A number of changes happened today on my Facebook. Like others, I immediately found some issues with these changes, but after realizing they were not going away, I started using them and I have to say… I approve!

Here’s how my screen looks currently:

Now, like most… these changes were perceived as drastic and instantly the first thought is to refuse them and find fault with them. However, upon closer inspection, there’s actually some changes that are really useful!

If you mouse over an item on the new real-time ticker feed, you’ll find that you can interact with that item without ever having to click on it or go to your wall! Here’s an example.

Pretty cool, huh? Now the big question… is this going to result in even more time wasted on social media, or will it make us more efficient and productive? Time will tell.

Got other useful feedback about the new features (positive only, please)? Feel free to comment below!

The Wood House at Woodland Park in San Marcos – Evan and Natasha’s Wedding

Client: Susan Dewindt on behalf of Evan Dewindt
Venue: The Historic Wood House at Woodland Park
Venue Address: 1148 Rock Springs Rd., San Marcos, CA, 92079
Number of guests: 115
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage, Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Coordination: Opal Martin of Allie’s Party Equipment Rental
Photography: Sage Taylor Photography
Catering: Allie’s Party Equipment Rental

Earlier this year Susan Dewindt contacted me for her son’s wedding. We met at the wedding venue to discuss details, and worked out the details. The Wood House is a historic building located at the top of Woodland Park in San Marcos, directly below the public pool area. I wish I could supply more information than that about this venue, but the history of it seems to be rather secret, and I haven’t found a single website that elaborates on it.

The Historic Wood House in San Marcos

We sat down at the venue to discuss additional enhancements for the wedding (we are a full-service entertainment company, after all) and Susan decided to add the video montage package after viewing some of the recent slideshows that I have created for clients.

The ceremony was a lot of fun. Natasha and Evan were not looking for a traditional ceremony with traditional music, and to make sure that happened they spent time with their bridal party choreographing a bridal party introduction routine to Black Eyed Peas’ “Alive”. Although my camera wasn’t in a good spot to get some of the details, I did manage to get a decent amount of the routine on video. Enjoy!

The reception area at the Wood House is nice and large and guests enjoyed great appetizers from Allie’s Party Rentals while I played a customized playlist well-tailored for this particular crowd. Song choices included Reasons to Love You by Meiko and You Look Wonderful by Slightly Stoopid. As you can tell, this wasn’t your ordinary cocktail playlist. It was many of the couple’s requests, complemented by similar songs with similar themes. Truly a challenge, with a rewarding outcome.

Since this was an outdoor wedding and it was a bit sunny and hot, precautions had to be taken to protect my equipment (and me!) from the elements, all the while keeping the clean and professional set up I’m known for.

My view…

The wedding started a bit late so we had to adjust the timing of events to compensate. Luckily , I was not alone with the planning. I had the help of their day-of coordinator, Opal Martin, to work with. It’s always nice to work with a competent and friendly coordinator. Together, we were able to mitigate some of the scheduling issues and make everything work well. When we needed some extra time, I threw in the “Shoe Game” to entertain the party, and it went over really well. We also did the “Anniversary Dance” since there were a lot of married couples in the guest list. The winning couple had been together for 60 years!!!

Dances:

First dance – Can’t Help Falling In Love (UB40)
Father/Daughter – I Loved Her First (Heartland)
Mother/Son – Beautiful Boy (Celine Dion)

After the sun set, we were able to project the slideshow. I used my DaLite projector screen, which is 7′ wide and 7+’ tall. The projection was beautiful. My projector is extremely bright and as such doesn’t let me take pictures of the projection well, but here’s a shot of the set up and the guests and bride and groom enjoying the montage.

For open dancing, I was given a rather eclectic playlist of the bridal party’s favorite songs, largely centered around electronic dance music (EDM). I really enjoyed my set because it was definitely out of the typical wedding genre. I actually enjoyed it so much that I ended up hitting ‘record’ on my system, and after tossing some ‘drops’ in it, I’m posting it here for all readers to listen to and even download if they wish.

The Creative Music DJ – July Live Wedding Clip

The reception ended with a fast dance, and the mother of the bride actually requested an encore song which I obliged with, and then the mother of the groom came up and wanted ANOTHER encore song. This group of guests just did not want to stop dancing!

After the reception, guests gathered around for a group picture, which I became a part of as well. It was pretty dark so I had to do some editing to make everyone visible.

And I just LOVE the happy expressions of both Natasha and Evan in this one.

Congratulations to Natasha and Evan, thanks for having me along for the celebration, and best wishes for continued years of happiness. You both have known each other since second grade, and you answered most of the questions the same during the Shoe Game. I’d say this one is going to last!

After the big day, I contacted Susan, the mother of the groom, who posted a review on InsiderPages (http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15253916392/creative-music-djs-san-diego) which says this:

“Dennis did such an incredible job at my son’s wedding. Even with some very last minute changes minutes before the wedding started, Dennis was able to pull it off. He is great with the crowd and kept everyone dancing up to the very end!”

DJ AM Wonderwall Routine – Breakbeat Identified by DJ Dennis J

As many who know me personally undoubtedly know, I am a huge DJ AM fan. The man was a genius, and will be forever revered by many.

Along with many other DJ AM fans, I’ve been dying to find out where to get the breakbeat that he used on his infamous Wonderwall routine.

Well, I think I have figured it out! Many claimed it was a remixed version of Run DMC’s “Walk This Way” or a track on a DJ Rectangle record. Well, both are wrong. I believe the actual breakbeat used was hard to identify because it is created from two parts of a scratch sample record, which AM made his own breakbeat from.

Note: the actual breakbeat is 2 bars, yet I’ve only looped 1 bar for my demo. This is enough to tell you whether or not the breakbeat is the same.

At this time I’m not disclosing the origin because

1) I want to make sure this really is the track used. Please comment and tell me if you agree that this is the same breakbeat!

2) I want to see if anyone really cares enough to post something on their pages linking to this page.

Comment and let me know where you’ve linked and talked about this blog post, and if I see enough interest, I’ll disclose the origin!

DJ AM’s Wonderwall routine:

DJ Dennis J’s sample:

DJ Dennis J – DJ AM Wonderwall Breakbeat Sample

Is it the same? You tell me!