Teen in tune with musical tastes

Young DJ provides music for parties

Some kids wash cars to make money. Some make french fries. Michael Roitman, 15, spins the hottest tunes.

Roitman is a mobile disc jockey, billing his business as Cordless Mic Entertainment. He began providing music for different small events like birthday parties in the fall of 2000. Back then, he was in the seventh grade and his equipment was composed of a portable CD player hooked to a mixer and a large boom box borrowed from home.

Roitman didn't rely on a portable CD player for long. He took $2,000 out of his saving account to buy professional equipment, including a pair of 15-inch, 500 watt Yamaha speakers.

"It's a lot more than picking a song and changing the CD," he said. "You have to be a little gutsy to go in front of people and do this."

Roitman makes sure he's armed with preselected sets and is always ready with the next song.

Bigger gigs came his way, like a private party for Halloween held at a home in Blue Diamond. That was the first time he used the new speakers.

"They were just awesome," he said.

Now, as freshman at Bonanza High School, he's had enough gigs to rebuild his bank account. But a portion of his earnings goes back into the business because being a DJ means playing the latest tunes. So Roitman buys new CDs almost every week. He has a library of about 300.

Though he's at home with public speaking, he's not one to hog the microphone. Usually, he doesn't even introduce the song. But when he does talk to the crowd, it's loud, fast and hip.

He makes sure he's respectful to his hosts and follows their guidelines for clean lyrics. Roitman said if it were left up to him to choose, he'd pick songs like Busta Rhymes' "Break Ya Neck" because "it really gets you pumped and has a good beat with lots of bass."

At a recent dance at Las Vegas Day School, where he provided the music for its spring dance, things got off to a slow start. Boys stayed at one end of the large room, girls at the other. There could have been an ocean in between them except for the glances zinging back and forth. For his part, Roitman continued to spin the hits, playing dance tunes. His efforts were appreciated by the audience.

"He does a good job," said Blake Ridgeway, 12. "He plays the top-10, like they do on TV."

"I watch MTV a lot, that's usually what's on at my house," said David Yoken, 12. "I think this is more fun. You can really feel the bass."

Roitman is a graduate of Las Vegas Day School and that's where his business got its start.

"We allowed him to do DJ-ing that last part of his past year and we loved him," said Neil Daseler, director. "He's able to relate to this age."

Daseler noted with a chuckle that some of the songs Roitman uses are remakes of decades-old songs.

Right now, Roitman has to rely on family or friends to drive him to gigs.

"My biggest fear is blowing a speaker or getting somewhere and (discovering) I'm missing a wire," he said.

Early dreams of being a professional basketball player gave way to being involved in the music business in some regard. He said he wants to continue being a disc jockey or possibly segue that into a career as a music producer.

"It's a real rush to be responsible for everyone's good time," he said.

Cordless Mic can be reached at 365-6617.


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