Friday, October 17, 2008

Tina Turner party tune a standout, says DJ


Image of Tina Turner from wikipedia.


IT’S fun to wonder just how many feet Gavin Hewitt has got tappin’ during his long career as a DJ in Brisbane CBD and the Redlands.
Gavin was a drummer in a rock band in his home city of Wellington in New Zealand but then joined the army and had a break from music until after he migrated to Australia in 1978.
"I have always loved music but I didn’t really want to get back into drumming, so working as a DJ was ideal for me," he says.
He says his first assignment was at a city nightclub, where he took up a permanent posting that rocked and rolled for seven years. He also won nine awards for wedding presentations with a private company.

THE success gave him confidence to "go it alone", Gavin says. He has operated Gavin’s DJ Services mainly on the bayside for more than 10 years.
Classified advertising has been a major part of his business strategy and he still runs his ads to keep an "upfront" image although he says most of his jobs now come from word-of-mouth referrals.
Many around the construction sites know Gavin through his day job. After operating his own transport company for some years, he still drives a 10-metre tipper on a wage.
But at nights and weekends, he lets the DJ take over because he loves helping people have a good time and get up dancing.
He says "retro" is now the buzz word. "Only probably half the songs these days are good party music, so retro is really coming into its own," he says.
"I play songs that will appeal to a broad range of people and I am happy to accept requests."
Gavin’s "retro" era includes rock ’n’ roll of the ’60s, disco of the ’70s and Aussie rock of the ’80s but he also has "all the latest music".

TINA Turner’s Nutbush City Limits (recorded in 1973) is probably the standout party tune, he says.
Gavin looks forward to several coming assignments at 40th birthday parties because the age group spans a lot of good eras of party music.
"They were born in the ‘60s and they’ve gone through the popularity of Abba and the Bee Gees and that sort of stuff," he says. "They’ll also probably like Midnight Oil and Mental as Anything, and a bit of top-40 too."
Gavin says he is also preparing for a wedding reception at the Grand View Hotel, where he regularly entertains.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

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