Must Play vs Do NOT Play Lists

Two lists can make or break a wedding: the must-plays that define the couple’s voice, and the do-not-plays that guard against landmines. We pull back the curtain on how we handle both without tanking momentum, from planting a clear 25–50 song inspiration list to avoiding negative framing that leads couples down a rabbit hole of “don’ts.” We get candid about when to push back on rigid must-play demands, how to protect the dance floor for every guest, and why RSVP song polls almost always produce chaos instead of clarity.

The conversation gets real with two contrasting event blueprints. First, a 50th birthday planned with AI that packed the night with a sax feature, aerialist, magician, and a “toast and roast” that stalled the energy. Then, a New Orleans wedding built for pure motion: strings to set the tone, three formal dances, and four straight hours of dancing in a 500-person tent with bars flanking the DJ booth and a video wall mirroring the surrounding trees. We break down why certain layouts amplify heat, how production can support programming, and what it takes to keep a massive crowd engaged without constant resets.

We also step into the practical details pros obsess over: wireless in-ear monitoring that frees you from the booth, and dress shoes that look sharp but feel like sneakers so you can survive long sets without wrecking your feet. And we unpack a thorny real-world scenario: arriving early in a snowstorm to set up and getting lectured by the venue. We'll share the communication steps that protect your reputation while keeping clients calm.

If you care about programming that respects the couple and still lights up the room, this one’s for you. Hit follow, share it with a DJ friend, and drop your rule for do-not-playlists vs must-plays in a review. We’re featuring the best takes next week.

Transcript

March Banter And Patreon Shoutouts

SPEAKER_02 0:17

It's batch day. It's batch day. Welcome back to Beyond the DJ booth. That's why we look the same as the last few episodes, right?

SPEAKER_07 0:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Might as well give away the secrets. Might as well. Secret sauce. I'm Brian B. if you're listening on. And I'm Joe Bunn. Good to see you. Happy March. When this drops, of course. Happy March, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 0:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

March uh, what it would be, the fourth?

SPEAKER_06 0:38

March 4th, okay. Yeah. Right on.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

It's not the May the 4th, right? This is the March the 4th. That's right. Welcome to March, everybody. Welcome to March. Thanks for listening. Uh, we like to start every episode out with shouting out some of our friends who are in the Patreon.

SPEAKER_06 0:52

The Patreon is critical for your business and especially if you love music. I'm just gonna say there is tons of bonus content. And that's all I'm gonna say. Patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Shout out Aaron Malig. Malig? Malig? Malig? Shout out Aaron. Malig? Dave Dam. Oh, what a great name.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

What else? Are we missing a T? No. Kevin Duran Jr. Jr. Should it be Durant?

SPEAKER_06 1:21

No. Not Durantula? Nah. I don't think he, I don't think he's I don't think Kevin Durant's listening. His son? Maybe his son. Who knows? What's up, Dylan? Dylan Verhoff. Missouri. Yeah, Missouri, good dude. And Tim Gleasing. Here we go. Tim Gleasing. Thanks for listening, guys. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for listening. And thanks for being a member of the Patreon more than anything else.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

You know what happens with these people?

SPEAKER_06 1:44

What?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

They get entered into the end of the month.

SPEAKER_06 1:47

They sure do. Everybody in the back room on the Patreon gets entered into the wheel of names. I spin it, I do it live and record it, and I paste it in the Patreon, post it in the Patreon, so you can see I didn't rig it. What are we giving away this one?

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Uh this is an X Viv E U45 IEM pack. Is that what you use?

SPEAKER_06 2:09

Uh I would use it if I didn't have like an expensive synizer already.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Is this the one that was at one of your streams that you went to and you're like, somebody gave me this pack, I bought another one?

SPEAKER_06 2:20

Actual in-ears. Okay. Non-custom one. This is the belt pack. This is the belt pack. So you're not chained to the booth anymore. Got it. So the the one plug part plugs right into your mixer, and then the other part goes on your belt, and then you just put your in-ears in, and then what's the radius? You can go to the bathroom. Oh man, that thing was crazy. We just I made a YouTube video on it. We'll post it. Okay. What's it go for? Any idea? Uh 150 bucks, something like that. Solid. Yeah. We have solid gifts here, man. Yeah.

Prize Giveaway And IEM Pack Breakdown

SPEAKER_02 2:45

So get it in before the end of March.

SPEAKER_06 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Usually pull it the last day, or if we forget the day after. Yeah. That's been the last day.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

It's usually the last day of the month or the first day of the next.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah. So there's that. Yeah. Um. Well, let's move into can you find the one?

SPEAKER_07 3:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Again. Can you find the one?

SPEAKER_04 3:06

Joe Bine.

unknown 3:15

All right.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

I don't even know where this is going. I don't feel like I'm doing very good. Oh, yeah. You're getting better every time. You're getting better every time. So I'm gonna make it a little easier. I felt like the last one I kind of hosed you with the rap. This one, we're gonna go, it's just woes. It's all it is. Okay. In fact, uh let's we can go to the next screen, you can just see. I mean, how easy is this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:35

Oh, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Do you know what the song is?

SPEAKER_06 3:37

Um I don't know. Just off reading oh oh oh oh. And the last one. I'm on the deep end.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I don't know. Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Shallow. Yeah, this is the saddest song ever. Yeah, but it's got the big build. I'm on the deep end. So I'll give you a little sample. Okay. And then we're gonna give you a test. Jesus. Kind of lead it into it. Okay? It's a little slower beat. Really keep that time. Here we go. Build it, baby. One more. Give us one more.

