Tag Archives: freestyle dance

Dance School With A Mission

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Tonight I had the opportunity to enjoy a dance performance by The Everett Company Stage School in Providence, Rhode Island, A Hip Hop Holiday. It was fun seeing local youth dance with such passion, commitment and purpose.  Unfortunately, the media often portrays Hip Hop Culture as something bad and violent. Those who know better, are aware of the historical roots of Hip Hop as a Social Movement.

Fun Dance Party with Rhode Island DJ

“By 1989, hip-hop had long since graduated from its humble, thrilling origins as innovative party music in the Bronx in the late 1970s. Hip-hop had become a movement, a collective platform for African-American youth to voice frustration and inspiration alike. It had spread through inner cities and as far as suburbia, but was still seen as a sort of underground and lacked the big pop stars and cash flow of genres like R&B or rock.” (Dead Prez)

For me, it was a means of those who needed a voice to find one and speak their minds through music, verse and poetry.  It was possibly the next wave of social movement after the Sixties.

Dance Saved My Life

Time, money and the record industry have shifted a significant majority of the popular mainstream Hip Hop artists message and style to meet the needs of White, suburban culture. Hip Hop often does not resemble the sound and voice of its humble beginnings as social movement for change.

 

Fortunately, there are many excellent dance schools like Everett that are keeping it alive and sharing it with youth of all shapes, colors and sizes. The dancers echo the deep commitment of their Creative Director, Sokeo Ros

 

 

It was a pleasure to support such a valuable piece of dance, education and culture for talented youth!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

DJ Has A Great Time

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Saturday Night was the 30th Anniversary of Barefoot Boogie at Insight Meditation Center in NYC! It was such a fun night with an incredible energy and feeling of celebration. As the Coordinator of DJs and Teachers for our twice monthly dance events, it was extra special for me personally. When I returned to The USA almost three years ago after living in South Korea and traveling Asia, I discovered Barefoot Boogie as a means for dance and building community here in the New Jersey and New York area, after being away from this region for fifteen years. The Barefoot Boogie has been an essential piece of my life and was a driving force in me returning to being a professional DJ full-time again. I am so grateful for that cold, snowy January Night when I first walked in the doors to the Insight Center and heard the flowing music in the background. I felt home for the first time since landing on American soil.

 

We danced, sang, moved and grooved to fun music and special events we had planned. We did this really fun dance that the DJ played a short clip of a song form each of the thirty years and the person who was wearing the bib-like shirt that we made with the year corresponding to the song, did a brief solo dance and then gave way to the next dancer and subsequent year. We had two children present who also picked a year to dance solo.

 Barefoot Boogie celebrates 30 Years with Three DJs

I was the DJ for the last set and played some really open and expansive music, since the two earlier DJs played mostly popular old and new songs. I felt like I needed to offer another alternative to balance things out, since we are a very diverse and alternative community of freestyle dancers. This is one of the more unusual songs I played for the first time at a gig Saturday Night. Music likes this is not something I typically get to play at Weddings, Parties and Events and the Barefoot Boogie is a great place for me to experiment as a professional DJ.

What do you think of this tune for dancing or listening?

Creative DJ at Barefoot Boogie NYC

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

DJ Mystical Michael at Barefoot Boogie Saturday Night 10/27

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As Coordinator of DJs and Teachers at Barefoot Boogie, it is important for me to try and give as m ch of my time to actually being there and DJing to show our new and upcoming DJs how to master the skills. I have not been able to DJ at The Boogie since last month but it seems much longer since I miss it. Playing music for such an open and diverse group is fun, it allows me, or any DJ, to get creative and stretch the playlist far beyond what would be acceptable or productive at a Wedding, Party or Event. Of course, I always enjoy DJing in NYC, especially downtown or at least in Chelsea.

What is The Barefoot Boogie?

The Boogie is a freestyle dance which happens twice a month in New York City. We offer a relaxed, smoke- and alcohol-free environment where folks can freely express themselves in movement.

What Kind of Music Do The DJs Play?

From our pool of talented DJs, two spin each dance. Each of our DJs has his or her own distinctive style, but one thing you can rely on is that atevery Boogie you’ll hear a wide variety of music: R&B, World, Funk, Tribal, Hip Hop, Ambient, Reggae, House, African, Electronica, Disco, Rock, Techno, Drum & Bass, etc.

