ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: It Girl. And really regretting not including that on my playlist. You scooped me!!

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: Just It Girl. This one’s gonna haunt me.

AM: A couple weeks ago I witnessed a wedding DJ make several faux pas during his set. One of which was that he plugged his company name numerous times. I’m curious, let’s say you come out of retirement and do another wedding…what is your wedding DJ philosophy? What are you there for, the bride and groom? The audience? What are Stevie B’s golden rules?

SB: Ah yes the nuances of DJ’ing a wedding. In so many ways it’s fluid. For me, it always starts with understanding the bride/groom and what their music tastes are. You want them to be happy and bopping all night long. Next you have to think of what the music tastes of their guests are. Do you hang out witha bunch of folks who also vibe with what you lislten to? Subscribe to Kin Collective? In which case, if I play what the bride/groom wants, the guests will love it as well. Where it gets tricky is the different generations. But if it’s me, I’m not just gonna play Frank Sinatra, I’ll find someone modern who has a similar sound and pace that older folks might not know but will (hopefully) really enjoy. One of the biggest tasks of a wedding DJ is to read the room. You can do all the prep leading up to the event you want, but sometimes a song doesn’t hit or one does and you have to be able to read it and adapt. You also need balance. Can’t be raving for 4 straight hours. Have to mix it up in pace and style, but if you’ve got a good group out there, you don’t want to kill momentum either so it’s like threading a music needle. But regardless of all that, you know I’m definitely going to sneak in a few of my personal favs and see what the reaction is. My favorite DJ moments tend to be when the crowd hears something new, but digs it and just keeps dancing.

STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: The Man, the Myth, Oilly Wallace. Who I hope to be working with very soon. :)

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: No — dammit, you’ve done it again!

SB: We both live busy lives and it’s not always easy to fit in some quality music listening time. When/what time of day do you find yourself listening the most?

AM: Interesting question. I feel incredibly lucky that my daily commute is super short, barely 3 songs’ worth, so it’s not that. Then I thought working out, which is usually running, but I’ve been doing a lot of hot yoga this year and not running due to a knee injury. And they rarely let us wile out and play music there…though I’ve definitely been campaigning for it. I haven’t taken any road trips out to Arrowhead or Joshua Tree in a while…and the open road is usually a sweet spot for a great album or playlist…

So, by process of elimination, that leaves writing. Ah, writing. Funny enough, this weekend I got some great writing done to a mix based on Cutting Crew’s (I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight. Why? Well, I was sick a couple weeks back and dragged myself to the grocery store, feeling like shit, and was in the produce aisle and this song was playing. And it just made me stop what I was doing and laugh. It reminded me that even when you’re feeling low, an unexpected song can pick you up. Thanks, Cutting Crew!