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November 2014

Holiday Music | Thanksgiving Song Titles with DJs Brian B & Josh B

As DJs, we get asked all the time for holiday music and other music ideas for parties and special occasions (even ones we’re not entertaining at).  The holidays are no exception.  In fact, it doesn’t fail that our inbox is filled this time of year with requests from people looking for playlist ideas for their holiday get-togethers.  Well, we at B-Boy Productions have got you covered for Thanksgiving…sort of.  You see, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where finding a playlist to fit the theme is a little tough. Beyond the obvious gratititude tracks of “Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant, “Thank You” by Dido, the rest are pretty slim pickings.

To provide a little levity to our VLog series, we offer you the top 10 Thanksgiving Song Parody Titles.  We hope you enjoy these.  If you have any others you’d add (we came up with “I Came In Like A Butterball” by Miley Cyrus, “U Can’t Stuff This” by MC Hammer,  and “All About That Baste” by Meghan Trainor after we had already taped this episode), feel free to comment below and or tweet us with the hashtag #thanksgivingparodysongs.  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Seacrest Beach Wedding Celebration with DJ Dan | Matt & Hannah

The weather in Northwest Florida is quite fickle. Indeed, it can change by the minute. Fortunately, for Matt and Hannah Radicz’s wedding, it didn’t stop us from partying the night away!

Seacrest Beach Wedding

Matt and Hannah’s reception was held poolside at The Villas condominiums in luxurious Seacrest Beach, FL. Some severe thunderstorms moved into the area and poured down rain, but they didn’t stay long. Everything had dried off by the time the reception was to be held.

For this event, there was no planner; Matt and Hannah were working with a very tight budget. Situations like these are where I shine, as I truly believe in rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty. While I took the pressure off of the Bride and Groom and let them go enjoy their special day, I made sure to check on the catering food, make sure the cake cutting utensils were all in place, and much more. I love to multitask!

The highlight of the evening for me was the Groom and his brother/Best Man performing John Legend’s “All of Me” for his Bride. Matt had contacted me a few weeks prior and told me he wanted to surprise Hannah with a performance. I was nothing but delighted to help facilitate it! She was very touched by his gesture, and cried tears of joy all throughout.

It takes more than a little black rain cloud to stop B-Boy from keeping the party rolling, and party we did that day! Congratulations, Matt & Hannah!

 

**EDITOR’S NOTE****

We recently received a wedding wire review on this event from the bride.  Here’s what she had to say:

“DJ Dan Davis made our reception so much fun! He was very responsive from day one, met with us at a coffee shop with last minute notice because we were only in town for a day. We planned our wedding from a distance and he was very efficient with communicating via text & calls. It was the least amount of stress compared to planning with other vendors! He played all of the requests that we specified including 2 songs for the father/daughter dance. He was very in touch with us throughout the reception checking with the groom & I to make sure everything was OK and to assure we were happy with his services. He got everyone up & dancing easily. All of our guests, including us, were dancing all night and having a blast! The value was also essential for us being on a tight budget.  Thank you so much Dan Davis for making our reception a success!!!” – Hannah Lee, Panama City Beach, FL (event date: 9/13/14)

DJ Charles in the mix for a Hilton Sandestin Weddings | Keith & Erica

I had the pleasure of DJ’ing Keith Holtel and Erica Kleinholz’s wedding this past Summer. They were from Cincinnati, Ohio and picked the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa in Destin, FL as their wedding venue. Their 62 guests came from all over the country.

Hilton Sandestin Wedding DJ Charles

When the reception started, I could just tell that they were going to be a great crowd.  Everything went smoothly and the event had an elegant vibe to it on the Sunset Deck.  However, not even 15 minutes after the Grand Entrance, the Florida summer rain decided to make an appearance.  We made the decision after dinner to move the reception inside to one of the ballrooms since it continued to sprinkle intermitently.  As you can imagine, the delay in having to reset caused the mood to shift a bit.  I knew I had to do my best to entertain these people and swing the momentum!  I mean, this is one of the biggest days of their lives and there’s no way I was going to let a little rain ruin this beautiful ocassion.

As soon as I got re-set, I instantly threw on some upbeat dance music hits!  This proved to be the remedy.  From that moment on, they went into full party mode and we kept it slammin’ all night! It was definitely one of the best crowds I’ve ever DJ’d for. Thank you Erica and Keith for letting me be a part of your big day!  Best of luck to you both!

Hilton Sandestin Wedding

 

**EDITOR’S NOTE****

We recently received a wedding wire review on this event from the bride.  Here’s what she had to say:

“We had a destination wedding in Sandestin so we didn’t really know what to expect. The wedding was beautiful and DJ Charles was right there on the deck for the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance. It was great. THEN it started to rain so they moved us inside to another room and everyone’s mood wasn’t the greatest. DJ Charles’ flexibility and professionalism to pack all of his equipment up and move inside was awesome. Once he got set up, DJ Charles got the party started again and the reception turned out to be just as great as the ceremony. Thanks DJ Charles for rocking the house and making it a perfect night.” – Erica Kleinholz, Destin, FL (event date: 6/17/14)

WaterColor Wedding DJs | DJ Duane Entertains for Ashley & Tyler

As a full time wedding and event DJ entertainer, I have had the opportunity to witness countless wedding celebrations and been privileged to meet some really amazing people. One of my most recent clients were the Heckman’s. Their wedding took place at the beautiful Western Lake Park, a part of Watercolor Inn in beautiful WaterColor, Florida, and their reception took place on the property at The Lakehouse. Talk about a beautiful setup! As you can see in the pictures below, this was a gorgeous setting!

