DJ Marathon!

This past weekend I was asked to come into the Dragon Bistro on a Saturday afternoon a lot earlier then normal to play tunes on the patio.  Markham was holding its first annual...wait... know one seems to know...Unity Festival.  Mainstreet Unionville was closed down...food sold on the streets and bands playing at the band shelter. 

Mike at the Dragon Bistro thought it would be good to come in and play some good patio tunes and get some people into his restaraunt...or he just wanted to here some good music while he manned the bbq on the street for several hours!

Dj Booth with a View!

I was vacationing at the time at my cottage...well still am as I write this.  So after 4 days of beautiful sunny weather lake side I headed into Unionville to hang out on the patio with a full bar at my disposal, good food and of course great staff down at the Dragon.  Sounded good to me!

I started playing at 2pm and by 9:00pm...7 hours later I had played 115 songs with only three tracks played twice...by request I might add!

It was actually a bit of a challenge since it is not a dancefloor.  It's a patio where people are eating and drinking and enjoying themselves...and singing along very loud on occasion.  So what do you play?  A whole wack load of stuff I guess but let me share with you some of fav patio tunes...on a nice hot summer day and a cold beer in hand...

1. Patio Lanterns - Kim Mitchell
2. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
3. Bobcaygeon - Tragically Hip
4. Every Morning - Sugar Ray
5. No Rain - Blind Melon
6. Wheat Kings - Tragically Hip
7. Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel
8. Listen to the Music - Doobie Brothers
9. Cherry Bomb - John Cougar Meloncamp
10. Angel - Shaggy
11. Peace Frog - The Doors
12. Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band.
13. I Love This Bar - Toby Keith
14. Mustang Sally - The Commitments
15. Love Me Do - The Beatles
16. The Joker - The Steve Miller Band
17. Just A Gigalo - David Lee Roth
18. All Summer Long - Kid Rock
19. Toes - Zac Brown Band
20. New Orleans is Sinking - The Tragically Hip

Everyone seemed to have so much fun so will look to do this more often come this August!!

I've Died and Gone to Vinyl Heaven!

Way way way back when I was a teenager I used to spend every last penny I made at my part time job on vinyl.  DJing in my teens was an insanely expensive hobby...especially since the returns playing at local parties and roller skating rinks gave back very little.  Even when me and my partner Marlon got a gig at Club 404 in Brampton I think we did it for free.  Kind of crazy since every record (back in the early to mid 90s) cost around $10-15!  And that was for one song!!! Kids these days are so spoiled....

Unfortunately, at the end of my high school years and into University somehow or another my vinyl disappeared.  Mostly sold by my DJ partner at the time I think...but I was not really bothered about it at all since I stopped spinning.  Sad.

About 6 years ago I met a friend of my wife she went to high school with.  One day at his home while taking a tour I stumbled across a pile of old milk crates filled with musical joy.  They were filled with classic house, hip hop and top40 tunes from the late 80s to late 90s... I drooled ever since.  

Then...out of the blue last week I received a call from him and surprisingly he asked me if I was interested in taking his vinyl.  I almost fell off my chair.  He came across a facebook picture of me and my 1.5 yr old son playing with the "DJay" app in which I captioned "gonna upgrade him to the 1200s soon..." or something to that effect.  He thought about selling them... but seeing that picture made him think that it would serve a better purpose in my hands (yes they would....)  Plus he just moved around the corner this way they are still within reach for some future jam sessions!

For a DJ like myself who has moved away from CDs and is completely digital it was like finding a gold mine.  I still have my 1200s and use them to play some house music records that I purchased after my university years b4 digital downloading became the norm.  But to go thru that collection and find many of the records that I purchased back in the day brought back so many memories!  I was giddy as I went thru each crate one by one sampling the tunes.

His one stipulation was that I could not sell the records.  Well...have no fear since they have instantly made family heirloom status to be past down from generation to generation of little Moerman DJs.  If not I will come back from the dead...collect them...and take them back upstairs to rock the heavens...

It looks like I am forever in his debt (my wife thinks I'm nuts) and I am super grateful for his generosity.   

This is going to make for some fun 'Vinyl Recycle" segments on the blog and I will also def have to play some future parties spinning the wheels of steel again :)