Monday 31 January 2011

John Barry, Pure Grooves and the beginning of another week

Well it's Monday, and the circle turns once again. I got up around 6.30 this morning and doing my usual and checking in on facebook, I saw the news that legendary composer John Barry had passed away. This man has had in integral part of our lives over the years, whether we realised it or not.

Films like 'Zulu', 'Midnight Cowboy', 'Born Free' and the James Bond movies, through to TV themes like 'The Persuaders' - and of course his own hits as the John Barry 7, his music has permeated our lives. I love what he wrote on his own website, as it's so true,

"In a song you can invite perfect strangers into places words alone can never reveal and in those moments we can all be connected, even if it is just until the last chord fades, somehow the magic has changed the listener no matter howsmall ... forever ... and in those moments I believe we find ourselves again, it's partly tragic but amazing, just like life!"

R.I.P John Barry.

As always, this morning was taken up with getting the Pure Grooves web mag online - it's hard to believe, but we're up to issue 24 already. Filled with lots of good stuff once again and as always, FREE to read.

Here's the link to get it.

There's no relief when one issue's done, as we start straight away on the next one, and today has been spent adding new bits and bobs into the magazine for this week. We're already on the hunt for what will fill this week's web mag. We've decided on who the featured artist is going to be this week, we've started looking around for snippets of info to go into the magazine and we've got some features in the pipeline as well.

This afternoon, I recorded this week's Flashback show, so that's another thing done. Some great tunes in this week's show. As always there's 20 songs to listen to, including a few requests and some shout outs, and of course the 'Birthday Files' have been opened for two of our listeners.

Yesterday I was emailed by some artist management in the USA and sent a song by an artist. And I'll tell you this, if you like a bit of Modern Soul, it's going to be right up your street. Remember Bobby Jonz? Well he's returned under the name Bobby Jones, and he has a new album out in February. If the track I've got is anything to go by, it's going to be great. I'm going to play it in either this week's Pure Grooves or Sunday Shake Up. So keep your ears open for that!

It's now coming toward 7pm and I've been on the go since 7am with the Magazine and shows, so I think it's time for me to take a break. Speak soon.....

Sunday 30 January 2011

Last Night At Danceland

Well what can I say? This time last year I hadn't been a soul event. Now, I've been to loads, and I have to say Cambridge is absolutely cracking for Soul Events. And last night was no exception. Cambridge Soul Collective celebrated their 4th anniversary with a night at Fulbourn, and when they told me that there were two legends of the soul scene playing, I was looking forward to hearing them, but at the same time apprehensive that perhaps they weren't as good as everyone said.

I shouldn't have worried. Last night, a packed venue was treated to music from across the board of the Soul spectrum. I caught Max Rees, David Hayden, Tony Dellar and Soul Sam's sets and they were excellent.

As most people know, I am pretty new to the Northern Soul scene, and Tony Dellar's set introduced me to a whole heap of records that I didn't know. Moving to Cambridge has been like opening a whole new world of music to me. And I love it. Soul Sam was everything people had told me - I loved his complete set from remixes of songs I have already to newer tunes and through the classics.

I didn't appear to be the only one who liked it. The dance floor was jumping with people from the time I got there until the end.

The longer I've been in Cambridge the more people I've met, and I have to say they are some of the friendliest people I've ever come across. From day 1 the people have made me very welcome here and I really appreciate their support.

I got to meet more people last night that I've chatted to on facebook and it's amazing that people from all walks of life can become great friends because of this music we love.

If you ever see a Cambridge Soul Collective night advertised, and you can get there, do it! You'll be glad that you did.

This morning, I was up with the lark for this week's Sunday Shake Up - and as usual it was full of the best that the soul genre can offer. Of course, you do have to put up with my inane drivel in between the songs, but I try to keep it short and sweet, and get as much music into my 2 hours as I can.

Here's this week's show:

Click here to get the show
and here's the playlist:
1 MFSB ft Three Degrees - Love Is The Message
2 Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay
3 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Where Is The Love
4 Crusaders - Carnival Of The Night
5 Maysa ft Najee & Nick Colionne - Higher Love
6 Seawind - He Loves You
7 Anita Baker - Caught Up In The Rapture
8 Regina Belle - Show Me The Way
9 William De Vaughn - Creme De Creme
10 James & Bobby Purify - I'm Your Puppet
11 James Carr - Dark End Of The Street
12 Intruders - Cowboys To Girls (1968) Philadelphia International
13 Al Green - There Is Love
14 Deniece Williams - Free
15 Manhattans - Hurt
16 Bill Withers - Use Me
17 Ohio Players - Fire
18 Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long
19 Earth Wind & Fire - Shining Star
20 Mass Production - Shante
21 Alicia Myers - You Get The Best From Me (Say Say Say)
22 High Fashion - Feeling Lucky Lately
23 Cliff Dawson - I Can Love You Better
24 Lainer & Co - Dancing In The Night
25 Maxine Singleton - Don't You Love It
26 Armenta - I Wanna Be With You
27 Night School - Do You Speak French
28 LTD - Holding On
To hear my recent shows, go to htp://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

Well, that's it for now - cya soon!

Saturday 29 January 2011

It's the weekend!!!

Well, it's Saturday - and I'm not working tonight, but I am going out - I'll be at the the Cambridge Soul Collective's 4th Anniversary night tonight at Fulbourn. Looking forward to that as I'll get my first opportunity to see the legend that is Soul Sam play his tunes. I enjoy the Fulbourn nights as they always attract a good crowd.

