Gay Pride! The Whole Foods Market Float...300,000 guests!

James Wrote:
We provided the MUSIC and SOUNDSYSTEM and DEEJAY Talent for the Chicago Whole Foods Market float this year. We played House, Soul, Funk, Camp, Rock and Roll, Drum and Bass, New Wave, 80's, Pop and Silly. The party was a hoot. We started at Belmont and Clark traveled to where Halsted hits Broadway, turned around and came down Broadway back to Diversey. We had a ton of fun. The weather sucked, it rained all morning during the set-up and stopped right at noon. The streets were packed with Pride: Drag Queens. Trannys. Scantilly clad men. Men in Speedos. Men on Bikes. And everyone else! Drinking and dancing and carrying on. I have never been part of such positive and well intentioned crowd. There was an isolated area on Diversey where the Homo-haters got to speak out; this wasn't so pretty but good for them and their truth. Overall Chicago showed it's Pride colors and reflected them beautifully. And not without Drama.

Jon wrote:

I should preface this article by first stating that I have never been to Chicago’s Gay Pride Parade. When I was asked to deejay on one of the floats, I said sure, not knowing what I was getting myself into. James Gustin was the lead deejay and we were playing on the Whole Foods Market float. After doing some research about the parade, I thought it might be something like Mardi Gras (another thing I have yet to do); so, I still have no idea what it’s like. In my mind, I’m seeing tons and tons of people, all having fun, dancing, screaming, cheering. It turns out, what I saw in mind was exactly what happened in real life.

The morning started off with rain, what some would see as an omen. I thought that the rain would continue throughout the day, but miraculously it stopped just as our float started moving. The sun came out and everything was beautiful. Thousands and thousands of people were cheering and dancing to our music, when lo and behold, our generator cuts out. James and I started troubleshooting. Without any music, most of the parade goers were looking around wondering what they should do with themselves. We would get the generator working again, music would begin to play, people would cheer, everyone would dance, the power would cut out, and parade goers would again stand in wonder. How could something so right, go so wrong?

Before we get too far into the parade, we fix the problem, crank the music, and people would cheer, sing, and dance. And flirt, too. I had no idea how good looking James and I are! The coolest thing about dj’ing on a float for the Gay Pride Parade is being amongst hundreds of thousands of people all having a great time and expressing themselves. My favorite moment was when I played “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC. Everybody was singing and I was interacting with them, pointing at some and singing to others. I felt like a rock star.

Team:
Jon Hood and James Gustin
Equipment:
2 x JBL EON 15"
1 x JBL EON 10"
2 x Pioneer CDJ 800's Decks
1 x Pioneer DJM 800 Mixer

Client:
Joyce Chacko (we'll do her wedding this year)
Chicago, Whole Foods Market Inc.

Links:
www.figgy.net
www.chicagopridecalendar.org
www.wholefoodsmarket.com