About 2 years ago the roommate that Michelle and I had been living with bought a house. He moved out and took his furnishing with him. One day we had an eclectically decorated apartment with vintage record players and Eames couches, and literally the next we had nothing. Actually, that's not true. We had one couch and a TV - in a 3 bedroom 1300 sq. foot apartment. The echo was ear splitting. Like bottom of the grand canyon at midnight.
Andrew: Hey Michelle-chelle-elle-elle. This sucks-sucks-ucks-ks...
Michelle: Shhh-shh-shh-sh-sh-h
We sprawled out on our square mile of carpet, whipped out both laptops and got to business. On craigslist. Thirty six hours later - and this is not an exaggeration - we had furnished seventy-five percent of our formerly empty apartment. We landed a couch, a coffee table, a matching end table from a different source, a kitchen table with four chairs, an armchair, and a bedside table. I was already a subscriber of the magic that is craigslist, but sitting there reclining back on our new couch, with my feet up on our new coffee table, I had one of those 'take stock of your life' moments. The car sitting in our garage - craigslist. The furniture in our apartment - craigslist. The apartment - craigslist. The laptop I used to log on to craiglist to find all this stuff - craigslist. And most important, the beautiful future wife pouring two glasses of champagne to celebrate furnishing our humble abode in thirty-six hours - craigslist.
Yes, I met Michelle via craigslist. She would be categorized in the 'serendipity' file of my craigslist life-folder. And before you vomit at that statement bare with me for a few more sentences. It's only happened a few times, but basically the 'serendipity file' is composed of things I wasn't originally looking for, but that came into my life via craigslist anyway. Take Michelle for instance. I was looking for an apartment. And found a great one. It just happened to come with a kick-ass roommate who eventually became a girlfriend who eventually became a future wife. craigslist magic.
When it came time to get a DJ for our wedding Michelle and I were on the same page about one thing - we wanted our party to rock. In the world of Wedding DJ's that's easier said than done. And I don't mean to bash the profession, it's a tough gig. Generally you are expected to be both Master of Ceremonies and Master of Music. Keeping the wedding on track with all the little formalities like releasing tables, cake cutting, toasts, first dances, father/daughter and mother/son dances, money dances, chicken dances...breath...and then on top of all that trying to dj a set that keeps the party rocking - it's a handful. And what we've kind of noticed is that most wedding DJ's are very good at keeping the wedding running smoothly and ensuring that all the little formalities are executed without a hitch, but the music is, well, executed with the same formality that all the formalities are - with precision and script, but not with inspiration. I'm sure there are a few of you out there that are wondering what makes a dj set inspired? Well, I will do my best to tell you.
The closest thing I can equate it to that I know something about is writing. Writers have been telling the same stories for centuries. If you believe in breaking the art form down and analyzing it, there's a strong contingent out there backed by some heady philosophers that will tell you there are seven basic plots and pretty much every story told is an iteration of one of those plots. So if we're all telling the same story, what differentiates the good from the bad from the ugly? It's how you present the information. How you tell your story. The voice you bring to your version. It's all in the execution.
A dj set is much the same in that it's not only what music you play, but how you play it. There is an art form to creating a set list, but ever since the advent of whatever technology it is that allowed a DJ to spin off multiple turntables, and intermix and match hooks, baselines, drum beats, anything really, from multiple songs at once, things really started to get creative in the DJ booth. And now that everything has gone digital, and DJ's are utilizing their Macbooks to personally remix songs and mash their unique contributions into their play lists, the artistry and talent of a DJ truly defines the entertainment. Nowadays the top guys and gals easily pull five figures at big clubs for a 4 hour set. And for good reason. Their talent noticeably sets the bar.
Back to craigslist, and finding our DJ and the serendipity file. In our effort to find a great DJ we turned to craigslist. Michelle was a little unsure of this tactic. While she did get a furnished house and a husband via the site, it is me that does most of the craigslist scavenging. She's more of an appreciator by association. She was concerned that no one would respond to our add. However, it was far enough in advance that we could always go the traditional route if craigslist didn't pan, so she didn't put up a fuss and played along. This is the add we posted in San Francisco bulletin:
We're getting married on the West shore in Tahoe on 8/7/2010 and need a "wedding" dj to spin the party strong. You do not need to possess any cheesy MC skills (we have friends from LA for that), but do need the artistry required to get folks on the dance floor in the indie/hip hop/mash-up vein (...a little Girl Talk); Music ok from all decades. It is a wedding, so a little Frank Sinatra and Tony B. in the mix would be great. Your expertise will be required from 5-10pm (not including set-up, break-down). 5-7ish will be backround music while we feast (which, of course, you're welcome to take part in), and then we want to get the party on their feet from 7-930ish. It's outdoors at a state park. Let us know if you have amp./speaker equipment or not. We can provide, so it's not a dealmaker/breaker either way. We will pay a flat fee. It's your choice whether you want to stay in Tahoe or rally back to the Bay that night with more money in your pocket. Please email back with your quote and to get an address to send your demo to. Sample list of artists below (not including the classics). . Beck · Black Eyed Peas · Bloc Party · Busdriver · Chemical Brothers · Clap Your Hands Say Yeah · Common · Crystal Castles · Damien Marley · Daft Punk · Danger Mouse · David Bowie · The Faint · Franz Ferdinand · Gorrilaz · Grizzly Bear · Hot Chip · Jay Z · Kanye · Kesha · LCD Soundsystem · Madonna (old school) · MIA · MGMT · Michael Franti · Michael Jackson (old school) · My Morning Jacket · Muse · Neil Diamond · OAR · Phoenix · Polyphonic Spree · Radiohead · Ratatat · Rihanna · Santigold · Silversun Pickups · Stevie Wonder · Timbaland · Vampire Weekend · Why? · DJ Z-Trip
Within hours of the add hitting the Internet responses started rolling in. We had 18 by end of day one, and nearly 40 by end of day two. Michelle and I don't play the 'I told you so' game, but I was feeling very content with myself. At least I was until I actually started opening up the responses. Apparently in this modern age of short attention spans, where even literary mags like The Atlantic Monthly have started shortening many of their articles to one page powder puff pieces, people just can't hang on for an entire paragraph. A good half of the respondents had about as much business applying for the wedding dj gig as Tom Cruise would have auditioning for a role playing Nelson Mandela.
