Reunions Interesting Article

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The author is talking about a HS less than 2 miles from where I grew up. It was way closer to my house than the HS I actually went to. School districts, fire districts, water districts, etc were all disconnected from the actual town borders and zip codes.

I enjoy reunions. They are low pressure and they let me delve into the dust-bin and pull out some great one-hit wonders almost forgotten in time. One of my favorites was a class of 1964 reunion I did. One table stared at me almost all night, they never danced but seemed to enjoy the music. A brave one from the table finally comes up with a request. His table didn't know the song name or the artist. He couldn't sing it to me either. All they remembered was it was in a foreign language, maybe Japanese or Chinese. I actually had the song queued up already to play next. It was Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto from 1963. His table went nuts. They couldn't believe this "young" DJ knew the song. On a side note: The guy that hired me initially called one of my best friends to DJ this party. My friend was 21 in 1964, I was 1. However, I knew the music from 1964 better so I got the gig.
 
I haven't gone to a single one of my high school reunion events, and I live less than 8 miles from the school. There are even bars around here that I'll generally avoid because I always run into high school people when I'm there.

For whatever reason, I developed much better long-term relationships when I was in college, and I do try to make the trek back for a football game each year if I can (sometimes tough during wedding season).

But I'm with the writer... hard pass on that style of event, both as an attendee or a DJ.
 
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I went to my 10, 20 and 30 year reunions. Covid prevented a 40th. The 10th was the worst. Everyone was a few years out of college attempting to show off how successful they are. It felt like the worst of HS revisited. Fearing the 20th might be similar, I printed up 4 sets of "interesting" business cards. One set had my title as "Street Person", another "Pitiful Soul", another said "Religious Cult Leader" and the last said I was the admissions counselor for the MJ camp for boys (MJ was in the news then). My only regret was that I didn't bring more cards. They became the collectors item of the reunion. And my fears were unfounded. The 20th and 30th were very chill reunions. These days I am one of the moderators for our class page on FB. About 40% of the class of 600 are members of the page.
 
Lol, funny that’s school is on Long Island pretty close to me. How the reunion goes depends on how close the class is and how much you enjoyed your time that school. In my case I go to 3 different reunions and was DJ for the class reunion of a class one year behind me at a school didn’t graduate from. I did their, 5th, 10th, 15th & 20th reunions. There is a close-knit group that party their butts off at every reunion I did. Most come without their spouses and they have a very active group on Facebook.

Even though I was the big DJ at my High school I didn’t DJ any of my high school's reunions of the school I graduated from. The first few were crappy/expensive and organized by some outside company. I went to my 5th reunion and didn’t go again to the 25th. What changed is one person started having a more informal reunion at a local Marriott. We take over the bar area, you pay for the drinks & appetizers you wanted. No DJ, we spend the time talking reminiscing, going thru the yearbooks &, etc. Although many might did know each other directly we have share experiences in school and know some of the same people. Being one of the few pieces of pepper in all the salt and being the DJ in school many knew who I was. That reunion went on for 5 hours, my 45th reunion is in June.

I also go to the reunion in the School District where live. Usually, they have a dinner, no DJ. For the 40th reunion, they tried a boat ride but couldn’t sell enough tickets and ended up at a local night spot with a DJ & karaoke. My event that evening got rained out so I was able to make it. But listening to a DJ who doesn’t have a clue but music from 1978 and then trying to karaoke with him singing drove me crazy. In his defense it was supposed to be a regular evening for him then everyone from the reunion just showed up packing the place.

One other reunion I go to is a yearly reunion for all ages from my town which is held in a park. 20 years ago for a couple of years, I did the music for the daytime event. Usually, it's the classes from the 60s to the 80s. Then there is an evening event which I don't go to where they party all night with a DJ. My youngest sister goes to that.

Personally, I like going to reunions, now depending on the group I may or may not want to DJ. As I like talking and seeing people I may not have seen in a while.
 
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For me, reunions had three big issues.

1- people are there to talk and catch up on old times. the DJ is an add-on, who is just there for background music.
2- half of the crowd seems to be embarrassed by their age. playing music from their generation reminds them of how old they are.
(so half of the crowd is always disappointed)
3- until you get to the later reunions, those nasty high school cliques still affect people's pursuit of fun.

For me, I went to my 5th with my brand new wife (we got married the same year).
Didn't go to another until my 40th.
I never wanted to spend a few hundred bucks to hang out with people I never wanted to hang out with in school.
I was offered the chance to DJ and go for free....but I still had no interest.
Didn't take the offer until 2021.
It was a casual outdoor party at a local pool....so there was no pressure.
 
If I could sum up the 3 that I went to it would be:
10th - Focus on careers
20th - Focus on kids
30th - Focus on health and homes
40th - Covid prevented this one but I guess the focus would have been on hairlines and hair colors or the lack of either
 
My town hosts an "all class reunion" every 5 years, which happens to fall on my "5 year" anniversaries. I went to the 5th year since everyone was still in college, legal drinking age, and like 99% single. We got kicked out of one bar and moved to another (why the organizers booked OUR class - a notorious party class - to meet at the hotel bar, I'll never know.) I went to my 10th and was bored. I was managing a hotel in town the year of my 15th (ironically the same hotel we had gotten kicked out of 10 years earlier), so I went for business purposes.

Since then I've said "if you want me to come to the reunion, book me as the DJ" to the organizers. They've never taken me up on it and I'll happily work weddings that weekend like I have for my 20th and 25th
 
Too funny maybe they are reading the forum. My 45th is in 3 weeks. No DJ like last time just the group meeting in the bar area at the Marriott. It will be interesting to see how many people show up this time, last time about 125 people were. Meanwhile, I’m trying to lose some weight before the event. I have a feeling the big topic is going to be who is retired now, many i. My age group are retiring from the career jobs and doing something else.