The Wedding Reception: Where The Guests Always Think They Know More Than The Person Playing The Music

Tonight begins the worst season of the year "The Wedding Season" the time of year when the assholes all seem to gather around my DJ station to tell me how they used to do this when they were young or how to get the so-called party started. Well the funny thing about weddings and receptions is that nobody really dances anymore. It's all about the visiting with friends and family around the table or outside where they can smoke.

Over the past ten years the dancers have became far and few in between for the most part. Sure there are some groups that get out there and dance making the night fun for the person playing music. But more so they'd just rather sit, chat, eat, drink and remember the "old days". I haven't even started the circuit this year and I'm already bored with the whole deal. The drunk idiots who come over and slur as they speak telling you about how when they had their own system it was huge and we used records or cassettes. Then you get the younger kids constantly asking for Bieber or the like. The best ones are those males who come over and ask for the absolute stupidest music for a wedding reception like Korn, Tool or Metallica. Then when you say no they get all macho and usually insult you or say something smart ass'd then walk away in a huff.

My other favorite annoyance is the girl who comes over and says 'the bride wants to hear' like that's supposed to get her crappy house music played or the others that come and say can you play such and such and then continues to ask for song after song after song and then tells you to play it now. But in the end the best request is still the 'can you play something good' to which I reply nope. I think that I've gotten to a point where I don't enjoy giving up my Saturday nights to play music for a bunch of un-grateful asshats. I don't like people and I'm not comfortable being there at all. I do enjoy the other aspect which is booking the gigs, setting up the gear and hanging out with the DJ I send to do the actual event. When I have a partner to help me along with the people handling while I play music and do the other stuff. It's really the people I don't like and grow each year to like even less.

So here we go again I've got a few events this summer but if all works in my favour I will have passed the weddings off to my other DJ and let him take on the annoying task. Wedding season the season of suck ass but the money is good. Just remember I've been doing this for many years and know how to read a crowd. I'm pretty sure the DJ you hire for your wedding also has experience and knows what he's doing so just leave him alone and let him work. If he's truly awful you probably took the cheapest service you could get and deserve having a bad DJ but really most of us know the crowds and if you can bite your tongue and not be a picky little piss-ant or music snob and just dance to whatever is playing you'd have a lot more fun, in turn so will your DJ making your event much better than it will be if your group sits on their ass waiting for that specific Lady GaGa track or that one waltz at a specific bpm. Stop being pretentious jerks and loosen up. Hopefully I have good crowds this season and don't make me dread every wedding reception I show up to perform at this year like last year.

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AOL's Pathetic Best Of 2011 So Far List...Really? Really? REALLY?

I read the AOL Radio blog to get a heads up on the latest pop tracks and other new releases and they are fairly good at passing that information on to us. But they do these best of lists that never come close to being anything but simple, dumb and paper thin. The writers don't have much if any base in music knowledge because any idiot knows that the Black Eyed Peas - Just Can't Get Enough sucks ass on a large level. They put Britney Spears - Till The World Ends another pretty weak tune that needed Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha to be added in a remix to push the song along because it was dying a quick death.

Maybe one of the biggest crimes committed on this list is J-Lo - On The Floor. Sure the song was good and fun to dance to the first few times but it quickly gets old and becomes stale very quickly. It seems like they look at what the twelve years olds are listening to and poof that's the list. Let's be honest tweens are not the best deducer's of good music. They only listen to what the music video stations play or the popular radio station plays to get their music. The select few that have good solid musical influences around them will have a little better taste but not much in the grand scheme of things.

I know that a few of the songs on the list are excellent and deserve to be here, maybe, Adelle's tune is ruined for me now because of how overplayed it has become. The song is good though and I agree with its inclusion. Another of the deserved is Born This Way by GaGa which is a classic disco masterpiece and should live forever like Vogue by Madonna. But E.T. by Katy Perry shouldn't even be in the top 30 of the year. The remix with Kanye's immature bullshit additions make it even less deserving. P!nk's excellent Perfect highly deserves its place on the list and maybe #1 or #2 because it is that good albeit overplayed as well. I'd make a list myself and I probably will here in a post or two but it will be a top 20 and will include songs that probably aren't current pop hits and hell might not even be the artists official single.

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Night Ranger - Somewhere In California

The new album has been promised to be a throwback to classic era Night Ranger and the band more so has returned to their classic sound but it doesn't always sound so old school 80's as the band would love you to believe. The first single and album cut is "Growin' Up In California" which has all the swagger you'd expect from the boys but the production is more modern which really makes the song cook. The following tune is a Kelly Keagy voiced track that has more akin to their hard rocking sound of the first two albums which I enjoy a lot.

But then the bands best album being Neverland released in 1997 begins to take over the sound of Somewhere In California. I'm happy to hear this unfold as I'm a huge fan of Neverland. The band do keep their sound as close as possible to its original feel and express their care and attention to detail of said sound. But because its not 1987 they can't contain all the growth and influences of years and years of music and stylistic changes. The spectacular power ballad "Time Of Our Lives" has all the trappings of a great power ballad and is one of this bands best ones ever for sure. The difference here is that it has been touched by the pop country sounds of 2011. At least Night Ranger have the uber talents of one Jack Blades who is magical writing this sort of song.

