There has been a lot of behind the scenes drama going on in my DJ career which I will have to save for another post. For now lets just say this summer has provided several character building opportunities, as did my job last Saturday. I have character the size of Godzilla now. And as you know, it’s the size that counts.
I went over to the hall to set up (fortunately only two minutes from my house) a full five hours before the reception. Plenty of time to load in the equipment, get it running, go to the store for blank CD’s to burn formal music, shower, dress and get back to the hall ready to rock.
Setting up the equipment took a little longer though because I couldn’t find help to lift my light truss. I tried to take Ryan’s advice and just throw it on my shoulder first, then lift it on to the stands. The good news is I didn’t break anything, but I think I need a trip to my chiropractor now. I finally found someone to help, but he was even shorter than me. The lights again came within inches of annihilation, but somehow we got them up.
The real trouble started when I flicked the power button to the show. It stayed on for at least three seconds before popping the breaker on the power bar. I tried it with a different power bar - same result. I wasn’t worried though. Aside from lights and music, I had everything I needed to DJ the reception.
As always when my technical prowess fails to come through, I called Ryan. He was less than thrilled but was at the hall within ten minutes. He quickly determined that both the power distribution panel and the light co-pilot were what is known in engineering terms as “fucked”.
Also Ryan had to have his show set up in the next town over within twenty minutes for his first Bar Mitzvah ever. “Bar Mitzvah” is actually Hebrew for “Throw lots of money at the DJ”. Ryan had been trying for years to crack the market and finally had his chance, only to have half my show go all meshuga.
One of Ryan’s favorite songs is “And The Race Is On” and for good reason. We jumped in his truck, he called his contact at the DJ equipment store and told him what we needed, we raced over to the store, played with their toys briefly, paid for the replacement equipment, sped over to his hall, found the banquet room (everything covered in ocean blue with rainbow accents and giant fish balloons - just what you would expect for a manhood rite of passage), set his show up, raced back to my hall, and installed the new equipment.
I now had one hour left to get dressed and get back to the reception. No problem. It wasn’t till I got home that I realized I still had to burn the requested music. This proved difficult since I never made it to the store to buy blank CD’s. My turn to call for help. This time my girlfriend,
So despite everything I still managed to make it to the hall before the bridal party, with all the music I needed and a fully armed and operational DJ Show. I took a deep breath. It had been a very stressful afternoon.
Almost as stressful as the reception itself….