When's the last time you heard the mayor of New York say something like this?
Mayor Michael Nutter cautioned fans against the scattered vandalism that marred the revelry after the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays for the title late Wednesday. Police reported 76 arrests and several vandalized businesses; they are also examining photos and video of the crowds to identify and arrest additional offenders.
"You can be joyous; you cannot be a jackass," Nutter said. "That kind of idiotic, destructive behavior will not be accepted in the city of Philadelphia."
I love Philly!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Still smiling, a little bit sentimental, and a little emotional.
Wow, what a game. Its still hard to fathom the Phillies are the 08 champs, it feels like i slipped into an alternate universe or something!
I have to admit, there were no tears last night obv, but this morning listening to the Jon Miller call of the final out did bring a twitch and maybe a drop to the eyes. 28 years since the last one, I was only friggin 7 months old and living in an apartment that I don't remember the last time Phillies Phans were this happy.
Heck the last time the Phils were in the series I was still Trick or Treating!
So congrats to the Phils, the well-deserving phans, and the city. All of which needed this championship.
Things I think I thought if I could think that I thought that I think of them:
Stuff that I've heard in the last 2 days that is bugging me about this World Series.
1) The Rays were a magical team, they just ran into the Phillies, sorry kids try again next year and we'll say you are legit. But heres the thing that is bothering me: All the talking heads (minus Kruk and Steve Phillips) picked the Rays to win. I heard reasons ranging from "they have youth and expierience (an oxymoron), a team of destiny (i dont disagree with that considering their run) and they have an unbeatable team (wrong). Thats fine really, I like when the team I root for is the dog when clearly its not that way, the Rays were the media darlings and now that they got beat handidly the media is making excuses for them. Buster Olney alluded to the Rays being victims of circumstance. (read Weather, suspended game) Not of course that got beat by a better prepared, more expierienced team. Which leads me to my next point....
2) Can't say I didnt call this one because I did. The snowball is rolling down the hill now regarding playing the World Series at a neutral indoor/warm weather site. They want to turn the World Series into a "Superbowl" complete with award announcements, HoF announcements, and a party-like atmosphere. Complaints for are "baseball wasn't meant to be played in 30 degree, rainy, or snowy climates". Im sure a lot of people agree with that sentiment, but I dont. The problem is, baseball has always been a weeny sport. Football plays in everything short of natural disasters and lightning, baseball folds at the sight of a drop of rain. By Bud Selig not calling the game before the monsoon really started whipping up, he has brought forth this fear that EVERY world is fraught with weather peril. Funny how it took 105 years for the first suspended game due to rain to occur...
3) This one really ticked me off. On Mike and Mike this morning, Greenburg said the following statement "We know the Phillies aren't the best team in baseball, but they did what they had to, to win."
Wait, what?
While I wil ladmit, the series would have been tougher had we faced the Red Sox (a team with talent and more WS expierience) the best teams win. If the Cubs were the best, how'd they get swept, let me say it again S-W-E-P-T by the Dodgers, a team the Phillies just happened to beat 4-1. The Angels were the winningest team in baseball this year, and they couldn't get past the Sox in the first round!! So apparently the Phillies just lucked out and got hot at the right time, but they never deserved it. What an assinine comment.
/end rant
Grats Phillies!
I have to admit, there were no tears last night obv, but this morning listening to the Jon Miller call of the final out did bring a twitch and maybe a drop to the eyes. 28 years since the last one, I was only friggin 7 months old and living in an apartment that I don't remember the last time Phillies Phans were this happy.
Heck the last time the Phils were in the series I was still Trick or Treating!
So congrats to the Phils, the well-deserving phans, and the city. All of which needed this championship.
Things I think I thought if I could think that I thought that I think of them:
Stuff that I've heard in the last 2 days that is bugging me about this World Series.
1) The Rays were a magical team, they just ran into the Phillies, sorry kids try again next year and we'll say you are legit. But heres the thing that is bothering me: All the talking heads (minus Kruk and Steve Phillips) picked the Rays to win. I heard reasons ranging from "they have youth and expierience (an oxymoron), a team of destiny (i dont disagree with that considering their run) and they have an unbeatable team (wrong). Thats fine really, I like when the team I root for is the dog when clearly its not that way, the Rays were the media darlings and now that they got beat handidly the media is making excuses for them. Buster Olney alluded to the Rays being victims of circumstance. (read Weather, suspended game) Not of course that got beat by a better prepared, more expierienced team. Which leads me to my next point....
2) Can't say I didnt call this one because I did. The snowball is rolling down the hill now regarding playing the World Series at a neutral indoor/warm weather site. They want to turn the World Series into a "Superbowl" complete with award announcements, HoF announcements, and a party-like atmosphere. Complaints for are "baseball wasn't meant to be played in 30 degree, rainy, or snowy climates". Im sure a lot of people agree with that sentiment, but I dont. The problem is, baseball has always been a weeny sport. Football plays in everything short of natural disasters and lightning, baseball folds at the sight of a drop of rain. By Bud Selig not calling the game before the monsoon really started whipping up, he has brought forth this fear that EVERY world is fraught with weather peril. Funny how it took 105 years for the first suspended game due to rain to occur...
3) This one really ticked me off. On Mike and Mike this morning, Greenburg said the following statement "We know the Phillies aren't the best team in baseball, but they did what they had to, to win."
Wait, what?
While I wil ladmit, the series would have been tougher had we faced the Red Sox (a team with talent and more WS expierience) the best teams win. If the Cubs were the best, how'd they get swept, let me say it again S-W-E-P-T by the Dodgers, a team the Phillies just happened to beat 4-1. The Angels were the winningest team in baseball this year, and they couldn't get past the Sox in the first round!! So apparently the Phillies just lucked out and got hot at the right time, but they never deserved it. What an assinine comment.
/end rant
Grats Phillies!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Finally Found it!
Took a lot of googling, but I finally found a Phillies "Flap Cap"
Flap Cap
On its way!
Edit/Update: Woah I just posted the link on Hoy's comment board and it looks like its not on the site anymore....do i still get the one I paid for? lol!
Flap Cap
On its way!
Edit/Update: Woah I just posted the link on Hoy's comment board and it looks like its not on the site anymore....do i still get the one I paid for? lol!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Bud Selig: Public Enemy Number 1
"I can't tell you tonight when we'll resume," Selig said Monday night when the suspension was announced. "We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here."
I can't state more than what has already been said by Riggs and Hoy, last night was a travesty.
Tim McCarver (resident loudmouth and all around bumbling idiot) said it best and correctly when he said "By scoring that run Tampa Bay took the MLB off the hook".
Well lets see what happens Wednesday night (maybe) the only plus is that the Phillies get an extra at bat.
I can't state more than what has already been said by Riggs and Hoy, last night was a travesty.
Tim McCarver (resident loudmouth and all around bumbling idiot) said it best and correctly when he said "By scoring that run Tampa Bay took the MLB off the hook".
Well lets see what happens Wednesday night (maybe) the only plus is that the Phillies get an extra at bat.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Patti LaFail
Wow, 2008 should be remembered as the year of people messing up the National Anthem horribly.
September 2008: "Pop Sensation" girl at the Cowboys/Eagles game (in Dallas) results in what amounts to the 3rd worst all time singing of the National Anthem by anyone ever...It has been suggested that the booing directly following the Anthem's blessed end was not because the Eagles were running out on to the field, but rather this girl (very cute btw) made us actually hate the most revered song in our nation.
Last Night:
Patti LaBelle was chosen to sing the National Anthem for the start of Game 4 of the World Series. What actually happened was some music played, and Patti bellowed something. Most of the words were not correct I heard "blight and flight" and a few extra free's were thrown in. Apparently, in old age, pitch has escaped her grasp....along with any semblance of hitting the right notes.
Hoy has a great article detailing all the umpire miscues in the World Series thus far, and I sincerely hope MLB considers making replay a little wider for close plays. Maybe really questionable first base calls (see Game 3, Moyer toss), I just dont see how an umpire, a normal human being like you and me, is expected to make calls based on super-human hearing or "x-ray" vision as was the case with Moyer.
