DJ Photos
In 1986, the junior class of my high school alma mater contacted me about DJ’ing the homecoming dance for that year. I was a 1983 graduate of Worth County High School in Sylvester, GA, a small south Georgia town. I had earned a reputation around town of having a large music collection and a good knowledge of current, popular hits. I was as cutting edge as you could get in a small rural town in the mid-80′s, LOL. The idea intrigued me and I accepted their offer. My first gig was in the school “cafetorium” as it was called (it was the lunchroom and it had a stage).
I scrambled to get gear together for this gig and wound up borrowing a Kustom head and a pair of Kustom speakers that were about 5 feet tall and enclosed in a vinyl covered and padded cabinet. The equipment belonged to my uncle’s gospel quartet that sang at local baptist churches. The speakers didn’t have subs in them so, my buddy and I took a pair of sub-woofers made for car audio and built a couple of ported wood cabinets to serve as the bottom end of the sound. I went to a local electronics shop and bought some inline capacitors to 1) eliminate the low frequencies from going to the Kustom speakers and 2) eliminate the highs and mids from going to the sub cabinets. All in all, it really didn’t sound bad. I had a JVC semi-automatic turntable and a Sony cassette deck that I used to “mix” from one song to the next. I was setup on the stage of the “cafetorium” which was wooden and not very solid. I remember having to run dancers off the stage when I had a record playing because they were making the needle skip! But, hey, I had’em dancing and that got me hooked.
I started seeking out more gigs and started playing at private parties, wedding receptions, class reunions, whatever I could book. I found a local music store that would rent me professional equipment, Stallion Music in Albany, GA (hey Uncle Ed!). So, over the years my business grew and expanded, I eventually bought a set of Peavy equipment and stopped renting. As the business got even bigger, I bought a second set and some nights had the Fun-wife DJ’ing at one place while I DJ’d elsewhere. I eventually started doing karaoke at the local bars/clubs in Albany and Cordele, GA as well as emceeing for lingerie shows put on by a local lingerie shop.
The last few years of my DJ “career”, I used a digital camera to capture photos of some of my gigs. These pictures were used on my DJ website to help promote the business. Now they serve as a last reminder of what I used to do. So, I present these photos for your viewing pleasure. If you were there, I hope you had fun and that these photos will bring a smile to your face.