What a Weekend!

I always joke, from time to time, that I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. That is oh so true this weekend.

Saturday, I DJ'd back-to-back weddings. The first was more a favor to a quasi-friend and it was outside (yeah, there was a tent) in 95 degree Annapolis weather. Rough. Then I had to travel 40 minutes north towards Baltimore and set up a sound system for a ceremony (again, outside -no tent) plus the main system for the reception (in an AIR CONDITIONED tent). Needless to say it was a LONG, HOT, SWEATY DAY/NIGHT for me. Both weddings went well, but there was one person -one asshole- who ruined the entire day for me. He was greatly angered that the song that he requested (several times via several people) didn't actually make it to my speakers in time for the intended person to hear the song. So, when I did play the song he made a special point to come up to me and explain that this song was requested especially for the grandmother of the bride (news to me!) who had already left the reception. I felt really bad. I told him that and sincerely apologized. I said, "Sir, I'm really sorry." He informed me I wasn't sorry. Instead I was a "fucking bad DJ".

Sorry folks. When you throw out the "F" word at a wedding reception - after I've been on my feet all day and working my ass off to make sure everything is perfect for two brides and two grooms- I just don't react all that well. I wanted to hit him. Hard. With everything I had. Instead I informed him that the conversation was over. But this drunk asshole wouldn't let it go. He kept blabbering on and on. I wanted to hit him. Harder.

Finally, I just walked away. My intent was to go find the manager of the hall and have her kick this chump to curb. But this guy followed me. He FOLLOWED ME. So, I turned around and asked him how long he'd been DJing. Totally threw him off... "I'm not a DJ!" he insisted. "Right!" I said, "so shut up and leave me alone!"

Sorry, but I take that kind of stuff to heart. It hurts me deeply. I put everything I have into DJing weddings including countless hours before-hand preparing music, schedules, and all sorts of details. And then I take great care at the actual reception to make sure I play what the bride and groom -and their parents- want to hear. After that, I focus on guest requests and try to play as many as possible. So when you come up to me and insinuate that I'm just a sucky DJ who is unconcerned about request, that just kills me. If this guy had come up and explicitly said "hey, this song is a request for the bride's grandmother who is going to be leaving soon" I can guarantee you the song would've been given a higher priority. That wasn't the case. It was just a request. And I did play the friggin' song -as soon as I thought it was appropriate and after I had accommodated all of the bride's requests.

I ended up getting a big thanks from the bride's father, and nice tip from the groom. Several other guests made it a point to stop by at the end and thank me for the great music too. But, of course, that one drunk idiot is going to be forever associated with that otherwise-awesome wedding reception. It's moments like that that make you wanna stop DJing.

And that brings us to Sunday. We had our first house concert of the season scheduled. My plan was to sleep in until 9am or so and then get up and get everything in order way before the 2pm start time. But my gung-ho tree-hacking friend/neighbor had other plans. He had already spent the better part of Saturday (while I was DJing) in my backyard -and my neighbor's backyard- hacking down this precariously leaning tree. There was very little left of it by the time I arrived home at midnight, but my neighbor figured it was his civic duty to finish the job bright and early Sunday morning.

When I heard the knock on the door a little before 8am, I peeled one eye open, looked at my wife, and said "That was someone knocking on our door... it's 8am... who the HELL is knocking on our door at 8am!!?!"

When I got to the door and saw my neighbor standing there -chainsaw in hand- I just groaned. I knew my plans to sleep in where gone. I ended up helping him clear the rest of the tree branches and logs out of the neighbor's yard and then it was time to set up for the house concert. It was a lot of running around. And it was about 98 degrees outside (where the house concert was taking place). We had hosted one last year -kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing- just to see if we could pull it off. It went so well and we enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again. So, early this year, prompted by a singer-songwriter friend of mine, David Glaser, we took the plunge and set up a concert every month at our place starting in May. The May concert never happened because the scheduled performer had a death in the family -his mother. Rather than try to substitute someone else, my wife and I decided to just wait until June.