The reason it hasnt been expanded is the fear that "the game will take longer", easy solution stop letting Nomar, Jeter, Papi, etc etc take 15 minutes in-between pitches! Is there really a need to adjust your helmet/gloves/shoes after EVERY pitch?
Anyway, game clincher tonight, and although I picked the Phils in 6 I think tonight is it. Final score 3-1. Philly returns to the top!
September 2008: "Pop Sensation" girl at the Cowboys/Eagles game (in Dallas) results in what amounts to the 3rd worst all time singing of the National Anthem by anyone ever...It has been suggested that the booing directly following the Anthem's blessed end was not because the Eagles were running out on to the field, but rather this girl (very cute btw) made us actually hate the most revered song in our nation.
Last Night:
Patti LaBelle was chosen to sing the National Anthem for the start of Game 4 of the World Series. What actually happened was some music played, and Patti bellowed something. Most of the words were not correct I heard "blight and flight" and a few extra free's were thrown in. Apparently, in old age, pitch has escaped her grasp....along with any semblance of hitting the right notes.
Hoy has a great article detailing all the umpire miscues in the World Series thus far, and I sincerely hope MLB considers making replay a little wider for close plays. Maybe really questionable first base calls (see Game 3, Moyer toss), I just dont see how an umpire, a normal human being like you and me, is expected to make calls based on super-human hearing or "x-ray" vision as was the case with Moyer.
The reason it hasnt been expanded is the fear that "the game will take longer", easy solution stop letting Nomar, Jeter, Papi, etc etc take 15 minutes in-between pitches! Is there really a need to adjust your helmet/gloves/shoes after EVERY pitch?
Anyway, game clincher tonight, and although I picked the Phils in 6 I think tonight is it. Final score 3-1. Philly returns to the top!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Well........is it?
Actual picture from the game Dead Space. Not sure how many video gamers we have out there in Poker blog land, but if you love to game and you love jumpy/gross you out horror movies this game is for you.
To be brutally honest, i have trouble playing this game because my heart rate usually jumps off the scale and then i have to have a "cool down period" of 10 minutes where i dont play so i can play again.
If you've ever seen the movie Event Horizon (loved it) thats the basic premise (minus the alternate hell world warp drive thing) along with some other great horror flicks.
Disappointing run
So I participated in the 600 NLHE event yesterday at Foxwoods WPF. I played with great instinct but I was in survival mode for a majority of the day.
680 entered and I finished somewhere in the 130s, 70 paid.
Guy to my right was my nemesis all day, making horrible calls, pushes etc and lucking into a huge stack. It got to the point everytime he made a raise and I had a semi-decent hand I pushed, getting him to fold. Although in one instance Shorty UTG pushed for 2250 folds to idiot and he calls. I look at A-Js and since again I was playing survival mode I decided to push here. Idiot was making noises while deciding to call. 5 minutes later he decided to call my 5500 more with 7s... So yeah called off almost half of his stack with 7s...
I end up spiking an A on the river, but the shorty made a flush with the A so I won the side.
Same thing kept happening throughout the day, he made a sick push into a huge raise with 10s and got called by a big stack with A-K. Flop has an A, Turn is a k, river is a 10.
Later on he called a chick whoo just sat down all the way to the river on a K-Q board, river was a J. She bets a big amount, and after another 5 minute drama and noise filled tank, he pushes. She thinks for a bit and calls, he shows Q-J for the rivered 2 pair, she mucked A-K.
Ironically, he got the pleasure of elimating me when I pushed all in with K-J and he called with A-Q. 8-8-5-4-6 and im gone.
Was a learning expierience, need to make more moves early on in the tourney which puts me in a better position for the middle part. Also to start making more hero calls. I noticed the people with the big stacks are the ones who make calls with A-10 etc when a shorty pushes.
That about wraps it up, have to build up my offline bankroll to get back again next year.
680 entered and I finished somewhere in the 130s, 70 paid.
Guy to my right was my nemesis all day, making horrible calls, pushes etc and lucking into a huge stack. It got to the point everytime he made a raise and I had a semi-decent hand I pushed, getting him to fold. Although in one instance Shorty UTG pushed for 2250 folds to idiot and he calls. I look at A-Js and since again I was playing survival mode I decided to push here. Idiot was making noises while deciding to call. 5 minutes later he decided to call my 5500 more with 7s... So yeah called off almost half of his stack with 7s...
I end up spiking an A on the river, but the shorty made a flush with the A so I won the side.
Same thing kept happening throughout the day, he made a sick push into a huge raise with 10s and got called by a big stack with A-K. Flop has an A, Turn is a k, river is a 10.
Later on he called a chick whoo just sat down all the way to the river on a K-Q board, river was a J. She bets a big amount, and after another 5 minute drama and noise filled tank, he pushes. She thinks for a bit and calls, he shows Q-J for the rivered 2 pair, she mucked A-K.
Ironically, he got the pleasure of elimating me when I pushed all in with K-J and he called with A-Q. 8-8-5-4-6 and im gone.
Was a learning expierience, need to make more moves early on in the tourney which puts me in a better position for the middle part. Also to start making more hero calls. I noticed the people with the big stacks are the ones who make calls with A-10 etc when a shorty pushes.
That about wraps it up, have to build up my offline bankroll to get back again next year.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Well at least I have the Phillies to cheer for
While perusing the KCStar's website I found this awesome comment about yesterday's Chief game:
And lo the undefeated army of Titans marched from the land of Tennessee through the gates of Arrowhead. And the Idol Clark sang praises unto King Carl and his Harlot Worm Sperm saying their rule shall last forever. And the Idol Clark again robbed the people to pay for the army of Arrowhead. But the army of Arrowhead was greatly weakened by the false teachings of the Harlot Worm Sperm. And the soldiers of Arrowhead were greatly displeased with their bondage in slavery to King Carl. Even the mighty Gonzales wanted to leave the army of Arrowhead, and the powerful chariot Johnson grumbled against the Harlot Worm Sperm and was punished. But the Eunuch Cryole had healed from his wounds and had once again aroused the Harlot Worm Sperm's lust. So the Eunuch Croyle led the army of Arrowhead against the undefeated Titans. But the Titan army laughed at the Eunich Croyle and wounded him such that he had to be taken from the battlefield. And the Titan army then wounded Prince Damon, and so the army of Arrowhead was reduced to a Pigpen.
And the Titans ran over the army of Arrowhead and consumed and humiliated them. And the people of Arrowhead that witnessed the defeat beat their breasts in anger, and the scribes were struck dumb and their words would not come. And the people shouted against the Harlot Worm Sperm and King Carl and the Idol Clark. And the lord looked down upon the land of Arrowhead and was angry with the people and said, "Woe to the people of Arrowhead, for they have disobeyed me. They have not done as I commanded. They have not covered their heads in sackcloth to not look upon the evil that infects Arrowhead, nor withheld their treasure from the Idol Clark and his money changers."
And the lord spake this warning "Since the people of Arrowhead have not done what I have commanded, the land of Arrowhead will be cursed. And the army of Arrowhead will be cursed. And wherever the army of Arrowhead shall go, it shall be defeated and humiliated. All this shall pass until the people of Arrowhead repent and obey my commandments." And the lord commanded his people, "Rise up in righteous anger against the scribes so that they may print the truth, and demand refunds for your gladiator tickets and enter not into the coliseum. For only your disobedience against the abomination that is the Idol Clark and King Carl and his Harlot Worm Sperm will drive them out from the land of Arrowhead forever."
Posted by: So let it be written
And lo the undefeated army of Titans marched from the land of Tennessee through the gates of Arrowhead. And the Idol Clark sang praises unto King Carl and his Harlot Worm Sperm saying their rule shall last forever. And the Idol Clark again robbed the people to pay for the army of Arrowhead. But the army of Arrowhead was greatly weakened by the false teachings of the Harlot Worm Sperm. And the soldiers of Arrowhead were greatly displeased with their bondage in slavery to King Carl. Even the mighty Gonzales wanted to leave the army of Arrowhead, and the powerful chariot Johnson grumbled against the Harlot Worm Sperm and was punished. But the Eunuch Cryole had healed from his wounds and had once again aroused the Harlot Worm Sperm's lust. So the Eunuch Croyle led the army of Arrowhead against the undefeated Titans. But the Titan army laughed at the Eunich Croyle and wounded him such that he had to be taken from the battlefield. And the Titan army then wounded Prince Damon, and so the army of Arrowhead was reduced to a Pigpen.
