I was born in 1974 and my earliest musical memory is riding in the car listening to the soundtracks of the Muppet movies on my walkman. I was probably about 4 or 5 years old. On these car rides, I was subjected to my parent's choice of music, which was 50's 60's and 70's country, and 50's 60's pop and rock for my father, and my mother added the lighter side of 70's pop. I've managed to still enjoy this music as it is memories of my childhood.

  My first favorite band was Daryll Hall and John Oates. I had their "Rock and Soul Pt 1" cassette and I loved it. The next memory of cassettes I owned were Ratt's "Out of the Cellar" and Twisted Sister's "Stay Hungry." That pretty much set the stage for my forthcoming love of 80's hair bands. I sought out underground bands rather than just listening to the mainstream ones, a trend I would continue forever. In the meantime, I would also listen the radio any chance I had. I knew no bounderies. To me, it all was just music. Whether it was The Pointer Sister's "Automatic" or Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" Bryan Adams "Summer of '69" or Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher." I even slept to music. My favorites to listen to during High School as I drifted off was either Sunday night's request and dedication show on B94 or 3WS' request show.

   In 8th grade, Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" made me want to play guitar. My taste in music changed around '92-'93 (like a lot of people) but I couldn't relate all that well to most of the alt/grunge bands of that time. I liked a lot of them but none of them were my favorites. My favorite band from that time period was Faith No More. The most significant period of musical change for me was in 1994 when I heard Bob Marley's 60's ska piped through a radio at a South Side bead shop. I then went out and bought some 60's era Bob which of course led to "Legend." As of now, I have approximately 60 Bob Marley CDs. Bob Marley led me to ska, punk, and other reggae music. That whole period of my life ('92 - '94) opened my mind to all sorts of different genres and styles and it hasn't stopped yet. Especially since I started DJing. One of my favorite parts of DJing is the new music I learn about from my clients.

  Here is a short list of some of the artists that clients have turned me onto (INPO).
Amos Lee
Chromeo
M. Ward
Asylum Street Spankers
Jamie Cullum
Old Crow Medicine Show
Ryan Adams

   In my opinion, not all DJs are the same. First, for conversation's sake, let's weed out all the bad DJs. Wether they're not good on the mic, not organized, don't have professional equipment, or they don't have a good music selection, let's forget about them and focus on the "good" DJs. Now, in terms of what jobs a good DJ is to perform, yeah, these will pretty much be the same. Where a difference CAN come in (yeah, a lot of good DJs can be the same as the next DJ) is in the music. I feel that it makes perfect sense to choose a DJ that you can musically relate to in some way. Wether it is that you both like a lot of the same styles of music or the DJ is as passionate about music as you are and would take the time to find out what it is you like and want at your wedding. It could be that you and the DJ both have ecclectic music tastes. The client that I heard Chromeo, M. Ward and Asylum Street Spankers (see my aforemention list) from had a lot of different favorites then I did including a lot that I had never heard or heard of. We were a great fit though because of our common bond of "mainstream" music not being what we generally listened to. As a DJ I have no problem listening to "mainstream" music. I enjoy a lot of it in fact. It is just not my preference. As a DJ, I do have to have a balance between what customers want and what other guests want to hear. When it comes down to it, the customer is my boss and I do my best to try to give the customer what they want.

   I hope this information helps you decide whether Who's Your DJ? would be right for or not. It's hard enough to pick DJs to contact just from viewing their sites, Hopefully this helps you.

My top 3 favorites are (INPO) Bob Marley, The Doors, and Van Morrison. Other favorites include Rancid, Faith No More, and Otis Redding.

   Here is a partial list of music that I actively listen to. I hope to update this periodically. Last updated 08/28/09.
The Adverts, Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Buzzcocks, The Rezillos, 999, Gorilla Biscuits, The Doors, Soul Coughing, Bob Marley, The Who, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Van Morrison, Tommy James and the Shondelles, The Roots, Sade, Blondie, Less Than Jake, Iggy and The Stooges, The Fleshtones, The Undertones, System of a Down, Metallica, Megadeth, Groovie Ghoulies, Guru, The Bouncing Souls, The Breakup Society, Elvis, Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Mike Doughty, Macy Gray, The Lemonheads, The Ramones, The Cure, The Beatles, Coldplay, Filibuster, Sublime, Long Beach Dub Allstars, The Ziggens, Slightly Stoopid, Frank Jordan, Led Zepplin, Lauryn Hill, Dead Boys, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Ravonettes, Loretta Lynn, The Violent Femmes, The Descendents, The Gadjits, Hepcat, The Vines, the Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Etta James, The Vibrators, Mike Ness, Social Distortion, Alkaline trio, The Pretenders, Janes Addiction, Outkast, The Clash, The Cult, The Smiths, Beck, Jimmy Buffet, The Rolling Stones, Concrete Blonde, Cowboy Junkies, Poe, Common Rider, Operation Ivy, Rancid, Southern Culture On the Skids, Supersuckers, The Runaways, Generation X, Billy Idol, Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Willie Nelson, Tommy James and The Shondells, A.F.I., Dean Martin, Half Pint, The Cramps, Dancehall crashers, Mad Caddies, X-Ray Specs, Hank Williams, Hank Williams III, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakum, Ozomatli, The Misfits, Rusted Root, Stevie Wonder, Devo, Steve Miller Band, The Specials, Kiss, Incubus, Modest Mouse, Monster Magnet, Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Louis Prima, B52's, the Go Gos, The Tea Party, The Dead 60s, Nine Inch Nails, Elvis Costello, No Doubt, Weezer, Lenny Kravitz, Cake, Damian Marley, Ziggy Marley, Jellyfish, House of Pain, The Killers, Black Sabbath, The Aquabats, Amos Lee, Jamie Cullum, Asa, Jehro, Jim Hendrix, The Eagles, Weezer, Adam Ant, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Motley Crue, Jet, Peter Tosh, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Von Bondies, Jack Johnson, Jamiroqaui, Faith No More, Bargain Music, Kings of Leon, X, Nat Kendall, Eight Track Mind, Ocean 11, Son of Sam, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, LA Guns, Tesla, Skid Row, John Legend, T.Rex..........