We feel fortunate as we look back on 2012. We worked with some really lovely couples, some incredible new venues, and some talented and creative people who make great weddings come together. Thank you all!

	Gangnam Style: Do you hate it or do you love it?? We will let you decide… This song came out of South Korea from virtual obscurity and almost overnight it blew up all over the world… that’s for sure! While we commend PSY for his success, we are pretty sure that Gangnam Style has now joined the ranks of ‘The Macarena’ or ‘Who Let the Dogs Out.’ Remember those cringe-worthy songs?
We were spared by Sandy, but sadly a lot of wedding vendors, whom we deeply respect, were not so fortunate. This Brooklyn Based flower company is partnered with an old college friend, and unfortunately their Red Hook warehouse took a hard hit during Sandy. They have rallied since then and are back on their feet. Check out their blog updates from that time.
	On a sad note, we lost a friend and a fellow DJ from San Francisco, the inimitable Matthew Africa. In addition to being an accomplished attorney and one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, Matthew was a longtime DJ, and record collector, who was respected among fellow high-caliber DJ’s across the country. He had impeccable and vast knowledge but would never be a snob about it. He perished in a car accident this fall and we miss him terribly. It is sad to know that someone who was so deeply knowledgeable about music and always was willing to share what he knew, will no longer be able to do so. His depth, taste, insight, and general awesomeness live on through his classic mixes. Rest in Peace friend!
Levi Levi Levi!!! Levi Stolove is one of our favorite people with whom we’ve worked. So much so, that he actually shot our wedding in 2010. Levi definitely transcends the things that make it so easy to be a photographer these days. It’s not just his eye, but his demeanor that comforts people into just the right moment when he can capture it and freeze it perfectly in time.
	Lots of great music came out this year from all directions, but if there was one track that grew on us even after hearing it all over the radio for months, was Usher’s “Climax.” In our opinion, the single of the year, with almost a dozen or so different runner-ups nipping at  it’s heels. Diplo‘s minimal production really gave this track something unique.
We fell in love with Tame Impala’s 2010 album ‘Innerspeaker,’ so we were excited for their second album, ‘Lonerism’, and it did not disappoint. It was our favorite LP of 2012. You listen to it and it’s just everything all at once- perfect psychedelia that doesn’t sound like it’s trying to be retro, perfect electronica without being a boring monotonous breakbeat. And from these kids who probably grew up loving classic hip hop, that influence is buried in there too if you know what to listen for. To quote Pitchfork, it feels like “the subliminal whisper becomes a rhythm track, a barreling drum break is severely tweaked to sound like an oncoming rush of bison”.
	We travel a lot for work, and one of the silver linings to that travel is the amount of amazing things we find out on the road. Thrift Stores in Maine to Garage Sales in Texas… nothing is safe. Here are a few memorable things we found in 2012: Our favorite vintage record score of 2012, was Ted Lucas’ self titled LP that we found in Portland, Oregon at Crossroads Music. I could go into detail explaining what makes this recording so special, but I’ll let you figure it out. Just have a listen.
Abby was standing next to the counter flipping through a book as I was buying some rap singles from the dollar bins at a Philadelphia shop. I looked over, and it was hard to keep a poker face when i saw what she had just found– ‘Native Funk and Flash’ This WAY out-of-print gem captures the beauty of 60s and 70s San Francisco fashion, with an emphasis on crochet and embroidery.
	When they tell you that you can’t buy anything for $5, you can tell them about this – a late 60′s motorcycle vest worn to perfection. A perfect piece of Americana captured at a flea market in Fall River, MA, on the way home from a beautiful wedding in Cape Cod.
In Washington State, we stopped by the Hama Hama oyster farm and got an amazing tour of the boat and facilities. Harvesting oysters is such an amazing trade! It also culminated in a glorious feast of some of North America’s finest shellfish.

Phew! That was a close one. We almost lost our sound systems to flooding down in the Gowanus Canal, but preparations bought last minute from a neighboring Lowes saved the day! We truly hope that all of our tri-state warriors stay safe out there. Long Island and Jersey, you are in our thoughts.

Reggae is a genre that divides–most people either love it, or don’t. There isn’t too much middle ground. As with all genres, we accept that, and in our work we know that we have to put our clients’ tastes in music first and shape what we play around that framework. Whether you love reggae or not, it is noteworthy to mention that the roots of DJing and using 2 turntables and a mixer, truly started among Jamaicans.

