Big Leather Couch

60 YEARS!

The DJ hit the play button and the sounds of the Kool & The Gang song “CELEBRATION” filled the banquet hall. This was timed to coincide with the end of the main course. He was practiced enough to know when the guests were done and beginning to get restless, wanting to get back out and party.

The guests at the wedding of Phil and Sally Michaels streamed to the dance floor. The DJ, Steve Dixon encouraged the guests over his wireless microphone…”It’s time to party now that dinner is over…let’s get our bride and groom onto the dance floor!”

The guests began chanting “Phil! Sally! Phil! Sally!” until the bride and groom rose from their head table and took to the center of the floor, the guests making a huge circle around them, dancing and clapping.

Steve looked down from the small stage in the ballroom of the local Marriott hotel and smiled both inward and outward. This is where he flourished, bringing his talents for playing the right songs and anticipating the party’s mood at weddings. The guests at this wedding would never imagine that five days a week, Steve Swan worked as an accountant, pouring over numbers 9 hours a day.

On weekends, Steve would don his tuxedo, drive to the local banquet halls and set up his equipment. When he first began, it was turntables. Then he transferred the music to cassettes which also helped the music. Many halls did not have sturdy flooring and when he did his job and brought 100+ guests onto the dance floor the records would skip. He didn’t have to worry about that with the cassettes.

A few years ago, another change was made, as he burned his music collection onto CD’s. As with the cassettes, this also gave him the ability to “mix” two or three songs together allowing him to move onto the dance floor and entertain.

You see, he was not just a DJ, but a party entertainer. He would be out on the floor, leading the group dances throughout the night, the Slide, the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance. He built up a reputation for increasing the fun at the parties he worked.

Dixon scanned the room looking for tonight’s score. He only worked weddings because the guests were more inclined to have a good time and that meant more drinks and a looser attitude. Over near the bar were two bridesmaids downing shots of what appeared to Steve as Kamikaze’s.

His eyes scanned the brunette. Her hair fell to just below her shoulders. Her long neck and shapely legs, feet encased in a pair of three inch ankle-strap heels sealed the deal for him. This would be his target for the evening. Most men would have zeroed in on the blonde standing next to her, but Steve was a brunette man. From his vantage spot he could make out her light hazel eyes and he was totally sure he wanted to bed her that night.

At 35, Steve Dixon had never been married. He owned a small house that he had decorated in a simple style. Sure, there had been women he had considered marrying, but each time, in the end, he decided he liked the single life much more. His ability to control a room full of people seemed to be an aphrodisiac to women, allowing him to satisfy his sexual appetite, without the constraints of a relationship.

If possible, he always ended up at the woman’s apartment or home, so they would not know his address. This was not always possible, but if one who he had taken to his home ever came to his doorstep or called, he would explain that he was not interested in anything long-term. If they still wanted to “play” fine, but as soon as they got too serious, he pushed them off and moved on.

As "CELEBRATION" was finishing, Steve took the microphone “Great night for a party all…now ladies, it is your turn…I have been doing this for years and almost every night as I am packing up I hear the following conversation.” At this point Steve made his voice higher in octave, “FrAnk, all night long the music played.”

As it normally did, this line got the attention of almost everyone in the room and Steve was pleased to see his target turning and looking over at him. He continued, still in the high voice, “You ATE, you DRANK, you TALKED, but the one thing you never did was DANCE. Marty and Nancy danced, but did we? Noooooooooooooo.” The laughs could be heard from around the room as women at the party began to relate. Steve smiled at the brunette, holding her gaze as he went on, “FrAnk, why don't we ever dance?”

Steve’s voice returned to normal, “Well ladies this is now your chance to turn the tables on your ‘Frank’…every man in the room is available. This next song is the ‘Ladies Choice’. OH, and ladies, remember your husband was not going to ask you to dance, so why should you ask him?” The laughs were louder this time and then Steve threw in the kicker, “Oh, and the other part of this dance is, Gents, if you are asked to dance, this is the one time all night…YOU CAN’T SAY NO!”

As Steve said this last, he smiled at the woman at the bar and gave a little wink. As he said the last line, he hit the play button on the CD player and the first notes of the Nat King Cole/ Natalie Cole classic “UNFORGETTABLE” began to fill the room.