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August 20th, 2010
Rocker John Cougar Mellencamp said recently he thought iPods render music “unrecognisable”.
At a seminar at the Grammy Museum in the US, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer lashed out at all things digital, including the entire internet itself. “I think the internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb,” he said.
“It’s destroyed the music business. It’s going to destroy the movie business.”
He saved his main rant, however, for his belief that when it came to music, popularity had come at the expense of sound quality.
Mellencamp said he’d listened to Beatles tracks on remastered CDs, then found the same tracks “unrecognisable” on an iPod.
“You could tell it was those guys singing, but the warmth and quality of what the artist intended for us to hear was so vastly different,” he said.
Well Johnny Cougar, you’d better get used to it. Because Ipods and similar devices are here to stay. Our Brisbane and Gold Coast jukebox hire business accommodates this trend with the hire of our Ipod party packs.
As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat’em, join ‘em!
Tags: Jukebox Hire, jukebox hire brisbane, Jukebox hire Gold Coast
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Jukebox Hire | No Comments »
August 10th, 2010
Reflecting the passion some still feel for him, an unharmonious if not downright discordant dispute erupted at an Elton John concert in Monte Carlo after a 70-year-old woman started brawling with a 30-something blond - for obstructing her view.
“The two of them were each wearing what looked like 70 carats of diamonds and ball gowns that looked equally expensive,” one witness said.
The older woman, nicknamed “70″, started barking in French, and the younger woman howled back.
“When Younger Blond turned around, 70 grabbed her hair and pulled out a gigantic blond weave.”
The witness said the two “ladies” slapped and kicked each other while still seated until security came. At that point, 70 launched two glasses of champagne at Younger Blond and was escorted out. Too bad this catfight wasn’t captured on video and placed on YouTube!
“The crazy thing was that Elton never missed a beat. He noticed the brawl but kept on singing Tiny Dancer. It was unbelievable.” (“Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” would’ve been a more appropriate song, one wag suggested).
Well done, Elton. Never in my life have I had two women brawling over me – especially rich ones! You still have it, old boy… good onya, mate.
Although it must be said that our jukebox hire and DJ hire staff have reported that over the past few years, Elton’s songs have declined as far as popularity with younger folk go. If you’re under 30, it probably barely matters if you never hear an Elton John song. He’s been soundly displaced by the likes of Justin Timberlake, Usher, T-Pain, Lil’ John, Chris Brown, Kanye West and the Adam Lamberts of this world.
There’s a moral here somewhere. Hmm, let me see…
Time waits for no one. Not even exceedingly rich and multitalented artists such as Elton John. It reminds me of the story of the great prophet, who said he cried at least once each day not because he was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short. Profound wisdom such as this should not be easily overlooked.
 
Tags: DJ Hire, Elton John, Jukebox Hire, Tiny Dancer, YouTube
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Jukebox Hire | 6 Comments »
August 9th, 2010
8pm on Friday night and the air was calm. I was looking forward to a relaxing evening, having experienced a busy week. Suddenly though, the phone rang.
“Hi, it’s Bill here. I’m sorry to do this to you but it’s my daughter’s 18th birthday and the DJ hasn’t turned up. He’s unreachable and we’re in desperate need. Can you do the job?”
Quickly ascertaining that the function was only twenty minutes drive away, I said,
“Sure, Bill – give me ten minutes to pack my stuff and I’ll see you in half an hour.” Fortunately all our DJ equipment is packed carefully away in a closed area and can be quickly accessed and loaded in just a few minutes.
When I arrived at the function, Bill met me. “We really appreciate you turning up here on such short notice. I can’t believe this other DJ – I phoned him at two o’clock this afternoon and he confirmed everything was on track, ready to go – and now he won’t even answer his phone. I’m really going to give him a piece of my mind, whenever I can reach him!”
This type of mobile DJ hire horror story had happened to us before. For reasons best known only to themselves, some DJs simply don’t turn up at gigs they’ve been booked at. In this instance, Bill had booked a function room at a local Sports club; around fifty or so guests had arrived; and an hour after the party had been scheduled to commence, they still had no music; no explanation; and no DJ.
