Russo/Baum @ The Westin River North

Here are some photographs from a recent wedding reception that my partner/shadow Erik Friedly and yours truly deejayed. Believe it or not, our clients' names are the very same as our beloved president and vice president of Fig—Michele and James. Talk about completely beating the odds!

There is a much more story to go here, so please enjoy these lovely snapshots for the time being.







– Brent Rolland, resident deejay

(Special thanks to Peter and Jobie, our dear photographers, and to Michael Mitloff and everyone at the Westin for their smiles and support!)

Ratatouille @ the Park Hyatt

May 15th event at the Park Hyatt for Experiential Marketing Company Becker Group for the new Pixar film Ratatouille. A film about a young rat living within the walls of a famous Paris bistro wishes to become a chef, but is hindered by his family's skepticism and the rat-despising staff and patrons, was the main experience for the evening. French food, cheese, drinks, music and atmosphere was transformed as an experience for promoting the film. fig was there to document the event and experience what The Becker Group had to offer to event owners and spaces. Being the lead videographer, I had the pleasure of working with Keren Aronoff as my assistant at the Park Hyatt for this private event. I learned a lot about how these events can be specialized and marketed with a purpose and bring in the experience of a film to a real space, which I look forward to learning more about promoting my own feature documentary in the upcoming year.

Billy Rood

Liquid History Fun

On Friday may 18th, I got a chance to work with one of my favorite families to create a liquid history for a birthday party.
Late last year we had created a liquid history for Elona, a wife and mother of three, for her 35th birthday.
This time we are creating one for Dimity...Elona's husband, for his birthday.
We work with their kids, Mark, Skye, and Alexandra to create fun films and messages of well wishes for his birthday.
My assistant Hafeez and I spent the evening at the beach, biking the lakefront, and shooting at the four seasons pool.
Working with kids I found myself learning about how to ask the right kind of questions to get genuine answers.
Questions that could produce a yes or no answer were not getting the material that I was looking for.
So I started asking more open-ended questions, working with the kids to get them to open up more and be relaxed on camera.
My first interview was cute, but I wanted more. So I started getting creative.
I had Mark, ride his bike while I paced him and asked him questions. The activity helped to focus him more, and he started talking and giving me some really cute stuff to work with.
I also found that letting the kids see themselves through the camera and interacting with my equipment-helped produce more compelling work. The kids loved hearing themselves through the microphone and seeing each other on the screen.
I made sure to get down on the ground and play with the kids on their level. Getting some great shots of them playing in the sand.
At the pool, I did more interviews and had them do fun things like jumping up into the water at the same time, swimming across the pool and putting their faces in the camera. I had them sing happy birthday while sitting on the pools edge, and had them show me their best water tricks. I watched the footage and was very pleased with my work. Next steps, to focus in on the vision for the project more and work on getting more sound bites to use for the piece. I think I can go even deeper with the kids, and after having my first experience working with them on a shooting level...I know I can do a kick ass job.
I still have one more shoot with them coming up. And plan to spend more time with Elona, talking about the project and what she sees the piece being like. Interviewing Elona and getting a heart felt story from her about her husband, and playing with the kids one more time.
Should be lots of fun.