“The sound system concept first became popular in the 1950s, in the ghettos of Kingston. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers and set up street parties. In the beginning, the DJs played American rhythm and blues music, but as time progressed and more local music was created, the sound migrated to a local flavor. The sound systems were big business, and represented one of the few sure ways to make money in the unstable economy of the area. Turntablism, the art of using turntables not only to play music but to manipulate sound and create original music, began to develop.”

It’s a pretty remarkable influence on modern culture for such a small country. This coming Monday, August 6th, marks the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence. In honor of that, we went to see a screening of the classic 1978 movie “Rockers” at BAM cinema . It was the opening screening for their current film festival featuring 4 days of films from Jamaica. Rockers is filled with incredible reggae from that era, and the cast features real musicians from the time including Jacob Miller, Big Youth, Dirty Harry and Burning Spear. It is an incredibly real portrayal of the great styles of that era in Jamaica and is a modern take on the Robin Hood storyline.

In another nod to Jamaica, Abby will be DJ-ing a party tomorrow, Saturday, August 4th, out in Montauk at Ruschmeyer’s . In their outdoor space, the Sandbar, from 5pm to 9pm playing all reggae, all vinyl from her deep and extensive collection of roots era reggae records. Blackwell’s Rum the official sponsor of the event, was started by Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame. Sunday, there will be a live performance by the legendary Sister Nancy. If you are lucky enough to be out at the beach, please come say hi!!

You never know what you will discover. At Play Something Good, we share a love for thrifting, searching flea markets, and looking for treasures all over. It comes from our years of searching out records, but we love finding clothes, art, books, housewares, vintage stereo equipment, and musical instruments. We have learned a lot from what we have found over the years. Recently we were at an old consignment store in Philadelphia that was closing after 57 years in business. Abby has been finding amazing things there since she was a teenager. For years she noticed an interesting little hat that had always been perched on the head of a stuffed monkey in the window display. (a stuffed animal that is, not a real monkey) We both tried to tempt the staff to sell it to us, but we were always met with a– “that’s not for sale.” This particular day, the store announced it’s closing so Tom gave a final attempt at getting the hat. What do you know? Five Dollars!

The hat was really cool- it was a skipper hat shape, it looked older and had the  name “Lester Lanin” hand painted in script on the brim. There was something intriguing about it. Who was Lester Lanin? About a month later, in another city, at another thrift store, we came across another Lester Lanin hat! This one had a different shape but the same signature script writing right there on the brim. We had to know who he was, and so, upon further inquiry we found out that Lester Lanin was once a very famous bandleader and a great New York success story.

He began his career in the roaring 1920′s playing at cotillions and homes of the wealthy in New York and Philadelphia. He continued to become a hard working, successful and famous society band leader with recurring gigs at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower thru Carter! He kept up, always embracing and learning new music from his start in the 1920′s through the 1990′s! What a vast repertoire!

From his obituary in the New York Times:

by 1992 had played 20,000 wedding receptions, 7,500 parties and 4,500 proms. He supplied danceable happiness to several generations of the richest and most beautiful people on earth, at events ranging from Queen Elizabeth’s 60th birthday party to the wedding of Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel to the private parties of the DuPonts, Chryslers and Mellons. He made music for Grace Kelly’s engagement party, and at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. He wrote “My Lady Love” in honor of their marriage.”

His trademark was his hats, which would be given away, tossed into crowds toward the end of parties, emblazoned with his name in signature script. They were a sought after souvenir and status symbol. At the time of his death in 2004 at age 97 it was estimated that 50,000 hats were given away over his long and impressive career. We loved learning about him by sheer coincidence through finding these hats. It’s inspiring to hear him interviewed about his life and work as he seemed to embody the spirit of what it means to rock a party. Be tight, entertain people and have fun:

‘Whoever you play for, try and make sure you were part and parcel of something happy, so if the woman whose party it was sees you on the street 15 years from now,
she’ll say, ‘Lester, you made my party.’ ”- Lester Lanin

 

The Rolling Stones are living legends and we often get a lot of requests to hear them played, particularly early on at a wedding when you want the music to be multi-generationally appealing. This time last year we read Keith Richards’ book and were again reminded of the longevity of their careers. Abby’s dad saw them live over 20 times! An early album of their’s is a household favorite, Aftermath. The 1981 album Tattoo You is also indispensable and so classic–we often play side 2 of that album, the mellower side. It evokes a certain time and place so beautifully. Recently, while skimming through 10 years of emails, Abby found one particularly funny one. Sent by a friend in Chicago who was working at the Ritz Carlton at the time, we thought you would enjoy a peek into what these 2 aging British gentlemen required in their suites at that time.

