Spak/Warmbir @ Architectural Artifacts

Extreee! Extreee! Read all about it!

There is, possibly, no other inspiration for me to blurt out such an ancient phrase than the past clients I had the pleasure of performing for: Kara Spak and Steve Warmbir. As you may have guessed, these newlyweds are involved in the news industry: both are staff reporters for major Chicago newspapers—The Daily Herald (Kara) and The Sun-Times. The main vision of their reception night was to have a relaxed, smooth-flowing night that was as mature and professional as they were. Not to mention a rockin' "Dance Party USA" at the end. Truly. With my partner and assistant Brian by my side, we set out to create that vision.

Chicago's own Architectual Artifacts was the venue of choice (and a rather choice venue) for Kara and Steve's reception. This multi-level cross between a store and a museum houses a vast collection of antiquated remnants of buildings—like stable doors and restaurant signs—along with a selection of furniture, toys, and other cool items. At first, I was unsure of how to place the speakers on the top and bottom levels, but after some walking and thinking, I managed to figure out a rather smart configuration: For dinner, the speakers were placed at the far ends of the back of the room, parallel to the sides of the staircase. Cocktails featured two daisy-chained 10" speakers facing opposite directions to cover both the whole hallway. I was unsure of how things would work, but Brian was there to share his encouragement and manpower. Fraternal, and quite appreciable. We were set, and thus began the evening.

At the beginning of the night, embarrassingly, I failed to mention to my partner that I left the cross-fader switch (the little switch on a mixer that allows you to utilize the fader knob—as opposed to the volume faders themselves—to go from one song to another) in "on position," causing a very short pause during the introduction of the bridal party. Brian was able to figure out how to get the sound to be heard, thankfully, and we progressed into welcoming the family and friends to the unforgettable "Gonna Fly Now" from the Rocky I soundtrack. Kara and Steve walked into a booming standing ovation as Neil Diamond's "America" was heard in the background. Very nifty choices for intro songs, I do say. Regardless of the minor (and noticeable!) slip-up, I managed to stay calm and amiable with the audience. Things could have been worse—we could have gone into panic mode, or the whole room would hear Eminem for some reason. Keeping a good attitude is the best way to get through any situation.

A rather special activity happened after the cake was cut: A photo opportunity session. Yes, "photo-ops." When the concept was first mentioned by Kara and Steve in our meeting, I was keen to the idea. When I added the idea of adding a specific musical background to each of the mini-sessions, the excitement grew. This is how the event was conducted: I would announce a category to the audience (i.e. "If you went to school with Kara and Steve…"), and all individuals who fit the category would join the couple near the dance floor and have their picture taken by the very friendly Patrick (staff photographer for the Daily Herald). This would happen a total of seven times, and five different songs were used (with a couple of them being used twice). Some of the selections were "Our House" by Madness, "Strike it Up" by Black Box, and "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley. We gathered parents, friends, co-workers, colleagues, high school alumni, people who paid for their kids to be colleagues and high school alumni, and just about everyone in the room, except the vendors and non-guests. It was slightly difficult to get people together, as some did not hear the announcements during the session. Still, by my observation, we managed to get all the guests in one photo session or another. Talk about "striking a pose"—times 140!

The night then moved into dancing. This portion was a visual rollercoaster, as some genres seemed to work well with some people, and others kept people engaged, but not dancing. Luckily, there was always someone on the dance floor, and regardless of actual body movement, I appreciate that wholly. I was a bit concerned about the good music we were playing not having an effect on the crowd, and I expressed this to Kara and Steve. I was not super-comfortable about it, but I charged on nonetheless. They were rather cool-headed about it, and gave me a couple of suggestions here and there. As I have learned before, and as I kept in mind at that moment, every crowd is different, and even if you play the most energizing tunes ever recorded, there will be people that are passive to dancing. I was pleased that the couple and I were all on the same wavelength with this theory; it gave me confidence and helped me feel better about my performance. Power to the deejay!

Although this was not exactly the "Dance Party USA" that we all had in mind, one very awesome event happened: To the Quad City DJs' "C'mon Ride the Train," nearly all the guests formed a huge human-train and traveled through the venue and back to the dance floor. I did not know where the heck this trackless vehicle was going! Creating "trains" are spontaneous and not always expected. That was a part of the couple's vision for the night, and I was thrilled that it was executed better than I imagined it to be. We ended on the four-minute version of the Donna Summer classic "Last Dance," which definitely gravitated a lot of people to the floor for their final chance to get their respective groove on. When the final beat happened, Steve walked up to me and shook my hand…secretly planting a crisp $100 bill in my palm (which I discovered when I returned back to the Fig office, as I never look at tips until the gig is over). Despite the minor shortcomings that occurred, I felt extremely appreciated and respected by this couple.

