Thursday Club – San Diego Psychiatric Society Presidential Installation

Venue: Thursday Club (1224 Santa Barbara Street, San Diego, CA 92107)
Number of guests: 100
Services Provided: Corporate DJ

Human Resources Contact: Shannon Bartlett
Client: San Diego Psychiatric Society (president: Steven Ornish)

In September of 2010, Steven Ornish placed a quote request for a DJ for his installation in May 2011. Steven had been elected to President, and was to have his Installation Party in 2011. Being a true vinyl enthusiast, Steven went looking for a professional event DJ that used vinyl. Not only did he want one that used, vinyl, but he wanted one that would use HIS vinyl. Yes, Steve wanted to supply vinyl for the night. He had a good collection of songs on vinyl that he wanted to hear, and needed a DJ who really knew how to work with vinyl in order to make the event a success. He also wanted a DJ who used quality equipment and really knew his equipment, who could guarantee that Steven’s precious vinyl would not be harmed by the backcueing that occurs when a DJ uses records. We talked a bit more about his musical preferences and afterwards he was ready to book on the spot. After a couple of calls from his HR department, I had a contract in hand and they were booked and ready.

Thursday club is a nice venue with many areas which can be used for different things at an event. Being a historic building, there’s no requirement for wheelchair access though, so if you are disabled, be prepared! Historic buildings also make DJs’ jobs more difficult. I had quite a time bringing equipment up and down the small flight of stairs that allows entry into Thursday Club. Them’s the breaks…

I set up my main equipment in front of the stage. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I really prefer to not be on a stage at a small, intimate gathering. Sure, proms and large dances work fine with a stage, but for smaller events, I feel that I can connect more with guests if I am nearer to them, and what’s more– It gives them easier access to me to be able to make requests, talk about things, and even just watch the turntable show! Here’s my set up.

Steve arrived early and brought me some vinyl albums and singles to work with.

Did I mention that Steve was a turntable/vinyl enthusiast? Yeah, I don’t think you fully understand the level of his devotion, but this will help clarify that. Here’s his placemats. I took a couple of plates off to give you the full effect.

Note: These are real albums. He found a vinyl shop that had a stock of these and purchased them all. I played one to hear what was on them. MMmm… not good music. Better to eat off of, than listen to, in my opinion.

For cocktail and dinner, I played a variety of Rat Pack era music, mostly from Steve’s records, but I did end up complementing them with a few of my own because dinner ran long and his dinner songs were depleted. Here’s a shot of both turntables being used for dinner music, with records on them.

I did sets of a few genres once open dancing began. The main genre that got everyone dancing was definitely disco, but I played some 80′s synth-pop also because that was Steven’s favorite music and got him out on the floor.

Unfortunately, mixing real vinyl takes more concentration than using Serato, so I really didn’t have time to capture photos of dancing. But, the guests did dance, had a good time, and afterwards Steve came over and thanked me, but was a bit busy with guests so I didn’t want to bother him with getting a post-event snapshot.

Congrats to Steven Ornish, newest president of the San Diego Psychiatric Society. I know you’ll do great things. Thanks for letting me be a part of your installation party, and I hope you enjoyed seeing your vinyl used to make people dance!

The Abbey – San Diego DJ – Downtown Rotary Club Fundraiser

Client: Joseph Marshall on behalf San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club
Venue: The Abbey
Venue Address: 2825 Fifth Ave., San Diego, CA 92103
Number of guests: 100+
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage, Additional Soundsystem

Joseph Marshall from the San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club contacted me at the beginning of the year. Although, I was in Las Vegas at the annual MobileBeat DJ Convention, I was able to discuss enough details with Joseph over the phone to assure him that we were the company he wanted for his fundraiser. He told me that they were doing a “Saturday Night Fever” disco party at The Abbey, and would need a DJ (whether San Diego wedding DJ or not) that knew his disco music well. Additionally he wanted a strong dance floor lightshow, complete with disco ball effects, and an additional soundsystem since The Abbey is multi-story and there was going to be a live auction which would need to be heard by everyone throughout the venue.

