I was fortunate enough to do a party in the Bay Area recently and it was a good celebration. They just wanted party music. I was told just get Cumbia music and some old school. So I did set up the music but realized so what do they are going to listen to when they are eating. I was scheduled to play for five hours. Usually the first hour or so they will be eating then it is the dancing. I was told the party will be going on before hand and they will be eating before I start. This is my kind of party! More time for some dancing.  They had a speaker connected to a phone and they were playing like slow songs for dinner. I can tell it was not music the party planner selected but it was something the venue put together. And I was right since the phone belonged to someone at the venue. They were going to have a performance at 430 so I was asked to be already set up by that time so I would not be a distraction. I said no problem. I got there around 4 and I was set up by 417. It was an easy set up. The performers asked if I can connect to their phone. It was 430 and I wasn’t supposed to start till 5 but I happily obliged and connected the phone and made the microphone available. They had a Hawaiian performance and they had dancers from all ages get down. They had a few drummers but it was very lively.

  From 5 to 10 we went straight cumbia. We probably did 80 percent cumbia for 5 hours and did some ranchera music. We did a little old school but it was Spanish that got everyone on the dance floor.

Los Gatos High School, Class of 2023, just knew how to do it right. Even while I was growing up, Los Gatos was known as an elite school in sports and now we know know that they know how to throw a party.  They were excellent with communication to make sure they got their party right.  We were in constant contact from two students from the ASB team that kept us in the loop.  Ending the year of right with an epic prom night at no other place , but the BNY Mellon Club located at the 50 yard line behind the 49ers sideline at the field level, that making it the most premium space at Levi’s stadium! We loved the fact that we were playing on sacred ground and playing where the  49ers run wild.  As soon as the doors opened, music starts playing. Every song back to back seemed liked a hit the way everybody reacted and sang along to hits like We Found Love by Rihanna, Fireball by Pitbull, Love Story by Taylor Swift, Losing it by Fisher, Feel so Close by Calvin Harris, Bel Merci by Jengi, Hey Baby by Pitbull. And the list was endless for such an epic night with endless dancing and very great taste in music. Lghs 23’ you were amazing! The energy on the dance floor could not be matched and it will always be remembered. Also the fact that they were celebrating in the presence of greatness of a football team just made it a little bit magical.

 A party is not a party without a bounce house. You would think it would be just for little kids but high school teens love the bounce house. They can be a kid again!  We were able to contact Cal Jumps to set up two bounce houses. They were awesome to work with. We were able to get an obstacle course bounce house that was about 70 feet in length and also got a decent size bounce house. Since we did not have a power source the company brought some generators. We had them out the whole day and students could not get enough of them. Cal jumps has a number that you can call and text and they respond pretty quickly. What is neat is that you can text them and it is shared with the drivers so they can see the communication. It took them about an hour to set up and about 45 minutes to put it away. Other events were a tug a war with a pool of water in between. They had a basketball game and   volleyball game going on. They had a dunk tank and students were having a ball. They did have speakers playing music but it would have benefited from a do playing Latin music and current pop and hip hop. A dj would have made the party an epic one.  A dj can help the atmosphere become more festive and raise the fun so much.

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.

Djing in retail stores does not just happen in Christmas time. It can happen anytime and I played in May at the Brea Mall last Saturday by the Make Up Area. Love playing at Nordstrom since they have a booth of their own so it just makes it easy to set up. The staff is very helpful and let me borrow a cart to load my gear on so I can do everything in one shot. Love the energy of the staff since a lot of them love the music and sway with the vibes. They even gave some cool requests to. Songs that seemed to be big hits were the funk and the Spanish songs. Why play the same tracks everyone else plays? Its best too go against the grain and not be the same cookie cutter dj who plays the same songs every time.

  The theme was flower that day so we made sure we played a couple of different edits of Miley Cyrus Flower song. Lots of people did stroll by but the goal was to get the heads bobbing. I did all pop and feel good songs and I threw in some Latin songs in the mix. I think we did play over 10 Latin songs in the 5-hour session. If you think about it, California is full of latin people so why not throw some Latin flavor in the mix. Why not throw some reggaeton and come cumbia songs? Speaking of 5 hours, it felt like 15 minutes since playing music for me is super fan and trying to be creative with the mixes and playing songs that go together.

  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.

It is a fact that not too many djs can honestly say they can do an all vinyl set. With the day and age of streaming and just playing mp3’s, it seems to be more economical and easier on the wallet. Anyways who would want to carry around heavy records and better yet store all that vinyl at your home when you can have way more music on your laptop and take way less space.

   Why would anyone spin on vinyl if its way more expensive to maintain? One reason is its cool to see visually and it connects with the past. In the 70s and 80s that is what all the djs used to at parties. For those djs who learned on record had to learn how to mix by ear as opposed to having a computer help you beat match. There is something nostalgic about flipping through records while looking at the cover of the song. It is a good way to stand out over all the other digital djs out here.

 A lot of folks do not like the new music out coming out now but love the classics from the 70s, 80s and 90s and 00s. A lot of djs who went the digital route got rid of their beloved collections and went for the cash for their collection. But a few had a deeper connection with the vinyl they collected or maybe they ignored their partners request to get rid of their vinyl and they can pull them out for special occasions. This is an instance of old school being cool. Bring vinyl back and call Black and White Affair for your all vinyl event.