Two Years in a Row!
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Cool. We just received our second award from WeddingWire. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.
The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means our past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected us to receive this honor. Thanks! Click here to read what our past clients said about us on WeddingWire.
Beep Receives 2010 Bride's Choice Award from WeddingWire!
Cool. We just received this award from WeddingWire. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism. The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means our past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected us to receive this honor. Thanks! Click here to read what our past clients said about us on WeddingWire.
Beep Media voted "Best of Weddings" by The Knot THREE Years in a Row!
In the immortal words of the Sugar Hill Gang, "I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast..." but I'm pretty proud that the Knot has chosen Beep for three out of three years that they have been handing out these awards. The thing that is really cool about this is that this award is based on what our previous clients have said about us on the Knot. It's pretty cool that people have taken the time to go onto these message boards and say nice things about us. So, thank you PEOPLE! In the immortal words of a Christmas Story, "It's a Major Award!"
Most of our business has come from referrals from message boards like the Knot, indiebride, Yelp and others. It's pretty cool, so thanks!
We're in Time Out Chicago
We're featured in this week's Time Out Chicago cover story "Weddings Buck Tradition" as the antithesis of the tired tradition of "wacky DJs" that play and do all the cheeesy things that we avoid. It's a cool article with lots of good resources for cool and different wedding vendors. Click here to download the article in pdf format.
Flood
Well, on the downside my home in Riverside was flooded and I've been evacuated since Saturday night. On the upside I took one of my favorite photos of all time. My place is the red brick building in the background. Click on the photo for a larger view. WBEZ used this photo on their news website on Sunday, which kind of made my day.
Interview
WBEZ's Joe DeCeault dropped by the Beep space to do an interview on the Norman Phipps record released last year on Beep's Tight Ship label. He brought by his friend Gonzala to videotape the interview, as it will also be a video documentary available as a download on the WBEZ website! Then, they drove ten hours to the Ozarks to interview to interview my Dad (Norman Phipps is my Dad, by the way), then spent countless hours editing both the audio and video for broadcast. I'm mentioning this for two reasons: 1. It's really cool and I'm blown away that WBEZ would spend so much resource on such an obscure project and 2: It has really shown me how much time and love and labor goes into every news story that they produce. Next time there is a pledge drive (and there is always one around the corner) and you hear of how much it costs to do the news, it's true. Click here to check out the video documentary!
Recording Norman Phipps at North Branch Studio
Norman Phipps is my Dad. He has been a musician for many years longer than I have been alive. Dad was never a "pro". He was a truck driver until he retired about ten years ago, but music has always been important to him and he has always one of my favorite musicians. He used to sing songs to my brothers and I when we were kids. Johnny Cash songs were always a big crowd pleaser, but he knew lots of classic country songs. We used to listen to country 8 track tapes in our Escapade motor home when we went on vacation. "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" by Marty Robbins and "Ride This Train" by Johnny Cash, Elvis' Sun Years and Buck Owens were a lot of fun to listen to as we drove through the Western deserts from Long Beach, CA to the mountains in Utah.
Anyway, after my Dad retired he started writing original songs. He would record them on a cassette boom box with a built in microphone. He would write songs about things important to him: home, family, friends. I love these recordings. They are simple recordings with Dad and his guitar and the lo fi quality is kind of charming, but I always wanted to bring my Dad up from the Ozarks to record his songs at my studio and have him backed by the best musicians I could find. I finally did. Several weeks ago Kelly Hogan's group The Wooden Leg were practicing at the studio and I realized that Scott Ligon and Joel Patterson would be the perfect guys to play with my Dad. I played them some recordings of my Dad's stuff and they really liked it. We set up a session date. I called my Dad and he said he could make it. I had a lot of great talent at the session. My assistant engineer Ryan Neushafer recorded it, my friend Andrew Collings took amazing photos, my old bandmate Mark Greenberg joined Scott and Joel on the drums. My Mom made sandwiches. I took the Don Was approach to producing the session: get the best people you can, let them do their jobs and try not to say anything.
We recorded five songs in one afternoon. Dad would sit down with the band and show them the songs and the band would make an arrangement and record it with Dad. Scott and Joel are very literate students of classic country recordings. They picked different styles of arrangements for each song. "Queen City Bound" became a classic 60's truck driving song with a Buck Owens production, "Arkansas Line" took on a late 40's Hank Williams sound. "Maruaders" was approached dry and simple, with a sound similar to Johnny Cash's first American Label recordings. Dad came in the next day and we recorded the final vocals. Scott and Joel came back about a week later and overdubbed the solos and extra instruments. Ryan mixed the record with Scott making suggestions to ensure the production matched the arrangements. I had Blaise Barton do the mastering. It was really amazing to have access to so much talent. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. This record and free MP3 dowloads will be available soon at :http://www.tightshiprecords.com. My eternal thanks to Scott Ligon, Joel Patterson, Mark Greenberg, Andrew Collings, Ryan Neushafer and Blaise Barton, and of course to my Dad, who gave 100% to these recordings. And thanks to Mom for making sandwiches!
Anyway, after my Dad retired he started writing original songs. He would record them on a cassette boom box with a built in microphone. He would write songs about things important to him: home, family, friends. I love these recordings. They are simple recordings with Dad and his guitar and the lo fi quality is kind of charming, but I always wanted to bring my Dad up from the Ozarks to record his songs at my studio and have him backed by the best musicians I could find. I finally did. Several weeks ago Kelly Hogan's group The Wooden Leg were practicing at the studio and I realized that Scott Ligon and Joel Patterson would be the perfect guys to play with my Dad. I played them some recordings of my Dad's stuff and they really liked it. We set up a session date. I called my Dad and he said he could make it. I had a lot of great talent at the session. My assistant engineer Ryan Neushafer recorded it, my friend Andrew Collings took amazing photos, my old bandmate Mark Greenberg joined Scott and Joel on the drums. My Mom made sandwiches. I took the Don Was approach to producing the session: get the best people you can, let them do their jobs and try not to say anything.