SPEAKER_07 4:34

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

You got four lives. It's just a little bit. You wanna hear it one more time?

SPEAKER_06 4:40

No, I got it.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Okay. I love this.

SPEAKER_06 4:44

I should have gotten headphones though, because I didn't really get into it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

I'll lead you in. I'm not gonna totally pull your pants down.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

I thought they were gonna have the drum believe. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

You might turn up a little louder, too.

SPEAKER_04 5:33

Let me hear when we're done. Let me hear the sample.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

You really just gotta keep it full.

SPEAKER_06 6:16

Okay. It's really not even rhythmic. All right, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

If you would have asked me as you started, if you were gonna get it, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

I had it. I had to hear it one more time.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Well done.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

Hire this guy. Man, it was like the bucket. I got that bucket finally, too. Remember we did the bucket on the Whitney Houston challenge? Shit, I finally got it.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 7:27

Oh, God bless y'all for listening to that wailing. Mine's worse than hers. That movie. Oh man, is so sad. So sad. Did I watch it on a plane one time?

SPEAKER_04 7:36

I swear to God, I was bawling.

SPEAKER_06 7:38

Like, I'm I'm sure the lady beside me is like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Sidebar. Yeah. American Airlines the other day. I pay for the upgrade. I'm in first class. I'm feeling like Brian B.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:51

I'm walking in my seat, third person on the plane, you know, first class, come on, scan, walk down the jet web jet bridge, get on, walk into my seat. Ladies like, hold on a second. Your seat is broken. And I'm like, what? She was like, Yeah, the the front of the seat, the seat in front of you, the magazine thing is basically ripped off, laying on your seat. I'm like, okay, what do you want me to do? Go back out. So now she's got to back the whole line up. There are all these people behind me. And now she's got me standing in the fucking galley with two ladies that are trying to do their job. Yeah. And they're like, what's going on? I'm like, my seat's broken. They're calling maintenance, about walking in there, taking pictures. Now I'm getting like embarrassed, kinda. Because I'm like in that little galley. They're trying to do their job, get coffee for people. Yeah. It's hot. Five minutes turns to ten. Should have just said, I don't care, man. I'll just I'm fine. I did that. We can't do it now that we've already reported it. I go, put a piece of fucking tape on it. Now I'm getting mad. Yeah. Ten minutes, ten minutes in, I go, I gotta get out of the galley. Can I go back on the jet bridge?

SPEAKER_05 8:54

Yes.

Airline Fiasco Storytime

SPEAKER_06 8:55

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. They've boarded the whole plane. Wow. I go to the back of the line. 250 people get on this plane from Dallas to Raleigh. I walk back to the door. I stand there. I go, it's my seat fixed. Not quite. They're still working on it. I'm standing still just standing at the door. Wow. Dude, I was like, you guys realize I paid a lot of money for this seat. Yeah. And you got me standing out here. I was like, I my intention was to get on the plane and do a bunch of work. Yeah. I was like, I'm getting my fucking money back. Yeah. Now I'm heated. Like I'm not cursing, but I'm like, I'm getting my money back. This is stupid. Did you get it? I don't. What are you supposed to do? Call customer service. I did that. Then I was on hold too long. I bailed, then I submitted a form. You ever heard? I hadn't heard.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

I had it on America 2. I was furious, dude. And American did me dirty like that. Not with the seat, but it was with the TV. I'm like, I I don't watch it anyway. Yeah. I don't care. Yeah, I don't either. And they're like, well, we can't, you know, we have to like, it's just part of protocol. And I'm like, you're kidding me. I'm like, literally, this isn't gonna make a break. Like, it's not a seat issue. This is the TV. Who cares? I don't care. And we had to wait for them to come out, do whatever.

SPEAKER_06 10:04

I bet we took off probably five or ten minutes later than we were supposed to. Crazy. Because they're dicking around with it. Crazy. And I wasn't even the one that reported it. Yeah. I would have sat down, taken the thing, and just thrown it on the floor. Right, right, right. But once that flight attendant saw it, I was cooked. Let's take it to the bring it back.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

I want it back. So there's been some news in the DJ space last week. What happened? Have you been seeing all this? Like people talking about the two YouTube videos that are going head to head. In fact, there was a third.

unknown 10:38

Oh, I don't know about this.

The DJ Do-Not-Play Debate Erupts

SPEAKER_02 10:39

No, so DJ Barr put out a shout-out bar. Shout out, Barr. He put out a video about do not playlists. Oh, okay. And basically his whole thing was and he was, I think people took it as gospel that like everybody should do it this way. He was explaining how he does it, which kind of got taken out of context. But basically he said that he puts a limit on his do-not plays because the lists were getting kind of out of control. And you mean the do-not plays. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 11:05