But before that, I've got to record tomorrow's Sunday Shake Up show. I sorted the play list out yesterday so it's just a matter of doing the show now.

I've spent this morning listening to a new Radio Station that I'm doing a show on. Classic Soul Radio is run by a friend and fellow presenter Mike Howard and I logged on to hear his breakfast show this morning. I've always enjoyed Mike's shows as he had an amazing music collection and he always plays tunes I like, and today was no exception. He played some great tunes that were new to me by George Duke and Brian Culbertson. Seems I'll have to go on the hunt again!

I've just been trying to think what I've been up to since Wednesday. It's funny, I always seem to be busy, but I have problems trying to remember what I've done. Must be my age. I know I've been working on the magazine and there are still a few pages to get finished before we put it out on Monday. Now we have the magazine to a fairly decent quality level, the hardest thing is keeping it up there and improving on it.

As someone who doesn't really have an inroad to be on all the mailing lists, I have to go on the hunt for information that's out there, and it really adds time to the task of putting the magazine together.

I'm at College a couple of days each week doing a computer course, and at the moment I'm learning to use Dreamweaver to create a web site. I already have three that I've designed myself using Frontpage, but I'm told that Dreamweaver is a top end piece of kit, so hopefully I can learn from there and improve on my websites. I really want to rebuild the 'On The Radio' website as I feel that it now looks a bit garish. When I first built it, I liked the bright fresh look it had, but over time I've come to dislike it, so once I've learnt enough to use Dreamweaver to build a site, I'll revamp it.

Right I suppose I'd better get on. Things to do and all that.........

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Pure Grooves show (22-01-11)

Here's last week's Pure Grooves show - I know it's a bit late but if you read my last blog, you'll know why

Here's the link

 Here's the play list:
1 Foxy - Madamoiselle
2 Faze O - Riding High
3 Latimore - Sweet Vibrations
4 Ronnie Laws - Always There
5 Kool & The Gang - Hollywood Swingin'
6 Positive Force - We Got The Funk
7 Lynden David Hall - Sexy Cinderella
8 Lutricia McNeal - Ain't That Just The Way
9 Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston - Something In Common
10 Lonnie Liston Smith - Space Princess
11 Touchdown - Ease Your Mind
12 Beggar & Co - (Somebody) Help Me Out
13 Quincy Jones - Ai No Corrida
14 Melba Moore - Love Me Right
15 Aretha Franklin - Jump To It
16 Hardsoul ft Ron Carroll - Back Together
17 Moony - Dove
18 Kirk Franklin - Looking For You
19 Stix Hooper - Cordon Bleu
20 Charles Earland - Muriley
21 Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park
22 O'Jays - 992 Arguments
23 Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - Satisfaction Guaranteed
24 MFSB - K-Jee
25 Len Boone - Love Won't Be Denied
26 Musique - Keep On Jumpin'

and click here to catch some of my other recent shows.


I'll be back later with the link to this week's Flashback show....

Mid-week catch up.

Well, I can't believe it's taken me almost three days to get over being annoyed with myself for the speed camera thing on Saturday night! But finally I'm getting back to normal (for me anyway).

So what have I been up to this week. Well, Monday's are mostly about getting the Pure Grooves magazine online.


Had he still been alive, Sam Cooke would have been 80 this week, so we featured him as our featured artist and also there was a piece on him in the magazine as well. Most people will know I'm a big Sam Cooke fan, so there shouldn't be any surprise that he was featured. We're into the second week with the new look of the magazine and whilst it's looking better than ever, it's taking so much more time to do. We used to be able to put the magazine together in 10-15 hours, but it's now taking nearly double the time. We just hope the readers think it's worth the extra effort. It's hard to believe that in just under a fortnight, we'll have been doing the magazine for 6 months!

Once we got that out of the way, it was time to look toward this week's 'Flashback' show. I sorted out the play list in the afternoon, and recorded the show in the evening. As you'll know it goes out this evening on various radio stations and also as a link on facebook and on my sites.

Yesterday, I was back at College. I've started a course there and as part of that I'm learning to use Dreameaver to create web sites. I've always used 'Frontpage', so this will be a challenge, and also give me the impetus to change my ontheradio website, as I think it needs a new look.

Yesterday was a very rare day for me as I struggled totally to do anything once I'd got back from college. I really didn't feel like doing anything. I worked on the magazine for about an hour, but got bored, so I watched a couple of films instead. I watched 'The Terminator' and 'Maid In Manhattan'. Two totally different films I know , but hey.......

Afterwards, I worked on the play list for this week's Pure Grooves show and finally after I couldn't think of anything else to do, I went to bed.

The problem with going to bed early for me is that I always wake up at stupid o'clock. So by 6am this morning I was up. And by 6.30, I was recording this week's Pure Grooves show. I think it's a great show this week, with some proper good records in it.

Halfway through the show though, I realised I hadn't posted last week's show for people to listen again to - I normally do it on a Tuesday night, but with my malaise, I totally forgot, so I posted it earlier.

And that's about it for now - I'll be posting Flashback later, and I'll put both shows on here later..

Till then......

Sunday 23 January 2011

Great night DJing then it went a bit pear-shaped....

Last night, I was one of three DJs playing at George Knox's 50th birthday party, and what a cracking night it was. Lots of people who knew how to party, and I had the chance to dig out some great tunes that I don't often get chance to play when I'm out.

Shaun Owen started the evening off with a mix of great tunes to get people in the mood, then Max Rees came on the decks and played a solidly classics set to get the floor moving and after an hour of top tunes and with people up and dancing he passed it over to myself for the rest of the evening.

