'Cutest' 71-year-old DJ playing music from his old CD collection at a wedding is truly wholesome

In the era of Spotify playlists, Apple and YouTube music, there is an inevitable charm in flipping through CDs to find the one song that has the exact tunes you want to dance to. The delight of dancing to music from a CD collection was caught on camera by TikTok user Miranda Dolph - who goes on the platform by @mirandameganne - when she went to a wedding. There, she met a 71-year-old DJ, Brian Phoenix, who made the audience groove to the music from his enormous display of CD collection. The video captures Phoenix standing behind a table of his CD collection and carefully choosing the next tunes for his set. 

The video, which caught the attention of a whopping 9 million viewers, was captioned, "I don't know if he needs this job or still does it out of passion, but he needs to be protected at all costs." Phoenix plays for The Music Man DJ Service - a wedding and events DJ company based in the US. What stood out about this short clip from the wedding was the septuagenarian DJ, who stood out from other DJs usually hired to play at weddings. Dressed in a sharp suit and tie, the gentleman seems to be calm, taking his time to pick the best music for his guests to enjoy. Far from the sight of a DJ, raising his hands and pressing buttons on his console, Phoenix's demeanor was a sight for sore eyes. The grey-haired CD collector spoke to Good Morning America and shared his experience, "It's not like I was saving a baby from a burning building or 'Oh my God, look at that. The roof was caving in and he lifted it back up.' I'm just standing there. So, I find that amazing." 

Dolph, who uploaded the viral video on her TikTok, said that initially, Pheonix didn't grab her eyes. However, when her friend pointed out that the DJ had a whole curated CD collection from which he was picking the tunes, Dolph couldn't help but check out the man behind the music, "digging through the CD collection and lining up the next songs." She further said, "That's what really struck me and I think struck others, was just, you know, from all the weddings I've been at, I usually just see people using playlists and computers and not necessarily digging through all the CDs." She found him to be an inspiration for living his life and doing what he loved.

Dolphe shared a follow-up video, where Phoenix thanked people cheering for him and shared some words of wisdom for those who are old. He said, "Don't let society tell you, 'Oh, you're old. You gotta go to the back of the bus. You're not. But you dance to your own music. You do it for as long as you want." He also added that it did not matter if you're older. As long as you like what you're doing and you're good at it, "you can still do it." When asked why he prefers playing music from his CD collection, he replied, "I play CDs at dance time because it gives me more control of how the music comes in, how it starts out." He plays at weddings once a week and his collection includes Whitney Houston's "I Want to Dance With Somebody," Usher's "Yeah!" and Dua Lipa's "Levitating" because they get the people to shake a leg.

The TikTok comment section joined the virtual wedding party and couldn't hold themselves back from wanting to inquire about his availability. User @_cynthiamay_ said, "Please post his business details. TikTok wants to hire him for our next events!" Another user, @stephhbray, said, "Crying over an elderly DJ wasn't on the schedule for today. but here we are." Phoenix's passion for playing music the way he wants sends a message to the world out there. No matter what age you're at, if you want to do something your way, there's no one stopping you.