Demo pics! Taking out some agression....

On July 17th, we went to Cherokee, Iowa for the county fair. Kelly has been working on a demo car all summer for the demolition derby and he finally got to test it out! He did really well, getting first place in his heat (he had to be pushed out with a bulldozer because of a broken tie rod) and doing very well in the feature. He got a trophy and $50! (Nothing close to what he invested in the car, but it covered the beer at least!). He had a lot of fun, and was a little bit sore in the morning, with some pretty purple bruises as battle scars.

Kristen's mom and stepdad were there, as well as Kelly's family and our good friends Joe and Crystal, who spent a lot of time helping Kelly work on this thing that is thankfully not in the garage now!

Check out all the action here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristen.cline/Demo?authkey=8m7n1ZhhyLc

Congratulations Andy and Tiffany!

Yesterday we had a wedding in town, which was very nice. We were able to get into the reception hall very early and get everything set up exactly the way we wanted to. It is a rare luxury and one we definitely took advantage of! This was our first dance at the Sheraton and it is a very nice facility. The staff were very nice and helped us out a lot. We heard they had seven weddings that day! We both sat up a few hours beforehand, but then Kristen had to go to work, which was luckily only a few minutes away. Kelly was on his own for most of the dance, which went very well.
It was quite an amazing reception, we haven't seen one yet that was so unique. It was very obvious that the families had put a lot of time and effort into each and every detail. It was all very personal, and we were pretty honored to be included. The family had lots of little prizes that were given away throughout the night during trivia contests and such. We also gave away our first t-shirt, which was pretty exciting. They come out really nicely and we are so happy, we love CafePress!
After Kristen got off work, she came back to help finish the dance and tear down. It was close to midnight by this time and the reception had wound down to just a handful of people. The happy couple had already gone to bed, but we played a special request for the bride's parents and they were very sweet on the dance floor. Kristen brought our camera along to experiment with different settings and get some pictures of our new lights. Some of them are pretty cool looking!
Next weekend is the demolition derby in Cherokee, Iowa. Kristen's mom and step dad are heading up from Colorado to check it out, and then we are all heading out to the Black Hills for a few days. We have never been there, so we are pretty excited to spend a few days relaxing and seeing what the other end of the state has to offer. After that, we will be at the Oaks for a country-free wedding reception (who knew such a thing existed in South Dakota!)

Check out the photo album from last night: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristen.cline/LarsonBaumannWedding

More website stuff

We are currently investing in some promotional items for the business, so I decided to go to Cafepress.com and create a few things we could purchase through them, since that seemed to be the cheapest option. While I was there, I decided to go all out and create our own store! I doubt anyone will buy anything from it except for us, but hey, I still think it is pretty darn cool.

The main reason for all this was my idea to give out t-shirts to the winner of the air guitar contest. They are really popular and I think a t-shirt is a fun prize that people will hopefully think is cool.

Check it out!

www.cafepress.com/mobilemagic

Barn Dance! The Sieverding Family reunion

This Saturday, we drove out to Humbolt, South Dakota for the Sieverding family reunion. We were out in the country, so were weren't sure what to expect as far as facilities were concerned. What we saw when we arrived was impressive, to say the least. There was a tent and port-a-potties set up and about 100 or so people! At the center of it all was a barn that looked brand new. They had the meals catered and the food was being served from the barn. This was also where we were to set up and play. It took us a little longer to set us because we had to wait for the caterers to clear out of the space and for a table to become available. We were also debuting our new truss system for the lighting. It looks really good and its much more stable than our old system. I think it will do a much better job lighting a larger area. We still have the old system for smaller spaces. Its nice to have more options, and more space to add on lighting effects in the future. Unfortunately, it was too bright out for most of the dance, so we didn't get to see the difference in the lighting. Hopefully we will get to see this better at the Sheraton in a few weeks.

The dance got off to a good start and we got a lot of people dancing with the Snowball dance. The family reunion had been going on all day, so a lot of people were pretty tired by the time we got there. Many of the older guests just pulled chairs into the barn and watched the action. The air guitar contest also went well and we had great participation from all ages. We spent most of the night playing requests from the kids.

