Hello &

Welcome!

to my blog...

If you are newly engaged, planning a birthday, anniversary or special occasion party or dance, you'll want to add some music to your day and that's where I come in. Since 1979, I have been performing at weddings & functions along South Shore Boston, Massachusetts, Cape Cod and throughout New England.

As a highly experienced broadcast DJ/MC, I work with you to create a truly memorable event.

From Miller to Madonna or Armstrong to GaGa, I play a wide variety of the Latest & Greatest Hits plus I have a top of the line digital sound system that sounds great no matter what level the music is played at.

Visit djChrisPickett.com & see why Chris Pickett Disc Jockey Service is the Soundtrack To Your Next Event!


Thursday, December 31, 2009

End Of The Decade

Tonight concludes my 30th year in this profession. Each time it's a different view and a different crowd. From cellar parties to wedding halls, turntables to laptops, the one constant thru all these years is the music that keeps us going.

And should old acquaintance be forgot... the next 30 start tonight at 12 O'clock!

Soundtrack For Today
: Auld Lang Syne & Rock Around The Clock

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

On The Record

• Wax Cylinders
• Music Rolls
• Wire Recordings
• Phonographic Records (78/45/33/16 rpm)
• Reel-to-Reel Magnetic Tape
• Cassette Tape
• 8-Track Cartridge Tape
• Compact Disc (CD)
• Digital Audio Tape (DAT)
• MiniDisc (MD)
• Digital Compact Cassette (DCC)
• MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

133 years of various formats used to capture and preserve sound. Out of the dozen listed, I have employed at least eight of them at some point over the past 30 years. At various times, there are three I never thought I could live without and one I imagined but could never articulate its physicality.

At the beginning of the 21st century, CD was the predominant music media and now it is in its twilight. And though 45s remain a nostalgic favorite, it’s the MP3 format that has had the biggest impact on not just my profession but on the entire world over the past decade.

MP3s were born out of illegal downloading venues such as Napster but they ignited and evolved into the future we live in now. Combined with the expansion of the Internet and the invention of the iPod in 2001, no other technologies since radio have had such an impact on how we listen to music.

If someone had told me 10 years ago that a listening device the size of a pack of cigarettes could become as addictive as tobacco but instead packed with more music than I could listen to in a month of Sundays, I’d have thought they were smoking something else.

Laptop computing has had a major impact on my profession as well. In ten short years, I’ve gone from memorizing song titles and artists by record label and lugging countless cases of records and CDs to just needing to remember how to spell the song title on a keyboard. This is not a bad thing at all and my back is forever thankful!

Yet, with every technological change, I have purchased and re-purchased my music library more times than I care to ask my accountant for the figures. It’s hard to fathom what the next big thing might be. But I am certain that physical media and unfortunately, record stores will become things of the past by the end of the next decade. But I will still most likely be DJ-ing and yet amazed at what’s to come. 

The American Popular Song goes on and on...

Soundtrack For Today: Miller To Madonna…

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

How far we've come

It is windy & C-O-L-D today here in the Northeast. Looking through history, I came across a headline from this date in 1852:

"Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants in public."

Today is also Mary Tyler Moore's birthday, she's 72.

Soundtrack For Today: Anything with the word 'summer' in the title or lyric.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Birthdays

Happy birthday to:

American Idol-er David Archuleta (19); John Legend (31); Joe Diffie (51); Edgar Winter (63) & Alex Chilton (59) 

Popular Hits:

2008 - Crush
2008 - Green Light
1996 - Bigger Than The Beatles
1973 - Frankenstein / Free Ride
1972 - In The Street (with group Big Star) 

In The Street is a song you may find familiar - it's the tune that the opening theme to That 70s Show was based upon (but re-worked lyrically to remove drug references) & re-recorded by Cheap Trick. 

Soundtrack For Today:  iPod on shuffle

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Off To See The Wizard...

