Friday 29 April 2011

Requestfest, Pure Grooves and a Royal Wedding!

Yep! It's been an action packed few days. Thursday Night is Requestfest night and it was, as always right across the board with lots of requests, and of course the obligatory silly requests. No matter how hard I try to avoid them, someone always manages to do it!

So anyway, what was in this week's Requestfest?
1 Kirsty MacColl - In These Shoes
2 Eric Clapton - Lay Down Sally
3 Fleetwood Mac - Oh Diane
4 Dire Straits - Twisting By The Pool
5 Kinks - Sunny Afternoon
6 Chris Andrews - Yesterday Man
7 Jeff Beck - Hi Ho Silver Lining
8 Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
9 Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing
10 Housemartins - Happy Hour
11 George Benson - Lady Love Me (One More Time)
12 Heatwave - Gangsters Of The Groove
13 Michael Jackson - PYT (Pretty Young Thing)
14 Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar
15 Jessie J ft B.o.B - Price Tag
16 Katy Perry ft Snoop Dogg - California Gurls
17 Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile
18 David Bowie - Sound & Vision
19 A-Ha - Take On Me
20 Queen - Radio Ga Ga
21 Dr Dre ft Eminem & Skylar Gray - I Need A Doctor
22 Bruno Mars - Lazy Song
23 Jagged Edge - Let's Get Married
24 Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway
25 Ciara ft Justin Timberlake - Love Sex Magic
26 Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull - On the Floor
27 Cee Lo Green - Bright Lights Bigger City
28 AR Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)
29 N-Dubz - Say It's Over
30 Lady Gaga - Born This Way
31 Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
32 Britney Spears - Gimme More (Remix)
33 Bruno Mars - Grenade
34 Lady Gaga - Poker Face
35 Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo
36 Roxette - Joyride
37 Lighthouse Family - Ocean Drive
38 Lionel Richie - Say You Say Me
39 James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover
40 Chase & Status ft Plan B - End Credits
41 Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell
42 Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes
43 Enrique Iglesias ft Ludacris - Tonight
44 Cardigans - Love Fool
45 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
46 Bob The Builder - Mambo No 5
47 Nizlopi - JCB Song
48 Faithless - Insomnia
49 Darude - Sandstorm
50 Cookie Collective - Key The Secret
51 Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise
52 Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
53 James - Sit Down
54 Bobby Brown - My Prerogative
55 Guns 'n' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
56 Clash - London Calling
57 Clash - Train In Vain (Stand By Me)
58 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno
59 Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
60 Tinie Tempah ft Ellie Goulding - Wonderman
61 Wretch 32 Ft L - Traktor
62 Cher - Strong Enough
63 Aggro Santos ft Kimberley Walsh - Like U Like
64 Paolo Nutini - Pencil Full Of Lead
65 Drizabone - Real Love
66 En Vogue - Hold On
As always, from there it was onto this week's Pure Grooves show -


Here's the Playlist:
1 Jesse Green - Nice 'n' Slow
2 Impressions - First Impressions
3 Jackie Moore - Do Ya Got What It Takes
4 LJ Reynolds - Don't Let Nobody Hold You Down
5 Roy Hamilton & Capiche - Turn It Up
6 Michael Wycoff - Looking Up To You
7 Tatyana Ali - Boy You Knock Me Out
8 Mary J Blige - Be Happy
9 Omar - Don't Mean A Thing
10 Joe Bataan - Latin Strut
11 Kimiko Kasai - Right Place
12 Morrissey Mullen - Slipstream
13 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Bourgie Bourgie
14 Mike & Brenda Sutton - Don't Hold Back
15 Frankie Kelly - Ain't That The Truth
16 Chanson - Don't Hold Back
17 Rose Royce - Do Your Dance
18 Herbie Hancock - I Thought It Was You
19 Funk Deluxe - This Time
20 West Philips - (I'm Just A) Sucker For A Pretty Face
21 Kleeer - Get Tough
22 Fat Larry's Band - Boogie Town
23 Ashford & Simpson - Don't Cost You Nothing
24 Len Boone - Love Won't Be Denied
25 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Today's Your Lucky Day
26 Love Unlimited Orchestra - Lift Your Hearts & Say
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

And on to today's Royal Wedding... well I should have been. However, like a fool I forgot to offer my services as the Royal Wedding DJ - you would have thought with the amount of self-promotion I do, I would have at least got that one sorted!