Bowling for Birthdays

I have done 2 bar mitzvahs in my career at fig media. This one would be my second. On Saturday, I worked with Andrew at a bowling alley in Hyde Park for Daniel's Bat Mitzvah party. This would prove to be one of my more challenging gigs.
Upon arrival Andrew and I set up in the private bowling alley, touched base with the planner, and worked on our strategy.
I would facilitate the games, and Andrew would play the music.
We started out playing fun punk rock versions of old songs, some current hip hop/pop, and enjoying our free refills at the soda bar.
Once guests started arriving we got an ipod from one of the kids with a play list on it to choose music from. Andrew and I took turns choosing music and watching to see how the kids were responding.
After the first hour we realized that the flow of the event was going to be more challenging than we thought. With an activity such as bowling for the kids to engage in, the first hour went be fast. Kids were bowling, coming up and giving us requests.
As dinner began to wind down, the father of the birthday boy came over and said it was our turn to take it away.
I realized in that statement.... that I was unclear about how much of the evening we would be facilitating.
I started the round of games out with balloon games, musical chair treasure hunt, a soul train dance, and then opened the dance floor for dancing and requests.
The kids did not pick up on dancing and went to playing video games, bowling, and standing in groups and talking.
Soon the parents approached us again and asked us to play more games.
Feeling scared and unprepared, I looked at Andrew and asked.... well what should we do?
We decided to wing it and go with what we knew how to do.
I got a follow the leader dance going, played a Simon says type-dancing games giving out commands for how to dance. My favorite...Andrew came up with "dance with just your eye lids" I learned that just being in a kid like space and playing helped a lot.
I then lead the cha cha slide, a snowball dance, another follows the leader dance, and a freeze dance followed by a fast motion slow motion dance.
After the last game I was running out of ideas, and was still feeling the pressure to entertain the kids and keep the party going.
They did one more round of bowling, and asked us to do one last round of games.
We decided on the limbo. One boy was so limber I was shocked at how he could squeeze under the bar.
After that the kids all put on sweatshirts that said "Daniels bat mitzvah" took a picture and then slowly started to depart.
Wanting to close the evening, and not feeling satisfied that I had celebrated the birthday boy enough. I got the whole party together...put Daniel in the middle and had everyone do a huddle around him, put their hands on his head and give one last cheer for him.
I then thanked the crowd and began to pack things up.
My learns from this gig, ask lots of questions.
I was not prepared to lead 3 hours of games, and was not clear on the client expectations or what my lead DJ expected from me.
Next gig that I do with games, I will be sure to ask more questions, get a clearer vision and insist on a pre meeting to talk about the night.
My wins were using my skills to my best ability to play, Dj'ing and helping with song selections, and acting on my impulses and being creative with game choices.

An All Star Night w/ Jessica and Tony

Client: Jessica and Tony Yen
Date: May 19, 2007
Location: Illuminating Company
Caterer: Blue Plate
Decor: Ronsley
Fig Producer: James Gustin
Lead DJ: Megan Taylor Fig Media, Inc
Assistant DJ: Hafeez Surami Fig Media, Inc
Lead Photography: Carl Wiedemann and Brian Carey Fig Media, Inc
Assistant Photography: Emily Hard Fig Media, Inc.


DJ: First I will start with saying that Jessica and Tony were fabulous clients. They had a vision for their night, and brought in a great team to make it happen. Jessica is the art director at Ronsley, so had a great eye and created a fabulous space for the ceremony, cocktails, and reception. I deejayed a hip electronic cocktail hour that provided great energy and groove to the evening, Hafeez then took over and created a fun transition of funk into dinner, we played some jazz and fun rock throughout dinner w/ fun announcements and 3 speeches, Blue Plate provided wonderful stations including a raw bar, yum. Dancing was all over w/ some motown, funk, 80's, hip hop, but the hottest hits of the night were house music, mainly Deep Dish. It was very fun to play music all over the board, and to many differnt people. Jessica and Tony were awesome, affirming, and were an awesome couple to work with.

Megan Taylor
deejay


Photo: I first met Jessica and Tony at their place. Carl and I spent an afternoon shooting Jessica and Tony's engagement photos. We starting at their place and circled around their neighborhood, finding spots to stop and direct the couple. This session set us up for the day of photography. We built a great relationship with Jessica and Tony, and were able to work "with them" instead of "for them" to capture awesome shots. The space, Illuminating Company, reflected the couple's personality and played an important role in the backgrounds, as far as style, texture, and light. We covered the ceremony, first dance, cake, toasts, and dancing. Later in the night guests twirled sparklers in celebration of Jessica and Tony. I dito Megan, Jessica and Tony were awesome to work with. I'm looking forward to seeing their book completed.

Brian Carey
photographer

Mary Meyer Fundraiser

Last Friday I got to develop my skills as a DJ on a quest to help raise money. Last spring I deejayed the Sacred Heart Gala and Fundraiser and then took my learns and skills to another school fundraiser for Mary Meyer. Mary Meyer is a private preschool, with only 36 kids, and many parents willing to contribute to the school. The event took place at Architectural Artifacts on Friday, May 19th. The night began with an open bar, the silent auction, and cocktail music. Stations opened up, as I ran the agenda, and made announcements as to what silent auction tables were closing and when. The job took a lot of coordination as well as the ability to go with the flow when my client wanted a table to stay open longer. The evening concluded with a live auction and raffle. I only wish I (the DJ) could have bid on the Oprah, Bulls, New York tickets :)
This was the first year that Mary Meyer hired professional entertainers and coordinators to help with the event and I feel very confident that I served the company well. I held the agenda and time, so the committee could concentrate on making money. I also brought great energy to the party with Matt (my assistant) and I's spirit and music.