We recorded five songs in one afternoon. Dad would sit down with the band and show them the songs and the band would make an arrangement and record it with Dad. Scott and Joel are very literate students of classic country recordings. They picked different styles of arrangements for each song. "Queen City Bound" became a classic 60's truck driving song with a Buck Owens production, "Arkansas Line" took on a late 40's Hank Williams sound. "Maruaders" was approached dry and simple, with a sound similar to Johnny Cash's first American Label recordings. Dad came in the next day and we recorded the final vocals. Scott and Joel came back about a week later and overdubbed the solos and extra instruments. Ryan mixed the record with Scott making suggestions to ensure the production matched the arrangements. I had Blaise Barton do the mastering. It was really amazing to have access to so much talent. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. This record and free MP3 dowloads will be available soon at :http://www.tightshiprecords.com. My eternal thanks to Scott Ligon, Joel Patterson, Mark Greenberg, Andrew Collings, Ryan Neushafer and Blaise Barton, and of course to my Dad, who gave 100% to these recordings. And thanks to Mom for making sandwiches!
Why Time Travel Will Never Be Invented
If, in the future, time travel will ever be invented, then it would already be documented in our current history that people have been coming from the future to our current time and any other points throughout history. Unless, of course, the time travelers have been very discreet, as I would be.
How To Annoy a Wedding DJ
Here’s how to mess with the DJ's “flow”:
1. Do a large, posed group photo on the dance floor.
2. Dress up like a videographer and wheel a video camera on a large tripod onto the dance floor with a overbearingly bright floodlight and stick it in the faces of everyone on the dance floor.
3. Ask the DJ (who has the perfect song lined up with a perfect beatmatch) to wish a happy birthday to someone and to play “Happy Birthday To You”, or to dedicate a song from such and such to so and so.
4. Ask the DJ to play the song he just played again because someone who really liked the song was in the bathroom.
5. Ask the DJ to let you sing along on the microphone to “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.
6. Sit a drink on the DJ’s equipment, especially the shaking SubWoofer.
7. Invite yourself to start looking through the Dj’s music collection because you can’t think of anything to request.
8. Yell “Freebird”.
9. Tell the DJ what song it will take to (and I quote) "get the party happening" when the dance floor has been packed all evening.
10. Put the dance floor in the middle of the room and put the DJ in the back of the room with a bunch of tables of old folks with sensitive hearing in between.
1. Do a large, posed group photo on the dance floor.
2. Dress up like a videographer and wheel a video camera on a large tripod onto the dance floor with a overbearingly bright floodlight and stick it in the faces of everyone on the dance floor.
3. Ask the DJ (who has the perfect song lined up with a perfect beatmatch) to wish a happy birthday to someone and to play “Happy Birthday To You”, or to dedicate a song from such and such to so and so.
4. Ask the DJ to play the song he just played again because someone who really liked the song was in the bathroom.
5. Ask the DJ to let you sing along on the microphone to “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.
6. Sit a drink on the DJ’s equipment, especially the shaking SubWoofer.
7. Invite yourself to start looking through the Dj’s music collection because you can’t think of anything to request.
8. Yell “Freebird”.
9. Tell the DJ what song it will take to (and I quote) "get the party happening" when the dance floor has been packed all evening.
10. Put the dance floor in the middle of the room and put the DJ in the back of the room with a bunch of tables of old folks with sensitive hearing in between.
I Don't Understand Why People Dance
I used to dance in college. I think I danced in high school. I remember bugging the DJ at the high school Dances to play Devo. I remember totally flipping out when the DJ played my request. I loved dancing to Rock Lobster in college. It was fun. I don't think it would have been fun to dance if no one else was at the party. It was a shared experience. By the way, Rock Lobster is to New Wavers what Shout is to Boomers. Think about it.
I think I lost my dance drive when I moved to Chicago. I would go out to see shows, but I would never go to clubs to dance. No one who went to see a show at Lounge Ax or Phyllis' Musical Inn would dance. Dancing was not cool. I have heard stories that people would dance at Shrimp Boat shows, but I don't remember it. In my band, we would go to Madison and people would dance to our music. It was a blast. People danced in Charleston, WV. I love when people dance. It's truly wonderful. It's fun. It's joyous. I wish I wasn't so self conscience. I read an interview with Fatboy Slim where he also claimed that he didn't understand dancing, but he spent an awful lot of time witnessing it. Analyzing it. You figure out HOW to make people dance, but it's a mystery WHY people dance. I've done some research on why people dance and it's a mystery. No one really knows. Did you know that you cannot teach a child to speak? You can only encourage it. Think about explaining how to speak, the will to phonate, to a child. Dancing is something like speech. It is communication, although I wonder what the message is when a group of people are dancing to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Maybe the message is "Everyone of us likes this song."
I always thought that people danced because it's fun. I think dancing is fun, but I don't think it's the pat answer. If someone wants to dance, they want to dance with other people. No one dances alone. Well, maybe some people do, but generally people want to dance with a bunch of people. Let's go out to dance.
Boomers grew up dancing. I love boomers. Dancing was part of their culture. Boomers do not care what you think. They will dance. Gen Xers will dance after a few drinks.