Seriously, what do you reckon the odds are that there was a DJ inside Buckingham Palace today? Precisely what I thought. I would imagine it was all canapes and string quartets and if they were lucky some live band playing some of those 'old' favourites. I mean, had I been there I have Three Degrees and Tina Turner records (that would have pleased Charles). Trouble is.... I'm not sure they'd have appreciated a jazz funk set!

Speaking of the wedding - Wow! Kate's sister - sexy or what in that dress! And I'm not the type of guy who even notices that sort of thing!

Well, I'm gonna go and take a look at my diary to see what I have booked for next year - The Queen will have been on the Throne for 60 years next year - perhaps I should send them my card and a few links to my radio shows now and get in early...

Wednesday 27 April 2011

The best Easter In Years and I was inside building a web site!

Well can you believe how lovely the Easter weekend was? Has to have been the best one I can remember. But as usual, nothing much changes here at Murphy Towers. I spent most of the time either recording shows, or working on the new rebuild of my 'On The Radio' website.

I've felt that the old website looked tired and dated and didn't represent the growth of the shows. After all, when I first built it back in 2009, I only had one show which was called 'People Hold On', and since then I've done different shows before we arrived at the three shows we have now.

So a few weeks ago I actually decided to make a start on it by doing the Flashback page, and then from there started deciding how to go with the other pages.

I finally finished it yesterday, and uploaded it last night - I have to say I'm very pleased with the look of it.


Please take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Perhaps now, I'll be able to get back to keeping up with the blog!

Monday 18 April 2011

The next steps...

As much as I love doing my radio shows, I'm always looking forwards to see where the next stage is. The last few days has got me thinking that perhaps this may be the time to see about moving into mainstream radio, or at least trying to.

Now what that entails is a lot of demos being sent out, and a lot of luck! The reason I say this is that it's a market that seems to have everyone wanting to be in it.

Let me give you an example - a couple of days ago, I saw advertised, a radio presenter position at a commercial radio station in Hampshire. It had been on the website for a day when I saw it and I was the 445th person to read it. Now this is on a trade website, so everyone looking at it are involved in radio in one form or another, or wanting to be. I looked at the same ad ten minutes ago and 945 people have looked at it. The closing date for the ad is 29th April, so I wonder how many will have looked at it by then. The question is, how many will actually apply. Your guess is as good as mine, but I can tell you this, I've sent off a demo and a CV. Will I even get an answer? Who knows.

One thing's for sure, it's not an easy world to break into, especially when it seems like there are more people presenting radio shows than ever. So how much time do you get to project yourself to the programme director? Well the demo needed to be 2 minutes. I've been told that in actual fact, many a decision is made within the first 10 seconds of the demo.

Whether I've got a chance of taking this to the next level I don't know, but unless you try you'll never know. What I do know is this, ever since I was a young kid listening to the likes of Alan Freeman, Tony Blackburn and Dave Lee Travis were Radio 1, it's something I've always wanted to do.

The opportunity to do Radio drifted into my life around 1992 when I joined Hospital Radio in Weymouth, but the time wasn't really right and although I ended up being Chairman of the Hospital Radio, the shows I did were pretty poor, and wouldn't get me a job anywhere! I ended up doing more fundraising than anything else, and if you've ever been a part of a voluntary organization, you'll find that there are only a few that actually want to do anything other than brag that they're part of the organization.

I was lucky enough to interview Bradley Walsh, Brian Conley and Tom Baker during that time, and I've even seen the Nolans in their undies whilst doing a jingle for me in their dressing room at Weymouth Pavilion! Fortunately they were a lot younger then than they are now.

I lost interest in Radio in general around the same time as I found it bland and uninteresting, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago when I found an oldies show on the net whilst browsing the web, that I again got the bug for Radio. It took around 3 months for me to decide to have a go, and since then, I can honestly say I've loved every second of it.

Now it does mean that I'm in reality, a late entrant into the arena, so that may hold me back. However, I'm not one to let that stop me, and so here I am 2 years down the road, doing 3 shows a week. Now, whilst this is a good add-on to my DJ work, it actually takes up more of my time than that does, and so I think I should really try and make a go of getting as far with it as I can. After all, I would hate to look back in years to come and regret not at least having a go.