Lead DJ: Megan Taylor
Assistant DJ: Matt Carlson
Client: Mary Meyer PreSchool

Seneshal/Otte @ The Wyndham

Stacey and David's wedding ceremony and reception was held downtown at the Wyndham. I deejayed the reception portion of the night. The bride and groom were introduced into their first dance, "Lady" by Styx. A unique, yet really awesome choice. Melissa, my assistant, played during dinner. I gave her some pointers, but from most of dinner she played a mix of the Stacey and David's selections along with her own selections. Dancing was kicked off with the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances into the Bridal Party dance–"Express Yourself". That set the tone for the night. Early into dancing I played The Stones, Queen, Tom Petty, and Bon Jovi. We played a game of who's been married the longest. Starting with 24 hours, and ending with 64 years (Stacey's Grandparents). There were a lot of requests, which we were able to mix into the flow of songs. 80's music was played throughout the night. Stacey and David were sent off before midnight with Journey's "Open Arms", one of there favorites.

Brian A Carey
deejay, photographer

Woods/Ruhl @ A New Leaf

This was my second time deejaying at A New Leaf in 7 days, so going in I knew the challenges of the space. Diane and David's wedding ceremony was up in "The Apartment" space of A New Leaf. The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and guests proceeded down to the first floor. The "Loft" space is where the music and dancing happens. The challenge at A New Leaf is to play inviting music, so that guests will be attracted to the dance floor and dance as the night goes on. Diane and David have a love for modern rock music, so I played stuff like Weezer, Foo Fighters, the Killers, Wilco, Radiohead, and the White Stripes during cocktails. I was really rockin' it out. guests responses were not exactly what I wanted. During dinner however, I brought the tempo down, and played some 50's and 60's lounge/Jazz. Guests responses were better. When it came time for the first dance and an open dance floor, I had gained the trust of guests. The floor was packed all night. Hafeez, my assistant, and I ended up playing a lot of hip-hop and pop music. The highlight of the night was, "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang. The Maid of Honor, on the mic, rapped the lyrics to most of the song. I ended the night with Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", a classic, groovin', slow dance, and a great send off for Diane and David.

Brian A Carey
deejay, photographer

Heinrich/Mariano @ A New Leaf

Fig's own Brian Carey delivered one of his best deejay performances for our clients Heidi and John at A New Leaf this May, as you can see in the below images. The peculiar (and rather admirable) detail in this is the fact that Brian went through the night with a very unfavorable cold. Anyone else in his position would have probably focused on the sickness and went through the day miserable and victimized; Brian was the opposite, as he focused on playing great music and keeping the party going. While he honed his energy on doing that, I did the emcee work and led the party the best that I could. On top of that, I was the assistant to Brian, so I made sure that he had copious amounts of water, plates of food, and hot tea. Our teamwork and the understanding of our roles was one of the reasons why this was a successful celebration.

On a humorous note, I did learn one thing: When your partner asks for one glass of water, bring two. It's hell getting through a dance floor suavely with one glass, so reducing the number of times you retrieve sustainance may be more beneficial…and drier.











– Brent Rolland, resident deejay

(Many thanks to the Hearty Boys and photographers Glen and Mike for being vital parts of this great night!)

Erik Friedly @ the Sovereign, 4.27.07

Here are a few pictures from Erik Friedly's performance at the Sovereign Bar and Lounge on April 27th, 2007. Enjoy!











Photos by Brent Rolland

Popular Science @ The Nokia Flagship Store

To the many hotels, restaurants, museums, galleries, and other eccentric places I have deejayed, I now add a new venue to my repertoire: A cell phone store. Yes, a cell phone store. Cell. Phone. Store. (I won't repeat it again, I promise.) April 26th was host to an event in honor of Popular Science magazine. They advertised a special contest in their magazine featuring the new Nokia N800 internet tablet phone, and a contest to win this cool new device. To celebrate this launch, Erik Friedly and myself were "called" to be the deejays at the swanky, hi-tech hostel that was the Nokia Flagship store on Michigan Avenue.

Simply put, this was a cool night. You may be thinking to yourself, "If I was a deejay and I was playing at a corporate party at a mighty fancy-looking phone store, what would I play?" Answer: Anything you want. That is exactly what Erik and I did. We "dialed up" tunes from about seven or eight different genres that night—rock, pop, oldies, techno, downtempo, and the like—and we had lots of fun doing so. One notable track I played was the original version of the song that mall maven Tiffany made oh-so radical in the 80s, "I Think We're Alone Now." Remember that one? Of course you do.

