60’s rock and 00’s indie wedding, Black Rock Inn, St. Helena, CA. Photo: Sophie Berard
“Jamie freakin’ ROCKS!! Extremely professional and talented. Truly cares about music and has a deep understanding for the feel of the event. I will be using Jamie for every event moving forward!” - Ernie Harmon
A Luxurious Wine Country Mansion Wedding
We only did 2 weddings during all of COVID last year and this was one of them. It was originally scheduled to be at the Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, which we love, but then as things devolved, it was rescheduled for the Solage Hotel and Spa in St. Helena.
But before we could even settle into the new plan, things devolved even further and Solage closed to onsite guests as well, leaving us without a venue, and the situation in California as far as finding a new one rapidly deteriorating. And this is where Ernie stepped in to save the day.
A 5 Star Vacation Rental
So, Ernie’s day job is renovating historic victorians and basically turning them into millionaire mansion vacation rentals, and they had a project just down the road that was very near to completion, and the reason why he was so readily available for multiple spontaneous site visits in Napa county.
From what I understand, Ernie and his crew had spent the better part of the last 3 years working semi-naked in the 104 degree heat to completely rebuild the historic Black Rock Inn as an even more mind bogglingly luxurious corporate rental.
There was a golden art deco staircase in the foyer, a wine cellar drilled into the hillside off to the right, an amazing state of the art marble kitchen that looked like you could run a restaurant out of it, a vineyard in the front yard, a mermaid tank style dumpster swimming pool with an epic deck and tiki bar attached, and all of the walls of the place were covered floor to ceiling in fine art.
It was seriously, some P. Diddy type ___.
When we went up to check the place out, it wasn’t even done yet. Ernie and his crew were still raking the paths and carrying loads of stones out to finish up the barbecue pit and coy pond on the patio. The house had a second guest house in the front yard and a fountain in the courtyard they were still putting the finishing touches on.
The place was insane and Ernie was terrified it would even get scuffed. We were walking around in our socks at the site visit.
But Ernie’s boss was apparently a long time family friend, and as a gift, he let them have a backyard wedding with just a handful of their closest friends at the job site. Which brings us to the music.
A Super Hip Couple
Ernie and Lexi are totally cool and we all immediately hit it off on the initial calls. You can kind of tell when people are coming from the same place musically, and it was immediately apparent that the lot of us were all vibing on the same wavelength.
When we first started DJ’ing back in 2002, we used to throw parties where we would mix the latest indie tracks with the classic post punk and 80’s material they referenced and also splice in a little bit of power pop and garage rock for flavor.
Ernie and Lexi were clearly coming from the same place musically and we talked a lot right off the bat about bands like The Kinks, The Who and the Taking Heads but also more recent stuff like Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem.
Their families were also very much rooted in the 60’s bay area music scene, and Lexi’s brother was a fairly notable indie musician, so wanted to incorporate a lot of classic Grateful Dead type stuff as well.
So this plan was going to make sense when it was originally at the Foreign Cinema, but it really started to make sense when the final venue was essentially a Miami, Art Basel style, hipster hotel. And from there we went to work making it as MTV Beach House meets VH1 cribs as we could!
A Classic, 60’s Folk Ceremony
For the ceremony, we emphasized the classic 60’s type stuff like Bob Dylan “The Man in Me”, The Band “The Weight” and The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to set up Ernie’s terrific prelude, processional and recessional selections.
Coming into the cocktail hour we did some more upbeat folk ones like The Faces “Ooh La La” and Van Morrison “Glad Tidings” and some upbeat soul ones like The Soul Survivor’s “Expressway to Your Heart”.
Lexi had planned a tribute for her brother, who had passed away recently, as the introduction to the toasts and we set it up with an original recording from her brother’s indie rock album Ansel “Saturday Fire”.
I think we did David Bowie “Ziggy Stardust” and Mott the Hoople “All the Young Dudes” as a lead in to that, and I couldn’t stop thinking I would’ve loved that if I was an awesome indie rock dude. Hopefully Lexi and the family agreed!
A Post Punk, Power Pop Dinner
For the dinner, I pushed my luck a little more than usual with some ever so slightly more post punk ones like Brian Eno “Here Comes the Warm Jets” and the Buzzcocks “Why Can’t I Touch It” to set up the indie dance ones they had requested for later.
