Beauty and the Beast

Several wedding vendors got together yesterday to do an all day promotional video and photo shoot to make an all-inclusive-one-stop-recession-buster-wedding package. We'll provide the venue, the caterer, the florist, the minister, the photographer and a DJ- any guesses? Anyone? Yes, me! Just sign on the dotted line and a wedding you shall have!

Models were hired, tables, chairs and linens rented, we set up a hotel banquet room for a ceremony, a formal dinner, a dance, everything. I set up my sound system and lighting rig. We photographed the spread of food, and then we stopped down for a break and we ate the spread. Ginny Solis from All About Catering is the best in this city.

I have mentioned Kym Ventola in this blog a couple of times regarding her brilliant work. This photo proves it again. I don't know if this one will even be used in the promo package but i love it. The lighting rig looks great, the texture and the balance and the composition is really cool too. It is clear that I am not the groom, I am the wedding entertainment. I love the spot of light on either side of us on the dance floor and the criss-crossing beams aimed at our heads. She is so beautiful and I am so beastly. Overall, the photo just speaks the celebration! It's very playful.

Rebecca, the model you see there, is great at what she does. I could never exude emotion so effortlessly to have it be captured on film- she does it. In an earlier shot, she was just leaning up against a plain wall in the back parking lot for a few shots and was able to take that and run with it and create something emotional with no music or stimulus to create what would be an otherwise natural emotional response.

It is interesting how music can change a moment from ordinary to extraordinary or from flat to three dimensional with sights, sounds, smells, memories etc. The hotel had a big grand piano in the lobby and Kym and Rebecca were noodling around with some shots at the piano as I was passing by with some equipment. I shouted, half jokingly, that Rebecca should sit on the piano and I would play it. The live music changed that moment to a little bit less work and a little bit more play.

I hadn't planned on actually plugging in my DJ sound system, it was a photo shoot for heaven's sake- it was set up just for show. I ended up plugging it in early in the preparations because all of the makeup artists and hotel staff and other workers that were helping with tables, chairs, moving lobby furnishings etc. wanted some music. I did fire it up rather loudly for this picture. You can almost hear the rock and roll. Listen for a minute... do you hear it too? There was nothing posed here- the music made that picture.

Old School

In the previous post, I jokingly commented about never wearing a tux and that the previously posted tuxedo picture was the genesis of my DJ career. My sister Cindy said I should do a comparison shot- then and now. This is the earliest pic I could find as a DJ. I think this was from about 1983, I was 17. I was already 3 years into my career, but I still didn't know it at the time. When I started in 1979, music was just a way to get girls and make some chump change in high school. When I went to Southern California in 1983, I realized that a person could make a living at it. I don't think that I became a true professional DJ until Susan Marshall's wedding in 1987 in Riverside CA. She was a girl that I had become friends with in college and she asked me to DJ her wedding. That was the first big budget event I ever did and I was just really on my game that night. All of the things I had learned as a keyboard player and as a band leader- things about showmanship and stage presence along with some technical prowess as a DJ really came together and I realized what effect an entertainer could have on a social occasion. I took that event from a lovely wedding to the social event of the year. That golf club became a very loyal customer for many years, I booked about 10 other jobs from people in attendance.

While looking for that last picture, I also found a pic of my high school rock band in 1981. There was a time when "Fugitive" ran the show in Northern Arizona. Those two furious summers filled with church and school dances, skating rinks and grand openings were lots and lots of fun. That's Gregg Ahmann on the left on the classic 1968 Rickenbacker bass guitar. Everett Livingston on lead guitar. He had the perfect rock and roll hair and he played pretty good too. My cousin Tommy Whipple buried behind the drums back there. That's me stepping away from the mic after singing duties. Jason Atkinson, in white, on guitar looking towards me. Over by my keyboards is Leslie- I have forgotten her last name but I think it started with an A. She had a great rock voice and sang like Pat Benatar. Good times!

Here is a current pic of me. I already posted this one a couple of months ago but I love this photo because it says everything I would want to say about a DJ/entertainer but it isn't the gratuitous microphone shot or the headphone shot or the "standing next to my mixing board wearing my goofy tuxedo" shot. Kym Ventola took that shot last winter out at the Wig Wam Resort in the west Valley. The more I see her around the industry, the more I am impressed with her work and her abilities.