Anyway, I have for years been curious as to why it's so important that people dance at weddings. What's the connection? If people dance because it's fun, then why dancing? There are million things that people do for fun.
At weddings, people request songs. I always judge whether or not to play a request based on how it serves the community of dancers on the dance floor. Sometimes a request is perfect. A request is perfect when it makes me jealous that I didn't think of it myself. Sometimes a request is selfish. I want the dance floor to be packed and I don't want anyone to leave. I want the young folks out on a Boomer song and I want the Boomers to stay for Outkast and Justin Timberlake.
Recently, after many years of Dj'ing weddings it hit me. A wedding is an act of Unity. Two people come together to be one. Dancing at its best brings everyone together. It's beautiful. Everyone is unified. It's a perfect thing for a wedding. A dance floor marries everyone together.
By the way, I recently danced my ass off at my friend Lea's wedding. Lea and her now husband Jason runs Lula Cafe in Logan's Square. It was the first time in a long time that I felt the urge to dance. Maybe it was because the DJ was the stellar DJ Carrie Weston. That was a big part of it. I loved dancing with my wife. It reminded me of the other times I danced with my wife: my own wedding. My friends Mark and Ann Marie's wedding, John and Lori's wedding. I want to dance at weddings where I feel invested in the Bride and Groom.
I think I lost my dance drive when I moved to Chicago. I would go out to see shows, but I would never go to clubs to dance. No one who went to see a show at Lounge Ax or Phyllis' Musical Inn would dance. Dancing was not cool. I have heard stories that people would dance at Shrimp Boat shows, but I don't remember it. In my band, we would go to Madison and people would dance to our music. It was a blast. People danced in Charleston, WV. I love when people dance. It's truly wonderful. It's fun. It's joyous. I wish I wasn't so self conscience. I read an interview with Fatboy Slim where he also claimed that he didn't understand dancing, but he spent an awful lot of time witnessing it. Analyzing it. You figure out HOW to make people dance, but it's a mystery WHY people dance. I've done some research on why people dance and it's a mystery. No one really knows. Did you know that you cannot teach a child to speak? You can only encourage it. Think about explaining how to speak, the will to phonate, to a child. Dancing is something like speech. It is communication, although I wonder what the message is when a group of people are dancing to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Maybe the message is "Everyone of us likes this song."
I always thought that people danced because it's fun. I think dancing is fun, but I don't think it's the pat answer. If someone wants to dance, they want to dance with other people. No one dances alone. Well, maybe some people do, but generally people want to dance with a bunch of people. Let's go out to dance.
Boomers grew up dancing. I love boomers. Dancing was part of their culture. Boomers do not care what you think. They will dance. Gen Xers will dance after a few drinks.
Anyway, I have for years been curious as to why it's so important that people dance at weddings. What's the connection? If people dance because it's fun, then why dancing? There are million things that people do for fun.
At weddings, people request songs. I always judge whether or not to play a request based on how it serves the community of dancers on the dance floor. Sometimes a request is perfect. A request is perfect when it makes me jealous that I didn't think of it myself. Sometimes a request is selfish. I want the dance floor to be packed and I don't want anyone to leave. I want the young folks out on a Boomer song and I want the Boomers to stay for Outkast and Justin Timberlake.
Recently, after many years of Dj'ing weddings it hit me. A wedding is an act of Unity. Two people come together to be one. Dancing at its best brings everyone together. It's beautiful. Everyone is unified. It's a perfect thing for a wedding. A dance floor marries everyone together.
By the way, I recently danced my ass off at my friend Lea's wedding. Lea and her now husband Jason runs Lula Cafe in Logan's Square. It was the first time in a long time that I felt the urge to dance. Maybe it was because the DJ was the stellar DJ Carrie Weston. That was a big part of it. I loved dancing with my wife. It reminded me of the other times I danced with my wife: my own wedding. My friends Mark and Ann Marie's wedding, John and Lori's wedding. I want to dance at weddings where I feel invested in the Bride and Groom.
Sort of Funny, but mostly just kind of rambling and unfocused DJ Story #3: A Picture of Walter
Wedding days are limo days. If it is a busy date for weddings I'm going to pass some limos on my way to a gig. Sometimes I pass other DJs, or they pass me. No one on the road can tell I'm a DJ because I drive a new Beetle and I don't have the name of my company printed on my ride.
True story: a couple of years ago I was on my way to Aurora to do a St. Patrick's Day wedding. I'm somewhere on I-88 when I come up beside a white pickup truck with a camper shell, black windows, Indiana plates and the name of the guy's DJ company proudly and professionally painted on the back window. I can't remember the name because it was very typical of the "macho" style of DJ company names, incorporating possible words such as Soundzz, Music, Mobile, On the, Machine, Move, maybe it was Music Mobile Soundzz Machine, I can't remember. There were some music quarter notes floating around the words and possibly some shock or sound wave imagery. Anyway, he was haulin' but I had to get a look, so I pulled up beside him. It was pretty cold but he had his window down because he was smoking and I could hear some super loud hair metal. He looked like a more obese version of Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. Long, black scraggly hair. He was wearing one of those black satin baseball jackets that people print the name of their own company on, so I could only guess that he had done the same. I couldn't keep up with him and he sped on ahead.