The Wizard Of Oz is on TV tonight, as is usual for this time of year.

Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland was written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg and won the 1939 Academy Award for best song. But it was almost deleted by MGM because it was thought to be too sophisticated for the young audience the film was intended for.

(I understood the song better than I did the Wizard's oratorical imparting of awards and wisdom upon Dorothy's traveling trio!)

So here it is 70 years later and it can be argued that even though White Christmas might be the all-time best seller, Over The Rainbow just might be the all-time best known song from the most watched movie of all time.

Soundtrack For Today: Off To See The Lizard by Jimmy Buffett

Friday, December 25, 2009

The 1st Day Of Christmas

Only 3 Christmas songs have been #1 on Christmas day:

1958  The Chipmunk Song by David Seville & the Chipmunks
1952  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd
1942  White Christmas by Bing Crosby

The Chipmunk Song charted for five consecutive years from its release and ISMKSC was once condemned by the Catholic church in Boston until a meeting with Jimmy Boyd and his 'child's eye-view' explanation of the song’s meaning convinced them otherwise.

But it is White Christmas that holds the record for most separate chart appearances for a total of 21 times since it was released in 1942. The Bing Crosby version that most are used to hearing is actually a re-recording released in 1947.

The original version debuted in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn (which starred Bing Crosby.) With now near-forgotten undertones of World War II in its message, White Christmas went on to become the definition of a ‘timeless’ song and is presently, the biggest selling of all time.

Soundtrack For Today: Christmas Music!!

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Night B4...

... to all a good night!

Soundtrack For Tonight:  shhh!! no music - Silent Night!

The Day B4...

The sun is shining
The grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway.
I've never seen such a day
In Beverly Hills LA.
But it's December the 24th
And I am longing to be up North...

(Prologue to White Christmas - composed by Irving Berlin)


Soundtrack For Today:  CHRISTMAS (Baby, Please Come Home) by Darlene Love

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Holiday Gift Idea

Trans-Siberian Orchestra has a new album out this year entitled Night Castle and while it's not a holiday album per se, it is sure to be a fan favorite for years to come.

Also available is a box set collection of their 3 classic holiday-themed albums: Christmas Eve & Other Stories, The Christmas Attic and The Lost Christmas Eve plus a DVD.

Soundtrack For Today: Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Trilogy

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

With A Little Help From...

Happy birthday to Rick Nielson (63) of Cheap Trick and Robin Gibb (60) of The Bee Gees!

These 2 artists share a common link to the Beatles - both have participated in recording projects that have covered The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album of 1967.  The Bee Gees soundtrack for the movie of the same title came out in 1978 and can be found on Amazon.  This year, Cheap Trick released their cover of the Fab Four's masterpiece - a live performance in it's entirety along with a Beatles medley at the end.

There's also a new compilation entitled Ultimate Bee Gees, a 2 CD/DVD greatest hits compilation which celebrates the group's 50th anniversary. 

And of course, available everywhere is the newly remastered Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles. 

Soundtrack for today: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Monday, December 21, 2009

Winter Solstice...

...and the sun stands still.  Winter officially started here in the Northeast today just a short time ago.  We've got sunshine and a couple feet of snow that's still being shoveled out.

Meanwhile in a land down-under, where women glow and men plunder, it's going to be a sunny summer day with highs in the 80s...

Season's Greetings!

Soundtrack for today: David Lanz - A Winter's Solstice and/or Men At Work

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Birthdays

Alan Parsons (61), Peter Criss (64),  JoJo (19) and American Idol-er David Cook (32) all celebrate birthdays today!

Best known hits:   
  
  • Eye In The Sky (Alan Parsons Project - 1982) featuring the instrumental intro. Sirius which the Chicago Bulls use as their theme
  • Beth (KISS - 1976) which has 1971 origins and an alternative title called "Beck."  Peter also has alternative identity other than his cat make-up: George Peter John Criscuola
  • Leave (Get Out) & Beautiful Girls (2007 - a "response" to Sean Kingston's 2007 tune of the same title.) JoJo's real name is Joanna Noëlle Blagden Levesque.
  • Come Back To Me (2009)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Oh, The Weather Outside...

