We have moved and are settling into our new office so if you are coming in for an appointment this week be sure you come to our new office:
2 Hartford Drive
Suite 106
Tinton Falls, NJ 07701
We have moved and are settling into our new office so if you are coming in for an appointment this week be sure you come to our new office:
2 Hartford Drive
Suite 106
Tinton Falls, NJ 07701
Met with a wonderful couple, Nicole and Michael, this week. They are getting married at the end of February so this was our Pre-Event Consultation to talk about their music, go over their introductions, and finalize any other details.
We offer an online planner which Nicole and Michael had utilized. As I always do, I reviewed their information before we even sat down. Their Wedding Song is “Here There and Everywhere” by The Beatles. They also want some Doors and Pink Floyd too. Classic rock fans. I love it!
As we got going we started discussing some of the blanks on their planner. They hadn’t selected music for their introductions and so we started there. For the parents they wanted a Frank Sinatra song. My first suggestion was “Come Fly With Me” and they loved it. Then Nicole suggested “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin for the Bridal Party. I didn’t say No (of course) but I let her know that song has a lot of tempo changes that might make it tough to maintain the energy. I played “Rock and Roll” for them as an alternative. Nicole’s eyes lit up. She loved it. Now the question became, How do we raise the energy even higher to bring the Bride and Groom in? Nicole asked if Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” could work. I’ve never used that song in this way before (actually when I think of that song and weddings I think of a great wedding video I saw once) so we listened to it. The song had potential – great energy once it kicks in and a great message – but the a cappella introduction goes on a bit too long. I asked if they’d give me a day to make an edit so it could fit perfectly.
So the next day I chopped the song up a little, shortening the intro so as I say their names Freddie Mercury will be belting out “Cause I’m having a good time, having a good time . . .” and sent it off to them. Nicole responded enthusiastically:
Hi Mike!We love the edit of Don’t Stop Me Now…we can def imagine making our grand entrance to it.
And the reason I’m writing all this isn’t to pat myself of the back and say “Look what I did.” It’s because the planning process is so much more than me (or any Elite Entertainer) simply extracting information from our clients. It’s about allowing us to help you craft your vision. Some clients have every detail of their weddings planned down to the last song of the night. And that’s cool with us. But so many of our clients look to us to make suggestions, offer opinions about some of their selections and, in many cases to work with their tastes but make them better. And that’s what we are here for. That’s why you hire us. And that’s why, by the time we get to your reception, so much of the “work” that we do together is already done. And so much of the fun we are going to have together, has only just begun . . .
I was a little nervous while driving down to the Seaview Resort, since we had a good amount of snow/sleet, I was hoping it would not hinder the employees/guests from Oyster Creek from heading to the holiday party. Once I was set up and the guests started to arrive for cocktail hour, I saw my worries were all for not. We had a good size crowd of about 225+ guests, and they came ready to party!
After cocktail hour a few slow dances and dinner, we kicked off the night in a fun way. I started by inviting employees up to the center of the dance floor based on tenure with the Oyster Creek – 30 years, 25 years and so on down to 5 years and then finally everyone.
So at that point all the employees were on the dance floor together, we had people taking pictures giving hugs, it was great. Then we invited all of the non-employees (Guests +1) to make a big circle around the employees. Once everyone was in place I had them introduce themselves, shake hands, give a hug, whatever they wanted to the people on the left and right of them. At this point everyone in the room is on the dance floor so I kicked off the party to “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. We played through a heavy party set which included “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5, “We Found Love” by Rihanna & Calvin Harris, “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO, “Yeah 3X” by Chris Brown and “You Make Me Feel” by Cobra Starship.
The party continued with a great dance floor fueled by many classic requests like “Living on a Prayer”, “I Will Survive”, “Burning Down the House”, and “Respect”. The guests danced to a few partnered dances with Salsa, Swing, The Hustle, and The Cha-Cha. We also had some Audience Participation dances with the Cha-Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, The Electric Slide (done to “Bad Romance”), and a huge Conga Line (complete with maracas, leis, and sunglasses).
After all this partying, the guests needed a quick break, which is when Marita (Host) and Russell (Management) raffled off a few nice door prices, as well as picked the winners of the Company 50/50 (proceeds went to a cancer treatment charity). We then got the party moving again filling the dance floor with some more new music, a Disco set, a 90’s Hip-Hot Set, and the finale to “The Time (Dirty Bit)” by Black Eyed Peas. The Guests were excited to find out the party was not stopping here but that the Management at Oyster Creek had arraigned for Shuttles to take them the 8 miles to Atlantic City, and much later back to the Seaview where most of them were staying.