We did meet a very nice family from Gettysburg, South Dakota. Their six kids ended up keeping the dance alive with their surprisingly sophistocated dance requests. They really made it fun and it was entertaining to see them dancing with their parents. One of them told us "you should come play for my dad's side of the family, we would have so much fun!" They stayed afterwards and talked with us as we were loading up the equipment in our car. Dances like this are a great opportunity to meet new people. We haven't lived here very long, so we are still learning about South Dakota and meeting new people definitely makes it more enjoyable to live here.

We have this weekend off. I imagine Kelly will take the time to work on his demo car to get it ready for the Demolition Derby at the Cherokee County Fair which is 3 weeks away.

Photo Album from the dance is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristen.cline/FamilyReunion

Congratulations Jacob and Laura!

Last weekend, Kelly made the solitary trek to Parkston, South Dakota for the wedding reception of Jacob and Laura (Kristen had to work again). Their wedding and dinner was in Mitchell, then everyone drove approximately 40 minutes to the American Legion. Kelly got their a little while before everyone else and had to track down the manager of the American Legion at a local bar to get it unlocked for him. After that little adventure, he was able to get in a get everything set up and ready to go.

The evening went pretty well- small town receptions tend to get crashed towards the end of the night, but Kelly kept busy most of the night. He felt like he barely had time to get everything done, but somehow there was time. This was a last minute booking for us, but I am glad we were able to accommodate them. We actually met that at the wedding of a friend of theirs a few weeks ago and they liked what we did.

We didn't really have a DJ at our reception, so we didn't have a real wedding dance. We know first hand how much a DJ can add to a party, even when you don't have a big budget. Every couple deserves a proper celebration- for most people, their wedding reception is the only time when it is all about them and there are lots of great memories that can be created during the dance. I'm glad we were able to help them out and give them the party they probably didn't think they would be able to have.

Website Update

Well, I never thought of myself as a web designer, but here we are! Our website started out as a class project in Frontpage. After upgrading our software to Dreamweaver (and picking up a few 'How-to' and 'Dummy' books, we have redesigned the website and added a few slick interactive elements. Rebuilding from the ground up is hard work, but we are pretty pleased with the results- let us know what you think!

www.mobilemagicentertainment.com

Congratulations Tom and Ana!

This weekend we went to Mitchell, South Dakota to help Tom and Ana celebrate their wedding day. It was a rainy weekend, so I wasn't sure if the weather would cooperate, but it was nice by the time we got up there. The wedding and reception were being held in the same space, so we wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time so we could check it out. The event was held at the Wild Oaks Country Club which is just outside Mitchell. It looks small, but it has a spectacular view of the valley outside of Mitchell, I was really impressed by how beautiful it was. What a perfect place for wedding photos!

We arrived a little before the wedding and had some time to kill, so we drove around Mitchell, just to check it out. After driving past the world famous 'Corn Palace' (I have to say, I was pretty dissapointed, it looks much more impressive in postcards), we had some dinner at 'Bonanza' which was not very good, I felt a little ill afterwards.

We got back to the Country Club just after the Wedding Ceremony and got everything set up as quickly as we could. The younger kids couldn't wait for us to get started! We began the evening with the bouquet toss. The couple was a lot of fun, and had excellent taste in music. It was obvious that the songs chosen for their special dances had meaning for them. It seemed like everyone had fun and the groomsmen treated us to the most enthusiastic (and believable) Air Guitar contest we have seen yet! It was also the first contest won by the groom. Later that night, we saw some pretty impressive Michael Jackson impressions to 'Thriller' and the bride danced with her brother to his favorite song.

Even though we do a lot of the same games and activities at wedding dances, it always surprises me how unique each one is. I think music is a very powerful thing when it comes to creating memories and bringing people together. It is a great feeling to be a part of that, and know when they hear a certain song that we played, they will think back on their wedding reception, and hopefully remember how much fun it was.

By the time we got back to Sioux Falls, it was 3:30 am! We were both so tired but satisfied that we had done a good job. Our next show isn't for a few weeks, so it will be nice to relax a little this weekend!