Spice Culture -20th April 2025

About Spice Culture

Spice Culture is a fantastic restaurant in Piscataway NJ and the owner Teji Bhai is a good friend and great music lover. While I dont sing regularly at restaurants, I do so once in a while if Teji Bhai requests me to.

Singing at Restaurants - What to expect

My performance style and vibe is a full party mode. So there will be lots of singing/laughter and dancing at my events. Restaurants gigs are different. People come there with different goals. Your best case scenario is that most customers who have showed up are music lovers and are looking to have a good time. Your worst nightmare is customers who have come there to have a quiet meal - and have small kids sleeping in the baby basket.

My recommendations for new singers who are starting out performing at restaurants.
- Start with soft slow melodious songs at low volume to get a feel for the crowd
- Look for small signs like people nodding their heads to the beat or mouthing the lyrics to the song
- Sing more of the songs people are responding to and start raising the volume as the evening progresses
- Walk around amongst the people and try to get receptive audiences involved in the performance

Some important things to keep in mind

- This is not a concert. The audience will be talking to each. It is your job as a singer/performer to sing so well that the audience will be compelled to listen to you. Even if the audience does not listen to you, mark it as a win if the audience does not request you to stop singing. :-)
- Remember that when you go somewhere as an artist/entertainer, you are STAFF. So be kind and courteous to the other staff members, and be very mindful when you interact with the Guests
- I cannot emphasize this enough. DO NOT DRINK during GIGS - not a single sip. You will be interacting closely a lot with the guests. You have to be at the top of your game and all your interaction with the guests should leave them carrying back fond memories of the evening.
- You have heard the saying "Put your money where your mouth is". That is true even here. If someone is giving you a tip, accept it politely and gracefully as a sign of their love and appreciation for your music.

About my experience on 04/20/2025

I got lucky this time. All the diners were fond of music and were enjoying the music from the very start of the evening. As the evening went on some familiar faces walked in (Customers who have hired me in the past for their events) and it became a party. Awesome experience.

Some small clips from the event

Always love to have true music lovers in the audience

Nice interaction with parents raising a kind and generous individual