People of all ages, families and kids are welcome. Come alone or bring your friends. You’ll find folks at the dance moving solo, with partners, and/or in groups. Dress as you wish, but please leave your street shoes at the door before hitting the dance floor. The Barefoot Boogie is a not-for-profit, cooperative and volunteer-run venture.

The Barefoot Boogie as about to celebrate its 30th anniversary next month! It is amazing to me that a group of dancers started this back in 1982 and have found a way to keep it going for thirty years! This is one of the reasons I am so willing to volunteer and DJ when I can at Barefoot Boogie. What DJ would not want to support a creative dance community with such history and talent like the Barefoot Boogie? Besides, where else can I play World, Buddha Bar, Rock, Soul, R&B, Oldies, Hip Hop, Jazz, House and Top 40 as a DJ all in one night?

Dancers Partying with DJ Mystical Michael at Barefoot Boogie

Looking forward to tomorrow night at Barefoot Boogie!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

DJ Mystical Michael at Barefoot Boogie Saturday Night 10/8!

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I am even more excited than I was last night!

 

Along with being a professional full-time DJ & MC, I am also the volunteer Coordinator of Teachers & DJs at The Barefoot Boogie NYC.  It is my responsibility to recruit, schedule and sometimes train our teachers and DJs for our semi-monthly events.  The venue we create these evens is Insight Meditation Center, originally had a special event scheduled for this Saturday Night, 10/8. We shifted our schedule to accommodate. It turns out they had to cancel the event and we had some conversation and decided we would scramble together and put a dance event together for tomorrow night.  I offered to DJ since I have not had the opportunity to DJ there since before the wedding season was in full swing. I miss it.

 

I now get to DJ at an outdoor wedding in the afternoon and Barefoot Boogie at night.  Besides seeing friends and being in an environment I enjoy, DJing at The Barefoot Boogie allows me to get extremely creative in musical selections.  I will start the night with some slow, lush music to support dancers in getting warmed-up and stretched.  After I see folks are ready, I will slowly raise the energy, tempo and volume till we are at full force.  The Boogie is an environment that diversity and creativity are considered gifts for dancers and movers.  Throughout the night I will try to mix in some music from many decades, genres and cultures from around the globe.

 

Should be a great day between the wedding and the boogie!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Accepting New Challenges As A Professional DJ

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I was recently approached with an offer to professional DJ at a club that is under new management. It is really a sports bar with a club upstairs; a great place to eat and party. They already have a Resident DJ but he is not willing to play music for theme nights they are planning over the next few months. He does not want to do Country, Latin or a Ladies Night. He will only do what he does and nothing else. Why are so many professional DJs like this?

 

I look forward to accepting new challenges and expanding my repertoire as a professional DJ. How can this be a bad thing?

 

Even when I was new at this way back when many years ago, I wanted to try new things, learn and gain experience and confidence in as many genres and styles as possible. As a professional DJ, it increases my value and marketability. As a performer, I add to my pallet of music in my library that I can provide to clients.  Country and Latin Music are two of the hottest dance trends these days and why would a professional DJ not want to be a part of the fun and excitement?

 

I wonder if this is just a matter of ego and maturity? If you have any ideas on why so many professional DJs are afraid to venture beyond one or two genre, I would be most grateful for your thoughts.

 

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ 

Big Smiles For The Wedding DJ

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There is a point in every event that the professional Wedding, Party or Event DJ gets his/her reward for a job well done. You can see it in the smiles and posture of the guests at the party. They can’t help but let the great energy of celebration get the best of them. If no one is facing us, we see other forms of evidence if paying attention.  It is easy to be misguided by the packed dance floor. I have been at events when the dance floor is packed since people really want to dance even if they do not like the music the DJ is playing. Dancers will dance! It is the passion and excitement in how they dance that is a greater indicator of success for the professional Wedding DJ.

When I was younger, I used to worry that when too many people asked for requests it meant I was doing a bad job. This is not always so. Time and experience have taught me that often they are having so much fun that each new song gets them fired-up about another great song they want to hear. Requests can be an effeective means of determining success or failure as a professional DJ. The difference is how they ask.

