My sleep schedule got thrown out of wack after DJing 2 late night gigs in a row. All I did today was sleep in, pick up my suit from the dry cleaners, take a nap, eat, then prep music, notes & gear for tomorrow’s wedding. Now I’m back in bed ready to go back to sleep. Zzzz…
This afternoon I went on 3.65 mile hike, then delivered my blanks to Jimmy at Downtown Screen Printers so they can print me a new batch of San Jose (EMNSJ) shirts. Later, I went to Meeting of the Minds, the collaborative paint party, and painted a fun piece with my fiends Catrina & Eddie. When I got home, and in bed I started sketching out the design for a new mural I’m working on. Tomorrow night I’m DJing & hosting karaoke for a high school graduation party at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk from midnight till 2 AM. Busy, busy, busy…
It’s almost 4 AM and I’m still winding down after my gig tonight. The event itself was nothing spectacular, I’m just excited the week is over. Tomorrow I’m getting a little rest and some me time before jumping into a new mural and DJing more gigs later this week.
I’m back home after spending the day in Elk Grove. I’m all set to DJ tomorrow’s wedding in Monterey. Monday, I get to sleep in before starting work on a new mural design!
It took me 4 hours to prep the music and all my notes for two events this weekend. A 50th anniversary party in Woodside on Friday and a wedding in Monterey on Sunday. I had to prep for Sunday’s event tonight because on Saturday I’m going to Elk Grove for my grandma’s surprise birthday party. It’s a busy weekend, and a lot of driving, but I’m ready to crush and have a little fun!
A 1.5 hour drive through the Santa Cruz mountains. 3 different location setups. Hot ass day. Ceremony in the sun. Sweated my balls off. 6.5 hour long event. 1 hour drive back home. I’m tired as fuck but can’t sleep.
Tomorrow I’m DJing a wedding so tonight I spent a few hours preparing music, notes and logistics for the equipment. This is normal. I’m in DJ Mode long before the ceremony starts
Tonight I DJ’d my first wedding in almost 2 years and I’m happy to report I still got it! I was afraid my MCing & DJing was going to be rusty but once I started going through the motions it all came back to me. I forgot how much time it takes to process a timeline and prepare music for a wedding. I was up all night prepping for tomorrow. My first wedding in almost two years. Wish me luck!
I recently agreed to DJ a few weddings so I tried on my suit to see if it still fit and I could barely squeeze into the pants. I’ve decided to step up my workout routine before my first gig in a couple weeks. That means more hiking & walking. Picking up the weights. Running again. I may be a little rusty when I get back to work but I don’t want to be completely out of shape.
Today I agreed to take on 5 DJ gigs with my old work. The place I worked for 7 years before the pandemic. The events are in April & May of this year. Just a couple weeks ago I thought I had DJ’d my last gig and now I’m gonna give it another go. This will technically make it year 8. I hope I’m not too rusty.
Today was the Estate Sale at Local Color. Not a lot of people showed up, but I still had fun DJing. I was a little nervous because I was playing for the Local Color staff & artists instead of a typical audience. I made sure to give every artist vending a shout-out for participating. After it was over, I stashed my stuff inside Local Color and went to the Sofa Street Fair on South 1st St. I ran into some friends, hung out for a little while, then left to go pick up the gear and take it home. I'm exhausted after working seven days straight, and tomorrow I'm taking the day off to rest. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in. Today was supposed to be a rest day before DJing the Local Color Estate Sale on Sunday. Instead, I distributed a ceramic skull and shipped another (to 31 Skulls artists). I also had to go to the printers and get the brochure I designed last night printed & folded. I did manage to take 2 hour nap before prepping some music for tomorrow's event. I'll get some rest on Monday.
Today I went to the Local Color Keystone studio to get some work done. I'd primarily been working from home these last couple of months. I was on the computer all day till I had to test some audio equipment. They have a couple of 12" speakers there, so I checked to make sure they worked when I plugged them into my DJ controller. They did! I also used my new mic for the first time. I'll be using them when I DJ/MC their Estate Sale on September 26. It should be a fun gig! It's been almost 2 months, and I don't know why I waited this long to let everyone know that I took a contract job with Local Color as their Communications & Development person. I've been working with the amazing staff on the weekly and monthly newsletters, social media posts, and upcoming fundraisers. It's been a learning experience for all of us and I'm slowly starting to get in a groove. This is a paid gig till the end of the year but I'm also volunteering my time & services, like in a couple weeks, I'll be DJing & MCing their Estate Sale, to help artists in residence sell artwork before moving out of their current building. It should be a lot of fun and I hope a lot of people show up to support!
