I began my bar career as a bartender at an American Legion in Berkley, Michigan. I spent long nights listening to the same songs being played repeatedly on the jukebox. Friday nights were special…we had live music. A band would come in around 6pm to set up. Customers would start to arrive after dinner, and at 9pm, the band would start. The customers were primed, and ready to dance. Everyone sang along to the familiar songs, like Little Sister Don’t You Know, by Dwight Yoakam. Couples would slow dance, and a line dance would inevitably ensue. Everyone left the dance floor glowing. I eventually moved to other clubs and bars. All along the way, I felt the power of song transform a crowd. Whether it was a packed nightclub or a lounge, music influenced the way I worked.
Today, I use that same thought process in putting together a playlist for an event. What type of crowd do I expect, and what time of day is it? Is it an after-work group out for happy hour, or is it the midnight crew, and the bar is five-deep? I also try to figure out what type of drinks most customers like at a particular venue or event, as a beer and a shot crowd often likes different music than a Martini or Manhattan crowd, with a Cosmo or champagne crowd fitting somewhere in between. And as I bartender, I find that the right playlist can help any of these drinks taste that much more enjoyable.
You begin your Sidecar Bartending Happy Hour with Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones, and shuffle into classic 70’s songs, to which most know the words. As the event moves on, we break into a little more foot stomping, indie-type music, and we finish with Purple Rain by Prince, because it symbolizes the end.
For me, after a long shift, you’ll find me at home making dinner listening to Celtic Crush with Larry Kirwan or chauffeuring kids to sports with rap and pop music blasting. And outside of this normal routine, if I could be anywhere in 2021, it would either we at a live concert, or on a beach sipping a margarita, listening to some rhythmic, relaxing music like the Grateful Dead.