Speaking of the word "remember," our only drop of the night was that we did not remember to speak to one of the store employees to turn off the background audio before the beginning of speeches. One of the speakers turned to us in the middle of her speech and asked us if we could turn off the music. We laughed inside, due to the fact that she looked at the "audio experts"—us—first. Of course, we had no control over the store's piped-in audio. We knew that the sound was going on subconciously, but we did not think to request to one of the store employees to turn it off before speeches. Luckily, that went on for a few minutes and was resolved quickly. Erik and I learned to be more conscious of our surroundings in that moment, a very vital lesson.

It was a short gig (2-1/2 hours), but one of quality. We received some great compliments from people, and the employees of the Nokia store were kind and accomodating. Our client from Popular Science, Eshonda, loved the job we did, and showed that in her feedback form. All in all, this was a success, and I cannot wait to see what the next eccentric venue I'll be in. Maybe another phone store is in my future…

– Brent Rolland

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

Indie Rock can be done

On April 14th my assistant Tobey Geise and I celebrated the marriage of Lesley and Johnny at a New Leaf. The couple was married in Japan the previous fall, and asked wanted to celebrate with their family in the states. They choose A New Leaf to have their intimate celebration and had a very specific vision for the night which tied largely to the music. Lesley a huge music fan worked with me on what to play and not, she wanted a very Indie Rock, no cheese, little pop and mainstream event, so I took on the gig because we shared many of the great tastes. Going into the event I was hesitant as too what would hit, how the music would effect the party, and what I found was that the music fit right into her vision. Many compliments were given about the music, my client said she loved me kissed me, and was relieved to hear her music and music she loved. Tobey and I had a great time playing music we love and usually don't get to hear. Music included: The Rapture, Modest Mouse, Fiest, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stones, Johnny Cash, Beatles, Electric 6, Fiona Apple, Tom Waits....

DJ Lead: Megan Taylor
Assistant DJ: Tobey Geise
Planner: Susan Jablowski
Caterer: Big Delicious

They want more---- so we will give it up.

DJ James Gustin was booked as an artist to deejay with his team the hot and happening closing event that brought over 1,500 internationl trademark lawyers to Chicago. The final event happened at the Museum of Science and Industry. In the Loop brought over 8 bands and the Carmel and fig team to deejay the "disco/techno" room on the bottom floor at the MSI. Guests made their way through the musuem hearing music and eating food, but fig once again stole the show "in my sweet opinion" and brought down the roof and the party with a killer dance party that went an hour overtime. Jon Hood had the international guests shaking their stuff to disco, funk, 80's, European dance, hip hop, and everything in between. Megan Taylor and new intern DJ Matt supported as fig unleashed their magic and created an unbelievable night and ending to the conference.

I'm on top of the world!

99th floor of the Sears Tower, baby! Second time there and damn! if the speakers don't pick up radio stations. I mean, they pick up radio stations - like you wouldn't believe! The speakers just need to be powered up, no link to the decks necessary, although it helps. Hafeez was assisting me on this gig (by the way Hafeez, I want a copy of that fella you were playing), and we were trying to trouble shoot this problem. Speakers close to the floor helped, but it also depended on where the speaker was placed, how long the cords were, and where the cords were run. I was getting so frustrated with other things to worry about, that I handed this problem over to Hafeez and he took care of it. It was faster for him to handle it than to have two heads working on it. I then worked on coordinating the awards ceremony. Oh yeah, this gig was for Carmel and On the Scene. The end client was Kraft International. It was dinner and a conference with awards mixed in. A seperate company came in to do sound reinforcement and visuals for the ceremony and conference. Not sure why they didn't handle this part of it, but we did music cues during the awards show. We put it through their system, but didn't test it ahead of time. We ran into a few problems during the show, but it got worked out. Not sure what it was or how it was fixed. Mike, the guy I was working with, kept pushing buttons and turning knobs. It's one of those big 50 channel mixers (exagerating a little) with all sorts of knobs and doohickeys that I have no clue what they do (being a sound guy, I should know, right?). Anyhoo, we got the sound problems worked out and the rest of the awards went fine. It wasn't that big a deal, show went on and everything and it's only a 5 second clip while people were going to the podium. But it's still important and would have added to the event. We played background music as people arrived (upbeat, victory themed songs) and during dinner (international and electronic lounge). No dancing, but it was almost all guys. Great view from up there. I could almost see my house.