Some of the larger DJ companies out there employ casuals to fill in for surplus jobs they’d managed to book. I suspect this is where a significant segment of the problem emanates, where part timers with minimal experience or commitment are used to fill in the gaps. I’ve heard stories where such casuals are given only superficial training and are supplied with very basic equipment. In this fashion, these cost cutting companies are able to undercut the services of far more experienced professionals, a perennial problem within the DJ hire industry. Not just in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, but everywhere.
Our recommendations to intending customers are that they satisfy themselves that the DJ to work at their function has a minimum of five years in the industry, and has performed an absolute minimum of one hundred gigs. This is for normal parties – for wedding receptions, we recommend that the DJ has even more experience than this.
Sometimes though, customers are their own worst enemies. We often receive queries from people wanting a DJ quote (or for that matter, a jukebox hire), who we believe are actively hunting around for nothing more than the lowest possible price. It’s quite evident from the questions they ask, or to be more specific – the questions that they don’t ask.
For example, someone may ask a couple of cursory questions such as “How much do you charge?” or “Where are you based?”. They’ll speak to us for less than a minute, then disappear. But the pressing points they should’ve hammered are things such as “How long has the DJ you’ll be sending along been in the industry?”; “Can you tell me in detail about the equipment your DJ will bring along?”; “Can you send me a song list so I can take a look at your music?”, and so forth.
In a nutshell, like it or not - the mobile DJ hire industry is an unregulated one with no minimum standards. Any cowboy company can set themselves up, give out low quotes to everyone – and then entirely at their whim, send out either experienced or inexperienced personnel to do the job. Sometimes you may be lucky and get someone who performs well, but sometimes you won’t. It’s a lucky dip.
People should realise though, that the quality of the DJ they receive can have a critical bearing on the success or otherwise of their function. It amazes me that folks may spend a huge amount on securing a nice venue, perhaps spending heaps more on delicious food – and then shoot themselves in the foot by ordering a budget DJ. It’s true – this happens all the time, I’m afraid. This assumes, of course – as in this instance - that the DJ even turns up. I guess even a mediocre DJ is better than no one at all!
 
Tags: DJ Hire, DJ Hire Brisbane, DJ Hire Gold Coast, Jukebox Hire
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, DJ Hire | No Comments »
August 3rd, 2010
Remember the British group, “The Verve”, who had the big hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony” back in 1997? Their lead singer was Richard Ashcroft, who played (or more accurately, made an appearance) at the “Splendour in the Grass” music festival last weekend, held at Woodford, just north of Brisbane.
When his turn came to sing though, Ashcroft was reportedly unhappy with the small crowd that had come to watch him and lashed out at “Splendour” organisers for putting him on at the same time as two of the festival’s major draws, “Empire of the Sun” and the “Pixies”.
He stopped after just one song and told startled fans he may as well go and watch the Pixies instead of continuing with his set. He then threw down his tambourine and stormed off to a waiting car. Fifteen minutes later, embarrassed officials broadcast over the PA system that Ashcroft had “lost his voice” and wouldn’t be returning. No surprises here.
This incident was discussed by the Brisbane jukebox & DJ hire team, who ultimately came down on the side of Ashcroft. The guy is a veteran in the entertainment industry, had travelled a long way to be there - and should’ve been accorded more kudos for his long standing reputation and abilities. Admittedly his voice is only average - he’s no Englebert Humperdinck, Chris Isaak or Tom Jones - but nevertheless he’d been treated with more than just a touch of offhanded diffidence by the “Splendour” organisers, in our view at least. Give the guy a break. Use some common sense.
One interesting corollary to this story most people are unaware of, is that “The Verve” never received a cent in royalties from their biggest smash hit, “Bittersweet Symphony”. Upon its release in the late nineties, the “Rolling Stones” instituted stern legal action, claiming that though the song’s lyrics were penned by Ashcroft, it had been unashamedly plagiarised from Keith Richards and Mick Jagger’s 1965 hit, “The Last Time”.
