Well, tonight was my first time DJ’ing the whole dance. (Thanks, Jesse!) I thought it went pretty well. Not my most amazing set EV-AR, but since it’s a hometown gig, I don’t go in expecting that anyway. I was feeling better about it after the compliments I got at Northeast Girl Jam on my DJ’ing sets there. So I tried to take advantage of the opportunity and play a wide range of stuff. Actually, I ended up playing a couple of songs where I even surprised myself at playing them. (See if you can guess which ones.)

Also someone requested a “fast” song for an East Coast dancer, and my best attempt at that one was “Choo Choo Ch Boogie.” I don’t have a huge collection of Neo-swing to bust out whenever someone asks. I’m an anti-request DJ anyway, but I did my best for this particular situation. I have no idea if it was satisfactory or not.

I started off the night hovering around 140 bpm, for the beginners (since they had seemed to be comfortable at about 130 bpm, and I didn’t want to set them up to feel like the whole night was too fast for them). Then I slowly bumped it up to 150 bpm range, then moved to 160-175 bpms around 10pm, and then dropped it down to 120-130 for a handful of songs to “convince” the newbies not to leave early.

The weird part was, having DJ’d half the night so many times, I felt like I should have been done at 10:30pm. But I still had half an hour! Then I got back into the groove, and by the time I played “Ain’t What You Do,” I realized to my surprise the dance was basically over. So it will take a bit of getting used to the new timeframe before I can set things up right. (Personal criticism of the night: I peaked too early.)

So, here’s my set. I welcome your comments.

All of Me – Sarah Vaughn
Cement Mixer – Slim Aillard
Beyond the Sea – Bobby Darin
Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bob – Lionel Hampton
Lonesome Mama Blues – The Firehouse Five Plus Two
Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? – Buddy Johnson
Big Fine Girl – Jimmy Witherspoon
If It Ain’t Love – Chick Webb
Lavender Coffin – Lionel Hampton
I Only Have Eyes For You – Billie Holiday (one of my current favorites)
Tuxedo Junction – Erskine Hawkins
Is It True What They Say About Dixie – Hotlanta Trio
Riding On a Blue Note – Duke Ellington
Hoodle-Addle – Ray McKinley Orchestra
Spinnin the Webb – Chick Webb
Sweet Georgia Brown – Ella Fitzgerald
If You’re a Viper – Harlem Hamfats
All That Meat and No Potatoes – Fats Waller
Coleslaw – Jesse Stone & His Orchestra
Massachusetts – Gene Krupa
Yacht Club Swing – Fats Waller
It Had to Be You – Ella Logan
Good Rockin’ Tonight – Jimmy Witherspoon
9:20 Special – Engelbert Wröbel’s Swing Society
Ridin and Jivin – Earl Hines
Muskrat Ramble – Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band
Woodchopper’s Ball – Woody Herman
Gonna Buy Me a Telephone – Pete Brown and His Band (with Jewel Page)
Too Darn Hot – Ella Fitzgerald
Miser’s Serenade – Sy Oliver
On the Sunny Side of the Street – Peggy Lee
Easy Does It – The Ray Brown Trio
VemVet – Lisa Ekdahl
Rock House – Ray Charles
A Smo-o-oth One – Benny Goodman
Fiddle Diddle – Lionel Hampton
St. Louis Blues – The Firehouse Five Plus Two
Choo-Choo Ch Boogie – Louis Jordan
Till Tom Special – Benny Goodman
Wednesday Night Hop – Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy
Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well – Lucky Millinder
Tutti Frutti – Slim Gaillard
Jive at Five – Count Basie
Ain’t What You Do It’s the Way that You Do It – Jimmie Lunceford
13 Step Boogie – Martin Sexton