Self Promotion

Raging against the dying of the light.

Sandwiched between the Gang of Four last week-end and Pixies next sits a trip to King Tut's to hear Bombay Bicycle Club.

Whilst I have no issues with the quiet desperation that underlies the reliving of my youth by attending concerts by bands whose defining moment was either thirty or twenty years ago, I believe that catching up and coming bands prevents me from totally becoming the very thing that I railed against all those years ago.
And Heaven knows we have now just bought tickets for The Fall in November.

So to try and follow Dylan's advice (Thomas, not Zimmerman) and ensure no gentle disappearance into the good night we enjoyed a night up town catching Bombay Bicyle Club.

The gig was sold out which means about 100 sweaty teenagers have turned out to catch 'this years best up and coming band'.

Certainly, if you wish to get close up to a band then King Tut's is your ideal venue. BBC were excellent. Full of energy, catchy toons, enthusiastic about being on stage and aided by a great sound system and an up for it cos tomorrow is a holiday crowd.

It all reminded me of the times I used to catch bands like The Clash and The Ramones at a similar sized venue called Clouds in Edinburgh back in 1977.

So for genuine reminiscing catch Gang of Four and Pixies but for remembering the emotion of youth catch Bombay Bicycle Band.

To be insulted by an old grumpy, cantankerous Mancunian, catch The Fall

Six Sleeps

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

= 6 Sleeps!!

Normal Service Resumed : Saturday, 26th

Back behind the wheels of steel on Saturday.

Quite quiet to start with. So some general inoffensive stuff whilst I wait to see if the pub will start to fill around 10pm. Thankfully it did.
Kicked off with Confusion Girl, as Jamie asked for it as I was setting up and I thought, like bad medicine, might as well get it over and done with quickly.

Played Hall and Oates as I had laughed at a scene in 500(Days of Summer) which used one of their tracks really well and as a result their tunes were in my head.

If you'd asked me on Tuesday the liklihood of playing three tracks by Jay-Z, I would of raised a quizical eyebrow. However, I picked up the cd during the week and was greatly impressed by 'Empire State of Mind' so that got flung on early for me and then on later when they place was busier. It's been hammered on the i-pod too. Seems to me there is one outstanding track on each Jay-Z lp. 'Roc- Boys' on the previous one and 'Empire State' on this. Almost makes you want to visit New York.

A run of rock oldies to break things up and cheer up the less young punters after Jamie, him again, asked for Baba O Riley.



Then some up to date House including 'Jack is Back' which is getting mentioned a lot in blogland. My personal fave being Joris Voorn's 'Sweep the Floor'which sounded fantastic. Also happy to play Temper Traps tune remixed by Dirty South.




Some oldies to sing- along to as the pub emptied to catch The Arms' curfew.

Finished on a mash-up of Louis Armstrong and Radiohead which mixes 'What a wonderful world' with 'No Surprises' to great effect.
You'll find it in hyper web land if you go looking for 'What a Wonderful Surprise'.
You'll probably also find some naked Romanian wrestlers as well but hey-ho!

Tracklisting below.