For the clients.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

For the client. They were giving him that many do-not plays. He's like, second, checking, second, you know, looking at things over, just like, you know, it was messing with them. And people were going crazy on it. And so he's like, I cap it at 10. And then I don't know how it came out, but Spinelli, our other guy, decided to uh make a rebuttal and basically said that I don't cap anybody. In fact, that's the most important thing to me is getting the do not plays. I want them to give me as many as they want. So I know where the landmines are. Basically. And then he went a step further and said basically, that um, you know, it's their party. Yeah. They're throwing the party. Yeah. Like they're gonna understand if you only want their songs. Like, and he used the example of Metallica. If people played a Metallica song, you might feel like that's really weird. But if you know the couple, you know that they're into them. Yeah. And you're gonna be okay with that. Right, right. So he was like, I don't cap them on the do not plays, and I do definitely don't count on uh cap them on the must plays. So then there was this kind of like heated comments going back and forth, not between those two, but just the different case. Yeah. Yeah, the peanut gallery, sure. So then Drew and Fuse decided to do a little thing on this. I saw that. And they had them both on, they had them both on at the same time, and they both gave their takes. And Drew had a great take that, in my opinion, that he said, Um, I don't uh even bring up the don't plays. Yeah, he said, I feel like it's taking us down a negative hole, which sounds like something you would say. Yeah, yeah. You know, he's like, I want to keep a positive. Give me your must plays, that's cool, but like let's not lead you down the road. And to Nick's credit, he said, I don't lead with, hey, give me your don't plays. Yeah, right, right. Even though I do say it's like the most important thing to me. And so it kind of started this thing where, and then, you know, uh, Fuse was talking about how for him, you know, he and I think they're a little bit of an anomaly, all four of those guys, and even probably the two of us, in the sense that people now hire us for what we do. Yeah, right, right. Do the Joe Bund thing. Right. And and they know what we do, you know. So it's not like they are gonna give us typically a crazy do-not playlist or whatever. So it made me think about it because in fact, Drew even said he doesn't even uh for systems that allow it that don't allow you to to put in a do-not play, he'll take it off completely and not even give them the option. So I thought that would make an interesting conversation piece for us to give our takes. I'm curious what your take is on a do-not playlist and a must playlist. Do you and lean more heavy into the do-not plays? Do you cap people? Do you uh have conversations when it gets out of control? How does it mess with you? Are you seeing a bunch? Like, what's your take?

SPEAKER_06 13:40

Yeah, um, I mean, I I love to get lists. Obviously, I really want to get the what do you really want to dance to type list. And I can usually feel my way around that list into what's safe territory. Normally, on that initial consultation, literally a year to 18 months in advance of their wedding, I'll say, you know, I'm gonna ask for a Spotify playlist. You know, as many songs as you want. I'd love to get 25 to 50. So I'm I'm I'm I'm psychologically planting a seed of 25 to 50 songs I would like to get from you. And then I say, and then I'll sometimes say, I would love to know, you know, maybe some artists or genres to kind of stay away from as well. Now by no means am I asking for a Spotify link. Do I say that that I need a Spotify link? Do I really push hard for that list when I'm, you know, doing the final planning meeting two weeks before the wedding? Absolutely not. Like if they haven't told me by then I hate, you know, 24 karat magic or I hate, you know, don't play uh Creed higher because that was my ex-boyfriend's favorite song, you know, riding around in his Mustang or whatever. Like, I I don't I don't get granular like that when it comes to the do-not plays.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:52

And and by no means, because it is Spotify, you can make as many songs as you want to a fucking playlist. I don't care, but I I kind of soft plant that I'd like to get about 25 to 50.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

And you're not even really necessarily because on a Spotify playlist, you can't highlight songs as must-plays or do not plays.

SPEAKER_06 15:09

I don't care. No, there was that whole thing, uh, I don't know if it's an event planner or DJ Intelligence about must play, try to play. It's must play, try to play possible, play if possible, or do not play. Like, I no, I do not want it broken up like that. I I'm not gonna I'm not gonna track it like that. I'm not gonna play it like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah.

Must-Plays, Reading Rooms, And Boundaries

SPEAKER_06 15:28

Put together a like if you were going to a party and you were putting together a Spotify list of what you would dance to and shake your ass to and your friends and family are gonna like, give me that. I want that. And then if there's anything that stands out as like, oh my god, we hate chumba wamba, who doesn't? Fucking, then I want to know. You're gonna get knocked out. Yeah, you're gonna knock out.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

But it's it's just good that you're gonna be. You're not asking for uh you're not asking for like a like a numerical list, though. You you plant the seed, yeah. Well, you know what? Actually, yeah, I don't like that song. Yeah, but you're not it's just it's just planting the seed. It's not a bad thing to bring it up. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_06 16:08

I got no problem with bringing it up, but I'm looking for it more as a generalization than a give me a a now. I have had people make literally a Spotify list too that says do not play like Wow. And it's 10 songs, okay. Whatever. I've never seen like a hundred songs, right? Like, and no normally people would just be like, we don't like lion dances. Okay, well that that's six songs right there. Right. Uh we don't like Bruno Mars, we don't like Michael Jackson or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

But you've been doing it this way for how long? Because I mean, before you were on DJ Planner, people would actually enter these so five years. So out of those five years worth, would you say not even half or even mentioning I do not play amount of tracks?

SPEAKER_06 16:48

I mean, if I do 40 a year, I mean if they mention anything, it's gonna be one or two songs or like a a genre. I don't like country.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Okay, cool. So you're never asking this. So you don't know what landmines you're typically could step on if you're having to read it in real time to hopefully, you know. I could. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:06

I mean, I could. I feel like worst case scenario, they just come up and you know, give me a yeah, I feel like if anybody other than them did this, the the the move it on type thing, yeah, I would probably blow a gasket. But if the writer grooms like move it on, then I'm like, okay, I hit a nerve there.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

I feel like it's but that's super rare. Yeah, it's kind of like part of the job though to read the room. Or like if you're playing a if you're playing something, you're like, oh, these people aren't really. Yeah, okay, then move at it. Get them out.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

I'm out. I I get that to an extent, but I I also can see the other side of it where it's like you're getting the cheat sheet to the test, knowing what songs work, which songs don't. Sure. So it kind of speeds up the process. So I don't have to spend time watching everything. I call it fishing.