I have this weekend off from DJ work but it is the last one off for the next 15 weeks!

Grey Poupon? But, of course!

I have often wondered where it says in the DJ rulebook that the official uniform of a DJ is a tuxedo. Actually, I'm not aware that there even IS a rulebook for such matters. I'm of the school of thought that since they are not hiring a business manager, an attorney, a matre'd or a waiter, that I shouldn't dress like one of those. They are hiring an entertainer. While one should not be disrespectful to the overall decorum, a DJ should look the part for which he or she is hired.

I once played at a class reunion and wore an expensive and wonderful dinner jacket and was asked by the class committee to put an old football jersey over it as the wait staff and bartenders were doing. Ummmmm... NO. I don't want to be mistaken for the water boy as I pass by a table. I didn't wear this fabulous jacket to cover it up with a 20 year old, sweaty, musty football jersey.

Most DJs look fairly foolish in their outdated tuxedos and ill fitting cummerbunds and a fancy pin for the top button instead of a tie. Worse still are the guys who still wear just the vest- not that they removed the jacket as they began working the room- they didn't wear a jacket in the first place!

Most of the world has gone very casual and only the most formal, high-society events require them. I haven't seen a wedding in my 30 years as a DJ where anybody but the wedding party wore tuxedos- well maybe an occasional grandfather, but that's it. Jeans and a nice tailored shirt and jacket or business suits or khakis and a polo shirt are most common for wedding guests.

When asked to explain to a potential customer what it is that makes me different than all of the other DJs and why they should pay my higher price, I explain that I am the anti-DJ and that all of the cheesy things that other DJs do will not be done by me, including the wearing of a bad tux or the playing of the Hokey Pokey or the airing of stupid announcements like "Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for..." Is there nothing that might elevate our industry beyond that? Why can't those guys think of something else to say?


On that note, here is a pic of me wearing a tux a few years ago, well, actually, a few decades ago at my Uncle Conrads wedding. I gotta admit, I do look pretty good in a tux. Maybe I'll have to rethink my anti-DJ strategy... ummm... probably not today though... I wasn't the DJ that day, but it may have been the genesis of my career in the Wedding and Event business. Maybe I could use this photo as part of my ad campaign?

Mammas, don't let your babies grow up to be DJs

This is a picture of my mother taken in 1953 here in Phoenix. There is not enough of the mountain background to know for sure, but I heard someone explain once, when they saw this, that it was probably taken south of Phoenix with South Mountain at her back and the sun rising in the East at her right. Apparently there used to be lots of flower fields out there. If anybody is reading this and knows more, share it with me. She died in almost 40 years ago in 1969 when I was very small.

The city has grown southward from Downtown Phoenix right up to the edge of that mountain in the background.

The event that I played at last Saturday night may well have been right on this spot! It is a place called "The Secret Garden" on Baseline and 24th Street. I may send a copy of this photo to the owner of the venue and the event coordinator as part of saying thanks for having me on that event- in hopes of getting more work there.

The Devil went down to Santa Monica

I should preface by saying that it's good to be making money in my chosen profession, but please indulge me just a little bit of a rant...

I was in Santa Monica, California on Friday night and spilling into the weeeee hours of Saturday morning- It was a great event and I felt like I was really on my game. After packing up the equipment and grabbing a burger, it was 2:30AM when I hit the road for home in Arizona. I should have been sleeping, but I had to meet a customer at my home office at 10AM Saturday morning and there was a 6 1/2 hour drive in there somewhere. I slept out in the desert for about 2 hours and got home at 9:40! I had a lovely consultation with an engaged couple and I did book their wedding for March of 2010. As if that wasn't enough, I got myself showered and shaved and I headed out the door for a wedding at a great venue here in Phoenix called "The Secret Garden"-- That one went until about 10:30PM. I packed up the lighting rig and the rest of the equipment and was out the door at about 11:15 and home just before midnight.

It was a lucrative weekend, I had a most excellent visit with my son, Javin, in Riverside CA before the Santa Monica event, but the whole thing was a race against the devil to get it all done. What was I thinking?

When I'm 64

When I'm 64, I want a cake like this... No really... It IS a birthday cake! ...Really!

