Bat Mitzvahing in the Ice Box

Horra. Southside. At the wonderful event/art/cafe space the Little Black Pearl, nestled down in hyde park figDJs Alvin and Melissa did their thing for one Miss Naomi Itzkoff's Bat Mitzvah. Things started off with a ceremony that Naomi was quite nervous about, but did marvelously all the same. Dinner was buffet-style, and while everyone bum rushed the grub, Alvin had on some crooning goodness (think sinatra, buble, cole), including Nat King Cole's rendition of "More", which was Naomi's parents first dance when they got married. As people started to wrap up eating, Alvin started to ramp up the music, getting some motown and funk to start the party off.

Now here is what's surprising about this group of kids: they had a strong
affinity for music you would assume that would be more their parents speed. So
all night there were requests for Elvis, Temptations, and so forth.

Disco, motown, a bit of 50's/60's, and a lot of newer top40 was the order of the night. After about an hour 1/2 of dancing, the crowd had formed a circle and started to watch people as they got in the middle and did their thang. Melissa at this point felt it would be good to play some games, and get everyone involved. Melissa got the kids doing a Soul Train line, follow the leader dancing, and Scavenger Hunt Chairs, a hybrid of Musical Chairs and a Scavenger Hunt, which was a huge hit! She deftly went from one game to the next, commanding all of the attention throughout. So for the last 45 minutes Alvin played a few slower tracks for the adults - some Sinatra and Van Morrison, went into a three hit combo of Hava Nagila, Shout, then Footloose which had everyone up on their feet. At 11, Melissa and Alvin handed over the mic to Naomi who thanked everyone who came. A fun event in a very cool space. Chalk up another win!

So what got the kids jammin?

• Bulid me up Buttercup, The Foundations
• Do You Love Me, The Contours
• Everytime we Touch, Cascada
• Girlfriend, April Lavine

written by Alvin Black III, fig resident deejay

PS: the icebox referred to the AC that blasted down directly onto the DJ that could not be cut off independently. Despite a bit of shivering and numbness in the fingers, Alvin and Melissa still rocked.