Disc Jockey Services

10/11/2018

Just finished up playing the high school reunion of Douglas Freeman H. S. class of 1988 at the Graduate Hotel down in the VCU area. Played a little of everything from the 80's that night. My first reunion for Douglas Freeman but hope it's not my last. Hint, hint.

07/17/2018

The Final Chapter

I know your just dying to know what happened at the Grand Opening of Dick’s Sporting Goods in Willow Lawn. Well all I can say it certainly was a success by the amount of people who showed up. There were games for the kids, we had a very special guest show up that I didn’t know was coming (why tell me I’m just the DJ.), NUTZ from the Flying Squirrels. The kids really loved him and he did a fantastic job with everyone there. He took pictures with kids and parents. I played for the full three hours during the games and even got out on the floor and did the Twist with NUTZ. So all and all without bragging too much, I’d call it a big success but one thing that made it very special for me personally, was so many people that I knew who read the series I wrote on Willow Lawn showed up. I thought they came because I owed them money and they finally found me. An old friend that I grew up with and motorcycle buddy Ben and his wife Jill came by. Then Basil, Jen, and their two kids came by. I did their wedding reception at the VMFA and that video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jZONoSUfBng (Shameless advertising plug for me).Mike and Pam came by with their kids. Mike was my banker at BB&T years ago and I did his parents 30th wedding anniversary party. In addition, clients in my other business, Richard and Liz dropped by. I’ve been doing remodeling and repair work on their house for years but they had never seen me DJ before. To all that came by, let me say more than being shocked (because I was) I was really touched. You don’t know how much just showing up and saying “Hi” meant to me. Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to come by, for reading my articles and your support. You know legend has it that when I do come out and put something on Facebook and if I see my shadow, that I go away for 3 months before I come back to Facebook. So back I go. Thanks again everyone, and until next time……..

PS: No animals were hurt in the writing of these articles but I did break a nail typing the damn thing!

Wedding reception done by Disc Jockey Services in Richmond, Virginia at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

07/09/2018

Part Thrice of the Big Event at "The Shopping Center that Refuses to Die"

So, finally the culmination of all this as we go through this history of a shopping center is to welcome the newest business. Willow Lawn was able survive in an environment that saw so many fail. Obviously, it changed with the times, it brought in new businesses, it changed its overall character and now it is seeing one of the largest stores to ever open in Willow Lawn’s history, Dick’s Sporting Goods. That’s right Dick’s is having a Grand Opening on July14, 2018 and I (Disc Jockey Services) have been asked to play for this event from 11:00am to 2:00 pm. Everyone is familiar with Dick’s and the products they sell in sporting and outdoor activities. Now Dick’s is closer to you. We will have to call it the Dick’s Intown. So, come on by and participate in an old fashion Grand Opening. I’m going to be playing pop music with a sport’s theme and music used at various sporting events across the decades. I’ll also, take your request. I have gifts to give away when you answer correctly to totally ridiculous and irrelevant questions.

I am so looking forward to Dick’s Grand Opening, working with them, and being a part of this event. This will be my 3rd for “For The Shopping Center That Refuses To Go Away.” I’m proud to add Dick’s Sporting to corporations like Capitol One, Greyhound Bus, US Olympics, Snap-On Tools and ITT and local businesses like Va. Eye Institute, Butler, Williams and Skilling and smaller ones like the Italian Kitchen, Fence Unlimited and Dunn’s Drive-In and many more, that I have had the honor of playing for their events.

Included below in the picture of the Roster of acts from the 40th anniversary of Willow Lawn. This is from 1996 and not to be confused with Dick's Grand Opening.

Don’t forget July 14, 2018 from 11:00am to 2:00pm at Dick’s in Willow Lawn.

07/06/2018

Here is the 2nd part of the Willow Lawn Story leading up to the big announcement

Part Deux

Well time marched on and Malls were invincible. They got bigger and bigger (Mall of America) and they went from outdoors to indoors (Azalea Mall being the first and then Big Daddy-Regency Mall). Regency had its OBreinstein’s with their made on the spot bagels. I love that place. The Magic Pan, Brooks Brothers, Thalheimers, Greentrees and Spencers Gifts( I bought many a Woopee Cushion there, that might be why I’m still single) Willow Lawn was starting to show its age and everyone said it was pass it’s prime and BOOM, they knocked down the middle and decided to enclose it and put in a food court. That turned Willow Lawn around and breathed new life into it. They divided the theater into two and this was my first gig with the shopping center. I had started another business to add additional income from my contracting business(Bernstein’s remodeling and Repair)and it was my love of music that I decided to do DJing on the weekends (Disc Jockey Services) ellback to the gig I played in the lobby upstairs to a Disco movie( don’t even remember the movie. I did it for two days lugging my equipment up 2 flights of stairs with no landing.

