BPM DJ Blog - DJ Jake Hill, Sioux Falls, SD

This past weekend, I DJ’ed a wedding reception at Tailgators in Brandon, SD.  Tailgators is a very nice venue, but there is only a small amount of space reserved for the DJ.  Luckily, my setup is easily adaptable, and I was able to set up quite comfortably in the corner.

The bride and groom were a delightful couple, and the dancefloor stayed hoppin’ all night long.  Another great event.

This next weekend, I’m taking a little bit of a vacation and visiting my family in Missouri.  When I return, I have another wedding reception in Mitchell, SD on the 21st, and yet another reception the following weekend in Sioux Falls at CJ Callaways.

 On a personal note, I have a new addition to my family!   A “Pocket Puggle” named Daisy! 

Yes, she’s very cute, but we are having a little difficulty with the potty training!

This past Saturday, I DJ’ed a wedding reception at an awesome venue in Sioux City, IA.  The reception was held at the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, IA.  WOW, what a beautiful place!  It was built in the 1920’s and has since been restored to it’s original beauty.

The dinner portion of the evening was held on the stage, followed by a slide show on the big screen, and the dance in the lobby.  My equipment was setup on the level above the dancefloor, which was a first for me!  I had to pull a “MacGyver” and figure out a way to angle my speakers downward so that the sound would hit the dancefloor just right.  I turned them on their side and propped them up with a pole, and they sounded great! 

The bride and groom were absolutely wonderful, and the guests danced the night away.  The entire bridal party treated everyone to a “Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)” routine, and I joined everyone on the dancefloor later in the evening to show them how to do the “Cupid Shuffle.”

It was a great, great night, and I hope to return to the Orpheum in the future!

Here are a few photos from the event:

An outside shot under the marquee, notice the picture of the bride and groom on the right - pretty cool!

A shot of my upper-deck setup as seen from the dancefloor.  The lighting is set up to the side, shining down on the dancefloor.

The view from the rear of the room.  I lit up the chandeliers with my super bright moving head light.  I had them changing colors all night long, it looked pretty sweet!

A view of the dancefloor from the balcony.

The view from behind the DJ booth.  The light stand was set up on the side balcony, and I was able to spotlight the disco ball with my moving head light.

Saturday was kind of a cold and windy day here in Sioux Falls, SD.  I had a wedding ceremony/reception that I DJ’ed at the Izaak Walton League.  The weather was a little too nasty for an outdoor ceremony, so it was held inside - the same place as the reception.

 I arrived to set-up over two hours early, and had everything set up fairly quickly.  While I was finishing up, the bride came over to me and asked if she could change her first dance song for later on in the evening.  She wanted a song that was not in my library, so I quickly grabbed my laptop, hopped into my truck, and drove into Sioux Falls.  I remembered Denny’s had free Wi-Fi, so I pulled over in their parking lot, downloaded her song, and headed back to the Izaak Walton League.  Now that’s customer service!

The ceremony went off without a hitch, and the dance got going later on in the evening.  There was a wonderfully diverse crowd in attendance and everyone danced the night away.  I was treated to some of the best Electric Sliding, Cupid Shuffling, and Cha-Cha Sliding that I have ever seen! 

 I was able to snap a few pictures later on in the evening that I’ll include with this post.  It was a great night.

 This next Saturday, I’ll be heading down to Sioux City, IA for a reception at the Orpheum Theatre.  I’m a sucker for historic buildings, and this one looks awesome!  I’m really looking forward to this one.

Well, April was a great month for me, except for one little thing…………but I’ll get to that later.

For the month, I DJ’ed 2 proms and a wedding reception.

First up was a wedding reception/anniversary party at the Cherry Creek Grille in Sioux Falls, SD.  The couple was actually married a year ago without having a reception, so they decided to have it one year later.  The party was great.  The lower level banquet facility at Cherry Creek only has 7′ ceilings, so I wasn’t able to crank my lights or speakers to their ideal height.  But, after changing things around a little bit, I had no problem adapting to the space.  The night went great, and I received many compliments on the music selection (there was a pretty diverse crowd.)  The bride and groom were very awesome people and I was honored to be a part of their special night. 

Next up was the Parker High School prom.  This was the third year in a row that I have been the DJ.  The students were awesome and danced the night away.  I had a lot of fun, and stepped out from behind my turntables a couple of times to lead the crowd in the “Electric Slide” and the “Cupid Shuffle.”  Everything went great and I hope be back again next year.

The next Friday was the night of the freak snow/ice storm and I was headed to Sioux Center, IA for the High School prom.  Like Parker, this was my third year in a row performing for the students.  Wow, what a great crowd!  They were so full of energy and danced the night away.  At the end of the night, a group of 5 or 6 guys performed a perfectly choreographed dance to an N’Sync medley.  It was a great way to end the night right before the last song of the night. 

