I love old music. I particularly love old, obscure music. As such, I've spent (roughly) the last 11 years amassing my CD collection, compiling a great stack of music, obscure and otherwise, which date from the 1930s all the way to "present day." I have in my possession some wonderful calypso music, a lot of fantastic blues and swing and (arguably) the largest collection of 50s, 60s and 70s rock, soul, funk, r & b, rockabilly, disco and jump blues anywhere. With this fact in mind, you can imagine my elation when I was contacted and asked to D.J. a 60th birthday party/reunion for a group of people who were described to me as "ardent fans of 50s and 60s music, especially doo-wop."

FINALLY!..Damn...

It's "gigs" like these which make suffering through wedding reception after lousy wedding reception seem (almost) worthwhile. Now I'd have the chance to unleash the deepest collection of "oldies" in the western hemisphere (mine) on a crowd who would truly appreciate it. The party was to be held at the home of the "birthday boy" which is located in Black Forest, Colorado and I was told that I'd be set up "out on the patio." For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the Colorado Springs area, Black forest is a rather exclusive wooded area northeast of town. It's also (roughly) an hour drive (give or take, depending on traffic) from where I live (south of town). I expected that the place would be nice, most places in Black Forest are...When I got there, though, it was more than I could've expected. I was in complete awe. I was told that the property as a whole encompasses 40 acres. The main house is giant. The garage and attached workshop are larger than my whole house. The whole place has been thoughtfully landscaped and, true to form, their patio is no ordinary patio, it's terribly expansive. This place is easily the largest private home that I have ever had the occasion to visit...

Before I go much further with the story, though, I should fill you all in about the tradition of "name that tune" here at the agency where I work. Unless you're completely devoid of television, color or otherwise, you've probably been exposed, at one time or another, to the classic game show "Name That Tune." We play "name that tune" here, but my version of the game is not much like the old TV gameshow. It is, in fact, more of a "free-for-all" wherein I put my ITunes on shuffle, turn up my speakers and let fly with songs. The other members of the art department are then required to shout out artist and title. If they're right, they are allowed to glow with pride. If they're wrong, they feel burning burning shame (also: humiliation). Regardless, it's a whole Hell of a lot of fun. The game was significantly more organized during the "era of Andy," which (conveniently) was the period of time when Andy (whom you all know from comment-box fame) worked with us. The game became such a tradition that, around lunchtime, people from many different departments would gather in the art department for a scheduled round of name that tune. I would play 10 preselected songs and the players would write their answers on a "test sheet" which I would then grade. Highest score would win a prize, which was always a candy bar (I had a prize budget, even!) Andy won a lot of candy during the game. He is, to this day, the undisputed "name that tune" champion. After Andy was "sent away," though, the game, like our hearts, died. (without it's star player, what could we do? Let Scott win? I think not.) The game DOES pop up now and then, but it's a mere skeleton of it's former self...So sad...*sigh*

...ok, where was I?..Ah yes...

"What does "name that tune" have to do with the story," you ask? "EVERYTHING," I say! The partygoers were, in fact, SO RABID about "oldies" music, that the night ended up becoming nothing more than one big "name that tune" game for which I earned money. There were precious few songs I could play that SOMEONE wouldn't shout out the artist and title for. In fact, the few times I actually "stumped" them, they (collectively) gave me a look that said "ha ha! You crafty devil!" (which I am). Everyone there, except the few "younger folks" that didn't count, had a wonderful time. The music had them dancing, singing and reminiscing for hours. So many hours, in fact, that I stayed and played 2 hours past my scheduled end time. Near the conclusion of the night, the die-hards who remained simply arranged patio chairs in front of my table and shouted out "musical challenges" that, thanks to the song collecting fervor that took over my brain at age 19, were quickly answered to the oohs, ahhs and reminiscent stories of the crowd. I had finally found a group of people where, musically, I fit in, never mind that these people are all twice my age. They wouldn't let me leave and it was just as well, since I didn't feel like going anywhere...

I should mention, also, that I wouldn't have sounded nearly as impressive on Saturday night if it weren't for the roundabout help of a former D.J. called M. Dung. The Dungboy, as he calls himself, started in radio some years ago and, through his unique brand of showmanship and endearing on-air style (HELLO EYYYYE!), landed gigs in many major markets. For years, he and his "Sunday Night Idiot Show" were staples on the legendary KFOG 104.5 FM in San Francisco. Dung (real name "Mike Slavko") has since retired from commercial radio, disenchanted by the formulaic bullshit that now dominates American airwaves. (I feel that it's a great loss to have someone so obviously talented driven away from the business by what the business has become, but until I can purchase my own station, I can't really change it.) Anyhow, while his Idiot Show was still going strong, Dung collaborated with Rhino Records, who released a CD titled "M. Dung's Idiot Show Classics" (oh-dayyy!) It's a tight little collection of oldies music that, if you're a serious oldies collector, MUST be amongst your holdings. For your reference, it looks like this:
So anyway, during the party, I was approached by one of the more "learned" party goers who requested "Shake a Tailfeather" by the 5 Du-Tones. It seems that this particular version of the song (there's at least 3, by the way) was the one to hit big in St. Louis, which is where all of these folks were originally from. Well, thanks to the fact that I added the aforementioned CD to my collection some years back, I was able to "whip out" the 5 Du-Tones version and "save the day," as it were, to the delight of the crowd. It's strangely satisfying to see a group of 60 year old men and women absolutely "getting down." I bet they were pretty sore come Sunday morning. So thanks, Dungboy. I'm one appreciative "idiot" that wishes you were still on the air somewhere...

I believe that I made a good impression on these people overall. Good enough, hopefully, that I get called back to do more. Time will tell on that, but at least I got to have the "big fun" at least once..."Yoww," indeed...

Ah, I can't forget to share this...During the more informal "name that tune" session, it was requested that, for as long as I could, I play "tragedy" songs (wherein someone dies). I was delighted, seeing as these are tunes that rarely get played (some, for obvious reasons). I fired up the staples, ("Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers and "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning), got to play my personal favorite, ("Endless Sleep" by Jody Reynolds), and then, of course, there were the absolute crap songs ("Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro and "Tell Laura I Love Her.") These folks sang right along with every single song and shouted out for more. It made me feel warm and funny inside all at the same time. And, yeah, I got paid for all of this, to the tune of $500. Sometimes it's good just to be me, even though I didn't have "Ebony Eyes" like I thought I did...Ah well, for next time...

After all of this, including the fact that I played softball right before packing up and heading to the "gig," on Sunday morning I was pretty well beat. I rested most of the day and played hockey at 7:30 pm. The team, as a whole, played very well and we came away with a (rare) win, 4 to 2, over the "Moose Knuckles." I'm hoping that this success begets more success, losing all of the time sucks. Either way, hockey is fun...I can't lose sight of that...

As a postscript, I have a wedding reception (hopefully my last) to DJ this coming Saturday (as I mentioned last week). I'll let you all know if it goes OK, I'm expecting good things, but I now know that nothing will ever surpass the fun of the party on Saturday. If I could do gigs like that that every night of the week, I would, possibly for free (don't tell anyone). It'd make me the happiest DJ ever...

Labels: lame stories, mumbling about music, radio stories, tales of triumph