Two Years in a Row!
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!

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
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
How To Annoy a Wedding DJ
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 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
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
Funny Dj Story #2. "You Guys Are Doing a Great Job".
Funny Dj Story #1. People Requesting the Song I Am Currently Playing.
Review: Frank Sinatra's "Watertown" Album
Kelly Hogan Kicks it Out!
My Obsession with Ceramic Tile and Frederick Law Olmsted
http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/
http://www.riverside-illinois.com/History.htm
The Week of March 13
The Week of March 6th
The Week of February 27th
The Eccentric Act of Ear Wax Removal
Nothing says "I'm Boring" quite like your own blog
Cool. I'm Caught Up: The Week of February 13, 2006.
Uggh. I'm swamped, Man! / Barry Phipps Goes Mainstream
My email is being blocked
The Week of January 30 - February 5, 2006
Back in Town
I am out of town through January 11th, 2006 / Awesome Electric Tea Kettle
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
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
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
The week of December 12 - 18, 2005
What is this Beep Blog all about?
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!