Tag Archives: The StoryBook Anniversary

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive

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The Bee Gees Stayin Alive. I was in 7th grade when John Travolta was at the peak of his teen icon status with his role as Vinnie Barbarino on the TV show Welcome Back Kotter.  My brother who was four years older than me, met and became friends with him strangely enough at a bar in Miami. They stayed in contact for a little while and  once I answered the phone and sure enough John Travolta was on the other end. My brother wasn’t home and I took a message.

Fun Rhode Island Wedding DJ Dancing Bee Gees Stayin Alive

It wasn’t till I was in high school that Saturday Night Fever and The Bee Gees Stayin Alive came out. My brother liked Disco, at the time I was not as much a fan. I have grown to appreciate how it is so well-made for dancing. As a professional DJ, The Bee Gees Stayin Alive such an effective tool for mixing genres and generations.  It continues to amaze how often I get The Bee Gees Stayin Alive requested by people of all ages from teens, college students, middle-aged and older folks at weddings and parties. There are many remixes of The Bee Gees Stayin Alive out these days that are all fun and great party songs.

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive Music Video

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive is a disco song by the group Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was written by the Bee Gees (Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb) and produced by the Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It was released on 13 December 1977, as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It is one of their signature songs. “Stayin’ Alive” was placed at number 191 on the list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Upon release, “Stayin’ Alive” climbed the charts to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of 4 February 1978, remaining there for four weeks. In the process, it became one of the band’s most recognisable tunes, in part because of its place at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever.”

The Bee Gees were an interesting group who made their name originally as a Soft Rock, almost Folk, in the 60’s and early 70’s. They had a completely different sound and energy in their first round as pop stars. They gained international success and lasted nearly forty years as recording and preforming artists.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Carly Simon You’re So Vain

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It was the summer between sixth and seventh grade.  I had just gotten home from a Little League game which I pitched and we won. I walked up to my room and the new telephone that my parents had just hooked up for me rang its old-style ring like a bell. I picked up the phone and heard the song Carly Simon You’re So Vain playing from beginning to end with the person on the other end hanging up, evidenced by the click and dial tone. I smiled as I put my new beige phone back on its receiver. I was twelve and did not know what ‘vain’ meant yet and in my foolishness thought it was a compliment:)

Fun Boy Dancing with Rhode Island Sweet Sixteen Party DJ Carly Simon You're So Vain

Later that summer I was at our school camping weekend to end the year and these two girls kept singing Carly Simon You’re So Vain every time they passed me in a chorus. I again smiled every time just fueling them even more.  Finally, one of them came up to me and told me the other one had played Carly Simon You’re So Vain on the phone to me. I asked her to thank her friend and smiled, still clueless. She explained to me with fire in her eyes “Vain is not a compliment, it means you are a jerk!”

 

“Jerk? Really? Why am I a jerk?”

 

“Because Mary is your girlfriend and you are going to the dance with Dana! Jerk!”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Don’t your remember when Bryan asked Mary to go out with you in January on the playground at lunch-time?”

 

It took a minute but I remembered something like that happening in what seemed like such a long time ago at that point. “Oh yeah, I remember, tell her I am sorry that I forgot all about that.”

 

Since that day every time I have heard this song I think of that Saturday afternoon phone call that I thought was a compliment but learned later that vanity is not something that we aspire to achieve.

Carly Simon You’re So Vain Music Video

 

I really like the video of Carly Simon You’re So Vain they made for this and the remix.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

The StoryBook: DJ Tells A Sweet Sixteen Story

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The StoryBook is a live performance created from your personal and family experiences at your Wedding, Sweet Sixteen, Birthday or Anniversary Party. We professionally create a story from your stories that are rewritten for a sensational oral production live with musical choreography at your event! The StoryBook is fun, funny and personal. Your friends and family will love it and talk about it for years to come.

The StoryBook Video

This particular The StoryBook video has clips from The StoryBook at the Sweet Sixteen Party that our team were DJ and MC in October of 2011 for a wonderful young lady and her family. We produce The StoryBook special live performances anywhere in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area that we are hired as your DJ and MC team for Weddings, Sweet Sixteens, Birthdays and Anniversaries.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Your Story Told For You By The Professional DJ

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I am very excited to be offering my new service for the first time this weekend to two clients at their events. I have been working on this project for a while and can’t wait to be able to show it off for the first time Saturday night! We are a culture that shares our stories as a form of strengthening our families and communities. I wanted to offer a service for my clients that presented their story at special events like Weddings, Sweet Sixteens, Birthdays and Anniversaries, and other important dates in our lives.

 

Happy Bride and Groom Kissing Their Wedding Story

 

What we do is interview beforehand the individual or individuals that are celebrating their event. They share with me their story or collective stories. We continue our conversation until we all feel there is enough material to showcase the unique and essential parts of your lives leading up to this moment. In the case of a Wedding, both the Bride and Groom share stories of your lives before you met, how you met and while you were dating. Finally, why you are choosing to get married and what you love about each other. If it is a Sweet Sixteen like Saturday night, I meet with the girl and her family and together we weave together the special moments in her life that have brought her to this day.

