Wedding Dance DJ's - Get Out of Town!!!
This past Friday, I actually escaped my heavily guarded fortress to attend one of my least favorite social functions – a wedding. For me, there’s nothing more depressing than seeing two people legally bind themselves together for the rest of their lives.
To each their own, I guess. I tried it once, didn’t like it, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever go through that misery again…unless some Swedish supermodel finds something to like in this pessimistic, middle-aged fat boy.
I must say, however, that the wedding was actually very nice. I’ve known the two people for many, many years, and I suspect that their experiences will be a bit more blissful than my 3 ½ years of misery. And I’d like to say right now that what I’m about to babble is by no means an attack on them or their reception. I had great food and plenty of Windsor-Cokes. Who am I to complain?
But I must say there was one major disappointment in the evening. Since both people were involved with Tempest there were many people in attendance that share my obsessive love of music. Besides a handful of writers that were known for letting their music influences impact their writings on politics, sports, movies, and fiction, there were also a few musicians and even a concert promoter or two.
Because of this lineup of friends and family, I had high hopes for the wedding reception. Surely the upcoming music was going to be fantastic. When the first dance for the wedding couple was a slow tune by Australian singer/songwriter Paul Kelly, I just knew this was going to be the party to remember.
Well, let’s just say that Paul Kelly was the highlight of the evening. Here’s just a few songs that I had to endure the first half hour – “Greased Lightning”, George Michael’s “Faith”, some stupid medley that linked a disco beat to Beethoven and 50’s tunes, Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5”, Usher. It was an endless list of suckiness – only Kanye’s “Golddigger” momentarily awakened me from my stupor.
Needless to say, the majority of my time at the reception was spent out on the balcony with the smokers. Actually, that’s where the majority of the people spent the rest of the night, leaving only the really old and the really young to boogie. Again, I’m not blaming the wedding couple or their families. I’m blaming the only person who makes a karaoke machine operator look like a music expert – the wedding dance DJ.
I’m not alone in this opinion. A good friend who’s much more sociable than myself (then again, who isn’t?) has attended quite a few weddings in the past couple of years. When I’ve met up with her a day or so after these shindigs, she’s had that exact same complaint. And it’s not like some of these guys haven’t been warned. When her best friend got married last year, they handed the DJ a playlist weeks before the event. He completely ignored it. When one of my best friends got married a few years ago, his person was also given lengthy instructions on what to play and, more importantly, what NOT to play. When the second song was the “chicken dance”, the groom was ready to strangle him.
I realize that most of my friends and myself are not typical wedding dance attendees. In this era of music morons, the majority of people at these functions find these stupid songs acceptable. But any DJ, from the hippest dance club to the smallest private party, should be able to gauge the tastes of any crowd and respond accordingly. That’s the fun of working these parties – and, believe it or not, I do know this from experience. Too often these days, DJ’s know less about music than their audience, and their sets rarely vary from gig to gig. If that’s the case, you’re better off putting an Ipod on shuffle.
To each their own, I guess. I tried it once, didn’t like it, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever go through that misery again…unless some Swedish supermodel finds something to like in this pessimistic, middle-aged fat boy.
I must say, however, that the wedding was actually very nice. I’ve known the two people for many, many years, and I suspect that their experiences will be a bit more blissful than my 3 ½ years of misery. And I’d like to say right now that what I’m about to babble is by no means an attack on them or their reception. I had great food and plenty of Windsor-Cokes. Who am I to complain?
But I must say there was one major disappointment in the evening. Since both people were involved with Tempest there were many people in attendance that share my obsessive love of music. Besides a handful of writers that were known for letting their music influences impact their writings on politics, sports, movies, and fiction, there were also a few musicians and even a concert promoter or two.
Because of this lineup of friends and family, I had high hopes for the wedding reception. Surely the upcoming music was going to be fantastic. When the first dance for the wedding couple was a slow tune by Australian singer/songwriter Paul Kelly, I just knew this was going to be the party to remember.
Well, let’s just say that Paul Kelly was the highlight of the evening. Here’s just a few songs that I had to endure the first half hour – “Greased Lightning”, George Michael’s “Faith”, some stupid medley that linked a disco beat to Beethoven and 50’s tunes, Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5”, Usher. It was an endless list of suckiness – only Kanye’s “Golddigger” momentarily awakened me from my stupor.
Needless to say, the majority of my time at the reception was spent out on the balcony with the smokers. Actually, that’s where the majority of the people spent the rest of the night, leaving only the really old and the really young to boogie. Again, I’m not blaming the wedding couple or their families. I’m blaming the only person who makes a karaoke machine operator look like a music expert – the wedding dance DJ.
I’m not alone in this opinion. A good friend who’s much more sociable than myself (then again, who isn’t?) has attended quite a few weddings in the past couple of years. When I’ve met up with her a day or so after these shindigs, she’s had that exact same complaint. And it’s not like some of these guys haven’t been warned. When her best friend got married last year, they handed the DJ a playlist weeks before the event. He completely ignored it. When one of my best friends got married a few years ago, his person was also given lengthy instructions on what to play and, more importantly, what NOT to play. When the second song was the “chicken dance”, the groom was ready to strangle him.
I realize that most of my friends and myself are not typical wedding dance attendees. In this era of music morons, the majority of people at these functions find these stupid songs acceptable. But any DJ, from the hippest dance club to the smallest private party, should be able to gauge the tastes of any crowd and respond accordingly. That’s the fun of working these parties – and, believe it or not, I do know this from experience. Too often these days, DJ’s know less about music than their audience, and their sets rarely vary from gig to gig. If that’s the case, you’re better off putting an Ipod on shuffle.
Comments
Anyway, funny story about how small our little city is. Back in 1997, I did a brief stint as an intern at the Tempest. During my time I wrote some god-awful stories about the skate park and homosexuality in SF. Also while there, I got to attend the annual Tempest Best of Sioux Falls brainstorming session at Boomers. To my dismay, the notorious Scott Hudson was a non-show. Rumor had it that Scotty and Angie didn't get along so well. I was deeply disappointed. I compensated myself over the years by listening to you on the KRRO rant about kicking people out of town.
So my question is this, do you think it we met 8 years ago like we were supposed to then today we wouldn't be the embittered shrews we are now? Or do you think we'd be even worse?
Miss September