John Rozz of Sound Spectrum Entertainment

An mp3 of the Interview is available lower in this text and via ITunes.  Full text is below and selected portions are published in Mobile Beat Magazine – to subscribe go to https://members.mobilebeat.com.

Ryan Burger: Hi. This is Ryan Burger, the publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. And I am here with the one, the only Johnny Rozz. Introduce yourself to everybody; tell us a little bit about who you are.

John Rozz: Hi, everyone. I’m John Rozz from Sound Spectrum Entertainment in Wallingford, Connecticut; that is in the New England area here on the East Coast. And I’ve been in the music business since I was 12 years old. I’m now 60 so that makes it 48 years if my math is correct.

Ryan Burger: Well, you just celebrated a big 60th birthday and you’re going to be coming up then on your 50th anniversary. Going to have another one of those large parties like what I heard all so much about for 50 years in the business or not

John Rozz: That’s questionable. That’s very questionable. But it’s all about the people and the public so most likely we’ll do something.

Ryan Burger: Something. Maybe I’ll be able to get out there for it. I know Mike Buonaccorso, our trade show manager, had an absolute blast and was just amazed at the people you know, the connections you have, and the production value of one of your shows. We’ve all heard about them and that’s part of what I want to hear about a little bit on this podcast today.

Going back then nearly 50 years, how did you get into the whole music business and then how did you slide yourself into the mobile DJ side of things?

John Rozz: My cousin, Ron Marjesca and Ken Marjesca, started me playing locally when was 12 years old in their wedding band and we went out every Saturday and I played my clarinet and saxophone. And that’s how I got started in the music business.

Ronald’s son made the big time; he’s the trumpet player in a well-known swing band called Big Bad Voodoo Daddy who I’m sure all mobile DJs play their music regularly. So as far as the head honcho in the family, he’s the guy.

And then in 1975 I was buying and selling a lot of oldies at that time from the ’50s and ’60s at a local record store in New Haven, Connecticut called Merle’s. I met a gentleman who told me he was doing a sock hop and I said, “A what?” And he said a sock hop. I’m going to play records at a dance. Would you like to be a guest at my party? And I shook my head and I said, geez, I’ve played in a band my whole life. I don’t know if this would be any good.

And I went to the event and he was playing one record after another, segueing from the left channel to the right on the turntables and he needed some help. So I just went up there and did some vocal stuff and sparked the audience and that’s how the mobile DJ business began for me.

Ryan Burger: Wow. So you helped out with that event. It continued on from there. You eventually started your own company. Do you have anybody else that — I mean, is it just John Rozz that goes out for your company or are there other people that work for you that are part of your show? Tell us a little bit about your overall business, then.

John Rozz: Well, my business consists of seven mobile DJs that go out for me regularly, weekends and weekends. And I have a nice office here in Wallingford, Connecticut and this is where we meet all our mitzvah clients, our corporate clients, our wedding clients, and our school clients. And all the guys do sell their own parties and get involved, even though I do lay the perimeters on what we’re doing, what we’re charging, so on and so forth.

Ryan Burger: Okay. So you have a style that everybody works under but they — the disc jockeys have their own personal style that they throw into the event and that’s how they get referrals under their name. And people calling all the time for you personally, I imagine your schedule fills up. How many events do you think you do in an average year, or is it too tough to keep track of?

John Rozz: Really tough to keep track of. Last weekend we did 18 events and I was very pleased with that. And that was Thursday through Sunday in a time where — you know, the recession is very iffy. So we plug along and we’re doing pretty well with that.

Ryan Burger: Wow. How many of those did you have a touch in yourself? I imagine you were working every night at least, right?

John Rozz: Actually, I’ve been cutting down a little bit, Ryan. I did six events in four days.

Ryan Burger: Only six. Okay.

John Rozz: That’s a lot at my age right now.

Ryan Burger: Understood. One of the questions Mike gave me to ask you about on some of this stuff was how things have changed over the — I mean, in the mobile arena you’re now talking that you’ve been doing — let me do the math — 30-some years. How has the style and the focus of the events changed over the last 30 years?

John Rozz: Wow.

Ryan Burger: It’s a deep question we didn’t prep you with. I understand.

John Rozz: Well, we can talk about that for a while. You know, the changes of course have been — everybody today has a laptop with thousands and thousands of songs on there, so anybody can play any format of music, or at least have it on their computer. So we do see a lot of people doing that, bottom feeding, bottom lying dollars for events. I see weddings as low as $599 here in Connecticut simply because I think of a lot of DJs operating out of garages, bedrooms, basements, whatever, with just a hard drive and a lot of music. That’s one of the big changes.