I've been in Cambridge almost a year now, and last night was my best night since I've been here. It gave a lot of people the opportunity to see me play for the first time and hopefully they liked it. The floor had people on it, throwing some wicked moves, so i think it went well. For me personally, I felt 'in the zone' and was lovin' what I played.

So what did get played? Unfortunately, Shaun was using CDs so I don't have a list of what he played, but Max and myself used my system, so I am able to put our play lists on.

Max Rees' set:
1 Heatwave - Groove Line
2 George Benson - Give Me The Night
3 Brothers Johnson - Stomp
4 Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
5 Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
6 Jr Walker & The All Stars - How Sweet It Is
7 Barry White - You're The First The Last My Everything
8 Detroit Spinners - It's A Shame
9 Gwen McCrae - Keep The Fire Burning
10 Curtis Hairston - I Want You
11 Cool Million ft Eugene Wilde - Back For More
12 Joyce Sims - Come Into My Life
13 Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper
14 A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
15 GQ - Make My Dreams A Reality
16 Keni Burke - Let Somebody Love You

James Murphy's Set
17 Tomorrow's Edition - U Turn Me On
18 Mystic Merlin - Mr Magician
19 Seawind - What Cha Doin'
20 Sun - Sun Is Here
21 Banbarra - Shack Up
22 War - Me & Baby Brother
23 Jackson Sisters - I Believe In Miracles
24 Coffee - Casanova
25 Phyllis Hyman - You Know How To Love Me
26 Tobi Legend - Time Will Pass You By
27 Epitome Of Sound - You Don't Love Me
28 Fatback Band - I Found Lovin'
29 Maze ft Frankie Beverly - Joy & Pain
30 Chi-Lites - Hot On A Thing
31 Khemistry - I Can't Lose With The Stuff I Use
32 Rick James - Big Time
33 Teena Marie - Behind The Groove
34 Terence Trent D'arby - Dance Little Sister
35 Teddy Pendergrass - Only You
36 Roy Ayers - Get On Up Get On Down
37 Manu Dibango - Big Blow
38 Jazzy Dee - Get On Up
39 Jenny Burton - Bad Habits
40 New Jersey Connection - Love Dont Come Easy
41 Kleeer - Keep Your Body Workin'
42 Trussel - Love Injection
43 Karen Young - Hot Shot
44 Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park
45 Paulinho Da Costa - Deja Vu
46 Bo Kirkland & Ruth Davis - You're Gonna Get Next To Me
47 McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now
48 Herbie Hancock - You Bet Your Love
49 Gary's Gang - Keep On Dancin'
50 Finis Henderson - Skip To My Lou
51 Glenn Jones - I Am Somebody
52 Drizabone - Pressure
53 Luther Vandross - Till My Baby Comes Home
54 Teddy Pendergrass - More I Get The More I Want
55 Carrie Lucas - Dance With You
56 Cameo - Find My Way
57 Originals - Down To Love Town
58 Sweet Thunder - Everybody's Singin' Love Songs
59 Jean Carn - If You Wanna Go Back
60 Al Matthews - Fool
61 Garfield Fleming - Don't Send Me Away
62 Sherrick - Just Call
63 Leroy Hutson - They Got Love
64 Luther Vandross - Never Too Much

All in all it was a great evening.

So where did it all go Pete Tong? Well after packing the disco into the van, it went from great to grrrr.........
I started the van up and the exhaust went...... it was like driving a train, so noisy.

So just when you think it was as bad as it could be, I was driving home at 2.30 in the morning, fed up that I had worked, and my exhaust was going to probably going to cost me as much as I'd earned, when I saw two white flashes from a speed camera as I passed it. It's not as though I didn't know the camera was there. I drive past it every week. I was doing around 35 in a 30 mph zone, so yes, it was my fault, but my mind wandered due to my exhaust problem. Easily done.

So from having a great night, I've ended up out of pocket. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Trouble is, I love it! The buzz I get when I'm playing to a great group of people is a drug I adore. So, next chance I get, I'll be out there doing it all over again.

Then this morning, I was back up at the crack of 8, sorting out my Sunday Shake Up show and getting it online, ready for the stations to play, and for the podcast to be available to download or listen again.



To download or hear the show - Click Here

Here's the playlist:
1 Bobby Womack - Things We Do (When We're Lonely)
2 Ronnie McNeir - Everybody's In A Hurry
3 Kool & The Gang - Too Hot
4 Staples Singers - Stone Soul Picnic
5 Winstons - Color Him Father
6 Jackie Ross - Selfish One
7 Terri Wells - You Make It Heaven
8 Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting
9 Stephanie Mills - What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'
10 Otis Redding - My Girl
11 Judy Clay & William Bell - Private Number
12 Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer For You
13 DJ Rogers - On The Road Again
14 Brothers By Choice - Oh Darlin'
15 Al Green - L-O-V-E (Love)
16 Whitney Houston - You Give Good Love
17 George Benson - Kisses In The Moonlight
18 Glenn Jones - Show Me
19 Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster (Jammin')
20 Booker Newberry III - Love Town
21 Confunkshun - Ms Got The Body
22 Earth Wind & Fire - Evolution Orange
23 Tomorrow's Edition - U Turn Me On
24 Gentlemen Players - Suzi's Booty
25 Verna Francis - Why (Twisted Edit)
26 Eric Benet & Linda Kiraly - Iminluvwichoo
27 Loleatta Holloway - Runaway
28 Brooklyn Dreams - Music Harmony & Rhythm
29 Tata Vega - Get It Up For Love

To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

I'm also listening to the awesome Bobb Semple on Solar Radio as I'm writing this. Truly, medicine for my mind on a Sunday morning...

