My favorite thing about being a mobile DJ (versus being a club or radio DJ), is for sure the diversity in my playlists from night to night. Back in my night club spinnin’ days, I would play only dance/techno, hip hop, and “booty bass” every single night. I liked the mixing aspect of it, but I got tired of hearing the same songs over and over again. Whatever happened to be popular at the moment would get pounded into my head night after night (at ridiculously loud decibel levels). As a mobile DJ though, I get to work different types of events, and every night I have a different crowd, which means I get to play a completely different set of music. From Motown to Bhangra to Country to Egyptian to Hip Hop, the request list goes on and on, always making my job new and exciting.
This past couple weeks I’ve had some really unique parties to DJ:
Munirah’s wedding was a lot of fun for me. This was a Muslim wedding, so the men and women have separate parties in separate rooms. Men in one room, women in another. I was the DJ for the women’s side. I have worked many Muslim parties over the years, but always for Arab American Muslims. Munirah (and all of her family) were African American Muslims, but many other cultures were represented on the guest list. Munirah wanted all of her guests to have fun so she really gave me a ton of freedom with the playlist, with the guidelines being “play some African, Arabic, Indian, Latin and American music”. Awesome! Dinner music was easy, but when it was time to open the dance floor I got a little nervous….what should I start with?? Normally I would go Arabic….but maybe I should start with an African song? The videographer suggested I go with the hustle. Good call, dance floor packed instantly. After that it was so fun…I was mixing Beyonce with belly dancing beats and then I’d go into a central African song. Dance floor was rockin’ all night and I had a total blast. Funny though, out of all that cool music I got to play, the song that went over the best was easily “The Cha Cha Slide”. Crystal Gardens has a huge dance floor but when that song came on they had to move some tables out of the way so more people could dance. LOL.
When I initially met with Troy and Sarah about their wedding March 2nd, they were very concerned that nobody was going to dance. They did not plan to serve alcohol and feared that everybody was going to eat and leave right after dinner. I’ve dee-jayed dry weddings before, and Troy and Sarah seemed fun so I wasn’t worried at all. But then as soon as the videographer got there he said “you got your work cut out for you today. I’ve known these people most of my life and they don’t dance at all”. Hmm…..sounds like a challenge! I was working with a new Platinum Mix recruit, Kevin and together we quickly put together an emergency plan. Turned out we didn’t need it. While I admit the dance floor wasn’t completely full all night, it was consistently “occupied”. 
Those folks did WAY better then I anticipated. Most of that was thanks to Troy and Sarah. Sarah planned out this little practical joke to play on Troy. Long story, but it involved grocery bags over the groomsmen’s heads and silly dancing to “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy”. That really worked well to loosen up the crowd a little bit and bring them out to the dance floor. Check out the pics located here.
Old Hollywood was the theme of Joy and Andy’s wedding. They rolled out a red carpet and I introduced the bridal party to Fred Astair’s “Puttin’ on The Ritz”. Microwave popcorn were the favors and there was a table of candy greeting the guests when they arrived. During dinner we were treated to old black and white movies showing on a projection screen. They chose most of the playlist for the night too, selecting lots of new wave eighties stuff, classic rock and a little disco. I was surprised at some of the songs that went over really well like “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop and Edwin Star “Twenty-Five Miles”. It was cool to play The Cars & The Kinks too….love both of those bands! Pictures from this wedding are posted here.
This past couple weeks I’ve had some really unique parties to DJ:
Munirah’s wedding was a lot of fun for me. This was a Muslim wedding, so the men and women have separate parties in separate rooms. Men in one room, women in another. I was the DJ for the women’s side. I have worked many Muslim parties over the years, but always for Arab American Muslims. Munirah (and all of her family) were African American Muslims, but many other cultures were represented on the guest list. Munirah wanted all of her guests to have fun so she really gave me a ton of freedom with the playlist, with the guidelines being “play some African, Arabic, Indian, Latin and American music”. Awesome! Dinner music was easy, but when it was time to open the dance floor I got a little nervous….what should I start with?? Normally I would go Arabic….but maybe I should start with an African song? The videographer suggested I go with the hustle. Good call, dance floor packed instantly. After that it was so fun…I was mixing Beyonce with belly dancing beats and then I’d go into a central African song. Dance floor was rockin’ all night and I had a total blast. Funny though, out of all that cool music I got to play, the song that went over the best was easily “The Cha Cha Slide”. Crystal Gardens has a huge dance floor but when that song came on they had to move some tables out of the way so more people could dance. LOL.
When I initially met with Troy and Sarah about their wedding March 2nd, they were very concerned that nobody was going to dance. They did not plan to serve alcohol and feared that everybody was going to eat and leave right after dinner. I’ve dee-jayed dry weddings before, and Troy and Sarah seemed fun so I wasn’t worried at all. But then as soon as the videographer got there he said “you got your work cut out for you today. I’ve known these people most of my life and they don’t dance at all”. Hmm…..sounds like a challenge! I was working with a new Platinum Mix recruit, Kevin and together we quickly put together an emergency plan. Turned out we didn’t need it. While I admit the dance floor wasn’t completely full all night, it was consistently “occupied”. 
Those folks did WAY better then I anticipated. Most of that was thanks to Troy and Sarah. Sarah planned out this little practical joke to play on Troy. Long story, but it involved grocery bags over the groomsmen’s heads and silly dancing to “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy”. That really worked well to loosen up the crowd a little bit and bring them out to the dance floor. Check out the pics located here.Old Hollywood was the theme of Joy and Andy’s wedding. They rolled out a red carpet and I introduced the bridal party to Fred Astair’s “Puttin’ on The Ritz”. Microwave popcorn were the favors and there was a table of candy greeting the guests when they arrived. During dinner we were treated to old black and white movies showing on a projection screen. They chose most of the playlist for the night too, selecting lots of new wave eighties stuff, classic rock and a little disco. I was surprised at some of the songs that went over really well like “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop and Edwin Star “Twenty-Five Miles”. It was cool to play The Cars & The Kinks too….love both of those bands! Pictures from this wedding are posted here.
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