I was invited out to a birthday dinner Sunday night in Old Town Scottsdale for the editor of the magazine that I write for and a few industry friends and family. This had to be the most amazing birthday cake I have ever seen and I have seen several hundred wedding cakes and birthday cakes in 30 years of DJ work. It was a shame to cut this one up and eat it. Each of the keys were on toothpicks and they were all in order just like they would be on an old-school typewriter. The paper was made of sugar and draped over the back of the cake. You can see some wadded up sugar paper there around the base of the cake. The photo is a bit blurry because it was really bright out in the courtyard as the sun was setting and it was hard to see the screen on the camera phone that was being used, but if you can focus on the paper, the typewriter is typing "Happy Birthday, Judy!" About half of the restaurant had to get out of their chairs and come and inspect and ooh and ahh and then give their anonymous good wishes.

I think Judy probably has everything you could ever want in life. I knew that I couldn't impress her with even the most rare trinket of wonder and since she lives dually in both Arizona and Kentucky, I was sure she didn't need to travel with another gift, but I knew that she wouldn't have a guy with a guitar serenading her so I took a couple of hours and learned the Beatles "When I'm 64" because she had spilled the beans on that particular secret but you'd never know looking at her...

Between the appetizer and the main course, there was a slow spot and I decided that this time was as good as any other so I whipped out the guitar and started singing... "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now. Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine?" It goes on- "Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? When I'm sixty four?" There's a spot in the song about holding grandchildren on your knee and I plugged in some of her grandkids names. Anyways- lots of laughter and singing along at the table. The whole restaurant erupted in to cheers after that.

I got several pats on the shoulder and compliments on the performance from fellow diners and staff alike. It was such a pleasant evening with great food and electric conversation and good friends. There was clearly a level of wonder at how much fun we were having at our table and everyone else would have rather been sitting with us at the happening table. It created a certain unspoken jealousy that we were the coolest ones in town- and it is really difficult to be the coolest anything in Scottsdale!

Happy Birthday Judy!

And then there was one

I'm fast approaching graduation from University of Phoenix- 8 more Wednesday nights! After April 15th, I'll be lernded gud! I have had a really great experience at UOP. If I can get some fire in me to get a Masters Degree, I'd consider teaching there. I don't know if I have a Masters degree in me, but in any case, I need to take some time off and replenish the financial reserves for awhile.

When I started there in January of '07, they transferred all of my credits from Riverside City College way back in the 80's, including some dubious classes like "History of Rock and Roll" I had to take algebra over again because I'd earned a D way back when. D is barely passing, but it's not transferable. Math is not my gift in life and I had a great teacher at UOP, Ms. Bledsoe, who really brought it to life and I thought- "Well if Mr. Bellman in High School had explained it that way when I was a sophomore, I would have got it!"

In my first few months, I was taking some basic classes that I hadn't done earlier and then as I got onto my Bachelors of Business Administration track, I have largely remained with the same students pursuing the same degree in each of my classes for the last year. In addition to individual assignments and readings, we are divided into teams of 3 or 4 for projects where you take real world or fictitious companies through various market simulations and scenarios and do reports or presentations to the class on findings.

This is my team at University of Phoenix. We have worked together for about a year and we'll be parting ways after this class. I'm finishing and they all have two or three more 5-week classes.
That's Andrea on the left. She works for Apollo Group which owns University of Phoenix. She's a corporate liaison. I think she will have a great career in Public Relations or Broadcasting or Politics or whatever she feels to do. She is really got a gift in life. Laurel is on my right. She works for Banner-Baywood Healthcare in their construction division. She has been there for 30 years and has is incredibly valuable to them. She doesn't need a degree, but is doing it for the love of learning. She's actually approaching retirement- I know- she looks younger than me! Blanca is on my left. She has worked for the city of Phoenix for many years with their "Hope 6 Project" which assists low income families with housing. The City of Phoenix is having a major financial crisis and her job may be on the cutting block. We are praying for her but even without the degree she is earning, she could do just fine on her charm alone! She's about the nicest woman you'll ever meet.

It has been absolutely a pleasure to associate with them. It is interesting that people who have no other connection or bond- and no reason to have one- can go through a rather intense school or work experience together and come out of it at the other end having such affection for each other. I'll miss them terribly.

Styx rocked my face!

