Recently we did a backyard gathering in South San Jose. I knew it was going to be special since the birthday girl was so excited about it. She mentioned she felt like a kid at a candy store and wanted everything to be perfect. She called me months in advance to share her vision of her party. I was able to sit down and make a list of all her favorite songs. She also wanted rare Brazilian songs that she was able to make sure we had them. There are different ways to get song ideas from folks. You can have them just email you a list or you can send them a list of popular songs and they can highlight the songs that they like. When a dj can get a sample playlist it makes it easier to get the vibe right. I remember getting a list of 7 songs from a client and it was difficult to determine what the client actually wanted. But it was a wedding so there are different parts that require different kinds of music.  She was very excited sharing her playlist.  She mentioned she would have about 30 of her closest friends at her function. She had a taco catering company supply the food. There is nothing like a dj playing hits for the 90s and todays tracks. Some of the tracks included Dynamite by Taio Cruz, Beat It by MJ, Please Don’t Stop the Music by Rihanna, Disco Inferno by the Trammps, Treasure by Bruno Mars. There was two hours of cocktails and dinner and the last two hours was nonstop dancing.

The sweet 16 event is a very important event in a young lady’s life. It is a coming of age party that many cultures around the world celebrate. In the U.S., the sweet 16 party is a very popular party that is celebrated with a very fancy party. 

There are many ways to celebrate a sweet 16 event. Folks can have a small gathering with close friends and family. Other folks can have a large party with many guest. No mater which route you take a sweet 16 party needs this:

!. Select a theme that shows off the birthday girls personality. Ideas are like a masquerade ball or a beach party.

2. Invitations that fall in the theme of the party. Make it eye catching.

3. Pick a venue that can fit your guests: banquet hall, ballroom, or backyard.

4. Decorate your venue with up lights, balloons and other decorations that fit your theme. Maybe consider getting a professional decorator.

5.  Consider doing appetizers and full meals. Be prepared since some folks cannot eat specific foods.

6. A birthday is not a birthday without the cake. Alternatives can be cake pops or cupcakes. The dessert can fall under the theme.

7. Entertainment: This should be number 1. This will make and break the celebration. Make sure you get a dj to provide the sound track of the memorable event.

8. Make sure your send out information on the dress code so your guests will follow the theme or dress formally.

9. Party favors so folks can take something memorable home such as candy bags or personalized items.

10. Have a guest book so guests can sign in and leave messages behind. It will be a good way to keep track of your guests so you can thank them for attending your event.

11. Photo booths can be added for fun pictures.

12. Set up a gift table so there is an area for the gifts.

13. Speeches: Allow time for family and friends to give speeches and share their wishes for the guest of honor.

The DJ is the New Wedding Planner (Bay Area Dj serving San Jose, Milpitas, Gilroy, Morgan Hill and Palo Alto)

In Today’s ever changing world of wedding, the traditional wedding planner are eventually coming to an end. This day of age folks are looking for something more creative and unique to make their wedding one of a kind. Let’s talk about the ever so humble dj to take the role of the wedding planner.

A smart dj knows how to get everyone on the dance floor and to keep them hostage there all night long! But knowing how to do that they also can help plan the event from start to finish. A good dj can provide feedback on decorations and menu. Since a good dj has been at plenty of weddings then they can give feedback on what works and what doesn’t. They also know folks in the industry who do good work in flowers, photo booths, and other vendors.

So this does not mean the thought of a wedding planner does go out the window. There are a lot of planners who can offer their services at a competitive rate. But if you are looking for fresh way to do weddings then do not look further than your dj as your wedding planner.

A good DJ will be able to bring out all of the skills that make your big day special and memorable.   They will create carefully curated playlists and lighting that highlight key moments in the evening's events. They will also be providing expertise on how best to arrange speeches or music selections throughout the night.  There is no doubt that hiring a DJ as your new wedding planner is sure to add an extra level of excitement and fun that will ensure that all guests leave with lasting memories.

When it comes time for planning your wedding day, why not think outside the box? Hiring a talented DJ as your new wedding planner may seem like a weird choice at first, but it really is worth considering if you want something fresh and unique. They have the experience of doing numerous weddings. Not all weddings have planners and most of the time it is the dj who is sets the pacing and events of the wedding.