Even now I look back to when I was 15 and 16 and wonder why I didn't have a go at seeing how I could break into radio. I suppose it was probably more to do with not having the confidence than anything else.

I'm not saying I'm the most over confident person now, and I won't earn loads of money from it, but in my heart of hearts, it's what I always wanted to do, so I should have a go don't you think?

After all, I may not be the best DJ in the world, but I've heard worse than me already on air. That's not an idle boast either. If you know me personally, you'll probably realise I am my own worst critic, and listen to all my shows to see where I've made mistakes so that I can see where I can improve.

If I can't get into mainstream radio, it won't be the end of the world. I'll just change my goal, and I'll most probably want the be the net DJ with the most listeners in the world. I like to set my goals high!

But if you know any Programme Directors who are willing to let someone like me have a shot, then give them a call! Failing that, get all of your friends listening to my shows, maybe one of them may know someone. After all, it's not what you know but who you know that counts...

Sunday 17 April 2011

Another week passes

Where does the time go? Sunday already and next week it's Easter!

Have been up really early again today and have been working on the magazine. Just waiting for the final piece to come in and then I can set about getting it ready for publishing tomorrow.

This week's Sunday Shake Up is now available.


Here's the playlist:
1 Taja Sevelle - Love Is Contagious
2 Donna Allen - Joy & Pain
3 Atlantic Starr - When Love Calls
4 Aretha Franklin - Look Into Your Heart
5 Billy Paul - I Trust You
6 Bunny Sigler - Can't Believe That You Love Me
7 Stevie Wonder - For Your Love
8 Brownstone - If You Love Me
9 Jeffree - Call On Me
10 Four Tops - Still Water Love
11 Diana Ross - Remember Me
12 Stevie Wonder - Never Had A Dream Come True
13 Toni Redd - Anytime Of Day
14 Teri Tobin - Free
15 Mary Mary - Walking
16 Tania Maria - Come With Me
17 Jacksons - Even Though You're Gone
18 Paradise - One Mind Two Hearts
19 Jean Carn - Was That All It Was
20 Slave - Just A Touch Of Love
21 Deniece Williams - I've Got The Next Dance
22 Chic - Good Times
23 Rose Royce - Is It Love You're After
24 Al Jarreau - Boogie Down
25 Tony Etoria - I Can Prove It
26 George Benson - Feel Like Making Love
27 Brass Construction - Partyline
28 Fatback - Backstrokin'
29 Tom Browne - Bye Gones
30 Rick James - Glow
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

So what else am I going to get up to today? I think I'm going to do some more work on the 'On The Radio' website rebuild. I started on it the other week, but seem to have been distracted from it by other stuff, in particular, my computer playing up in the week and my losing all of my favourites and now having to hunt round the net to find as many as I can again. The problem is that there were a whole heap of web sites I'd saved because I liked the look of them and was using them as an idea bank for the new website.

Typical though.

Good luck to Derek Smiley, who you may remember is running the London Marathon today. I gave him a mention here a couple of week's back.

While I think about it, if you enjoy reading my blog, feel free to invite others to read it. Also please feel free to become a follower. the link is on the main part of this page.

Right - gotta get on - enjoy your day!


Friday 15 April 2011

Playing the music you ask for!

Yep, I've done another Requestfest! My fortnightly visit to the Blue Lion in Fen Ditton has given me a night of tunes to talk about. As many of you will know each time I've done one of these nights, the play list has been different, mainly due to the fact that we get an amount of different people in each time. Last night was no exception - it was very quiet when I first arrived at the venue, but by 8 o'clock there was a nice mix of people there. A wide age spread throughout the room last night ranging from18 - 60+ which meant that the night was quite varied. It makes it more enjoyable on nights like this.

