The Dream Team

I did a wedding on Saturday that had some serious problems. I'm sure some heads are rolling today on the subject. The caterer cooked up the wrong meal for 200 people. The food was pretty good, but it didn't match the lovely printed menu cards at each place setting. I wonder if there was another wedding across town that had the food on those menu cards? The flowers were not bad either but they weren't even close to what the bride had ordered. The florist said that they ran out of something or another... (Why did they run out? How is that the problem of the customer? Why wasn't it addressed at some point earlier than at the event?)

I was there with my best buddy Kym Ventola who photographed the wedding and Kathy from Thee Wedding Warehouse who was coordinating the event, and I was DJing myself. It wasn't the "dream team," it was more like the "refreshing afternoon nap" team. Those kinds of major mistakes wouldn't have happened if the rest of our "team" was there. Alas, the bride and groom hired others for whatever reason... Had all of us been at the wedding together, those problems would not have happened.

I spent Sunday with these guys the Phoenix Bridal show at University of Phoenix stadium. We all had a booth together. Kym Ventola wasn't at the bridal show with us, she was photographing a wedding.
On the left, Kathy Baggett from Thee Wedding Warehouse, the most brilliant marketer I have ever known. She has a great bridal boutique out in Goodyear. I'm standing next to her. In the center is Jacque Dearing from Endearing Floral Design, Kathy's partner and in house florist at Thee Wedding Warehouse. For reference, I'm a guy and don't care one way or the other about flowers and I have been around floral designs at weddings for 30 years and you could imagine that flowers all start to look the same to me. Jacque's work will make you perk and up and notice! Next is Ginny Solis from All About Catering. She and Chef Julie (not there yesterday) are a great team. Ginny and her assistant, Sabrina, served up mango cilantro sliders yesterday. There was a line of interested brides snaking across our booth all day. They cooked and assembled and served 600 mini-burgers in 3 hours! On the right is Reverend G. He has had a full life in sound production and recording, as a test driver for new and experimental automobiles and as a minister for 21 years. He has a wry and twisted sense of humor and is a gentleman in every way. It's always a pleasure to be around him.

Usually when we are working together, well, we are working. I couldn't let this opportunity for a photograph get away before we packed up and called it a day. I count myself really blessed to be in the personal and professional company of such fine people!

Day 21. 69 to go.

If you haven't read the previous post, scroll down or click it. Read that one first so that this one makes sense.

21 days in with 69 days to go. The fresh food is virtually gone. I have 3 flour tortillas, one tomato, one yellow onion, and about 6 potatoes. Fresh milk is gone and that is the only thing that I miss so far. The dried milk is more obvious than I thought. I don't care for it on cereal. It has to be a smaller amount as a part of a recipe to be baked or otherwise disquised.

For dinner last night, I made some peach jello with some canned peaches. I boiled a couple of potatoes and mashed them and mixed them about 50/50 with dried potato flakes and a sprinkle of dried chopped onions. I mixed in the last of the sour cream. Complimented that with a can of roast beef with gravy and some homemade biscuits- using the dried milk. I still have lots of butter and strawberry jam. The biscuits were Deeeeeee-LISH!

Tid-bit-o-trivia on the biscuits... I broke my little tin biscuit cutter while cutting out the dough! In the grand scheme of things, it's not the greatest of my worries. One can always use a cup or a knife to cut out circles and squares for biscuits. The trouble is that using a cup to cut biscuit dough doesn't allow the air to escape as you press down and it's hard to get the biscuit out of the cup after since there is no access from the other side. I do have a soldering iron so I'll repair the biscuit cutter today. Worst case scenario, I would use a tin can and cut both ends off.

I heard some wise advice many years ago about situations like this. "If you have two, you have one. If you have one, you might have none." I have a tool to open my emergency water barrels and if I lost or broke that, I would have a tough time opening those barrels. Some basic back up kitchen utensils might be in order. A spare can opener would be crucial.

For breakfast this morning, I broke the last fresh egg over the left over mashed potatoes from last night and added a bit of flour and made potato pancakes. I grated the last of the Monterrey jack cheese and sprinkled a bit of that on the pancakes. When I get out the cheese grater, I usually grate a fair amount of it and put it in a zip lock bag. I was very conscious of the fact that this is the last of the cheese and I picked as much cheese out of the grater and I collected every last bit off of the cutting board and kept it. Normally I would just regard it as a casualty of cheese grating and a bit would be lost on the grater and the cutting board and then down the drain. The remaining cheese may last another 5 days or so.

