In case there was any question...

Let it be put to rest! I have worn the mystical square hat of learning!
Here's a pic of me and my sister Cindy, who attended my graduation last Saturday. I was about to melt into a little puddle on the sidewalk in that robe and sash. I was smart enough to earn the degree but not smart enough to skip the suit jacket. I would have done fine with just the shirt and tie.

There you have it!

I have a list of little projects that have been on hold for several months to blast through now and I have a stack of recommended books on my desk to read. I finished Team of Rivals by Goodwin- heavy book, starting Narcissism Epidemic by Twenge tomorrow.

Don't shoot, I'm just the piano player

If I wasn't aware of the economic crisis out there, I would never know it looking at the malls and the restaurants. I DJ'd a huge Cinco de Mayo party at Cantina Laredo in Scottsdale last week and the place was packed. All tables sold out for the whole night several days in advance. People were allowed in to the bar/patio but were alerted that they may or may not be served any food from the grill. I was supposed to play until 9PM so they could close the grill at 930 or so and close at 10PM. That place rocked until 11P! I looks like it will turn into a regular Thursday night event for me alternating between DJing, hosting karaoke or piano playing.

A couple of weeks ago, I played piano at an industry function in the courtyard at Old Town Torilla Factory, also in Scottsdale. The write up said that "in a voice reminescent of Rod Stewart, he played and sang for nearly two hours" it concluded with something to the effect of, the wedding industry hears more than its share of sappy love songs and the set included NONE of those but the selections were known and loved songs that weren't the obvious and over-played songs usually aired by piano players. They mentioned me in the same sentence as Rod Stewart?!!?! I'll take it!

Here's somebody that was "moved" by my performance.



Playing and singing is something that I have always loved but never regarded as my gift. Since I stopped working a day job 3 years ago, I have taken the time to develop it into something that I feel very confident about- something that it is entertaining and can even move people! Word is out regarding my abilities as a musician in addition to my DJ abilities and I have been approached to play at a few other great restaurants around town on weeknights. When you do a good job, the money always seems to follow. When you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. Fun stuff!

Thanks to Stuart Thurkill of Eyes 2 See Photography for snapping a couple of photos that night.

Sometimes I just sit and think...

and sometimes, I just sit.

I had a great event in Santa Monica CA on Friday night that went until nearly 1AM and then I packed up the toys and drove all night to get to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale AZ by 9AM for my college graduation at 10AM (6-hour drive). I slept for about two hours out in the desert somewhere but it really took a toll on my body.

I had a dream out there about a bizarro parallel universe where everybody wore black robes and square hats and marched in to a giant stadium while Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance played... wait a minute...

I had a splitting headache and generally wasn't feeling well for my graduation and a dose of Tylenol proved ineffective. It was good to see some instructors and classmates from the prior years but I wasn't my usual witty and charming self. The whole experience was a blur unfortunately. Not just the ceremony itself, but looking back, where did the years go and all of the classes and assignments? Since all of my text books were in an online library, I was robbed of the opportunity for a book burning party. I didn't get to rip up a bunch of old assignments even- I just had to delete them. What's fun about that? Toga party anyone?

My sister Lauri also graduated yesterday with a Masters degree from NAU! Congratulations Lauri!

I still haven't collected all of my thoughts on the subject of graduation. I'll post again when I get the photo of me walking across the stage to receive my diploma- as long as it's a good picture and my eyes are open and everything.

Story time

I was on DJ duty at the Ishikawa Dragon Bar-b- que today. It's a little PTO fundraiser at the elementary school down the street from here. It was kind of an end-of-the-school-year-end-of-State-mandated-testing-party that would have been even better had it been held closer to the end of the school year but the weather is much nicer now to have such a celebration. 6 or 8 classrooms at a time had lunch served out in the courtyard in shifts. I had a few announcements and giveaways from local merchants to make it fun in addition to some good music. Parents were invited to come down and have lunch with their kidlets.

We had a screaming contest. The 2nd graders won by a landslide! I reminded them that I was a grown up now and that Principal Heath couldn't make me sit in her office for having a screaming contest but that she may still take me out in the parking lot and beat me up. The amount of dust kicked up by 100 dancing 6th graders at the last lunch shift was alarming. I'm glad the food was kinda put away by then. We did the YMCA, we did the cha-cha slide, we did Hannah Montana. It was-- lovely. I hated to get those kids so worked up to send them back to class for 2 more hours, let alone 25 more school days.

