SwingDJs

Lawrence wrote:
{ahem} um.... seriously... Who IS Uncle Cracker?

One of the guys from Kid Rock's band. The guitarist?

Lawrence wrote:

smunky wrote:i had a request for uncle cracker last year...and the requester was apalled that i didn't even know who uncle cracker was. it made me sad.

{ahem} um.... seriously... Who IS Uncle Cracker?

Uncle Kracker is the DJ for Kid Rock. He had a hit with a country tinged song called "Follow Me" a few years back. It is a slower song.

Popular in some WCS circles, etc ...

Most likely, they wanted you to play "Follow Me" or it could be a newer song.

Lawrence, I actually have it in the Westie corner of my book, so does Jeramie.

Nathan



AMG Bio
Slicing and dicing for his hometown chum, the mainstream rap hero Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker (born Matt Shafer) stepped out from behind the turntables to release his debut solo album, Double Wide, on Kid Rock's own Top Dog/Atlantic/Lava label. Yet another Detroit combination of funky post-grunge rock and hip-hop aesthetic, Uncle Kracker makes his predecessor proud.
Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker are practically family. The two met in Clawson, MI, in 1987, where Rock was spinning in an all-ages DJ contest at a popular night spot called Daytona's. The two had similar musical tastes (The Commodores, Run D.M.C., Lynyrd Skynyrd, and George Jones) and became fast friends. Kracker's first musical contribution was on Rock's 1991 debut, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, and he also co-wrote and performed on Rock's multi-platinum Devil Without A Cause. It was just a matter of time for Kracker to do his own thing.

It's neither surprising that the media has tagged Double Wide as more radio friendly than Devil Without A Cause, nor that Rock and his band, Twisted Brown Trucker, come together to bang things up on Double Wide. Like his pal, Uncle Kracker wanted a maddening country growl woven into mainstream modern rock to create a mindblowing rap excursion; Double Wide was just that, released in summer 2000. "Follow Me" was a popular single among radio and MTV's TRL. Two years later, Uncle Kracker returned with No Stranger to Shame.

Drew wrote:A couple:

The best I ever got was when I was in Nashville about a year and a half ago at an after-hours dance. Some girl from Atlanta came up and asked:

"Do you have any Kim Cattrall?"

Now I wanna know who was that....

Cripes!

Swifty wins hands down but I've got a few of my own...

Act I

I'm DJing at a Fort Worth event, not particularly known for its discriminating taste in music. This big rockabilly (ahem - poser) guy comes up with his girl, a split second after I hit the play button for a Big Joe Turner selection...

"Hey, can you play some jump blues?"
"I am."
"What?" (begins fumbling through my books)
"I am. Did you want something else?"

Since we're having so much fun, his girl wants to play too.

"We want some jump blues."
"Anything in particular? Because I'm playing some now."
"No, this isn't it."
"Really."
"Yeah, we want to hear some jump blues - you know, faster."
"Like the Blues Jumpers or Mighty BLue Kings?"
"Who?"
"This is Big Joe Turner on 'Big Bad & Blue' - is this what you want?"
"Who's that?"

Act II

I have just finished playing L.O.V.E. by Nat King Cole.

"What song was that you just played?"
"LOVE"
"No, the one you just played."

The liner is still in my hand and it's been a long night..

"L.O.V.E. - here, they took the time to spell it out."

Kalman

Funny stories all.

I only get annoyed when people who aren't regulars show up once every few months and request salsa... which I don't understand since South Florida is practically the salsa capital of the world. There are only a million salsa clubs here and several Spanish language radio stations that play nothing but salsa and merengue. So why ask for this stuff on a swing night?

The world may never know.

Tina

i might start DJing just to accumulate funny stories.

woman: "Could you play 'Choo Choo Ch-Boogie?' "
me: "OK."

(I play "Choo-Choo Ch-Boogie." Louis Jordan.)

a few minutes later
woman: "Could you play 'Choo Choo Ch-Boogie?' "
me: "I just did."
woman: "No you didn't."

Aaaaaaarghhh..

These stories are strangely familiar!!

I have a "clockwork guy" like Nate Dogg's Ed who never fails to amaze me with his predictability. It's like he doesn't have that little part of his brain that detects when he is really annoying someone.