We intend to hold all our house concerts out on our huge back deck which means we are always going to be at the mercy of Mother Nature. So in the week or so leading up to the big day, my wife and I were constantly checking the weather forecast. Our main concern, of course, was rain. But that turned out not to be an issue. The excessive heat and humidity was.

Temperatures were hovering right around 100 degrees Fahrenheit and we had set a start time of 2pm for the show. 1/3 of our deck is a screened-in gazebo room but the other 2/3 is open and uncovered. The one big canopy umbrella that we own was placed at the "stage" end of the deck to provide some cover for the performers. That left a "no man's land" between the "stage" area and the screened in gazebo. No cover, no breeze, no mercy for anyone wanting to sit there. A friend of mine brought three of his box fans over and we placed them strategically on the deck but they did little good. They were basically just moving around extremely hot humid air. Let's just say it was one HOT show.

OK, lessson learned. A 10'x 10' pop-up canopy will be in place for the next show. I'm also thinking about starting the concert a little later in the afternoon... maybe 5pm. That might help a little too. But when all is said and done, it is what it is. Welcome to the wonderful Maryland summer weather!

I think more people would have shown up if it weren't for the extremely hot temperatures, but I was surprised and encourage by the 2 dozen or so people that did show up and stayed for the entire time, enjoying some great local original music. We made sure there was plenty to munch on and there were plenty of cold beverages to sip. Most folks came prepared with umbrellas, sunscreen, and cool clothing.

I really must say how great it all sounded. Aside from the fact that we had two incredibly talented singer-songwriter (who both brought along an A-list sideman to help them out), the simple sound system that I had set up just worked perfectly and sounded just awesome -to me anyway. I was worried about the music getting too loud and bugging my neighbors, but I had nothing to worry about. It was just all at a perfect level.

First up: Ruben Dobbs a.k.a. Swamp Candy. Now I've known Ruben for many years. He's played in a lot of different bands doing a lot of different styles of music. He's a top-notch guitar player, but I have to admit I was never really much of a fan of any of his previous projects so it was with great deal of skepticism that I took in my first Swamp Candy performance from Ruben about two years ago. Gee, sure glad I went. Ruben had hit upon something special. He had focused in on the classic roots and blues music of days long gone by and sprinkled in a little country twang here and there. The music instantly took me back to the first time I heard classic blues masters like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and John Lee Hooker. His performance of this genre of music was genuine and emotional and, quite frankly, my wife and I were blown away.

I had approached him sort of last-minute (the week before) to perform at the house concert and he was gracious enough to accept, no questions asked. He showed up with his bass player toting a huge upright bass and a kick drum. Ruben had a couple different guitars with him and I just knew it was going to be a good time. And it was. He just sound awesome and I know he garnered some new fans and sold quite a few CDs afterwards.

Next up: One of my favorie singer-songwriters, Mr. Tony Denikos. He's a true song craftsman on par with the likes of Arlo Guthrie and John Prine. No one can tell a story with a song -and have you laughing and crying at the same time- like Tony can. At least that's my opinion. He had with him a bad ass guitar player, Gantt Kushner, who just perfectly highlighted all the songs Tony played. It was the best I've heard Tony sound -not that he ever sounds "bad" mind you. Maybe it was the heat that made everything sizzle, I dunno.

After it was all over, we all hung out and chatted and got to know some of the new faces that had shown up. It was a great time and so much worth all the effort leading up to it. I would be very remiss if I didn't give most of the planning and preparation credit to my super human wife, Asa. She cooked, cleaned, weeded, mowed, scrubbed and set up practically everything for the big show. And then we got an extra hand from some true and wonderful friends who ran to the store for more ice, brought box fans and umbrellas from home, and help Asa and me with the food. Awesome. Just Awesome. Can't wait until the next one.