I was a little nervous that that was perhaps a bit much even for a hip wedding, but Ernie’s friend came by and went “Oh my god, Brian Eno!” and did a little bow and thank you, so I figured, A+ carry on!
For the first dance, they had picked out Tom Petty “Yer So Bad”, which might be my favorite of all the first dance songs, and was totally them personality wise.
We really wanted to play that up with a little more power pop like Tracey Ullman “They Don’t Know About Us” and The Spitballs “Way Over There” but we were a little behind schedule with the toasts, so we just went straight to it.
A 2000’s Indie Dance Party
The one thing we had discussed previously was that Ernie want to open the dancing with LCD Soundsystem “Daft Punk is Playing at My House”, but I figured, this whole thing was such a crazy scenario, we really had to come in hot to do it justice.
Things were running a little behind schedule and the camera crew was off to the side, waiting with baited breath and worrying they hadn’t gotten enough shots of people dancing yet when they were already heading into overtime.
So we went for what they call in the business “a big opener” and did the Daft Punk “Is Playing at My House (Soulwax Shibuya Remix)” into the live version of Daft Punk “One More Time”, both of which are chock full of crazy Daft Punk samples and theoretically have big live energy.
And… ghost town.
And I’m standing there wondering where everyone went, like “Do they not like Daft Punk?”, “Ernie said they like Daft Punk?”. “That was awesome. Am I crazy?”
And before I can figure out what’s going on, they all come running in on the third song and cannonball into the pool.
They had all run off to put their swimsuits on, and completely unbeknownst to me, the dance party was to take place not in front of the pool, but IN THE POOL.
An Epic MTV Style Pool Party
Now, I’ve been DJ’ing for almost 20 years. I’ve damn near DJ’d in every situation, but I actually have never DJ’d a legit pool party where people are dancing IN the pool.
Like we’re on MTV Spring Break and people are doing chicken fights and cannonballs and hitting eachother over the head with water noodles.
And, I gotta say. It was pretty fun. Sheer pandamonium.
The bride posse’d up with the bridesmaids and pulled a jesus plunge into the pool, wedding dress and all.
Water is flying everywhere, on the turntables, into the mixer. I’m wiping off the records on my shirt with one hand trying to blow water off the mixer with the other. The brand new, right out of the box, mixer gets shorted immediately, but we’ve still got 2 channels with working upfaders, so we’re good.
The video crew is all over the place with like super bright lighting rigs everywhere so they can get the shot.
And get the dancing shots we did!
A Prince Remix Set
I had recently been going through my 80’s 12 inch collection and updating the hard drive with all the ones we had on record but not in the computer. So we had a ridiculous set of rare 80’s funk remixes that I worked on.
Basically all Prince related, but the sickest remixes like the Prince “Let’s Go Crazy (12 Inch Remix)” and Morris Day and the Time “The Bird (12 Inch Remix)” and Mary Jane Girls “In My House (12 Inch Remix)” that are hard to have on record and Prince wouldn’t even allow on YouTube until after he died.
I think we tried to work in a few more 2000’s indie ones they had mentioned that had a similar vibe to the 80’s ones like Soulwax “Ny Lipps” and the Basement Jaxx “Romeo" (Soulwax Remix)” that samples The Clash, which we promptly mixed into the original 12 Inch version of The Clash “Magnificent Seven” for bonus two-fer.
At this point, I think we did one or two more indie dance requests of theirs like Empire of the Sun “Walking on a Dream” and Smashing Pumpkins “1979” before settling into some newer stuff like Rihanna “Only Girl in the World”, Usher “DJ’s Got Us Fallin in Love Again” and LMFAO “Shots” for the finale.
And just in time too, because then the cops showed up!
A Chill Afterhours Trap Set
So, everyone was terrified it was because of the noise, since the house was in a canyon and potentially could’ve really projected the sound, but it turns out it was totally unrealted and someone had just gotten a flat tire and was waiting with the cops to call triple A.
Relieved, we went back to partying, but quiet stormed it just to be on the safe side.
One of the good things about modern hip hop is that there really aren’t a lot of mids, so it sounds pretty quiet even when you play the club bangers, as long as the bass isn’t too loud. So we rocked with some modern trap ones for a bit, and focused on Lexi’s friends for the remainder.
