- November 23, 2024
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Jeff Giancaspro is 14 years old. He’s a DJ. And he’s the youngest business man in Palm Coast.
Flashing his neon-green business card, 14-year-old Jeff Giancaspro says that, according to city offices, he’s Palm Coast’s youngest entrepreneur. The Mixx! The Ultimate in Lighting & Music Entertainment is his company.
He’s the only licensed mobile disc jockey in the city.
“I guess you can say that I’m a ‘cool nerd,’” he says.
Walk into his practice studio — a bedroom in the back of his parents’ house, dubbed Club Aqua — and you’re faced with a wall full of equipment: lighting rigs, amps, mixers, fog machines. In total, his DJ equipment has cost him about $5,500.
With his family matching his investments almost dollar for dollar, Giancaspro paid for his setup with three years’ worth of saved holiday money, on top of what he earned from a yellow wagon lawn service he started in 2008.
“I have so much fun doing this,” he says. “And I also have a lot of fun in the satisfaction of getting A’s and B’s.”
Giancaspro, with his long brown hair and skinny black jeans, has always been an honor-roll student. He also took home first place in the Tropicana Speech contest in 2007 and 2008, speaking on the topics of rollercoasters and pro wrestling.
“Each show starts with a buildup,” he explains. “And then — boom! — climaxes with a hit.”
Recently, Giancaspro worked a five-hour sweet-16 party at the Hammock. He’s done five school dances and about four private gigs.
A Buddy Taylor Middle School percussionist, he’ll be part of Flagler Palm Coast High School’s marching band next year as a freshman. He rides longboards and drives ATVs. He is currently a volunteer for TV199, Palm Coast’s government access channel, and in the future, he plans to be a news anchor.
He says he has interviewed politicians for the TV station, as well as directed all of the Jumbo Tron cameras at the Rock ’n’ Rib Fest.
Oh, and he also just got his first debit card, so he put a little money into Cat Construction stock, which is “in big demand right now.”
“When I was little, I didn’t want to go to the carnival,” Giancaspro says, “I wanted to be the one watching (the workers) set up the carnival.” The same goes for fireworks: The beauty is in the prep-work.
Short-term, his goal as a DJ is to make enough money by college to buy a house, then rent out its rooms and watch profits roll in.
The long-term goal is to one day “live the dream” of owning a home with four stories.
“Basically, the DJ is the backbone, the entertainer,” Giancaspro says. “The DJ flows, controls how (the party) is going to flow.”
With a handful of his friends sitting outside, talking under a patio fan, Giancaspro describes himself as the party’s “control system.” He says he practices his craft five times a week, usually with a bunch of buddies over, dancing in his practice room, in Club Aqua.
“You’re the vibe. You control the vibe. You control how it feels,” he says. “If you want them to love you, you can make them love you.”
