Alas, poor California! I knew her...

Those of you who know any Shakespeare may recognize that reworked blog title, it's from Hamlet. I am not a genius of literature by any stretch of the imagination, but I did have a great English teacher at Winslow Arizona High School that gave me a love for Shakespeare. Still, I didn't learn this line from Mr. Howell's class- at least I don't remember learning it. I only know this line because of a joke that I read in Readers Digest many years ago. A small insurance company was experiencing a growth spurt and had outgrown its' phone system. An employee was hovering over the phone waiting for an open line to make a phone call. After waiting some time he exclaimed in exasperation, "Please, somebody give me a line!" A whisper came over the divider from an adjacent cubicle, "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him: Horatio"

In this scene, Hamlet is holding the late Yorick's skull and he seems to have a moment- of sorts- where he considers his own mortality as he remembers the boisterous life and the good times of Yorick the King's Jester. "Where are your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?"

I had DJ jobs in Los Angeles this last weekend and as I drove home to Arizona, I realized that I have continuously had DJ work on my calendar in California, through thick and thin, for the last 23 years. Today, I do not. I worked in San Fransisco, San Diego, all over Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Imperial Counties, I worked at Disneyland, The Queen Mary, I played at the prom at the California School for the Deaf. If they weren't deaf before, they were after that night. California was the base camp to travel to events in Portland Oregon, Salt Lake City, Tampa Florida, Chicago, Connecticut, Las Vegas, Texas, here in Phoenix and a couple of resort towns in Baja California, Mexico. I've seen disastrous weddings and magical nights, humble backyard gatherings and grand and very expensive social occasions. California certainly has its problems but it is a wonderful place to have been born and to have made such a great career and life.

It has taken 2 years to become a known commodity as a good DJ in the Phoenix Arizona market and it has taken 2 years for the proverbial irons to turn cold in California. It's hard to service customers when you live 400 miles away. I do have a teenage son still living in California and it has been nice to go visit monthly and I'm grateful to have had loyal customers who have paid a premium to have me return and work to accommodate those visits. Javin just turned 18 last month and will be moving to Arizona soon and I will really have no reason to make that trek anymore unless it is a real money-maker gig.

I'm negotiating a "dueling DJ" event later this spring in Santa Monica California where 2 DJs will set up on opposite ends of a hall- not side by side on a stage- but using completely independent sound systems with no electronic connection to the other at all- each not knowing what the other will do. We might mix music on alternating sets or perhaps even alternating songs. As an art form and as a professional challenge I would find it absolutely invigorating. The other DJ is a fairly new to the industry and I am rather seasoned so it could prove very interesting to the listeners as well. That one may prove my final bow in California. It will be a good way to go out.

I had been feeling a call, not specifically TO Arizona, but OUT of California for a few years. A bit of a family emergency made it clear in 2006 that Arizona would become home- again. All of my siblings live here in the Phoenix area and it's good to be close to them. I thought a lot on the drive home last night about my years in California and about the laughs, the "flashes of merriment" and the fun times and the good friends, even some hard lessons learned. I certainly remembered the songs, lots and lots of songs. We did set a few tables at a roar. I have no idea what "gibes" and "gambols" are but if they were fun things that a Jester named Yorick might have done, I think I probably did some of that too during my years in California.

I spent today at the Phoenix Bridal Show at the Phoenix Convention Center. I was not there with my DJ hat on. I didn't have a booth. It seemed odd that I had an opportunity to display my DJ wares in front of 2000 brides but did not do so and did not care. That show is a big cattle call and I don't need 2000 brides anyway, I need about 15 more for 2009 and I'll be ecstatic! I rode the light rail downtown to the convention center (see older posts for previous adventures on the train) I arrived early and shook hands with several DJs in my new capacity as President of the American DJ Association. There were lots of hobbyists there and I knew they would continue to give professional DJs a black eye. Their presence in the industry is a double edged sword. Those disastrous wedding stories enable me to charge what I do because when a bride recites the excruciating details of the wedding of her cousin, who skimped on entertainment, I can assure them that if they don't want those things to happen, that they need to pay a professional fee for a trained DJ/entertainer. The other edge of the sword is that there are so many of them, people who get an Ipod and a couple of speakers and call themselves DJs, that there are lots of brides who have resigned themselves to the thought that "Well, that's just the way DJs are..." That saddens me. A good DJ at any social occasion can create magic! I hope that some of the DJs that I saw this morning will join our association and learn a better way and help to legitimize this profession that has been so good to me.

My actual purpose there today was to help distribute the bridal magazine in which my first DJ column appeared. I have become good friends with the publisher and as an advertiser in and a writer for the magazine, I manned the booth and handed the magazine to attendees of the exhibition. I was joined by a very handsome and funny event planner that I have met at several industry functions since my move here. He was also invited to help. We had a great time today. He and I became a rather potent "one-two punch" as we handed magazines to brides and mothers of brides in attendance as we played jokes and sight gags off of each other. I was feeling really loose and comfortable today, having a good hair day, wearing a great pair of jeans and a really cool jacket.

There were several other industry friends in attendance in and it's almost as if several of the women got together and planned this- at least a half dozen times throughout the day, some industry types would walk by the booth and say something to the effect of "Well Hello Mr Sassy and Mr Sassier!" Or it was "Hello Mr Sexy Kitten and the other Mr Sexy Kitten." The role of "Mr Hot" and "Mr Hotter" were only a function of which direction they were walking relative to who they encountered first for such a flattering compliment. Now, I only tell you that story to illuminate my feeling today that Arizona is home- and it was good to be wearing so many hats at the biggest industry function in the state. I am a DJ, I am the president of a respected professional association, the head of a respected industry network and a writer for a respected bridal publication. I was known and greeted by respected event planners, publishers, venue operators, florists, other DJs, photographers, caterers- there were even several attendees that knew me.

So-- Alas, poor California! I knew her, I still love her, but I can't thank Arizona enough for such a warm welcome. It's good to be home tonight.