Originally, The Verve had negotiated a licence to use a sample from the original Stones’ recording, but it was successfully argued in court that the Verve had used “too much” of it. The matter was eventually settled, with copyright of the song reverting to ABKCO (the company holding rights to the Rolling Stones’ songs) and one hundred per cent of the songwriting credits were given to Jagger & Richards. Amazing stuff.
One would have thought the “Rolling Stones” team already had more money than they could spend in a lifetime. Jagger’s worth for example, is not counted by the million – but by the hundreds of million. Sometimes though, too much is barely enough, it seems. Unbelievable.
Tags: DJ Hire, DJ Hire Brisbane, Jukebox Hire, jukebox hire brisbane
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Interesting offtopic posts | 6 Comments »
August 1st, 2010
This week the most interesting event was the job performed by Paul, one of our Brisbane DJ hire staff. It was held in the outside dining and bar area of the Cremorne Theatre at QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre), with magnificent views from the balcony over the Brisbane River and the Brisbane CBD itself.
The hardest part of this job was actually finding the place, set as it was amongst the maze and mayhem that is current day Brisbane Southbank. The ABC studios are being constructed less than one hundred metres away from the QPAC building, a slightly controversial construction insofar as it’s adding to an already overcrowded area. The big ferris wheel is located close nearby as well.
Due to the severe parking limitations in this area, almost everyone who’s not doing a merchandise delivery has to use the dedicated paid parking zones. This means a height limitation of about 2.0 metres on vehicles that can enter them. This meant that DJ Paul had to use his normal car for the job, rather than his larger van – an inconvenience associated with many inner city type jobs where parking is often problematic for those needing to stay for multiple hours.
In any case, Paul advised the job went well, with a nice mix of music played from the usual 70s and 80s classics right through to modern material. One highlight was the great gusto with which some of the party goers launched into the karaoke, with the men generally outperforming the ladies (in terms of volume, at least!). Their late night rendition of the Angels’ “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?” - replete with all the swear words thrown in - was fantastic. I’m sure that drivers cruising along the south-east freeway on the other side of the river must’ve heard wisps of it wafting eerily across the Brisbane River!
Karaoke can indeed be a bonus to any party, although it must be controlled. Unless a specific karaoke evening is planned, it mustn’t be allowed to take over or dominate an otherwise normal party, as it can displace those who prefer to simply listen to good, upbeat music and/or those who wish to simply dance the night away. This is where an experienced karaoke DJ earns his keep, allowing sessions of both karaoke and dancing music to happily coexist during the evening, with say, 30 minute slices of each alternating during the night.
Another tip that karaoke DJs employ is to constrain any small groups of hard core singers from taking over the karaoke by singing multiple songs repeatedly, not allowing anyone else to easily join in. Sometimes this isn’t as easy as it sounds, when dealing with slightly inebriated folks who occasionally prefer to have their own way, though this is generally not a big problem. Most times, party goers are happy and fun folk to deal with and treat the DJ with courtesy.
DJ Paul also had taken along a chocolate fountain hire to the gig, a fab feature of any party. The sight of the overflowing, molten chocolate cascading over the tiers of the fountain is always a delight to watch, especially when combined with the aromatic scent from the chocolate that slowly permeates almost the entire room. Chocolate seems to be one of those delightful, universal foods that everyone loves, no matter what age, race or religion one is.
As far as the jukebox hires went for the week, almost everyone remarked what a diverse, wonderful range of music the machines contained. Everything from the rock ‘n roll 50s and 60s era right through to latest hits. The beautiful appearance of the traditional style machines in particular provides a colourful highlight to any party, something that just can’t be matched by an Ipod connected to a set of speakers.
In any case, DJ Paul remarked what a great lot of happy people were present at his function and what a good time they seemed to have. It really makes the job worthwhile being able to help make a party the success that it no doubt deserves to be. Great stuff indeed – and well done, Paul.
 
Tags: Chocolate Fountain Hire, DJ Hire, DJ Hire Brisbane, Jukebox Hire, Karaoke Hire
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, DJ Hire | 4 Comments »
July 26th, 2010
In a world first scoop, the DJ and jukebox hire Brisbane and Gold Coast office is pleased to announce the following evolution of Apple:
Tags: Jukebox Hire, jukebox hire brisbane
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Interesting offtopic posts | No Comments »
July 26th, 2010
Interesting situation occurred this past weekend re one of our Brisbane karaoke hire customers.
