So Tunes4046 if you were in the position Rick is in and it was a friend of yours needing your help, would you help that DJ and not any money for helping out because it's your friend?
Mitzvah time
- Thread starter rickryan.com
- Start date
If I had an open date & a friend could use some help , Why not! Friend & I traded services for many years and also passed on many good gigs over the years.
Worked several corp. events that paid me well and I did the same for Ken.
Ken is big into video & lighting, I am not.
We are not partners! Over twenty years ago we worked for a sound & lighting company.Ken managed online sales, I managed shipping & receiving.
Lot of respect & trust over the years.
Worked several corp. events that paid me well and I did the same for Ken.
Ken is big into video & lighting, I am not.
We are not partners! Over twenty years ago we worked for a sound & lighting company.Ken managed online sales, I managed shipping & receiving.
Lot of respect & trust over the years.
You're talking about a situation where you and your friend are both operating in the same locale. We are not. I'm not going to give away my weekend any more than I already have.
Nope. Not always! Your in the wrong biz. You have no weekends.Your in the entertainment biz.
Didn't mention back in the day we did two & three events a week not just weekends. No bar gigs.
I'm not driving to Nashville for free.
No. That's not at all what I said.
I've pointed out that if the sales order included a DJ and an Emcee - and only a single entertainer shows up, that is a breach of the contract. It is especially egregious if the person who shows up is not qualified for that position.
There is a large segment of business that is the domain of professional entertainers and not ad-hoc DJ enthusiasts. If one even unwittingly crosses into that realm the results can easily and dramatically bite them in the a$$. The people working in these events areas are former cruise ship entertainers, them park employees (Disney, Universal) and broadcast talent show runner ups. (American Idol, Got Talent, World of Dance, Think you Can Dance, etc.)
Hiring a DJ does not preclude anyone from the expectation of acquiring real talent. In the case of this particular DJ - he sold himself as premium entertainment for a premium price, but was clearly just a very poor copy cat.
Update, the Mitzvah was a huge success. It ended up being a pretty large event in a big room. We estimated about 400 people, including kids and adults. The room has a concert sound system, along with a dedicated A/V team that handled room sound and full room lighting. It was great seeing my friend again and he was ultra-appreciative that I was there as well.
Wow 400. I haven't seen a Bar/Bat Mitzvah like that in many years. Most of the ones I did are smaller like 75 to 150 guests. I hope the birthday kid got to have a ride in the McClaren, and it wasn't just a show piece. Cool venue for a mitzvah too! I was usually at a hotel ballroom or it was outside under a tent on private property.
Nice.
Definitely a two person job to keep things going.
Definitely a two person job to keep things going.
Thanks. Russ was pretty ticked off as he was lead to believe this was a small, low-key event. He only charged them $2500 and that was for DJ/MC, 2 dancers and I was hired to provide sound and photobooth. When we got there we find out it's a very large room with concert-grade sound, lighting and video and a team of 4 managing those. I agreed to do it for $500 and he paid me $600. Still, it was nice for both of us to get to work together again and he absolutely killed it on his part. I'm so thankful he was able to make it to the event as there's no way I would've pulled off the event that he did. This was probably the biggest Mitzvah we've ever done together, in terms of room size and guest count. At the end of the day, he MIGHT have cleared $1k for his part.
Thanks for your post Rick. What you posted is what is talked about on here. It's best to get all the details before you commit to doing an event. Obviously if your friend knew all those things were a part of doing that event he would have quoted a little higher price.
Sorry once more thing. I'm glad you admitted that if you were the DJ doing the event you wouldn't have done a good job. That took a lot of courage to admit that on here.
That's not what I said. I would've done a good (enough) job, but the way he handled that party, there's no way I could've matched that. The guy is a monster at mitzvahs.
He said there's no way I would have pulled off the event he did. That to me says Rick wouldn't have done a good job. For me either you would nail an event or not. Glad to hear that the event went well and you got to see your old friend.
So an events success is all or nothing for you, if you don’t have a packed dance floor and interactive crowd it’s a complete failure,
I’ll keep that in mind next time you post a gig.