DJ

Dan Cronin was a party thrower from way back. So way back his first parties were, well, illegal.

“Throwing parties is a natural thing for me,” says Cronin of Mount Laurel, NJ, who heads a technology consulting firm and is the mastermind behind the black-tie do known as “Hair O’ The Dog” that every year draws out Philly’s hippest for a New Year’s Eve-style frolic.

HOD, as it’s known, takes place tomorrow night (for the 20th year in a row) at the Philadelphia Sheraton Downtown. While the theme is Gatsby, the beneficiary of its largesse—it’s part fundraiser—is The Claddagh Fund, founded by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphy’s which raises money for underfunded nonprofits in Boston and Philadelphia.

Cronin, who looks like the Irish version of TV chef Guy Fieri, grew up in the Bronx and North Jersey, the grandson of Irish immigrants from Cork and Donegal. He attended Dusquesne University in Pittsburgh, one of the top Catholic colleges in the US. “I was a DJ in college,” he says. “And I took my DJ money, converted the basement of the house where I was living into a bar, with a dance floor and lights, and I would pay police to make sure there was no trouble. . .I was running a speakeasy, basically. I didn’t have a license, no one was of age. . . .”

He laughs. In 1995, now a law-abiding citizen, Cronin called on his party-making skills again to “accelerate the growth” of his new Philly-based business (Chorus Communications, which he founded with childhood friend Robert Molinari) by inviting local telephone engineers and union guys who, he reasoned, would then feel kindly toward this little tech company and steer business their way. “We figured if we had parties we could get these guys tuxed up, get them a little drunk and befriend them,” says Cronin. “Well they loved it, and they helped us for quite a few years.”

Don’t get Cronin wrong. That first HOD wasn’t just a cynical ploy to get business. He had fun too—he was single then, and there were well-dressed, successful women–and he made friendships as well as deals. “To this day I still have relationships with some of the guys I met at those early parties,” he says.

That first year, 75 people paid $40 to get into the Circa Restaurant and Nightclub, now closed, at 15th and Walnut. Since then, the guest list has grown to 1,000 or more, all fun lovers who want to get dressed up and party without fighting the New Year’s Eve amateur crowd. “Actually, back in 1985 when we decided to dot his, people said, ‘Dude, you’re out of your mind. Not way is this going to be successful, Everybody blows their whole wad on New Year’s. They don’t want to go to another party and they don’t have the money,’” recalls Cronin. “But there’s always a way to get done what you want to get done financially, and everybody likes a good party.”

HOD has become a Philly institution and, in 1996, Cronin, influenced by motivational guru Anthony Robbins, added the “give back” aspect to his party—and to his life. “By then we had a pretty nice business and I heard my inner self knocking on the door saying, ‘You promised that if you became successful you’d give back,’’ Cronin recalls. “I became a Big Brother and sponsored a little kid and we added the charity aspect to HOD.”

Every year, HOD raises money for a different charity, from AIDS research and 9/11 survivors to, with a nod to Cronin’s Irish roots, Habitat for Humanity in Belfast and, this year, The Claddagh Fund, which recently expanded into the Delaware Valley where it financially supports organizations that serve children, veterans, and recovering substance abusers. “We probably give anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 to our charities every year,” says Cronin, who serves on the board of the Irish American Business Chamber and Network in Philadelphia.

An event firm now throws the party and Cronin isn’t the only DJ spinning records. The lineup this year includes popular Australian DJ Havana Brown whose “We Run the Night” with Pit Bull hit number one on the worldwide charts; DJ Bizz; the band The Business, a Philly fave; Bryan O’Boyle, late of Mr. Greengenes, another long-running favorite Philly band; and performer Jade Starling of Pretty Poison.

Despite running a successful business–and an equally successful event–he’s  out there DJing on the side, often for Irish crowds. He did his thing at the Philadelphia Fleadh, a showcase for Irish and Irish-American music produced by American Paddy’s Productions, last June in Pennypack Park, and was the DJ at American Paddy’s “American Celtic Christmas” event this December in Bensalem.

“I’m very diverse and have an unparalleled range as a DJ,” says Cronin, who grew up in a family that played Irish music (and who does a more than passable Irish accent, thanks to his Cork cousins). “If someone wants to hear ‘The Town I Loved So Well,’ I know to ask if they want the Phil Coulter version or the Shane McGowan version.”

So don’t think of Cronin, now married and the father of three, as someone who relegates his fun to one night a year. “I have a reputation as a party guy and I’m still a party guy,” he laughs. And  now he’s available for your party too.