And the Titans ran over the army of Arrowhead and consumed and humiliated them. And the people of Arrowhead that witnessed the defeat beat their breasts in anger, and the scribes were struck dumb and their words would not come. And the people shouted against the Harlot Worm Sperm and King Carl and the Idol Clark. And the lord looked down upon the land of Arrowhead and was angry with the people and said, "Woe to the people of Arrowhead, for they have disobeyed me. They have not done as I commanded. They have not covered their heads in sackcloth to not look upon the evil that infects Arrowhead, nor withheld their treasure from the Idol Clark and his money changers."
And the lord spake this warning "Since the people of Arrowhead have not done what I have commanded, the land of Arrowhead will be cursed. And the army of Arrowhead will be cursed. And wherever the army of Arrowhead shall go, it shall be defeated and humiliated. All this shall pass until the people of Arrowhead repent and obey my commandments." And the lord commanded his people, "Rise up in righteous anger against the scribes so that they may print the truth, and demand refunds for your gladiator tickets and enter not into the coliseum. For only your disobedience against the abomination that is the Idol Clark and King Carl and his Harlot Worm Sperm will drive them out from the land of Arrowhead forever."
Posted by: So let it be written
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Phillies to the WS and a plea
First the plea:
Congratulations to the Phillies and their NLCS MVP Cole Hamels.
This is what happens when your have a good farm system and don't trade away your prospects (cough Pirates cough)
Phils match up well with the Rays, I'm going to say Phillies in 6.
Congratulations to the Phillies and their NLCS MVP Cole Hamels.
This is what happens when your have a good farm system and don't trade away your prospects (cough Pirates cough)
Phils match up well with the Rays, I'm going to say Phillies in 6.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
World Poker Finals at Foxwoods
Hey all, just wanted to give a low down on the WPF, the Foxwoods WPT event that starts Monday October 20th.
The first week schedule looks like this:
20th: $300 NLHE Shootout
21st: $600 NLHE <---- Event I am scheduled to enter
22nd: $600 Stud Hi
23rd: $600 Omaha 8
24th: Seniors Event
25th: $300 Ladies Only NLHE
Looks like Drewsfour was planning on taking a trip, maybe even the Bam man himself.
I have every day cept Monday off and was planning on putzin around, give a heads up if you are headed out there.
P.S. Mohegan Sun's 750k guaranteed deep stack starts the 22nd, there is a day 1b on the 23rd.
The first week schedule looks like this:
20th: $300 NLHE Shootout
21st: $600 NLHE <---- Event I am scheduled to enter
22nd: $600 Stud Hi
23rd: $600 Omaha 8
24th: Seniors Event
25th: $300 Ladies Only NLHE
Looks like Drewsfour was planning on taking a trip, maybe even the Bam man himself.
I have every day cept Monday off and was planning on putzin around, give a heads up if you are headed out there.
P.S. Mohegan Sun's 750k guaranteed deep stack starts the 22nd, there is a day 1b on the 23rd.
Break from the story to talk Phillies baseball
To start off, let me say I don't remember much about the 1992 Phillies, and I don't remember much about the '94 Phillies other than it was a strike shortened, Expos would-be pennant winning year, and I think Jim Fregosi's last as Phillies Manager.
I do without a doubt remember the 13th year of my life as a Phillies phan. There was a lot of hype surrounding the '93 Phillies as the were headed down the stretch the entire Philly area was abuzz with World Series talk since it had been 10 years since the last appearance, a disappointing loss to the Orioles. I recall vividly that the group 95 South did a Phillies version of their hit song "Whoot There It Is" (not to be confused with Tag Team & Whoomp There It Is) where they replaced their lyrics with all the names of the Phillies lineup. Q102 played that song to death.
I think the magical thing about the '93 Phillies (as I truly believe all magical teams possess) was a sense of personality. These Phillies had the scruff. They refused to shave (and probably shower) and it led to mullets and Grizzly Adams beards.
Think about the players on that team?
Catcher: Darren Daulton
1st Base: John Kruk
2nd Base: Mariano Duncan/Mickey Morandini
Shortstop: Kevin Stocker
3rd Base: Dave Hollins/Charlie Hayes
Outfielders: Jim Eisenreich, Pete Incaviglia, Lenny Dykstra
SP: Tommy Greene, Terry Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Larry Anderson, Dave West (hit a grand slam that year too if i remember correctly)
Closer: Mitch Williams
93 Phillies were a legend, hopefully this year turns out better.
I do without a doubt remember the 13th year of my life as a Phillies phan. There was a lot of hype surrounding the '93 Phillies as the were headed down the stretch the entire Philly area was abuzz with World Series talk since it had been 10 years since the last appearance, a disappointing loss to the Orioles. I recall vividly that the group 95 South did a Phillies version of their hit song "Whoot There It Is" (not to be confused with Tag Team & Whoomp There It Is) where they replaced their lyrics with all the names of the Phillies lineup. Q102 played that song to death.
I think the magical thing about the '93 Phillies (as I truly believe all magical teams possess) was a sense of personality. These Phillies had the scruff. They refused to shave (and probably shower) and it led to mullets and Grizzly Adams beards.
Think about the players on that team?
Catcher: Darren Daulton
1st Base: John Kruk
2nd Base: Mariano Duncan/Mickey Morandini
Shortstop: Kevin Stocker
3rd Base: Dave Hollins/Charlie Hayes
Outfielders: Jim Eisenreich, Pete Incaviglia, Lenny Dykstra
SP: Tommy Greene, Terry Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Larry Anderson, Dave West (hit a grand slam that year too if i remember correctly)
Closer: Mitch Williams
93 Phillies were a legend, hopefully this year turns out better.
We interrupt your regaularly scheduled program for some breaking news....
FUCK YEAH PHILLIES!!!!
3-1!!!!!!! Eat a phallus Manny!
3-1!!!!!!! Eat a phallus Manny!
Monday, October 13, 2008
They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. (part 3)
One of the most frustrating parts on how the company ran their dj buisness was how referrals from cans worked.
For every referral you received from a can you were paid $10 (eventually I got a "raise" to $15.) The problem came in that if a dj could not do the function, they were never docked the money they were awarded as bonus AND the savior DJ would never receive compensation for doing the job. What this led to was a bunch of people going to cans, getting boatloads of referrals then leaving the company OR passing off the gigs to other djs. Bill's NY guys were the main culprits of the latter.
So what happened when someone backed out of a gig? He phoned a friend (me) asking me if I could do the gig, naturally I said yes.
This happened numerous times without me making a peep about compensation. Why? Well for one I was glad to be working and secondly I equated good work with salary increases. Ex instead of 25/hour I'd get 50/hour. Yeah, that never happened.
The other dispicable thing the company did was if they did replace a dj they NEVER informed the party they did so. The first time the clent found out that it had a new dj was when I called them monday or tuesday THE WEEK OF THE EVENT! You have no idea how many times when I called the client I got "what happened to so and so" and my standard reply ws always was "oh they aren't with the company anymore." Surprising to me now is that only one person out of the numerous gigs I did ever got mad at this practice, it resulted in her not wanting to speak with me and them speaking with Bill. About 2 days before the gig Bill finally coerced them into letting me do the gig. It was the worst non-equipment malfunctioning gig I ever did, naturally.
Things were going routinely if not smoothly through the begininng of 2004. I was working full time at ING, and my weekends were dotted by the occasional DJ gig (casino funds). Since My normal work hours were 9:25 to 6 Mon thru Fri, I could hardly ever attend any cans (especially not the ones near NY) but I made it to the ones they held near my house. This led to some more friction between Bill and myself, but as long as I did his dirty work he couldnt be too upset.
