I stopped DJ-ing some months ago because I was pregnant and over being hit on by drunk 20-year olds.
My mixer and case sat in a hall closest collecting dust.
I finally decided to contact another female DJ that worked at the same pub as me and see if she wanted to buy my gear.
She did and when I was delivering it to her I mentioned that I would happily take any extra work she might have. She sent me a list of dates almost immediately and I said I'd take them.
My first gig was to be a small gathering at a private residence.
I felt sick to my stomach about it for days.
I reactivated my Virtual DJ account, added some tracks and put cue points in some of the longer songs.
I went to my favorite second hand store and bought two dresses that minimized my "just had a baby" lumps and made an attempt to part my hair in a different location than normal.
I know what you're thinking;don't get too crazy there party animal!
After the other DJ met with the client she called to give me the details and told me he had a nice house and was very particular about the music he wanted.
After she gave me the address I looked it up on Google maps and found that it had been on the market at the beginning of the year and that a virtual home tour video had been made.
I watched the video and felt even more anxious. There was a swimming pool and a tennis court and a little courtyard with a fountain. The house was huge and obviously very expensive. I felt an impending sense of doom.
I tried to arrive at the location early so I could set up and get comfortable but I got lost and arrived with about 15 minutes to spare before the guests arrived.
The husband and wife were obviously concerned that everything would go all right and told me their guests were doctors, lawyers and other professionals and that they wanted to make a good impression.
I soured their first impression of me by asking if they were Russian. They were Romanian.
For the rest of the evening I looked in vain for a opportunity to express my admiration of Nadia Comaneci.
I spent several panicked minutes trying to remember how to hook up my laptop to my old mixer and then connect it to the other DJ's equipment. I failed miserably and contemplated running away and hiding somewhere.
I tried to call the boss on my phone but I ran out of credit (yes, I have one of those phones). Finally I asked to use the house phone and then struggled to dial the number correctly. The wife told me to dial "1" first and this got me through.
After more fiddling around and some reassurances from the boss, I was finally able to connect and get sound out of the speakers.
By then many of the guests had arrived and were standing in a tight circle giving me occasional glances that seemed to express a curiosity as to whether or not I might be some sort of living art installation entitled "Faux DJ With Paunchy Midsection."
The first time the husband came over to me it was to say that I needed to play less House music.
Alas, this was often a comment I received at the pub where I used to play.
I knew this meant I would have to trot out the Top 40 hits and throw in some 80s and 90s stuff.
I had forgotten how difficult it could be to try and please everyone's musical tastes.
I had also forgotten not to assume that others would agree with my examples of beat mastery and sampling genius.
One day I will show up to a party and someone will ask for an obscure dance remix of a song and I will win the day by having it on hand.
I played with the sound turned down at first so I didn't drown out the conversations.
The rest of the evening saw a rather comical back and forth of the husband telling me to crank up the volume while his wife came over seconds later and asked if I could turn it down a bit. They always seemed to miss each other and must have thought I was constantly doing the opposite of what each of them wanted.
Several of the guests came to talk to me and they were all very nice.
One was an eye surgeon and we talked at length about an unfortunate side effect of my PRK.
Soon the alcohol began to kick in and people began to lose their inhibitions.
This first manifest itself through slight twitches and barely perceptible shuffles before eventually erupting into full blown dance extravaganza.
My impression of Romanians (based off the two that I met that evening) is that they are very gracious and hospitable. I say this because the wife kept insisting that I eat something and get something to drink. There was a lovely catered spread but I didn't want to stuff my face in front of the guests and I have a rule about not drinking and mixing.
At the end of the night the husband presented me with a nice bottle of Italian wine and the wife packed me a little tupperware container with some homemade cakes, strawberries and chocolate truffles.
I left their home feeling like life was pretty good and hummed the melody to Dragostea Din Tei most of the way home.
I don't really want to go back to full time Dj-ing. I feel like I'm getting too old for it and I put a high value on being asleep by 10 p.m.-but I wouldn't mind a few more intimate house parties with cordial couples like this one. (The wine and cakes weren't a bad addition either.)