I was called out to their place as follows.
“Hey, your karaoke doesn’t work. I know you showed us the microphones working when you set the machine up here this morning, but as soon as the party started, we found both of them were non-working!”
“Okay, you’re not too far from me – I’ll be there in half an hour to see what’s happened”.
Jumping into my car, I arrived at the place soon enough. Almost immediately, I saw what had occurred.
One microphone was completely separated from its cable, looking as if the cord had been cut with a knife. The cable in the other microphone whilst not broken, was badly twisted up near where the microphone connected with the cable. Only one thing could cause such damage – partygoers spinning the mics around in circles whilst they’re singing, trying to imitate Elvis Presley. The trouble is, on about the twentieth spin, the wires inside the cords fracture and indeed – as happened to one of the mics in this case – the lead can snap altogether as if cut with a knife.
The interesting thing about this situation however, were the words from the client that “the microphones never worked at all after you left here”, a palpable untruth. The client was either too embarrassed to reveal what had happened or – heaven forbid – didn’t want to pay for any damage, let alone a call out fee.
In situations such as these, we normally replace the microphones with new ones without charge. We grin and bear it, realising it’s just part of the cost of doing business. But in reality, we should in fact charge for the expenses involved in repairing the damage. Especially in scenarios where customers try to mislead or spin stories about how the microphones were faulty, rather than the user of the microphone doing the wrong thing.
You see, microphone cords don’t become twisted or totally fractured on their own accord – something (or someone) must have done this to them. Yet attempting to courteously explain this to some people often only irritates them, as if it’s our fault that the cords have broken. This is why in most cases, experience tells us that we simply have to shrug our shoulders in situations like these, say nothing and cop it on the chin.
The customer is always right, after all (even when they’re dead wrong!).
 
Tags: Karaoke Hire, karaoke hire brisbane
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Karaoke Hire | 1 Comment »
July 26th, 2010
Chris and Mika’s wedding reception at Novatel Brisbane went well recently, except for one small glitch. Barry from our mobile Brisbane DJ hire office suddenly developed severe laryngitis and could hardly talk, not an ideal situation when one is scheduled to do MC work and no one else is available. But a plan was enacted. The best man was approached, who was happy to give any important announcements, as was Chris himself.
All in all, a memorable night was had by all. An eclectic collection of old classics interspersed with new tunes were happily played. This demonstrated that indeed, lemons can be turned into sweet lemonade, given the right attitude by the folks involved. Life isn’t always perfect but in scenarios where a potential glitch occurs, how one handles it is more important than anything else. This determines whether one can move forward, or remain desultorily mired in the hexed quicksands of the past.
In any case, our office was pleased to receive the following note from the happy couple, a week or so after the event. It’s always such a pleasure, dealing with courteous folks such as these.
Dear Barry,
We have just returned from a wonderful honeymoon and thought it was important to thank you for your great services as our DJ.
The progression of music was perfect and everyone had a great time. Thanks for staying on for the extra half an hour because we were having a great time dancing.
I appreciated very much that you soldiered on with laryngitis and were professional to the end.
The day was perfect and your contribution on the day as our DJ and the work that you undertook in the lead up to our special event ensured that every thing was better than we could expect.
We will always have happy memories of our wedding, and for your great services as our DJ we are very thankful.
Kind regards
Chris and Mika
Tags: DJ Hire, DJ Hire Brisbane, mobile DJ hire
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, DJ Hire | 2 Comments »
July 22nd, 2010
Our jukebox hire Brisbane and Gold Coast office could scarcely believe the following.
News Ltd reported that a US tourist Jean Barnard, who embarked on her dream holiday to Australia and New Zealand in January last year, alleges the trip became a nightmare when she boarded a Darwin-bound Qantas plane in Alice Springs, walked to her assigned seat and came face-to-face with a three-year-old boy across the aisle.