WaterColor Wedding DJs

WaterColor Lake House

WaterColor Lake House Wedding B-Boy Productions

I could tell from the very beginning that Ashley and Tyler were going to be a blast! From their #tyandashgettingweird wedding hashtag to the conversation during our planning meeting together, I knew that I had to pull out all the stops for their reception. They definitely wanted a fun, energetic, party-like atmosphere to share with all of their guests and that is exactly what we did. Playing classics like “Twist & Shout” to modern hits like “Feel So Close”, we rocked all ages all night long! It was definitely a terrific highlight from my 2014 wedding catalog!

WaterColor Wedding DJs

 

 **EDITOR’S NOTE****
We recently received a wedding wire review on this event from the bride.  Here’s what she had to say:

“Our DJ (Duane) was great.  He knew the right music to play and got people on the dance floor even before the cake cutting! He was super accommodating as well, regarding our song selection and if we wanted to change up songs halfway through playing another. Duane can get the party started for sure!”
– Ashley Martin, WaterColor, FL (event date: 9/20/14)

Company Holiday Parties | Ideas for Throwing a Memorable Holiday Party

As we move into the holiday season,  we’re pumped up at B-Boy Productions!  Part of it is just because there is a genuine shift in the atmosphere.  People tend to get excited as we move into a time of family get-togethers and reflection on the past year.  New holiday music albums are released, Starbucks holiday drinks and….holiday parties are thrown!

Throwing a Memorable Holiday Party

We’ve seen a resurgence of company holiday parties over the last few years which is a good thing.  Why should these parties matter and why should companies do them?  Here’s our top 3 reasons:

*IT SENDS A MESSAGE TO EMPLOYEES…that you, as a company, care.  With the economy being erratic at times over the years, this gives employees a feeling that things are  OK in their company world.  It also shows that the company is willing to spend money, which could otherwise pad the company’s bottom line, to lift company morale.

*IT ALLOWS EMPLOYEES TO LET THEIR GUARD DOWN…and just be them.  It is t a great way to see how down to earth everyone is OUTSIDE the office.  This also has been known to create bonding moments among employees alike.  We hear these types of comments all the time in our holiday party debriefs with clients.

*IT’S HEALTHY TO CELEBRATE…how the year went.  If it was a good, it’s easy to do.  But even if it is a down year, there is still victory in what was learned through it.  Management can use it as an opportunity to encourage employees to look foward to the following year.  But most of all, it always good to celebrate your team.

With all that said, we don’t take these events lightly.  We try to create an atmosphere that adds to those things and make the event one to remember.  So what are some of our ideas to make these events stand out?  Glad you asked!

*PROGRAM THE NIGHT LIKE YOU WOULD A PRODUCTION!  This might seem silly at first but there’s a ton of truth in this.  You want the night to have ebb and flow, encouraging guests to stay throughout the entire event.  There is no “formula” or websites dedicated to holiday parties (like The Knot or Wedding which help wedding couples) so this is where we come in.  Just a few examples of ways we try to keep it flowing:
– Don’t do all your raffles in the beginning or at end of the night
– Come up with creative ways to entertain during dinner (we have a ton of these things in our arsenal)
– Holiday entertainment should be more than just Holiday music

*ADD A PHOTO BOOTH!  This is the perfect complement to your main entertainment.  You can utilize this as guests arrive, during dinner and/or while the dancing is going on.  The print-outs also make a great party favor for your guests to take home. Talk about letting loose and breaking down barriers; nothing does that quite like a photo booth.  In our case, we have two types of booth styles and we also give you all the photos on a jump drive to use as you wish (blackmail possibly? ha!).

*ADD KARAOKE!  This can definitely take your party to another level. It also can get people out of their shell pretty quickly.  We’ve done “battle of the departments”, “women vs men”, and various other types of karaoke party competitions.  You also may find some hidden talent within your company (and some amazing YouTube material to post).  If you’ve never had this at your party, you don’t know what you’re missing!

*THE RAFFLE MUSIC!  If you’re not careful, the raffles can suck all the energy out of the room (accomplishing the exact opposite of what you’d think would happen). Why?  Because there is no musical help here.  The average DJ just waits until this portion is over and then resumes with the holiday or dancing music.  In some cases, the raffle can take 15-20 minutes.  Talk about a buzz kill (pun intended).  We utilize “audio stingers” during each raffle pull and as winners make their way to the stages.  These are short 10-20 second pre-produced clips of songs (typically the hook) like Dancing Queen, Respect, Movin’ On Up, Jeopardy Theme, Sexy and I Know It,  Roar, etc. and we play off the vibe of prizes being raffled and those who win them.  We have about 100-200 of these ready to go and we can fire them at any time.

*WALKING MUSIC!  At most company holiday parties, the CEO or someone on the management team gives a few words either as a welcome or in the middle of the night.  This is a great opportunity to honor him or her with some “walking music” as they make their way to the stage.  Think about the Oscars.  There’s always walking music as speakers make their way to the stage.  The song choice can range from comical (Rocky Theme, Superman Theme, I’m Too Sexy, etc.) to serious (instrumental music).

*GAMES & SKITS!  I know what you’re thinking…these will be CHEESY!  Well, surprise, the ones we do are not.  These can run the gamut as we’re constantly adding new and fresh games and skits to the mix.  Everything from “Holiday Trivia” to “Celebrity Sightings” to “Build A Snowman” to “Name that Guitar Riff” – this is just a small snippet of what we can do.

At the end of the day, our goal is to have company employees be able to forget what’s happening in their world with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and just enjoy one another for the few hours we’re there.  If we do it right, we’ll have helped create moments that will be talked about for years to come.   Let us help you do that.  Contact us for availability.