After a few more years, however, Buttaro would very slowly become interested in the business, thanks to Tone Zone president Gary Byron. Buttaro continues, “I dated, then eventually married Gary’s cousin, and for one year we lived with him.  If you don’t know anything about Gary, he eats, drinks, sleeps this industry.  Back in the late eighties, DJ equipment was anything but compact, and extremely heavy so Gary needed my help as a roadie.  Sometimes I’d stay and assist him, so I’d be watching him too.  If he needed to emcee something on the floor, I’d play the music. I guess this is how I became a DJ.”

But it was much more than filling-in that led to Buttaro’s success. Byron comments, ”What ended up happening was that his skill as a DJ eventually became better than mine. But that allowed me to concentrate on getting the

The duo’s success ultimately led to Buttaro’s burnout.  Buttaro says, “We were doing over a hundred weddings a year! In the late nineties I told Gary I needed to take a year off to recoup.  Well one year led to two, then three, and by the time I wanted to get back out there- in the early part of this decade, the ‘dual DJ’ package was out of style, which caused Gary to work as a solo DJ.”  Byron picks up from here, ”Joe already had the personality, the experience and a high level of professionalism so I kept insisting he go out and make the necessary equipment purchases because remember back when we