Friday 21 January 2011

All I wanna do........

It's another cold morning in Cambridgeshire - I can't wait till it's summer! So what can I tell you about today? Not a great deal happened yesterday other than me recording this week's Pure Grooves show in the morning and a whole load of other mundane tasks. Fortunately, I was out doing Requestfest last night. So it wasn't all bad.

Once again, we had a mixture of people there. The age range seems to be 20-60 most weeks there. I sometimes wish that the older people in the pub made more requests, as I seem to get most from the younger people. It would be really nice to get a few soul lovers in as well. I like most types of music, but a bit more soul would balance it up. I could certainly do with less charty stuff. There really doesn't seem to be too much of any real quality in what I get requested that's newish.

Anyway, here's the play list.

1 Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night
2 Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do
3 John Legend - Ordinary People
4 Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise
5 Pat Benetar - Love Is A Battlefield
6 AC/DC - TNT
7 Willow Smith - Whip My Hair
8 Rihanna ft Drake - What's My Name
9 Simply Red - Money's Too Tight (To Mention)
10 H2O & Platinum - What's It Gonna Be
11 War - Low Rider
12 Drizabone - Pressure
13 Olly Murs - Thinking Of Me
14 Fall Out Boy - Thanks For The Memories
15 Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Be Dee)
16 Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
17 Bob Marley - Jammin'
18 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
19 Guns 'n' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
20 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Billericay Dickie
21 Kasenetz - Katz Singing Orchestral Chorus - Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run)
22 Beatles - Penny Lane
23 Blue & Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
24 Judge Dread - Big Six
25 Rob Thomas - Lonely No More
26 Scooter - I'm Raving
27 Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine
28 Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
29 Cascada - Truly Madly Deeply
30 Tears For Fears - Shout
31 Terrorvision - Tequila (Mint Royale Shot)
32 Matumbi - Point Of View
33 KD Lang - Constant Craving
34 Transvision Vamp - I Want Your Love
35 Crazy Elephant - Gimme Gimme Good Lovin
36 Gene Chandler - Get Down
37 Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
38 Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride
39 Chuck Berry - Memphis Tennessee
40 Magnetic Man - I Need Air
41 JLS ft Tinie Tempah - Eyes Wide Shut
42 ABC - Look Of Love
43 Dr Dre - Forgot About Dre
44 Nelly - Just A Dream
45 Chris Brown - I Can Transform Ya
46 Isaac Hayes - Shaft
47 Darren Styles - Save Me (Sy & Unknown Remix)
48 David Bowie - China Girl
49 Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy
50 Warren G ft Nate Dogg - Regulate
51 Cee Lo Green - It's OK
52 Heatwave - Boogie Nights
53 Elton John - I'm Still Standing
54 Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
55 Ja Rule ft Ashanti - Mesmerize
56 DJ Fresh ft Ce'cile - Gold Dust
57 Example - Kickstarts
58 Pendulum ft Spyda & Tenor Fly - Tarantula
59 Magnetic Man ft Katy B - Perfect Stranger
60 Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
61 The Source - You Got The Love
62 Journey - Don't Stop Believing
63 Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
I will say though, it was a nice change to hear Ian Dury. I remember when the 'New Boots and Panties' album came out how different it was. I have to say I always liked Ian Dury, so to get 'Billericay Dickie' requested was a nice change.

What is it with child pop stars? Willow Smith, I'm led to believe (I can't be bothered to find out) is Will Smith's 10 year old daughter. I had her single requested last night. It's just awful - to my mind she made Little Jimmy Osmond sound great! And why would anyone over 10 request it?

At the same time, I have to confess that I like Duck Sauce's 'Barbra Streisand'. But for the life of me I don't know why. The whole song is based around a sample of Boney M's 'Gotta Go Home' and they just substituted  one 4 syllable lyric for another. Perhaps I was a closet Boney M fan.

I always seem to get a few 80s pop hits as well. Still, someone's gotta do it!

I even had a request from someone who wasn't there and it was possibly the tune of the night. Before I went last night, a facebook friend of mine asked me to play 'Kasenetz - Katz Singing Orchestral Chorus - Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run),' so I did. I really hope he enjoyed it.

Right I'm off to College soon to continue with my new college course. Catch you later....

Thursday 20 January 2011

Where does the time go?

It's hard to believe it's Thursday already. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day lately. Yesterday was spent doing my accounts. It's 2011 and I'm doing 2009/10 accounts, and it's hard to remember exactly what was what back in the April of 2009. I'm not usually this late getting the accounts in, but with the move to Cambridge, and starting to try and drum up new business, it's sort of been left to the last minute. I've just got to courier it off to the accountant later today.

Also yesterday, I sorted the play list out for this week's Pure Grooves show. In fact, I'm recording the show as I write this. Who says men can't multi-task? I've had a good hunt this week to find some tunes I've not played for a while and come up with some great stuff by the likes of Lynden David Hall, Lonnie Liston Smith, The O'Jays and many more.

This week's Golden Oldies show, Flashback has been done, and now the link to the listen again is sorted.