Today I organized, and put away, the tubs of gear used Friday night for my vendor booth. I also counted my t-shirts, updated the website inventory, and figured out how many I sold in each size & style. Besides counting & cleaning up, I started preparing for an upcoming exhibit I'll be announcing very soon. This is on top of the mural I'm currently designing and the new job I recently started (both of which I haven't made public yet). One thing that has been announced is that I'm DJing & MCing Local Color's Estate Sale on Sunday, September 26th.
For the last two gigs I DJ'd, I had to borrow a microphone, and now that I got a 3rd gig lined up, DJ/MCing Local Color's Estate Sale in a few weeks, I decided to buy a mic. I went with the tried & true Shure SM58. I used these at work for years, and they never failed. Now that I own a mic, I'm only a couple of 12" speakers away from having a viable mobile DJ rig. (I had been using my employer's equipment all these years.) I've turned down the offer to buy my own rig a couple of times before, but now I'm thinking of doing it.
I did not anticipate was how out of shape I was before DJing last night after a 12 month hiatus. Before covid shut down all weddings & events I'd been DJing every weekend for 7 years straight. I was used to the physical demands of the job. And although I'd been hiking on a regular basis for the last year, I wasn't prepared to be standing for 11 straight hours yesterday. Today I was practically dead to the world. I slept in late and when I woke up my feet, legs and back were all crazy sore. I stayed in bed most of the day, watched a couple movies and only left the house to go eat. I hope tomorrow's better because I gotta start sourcing materials and preparing for Saturday's event. I'll be doing an interactive live painting thingie downtown. It'll be my first time doing something like this and I need to figure out how I'm gonna accomplish it by Friday. It should be a lot fun and hopefully a lot less taxing on my body.
Tonight I DJ'd my first gig in over a year since covid shut everything down. It was my friends Mike & Raquel's son's graduation party on their ranch. It was super casual and laid back. A good event to shake off the rust. The only trouble I had wasn't my mixing, or MCing, but with the song selections. I couldn't remember half the music I used to play at events so I relied heavily on my Spotify playlists, which I have categorized by decades and genres. I was constantly scrolling thru Spotify on my phone looking for what to play next in Serato on my laptop. I still had a decent set even when I played random requests at the end of the night for the last few people there. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time.
It's been over a year since I last DJ'd an event. The last one was at a private residence on June 13, 2020, right in the thick of Covid. Before that, March 14, the day before California was ordered to shelter-in-place. Tomorrow I'm doing my buddy's son's high school graduation party at their house. This will be a good event to shake off any rust. I'm a little nervous, partly because I'm using a mix of my own equipment and my friends speakers, instead of my work's gear which is all a bit different. Either way, it should be fun.
Another busy day. I spent part of it calendaring upcoming events, something I haven't done in over a year, marking my wall calendar at home and updating my Google Calendar online. Things are opening back up! I already have one DJ gig booked in less than 2 weeks and 3 vending events happening in the coming months. Regardless of how busy I get, I need to stay physically active, so tonight I went to Alum Rock Park before closing and hiked up to Eagle Rock before sunset.
434.1This afternoon I went and bought a heavy-duty speaker stand for my single QSC K10 speaker and a couple 1/4" to XLR cables. I'd been using my work's DJ equipment all these years and now that I'm buying stuff for myself I'm reminded of how expensive everything is. Later, after practicing some mixing, I started tinkering with my bikes rear brakes and I think I fixed them. They weren't tight enough before. Now I gotta figure out why my front brakes squeak when I slow down or come to a stop. Tonight I finally went back to working on my taxes. I added up all the miles I'd driven in for business purposes in 2020 and it was 434.1. I took my bike back to Good Karma Bikes to get looked at this afternoon. Yesterday I took it for a ride and I wasn’t able to shift into the third/highest gear in the front. Today, at the shop, the guy tests it by turning the pedals and using the shifter and it starts working fine. He tells me to take it for ride and It worked like normal. So weird. Afterwards the repair guy said if I have any problems with it to bring it back and they’ll swap the shifter. I’m really liking the service at Good Karma Bikes. After returning home then working on the computer for hours I stopped to bake cookie dough that’d been sitting in the fridge all week. My friend made the dough and the cookies came out delicious. Tonight I also pulled out the DJ controller to start practicing again. I’m DJing my friends 40th birthday party next month and need to shake the rust off. And if that wasn’t enough, I also started sketching something weird on a 18”x24” sheet of paper. I was hoping I’d finish inking it tonight but I stated getting too wrapped up in details and didn’t come close.
The computer head was how I felt after working on that CD layout job on the puter all day yesterday.
This morning I received a text from a groom whose wedding I DJ'd two years ago. He said every time he heard a song from the wedding he was reminded that he forgot to tip me. He Venmo'd me a very nice tip and totally made my day. It also inspired my Inktober drawing for Day 22 |
Frankie Mcfly's
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