2009: Year in Review - Part 2

As promised, here is Part 2 of our year in review. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

To wrap up the year, here is a list of our best and worst of 2009. While we saw some hot songs emerge this year, it was the older hip-hop tunes of the late 80s and early 90s that really got the dance floor pumping this year!

Hottest Songs
“I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” – Pitbull
“Low” – Flo Rida (2nd year in a row!)
"I Gotta Feelin'" - Black Eyed Peas
"Fire Burnin'" - Sean Kingston

Other Popular Songs
"Party in the USA" - Miley Cyrus
"Chicken Fried" - Zac Brown Band
"That's Not My Name" - Ting Tings

Most Popular Slow Songs
"Then" - Brad Paisley
"Whatever It Is" - Zac Brown Band
"The Climb" - Miley Cyrus

Biggest Dancefloor Fizzlers
Lil Wayne - just about anything with him
Britney Spears - especially "3"

Played and Made Popular…Before the Radio Played It
"Fallin' For You" - Colbie Caillat

Songs We Dusted Off (These returned to popularity this year.)
“It's Tricky” – Run-DMC
"Bust a Move" - Young MC
"Apache" - Sugarhill Gang
"Boogie Wonderland" - Earth, Wind & Fire

Literally Dusted Off (vinyl)
“Thriller” – Michael Jackson

These Faded in Popularity This Year
"Lost in This Moment" - Big & Rich
"Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-a-Lot
Anything by Tim McGraw & Faith Hill (far fewer requests this year)

Oddest Requests
A couple of songs by Cake
"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" - Jermaine Stewart

Most Unique Introduction (This popped out the most this year.)
Bulls Theme - The wedding party actually formed a huddle!


Thank you again for letting us be a part of your events!
We wish you a safe and happy New Year!

2009: Year in Review - Part 1

We had a very busy and successful year here at AMP Indiana. There is so much to talk about this year that I am splitting this post into two parts. This post will be brief highlights of this year's weddings and Part 2 will be about music, similar to last year's post.

For starters, we DJed our first Jewish wedding and we opened up dancing with 2 outstanding hora mixes. As shown below, the bride and groom were each hoisted up on chairs and carried around the dance floor as the rest of their friends and relatives danced around them!

Speaking of firsts, we DJed our first Halloween wedding this year. Most of the guests were in costume and Jon and I were dressed as zombies. We had fun mixing in spooky sound effects with the music!

We also DJed a Persian-American wedding and we had to mix music from both cultures to keep the dance floor moving. I took a step back to my days as my father's apprentice, when we DJed Greek-American wedding. That experience helped me a lot with this wedding. The energy was high, the music was loud, and the guests had a great time!

We DJed many fun weddings this year and rocked many crowds of guests.

We had a hot day outdoors....









We had some fun evenings....


















We even had a reception where the wedding party and guests from our room formed a train, went into the other room and brought back their wedding party and many of their guests. The dance floor was overflowing with guests! (You can read more here. )

All in all, 2009 was a wonderful year! We can't wait to see what 2010 holds for us. Thank you for letting us be a part of your events!

Backstreet's Back?

I just purchased the new Backstreet Boys album, This is Us, and I've gotta say that I think that they're back for sure. I don't think this is going to be a short-lived run like with the New Kids on the Block; there's more than one song that'll be hitting the Top 40 radio stations.

On the album, the group brings back their familiar, blended vocal sound to more current-sounding tracks. Add some decent lyrics and it's a pretty good album. I've heard that their first single "Straight Through My Heart" has already been on the radio, although it hasn't made it out here to the Lafayette area. Other decent tunes on the album include "All of Your Life (You Need Love)," "This is Us," and "Masquerade." You can preview the album here.

I was happy with the purchase and am looking forward to playing some of these tunes at upcoming events.

Half a Year Gone Already?!

Wow! We're halfway through the summer already and we've had many wonderful weddings so far this year! Lots of wacky things have happened so far. Here are a couple to note:

Filling In...

On May 8th, I received a call from a client do DJ an event that evening. We weren't booked, so we took care of it. It was a small party for a group of wonderful teachers from a local elementary school. The other DJ had bailed on them, so we stepped up and had a fun party!

The Train

Back in June, we were DJing over at the Holiday Inn in Lafayette - a charming venue with multiple facilities. Well, there was another wedding reception in another room. Folks at our party decided to start a train line and crash the other wedding!

