Tag Archives: Wedding Dancing

Marvin Gaye What’s Going On

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Marvin is and always has been one of my heroes. He has inpisred me to cry, laugh, want to be a better person and get off my butt and dance!  When I was a kid I had this ’45’ and wore it out. I am sure my family was sick of Marvin but not me. When I first became a professional DJ and was aked to do performances at Oldies DJ Parties, I knew I would have a chance to break out my Marvin Gaye What’s Going On and Stevie Wonder records, and did as often as possible.

 

Marvin Gaye What’s Going On in particular has a message that still resonates today. Hate and violence are still a significant current in our culture and globally. At some point we have to chose peace and respect. I think that is part of what he was trying to say in Marvin Gaye What’s Going On. I am amazed at how he could produce songs like this and “Mercy Mercy Me” and then balance them with “Sexual Healing” and “Got To Give It Up”. That sweet voice and passion rang through whatever he touched, Marvin Gaye What’s Going On, and he will be remembered by me and many others.

 

Thanks for Marvin Gaye What’s Going On!

As one of the pioneers of Motown, singer-songwriter and producer Marvin Gaye helped shape the sound of R & B music and is considered one of the greatest artists of all time. ‘I think I’ve got a real thing going. I love people. I love life and I love nature, and I can’t see why other people can’t be like that.’ –Marvin Gaye

 

Marvin Gaye What’s Going On and What’s Happening Brother Music Video

http://youtu.be/RE7-2XWGNk4

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Katy Perry Firework

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I often do not post videos of Top 40 songs while they are popular. They typically get enough promotion on their own. Katy Perry Firework is somehow different than the bulk of pop songs by teen stars. Katy Perry does seem to try things that are a bit off the beaten path and this is no exception.

 

The video and lyrics of Katy Perry Firework go beyond what is often flooding the pop charts. I wish more artists were willing to incorporate messages in their music and videos that speak to the challenges that many young people experience. Today more than ever pop stars influence their youthful listeners and the messages they provide are rarely supportive to healthy development.

 

Katy Perry Firework Lyrics

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting throught the wind
Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under scream
But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there’s still a chance for you
Cause there’s a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you’re a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make ’em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
You’re gunna leave ’em fallin’ down-own-own

You don’t have to feel like a waste of space
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you’re reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it’s time, you’ll know

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Katy Perry Firework Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Jagged Edge Featuring Run-DMC Let’s Get Married

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Jagged Edge Featuring Run-DMC Let’s Get Married is one of my favorite remixes ever! How bad can it be to have Run DMC beats and vocals with Let’s Get Married lyrics and Jagged Edge doing his thing? It is easy to not pay homage to Run DMC since they seem to have become the forgotten pioneers. It is too bad because they found the beauty in simplicity and staying true to what they wanted to say and produce beats that were danceable, strong and hard to ignore. They never veered from the roots of Hip Hop as a movement, not just a musical genre. Social awareness and sharing the The Struggle were what they did best and did not really feel the need to re-invent themselves as something different.

“Every turning point in American music has its originator, its progenitor, its King.  The blues had W.C. Handy and jazz had Louis Armstrong.  Swing had Benny Goodman and bebop had Charlie Parker.  Rhythm and blues had Ray Charles and rock and roll had Elvis Presley.  Punk rock had the Stooges and disco had Barry White.  And hip-hop had Run-DMC – and always will, with their uncompromised vision and attitude, as laid out on their formative albums and singles, serving as the DNA of rap music for more than two decades and counting.”  Run-DMC Website

As a professional Wedding DJ, Jagged Edge Featuring Run-DMC Let’s Get Married is one of the Wedding Introductions songs that is most fun to play. It is high energy without being over-the-top, gets everybody rockin’ and has the wedding message right there for all to hear.  I am glad that when I recommend Jagged Edge Featuring Run-DMC Let’s Get Married to Brides and Grooms, they often get excited if they happen to appreciate Hip Hop and R&B.

