Sunday 24th November

On Friday night we went to a local pub to see a David Bowie tribute band called Rebel Rebel, the same band who appeared on The Sunday Alternative when the show returned in April. The place was packed out, which just goes to show how popular David Bowie is to all ages. The age range out to enjoy themselves certainly boosted my confidence in hosting my first DJ night in a very long time, a night called ‘Bowie’ which I did for the first time last night. We printed up a handful of flyers to hand out for the night, seeing as the Bowie die-hards were up for a dance and a sing song. Everyone who took a flyer said that they would be there last night, which of course they didn’t.

I wasn’t feeling that good all day on Saturday, as I was nervous about the night. I hadn’t spent any money up front so was hoping to get enough people in to make a few quid, the door price was kept deliberately low (one pound fifty) to encourage people along. My mistake to begin with was to think in terms of money, as I didn’t want to ever be a DJ again. The barman said how bad business had been that weekend; the third week of the month is a bad one to launch a new night as we are one week away from payday. There was also the small matter of Doctor Who to contend with, and of course Nottingham’s very own Carl Froch was boxing. Everything was stacked against me from the start, and I felt like giving up and going home.

Gradually though, people started to filter in to enjoy the musical styling of the great man. The night was being held in the main bar, instead of the upstairs club as originally intended and this caused another unforeseen problem. Mandi was on the door collecting the admission, and from my vantage point at the DJ booth I saw her turn away a couple of groups of people who didn’t want to pay to get in, and as such was probably turning away around twenty pounds at a time on the bar. The owner of the venue suggested that we stop charging admission in return for a percentage from the bar, a quick look around at all the people drinking made me realise that this was a good idea. Once Mandi was relieved of door duty, she joined me behind the booth and started to enjoy herself. She helped me to choose the music, and generally kept me company. By now the place was filling up nicely, and I realised that I hadn’t been keeping track of the songs I was playing, so I started writing it down so as not to cause an annoyance or look silly.

The decision to go for a percentage from the bar instead of charging on the door was a wise one, because once I stopped worrying about money I was able to concentrate on being a DJ. My ‘comeback’ to the decks (or CD players as they are nowadays, I imagine that there are some that use MP3 but is that really DJing?) was for the money but I shouldn’t have thought along those lines. I had wasted a day worrying about something that didn’t need worrying about, and it had an effect on my day. My Saturday should have been spent enjoying my Saturday breakfast (Chuck’s Wagon in Broadmarsh), shopping, and walking Jack. After all this is over, I still had Doctor Who to enjoy which is why I didn’t go on the Internet once it had started as I didn’t want anything ruined, (I can tweet via text message so I can avoid logging on).

As with the tribute gig on Friday, it was nice to see that I had attracted such a diverse age range along. In particular the group of young lads, presumably students, who danced along to some of the more ‘obvious’ stuff. Requests for album tracks rather than chart hits were welcomed too, as it showed me that there were genuine fans in.

The only problem came from an idiot who didn’t quite understand the poster. Here is the poster to see if there are any hidden clues:

So in summary, the night is called ‘Bowie’. There’s a picture of David Bowie on the poster alongside the name of the night, which is also David Bowie’s last name. The wording clears up any final misunderstanding about the music you will be hearing at this event; DAVID BOWIE.

The following conversation took place (I’m working from memory but it’s mostly accurate):

“Can you play some more Nine Inch Nails please?”

“No mate, sorry. It’s a Bowie night”

“But you’re playing Nine Inch Nails now”

(He was right; I was playing ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’, which of course is collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie)

“It’s a Bowie song though”

“It’s Nine Inch Nails”

“Bowie is singing though. The night is called ‘Bowie’, all Bowie all night”.

A little later…

“Can you play some Gary Numan?”

“Didn’t I mention the music policy before? It’s Bowie”

This went on for quite a while. He didn’t see through my sarcasm when I suggested that he would have really enjoyed my Nine Inch Nails night, just as he didn’t seem able to comprehend that I was only going to be playing the music of David Bowie at an event called ‘Bowie’. He came behind the DJ booth (a cardinal sin as far as discothetiquette is concerned), and started touching the CDs. I turned on my special light that alerted the bouncer who managed to get him and his mates to fuck off, (hey, I’m on a bar percentage and they had bought a couple of rounds). Maybe he explained why Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, or Kraftwerk might not be heard at this particular event.

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