So what's in this week's Flashback show?
1 Helen Shapiro - Tell Me What He Said
2 Dandy Livingstone - Suzanne Beware Of The Devil
3 Sam Cooke - I Love You For Sentimental Reasons
4 Sir Douglas Quintet - She's About A Mover
5 Redbone - Witch Queen Of New Orleans
6 Zombies - She's Not There
7 John Fred & The Playboys - Judy In Disguise
8 Pipkins - Gimme Dat Ding
9 Everly Brothers - Claudette
10 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
11 Shocking Blue - Venus
12 Fats Domino - The Big Beat
13 Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
14 Tommy Steele - Happy Guitar
15 Bobby Hendricks - Itchy Twitchy Feeling
16 Brenda Lee - Dynamite
17 Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Applejack
18 Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number
19 Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There
20 Southlanders - Alone

If you'd like to hear it, Click Here

I'm already working on next week's Pure Grooves web magazine. Yesterday I received Shirley Jone's new CD and Shirley emailed me to make contact. Many of you will remember that Shirley was the lead singer and driving force behind the Jones Girls. We featured the Jones Girls in the Pure Grooves magazine, way back in Issue 2. If you Click Here, you can check the archives and read it.

Have got loads to do after I've finished the show today, and tonight it's Requestfest at the Blue Lion in Fen Ditton, so I'd better get on. Cya!

Monday 17 January 2011

Lovin' it!

Well, the weekend is over and the new week has started. I have to say, yesterday I had a proper chill day. After I'd sorted out the Sunday Shake Up show, I had a day of watching films. It's not that I watch a lot,but yesterday I watched three films back to back.

So what did I watch, I hear you ask.  I started off with Forrest Gump, moved onto The Devil Wears Prada and finished off with Roadhouse. As you can see I even like chick flicks lol.

After that, I went online and did some googling. I've been hearing and seeing this term 'Popcorn Oldies' a lot lately so I went on the hunt to see what it's all about. Apparently it's come from Belgium where they like 60s soul, only slightly cheesier that what we're used to playing, but chucked in with that you can also find artists like Helen Shapiro & Cliff Richard.

Anyway, I found out I already had a fair few of the songs that fit the genre, so I went on the hunt for more and bought a fair few, so today I was listening and getting them onto my disco computer. I have to say I quite like the genre - but then again, I do like 60s oldies anyway!

Later this afternoon, I sorted out the playlist for this week's 'Flashback' show and once that was done, I recorded it and got it ready to send to the various stations it goes to.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before I do a guest spot on a Canadian Radio show called 'Motown & More' and I play one from the Motown Stable and one from wherever I fancy. I recorded 3 segments tonight to get me in advance over the next few weeks and emailed them off as well.

Right what else have I done today? Oh yeah - I published this week's Pure Grooves magazine this morning. We decided to rejig the format during the week and added a couple more things to the magazine, so hopefully you'll find it a brighter, fresher looking format when you read it. When? Yes I expect you to read it at least once hahaha. After all it's free to read, so there's nowt to lose is there.

Once you've read it, please feel free to leave me some feedback. It takes a lot of work to produce each week's magazine so we'd like to know if it's worth reading. Only you can tell us that.

So where can you get it?

Here.

This is this week's cover.

Now I've updated this and its pushing 8.45pm so I'll wrap it up for today. It's been busy, but such fun!

See you next time.

Sunday 16 January 2011

I Love Disco

OK so I admit it. It's to do with my age I think. This morning I've played Donna Summer's "Once Upon A Time' album for the first time in years, and it reminded me of those great Disco tunes when I was a teen. For me, Disco ended around 1981 and 1982, but there was a golden era when Disco ruled and I'm so glad I loved it.

I know all about how it was music that prospered thanks to the Gay community in America, but I've been thinking about it today, and so much of the music I love comes when I grew up during that disco period.

It's hard to say when it all started, but I would suppose Disco started around 1973 and reached it's peak around 1976-77 and when 'Saturday Night Fever' came out at the end of that year, it gave it another boost that took it through to the early 80s.

At some stage soon, I think I'm going to have to do and in-depth read up and have a blast of playing some proper disco stuff from the 70s.

In fact I think I'm gonna go and have a look and listen right now......

Friday 14 January 2011

New liners for the radio shows

I've been very fortunate that I've made friends with a lot of people inside the radio industry and am able to be cheeky and ask a few favours. And that's what I did early in the week.

I phoned a cracking DJ and friend, Dave Simmons, who runs Retro Soul Radio, and asked him if he could do me some idents for my radio shows. In just a couple of days, he came back to me with a whole load to use, and I shall start using them on this week's Sunday Shake Up. I can't wait.

Now it's not often I plug a station that I'm not involved with, but I will today. Retro Soul Radio is a cracking station. Although it runs from a stream through the week, from Friday - Sunday, you get the chance to hear 4 massively talented DJs do their thing on this station.
Who are they?

Well for starters, there's Dave Simons himself, Neil Winters, Barrie Stone and Steve Montana.

I was lucky enough to work alongside Dave, Barrie & Steve at a former station and I can tell you, they are not only great people, but they are as good as you're gonna hear on Internet radio. I have not met Neil, but have heard his shows, and I can tell you that he's no slouch either!

If you like the sort of music I play, basicly jazz funk, soul, disco and boogie, this station will satisfy your needs.

Go check it out.... you won't be disappointed.

And listen out for the new idents and liners in this week's show!

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Washing Machines, Facebook and my music

Well it's been a funny old day, which started out with a phone call at 7am to say they were delivering my new washing machine at 7.45 this morning. For starters, I was asleep when the phone went off and I really didn't want to get up this morning. My bed felt so lovely and comfortable.

Anyway they delivered it and I set about unpacking it and getting it ready to plumb it in. It always happens to me. I had to take a cover off of the washing machine to get to some rubber bungs that held the drum in place on the road. 3 screws. 2 came undone easily. 1 didn't want to know. Eventually, an hour later it was undone and I was ready to put it in.