Another observation: Years ago when I was working two jobs, eating gross amounts of fast food and drinking sodas regularly, I chewed a couple of antacids every night to relieve the heartburn. It's a lifestyle and diet that I no longer live and eat. A mild case of heartburn maybe once a month now is all I have and that's after a major meal with habanero peppers or other spicy food from my garden and I usually just lay on my left side to relieve it without an antacid tablet. I had a case of heartburn last night that may be due to the changing diet this last 3 weeks. I couldn't detect any of the regular triggers. I discovered that I have two antacid tablets in my medicine cabinet and I used one of them last night. I have about 10 more in my van and another 10 in a small emergency kit in one of my DJ road cases.

As a general rule, I don't use drugs of any kind, including over the counter pain medications or cold remedies. Those only manage or mitigate the symptoms but don't actually solve the problem. Given proper nutrition and environment, I believe the body already contains what it needs and can heal itself in most instances. In this DJ emergency kit, I do keep some cold remedies, some antacids, some pain relievers, a couple of bandages, tweezers, a couple of buttons and some needles and thread etc- Things that could get me through an event in a pinch and allow me to be the witty charming and effervescent entertainer even if I didn't feel well. It's probably time to change those out anyway now that I think of it. The equipment and road cases are stored in an unconditioned space and have been there for some time.

I went out to lunch with a client this week and my plate included some cabbage and a radish to garnish the dish with some color. I ate all of it.

Day 14. 76 to go.

In Back to the Future Part III, Doc Brown and Marty McFly commandeer an Old West steam train to push the Delorean up to 88 miles per hour to get from 1885 back to the year 1985. The train engineer puts his hands up and asks "Is this a stick up?" Brown and McFly look at each other and conclude "No, it's a science experiment."

I, too, am in the middle of a science experiment that started on Sept 11th. I'm not going to the grocery store or any other store for 90 days. Gasoline is the only thing I'm going to purchase until Dec 11. I store food and water against hard economic times, social unrest, natural disasters or disease outbreaks, I have for many years- it seems to me to be common sense, but plenty of people think I'm a bit of a nut case. I'm testing myself out as if there had been a disaster on Sept 11th of 2009 and I had to live on my own wits. I'm 14 days into it with 76 to go.

Fresh food is going fast. I have about 20 corn tortillas and about 10 large flour tortillas- those should last another 10 days or so. I have a few pounds of butter and just over a pound of Monterrey jack cheese. I mostly ran out of fresh vegetables a couple of days ago. I have a tomato, a red onion, a yellow onion, 20 potatoes and a tiny bit of green onion left. When those are gone, I'll switch to the freezer. The freezer has a couple of bags of frozen broccoli, corn and peas. There are a couple of bags of chicken breasts, a couple of steaks, a couple of Cornish game hens- save those for Thanksgiving, about 36 kosher franks, 1 lb of shrimp, some frozen corn on the cob and 1 lb of bacon.

In a real disaster, of course, there may or may not be electricity and the meat in the freezer would be eaten or shared with neighbors or destroyed in about 2, MAYBE 3 days. I have a hunch though, that even in a disaster, there may be intermittent electricity. Even war torn Iraq gets electricity about half of the time.

There are about 18 eggs left. I don't eat that many eggs and they will probably go south before I eat them all. I have about 2 cups of milk left and that was mixed 50/50 with non-fat dry milk a few days ago. I don't drink the dried stuff on its own even though I found a brand that I could live with in a crunch. We'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks without fresh milk. I may mix it with some nestle quik or certainly use it for cooking or on a bowl of cereal.

I grow a garden year round here in Mesa AZ. There are only a few things that can grow in the summer months here. I usually plant pumpkins at the end of July and harvest those in the 3rd week of Oct. My pumpkin vines got attacked by pests and I took them out today. No pumpkin pie filling or pumpkins for Halloween, but the upside is that I will probably plant my winter garden a couple of weeks earlier- maybe next week. I'll be planting a couple of kinds of lettuce, some cabbage, turnips, radishes and peas. I may be able to harvest a few of them by Thanksgiving. That would be great!

One caveat is that in my travels to formal social occasions as an entertainer, I'll be served meals sometimes. I think that may mimic a real disaster too. Even in the worst of times, one may come across some milk and eggs and fresh veggies once in awhile.

