Everyone has those exceptional nights where you are driving home from a gig and you have the complete feeling of satisfaction with your performance and the gig overall. It's these moments when you know you did a hell of a job and your clients can't be thankful enough. In my 5 years in this business, I haven't ever really had a gig where I had any negative feelings about how it went. I have had thoughts about how it could have been better, but still a strong sense of pride and satisfaction in my services. My last gig was one that I will never forget....
I had a very interesting and long night on Saturday. I was contracted to do a wedding on a farm in Manalapan, NJ. The clients had been to a wedding I had done a few years and insisted on having me for their daughters wedding. This was an all out deal, full lighting setup with trussing, up-lighting etc., so needless to say it was well worth my while money wise. I got the the farm around 3:30 for the reception that started @ 5, only to find out that I couldn't get into the reception area to setup because the ceremony was going on right next to it. So finally around 4 I was able to get started setting up. The bride's father and uncle's so graciously helped me unload so I could get setup in time. Everything went off without a hitch, and the weather was beautiful, with the exception of the sunset behind me making it near impossible to see the screen on my macbook. The crowd was awesome and I had a really wide range of requests ahead of time so I had a lot to work with.
Two hours into dancing they were still going strong. The cake was cut and to my surprise it picked right back up with in a matter of 5 minutes where it left off, packing the dance floor once again. Closer to the end of the gig, the bride's mother came to me and said that the power went out in the area (I was working off a generator all night) and asked if I could make an announcement to advise the guests to be careful when leaving the reception tent. A short while later I could see a lot of police and fire activity through the field near the main road. Come to find out, a tow truck was hauling ass down the fog covered road, lost control and took out a utility pole and 4 fence posts, ending up 150 yards into the farm's horse paddock with a fence post partially impaled in the driver's face. A short time later a med-evac helicopter landed in the field and took the driver away. Being a career firefighter, I knew that this meant bad news and informed the family that it would probably be some time before anyone could leave the farm being that the road was totally impassable. So needless to say, the end time came and went, but the party stayed strong. Knowing that no one was leaving anytime soon, I played on. After about two hours the road had been cleared and guests could begin to leave. I slowly wound everything down and called it a night. The bride and groom and their families could not have been happier. Upon receiving my final payment, the bride's father slipped me a generous $400 tip.
So even though I was beat and it sucked driving through the country in dense fog @ 1 am, I thought it was well worth it in the end. And this instance has made an everlasting impression in my mind as to why I DJ; to work with great people/clients and above have a blast doing it!
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Awesome.
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