My Single Peeps: David B.

David grew up in Miami — my mother was his elementary school teacher. Apparently he was always a nice kid. I’m not even sure he ever had a rebellious teenager phase. He’s a musician — and not only are his songs in the safe styling of Michael Buble, they’re also for children. “Every time I thought creatively of writing a romantic song, it came across as stupid, so I started writing kids’ music. I try to write things that say the world is a silly place and try to connect to that. From a writing standpoint, it opens you up to anything. I have a lyric in my song that says, ‘She built a ladder out of carrots that can reach up to the moon,’ and that’s probably not in a Pearl Jam song.”

He’s 35 and runs a DJ entertainment business called Groovy David Entertainment, where he performs at parties, bar mitzvahs and some malls around Los Angeles. Los Angeles magazine named him Best Kids’ DJ this year. “I love working with kids. They’re the most honest critics you’ll ever have. If a kid’s not digging you, they’ll pretty much express it right up front. It’s the same high of anyone who’s doing something creative. When you have the gratification of seeing something that was in your brain causing joy and wonder, and you can see it in their face, it’s not a fake golf clap reaction. It’s very addicting — and it’s why I keep doing it.”

He had a short marriage — six months — and is just starting to get back to dating. “I’m open to what I bump into. I’m looking for the happy accident. I think those are great. I’m trying not to have too many preconceived notions anymore.”

I ask him what he learned from his divorce.

“I’ve learned that you never know — it’s always the stuff that’s behind the scenes that’s the real stuff. The foundation thing is kind of important. My favorite couple is a friend who’s Israeli and she’s English. And if you lined them up, you’d never have thought they’d be the couple to end up together. But they’re the best. They are always ragging on each other all the time but they love each other, and they take care of their two kids, and the rest is noise. They’re so dedicated to making their family work.

“In terms of a girl, it’s cliché but you gotta both laugh — not the same sense of humor, but have a sense of humor and both be able to laugh at life. Even at the unfortunateness of it. I think we try to delude ourselves that life’s predictable — but it’s not. And if you’re going to be with someone, you need to be able to laugh at that stuff together. When your kid spills her drink all over your shirt, you have to just go with it.” 

I guess being a kids’ DJ has given David some insight, because as a father, I completely know what it’s like to have a warm bottle of milk dumped on my shirt … and as an actor I know what it’s like to show up at an audition wearing that same wet shirt. “Hi, I’m here to play the hip single guy. No, it’s not raining outside. My daughter spilled her milk on my shirt. Yes, that is a “Dora the Explorer” sticker on my elbow. Thanks for pointing that out.”

David continues, “It takes a long time to be OK with being yourself, and you still work on it no matter how old you are. Whoever you’re going to be with has to respect you for you, and you for them. And that’s it. I think the rest you can kind of figure out as you go along.”

If you’re interested in anyone you see on My Single Peeps, send an e-mail and a picture, including the person’s name in the subject line, to mysinglepeeps@jewishjournal.com, and we’ll forward it to your favorite peep.

Seth Menachem is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. You can see more of his work on his Web site, sethmenachem.com, and meet even more single peeps at mysinglepeeps.com.