My mixer and case sat in a hall closest collecting dust.
I finally decided to contact another female DJ that worked at the same pub as me and see if she wanted to buy my gear.
She did and when I was delivering it to her I mentioned that I would happily take any extra work she might have. She sent me a list of dates almost immediately and I said I'd take them.
My first gig was to be a small gathering at a private residence.
I felt sick to my stomach about it for days.
I reactivated my Virtual DJ account, added some tracks and put cue points in some of the longer songs.
I went to my favorite second hand store and bought two dresses that minimized my "just had a baby" lumps and made an attempt to part my hair in a different location than normal.
I know what you're thinking;don't get too crazy there party animal!
After the other DJ met with the client she called to give me the details and told me he had a nice house and was very particular about the music he wanted.
After she gave me the address I looked it up on Google maps and found that it had been on the market at the beginning of the year and that a virtual home tour video had been made.
I watched the video and felt even more anxious. There was a swimming pool and a tennis court and a little courtyard with a fountain. The house was huge and obviously very expensive. I felt an impending sense of doom.
I tried to arrive at the location early so I could set up and get comfortable but I got lost and arrived with about 15 minutes to spare before the guests arrived.
The husband and wife were obviously concerned that everything would go all right and told me their guests were doctors, lawyers and other professionals and that they wanted to make a good impression.
I soured their first impression of me by asking if they were Russian. They were Romanian.
For the rest of the evening I looked in vain for a opportunity to express my admiration of Nadia Comaneci.
I spent several panicked minutes trying to remember how to hook up my laptop to my old mixer and then connect it to the other DJ's equipment. I failed miserably and contemplated running away and hiding somewhere.
I tried to call the boss on my phone but I ran out of credit (yes, I have one of those phones). Finally I asked to use the house phone and then struggled to dial the number correctly. The wife told me to dial "1" first and this got me through.
After more fiddling around and some reassurances from the boss, I was finally able to connect and get sound out of the speakers.
By then many of the guests had arrived and were standing in a tight circle giving me occasional glances that seemed to express a curiosity as to whether or not I might be some sort of living art installation entitled "Faux DJ With Paunchy Midsection."
The first time the husband came over to me it was to say that I needed to play less House music.
Alas, this was often a comment I received at the pub where I used to play.
I knew this meant I would have to trot out the Top 40 hits and throw in some 80s and 90s stuff.
I had forgotten how difficult it could be to try and please everyone's musical tastes.
I had also forgotten not to assume that others would agree with my examples of beat mastery and sampling genius.
One day I will show up to a party and someone will ask for an obscure dance remix of a song and I will win the day by having it on hand.
I played with the sound turned down at first so I didn't drown out the conversations.
The rest of the evening saw a rather comical back and forth of the husband telling me to crank up the volume while his wife came over seconds later and asked if I could turn it down a bit. They always seemed to miss each other and must have thought I was constantly doing the opposite of what each of them wanted.
Several of the guests came to talk to me and they were all very nice.
One was an eye surgeon and we talked at length about an unfortunate side effect of my PRK.
Soon the alcohol began to kick in and people began to lose their inhibitions.
This first manifest itself through slight twitches and barely perceptible shuffles before eventually erupting into full blown dance extravaganza.
My impression of Romanians (based off the two that I met that evening) is that they are very gracious and hospitable. I say this because the wife kept insisting that I eat something and get something to drink. There was a lovely catered spread but I didn't want to stuff my face in front of the guests and I have a rule about not drinking and mixing.
At the end of the night the husband presented me with a nice bottle of Italian wine and the wife packed me a little tupperware container with some homemade cakes, strawberries and chocolate truffles.
I left their home feeling like life was pretty good and hummed the melody to Dragostea Din Tei most of the way home.
I don't really want to go back to full time Dj-ing. I feel like I'm getting too old for it and I put a high value on being asleep by 10 p.m.-but I wouldn't mind a few more intimate house parties with cordial couples like this one. (The wine and cakes weren't a bad addition either.)
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