Jagged Edge Featuring Run-DMC Let’s Get Married Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

One Republic Featuring Timbaland Apologize

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One Republic Featuring Timbaland Apologize. I was in a small night club in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan and sits on the border next to Uzbekistan. I was out having fun with a young lady who is from Bishkek I met the night before at a wedding of one of her cousins.

 

We were dancing to the grooves of the DJ with a mix of Kyrgyz pop, American pop and dance and some current Russian hits.  We barely sat down the first hour we were there with her sister and a friend.  We decided to enjoy some nice fresh cold pineapple juice and catch a breather. Then One Republic Featuring Timbaland Apologize came on and she grabbed my hand as if I did not have a choice but to join her on the dance floor. It was the song we connected the most throughout the night and as someone who had not stepped foot on American soil in well over a year at this point, it was refreshing to hear something that reminded me of home.

 

“OneRepublic is an American alternative rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1] Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedderand Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then. They signed onto Mosley Music Group in 2006, and released their debut album, Dreaming Out Loud in 2007. OneRepublic made radio history when with their first single, “Apologize“, received the largest amount of airplay in history with 10,331 plays in one week.” Wikipedia

Nice song with the contrast of gentle beats and voices with the passion needed to grab and hold all who listen. Enjoy! Every professional DJ can play One Republic Featuring Timbaland Apologize and it is great for segueing different genre including Pop, Hip Hop, Dance, R&B, House,slow and up-tempo, really, it mixes well with most music!

One Republic Featuring Timbaland Apologize Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Yolanda Be Cool and DCup We No Speak Americano

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Every now and then there is a song that we professional DJs get to play that no matter the crowd, venue or demographics, somebody will come running up and asking with their eyes wide open with excitement, “Who is this?”  Currently for me this song is Yolanda Be Cool and DCup We No Speak Americano. A fun, playful song with a hysterical video. I like the longer versions of the song better but this 2:12 version is OK too.

 

For those curious about the artists and producer that created Yolanda Be Cool and DCup We No Speak Americano, here is a bio:

 

“Yolanda Be Cool is an Australian electronic dance music duo who scored an international chart-topping hit with the house smash “We No Speak Americano” in 2010. Comprised of Sylvester Martinez and Johnson Peterson, the duo hails from Sydney, Australia, and is affiliated with producer DCUP (born Duncan MacLennan). Yolanda Be Cool made their commercial recording debut with the Afro Nuts EP on the Australian independent label Sweat It Out in 2009. The following year they teamed up with DCUP on the house track “We No Speak Americano,” which notably samples the 1956 song “Tu Vuò Fà l’Americano” by legendary Italian singer/songwriter Renato Carosone. Initially released on Sweat It Out and later licensed for release by numerous other labels, “We No Speak Americano” was an international smash hit in summer 2010, topping the charts in over a dozen countries, including most of Europe.” ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

 

Enjoy, crank it up and let your body do its thing! And of course ask your local professional DJ to play Yolanda Be Cool and DCup We No Speak Americano for you.

Yolanda Be Cool and DCup We No Speak Americano Music Video

http://youtu.be/CR8logunPzQ

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

 

 

The B-52s Love Shack

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The B-52s Love Shack is one of the great party songs of all time for all professional DJs!

I remember when The B-52s Love Shack first came out and all the professional DJs I knew kept adding the newest remix of this as they came out in 12″ form. I think I ended up with three of four versions of The B-52s Love Shack plus the original album version. Today I only have three versions on my MacBook but I like all of them. Both back then and now, The B-52s Love Shack is one of those songs that works with most audiences when a professional DJ needs something to really push the event to the next level and bring out the playful side of all involved.

 

I had the opportunity to see the B-52s at what was fomrerly known as The Gsdrden State Arts Center many years ago with The Violent Femmes as the opening act. It was a great night and a lot of fun and The B-52s Love Shack was one of the highlights of the show.