The one thing I really regret though, is not having brought Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion “Wet Ass Pussy”. It had literally come out just that day, and the talk show hosts were already starting to make jokes about it, and as I was packing the car I thought, “Man, I should really run back upstairs and get it.”
But I thought “Nah, it’s sooooo dirty. No ones going to ask for that!” and also, as I mentioned before, I didn’t know it was a party IN the pool, not just by the pool.
In retrospect, that would’ve been such an amazing closer and probably my only chance to play that one ironically about people actually being wet!
In my defense, I did play Megan Thee Stallion “Savage” feat. Beyonce to kick off the ladies portion, so hopefully that made up for it!
Big Ups & Shout Outs
Special shout out to the owners of the Black Rock Inn for letting us party in what might be the mother of all backyard weddings.
Special shout out to Allure Wedding Planning and Event Consulting who organized this event literally 3 times over and didn’t miss a beat.
Special shout out to Abby Party Rents who joined me in getting heat stroke during set up. You thought the problem was the virus, when really it was fainting in the 104 degree heat trying to set up speakers while the turntables melt.
Special shout out to photographer Sophie Berard who was tireless in getting the shot the whole event through and subtly ever present where ever a quiet intimate moment was to be found.
Special shout out to videographers Stop Go Love, who flew all the way from Boston to do this and really set an impressive standard of excellence throught the whole event. It was really like a commercial video shoot and I’m sure the finished product is going to be out of this world.
They also did livestream for the ceremony and were a big part of how we figured out what we needed to do for our first livestream client a few months later. Word to the wise, it’s all about ethernet.
Special shout out to Anne Mendenhall Flowers for being so surportive and encouraging when we were all nearly about to faint from the heat during set up. Also, the flowers looked great, especially the arrangements for the ceremony!
Special shout out to The Booth Bus, who has a really cool business model where he drives a custom built Volkswagon bus out to your wedding to serve as both a backdrop for photos and a photobooth itself! I need to build a bus that’s just ready to DJ.
Special shout out to Kim Kaechele on catering. The food was fantastic and I was so grateful when I finally got to eat it collapsed on the slate steps at 4am after I wrapped my last cable.
Much love to everyone who participated. This was truly an epic once in a lifetime event! And quite literally, because only weeks later in a surprising turn of events, the entire property burned down in the Glass Fire the very night of our next event!
Our hearts go out to everyone effected and I honestly can’t imagine how it feels to be Ernie and his crew that worked so hard on the property all those years. They were the only ones ever to stay in the house and it hadn’t even opened yet!
Burning down the house indeed.
Ceremony Songs
Prelude 1:
The Kinks “Supersonic Rocketship”
Prelude 2:
Jerry Garcia “Peggy O (Fennario)”
Processional:
Ansel “Dollie and the Time of Day”
Recessional:
The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”
Grand Entrance:
Talking Heads “Burning Down the House”
First Dance:
Mother Son Dance:
Father Daughter Dance:
George Harrision “Here Comes the Sun (Concert for Bangladesh 1971)”
Requests:
Van Morrison “Brown Eyed Girl”
Canned Heat “Going Up to the Country”
The Monkees “I’m a Believer”
The Doors “Crystal Ship”
Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”
The Kinks “Everybody’s Going to Be Happy”
Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth”
The Troggs “Love is All Around”
Jimi Hendrix “All Along the Watchtower”
The Zombies “Time of the Season”
Chad and Jeremy “A Summer Song”
David Bowie “Rebel Rebel”
The Chambers Brothers “Time Has Come Today”
Rolling Stones “Under My Thumb”
Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky”
The Who “Can’t Explain”
Bryan Adams “Summer of 69”
War “Low Rider”
The Kinks “Victoria”
Taking Heads “Girlfriend is Better”
LCD Soundsystem “Daft Punk is Playing at My House”
Empire of the Sun “Walking on a Dream”
The Smashing Pumpkins “1979”
Venue: Black Rock Inn / Planner: Allure Wedding Planning and Event Consulting / Photographer: Sophie Berard / Videographer: Stop Go Love / DJ: Ceremony DJs / Caterer: Kim Kaechele / Photobooth: The Booth Bus / Florist: Anne Mendenhall Flowers / Event Rentals: Abby Party Rents / Hair and Make Up: Professional Make Up Artistry