So what was played this week?
1 Four Seasons - Candy Girl
2 Sandie Shaw - Always Something There To Remind Me
3 Carole King - It's Too Late
4 Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run
5 Detroit Spinners - It's A Shame
6 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia
7 Dean Martin - Ain't That A Kick In The Head
8 Mel Torme - Comin' Home Baby
9 Fab Samperi ft Jonathan Molina - Listen Up
10 Ottmar Liebert - Barcelona Nights
11 Moca - Post It
12 Koop - Summer Sun
13 Kirsty MacColl - In These Shoes
14 Gerry & The Pacemakers - Ferry Cross The Mersey
15 Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt
16 Rupert Holmes - Him
17 Bee Gees - Spirits (Having Flown)
18 Rihanna - S&M (Come On)
19 Bruno Mars - Grenade
20 Louisa Marks - 6 Sixth Street
21 Freddie McGregor - Can't Get You Out Of My Mind
22 N-Dubz - Say It's Over
23 Jessie J ft B.o.B - Price Tag
24 Janet Kay - Silly Games
25 Me & You - You Never Know What You Got
26 Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull - On the Floor
27 Plan B - Prayin'
28 Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
29 Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
30 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Billericay Dickie
31 Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
32 Madness - Shut Up
33 Akon - Beautiful
34 Chase & Status ft Plan B - End Credits
35 Take That - Kidz
36 Tinie Tempah ft Eric Turner - Written in the Stars
37 Leann Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight
38 Des'ree - Life
39 Sylvia Tella - Spell
40 Ava Leigh - Mad About The Boy
41 Wretch 32 Ft L - Traktor
42 Who (The) - Who Are You
43 Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind
44 Eminem - Not Affraid
45 Bon Jovi - Have A Nice Day
46 2 Pac - Changes
47 Eminem ft Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie
48 Enrique Iglesias ft Ludacris - Tonight
49 AC/DC - TNT
50 Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
51 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
52 Lady Gaga - Born This Way
53 JLS ft Tinie Tempah - Eyes Wide Shut
54 Jamiroquai - Little L
55 Omarion - Entourage
56 ELO - Evil Woman
57 Clash - Rock The Casbah
58 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
59 Soft Cell - Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go
60 Shocking Blue - Venus
61 Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man
Following on from the Requestfest, we now have the new time for the Pure Grooves show on Solar Radio. Kicking off at midnight, it too, was a show I really enjoyed doing.


Here's the playlist:
1 Linx - Can't Help Myself
2 Hi Tension - British Hustle
3 UK Players - You Make Me Feel
4 52nd Street - Tell Me (How It Feels)
5 Howard Johnson - Keepin' Love New
6 Kool & The Gang - In The Heart
7 Alison Grant - Living For Today
8 Down To Us - Hanging on (Tonewood mix)
9 Beverley Knight - Fairplay
10 Shakatak - Brazilian Dawn
11 Moca - Post It
12 Fab Samperi ft Jonathan Molina - Listen Up
13 Prince Charles & The City Beat - Cash (Cash Money)
14 BT Express - Stretch
15 Jimmy Senyah - Weakness For Your Sweetness
16 Denise LaSalle - Trapped By A Thing Called Love
17 Jean Carn - Time Waits For No One
18 George Benson - Love Ballad
19 DC LaRue - Cathedrals
20 Amant - If There's Love
21 Loleatta Holloway - Dreamin'
22 David Ruffin - Everything's Coming Up Love
23 Chi-Lites - Hot On A Thing
24 SOS Band - Groovin
25 Shalamar - I Owe You One
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

So what's on for this evening? Well, I'm going to sort out the play list for my Sunday Shake Up.  Speak soon...

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Blues & Soul Chart March 15-28 1977

Well what can I say? I've been looking through some old Blues & Soul magazines and I've just taken a look at the chart - wow! Music was just so good back then. I'm fully aware that I'm nostalgic, but just take a look at the soul chart that week and let me know what you think

1 Heatwave - Boogie Nights
2 Earth Wind & Fire - Saturday Nite
3 Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - Don't Leave Me This Way
4 The O'Jays - Darlin' Darlin' Baby
5 Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
6 Mass Production - Welcome To Our World
7 Rose Royce - Car Wash
8 The Moments - Jack In The Box
9 Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr - You Don't Have To Be A Star
10 Brick - Dazz
11 Brass Construction - Ha Cha Cha
12 James Brown - Body Heat
13 Tavares - Mighty Power Of Love
14 The Spinners - Wake Up Susan
15 Fatback Band - Double Dutch
16 Alvin Cash - Ali Shuffle
17 Dr Buzzard's Orignal Savannah Band - Cherchez La Femme
18 Boney M - Daddy Cool
19 Archie Bell & The Drells - Where Will You Go When The Party's Over
20 The Barkays - Shake Your Rump To The Funk
21 Rose Royce - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
22 Deodato - Peter Gunn
23 Norman Connors - You Are My Starship
24 The Miracles - Spy For Brotherhood
25 The Manhattans - I Kinda Miss You
26 The Real Thing - You'll Never Know What You're Missing
27 The Commodores - Fancy Dancer
28 Salsoul Orchestra - Salsoul
29 Stevie Wonder - I Wish
30 Undisputed Truth - You + Me = Love