SPEAKER_06 17:45

That's what I tell them. I'm like, listen, you you could tell me, Joe, just do your thing or do what you did. What was the wedding you saw me at? Katie and and Bobby. Yeah. If you want to do that, I'll do that. But I'm but I know that y'all have songs that you like. I don't know your friends and family. You guys do. So give me it like a starting point instead of letting me just sit there and fish. Right. I would rather not fish. I would rather just let's start the party and know that these are gonna work, and then everything else is gonna be a surprise to you, and you're gonna be like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Have you ever had it the other way? Must play. I know you don't call it that, but let's just say that you said, hey, we want everything on this list played, because you probably just deal with one list. How do you navigate that? And have you run into issues where like you detour, detour off of it, and all of a sudden they're coming up to the booth going, Hey, can you just stick to our list? You get that? I've I've had that. It's but not as pretty.

SPEAKER_06 18:34

Yeah. No, it's pretty rare. Uh it would have it was years ago.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

We had like one of those last year.

SPEAKER_06 18:40

Yeah. It was it was pretty hardcore.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

And people were still dancing to what you were doing originally, or was it kind of clearing out and that's why they came out?

SPEAKER_06 18:47

No, I think the list was okay, but it was basically like stick to our list. Like we we'd appreciate if you don't deviate. Like in that final meeting. Wow. Yeah. Now it wasn't played in this order. Right. I wouldn't, I wouldn't take that gig. I wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

I wouldn't play unless you already signed up.

SPEAKER_06 19:03

Well, right, yeah, right. If if I found out later, I guess I'm kind of committed under contract. But if if I knew that, you know, a year in advance, and they were like, we're gonna give you a list and we want you to play it in order. No, you're not. I'm not doing that show.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

So I never capp people on the and we do have a do-not play section, but I did like the way that uh Drew brought it up about you know, why even bring it up? Yeah, because why start it negatively? Yeah. Um, if they haven't do not, if if they're that serious about music, they would bring it up, in my opinion. Yeah. Like they're gonna tell you if they don't like a song, if they are that passionate about music. Yeah. Where you don't need to have a category necessarily for that. Right. So I think I am gonna be switching my forms around to take that off. Yeah, number one. Yeah. And then on the other side of it, the must plays, like the Metallica thing, you know, I I get the sentiments that it's somebody's wedding, and yes, you know, stick to it. I mean, I had a couple who did it with Rufus deSoul. Yeah, they wanted all Rufus deSoul for this after party. I'm like, he's cool for about 15, 20 minutes, but we have to like add some other things in there. Is it a group or a group? Yeah. Um however my take on it is this like, I don't subscribe to Nick's theory in the sense of like, if they only want a Metallica, that you would only play Metallica. Because like if they wanted that, they wouldn't throw a party. They're throwing a party and inviting their friends. When you throw a dinner party, you know, are you gonna have some of your favorite dishes? Probably. But if you went hardcore with your only dishes, let's say you were vegan or something like that, right? You're gonna have some hungry guests who aren't vegan, who are be like, yo, it's like you're throwing a party, you should include everybody. And that's the way I kind of approach it is like, listen, I know it's your wedding. Trust me, I'm gonna hit the songs that you really love, but let's talk about everybody else. Where are they coming from? Right. You know, what demographics are we looking at? Again, for me, I love to get the cheat sheet a little bit ahead of time. Yeah, it's not that I don't want to do work, it just gives me ability to actually go further than I would be able to if I'm having to constantly read the room.

Why RSVP Song Requests Fail

SPEAKER_06 20:58

Yeah, you know what I mean? Absolutely. And it just makes you more confident going into it if they're truthful. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? What throws you for a loop, and I can usually tell when I look at the list, is when they do that thing where they send out the RSVP card. Oh, I hate that. Fuck that. Yeah, quit that. Stop that. Yeah, I wish couples listen to this because I'd be like, stop that shit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Well uh return the RSVP card and also return this card. What songs are gonna get you out on the dance floor shaking your ass?

SPEAKER_06 21:27

And it'll be the most disjointed, yeah, stinky looking list with like, you know, it'll be SpongeBob theme song, and then somebody will put, you know, pop that P. I mean, like, it's like the most, you know what I mean? Like any sense. It it makes zero sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah.

