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Topic: I may turn this gig down ....... - Page: 1

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this isn't the way i roll ....

i got asked by the owner of my strip club to do another party for her, for her daughter (teen birthday party)

it seems like a compliment until she said .......no Beatles .....

the thing about that is ........i did not play any Beatles previously except for my ending shtick......

my ending schtick consists of the wonderful live concert video (youtube) of Sir Paul and the band doing Sgt. Peppers seque into The End....

"we're Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope you have enjoyed the show....
we're SPLHCB , we're sorry , but it's time to go" ........ and then they seque into The End
"and in the end ...... the love you take , is equal to the love you make"

nice positive message ...... in the video a beautiful sunrise dawns on a new day and they end ..........( about 5 min )

that's how i end my shows ......didn't think a nice message and a great video was a problem ........?????????????????

i sneak in one or two little messages every gig ( i always show in my slide shows my ubiquitous "PLEASE! neuter yer pets (and weird friends and relatives)( also appears on my website homepage lower left corner) never hurt Bob Barker any ......if i can i sneak in Nickelback's "If everyone cared" i sometimes do .........(great video also).........

anyway my ending is a little low key ish compared to others ......i don't hammer people over the head with how great it is to be me and hire me again ..... i've been told i'm not properly worshipful of the almighty dollar .....

and with that in mind i will talk to her and if worse comes to worse , refuse the gig
 
Posted Sat 17 Apr 10 @ 7:18 am
 
i'm not sure what yer point is there , and i'm not interested in any directly political discussion at this forum.....

many times before people have blown there cool , unfortunately

my point is that there is only so far you can go and then i feel like it's not me , or it's not right ......

you can't get me to say mean things on the mic , play gangsta , etc.....

this plays to that because ........

for a very long time before i was doing video i wanted a cool ending bit , now i have this and i think it's great .....

it says it's time to go appropriate to the end of the show , and it's a great vid with a good beat and a good little message .....

everything i was looking for ......

so ........not doing it isn't an option...........

lemme put it this way ....... i have the same reaction as if you said don't display yer logo , to me it's that's as much a part of what i want to do

also i am not entertaining any lame so called lectures that start off with "he who pays the piper......"

that's my point .......pay somebody else then........
 
You're not going to get very many mobile gigs by doing what the client doesn't want. Will it kill you to leave out your closing song for one night? You're going to pass up a gig because the person paying you doesn't want you to play that one song? I can see why he doesn't want you to play it, you're DJ'ing for a bunch of teenagers, end with something relevant to the crowd you're performing for, not the bloody reprise from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"???!!! BTW, you DJ at a strip club and you're worried about integrity and sticking to your morals??? Sorry, I gotta say it, you're off your rocker man.
 
i've been off my rocker for awhile there ......


also i don't feel like it's some big morality play ........

it's what i do ...i want to distinguish myself by having a little message (my schools like it as a for instance) and being more fun and having video and FireText

most of my competition has no video ........

also he who pays the piper .......only gets so much , within my limits

there's an awful lotta gigs and customers out there ....... it's not necessary to change in an unacceptable way for one gig

speaking of strip clubs .....just because i dj there doesn't make me a bad person , don't rush to judgement i mean i'm sure you're always well above reproach ........

actually for those of you who haven't done it , you are in no position to argue , since you don't have the experience ....

strange as it may seem i got a lot better as a mobile guy as a result of djing at strip clubs......but that's tangential......

i still say you only get to buy so much Chuck ........regardless of the circumstances/venue .......

i get a lot of mobile gigs ...... mostly word of mouth

lemme see if i can sum this up ......this doesn't have to do with strip clubs , this doesn't have to do directly with teenagers

it's about this ......if you are willing to bend to any little whim everytime then you just have no identity ......

i have such a huge ego apparently that i insist on doing some , not all, things my way ......
 
dizzyrocks2001 wrote :
BTW, you DJ at a strip club and you're worried about integrity and sticking to your morals??? Sorry, I gotta say it, you're off your rocker man.



1) DJ'ing at a strip club is one the most secure Club DJ gigs you can get. they also involve more skill sets than mixing There are lots of guys who try but 99% of them wash out - usually because the girls chase them away for hitting on them constantly.

2) What in the hell is wrong with turning down a gig? If he doesn't want to do something. Who is forcing him to do it? Is there a gun to his head? does his "day" job hinge on taking this party?

If you do not feel comfortable on taking a given event why bother? I do it from time to time.
 