I do see that a lot of people do want to do a lot of stuff simply just by online or anything over the computer. We do see that, though we try to definitely personally meet with people and get everybody to play in the sandbox together, because I think that’s one of the biggest things missing in America. And if you’re going to be a personal DJ at someone’s wedding, mitzvah, corporate event, they really want to shake your hand. They want to play in that sandbox with you. And we do do a lot of business the old school way here, though I do understand a lot of people are just booking things online. So that’s changed too; that is very big.

I do see that a lot of people today don’t know what a good DJ is. What is a good mobile DJ? I think very few people have witnessed a great mobile DJ, a gentleman or a lady that can MC, can take hold of that crowd and be interactive with them, within reasons, without doing much or too little, where to push the energy, where to lay back, how to segue, how to mix, the genres of music, the chemistry that just puts that certain somebody in the room. I think most people don’t know what that is and that’s missing more and more simply because of the society we live in today. So that is one of the big changes.

Ryan Burger: So it’s kind of a watering down of the personality that’s needed because you can go out and iPod it, go to Guitar Center or Best Buy, get yourself a little sound system and go. It’s a lot about — and there’s been a lot of talk in the DJ industry about not promoting the tools you use but promoting the MC, promoting the uniqueness.

And I’ve seen — obviously with working with you on this book project that we’re going to talk about in a second — uniqueness of doing something different and making that event stand out, versus the last five wedding receptions that the bride’s probably been to that summer of all her friends. It’s making it unique, from what I get out of it. And from what I understand, you’re a king at making the event very unique and not just the same old thing.

John Rozz: Exactly correct, Ryan. I know you know where I’m coming from. I’m going to just give you one other thing that I noticed just recently. I do this throw-back party on Tuesday nights in New Haven, Connecticut and it over-faces the New Haven Harbor and I’m averaging 400 to 500 people there on a Tuesday night. Now, this is strictly oldies music. When I say “oldies,” we go back as far as the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s.

And I’m getting a lot of young people at this event. I’m getting a lot of college students from Yale University that are coming there that are very young; they’re there for summer sessions. They have no clue what I’m playing. They’re out there dancing. They’re out there using — I think it’s called Shazam — to find out what song I’m playing, who the artist is, and then coming up and also asking me what it is. They have never been exposed to any of this kind of music, whether it was rock and roll, doo-wop, soul, funk, whatever, and I’m exposing them to new music. To them that is very cool and they just never knew it existed.

Ryan Burger: Yeah. I mean, you’re able to connect with people that are literally one-third your age, total generational split, that they think music might have begun with Michael Jackson, or maybe disco. But you’re able to connect with them through the music. Okay. I’ve got to get myself out there to actually see you work some time. That’s what will be impressive, to see you in your element. I’d have to come for that exact party. From what Mike told me and what you’ve now told me about it, it sounds phenomenal.

On that same area, you connecting with another generation, do you see at all that people might think you’re too old for this job? I mean, you’re one of the veterans, you’re one of the grandfathers in this industry. When I first came and started getting involved in the industry 15 years ago, you were there and you were established. Everybody knew who you were. Do you see clients having a trouble connecting with yourself or do you just — that “young at heart” kind of thing comes out?

John Rozz: Wow. I feel that. I do feel that a lot. I feel that I lost touch with a lot of the 17 through 28 year age. I feel I lost a lot there but my young guys keep giving me the pep talk that I still got it and there’s something unique about me and that I’m cool. And, you know, I hate to say that, saying that I’m cool, but this is coming from my guys. So I feel pretty comfortable with that.

If I’m ever doing something that I know is going to be really current music, I always have a young assistant with me, a gentleman or a lady that I’m training: one, that looks good; two, can dance; three, that definitely knows the new music, whether it’s hip hop or club music. And that gives me a lot of relief from programming the music of this perfect time. So that helps me

Very interesting thing: I’m very comfortable with kids’ music. So as far as your Miley Cyrus, your Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, any of that stuff, I’m very good in the school yards with that. And I guess I’m still hip with those kids because they’re not quite the age yet

Ryan Burger: Yeah. There’s still an innocence there and you have that young at heart style that you can drop yourself right into them a little bit easier than you get into those 20-somethings. So, understood.

John Rozz: Which I feel very comfortable with that, Ryan. Which is fine. I know my limitations and I’m really fine with that. My bottom line is for any event that I’m booked for, or my company, that I make sure it’s the right person on the right event. That’s what’s important to me. It is the public and the right party. I know I’m not for a high school dance or a middle school dance and I am fine with that. Do I go to them and attend them? Absolutely. I’ll run the light show. I’ll do the booking. I’ll set up a light-up dance floor. I’ll advice the students and then of course I’ll just turn them on to my cool DJ, the guy that’s going to handle it. Because that’s what’s important.

