McMeekan/Quintas @ Chicago City Center

What do headbanging, 80s rock music and a wedding reception have in common? Ask the couple that Jon and I recently deejayed for, Lora and Dean. Joined by fellow Fig videographers Billy and Eric, we joined the couple du jour in their wedding celebration at the Chicago City Center in River East Chicago.

This gig, to say the least, was a lot of hard work. The biggest challenge of the night was the dance floor. We started off with a few Greek songs (due to the fact that the groom, Dean, is of Greek ancestry), which the family enjoyed. We then moved into one number each from Sinatra and Dean Martin. The floor, at this time, was pizz-acked. Thinking that Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" would keep the floor going, I gave it a try; the result was that half the floor moved back to their seats. Shudder. It's the worst feeling for a deejay. I usually do not get intimidated, but this time, I felt it was best to step back and let Jon handle the decks. For a while, it was difficult getting people out to enjoy our musical choices. We saw some headbobbers and toe-tappers, but no true dancers. This became tougher as the night progressed. What does a deejay in this position do? Two things:

1. Keep on playing and pressing on.
2. Pray.

I was definitely responsible for the latter, as I stepped outside the ballroom and said a prayer that the rest of the night would be a success. As I expected, God heard my prayer. Around the time that Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was requested, that was when things turned around. Jon turned his musical selections towards 80s hair-band rock, which the bride, the groom, and a ton of their guests totally loved. This music…and maybe a itty-bitty amount of booze…brought the dance floor back and better than ever. Believe it or not, Jon even received a negotiation of 40 minutes of overtime for the party, which neither of us expected. It was no cakewalk achieving this success, and there were some guests that we had to deal with, but we got through it all and acheived it there as a team. I am glad that I gave Jon the space he needed so that he could be the best artist possible.

Not only did this party rock, but so did the power of the Lord.











– Brent Rolland, resident deejay