Observation: The Condescending DJ
My wife and I went to a wedding in Orlando this past weekend. The ceremony was nice and it was great to see old friends, but as the title of this post suggests, I need to talk about the reception. It took place in the gym of a church with good food and a nice atmosphere, though sadly, there was no alcohol. (This is the second of two consecutive dry receptions I have attended, and I’ve had enough. I’m not even a big drinker these days, but even the J-Man turned water into wine, am I right?) As unfortunate as this was, we had a bigger problem to deal with… The DJ.
This was the bossiest DJ I have ever encountered. He interrupted every song with demands… Desperately trying to induce more dance (which is tough at a booze free event), and calling for applause repeatedly. “Everyone give a round of applause for…” was heard countless times over the 3 hour event, each round more meaningless than the previous. These are all minor grievances compared to the moment he was officially deemed: The Condescending DJ.
The best man stood with mic in hand, ready for his toast. For some reason, a large portion of the crowd continued talking, unaware of his speech. Before he had a chance to ask for the crowd’s attention, the DJ swoops in and nabs the mic from his hand. In his most commanding voice, he says:
Clap your hands if you can hear my voice!
Okay, now if you can hear my voice, clap twice!
Now if you can hear my voice, clap three times!
Now put your hands on your hips!
Now put your finger over your lips… and shhhhhh!
Some people clapped and some didn’t, but it certainly hushed the crowd. If they were anything like me, they were probably quietly wondering why they were being treated like 2nd graders at an assembly. Needless to say, he was the butt of many jokes at our table for the duration of the evening. I’d say he actually managed to entertain us in the end, although not the way he meant to.
July 9th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
That’s great! We had also had a silly DJ experience at the wedding we went to this weekend. When it was time to cut the cake he played this song actually called “Cut the Cake” which sounded like a funky tune with a James Brown impersonator saying “Let’s Cut the Cake” every few bars. He also played the whitey-whitiest version of the Electric Slide that I’ve ever heard.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
The one problem we had with an other wise completely wonderful wedding was…. you guessed it! The DJ. The guy had been given an approved song list by us and proceeded to throw it out the window and play crap. We had to repeatedly talk to him to play what we wanted and what we had asked for. I am not sure what he was thinking… but he was singled out as the only problem when we were asked to do a follow up survey.
I wonder how common this is?
July 9th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Chris, you just described the exact problem I had with the DJ at my wedding! I burned tons of music that I wanted to hear at my reception, and the jerk only played a couple of them! Honestly, we should have just set up a damned stereo.
Another DJ story just popped into my head. 10th grade party… The DJ decided to break dance, and during one of those nifty floor spins, he slams his head into one of the speakers. It bled, and was awesome.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:33 am
HA HA! Blood is funny!
If these DJs keep this crap up they really are going to find themselves replaced by iPods. No sass and you get the music you want.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:33 am
I love that the idiot hit his head since that was what everyone was secretly hoping for. I guess they think it’s all about them. That really pisses me off, as it’s so not about them. I didn’t have a DJ at my wedding reception and for years felt like I missed something…I guess now I know I didn’t. If I ever renew my wedding vows, maybe I’ll have some pipers like in the movie “So I Married an Ax Murderer” (with Mike Myers). That’ll work as I am part Scottish. Cindi