And when we say times have changed, Ryan, this is very important for everybody to know out there. And this is not to pin any stars on me or anything, I can go to any school and rock the school even not knowing the music. But it’s just the look. I don’t have that look. So an inexperienced guy that looks cool and young, of course he’s going to be the guy over me. I mean, I’ve seen my guys two or three seconds between some issues of songs at a local YMCA dance, which I questioned him why. He was just caught up short on making the change into the next segue. So it’s not always about how great you are; age has something to do with it.

Ryan Burger: Well, yeah. Understood. I mean, with the little bit that I still do of the high school dances, I’m almost 37. You’ve got a couple years on me. And I don’t feel I connect and I would rather send the young, cool looking guy to it. But when it comes down to it, yeah, I can play a playlist of the current tracks and work in some of my other fun older stuff just as well as average.

The tools. People do like to know the tools. That’s something they’ve always asked us to ask the people that are there. What’s your preference in equipment that you like to personally use in the way of audio gear? Do you work off of a laptop? Do you PC DJ? Or how do you work your actual sound and lighting?

John Rozz: Okay. I go a lot of different ways.

Ryan Burger: Well, if you had to personally — your personal rig. I imagine all the guys that work for you have a little bit different stuff, but what do you like to work with?

John Rozz: Can I name the actual gear or –

Ryan Burger: Yes.

John Rozz: I can?

Ryan Burger: Yeah. Go ahead.

John Rozz: Well, I’m not great with all the numbers but I’m very in tune and I love my Pioneer system. I believe they’re the 1000s and the 800s; I have a few sets of those that work very well with me with the Pioneer mixer. I think it’s a six-channel mixer. It’s a nice club mixer that works very well with me.

I do use a lot of CDs. I feel that I can fly better with the CDs. I can fly a little bit better with the CDs on a row and I feel better mixing with them, segueing with them and scratching, so on and so forth.

I also use a Numark Virtual Vinyl which is a computer program for a Mac or for a PC and I do use that. I do have a laptop on every event, sometimes two. But I do, once again, feel very comfortable when the party’s rocking with the CDs. And I do see that with a lot of my guys; they sort of follow me there.

I do use a DMX board for lighting. I’m not that good with it but I can do the basics with that. Always doing a lot of lighting stuff, like the Martin 250s, any of the Martin lightings, a lot of LED lights. So I get into some of the DMX mixing with the light board, so those are some of the tools.

Of course my wireless mike. I love my Sennheiser wireless, a great tool. And I’m still a cable guy. You know, when I’m close to the system I still like an SM58 with an on/off switch. So if the toast is being done by somebody at a wedding, they have my nice Sennheiser out there, they pass it on to whoever’s doing the toast and then I’m just up there with that cable mike. I’m not moving at that point. Those are tools.

My other tools of course consist of any of my fun props, whether it’s for interactive or for a wedding or for a mitzvah. I have my fun box of props, my games, my interactive stuff.

Ryan Burger: Wow. It’d be interesting to see your garage of all the different stuff. Just so everyone knows — and I want to go into this area next — is we are producing a book of yours — a next generation of a book of yours. I saw pictures of all these different things you built and all these different things you’ve done. I mean, do you hold onto all these different things you built in a massive warehouse just in case you might have a reason to use it again? I mean, all these tools that you have built.

John Rozz: I do. I think that’s one of my problems; I don’t let things go. I’m a collector. I think we’re going to have to have a tag sale. But I do keep a lot of things. And what’s very funny, Ryan, is a lot of things that are old are new again. I mean, it’s amazing how this happens. And I’m on the third and fourth generation of doing some of these things. I mean, there were a few years there I didn’t do any hula hoops or limbo. I said, you’ve got to be kidding me. We just don’t do this anymore.

I mean, this summer I can’t tell you how much we’ve been doing this and these new kids at poolside parties, at picnics, love it. They’ve never seen it. Maybe they’ve seen it but they’ve never seen it done correctly or with the finesse of a good MC or to make it interesting. Anybody can throw a limbo pole out there or throw some hula hoops, but it’s that genius female or male MC that gets them charged. What are you going to do with these props? And I’m just using two basic props that probably started somewhere in the ’50s that still exist today that you can buy at Wal-Mart or wherever. So what’s old is new.

A lot of the other things I’ve invented. I’ve always been an innovator. I just figure if you have something that’s unique and you go beyond the call of duty to build it, someone’s going to want it. They want uniqueness and they want that wow.