I was left thinking about the look he had on his face. He was completely stressed out. I remember this because it confirmed that I wasn't the only guy who freaks out about getting to a gig, especially a wedding. I've been DJ'ing a long time and getting to the gig still stresses me out. It's because it's one of those things that is just out of my control. I make a point of doubling the amount of time it is supposed to take but I still just never know for sure. It's a feeling that just up ahead there is something that is going to totally screw me. Plus, there is also the unknown factor of the venue itself. You never know when there is going to be some dumb thing at the venue, like a broken elevator or a florist blocking the loading gate. I can't really relax until I'm in the room completely set up and I hit play and music comes out of my speakers. The good thing about it is that I usually get a feeling of "Hey, now I can relax and enjoy myself at the wedding. I'm here."
I got to the Aurora gig no problem and everything went great. The funny thing is, right after I set up and before the doors opened the DJ I saw on the highway walked in to the room. Turns out he was DJ'ing down the hall in another room. He just dropped by to check out my set up, as Djs do. To make my point, he was pretty relaxed and casual because he was set up and good to go, and actually had a little time to kill. I asked him if he was Dj'ing a wedding and he said in the most casual and offhanded way "No, I'm doing the Leprechaun Toss down the hall." I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained it: "You know, they get little people to dress up like leprechauns and people try to throw them as far as they can. I play music and get on the microphone and really try to pump the people up". I was blown away. I had never heard of anything more surreal in my life. He invited me to drop by later so I could check out his speakers. He gave me a card with the same logo from his truck and as he walked away it was confirmed that his black satin baseball jacket had his company name and logo proudly and professionally printed on the back. I wondered what kind of person books a DJ because of a logo on a truck they pass by or from a logo on the back of a jacket that some dude is wearing.
I still had a few minutes so I went up to an older woman on the wait staff and said my usual line of "at some point could I please get a pitcher of water for the DJ?" She looked at me like I was completely insane, paused for a moment and replied "We don't have that. You think we just carry that around with us???" It seemed like a completely reasonable request to me. I went over to the bar and asked for glass of water. As I'm walking back to my table the woman I had just talked to asked me if I would like a pitcher instead. I told her I just asked her for one a second ago. She said "Oh, I thought you asked me for a picture of Walter!" You see, I was DJ'ing at Walter Payton's Roundhouse.
True story: a couple of years ago I was on my way to Aurora to do a St. Patrick's Day wedding. I'm somewhere on I-88 when I come up beside a white pickup truck with a camper shell, black windows, Indiana plates and the name of the guy's DJ company proudly and professionally painted on the back window. I can't remember the name because it was very typical of the "macho" style of DJ company names, incorporating possible words such as Soundzz, Music, Mobile, On the, Machine, Move, maybe it was Music Mobile Soundzz Machine, I can't remember. There were some music quarter notes floating around the words and possibly some shock or sound wave imagery. Anyway, he was haulin' but I had to get a look, so I pulled up beside him. It was pretty cold but he had his window down because he was smoking and I could hear some super loud hair metal. He looked like a more obese version of Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. Long, black scraggly hair. He was wearing one of those black satin baseball jackets that people print the name of their own company on, so I could only guess that he had done the same. I couldn't keep up with him and he sped on ahead.
I was left thinking about the look he had on his face. He was completely stressed out. I remember this because it confirmed that I wasn't the only guy who freaks out about getting to a gig, especially a wedding. I've been DJ'ing a long time and getting to the gig still stresses me out. It's because it's one of those things that is just out of my control. I make a point of doubling the amount of time it is supposed to take but I still just never know for sure. It's a feeling that just up ahead there is something that is going to totally screw me. Plus, there is also the unknown factor of the venue itself. You never know when there is going to be some dumb thing at the venue, like a broken elevator or a florist blocking the loading gate. I can't really relax until I'm in the room completely set up and I hit play and music comes out of my speakers. The good thing about it is that I usually get a feeling of "Hey, now I can relax and enjoy myself at the wedding. I'm here."
I got to the Aurora gig no problem and everything went great. The funny thing is, right after I set up and before the doors opened the DJ I saw on the highway walked in to the room. Turns out he was DJ'ing down the hall in another room. He just dropped by to check out my set up, as Djs do. To make my point, he was pretty relaxed and casual because he was set up and good to go, and actually had a little time to kill. I asked him if he was Dj'ing a wedding and he said in the most casual and offhanded way "No, I'm doing the Leprechaun Toss down the hall." I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained it: "You know, they get little people to dress up like leprechauns and people try to throw them as far as they can. I play music and get on the microphone and really try to pump the people up". I was blown away. I had never heard of anything more surreal in my life. He invited me to drop by later so I could check out his speakers. He gave me a card with the same logo from his truck and as he walked away it was confirmed that his black satin baseball jacket had his company name and logo proudly and professionally printed on the back. I wondered what kind of person books a DJ because of a logo on a truck they pass by or from a logo on the back of a jacket that some dude is wearing.
I still had a few minutes so I went up to an older woman on the wait staff and said my usual line of "at some point could I please get a pitcher of water for the DJ?" She looked at me like I was completely insane, paused for a moment and replied "We don't have that. You think we just carry that around with us???" It seemed like a completely reasonable request to me. I went over to the bar and asked for glass of water. As I'm walking back to my table the woman I had just talked to asked me if I would like a pitcher instead. I told her I just asked her for one a second ago. She said "Oh, I thought you asked me for a picture of Walter!" You see, I was DJ'ing at Walter Payton's Roundhouse.