Around March of '04 I noticed I hadn't been paid for 2 cans that I had showed up for in January and February. For Can's you got paid $25, so yes while not breaking the bank, I was still owed this money. I led it slide thinking "oh they will realize their error and pay me", nope didn't happen.
In July I was asked to be "on call" for a weekend. Essentially what this meant was, that issue that happened to me on my first gig where the box malfuntioned? Yeah if that ever happened now someone who wasn't scheduled for gigs was on call and would drive out to wherever you were and hook up their backup system. This was easy enough, all I had to do was call in at noon on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday to a specific number and say "hey im alive and ready to fly". That weekend went awesome as there were no calls, so I got paid for doing nothing that weekend. Hold on to that thought.
Working two jobs is not fun, especially when I basically sacrificed my weekend for pay that amounted to chicken scratch as to what I was earning at my other job. The other thing is that the wedding thing was wearing on me. It really was the same thing week after week. If you thought your wedding was really "special" and I DJed it, chances are it was not special, only the venue changed. Yet it wasn't the wedding reception itself that irked me, who can argue with getting paid to have free food and good tunes? What really got on my nerves was the people. Think back to your wedding (if you're married) remember that drunk best man? Remember how the wedding party got sloshed? Remember how everyone at your party got sloshed? Yeah this only happened when you got married, but I had to live it multiple times a weekend, and yes drunk abusive people started to dampen my love for djing.
This particular weekend was the absolute back-breaker in terms of suckiness. When I called the couple early in the week to setup music choice (during this time we figure out the theme music for entrances and go over songs for the first dances, along with setting the do and do not playlist for the reception) and they made it clear no Chicken Dance, no Electric, and no current music. They had a lot of older people at this wedding and they did not want to alienate them by playing Hip-Hop or Rap. Done.
So the day arrives, and I get paid a little extra on this gig to play some church music before hand as they were getting married at the hall in a small chapel on the property. Problem is, the small chapel didn't have outlets, and secondly it was raining outside. So no go for the mimi-system I was supplied with. Luckily I am always very resourceful and had a boombox on hand. Even after explaining the difficulties of the setup, you could tell the couple was irked anyway, and I was in for a long night. After we got through all the formalities and dinner the reception was starting. I held to their wish to not play any popular music, and in response there was absolutely 0 people on the dance floor. It went on like this for about 30 minutes before the first guest came up and requested some popular tune, I respectfully told her that it was the wedding party's wish to not have music of that kind played. Then a few more people, and a few more people after that. Evenetually after the something like 15th person asked if they could do the chicken dance or electric slide, I deferred to the bride and groom. Having kicked a few back by then the bride said to go ahead. Wouldn't you know I played the Chicken Dance and a bunch of people got up on the floor and danced (including husband & bride). So I switched to 80s music and kept a few of those dancers out there. About this time we are 1 1/2 hours into the 3 hour ordeal. The entire wedding party is drunk beyond all recognition. People keep coming up and asking if i could play this or that. Im deffering as much as I can to the bride and groom who finally relent and let me start playing today music.
I don't remember if it was the best man or just some regular groomsman, but that was the person who started all the trouble.
"Dude can you play that new Outkast song?"
"Sure."
"Thanks!"
Guy runs back to his girlfriend and some of her people and is telling them I'm going to play it. Then they head off to the bar.
Some background, at this time Outkast was informally broken up and had released a double LP with Andre3000 doing an up-tempo album and Big Boi doing a smoothy Jazz album. Andre3k's song "Hey Ya" was the tops of the chart during this time, and Big Boi's "I Like The Way You Move" was just starting to get airplay. I did not have a copy of "ILTWYM" because it was too new and it wasn't really a dancey song, so to be honest the fact he was refering to that song wasn't even in my mind.
So I play "Hey Ya" and the dance floor gets packed. I move on to the next song and it seems like I've finally got the crowd going, thats when drunk guy aproaches me again....
"When you gonna play that Outkast song?"
"I Just did."
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did, just before this song."
(Drunk guy leaves and comes back with some pretty bridesmaid who is CLEARLY not in any thinking state of mind)
"I asked her, she was on the dance floor and she says you didn't play it."
How can you argue against a drunk guy and a drunk girl who say you didn't play the song you just played?
"Alright, I'll play it again."
After the song ends, I throw "Hey Ya" back on. A chorus of "what the?"s and boos start raining down.
Drunk guy:
"What's this?"
"Its Andre 3000 from Outkast, its his new song."
"Thats not the song I was talking about."
At this point Im incredulous, surely he couldnt be referring to a song that has been in airplay for no more than 2 weeks and I myself have heard maybe once or twice? Sounds kind of like the mentality at the limit holdem tables, "surely he could not have called a raised pre-flop, gut shot draw all the way to the river... right?"
So he takes off, to where I have no idea. More drunk people come up asking why I played a song twice, can i play this song etc etc. Thats when drunk dude reappears with a pissed off groom.
"He says you are refusing to play songs."
"Thats not true at all, he asked me to play the Outkast song, I played the Outkast song. He told me he meant another one which I do not have."
"Play every song people request!"
"I was respecting your wishes to NOT play popular music..."
"You play every g-d song they request, no excuses."
And he stomped off. Right then and there is when I decided DJing was probably not for me anymore. The only reason I didnt go off on him was because I was working for a company and not for myself.
I finished up the gig, caught a few "you suck"s from the inebriated crowd and went home.If I had any change of heart, it was aptly destroyed just a few short weeks later.
The Monday after that gig I left Bill a voicemail at his office and on his cell regarding non-payment of both of the cans from the beginning of the year and also I was not paid for the weekend wehere I was "on call" and a wedding I did in early June. The next time I heard anything from Bill was an email containing another one of those passed off wedding gigs that I had said yes to earlier in the year. Feeling slightly pissed about this, I replied to his email in a very nice and professional manner asking if he received my voicemails and to get back to me ASAP. Another week goes by and nothing. I reply a little firmer this time:
Bill,
Still waiting on a response to my last email regarding the non-payment for services performed: Wedding on 06/05/04, June 18th-20 I was on call per your request I did report in, can in January and a can in February. Please respond to this email or call me with information regarding this issue. Thank you.
After waiting almost a month, heres the response I got:
Hey Brian,
Sorry about the response, been in Philly with managers meetings (for a month???). As far as your checks i called corp and there is missing some paperwork ie a valid credit card for collateral, the one you gave came back no good. So when I get that, the check will be released. Sorry did not know that, just respond to this with a valid credit card and it should go out this week. Anyway, you all good for this party?
Bill
Needless to say I was pissed. Very pissed. The credit card thing they needed for collateral, you know just in case you run off with their equip. My cc had expired and when I was asked to provide a new one I did, it was the same number with a new exp date. So I hadn't been paid for months because of something like that, and he DIDNT know??? I put my anger into words:
Bill,
You had asked for a good credit card in March and I gave you one on March 2nd. The old credit card expired 10/03. I had left a voicemail a few weeks back regarding not being paid, and I heard nothing at all at that time. Since I have already provided a valid credit card number, I would like to be paid immediately for the work that was done earlier this year. You may also consider this email to be notification of my resignation. I do not wish to work for a company that conducts buisness in this manner. I can return the equipment to you Thursday 08/12/04 at your convienience.
If that was the case, all would be fine. That one did not go through. Bring the Equipment back THIS Thursday.
I didn't bring the equip back until the day I said. When I finally did get paid, obviously they screwed me out of money. I tool them to task with the CT government department that handles that and got an extra $120 I was owed.
So my stint with "The Pros" had come to and end, but a new hell was about to start.
Tomorrow: Part 4 The grass is always greener....
For every referral you received from a can you were paid $10 (eventually I got a "raise" to $15.) The problem came in that if a dj could not do the function, they were never docked the money they were awarded as bonus AND the savior DJ would never receive compensation for doing the job. What this led to was a bunch of people going to cans, getting boatloads of referrals then leaving the company OR passing off the gigs to other djs. Bill's NY guys were the main culprits of the latter.
