50’s oldies and modern indie wedding, The Chapel, San Francisco, CA. Photo: Hendrik Paul
"Yes!! The best! We eloped in Scotland and had a party in SF for family and friends. Jamie killed it that night. He played everything we could've wanted and then some. Thank you!!!" - Charmmie Hendon.
An Epic, 2 Location, 12 Hour Oldies Influenced Soul, Indie and Hip Hop Wedding
Charmmie and Ryan’s wedding possibly takes the cake for the most hours I’ve ever DJ’d. It was like three separate parties over the course of 12 hours.
A Slow Jam Ceremony
The ceremony was at the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park and right off the bat, we had to get creative to get around the sound permitting issues. You’re not normally allowed to have amplified sound at the space, but if you keep it within reason and cross your fingers nobody objects, they’ll let you get away with a picnic level of sound.
We rigged up Charmmie’s bluetooth speaker to work with the computer on internal mode and that whole thing hung together just enough to allow me to DJ a 45 minute rare soul and breaks set with one channel by sight and with no ability to preview. But it was super subtle, and I think it came out pretty good considering.
A Modern Indie Dinner
After the ceremony we all jumped in the car and raced across town for the reception, where we did a lot of new indie, but all stuff influenced by oldies music. The reception was at a rock venue called The Chapel, where you can see a lot of mid-level indie bands in an intimate environment. The couple was also really overtly indie rock, so there was a lot of room to play with ideas like that and it was doubly apropos for the space. I think we did some things like Girls “Hellhole Ratrace”, Deerhunter “Strange Lights” and Cass McCombs “Dreams Come True Girl” which was one of their requests.
A 2000’s Hip Hop Dance Party
For the dancing, we went full hip hop with a lot of influences from the bay. We’ve hosted a lot of hip hop nights over the years, so I’ve got all of that, whether you want 90’s hip hop like Biggie Smalls, Tupac and Digital Underground or 00’s hip hop like Missy Elliot, Ludacris and Jay Z. I think we did a lot of Roc-a-fella records, hip hop with soul samples, type ones at this event too, like Jay Z “Empire State of Mind” into Lupe Fiasco “Kick Push” but with Drake on the remix.
A Bay Hip Hop After Party
I actually hauled out all the records for this one, so once the more obvious ones were cached out, I’m pretty sure I did a set of all 90’s Bay Hip Hop rarities on vinyl before things were through. There was E40, Mac Dre and Too Short but there was also Total Devastation “Many Clouds of Smoke”, RBL Posse “Bammer Weed”, and 11-5 “Garcia Vega.”
All and all, a party for the ages!
Big Ups & Shout Outs
Special shout out to The Chapel for being so accommodating with the sound set up.
Special shout out to Hendrik Paul for driving me across town like a madman so we could beat the guests to the reception.
Many Thanks to Charmmie and Ryan for having me!
Ceremony Songs
Processional:
Recessional:
First Dance:
Otis Redding “That's How Strong My Love Is”
Father Daughter Dance:
The Beatles ”Here, There and Everywhere”
Mother Son Dance:
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole “Over the Rainbow”
Family Dance:
Usher “Make Love In This Club”
Requests:
Modest Mouse “Sleepwalkin’”
Cass McCombs “Dreams Come True Girl”
Lykke Li “I Follow Rivers”
Bat for Lashes “Let’s Get Lost”
Yo La Tengo “Center of Gravity”
The Pixies “La La Love You”
Caribou “Silver Splinters”
Hot Chip “Hurrache Lights”
Early 2000’s Hip Hop with Oldies Breaks:
Beanie Sigel “Oh Daddy”
Jay Z “Girls, Girls, Girls”
Raekwon “Catalina”
Sean Paul “I’m Still In Love With You”
Ghostface Killah “Beat the Clock”
Method Man “Break Ups to Make Ups”
50 Cent “Hustlers Ambition”
Nas “Revolutionary Warfare”
Young Jeezy “Go Crazy”
Consequence feat. Kanye West “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”
Raekwon “Nu Wu” ft. Ghostface & Method Man
Scarface “Guess Who’s Back” ft. Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel & Kanye West
Venue: The Chapel / Photographer: Hendrik Paul / DJ: Ceremony DJs