Ryan Burger: Yeah. The thing just pops out at them. It’s not the same thing they saw at a bar mitzvah the previous week or two. I know you do the game shows and do some of the other stuff like a ton of other people do, but you’ve got something totally unique

As I was looking through your book there’s some stuff in there I’ve seen before and there’s some stuff that just blew me out of the water. How did you come to creating the games or taking them and customizing them to make your own? I mean, how much of the material is purely yours versus borrowed from friends? So I know you’ve been part of some different networking groups, you’ve got friends all over the world that you get ideas from. How much of it is uniquely Rozz, or is it all kind of Rozz-customized?

John Rozz: No, I think a lot of it has been borrowed or a lot of it has been seen by other entertainers, whether they were in live bands or solo artists, other DJs. I just put my own little frosting on the cake on how to do them. But I would say 60 percent of them are games and interactive fun things that I created. That ugly toe thing, I mean, that started one day at poolside where I was 25 to 30 feet away from the pool and I had 1,000-some-odd people at a picnic and people wanted to do interactive games. I did the dance contest. I did the limbo. I did some of the fun stuff with the balloons into the tee-shirts where they were popping them.

And I just found this magnifying glass that was actually in the picnic grove area in the office when I went down to have a burger — hamburger — came back and I brought the magnifying glass and I just went around poolside with a wireless mike, said I’m looking for the ugliest toe and the ugliest toe is getting the trophy, 24-karet gold cheap plastic trophy. And everybody was putting their feet up around the ledge of the pool and that’s how the ugly toe contest was created out amongst thousands of people.

Ryan Burger: Wow. Where do you see yourself going in the next 10, 20 years? I mean, are you going to be gigging until you’re buried in DJ heaven or what do you see as your future?

John Rozz: You know, a friend of mine — I can mention a name of course, right, Ryan?

Ryan Burger: Sure. Go for it.

John Rozz: In our business a friend of mine, John Michaels from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he says, “Everybody wants to die with their boots on.” So it sort of seems that way.

I’m going to continue to work in this field as long as I can. I feel young. I’m very active. I’m doing still a lot of events. And I plan on continuing doing this. Once again, I will pick and choose at this stage of the game. My biggest thing that I really enjoy right now, Ryan, is I do like to have a weekend off where I actually stop at events and stay maybe for an hour or so. That to me is very cool. So I’ll go there and be a networking kind of guy, take some photos with my camera — I love that kind of stuff — and push the younger guys and the younger girls out there.

I would like to give back more to the industry. I have been laying low on that, as you know. I haven’t been coming up to any of the shows anywhere, and even in some of my networking groups I have been so busy I haven’t been able to attend there. So I’d like to ease back into that a little bit and start to give back. Because once again, now, as you know, we have new people that don’t know who John Rozz is.

Ryan Burger: Yeah.

John Rozz: Okay. So hopefully I can push off to them some great things that I’ve done and hopefully they’ll think about the ideas I have and create their own and do whatever. I tell my guys here all the time, sometimes when I have meetings here and I have new people come in and I’m talking, they’re not hearing me. And that upsets me. And I’m telling them, once again, if you’re not hearing me I’m going to go back and do these shows to people that do hear me. There are people out there that are running businesses throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, that want to improve [inaudible], want to look at all the trees in the forest and not just one. And take it from an experienced guy that’s been there and done it.

A lot of things in the music business, Ryan, in the last 50, 60 years have not really changed. If you talk to band members, it’s still gone a certain way. An MC is still a certain type of a person that has to be on most of the time. And I hope I can do this and give back again and that’ll be a nice thing for me as I’m getting older. Promoting this book, maybe coming up with a special game for Vegas when you do your show this February. I haven’t been out to a Mobile Beat show since I did the American Disc Jockey Awards.

So I think maybe I’d like to do something like that, come out there, have a little booth, have the people stop by and say hi, we’ll promote the book. I want to help everybody. I want to help this industry, which I think needs it now more than ever, Ryan, because I am just seeing that laptop and someone just going through the motions with two speakers on a stick and this is not what our business is meant to be. There’s a lot more to this.

Ryan Burger: Got you. We’ll definitely be rolling with all kinds of — we’ve got four or five months to figure out how we’re going to be using you out in Vegas. We definitely want to have you out there, reintroduce you to the whole new crowd and you’re going to catch up with a ton of old friends too. So basically, you want to pass on to the next generation of disc jockeys over the next 10-whatver years, or whatever, 50 years of knowledge and everything.

How about you personally? Mike was telling me something about — I guess you’re real active with baseball. Are you much a baseball junkie? Because I’ll have to hang out with you a lot more if you’re a baseball junkie like me.