Put it in, plumbed it in and filled with water for it's initial wash. And then I sat and was engrossed in watching the machine while it went through it's first cycle. How sad is that? I obviously needed something to do.

I just love Facebook. There, I've said it! I am a facebook-holic. I check it first thing in the morning and then what seems like every five minutes when I'm here.

I know I use it to post all my radio shows and any events I may be playing at, but it is a source of great entertainment too. Let me give you an example or two from today alone. I put a status on there about my washing machine experience this morning, and before you know it, I was getting comments that made me laugh.

There are definitely some facebook friends I would love to meet in person. Kim Kerry & Linda Oldfield for sure. Whenever I chat to these two ladies, I always end up laughing myself in to hysteria. And the level of integrity dives faster than a submarine! It's always fun to chat to these two and they certainly help to pass the time.

I recorded my Pure Grooves show for this week earlier this evening, and for almost all the time I was doing the show they were insulting me. In a nice way of course.

Of course, there are listeners to my shows that I'd love to meet as well and it's always a pleasure when I get to meet a new 'friend'.

And then it's great to keep up with old friends. I've re-met friends from my teens, whom I'd lost touch with over the years and it's great to see what they're up to.

The show this week, seemed to go really well and I was more than happy with the playlist. It looked fine when I put it together, and sounded great when I did the show. So hopefully you listeners will enjoy it too.

It takes me around two hours to put a two hour show together and it's pleasing when it seems to go well. Luckily it does most of the time.

I've also been converting some of my CDs and stuff to mp3 today to go on my disco computer. I don't think I'm ever gonna get finished. There still seems loads to do.

Went back to an old record I've not played in ages this evening. It's amazing how you forget about how good albums are? Mind you it's been a while since I played this, and I am getting on you know!


The singles, 'What Can I Say', 'Lowdown' and 'Lido Shuffle' are worth the price of the album alone. I was 17 or 18 when this album came out and listening to it tonight took me back to a time when I was footloose and fancy free. This album has class stamped all over it.

I've also done a bit to the web mag today and the new-look to it is taking place. I think it's going improve the look of it no end. You'll be able to find out next Monday.

Right I'm off to make a cuppa.......

Tuesday 11 January 2011

What's on?

I decided that I want to make the web mag even better for the new year and am adding new sections to it. However, I obviously hadn't done the research I needed to, because when I started to lay it out differently and add some of the extra things into it, it took me ages to even find what I wanted to add. I ended up spending 5-6 hours last night working to find what I needed and then only managed to find enough material to fill 3 pages. Hopefully though, now that I've started to find what I needed, it should be easier to find the sources for the information I want next time.

As I said before Christmas, I was starting a college course to get an NVQ in computing. Well I have to say today I really struggled over a couple of things and by the time I came home my brain felt like it had turned to mush. I think I let my attitude get the better of me and I mentally felt like I'd got everything wrong. Having been in this position before, I can safely say that I know when it#s time for me to take a break, so I called it a day and came home. Usually, when I go back to it, I can see it with new eyes, and then can move on.

I was rifling through some of my old albums this afternoon and picked out one to play. It was Earth Wind & Fire's "Faces" album. It's been ages since I played it last, and I forgot how good it is. With a couple of hit singles and some great album tracks, it showed that Earth Wind & Fire were on top of their game. Their brass section was the stuff of legend.


It's funny how a band can drift from your consciousness. I haven't played anything by Earth Wind and Fire in ages, and yet from about 1978 to 1983 they were one of my favourite bands, who's records I used to love to play. Who knows perhaps I'll have a bit of a resurgence of their tunes now.

Monday 10 January 2011

New Week, New Magazine Issue

Well the week's are flying by at the moment and once again it's a Monday. And a brand new issue of the Pure Grooves web mag is now online, and it's a bumper 30 page issue for the first one of the year.


There's A  lot of info in the web mag this week. There are links to 8 recent shows along with the play lists. There are also the regular features and also some coming events.

However, as from next week, we're hoping to change the look of the web mag and improve it even more. I won't tell you what we have in store for you, you'll just have to wait and see. One thing won't change though, and that's the fee. It will still be free to read.

Please pass the link to your friends and also feel free to tell them about this blog and don't forget to subscribe as well.

Till next time.......


Saturday 8 January 2011

Motown & More

Well it was the first one of the year, and although the turnout wasn't fantastic, there were a lot of new people attended and we all had a great night.

The only fly in the ointment was when the trip went in the room and all the wall sockets went off, resulting in everything shutting down. Basically we lost 5 minutes or so while the located the problem in the pub, sorted it and we got everything up and running again.

Luckily, it didn't cause too much of a problem.
Here's what I played:

1 Jimmy Ruffin - It's Wonderful To Be Loved By You
2 Barbara McNair - It Happens Everytime
3 Elgins - Put Yourself In My Place
4 Brief Encounter - What About Love
5 Buddy Miles - I'm Just A Kiss Away
6 Chi-Lites - Stoned Out Of My Mind
7 Eddie Holland - Candy To Me
8 Carstairs - It Really Hurts Me Girl
9 Jimmy Holiday & Clyde King - Ready Willing & Able
10 Four Tops - Where Did You Go
11 Otis Leavill - Nobody But You
12 Rufus Thomas - Do The Funky Chicken
13 George Lemons - Fascinating Girl
14 Soul Bros Inc - Pyramid
15 Booker T & The MGs - Soul Limbo
16 R Dean Taylor - Let's Go Somewhere
17 Detroit Spinners - It's A Shame
18 Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is
19 Kim Weston - I'm Still Loving You
20 Tammi Terrell - This Old Heart Of Mine
21 Marvelettes - Too Many Fish In The Sea
22 Collins & Collins - At The Top Of The Stairs
23 Stevie Wonder - Blowin In The Wind
24 Spiral Staircase - More Today Than Yesterday
25 Jay Traynor - Up & Over
26 Epitome Of Sound - You Don't Love Me
27 Willie Tee - Teasin' You
28 David Ruffin - Rode By The Place (Where We Used To Stay)
29 Supremes - There's No Stopping Us Now
30 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
31 Jimmy Ruffin - Lucky Lucky Me
32 Temptations - My Baby
33 Barbara Mills - Queen Of Fools
34 Sam Fletcher - I'd Think It Over Twice
35 Kurt Harris - Emperor Of My Baby's Heart
36 Barbara Randolph - I Got A Feeling
37 Contours - Just A Little Misunderstanding
38 Isley Brothers - Tell Me It's Just A Rumour
39 Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself
40 Martha Reeves & the Vandellas - Jimmy Mack
41 Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Going To A Go Go
42 Velvelettes - He Was Really Saying Something
43 Marvin Gaye - You're A Wonderful One
44 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - I'm Ready For Love
45 Jnr Walker & The All Stars - Road Runner
46 Lou Johnson - Magic Potion
47 Drifters - Baby What I Mean
48 Billy Arnell & The Sparkles - Tough Girl
49 Originals - Don't Stop Now
50 Marvin Gaye - Little Darling (I Need You)
51 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Love Is Like A Heatwave
52 Al Wilson - The Snake
53 Dobie Gray - Out On The Floor
54 R Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House
55 Barry White - Don't Make Me Wait Too Long
56 Tony Etoria - I Can Prove It
57 Trammps - Hold Back The Night
58 Billy Ocean - Red Light Spells Danger
59 Isley Brothers - I Guess I'll Always Love You
60 Detroit Spinners - I'll Always Love You
61 Ruby Andrews - Just Lovin' You
62 Darrell Banks - Open The Door To Your Heart
63 Bobby Paris - I Walked Away
64 Roy Hamilton - Crackin' Up Over You
65 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Two Can Have A Party
66 Edwin Starr - SOS  (Stop Her On Sight)
67 Supremes - The Happening
68 Four Tops - I'll Turn To Stone
69 Brenda Holloway - When I'm Gone
70 Sam Cooke - That's It - I Quit - I'm Movin' On
71 Jackie Ross - Selfish One
72 Garland Green - Ain't That Good Enough
73 Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
74 Jimmy Ruffin - I've Passed This Way Before
75 Barbara Lewis - Pushin' A Good Thing Too Far
76 Kim Weston - Another Train Coming
77 Soloman Burke - Cry To Me
78 Willie Tee - Walking Up A One Way Street
79 Timi Yuro - It'll Never Be Over For Me
80 Dean Parrish - Bricks Broken Bottles & Sticks
81 Trini Lopez - Sinner Not A Saint
82 Gloria Scott - Too Much Lovemaking
83 Impressions - It's Alright
84 Blackbyrds - Walkin' In Rhythm
85 Leroy Hutson - They Got Love

Hopefully, next month's one will be back to normal and with a bit of luck we'll have more new people to.

It was good to meet new people, especially those that are facebook friends of mine that I hadn't met face to face before last night.



Friday 7 January 2011

Last night's Requestfest

Once again it was 'Requestfest' last night, and as usual a load of different songs requested. There's a trend that one or two get asked for each time by the same person, but they;re mostly different.

As well as that, you can be sure you're going to get one or two silly requests. Last night was no exception. That's the problem when you say 'fi we got it, we'll play it'. Last night we had that gem from the 80's,' The Birdie Song' and also 'Barbie Girl'. While 'Barbie Girl' was playing, someone came up to me and asked, 'Why does this get requested so often?' I replied that I wasn't surprised as it had been a number one and sold loads. He answered, 'Yes but only to kids'. I then pointed out that the kids that were 7-8 when Barbie Girl came out were now 20 & 21 year old adults. I also believe that if it was a favourite when you were a kid, it's always going to have fond memories for you. That's why I think 'Barbie Girl' gets requested so often.

There were a few more in for the requestfest last night, and so I had a whole load more requests. I have to say it's been a while since I had a request for Eartha Kitt & Shirley Bassey. But to me that's what makes these nights enjoyable. I get to dig out some songs that haven't seen the light of day for a while.