It was a great party, the guests were so much fun. Thanks to Marita, Russell, and John from the Oyster Creek for hosting the party and having me DJ. Thanks to Anna from the party for being my dance partner all night. Thanks to the staff at the Seaview for the great food and being so accommodating. I can’t wait to work with you all again!
My fiancé Kelly and I went to see Aimee Mann recently at The Two River Theater in Red Bank. Kelly and I share a love of live music and also of small intimate settings where an artist is free to play her music and also talk openly with the crowd. Ms Mann has a new CD coming out soon so after opening the show with a handful of her older songs she got to the part in the show where it was time to play some new, unreleased tracks. And she introduced this section by saying her brother had gone to a concert recently and when he told her about it he said “and they did way too many new songs.” She said “new songs” as if it was a vile thing and when the laughter in the theater died down she then added, “so….here are some new songs.”
And it got me to thinking, songs do have a shelf life, don’t they? I mean it obviously depends on the song itself and also of the listener. Some people love rap, some country, some pop etc. But overall, you could probably draw a chart for most songs and it would look like your typical bell curve
from high school trigonometry (God how I hated high school trig!).
Think about the last time you fell in love with a song. The first time you heard it you probably listened with some interest. Maybe it grabbed you on the first spin or maybe it took a second or third listen. Then at some point you started really liking it. And then you listened to it over and over. You may have even become borderline obsessed with it. Maybe you downloaded a copy and put it on your iPod or cell phone so you could hear it whenever you wanted. Or maybe it was a Top 40 hit so you didn’t have to own a copy, you knew pop radio would repeat it regularly enough. You learned the lyrics. If it was an upbeat song and you heard it in the shower maybe you even danced around naked to it while singing into a hair brush (oh, sure I’m the only one who does that!) To go back to our graph, this song had peaked. You were in love with it and it moved you every time you heard it.
But just like our bell curve, at some point, your interest started to wain. The song began to move to that dreaded “played out” category. You stopped playing it whenever you were stuck in traffic. Then one day it came on the radio and you actually changed the station. Your love affair with the song had ended and like Donald Trump with wives, you probably moved on to something new.
As DJs we walk the fine line of that bell curve. We try to play songs that are somewhere in that upper category for the majority of the room. We like to get songs on the way up, and abandon them before they begin that precipitous plunge. But we are also aware that if you followed that graph out further into the future, many songs (but not all) have a second life. Many songs get “played out” but then after hibernating for X number of years they become “retro.” We are currently experiencing that phenomena with a lot of 80s music. A song like “Jessie’s Girl” was left for dead for most of the last 20 years; considered corny and overplayed. But the last few years, it has experienced a semi-revival. We see it on many playlists and crowds react to it enthusiastically. I believe a lot of early 90s dance music and techno/pop (La Bouche, 2 Unlimited) is the next genre to experience this rebirth. We shall see.
So to go back to Aimee Mann’s brother, the next time you hear new music, whether it’s an artist previewing songs from their upcoming, unreleased CD or its a radio or mobile DJ playing a track you’ve never heard before, try not to think of it with too much vile. It just might become your next favorite song. And if you’re like most people, a favorite song can change your mood. It can make you happy and it can make you sing and it might even make you dance around naked (oh right, that’s just me. . . )
So many great things to say about tonight’s wedding with Jennifer and Isaac, I don’t even know where to begin. We first met about 2 months prior to the wedding, and we hit it off right from the start. They were both very organized and passionate about the music for their ceremony and reception, which I LOVE, and it got us off to a great start.
The best moment had to be opening up the dance floor for the first time, for which I invited Jennifer’s mother out to join her on the dance floor, and kicked it off with Old Time Rock and Roll, her mom’s favorite, and it made their night. Everyone came out to join them and we quickly had a great big circle around Jenn and Isaac that led to some phenomenal dance sets…all before dinner!It was truly my pleasure to work with this beautiful couple, and I wish them all the best of love and happiness for the rest of their lives!