Below is the list of items Mick Jagger requested in his suite….

• 6 packs of Marlboro Reds, replenished daily
• 10 extra ashtrays
• 4 additional boxes of tissues
• 12 cans of Fanta orange soda
• 2 liters of Stoli
• 1 litre of cranberry juice, “ocean spray”
• 3 ripe grapefruits, 3 juice oranges, 4 tangerines,
• 4 apples –only Red Delicious
• 1 lime
• 6 ripe bananas
• 1 litre of whole white milk
• black pepper mill
• Four (4) grilled chicken sandwiches, on white bread (Replenish daily) The chicken must be plain, without seasoning, grilled. • The bread must be generic plain white bread, with the crust left on. No spices, sauces, condiments. Must be wrapped in seran wrap.
• uses a lot of ice, so in addition to 2 ice buckets (with lids) he must have a small cooler full of ice at all times
• 5 (five) additional trash can
• VCR–must have clear instructions, preferably original manual. prefer consumer variety VCR, not commercial

What would you require in your suite?

The high season for wedding celebrations has commenced and it has been beautiful thus far. However, it has also been a rough month of great losses this May for some giants of music. It seemed like every time we turned around to do a post, someone great had passed in an untimely manner. Someone truly revered musically. Someone whose passing made it feel like time was moving faster. Donna Summer, Levon Helm of The Band, Chuck Brown, the godfather of Go-Go music (a regional staple of Tom’s childhood in Washington DC), and Robin Gibb of the legendary Bee Gees. The one that stung the most for us, was to hear that Adam Yauch, of the Beastie Boys, had lost his life after a hard battle with cancer. It still stings. That first week was incredibly tough, walking the New York streets feeling as though a chunk of earth had fallen out from beneath this place. It’s palpable in the air still, weeks after his passing. The Beastie Boys were such a huge influence on our tastes and sensibilities from an early age. Long before we met them, there was a sense of fun, perceptible love for the world, and tangible wisdom that transcended their music. Back then, when we needed the right recipe of humor and intelligence to inspire and polish our restlessness, it was there. To listen to their music and especially, to their avant garde sampling, was in no small way a key to who we are now and what we do. They created monsters out of us–we had to know what all of that stuff was and where it came from, We went looking for the records when there was no internet to give us the answers. We will forever be grateful to them for that. Adam Yauch’s time was a life to be admired and emulated and his legacy is one of immeasurable influence and integrity.

We are saddened to hear of the tragic passing of the legendary Don Cornelius, creator and host of Soul Train. Though Soul Train’s real heyday was before our time we are very familiar with it’s singular style. What an incredible time, you watch these videos and you can’t help but to be inspired and transported to another time when seminal albums were being released every other day and the fashions were bold and vibrant. This was a golden age for every genre of music and Soul Train would bring it into your home, before MTV, before videos, and of course, pre-internet. The show really traces the evolution of Soul into Disco and eventually the beginnings of Rap. The famous Soul Train line dance was a huge influence in America, so much so that at every wedding in those days, and through the 1980′s, you could find one at every reception. Even though we don’t do that kind of campy group dance stuff at weddings, we can appreciate the Soul Train line for what it was. There hasn’t been a dance show with a greater cultural influence. Rest in peace, Don, and thank you.

Here is one of our favorite Soul Train clips that shows the line dance in all it’s glory:

Hello world we are making tons of squash soup and mixes and getting ready for winter. We are hearing from lots of lovely people who are planning for their weddings in 2012. Congratulations to all of you! Did you know that the time between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day is the most popular time in which people get engaged? In honor of the upcoming holiday season we are posting our gift guide for people who love music. Some stocking stuffers and some pricey items are in there, but we vouch for their versatility as truly great gifts for the holidays or even for a wedding present!

