Sweet Caroline!! Steve's a deejay!!

Lee/Larrance wedding, DJ assistant to Megan
Going into this wedding, I was feeling a little nervous. Something that I've been feeling more and more of with each gig that I work on. When I assisted on my first gig, I was hardly nervous at all, but the more and more that I work in the field, the more of an idea that i have about what goes into the production and how important every detail is. Megan explained this as me taking more responsibility and ownership when I'm on gigs...I hadn't thought about it this way, but when she said it, I really think that that is the reason. I do feel like that I've been taking more ownership and pride in my work, whether I'm snapping 600 photos a high school sports website, or gaffing XLR's.

Going into this wedding, it was obvious that Megan was feeling very nervous about that night...it was a difficult setup, we were responsible for audio during the ceremony, and I had never assisted Megan on a DJ gig, so I felt that it was my responsibility to make sure that she was feeling as relaxed and clear about that night's event as possible. I did this by taking a page out of Friday's book; when Melissa and I had been driving around the city picking up some last minute things before the One Decision that night, Melissa thought it would be a great idea if we went through the setup step by step, down to every little detail, and had me repeat it back to her, just to make sure that once we got there, we had a gameplan made. I thought that this would be a great idea to prepare Megan and I for our gig, and to help ease some of those butterflies that she had floating around in her stomach.

[BEEP BEEP!! BEEP BEEP!! ...oh, um, thirty more seconds Jon...thanks]

With our gameplan in place, Megan and I got our setup up and running and went through a couple tests where we ran into some feedback and bad XLRs, but Megan did a phenomenal job of staying cool and troubleshooting quickly. It was also a huge help to have Brian there doing photography for an extra hand and another set of ears for any kind of trouble that we may run into. Aside from this wedding being another opportunity for me to work with a different DJ for the first time, it was also the first time that I was on the decks on my own for an extended period of time. During cocktails, Megan sat down to have something to eat and i played a set of Jazz consisting of Coltrane, Davis, Ella, Norah, and Brubeck. I had a blast and felt like I was starting to get a hang of the whole DJ thing.

But the real fun started after dinner. Megan hopped on the decks and after the first dance, the floor was packed. And it stayed packed all night. Megan kicked butt and took some chances with a couple songs, but went with her gut and it paid off. Megan's confidence is a trait of hers that I find to be very admirable and for the first time, I got to see how that level of confidence serves her and the client in the most gratifying of ways. We got a lot of compliments on the music and it was the craziest wedding I've ever been a part of. At first we nervous that the crowd wouldnt be the dancing type, but that concern was quickly out the window the moment the floor opened up.


The climax of the night was (appropriately) in the second to last song when we played a highly requested "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. The place went nuts after the first chord and - a sight that I thought I'd never see, and hopefully never will - everyone joined hands on the dance floor in a giant circle and sang along and danced. While it was very gratifying to see this reaction to the music we played, it was also somewhat unsettling...but maybe that was just the Neil Diamond.

Great job Megan, and thank you Erik for setting us up well

Stephen Fabro - Assistant DJ