Director, Dick Fontaine’s original Zulu Nation badge given to him by Afrika Bambatta in 1985

Too bad this place was 4 hours drive from where we were. That would have made for a pretty awesome excursion and photo op!

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.

Over here we truly hope that you made it through Sandy unscathed. Before this week, what an amazing summer and fall season it has been. Only one rainy wedding since July, and that was under the most fabulous tent so it didn’t happen, right?If we had been good about Tweeting (which we are not) we would have tweeted from the following list of awesome venues in the past 60+ busy days!

Here are just a few:

	The brand new Roundhouse at Beacon where the staff is one of the friendliest we have ever worked with…this bride and groom had a ring toss and other games during their cocktail hour!
	The Old Field Club right on the water’s edge on a gorgeous fall day, and not too far from the fictional town of East Egg where the Great Gatsby was to have lived.
	The Downtown Association loading is tough here, but the setting is Old New York at it’s finest. Complete a winter wedding here would be especially nice!
	The east terrace at The Philadelphia Museum of Art need we point you in this direction, of this clip? It was THAT exhilarating to be there! WOW. Uunder the most beautiful tent, we had a unique view over the city and a crowd that danced voraciously through the night.
	The Bronx Botanical Garden at the Garden Terrace where the bride and her bridesmaids were professional dancers (the ballerina kind, folks) and didn’t stop! AND also at NYBG…
	The Bronx Botanical Garden at the Stone Mill Both are run with such efficiency and are so picturesque at any time of year.
	Tribeca Rooftop Such a great spot for a big wedding, there is so much to do style-wise with this modern layout and the terrace views look out over all of downtown and the Hudson River. This couple loved hip hop and electronica so as the night went on we brought it!
	The Prospect Park Picnic House We loved the wedding we recently DJ-ed here. The fireplace was blazing and we busted out lots of oldies, country and indie rock for this one to suit the music tastes of the couple. Everyone raged through the night sans top 40 which was fun, too. Be sure your DJ isn’t one dimensional, people! Being steeped in music knowledge takes a lifetime, not an iTunes account!
	Basilica Hudson New and amazing, and BIG! It is a 19,000 square foot former glue factory situated in the coolest little upstate town of Hudson, New York. It is also a venue for bands–Grimes played there the night after this beautiful wedding!
	Solé East in Montauk We love Montauk, but we know everybody else does too. Solé East is secluded and has gorgeous gardens for cocktails and ceremonies.
	Bowery Hotel We love this venue and have DJ-ed many weddings here. We also can offer lowered rates here since they have a complete DJ set-up already in-house! This gorgeous bride and her (now) husband had very different music tastes so it was important to bring it all together. Super fun night!
	Collichio and Son This very chic and recently redesigned restaurant accommodated every stage of this wedding from start to finish in its cozy and cavernous layout.
	Peche This is a new venue in Philadelphia, built in an old mill space and operated by the venerable caterers of Peachtree and Ward. What a treat especially for Abby to DJ in her hometown of Philly and get to play for a huge a diverse crowd including retired legends from the Philadelphia Eagles. This sweet couple celebrated the new and old music of their city all night.
	Gustavino’s This venue is uniquely situated underneath the 59th street bridge, and the structure is fascinating. This would also be a great venue for a larger wedding.
	The Desmond Tutu Center This lovely venue is a hidden gem with gorgeous gardens and a neo-gothic reception room, smack-dab in the middle of Chelsea!
	Metropolitan Building This classic venue and prop warehouse provides a whimsical backdrop for a wedding and we had the pleasure of DJ-ing several weddings here over the past few months.
	The Music Hall of Williamsburg Ever seen a show here? We were intrigued when we got booked to DJ here and though it’s a raucous venue at other times, it was lovely for a wedding. They even put the couples name up on their marqee outside where band names are usually featured and it looked pretty awesome.
	The Green Building This unique, post-industrial venue is a great palette from which to add final touches. The space also has a brand new soundsystem to deal with some tough accoustics. Coupled with our standard speakers, it sounds great in there now.
	The Montauk Club in Park Slope The Montauk club is a very historic private club which is open for weddings and is a gorgeous example of Venetian Gothic architecture from the Gilded Age of the late 1880′s.
	The Hay Adams in Washington D.C. This elegant venue is so directly close to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, that we are pretty sure we saw Barack waving from a window. The challenge was to keep people dancing but stay within the parameters of the couples tastes – they love 1960′s garage, psych rock and vintage French pop–think Serge Gainsbourg. It was a blast and a lovely crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“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!!

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

 

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?

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