Looking down the list there are only 2 of the songs I don't have (The Manhattans & Salsoul Orchestra) - but just look at how many instantly recognizable songs there are 34 years ago and still classics that I'm not afraid to play. Back then Boney M weren't thought of in the same way as they are now.

Further down the chart are great tunes as well. Take a look at the scan and see if you can see the other songs.


You can't tell me that music today is this good!

Reckon some of these could surface in my shows soon......

Monday 11 April 2011

It's been too long....

I've only just realised that it's been over a week since I last blogged. After the last blog, I decided I needed to cool down a bit before I came back on, and then before I knew it a week's gone!

I'm not even going to try and catch up with what's gone on this week as it'd take me all day.

So as from tomorrow, I'll try and get back in the swing of things. As for today, I'm just sorting out my play list for this week's Flashback show.

I've published the Pure Grooves magazine this morning, so feel free to go and have a browse.


Speak soon...

Sunday 3 April 2011

There's always one.......

I had loads of things to write about today, however after something that happened last night, I'm gonna forget the rest and impart some words today, that I really don't care whether people like or not. After all, it's my blog so I can say what I want.

Last night, I was DJing at a Northern Soul/Motown night and was playing to a floor that was pretty well covered by dancing people when an obnoxious, ignorant fool deemed it necessary to presume he was in his realm to think that it was OK to insult me as a DJ because of the format I was using. Oh, and he told me not to play at another Northern Soul event.....and he came back to tell again at the end of the night.

Now for all of you that don't know , I am going to shout the following sentence. I DJ WITH A COMPUTER!!!!!!! Have you got it? I am not a little kid who has bought a laptop and downloaded all their tunes from Limewire, I've DJed with Vinyl , CDs and Computer. I've DJed to tens of thousands of people, and without sounding big headed (and if you know me, you'll know I don't brag, but I'll say it just this time...) I'm damned good at what I do as well.

The reason I get invited to play at events is because I'm damned good at what I do. I won't make any apology for my previous statements. So when I get an idiot of the magnitude that thought he had the right to tell me I wasn't a DJ and that I had no right to be playing at a Northern Soul event because I wasn't playing vinyl and that anyone could do what I was doing, he was very lucky that I was professional enough not to rip his head off and put it where the sun doesn't shine

I've met a lot of really nice people on the Northern Soul scene, but I have heard about the fans that won't accept progress, and to be honest, I figured they'd have at least have the sense to not make themselves look like the bigotted prats that they are. But I was wrong.

As I said to him last night, he was more than welcome to go home if he didn't like what I was playing.

I made the decision to convert to computer purely to make my life easier. To be insulted for using a more modern tool is just pathetic. I wonder, did he go home by horse and cart last night. Surely the motor vehicle would be too modern. And God help him if he had to use a mobile phone.

I use a computer because it helps me to do my job more efficiently and with less hassle. I make no apologies to anyone for it. If you don't like it stay away. If you don't want me to use my computer at an event, don't ask me to play. I won't be offended. If you've got as wet as I have carting boxes of records in and out of venues at 2am in the morning as I have, perhaps you'd understand.

If you don't  like me as a DJ, or don't like the music I play, more power to you. We all have opinions. Come to think of it, if you don't like me as a person, I don't much care about that either.

However, don't deem to insult me for the format I use to play my sets. It's what comes out of the speakers that counts and if I'm playing to a well filled dancefloor, it's not me that has the problem it's you.

And as they say in the old Floaters hit,

"If you feel that this is you, then this is what I want you to do,

Keep your opinions to yourself, because next time I get insulted by a feckwit, I may just take your head off.....


(This has been edited - I've calmed down now.)