Two Ipods and a Microphone

Ever since the wedding I attended on Saturday, I've been thinking about how DJing has changed. I was stunned about halfway through when I walked past the DJ table and saw the little mixing board...with 2 Ipods sticking out of it. This, plus some eco-friendly colored LEDs and of course a couple of gigantic speakers, was the total of the guy's DJ equipment.

I mean, I thought it was a little sad when crates of records were replaced by photo albums full of CDs, but this just seemed kind of weird. I suppose it makes life a lot easier for the DJ, but I have to wonder if the inability to flip through physical objects hinders the DJs ability to manage the mood of the dance floor correctly.

This particular DJ did a good job, but being a wedding DJ isn't exactly rocket science. It turns out that you can't lose with "Sweet Caroline" in a room full of Red Sox fans. (How did this become the national anthem of Red Sox nation? And why didn't I get a vote? Could we at least have the Me First and The Gimme Gimmes version? It's interesting--when I was a kid, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" was a fresh and painful memory in everyone's mind, and there was nothing lamer than liking Neil Diamond. Then, in the early 90's, when I bought "Classics: The Early Years", there was a "so uncool it's actually cool" thing about Neil Diamond which culminated in the Urge Overkill cover of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon." in Pulp Fiction. And now, there's the whole Red Sox thing, plus that affection that accrues to all performers who stay alive long enough, and, at least in Greater Boston, everybody likes Neil Diamond. Which of course makes it lame to like Neil Diamond again.)

"Let's Stay Together", while certainly lyrically appropriate for a wedding reception, turns out to be a dancefloor-clearing mistake. Is it a fast song? Is it a slow song? How does one dance to it?

"Bust a Move," what with the wedding verse and all, is also lyrically appropriate and has aged very well. I once saw an issue of the Source where they named this like the wackest song of all time or something (obviously this was pre-Soulja Boy), but that reflects, in my view, a dumb and very narrow view of hip-hop. It was once great party music, peope! It can happen again! The late 80's saw "The Humpty Dance", "Bust a Move," "Wild Thing," not to mention the spacey genius of the first De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest albums--where did it all go wrong?