I thought that there'd be a train going around the foyer and that if they went through the other room, they'd just be coming back and the other folks would have a great laugh. I played "C'Mon Ride It (The Train)" by the Quad City DJs and when that train line came back, we had not just one - but two brides - in the line! Also included was the other groom and wedding party. People stayed to dance to "Low" by Flo Rida, then headed back to their reception. It was an amazing site to see the room filled!

Here are a couple of pictures of the train....

And of the packed room....

We're still working on the AMP Indiana Music Database Wiki. We have some updated titles, but we're continuing to backfill. As we were sorting for our July 18th wedding, I realized that it would be easier to find out if we have the tunes by searching on the wiki. This is proving to be a nifty tool for you to browse, but also for us to search for music we know we have. It's the perfect, searchable, online catalogue!!

There will be an actual gallery coming soon on the website, where you can actually see our equipment and what we do before you book us. For now, I might just be making an additional post and updating our new AMP Indiana fan page on Facebook. If you like us, please join and become a fan!

Speaking of seeing what we do, we will have a new page also coming to the website that describes all the work that we put into each event, from our first meeting with a client to the end of the event. While we might get into more specifics on this blog, the general overview will be viewable on the website.

There's a lot of work to be done this year - and many more events to DJ. Stay tuned for more updates!

Music Database in Progress

I just wanted to drop a quick note today to let you know that I am finally posting our music library online. I decided that using a wiki-style website would be best. I am currently using a free version of the service, but I will be upgrading soon to get rid of the nasty banner ads and to make the pages look nicer.
Check out the wiki here: http://ampindiana.wikispaces.com/

The Banner Syndrome

A word of caution to those who are looking for a DJ. Make sure that your DJ is working for you at your event and not making it their own event. One of the most unprofessional things a DJ can do is have a sign or banner to advertise their company at another person's formal event.


Recently, I have been surfing the sites of numerous "professional" mobile DJs to see what is outside of the Lafayette area. I was shocked to see many DJs who call themselves professionals display pictures of their DJ setups that feature a large banner, sign, even a gobo spot on a dance floor! And these pictures weren't from any sort of college party or picnic; they were clearly from formal weddings. Note: A gobo spot is an electronically projected image.

There's nothing wrong with bringing a banner to a bridal expo, where the DJ is advertising for their company in their own booth. There's also nothing wrong with bringing business cards to an event - a DJ's best advertising does come from word of mouth. I just believe that the large signs, banners, and gobo spots need to be left at home, especially when it comes to formal events like weddings.

When I DJ an event, I set out a few business cards in a discreet business card holder near the request book. This eliminates the need for me to go digging around in a bag for a card when asked. In my opinion, that is all that's needed.

Song Listings Coming Soon

Many people have asked me about whether I have a database of songs online. My answer is that I am working on it and if there are requests for songs that I do not own, I will purchase them.

Most DJs have a vast collection of music and your AMP DJs are no exception. I have found this task to be a bit overwhelming. However, I might have a solution.

Originally, I was working on a cumbersome grouping of PDF files, but as I have gotten deeper into this I keep asking myself whether people will really use the lists in this format. I am trying to start off with artists that I play most often, but even that is a long list. I just do not believe that the PDF library idea will work.

I am looking into options that make navigation easier. Perhaps I will just make up a new website and perhaps I will look into a wiki service. More updates on this soon....

Monticello Bridal Show

Join us in Monticello this Sunday at the 9th Annual Best Western Brandywine Bridal Show! The show runs from Noon-4pm and admission is only $3. See this website for more details: http://www.wmrsradio.com/Bridal%20Show.htm

And the Updates Keep Coming!

I've added more updates to the AMP Indiana website, including a fresher blue color for the links and a new Links page, which will be updated as we meet more vendors. If you're planning an event and do not have all your vendors booked yet, this page will help you with local places to look.

http://ampindiana.com/links.html

Weddings Page Added

We've now added a page on Weddings to explain more about how we work with couples on weddings. Go here to learn more: http://ampindiana.com/weddings.html

Midwest Rentals Bridal Affair

Join us this weekend at the Midwest Rentals Bridal Affair show. Brides-to-be can register online to get in for free. See their website for more details: http://www.lafayettebridalaffair.com/