 

A while back I was helping out another DJ at a wedding. The crowd kept shifting between wanting old and new music due to the varied ages of guests. Some folks were feeling avoided and angrily appraoched the Wedding DJ station with comments like, “Do you have any music from this decade?” or ” Do you know there was music invented before last month?”. These are indicators of the Wedding DJ missing what the crowd needs.

 

On Saturday night the requests were more like, “Wow! Marvin Gaye was great. Do you have any other Motown?” and “The Bride loved Pitbull so much she was wondering if you could also play his new song with Ne-Yo ‘Give Me Everything’? Please?” I played both Motown and Pitbull and they worked out great. The greatest reward for me was seeing The Bride smiling ear-to-ear.  At the end of the night, The Bride, Groom and her sister all gave me big hugs when I was leaving, as if they were about to lose their new best friend. It certainly made the ride home on the Garden Sate Parkway a breeze on that hot summer night from this beautiful outdoor, backyard Wedding DJ.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Last Minute Event DJ

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It is not often but sometimes I have an open date approaching the weekend. It is even rarer when that date is a holiday three-day weekend like the Fourth of July. Stranger yet was that two separate clients wanted to hire me last minute for the same day but at different times. One needed a professional DJ for a First Communion celebration in the afternoon and the other a unique form of Wedding Party in the evening. We somehow found a way to schedule both of them and serve the families that requested our services last minute!

 

Fortunately for me, I have been doing this for a long time and don’t need much time or preparation to get ready for a last minute professional DJ gig. Of course, I appreciate the prep time when I have it, but can show-up wihtout much notice or details and do an excellent job providing professional DJ services and great music.

 

I was speaking with a friend over dinner last night about the fact that I always try to create a ‘playlist’ of songs which is more of a music bank then playlist. I take the songs that the client has requested and place them in a ‘playlist’ for their event. I then add on a 2:1 ratio another group of songs that would compliment their requests perfectly.  These are where I will start from at the event till I get a sense of the crowd and get a nice request list going from those attending the event. Together with the original list they offered, the ones I added intuitively, what I can see and feel working and the crowds requests – we end up with an excellent event full of great music and fun!

 

I am excited about both of these gigs and an additional Wedding on Sunday. The last minute Wedding is actually a kind of Wedding I have not served previously as a professional Wedding DJ. The Bride and Groom have already been married and celebrated at a destination Wedding in The Caribbean. This party is for the friends and family that could not attend their Destination Wedding. Should be fun!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

DJ Top Songs of The 60’s

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I wanted to look at what are the songs that people today think are DJ Top songs fro the 60’s as a professional DJ. I searched the Internet for a current poll and found one that seems like a good fit. Let me know what you think.

 