Well, that one little thing that made the month not so great happened on the way home.  At about 2AM, I hit a patch of ice on a bridge about 4 miles outside of Sioux Falls.  My truck and cargo trailer slid all over the place on the bridge.  I thought I could save it and pull out of the slide, but I wasn’t so lucky.  My truck crashed into the rail and my trailer swung around and crashed into the side of the truck.  Long story short, the truck was totalled.  I had to lay my 2002 Durango to rest.  It was kind of sad, we’ve been to a lot of gigs together over the years.

I decided to move forward and bought a 2005 Durango last week.  I also bought a nice new trailer to transport all of my gear.  I’m excited to hit the road with the rig later in May.  I’ve got a Sioux Falls wedding reception on the 24th, and a Sioux City reception on the 31st.  Let’s jsut hope that I don’t run into any more freak storms!

I’m excited to announce that I have been featured in the February 2008 Issue of DJ Times!  Jeff Stiles did an excellent job writing the article, and I am very honored to be included in such a popular magazine.

I scanned and uploaded the article to my website. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ARTICLE

Here’s a fun little mix that I recorded live in my “DJ studio” a few days ago.  I recorded it using two Technics turntables, a Rane-TTM56 mixer, and Serato Scratch Live.

It’s a good example of some of the music that I like to play later on in the evening at wedding receptions.

Visit the link below to check it out:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6311224a7d861c/ 

I just finished unloading the truck and trailer from the first gig of the year.  Yesterday, I headed down once again to Cherokee, IA to DJ a 60th birthday party.  The family was absolutely wonderful and I am glad I was given the opportunity to entertain them.  The event was at the Cherokee Country Club and besides a little ice in the parking lot, everything went just fine.

The crowd was very diverse, and spanned four generations, so I played a variety of music all night.  For the main part it was mostly 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, but there were some newer tracks thrown in there as well.  The trip itself was the most demanding part.   It took about 2.5 hours each way.  Luckily, the weather was pretty fair, so it wasn’t too bad.  You never know what you are going to run into in South Dakota and Northern Iowa in January!

The drive back gave me some time to think about my goals for 2008.  I’m going to strive to provide the same quality care and service to all of my clients throughout the year.  I also try to improve my business every year, whether it be a new piece of equipment or a new skill.  I’m also going to try to update my website, www.bpmdjproductions.com, and keep it current wih new photos and videos.  I’ll do my best to update this Blog as often as possible, because a few people besides my mom actually read it (that’s how I got this past Cherokee gig.)  I have a number in mind for the number of bookings I would like to have in 2008, and thanks to a productive 2007, I am already over half-way there.  January is starting off with a bang, and I’ve had a lot of information requests come over this month from my website.

Things are looking pretty good for BPM DJ Productions in the new year.  Thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this level of success and enjoyment!

This past Saturday, I DJ’ed an awesome High School dance in Vermillion, SD.  It was my third year of doing their Winter Formal and like always, the students were amazing!  I was able to record my entire live set on my laptop and upload it to Zshare.  Click on the links below to download and/or listen.

The entire set was mixed using 2 turntables and Serato Scratch Live.  Enjoy!

Vermillion, SD High School Winter Formal - Dec 15th 2007 Part 1

Vermillion, SD High School Winter Formal - Dec 15th 2007 Part 2

I just finished moving back into Sioux Falls from Brandon.  It sure is nice to be close to everything again!  My new address is:

BPM DJ Productions

2809 S Summit Ave

Sioux Falls, SD 57105

Again, thanks to the wonders of wireless internet, I am writing this live from a wedding reception in Sioux City Iowa.  The reception is at the Marina Inn on the banks of the Missouri River.  The groom is Mexican and the bride is American, so there is a wonderfully diverse crowd here tonight!  Right now, a Mariachi band is playing some dinner music and later a band will be taking the stage.  Then, on top of that, I will be DJ’ing as well!  Talk about a full night!  It should be a lot of fun.  I did not have much room to setup, but I used my imagination and came up with a spacesaving solution.  I might have to use this setup again in the future when space is limited.

I will be in Sioux Falls next weekend for another reception, and traveling to Yankton the next weekend for another one.  Then, I have a little break as the wedding season starts to come to an end.  I did recently make a nightclub contact in Luverne, MN at Hardtailz Rock Cafe.  I will be DJ’ing there on October 20th, and I’m excited to display my skills in front of a new audience.

That’s the future, but now is now.  I’m excited to show this diverse crowd a fantastic time tonight!