The most frustrating thing of all is that just after he has made his highly predictable requests, he ALWAYS tells me that he has collected (wait for it) 25 danceable songs of his own, which he has compiled onto a CD.

"Wow, 25 tracks!!" I always say, right before telling him how many I have. He is not interested at all in the fact that I've carefully accumulated about 300 swing albums, with at least 1000 tracks that I end up using pretty thoroughly. Unimportant. He's got the best 25 tracks available. (Yes, he's told me what they are, and yes, they are almost all complete and utter crap).

Abdel, you should post some of Brendan's requests. Usually, when one of those comes on, people say "What the heck...?"

Related to stupid people, let's see if I can recall this one correctly: Recently Jake was DJing a band break of Dr. Zoot's, and one of his tunes was a Dizzy Gillespie selection.

The band leader came up to him afterwards and said something to the effect of, "Boy, whoever the trumpeter was, his horn was out of tune..."

-FF

-Can you play a blues song?
-Sure.
*plays black and tan fantasy a few songs later, requestee doesn't dance*
*person comes up a couple songs later after it's played*
-Are you going to play a blues song?
-I did
-No you didn't
-Yes I did, a couple songs ago, Black and Tan fantasy, slow swing song, can still do blues to it
-But it's not blues
-You can dance blues to it
-No you can't, it's an old song, there's no such thing as old blues
-Yes there is
-No
-Yes, the blues is where jazz is rooted, if it wasn't for blues, you wouldn't have your "new blues".
*requestee shuts up and walks away*

Harrison

lindyholic wrote:-Can you play a blues song?
-Sure.
*plays black and tan fantasy a few songs later, requestee doesn't dance*
*person comes up a couple songs later after it's played*
-Are you going to play a blues song?
-I did
-No you didn't
-Yes I did, a couple songs ago, Black and Tan fantasy, slow swing song, can still do blues to it
-But it's not blues
-You can dance blues to it
-No you can't, it's an old song, there's no such thing as old blues
-Yes there is
-No
-Yes, the blues is where jazz is rooted, if it wasn't for blues, you wouldn't have your "new blues".
*requestee shuts up and walks away*

Harrison

For requesters that I am unfamilar with, if they use overly broad terms like blues, fast, slow, swing, old, new, etc ... I try to ask them a few additional questions to ensure that the song I select meets their needs. I can't assume that everybody out there has the same perception and knowledge of musical catergorization as a DJ.

For the request above, the dancer may have wanted something like BB King or Keb Mo. In that case, Black and Tan Fantasy was off the mark. Or, it could be that dancer just wanted something slow that he could grind and wiggle to with his partner. In that case, the music does not have to be "blues" at all.

You never know, I never assume that the requester is skilled at articulating what they want. Sometimes they need some help.

Right...understandable. For me, one thing is that I don't have any of the slow and grindy blues. So that's the best I can do for that reason. It was a bit surprising because I knew that person would know this stuff. If they were to say something like "I want some Gene Harris" then I would just have to say "sorry, I don't have that".

Harrison

lindyholic wrote:For me, one thing is that I don't have any of the slow and grindy blues. Harrison

liar.......just kidding - I took a look through the Chick Webb stuff we both have - there is a good bump and grind on Standing Tall - Ella singing "Sugar Blues" - try that out on your requester next time and see if they like that better.

Another good one is "Good Morning Blues" on the Early Basie Decca album (Jimmy Rushing singing) - I think you have that too right? It's got some good Christmas lyrics, but Travis played it in mid-summer and it was still good to bump and grind to.

djstarr wrote: Another good one is "Good Morning Blues" on the Early Basie Decca album (Jimmy Rushing singing) - I think you have that too right? It's got some good Christmas lyrics, but Travis played it in mid-summer and it was still good to bump and grind to.

Damn I love that song. "Blues In Thirds" (Sidney Bechet Trio) is another one of my favorite 'vintage' blues songs to throw on. I've never danced to it but I could (and have) listen to it over and over.

As of late while listening to my cd's, the vast majority of which are vintage swing/jazz, I have made an effort to pick out the slow blues tunes that I like and work them into my sets. Not long ago I would have skipped right over them as being too slow.