So what happened when someone backed out of a gig? He phoned a friend (me) asking me if I could do the gig, naturally I said yes.
This happened numerous times without me making a peep about compensation. Why? Well for one I was glad to be working and secondly I equated good work with salary increases. Ex instead of 25/hour I'd get 50/hour. Yeah, that never happened.
The other dispicable thing the company did was if they did replace a dj they NEVER informed the party they did so. The first time the clent found out that it had a new dj was when I called them monday or tuesday THE WEEK OF THE EVENT! You have no idea how many times when I called the client I got "what happened to so and so" and my standard reply ws always was "oh they aren't with the company anymore." Surprising to me now is that only one person out of the numerous gigs I did ever got mad at this practice, it resulted in her not wanting to speak with me and them speaking with Bill. About 2 days before the gig Bill finally coerced them into letting me do the gig. It was the worst non-equipment malfunctioning gig I ever did, naturally.
Things were going routinely if not smoothly through the begininng of 2004. I was working full time at ING, and my weekends were dotted by the occasional DJ gig (casino funds). Since My normal work hours were 9:25 to 6 Mon thru Fri, I could hardly ever attend any cans (especially not the ones near NY) but I made it to the ones they held near my house. This led to some more friction between Bill and myself, but as long as I did his dirty work he couldnt be too upset.
Around March of '04 I noticed I hadn't been paid for 2 cans that I had showed up for in January and February. For Can's you got paid $25, so yes while not breaking the bank, I was still owed this money. I led it slide thinking "oh they will realize their error and pay me", nope didn't happen.
In July I was asked to be "on call" for a weekend. Essentially what this meant was, that issue that happened to me on my first gig where the box malfuntioned? Yeah if that ever happened now someone who wasn't scheduled for gigs was on call and would drive out to wherever you were and hook up their backup system. This was easy enough, all I had to do was call in at noon on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday to a specific number and say "hey im alive and ready to fly". That weekend went awesome as there were no calls, so I got paid for doing nothing that weekend. Hold on to that thought.
Working two jobs is not fun, especially when I basically sacrificed my weekend for pay that amounted to chicken scratch as to what I was earning at my other job. The other thing is that the wedding thing was wearing on me. It really was the same thing week after week. If you thought your wedding was really "special" and I DJed it, chances are it was not special, only the venue changed. Yet it wasn't the wedding reception itself that irked me, who can argue with getting paid to have free food and good tunes? What really got on my nerves was the people. Think back to your wedding (if you're married) remember that drunk best man? Remember how the wedding party got sloshed? Remember how everyone at your party got sloshed? Yeah this only happened when you got married, but I had to live it multiple times a weekend, and yes drunk abusive people started to dampen my love for djing.
This particular weekend was the absolute back-breaker in terms of suckiness. When I called the couple early in the week to setup music choice (during this time we figure out the theme music for entrances and go over songs for the first dances, along with setting the do and do not playlist for the reception) and they made it clear no Chicken Dance, no Electric, and no current music. They had a lot of older people at this wedding and they did not want to alienate them by playing Hip-Hop or Rap. Done.
So the day arrives, and I get paid a little extra on this gig to play some church music before hand as they were getting married at the hall in a small chapel on the property. Problem is, the small chapel didn't have outlets, and secondly it was raining outside. So no go for the mimi-system I was supplied with. Luckily I am always very resourceful and had a boombox on hand. Even after explaining the difficulties of the setup, you could tell the couple was irked anyway, and I was in for a long night. After we got through all the formalities and dinner the reception was starting. I held to their wish to not play any popular music, and in response there was absolutely 0 people on the dance floor. It went on like this for about 30 minutes before the first guest came up and requested some popular tune, I respectfully told her that it was the wedding party's wish to not have music of that kind played. Then a few more people, and a few more people after that. Evenetually after the something like 15th person asked if they could do the chicken dance or electric slide, I deferred to the bride and groom. Having kicked a few back by then the bride said to go ahead. Wouldn't you know I played the Chicken Dance and a bunch of people got up on the floor and danced (including husband & bride). So I switched to 80s music and kept a few of those dancers out there. About this time we are 1 1/2 hours into the 3 hour ordeal. The entire wedding party is drunk beyond all recognition. People keep coming up and asking if i could play this or that. Im deffering as much as I can to the bride and groom who finally relent and let me start playing today music.
I don't remember if it was the best man or just some regular groomsman, but that was the person who started all the trouble.
"Dude can you play that new Outkast song?"
"Sure."
"Thanks!"
Guy runs back to his girlfriend and some of her people and is telling them I'm going to play it. Then they head off to the bar.
Some background, at this time Outkast was informally broken up and had released a double LP with Andre3000 doing an up-tempo album and Big Boi doing a smoothy Jazz album. Andre3k's song "Hey Ya" was the tops of the chart during this time, and Big Boi's "I Like The Way You Move" was just starting to get airplay. I did not have a copy of "ILTWYM" because it was too new and it wasn't really a dancey song, so to be honest the fact he was refering to that song wasn't even in my mind.
So I play "Hey Ya" and the dance floor gets packed. I move on to the next song and it seems like I've finally got the crowd going, thats when drunk guy aproaches me again....
"When you gonna play that Outkast song?"
"I Just did."
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did, just before this song."
(Drunk guy leaves and comes back with some pretty bridesmaid who is CLEARLY not in any thinking state of mind)
"I asked her, she was on the dance floor and she says you didn't play it."
How can you argue against a drunk guy and a drunk girl who say you didn't play the song you just played?
"Alright, I'll play it again."
After the song ends, I throw "Hey Ya" back on. A chorus of "what the?"s and boos start raining down.
Drunk guy:
"What's this?"
"Its Andre 3000 from Outkast, its his new song."
"Thats not the song I was talking about."
At this point Im incredulous, surely he couldnt be referring to a song that has been in airplay for no more than 2 weeks and I myself have heard maybe once or twice? Sounds kind of like the mentality at the limit holdem tables, "surely he could not have called a raised pre-flop, gut shot draw all the way to the river... right?"
So he takes off, to where I have no idea. More drunk people come up asking why I played a song twice, can i play this song etc etc. Thats when drunk dude reappears with a pissed off groom.
"He says you are refusing to play songs."
"Thats not true at all, he asked me to play the Outkast song, I played the Outkast song. He told me he meant another one which I do not have."
"Play every song people request!"
"I was respecting your wishes to NOT play popular music..."
"You play every g-d song they request, no excuses."
And he stomped off. Right then and there is when I decided DJing was probably not for me anymore. The only reason I didnt go off on him was because I was working for a company and not for myself.
I finished up the gig, caught a few "you suck"s from the inebriated crowd and went home.If I had any change of heart, it was aptly destroyed just a few short weeks later.
The Monday after that gig I left Bill a voicemail at his office and on his cell regarding non-payment of both of the cans from the beginning of the year and also I was not paid for the weekend wehere I was "on call" and a wedding I did in early June. The next time I heard anything from Bill was an email containing another one of those passed off wedding gigs that I had said yes to earlier in the year. Feeling slightly pissed about this, I replied to his email in a very nice and professional manner asking if he received my voicemails and to get back to me ASAP. Another week goes by and nothing. I reply a little firmer this time:
Bill,
Still waiting on a response to my last email regarding the non-payment for services performed: Wedding on 06/05/04, June 18th-20 I was on call per your request I did report in, can in January and a can in February. Please respond to this email or call me with information regarding this issue. Thank you.
After waiting almost a month, heres the response I got:
Hey Brian,
Sorry about the response, been in Philly with managers meetings (for a month???). As far as your checks i called corp and there is missing some paperwork ie a valid credit card for collateral, the one you gave came back no good. So when I get that, the check will be released. Sorry did not know that, just respond to this with a valid credit card and it should go out this week. Anyway, you all good for this party?
