Rockin' the Rookery

Emily and I dj'd at the Rookery for McDonald's corporate holiday party. There were about 100 people there. I had fun watching the guests and noticing their interactions. When the party first started, groups of 5-6 people started to form. They gathered in groups of people that were their own age range and with people they knew. There was an equal number of men and women and a wide range of ages. When the guys would talk with each other, they didn't say much. They would look around the room a lot. A lot of head nodding. Emily was very friendly and talked a lot with one of the bartenders and head security guy, Charles. The room looked fantastic. Ironwork and gold enlaced marble with a tiled floor. When we started dancing, a lot people were standing nearby and kept looking over at the dance floor. The energy was high, people were talking a lot, laughing, teasing, joking. We could tell they wanted to dance, but didn't feel comfortable enough. There was a core group of women, maybe 7 or 8, that really wanted to dance. We played some top 40 for them. I tried playing other stuff at one point to entice others out, it didn't work so we went back to top 40. Emily is great with top 40 targetted towards women. She knew exactly what they wanted to hear. Overall, the gig was a great success. Emily and I had a ton of fun and I'm learning the new songs that women want to hear.

--Jonathan Hood, resident dj