After the fresh and frozen stuff is gone, I have plenty of canned goods- fruit, corn, jams, black beans, refried beans, pork and beans, canned chicken, canned beef, canned tuna etc. After that, I have plenty of dried beans, rice, wheat etc. I have sugar, dried celery, onions, carrots etc. I have yeast and flour to make bread once or twice a week. I do that regularly anyways.

Last night I soaked a big bowl of black beans and they have been in the crock pot today with a can of chicken broth. The house smells great. I hear some burritos calling my name! A big flour tortilla, some Monterrey jack cheese, some salsa, and a big scoop of black beans.

I'll have an update in a week or so.

The White Hot Event

I own a networking group here in Phoenix for wedding professionals called the Wedding and Event Network (WEN). We get together once a month to shake hands and trade business cards. We are hosted by hotels, golf clubs, bridal boutiques and other reception halls all over the Phoenix metropolitan area each month. I'm the third owner in the 12 year history of WEN. It was started by a wedding officiant and his wife. Then it was owned by a brilliant event planner for a few years and now me. Once a year, our meeting is a bit less networking and a bit more of a party as a thank you to our members and industry friends. Everyone is invited to wear white and bring their spouse or a date. It's the White Hot Event!


Here I am with an imaginary rope, pulling a few dancers out on to the floor. The Hamptons have played at the White Hot Event for several years. They are the best wedding band in Phoenix and have always volunteered for this event- even before WEN was the respected organization it has become. Thanks guys!

This is Chandra Keel on the left, the event planner that I had for this event. I gave her some basic parameters for the event and turned her loose on it. She nailed it. That's Lisa from Arizona Weddings magazine on the right.

Here's a group shot. The event was at Tre Bella in downtown Mesa. It's an old warehouse, transformed into a reception space. The adjacent space has been converted into a charming wedding chapel. The photographer, Keri Doolittle is shooting from about the center of the room so there is a similar sized crowd behind her. Click on her link for more pics from the event. Chandra Keel is about center shot in this one too.

Each year we select a local cause or charity and ask attendees to donate to the cause if they have the means to do so. We collected almost 400 lbs of food and $150 in cash. WEN matched those donations dollar for dollar. St. Mary's was most gracious and appreciative. I'm still alarmed to hear of hungry people and empty food banks in our city of great wealth.

This is my friend, Amy Vandervort- a brilliant event planner and the previous owner of WEN. She just wanted to raise her kids and simplify her life. She may get back in the game when her children are older, but if not, she went out at the very top of her career. Her last wedding was featured on a major TV show. Ray Grace, Ray the DJ, a fantastic local mobile DJ and one of my professional brothers is on the right.

Here I am talking to Courtney Moran from Lollicakes Company. They provided desert that night. Wedding cake- on a STICK! It was deeeeee-lish! Each lollipop represents about 4 or 5 bites of wedding cake- individually wrapped- like a lollipop. This picture was taken just before the event started and the lollicakes were still under refrigeration.

It's really gratifying that everybody in this industry makes me feel like such a rockstar. I'm blown away. The network operates on the trading of professional favors for exposure to others in the industry. My email list is substantial so even those who don't attend will see the logos of the participating vendors on the email blast that goes out to the industry in advance of each meeting.

There are a few who think that my group is irrelevant or redundant. Each of us are members of our various professional associations- I'm the president of the American DJ Association- we do have a few members in common, but we have a very different purpose. We each have great educational content at our various chapter meetings. This is one forum that provides inter-industry connections. It's not a meeting of just photographers, or catering executives or just event planners.

In addition to great networking opportunities, there is a chance to talk about things that we can do to add to the excellence of the industry since we all work together at weddings and other social events.

Next month's meeting- South Beach/Miami theme at the brand new Homewood Suites- Hilton- Phoenix Airport.

Raucous!

It was an absolute pleasure to play at a wedding at the Irish Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix on Saturday night. The party seemed to teeter on the edge of breaking into a slug fest at any moment- not because of anger or animosity or anything else like it- but because the anticipation of the night and then the exuberance of the occasion could not be released simply by laughing, drinking, shouting, feasting, singing and dancing alone! The celebration itself was greater than all of that. Some raucous slugging among the men might have been just the ticket. It was great to be with Reverend Giovanni who stepped up to the mound and pitched the ceremony "ball" and then I stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park with mad DJ skillz!