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Mt Madonna had wonderful graduation ceremony at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy for class of 23. We have done the last 4 celebrations but we did take two years off from Covid. Mt. Maddonna is so awesome to work with since they give us the schedule so its so easy to follow.  The amphitheater is a beautiful spot to hold a graduation. All you  need is two speakers to reach the whole audience.  The city runs the facility and all we do is make a phone call to get them to open up the  power  for us. It is nice to have that support. Such a beautiful place to walk the stage, grab a diploma, and share memories with loved ones! We provided the microphones, music and sound and made it memorable! We played a little background music as people settled in, the main song was Pomp and circumstance as the graduates walk in, rise up by Andrea day played in the back as students got up and shared a rose with someone who supported then along the way. Tomorrows people by Ziggy Marley played after every graduate had received their diploma. Final hits at the end of the day that were played were Celebration by Kool and the Gang can’t stop the feeling by Justin Timberlake, Firework by Katy Perry, Congratulations by Post Malone, 24K Magic by Bruno Mars, and many more fun songs were played that day. Congratulations to the Class of 2023!

We had a call to do a big corporate event in Sunnyvale.  I asked them how many people will be present and they said their should be close to 1000 folks. We made sure we had plenty of sound that day. There was also a Band Playing. We were in charge of making announcements.  The big worry was to figure out where the stage was since it was a huge campus but it was easy to find and the staff made it easily accessible. They had not had a big event like this in years

Company hosted an amazing family day event for their employees and family, which was a pleasure for me to be part of. As much is 10 different food trucks, beautiful, car show, robotics presentations, and Chicago style stepping dance show that was hosted by one of their employees. Guest of all ages we’re all over enjoying good food and great music. I was happy to receive amount of compliments for providing music from the 70s and 80s dance and funk. Some hits enjoyed. Include the song requested by a guest “get up Offa that Thing by James Brown, September, by Earth, Wind and Fire, Billie, Jean, by Michael Jackson, Girls Just Wanna have Fun by Cyndi Lauper Dancing Queen by ABBA and tainted love by Soft Cell. The game plan was to have music from little kids to 70 year olds. We had to get really popular music ranging from 70s to current times.

  When I first started learning how to spin music it was from records. Boy, it was not cheap. It was an expensive hobby and most people would go to cd then later to mp3.

I am proud that I learned how to spin off vinyl. We had to learn how to mix by ear which is a lost art. Now a day’s people just use the sync button which makes it easier to match beats.

But one of the most therapeutic time we had as djs was going through records and talking with the record store employees about the dj events or anything dj related.

  Right now if you google San Jose dj and look at the top 3 searches under the google businesses you will see Elite Entertainment, Black and White Affair, and Knight Sounds. Elite is a multi op who is the busiest dj business in San Jose. BWADj is who I am. And Knight Sounds is a record store slash dj business. I spent many hours talking with Carlos Diaz the owner of Knight Sounds and he was a master when it came to the old tracks and talking about gear. He was a mentor to me and pretty much anyone who from the Bay Area knew about Carlos and his store. He would have turntable stations so you can hear the track before you bought it.  Most stores are small but this store was big enough to be lost for hours. There were hours and hours of good old school music. As Carlos said, Vinyl never crashes. Feel Free to call Black and White Affair for our all vinyl dj set.

 Two weeks before the prom the school mentioned that they wanted silent disco in the patio area. We have done silent disco before but mentioned we do not own the gear but we know how to set it up. I gave the director a suggestion of a company we used. The cool thing about these companies is they send the silent disco gear by mail and then you send it back. It took a week to confirm that they were going to confirm with the silent disco event. I had a dj in the main room rocking with 4 speakers and one dj rocking the patio rocking with 0 speakers. The cool thing about silent disco you can have 1 to 3 djs in the same area mixing music while the party folks have 3 options of what mixes they want to  listen to. Also you do not have the neighbors complaining about the noise from the bass since it comes through the head phones. Plus, Silent disco is an awesome experience. You can select the type of music you want and can control the volume of it so you don’t have to worry about your eardrums blowing out. For this party we had a dj spinning live in the patio and we had two different kinds of genres playing on the other channels.  We had Latin music playing on one channel like cumbia and  reggaeton and the other channel had pop songs that are good to sing a long with.

  Taking on a prom is no easy task.  Prom is one of the most monumental events in a young person’s life so we try to make it as memorable as possible. We have to make sure we bring as much sound and get the playlist ready for the big night. Every prom is different since some have dinner included while some just have the dance component. With dinner proms, there is less stress since we don’t have to play hit after hit but rather calmer music. When it’s the dance part of the night we like to quick mix to help build energy.

We were picked to play at Corinthian on 3rd street in San Jose. We did a prom there in February so we were familiar with the location. The activities director was great. She supplied us with the map and was really easy to get a hold of. The school provided us with a playlist. These are the songs that stood out. We try to play as many songs as we can from their playlist since every event is a custom event. Since we have been playing at many proms we keep the songs close by that were hits in the other dances. They requested a lot of hip hop and pop. They gave a good amount of songs around 80 to work from. Students were able to request some songs they were not on the list and we tried to play as much of their songs as possible.