Bill
Needless to say I was pissed. Very pissed. The credit card thing they needed for collateral, you know just in case you run off with their equip. My cc had expired and when I was asked to provide a new one I did, it was the same number with a new exp date. So I hadn't been paid for months because of something like that, and he DIDNT know??? I put my anger into words:
Bill,
You had asked for a good credit card in March and I gave you one on March 2nd. The old credit card expired 10/03. I had left a voicemail a few weeks back regarding not being paid, and I heard nothing at all at that time. Since I have already provided a valid credit card number, I would like to be paid immediately for the work that was done earlier this year. You may also consider this email to be notification of my resignation. I do not wish to work for a company that conducts buisness in this manner. I can return the equipment to you Thursday 08/12/04 at your convienience.
If that was the case, all would be fine. That one did not go through. Bring the Equipment back THIS Thursday.
I didn't bring the equip back until the day I said. When I finally did get paid, obviously they screwed me out of money. I tool them to task with the CT government department that handles that and got an extra $120 I was owed.
So my stint with "The Pros" had come to and end, but a new hell was about to start.
Tomorrow: Part 4 The grass is always greener....
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Its a wonderful life (pause) not! part 2
Around this time Alissa got a job at her friend's pet store. Th pet store was located in Old Saybrook, CT which meant a nice 45 minute drive to the shore. I use to drive her down there, drop her off and come home and lounge till I had to go pick her up.
This was also the time I began getting into poker.
It was literally the time of my life. For the first time since 1998 I was happy in all aspects of my life. Had a good paying job that only primarily occured on the weekends, and on Mondays through Fridays I dropped Liss off and played poker at Foxwoods. Life was great and profitable. The only problem, if any, is that we were living with her parents and we wanted to break out on our own. Of course, this required more money than I currently had.
I continued maxing out the total jobs possible with the dj company. It started with 2 gigs a weekend, then turned into 3 and 4.
In July things started to change. Apparently the corporate office was not happy with Tony (my boss) and the way he was handling the connecticut branch of our company. He had hired a bunch of flameouts (thus why I got a lot of gigs) so there were only 3 djs servicing the entire state of CT.
It was decided that Bill (picture if you will a 50 year old dude who never left the 1950s era of rock n roll music, and you have Bill) who ran the NY outfit would also run the CT branch.
At first Bill seemed like a cool dude, it was a welcome change from Tony who, although was the best DJ in CT, he was a horrible manager.
Bill brought in a new class of djs who seemed competent and apt to stick around. Everything was going smoothly until one night....
As DJs we had to drum up our own buisness, this was primarily accomplished through C.A.N.s. (customer awareness nights) basically all the company djs in the area would converge at a scheduled hotel conference and we would put on a "show" for prospective clients.
Now admittedly, I'm not much of a people person and in unfamiliar settings I'm usually shy and reserved so I decided to use this as my angle. Tony was hyperactive and very crowd orientated so he snagged a good majority of the bookings, people loved his enthusiasm. John was our resident hip guy who dj'd in NYC on the weekends he wasn't working. I was the laid back guy who was aiming for the not too hip/not too showy dj. Basically I did what you wanted without the annoying flair.
At first it was depressing when I would come home at the end of the night after watching john and tony rake in the referrals, I even went so far as to act like tony at one of the cans, which resulted in 0 referrals, and me feeling like a tool. I vowed to just be myself and just deal with the shortcomings. Eventually, I got my niche going strong and the referrals came in.
Getting back to Bill, he scheduled his first can in Trumbull, CT. From Middletown it was a good 45 minute drive to a city not too too far from NYC. This was the first thing that ticked me and John off. Tony, as boss, at least use to hold the cans in the greater hartford area so it was never a long haul. To top it off, when we got down there and started our show there were only 4 couples there to see us. Compare that to the usual 10+ couples we usually have seen at other cans.
Suffice to say, john and I were both not amused by this.
This was just the start of things to come. Bill started setting up more cans near the NY border which was great for him (because he lived close by) but hell for the rest of us. Slowly any combination of us stopped going to every can (he also increased the amount of cans per month). Eventually he called a staff meeting to reem us out for not showing up to all the cans. He also informed us he was bringing in his more popular ny guys to the cans as well. Great! More competetion, and apparently more than an hour long drives back and forth were no problem fo these dudes.
The seeds of discourse amongst the ct faithful were planted, and as expected a bunch of djs quit. But I was not prepared for the way my dj career would end.
To be continued...
Tomorrow part 3: the end of DJ Slapz
This was also the time I began getting into poker.
It was literally the time of my life. For the first time since 1998 I was happy in all aspects of my life. Had a good paying job that only primarily occured on the weekends, and on Mondays through Fridays I dropped Liss off and played poker at Foxwoods. Life was great and profitable. The only problem, if any, is that we were living with her parents and we wanted to break out on our own. Of course, this required more money than I currently had.
I continued maxing out the total jobs possible with the dj company. It started with 2 gigs a weekend, then turned into 3 and 4.
In July things started to change. Apparently the corporate office was not happy with Tony (my boss) and the way he was handling the connecticut branch of our company. He had hired a bunch of flameouts (thus why I got a lot of gigs) so there were only 3 djs servicing the entire state of CT.
It was decided that Bill (picture if you will a 50 year old dude who never left the 1950s era of rock n roll music, and you have Bill) who ran the NY outfit would also run the CT branch.
At first Bill seemed like a cool dude, it was a welcome change from Tony who, although was the best DJ in CT, he was a horrible manager.
Bill brought in a new class of djs who seemed competent and apt to stick around. Everything was going smoothly until one night....
As DJs we had to drum up our own buisness, this was primarily accomplished through C.A.N.s. (customer awareness nights) basically all the company djs in the area would converge at a scheduled hotel conference and we would put on a "show" for prospective clients.
Now admittedly, I'm not much of a people person and in unfamiliar settings I'm usually shy and reserved so I decided to use this as my angle. Tony was hyperactive and very crowd orientated so he snagged a good majority of the bookings, people loved his enthusiasm. John was our resident hip guy who dj'd in NYC on the weekends he wasn't working. I was the laid back guy who was aiming for the not too hip/not too showy dj. Basically I did what you wanted without the annoying flair.
At first it was depressing when I would come home at the end of the night after watching john and tony rake in the referrals, I even went so far as to act like tony at one of the cans, which resulted in 0 referrals, and me feeling like a tool. I vowed to just be myself and just deal with the shortcomings. Eventually, I got my niche going strong and the referrals came in.
Getting back to Bill, he scheduled his first can in Trumbull, CT. From Middletown it was a good 45 minute drive to a city not too too far from NYC. This was the first thing that ticked me and John off. Tony, as boss, at least use to hold the cans in the greater hartford area so it was never a long haul. To top it off, when we got down there and started our show there were only 4 couples there to see us. Compare that to the usual 10+ couples we usually have seen at other cans.
Suffice to say, john and I were both not amused by this.
This was just the start of things to come. Bill started setting up more cans near the NY border which was great for him (because he lived close by) but hell for the rest of us. Slowly any combination of us stopped going to every can (he also increased the amount of cans per month). Eventually he called a staff meeting to reem us out for not showing up to all the cans. He also informed us he was bringing in his more popular ny guys to the cans as well. Great! More competetion, and apparently more than an hour long drives back and forth were no problem fo these dudes.
The seeds of discourse amongst the ct faithful were planted, and as expected a bunch of djs quit. But I was not prepared for the way my dj career would end.
To be continued...
Tomorrow part 3: the end of DJ Slapz
Waffles Tarot Card thing
You are The Emperor
Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person.
The Emperor is the great authority figure of the Tarot, so it represents
fathers, father-figures and employers. There is a lot of aggression and violence
too.
The Emperor naturally follows the Empress. Like an infant, he is filled with enthuiasm, energy, aggression. He is direct, guileless and all too often irresistible. Unfortunately, like a baby he can also be a tyrant. Impatient, demanding, controlling. In the best of circumstances, he signifies the leader that everyone wants to follow, sitting on a throne that indicates the solid foundation of an Empire he created, loves and rules with intelligence and enthusiasm. But that throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and discontent.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Don't look at me like that, I will eat your shit! You fuck my mother!