It is good to have several thousand watts of sound reinforcing power at my disposal, but the mistake many DJs make is that they think they need to be loud to be heard. There are a hundred other ways to command attention without making loud announcements. The dying art of story telling is one of them. When the kindergartners and 1st graders came out, (there were about 80 of them) I said hello to them over the sound system and then lowered my voice and drew them in to a story about how I had arisen from my bed early in the morning while everyone was still asleep and the stars were still shining and I drove my van out into the desert north of town here by the Salt River and I quietly hid behind a giant Saguaro cactus until the sun started to come up and I and waited for a dragon to make its way down to the river for a morning drink... then I got out my sword and I quietly snuck up behind the dragon and I SLEW the dragon and his guts were spilling out everywhere and I was slipping around in his guts and I put it in my van and brought it back to the school cafeteria and they cut it into little pieces and they threw it on the grill and now we'll be having some Dragon burgers and some Dragon dogs and they will be Deeeee-lish! I added that it was a lot of work and that I hoped they would each enjoy their Dragon burgers and Dragon dogs... and then I smiled at them silently for a moment.

There was sort of a collective question mark over their heads.

What was so fun and great about it was that they quieted down and listened! No shouting required. You could see the imagination in their eyes and the wheels turning in their heads to processing the thought of a dragon living in the desert north of Mesa Arizona and that their favorite DJ could kill it and then there was the added wonder of what a dragon burger might taste like and whether there might be anything else to eat.

I am the El Presidente of the American DJ Association and our educational content this month was about developing the next generation of DJ customers. It was a really fun event today and I feel like I helped to tie it all together and turn it from a good event to a great event and that those kids will grow up thinking that if you want a great event, you hire a professional DJ.

I guess if you just want some story time, you could call me for that too.

Pizza by the slice

I attended my final class last night. The University of Phoenix was nice enough to send a clerk from the academic advisors office with three Dominoes pizzas to congratulate us... "Two slices for you young man? But of course! That will be $30,000 please." Yes, in addition, to the sausage, could you sprinkle some gold flakes on mine?

I'm glad to be done but it was an anti-climactic finish. Maybe I'll feel different at the graduation ceremony in 3 weeks. Wait a minute, I'll get to wear that funny/cool square-hat-thing and a choir robe and THAT doesn't suck! They are having a member of the faculty speak and a student speaker and then a song or two and then read the 1000 names and turn us loose on the world. They aren't even getting a b-list local celebrity to speak! They did promise that the bagpipe regiment would be worth it. I've got a DJ gig Los Angeles the night before until well after midnight and will be driving like a mad man to get back to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale by 10AM.

I don't know if these statistics are correct, I didn't confirm them. There are less than 25% of the citizens of the U.S. that have bachelors degrees and less than 9% that have masters degrees. So I'm joining a rather small group of people who have put themselves through such stringent paces. I'm trying to make arrangements to have my son Javin come out with me from California because I want him to see that education is important and that it's something we make a fuss about as a people. We only wear those square hats on exceptionally special occasions such as this.

Side note: My sister is getting her Masters Degree at Northern Arizona University Skydome at 2PM that same day. I was thinking of driving like the dickens to get up there for hers after mine, but after a 6 hour all night drive from LA that doesn't sound too appealing. We'll have to have a celebration another time.

I graduated High School and left home at age 17 and had no clue about what insurance was and how to work a check book and I was ill-prepared for adult life which contributed to some terrible mistakes in relationships that I am still recovering from 25 years later. I have had a really good experience at UOP and I feel like I could contribute in a wonderful way to a business or a non-profit or a government agency, with some of the cool things I have learnt, coupled with my life experience, my DJ/entertainer career and 18 years in the reinforcing steel business, but I have no more interest in corporate America. As I look back at some experiences in business with a more classical training and perspective, I say, "You know what? I did that right!" I also think of a few other things that were accomplished only by shear force of will and there are smarter and easier methods. For the most part, it has given me a structure for otherwise crazy and ethereal thoughts. The structure makes me define better or even defend my position sometimes. It fleshes out alternate ideas and bridges gaps.

When a dog chases a car, I ask myself what that dog thinks he is going to do with that car if he catches it? Now I have a degree- and I wonder what I am going to do with it. I guess I'll start with the big job fair on Saturday morning. For the moment, I seem to be able to make a decent living as an entertainer and as long as it's fun, pays the bills and the customers keep calling, I'd love to just keep doing that for now.

This note may sound depressing and negative-- it isn't. I'm quite fond of life and I prefer not knowing what is around each corner. My life is a great balance of taking what I want and yet wanting only the simple things that life has given me naturally and freely. It is seemingly planned and yet entirely random simultaneously. Who knows what is around this next corner? Film at 11.

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?