The absolutely brilliant instrumental "L.A. No Name" is nothing short of spectacular from performance to composition. This track is to me worth the entire album and saving it to the end makes it the perfect closing track. It grabbed my ear so much I actually listened to it three times in a row with my jaw nearly on the floor from the amazing picking of Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstr is breath taking. Do not pass this album by it would be a mistake.

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Hammerfall - Infected

Another heavy metal band returns to shake our foundations and on Infected Hammerfall pulls it all together and delivers a pretty slick heavy metal record. The albums ominous opener "Patient Zero" has a nice stomping groove setting up what is to unfold but the wasted couple of minutes in the beginning of the elongated intro is a little boring. The album really kicks off with "Bang Your Head" a classic styled power metal tune with a nice soft passage that blasts into a solid solo.

More often than not the bands hits the mark and puts it all together. They don't blow my mind or create a classic metal masterpiece at all on Infected but the album is a solid listen and is worth your time.

Song Highlights: The Outlaw, One More Time, Let's Get It On, Immortalized & Bang Your Head

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Bowling For Soup - Fishin' For Woos

I'm all giddy and excited and bouncing off my seat as I listen to the new BFS album. This band just hits the perfect chord for me. I admit to having some issues with their last record not being up to snuff but Fishin' For Woos is a winner all the way through. The first three cuts are all stellar and some of the bands best. The song "Here's Your Freakin' Song" is a home-run and hopefully will be another hit for them.

The boys have matured in some ways but still retain all the things I love about them. More so in the production and musicianship is the growth area. I never want them to become serious because the sense of humor is what makes them great. I didn't have a clue this was coming so it came as a complete surprise for me and just made my day, hell month! So much to love so little to not and with that said go get the album and make yourself happy.

Song Highlights: Smiley Face, Here's Your Freakin' Song, Girls In America, Friends Chicks Guitars, S-S-S-Saturday, I've Never Done Anything Like This & Let's Pretend We're Not In Love

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Saxon - Call To Arms

Holy thunder Batman! Saxon's new material finds it way to my ears and I'm excited to hear what the boys have been up to since the poorly constructed Into The Labyrinth. This time around what you get is more focused aggression with an improvement on the lyrics and melodies. Even a classic from the band in the form of "Surviving Against The Odds" that is one of the best songs this band has ever written. Call To Arms does what the last two records didn't and work as complete albums.

Biff Byford's singing is still powerful and pleasant to hear, I didn't find him lacking on delivery at anytime. The wicked "Misfits Of Avalon" is nearly perfect as far as NWOBHM songs come. This is almost worth the entire cost of the album alone. They drop the tempo for a grinder which takes its name from the album. The song isn't one of the highlights but hey it is not a tosser either. I love the intro of "Chasing The Bullet" so much that banging my head isn't voluntary it just happens automatically without thought. Another smoking tune from what is the bands best album in a very long time.

When Nigel Glockler blasts off on "Afterburner" you have well been rewarded for buying this record. Biff just rips on the lead vocals and he's proving once again why he's such a great metal singer. The stomping master class of "No Rest For The Wicked" is one of those songs that should be a part of all future heavy metal song writers doctrine. I can't believe my ears while I listened to this album because nobody could have seen this coming. Saxon have completely blown me away with Call To Arms. I'm very impressed to hear a band this long into their career sound as good as they do releasing new material 35 years of travelling down the heavy metal highway.

Song Highlights: Chasing The Bullet, Balls Of The Working Man, No Rest For The Wicked, Afterburner, Misfits Of Avalon & Surviving Against The Odds.

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Status Quo - Quid Pro Quo

Hallelujah for the eponymous boogie rock band has returned with a new album. This was a bit of a surprise as I was sure they had retired after their last album In Search Of The Fourth Chord. The album didn't get much in the way of positive press and seemed as if the bands best days were long gone but here we are in 2011 and they are back with a very good album. The first single is "Rock N' Roll N' You" which is a great treat from the boys. They are straddling the boundaries of rock and country with the song but it works.

As the album plays through you can identify the more classic sounding stuff and the ever present fluff easily. There are some tunes which just pale and others like "Two Way Traffic" or "Reality Cheque" that make the volume dial seem unable to get your stereo loud enough. At their senior citizen status and long past typical rock star age this band kicks ass more so than artists less than half their age and most closer to their age. Proof is in the pudding and one listen to "It's All About You" is all it will take. This song has that groovy pulsing boogie beat that we as fans never get tired of no matter how many times we hear it. The album closes with "My Old Ways" which could have been something from the glory days with the Quo march ever present.

I completely love this band with all my heart and I'm a rarity over here in North America because they never really broke on this continent in their 44 years of rocking all over the world. Yeah I went there...If you can get a copy do so if you can't you aren't trying hard enough. Status Quo is the quintessential boogie rock band and do so better than ZZ Top which is the counterpart on these shores.

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