On the way home last night I got fender bendered by some chick who said she took her eyes off the road when he cigarette butt came back into her car and landed on her seats.
so ill continue tommorow with my work story.
so ill continue tommorow with my work story.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
its a wonderful life (pause) not! part 1
Preface:Over the next few days I'm going to post my work situation since I've moved up to ct. I'm not posting this for sympathy, I am posting this hopefully for therapeutic purposes and for any insight that anyone can offer. Also I am not trying to play the victim here, I am a firm believer in everyone making the best of a situation, in my case I have chosen not to.
When I moved up from Texas to live with Alissa in Connecticut, I was very excited. College had been a bust for me and all I wanted to do was be a radio dj.
What Alissa offered me was possibly djing at her uncle's restaurant/bar during the summer.
In the meantime I had to find a job, I had worked @ bk from 96 to 01, and a kfc in both PA and TX, naturally these were my first choices. Unexplicably, I did not get any calls back from any of these places (although if you could see the people they had I was way way over-qualified), so I finally ended up accepting a job with a grinder (sub for philly peeps) store called Max Bibos, right across the street from where the Whalers use to play.
I don't remember how long I stayed there, but the long and short of it is the only duty they could give me was janitor because I have what you could call a weak stomach, everytime I smell/view something my brain percieves as nasty, the auto-gag reflex kicks in. Not a good trait to have in a deli.
So on to job hunting again, eventually I found via a newspaper article that a company was moving into the area and they were looking for people who wanted to be party djs (weddings, bdays, etc etc) and I jumped at the chance.
After going through a month of training and shadowing 3 times, I was ready to get my dj on.
The company supplied the dj equipment, and gave us 13 cds with the most popular music. Unfortuantely, if our people wanted other songs it was pretty much left up to the dj to get that music. With me being a music nut, I already had over 2k songs downloaded (napster, kazaa) so I was ahead of the curve.
The first gig I did was an asian wedding out in Danbury. I got lost of course but since I'm over-obsessive on arriving early I got there with plenty of time to spare.
This being my first gig by myself, I was nervous. The couple gave me a cd of asian songs to play and a list of songs that they wished to not have played. Easy enough.
The thing about weddings is they are the easiest kind of party to dj. You get hired for a 5 hour gig, the first hour is cocktail hour, the second hour is introductions, first dances, and dinner. The last 3 hours is dancing. In the first year alone I did 25 gigs and I developed a system. The first song I played was always a party song "get the party started" by Pink. Its one of those songs everyone knows and after sittin for 2 hours people want to just get out of their seat. After that I started going up through the decades of music 50/60s, then 70s/80s then today's music. I did this because I noticed older people who wanted to dance sat for popular music and also are always the first people to leave a wedding. I received many compliments for this as everyone got to dance to a song they liked.
The first gig was a disaster. Like I said the first 2 hours went fine. When it came time for the dancing, they had ordered extra lights and the whole shabang. Unfortunately I don't have a degree in electronics, couple that with the ragtag reception hall apparently not being very accomodating with sockets, the first few songs went off without a hitch, then the overload started. If you have any idea how a dj box is made you know they stick a strip inside the box so you can plug the dual cd players, the board, the mic, and on this occasion the lights into. Well only bad things can happen when you plug a lot of electronics into 1 strip, and it happened, in the middle of one of their Asian dance songs the entire system crapped out. My heart sank and I turned ghost white, I was ruining this person's special day, and I was panicking.
It also doesn't help when while you are trying to fix the problem you have a gaggle of people around you asking a thousand questions, eventually I got it up and running again. Not long after though it went down a second time. Basically the lights were the problem, and since I had no where to plug them in they had to go. No more problems.
As you can guess, no tip that night, and after a similar problem 2 weeks later the company discovered they gave me a faulty board. Problem never happened again.
Tomorrow: part 2
The company goes in a new direction.
When I moved up from Texas to live with Alissa in Connecticut, I was very excited. College had been a bust for me and all I wanted to do was be a radio dj.
What Alissa offered me was possibly djing at her uncle's restaurant/bar during the summer.
In the meantime I had to find a job, I had worked @ bk from 96 to 01, and a kfc in both PA and TX, naturally these were my first choices. Unexplicably, I did not get any calls back from any of these places (although if you could see the people they had I was way way over-qualified), so I finally ended up accepting a job with a grinder (sub for philly peeps) store called Max Bibos, right across the street from where the Whalers use to play.
I don't remember how long I stayed there, but the long and short of it is the only duty they could give me was janitor because I have what you could call a weak stomach, everytime I smell/view something my brain percieves as nasty, the auto-gag reflex kicks in. Not a good trait to have in a deli.
So on to job hunting again, eventually I found via a newspaper article that a company was moving into the area and they were looking for people who wanted to be party djs (weddings, bdays, etc etc) and I jumped at the chance.
After going through a month of training and shadowing 3 times, I was ready to get my dj on.
The company supplied the dj equipment, and gave us 13 cds with the most popular music. Unfortuantely, if our people wanted other songs it was pretty much left up to the dj to get that music. With me being a music nut, I already had over 2k songs downloaded (napster, kazaa) so I was ahead of the curve.
The first gig I did was an asian wedding out in Danbury. I got lost of course but since I'm over-obsessive on arriving early I got there with plenty of time to spare.
This being my first gig by myself, I was nervous. The couple gave me a cd of asian songs to play and a list of songs that they wished to not have played. Easy enough.
The thing about weddings is they are the easiest kind of party to dj. You get hired for a 5 hour gig, the first hour is cocktail hour, the second hour is introductions, first dances, and dinner. The last 3 hours is dancing. In the first year alone I did 25 gigs and I developed a system. The first song I played was always a party song "get the party started" by Pink. Its one of those songs everyone knows and after sittin for 2 hours people want to just get out of their seat. After that I started going up through the decades of music 50/60s, then 70s/80s then today's music. I did this because I noticed older people who wanted to dance sat for popular music and also are always the first people to leave a wedding. I received many compliments for this as everyone got to dance to a song they liked.
The first gig was a disaster. Like I said the first 2 hours went fine. When it came time for the dancing, they had ordered extra lights and the whole shabang. Unfortunately I don't have a degree in electronics, couple that with the ragtag reception hall apparently not being very accomodating with sockets, the first few songs went off without a hitch, then the overload started. If you have any idea how a dj box is made you know they stick a strip inside the box so you can plug the dual cd players, the board, the mic, and on this occasion the lights into. Well only bad things can happen when you plug a lot of electronics into 1 strip, and it happened, in the middle of one of their Asian dance songs the entire system crapped out. My heart sank and I turned ghost white, I was ruining this person's special day, and I was panicking.
It also doesn't help when while you are trying to fix the problem you have a gaggle of people around you asking a thousand questions, eventually I got it up and running again. Not long after though it went down a second time. Basically the lights were the problem, and since I had no where to plug them in they had to go. No more problems.
As you can guess, no tip that night, and after a similar problem 2 weeks later the company discovered they gave me a faulty board. Problem never happened again.
Tomorrow: part 2
The company goes in a new direction.
Monday, October 6, 2008
What a weekend!
Went back to PA on Sunday to celebrae my niece's 1 year birthday. And on the way home I hear:
Phillies beat the Brewers 6-2!
Yay for the first trip to the NLCS since 1993! Quite a layoff to Thursday though.
Congrats to Philly Phans everywhere!
I think its time for a State of Brian Address....gotted work up the willingness to post it though.
Phillies beat the Brewers 6-2!
Yay for the first trip to the NLCS since 1993! Quite a layoff to Thursday though.
Congrats to Philly Phans everywhere!
I think its time for a State of Brian Address....gotted work up the willingness to post it though.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Q&A
Waffles and Riggs did it, and Lord knows im a follower so here goes:
1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?
Sure. 1) There are like 3 readers of my blog 2) im not very controversial just your regular idiot
2. Would you do meth if it was legal?
Nah. I can honestly say, other than alcohol and a failed attempt to smoke cigs I have never done any drugs.
3. Abortion: for or against it?
Woman's choice. Man doesnt have to live with the consequenses as much as a female.