Yacht Rock
When I began DJ'ing in the early 90's, 80's "retro" music pretty much meant playing New Wave in the order of Depeche Mode, New Order, Erasure, etc. A couple of years later, people started asking for the "Jessie's Girl" brand of 80's retro. In the past couple of years we saw the addition of Hair Metal, especially Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses and Poison. I have heard from a few of the Beep Djs (and I've seen it myself) that there is a new category of previously frowned upon 80's music that people have been requesting (and we have enjoyed playing in a very guilty pleasure sort of way). We have been referring to it as Easy 80's. Songs like "Easy" and "All Night Long" by Lionel Ritchie, "Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean, "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "What a Fool Believes" by Michael McDonald, "Sailing" by Christopher Cross. These are songs that I would consider ultra hokey and would have never considered playing them had I not been asked specifically by the client. People love these songs in the same way they love "Jessie's Girl" or "Livin' on a Prayer". It's an equal dose of irony and respect. Yet, it's different than dancing to YMCA or Dancing Queen for the same reasons. It's fresh. It hasn't been run into the ground... yet. Last night I was reading up on Bread, one of my favorite Soft Rock groups from the 70's. It got me on a google search for the definition of Soft Rock, which led me to the Wikipedia website. They had a link for a related genre that just floored me: Yacht Rock. I didn't even have to read the definition. I knew exactly what it was going to be. I laughed my ass off. Here is the link: Click Here. It's not exactly the Easy 80's genre but it is very similar. Obviously, there was no Yacht Rock genre in the 70's and 80's. It's a posthumous definition, but my brain really wants to make these connections. It is ultra smooth music with a laid back vibe. I didn't even make the connection that the Easy 80's genre we were trying to define was mostly nautically themed. We were debating on whether or not to add a Easy 80's category to the Beep song list. If we did, it would be a genre that would only be played if the client requested it specifically. It would be a genre that people would either take a stand for or against. No middle of the road. At any rate, have fun with a google search on the subject. It's really entertaining.
Funny Dj Story #2. "You Guys Are Doing a Great Job".
I get this all the time. I'm DJ'ing by myself, solo, and people always refer to some other person who is not there. "You guys are doing a great job!" or "Do you guys have Crazy by Gnarles Barkley?". Once again, it's much more entertaining than it is annoying, but it certainly is funny.
Funny Dj Story #1. People Requesting the Song I Am Currently Playing.
This is how it happens: I'll play a song and the song will make someone think of the song that I'm playing and they will come up and immediately request it. It does give me a sense of pleasure to say "Okay, I'll play it right now". They usually start to recognize that the song I'm playing is the one they requested, and they think I've magically made some seamless segue into the song they wanted to hear without doing anything. Good times.
Review: Frank Sinatra's "Watertown" Album
Where would a Wedding DJ be without Sinatra? I've met a few people who don't care for him, but he's a pretty safe bet for getting all generations on the dance floor early in the evening. Most people are familiar with his Reprise era "hits" (Fly Me to the Moon, The Way You Look Tonight, The Best is Yet to Come, etc.), but the dude recorded TONS of albums. Watertown is considered by many to be his most unusual and unconventional album. It's my favorite. Recorded on Sinatra's Reprise label in 1970, Watertown is a concept album about a man in a small town who's life generally falls apart. The lyrics and Sinatra's delivery sound dark and vulnerable, not unlike a Leonard Cohen album or Johnny Cash's first American label recording. All of Frank's previous vocal recordings were cut live with his orchestra in the same room (must be nice), but Watertown was recorded with orchestra first and Frank's vocals were overdubbed a week or so later. This has a lot to do with the quality of his vocals on this album. He reportedly had a very difficult time with the overdubbing process, and he was also generally unhappy with the way he was singing around this time. I think that it actually made the album more powerful. His voice sounds so amazingly human. It sounds stripped down and raw. The arrangements are amazing. These songs don't swing. There are strange sounds and unusual instrumentation. This is simply a brilliant record. This is not music to throw on during dinner. It's an event that deserves to be listened to from start to finish. Not available on iTunes. Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000006L4X/103-7176453-6681438?v=glance&n=5174
Kelly Hogan Kicks it Out!
Ryan the Assistant and I have been graced with the honor of recording Kelly Hogan for a weekly broadcast on WXRT called "Under Kelly's Covers". To quote the Bloodshot Records website: "Kelly Hogan will have her own featured segment on Chicago's WXRT 93.1 FM show, "The Eclectic Company," with hosts Jon Langford and Nic Tremulis. You can listen to her every Tuesday night, towards the end of the 10pm to Midnight show, debuting a newly recorded cover song." It's been a blast, even though she is kicking our asses with her ability to work a 14 hour session. My favorites so far are her cover of The Free Design's "Kites Are Fun" and Blossom Dearie's "London in the Rain".
My Obsession with Ceramic Tile and Frederick Law Olmsted
I haven't posted to my blog in a couple of weeks and I apologize to the three or four people who actually read it. The Mrs. and I have been moving forward with our Riverside condo, which has filled up all of my "free time". We are doing a gut rehab,which means we are picking out everything. This includes, but is not limited to: the floors, countertops, stove, oven, dishwasher, toilet, sinks, ceramic tile for kitchen and bath, hardwood floors, shelves, cabinets, lighting and other things that I haven never really given much thought to in my entire life. It's pretty fun. We are generally going for a 20's art deco approach, since that is the general vintage of the building, but we are getting pretty modern with the appliances. I am most excited about our Wolf cooktop with four burners and a griddle. I've been reading up on the history of Riverside, especially on Frederick Law Olmsted. He designed the community of Riverside, as well as Central Park. He is also largely responsible for helping with the establishment of Yosemite as a National Park (Olmsted Point was obviously named after him). He also designed the landscaping for Chicago's Columbian Exposition, as I'm sure you have read about in the excellent book "The Devil in the White City". I am really excited about our move to Riverside. Cool.
http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/
http://www.riverside-illinois.com/History.htm
http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/
http://www.riverside-illinois.com/History.htm
The Week of March 13
I'm around this week Monday through Friday from 10 am - 5 pm. I won't be in on Thursday, but Ryan The Assistant will be here answering the phone and soldering, so feel free to call.
