Atomic Dogs!

PAWS threw a fundraiser at Kaleidoscope on Saturday. Tobey and I dj'd while Brian and Chris took photos and projected them on one of the screens hanging in the venue. Tobey and I started the night off playing music that we wanted to listen to, ranging from downtempo housy stuff to motown to classic rock to top 40. Tobey was a ton of fun to work with. She was getting so excited about all the dogs that were there. She was also great on the decks. One of my goals for this gig was to get her more comfortable on the decks and playing more than on my last gig with her. Once we got a dance floor, these two girls wanted to dance with me. So I did. And Tobey had to take over. I would check in with her while I was dancing to see how she was doing. Not that I needed to, she was doing great. I guess it was more for my piece of mind. I have a hard time letting go of the decks and letting someone else take over. But it's good for me to do because it allows for others to step up and learn. That builds the team at fig and keeps us growing. It also allows me to dance! I've never danced this much at an event. I've dance for maybe one or two songs, but I was out there for a while on this one. It was SOOOO much fun.

--Jonathan

Fig - Live at the Metro

Sacred Heart through a surprise party for their 7th and 8th graders at the Metro last Friday. The kids were there for about two hours. They had pizza, one of the instructors at the school gave them dance lessons, they could get tours of the club, and for the last hour we dj'd - with a little help from two of the students. I taught a dj class last semester and two of my students spun some groovy tunes. They were both awesome and rocked the decks. The students came up on stage and it got a little overwhelming at times with how many were surrounding us. Edgar played the bouncer role when too many students were near the decks. It seemed like they had a great time. At the end was my favorite part when I gave shout outs to the two students that helped me out and asked everyone if they wanted one more. "Are you ready to go back to school?" "NOOOOO!!!" "Do you want one more song?" "YEEEESSSSS!!!" Then I played the Casper Slide and everybody came up on stage and did it. It was a hoot.

--Jonathan

The Fabulous Winter Ball

Poofy dresses, frindged tuxes, the king and queen, cheese balls, cup cakes, disco, big hair, football jocks, band geeks, the popular girl, air guitar, snow flakes, shimmering shoes, beer bongs, tequilla shots, and so on.

Picture all of these pieces put together for one night at the American Legion Hall in Arlington Heights. Jennifer Alese and Kathleen Gabriel, friends from Arlington Heights, planned and organized a high school reunion bash featuring music played by fig deejays Brian and Megan. We had an air guitar contest where dudes and dudettes jammed to Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine." They all should have won! Kathleen prepared 100 shots made of ice for the tequilla shot, with lime of course. Before the King and Queen were announced a red carpet, rather construction paper, was rolled out to accept the winners. We played Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" as our King and Queen shared a wonderous moment. The rest of the winter ball guests joined them, and our dance floor was packed.
Again the song "Paradise by the Dashboard of Light" surprised me. It was a big hit. Deejays, don't be scarred of this song, it is loved by many.

The party was a such a hit that it was published in the Daily Herald. Check out the article online.

Brian Carey
deejay, photographer