Quote :
i still say you only get to buy so much Chuck ........regardless of the circumstances/venue .......


at $2.49lb...

if you can dig up a good enough copy - and their lawyers dont find out about it - the old school mickey mouse club ending with one hand ready to pause.

now it's time to say goodbye - pause and insert reason: show's over and they ain't payin' me to stay longer. or something silly
to all our company - pause - this means you people!
m i c - see ya down the road! or if in club: see ya tomorrow night!
k e y - why? cause i got stuff to do!/they really ain't paying me to stay longer!/ or my fav - "cause you got to get the f*ck outta here!"
m o u s e... goodnight ya been a great crowd! blah blah blah.

alternativly you could just play some enuffzenuff - if you dont like what u see here get the funk out.

but since its for teenagers... just bring a bottle of tequila and dont let them see it. they'll try to steal it for themselves. insulation is not just for attics.
 
DNP lists or requests are pretty common Chuck.
1) take the gig
2) don't play beatles
3) take money to bank and be glad you are working
 
thanks Marcel

i lose some gigs every month over the price ......

every now and then you get something weird like this

this segment is really classy and nice so i want that for my ending and .....remember......

this is the ending people are putting on there coats , saying goodbye , folding up chairs , leaving ........

they can't deal with this , as nice and innocuous as it is , while i say some good bye's and give out some cards


REALLY??

maybe they don't need me and i don't need them .....
 
Wild !!! $2.49 / lb eh??? do you own a strip club ???? do you tip 10% ???? lol

i'll take 2.49 / lb per hour .........of course then they probably won't let me at the buffet ........

i 've had that too ..... no buffet ....just call Dominoes for delivery .......

i liked yer ideas too .... this is defo a rinky dink mouseketeer crowd .... they just don't know it

thanx Rick i will consider your opinion .....

it's just in this instance they are really pushing a button .... the dnp is in my closing sequence !

i don't like getting pushed around ......

i REALLY don't like getting pushed around by i know it all , i deserve it all rich ........

i've done this at schools and the parents show up and see and here and wanna know who it is .....
 
mp3jrick wrote :
DNP lists or requests are pretty common Chuck.
1) take the gig
2) don't play beatles
3) take money to bank and be glad you are working


Agree, plus, maybe it is a chance to try something new. When we stop finding new material, we stop growing. I would never do the same show twice. That does not make people "want to see what you do next" they would already know.

I have a minimum of 20 different options from different years and genres, for all different events (closing, etc). That is just my standard.

How about -
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Daughtry - Home
Rihanna - Take a bow

Not the message you want, but they are all much more relevent for teenagers.
 
those are good ideas .... thx

i have Daughtry's Home .... great video .....

the change it around (or not) is another good topic ..... some people say do the same bits for awhile 'till it gets to be associated with you and only after awhile consider changing .......

i would like to add on the topic of change and keeping it fresh .....

i have been changing slowly but surely everyday since i got VDJ ....... I think my demo was 3.4??? purchased 4.0 for a birthday present on New Year's......i used to just subscribe to promo only but since they don't have downloads i have dropped them ..... i MIGHT reluctantly pick them back up because i can't get any rock videos from Smashvidz or CrooklynClan ......but i have changed everything about my mobile biz including even the logo and other marketing features at some point in recent memory ....... so i like to think that i don't stand still very much if at all?

i started out with a crappy computer (i didn't know that at the time) and crappy software (winamp) and wondering why other guys were so much better???

i stumbled across Traktor , which for a brief period was a good thing until i was very turned off by there poorly moderated forum......

that was the end for Traktor , it turns out ..... then i stumbled across VDJ unfortunately VDJ paid the price of my skepticism caused by Traktor

i am pretty sure that Traktor's licensing procedure was developed by Rube Goldberg , if ya know what i mean .......at any rate ... i was slow to embrace it , but just the same i am glad i finally did and i have been changing how i do EVERYTHING ever since .....some having to do with how i acquire the tunes/videos some with how i do business , and on and on .....lots of good people here and amazing how to's and info .......

sorry ... hijacked my own thread .....
 
Working in a comfort zone will make you look good, because it is easy to be good when you have tons of practice at it.

As far as the "till it gets associated with you". You can do it twice, a third time, and that is your bit.

Now I am really into music, I love it all and I mean that (no exceptions). There is tons of great music that I like that is not well know/relevent and let me tell you what, well know/relevent trumps creativity every time.

Example, I run a haunted hay ride with a concert scene. There are tons of great selections for a "mach rock concert" (White Zombie, Otep, Ozzy, etc). What worked best? THE WHO - BABA O'RILEY - Why? Because it is the CSI theme and every body knows it. Listened to that song 40+ times a night all of last October. It discusted me to "sell my soul" and throw out all the mixes I made for him and the hours of finding Halloween themed creative selections. But I saw it with my own eyes and he was right.