The Week of March 6th
I suppose I should post about what I'm going to do this week before I've already done it. It's already Tuesday night. Ryan The Assistant and I have been doing fun things like vacuuming and making microphone cables. There are two days of studio down time before the studio is booked every day for the next six weeks, so we are doing things like defragmenting hard drives and archiving sessions. Tomorrow, Soren Wittrup will be dropping by to show Ryan The Assistant how to clean switches on the studio console and we will be making a game plan for what to do to finish the rebuild on the console. From here, I can either go down the path of Soren Wittrup or talk about the console. First, let's talk about Soren. Soren is from Denmark. He was imported to Chicago in the early 90's by recording engineer Steve Albini to be Steve's tech guy. When I was in the band of my youth (The Coctails) I met Soren while we were recording at Steve's studio with engineer Bob Weston (DJ Carrie Weston's hubby). Soren was smoking and rebuilding an old LOMO microphone from Russia. He would talk over my head about electronic stuff that I could not comprehend, but he thought I could (I can actually grasp some of what he is talking about almost 12 years later). He is now a freelance tech guy and I hired him on a service contract over a year ago to completely rebuild my MCI recording console. Of course, it is taking much longer than expected, but the results have been amazing. Soren doesn't just fix things, he improves them. He has modified the EQ section and the microphone preamps. He has also restored and rebuilt all of my guitar and bass amplifiers, my Optigan organ, my stylophone and my shop vac. Everything at the studio works and is in top form. He will be showing Ryan The Assisitant how to do simple component replacements and cleaning so we can get this thing finished. The MCI console was purchased about two years ago from some dudes in Austin. I was surfing ebay and came across an auction for an MCI 636. They said that the board was formerly owned by the Hit Factory in New York and that "I've Had the Time of My Life" from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack was recorded on it. Despite it's cheesy past, I decided to buy it. This console cost $100,000 new in 1980. I bought it for $3,750. My parents were visiting my mother in law in Austin when I found the console. Since they had already rented a trailer to bring back some furniture that had belonged to my wife's grandparents, it was good timing. They picked it up on the way out of town. They drove it up to Chicago about a week later. The console weighs about 1000 pounds. I'll be in the office on Wednesday from 10 am - 2 pm, Thursday I'll be in for a few hours at the end of the day to check messages and Friday I'll be around from 10 am - 2 or so. Ryan The Assistant will be answering the phone every day, so call any time and I will get back with you.
The Week of February 27th
I'm pretty busy this week, but feel free to call. I spent yesterday in the office for half the day and recording Slow Planet for the other half with the help of my new assistant Ryan. Ryan is a super nice 23 year old who has a degree in recording and has taught this 38 year old a thing or two. I'll be designing our new ads and updating the website this week, recording the wonderful Kelly Hogan on Wednesday for a WXRT broadcast, vocal lesson on Thursday and a couple of meetings, working on the ongoing and costly act of rebuilding the studio console on Friday and recording a band on Saturday and Sunday. I spent a good part of last week recording a Steven Dvorak EP for Tight Ship which I hope to post about soon, although I still haven't posted about my trip to Italy from two months ago, so who knows. So, my hours are kind of all over the place. Call and maybe Ryan the assistant will answer. I'll get back with you pronto.
The Eccentric Act of Ear Wax Removal
I often brag to people about how I am so amazingly dedicated to my craft of DJ'ing and Recording that I have my ears cleaned out once a year. It's true, although it usually ends up being as much as a year and a half between cleanings. Excessive ear wax build up dramatically affects hearing. Ear wax creates a filter that buffers some frequencies and heightens others. I can tell it's time for a cleaning when my ears fatigue early during a recording session. Drum cymbals and guitars sound irritating. Have you ever wondered why "old people" who have hearing loss always think that music sounds too loud? It seems a contradiction, right? When people develop hearing loss it is usually certain frequencies that are lost, which causes other frequencies to be accented, such as the aggressive and annoying 4 to 5 kilohertz range. About five years ago I decided to be fitted for a pair of musician ear plugs. These are custom ear plugs that are molded and fitted to the shape of your ear. They have a linear sound reduction of 15 db. Everything sounds clear and even. They were originally designed by some guy who played in an orchestra who was constantly being annoyed by the trumpet player. He tried conventional ear plugs but it affected the tonality of his instrument. Anyway, the place that sells these ear plugs is a called Hearing Health Center. They are in an old building on Michigan Avenue with a real Dick Tracy vibe to it. Very art deco. Their primary business seems to be hearing aids. There's always some old guy in the waiting room complaining really loud about how much his hearing aid batteries cost. They have photos on the waiting room wall of all the celebrities they have served over the years, most notably Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Arnold Palmer and Leslie Nielsen. I always feel strangely out of place there. Anyway, when I was originally fitted for the ear plugs I first had to have my ears cleaned out. I was BLOWN AWAY by how much wax had built up in my ears. My ears had been plugged up and I didn't even know it. I could hear so much better afterwards. In fact, for about a week I felt like I had ultra sensitive hearing. I could hear things like my clothes rustling and my hands on the steering wheel. I decided to start scheduling yearly visits to have my ears cleaned out. I also have my hearing checked, which is fun. I feel like I'm in a Wes Anderson film. All of the test equipment and headphones look like they date from the sixties. I have a subtle loss of hearing between 4 to 5 kilohertz, but am within the range of good hearing.
