dj story #Whatever (a good story)
kitchenknight
4,922 Posts
So, I'm DJing last night. Its the Barney's Company party. Its me and one other guy who i'd just met; i'm doing latin/soul/funk, he's doing some hip-hop/80s. We're trading sets.Its not my best night. i'm distracted by work stuff, some serious health stuff for a friend (she's doing good, but we didn't know that last night.) and the light is burnt out in the corner I'm djing, and i'm having a hard time seeing the 45s I'm trying to play. I wasn't feeling it from the kickoff.I'm doing ok, though. I'm not thrilled, but the crowd is responsive, the manager is complimenting me, and the people who hired me are happy. so, if they're happy, i'm happy. sometimes, better to fool them.so, i'm getting ready to toss it back to the dude to play hip hop by moving into some more electro funky stuff, and then 'It Takes Two.' This girl, who I later learned is wearing $4,000 shoes, is on me to play some samba. I've already done some latin/brazilian stuff early in the night, and i'm kind of non-commital. 'I already played a set of that...yeah, yeah, i'll try to work that in...'She comes back like she's flossing 4g Yves St Laurents, "I don't care if it blends or mixes. Just play it!" It was my last song before I finished, and the other dude is about to play the club hits, so I say to him, "sorry to make your job tougher...i'm gonna play some samba." We were getting along, so he just gave me a whatever shrug, and let me go.So, I pull out Jorge Ben's 'Africa Brasil,' and dropped track 4/side a (don't know the name). And the room just BLOWS UP. This crowd, that had only been into the stuff they knew all night, just went nuts for someone who wasn't even speaking their language. I mean, there were some LOVELY and well-dressed ladies in the crowd, and they just got DOWN. Man, it was hot...The girl in the baller shoes comes back to me and says, 'see?' and, yeah. she was right. that song was only 4 minutes, but i did not want that to end. damn. that was one of the best moments i've ever had djing. then, i was done, and went and watched the football game as it moved into dem franchise boyz...just figured it was time to share a good story.
Comments
shit...it wasn't Taj...i know that title from the gil e jorge lp. must've gotten my track number wrong in the retelling. i'll get a track name to make the story better.
either way, it worked; its staying in the rotation.
Sounds like she was a better DJ than you.
Just playing.
wocka wocka wocka
YESSSSSS!
I had a DJ gig a couple months back, pretty packed and all that---keep getting requests for more latin/samba/brasil/funk stuff. When I put "Taj Mahal" on everyone was no joke, jumping up down. Really crazy, felt real nice too!
I hear ya, I didn't want that shit to end either---everyone got into this circle real close to each other and were jumping up and down. Yeaaaaaaaah
and if you played taj mahal the room would've probably been even more crazy.
Ha! This is too funny. I've had the exact same experience after I've begun to play "Taj Mahal" in my sets lately. Blew up the room out of nowhere two times recently. Must be the Rod Stewart factor.
First time was at a company christmas party, a $$$ gig, so I was playing mostly cheesy 70s/80s/90s hits from cds. All the safe stuff I don't usually play and people are loving it. I get a request for something brazilian, so I pull out "Taj Mahal" from the "good stuff" backup crate, thinking "what the hell". I put it on and the room just goes from hot to sizzling. And this was a straight
Second time was a week ago at a weekly soul/funk/disco/latin night here in CPH. Total opposite to the other gig. We've had the dancefloor since midnight, it's now around 3-4 o'clock and the crowd is still moving, but a bit more sluggish than an hour earlier. I put on "Taj Mahal" and suddenly everybody is jumping up and down like their pants are on fire.
Thank you Jorge Ben!
The version I play is from "Tropical", though. I don't have "Africa Brasil"
that was the one...either way. thank you, jorge ben.