In his autobiography, Steve Martin talked about a comedian named Jack E. Leonard at the tail end of the Vaudevillian comedians and the beginnings of stand up comedy as we know today, who used to accentuate his punchlines by slapping his stomach and shouting "Hep!" or something like that. On a Tonight Show appearance, the audio got muddled but people laughed anyway because he slapped his stomach and they, like Pavlov's dog, laughed at what they hadn't heard, because they had been conditioned to do so. Steve Martin asked himself as a boy, What if there were no punchlines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all of that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out somewhere, But if I kept denying them the formality of a punchline, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh. They would laugh when they chose to rather than when I chose for them to.

Music also creates tension or dissonance and it must be released or resolved to sound right and to make symmetrical sense in our brains as we process the mathematical elements of music. Consonance, or the beginning note or phrase, is the note against which every thing is compared. Our brain holds that note in a queue and compares the rest of the song to that. Sing the song "Johnny B. Goode" in your head for a minute-no, really do it with me- "Way down in 'ouisiana close to New Orleans. Way back up in the woods among the evergreens." Then there is a chord change that creates dissonance, bass note goes up a 4th - keep singing- "Stood a log cabin made of earth and wood." Then back to the original note- "Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode" Then up a 5th for some real tension- "Never ever learned to read or write so well." Then resolve the tension by going back to the original note- "But he could play the guitar just like ringing a bell. Go! Go Johnny, Go!"

In comedy, the consonance is the intellectual foundation or the set up of the joke or gag. Your brain holds that in a queue for a moment and then the comedian delivers something absurd- the dissonance- that is only humorous by comparison to the consonance.

Musical phrasing does it several times in a song and then other elements, still within the constructs of the song, may create varying degrees of overall tension with the progressions of chords, the bridge sequence and the use of other textures, speeds, sounds, dynamics and perhaps a dramatic ritardo strike at the end of a song. I like songs that resolve the tension but some artists may not ever musically "resolve" a song. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were not musically trained but knew how to create tension and then resolve it musically and they arguably wrote much of the best music of the Rock and Roll era. Most genres trace their roots to those early pioneers of rock music.

As a DJ, I mostly play at more structured social occasions than a free form comedy show where I might try the innovative things that Steve Martin did. I'm obliged to give a crowd a comfortable time and place to release! A good DJ creates natural energy and makes it easy to dance and shout and celebrate and not feel uncomfortable or obligated to participate. People need a safe and cozy dancefloor surrounded by tables and chairs- a place that provides a psychological safe zone for dancing whether there is an actual dancefloor or not.

I choose songs to give an overall flavor to a wedding that represent the tastes of the bride and groom or the vision that a corporate client has for the feel of their social occasion. I choose mostly songs that are in a major key, songs that resolve themselves musically, and I put the songs in an order that creates more and more tension, with the first song in a set being the consonant song by which the following songs will be compared. I try to create more and more anticipation and tension and then when I get to a point where the crowd thinks they cain't do no mo... Well, I got moves you ain't never seen and I got songs you ain't nevah heard! ~BAM!~ I always hit them one more time with something even higher in energy or tension than they anticipated before I release them collectively as a dancing crowd. I usually choose a song for the release that ends with a strike AND on note that resolves the dissonance.

People individually are pretty smart, but interestingly, crowds have a separate mentality and they often need to be told what to do. There are really only two people in the room, the crowd, collectively, and the DJ. When the DJ is really on his or her game, even they "twain shall become one." That is where the magic really happens. People are dancing and getting into it, hugging each other, singing along with every word and I feel that energy. When it comes up to me, I feel it, I dig down deeper, crank it up and send out a renewed energy to the crowd. They feel it and nurture it and then they send it back to me and I send it back to them. This tension and release seems to flow in natural cycles of about 20 to 25 minutes. I let the music speak it, I don't say it with words. I make sure the music let's them know how to celebrate the occasion and then release the anticipation and the feelings of celebration and ultimately, resolve the dissonance.

Earlier in my career, lots of time was spent on very mechanical and technical concerns. Hunting down a CD and cuing a selected song inside of the given 3 1/2 minutes of the song that is playing and then do it again and again. With my years of experience behind me, my tools are an extension of my hands and my brain and those things are second nature- CDs are a thing of the past and I can focus on really heady stuff like this.