I have been a Styx fan since I heard Come Sail Away at age 12 in Winslow Arizona on a tiny transistor radio that had a crummy, tin-sounding speaker that you had to hold right up to your ear. It was broadcast on X-Rock 80, a pirate AM radio station in Tijuana Mexico that used to blast across the southwest to avoid U.S. radio regulations. That was the first song that ever "spoke" to ME, as opposed to, say, my parents music. About 3 years ago, Dennis DeYoung who wrote the song, appeared with the Orange County Symphony and the Pacific Children's choir and a small 4-piece rock band and performed that song in a proper symphony hall. He knocked it out of the park that night and that song re-inspired me just as it had when I was 12! As a fan, I have purchased everything that Styx has ever commercially released and all solo and side projects even a few soundboard bootleg recordings.

One fallacy of the business model of the music industry, however, is that while I have only purchased Come Sail Away 5 or 6 times, (8-track, a couple of cassettes, a couple of times on CD, a digital copy, and a couple of live versions) I have "consumed" it thousands of times without paying for it again. While they have made a few musical mis-steps, Styx has produced a body of work that has moved me and that I have always appreciated. The least I can do to show my appreciation for such a body of work is to go to the concerts once in awhile and pay for a live airing of some of those songs that I love- and buy a concert T-shirt.

6 weeks ago, Styx played practically in my back yard at the Tempe Town Lakes Fiesta Bowl Block Party on New Years Eve. I was working elsewhere in Phoenix- see older posts for my DJ adventures that night. Thanks to the serendipity of the universe though, I had a DJ job in Santa Monica California Friday night and Styx was also in town for about 5 shows around Los Angeles and San Diego. I sat in the 6th row for a Styx show this week in San Diego, I had a great visit with my son Javin in Riverside, turned in a career performance at the Santa Monica gig and was offered 5 more gigs afterwards. The money from the gig paid for the tickets, the fuel, the hotel room etc. God Bless America!

Many years ago, I happened to be playing Come Sail Away at a Grand Opening/retail promotion with the Laker Girls when a travelling gospel choir pulled their bus into the parking lot for a meal break. One of the lead female voices came over to introduce herself and say "hello" and stretch her legs and back and see what was going on. She starting singing along a bit while we were talking. She was an obvious talent and I quickly handed her a mic. A half dozen of her companions joined her for an impromptu Baptist gospel choir rendition of one of the great rock songs of the rock era. I mixed in a longer live concert version to keep the beat going for them. What a fantastic talent! Anybody who wasn't already a Styx fan converted that day and we worship at the shrine that is Styx. "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said, they said, Come sail away, Come sail away, Come sail away with me!"

Funny story from my road trip last weekend- This is Lawrence Gowan, Styx's Keyboardist and vocalist.

I was staying in the giant hotel/casino where the concert venue was. After I checked in, I was approached for autographs 4 times just getting from my room to one of the restaurants for some dinner and then on to the concert venue. My waitress thought I was with the band too and swore she saw me on the picture on the huge electronic marquee outside and on posters in the lobby and casino and asked for an autograph. Here's a recent pic of me in my Rock Star DJ persona... I guess there is a bit of a resemblance.

I corrected them as to my identity and told them that I took it as a great compliment. We exchanged some Styx stories that fans would tell and then they still didn't believe that I wasn't with the band.


Anyways, they all seemed very happy as they walked away with their "Keep Rockin' ~Curtis Whipple" autographs!

And... Mr. Whipple doesn't have any hair!

That was the comic relief tag line for a radio ad campaign for my bald father and my bald uncle, also a Mr. Whipple of course, who had a small chain of department stores in northern Arizona when I was a kid. It didn't matter which bald Mr. Whipple they were referring to as they were both markedly BALD! My nephew, Jeff, wrote a very funny and a very raw blog post last month about the fact that he is losing his hair at a rather young age. Here's the link http://voicerising.blogspot.com/2008/12/crazy-bald-heads.html

Thankfully, I have a full head of hair at the old age of 43. It started graying on the temples about 4 or 5 years ago and although I said I would never color it-- I swore that I'd wear it like a crown--because I'd earned it! Well, I find myself coloring it- and liking it. One can only change around the living room furniture so much-- to change my hair up from time to time seems to satisfy my need for some spice. The gray is advancing, but thanks to the chemical weapons deployed by Michelle at Ultra, I'm winning the battle. It still seems pretty thick and she has sworn that she'll tell me when I begin to have a bald spot or something.