The success of this event came from a lot of courage: The courage to admit where I felt confused, the courage to ask my partner for help, and the courage to show my inner concern to Kara and Steve on how the night was going. It is very easy to maintain a poker face and bottle up one's fears and feelings, but when you open yourself up, you can acheive your goals and get the support you need to do so. Because of that, this turned out to be a fun, clean, and well-orchestrated event with rather awesome closure.

Until next time, this is all the news that's fit to print.

– Brent Rolland, resident deejay

Is it "Lady In Red" or "Smoking Caddy" you decide!

Amy McNamara and Jon DiNapoli were married in Florida and had a Chicago party. We provided rockin' deejay and sweet photography for the event at Prarie Rock Brewery. Fig's Cadillac started to smoke and broke down just outside the venue. Luckily Tim Musho and myself, photo extrodinare, Brian Carey were on the scene with the seasonally disfunctional Chevy Cavalier. We got there! Tim and I played off of each other like a "Good Spy, Bad Spy" cartoon. We had a "look what I can do" competition, if you will. The shots were creative, fun, and progressive as the night went on. Check out our pictures for a taste of Amy and Jon's extreme party! OK, that's my the scoop. Have a good one.

Brian Carey
photographer, deejay, web master

Roach/Narbone at the Union League Club

The Union League Club hosted the wedding reception of Colleen Roach and Chris Narbone. The music for cocktails and part of dinner was provided by a piano player. Tobey and I picked it up where the piano player left off. We worked with Nina Lombardo of the club. Getting dancing started was a little challenging. I may have pushed it too hard. I started with some rat pack stuff, keeping it at a moderate pace, and then hit some motown with "Respect" and "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch." We had a decent dancefloor, and then I played "Uptight" by Stevie Wonder. People left the dancefloor, and I quickly transitioned into a different song. The next song didn't hit either, so I decided to slow it back down and then work the crowd back up. It worked. The dancefloor came back and everyone was dancing all night. I also rocked on the microphone. I was super confident and I used a little tip from Katherine Hart; I used the word "honor" while I was talking. "It's an honor to be here tonight." "It's an honor to introduce..." It felt good saying it, which probably meant it felt good hearing it. It's different than saying "privilige" or "pleasure." Honor has a different weight to it. Anyway, I was also more playful with them. We did a longest married couple dance and afterwards I went up to the longest married couple and started talking with them on the dancefloor, acknowledging their marriage and commitment. Tobey was awesome during dancing. She would take guests' requests and direct them towards her while I was focusing on the music and reading the room. I LOVE that in an assistant. She also had great rapport with the photographer, videographer, and staff at the club. One of the guests also danced with Tobey. We played great music and kept it varied the whole night. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died and didn't get many photos.

--Jonathan "professor" Hood

Around the World!

Another gig at Sacred Heart! This time it was International Night. Worldly music made up the night, with a fashion show where children wore traditional outfits from their perspective countries. I dug deep into my crates for this one. Thankfully, many of the families brought their own cd's that I used throughout the night. Gigs like this are really great to learn new music on because it forces me to reach into genres that I normally don't go to. I typically do a lot of research for these kinds of gigs so I can so up strong and know the music I'm playing. Mike Johnson assisted me and Joe Shanahan from the Metro helped organize the flow of the evening.

--Jonathan Hood

Lights! Music! Fireworks!

I was a block captain for this year's Lights Festival on Michigan avenue. What that means is that I was in charge of a group of volunteers that assisted the police in maintaining crowd control during the procession. We moved blockades and kept an eye out for people wanting to cross the blockade to move into the street. I also put together the music that was played during the fireworks. It was a 10 minute mix of non-denominational holiday music. I found it challenging to find upbeat holiday music that didn't have any references to Christmas or Channuka or other religions. What I found that worked was swing music, mostly. I did a lot of cutting and splicing to keep the music moving and dynamic, and then put it together as one long song that was played along with the fireworks. The fireworks were watched by about 1,000,000 people. YEAH! I love my job.

--Jonathan

And Then We Played the Chicken Dance…

Don’t let the title fool you, nothing but fun was had on November 4^th. I assisted Tim Musho at McDonalds University in Oakbrook for the Halm wedding. Admittedly, we were both a little nervous going to an event with a must play list including Chicken Dance, Electric Slide, and Cheeseburger in Paradise.