 

I take all this information and go home to create your “fairy tale” , your unique story.  Of course, it is not completely non-fiction – I add in some spice to make it even more fun.  While creating your story, I include the songs that have bookmarked some of your essential experiences and make them part of The StoryBook.

 

Happy Bride and Groom First Wedding Dance Story

 

At your wedding or event, I share your story with your friends and family for all to celebrate your life with you. While telling your story live, my DJ Assistant will be playing the perfect songs from your past and present to enhance the experience for everyone!

 

A live StoryBook for friends and family to celebrate together!

 

On Saturday night, I am presenting this at the Sweet Sixteen of a fabulous young lady who is jumping out of her skin with anticipation. On Sunday afternoon, a loving couple will get the chance to invite their friends and family to share their journey with them on this special day.

 

Happy Couple on Dance Floor at Wedding Story

 

At first, I was a little anxious about offering this professional service. Then I remembered that my beginnings as a DJ were in radio. After almost twenty years as a teen and family counselor, I certainly have experience interviewing and supporting families and skills to encourage them to share and reflect on how amazingness of our lives. The writing is probably the part I am enjoying the most. I am a budding writer and appreciate any opportunity to put on my writer’s cap and create something beautiful out of real life through words and music. Tomorrow night, I get my first chance to share my new service for the first time!

 

Bridal Party Introductions at Wedding

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

DJ Spins An Oldies But Goodies Anniversary Party

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Saturday Night could not come fast enough for the adult children of two happy couples celebrating 50 years of marriage. Imagine trying to plan a double surprise anniversary party for your parents and your spouse’s parents on the same night!  The good news is that all the siblings helped put the event together and kept the secret all along the way.

 

After dinner they each said a few words about their parents and most were tear-filled.  Their parents were beaming from ear-to-ear and did not stop smiling till we were breaking down our gear at 10:30pm.  After the announcements, we turned up the volume and Oldies Tunes from the 50’s and 60’s started the fun part of the night.  They reminded me why I enjoy this music so much as a professional DJ. It is fun, playful and great to dance to for young and old. There were even some kids and teens on the floor grinning and moving to The Drifters, Dion & The Belmonts, The Four seasons and Bill Haley and The Comets.

 

 

My ride home from The Holiday Inn in  Manahawkin, NJ was nice while reflecting on the party and the celebration of two marriages still going strong 50 years later. I know us professional DJs participate in so many events but I still get moved by special moments and celebrations.

 

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Oldies DJ For Birthdays and Anniversaries

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I have been hired as professional Oldies DJ for several Oldies events lately. These are typically parties with lots of good, clean fun. I grew-up with plenty of the songs from the late 50’s and early 60’s with artists like Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Dion & The Belmonts, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Johnny Mathis and all the MoTown stuff being the ones that stick out in my memory the most. My family also listened to a lot of Jazz, Pop Vocalists and Big Bands as well.

 

For reasons I do not know, as a child I gravitated towards the Oldies genre on my own. It started with me asking my parents to find me The Crusin’ Series of albums and cassettes. They are where I first began to study the history of  music and the roots of Rock and Roll. The Crusin’ 1961 album was the first since it was the year I was born, then 1958 and 1962. Soon after that I got the double album soundtrack to the film American Graffiti.  My brother gave me as a gift a couple of albums by Shanana with covers of many of the great tunes of that era. The collection grew with time and patience.

 

When I first started as a professional DJ, I was hired for a party for some Morristown Police Officers. They had so much fun they kept hiring me for all their events and it wasn’t long before all the police, fire and P.A.L. events booked me and I became known as the “Oldies DJ” even though I was only nineteen or twenty at the time. I had fun and learned a lot about music and Rock and Roll.

 

I still enjoy the opportunity to break out the Oldies and spin great times with folks who really appreciate the music and memories.  I think it is easier for me since I was alive during most of this music and grew-up with it. I imagine a young professional DJ who is trying to play the songs of the 50’s and 60’s through reading about them or just what Billboard says would struggle with knowing what works with what, as I did when I was DJing in my early twenties and playing some Big Band and Swing gigs back then. I do know a couple of young professional DJs who actually do an excellent job with both The Oldies and music of today though.

 

Back to the playlist I am working on for a 50th anniversary party coming up soon!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional Anniversary Party DJs

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One of the beautiful aspects of a professional anniversary party DJ at an anniversary party is the opportunity to chronicle lifetimes and moments of a relationship through music. It is an event that is really shared by the family. It speaks to their periods of joy and grace and the periods of hardship and struggles. All of which are the testaments of a marriage that has lasted time and the pressures of the outside world.

 

When I first started professional DJing anniversaries, they were not a big deal – at the time Americans stayed married through thick and thin. Times have changed and now anniversaries hold a higher value in this climate of divorce and separation. I am not judging, just speaking to a change in values of a culture and how long term marriage is becoming more of a miracle every day. One to be celebrated by and with the family.

 

As a professional Wedding DJ, we get the opportunity to play music from many eras and genres at such an event due to the diversity in age and personalities of the guests without the familial pressures of a wedding that often don’t allow the host s to enjoy the event.  Sinatra, Bennett, McCartney, Jackson, Ross, Madonna, Hammer, Beyonce and Lady GaGa all share the night’s entertainment. It is fun and sentimental all at the same time.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