1 Confusion Girl - Frankmusic *
2 17 Together - Metro Station
3 Stone Cold Sober - Paloma Faith
4 Super Duper Love - Joss Stone
5 Long Train Running - The Doobie Brothers
6 Harvest For The World - The Isley Brothers
7 Just My Imagination - The Temptations
8 I'll Be Around - Detroit Spinners
9 Kiss On My List - Daryl Hall And John Oates
10 Still Rock N Roll To Me - Billy Joel
11 Master And Servant - Nouvelle Vague
12 Im Not Your Toy - La Roux
13 Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac
14 M79 - Vampire Weekend
15 Never Forget You - Noisettes
16 Fruit Machine - The Ting Tings
17 Love Shack - The B-52's
18 Remedy - Little Boots
19 Ready For The Weekend - Calvin Harris
20 Never Leave You - Tinchy Stryder
21 Knock You Down - Keri Hilson
22 Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z
23 Groover's Delight - Dr Kucho
24 Peace Song - Bob Sinclar
25 Ride The Rhythm - Joey Negro
26 Here Comes The Rain Again ( Mashup 09) - The Eurythmics
27 I Can't Wait - Original Mix - Another Chance
28 Why Dont You (Original Mix) - Gramophonedzie
29 Dream On ( Rise Remix) - Aerosmith
30 Its My Life - Bon Jovi
31 Baba O'Riley - The Who *
32 Gimmie Shelter - Rolling Stones
33 Roadhouse Blues - Doors - Doors
34 Molly's Chambers - Kings Of Leon
35 Shoot The Runner - Kasabian
36 Pyjamarama - Roxy Music
37 Hiding All The Stars - Chicane
38 I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
39 Gettin' Over (Original Mix) - David Guetta
40 Run This Town - Jay-Z
41 Shake My - Three 6 Mafia
42 Bulletproof - La Roux
43 Call Me - Blondie
44 Sweet Disposition (Axwell & Dirty South Remix) - Temper Traps
45 Downpipe - Original Club Mix - D.Ramirez, Mark Knight
46 Jack Is Back (Albin Myers Remix) - DBN
47 This Is Our Night (Shepard Mix) - Sander Kleinenberg
48 Sweep The Floor (Original Mix) - Joris Voorn
49 Where Is The Pjanoo ( Atee's Bootleg) - Guetta Vs. Prydz
50 I Feel Good (Piano Mix) - Jason Herd
51 I Feel Good - James Brown
52 Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
53 Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z
54 Good Morning - Kanye West
55 The Whistle Song - Frankie Knuckles
56 Music Matters (Axwell Edit) - Faithless
57 All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie *
58 You've Got The Love Candi Staton
59 Never Leave You-Uh O - Lumidee
60 Superstition - Stevie Wonder
61 Slippin' And Slidin' - John Lennon
62 (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear [S - Elvis Vs Spankox
63 I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles
64 Cracklin Rosie - S McGowan
65 What A Wonderful Surprise - Louis Armstrong vs Radiohead

* Request (obviously!!)

Busy Week

Gang of Four gig on Saturday night was excellent. All the hits!! It took a while to get going, I think folk hadn't realised that the band would be on so early. I presume so that the venue can get ready for the freshers disco at 11pm.
Thoroughly enjoyed the gig, along with a whole host of other balding, overweight fifty year olds with one eye on the past. It's hard to believe I bought the lp 'Entertainment' thirty years ago. I was a twenty year old whippersnapper then. I won't comment on what I am now!
Sunday - on to the pub Pop Quiz.
We managed a respectable joint last due to the fact that I cannot do the backwards round( which unfairly is worth 20 points!) and although I know all the songs by the time my brain has rooted around in the darkened corners of my rapidly diminishing mind ( refer back to that bit about being a whippersnapper so long ago) and emerged triumphant with the answer 'Flock of Seagulls' the quiz has moved on a further five questions. This is followed by a shake of the head and apologies all round when the correct answer happens to be Toyah. I thought there could only be one correct answer to the question, 'Which 80's artist should have drowned in a freak yachting accident years before entering a recording studio?'. Must have been a trick question.

Tuesday - Off to see 'The Damned United' at the flicks. Enjoyed this, having read the book but felt there was not enough football in it, strangely enough. More of dvd for home than a cinema film. My advice, read the book.


Wednesday - Back to the pictures to catch 500( Days of Summer) which was just fine.
Genuinely amusing, great soundtrack, nicely understated. As all lazy commentators will say 'this years Juno'. Being both lazy and old I will say, 'this years Gregory's Girl' just to be different.

Dissonance

Not behind the decks this Saturday. Instead am off to Glasgow to catch The Gang of Four in concert.
If you like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party or Maximo Park then you should check these old geezers out. Michael Stipe and Flea from the Chili's both cite this band as a major influence.
First lp is the best. It's called 'Entertainment'. From a time when irony stalked the earth.
Original lp sits in my attic. Makes me wish I still had a record player.
Good Times tomorrow.

2nd Annual After Park Life Shin-Dig

A late licence at The Smugs as the bar stays open to welcome back the survivors of Eddie Halliwell and Co's Park Life Festival.

It means I have permission to play as many house/club tunes as I like with the volume turned right up and a bar full of party spirited folk.

It's as close as I am going to get to being on the decks at a club night!

, I can't really enjoy the night as much as I would want to because, although I can put the tracks together easily enoughI haven't much experience with this year's tunes in a live setting. This means I am concentrating hard on the mix and, therefore, don't relax and just listen to it all coming together. Now if I got the opportunity to do this more than once a year it would be a different story.

On the plus side, with the help of several cans of Red Stripe, I pretty much play the songs I want to play. So say hello to 'Lost in Acid', 'Mamdaye', Downpipe' and 'The Take'. Also dropped in my faves, 'E-Talking'and 'Sound of Violence'.

