The backstory
To understand where C-Town Entertainment started, you have to know one thing. I love to sing! Sometimes it sounds pretty ok. Sometimes, well…. I could probably use a little more practice. The occasionally misheard lyrics will be belted out loud and proud. As you could probably imagine, a karaoke night is a fun night out for me.
In 2010 I heard about a karaoke contest at a local bar, and figured it would be something fun to try. The contest was set up very similar to the American Idol TV show. It was 10 weeks long with different themes every week, and the audience could vote for their favorites at the end of the night. They even had students from a local broadcasting school come in as judges to give their critique.
I have always said that you don’t need to be a good singer to participate in karaoke. Just have fun. So I put on a show. I played to the crowd and the judges, because it wasn’t about me. It was about them, and showing them a good time. The strategy paid off. Fast forward 10 weeks, and I ended up winning this contest. It was such a fun experience at the time, but little did I know how much this would actually change my life.
Taking the first steps
The DJ company that was putting on the contest recruited me to work for them as a result. I always thought it would be fun to host karaoke, so I gave it a shot. That expanded to hosting trivia and playing music at neighborhood bars. Over time, building playlists evolved into learning how to DJ and mix songs together. It was so much fun being able to combine music and creativity for a different take on things.
After moving on to join a different company, I worked my way up to DJing events, and eventually became good enough for weddings. Eventually I realized I didn’t want to be just good enough, though. After all, a wedding is the biggest day of two people‘s lives and they deserve the best!
That difference of opinion with the owner was the catalyst to taking the risk of branching out and starting my own business. So in April of 2016, C-Town Entertainment was born! The company will be 10 years old this spring! The vision was to raise the bar for what people expect out of a wedding DJ. Excellence is the goal every time!
Taking C-Town Entertainment to the next level
In that first year, I only did one wedding for a friend from college. Shortly after, I brought Bob in as a business partner. A teammate. We shared the vision of continuous improvement, and always making the experience better for our clients. We began to steadily grow over the next five years, and the business even survived the Covid pandemic, which hit the event industry particularly hard. We've been voted Best Wedding DJ in Cleveland multiple times on the Cleveland Hot List! Since then, we have averaged 60 weddings each year, and host six bar trivia events every week. You should definitely stop in with some friends to have some fun one night. Here's where you can find us.
What an amazing ride this has been! Who would’ve known that just a fun activity on a random Thursday night would turn into my career; my livelihood. I get to earn a living doing something I truly love and have passion for. I’m grateful every day for the opportunity to do this. C-Town Entertainment has been around for a decade, and I can’t wait to see what else the future holds for us!