Nothing says "I'm Boring" quite like your own blog
I'm in the office this week Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 am until about 2 pm. I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday morning. Last week I got my ears cleaned out and picked up my suit from Men's Warehouse. I'm thinking about moving to Riverside. The Mrs. and I looked at a nice condo there overlooking the river and backed by a forest preserve.
Cool. I'm Caught Up: The Week of February 13, 2006.
Got my accounts reconciled, fixed my email problem, finished up a bunch of recording projects and feeling generally on top of things. I'll be attending to a bunch of back burner projects this week and will be in the office Monday through Friday except Thursday from about 10 am - 1 pm.
Uggh. I'm swamped, Man! / Barry Phipps Goes Mainstream
This dumb email thing got me really behind in a week that was crazy to begin with. I'm trying to keep it together and keep it professional, but this last week was crazy and I'm too far behind to even post about it. Wow. My car broke down and I rented an SUV... and I loved it. I'm a tree hugger who drives a Beetle, but now I can give a knowing wink to everyone out there who drives the big ride. Bill Britt from the band Slow Planet told me to check out Men's Wearhouse for a new suit... and I did. I drove my rental SUV over there and bought two suits and I think they are nice. On a similar subject, when I went to Florence a few weeks ago I found myself being blown away by the same stuff that every other tourist on the planet thinks is great. Out of all the art in Florence I was most blown away by the statue of David and Boticelli's Venus. My roots of rebellion are slowly fading in my early middle age. At my last wedding I was thinking about how much I love Holiday by Madonna and Aretha's Respect. They sound really good on the dance floor. Fear not. I don't think I will become cheesy. I just think that I sometimes find myself automatically dissing stuff just because it's popular. That's pretty dumb. Anyway, I think my email is running again and I will be available and in the office Monday through Friday except Thursday from about 10 am - 1 or 2 pm. Hey, I feel a little better now. This blog is kind of like therapy!
My email is being blocked
It's always something. My email is apparently being blocked by a non profit anti-spam organization called NJABL. I can't send or receive email until it's resolved. If you have been trying to contact me through email, then feel free to call the office number and leave a message. This is what spamming has come to. Businesses like mine that send and receive around 60 emails a day get blocked by some automated web surfing robot. If anyone knows anything about this sort of thing then please let me know. I'm trying to run a business here!
The Week of January 30 - February 5, 2006
I'm in the office this week Monday through Friday from 10 am until at least 1 pm but probably longer. I'm off on Thursday. I've been taking vocal lessons once a week every Thursday for the last year and a half, so I've just had to force myself to take a day off and do something nice for myself. Of course, I'm supposed to be singing scales every day, but it rarely works out that way, so Thursday is my vocal day. I sing scales before my lesson and then head to the studio and work on songs after my lesson. My vocal coach is Carol Kagy. She also teaches at The Old Town School of Folk Music. She is great and I would recommend her to anyone, even people who need just a few lessons to get ready for singing a song at, for instance, a Wedding Ceremony.
Back in Town
I am back from Florence. I had a great time and will be posting all about it once I get past the jet lag and catch up on two weeks of business. I'll be in the office most of the day on Friday. I will be recording Bosco & Jorge this weekend and recording Boxstep on Monday for Tight Ship. I'll be in the office 10 am - 1 pm everyday next week.
I am out of town through January 11th, 2006 / Awesome Electric Tea Kettle
I will be in Florence, Italy from December 31st through January 11th. It is unlikely that I will have access to email or phone, so let's just say that I am not reachable. If you are inquiring about availability, please fill out the form on our contact page. I will respond to all inquiries in the order they were received.In other news, I recently bought an electric tea kettle. I've been really into tea lately, particularly green teas. The tea kettle is called the "Utilitea" by Adagio teas. I have been using it during recording sessions at my studio and everyone is quite impressed. It boils a pot of water in about two minutes. It has a variable temperature gauge so that you can brew green teas at lower temps. It's cordless. It has an auto shut off, so once you find your perfect temperature for tea, you can keep rebrewing the water in the kettle to bring it back up to ideal temperature, which takes about 30 seconds. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Review: Judas Priest's You've Got Another Thing Comin' Video
I really would rather do anything than spend all day reconciling my accounts, hence this post.
This morning, while flipping through the channels to find CNN Headline News, I did what usually happens. I stopped on VH1 Classic. VH1 Classic is completely amazing. Everything they show is either absolutely amazing or absolutely awful, but very entertaining either way. Plus, I am a DJ, so really I'm just doing research on American Pop Culture. Totally justified. I've got to admit, though, it is very weird to watch a video at 7:45 in the morning. Sort of like eating lobster for breakfast. VH1 loves 80's metal, which is good. I was into New Wave and Punk in the 80's. Metal was for those guys who rebuilt Chevy Novas. Bands like Judas Priest and Blue Oyster Cult kind of scared me. I've since gotten up to speed on the whole movement and have found that, in retrospect, this music was not quite so "evil". In fact, pretty laughable and harmless.
