Taking a minute to reflect on the very full weekend as I listen to London Elektricity's podcast...
Early Friday night, I played drums at Unity Center in a benefit for the church. We did 24 songs that members had requested as dedications over the previous 3 weeks. Even though I did not play all of them, it was very challenging, learning the songs in such a short time. We did some country, jazz, R&B, and even a reggae tune. Bill Whiz was the mastermind who kept us all from losing our minds as it came together. Special thanks to Larry Harms for stepping up and playing basslines as we could not find a bass player in the 'live music capital of the world.' Props also to Tommy, Tina, Cheryl, Rev. Jill, Becky, and Joy who all brought their magic to the evening. Oh and thanks to Mom for coming out too!
After that, I flew down to Flamingo Cantina on 6th street for another edition Catch A Fire with Jah Ray & Q45. Turnout was slightly off, maybe due to the cold. We had a great time though and the vibes were nice with the music, esp the 'tune-4-tune' session at the end of the night. Thanks to Victor for help on the sound as always. We will take the month of November off and return on December 15th.
Saturday night, I played the wedding ceremony and reception for Bob & Natalie at Kali-Kate in Buda. The ceremony touched me as usual. I just love to see people get married! I've been hearing about this venue for awhile and was glad to finally experience the place. It's an outdoor pavillion and very spacious. The horses are great too. Special thanks to Cindy & Blain of Kali-Kate for their help and also thanks to the wedding coordiantors: Emily, Jerre, and Mandy of Something to Celebrate for helping to keep the evening flowing and the timing perfect on the ceremony. While loading out, the final adventure of the night was watching the groomsmen break into a car trunk with a crowbar! Somebody had locked their keys in the trunk.
Sunday, did my usual sound gig at Unity and taking it easy for the rest of the day, aside from working on the Music4Life vision board.
Here is my schedule this week:
Monday - KAZI 88.7 FM - 1-3 pm - RJ's R&B
Tuesday - KAZI 88.7 FM - 6-10pm - Dad Show & Reggae Evolution
Wednesday - Flamingo Cantina - Project Life Capoeira Benefit
Thursday - 6:30pm - Open House at San Michele in Buda. Come talk to us about our services.
Friday - Threads Of Change party
Saturday - PrintGlobe party
Wishing all of you the best in life and love!
RJ
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
CU / Texas Star Events Center
On Friday evening, I played for Consumers Union Special thanks to Melissa, my daughter's mother at their housewarming party. We had a cool Friday evening with everybody enjoying food and beverages at the end of the work week. Thanks to Melissa, my daughter's mother for hooking me up with this great opportunity.
On Saturday night, I played at Texas Star Meeting Event Center last night for Shannon & David Zuniga and we had a great time. This venue is way deep in South Austin on Manchaca and can hold up to 400 people. It's very clean and has two huge halls that can be used at the same time. They have a cool gazebo room if you want to have the ceremony there as well. It is conveniently located behind Austin Party Central, where you can rent any additional items you need for your reception.
Musically, we went all over the place, from classic jazz to hip-hop, tejano, and country. I played 6 songs for the dollar dance. People just kept lining up, so we kept it going. I wish we could have played a couple more hours.
Thanks to Shannon & David for a great event and thanks also to Lydia of Texas Star who was very helpful coordinating the flow of the evening and keeping me supplied with water.
A great weekend!
DJ-RJ
On Saturday night, I played at Texas Star Meeting Event Center last night for Shannon & David Zuniga and we had a great time. This venue is way deep in South Austin on Manchaca and can hold up to 400 people. It's very clean and has two huge halls that can be used at the same time. They have a cool gazebo room if you want to have the ceremony there as well. It is conveniently located behind Austin Party Central, where you can rent any additional items you need for your reception.
Musically, we went all over the place, from classic jazz to hip-hop, tejano, and country. I played 6 songs for the dollar dance. People just kept lining up, so we kept it going. I wish we could have played a couple more hours.
Thanks to Shannon & David for a great event and thanks also to Lydia of Texas Star who was very helpful coordinating the flow of the evening and keeping me supplied with water.
A great weekend!
DJ-RJ
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Great Bride-Father Dance Song
Brides out there should consider "I Loved Her First" by Heartland as a father-daughter dance song. It's currently number 2 on Billboard's country chart.
Listen to it here. Check the comments of this post to read the lyrics and comment if you like.
DJ-RJ
Listen to it here. Check the comments of this post to read the lyrics and comment if you like.