Best bit; being asked to play Maggie May whilst the minimal sounds of Julien Chaptal were blasting out. It was a request for the older folk! Well I was nearly the oldest person there and I certainly didn't wish to hear it. Also being asked if The Temper Traps track which was mixed with the Eurythmics was the new Tiesto song. Really.

My fave bits ; 'It's 6am in the morning and the dj is playing acid'. 'It's not me, it's the e-talking' and 'Mamdaye, Mandaye'.

A great night. Let's hope that Parklife celebrates it's third year in 2010.




Tracklisting Here :

1 Barely Breakin Even - EL B & T
You're The One For Me - D Train
3 Promised Land (Middleton Re-Edit) - Joe Smooth
4 Lost In Music (The Revenge Rework) - Sister Sledge
5 Tears Of A Clown (Actionjacksonremix) - Smokey Robinson
6 Hard To Handle - Otis Redding
7 Hold On! I'm Comin' - Sam & Dave
8 For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
9 Come On Train - Don Thomas
10 Mercy - The Third Degree
11 Stone Cold Sober (Radio Edit) - Paloma Faith
12 Low Rider - War
13 Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag - Pig Bag
14 And The Beat Goes On - The Whispers
15 Everyman - Double Exposure
16 Get Down Tonight (Soulmakers Remix) - Supafly Inc
17 I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
18 Bulletproof - La Roux
19 Be The One - The Ting Tings
20 Ready For The Weekend - Calvin Harris
21 We Are The People (Shazam Remix) - Empire Of The Sun
22 Don't You Want Me - The Human League
23 Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones *
24 Red Morn Light - Kings Of Leon *
25 Spaceman - The Killers
26 Eurhymic Disposition ( Eddie Thorniek Remix) - Temper Traps
27 I Will Be Here (Tiesto Remix) - Tiesto & Sneaky Sound System
28 Under The Sun - Kidda
29 Good Life ( Fai Remix) - Inner City
30 Put Em High - Stonebridge
31 Where Love Lives (Club Mix) - Buzz Junkies Vs. Alison Limerick
32 I Can't Wait - Another Chance
33 Sexy Bitch (Feat. Akon) - David Guetta *
34 Yeke Yeke - Makrolon
35 Let Your Love Flow -- Bellamy Brothers *
36 Take It Easy - The Eagles
37 Mr Blue Sky - Lily Allen
38 Knock You Down - Keri Hilson
39 96 Degrees - Olivier Giacomotto
40 Sound Of Violence (Deadhau5 Mix - Cassius
41 I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) - Pitbull
42 Gotta Let You Go (Dutch Mix) - Michael Mind
43 Do You Remember House - Blaze
44 Anyway ( Dlg Bigroom Remix) - Ducksauce
45 Blame It On The Boogie - The Jacksons
46 Oyo Como Va - Tito Puente
47 Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx
48 Holiday (Laidback Luke's Rave It Up Remix)- Dizzee Rascal
49 Ride On Time - Black Box
50 9am Acid Trip - Richard Grey
51 Lost In Acid (Tim Berg's Acidic Mix)- David Tort
52 Acid Mode - Steve Angello
53 Mamdaye - Julien Chaptal
54 La Mezcla (Gaudino Mix) - Michel Cleis
55 Bye Bye (Club Mix) - Moire
56 Why Dont You - Gramophonedzie
57 Rose Rouge (Original Mix) - Analog People In A Digital World
58 All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
59 God Is A DJ (Deadmau5 Remix) - Faithless
60 How Soon Is Now (Extended Mix) - David Guetta, Sebastian Ingrosso
61 Organ Of Love (Original Mix) - Jerry Ropero & Java.
62 Find Yourself - John O'Callaghan
63 Harder Better Stronger Remix - Daft Punk
64 Never Leave You-Uh O - Lumidee
65 Superstition - Stevie Wonder
66 Jump Around (Deadmau5 Remix) - House Of Pain
67 Riverside - Sidney Samson
68 Billie Jean (Biancale Remix) - Michael Jackson
69 Sweet Disposition (Axwell & Dirty South Remix) - Temper Traps*
70 Disco Ballistic - Lazy Rich
71 Downpipe - D.Ramirez, Mark Knight
72 This Is Our Night (Shepard Mix) - Sander Kleinenberg
73 I Feel Good (Piano Mix) - Jason Herd
74 The Take –( Sultan & Ned Shepard Dub Mix) - Paul Harris, Obernik
75 Lola's Theme (Made In Italy Mix) - Shapeshifters
76 Sandstorm - Darude *
77 Adagio For Strings - Tiesto
78 E Talking (Nite Version) - Soulwax
79 Madagascar 09 (Marco Demark Summer Mix) - Denzal Park
80 Kidsos - Sebastian Ingrosso
81 Human (Ferry Corsten Club Mix) - The Killers
82 Popiholla - Chicane
83 Imagine - John Lennon

* request. Normal Service will be resumed in a fortnight.