--Jonathan

Kirkland and Ellis

Wedding? Nope, a law firm. Associate lawyer casino party at the River East Art Center. Fig team: Andrew and myself.

Learns: be part of the planning process sooner when they are deciding where to place everything. The casino tables were on the other end of the room from where we were. It was hard for the sound to reach the tables and the party was basically where the tables were. I felt like we weren't part of the party and stopped having fun once the guests started gambling. The room we were in wasn't very full, there were less people there than they had expected. The guests in our room very accurately reflected what I was feeling. Why? Because the party is a reflection of myself. Don't get it? My vibe and energy gets transmitted through the music I play and gets absorbed by the people hearing it. Wild, huh? Anyway, Andrew was helping me figure out the dynamic in the room so I could have better direction in where to go. This is something that Andrew does really well. The best piece of information he gave me was that the people who were at the casino tables were doing what they were supposed to do. It's a casino party, so they are gambling. The people who didn't want to be part of the party were in our room and it was like trying to wake the dead. Broad generalization that accurately reflected my feelings of wanting to belong to the group who was playing and having fun and feelings of rejection because that's not what was happening. After Andrew gave me that piece of info (the first part, not the latter), I made a decision that I was going to have fun regardless of the people in the room. Once I made that decision, people started dancing. Still don't believe that the party is a reflection of myself? Overall, people had fun, but it's hard to gauge because there wasn't that many people there and everyone was spread out.

--Jonathan

Lora McMeekan & Dean Quintas at Chicago City Centre

Lora and Dean had their wedding reception at the Chicago City Centre (formally the Holiday Inn). Brent and I were the deejays and we also had a video crew: Billy and Eric. I acted as the coordinator for the evening and made sure the timeline was happening and that everyone was on the same page. Brent deejayed for dinner and I hopped on the decks once we got to dancing. What I'm seeing looking back is that I should have stayed in the coordinator role during dancing, too. Switching roles like that got confusing. Actually, just communicating more about what I was thinking and what kind of role I wanted to have during the night would have been key. The dance floor was hard to get going, partly because Brent and I weren't completely on the same page. Dancing started off well, everyone came out, but at one point, everyone slowly left and it was hard to bring them back. What finally worked was the 80's hair bands. We ended up playing that for the last hour and wound up getting overtime. The crowd was intense. A lot of angry or assertive guests that wanted their way. It took a lot me asserting myself with them to have successful event. One of the guests wanted overtime, but spent 10 minutes trying to get me to lower our rate. Part of his tactic was trying to get me to feel either guilty for stopping or ashamed that I would be going back home and going to bed. What I'm learning about dealing with people who are belligerent is that I should set clear limits and boundaries. It wasn't until I said that I wasn't doing overtime that he finally agreed to it. I spent a lot of time talking with Brent throughout the night, venting my anger to keep in good shape and make great decisions.

--Jonathan

Museum of Science and Industry - May 2, 2007

Museum of Science and Industry – May 2, 2007

Unfreakin’ believable! There’s so much to dissect about this gig. I’ll start with the basics. The fig team was James, Megan, Matt, and myself. James was the artist (headlining dj) and I led the team. We were working for Carmel and In the Loop at the Museum of Science and Industry. 3,000 people scattered throughout the space with 6 different kinds of performers (bands, singers, Djs – us!). We were set up on the lower level in the room with the ticket counter and near the Silver Streak Zephyr. Most of the guests came into our area when they entered, dropped they coats off at the coat check, and then proceeded upstairs to see the exhibits, eat food, watch the other performers, etc. We played down-tempo music as guests arrived and kicked into dancing as the night progressed. The space got PACKED during dancing. It was like a river of people flowing down the escalator at one point. We did an hour of overtime and everybody had a ton of fun, ourselves included.

Tons of learns on this one for me. I coordinated the set-up and take-down of equipment which included getting a truck and extra equipment rented, getting the equipment down there, coordinating with the other vendors, and keeping our team performing at our best. Set-up was like birthing a calf. Not that I know what that feels like, but I imagine it was close to this. We picked up bigger sound equipment to support the sound within the room up. To get the equipment down there, we rented a truck. We had been trying to get into the space the day before to set-up because something always goes wrong and with a large set-up, the last thing we wanted was to be rushed and not adequately prepared. It was like pulling teeth to get our equipment down there the day before, but we were able to do it. We weren’t able to set up, but at least it was down there. I’m glad we did do it the day before because I ran into a host of problems getting the truck and driving down (miscommunication about where to rent the equipment, going 45 minutes out of my way to get the truck because of that, printer problems at U-Haul, traffic, etc.). Drama, right? Yep. So, the learn: communicate effectively to my team about what’s going to happen and allot for adequate time because stuff always hits the fan, and when it sprays across the room, it gets messy and stinky.