1      ****  NUMBER ONE ****
Hey Jude, The Beatles
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (9 weeks)
2  (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
3  Light My Fire, The Doors
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
4  Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
5  Yesterday, The Beatles
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
6  The Twist, Chubby Checker
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
7  I Want To Hold Your Hand, The Beatles
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (7 weeks)
8  The House Of The Rising Sun, The Animals
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
9  The Sounds Of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
10  Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
11  El Paso, Marty Robbins
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
12  My Girl, The Temptations
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
13  Oh, Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
14  Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2
15  (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, Otis Redding
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
16  Paint It, Black, The Rolling Stones
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
17  Respect, Aretha Franklin
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
18  Come Together, The Beatles
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
19  The Theme From “A Summer Place”, Percy Faith
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (9 weeks)
20  Penny Lane, The Beatles
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
21  I’m A Believer, The Monkees
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (7 weeks)
22  Downtown, Petula Clark
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
23  The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Tokens
1961 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
24  Turn! Turn! Turn!, The Byrds
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
25  She Loves You, The Beatles
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
26  Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix Experience
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #65
27  When A Man Loves A Woman, Percy Sledge
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
28  It’s Now Or Never, Elvis Presley
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (5 weeks)
29  Honky Tonk Woman, The Rolling Stones
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
30  Cherish, The Association
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
31  You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, The Righteous Brothers
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
32  California Dreamin’, The Mamas And The Papas
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #4
33  In My Life, The Beatles
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: did not chart
34  A Day In The Life, The Beatles
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: did not chart
35  Can’t Buy Me Love, The Beatles
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (5 weeks)
36  Mrs. Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
37  Sugar Sugar, The Archies
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
38  Runaway, Del Shannon
1961 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
39  I Heard It Through The Gravevine, Marvin Gaye
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (7 weeks)
40  Will You Love Me Tomorrow, The Shirelles
1961 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
41  Help!, The Beatles
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
42  Love Child, The Supremes
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
43  God Only Knows, The Beach Boys
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #39
44  Are You Lonesome To-night, Elvis Presley
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (6 weeks)
45  Running Bear, Johnny Preston
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
46  Leaving On A Jet Plane, Peter, Paul & Mary
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
47  Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In, The Fifth Dimension
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (6 weeks)
48  Mr. Tambourine Man, The Byrds
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
49  Paperback Writer, The Beatles
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
50  All You Need Is Love, The Beatles
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
51  Ode To Billie Joe, Bobbie Gentry
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
52  Leader Of The Pack, Shangri-Las
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
53  Ruby Tuesday, The Rolling Stones
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
54  Wild Thing, The Troggs
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
55  Hello, I Love You, The Doors
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
56  Strawberry Fields Forever, The Beatles
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #8
57  White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #8
58  Daydream Believer, The Monkees
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
59  A Hard Day’s Night, The Beatles
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
60  I Got You Babe, Sonny & Cher
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
61  Someday We’ll Be Together, The Supremes
1969 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
62  Stop In The Name Of Love, The Supremes
1965 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
63  Hit The Road Jack, Ray Charles
1961 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
64  All Along The Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix
1968 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #20
65  Louie Louie, The Kingsmen
1963 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 2 (6 weeks)
66  She’s Not There, The Zombies
1964 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2 (1 week)
67  The Loco-Motion, Little Eva
1962 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
68  Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Brian Hyland
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)
69  Can’t Help Falling In Love, Elvis Presley
1962 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2 (1 week)
70  Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
1966 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2 (1 week)
71  It’s My Party, Lesley Gore
1963 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (2 weeks)
72  Stuck On You, Elvis Presley
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)
73  Save The Last Dance For Me, The Drifters
1960 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)
74  Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2 (1 week)
75  Somethin’ Stupid, Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra
1967 Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1 (4 weeks)

The first song that surprised me by its placement on the list is #11 “El Paso”. I did not think that still today it had the same popularity as some of the others. I will be mindful of this the next gig I have that includes oldies. On the flip side, I thought  “Respect” would rank higher, since it is requested all the time. I also would have thought The Drifters “Save The Last Dance For Me” would be in the top 25. It never would have occurred to me, although one of my favorite songs of all time, that Jimi Hendrix version of “All Along The Watchtower” would even be on this list, forget about being #64. Glad I am wrong, even a professional DJ learns something from clients.

 

What songs surprised you?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Mr DJ, Please Don’t Go!

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On Saturday night, I was booked as Wedding DJ by a fellow DJ due to overbooking on his part. We all try to support each other and when he asked me to take this gig awhile back I had no trouble filling in for him. One aspect of having somebody all else book a weding for you is you miss out on planning the reception with the couple getting married. Of course, I called her earlier in the week and we spoke a few trimes to make sure that we were on the same page. The wedding was held in the huge backyard of The Bride in Robbinsville, NJ just outside of Trenton.

 

I knew early in the night this was going to be a fun wedding party when I was playing basic Classic Rock as requested by the couple and folks were rockin’ at their tables eating salad. If Bryan Adams was having trouble keeping them in their seats, the rest of the night was going to be a breeze for this Wedding DJ. It was.

 

During the break between salad and dinner, The Bride sent The Maid of Honor to ask me to play some party music because she wanted to dance. One minute later the dance floor was packed and the caterer was yelling at me because no one was seated at their tables to serve dinner because the Wedding DJ had them too involved. I had to ask everybody to return to their seats for dinner. They all growled at me but grudgingly made it back to their tables for an excellent dinner.

 

When she was done eating, she again sent The Maid of Honor to ask me to crank things back up again and this time it took even less time for people to be bumping into each other on the dance floor. It was like this throughout the night. They sure loved to party!