After getting only slightly lost in Oakbrook, we found our location and got everything set up. The evening began effortlessly with music for cocktails and we transitioned smoothly into dinner. Tim and I were challenged by the layout of the room and not being able to see each other during introductions, but we made it work. We played great dinner music and got pumped up for dancing. Tim was getting nervous to play music he is not typically used to playing. It turned out he had nothing to worry about. His skill as a versatile, energetic, and trained DJ led him to totally rock the dance floor.

The floor was packed the whole night. Guests were having a blast, dancing like it was their job, laughing and celebrating. Then 11:00 hit and we were scheduled to play Cheeseburger in Paradise while waiters brought trays filled with McDonald’s cheeseburgers. This was such a hit! We followed the Jimmy Buffet song with Garth Brooks, ‘I’ve Got Friends in Low Places’. It was wild. It only got better as we played the long awaited ‘Chicken Dance’ accompanied by an actual dancing chicken. Tim and I, no longer Chicken Dance virgins, rocked the rest of the evening.

The bride and groom complimented us on what a great time they had and how glad they were to see everyone dancing. They said it went exactly how they hoped. After that evening I realized that Fig can provide truly outstanding service for any type of event, wedding, or celebration.

--Emily Hard

Mane Event Bridal Boutique @ the Hard Rock Hotel

There comes a time when a deejay, like myself, steps away from focusing on a dance floor and ventures into something slightly different. If you think I'm going to talk about bungee jumping or log rolling, please do think again! My reference is to bridal shows. As its title suggests, these events gather vendors into one space to promote themselves and sell their wedding wares to brides—and husbands—to-be. The Mane Event Bridal Boutique gathered over twenty of Chicago's finest vendors into the spacious and classy Fender Room at the Hard Rock Hotel, and Fig was definitely part of the action.

The mighty Fig team consisted of seven talented individuals who all performed their jobs quite well. My partner Alvin was the deejay of the afternoon, handling music cues and spinning a cool, ambient mix of Latin and downtempo house. Emily handled photography and the main video camera simutaneously, never missing a beat. Brian was the main photographer and live photo editor of the day, who happened to receive accolades from some of the ladies who were at the boutique. (Go get 'em, tiger!) Melissa was the "video deejay" of the event, who ran the video mixer and produced a number of slideshows and wedding videos. Our producer of the event was Jon Hood, who did a great job networking with other vendors and keeping his team informed and motivated with his constructive feedback. Andrew, our revered sales manager and coordinator of the event, presenced himself at the event for moral support and to enjoy all the boutique had to offer. Lastly, yours truly took the role of emcee, welcoming guests and making announcements, as well as a little deejaying on the side. Together, we made the event shine with our teamwork, energy, and creativity, providing the live sounds and visuals for all to see.

Along with the lovely Virginia, the main coordinator of the Mane Event boutique, we worked with a number of vendors that afternoon, including Equinox Fitness, David Barton Gym, Design on a Budget, Arbonne, and I Do! I Do! The events of the day included a number of raffles, as well as a fashion show featuring a breathtaking array of wedding gowns and couture from the Le Sposé di Angela and Jenny Yoo collections. Captivatingly so, there was also a woman dressed as—and get this—an exquisite dinner table, complete with edible treats! She was donning an Elizabethian powdered wig, dress, and a fan made of eating utensils. Live entertainment; none the finer.

The only disappointing factor of this event is that there were not many couples there, which lessened the opportunities to get contacts and make business with new people. As I have learned from the past bridal shows I have participated in, some of the key relationships made in this kind of environment are those with the other vendors. In any case, this was Fig's opportunity to present our capabilities, as well as allow its choice members to share their talent. And yes, this was more exciting than bungee jumping or log rolling—and a heck of a lot safer, to boot!