Setting up the day of was a breeze. I had it all visually laid out in my head about how it was all going to work, communicated what I needed to my team (Megan and Matt), we made it happen, and BAM! we’re done setting up ahead of schedule. We had enough time to talk about how we were going to be with each other, what we wanted the evening to be like, what we wanted to have happen, and see some of the exhibits as well.

As guests were first coming in, I was playing upbeat, fun, fast-paced songs that were way too upbeat and fast for the time of the night. James came over and reminded me to keep it chill, down tempo, laid-back to create a space where people can feel safe, comfortable, talk. Matt observed most of the night and it was helpful having him there because you get that many people in a room and it gets overwhelming. Matt right next to me was like a security blanket because I knew I wasn’t alone, I felt safe, was able to talk things out, move through my fear rather than let it block me, etc. Megan and James came on for a while after Matt and I. We kept the same vibe going. A couple hours into the event, I hopped on with Megan, starting picking it up a little bit, I threw on some Earth, Wind, and Fire, and the crowd started dancing. There wasn’t many people there at that point, but the crowd slowly built, I slowly worked them with disco and 80’s. The next thing I know, the whole lower level is packed with people and I’m going from disco to 80’s to current stuff to house. In and out of all that stuff and keeping the crowd guessing once I earned their trust. Megan and James came on when we hit overtime and tore it up with some Latin and Hip-Hop. Megan and myself wound up the night at the end, YMCA being the final song. Normally I detest playing that song, but it was totally perfect for this crowd that was eating up the happy, upbeat, discoey, housey stuff. All said and done, we made a great team that communicated well with one another and supported each other well.

I liked being the "warm-up" dj. It was cool to build the dance floor and step away when it was at its peak, and allowing James and Megan to take over at that point. I helped create a space for others to play in and saw the value in what I did - overtime!

--Jonathan Hood, team lead
Team: Megan Taylor, Matt Carlson
Artist DJ: James Gustin

Heidi and John

Saturday, May 5th at A New Leaf in Chicago. The couple, Heidi and John, live in Milwaukee and decided to come back to Chicago for their wedding ceremony and reception. DJ Brent Rolland assisted myself. Brent played a huge role as the emcee. I was currently getting over a cold and had a "frog" in my throat. Brent stepped in and did a great job facilitating the announcements of the bridal party and the toasts. The dancing got started earlier than usual. Let me elaborate, I played fun up beat music during the dinner hour. I had guests bobbing their heads and swaying their shoulders. Heidi and John cut their "cup" cake around 9:00, and at that time the caterers were breaking down tables to create a dance floor. I had guests dancing right into the openings of the dance floor as tables were moved. The dancing continued as I played 6 motown hits in a row. This was out of the ordinary, since the bride and groom's first dance didn't happen yet. Heidi and John, being scarred that the dancing would stop, suggested that they not have a first dance. I insisted that they should. After their first dance and Heidi's dance with her father, I threw on "Shout" and the floor errupted once again with energized guests. The rest of the night was a lot of fun. I ended the party with two House Music songs. Cher's "Believe" and then Eric Prytz's "Call On Me". We worked with John from The Hearty Boys Catering and the photographer Glenn Abog.

Brian Carey
deejay, photographer

Hennessey @ the Underground Chicago

Miri Ben-Ari, Josh Kelley, DJ Vice,...who? These were three names that I was not too familiar with before May 3rd. Who are these people you might ask? They are three amazing performers that played for an exclusive party held by Hennessey Artistry at the Underground in Chicago. A very VIP night, and I was to cover the entire night with 2 performances and a night of only Hennessey with my lovely assistant Emily Hard and Daaimah! The night consisted of a challenging crowd of HOT women and a video camera. Not too shabby. My first exclusive party was a great experience and I learned a lot from working as a team and leading. I also learned the value in these parties with networking and how these events can lead to opportunities with highly respected artists and bigger celebrations. The social scene has always been attractive to me and as a filmmaker, seeing these artists affirms my dreams to another level. I'm also in a band and talking to these artists were inspiring and also a lot of fun.

Billy Rood
cinematographer