SwingDJs

I’m sure everyone of us is out on the dance floor, and you hear or see a Swing DJ doing something in their set that gets under your nose.
So, out it now, or forever be frustrated.


- Spinning tracks that have been obviously edited for a troupe routine, where the editing (cutting and pasting) doesn’t work in with the original song phrasing / choruses. (Bad editing)
- Going straight from several groove songs in a row, into a Charleston song.

playing several groove songs in a row...

mostly sarcasm

Drawing attention to themselves by talking on mic other than short necessary announcements, making big gestures/dancing around in the booth, having a loud discussion with friends in the booth, etc. I think the night should be about the music, not the DJ.

Missing a cue because they were busy dancing themselves. Hey, dancing is fine, but your primary job is to take care of the house, not feed your own need to dance.

-Playing lindy songs at a balboa event. Songs that do not feel like bal in any way shape or form. I'm sorry but "Hey Bop-a-Rebop" is not a bal song. "A Sm-o-o-o-o-th One" also feels a lot more like a good swingout than balboa.

-Not being mindful of the volume on the floor. It's jarring when the volume gets too high. I'd like to still have my hearing when I turn 30

-Playing music that all sounds the same

-Playing a lot of 50s rock and roll. I came to a swing dance to hear music that swings.

A local DJ plays the same set every week, just in a different order. OK, I can't accurately say "the same" since I expect he might play one or two songs he didn't play last week, but he did play them the week before, or the week before that. Not only that, but he plays a three-song rock and roll mini-set every night, consisting of the same three songs.

Although I bitch about music a lot, I don't actually find myself not wanting to dance ... except when this guy DJs. It actually makes me angry, literally angry.

A DJ who only plays songs over 200 BPM for over an hour. I like to dance to fast music but only 1 song every once in awhile.

There was a DJ who played songs only off of this 8 CD compilation that was given to him, he played these same songs off these CD's for at least 5 years. Man did he become a boring DJ after hearing him a few times.

A DJ who plays; Take 5

A DJ who is booked and thinks they are playing a blues set but does not play a single blues song.

A DJ who says they are doing a swing set and only plays 50's rock and or RAB.

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Playing all live tunes with lots of applause at the end, and then letting the applause go too long so it feels like the crowd is actually enjoying your set.

Ditto on the Talking to much, and trying to be funny the whole time, and never realizing that your not funny. at all.

Playing On Top of Old Smokey. There is no swing version of this song (that i know of). this on top of the room already being nearly cleared.

Playing really slow songs followed by hella fast Neo Swing followed by On top of old smokey. WTF... All this in the 11pm shift when the really good notso beginner friendly music is supposed to come out for the hardcore dancers.

Fortunately that last dj has been offically let go from our DJ pool

Aw, can I make a guess?

Kalman

mousethief wrote:Aw, can I make a guess?

Kalman

Probably not who you think, I will PM you. Not hard info to find out. The DJ in question never visits this website.

Playing song that sound like they've ended about 7 times before they actually do. Like an ending, 4-8 counts of silence, then music continues again.

I can only think of one song that remotely fits that criteria: Basie's version of April in Paris, which has about four false endings.

Are there others?

julius wrote:I can only think of one song that remotely fits that criteria: Basie's version of April in Paris, which has about four false endings.

Are there others?

There are a few others but I don't know their names. I've only heard them djed off of 78s.

dj-wise, my biggest pet peeve is any talking at all, except to announce jams, bands, etc. Talking about the next song you're about to play is a waste of time for the dancers, IMO. Although nobody around here does that, I've just seen it at exchanges/camps/competitions.

music-wise, what I can't stand is songs that go nowhere. By that I mean music that doesn't have any interesting changes or development, either in a dynamic or thematic sense. Dancing to music that doesn't have a story to tell makes enjoying myself a lot harder. And if the songs don't have bridges it's even more difficult -- I guess another pet peeve is too many songs that are "blues form". That really drags me down.

Allen wrote:

julius wrote:I can only think of one song that remotely fits that criteria: Basie's version of April in Paris, which has about four false endings.

Are there others?

There are a few others but I don't know their names. I've only heard them djed off of 78s.

There's a Louis Armstrong version of "Volare" featuring Tyree Glenn on trombone that I (very) occasionally play that has a false ending. I usually consider cutting it off at the false stop but the song is so good after that I usually just let it play.

Not a false ending, but I always get looks at the break when I play Cab's "Are You All Reet?"