 

We were booked for the standard five hour wedding from 6-11. Apparently, that was not enough for them. They asked us to stay another hour knowing the rate for overtime agreed upon in advance.  At 11:55 I announced last song and played the tune they requested to end the night, Black Eyed Peas “The Time (Dirty Bit)”. I felt like such a bad person since nobody left the dancce floor after I started turning off all my gear. I was just about to shut-down my main power when The Bride and her Father approached me and begged us to stay one more hour. Of course, all the guests heard this exchange and started chanting, “One more hour! One more hour!” with a few young ladies pleading mercilessly in the background. We gave-in and turned the gear back-on and readied ourselves to start the party again to the clapping and cheers from their friends and family.

 

What a fun group of people! We had so much fun just providing music for them to party and celebrate with The Bride and Groom. We realized that we needed to wear them out or they would never let us go home! Finally around 1:15 they started looking a bit ragged. Some even jumped into the swimming pool with cold water in their clothes to cool-off!

 

It was a great night and my ride home was full of smiles and contentment over a job well-done. By the time I got home, I was exhausted from the event and ready for bed myself with the chant of “One More Hour! One More Hour!” ringing in my head. Finally, the Wedding DJ can rest.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

How To Mix Genre As A Professional DJ

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This week I have been preparing for a wedding this Saturday in Robbinsville, NJ.  The couple, like many young couples, have differing tastes in music. This is not a problem for a professional Wedding DJ whom is not stuck in the mind-set that they need to play one style to be effective, actually my experience demonstrates much to the contrary.

 

This particular couple have very contrasting music that they enjoy. He is a fan of Country and Rock Music while she gets fired-up with some Dance, Pop and Hip Hop.  As you can see, they do not compliment each other very well musically.

 

So what does a professional Wedding DJ do to make both of them happy and their friends and family?  Glad you asked!

 

A bit of careful planning plus a knack for reading a crowd go a long way towards blending genres.  The planning piece is making sure you have the music they want. I needed to scan through my 35,000 song library and see if all the songs they want I have plus the songs and artists that would mix well with them. Next I created an iTunes playlist so I have their stuff all ready without having to search through the database. I do not put any of the music in order except for the special songs like The First Dance, Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, Bouquet and Garter Tosses, etc. A good Wedding DJ wants to have the freedom to allow the energy of the crowd dictate the order of the music for the most part, unless the client asks for it to be in a specific order. I also take the time to make sure each file opens and plays correctly, can’t do anything about it while live and the whole reception is waiting for you to crank-up a tune for The First Dance. Then it is too late. When that is all completed, I am ready for the gig and that leads us to the more critical piece of blending styles at a event.

 

Common sense tells us that the Dance and Hip Hop will mostly belong after the dinner and traditional dances since they are made for fun, party dancing.  Also most of the songs in those genres do not make good background music at a wedding for enjoying dinner for guests of all ages.  The reverse is true to a lesser extent of Country and Rock.  A good portion of Popular Country Music works well during dinner, as many Rock Classics like the ones he picked; The Band, Journey, Pink Floyd and Bob Seger to list a few. Some of the Country selections like Lady Antebellem, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith make great dinner music if you appreciate Country msuic, which I do, and so does the Groom which is more important.

 

After dinner and Bouquet and Garter Tosses, we can move into the dance stuff like Beyonce, Keri Hilson, Rihanna, Ciara and one of my favorites these days, Yolanda Be Cool and DCup.  I do not want to forget that some of the Rock and Country stuff is also danceable and will mix that in when I play slow dance songs or immediately following a slow dance song.

 

Example:

After a set of fast dance songs from their list, I can mix in a slow song or two like Bob Seger “Like A Rock” and  Kenny Chesney “Me and You”. To slowly bring things back to a more partying level, I can play Neil Diamond “Sweet Caroline” since it starts slow and picks it up throughout the song. Now we are ready to blend the dance stuff back in again but still need a good song to segue with like Usher “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love Again” This song begins with a medium tempo befoire getting things cookin’ by the first chorus. We are back in business and the dance floor is pakced with folks moving and grooving. I can play any fast dance songs without much effort at this point. If I wanted, I could dip back into the list and mix in Van Morrison “Brown Eyed Girl” or Guns N Roses “Paradise City” if I blended them properly. This will keep everybody happy.

 

Chances are that if The Bide or Groom like a certain genre, so will many of their friends and often family as well. I think it is critical as a Wedding DJ to not leave out large groups of people when selecting music because you don’t like it or think it is too hard to mix into the set you are playing. Think it through and use your common sense to make a great party even better!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