“Prom’s a special night,” said East teacher Lydia Giles. “Dressing up, making memories… and this year, we’ve made sure to secure the icing on the cake. What would prom be without the most affordable failed SoundCloud artist-turned DJ in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district?”
Said professional, DJ Gudtimez, boasts an impressive setlist (which, according to his website, he’ll deviate from and then get flustered about). According to the site, DJ Gudtimez will then be so torn between pop and rap music that he’ll end up playing trap remixes of Rachel Platten songs, which no one will appreciate. And for $50 extra, he’ll throw in some sporadic air horn blasts to spice up the more somber moments.
“I think sometimes when I do high school gigs like this, the kids mistake me for one of them,” said the 40-some-year-old man. “I know just what the youths like: when I make like the unloved third Migos guy and ad lib really loud over otherwise good songs. Also, when I pause the music to record TikToks.”
Internet reviews pin Gudtimez’s modus operandi as follows: play enough popular songs for everyone to feel safe, then interrupt a beat drop to ask if anyone wants to hear an original track. Assuming the crowd’s silence means they’re playing coy, he pounces. Within seconds, the dance floor clears. A tumbleweed drifts toward the punch bowl.
“It’s gonna be great,” said student government representative Gretchen Vex. “He goes really well with our theme, ‘Everyone dresses however they want but the balloons are a different color than last year.’ And if this goes well, we’re looking to book him again for next year’s Dance Marathon.”
Eva Buckner is a senior and the ECHO’s opinions editor and columnist. Outside of writing, she babysits and plays volleyball. She is also the vice president of East’s March For Our Lives chapter, and president of LitCon. Eva can be contacted at evahelenbuckner@gmail.com.