I'm sad that Jeff is losing his hair-- because I love my hair-- We don't have much control over whether it stays in our scalps, but we can all CHOOSE how to cut it and color it and I still seem to be able to screw that up!
Here's me in about 1988. That's alot of years ago. In spite of the mullet-ness of that one, I still kinda like that photo. This was taken in 2006. The easy-to-maintain-scare-the-new-neighbors-in-Arizona cut. It worked just fine as an entertainer in Los Angeles. Arizona? Not so much...Here's me in about 1993- ish. POOF!

This is me (center) with my crew at the steel yard in LA in about 1991 or so. This is probably the only picture where the crazy hair seems to make any sense. We are some scary looking guys that I wouldn't want to tangle with. I miss them.

The last one here is the most current- it compliments the other guitar pic from 20 something years ago. I was getting myself pumped up to entertain about 200 13 and 14 yr olds at a Bat-Mitzvah up in Scottsdale last month. Adena Photo took this one. She does a great job on family photos too. http://www.adenaphotography.com/ My bangs have grown another inch in the front and I had Michelle cut about an inch and a half off of the back since this was taken.

Stand by for some more crazy hair before 2009 is out.

Miscellaneous thoughts for the week- thoughts that wouldn't otherwise have a home

Thought #1: It's great to have a garden year 'round in Arizona.

THIS (above) is what it looks like out in the backyard. There are peas right in your face on the left of the pic with the white blossoms, red leaf lettuce in the shadow at the bottom center, moon leaf lettuce further back, then the big blue/green looking broad leafed stuff is red cabbage and then cilantro behind that and then more cabbage and then turnips just out of view.

THIS (below) is what it looks like at my dining room table!

There is some moon leaf lettuce, some red leaf lettuce, some green onions, a turnip and some cilantro. Topped off with half of an avocado and some strawberry slices from the local farmers market and some fresh coarsely ground black pepper.

Thought #2: I had a bride in my home office last Monday that was absolutely a pleasure to meet and I am so looking forward to her wedding in June. We had such a great chat and inside of 5 minutes it felt like I was talking to an old friend. She wept openly about the beautiful things about her relationship and about her fiance and her dreams for her life.

When doing a consultation, I try to make my office a place that- as a salesman- I can have an edge. I can play some music and show some photographs and have some bridal magazines handy that I have written articles in or that I have advertisements in. I'm a pretty good DJ, but I'm not a very good salesman so I use every advantage that I know how to use effectively in the given time. I try to create moments during the consultation where they can feel the emotion of the day--the fact that I created that moment right in my office is usually a great sales point.

There was none of that in this consultation. We just really hit it off and I was honored and flattered that she felt comfortable enough in front of me and in my home to express her emotions about her relationship even though we had just met. She and her fiance are separated by school commitments- he's finishing up at MIT. Songs that had meaning for her relationship really touched feelings that ran close to the surface.

Over the years, during these consultations, I've predicted fairly accurately who will make it in marriage and who will not just by how brides and grooms interact while doing something as simple as talking about the music for their wedding ceremony and the celebration that follows. They get so caught up in the details of the wedding that they make no preparations in their personal lives for the marriage that will follow. I predict that this bride will have a great and happy marriage!

Thought #3: Most people who travel in Arizona through the high desert country along Interstate 40 or those who travel through the low desert along Interstate 10 have no idea of the beauty in those brown ugly looking mountains in the distance. I had a break between homework and DJ business last week to go on a weekday hike in the Superstition mountains. There is so much greenery and water and life out there in the desert- several million people even 20 miles away in the Phoenix area have no idea that it even exists. Saguaro cactus takes 50 to 75 years to grow their first arms. The two that you can see in this picture are probably 150 years old. It's brilliant that a plant that gets a tiny drink of water maybe 6 or 8 times per year and braves 115 degree heat for 3 months with NO water can make a living out of a crack in a rock!

Two of my sisters here in the Phoenix area are hikers and I'm wondering why we don't hike together... oh yeah... it's that whole alternate lifestyle that I lead. I work on the weekends when everybody else hikes. BUT, I usually have the desert and all of its beautiful solitude for myself during the week- when all the other blokes are slaving away at their desks.