of the night before and after them. 

I love that I get to be the "face" of an event and people will often come and thank me for the good time that they had not realizing all of the various trades that made it happen but that did NOT get to be on stage to be recognized for it.  There's technical crews in sound and lighting, tables, chairs, linens, china, photography, flowers, caterers and it goes on and on. 

Here's another part that the guests don't see- the load out.  All of this stuff goes into road cases to go to another event on another day.  

32 years as a DJ.

Last  month I celebrated 32 years as a DJ and entertainer. Technology has come a long way since I started and evidenced by the fact that I'm sharing my thoughts on the subject of professional anniversaries on this fancy-schmancy, electronic, new-fangled, on-line journal.  Click here and here for previous commentary.  I have noted before that the first song I ever played as a DJ was Gary Numan's "Cars".  It was a brand new song then and it's almost 33 years old now.  I think I played it on a cassette tape the first time.  You young-uns may not know what a cassette is- it's pictured at the top of this photo.  There would be about 20 minutes of music on one side and then you would take the tape out of the player and flip it over and play 20 more minutes on the other side. (The cassette pictured is not the Gary Numan tape that I played.) 

But I did play those two 8-track tapes by Styx that night- in addition to others.  Come Sail Away, Blue Collar Man, Renegade etc. It was my Dad's stereo and I frankly never intended to be a DJ.  I was a keyboard player dog-gone-it!  A few weeks later, somebody who was there wanted me to do their party too and I resisted, citing the fact that it was 8-track tapes that had to be cued in advance and it was my dad's stereo yada yada yada.  They insisted- "No, we loved what you did- you really rocked it and made it fun!"  It's 32 years later now!

8-tracks and cassettes are very difficult for DJ work and I switched to vinyl- mostly "45s" which had one song on either side. You can see one of those too in the center of the picture above. Vinyl is making a comeback in recent years.  It has a warmth that digital is missing sometimes.  There is also something to be said about the fact that you  have to invest in the listening experience with vinyl.  It's not as convenient as an ipod.  You actually have to set aside some time to listen- it's difficult to do something else like work out, send emails, groom your nails... you have to get the record out of its sleeve and put it on a turn table and put the stylus down and listen to 20 minutes of music and then... you have to get up and flip the record over and listen to the other 20 minutes.  You are almost required to stop down and listen to what the artist is trying to say. It's even better when you just surrender to the experience willingly. Some songs become more profound when they are played after a couple of other songs that might set the mood and then a musical experience can ebb and flow.  There are liner notes and album artwork and lyric sheets to read and study while you listen.   

In the middle of my career, CDs came out.  I resisted mostly because I already had a huge investment in vinyl, already a decade in, and didn't want to buy another collection.   Once I finally made the switch I wondered why I hadn't done it the day that CDs appeared.  I could carry far more music and have quicker access to any given song on the fly.  Sadly, there are tens of thousands of artists and albums that never made it to digital and may never be seen again.  Gary Numan made it.  You can see that I had him sign this CD copy when I saw him in LA in 1997.  I've met him a few more times since.

On my 32nd anniversary as a DJ, I played his song again at a very large singles mixer/dance in Tempe AZ.  The song still seemed fresh and energetic- it packed the dance floor with about 300 dancing bodies!  You may want to click on the picture to see my work screen with "Cars" highlighted on the right.  Actually, the computer file I'm using here was made from the CD pictured above.  I carry about 20x the music that I used to carry with no extra weight and space and even quicker access to any song- usually about 8 seconds to find anything. It cues in about a quarter second but it takes me 8 seconds to find and select it. 

I actually resisted switching to digital in 1999 mostly because I'm not a computer whiz and it was hard for me to imagine showing up for a gig without a disc that I could hold in my hand.  MP3s were cutting edge at the time and I bought a computer and adapted it to the purpose of DJ work.  The industry moved that direction very quickly and my workstation pictured was the first commercially available computerized DJ system.  It's nearly 6 years old now and is becoming antiquated.  I like it though.  It has really been a battle axe. 

I think that Bing Crosby and Beethoven and Glenn Miller and Carmen Miranda and Bill  Haley and Handel and John Lennon would be thrilled to know that I think their music is important all these years and centuries later and that I carry it on an electronic device and that I play it regularly. 

I'm not sure what the next format will be.  I don't think we will "own" music anymore in the way we do now and I'm not sure how artists will be paid for producing it but I do believe that however that turns out, an entertainer like me will still be able to make a living by adding entertainment value in the playing of the songs.

Styx's Tommy Shaw wrote what I think is one of the great metaphors of rock music in a song called "Sing for the Day". In the song, "Hannah" is the embodiment of everybody who has ever loved a song. The song is written in the first person and so the "I" is the song itself. It invites Hannah out at night to sing and dance. It knows how a song can change a nation, it knows how to heal, it knows how to express the things that people have a hard time verbalizing otherwise. It also realizes that if the musicians don't play it and the people don't sing and dance to it, the song is forgotten and it dies. It has no life on its own apart from those that love it and keep it alive.  The song even pleads that Hannah won't forget it when a new song comes along.  I love playing a song like Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and seeing people who weren't even born when that song was written sing along with every word.  I can cut the music for fun in key places and hear 300 voices singing in unison as loud as my sound system had been. 

Live music is still alive and well and viable.  Just this week, I journeyed to southern California to see my son Javin play guitar live at the House of Blues in Anaheim.   

That's him on the left here. 