- Brent Rolland, resident deejay

in the Loop with ESP...N Zone

The fig integrated experience strikes AGAIN! Imagine 12 video screens, live mixing and videography at your event.
This is what fig did with In the Loop at ESPN Zone for Axis at an event last week.
Mixing live video, Chicago footage with video and live animations in the 12 screen lounge at ESPN Zone.
Highlights of the event included awsome footage of the games and toys, animated photos by mixing artist Tim Musho and a boxing match with a video game...from which I am still sore.
The guests enjoyed the many games ESPN Zone has to offer while dining on hamburgers and hot wings. fig covered the event with video and played back the footage in the lounge. We also hosted the sports game party in which guests got to compete for bragging rites and ESPN Zone gift certificates.
Learns from the event: Planning and strategizing the event flow to maximize viewing pleasure. With the distraction of cool games on the floor, guests cycled in and out of the space where the screens were playing back the footage, and everyone did not get a chance to see themselves in thier gaming glory on the screens.
At the end of the event the figgies indulged in a little game playing themselves and had a great time.
Thanks to In the Loop for such an awsome opportunity to stretch creativley.
In the Loop
Video Mixer: Tim Musho
Videographer: Melissa Martens
Assistant Videographer: Chris Wheir
Assistant Mixer: David
Producer: Megan Taylor

an evening with the starlings

On a cool november evening at the Speakeasy Supper Club in Edgewater, the starlings came out.
Congress of Starlings that is.
They held a CD release party to kick off thier new album: Albedo. With an amazing cast of musicians Andrea Bunch and Aerin Tedesco performed each song on thier new album for a packed house of friends, fans and family.
fig was there the capture the event all on video.
Challenges in this event was the dark mood lighting in the Speakeasy club, great for a club setting, bad for video.
I arrived extra early to light the stage to give the performers the spot light they rightfully deserved. We used a feed from thier board and a boom mic in the room to get the full sound of thier performance.
I loved listening to thier music. They have a funky electronic/classical sound that was soothing, thoughtful and inspiring. I loved seeing the different instruments and how they were skillfully worked into each peice without overpowering the whole.
Afterward people bought thier CD, stuck around to congradulate the band, and sang Andrea's mother Happy Birthday. We were there from beginning to end.
fig looks forward to a continued relationship to Congress of Starlings and wishes them much sucess in their musical endevours. Check out thier website:
Congress of Starlings and buy thier new album, it's great!
Producer: Megan Taylor
Videographer: Melissa Martens
Videographer: Tim Musho

When Nature Calls

Sarah Gorajski and Michael Simurdiak were married on November 4, 2006 at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The evening started off with cocktails on the lower level and moved upstairs for their ceremony and dinner. Andrew was assisting me. I had just flown in from Arizona and it felt really good to have his support on this gig. Dinner went long with desserts taking forever to come out. It seemed like they were cutting the cake as they were serving it rather than having it plated and ready to go when the time hit. It made my job tougher because I could either start dancing and then loose people as dessert started arriving, or wait on dancing and have the people get really anxious. I chose a medium ground where most were served, and some were anxious. It took a few minutes for guests to come out to dance, but once they did, we kept them out until close to the end. Andrew and I each took a cd player and bounced off one another the whole night. The party slowed down with a half-hour left, guests moved off the dance floor, and we played slower music. Nobody was slow dancing, so I picked it back up again with some 80’s and modern hip-hop. Guests came back. It was a dangerous move. With a hard stop (music has to end) at midnight, I got everybody’s energy back up again, only to bring it down a few minutes later. It worked great and closed the night with “Purple Rain” by Prince.

--Jonathan Hood, resident dj

ARIZONA BABY!

Megan and I took a trip to Arizona to dj for Jones Lang Lasalle. The gig took place at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, AZ . The resort was amazing. It was like a little village set in the dessert. Kim Dixon and Stephanie Douglas were our clients. They heard us at an event we did at Botanicals last year. This gig was several years in the making. James Gustin and Carl Wiedemann started a relationship with Botanicals that promoted them a few years back. Andrew Ettenhofer then produced a huge party with them last year where we had music playing in three different rooms, each with its own theme. I was one of the deejays at this event. Kim Dixon was there, heard our music, liked our style, and wanted us to deejay her party in AZ. Huge props go out to the three of you.

This gig was freaking AWESOME! My first out of state gig! Megan and I were flown out Friday morning. We stayed at the Four Seasons. The weather was amazing. We took a limo to the resort. The food was great. The people were incredibly friendly. I could ask for anything and it would be taken care of. We went swimming and tanned by the pool. It was so cool to have rock star treatment.

All our audio was taken care of by Swank at the hotel and the deejay equipment was provided by M.E.E. We didn’t have to touch a thing. The speakers were set up when we got there and Josh from M.E.E. delivered the decks and mixer and set it up for us. We tested the equipment when we first got there and again before our gig started.

