I have so been tempted to stop the song and say "Are you that stupid? I am singing, you idiot! Not only am I singing, I am playing. Are you blind or just stupid?" I admit, I have been tempted. Maybe they think we're miming the playing and lip syncing the singing.

Don't you see whats happening they are blind to what your playing live or otherwise....."DJ mentality" has taken over everyone and they just hear music and to them how it's done means nothing......you can just walk over to any so called DJ at a club or affair and give them requests and that's what they are doing 99% of the time blind to reality. .....being the minority as a musician little by little your invisible to the audience. Stopping a song in mid-flight is unprofessional and ruins the energy in the room and deprives the dance floor of a good time because of your so called "bravadoism" and you just made an enemy & could get your ass kicked in the parking lot by the husband or boyfriend who's drunk and doesn't like the way you disrespected his lady...no body cares.

Donny...after reading your posts and the whole "negativity" thing about performing live...it completely ignores the fact that some venues absolutely do not want a KJ or DJ. I play a couple of them-where putting on an MP3 is considered a cop out.

I am not blind to the DJ thing, and in fact, offer digital dj service when appropriate. I do a several "combo" (live and DJ) jobs.

The point us MUSICIANS are making is that people should know better than to try to engage a MUSICIAN in a conversation while he is playing and singing. But, they don't.
As I said before...the lines are blurred.

Ol' Blue Eyes would probably have had that person whacked.

Eddie

Eddie that's my point even when your playing an instrument as a OMB they think DJ it doesn't matter....the DJ damage train of thought has been planted...........people are paying upwards of $10,000+ for DJ's at wedding gigs today ...you have to face reality.Find your OWN musical niche and go with it.
It's only getting worse. Why I'm pretty successful is because I'm NOT a DJ even though people sometimes think I am....why? because they are ignorant to the facts & they know not of what we do......can't blame them, why should they know anyway?
The DJ title umbrella has covered us all for the last 30 years. OMB players are alone out there on stage ....the audience hears a Full Band,....in their minds "DJ"



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 12-13-2010).]

I was in a "discussion group" a few weeks back. The usual happened. Half of the people in the group start talking and forget to stop. They don't hear YOU when you talk. They interrupt and start their own spiel again. I have to raise my voice every so often, take the speaker's role and remind them it's a "discussion group" and not a "monologue group."

Afterwards, I had a word with the moderator and told him he should be stronger in his moderation as I'm wearing myself out trying to talk over everyone. His answer: "People are undisciplined nowadays!"

I never looked at it that way...rude, arrogant, obnoxious, yes. UNDISCIPLINED...that says it all! Just those four words alone helps me to understand better what I'm up against both on and off stage!

Reading your comments above also helped a lot. It seems I'm not alone in dealing with these brain-dead people.

Lucky

Audience ignorance always makes me think of this clip "A Night In The Life Of A Cover Band".

Be warned bad language is used !!! But it is very appropriate in the situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24_tiGZgPP4&feature=related

The audience is so used to canned presentations that every once in a while, some one asks, "excuse me, do you have (whatever tune)?".


As someone who never uses sequences, MP-3's...nothing pre-recorded, that burns me up!

Sometimes, it's not worth the effort.

But then there are the B-3 nights!


YEA!

Russ

WOW! $10,000 for a DJ--not in my part of the world. $600 to $1,200 is the wedding rate here, at least for the couple dozen DJs I know. And, these guys are also working the bars and animal clubs for $150 a night, working 4 to 5 hours, putting up with drunks and crazies, plus getting home at 2 a.m..

At the weddings they work three to four hours, have to put up with drunken kids who trash their equipment, drunken adults who want songs that no one want to hear, such as Piano Man, put up with drunken, inconsiderate bridal parties, you name it and they have to put up with it. Sure makes me glad I'm a musician/entertainer instead of a DJ.

Gary

Gary believe me in downtown Baltimore at the Best wedding halls they are paying between 5k-10k for DJ's package shows. Which not only include 3 or 4 DJs, a few dancers, Hugh light show, 3 or 4 giant LED large screen monitors,confetti cannons, setup crew, & every other thing you can imagine.
With weddings costing upwards of 25k to 100k+.......10k for the entertainment is nothing today.
http://www.platinumweddingdj.com/index2.php



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 12-13-2010).]

I would go along with the DJ excuse, EXCEPT that was happening to me many years ago, back before DJs, when I was playing organ.
I don't think they MEAN to be rude; they are just a little self-absorbed and/or drunk.
There have been times when I have had to just stop in the middle of song to keep them from climbing all over my gear. Of course there WAS a time when I didn't mind some of them climbing all over my gear.
On a similar "note", I had a guy come up last week when I was right in the middle of a song and ask "Can I sing?" Between lines, I said "sure, go ahead", and I went back to singing the song. He looked at me like I was the stupid one, but he went back to the table.
I remember another occasion a few years ago when a woman came up and started talking to me. I turned to her and said "sorry I can't stop this thing in the middle of a song". THAT she believed!
I believe that these days, it's more the Karaoke thing that has people confused. They are used to the Karaoke guy singing when nobody else has their name in, and they think it's fine to step up and volunteer to finish the song for him.
I haven't yet been in a situation that made me want to quit what I do and start getting up at daylight and sitting at a desk from 8-5!
DonM