As Shalamar sings, this was definitely a “night to remember”. We started with a cocktails and appetizers hour, at which time I played some of the disco hits from the 70′s that only true disco fans would recognize. This kept the theme ‘disco’ without wasting great disco tracks that would be better utilized later in the night on the dance floor!

For the silent and live auctions, they used a professional auctioneer, Steve Hamann, who performs at over 100 auctions per year. He was definitely a pro– He kept the guests informed of closing times for the silent auctions quite well during the appetizer hour.

A professional dance duo was scheduled to perform a dance segment, and then do some dance instruction. I met with them during cocktails and discussed the songs they wanted/needed. One of the dancers gave me his phone which had a list of  his favorite disco songs. I went back to my booth and proceeded to make a Serato crate with all these songs, to prepare for their segment. Soon they took over the dance floor, demonstrating their dance prowess to Michael Jackson’s “Dancing Machine”. After that, they started dance lessons for all guests. I smoothly mixed through all the songs on his playlist, beatmatching and transitioning properly. It worked really well to keep the guests entertained and on the floor.

Clean disco-ready set up

After dance lessons, we had a bit of open dancing during which point the dance floor stayed full. Once that set was over, Steve took over again and held a live auction with items such as weekend stays in Hawaii, and spa treatments. I remember one particular item which caused quite a laugh– A cemetary and cremation service, with a certificate that must be redeemed within five years! No one bought it.

After the auction was over, the floor was turned back over to me and I did my thing, keeping guests dancing for an hour or so more. Afterwards, Joe came over and expressed his thanks, stating that “Rotarians are notoriously difficult to get dancing” and that he had many future events planned and I was now at the top of his list. Oh, and two of the catering staff came over and grabbed business cards, so I think we’re starting to be a preferred vendor at The Abbey.

Disco Fever at The Abbey

Although I did manage to get some video of the guests dancing, I was experimenting some with some overhead angles and I don’t believe the result is anything I want to show, sorry!

Thanks to Joseph Marshall and the San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club for allowing us to be part of their fundraiser, and we’ll see you again soon!

Dave and Busters – San Diego State University (SDSU) Appreciation Party

Client: April Hsu on behalf of SDSU NSMH, SDSU MESA, and SDSU HTMSA
Venue: Dave & Buster’s – San Diego
Venue Address: 2931 Camino del Rio North ,San Diego , CA 92108
Number of guests: 100+
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage

April Chu from SDSU’s National Society of Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH) contacted me a while back looking for a licensed and insured DJ for their organization’s appreciation party. Apparently they had a few DJs that they knew personally that wanted to perform, but Dave & Busters has a strict policy requiring licensed and insured performers. This just emphasizes how important it is to be licensed and insured here in San Diego, right?

April and I met at Dave and Busters to work out the details. They wanted dance floor lighting, a video montage, and of course GREAT music and club-style mixing.

The night of the event everything went well. For the first 1/4 of the night they served appetizers and drinks, and I played an instrumental medley of today’s top-40 songs to accompany it. These were college students, after all!

After appetizers, there was an awards ceremony at which there were many prizes given out. After that they did a recognition of new board members, and a raffle. Then, it was our turn.

The dance floor filled slowly but steadily, and by end of the second song, it was pretty full! Guests enjoyed cleverly mixed top-4o, club, rock and even a bit of hip-hop. There were a few requests, and I was able to get most of them in during the short amount of dance time that was left. Primo Desiderio came out to hang out and enjoy the performance, and ended up taking a decent amount of video for me, which I’ve compiled into an enjoyable clip below. This is one of the best videos of a Creative Music DJs performance so far, so I must express thanks!

Mike Nunez also came to hang out, and being a very good photographer, he took some amazing shots of me in action. See what you think. I think they’re excellent!

At the end of performance, you’ll notice one of the attendees performing a number to Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”. I was told he knows the dance to most Michael Jackson songs so at the end of the night I held a vote for an MJ song and Smooth Criminal won. After I saw him perform I now wish we had a lot more time so we could see more of his moves!

After dancing was over, guests came over to thank me, April expressed her satisfaction over the performance, and a few bartenders from Dave and Busters remarked on how much they enjoyed the music.

Thanks to April Chu and SDSU for allowing us to be part of their celebration, and we’ll see you next year!