When you kiss your lover passionately, a little peck just isn't going to cut it. It takes 6 or 7 seconds just to start to feel the energy of their body and their warmth. THEN it becomes a passionate kiss. Songs are the same way. They live and breathe. They have energy and something to say both musically and lyrically. A mistake that many DJs make is cutting songs rapid-fire from one to the next. The song is not allowed to speak its message and create its mood. A DJ may move on to the next song before the song is resolved musically. From a practicality standpoint, guests may hear a song they would have wanted to dance to and by the time they wrap up a conversation, put down their drink, get a dance partner, the DJ has gone on to something else a couple of times over.

There is a difference between sales and marketing. I sell DJ service, and I lug a bunch of sound and lighting equipment around. I market however, fashion, attitude, expertise, music, fun- I hardly tell people that I am a DJ anymore- what always follows is "oh What station?" I respond to the inquiry with- I help people have fun. That's what I do. I try to make it easy for them to celebrate the occasions of their lives.

A DJ could do a great job from a mechanical standpoint and it could be argued that the performance was only adequate- there were no major mistakes and nobody could verbalize anything that could have made it better. The things I described are the things that make a good social occasion into a great social occasion. The tension is released, the anticipated climax was delivered, the dissonance was resolved and the customers were satisfied!

Santa Fe

For creative and artistic types, Santa Fe, New Mexico is a great place to spend some time. I just returned from my fourth trip in the last nine years. As quickly as the second morning of my visit, I found myself walking and talking slower, breathing more deeply and evenly and thinking more profound thoughts. Brainpower normally reserved for the chores of life gets freed up to process the things we are seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and learning of. If you are good at bracketing, (ask me privately) everything is a fresh and new experience, even the things you think you have done before.


I stayed at a lovely ranch/mansion in a place called Pojoaque (Po hoah KAY) Pueblo about 15 miles north of Santa Fe on the way to Taos. The photo above is the view from the front porch where I would read in the mornings before breakfast.

The area is full of opposites. There is ancient history and an increasingly fast-paced modern world growing up all around it. Los Alamos is a few miles west, up in the mountains which was (and still is) home to the most brilliant minds ever assembled. They gathered there in the middle of World War II from several nations and became one- to try to figure out how to split the atom. The bombs created there were used in the greatest single act of violence ever committed by humanity which, in another opposite, mercifully ended the war. All of this technology is situated right next to others who still live simply off of the land. It's encouraging to see lots of people there who embrace technology such as solar and wind power to live a modern life but leave the smallest footprint on the earth as is possible.

There are elements of spirituality and religious traditions juxtaposed with very humanist or secular philosophies. Santa Fe is home to a violent history of conquering "Christian" priests and missionaries who brutally enslaved the native people. Recently, a bronze statue was erected at a house of worship depicting one of those conquering priests on the back of a horse in a heroic pose. During the night, the leg of the priest was torched off by a local who wanted to make a statement that they hadn't forgotten the ancestor slaves whose legs were chopped off when attempting to escape. The artist recast the leg and there has been no further vandalism but the locals all cast a knowing glance that their point and the remembrance was made.

Variations of Catholicism are alive and well, but the mainstream Catholic church probably does not recognize or endorse several of the rituals that go on there. Each year, the "Penitente" attracts hundreds (maybe thousands) of people who walk on their knees for several miles, some carry crosses and some more extreme types flog themselves bloody and as late as the 1990s, certain penitents allowed themselves to be nailed to crosses until the local officials put a stop to such things. Stories also abound of the healing powers of the dirt or the water or the leaves of the trees of this or that location.

On to lighter things- I visited Bandalier National Monument. It's the ruins of a city in a canyon that was occupied 1200 years ago. They would migrate south in the coldest of the winter months and there is evidence that they actually traded with people in Mexico as far as 1000 miles south. It appears that they outgrew the available space in the canyon and began to abuse the land and resources that supported them and they disappeared. I thought it interesting that there are now hundreds of times more people occupying the land but we still seem to be able to exploit the resources by shear force of will and brute force of our technology that allows us to dig deeper and to ship things to and from distant locales.

I would sit on this porch pictured below in the mornings or evenings to read and the neighborhood dogs from some of the other properties around would always come and say hello or bring a stick or a ball for me to throw. The two ranch dogs on the property are getting old and sick. They would sleep most of the day but when feeling up to it would at least come out and watch the festivities.

