In my ever continuing forms of DJ'ing, yesterday afternoon I was offered as a fill-in to do a mobile-type of gig for last night.
Basically it was a new 80's/retro night at an establishment that was taken over by new owners, one of whom is a longtime friend of my DJ friend who got me the gig (it's going to be his weekly as is, but he needed someone to fill and I happened to be able to volunteer after a couple of others flaked out). While said establishment is called a "cafe", it's a downstairs bar room currently with pool tables and the like Maybe it'll get built up and converted, who knows...
Keep in mind this: I've never done straight 80s before and really never had any in the library (used to have some tracks ages ago, but many got corrupted and a lot are in shite quality). Many years ago I would rail against doing these things because it didn't fit my philosophies and my style.
Well, I played some 3.5 hours of 'selected' stuff (i.e. what I had and the like ), the crowd was good (as I think we all kind of expected the worst given the first night), everything covered, and I was able to fulfill some requests...that I could remember because they were coming in pretty fast and furious at times Pays $150 too so I can't complain! hahahahaha
Oh and the booth? Total ghettoness; Behringer DJX700 mixer (since I have one I felt at home), and some really old-school Gemini dual-deck CD players...CD's everywhere from the previous setups (mainly did hip-hop there and the like...had a box of leftover CD's of some crappy stuff in there, but a few rock things which I was able to utilize). All I can say is thank god I left my 1000's in the car...my babies came through once again.
I'll say this, for those who have never done an 80's night and/or are thinking about one:
-Being a jukebox works, although I got creative to be creative...and it does inject a little variety into things.
-Better have like every 80's/retro track known to man I got some good requests that I didn't fulfill, because I didn't have time to dig that deep.
-Fulfill the owners requests, and they'll love you She likes more of the disco/funk times, he's more of the mid-decade stuff with rock...but all they asked I filled no problem.
-Do one. Seriously. Just to be different and try something totally out of your comfort zone.
Now I need to build up a mobile library Uggh, more music to sort through...
Basically it was a new 80's/retro night at an establishment that was taken over by new owners, one of whom is a longtime friend of my DJ friend who got me the gig (it's going to be his weekly as is, but he needed someone to fill and I happened to be able to volunteer after a couple of others flaked out). While said establishment is called a "cafe", it's a downstairs bar room currently with pool tables and the like Maybe it'll get built up and converted, who knows...
Keep in mind this: I've never done straight 80s before and really never had any in the library (used to have some tracks ages ago, but many got corrupted and a lot are in shite quality). Many years ago I would rail against doing these things because it didn't fit my philosophies and my style.
Well, I played some 3.5 hours of 'selected' stuff (i.e. what I had and the like ), the crowd was good (as I think we all kind of expected the worst given the first night), everything covered, and I was able to fulfill some requests...that I could remember because they were coming in pretty fast and furious at times Pays $150 too so I can't complain! hahahahaha
Oh and the booth? Total ghettoness; Behringer DJX700 mixer (since I have one I felt at home), and some really old-school Gemini dual-deck CD players...CD's everywhere from the previous setups (mainly did hip-hop there and the like...had a box of leftover CD's of some crappy stuff in there, but a few rock things which I was able to utilize). All I can say is thank god I left my 1000's in the car...my babies came through once again.
I'll say this, for those who have never done an 80's night and/or are thinking about one:
-Being a jukebox works, although I got creative to be creative...and it does inject a little variety into things.
-Better have like every 80's/retro track known to man I got some good requests that I didn't fulfill, because I didn't have time to dig that deep.
-Fulfill the owners requests, and they'll love you She likes more of the disco/funk times, he's more of the mid-decade stuff with rock...but all they asked I filled no problem.
-Do one. Seriously. Just to be different and try something totally out of your comfort zone.
Now I need to build up a mobile library Uggh, more music to sort through...
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