Earlier this year, business was good for Dan Dobson.

DJ Danny D, as his customers know him, had regular gigs at bars and wedding season was coming up.

"I was working non-stop five to seven days a week and then it just derailed, like the train came off the track," Dobson said.

When COVID-19 hit in March those bars closed and weddings were canceled or postponed. All of a sudden there wasn't much for a full-time DJ to do.

Dobson said the last several months have been a scary time. He's got kids and a mortgage to pay.

He did get some government assistance and he's taken small jobs and when he's had the chance, brought the equipment into the office to work on radio mixes for extra cash.

Recently, however, there has been some good news. Weddings are coming back, but they're limited in New York to 50 people.

Dobson said the "microweddings" typically last an hour to two hours. While his hourly rate remains the same, he is only working about the third of the time.

Those are the kind of gigs that might not have been worthwhile a year ago with the amount of time and effort it takes to set up a show.

"A lot of people think we open the magic box, just open the box and the music comes up. They don't really see the setup behind the scenes," he said.

Another new issue to navigate is New York is not currently allowing dancing at weddings. Dobson said he's mostly stuck to yacht rock and ‘80s music to try and keep people in the seats.

He said about 95 percent of people follow the rules but inevitably someone tests the limits. While he said it's technically the venue's responsibility to enforce the rules, as the one with the microphone, he often is looked at to be the "COVID police."

"There's always a girl that says, ‘I love this song’ and they get up and they dance or they start singing to it, so I try to use more sing-a-longs than anything so people can sing so they don't have to get out of their seat," Dobson said. "Sweet Caroline. Don't Stop Believin’. All that stuff."

Regardless, Dobson said he's a social person and is happy to see people again. He's looking forward to karaoke gigs getting started again at some point.

Dobson also his schedule is already filling up for next year and keeping track of who has rescheduled is a task in itself.