DJing can be exhausting.

DJing can be exhausting.

Saturday night at Liar's Club was packed. Nelly's "Hot In Herre" got The Naked Guy* on the dance floor, and people took lots of pictures and danced around him. The dance floor was packed solid, full of folks actually "whoooo!"-ing along with the songs, until around 2:15 a.m. when folks began to finally tire out and stumble out of the bar. I like nights like that.

They can be pretty tiring though. A weekend crowd at Liar's Club is different than most of the other places I spin. They want to dance, but they don't want challenging dance music. '80s tunes, hip-hop, and familiar jams rule the roost, and I have no problem accommodating them, especially since it's so different from my other gigs. Plus it resembles a lot of the types of sets i would play at The Gallery or at house parties down in Normal, Illinois. The only thing is that when you are the one solely responsible for keeping people dancing their brains out for hours and hours, it can be a little daunting. And believe me, it's not like you can just trigger an "oldies" playlist and work on auto-pilot, segues still matter, and a bad one can clear a dance floor, even if the song is good. The mood needs to be sustained while gently gliding slightly up and down. It actually takes a lot of thought.

The only bummer of the evening was when I played the same song twice. I had just played "White Lines" when someone requested "White Horse." I thought I cued it up, but when I hit play "White Lines" came bursting out again. I was in such a hurry to get to the bathroom I didn't even realize what I had done until a girl came up to me and said, "Man, I really like the music you're laying tonight, but didn't you just play this five minutes ago?"

The really funny thing? The dance floor was still packed with people who just assumed I did it on purpose. So it didn't cost me the crowd, but it did mark the first time, in almost 20 years, I played the same song in a single set by accident.

*The Naked Guy is a Chicago staple. He's been around for years and doesn't bug anyone. He simply doffs his clothes from time to time, shakes his thing on the dance floor and then gets dressed again. It's hard to comprehend, but there is absolutely nothing creepy or sleazy about the guy, and it's not like he's trying to rub up against anyone or anything like that. He just likes being naked sometimes.