4. Do you think the world would fail with a female president?
Of course not, but you better believe that hotter = more votes.
5. Do you believe in the death penalty?
This question is similar to abortion in the fact that, should we deny a life the right to live? I like waffles opinion. Heat of the moment no, serial killers or grotesque murders yes.
6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Similar to alcohol prohibition, let it be legal and regulated. Itd be a great way to pay off our national debt. So would poker....
7. Are you for or against premarital sex?
Im not married and own a house with my gf, what do you think?
8. Do you believe in God?
Im not religious, implying that i dont follow a set of rules, but i do believe theres more out there. Complex organisms just popping up is so beyond human compehension that you have to believe in something.
9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Lets just make all marriage not legal, ok?
10. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
Im not offended by it, lets be honest they do all the jobs everyone else wouldnt touch. Get em processed and Americanized.
11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
I just cant fathom the lack of involvement the parents had if a 12 yo has a baby. None-the-less it should be the mother's choice.
12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
I didnt drink till i was 20, i dont think i was missing out or whatever, but to behonest if kids at 18 can fight wars, they should be allowed a silly drink.
13. Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Its not a war, its a massacre of American troops for the safety of oil relations with the current administration. C.R.E.A.M.
14. Should assisted suicide be legal?
America is about personal decisions, let people make their own decisions.
15. Do you believe in spanking your children?
Beating the shit out of a child and spanking are 2 different things, spanking is an acceptable form of discipline, the other is not.
16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
I love America, but as is the American way money rules all.
17. Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?
Both people are scheisters, it comes down to the lesser of two evils. Personally i sway toward Obama because I feel McCain is out of touch with anyone under 65.
18. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Well if im hated for my views i wouldnt want them as a friend anyway.
1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?
Sure. 1) There are like 3 readers of my blog 2) im not very controversial just your regular idiot
2. Would you do meth if it was legal?
Nah. I can honestly say, other than alcohol and a failed attempt to smoke cigs I have never done any drugs.
3. Abortion: for or against it?
Woman's choice. Man doesnt have to live with the consequenses as much as a female.
4. Do you think the world would fail with a female president?
Of course not, but you better believe that hotter = more votes.
5. Do you believe in the death penalty?
This question is similar to abortion in the fact that, should we deny a life the right to live? I like waffles opinion. Heat of the moment no, serial killers or grotesque murders yes.
6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Similar to alcohol prohibition, let it be legal and regulated. Itd be a great way to pay off our national debt. So would poker....
7. Are you for or against premarital sex?
Im not married and own a house with my gf, what do you think?
8. Do you believe in God?
Im not religious, implying that i dont follow a set of rules, but i do believe theres more out there. Complex organisms just popping up is so beyond human compehension that you have to believe in something.
9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Lets just make all marriage not legal, ok?
10. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
Im not offended by it, lets be honest they do all the jobs everyone else wouldnt touch. Get em processed and Americanized.
11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
I just cant fathom the lack of involvement the parents had if a 12 yo has a baby. None-the-less it should be the mother's choice.
12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
I didnt drink till i was 20, i dont think i was missing out or whatever, but to behonest if kids at 18 can fight wars, they should be allowed a silly drink.
13. Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Its not a war, its a massacre of American troops for the safety of oil relations with the current administration. C.R.E.A.M.
14. Should assisted suicide be legal?
America is about personal decisions, let people make their own decisions.
15. Do you believe in spanking your children?
Beating the shit out of a child and spanking are 2 different things, spanking is an acceptable form of discipline, the other is not.
16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
I love America, but as is the American way money rules all.
17. Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?
Both people are scheisters, it comes down to the lesser of two evils. Personally i sway toward Obama because I feel McCain is out of touch with anyone under 65.
18. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Well if im hated for my views i wouldnt want them as a friend anyway.
Whats different between today's youth and 1990's youth
Im gonna post this from a local news column:
Squirt-Gun Game Leads To Hospitalizations
Teen Tradition Turning Dangerous, Police Say
WETHERSFIELD, Conn.- -- A game popular with teens across the country has led to several crashes in suburban Hartford in the past several days, police said.
The objective of "Squirt-Gun Assassin" is to shoot an intended target with a water gun -- the last man standing wins a prize.
Police said in the past several days, several Connecticut teens have played the game while driving, leading to three crashes.
Wethersfield High School junior Janelly Gonzalez told Eyewitness News that the game has become a tradition at the school.
"They keep knocking people out and the last man standing wins the game," she said. "They were playing Assassin, it got really serious. There were squirt guns and a truck drove into someone's house and they ended up in the hospital."
Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran said that in all, three crashes have been associated with the game. He said his department has responded to half-a-dozen calls this week because of Assasin, and in one case a teen was attempting to get away from his water gun attacker.
"They cut in front of a poor unsuspecting motorist and two people were taken to the hospital, including a student. At least one of those accidents they drove in front of a poor unsuspecting woman and two people were taken to the hospital, including the woman," he said.
Cetran said that in another case, students engaged in an argument with a homeowner.
"The homeowner didn't know what they were doing hiding in their bushes, so they were concerned," Cetran said.
Wethersfield students were warned of the dangers of the game at an assembly Wednesday.
WTF is wrong with kids today? (And yes im sure every generation says this about the next) As a pre-teen/teen we had stuff like this. Manhunt, in particular. I can remember dressing up in dark clothes with my fellow buddies and climbing trees/garages, hiding in bushes, and running through old peoples yards.
Somehow I dont recall ever smashing trucks into houses or causing car accidents. Though police being called by the 70 something in the neighborhood was not uncommon.
I also remember participating in something dubbed "Operation Nightwatch" where we protected our high school over night the day before our game against the rival city high school. This involved tomatoes, squirt guns, etc. Again no auto accidents came about because of this. Although somehow "Freedom Sucks" was painted about Freedom High School's name...
My point is, being a disorderly is a philosophical neccesity for youth, I get it. But this is just taking "fun" to the extremem....
Squirt-Gun Game Leads To Hospitalizations
Teen Tradition Turning Dangerous, Police Say
WETHERSFIELD, Conn.- -- A game popular with teens across the country has led to several crashes in suburban Hartford in the past several days, police said.
The objective of "Squirt-Gun Assassin" is to shoot an intended target with a water gun -- the last man standing wins a prize.
Police said in the past several days, several Connecticut teens have played the game while driving, leading to three crashes.
Wethersfield High School junior Janelly Gonzalez told Eyewitness News that the game has become a tradition at the school.
"They keep knocking people out and the last man standing wins the game," she said. "They were playing Assassin, it got really serious. There were squirt guns and a truck drove into someone's house and they ended up in the hospital."
Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran said that in all, three crashes have been associated with the game. He said his department has responded to half-a-dozen calls this week because of Assasin, and in one case a teen was attempting to get away from his water gun attacker.
"They cut in front of a poor unsuspecting motorist and two people were taken to the hospital, including a student. At least one of those accidents they drove in front of a poor unsuspecting woman and two people were taken to the hospital, including the woman," he said.
Cetran said that in another case, students engaged in an argument with a homeowner.
"The homeowner didn't know what they were doing hiding in their bushes, so they were concerned," Cetran said.
Wethersfield students were warned of the dangers of the game at an assembly Wednesday.
WTF is wrong with kids today? (And yes im sure every generation says this about the next) As a pre-teen/teen we had stuff like this. Manhunt, in particular. I can remember dressing up in dark clothes with my fellow buddies and climbing trees/garages, hiding in bushes, and running through old peoples yards.
Somehow I dont recall ever smashing trucks into houses or causing car accidents. Though police being called by the 70 something in the neighborhood was not uncommon.
I also remember participating in something dubbed "Operation Nightwatch" where we protected our high school over night the day before our game against the rival city high school. This involved tomatoes, squirt guns, etc. Again no auto accidents came about because of this. Although somehow "Freedom Sucks" was painted about Freedom High School's name...
My point is, being a disorderly is a philosophical neccesity for youth, I get it. But this is just taking "fun" to the extremem....
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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