The boy allegedly leaned back over his armrest toward Ms Barnard and let out a scream so severe that blood erupted from her ears, leaving her “stone cold deaf”. No other passengers were “injured”. Ms Barnard was helped off the plane and taken to an Alice Springs hospital, ruining her trip that began in Brisbane and Cairns, and after Alice Springs and a visit to Uluru, was scheduled to take her to Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney, Christchurch and Queenstown.
“The pain was so excruciating that I didn’t even know I was deaf,” Ms Barnard said, reliving the incident during a deposition for a civil lawsuit she filed against Qantas in the US District Court in LA.
Ms Barnard has been locked in a legal tussle with Qantas for more than a year, with the 67-year-old claiming she suffered severe and permanent injuries, including sudden sensio-neural hearing loss, from the child’s scream and sought damages for physical and mental suffering, medical expenses and loss of impairment of earning capacity.
Her lawyer, Brian Lawler, argued Qantas was negligent because the plane’s cabin and cockpit crew failed “to take all the necessary precautions to prevent the accident that resulted” in her “injury”. Qantas’ US legal team vigorously fought the case, claiming there was evidence Ms Barnard had a hearing problem before she departed the US for Australia, and defended the flight staff and crew, telling the court: “Plaintiff’s injuries, if any, were caused by the arbitrary and volitional act of a three-year-old child. “Flight attendants cannot predict when children aboard an aircraft are about to scream. There is no evidence that the child was screaming in the terminal, or on board the aircraft prior to the particular scream which allegedly caused the damage”.
Qantas referred to emails allegedly written by Ms Barnard to a travel companion prior to the Australian trip in which she admitted wearing hearing aids, and submitted a volatile email Ms Barnard allegedly wrote a day after the incident to the US travel agent who booked the trip.
“I guess we are simply fortunate that my eardrum was exploding and I was swallowing blood. Had it not been for that, I would have dragged that kid out of his mother’s arms and stomped him to death. Then we would have an ‘international incident’,” Ms Barnard allegedly wrote.
The warring parties, however, announced last week to the judge handling the case that a truce had been reached and they “entered into a confidential settlement”.
Qantas declined to say if the settlement included payment to Ms Barnard. “There is a confidential settlement and we can’t make any comment,” Qantas’ senior executive vice president for The Americas, Wally Mariani, said.
In correspondence before signing the agreement, Ms Barnard, a co-owner and senior partner of an international business consulting firm, wrote that “my life came to an end January 16, 2009. I have not been able to work since the ‘incident’. Since I cannot carry my load, we have put the business on the market and are, for all practical purposes, out of business,” she wrote in an email in May.
I may be wrong, but I doubt whether a child’s scream could burst eardrums as described above. This would take well in excess of 100 dB, something our hire jukeboxes couldn’t do unless one was extremely negligent, such as holding one’s ear right up to a speaker at full noise. Our mobile DJ hire staff agreed with this sentiment as well, wondering if all of the above was simply a massive con job?
 
Tags: DJ Hire, Jukebox Hire, jukebox hire brisbane, Jukebox hire Gold Coast
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Interesting offtopic posts | 1 Comment »
July 17th, 2010
News that may affect the chocolate fountain hire Brisbane side of our business over coming months is that a London hedge fund has reportedly bought up a huge chunk of the world’s cocoa stocks, helping send the price to a 33-year high and, in an unusual move, taken delivery of the 241,100 tonnes of cocoa beans.
The buy is worth about $1.14 billion and constitutes the biggest amount of cocoa – a key ingredient of chocolate – in 14 years to be physically delivered on the NYSE Liffe market. In most transactions, traders exchange contracts to buy and sell the commodity at various prices but don’t take possession of the beans. If the speculative purchase works, and cocoa prices continue to rise, it could in turn push up the price of chocolate bars around the world.
This would also mean that the hedge fund reportedly behind the buy, Armajaro Holdings, makes a killing as confectionery manufacturers scramble to buy beans. It’s estimated there are enough cocoa beans in the purchase to make about 5.3 billion small chocolate bars.
 
Tags: Chocolate Fountain Hire, Chocolate Fountain Hire Brisbane
Posted in Blog Master List of All Posts, Chocolate Fountain | 6 Comments »
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