Casino Night!

Lauren and I dj'd the Sheraton holiday party Wednesday. Tim and Keren were mixing videos and photos. Brian and Eric were taking photos. Andrew was producing with Melissa as the onsite producer. The integrated experience is a ton of fun to produce. I've done a few other ones, and I'm always learning something new on these gigs. Not that I'm not learning on my other gigs, but these require a different way of looking at an event. It's not just music, there's also the visual element, too. We were setup on a big stage with two big screens flanking us on both sides. We set up the dj gear on one side of the table and the video gear on the other side. I wasn't thinking about functionality when we were setting up. I did know that I wanted to be communicating with Tim about music videos. When Lauren or I would have an idea for a song, I would run over to Tim to see if he had it. I did a lot more coordination with the video mixing this time than I have in the past. It was like thinking three dimensionally when normally I think only in two.

Lauren and I bounced song ideas off one another during the night, and at some points she took over and I walked around the room or grabbed some food. During the prize section of the night, I played the "Price is Right" theme song while people were being called up. They then got to choose their prize from what was available (there were signs with the prizes written on them that placed on the stage). After a couple people won, Lauren told me I should switch it up. I did and it was a great move. I played some "Mission: Impossible" and "Night Rider" among others. It was a ton of fun to be playing with everyone on my team as well as creating a show that the employees could enjoy. Dancing fluctuated throughout the night. Overall, it seemed that everyone had a great time.

--Jonathan, resident dj