I heard a story about one of the neighbor dogs- Molly. A large mixed breed, very friendly and very rambunctious. There was a colt born on one of the ranches nearby which Molly witnessed. She went home and got a pull toy and came back and taught that colt how to play catch/fetch/tugowar with a length of ragged rope. The horse is grown now and can be seen regularly tossing sticks and catching them.

I didn't get a photo of it, but the Santa Fe Opera House is a beautiful and imposing structure about 2 miles south of Pojoaque Pueblo. I was a week too early for a major music festival held there. The venue sits on top of a hill and is the master of all it surveys. I'd like to hear a concert there on another visit. Listening to a classical station in Phoenix when I got home, they mentioned that if you left right now, you'd get to Santa Fe Opera House in time the opening concert that evening to kick off the festival.

I needed to come home earlier than I would have liked for the birthday party of a major event industry figure around Phoenix and then a DJ job the next evening. My last stop before heading out of Santa Fe was at an art gallery. I was speaking with the artist while looking at her work. About mid sentence, she stopped and said- are you a Disc Jockey? Yes. Do you live in Phoenix? Well- yes, Mesa. She continued that she had been the featured artist at an art show at Inspirador in Chandler about 18 months ago and that I was the DJ. I remembered her and we chatted about that event. I told her that I hadn't been back to Inspirador since that night even though I thought I had won them as a customer but oddly, I had been invited to an industry party that night- at Inpirador- and that after I left her gallery, I would be driving home to get back in time for the party that night.

I'm thinking of returning in October.

The difference between a professional DJ and a hobbyist DJ

During a bridal consultation to consider hiring a DJ for her wedding, a bride asked if I had a strategy if people weren't dancing. It's a great question and really serves to separate out a professional DJ/entertainer from a hobbyist. If a DJ has arrived at a place where people aren't dancing, the time to have not had that happen has already passed. An inexpensive hobbyist DJ would be left only with a cheesy and uncomfortable tactic like the "Hokey Pokey" or a stupid announcement like "Yo people get up out ya seats!"

The time to plan to have a dancefloor full of dancing wedding guests is in advance of the event. It comes from time spent talking to the bride and groom about their musical tastes and the vision they have for their wedding celebration. It happens during the dinner hour, chatting with wedding guests as time allows. It's the DJ reading the crowd properly. Well selected and executed background music should have naturally elevated the mood of the room from a formal ceremony to what will be a dance party after dinner. It comes from creating a confidence level in the abilities of the DJ, even before the first dance song is played, which includes the way you stand, the way your equipments looks and sounds and the way you are dressed. Then a professional entertainer can lead the way and take the wedding guests on a fun/ crazy/ musical/ dancing/ celebrating journey and finish the night breathless and satisfied and with fantastic memories of the night.

Miscellaneous thoughts for the month of June

I LOVE writing in the first person! I have another article being published this week in The Wedding Chronicle and in it, I told a story that just cried out to be told in the first person but my editor wouldn't have it. She wants her magazine to be in one "voice" and one point of view. Add to that--the last 26 months of weekly college papers that could not be in the first person either. I'm glad to have my humble blog to write this way.

Last Saturday was an exceptionally long day for a DJ. I was out the door at 6AM for a bridal expo out at Estrella Vista Reception Center in Avondale, sponsored by my best buddies and my best cheerleaders, Thee Wedding Warehouse. In addition to being a vendor at the show, I was the stage manager and sound reinforcing technician and announcer for two bridal fashion shows during the day. There were two other DJs at the show and I was pleased to be competing with two of my professional brethren who charge a proper professional fee and I didn't have to fight an idiot hobbyist or beginner DJ with a ridiculously unrealistic low "special" bridal show price. Those guys won't be in business next year and they may not even make it to the weddings that they book. I've heard way too many horror stories about those kinds of vendors taking the money and disappearing.

