There are three Dj's at our club. Two of them are AMAZING at what they do, really professional, know their music, easy to work with...love them.
The third, who is fairly new (but has been around long enough that he shouldn't be so incompetant by now)...he's a disaster. Nice guy, but has NO CLUE how to DJ.
Right now, I purposely take into account when he works when deciding when I'm going to come in, because I cannot handle working with him. However...now that I'm back in school, I don't think I can be that picky about scheduling...I'll probably have to start working with him again soon.
Yesterday made my blood boil. The way it works at our club is: we have a system with music that's pre-approved my the owner. We dancers have cue cards where we write down "our songs" and what's to be played when we're on the main stage. We don't get to specifically request songs each time we go up, but it's expected that the DJ will play 2-3 of the songs ON OUR CARDS for each of our sets.
I dance mainly to Latin music, and I HATE HATE HATE any sort of chick-rock, bubblegum pop or dance...yet every time I went up onstage, i got some shit that a) i hate and can't dance to, and b) is NOT on my card. After two sets of fucking Britney Spears and Ashley Simpson-type shit, I went over and asked him to please play something that's on my card. My next set was a Santana song (ok, good!)...and some shitty dance song that a) sucked, and b) did NOT work with the other song at all. But that's how he rolls--his sets never flow well together or make any sense.
I was already fuming. The other DJ's know that I take VERY good care of them, and it's well worth their while to play only what's on my card. I'm very particular about my music, and to me it's worth it to tip the DJ 3 times what's required, to ensure that I get only good music for stage. It might not matter to some, but it matters a lot to me. I do high-energy stage sets that make me a LOT of $$ in stage tips...and as hard as I try to pretend i'm feeling it, I cannot pull that off at all when I'm forced to dance to music I hate. Just can't.
This guy just does not get it. I know he's not targeting me, because he does this to all the girls. He thinks it's his job to pick our music...fuck no, it's not! His job is to look at our fucking cards and PICK MUSIC OFF OF THEM and play it!
So after growing increasingly frustrated and angry every time I went onstage...the last straw was my last stage set. The owner is really strict about what music he approves, and he's strict about not playing anything that deviates much from "mainstream" music (top 40, dance, pop, rock--but nothing too "heavy"). I'm the only one that dances to Latin music, and even then, it can't be anything "too Latin"...it has to be stuff like Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Santana, etc. I have two songs, though, that are asterisked in the system--that means the owner considers them too over-the-top for regular play, and they are ONLY allowed to be played if i'm doing a full-on Latin theme set, with costumes and all. One of my favorite DJs, who actuallyt knows what he's doing, will sometimes sneak one of the "restricted" songs into one of my regular sets on a slow night, but ONLY IF the owner isn't there!
But what does the incompetant DJ do? For my last set, he plays BOTH of the restricted songs...while the owner is standing right in front of the booth!![]()
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I flipped out. I didn't say anything to him, though, because whatever would have come out would have been over-the-top nasty. he's not THAT new--he should KNOW better! He KNOWS what the asterisks mean and that he's not supposed to play those songs unless there's a theme set. And he sure as hell knows he's supposed to be playing songs from the dancers' cards, not picking out his own random shit!
The reason I flipped out is because one of the good DJs warned me that if they start playing restricted songs, the owner will delete the whole Latin file...and then i will have about five songs left to dance to.And then my stage sets will suck big-time. And I depend on my stage sets...I do most of my selling "from the stage". Not to mention that I don't want to have to deal with this crap--I want to be able to focus on making money, not training the DJ. The other DJs have got it down--they keep the good music coming, I tip them well for it, everyone wins. But this other guy just doesn't get it.
Sorry...I just needed to rant. I'm sure some of you can relate--any advice? suggestions? anything I can do about this?
the only thing i can think of to do is askone of the good DJs to let me re-write a new cue card, making it so it can't possibly be any more clear which songs I want. And maybe ask him to delete the restricted theme-set songs, because it's not worth risking having my whole folder deleted.
And i guess I'm going to have to talk to the owner and beg him to put at least some of the songs back if he actually does delete my whole Latin folder.
I'm so fucking paranoid that after yesterday's incident, i'm going to come in to work next Friday and find the whole Latin folder gone.![]()


And then my stage sets will suck big-time. And I depend on my stage sets...I do most of my selling "from the stage". Not to mention that I don't want to have to deal with this crap--I want to be able to focus on making money, not training the DJ. The other DJs have got it down--they keep the good music coming, I tip them well for it, everyone wins. But this other guy just doesn't get it.
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