Welcome to the First Inside Private Events

Welcome to inside events. I want to talk about parties with you. Weddings, Mitzvahs, Holiday events, picnics, DJs, Lighting, bands, picking music, greatest party songs, music for progressive parties, music for kids parties. Differences between bands and DJs. Anything on your mind.

What's the deal about this blog. I realized at a pretty early age that I love to revel in life. I did this in many different ways from the time I was little until now. Over the last 16 years I found an outlet for my appreciation in emceeing and dancing at events. I've done everything from the smallest dinner parties to hosting 5000 people at a national events. I've worked with celebrity artists, Broadway stars, award winning magicians, international bands, top MTV acts from outside the states. I've also emceed more than 1200 bar/bat mitzvahs which has been one of my specialties with my company Lightning Shakes New York (www.LSNY.net). Before all this I was expressing myself as an actor, dancer, choreographer and songwriter working in the "legitimate" entertainment world. Don't know whay they call that legitimate, because sometimes you feel anything but.

The other side of my business is planning events. Most "DJs" are best left to performing. But I found that with my background I saw events the same way I saw scripts,plays or shows. It's a story unfolding. It's the story of celebrating someone's life or a company's growth: some milestone being recognized. I always approached these parties and events from that "directors" type of perspective. I wanted to get inside the story and get to know what makes this family or this company tick and capture that flavor in the party itself.

A very personal approach to parties emerged. I got more personally invested in creating the most amazing parties/events. I want the family or company to come away from their event having that moment etched in their souls and memories as one of the great days of their lives. No matter what happens in the ups and downs of a life that moment will be cherished over and over in emotional memory. That's the real gratification of what we do.

That's what this blog will pretty much be about. Getting to the real meat of what makes these 'gatherings' stay in your mind and hearts. How to get there, what you can do to avoid pitfalls. Welcome all comments and questions.