OK KARAOKE

IMHO you didn`t punish him, you punished the crowd! Later negotiations may have extracted an apology and reinstatement of your engagements, but the way you handled it precluded that for all time. Sad really.

I have been using, and relying on KaZaA Lite for quite some time. However I have now removed it from my Internet PC, formatted and reinstalled all my software EXCEPT KaZaA. When using KaZaA are you safely tucked away behind a Firewall? And is your Antivirus software protecting you at all times? Yes? That`s what I thought until someone alerted me. I discovered that my Firewall was severly crippled and my Antivirus had been disabled - not by me. I will not let KaZaA near my PC again until I am running the best AV and NIS that I can find - and then I will monitor the situation very closely

QUOTE (The Spindoctor @ May 1 2003, 01:38 PM) Thing with socks and hairspray is if you can get anywhere near the darn thing! If they have done their job right you need an extension ladder and a suicidal roadie to even touch it! Air-rifle any good ?? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/smile.gif

Did a Masonic Lodge some years ago (with a band, not disco). One set of double fire doors had one door screwed shut (screwed to the floor), and the other door screwed open (screwed to the wall). http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/533.gif Our drummer, whose brother is a fireman, gave the doorman a good ticking off then proceded to wrench the doors open/closed respectively. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/blink.gif The door which had been screwed to the floor actually split near the bottom because of the force he used (strong lad), http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/oop

QUOTE (ian @ May 6 2003, 03:04 PM) PAT tested these days offers no significant difference between DJ's. After all, any competent person can pat test their own equipment. Sorry - wrong! Yes, you can now buy a low-end Portable Appliance tester for under £400 (the good ones are a Grand up), but you are supposed to be a qualified electrician with up-to-date JIB to use it and have the authority to issue the cert. If it were that easy I would be doing it myself as I have an electronics background. Who will sign the cert for you?

Using a computer I create VCDs which I play on my RSQ player. I can put any message I like, and add animations, photographs and backing music if necessary. I have just finished one which lasts 20 minutes. It is an animated advert for my karaoke setup, with scrolling text urging folks to get up and have a go. I have sound-bites all the way through, along with cartoon animations (singers & dancers) and a running countdown in the Top-Left Corner saying "KARAOKE STARTS IN xx MINUTES". I have been playing around with this for ages but it`s only since I built a faster computer that it has b

Depends on the gig, age and personal tastes of the guests/organisers but yes, if it`s party time; Reach, Tragedy, Raining Men, Oops Upside, Saturday Night/Macarena, Follow Da Leader - all the usual. I like to end with...Grease Megamix - (during the lulls I say my quick thanx & tatty-byes), and just as they`re all joining in the end "those su-u-mmer ni-ights...." I hit New York New York. Same key and starts on the note the other one finishes. So then they get a final knees-up followed by a real slow smooch (or two) while I unplug stuff. Also, I usually try and knock off all my bright

QUOTE (mikeee @ Apr 23 2003, 11:20 PM) Come on, No secrets, Tell all OK http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif I was one third of a Function Trio doing Hotels, marquees, restaurants etc. We got this booking for a "Hunt Ball" in Shrewsbury. There was a disco (poor sod) who played from 7pm, filled in when we were off, and was booked through till 7.00am. Our spots were 11.30pm to 1.00am and 2.00am to 3.00am. We were taking care of the "ballroom dance" stuff; Waltz, Fox, Quickstep, Tango... you get the picture. Just before 1.00am a young pratt in Scottish dress

Last year - a wedding. First off, the groom said "No eighties music!!". Kinda cramps yer style a bit. Then he gives me a list of "suggested titles", which consisted mainly of rock bands. Each time I played summat to get the women up dancing, he would come over and glare at me and tell me to "play some decent music" - then pick summat off the list. The Bride & Groom left around 11.15 and I launched into the party stuff. There were enough guests left to lift the atmosphere and we were really swinging when, at about 11:35, the house fuses blew. No lights, no power, no nothing - just pa

Two peeps in my area have had their gear confiscated for using laptops with MP3s and MP3+G Karaoke. I actually think that it was the karaoke which brought it to the attention of Trading Standards. One guy was the compere of a local Political club who apparently spent his nights bragging to all and sundry that he had the best music and karaoke collection in the UK (modest, what!). It must have got a bit too much for someone as he was "bubbled". The club was raided and he and his laptop were carted away. His home was then raided and all his PC and music equipment confiscated. I understand