 

“The B-52s (originally formatted with an apostrophe as The B-52’s) are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. From 1976, the group consisted of Fred Schneider (percussion, vocals), Cindy Wilson (vocals), Kate Pierson (keyboards, vocals), Ricky Wilson(guitar), and Keith Strickland (drums). Rooted in New Wave and 1960s rock and roll, the group later worked in many genres ranging frompost-punk to pop rock. The “guy vs. gals” vocals of Schneider, Pierson, and Wilson, sometimes used in call and response style (as in “Strobe Light,” “Private Idaho,” and “Good Stuff“), are a trademark. Presenting themselves as a positive, enthusiastic, slightly oddball party band, the B-52s tell tall tales, glorify wild youth, and celebrate wild romance.”

 

I thought it would be neat to take a quick look at who was part of that Athens music scene. This is what Wikipedia had to say,

 

“The success of Athens’ local bands is apocryphally attributed to “something in the water.” The contributions of Athens to rock, country music, and bluegrass have earned it the nickname “the Liverpool of the South”, and the city is known as a birthplace for both modern alternative rock and New Wave music. Athens was home to the first and most famous college music scene in the country, beginning in the 1970s. The formation of local bands like the B-52s, Ravenstone, Pylon, Widespread Panic, Indigo Girls, Love Tractor, the Georgia Satellites, and R.E.M. had brought Athens rock to national attention by 1980.”

 

Don’t you love the bee hive hairdos on The B-52s Love Shack?

The B-52s Love Shack Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Club Nouveau Lean On Me

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Club Nouveau Lean On Me. It was my one and only summer sleep-away camp experience. I was not a happy camper. I did however enjoy the days we had art. The art shop was nice and full of layers of used paint on the desks and all kinds of fun stuff to play with. My favorite part of art class at summer camp was the radio that sat on the end table next to the door.  It seemed every day that we were in the art room making who knows what kind of awful ‘paintings’, Bill Withers was on the radio. Some days it was “Lean On Me” and the other was “Ain’t No Sunshine” but it was always the bright spot of my day.  It is one of the classic Soul gems from the 70’s that every good professional DJ uses at liberty. Club Nouveau Lean On Me offers a fresh new sound to the old classic.

 

It is rare that a remake of such a classic can be even close to the original. In this case, I have read debates about which version is better, Club Nouveau Lean On Me or Bill Withers. The fact that there is even a discussion says how great the Club Nouveau Lean On Me version is.  I appreciate the fact that they made it their own with a different sound without losing the original feeling.  “Lean On Me” is now a classic in two generations and maybe a third someday. Club Nouveau Lean On Me is from The Album Life, Love & Pain in 1986. Club Nouveau Lean On Me made it to number one on The Billboard Hot 100 Charts for two weeks!

Club Nouveau Lean On Me:

http://youtu.be/XhBLfTULccA

Which do you like better, Club Nouveau Lean On Me or Bill Withers Lean On Me?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love

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It was a rather large Internet Café that was also a coffee shop and fast food restaurant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan that I visited quite often making arrangements to return to Korea on my way back to The USA after eighteen months abroad! I first heard Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love there.

Almost every time I was in this establishment, in the background I could hear this incredibly interesting song with what I thought was a Turkish beat in the middle. The soft gentle rhythms contrasted well with the hard-driven but clean beats. I was aching to know whom and what this song was but could not find anyone who spoke enough English to ask. I would hear Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love in stores and buses all over Tashkent and everywhere else I visited in Central Asia. I left that part of the world hoping someday I would find Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love.

 

A few months ago, a young woman whom I am a close friends with was writing me about some things going on in her life. After we completed the serious part of our emailing, she said she wanted to turn me onto some great new stuff she was listening to. It turned out she was sending me an mp3 of Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love – the song I was searching for with no avail! Since then Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love has become an American hit on radio and clubs one year later for professional DJs everywhere.

 

It seems as if Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love was an international hit in Europe and Asia last year before finally making its way to The States, in my case, better late than never. He is a Romanian singer, writer and professional DJ. Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love comes from an Azerbaijan modern classic, not a pop or dance song at all.

 

Last night I was walking home from the gym and heard Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love playing out of three different cars while passing by. It made me smile and remember my time in Central Asia and how the Internet has helped artists make their way around the globe in ways we never thought possible in twenty years ago. This professional DJ is happier for this growth in technology and being able to find and play Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love.

Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love:

When and where did you first hear Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina Stereo Love?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds

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I was at a family wedding this weekend. The band played many great songs well but I was left remembering the Elvis songs the most. One of the singers had sideburns like Elvis and some similar style of representing himself. It was fun and the band was good, especially on Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds.

 

I remember when I was kid and the first 7-Elevin opened down the street from us with all their Slurpees and everything else that made being a kid fun. Next to the counter, there was a large album rack stuffed with really only two artists; The Beatles and Elvis Presley. I was still young and did not understand the full scope of the popularity of either of them. I guess no one did really. At the time, I did not know that Elvis made albums, since I knew him as an actor who sang in all his movies. Funny to look back now and realize how small-minded that was. Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds.

 

He was on the radio all the time and if not there, on the television. He was everywhere.

 

About 20 years ago I visited Graceland. It was an uncomfortable experience. I felt like I was spying on a man’s life and legacy without his permission. Seeing his stuff and bedroom before the age of papparazzi, felt intrusive. Truly sounds hysterically funny in a time when not only is seeing a celebrity’s house while they are not in it commonplace, today we can actually see them when they are in it! Even their bedroom and bathroom while present! If this is so out of hand as it is today with the celebrities we have now; what would it be like if Elvis was alive today? He was really the first artist that had cameras following him night and day and no one really since till this decade, not even Michael Jackson or Madonna had a following of media like Elvis Presley.

 

It is sad seeing his photos before and after alcohol took its toll on him.  How many of our great talented performers are we going to lose due to not being able to properly handle fame and fortune? What responsibility do we have in their demise? Jimi, Janis, Keith, Marilyn, Lindsay, Brittany, Paris just to name a few. Of course, not all that are listed qualify as ‘great’ but fame and its trappings have had such a detrimental impact on their lives. When is enough, enough? Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds

I stil get to play Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds as professional Wedding DJ on a regular basis.

Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds:

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Resort Wedding DJ

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One of the benefits of being a professional Wedding DJ is that I get the opportunity to participate in events at all kinds of neat and interesting places. In the same weekend I can be found playing music at a small cozy place like The Clubhouse in Montclair, New Jersey. A sensational and elegant venue like The Manorin West Orange, New Jersey or the quaint, simple touch of  The Mill at Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey. I have many favorites throughout the New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania region. I recently performed at a wedding at a really beautiful place in New Windsor, New York called The Mountainville Manor that had such charm and an excellent staff! Another favorite is The View at The Hudson in Piermont, New York, which overlooks the Hudson River and is stunning at night with the lights from the Tappan Zee Bridge in the background. Tonight I will be Wedding DJ in The Poconos at Mountain Springs Lake Resort in Reeders, Pennsylvania!

Wedding DJ

I have the honor of working with such interesting and creative Brides and Grooms and they have been no exception.  I don’t know why I get so many great folks to work with but I do. I know many professional Wedding DJs complain about the Brides, Grooms and Planners they work with. I feel so lucky to meet and perform music and Wedding DJ services for people I would work with for free if I was independently wealthy. I’m not, so that is why you pay what you pay for my services:) Some offer to give me rooms to stay in for the night so I do not have to drive back at night. Something I do several nights a week, so not a problem for me, others ask me to join them for their ‘family breakfast’ in the morning to celebrate the first day as a married couple.  In fact, a few weeks ago I had the mother of The groom call me on my way to camping to apologize for not giving me a tip, since she had to go home for a small family emergency and asked if she could mail it to me! I laughed and let her know I do not expect or need tips to do my job exceptionally. She insisted and mailed it out that day. I thought that was so sweet, considering she was so excited with her son “Finally getting married to a nice girl at age forty-five”.

 

Tonight will be Wedding DJ at a resort in The Poconos with great people and a Bride and Groom who truly love each other. My vehicle is packed with gear, suit and tie ironed and music prepared! Sometimes I think I get as excited as they do!

A Bride and Groom smiling before Wedding at Classic Car with Wedding DJ Mystical Michael

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