My opinions
1. MOST IMPORTANT - Well know/relevent trumps creativity every time.

2. People are sheep (sorry to sound bitter) and can't enjoy music unless they know it. If they don't know it they feel out of the loop and ignore it (for the most part). Think about how many times people go up to you and say "wow that was a really great song, what was it?"

3. People are not into music like we are. If you know all kinds of stuff that they don't, they take it as showing off a bit and nobody likes a show off.
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
the change it around (or not) is another good topic ..... some people say do the same bits for awhile 'till it gets to be associated with you and only after awhile consider changing .......


I never do the same bit twice.
I look at the ages, load up and find the interests based on what is coming across the request pad.
When the requests stop coming, I have found their musical niche and it may be broad jumping from urban to top 40/pop and there's lots of options for moving across those genres.

The hard part comes when the guest of honor decides what everyone's music taste will be for the night.

I had a huge urban prom last week.
Along came a request list through email, pretty standard mix across urban/top 40 and reggae/R&B, try that sometime.
So I'm figuring a pretty easy night bouncing around between genres.
Then the reggae crowd decided on what was going down, and everyone else got a suck pill to swallow.
The same thing happens when one person dictates a DNP list or a play list of his/her choice.

Usually when this happens my reply is "so is this 'your' list or from everybody that is here tonight?"
So when you get that fool giving you the "cut this" throat slash on a track, you'll know he/she wasn't included in the list formatting.
Do I take it personally?
No, I just move on to the next one...
 
mp3jrick wrote :

Do I take it personally?
No, I just move on to the next one...


Very important point! Thank your luck stars for a job. Bosses remember favors.
 
thkx Rick .....

yeah the jerx with the suck pill....

look we are still talking about the last 4 or 5 minutes ......what happens AFTER i say ...

hey gang thanx fer having me again, Maryann I hope you had a great time , Ginger , thanx for calling me , Professor , be good , Gilligan , keep it real brutha I'm Chuck , hope to see you again soon ..... come on up and please say hello before you go , i got food , candy ,photos to take , free mousepads n t shirts ....... cmon up .....

and meanwhile the vid has started , people are leaving ........

i dunno ... this maybe one pill i can't swallow .....

and no this isn't some thing i have been doing for years , just in the last few months
 
I'm sorry, but this whole thread is just weird.
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :


and no this isn't some thing i have been doing for years , just in the last few months


Months?
So any repeat customers see the same thing?

There are loads of good closers...I prefer to change it up...closing time, I don't want to miss a thing, and on and on.
Try Kelly Clarkson - I do not hook up, her mom will love you and it won't be the Beatles...
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
this isn't the way i roll ....

..... i've been told i'm not properly worshipful of the almighty dollar ....


DJ Marcel_1 wrote :
If he doesn't want to do something. Who is forcing him to do it? Is there a gun to his head? does his "day" job hinge on taking this party?

If you do not feel comfortable on taking a given event why bother?


chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
i REALLY don't like getting pushed around by i know it all , i deserve it all rich .......


mp3jrick wrote :
Months?
So any repeat customers see the same thing?


I can see your point Chuckles but, here is what my line of thought is amigo. No. 1) closings at private events is not the same as a club. My closer in the clubs was always the same. At private events, I just thank everyone and say good night. No. 2) You're railing against perceived not actual censorship. No. 3) As Marcel pointed out, it is your prerogative to pass on the job. No. 4) Passing on a job could come back to haunt you. Word could get around your picky about the jobs you do. So, some customers might not call you, to avoid hearing you say no. As Rick said, its no big deal, do the gig, and cash the check, move onto the next one...Good Luck Chuck!
 
I don't know why you see someone asking you not to play one song as such a big deal. Hey, turn down as many gigs as you want, but turn them down because they asked you to wear a clown suit, or because the organizer is an asshole, but not because they asked you not to play ONE song. You say you've only been at this for a few months, you've got a lot to learn about the business. This is not an attack, but rather advice, if you want to continue getting mobile gigs you're gonna have to expect clients to have a "Do Not Play" list. But in this case it's only one song, ONE! By the way, from what I know about DJing a strip club, you have to play whatever the dancers select for their stage show, so basically a strip club DJ is being told what to play for the majority of the night. And by the way, turning down a gig for the owner of the strip club you work at over one song probably isn't the smartest move, you might find yourself looking for a new job.
 
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