...you know the rest. 

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! was written in 1945 by Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne on a hot sunny day in California.  Vaughn Monroe took it to #1 on the charts that year and it comes to mind every winter since.

Here, in the Northeast, especially today.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Jimmy Buffett's New Album

Summertime songmaster Jimmy Buffett released his new album Buffet Hotel last week and this week it debuts on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart at #17! 

If only we could stay in Summerzcool a bit longer but it appears we have a stahm brewin'...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

If you like Pina Coladas...

Then you'll probably remember Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes which was #1 on this date 30 years ago in 1979.

Just don't plan escaping to the Cape today - it's Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

They say there's a song for everything and this is the one that fits today as winter arrives a few days early here in the Northeast.

Baby It's Cold Outside is an Academy award-winning song that was featured in the 1949 MGM film Neptune's Daughter.   It was written in 1944 by Frank Henry Loesser, a renowned Broadway show-tune composer whose Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize winning credits include How To Succeed in Business Without Even Trying and Guys And Dolls.

Loesser first composed this 'bait & catch' duet for a house party he was hosting and it's in that spirit that the song has become a timeless cold weather classic for the past 60 years.  Here's a look at the most popular recordings of this song:

1949:  Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark
          Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer
          Don Cornell & Laura Leslie w/ Sammy Kaye's Orchestra
          Ella Fitzgerald & Louise Jordan
          Homer & Jethro w/ June Carter
1959:  Dean Martin
1962:  Ray Charles & Betty Carter
1971:  Kenneth Connor & Glennis Beresford
1986:  Sigourney Weaver & Buster Poindexter (on SNL)
1998:  Bobby Caldwell & Vanessa Williams
2009:  Willie Nelson & Norah Jones

In 2006, a post-Dino duet was released by Dean Martin & Martina McBride.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

#1 on this date

Here's a flashback look at #1 songs on this date:

2009:  EMPIRE STATE OF MIND - Jay-Z & Alicia Keyes
1999:  SMOOTH - Rob Thomas f/ Santana
1989:  WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE - Billy Joel
1979:  BABE - Styx
1969:  LEAVING ON A JET PLANE - Peter, Paul & Mary
1959:  HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER - Guy Mitchell
1949:  MULE TRAIN - Frankie Laine
1939:  SCATTER BRAIN - Frankie Masters
1929:  TIP-TOE THROUGH THE TULIPS - Nick Lucas
1919:  OH! WHAT A PAL WAS MARY - Henry Burr
1909:  PUT ON YOUR OLD GRAY BONNET - Haydn Quartet 

What a difference 100 years makes!  How many titles do you recognize? 

Monday, December 14, 2009

Holiday Gift Suggestions

The Beatles stereo remasters! The Beatles mono remasters! They both sound fantastic.

The stereo albums are available individually or in a box set that contains all 13 albums plus some extras. The mono discs are only available as a box set.

Amazon has the best prices on these that I've seen out there.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Welcome!

Season's Greetings!

Well, this is my inaugural post on this blog and Holiday party time is here! I enjoy this time of year because people enjoy letting loose and having a good time. Especially after a year of tensions and a day or 2 or 3 of holiday shopping. With the economy still shaky, many folks scale back and now host parties in their homes. This is a great opportunity to bring in my services as I can easily set up in a home without taking up alot of space (cellar parties is where I got my start!) and can even tap into your home audio system for added sound throughout the house!

Of course, company parties are still out there and I can fill larger venues with the Latest & Greatest Hits so you'll have the time of your life!

From large halls to living room walls, Chris Pickett Disc Jockey Service has all you need to get the party started this holiday season.

Visit djChrisPickett.com: The Soundtrack To Your Next Event!