I was the only one allowed to play any music at the show. No videographers or photographers or anybody else could show a slide show of their work with music playing on a flat screen TV monitor or anything- they could show it, just no sound. I was the one providing the musical flavor of the show. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? It's a job that can be fraught with landmines. Brides planning a wedding are in a certain mind set- thinking about harpists and classical music and sweet romantic love songs. Those kinds of songs work just fine AT the wedding. While any vendor would probably want to cater to that, the reality is that those songs in THIS time and place would suck the life out of the room. Secondly, I'd almost rather not play any music as a vendor at a bridal expo because I may get only a few seconds to reel in a potential customer and if I am playing song "A" and a bride happens to be imagining song "B" for her wedding, she may consider the fact that I am playing song "A" and extrapolate out that I ONLY play song "A" when I am hired. She'd say to herself, "This DJ is an idiot, he's playing song A!" They are only quickly passing by, making their way to other vendors that provide the goods and services they need for their big social occasion. I won't have time to move on to song "B", "C" or "D" to give her the benefit of comparison.

Another problem with playing music at all is that when a vendor has a bad sales day at a show, it is easy to blame everything else under the sun but their own poor marketing abilities, crummy promotional material, grumpy face, too casual dress, lack of marketing focus. They blame their booth placement in the room, they complain that the promotion and advertising of the show was weak and there was a lack of qualified brides or that the DJ that played music and they couldn't talk to their potential customers. I'm smart enough to know and gauge the proper volume for any occasion, but I don't want to be the one that any fellow wedding vendor could complain about.

Lucky for my lightning fast reflexes and my cracker jack coordination, I pulled it off. I played "the Pink Martinis" for my photographer friend Kym Ventola who was at the show, and mixed that with some other fun music that would add life to the room and still compliment the frame of mind of the potential customers.

I didn't intend to play any Michael Jackson because I just didn't think it was the time and place, but I had several customers and vendors alike make their way over to say hello in the course of the day and quietly ask if I'd play this or that song from Michael Jackson and that it would mean a lot to them. I ended up playing 6 or 8 songs and it always got a response and we had people dancing in the aisles and telling stories about when they performed MJ songs talent shows back in the day and about an old girlfriend/boyfriend that they think of when they hear those songs. I had to bust a move myself when moved upon by that music. I had several people comment on my Facebook page that they didn't know I had such moves! Oh, I got moves you ain't never seen!

Sadly, it seems Michael Jackson lost his way in many aspects of his personal life. Our society probably added to his burden with the way we treat celebrities of that stature. Even in my small-time entertainment career, I've had some people take the fantasy that I try to create on stage, which, in the hands of normal people, is a nice escape for an evening but in the hands of someone a bit more unstable, it has become uncomfortable and I have even been stalked more than once. That experience varied from annoying to downright terrifying! Michael Jackson made his share of weird decisions but I'm not in any position to gauge what kind of pressures he was under and what the reasons may have been or what the motivations people had for their accusations and the things that they would say and publish to sell magazines. I just hope I'm not remembered for my mistakes but rather the good contributions I try to make in the world.

When I finished the bridal show, I had to jet out of there quickly to get to a wedding at the very posh "Sassi" up by Pinnacle Peak in north Scottsdale. I hadn't met the groom. I had planned the music of the wedding with the bride while he finished up some schooling at MIT. When I finally had a moment to go and say hello to him and introduce myself and congratulate him between some wedding photos, one of the first things he asked was if I would play some Michael Jackson tonight. He mentioned a song that he wanted and shared a brief story about why the song was important to him. While I didn't want to tell him that I thought it was a mistake to play at his wedding, I was going through it in my mind- that there would be some guests there with their various delicate sensibilities that would think I was detracting from the order of the day which was to celebrate a wedding. I would look like I was the one who had chosen the song and was trying to memorialize MJ and take peoples minds and hearts away from the bride and groom.

My fear was unfounded. In my 30 years as a DJ, I can't say that I have played a Michael Jackson song at every event, but I can say that I can't think of an occasion where a Michael Jackson song wouldn't have fit in nicely. It ended up fitting the wedding celebration even better than usual and didn't detract from the celebration of a really cool couple. I'm usually pleased when I have 65% to 75% of a room on the dancefloor. I had virtually 100% of the crowd dancing that night. They spilled off of the dancefloor and even behind my speakers and beside my little booth! I think I only played 2 MJ songs at the wedding but it was "The way you make me feel" that got them out there and they stayed the rest of the night.

Thanks, Michael Jackson, for the music. We remember you!

