Hotel Petaluma is in my own town: a historic 1920s hotel in the middle of downtown, with a ballroom of hardwood, large windows and amber chandeliers. I DJ and MC company dinners, weddings and galas there, and I plan the sound for a lively room in a building where people are also spending the night.
Petaluma paid for this building. In 1922, 855 local investors bought stock to put a proper hotel downtown, and the five-story result is still the tallest building in the Petaluma Historic Commercial District. It spent decades as something else (the Elks Club bought it in 1959, and it later housed long-term residents) before a full restoration that began in 2015 turned it back into a hotel.
That history is in the room. The restoration brought back the ballroom windows and rehung original amber chandeliers that had been sitting in storage. The street-side courtyard was returned to its original look, fountain and all.
Your guests can sleep upstairs and walk to dinner, coffee and the rest of downtown, so nobody is driving a dark country road at the end of the night. It's also a working hotel on a downtown street, so the music has an edge to respect. I confirm where that edge is with the hotel for your date.
The main event room: hardwood floors, large restored windows and the old amber chandeliers, air conditioned, with a sound system and audio-visual equipment of its own. Hardwood and glass make a room lively, and I set up for that (more on it below).
Beyond the ballroom, the hotel has smaller space for meetings and small gatherings. A compact setup and one wireless microphone cover it: clear speech first, music underneath.
The lobby has a fireplace and a bar, and it's where guests land before and between the big moments. People drift out there. So I time the announcements and give a few minutes of warning before a toast, an award or a first dance, and nobody misses it.
The courtyard on Kentucky Street was restored to its original look, with a hexagonal fountain and plaster cherubs above the door. It's the first thing your guests walk through, on the way to the hotel's main entrance. Events here are held indoors, so the music is waiting once they're through the door.
Hardwood, glass, a downtown street and people sleeping upstairs. I plan for each one before I load a single case.
Hardwood and glass make for a bright-sounding room, and speech rings if the speakers are in the wrong place. I position them for the guests, test the wireless microphone from where the toasts will be given, and keep dinner music at a level you can talk over. Then I build it as the plates clear.
When a ceremony or a program shares the ballroom with the party, the changeover is the part that needs a plan. I agree the time for turning the room with the hotel ahead of the day. For vows I cue the processional and mic the officiant. For a program I mic the speakers. Either way, the next song is ready when the room reopens.
The entrance is on Kentucky Street, in the middle of town, and the building is five stories. So I confirm ahead of time where I unload, whether the gear goes by stairs or elevator, and when the ballroom is mine. I arrive early and carry backup equipment, so a slow load-in never becomes your problem.
At some hour, people upstairs are trying to sleep. I settle the music hours with the hotel, then plan your timeline to the end time you choose: entrances, toasts and the big moments early, a full stretch of dancing, and a last song you chose, not whatever was on when the clock ran out.
Before your date we go through a planning questionnaire and a planning call: the order of the night, who speaks, how names are pronounced, the must-plays, the do-not-plays and the exact versions of the songs you love. I take the hotel's questions too: the music hours, the load-in, the changeover. By the time I walk in, I already know your event inside and out.
On the day I'm the MC as well as the DJ. Every entrance, toast and announcement comes from me, on time, so you aren't checking your phone or looking for whoever has the microphone. If something goes sideways with the gear, there's a backup already within reach. Most hosts never find out what I quietly handled.
The lighting in the photos on this page is mine. Pink and teal uplighting washing the white balcony above a full dance floor, and a soft teal line along the base of the walls by the tall windows. In a pale room with white trim, a little color shows. It's what changes the space from dinner to dancing.
Uplighting, dance-floor lighting and a custom monogram or pattern projection are all add-ons you can choose in the instant estimate.
The hotel hosts weddings with the ceremony and reception under one roof, and it hosts plenty else: company events and meetings, conferences, fundraisers and parties. I play all of them. A holiday party, a milestone birthday, a gala with a paddle raise and a program to keep on schedule, a company dinner where the music has to stay out of the way until it's time not to.
Because guests can stay on site, this is also a good place for the nights around the main one. A Selector Session, a set of my own programming, fits a welcome party, a cocktail hour or an after-party here. Afro house, soulful electronic, hip-hop and the classics, or open format when the crowd calls for Motown, Latin or the 80s.
Clubs, festival stages and every venue from Napa Valley to the coast are on one page: Places I've played.
Your date, the kind of celebration and the feeling you want in the room. The instant estimate takes a couple of minutes, or book a short call and we'll talk it through. I'll take it from there.
