Celebrations
Friday, January 20, 2012 | jconline.com DJ from Page 4
they’re playing something way off-beat and people will be out dancing and that will mess them up. We can blend in that slower beat. We can gradually get there without missing a beat. Q: What process do you have in planning your set for a wedding? A: I send them a packet, itinerary and order of events. I let them go over that. I send them a packet of songs of the first dance, the removing of the garter, things like that. Usually, it’s a six-month gap before the wedding. I have them review that and look at that all over. Between then, they might come up with something else. I send them a wedding DJ top200 list with songs you hear at every wedding: “Dancing Queen,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I say “X” off the ones you don’t want to hear. Then, we get together about nine weeks before the wedding and we’ll go over everything and talk it out and then
I’ll meet with them about a week and a half or two weeks before the wedding to make sure we have all the right songs. We don’t want to have the wrong songs. Last year down at the Crown Plaza (in downtown Indianapolis), I actually did a wedding ceremony also. So I do both the ceremony and the reception. Q: What are some songs guaranteed to get the people moving? A: I’ve been lucky. The last several weddings I’ve done, the dance floor has been packed. “Mambo No. 5” is a big one. Of course “Love Shack.” I try to stay away from “Celebration.” I do “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge, which gets the families out there. A big entrance song is “I Gotta Feeling.” That’s another thing we do is the grand entrance. We’ve done some crazy things with that. I come in with Frank Sinatra, real slow and elegant, and we’ll flip it to Black Eyed Peas or something like that. “Sweet Caroline,” AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” things like that. Q: What’s one of the craziest
“Usually, it’s the bride that will end up wanting (‘The Chicken Dance’) played and she’ll be the one out there doing it. So usually the ones that are totally against it are all for it when it comes down to it. JERRY STROK, DJ Mixmaster J
things you’ve done while DJing a wedding? A: I did a couple’s wedding at The Trails and the father was a wedding DJ who recommended to do this thing called the broom dance. Everyone gets in this big circle and I play the song and they pass the broom around and when the song stops and you’re holding the broom, you have to go in the middle and do some-
5
thing with the broom. The bride came up to me and said “Watch my grandma. ... You gotta get my grandma.” When it came around to her, she had no way to get out of it. I stopped it on her and took her out to the middle and put on a stripper song. That was pretty funny. Q: What’s the most annoying part of the job? A: The little kids who come up and say, “Play this. Play this. Play this,” while I’m playing something. Go back to your parents. Q: What’s a song that you’re sick of? A: Uh, “Chicken Dance.” Most of the brides will say “Don’t play ‘The Chicken Dance.’ ” I’ll say, “Well, I’ll only play that if somebody requests it and I clear it through you.” Usually, it’s the bride that will end up wanting it played and she’ll be the one out there doing it. So usually the ones that are totally against it are all for it when it comes down to it. “The Macarena” is another one, but I don’t play that. Online: www.facebook.com/ mixmasterj.gee