It was a perfect early summer evening which was awesome for Keith and Melissa since they had planned an outdoor ceremony, lakeside at The Mill in Spring Lake. Everything went off perfectly and after their first kiss as a newly married couple, they got to walk down the aisle together to the song they had selected: “I Do” by Colbie Caillat.
After an awesome cocktail hour we brought the bridal party in with some high energy songs. I’d worked closely with Keith and Melissa and knew they wanted introductions to be dramatic. Parents came out to Guns n Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” the bridal party to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and then Keith and Melissa to GnR’s “Welcome to the Jungle.” Their family and friends cheered and applauded loudly and matched the energy of this music perfectly.
Keith and Melissa danced their first dance as husband and wife to Bon Jovi’s “Thank You For Loving Me.” Whenever I play that song I remember the time I saw Bon Jovi play at the old Tradewinds in Sea Bright (which is now townhouses) and he introduced that song by saying he and his wife Dorothea had seen the movie “Meet Joe Black” in which Brad Pitt’s character says “Thank you for loving me.” He went home inspired by that line and wrote the song. I thought about that as Melissa and Keith danced to their wedding song: a Brad Pitt line in a movie inspired Jon Bon Jovi to write a song and now here is this beautiful couple beginning their married life together dancing to it. Weird how life works.
Melissa and Keith pulled out all the stops for their reception. They included our plasma package, our up-lighting and our intelligent lighting. These add-ons turn an already awesome celebration up to the “off the charts” level. And this party certainly was. Other than a break for dinner and then of course their cake cutting ceremony, The Mill’s dance floor was packed all night. Right up until the closing song: The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.”
I’m always very pleased when I get positive feedback from my brides and grooms. Whether they send me an email, write on Elite’s Facebook page, give me a Wedding Wire review, or even send me an old school hand written Thank You note. So you can only imagine how great I felt when I received this in the mail:
Congratulations Melissa and Keith!
Every time we change the calendar year, people take some time to reflect on the year that was. For me, 2011 was both equal parts challenging and rewarding. One particular day/event perfectly depicts both of those sentiments. The day: Sunday, November 6. The event: the ING New York Marathon. Months of training, hard work, and POUNDS UPON POUNDS of pasta had all led up to what would prove to be the most challenging 268 minutes of my life. I won’t bore you with the details of the run, but the weather was absolutely perfect and I had the pleasure of running it with one of my best friends, Jeff Kaufman. As Elite’s owner Mike Walter can attest, the feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line is really beyond words and will be a moment I’ll remember forever. Now I told you that story to tell you this story…
A few months earlier, on Saturday, August 13th, I had the privilege of performing at Lauren & John’s wedding reception at the Eagle Oaks Country Club in Farmingdale, NJ. It’s easily one of the most beautiful banquet facilities in the entire state. As far as the reception goes, it was one of the highlights for me as a DJ last year. Not only was the crowd absolutely amazing and on the dance floor LITERALLY all night, but John and Lauren were one of the coolest couples I had the pleasure of working with. During the best man’s toast, John’s brother mentioned that Lauren and John had run a marathon together the previous year. So right after all the intros were over, I went up to Lauren & John and just started chatting them up about their experience and asking for any pointers or advice since my first marathon was a mere 3 months away. As I mentioned, the rest of the night was about as flawless as could be and we said our goodbyes and they embarked on what I’m sure was an incredible honeymoon.
Fast forward almost 2 months. I get a piece of mail on October 4th (and I know this because I still have the email I sent to Lauren & John that day). It was a card to say thank you for helping make their big day so special and it ended with “…best of luck at the marathon!” Inside was a bumper sticker with the number “26.2″ on it, representing the distance of a full marathon. Such a simple gift and statement, but I was absolutely blown away. We talked for maybe 4 minutes about the marathon, and the fact they remembered and even sent me a little something about it was truly special. It’s couples, weddings, and moments like this that make what I do truly rewarding and special.
Oh boy, first event of the new year! It’s funny how after working events for such a long time you can actually foresee things that are about to happen. I am sure that is the case in many professions after you have been there for 10+ years, but I bet the things I see are way more funny.
For example- I had the honor of entertaining for Kate and Josh on their wedding day. We get to the last hour of the party and our bride and groom are getting ready to cut the cake. Two quick slices, a few poses for the now gathered paparazzi of family members, and Josh very nicely feeds his new bride a piece of cake. The crowd claps, awes, and also offers a few boos!
| 
| 