Prom Highlights and Hearing Loss

As many of you know, I was DJ at the Pagosa Springs High School prom last night. Went well, although it took me longer than anticipated to set up the lights, due to the way the room was decorated, which limited options for effectively covering the dance area. Finished setting everything up just in time to start playing and was bombarded with requests all night, so didn't get any pictures or video. After looking at the layout, I decided to go with 4 speakers rather than 6, which afterward I'm thinking for the level of loudness they wanted 6 might have been better. To give you an idea of how loud it was, I had to run back out to the trailer for something, walking through the dance area, through another large room, out the front door, with doors closed, and walking down the sidewalk, you could still hear the music at a level I normally play at dances. Then, once I got back they asked, "can you crank it up louder, then louder, then louder! My hearing hasn't got back to normal yet. Even standing behind the speakers, I had difficulty hearing people's request. They started typing them out on their phones and showing me when they came up. It was so loud, again even behind the speakers, that I could not listen through the headset (volume cranked up) to most of the requests for language that was school appropriate.

It was a tough gig. As you can imagine the differing taste in music was tough and I am sure I made some people very happy and pissed off a few as well. However, with a couple exceptions (see lowlights below) the dance floor was packed, with almost no room to move all night. The lights worked out great and were awesome, wish I had got some pictures/video.

The highlights (songs that got cheers from the crowd) some of these may surprise you.
Jump (feat. Nelly Furtado) by Flo Rida
All I Ever Wanted (Radio Edit) by Basshunter
Day 'N' Nite by Kid Cudi
Right Round by Flo Rida
Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy) by Big & Rich
Poker Face by Lady GaGa
Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry
Low [feat T-Pain] by Flo
Glass Danse by The Faint
Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas
Let It Rock by Kevin Rudolf
Cherry Pie by Warrant
Walk This Way by Aerosmith
Mustang Sally by Buddy Guy
Shake It (Radio Mix) by Metro Station
In The Ayer [feat. will.I.am] by Flo Rida

Some of the lowlights included:
One couple (obviously C&W fans, since the Dude was wearing a western hat) asked if I could play Cotton Eyed Joe and feeling guilty since I hadn't played but a couple of country songs, I relented (against by better judgment). When the song began about two thirds of the dance floor emptied and went to the other room, some of the kids glaring at me as they were leaving. The dozen or so that were left seemed to enjoy it. I followed it up with a popular very upbeat song and the dance floor was packed once again.

The other low moment came when a gal asked me to play Better Together by Jack Johnson, which is a great song, but not for this crowd. I put it off, then at the end of the night, this gal comes back up and asks when/if I was going to play it. She explained that she was there with the Principle's son, who came back to town for the prom and this was their song. I played it and at first there were a few boos, but half of the crowd still danced to it.

It was a challenging event, but I had a blast, although I may never regain my hearing. Got home in bed about 3:00am and was still hearing all those songs going through my head, in fact I still am. Was up at 6:30 am and feeling it now.

Many Thanks to our Friend Bryan Meekin who helped me set up and came back after 1:00am and help me tear down and load! He then had to head over to help out at the after prom party, which was supposed to last until 5:00am.

The only pictures I have are the ones below of me in my outfit ready to go.

What, you didn't wash the dirt off the trailer, before the gig! Yes, the shirt is sound activated. The dancers on the front dance to the beat of the music.

Nice shoes Dude!

A better look at the Awesome Job Muriel did adding a sign to the trailer!