Playing non-dance gigs

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Jonas · #16 Post by **Jonas** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:05 am

Haydn wrote:Well, the guy liked the music on the CD I sent him, and he's going to give me a date in late April. I'm looking forward to the experience

Congrats, let us know how it turned out.

/jonas

Eyeball · #17 Post by **Eyeball** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:40 am

Bring business cards and flyers and CDs that you want to get rid off.

Haydn · #18 Post by **Haydn** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:09 am

russell wrote:Last year I was DJing a gig at the Church City Blues event in Adelaide Australia. It was at a bar I was playing in the downstairs part with both dancers and normal bar patrons. The manager asked me about DJing there on a regular basis but unfortunately not my home city. The material was a mixture of "blues" material from vintage blues to modern blues to more groove blues. I suppose the sort of music fitted in with a "bar vibe".

In London you find lots of DJs in bars - mostly playing modern club music for a young-ish crowd. There's no dancing at many of these. I am sure there is a market for DJing blues-type music in bars.

Haydn · #19 Post by **Haydn** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:57 am

I've got the date now. I'm planning to call it 'Authentic 1930s Sounds' (I was thinking of 'Cartoon music to ignore'

). I'll print some flyers or cards including an email contact address. I'll let you know how it goes ...

Eyeball · #20 Post by **Eyeball** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:24 am

"Music of Your Mum's, Mum's, Mum." Presented by Lord Percival P. Poofter.

"What's all this then?"

"I had some of these whe my grandmum was still alive. Broken them we did as kids. They were made of glass, you know."

"Heavy, they were. We even had records by that Italian chap, Enrique Carauso. Any Carauso tonight, lad?"

"Get to the Vera Lynn tunes, me boy!"

"Bit on the fancy side for this pub, mate. Got anything from the war that we might remember?"

"WE LIKE YOUR MUSIC, YOUNG SIR. REMINDS US OF WHEN WE WERE YOUR AGE, IT DOES. LOUDER, PLEASE."

Haydn · #21 Post by **Haydn** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:33 pm

I did the gig at the cafe tonight, and it went well, although it felt quite different to DJing at a dance. The volume was lower because it was essentially nice background music for the evening. Initially it was quite hard to judge how well it was being received (whereas at a dance you can see how many people are dancing). But after a while I noticed people were nodding their heads, tapping their hands and in one case, singing along. One couple came specially for the 30s music and enjoyed it. The cafe offered me another gig at the end of June, which I've accepted.

I tried to put the emphasis on good tunes. This is the sort of music I played -
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Americ ... B00006EXF1

Eyeball · #22 Post by **Eyeball** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:32 pm

Congratulations!

As I thought before I looked at that CD set - it hs a lot of songs that were introduced in old films that still run on TV and have for decades so many people know those tunes to an extent. Peppy, pleasant tunes.

Yeahh..scaning..tons of movie tunes.

I think Brits tend to be more open in their musical appreciation due to all sorts of diverse folks gather in their locals night after night.

trev · #23 Post by **trev** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:55 am

I've been thinking about branching out and going for gigs at festivals, bars and that type of thing. Something more like what they do at the Black Cotton Club in London or like the Vintage DJ does in New York.

Haydn, have you DJed any more cafe gigs? Any further feelings about whether it's worth it?

Haydn · #24 Post by **Haydn** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:01 am

trev wrote:I've been thinking about branching out and going for gigs at festivals, bars and that type of thing. Something more like what they do at the Black Cotton Club in London or like the Vintage DJ does in New York.

Haydn, have you DJed any more cafe gigs? Any further feelings about whether it's worth it?

Hi Trev,

I've done about 3 or 4 at the cafe, and one at a related outdoor festival. All were paid and went well. I haven't got into corporate gigs or large festivals, but I know some other DJs do quite a lot of these, and I'm sure they pay better. Here's an example. The Black Cotton Club in London is different though - it's a vintage-style dress-up nightclub, with a dancefloor (but not geared exclusively for partner dancing). I don't know anything about the Vintage DJ in New York.

I would definitely say go for it. The great thing is you are playing old music to a new crowd, and getting paid for it. Then it's a question of adapting to your audience. Do they want to dance? You could have a beginners dance lesson, perhaps including some non-partner line routine that everyone can join in with. Do they want a show? You could bring some dancers to perform a routine. Or do they just want tasteful music?

Let us know how it goes if you do something!

trev · #25 Post by **trev** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:32 am

Yeah thanks for that. I'm going to try for a support gig at an upcoming jazz festival first up.

Re: The Vintage DJ: see http://www.vintagedj.com. He spins in New York off vintage vinyl using vintage turntables. Mostly 50s and 60s tunes. I saw him playing at the Spiegeltent in NY, and he had a couple of guys in suits doing a support act/dance. Very cool. I may steal some of his ideas