Last Night a Dj was my Wife.

Friday night was spent with the folks at Spit-fire in Glasgow. With Anne taking a turn as guest dj. She used to dj, back in the day with vinyl! and has helped me out when I have been incapacitated, struggling to know what to play next or in the loo!
So after a ten year absence she returns to the decks of steel.

Her tracklist as follows:
Remember - The Ravonettes
Cha Cha Twist - Detroit Cobras
Johnny got a Boom Boom - Imelda May
Fruit Machine - Ting Tings
A Teenager in Love - Pains of being pure at heart.
Here comes your man - Pixies
Love Goes On - Go-Betweens.
Victoria - The Fall
Start - The Jam
Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield
Rock the Casbah ( Rhythm Scholars Mix ) - The Clash.

Movin' on up by Primal Scream was due up next but she got thrown off before she could unleash it.

It all sounded great, the mixing was top notch and a whole lot of folk got up to shake their bits about. All helped by the arrival of about twenty folk to the door at the same time making the whole place really busy.

After she was finished, a guy came up to her and introduced himself with the words. 'I'm a dj too.' So there you go, play eleven records in a row and you are now a dj. It's as if it was as simple as just playing one damn song after another!

In true hardcore dj style, Anne celebrated with a bottle of Jack Daniels and we did some jiving to the usual Spit Fire smorgasbord of tracks including De La Soul, Graham Coxon, Belle and Sebastian, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Gang of Four.



Had to drag the missus out at 2am!
Is this really any way for old folk to behave?








My turn tomorrow night.

Back to Work

Back behind the decks on Saturday, 12th. Unofficial Stewarton After Party for those folk who attend Park Life in Hamilton with Eddie Halliwell etc.. Late Licence till 2am.

Digging the toons out of the crates as we speak.

Back from Holidays.

For the past 10 years we have been going to Ibiza each summer.This year a combination of the gradual corporisation of the island, the sunset cafe's used to be the scene of a few folk.It was possible to buy a can of beer from the supermatket and sit on the beach and watch the sunset.You could choose from one of three distinctive cafes.Now the whole scene has been sanitised. The three cafes all run into one another and the new decking prevents the free gathering of folk out to watch the sunset without paying one of the pubs.

The island has always been unbelievably expensive. Last year we paid 22 Euros for two drinks in Eden. The big club nights cost up to 50 Euro, throw in taxis etc and it is all far from cheap. The devaluation of the pound also meant an increase in the real cost of visiting the White Isle this summer. Were the Clubs going to lower their prices to help the impoverished Brits? Not a chance when the Island can attract more Italians, Americans or Russians.

To be fair we have also been to every Club in Ibiza and to many that are no longer standing.

A couple of years ago San Antonio saw the opening of some great pubs in the West End like Plastic, Eden Rooms and Hush. For two years running the best dj I ever heard was playing in the Eden Rooms. The music in Plastic was also amazing and I could stand for hours listening and watching the djs mix it up creating a great atmosphere. Unfortunately, the exclusiveness of each pub lasted only a short time and last summer Plastic had moved to bigger premises and changed it's music policy to more mainstream commercial stuff. The Eden Rooms had also become more and more like the rest of the West End Bars catering for those customers who wished to down shots and listen to Cascada. Shame.

All this meant time for a change.

So this year we offed to Croatia as we could spend a few days in Zadar chilling with cocktails at a pub called 'The Garden'.

Then move up to the village of Petracane where a festival was being held under the stars with djs like Andy Weatherall and The Unabombers playing.



Throw in a friendly crowd, dancing under the moonlight, sunsets better than Ibiza, beer at under £2 pint, and house music playing while you stare up at the stars and what could be finer?










Thanks to the djs from Soul Jazz for a set of reggae and dancehall that brought a great smile to those listening and dancing, Ring the Alarm!!

Back next year? Wouldn't bet against it.