DJs: Who did you work for?

[QUINNY]

I thought this might prove interesting, as NickNack mentioned Mafia controlled clubs in New York.

At my first club, I worked for 3 local guys, who'd spent over 2 years renovating an old, almost derelict coach house in the grounds of a very well known pub and turned it into a discotheque. It's a shame that this never lasted the course (due to sometimes bitter feuding between the partners and the pub's landlord).

I then went to Marbella, Spain with one of them, with the idea that he would eventually buy the disco I worked in there. This never happened, so I worked for a year for two ex Mercenaries, who'd fled the Belgian Congo with their lives and a large amount of cash in an old plane that ran out of kerosene just on the coast of Morocco. They made Malaga airport on the fumes left in the tanks. One was Belgian who was charming and the other was a tough South African who had a thing about anybody and everybody being below him and unworthy.

I then went to Mallorca and worked for a young ex public schoolboy, who'd previously got druggy in New York, had a scrape with the authorities there and ended up in Mallorca to get his head together. Luckily, his father (an ex racing car driver) had lotsa dosh and set him up with a disco. I worked 3 long, long seasons for him and the last I heard, he ended up somewhere in South America.

Then I came back to dear old Blighty and the story gets a little boring. By now, discos were seen as respectable and there was very little room for one man start ups. Big business was taking over.

My next disco had a pair of fairly unlikely people as the joint managers. The husband was a style guru of sorts and so was his wife. I wouldn't go so far to say they were like fish out of water, but they weren't natural disco people. They were managers and very good too.

Around this period I also worked other clubs on an ad hoc basis, one of them being a casino and nightclub. This was the classiest joint in town (but fading by now) and the owner was a complete asshole. An ex pat New Zealander, he was probably the most obnoxious person I ever worked for. Not once did he ever recognise me or anyone who worked for him, but he did have an eye for class and style.

Back to the plot. My next disco was in the West End of London where the husband and wife team above, had got promotion within the company and a prime spot to turn around. The dream faded about a year or so later.

Then I was back to Winchester where I worked for a very young, ambitious manager and a wily old fox of an owner. The owner was from the West Country and had a few strange ideas of what made a good disco, but to his credit neither he nor the manager interferred. I earned the best money I ever earned at this venue and they gave me respect.

Finally, I was back with a big company and in the sort of venues that every other local DJ wanted to work in, 'cos of their sheer quality. I played some of the worst music in my DJ career here and some of the best too. By now I was getting to my mid 30's and feeling a tad old. The manager was a bit of a lad turned/turning respectable who kept a tight rein on every aspect of the place. He was very clever too, in that he had 4 DJs all competing with each other for the work. I got the bulk of it, worked double with the others that sort of thing and we all had that nagging feeling about the other jocks. True to form, I was not the most popular with him, but I was the best, so he kinda put up with me. He quit disco management a few years after I quit DJing and then started a highly successful paint ball range business.

There were also venues, where the managers were ex bouncers. I never liked any of them, but they were work and kept me solvent.

[buckaroo]

:o
What are you up to now? Dare I ask?

[QUINNY]

Buckaroo: I'm in the proces of winding down my current business (location/live sound recording, CD production, cassette production etc) and within the next year, moving to sunnier climes and a complete change.

[paul]

Sunnier climes Quinny. Does this mean the Carribean and a business on the beach serving pina coladas 8)

[QUINNY]

Paul: That sounds like a good idea to me. Trouble is, the islands that appeal to me are incredibly difficult to get work permits for.
It'll more than likely be in the Mediterranean somewhere, as in theory, working shouldn't be a problem. In practical terms though, that isn't necessarily the case. Some (most?) countries are sooooo bureaucratic

[Mixmachine]

Some clubs I worked for were “start ups” others established entertainment/Restaurants firms moving into the Club business, others were long established area Hotels, but I always try to deal with club management directly and avoid a practice that began to creep up even in the mid 70’s, the “DJ Agent”.

In the mid 70’s some local DJ’s secured certain clubs by making deals to provide Dj services, they hired local DJ’s to do the work and kept a cut (often large) for themselves, Although this practice is a long established fact in industries like “Hollywood” I always hated it and refused many gigs, during the ‘Club Boom” of the late 70’s many young, up and coming Djs used to work for peanuts for some of this guys and later even a Company was created along this line that provided the records and even a play list!

This practice evolved into the Club “Guest” Dj concept still in use today that may or may not be beneficial to the club , pick your argument, but IMO, financially speaking, this practice in general made the DJing profession even more difficult, a fact that finally convinced me to hang up my headphones and move on….

[DJ Jimmy M]

Only person I ever worked for exclusive was this one guy (wont mention name to protect identity of corse lol) who previously owned a gay club in Phoenix. He was having problems with some crap..never did get the full story out of him, but it resulted in me being laid off in the end and new owners taking over..of corse, killing the disco music. Don't know the point of me postin this..but you asked :lol:

[JussiK]

a) a stern matron type looking like Dyanne Thorne of the Ilsa movies ( Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS, Ilsa Tigress of Siberia, Ilsa haremkeeper of the Oil Sheiks...), always dressed in a dark green uniform
b) overexcited 40-something swinger who used to clap his hands to the music out of sync, call out to keep the beat hot, dress "stylishly", attempt to dance and generally act like 40-somethings at their worst do...(gulp).
c) an incredibly corpulent obese sweating guy who wasn't such a bad dj but who could no longer squeeze into the booth

[buckaroo]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Buckaroo: I'm in the proces of winding down my current business ... and within the next year, moving to sunnier climes and a complete change.

**Deep sigh from Buckaroo**
If only we all could do such a thing. :cry:

**More deep sighs from Buckaroo**
Phwooooaaaar!!!! Bikini babes on the beach!!! :roll:

[QUINNY]

Originally Posted by buckaroo

**More deep sighs from Buckaroo**
Phwooooaaaar!!!! Bikini babes on the beach!!! :roll:

Buckaroo: Shhhhh!! Don't let my wife in on my ulterior motives. :o

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

I'm in the process of moving to sunnier climes and a complete change.

Ah, you're going to the Isle of Wight! ( :lol: ) Ever considered the Galapagos islands Quinny? I believe they have some of the strangest creatures there.

[QUINNY]

Steely: The IOW could still figure if those pesky foreigners have their way.