Gig Story: AI-Planned 50th Birthday Chaos

unknown 21:43

Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

All right. Well, I think we can put a ball in this particular section. Okay. Moving on. Let's go to story time. Okay. So these are like gig stories. If you're new to the pod, kind of just sharing things. So I had a uh birthday party not too long ago. Um, a different one than the one we talked about. We talked about the 65, but I was about to say yeah, we've done a few birthday parties. You have I have, yeah. I got a third one coming up. So I've done three birthdays, 65. This last one was the 50th uh for this guy, and uh the planner had seen me do some things before. She called me in, she said they gotta have you, da-da-da. Great. And I'm walking into this event. In fact, we had a planning call, it was pretty standard, like just great dance music. The client's own it, or the planner and both. Okay, just pretty standard. It's gonna be just, you know, um cocktail music. We'll get into dancing. There wasn't even a meal, it was just like kind of, you know, there might be some appetizers out, but it's not gonna be a full meal. And then we're just dancing. And it was a long night. It's gonna be from uh I think we started at seven and it was going to one. And the first question I had was like, they're how old? Because I'm like, right, 50-year-olds are gonna be partying this line. Like, there's some I know who will, obviously. I will, but there's not many. Some people blow their hip out. Yeah, totally. So um uh the client reaches out to me and goes, Hey, um, I think we should have one more call. You know, I'm like, Okay, yeah, sure, whatever. And she goes, So ahead of that, she sends me this text of like, hey, I've come up with the timeline. I'm like, Timeline? Uh, because I was looking at my thing, I'm like, I don't remember us even having a discussion about that. So I get a text from the client about three or four days beforehand. And by the way, this planner was just making the introduction. She wasn't actually planning this at all.

SPEAKER_06 23:32

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

She goes, Hey, I have the agenda altogether. I was like, Well, what much? I mean, how much more do we have? She goes, Here, uh, just to kind of set it up for you, here's here's the rundown. And it's so long in the text that it actually only shows you like the four first like five or six lines, and then you have to hit the arrow button. Yeah. And this thing is a massive document. And I can tell just by the way it's written, like, you know, the emojis. I'm like, oh, somebody went to AI with this. I go, hey, uh, so do you have a planner now? She goes, No, uh, I have Chat GPT as my uh planner. I go, oh, okay. And uh she's hired a saxophonist that I've never played with to play for cocktail hour, and then she wanted some of that for dancing. She hires an aerialist to come in and do an aerialist performance. This was the worst idea. She decided to have what they call a toast and roast. So they're gonna toast and then roast these people. But these aren't professional roasters. Yeah, right. And unless you're good, yeah, those go, I mean, they drain the energy. Yeah. Fourth thing. I mean, this is breaking up this entire night, which is kind of nice because I'm going to one anyways, which I thought was gonna be a stretch. Right. Just for straight up dancing, and it would have died way earlier. Way earlier. Yeah. She hires a magician. I'm like, are we at a freaking, you know, bar mitzvah? What if this is a 50-year-old birthday party? Who's hiring musicians, magicians? Has that. Then there's this other bit where um she's got this skit. She hires some little people to come in on a uh dressed as policeman, coming on in a little scooter. And they ask me to play a siren song, or just a siren. Guy's got a microphone. He goes, Hey, is there a I forgot the guy's name, Andy here? And um and and he goes, You're under arrest. So he brings out his cuffs and um basically cuffs this guy and he goes, and they want me going to fireball, and they're gonna do a shot. And I'm like, I don't get it, but like maybe there's some kind of connection. Second gig, by the way, in a row where I've had like little people for birthdays. I don't know if that's a thing. I don't know what's happening.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

What's going on with that?

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Um then they were supposed to go back and did some dancing, and then one other final performance. And I'm like, we are way overthinking. This is way too much overkill. I can't even believe we're doing all of this. And uh they must have had money. This shit cost money. Oh, tons of money. And then they decked it out. It was like James Bond kind of stuff. Weird, like in a in a hotel. It was a uh a showroom for cars, which is actually one of the worst places to have it because it's not soundproofed at all. Right. It's like just bouncing off walls. It was in Florida. So do this event, and I mean, believe it or not, they did stay till 1245, which I thought was pretty bold. Yeah, this was also during the snowstorm. So a lot of our crowd that was coming from out of town couldn't come. So they had half the crowd. We started at 100, I think we were under 50. So for us to be able to stick around, but the worst, you know, uh drain on the whole event is a toast and roast. Highly discourage anybody ever doing that.

SPEAKER_06 26:36

Unless you're like Nikki Glazer. If you're not heard, then stop. Or Jeff Ross.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Right. Like, yeah, you're not gonna do it. Right. It's just not gonna work. So don't, don't, don't recommend that. The magician, however, super impressive, was more like a mentalist.

SPEAKER_06 26:49

Oh, which those are dope. I know. This guy got me two years ago in Mexico, yeah, fucked me up for three days. Yeah, yeah. I could not figure it out. Whatever he did, and I don't it actually ended up being in his show. Like a hypnotist? No, it's it's it was more like reading your mind, dude. He was doing shit like hand like hand me a book and go flip it, stick your finger on a word, and I'll tell you the word. And the dude would be up there, like it was like bonkers. The one that got me, he goes to he goes, open your. It was so bad that, dude, I was at this resort in Mexico going up to people that were that I had seen, you know, put in the and it was only maybe um 100 people in this room.

SPEAKER_07 27:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:34

And I was like, dude, what was that the other day? And they were like, What are you talking about? I was like, weren't you in that mentalist show? And she was like, Yeah, that was the craziest shit ever. So they weren't like a plant. This was three, four days later, laying on the beach, and I would just go up to some random lady and be like, How did he do that? I mean, it was so I I'm not kidding, man. I wish I could remember like the final trick or what it what um no, but I'm not so sure he wasn't from around here or something.

unknown 28:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

It was mind-blowing. I'm going that far. Because the next day it was like a Mexican Michael Jackson show. You know what I mean? It was like, I was like, okay, we went from a mentalist, it literally blew my mind to like a Mexican Michael Jackson.