"yo yo yo, this is DJ Smuttyface and I wanna rock you're party hot."
"DJ Fat Rob outta Oakland. Get in touch with my mngr Ms. Existenz."
It seemed with every click I would either find a response that really just made me feel uncomfortable about putting the music for my wedding in their hands for the night -- think DJ Smuttyface --or a link to a professional Wedding DJ website. It would open with Butterfly Kisses playing softly then a fade-in on some middle-aged bald dude in a hokey tuxedo. There might as well have been a cartoon dialogue bubble spouting from his mouth saying, "Let's get jiggy wit it!".
The responses kept pouring in though, and eventually some gems unearthed themselves. By the end there were probably six to eight legitimate options that we could have gone with and been very happy. There was one, however, that really resonated with both of us and stood out far beyond even the closest contenders.
I'm a sucker for irony, irreverence, wit and even a little humorous cynicism. I even clicked over to DJ Fat Rob's website in the hopes that he wasn't, well, fat. But he was. Huge. Like has to special order his K Suisse sneaks. And he was a spitting image of Notorious B. Which was weird. And his mixes were all hardcore rap. Not bad, per se, but not really the semi-alternative wedding material we were looking for. There was no irony, irreverence or wit from DJ Fat Rob.
Bling Crosby, however, a different story.
I was immediately intrigued by his name. His email was nice and well written (many were not). He listed a link to a site where we could hear some of his mixes and creations, noted his appreciation that we wanted to mix in some Sinatra and Bennett, complimented our list of musical influences (Michelle has good music taste), and gave us a bit of his back round. He recognized that we were not looking for a traditional wedding DJ, and let us know that he doesn't normally do weddings. He spins at clubs, but every once in awhile likes to get dressed up and do the wedding thing. But when he does, he is very specific about the weddings he chooses. Ours sounded like fun, apparently.
I clicked over to his web page and held my breath. No Butterfly Kisses in the backround. And no pictures of him in a tuxedo. Anywhere. He looked like the guy you'd find behind the turntables at a big club in Vegas or New York or LA or San Fran. Sigh. Relief. There was a Kerouac quote. Bigger sigh. More relief. I hit play on a remix of Mr Sandman, that catchy little ditty from the 50's that your parents may (mine did) or may not have sang to you growing up...
... and this is when I got excited. Really excited. Before I even listened to one of his extended mixes I emailed Michelle: I think we've found our DJ.
When I finally spoke with our future DJ on the phone he was down to earth, warm, friendly and most important, passionate about music. We probably spoke for a half hour. He did a lot of the talking about music and what he does. All of it was fascinating to listen to. Give me a person with knowledge and passion about something, almost anything really, and I'm good to happily listen for hours. Keith, aka Bling Crosby, is one of those people.
The deal was basically sealed in one conversation. Then, at the end of it, Keith mentioned that if we hadn't found one yet, his wife was a professional photographer. Yes, this is where the serendipity file comes back into play. Truth be told, we were literally a few days away from sending in a deposit to another photographer -- who we were not in love with. Their style wasn't bad, just not inspired. Yes, there's that word again. But of our options, they did seem to be the best choice. So that was that. Until Keith mentioned his wife Crystal. And then Crystal sent us some of her work...
... and what we saw in her pictures was the same kind of inspired artistry that we heard in her husband's mixes. When your hair follicles think they're in a lightning storm - and they're not - you know you have something special on your hands. It happened twice, once with the mixes and again with the photos. We realized quickly that we had a talented couple on our hands.
An added bonus was that Crystal agreed to come down to LA to shoot an engagement session. It's something that Michelle had been very interested in doing initially after I slid a ring on her finger, but one thing or another got in the way and we just kind of let it pass by. When the opportunity circled back, we decided it would be a cool thing to do. We spent a late afternoon biking around Santa Monica. We hit a few of our favorite spots, and few Santa Monica staples, and capped off the night meeting Keith and their darling son. It was a memorable afternoon, and made us feel extra confident in our decision to have faith, foremost in their talent, but also in craigslist and the serendipity that sometimes comes with.
So thank you Craig. Thank you for providing us all with a forum to find the things we're seeking, and for creating the potential to stumble upon things we're not. If it was not for you and your creation my future wife and I would not be blessed with a DJ who literally, as Michelle pointed out to me, might actually be too cool for us. And without making that connection on craigslist, we would not have found a photographer with an eye like this...
... who was able to capture 'us' in an afternoon, and create images that will forever remind us of the magic where it all began. And also, eventually, prove to a younger generation of family that we, too, used to be young and fun. We are heading into this crazy shindig at ease with the talent we've been fortunate enough to surround ourselves with via Craig's creation. So again, thank Craig. Here's a shout-out to your wonderful list of good stuff.
Why is Michelle with Christian Bale in that photo????
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