I`m never impressed with supposed Noise Limiters. Once, after being read the Riot Act I asked the club Secretary what level his limiter was set at. He didn`t know. I then asked where the warning light was which would tell me when I was approaching the cut-off threshold.... the bulb had gone. I gave him 2 options...... 1) he disconnect the limiter or 2) got another disco. --- I had a good night http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I prefer it more like this. ----- "Dear.......... This document ties you [name ] unremittingly into the following Contract. You have agreed to hire [ Disco Name ] to perform on: [ date ] at [ venue ] --- Start time will be at the DJ`s pleasure, and finish time will be whenever said DJ becomes bored or falls asleep, whichever is the sooner. - In the unlikely event that people enjoy themselves, extra time may be negotiable on the following terms:- 1). Double the previous hourly rate, PAID CASH IN ADVANCE before each period of extra time. 2). Free drinks for the rest of the perfo

I`ve just had a Wedding binned because my fee was too high. They wanted Karaoke/Disco from 2pm to 5pm. Then they wanted Disco from 7pm to 1am. I told them £130 for the evening and £70 for the afternoon. Total 200 quid. I was replaced by a local guy who does disco to supplement his Dole money. He`s doing the whole gig for a hundred quid!! They won`t know whether I am better than him or not, whether I have more music than him etc etc.. all they`ll know is - they saved a hundred quid so I must be a rip-off merchant. And although I shouldn`t say it............. I hope the disco is crap an

A bit off-topic but......... One thing which amazed me when I went from being a Club "turn" to a DJ was the number of "last minute" gigs you get. As a club "Act" I was normally booked anything from 6 to 18 months in advance. When I turned to DJ-ing I got worried about the lack of pre-booked engagements. It seems that people must decide on the spur of the moment to have a disco.

I am NOT going to give away anyone`s secrets. All I will say is...... enter "Glowstick", Glow Stick", and "Glo-Stick" in a decent search engine http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif

While you`re at it Chris - can you price me some speaker leads for year-after-next?? http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Legwork.... Check out local venues in person. Call in, chat with staff, leave cards and leaflets if you have any. I have just approached 2 venues in my area. One is a pub which used to have Karaoke on a Sunday but recently changed hands and currently have not sorted out any entertainment. The other is a "Cocktail Lounge" (that`s what they call it). they have live entertainment Fri/Sat/Sun. I played an Irish night for them in March and they intimated that they "might" decide to have a Karaoke night on Thursdays. -- My ploy in both of these is to offer to do the first week for a very low

Won`t `appen http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif You need an entertainment license for karaoke or bands - loadsa pubs ignore this. All venues are supposed to provide safe working environments.. no comment http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/wink.gif I know off 2 pubs with no ent`ts licence who celebrate "somebody`s" birthday 3 nights a week so they can pretend it`s a private party. These new "rules" will be ignored by most just like the old ones. Eventually most of it will be re-written as "guidelines" which will be laughed at. I once worked a

Just install BPM Studio in a laptop. Or otsjuke http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/wink.gif -- My days of breadboard experiments are gone. In fact, come to think of it, my last major "venture" was designing and building a discrete component interface so I could house my old Spectrum computer (don`t laff) in a Bunker-Ramo terminal keyboard. Got some very quizzical looks with that one http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif -- What exactly you trying to do, anyway? You do know that you can run multiple instances of stuff like Winamp? I`ve use

Thanks Chris - food for thought

I`m a tech - does that count? Been in electronics nearly 30 years, got C&G etc... Regularly check my gear over... Some of the "techs" I`ve met I wouldn`t trust with a clockwork trainset http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/wink.gif

They better pay minimum £250 a gig then http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif [ btw Chris - you haven`t added the hour yet for summertime ]

If you are a member of Equity you get automatic £1Million PLI as a Member Benefit - I`m glad to say http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif Also £150 "Back Stage Loss" insurance in case someone nicks a bit of your gear.

I always ask on the Booking Form.. "If there is anything special you would like to hear on the night, please let me know. This usually brings a handful of titles, but once (a 70th birthday) I was given a list of 47 tracks "to include during the evening" Trouble was, the evening was only 8:30 to 11:00pm and they wanted to include a couple of speeches, presentations and cake-cutting ceremony. I tried to explain that there would not be enough time during the night to play those tracks listed and also throw in some requests, and was told in no uncertain terms to stick to the list! Musically, t

If you`re going to use a laptop for DJ work, then do just that. But don`t start using it for anything else. Most PCs give trouble because they are crammed full of software of various types, from a veritable menagerie of software houses/writers, some good, some not-so-good and some downright diabolical. It`s no wonder that poor ole Windoze has a coronary every now & then http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/wink.gif -- I have a number of systems ranging from an old P133 desktop through Toshiba 1.3GHz laptop to my current best, Athlon 2000XP system. Two of my systems ar