Mentalist Magic And Event Energy

SPEAKER_02 28:15

They did a uh he did one trick where he basically said, Everybody pull out your phones in your calculator. And he was asking them for like just random numbers, like whatever, 314, 5 million, whatever. And he would times it by whatever, do whatever, and he'd have us do it on our phone, all of us are on the calculator app doing this. And then the final He was shelling out the numbers. Uh, just random people in the crowd. Sure. He was just pointing, hey, give me a number. What's the first thing that comes to your mind? All right, now give me a number, whatever. And we hit the equals sign. He goes, Okay, now we've because we've times it, we plus it, we've done all the different things. And he said, Hey at equals. He goes, You guys know what this number is? And it was like in the millions or whatever. He's like, This is the date, today's date, and this is the exact hour, minute, and second that we're looking at. Get out of here. And I'm like, How is this possible? Like, we went through probably 30 numbers of random people just yelling them out. And to land on the exact time and finish it just like that, I was like, What?

SPEAKER_06 29:10

It was crazy, dude. I'm telling you. And he literally actually got pulled up there to volunteer. So I mean, I was like, we know she's not a plant. Like, this is crazy. Yeah. So anyway. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Um, yeah, crazy. I'm on the deep. So any gigs you're looking forward to?

SPEAKER_06 29:29

Uh uh first wedding of the year. Uh next weekend. New place. We're going same old, same old. Same old, same old. You and Saquon's gonna be like, you son of a bitch. No elevator. Wakefield barn. Oh, I hate that place. They got that lift. They got that little lift reading. It's okay now.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Actually, I've been there for a couple of years. No, you went there for that candlelight. Yeah, I never went upstairs. So I don't remember. What? Or at least I don't remember it. I thought it was flat, but maybe I'm not. No, you were upstairs. I was upstairs? Yeah, yeah. Okay. There you go. The downside. So many years ago, I don't remember. That's a cocktail hour. Crazy gig in New Orleans. It's a tent wedding. When's that? Uh March 28th. Coming up. Is that Mardi Gras? No, I think it'll have already passed. But they sent me the renderings. Oh boy. Uh no, I thought it was really cool. So I'll show you the first picture here. This is of the um the tent.

unknown 30:18

Okay.

Upcoming Mega Wedding In New Orleans

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Building it out in this thing. The white in the towards the bottom there is where everybody's entering. The one on the left is where all the service people kind of come in from the for catering and stuff like that, which I felt like was a super long way. I was about to say, they're gonna be hating it. It's a damn quarterback. And as you can see, where the dance floor is at the top, uh where the checker just area is. That's the dance floor, and then I'm uh uh in front of that.

SPEAKER_06 30:42

A little rouser.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

But this is a wedding reception for 500 people. Woo! There's no tables, as you can see. This is a straight up dance party. They are I asked them if they wanted to do a walk uh so the order is they have strings playing outside the outside of it, um, where the where the uh towards the bottom where that white carpet is or whatever, and they're gonna play for a ceremony and cocktail hour. And in fact, the cocktail hour is gonna be piped in to the sound system. I don't even have to bring sound, it's all coming with everything. Yeah, so um they're playing that, and then about halfway through cocktail hour, they want me to take over. And then what happens is um after cocktail hour happens, the couple will already be there. We're doing three dances, and they want me to invite the couple up to do the father-daughter. I'm sorry, the their first dance, father-daughter, mother-son, and then we're dancing the rest of the night. No other announcements. Wow. No anything, no dinner, no nothing. No nothing. It'll be open throughout, whatever. Yeah. No special acts. Wow. Just dancing. And uh how many hours do you think that'll be? I think it was like eight till twelve or something like that.

SPEAKER_06 31:47

Okay. Of dancing.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Of dancing.

SPEAKER_06 31:49

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

So long, long set. We'll have it. We have a saxophone player playing, but the booth is what was really cool to me. So I'll show you this picture of this booth that they're making. This is uh a rendering of it where I'm in the middle. See that? Yeah, it's recessed. Guess what's on either side? The bar. No, that's the bar is right there, which I thought was super cool. I was like, Oh, that's kind of cool. Usually you're like, you know, get people away from the bar because you want to give them to the dance board.

SPEAKER_06 32:14

It's like the bar is the DJ movie.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Essentially. So if you're not watching this, yeah, it's basically you can describe it.

SPEAKER_06 32:20

Yeah, it's basically Brian in the middle, bar on the left of him, bar on the right.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

All is one.

SPEAKER_06 32:25

Yeah, with like kind of like a library.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Um that's the part that's different. Yeah. So if you go to the that's just the rendering of it. But if you go to the next slide, look at that video wall they're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06 32:33

Video wall.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

And what they're gonna do is basically for the cocktail hour, they're going to mirror all those trees that are around there on the outside of the tent, so it feels like it's a part of the structure. Ah, and then afterwards, it's gonna be like um when I'm actually playing the dance, it's actual visual. So if you go to the next screen, people got money, dude. Right? And the only weird part about this whole thing was I was like, you see anything kind of weird in this picture? If you're watching this on YouTube, you'll see it. I was like, the speaker cluster.

SPEAKER_06 33:00

Yeah, what is that thing?

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I'm like, yo, what kind of speakers are those? Because I haven't seen those before.

SPEAKER_06 33:04

What is that?

