El Mercat Bar de Tapas in the Rockville Town Square pulled out all the stops (and all of the tables) to host a private birthday celebration for Erica, and I got to spin the tunes! Erica contacted me through my Facebook Page back in June 2022 to talk about having me DJ at her event. I was only too happy to do so! Erica was a regular at 80’s Dance Party back in the Adams Morgan days. El Mercat’s staff was wonderful to work with and helped me get everything set up in time for the arrival of the first guests. The mix of music featured a lot of 80’s favorites, but also some great current tunes as well, and was largely driven by the request list (I like it when people aren’t shy about making requests!) And as the evening wound down, nobody wanted it to end. The owner himself was requesting extra tunes! All in all, a great night!
For this event, I provided the sound system, a microphone for dedications, and the dance floor lighting. I also had the mirror ball out, and it looked great! The space I was in was a bit too small to set up a video screen, but don’t think I didn’t consider it!
Here’s the playlist from the night, lots of great requests!
Sade | Smooth Operator |
Talk Talk | Life’s What You Make It |
Ready For The World | Let’s Go All The Way |
Sinead O’Connor | I Want Your (Hands On Me) |
Soup Dragons | I’m Free |
Wang Chung | Dancehall Days |
Madonna | Who’s That Girl |
Level 42 | Something About You |
Scritti Politti | Perfect Way |
Terrence Trent D’arby | Wishing Well |
Blondie | Rapture |
George Clinton | Atomic Dog |
Lizzo | About Damn Time |
Michael Jackson | Billie Jean |
Human League | Don’t You Want Me? |
Information Society | What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) |
New Order | Bizarre Love Triangle |
Erasure | Oh, L’Amour |
Madonna | Into The Groove |
Astley, Rick | Never Gonna Give You Up |
Mark Ronson | Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars) |
Prince | Kiss |
Pitbull | Fireball (feat. John Ryan) |
Enrique Iglesias | I Like It |
Whitney Houston | I Wanna Dance With Somebody |
*Happy Birthday!* | Happy Birthday |
Kenny Loggins | Footloose |
Taylor Swift | Shake It Off |
Flo Rida (Feat T-Pain) | Low |
Jason Derulo | The Other Side |
Jackson, Michael | P.Y.T. |
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock | It Takes Two |
Young MC | Bust A Move |
Cyndi Lauper | Girls Just Wanna Have Fun |
Depeche Mode | Enjoy the Silence |
B-52’s | Love Shack |
Soft Cell | Tainted Love |
Madonna | Into The Groove (Encore, by request) |
Madonna | Like A Prayer |
Lionel Richie | All Night Long |
DeBarge | Rhythm Of The Night |
David Bowie | Let’s Dance |
Big Country | In A Big Country |
Outkast | Hey Ya |
ABBA | Dancing Queen |
Lil Jon and The Eastside Boyz | Get Low (ft. Ying Yang Twins) |
50 Cent | In Da Club |
Mark Morrison | Mark Morrison – Return Of The Mack (C&J Edit) |
Backstreet | No Diggity |
Snoop Dogg | What’s My Name |
George Michael | Faith |
Outfield | Your Love |
Sir Mix-a-lot | Baby Got Back |
Pitbull | Hotel Room Service |
Irene Cara | Flashdance, What A Feeling |
Spandau Ballet | True |
Journey | Don’t Stop Believing |
DJ Casper | Cha Cha Slide (Original Live Platinum Band Mix) |