resident djs
TREW
2,037 Posts
just wondering how many of you out there are residents..moreso, how many residents out there have to put up with NONSENSE from the owners/bar staff?
Comments
I feel like that's kind of unrealistic unless they got a cocktail waitress. The promoter should take care of drinks for the djs. You know what is a crazy hassle though - when you have to piss real bad and you're djing by yourself.
Definitely a big issue. I try to throw on a long jam and move fast if that happens, but that risk of long bathroom lines still looms. Trying to cut by saying that "Sorry but I'm the DJ and I've gotta get back soon" sometimes works, but sometimes causes even more problems. Sometimes girls take FOREVER.
Yep, that's what I'm talking about, I can't tell you how many times I've seen waiters make the rounds and not stop by the booth, I wish they would. But on the bright side, les drinks means less of the latter (bladder) problem.
I wish, usually the "promoter" is the owner in my experience and fat chance he's gonna be getting my drinks!
the dj booth rests between the kitchen and the bar at my spot, so the bar-backs will occasionally keep an eye out for my drinks..
do any of you ever get the feeling that the barstaff expects something from you? not necessarily loot but rather keeping the place jumping off that their tips jump off?
problem solved
Sort of, yeah, but I don't feel like it's pressure or an imposition or anything like that. I feel like that's how it ought to work so that everybody ends up happy. But then again, the staff at my residency have never been aggressive about that sort of thing, so maybe my tune would change if they ever started coming down hard on me about it.
that makes sense, but how about the people on the staff who always make inappropriate song requests? on Friday the bartender handed me and Cosmo a stack of CDs and told us which songs she would like to hear. uh-huh, let me put on that Chemical Brothers cd, it mixes perfectly with everything I play. the bouncers always want to hear either superthug shit or rap from the eighties (especially dudes that grew up in the BX), and the owner and promoters always want you to somehow play your "hot" set of 50 Cent and Jay-Z at 10:30 and for the next 5 hours straight. word, let me put on Fatman Scoop for the barback when everyone in the crowd is ordering their first drink, that's a great idea.
once they start switching your Crown shots out for Jack Daniels, then you know there's something awry...
so this is universal i see
The only problem was getting my friends to come every week to hear the same old shit that they heard last week. A major pain.
I guess I was lucky.
I quit my five year gig because of some dumb shit like that. When i first
started the managers didnt want to hear a whole lot HOT hip hop. Years later
when all the Pop dummys started feelin' rap, the manager wanted to cater to
the suburban yuppies who listen to hiphop now. So I got mad pressured to play
familiar radio shit vs my own mix of shit. After all my years there funkin that
place up, they tried to impose this new vision. I had to get the fuck outta there.
They brought in a couple of hot radio djs to attract the yuppies but the plan backfired
and all the thugs came and scared the yuppies away.
Shit was hilarious.The manager just had no clue when it came to music.
Still, I agree 100% with this:
If you ever want to meet someone who's "on some other shit," just get friendly with your local club owner. I guarantee he/she is a piece of work.
my boss is all about this attitude.. "let's keep it uptempo from the start and see what happens" type thing..
ever see that episode of simpsons where the network execs are giving krusty notes during a broadcast? this past weekend in a nutshell.
"umm, we're wondering if you're skewing to "gangsta", we're losing 35 year old females"
I dj here as well. I have had some technical difficulties that were not handled very well by the management, but overall, it has been a great place to play out. I have never had any trouble with the bartenders, but I bet I know who you are talking about (the skinny girl that thinks she is hot shit?).
Yeah, see, that just plain wasn't right. But Annie's mad cool, so for now, I'm taking that as a momentary lapse of judgment.
Fuck that. I run stright to the front, and the bathroom attendent girls are cool. I don't have time to wait on line, and I could care less what people on the line think. Sure the odd person here and there gets upset, but the bathroom girls look out for me and most people back down when they get told i'm the DJ.
1- Your doing a great job, but can you make it a little more uptempo?
2- Lets start things off with a bang tonite
3- Why do you think people aren't dancing yet?
4- We had a really bad night, do you think you could cut me a break?
5- Where is everyone?
Arrgggh! I HATE that
We had a really great night, how about paying me double?
Man, I'm at a resident at two spots on fridays.
One is in the super bougie (sp) cheesey part of the city. I've been doing it for about 2-3 years and the first year I simply hated it. I was fucking miserable being there, but after I got over the "hey imma artiste" shit and realized it's the Marina/this a good and easy money, I started to have actual fun there. Plus doing it for so long you get used to playing for a crowd like that (little secet: I sometimes bring the exact same records and almost play 'em in the exact same order time after time).
The owner used to sweat me about "don't play to much rap, we don't want to bring in that element" but now he doesn't even care. and word, they definetly keep me liquored up.
The other spot is in a more recently gentrified part of town and they don't really sweat us except when it comes to the drinks and shit. The only wack thing is that they get mad at my boy and me if it's kinda slow and even cut our pay once by a bit. Which is wack because they don't break us off extra when the spot is packed.
Overall I ain't mad, I'll always have gigs on friday and at least have some money coming in.
DON'T HATE ON THE SUMMER OF YOUNG PHONIKS
You should, straight up. If they're gonna play that game, they should play it both ways (um...ayo?).