SPEAKER_02 33:05

They're not. That is just an aesthetic thing, they won't even be real. That's just to kind of like create the vibe or whatever. And then as you can see, maybe just flying again. It's a clear temp, which I absolutely hate. You hate those. So hot. And it's New Orleans. Yeah. Luckily, it's March, it's not like May August, right? Or whatever. But on those steel beams is where all of the lighting is gonna be kind of shining down, and that's also where all of the liner rays are gonna be. What's the playlist look like? Uh, they haven't given me that yet. So we're still working on it. Um, but anyways, I'm kind of this will be kind of a cool uh gig. I love that. I'll be interested to see how it works with the um the bars on either side. Yeah, I mean, they're literally like close to this to the dance floor. I mean right there, you know? So it should be pretty interesting to see how it all kind of plays out. But that's uh speed it up a little bit. So hell yeah, that's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_06 33:57

All right, booth heads. We made a move and it's a bold one.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

We officially launched a Patreon. We've got two tiers: one for$5.99 and one for$19.99. Basically, the cost of a coffee or a cocktail, depending upon how you roll.

SPEAKER_06 34:12

Listen, this isn't some support us or we disappear kind of thing. You actually get some things that are useful that we think that you're gonna need to run your DJ business.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Like early access to batched episodes, bonus episode that we couldn't post publicly, maybe, and our weekly top 10 banger lists, songs that absolutely crushed at our events this week. You know, the stuff that you really want to steal from us anyway. But if you want to go deeper, jump into the booth backroom at$19.99 a month.

SPEAKER_06 34:41

That's where the extra love lives. Monthly prize drawings like headphones, merch, coaching calls. We've got Serato exports of our history, discounts on exclusive merch, and record pool hookups.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Backroom members aren't just listening, they're actually shaping what this podcast is going to become and probably making your DJ sets better in the process.

SPEAKER_06 35:01

So stop texting us asking what remix was that and get in the booth for real.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Patreon.com forward slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Choose a tier, grab your spot, and let's keep building. Booth heads, you know where to go. Um let's talk about the gear corner. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:25

The gear's here.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

The gear is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, not drugs, not cocaine.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

So um I'm switching up the shoe game. You know, I sometimes wear these white ones. I have a black pair. Yeah. Uh that's not ten of shoes, but they're just kind of nicer shoes. And I was like, you know, I wanted to have a dress pair. Okay. But I hate how they wreck my feet. I had plantar fasciitis. Yes, the worst. The worst. I still kind of have remnants of that.

SPEAKER_06 35:59

It is the worst.

Bars Flanking The Booth And Production

SPEAKER_02 36:00

And so I might I have to be really careful about the shoes I wear. Because I mean, it will tear me up for two days. Yeah. If I'm not like whatever. So I was looking for some dress shoes. I call our boy Trago. Like, hey, what do you what do you recommend? Do you anything? Because he always has kind of he doesn't wear tennis shoes really that I notice. Yeah. Um, he wears more just like nice dress shoes and stuff. But he said, dude, the Cole Hans. Have you been wearing the Cole Hans? Yeah. I said, no, I haven't I don't even know what they are. So they're kind of like more loafers style. I used to wear, yeah. So I brought them with me. I just got them. Let me see. So these are the black loafy loafs. They are super call them the driver. These are super comfortable. I have not worn them yet, outside of just testing them. But you can press in on the inside of the thing. Good traction. Yeah. A little driving loafer. Yeah. And I'm not a loafer guy. Like I feel like this is very southern. Drop a drop of penny in there? Little penny loafer?

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Remember when people used to do that? Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

So I have some pictures of some other ones that they have style-wise. So if you're looking for other ones, they got the the the the twin sister that's kind of more of the brown. The saddlebred brown. Then we got the the the the suede? Wow. The suede? Did you buy all these? No, no. I was thinking of like which one should I go with? I thought I kind of like scared about it. The next one here. We got a little oh black. Ooh, the black velvet Victorian? The white trim? With the white trim package? And then we go a little weird. I don't know what this is.

SPEAKER_06 37:30

That's a damn uh damn Bad Bunny three things.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Um so, anyways, I thought I'd throw these out there. What do you think? What do you think they go for? Oh, those? Yeah. Um, I think they're like 129. They are uh sorry, I had them in the wrong spot listed. They are 90 bucks. Okay. These ones are a little bit more pricier for some reason.

SPEAKER_06 38:00

Did you not like don't get those. Did you not like the um the other ones that they have? They have kind of more of the sneaker sole on them.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

I haven't looked at them. I just was asking him for the most comfortable that look like a dress shoe. Let me, I'll put you on after this. Okay. And are those comfortable? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how often do you, I mean, could you wear all whites? Are those the all whites? No, no, no, no, no. These are these look like a dress shoe. Oh, dress shoe. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

All right.

SPEAKER_06 38:26

Uh I'll show you. They're Cole Hans. Cool. Yeah, I'll show you.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Question of the day.

SPEAKER_06 38:30

Question of the day.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

This was a book. Uh, our boy Nathan, is it Nathan Jones? I think is what I didn't I TLDR somebody too long didn't read. Oh, yeah. So I mean I can- What was that? And I go, I go send that to Brian and make him read. Bro, I cut this down from what it was. So I'll let you uh read this two-pager.

