Bunn DJ Company

I have been DJ’ing for 24 years. I was getting hauled around to gigs by my mom because I didn’t have a license yet. It is what I do, yet every day I run into someone that goes “Are you really still doing that?” or “What else do you do?”. This is it. I’m a full time pro DJ and I love it. I get paid to play music. I get paid to make people dance. After doing weddings like the one on Sunday and reading postings and emails like the one below, I realize that this is what I was put on this earth to do. Some people become doctors and save lives, some people are contractors and build homes, others teach. My job is to entertain. And when I get older and don’t wish to be out in front of the crowd any longer, I hope that I’ll have built a legacy with my DJ company and trained other great DJs. I think I have.

From Renata’s blog post-

God bless this man- He has the ability to change the atmosphere in a room with just his voice. Joe was DJing our cocktail hour when 15 minutes into it- we lost power. The man wasn’t worried about his speakers (even though he heard a pop go through those bad boys- which is never good) he was worried about our reception. He sent off a groomsman and Cara’s assistant with his credit card to buy a generator to get things moving again asap.

With them gone on a mission to harness some power from gasoline…. he continued to DJ- even without a system… gathering our 100 person strong crowd together and getting them good and ready for our entrance. People were cheering for the full 2 minutes it took us to climb the stairs to get to them… and when we finally did – the energy was amazing!

I was so happy that even with no power and no music, people were still having a great time!

Soon after they returned with a generator & Joe got the music started…. and kept managing the flow of the evening flawlessly. You wouldn’t think of that kind of thing as an art – but this man is an artist! All the songs we requested were spot on & we had some funky ones. He got the right artists- everything was perfect. As the night went on it only got better as he filled the request for an east coast/west coast dance off that promptly went into a soul train line where people left it all on the floor! LOL I know people say this all the time- but he literally had to kick people off the dancefloor!

If you don’t get Joe to DJ your party – you will really be missing out on something special.

Julianne and Glenn’s wedding Sunday was at Sister’s Garden in Raleigh. I was hired to do the ceremony and reception, so I arrived extra early to set up all of the gear. The ceremony went off without a hitch and the music provided by Florian Trio was beautiful. Great ceremony! Afterwards, the guests moved into the AC and narrowly missed a rainstorm. After Chris from Azul Photography got his formal shots, I lined everyone up for their big introduction to “Bittersweet Symphony”. Once they entered, Julianne and Glenn went right into their first dance “Sea of Love” by Cat Power. An old song, but I had never heard this version before. It worked perfectly. Julianne then danced with her father to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland and Glenn danced with his mom to “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts. After that, they actually went ahead and cut the cake and then Julianne’s father gave a brief welcome. Sister’s staff immediately brought out salads and entrees. I love working with Marc and his crew over there, top notch! Once dinner was done, we got into dancing and it only took a couple of songs to get the party started. I played from their list and threw in some of my favorites and everyone was having a great time. The party really hit the next level after the bouquet and garter toss. Julianne’s family is Russian and she had given me four Russian songs to play. There were dances to all of them and they were great! It was the highlight of the night for me. The night ended with the whole crowd surrounding the newlyweds and singing “Piano Man”. It was awesome! I am looking forward to Chris’ pictures to post here.

Leyla and Amir threw themselves a graduation party this past Saturday at their parent’s house in Benson, NC. I did Leyla’s wedding at the Cardinal Club in 2006 so naturally she called me for her party. She booked me about a year ago in order to insure they got me personally. Well, guess what? She calls me the week before the party and says “I don’t think I’m going to be there”! I was like “WHAT?”. She is very pregnant and about to have a baby any day. Heck, by now, she may have already had it! In any case, the party was to go on. I arrived and their family and friends were all hanging out cooking and enjoying the summer day. I got set up and played a ton of great summer songs. After everyone ate, a guest brought up a CD with Persian music on it and that got the party started! By the end of the night, it was mostly Amir’s friends hanging out, drinking and playing beer pong! Of course at that point, I ripped into my hip hop and Top 40 set. Everyone had a great time and I was glad to have an easy gig instead of a complex wedding on a Saturday night!