The next time I was asked to play for the 40th Anniversary of Willow Lawn to help raise money for the Special Olymics. I was honored to play and be on the bill with the Dovells (Bristol Stomp, You Can’t Sit Down, Hully Gully to name a few) and the Drifters ( too many songs to list). But as time went on ominous clouds were on the horizon in shopping trends that would cut the heart out of shopping centers around the country. The INTERNET! Shoppers were moving from brick and mortar to cyberspace and one by one shopping centers were dying off like the dinosaurs of prehistoric times. Southside Plaza had been declining for years as the demographics around it gradually go worse and worse. The next to bit the dust was the slow agonizing death of Azalea Mall off of Brook Rd. and again Willow Lawn looked like it was going to head in that direction, especially when the “tragically hip” Short Pump Mall opened up with it’s stores for the ‘beautiful people.” Now they won’t have to travel up to Washington or Tyson Corners for the “in” stores like Nordstrom’s. Well there goes the neighborhood. Oh, what, oh what was going to become of Willow Lawn? Now your just going to have to wait until the next and final installment as I weave this chilling detail of the “Shopping Center That Could” or can it?

07/03/2018

Writing about an upcoming event that has a story line culminating the where and when of that event. It's called The
Shopping Center that Refuses to Die Part 1

I want my millions of followers real and unreal and the Russians to know about a coming event at the Willow Lawn Shopping Center. For many, Willow Lawn was the shopping center that you grew up with here in Richmond. Although it technically was not the first (that honor goes to the small shopping area in Carytown) it was certainly the first large shopping center built at the same time as it’s sister, Southside Plaza.. Friends of mine bagged groceries at Giant Food. We ate at Woolworth’s and GC Murphy’s lunch counters, had ice cream at High’s. We may have gone with our parents to the S&W Cafeteria to have dinner. We got our Gants, Weejuns and Villagers at Eljos and Etons

I was there at the Grand Opening of Willow Lawn because they had brought in Captain Kangaroo or Mr.Greenjeans (can’t remember which) and the Cisco Kid. (Hey Poncho, Hey Cisco!) The first celebrities I ever met.

I don’t know how many hours I spent at the Willow Lawn Theatre when it was one screen and then two screens. Do you remember that “The Sound of Music” played there for 2 years. In elementary school, (Mary Munford for me) we use to buy a pack of 12 movies with the 3 stooges shorts and every week during the summer we would go to the movies. Such fond memories of riding my bike up there with my dog and just hanging around but times change and you get older and that’s where I leave it for Part ONE. Until the next installment Part Two: The Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Willow Lawn-the shopping center that would not die

04/22/2018

https://youtu.be/M1F0lBnsnkE

What a wonderful dance number. Those that put it together are geniuses. My hats off to you. Watch and enjoy

If you like this video, please support these film preservation charities: The British Film Institute, https://goo.gl/iwTkD7 The George Eastman Museum, http:/...

03/24/2016

After catching my breath from the Harlem Globetrotters charity event, I got a call from the US Olympic Fencing team to do a cocktail party when they come to Richmond on the 11th of April. I don't want to be a name dropper but some political figures will be at the party. Maybe they will have a new cabinet position Secretary of Music. I think I'll start campaigning now.

03/10/2016

Here is the benefit from the Harlem Globetrotters to Carver Elementary School. The team did some of their famous moves and played games with the kids. I provided music for the MC and the Globetrotters Mascot for musical chairs. The kids had a great time and it seemed to just fly by. A good time was had by all. (Oh, no I didn't just say that, did I?

02/16/2016

I got a call from Greyhound Bus Company last week asking if I was interested in playing for the Harlem Globetrotters(not basketball but music) so on February 25th when they come to Richmond to play that night at the Coliseum. I'll be over at the Greyhound Bus Station for a Charity event with the Globetrotters early in the day. Greyhound is one of the Globetrotters sponsors. I'll be playing music for the event. Guess what one of the songs I'll be playing. Put your answer on my page here and you just might get a free ticket to the show that night or at least a hardy "Your Absolutely Right". I'm working on the tickets.

08/19/2015

I can't believe it but one of my weddings was featured in the summer/fall issue of Richmond Weddings Magazine and credit was given to Disc Jockey Services as providing music and entertainment for the reception. You can see it on page 142. That's the second time Disc Jockey Services has made it into a magazine. I'm I getting big headed about it. Hell yeah!

06/24/2015

Thanks for the kind words. It was a delight doing your reception. We had perfect weather and a great time. I loved the intimate backyard. It made for a cozy feeling and I loved it.