A classic, high-end, turntable: This beautifully designed turntable, released from Denon this last year is a once in a lifetime special indulgence. The DP A-100 has been produced in limited edition in honor of the 100th anniversary of the company. It features direct drive technology, and is treated to absorb vibrations for the highest fidelity. This turntable is not cheap, so we get it completely if this is not for you, but on the other hand, if your budget is in the $50 to $150 range instead, don’t go out and buy a newly manufactured, USB turntable for that price. They aren’t made well at all–bad outputs and circuitry, built cheaply in China, and bad needles that will ruin your records. Instead, look around for a vintage, used turntable online. Brands like Technics, Denon, and Pioneer made great products in the 1970′s and 1980′s and it’s not hard to find one for under $200 if you look around. They are built to last! A record cleaner for the aesthete and obsessive vinyl lover: Truly for someone who has a cherished record collection big or small and wants to keep their albums pristine in times of both storing and playing. The Okki Nokki has a great looking, sleek and modern design and is a very well made product, manufactured in Germany. The older VPI is more expensive and a lot louder. This machine is ultra-quiet and features a soft bristle, goat hair cleaning brush and vacuum technology. If you love to go to flea markets and find records, you will love taking them home and carefully cleansing the grooves on this gadget for optimum sound quality before enjoying the music. A super portable bluetooth speaker that is rechargeable and looks great too: The Jawbone Jambox has been floating around blogs in 2011 and we think it’s a really great and affordable product. We first discovered it and tried it out at the Bowery Hotel where each room has one. It’s unique and simple usage of bluetooth technology makes it very versatile. It’s a speaker and a really powerful, durable one for it’s size (it’s about as big as a soda can). Take any device that has bluetooth capability–your phone, your laptop–and enable it and the Jambox will ‘find’ it. That means you can instantly have a really good wireless speaker for your music anywhere. You can also use it for phone calls. It has an impressive range too, meaning you can enable it from a device several rooms away and still hear your music or your call loud and clear. The design is pretty great too and there are 4 styles to choose from. Powerful earbuds: Tom has worked a lot with Skull Candy and has gotten to demo many of their products. Among them however, these ear buds stand out. As a New Yorker it’s nice to have headphones that can fit into your pocket. We both got to try them and our unbiased opinion is that they sound really clear and are well designed to sit comfortably in your ear. They work as a headset for your phone too and are clearer than the ones made by Apple–better isolation, better low-end, and won’t mess up your hair! The brilliantly curated and packaged releases from the Chicago based Numero Group: We could go on and on about Numero Group. They are a record label that has elevated the standard of what gets put out on vinyl. To quote to the blog Analog Apartment, “Numero, an archival record label, researches, compiles, and preserves the work of great artists who found little commercial success upon releasing their albums. Combined with stories and photographs about the artists, their labels, and the time period, the Numero compilations shine a light on great music and the stories behind it.” In other words they put out never released music that they have tracked down, as well as re-issued music that fell through the cracks. Last year they released a coffee table book called Light on The South Side, with amazing never seen photos of the dilapidated but brilliant seedy-funk scene of the 1970′s in Chicago, and music to go with it.They say it well on their web site: “Numero releases are sound with substance, living at the nexus of song and story. Scrupulously researched, painstakingly re-mastered, and with anattention to detail that is unmatched in the reissue field, the end result is a top-of-the-line compact disc (and LPs). There is no “Numero” sound; instead, Numero offers an aesthetic. A shelf of Numero discs feels less like a “record collection” and more like a library. The library to date is a mix of thrift shop soul, skinny tie pop, Belizean funk, and hillbilly gospel. Numero makes records for people who may have everything from indigenous Central American drumming to Canadian chanteuses.” A gift certificate to a really good record store: The New York Times is the last kid on the playground to declare that record stores have made a resurgence. DUH! If you are reading this you know that already. At CO-OP 87 in Brooklyn, store employees who worked at other shops for years pooled their expertise, and got together to create this really special spot. There is no snobbery, just really well-picked and well-priced vinyl spanning many genres and eras. They also carry newer vinyl releases from small labels. You can download music until you are blue in the face, but great vinyl sound will always surpass that experience by a long shot. Shopping for records is an experience in itself, tangible and human.