Kristin and Alan’s reception was at Brier Creek Country Club and it looked amazing in there. They had their cocktail hour in Palmer’s Cove and then made their way into the ballroom where I was located for the introductions. The bridal party entered to “Better Together” by Jack Johnson and then I cranked it up a notch when the bride and groom came in with “Dance the Night Away” by Van Halen. Everyone loved their choice and then they went right into their special dances. I like when couples choose to do this. Get all three done right away so you can have fun the rest of the night. Their first dance was “Everything” by Michael Buble. Great song. She danced with her father to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland and then Alan danced with his mom to “The Man You’ve Become” by Molly Pasutti. Dinner came out after Kristin gave a neat car pinata to the couple that came the farthest distance (Washington state!) for their wedding. The food was great! After the toasts and cake, it was time to dance and from the first song until the last, the dance floor was rocking. I played all of their song list and then started mixing in some of my choices. It was a great reception and I can’t wait to see the pictures from Summer Gibbs Photography.

Lyndsey and Frank actually were married by a justice of the peace or something several months ago before Frank was deployed to Iraq by the Army. However, they wanted to have a real reception and they did! They had their event at Cafe Luna at noon this past Saturday. It started off shaky due to some weird storms and tons of traffic due to the Artsplosure event, but once we got everyone inside, it was a great time. They started off with their first dance “Heaven Sent” by Bryan White and then Lyndsey and her dad danced to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. Mr. Daniels than gave a quick welcome and the buffet began shortly afterwards. I actually got to eat at this one and the food was fantastic! Cara and Shareen (I think I spelled that wrong) from A Southern Soiree were hired to do their thing “day of” and they kept things moving just like I like. I get to stick to the music and they handle the timeline and other details. I don’t know if Lyn from Fresh Affairs did all of the flowers, but I saw the bouquets he did, and they were awesome.

After the toasts and cake cutting, we moved into some dancing. I played all types of stuff and most folks got up and danced, yes, in the middle of the day. Frank’s friends/Army buddies were hilarious and kept the energy level up. At one point, a homeless guy came in and started playing his drums in the middle of the reception! That was nuts. The other highlight was when Lyndsey hiked up her wedding dress and did the “Tootsie Roll” at the end of the dance off. Hands down, she won! The photographer was Mark McCoy. This was the first time I worked with him. Great guy and I can’t wait to see some of his work. When I get the pictures, I will post them here!

Once again I was asked to DJ Millbrook High School’s prom this year. It was at Sister’s and once again proved to be a great time. At the beginning of the prom, I was asked to play “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg. Yes, I know this sounds weird, but there is a great story behind it. Wendy, my point of contact, gave me the story. A guy basically asked a girl to the prom in 1969 who he ended up marrying. However, he never got over the girl he didn’t ask. Years later, he got divorced and reconnected with the girl he didn’t ask. They are now married and this song was “their song”. It was a great way to start the prom. After that of course, it was all hip hop and Top 40 all night and the kids went nuts every time I dropped one of the big hits. Almost all of these songs had some sort of dance to go with them. Where has all of the good music gone? This stuff is pretty much garbage, or it could be I’ve just gotten too old to DJ proms. In any case, it went great! I have already booked them again for 2010!

This is going to be a doozy (is that how you spell that?) of a blog post because this was one wild wedding weekend. First off, I must say that Renata is one of the prettiest brides I’ve ever seen. She is currently the lead in The Lion King in Vegas and after seeing her and hearing her sing, I know why. I will also say that Golden Belt is one of the coolest and most unique venues around. The white fabric and neat rentals by Triangle and CE Rentals and lighting by Rick Bryda with Total Production Services really made this old warehouse space look perfect. In addition, the cake (tasty!) by Swank Cake Design was gorgeous, and the food (tasty!) by Posh Nosh Catering had everyone stuffed. I will have to say that once again Cara and her A Southern Soiree team pulled off an amazing looking room and reception. More on them later.