Father's Day

That's my dad, Vance Whipple, on the left and my Grampa, Floyd Whipple on the right. This may have been taken in San Antonio Texas or perhaps in Mexico in the early 70's. I've always loved this picture. It's so familiar yet so foreign to our way of doing things nowadays.Either we don't care about our shoes as much as we used to or we just don't have occasions to wear nice shoes that need to be shined. My life is fairly casual, but I do love the fact that I attend a formal or at least semi-formal function almost every weekend as a DJ. It's one of the things I have always loved about being an MC/DJ is that everybody is dressed up, they are celebrating something, there is good food, music, lights... I love it!

Here's another one. That's my dad, Mr. GQ, with my brother Garry. Garry is 10 years older than me. I was born in '65 so I'm guessing this is about 1958 or '59.
My dad passed away almost 11 years ago. I wish I had the life experience earlier in life that I have now to have more fully taken advantage of his advice on things. That is the problem though, it's life that gives us life experience and it comes whenever it does and not necessarily when we are ready for it.

My dad spent his adult life in retail and was passionate about it. He loved attending the fashion shows in New York and selecting things that he could sell at his store in Northern Arizona. He'd plan a sale or other retail promotion and put an ad in the local paper and arrange the items and he'd be tickled to death when customers would show up to buy the things that he planned for them to buy.

I learned from him that there is a certain percentage of profits that should always be put back in to marketing and other promotions to perpetuate the profits. I'm glad I know how to do that. I'm actually GROWING in a tough economy! I haven't changed the amount of advertising or marketing that I'm doing, but lesser competitors have cut their advertising budgets and dropped off the radar. It appears that I'm everywhere now when I'm simply in the same places that I had been already- I just don't have any competitors around me.

I love the behind the scenes stuff that goes into planning a good social occasion or event. Invitations, food, music, linens, photography, lighting, dancefloors, dancers, ice sculpture, floral arrangements and other entertainment. I love to see the people arrive, full of anticipation and have the good time that we planned for them to have and leave fulfilled and happy. I often get to be the "face" of the event. Attendees will come and thank me for a lovely evening when there were 40 to 50 people that served them directly and indirectly and there were thousands of dollars spent in a more unseen way. I always make sure to get a cheer for the kitchen staff and the matre'd and the bar tender and the photographer etc.

I started my DJ career at a retail promotion in Winslow Arizona out in front of my dad's store 30 years ago. Retail and entertainment go together well. Thanks dad, for teaching me how to shine my shoes and for the education and the support. I miss you.

Planetary alignment

I was in Los Angeles last weekend on DJ duty for a lovely wedding. While I was there, I had lunch at BJs Brewhouse in Brea CA with a high school buddy that I hadn't seen in 21 years. We had recently connected on Facebook and our lunch was the highlight of my trip. We started our careers in music and entertainment together as young teenagers and we used to regularly discuss our dreams for our music and our lives and we are still both in this industry in different capacities.

A couple of years ago, I read the autobiography of comedian and actor Steve Martin. There is a line in there that struck me and I have thought about occasionally since. Remember he is writing as a grown man looking back at a remarkable career and its impact on American culture. He wrote, "When I moved out of the house at eighteen, I rarely called home to check up on my parents or tell them how I was doing. Why? The answer shocks me as I write it: I didn't know I was supposed to." He didn't have a particularly tragic childhood but certainly his parents made some terrible mistakes- I've made my share of mistakes in relationships. When I left home at 17, I left all things Winslow Arizona behind, including home, friends and family, and I didn't look back. The regrettable reasons are too personal to share here. I'm glad to be living in Arizona again getting reconnected to my siblings.

It was such a pleasure to be with and talk to my old friend and it was just as if the time in between hadn't passed- other than catching up on details about our separate adventures over the years. We were just as comfortable as we had been in high school. We both commented on the brilliant value of Facebook. I also regretted the lost time and apologized for that fact I hadn't kept in touch with someone who was instrumental in helping me become who I am now- and I am quite fond of my life and who I am now! The waitress was aware of our reunion and her hostess skills seemed to compliment the experience.

He handed me a self produced CD on which he wrote the songs, played all instruments and sang all the vocals. I'm listening to it as I write. I wish that I was the one playing keyboards on it and singing the back up vocals with him. His CD is entitled "Planetary Alignment". I have played with other musicians off and on in the intervening years. Some have been far more talented that we were at the time, but there hasn't been a group of guys that connected like "Fugitive" did in 1980 and 81 in Winslow Arizona. It's interesting how a chance meeting can turn ones life at right angles or even 180 degree turns. The planets really did align. Thanks Jason! I'm not going to let another 21 years pass before another meeting.