Master DJ, Can I Make A Request

I’m part of this yahoogroups of my college theater company, TA. For the past three days the TA alumni from the different eras have been reminiscing about their wild parties during their time. Several have cited my DJ-ing during those parties as one of the best reasons why they enjoyed the parties.

Well. Flattery will get them everywhere, hahaha!

During my time there was no dancing during our cast parties. I had this notion that the people then didn’t want to dance, as if they looked at dancing with disdain, a frivolous activity “serious” artists don’t engage in. I think it’s only because the people then were dorks who had two left feet. I graduated from college without dancing at a TA party.

As an alumnus I was always invited to the cast parties. I remember one particular party held at Cuchie Alcuaz’s house—it’s the one on the corner of Balete Drive, the most popular “haunted” house in Philippine television—where the current members of TA had several dance numbers. The boys had their own number, the girls had theirs too. They danced to pop tunes with choreography popularized in shows like Eat Bulaga and ‘Sang Linggo n-APO Sila. I remember fellow alumnus Apa Ongpin standing up and declaring, “Well, I see that TA has become a noontime show!”

After that I noticed that during TA parties the members would bring their own CDs and dance. They would come up to me and ask if I could bring my CDs too. So I started bringing my CDs to the parties too.

At first I’d just play one song after the other, with a lull in between as I’d switch from disc to disc. Nobody seemed to mind. Then someone was brilliant enough to bring two players—allowing me to get rid of the lull in between songs. We didn’t have professional players and mixers; I had to figure out which song would best segue after a previous one.

My best stint as a DJ did not happen in a TA party. It was in Subic, where Basic Advertising had its Corplan. Saturday evening was set aside for party time, and they even hired a “professional” mobile from nearby Olongapo to provide the sounds. Unfortunately, their choice of music was, to put it bluntly, too pedestrian for the sossy Makati crowd. Good thing I brought my luggage full of CDs for the party. Finally I had both the music plus the mixer; the crowd lapped it up. The party was a huge hit; an AE ended up drunk and asleep inside the ladies room, another account supervisor immortalized the line “I am the dancing queen!” a media manager danced wearing leotards with leopard prints and a tear near her, er, “hole,” getting all the boys excited whenever she’d spread her legs. And I was able to play Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and people actually danced to it!

One of the biggest lessons I learned while DJ-ing: know your audience. If you know what songs will get them off their butts, then you’ll have the crowd at your fingertips. It’s amazing the kind of power trip one gets when the crowd is at your mercy. Another lesson is: don’t force your taste onto a crowd. If they don’t like what you like, move on as soon as possible. And don’t take it personally.

Nowadays I don’t DJ anymore. There was a time when I had this extreme love/hate relationship with my being the unofficial DJ of TA. Everyone expected me to provide the music and the life of the party. But that meant I couldn’t enjoy the party because I’d be hard at work. Plus I rebelled against the pressure of providing the life of the party and the expectations of people. And I felt like doing a different kind of power-tripping: “You want me to liven up your party? Grovel at my feet!”

In the end the kids started bringing their own music, I became more and more un-attuned to what was hip and cool with the kids, and I also started going less and less to TA parties. Or maybe they’ve stopped inviting me?