Now for the not so great part. Where do I start? I guess from the top. Here we go. 15 minutes into the cocktail hour, I hear a loud POP come through my speakers (which is never good by the way), seconds after, we lose all power in the building. However, it’s not just in the building, it’s the entire block and Duke Power is reporting mass outages throughout the city. Nice way to start a reception. As the bridal party arrived with Stephanie, Cara’s assistant, we started brainstorming. Let’s go get a generator and get this party started! Stephanie and a groomsman took off to Home Depot with my credit card (ummm, not sure how that part happened, but I ended up returning it and getting my $ back, classic). They came back less than an hour later with a 5500 watt generator and plenty of gas. We had lighting and power soon afterwards for dinner! Then what happened? The power came back ON! Nuts.

So we finally got around to their first dance “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses. I couldn’t have been more pumped about that one. We went into their parent dances and then had some very moving toasts and our cake cutting. Finally, it was dance time and let me tell you, they have some friends that can GET DOWN! I played a mix of songs from all genres from old to new and back again. In the middle of the dance set, Renata sang “At Last” with a friend of hers that played acoustic guitar. It was AMAZING! It was definitely the highlight of the reception for me after all that had happened. At the end of the night as everyone rocked out to “Shout” and a final slow song by Louis Armstrong, we waited for their car to arrive after the sparkler departure. We waited and called and waited and called. Finally, a taxi showed up! Umm, not good. So, Stephanie stepped up and drove the bride and groom to their hotel back in Cary from Durham! I will have to say, that this wedding was amazing, but could have been a disaster if not for these amazing vendors mentioned in this blog post. Cara, Stephanie, Rick, Ana, the caterers, and myself worked our butts off that day to keep things running smoothly. Ana with Studio One shot some amazing pictures below.

The Triangle Bridal Association held its first annual Star Awards this past Tuesday night at the Crabtree Courtyard Marriott. After some great Cinco de Mayo food and drinks, Laura Digiralamo went into the program and awards. There were four categories that we entered-Best Direct Mail Piece, Best HTML Email, Best Company Identity, and Best Print Ad. Guess what? We won 2 of the 4! Sweet! I have to think my man Michael Klett with WebAdvocate for help on the email and Anoroc Agency for our awesome company identity they created years ago. Looking forward to next year’s awards!

Mark and Kathryn had an absolutely amazing reception this past weekend at The Carolina Inn. I met them months ago and have been looking forward to this one because their schedule was a bit different than the normal Saturday. Their wedding planner, Cara Zuehlke with A Southern Soiree helped make sure that this event not only looked amazing, but went off without a hitch. Cara and her team (Jamie and Stefanie) got everyone in the ballroom right before introductions and then kept it smoothly running until the end. They are a pleasure to work with, and I can focus on what I do best, and that is DJ’ing! So about the room, as I was setting up, my buddy Lyn Graves from Fresh Affairs was heading out. He pulled another amazing job with incredible florals and of course Carolina Blue linens. I don’t know flowers, but I do know they used alot of Carolina blue hydrangeas (sp?).

The introduction song was “Right Back Where We Started From” by Maxine Nightingale, and then they went immediately into the hora! I had everyone out there for 7 minutes, chairs in the air and everything, when all of the sudden I see everyone stop and stare at the floor! The groom had lost his ring, yikes! Luckily, his brother found it a couple of minutes later. Whew! Here was the interesting part, the couple wanted dancing during dinner! I was thinking to myself, “no way”, but you know what, I started playing some classic oldies and they were out there rocking…during dinner! After the soup, the couple did their first dance to “Lovin U” by Alicia Keys, and then after the salad, we did the toasts, and after the entree, they cut the cake. I told you, not conventional, but it worked great and everyone had a great time with the long dance set at the end of the cake cutting. I mixed everything from “Ain’t too Proud to Beg” to “My Humps”. It was a dance party for almost the entire 5 hour reception (with some eating thrown in to keep their energy up). Great party guys! Please take a look at the amazing pics from the wedding from James & Meridith of Walters & Walters.