Topic of the Quarter
Musical aspect of clubs
by Jim Watson, Mid-Ohio Boogie Club
This is an on-going feature for our ABA newsletter. I hope it will generate interest in sharing lessons learned in while running your club, so others may benefit. I am open to both topic suggestions and feedback on any topic within the newsletter.
For the November issue of ABA news, I asked the directors to explore the topic of their club’s musical aspect as it rtelates to their DJs, music guidelines, and issues related to what music is played. Some suggested areas to explore were:
 | Are the DJs members of your club? |
| Do the DJs volunteer or do they get paid? |
| If your club pays pays the DJs, then how much? That is if you are willing to let us all know. |
| Does the your club own its own music or does it depend on the DJ? |
| How does your club determine what music is played or not played? |
| Does your club have a Music Committee? If so, are there special people on it, for example the club's president? |
| Is there a set of written music guidelines? |
| What issues has your club dealt with associated with its dance music? |
I guess this was not a very good topic as I only received a couple of responses. I hope you will find the results interesting and useful.
There is a great article by Kappy Chermak, Ohio’s North Coast Jitterbug Connection – ONCJC DJ Magic
The only only other response was from Ron Fentz, Brickyard Boogie Dancers. Which follows.
- All dj's all member (some times we have a dj from out of town)
- All volunteers (no payment)
- All music belongs to the dj
- Music played is up to the dj
- We have no committee for the music
- We stay (most of the time) within the A.B.A. Guidelines
- Our dj's also own all of the equipment used
As for my club, “The Mid-Ohio Boogie Club“, we use club members to DJ our dances, with the exception of a guest DJ every now and then. We do provide them with some funds for transportation and a hotel room.
Our major guidline for what music is played is you must be able to dance swing. The club stays away from “The latin“ cha beat and line dances. We think there is plenty of R&B Carolina Beach Music with a cha beat that dancers can do a cha-cha while other dance a swing dance. Our reluctance to play line dances is deep rooted in the history of previous dance clubs in Columbus. The occasional line dance turn into many line dance to the point that the club was eventually destroyed. The club owns some of the music played, however most of it is owned by the DJs.
Most of the time, the club uses the equipment provided at the facility where we dance. The was a time, when dancing at a Moose Lodge, we provided our own equipment. We have not computerized the music as it seems easier to train a new DJ using CDs. However, this may change in the future.
Editor’s note: If you have an idea for a discussion topic, please send it along.