As I mentioned above, my first event worked well and became the genesis of a career in music and entertainment because I was an entertainer, not because I was simply playing somebody elses songs on 8-track tapes on my dad's stereo.  Just a reminder that all of the brilliant technology in sound and lighting won't save an event if the DJ stinks. This will sound cocky and arrogant and that is not the intent, but I could go in to an event with an ipod and a couple of speakers and make it happen.  I sure love having all of the brilliant equipment and lighting to make my job easier, it frees me to BE the entertainer, but my job is not to simply run the equipment.  An ipod playlist won't respond to the crowd and the moment, it will just play the next song.  A good DJ will feel the moment. My job is to add entertainment value to those songs by playing them in an order that makes sense and creates energy and by highlighting dramatic elements of the songs with cool lighting effects and by giving voice to the emotions of the occasion and taking attendees on an adventure and helping them release.  They will heal their hearts and make sense of the troubles in their lives and they will celebrate a landmark event in their family or in their company and they will mark the times and seasons and they will feel better when they leave.   

Sometimes when I'm at a piano event, the opening notes of some songs are met with absolute jubilation.  There are lots of songs have entered the collective consciousness and have been a constant to people through good and bad times.  Three and four generations of people know those songs.  They know every word, they sing along, they are hugging each other, dancing and getting in to it.  I feel their energy and I dig down and nurture it and add to it and send it back to them and they feel the renewed energy and they start getting down and laughing and singing and dancing and they send it to me and I send it to them.  It's a love fest!  People become comfortable expressing themselves in ways that they otherwise are uncomfortable doing.  Tears can be shed comfortably.  It helps let go of the hurt.     

I really do count myself blessed.  If you have read this far, thanks for that.  If you have read this far and you are one of those that has been blessed by music in your life- carry on!  If you are reading this and you are one of my industry mates or mentors- thanks for the love and thanks for the things I've learned from you, you ROCK!  If you have read this far and you've contributed to my career and  happiness by hiring me or having attended an event where I played- thanks, Keep Rockin'!  Here's to not only the 33rd year, but a lifetime of love and music. 

POSH!

I was invited to play at a very POSH industry mixer for the Destination Management and Corporate Event world tonight.  These models were on either side of the stage on stools and a costume skirt that went to the floor with a hula hoop hem. 

I put a blue LED moonwash effect along with a red and green laser matrix that really made the sparkly costume sparkle. 

 LED screen at the back of the stage. 

You can see my logo on the wall off to the side of the stage and above the bar.  As people moved about the event from this room to others, they all saw it and I know there were some technical types that were wondering how I did that. 

I didn't know in advance that Harley Bonham would be behind the camera for this event.  He's the nicest guy around and a pleasure to work with.  We did a wedding together recently and we have another event together coming up in November.  He took some photos of the event that will knock your socks off- don't confuse my snap shot at arms length photos with a professional photographers work.  Harley is one of the best.    

 

 

In addition to the ten foot tall models up by the stage, this champagne glass model was opposite from me on the far side of the room.  

This last picture cracks me up because it's kinda like one of those snapshots that tourists in Italy take- pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa... I was just taking a shot of my work station and I think this guys was checking his phone but it looks like he's about to drink the champagne!

Rockin' San Diego

I haven't posted anything in some time but it's not for lack of DJ adventures to post, it's just that the DJ adventures have consumed my time and secondly, I really do focus on my DJ duties at each event and not photographing each event for my blog.

I had a two night event in Southern California for Labor Day Weekend. It was a big Christian Singles weekend retreat with seminars, activities, speakers and a mixer dance on Friday night at the church hall and on Saturday night at a local amusement park. They had about 1000 people from all over the southwestern U.S. 

This Gobo (go before optical) ummm... anyways, it's a projection thingy in white light that was front and center on the dancefloor.   

Here are two of my best buddies from California.  That's Bill on the left.  He was my neighbor when I lived in Upland CA.  He's about the nicest and warmest man you'll ever meet.  Scott is on the right.  We've been friends for about 15 years now and my life is certainly better because I know him- he's full of wisdom and he's always a good house guest at my place or host when I'm staying at his place.  These two guys are quick to jump in on roadie and technician duties whenever I'm working in CA and need a bit of a crew.  Scott and I have done "dueling DJ" events together in LA and here in Phoenix a few times.  He's coming to Phoenix to help me with an event at the Arizona Science Center coming up in October.  It was sure great to see you guys.

Spent some time Saturday at the beach and at the San Diego Mormon Temple site with Scott.

Various and sundry DJ adventures

I played recently at a great wedding at a photography studio/artist loft at an old warehouse in downtown Phoenix. Here's some behind the scenes preparation as a chandelier is being installed right over the guests for the ceremony and later, the the banquet table will be right under it.

This is Hank- one of the groomsmen. He's ROCKIN' that bowtie! He and I are Facebook friends now too.

Incredibly well-behaved. He's sitting right where he's supposed to during the ceremony.

Here's a shot during the ceremony. You can see the chandelier overhead. That's my lighting on the wall where the dancing will be later after they open up that divider with the "LOVE" sign on it.This is the room all reset for a dinner celebration. The chandelier is looking good- the bride and groom will sit right under it.
I loved this bride and groom- the guests are having some cocktails in one of the galleries on the other end of the building and the photographer is taking care of the professional shots with the family and bridal party.

When it was time for dancing, I changed the lighting from the amber spotlights to some LED/laser effects with a gobo projection in the middle of it. The dancefloor seemed to float in space.

My little camera mic is no match for high powered speakers. It's not as loud as it seems. It's interesting as I rotate around, you can see the effect kinda go flat- looking from the dancefloor away- it's just a room, but the guests looking toward the dancefloor, it was floating! If you think that the blue moonwash effect seems to be moving, it IS. It's great new technology.