We started off with some downtempo house for cocktails and moved into latin and soul for dinner. Megan kicked off dancing with Prince’s “1999.” That brought everybody out and they stayed out all night. Megan was great at reading the crowd, going with her gut when playing a song, and taking the crowd in new directions. There were a couple times when I cleansed the dancefloor. I took some risks that didn’t work, but we brought them right back. “Sexyback” didn’t work as well as it typically does, but it goes great into “Copacabana.” They beat match perfectly and sound great mixed together. Who knew? It was one of my risks that paid off. All said and done, the party was a huge success. They danced the whole night and had tons of fun.

ARIZONA BABY!

I love my job.

--Jonathan Hood

Danny and Bernard at Temple Shalom

Video Documentation: commitment ceremony of Danny Cohen and Bernard Cherkasov on October 22, 2006

This event featured several firsts for me as an event videographer. This was my first Commitment Ceremony documentation and the first time I'd recorded a Jewish ceremony within a Temple. It was an international gathering including Danny’s friends and relatives from the UK and Bernard’s Azerbaijani friends and family. The entire event occurred inside The Temple Shalom complex on Lakeshore Drive.
Fig Media provided video and photo documentation as well as DJ services. The event was rather elaborate as it included an array of Jewish, British and Azerbaijani rituals and activities within a day of celebration that ran from 2pm to midnight. There was detailed advanced coordination for Figs involvement in the event. The photo, video and DJ crew met with Danny and Bernard two weeks before the big day and had a two hour strategy session. The following week Fig team members went to Temple Shalom and met with Danny and the site coordinator to inspect all the rooms where activities would occur and to refine plan of attack.
Learning that we would not be permitted to to record the actual ceremony from a close proximity I decided to rig up up 2 Chuppah Cams to capture more intimate views of the ritual. As Jewish ceremony typically occur beneath a small canopy, supported by four posts (the Chuppah), lines of site for visual recording can be difficult to achieve. However, the four posts allow for convenient mounting of a small video camera within the small ceremony space, thus is derived the term Chuppah Cam.
The receptions featured a marathon Hora of 30 minutes duration. I jumped into the mosh pit, along with James Gustin, Fig photographer to capture the volatile action at close range while Melissa Martens shot high angle views from the near by stage. Other reception highlights included a surprise musical performance in which Danny played guitar and sang a song dedicated to Bernard. There was also a Beni goru blessing ceremony in which a bowl of Henna was passed and guests placed a mark upon their hand as they sang.
Working as event documentarian in Chicago has given me windows into an array of cultures that I never would witnessed first hand had I remained in the rather w.a.s.p.y realm of upstate New York: from African-American Baptist weddings on the south side, to Hispanic Cotillions on the west side, to Indian ceremonies in the Suburbs, to energetic down-town Jewish festivities, to very up-tight Protestant gatherings at North Shore residences.



Carl Wiedemann: Lead Videographer

Equipment: Sony PD170 camera, Samson wireless mics, Sony VX2100,
Canon ZR300

2nd camera: Melissa Martens - Fig videographer

DJ: Brent Rolland, assisted by Tobey Geise of Fig Media

Photography: Fig Media - Brian Carey, James Gustin, Lauren Pollock

Fig Producer: Megan Taylor

"The New Mr. and Mrs. James Harvey!"

As Elizabeth and James were announced into the space, their guests gave a thunderous round of applause. It was my highlight of the night as a rush of adrenaline went through my body. It was a great feeling. I felt truely honored to represent them in the manner. Chris Weiher, my assistant, and I only got to spin for just over an hour. We made the most of our time and rocked the dance floor. Their first dance was "Shine On" by John Cruz, a sweet melody. We also played "Sweet Home Chicago" and "New York, New York" back to back as a homage to their future move from Chicago to New York. I worked with Darcey of Big City Brides, a young and hip planning company. We played other hits such as: "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera, "Sexy Back" by JT, and ended the night with "Crash Into Me" by The Dave Mattews Band, Elizabeth and James' favorite. Yaaaayyyyy!!!!

Laxgang/Cunniff @ Spiaggia

Couple: Elizabeth Laxgang and Scott Cunniff
Deejays: Brent Rolland and Melissa Martens
Venue/Catering: Spiaggia (located in the Magnificent Mile building)
Photography: Bella Photography
Date: 11.4.06

Ray/Jenzen @ A New Leaf

Couple: Alison Ray and Tim Jenzen
Deejays: Brent Rolland and Erik Friedly
Venue: A New Leaf (1818 N. Wells, Chicago)
Date: 11.3.06
Catering: Blue Plate