So, the plot for this Judas Priest video is as follows: Judas Priest is playing You've Got Another Thing Comin' outside in some urban area. There is this guy, who represents "The Man", who is walking around with a decibel meter trying to find where the loud music is coming from. Towards the end of the song, he finds the band and points his decibel meter at them. The meter is, of course, pinned to the right. The singer sees "The Man" pointing the meter. The singer strikes some metal hand gesture towards the guy, smoke goes up all over the place, and the guy's head gets blown off. We then see the headless man collapse and die. Now, I am not a fan of violence, but this video was totally hilarious. I was laughing to the point of tears. It, as they say, made my day. Also, I have to admit, it's a pretty catchy song. It's still stuck in my head. Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Update: I saw this video again and realized that it was remarkable for two things: 1: No women. It's just a battle between "The Band" and "The Man". Has there ever been another metal video with no "sexy" metal women? 2: A very subtle use of posterization, the most cheesy and overused gimmick of 80's videos. Sure, it's in there, but only in a few choice moments. Very tasteful!
This morning, while flipping through the channels to find CNN Headline News, I did what usually happens. I stopped on VH1 Classic. VH1 Classic is completely amazing. Everything they show is either absolutely amazing or absolutely awful, but very entertaining either way. Plus, I am a DJ, so really I'm just doing research on American Pop Culture. Totally justified. I've got to admit, though, it is very weird to watch a video at 7:45 in the morning. Sort of like eating lobster for breakfast. VH1 loves 80's metal, which is good. I was into New Wave and Punk in the 80's. Metal was for those guys who rebuilt Chevy Novas. Bands like Judas Priest and Blue Oyster Cult kind of scared me. I've since gotten up to speed on the whole movement and have found that, in retrospect, this music was not quite so "evil". In fact, pretty laughable and harmless.
So, the plot for this Judas Priest video is as follows: Judas Priest is playing You've Got Another Thing Comin' outside in some urban area. There is this guy, who represents "The Man", who is walking around with a decibel meter trying to find where the loud music is coming from. Towards the end of the song, he finds the band and points his decibel meter at them. The meter is, of course, pinned to the right. The singer sees "The Man" pointing the meter. The singer strikes some metal hand gesture towards the guy, smoke goes up all over the place, and the guy's head gets blown off. We then see the headless man collapse and die. Now, I am not a fan of violence, but this video was totally hilarious. I was laughing to the point of tears. It, as they say, made my day. Also, I have to admit, it's a pretty catchy song. It's still stuck in my head. Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Update: I saw this video again and realized that it was remarkable for two things: 1: No women. It's just a battle between "The Band" and "The Man". Has there ever been another metal video with no "sexy" metal women? 2: A very subtle use of posterization, the most cheesy and overused gimmick of 80's videos. Sure, it's in there, but only in a few choice moments. Very tasteful!
The Week of December 26 - 31, 2005
I will be available by phone Tuesday, December 27th - Friday, December 30th from 10 am - 1 pm. I will be leaving for Florence, Italy on Saturday, December 31st and will be returning on Wednesday, January 11th. So, this week would be a good time to touch base. Thanks. So, yeah, Florence, Italy. How cool is that? My wife, who works at The Newberry, will be a courier for an ancient manuscript on loan to a museum in Florence. I decided to purchase a ticket and tag along, at least for the parts that I can. There will be a few James Bond moments where I won't be able to be with her, but I guess I can hang out in a museum or something. I've never been to Europe, so I'm pretty excited. This week is a big tax time for me, so I'll be looking forward to a nice vacation.
The Week of December 19 - 25, 2005
I will be in the office Monday through Thursday of this week. I'll be available by phone 10 am - 1 pm. I'll be heading down to the Ozarks for the Holidays, returning on Tuesday, December 27. This week I'm finishing and shipping my annual Holiday Music CD on Tight Ship Records and finishing up an album by Chicago singer / songwriter Ed Duffy at North Branch Studio.
The week of December 12 - 18, 2005
As usual, I will be in the office Monday through Friday (except Thursday) from 10 am - 1 pm. As usual, another CRAZY week. My old band the Coctails will be playing three shows this week as we reunite to promote a new record, a line of action figures and a full color book of our flyers, all released in Japan by Presspop. We will be playing an acoustic set at Rotofugi on Thursday at 7 pm as a release show for the action figures, a private Holiday party for Columbia College on Friday, and the big record release show at the Abbey Pub on Sunday. My other band, Holiday Music, will be opening for the Coctails at this show. Holiday Music will be finishing our newest Holiday record this week, with recording sessions on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoon. I will be mixing a record by Heywood Yards on Wednesday. Last, but certainly not least I will be Dj'ing a wedding at my favorite venue, The Newberry Library on Saturday night. This is going to be great. Gina has picked out some great music, including Johnny Cash for her ceremony and Cocktail hour.
What is this Beep Blog all about?
The light bulb has just gone on above my head. One of my long term goals for Beep Media was to one day start a magazine. Although what I had in mind was a standard fanzine publication, this is actually more realistic and more interactive. I should call this "Beep Magazine", but I like the sound of "Beep Blog", so I'm sticking with it. Here is what you can expect in the coming months:
Check in here to see what I'm up to on a week to week basis. I'll let you know what I'm up to.
Long term and ongoing posts on resources such as:
Chicago Wedding vendor resources.
How to run an online "on demand" record label.
Band diaries and other distractions.
Crazy DJ stories.
This will be fun!
Check in here to see what I'm up to on a week to week basis. I'll let you know what I'm up to.
Long term and ongoing posts on resources such as:
Chicago Wedding vendor resources.
How to run an online "on demand" record label.
Band diaries and other distractions.
Crazy DJ stories.
This will be fun!
My Radiator
It's 5:30 in the morning and I've been kept awake by some new INSANE sound coming from the boiler room downstairs. Can't sleep, obviously. So, I did a web search on blogs and discovered it's pretty easy to do one. This is one of those things that I don't have time to do. I'll be really gung ho for about a month and then I'll get too busy. We'll see...
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