Jack Duran: Shuttle driver by day, DJ by night

Tell me about your job driving at the dealership and how the shuttle service works.

I am a driver here for Bellingham Toyota/Mercedes. I do shuttles, valets, I do test driving a lot. I do anything that needs to be done around here that’s not usual. I do it.

When you come in for service on your vehicle and you need a ride anywhere in Bellingham, you just tell your service adviser you need a ride. We’ll come pick you up, take you to wherever you’re going, and then if you need a ride back, we’ll also shuttle you back. We average about 120 miles a day.

When and why did you start the job?

I’m actually a DJ. So I’ve been DJing for 47 years. When COVID hit, it stopped everything. So my neighbor, who is the assistant service manager, said, ‘I’m looking for a driver. How’s your driving record?’ I said, ‘Great.’ So I came and applied, and I’ve been doing it now for four years. I get to meet great people here, have great conversations.

Do you ever have days when you wish you didn’t have to socialize?

There are days like that, but I still work my way through it … Sometimes they don’t want to talk or they’re on their phone, so I let them be, but a lot of people want to have good conversations. We start talking about everything from cars to fishing to motorcycles to their vacation.

What moments of your own have you shared with folks in the car?

[My daughter] called me and let me know she got her [master’s degree] — that was phenomenal. I couldn’t help it. People are just really receptive. And even though the world’s kind of messed up right now, there’s so many things going on, but people in general are just good people. They want good news.

What is your favorite memory shuttling?

I think when people are sad. I had one where, unfortunately, this young lady was going through a divorce … By the time I dropped her off, she was crying. So I put it in park and just listened to her and talked to her for probably 15 minutes or so. We hugged each other and we became friends.

Outside of your 9 to 5, tell me about your other gig.

I started DJing when I was 15 years old … Just started off spinning in nightclubs in Denver, and then started doing mobile work, and just really loved it. My whole family’s musical — my dad played guitar, my sister was a phenomenal violin player growing up, I played trumpet.

What events do you enjoy DJing the most?

[Whatcom Sound] just finished doing the Multiple Sclerosis Deception Pass Classic down in Skagit County … They raised $1.58 million. I put in 42 hours in three days doing that event. It’s not just doing DJ work, it’s all the audio, coordinating everything and making announcements. That’s probably my favorite single thing to do.

But I love doing weddings. After all these years, I still absolutely love doing weddings. Weddings are stressful because you’re going to have 200–400 people at a wedding, and they don’t all like the same music. Even to this very day, I get little bit nervous during the ceremony because that cannot be messed up.

Your two jobs seem different at surface level. What is similar about them?

People. My job’s always trying to make people happy, whether they’re dancing or listening music or whether I’m driving [a] shuttle for them.