John Rozz: Well –

Ryan Burger: But you actually play, from what I understand. I don’t play; I enjoy watching.

John Rozz: Well, very interesting. I’m a big Los Angeles Dodger fan. I’ve been a Dodger fan forever. My dad was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and so I despise the New York Yankees. But I follow the Dodgers. I follow the Mets second because they’re close. I was just at Citi Field, gorgeous field. I know you’re a big baseball fan and we do have to get together.

But my big thing is I do play a lot of very competitive slow pitch softball. I play in a blood and guts A division team here in town. We’re in second place. I pitch. I do very well. I’m hitting very well. I’ve got guys that are half my age that I’m playing with.

I also play in a senior league, which is a whole different thing. And we play double headers here every Monday and that’s very interesting. I just signed up for senior Olympic softball, which will be in Houston, Texas in 2011 if we qualify.

And I play a ton of very serious senior basketball with a team called the Wallingford Silver Bullets and we’re playing three days a week. So I’m out three days with basketball and at least two days with softball. And I fit that into my schedule. With the seniors it makes it easy for me because a lot of those games are early in the morning. So I can still go out and play and do a gig in the afternoon or at night.

The biggest thing with this whole thing, Ryan, it’s like my second childhood. I’m doing what I loved as a kid, some kind of baseball which is now men’s slow pitch softball and of course basketball, and it’s keeping me in great shape. Cardiowise it’s keeping me going and I think that is a big key in life, just having that outlet and something else to do.

Ryan Burger: Wow. I thought your schedule was busy with enough business stuff and you have all the personal time. I’m trying to remember now — I was just trying to pull it up on the computer but couldn’t pull it real quickly. Dedication in the book, at the front of it, you mention your parents and your granddaughter. I mean, it sounds you’ve got a good family experience going and have for a while now too.

John Rozz: I do. And you know, the whole thing about life is family, God, staying healthy, and sharing and giving back. And what more can you give back than to the profession that’s been extremely good to me? It’s been very good to me. Yes, I work hard. It’s not an easy profession. Everybody in this profession is going nine different ways. It’s very difficult for family.

And that’s another thing that I think I can teach a lot of the younger people. And when I say younger people, I’m talking from 17 to 37, 47 — how to balance health and wellness and the family, because I know how hard it is to miss a ball game on a Saturday because you have a gig. I know how hard it is to miss a certain event on a Friday night because you have an event. So that’s another thing I can share and give back with. And if I had to do it over again, I would have balanced a little bit more.

But I learned this through the early years of this profession when it was very different. I didn’t have anybody to tell me, Ryan. I had no one to advise me any which way, just my cousin who was a live musician and it was a little different then. They all had jobs. They had other jobs and this was just a weekend warrior thing. So now so many of us are running our own businesses, our own DJ businesses, and what’s important is I really feel that I can give back and help them with the family balance.

That’s one of the biggest keys besides — before — besides is not the word — before the tools. Let’s start with the family and then work from there and we can do that.

Ryan Burger: Wow. Well, this qualifies as our longest interview because we just started rolling there and I didn’t want to miss anything and just kept going. Fantastic. I guess is there anything else that you want people to know about you that we haven’t hit on in the last half an hour or so that is who John Rozz is?

John Rozz: No. I think we hit on everything. Everyone is welcome to my home, to my office at any time in Connecticut. I’m a great host; anybody will tell you that. Mike Buonaccorso will tell you that. My friend Cesar in Mexico will tell you that. Any of the DJs that have come out here, they have all been welcomed with open arms. We share things together I think and experience different things and just always check with me. And this goes for anybody that’s out there. I would love to do that and just move on.

I hope that I’ll be able to be on two of these tours that you’re doing. I believe one is in Needham, Massachusetts?

Ryan Burger: Yep. There’s a bunch of stops we’re doing out in your direction so we’ve definitely got to get you out there and you’d be a quick guest, stir the crowd up a little bit and have a little bit of fun with it.

John Rozz: Yeah. I’m going to try to — definitely I’ve already got that down for Needham, Mass, and I think the next night is in Long Island and get out there. And if I can help you in any way with this book, like I say, I’d love to do it.

And once again, this book as we talked about it with Mike and yourself, it’s for the DJ industry. It’s for the MCs. It’s for party planners. It’s for band leaders, front people. So this is something I just want to share along to keep the good vibe going.

Ryan Burger: Wow. John Rozz of Sound Spectrum Entertainment, thank you for joining me and we’ll see you in Vegas.

John Rozz: My pleasure, sir. By, everyone.