SPEAKER_06 38:56

All right. Hey guys, I had an event last month at a venue I performed in two dozen times with high appraises from the owners. Last month we had a snowstorm ripped through Illinois to the point where every school, store, church, and office had closed due to the weather, but the gig I had was still happening. I was scheduled to arrive at 4 p.m. to set up. However, due to the snowstorm, I gave myself extra time to account for the drive there. I got there at 3 p.m. The venue door was unlocked, the lights were on, so I started setting up. Fifteen minutes in, I'm two-thirds away set up when the venue owner arrived and says I was not supposed to set up yet, and that he's losing money since the client didn't have the venue until four. He went and called the client and asked if they wanted to pay for the extra hour that I'm there. He tells me to stop setting up my equipment because the client isn't going to pay for the extra time. He then paused and said I could stay because I have a good reputation there. He then proceeds to lecture me to show up on time in the future. It was really off-putting vibe and I'm debating blacklisting the venue.

SPEAKER_05 39:55

Oh, we just lost a camera. How would you have I'll just do the last sentence?

SPEAKER_06 40:03

It was really off-putting vibe, and I'm debating blacklisting the venue. How would you have handled this situation, Nathan Jones, via Patreon? Dude, holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

I mean, I couldn't have shortened that anymore for you to get the full.

SPEAKER_06 40:16

Well, no, I mean, I don't even mind how long it is. I'm just more reacting to the story. Of this asshole. I mean, it's different if this guy's walking into some place he's never been. Right. But like the fact that he's there every time. It's a snowstorm. Right. Trying to be on. Right. And the owner is already there. It's not like he's banging on the door going, hey, let me in, or like calling somebody, going, hey, show up early, like in the middle of a snowstorm.

Patreon Tiers And Backroom Perks

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Like he's he's doing it exactly what he should be doing. And it's not like he's five hours early. He's an hour earlier than he said he was going to be there. It's like, and you're gonna charge a client money, like that's insane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:52

I I dude, I I mean, Nathan, here's the thing, man. It's like we don't know this guy, right? And you do, could have been having a bad day, could be going through money troubles, could be just you know, reaching for straws. But if you do that many gigs there, and otherwise it's been low-key or not problematic, I I'm still playing there. I I'm gonna just cross it off as the guy was having a bad day, yeah, and and and pray that I didn't lose my cool. But if if something else like that happened again, I would probably move him to a list of like, hey Randy, I'm not playing there anymore. Blacklist. Yeah. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 41:32

The only thing I think he could have done differently is notified the venue. Hey, listen. He didn't tell him he was coming early. True. Could have said, hey, I'm a little nervous about getting there. True. And even, you know, I don't know if I would have done it to the client, but if I needed to, if I knew that they were gonna get charged money, and I don't know, I wouldn't probably have known that. I would have never known that. But I would have had no problem saying, hey, I think it's worth me getting there a little bit earlier. I'm not gonna charge you as the DJ. Yep. But I would rather be safe than sorry and you know, not be setting up if something were catastrophic were to happen. You know, there's an accident rather be early than late. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 42:07

And like if if they're closing school, church businesses in Illinois for snow, that's a big yeah, that shit is serious. Yeah, and I feel like he was he went above and beyond just to even be there. Right. He risked his life just to get there.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

And I'm another learning thing there for me. I mean, when we do things in Florida, we get hurricanes all uh all the time, you know. And so we we have a clause in our contract that says if because some clients they're from you know a place where that doesn't happen. Yeah, right, you know, and they're like, Oh, it's no big deal. We're having it, we're already here, right? And you're like, bro, like, yeah, you don't live here, but we do. Yeah, yeah. And I have some of our guys are like, man, I'm not risking my life.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

Staff and this, that, and the other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

And so it's it's a really tricky line to walk with that.

Gear Corner: Comfortable Dress Shoes

SPEAKER_06 42:49

It was tricky a few weeks ago when we had that snow because we had about six shows that night, four of the six rescheduled, and then two were weddings, and they were like, We're having it. And I called both of the DJs, I said, Listen, man, we're where where are you at on the comfort level on this thing? Like it's gonna start snowing at some point. And you know, the South is not equipped like we don't have the salt, we don't have the salt, the infrastructure, whatever. And they were like, Man, we're just gonna go early and set up and do the damn show. Like, that's cool. They both that both of them were like, dude, if if they're having it, I'm gonna be there. And I because I was I wasn't playing and I was like, listen, I gotta be I got a rover, I it's got four-wheel drive. If I need to do it, I'll just put the I'll put a smaller rig in my in the in the in the rover, you know, and then go, and I'll go do it myself. If they say they're having it, yeah. And both of them are like, no, man, we're committed, we're doing it. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

They both went off without a hitch. To your point, I mean, we don't know the whole relationship here, but if you're doing a significant amount of dollars, yeah, I wouldn't want to burn that bridge, even if this guy is kind of a tool, unless it's becomes regular. Right. I mean, he sounds like it's one time that it's happened. I'm not gonna write him off on that. But boy, that's frustrating to go through. It doesn't set you up well for the show that you're supposed to be like, yeah, you know, Mr. Positivity. Yeah, Mr. Excited, and you just got your ass handy to you.

SPEAKER_06 44:03

Tough. And the clients got to walk in and deal with this dick. They just tried to get more money out of your body. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

And I'm sure that wasn't a big thing. Yeah. Jeez. It's crazy. And with that, uh, thank you. Thank you, DJ Event Planner. Absolutely. For sponsoring this. Uh, we couldn't do the show without you, really. Uh, so appreciate you uh uh you know sponsoring this. And for those of you that aren't on a CRM, you gotta check it out. Come on. What are you waiting for?

SPEAKER_06 44:30

DJ Eventplanner.com.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

And as every closing we do here goes, we'll see you on the next episode every Wednesday. Peace. Later.