DJ-RJ
Thursday, October 05, 2006
ISES meeting
Tonight, I attended an ISES meeting at Green Pastures. ISES is the International Special Events Society and is composed of other wedding and meeting professionals who are commited to producing quality events. Met some wonderful people and the food was great. The presenters were Bill Steigerwald and Ronne Rock. The topic was branding and was very informative. It has me thinking harder about my branding and logo and marketing materials and refining my message about the essence just what Music4Life is. I know that I want to continue building the company and brining people joy with music and great service. So, I have to think about all of this and figure out how to move forward with my branding, etc.
I want to thank ISES for a great event and for taking the time to educate those of us who want to improve and do better.
RJ
I want to thank ISES for a great event and for taking the time to educate those of us who want to improve and do better.
RJ
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Tune In - Monday 1:00pm
Inviting you to tune in on Monday at 1pm to KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin. I'll be playing some R&B classics from the 80s and then an hour of new-school R&B songs after that.
DJ-RJ
DJ-RJ
What A Weekend !
It's only halfway over!
On Friday night, Anne and I had a date for a change! We went out to dinner and later went dancing at Graham Central Station. The concept of the club is that they have multiple rooms with different musical themes. The first thing I noticed when we went in was that we were not in Austin any more as many of the people there were smoking inside the club. Something I have gotten very used to not having to deal with when I play in clubs in Austin since smoking was banned awhile back. There was country in the big room and it was pretty full. The DJ booth was inside a White Freightliner semi cab. There was the 70/80s room that we jammed in for awhile to some Prince, and Michael Jackson and some other 80s rock. The DJ had some tight mixes and kept the beat going quite nicely. We checked out the Coyote Ugly room which was the most empty room. We couldn't figure out the point of it. The karaoke room was good and also the hip-hop room. Overall a cool experience and interesting people watching too. Straight outta where? Pflugerville y'all!
Tonight, I did another wedding at Hamilton 12 and it was excellent. Played lots of classic jazz for drinking and dinner. Spoke to many of the people there and got lots of requests, most of which I was able to play. Even played a request for Doris Day that the older folks were digging on, "que sera sera!" Got in a car accident on Hwy 71 about 10 minutes before I got to the gig when a man cut over two lanes of traffic in front of me. Turns out it was a teacher from LBJ High School where I used to go and we had a few good laughs about the whole thing. I am not attached to cars so much and was able to get to the gig in time. I am just glad we were both alright. So Monday, it will off to the bodyshop for new hood, front fender and bumper.
Tonight, after the gig, I'm enjoying music from Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, two of my favorite producers. They are former members of The Time and have worked with everybody in R&B from Janet Jackson to the S.O.S Band, Alexander O'Neal, Cherrelle, New Edition, Mya and on and on. I need to do some digging and see what they have been working on since moving from Minneapolis to LA other than Janet's new release. I don't care for the first two singles from her new release so far.
Now I lay me down to sleep...
DJ-RJ
On Friday night, Anne and I had a date for a change! We went out to dinner and later went dancing at Graham Central Station. The concept of the club is that they have multiple rooms with different musical themes. The first thing I noticed when we went in was that we were not in Austin any more as many of the people there were smoking inside the club. Something I have gotten very used to not having to deal with when I play in clubs in Austin since smoking was banned awhile back. There was country in the big room and it was pretty full. The DJ booth was inside a White Freightliner semi cab. There was the 70/80s room that we jammed in for awhile to some Prince, and Michael Jackson and some other 80s rock. The DJ had some tight mixes and kept the beat going quite nicely. We checked out the Coyote Ugly room which was the most empty room. We couldn't figure out the point of it. The karaoke room was good and also the hip-hop room. Overall a cool experience and interesting people watching too. Straight outta where? Pflugerville y'all!
Tonight, I did another wedding at Hamilton 12 and it was excellent. Played lots of classic jazz for drinking and dinner. Spoke to many of the people there and got lots of requests, most of which I was able to play. Even played a request for Doris Day that the older folks were digging on, "que sera sera!" Got in a car accident on Hwy 71 about 10 minutes before I got to the gig when a man cut over two lanes of traffic in front of me. Turns out it was a teacher from LBJ High School where I used to go and we had a few good laughs about the whole thing. I am not attached to cars so much and was able to get to the gig in time. I am just glad we were both alright. So Monday, it will off to the bodyshop for new hood, front fender and bumper.
Tonight, after the gig, I'm enjoying music from Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, two of my favorite producers. They are former members of The Time and have worked with everybody in R&B from Janet Jackson to the S.O.S Band, Alexander O'Neal, Cherrelle, New Edition, Mya and on and on. I need to do some digging and see what they have been working on since moving from Minneapolis to LA other than Janet's new release. I don't care for the first two singles from her new release so far.Now I lay me down to sleep...
DJ-RJ
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