The timber-framed hall
In my photos: arched dark-wood trusses, hanging lanterns, a brick fireplace at one end and French doors along the side. The dance floor went at the fireplace end, with tables running back through the hall.
DJ and MC at Meadow Club
Meadow Club is a private golf club from 1927 at the foot of Mount Tamalpais. The hall in my photos is all dark timber arches, lanterns and a fireplace. I bring the sound, the microphone and the timeline, so your event there runs without you watching the clock.
Fairfax, Marin County
A 1927 club below
A 1927 club below
Mount Tamalpais
Meadow Club is a private golf club on Bolinas Road in Fairfax, in western Marin County. It was founded in 1927, and the club calls its course the first in North America designed by Alister MacKenzie. The clubhouse dates to those first years. Mount Tamalpais is the backdrop to all of it.
It's a private club, and events are arranged through its events office: for members, for hosts a member sponsors, and for non-members. It hosts wedding receptions, milestone birthdays, anniversaries and family gatherings, in the clubhouse rooms and outdoors facing the mountain.
For the music, that means an old clubhouse, a hall that's all wood and glass, and an outdoor ceremony that needs its own speaker.
The spaces
Timber arches and
Timber arches and
a mountain view
The adjoining rooms
Three wide doorways open off the hall into beamed rooms where more tables were set. Guests in there still need to hear a toast, so an additional sound zone is there in the estimate if the doorways swallow too much.
The clubhouse, room by room
The club's event floor plan runs in one line: foyer and library, the main bar and its patio, a rotunda, then the Ballroom with the Lanai beside it, and the Clubhouse Patio at the far end. I plan the cocktail hour, dinner and dancing to the rooms you've been given, so the sound is in each one before your guests are.
Outdoors, facing the mountain
Ceremonies here are held outside with Mount Tamalpais behind them. That gets a separate setup from me: its own speaker, a wireless mic, and a backup mic ready for wind.
How I set up here
Built around the
Built around the
fireplace end
A timber hall, rooms that open off it and a setting outside that faces the mountain. Each one changes where the gear goes.
Where the booth goes
In the photos here my booth sits at the fireplace end of the hall, against the brick, with the speakers beside it and the dance floor directly ahead. That keeps me in view of the whole room for announcements. I confirm the spot and the nearest power with the club before the day.
A wood and glass room
Timber overhead, paneled walls and glass-paned doors: that's a lot of hard surface, so I set the levels by ear once the room fills. I keep cocktail and dinner music at a level people can talk over, and build as the plates clear.
Outside, then back in
If part of your day is outdoors facing the mountain, that gets its own setup: a speaker aimed at your guests, a wireless mic for whoever speaks, the first song cued. When everyone moves indoors, the main system is already playing. No outlet out there? My estimate asks, and adds a generator when one is needed.
The clock and the load-in
I build your timeline around the end time you choose and settle my load-in door and arrival time with the events office. The club's own limits are already in my plan: its policy has events wrapped by 11:30 p.m. at the latest, and an event runs five hours, six when a wedding includes the ceremony. I arrive early and sound-check before your guests do.
From my own events
The hall, set
The hall, set
for a party
The Meadow Club hall, timber arches and all, set for a party
The full hall from the dance floor, with the DJ setup at the fireplace
Meadow Club dining rooms set for a holiday event with DJ booth
Open dance floor beneath the arches, booth tucked by the fireplace
The Meadow Club hall in house light with tables set
Beamed adjoining room with a sightline straight to the dance floor
Tables set across the hall, with French doors to the grounds
Hands up on a full floor at the Meadow Club
No planner needed
You don't have to
You don't have to
hold the evening
Before the day there's a planning questionnaire, then calls about the music and the timing: must-plays, do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love. By the time I arrive, I already know your event inside and out.
On the day I'm the MC as well as the DJ. Entrances, toasts, a first dance or a birthday song, the moment the floor opens: I announce each one and cue it, so the room always knows what's next and nobody is looking at you for the answer. If something goes sideways, I handle it, and most hosts never know.
Lighting
Red light on
Red light on
dark wood
The uplighting in these photos is mine. I ran red along the paneled walls and up a brick pillar, and against that much dark timber it turned the hall warm and close once the house lights came down.
Color is your call: amber, a soft white, whatever suits the event. Uplighting, dance-floor lighting and a monogram or pattern projection are each added in the instant estimate. I ask the club which fixtures are theirs and where I can plug in.
Beyond weddings
Holiday parties,
Holiday parties,
birthdays, anniversaries
The photos on this page are from a holiday party I played here: a lit tree, garlands on the French doors, and a full dance floor with hands in the air.
A company dinner or a holiday party suits this hall, and so do the milestone birthdays, anniversaries and family gatherings the club says it hosts. I play all of them. So does a Selector Session: a set of my own programming for a cocktail hour, a dinner or an after-party, when you want a sound more than a program.
Good to Know
Questions about a DJ
Questions about a DJ
at Meadow Club
Have you DJed at Meadow Club before?
Yes. The photos on this page are mine, from an event I played in the timber-framed hall. I set up at the fireplace end with the dance floor in front of me and tables through the hall and the adjoining rooms. I've been behind the decks for more than 25 years and over 1,000 events.
Does Meadow Club allow an outside DJ?
I've played here as the host's own DJ. The club offers entertainment referrals of its own too, so tell the events office early that you're bringing me. Whatever the club needs from me before the date, such as proof of insurance and my arrival time, I send it myself.
What time does the music have to end at Meadow Club?
Your night ends when you want it to. Plenty of events here wrap up well before the club's limit, which is 11:30 p.m. at the latest under its event policy. I know that limit and the club's event length (five hours, six when a wedding includes the ceremony), so whatever end time you choose, I plan the timeline to it: the dance floor gets its full stretch and the last song is the one you picked.
Can you do sound for an outdoor ceremony and the reception inside?
Yes. The ceremony gets a second setup where the vows happen, with a wireless mic for the officiant and the vows, and the processional cued. The main system is ready in the hall before anyone walks in. Ceremonies here are held outdoors with the mountain behind you. I confirm the exact spot and the power there with the club, and if no outlet is in reach, the estimate adds a generator.
We don't have a planner. Can you run the timeline?
Yes, the music side of it and every announcement. We work out the order on our planning calls: entrances, toasts, dinner, first dance, when the floor opens. On the day I MC each moment and keep things moving toward the cutoff. You get to be at your own party.
More places
Other places I've played
Other places I've played
in Marin
- Cavallo PointSausalito
- Inn MarinNovato
- Mill Valley Community CenterMill Valley
- The Outdoor Art ClubMill Valley
- Slide RanchMuir Beach
- Straus Home RanchMarshall
Clubs, festival stages and every venue from Napa Valley to the coast are on one page: Places I've played.
Your event
Tell me about your Meadow Club event
Your date, the rooms you've been given and the feeling you want in the hall. The instant estimate gives you a price in a couple of minutes, or book a short call and we'll talk it through.