So what did I play last night? Here's the play list

1 Association - Spooky
2 Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law
3 Clash - London Calling
4 Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
5 Eartha Kitt - C'est Magnifique
6 Mick Hucknall - Farther On Up The Road
7 JLS - Club Is Alive
8 Olly Murs - Thinking Of Me
9 Haddaway - What Is Love
10 Eminem - Business
11 Tweets - Birdie Song
12 Melanie C - I Turn To You
13 Black Eyed Peas - Time (Dirty Bit)
14 Abba - Chiquitita
15 Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero
16 Shirley Bassey - Big Spender
17 Madness - Our House
18 Blur - Parklife
19 Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
20 Nat 'King' Cole - Let There Be Love
21 Hall & Oates - Maneater
22 Blue & Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
23 Berlin - Take My Breath Away
24 Roy Orbison - You Got It
25 Barry White - You're The First The Last My Everything
26 N-Dubz - Best Behaviour
27 Robbie Williams - Road To Mandalay
28 Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
29 Rod Stewart - Tonight's The Night
30 James Blunt - High
31 Alexandra Burke ft Laza Morgan - Start Without You
32 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
33 Rihanna ft Drake - What's My Name
34 Village People - YMCA
35 Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
36 Santana & Rob Thomas - Smooth
37 Nelly - Just A Dream
38 Scritti Politti - The Word Girl
39 Eminem ft Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie
40 DJ Ironik - Stay With Me
41 Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me
42 Cheryl Cole - Promise This
43 Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much
44 Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude
45 Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
46 Snoop Dogg ft Justin Timberlake - Signs
47 Aqua - Barbie Girl
48 Chris Brown - Forever
49 Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway
50 Rob Thomas - Lonely No More
51 Gyptian - Hold You
52 Sting - Englishman In New York
53 Style Council - Walls Come Tumbling Down
54 Freda Payne - Band Of Gold
55 Rihanna - Rude Boy
56 Charles Sheffield - Its Your Voodoo Working
57 Bee Gees - Spirits (Having Flown)
58 Chris Rea - Fool (If You Think It's Over)
59 Brenda & The Tabulations - One Girl Too Late
60 Black Eyed Peas - Pump It
61 Lionel Richie - Say You Say Me
This evening it's my monthly 'Motown & More' night which I always look forward to. I'll let you know how that went down tomorrow.

I've had a few ideas for new features for the 'Pure Grooves' magazine that I'm going to work on, and a few that I could add to the blog which may make it a bit more interesting, so watch this space.......

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Croaking

That's me today. My voice has got worse. I'm sounding like a frog. If you don't believe me check out tomorrow's "Flashback" show which I recorded tonight.

I've been working on next week's Pure Grooves magazine today and it seems like 'Obituary Weekly.' So far there are obits for Teena Marie, Bobby Farrell of Boney M and today we can add Gerry Rafferty to the list. Fortunately there is a lot of good stuff as well. This week's issue will be the biggest so far. All the radio shows over the Christmas and New Year period are there, and all the usual features are there as well. There's a photo gallery from a New Year's Eve event too.

Don't forget, the magazine is online only and FREE to read, so you'd be crazy not to, don't you think? The next issue is out on Monday. Don't forget to tell your friends about it as well.

I've also been working on the play list for the forthcoming "Pure Grooves" radio show. As usual lots of great tunes, some of which I've not played in ages.

Monday 3 January 2011

Vinyl Junkies

Over Christmas, I've been reading a book about the world of vinyl collecting, and I never realised the extent that some people go to get the vinyl they want. Obsessive is the only word I can think of. It's a great read and it makes me feel like I'm sane lol

Here are a few reviews from other readers:

Meet your fellow sufferers5
If you think your vinyl addition is bad then read this book and know you are not alone! There is some comfort in that and as Milano talks to many vinyl junkies (some famous like Peter Buck of REM, and others not) you will easily recognize yourself having at least one, if not quite a few of the same compulsions. I have to confess, when I read about guys living with 10,000 LP's etc, the thought did cross my mind " There but for the grace..." etc, but I only have to look at my room crowded out by LP's to know I've easily got it just as bad (and I only have maybe 600! and growing). This book is a fun easy read, and it stays off the frivilous 'lists' and so on and keeps to its base covering all the types of collectors and types of collections you probably knew existed but never would have guessed the depths and passions of ...
Hi Fidelity - and then some!!5
This book will probably be enjoyed mostly by those who have a vinyl collection of disproportionate size/value and which consequently demands similarly disproportionate attention. I am one of those people - 'disproportionate' is my wife's description. However, anyone who has a penchant for collecting should find it interesting.

The obsessive behaviour attributed to Rob Fleming in Nick Hornby's excellent Hi Fidelity is as nothing compared to some of the case studies in this book. The hunter-gatherer gene sometimes works in mysterious ways - society would be much the poorer if it didn't.
Obsessive about obsessives.5
See, this is how bad I am. I thought this was a great book, but it would have been even better if it had colour photographs of all the record collections. Not each album cover, just all the spines and the shelves they were on. In fact, if somebody published a book that was just photographs of the rooms people kept their records in, I'd buy it. If you understand that, (and some people will) you'll like this book, an examination of various obsessive record oollectors, some famous and some not. it's a brief but informative and rewarding read. I'd have liked it more if it was 4 times as long, bigger being better. (As every record collector knows).

You can get it here

I really enjoyed it!




Sunday 2 January 2011

Happy New Year!

Well hello everyone! Happy New Year to you all. As you may know I've not been around for a few days so I'll update you on the goings on.

I was booked to DJ at a private party in a hotel not far from Heathrow Airport on New Year's Eve, and I looked forward to it as I knew that there were going to be a lot of my friends there. However going inside the M25 these days is a pain in the bum for me, as my van is not allowed inside the Low Emission Zone that the bods in the London Councils put in place a little over a year ago. Well let me correct that. I can go inside the LEZ if I pay them £100 per day!!! So going past midnight means that it counts as 2 days , so they would want £200.

Luckily for me my cousin lives at Chertsey which wasn't too far away, and he loaned me his van, which being newer, is allowed inside the LEZ. However he was going away for NYE so I needed to go down a day early to see him and arrange when I could pick it up. As well as that my sister lives in Farnborough, Hants, which is only about 25 minutes away from Chertsey, so it meant that I could do some visiting.

New Years Eve, worked like this. I went from Farnborough to Chertsey, emptied my van and put it into my cousin's van. The I drove to the hotel and loaded the disco in, set it up and tried it out. This was finished by around 4pm. I was also working with a swing singer during the evening who goes by the name of Joe Swing. He was going to run his backing music and microphone through my mixer, so when he arrived we set his equipment up, wired it into my system, and did a sound check.

After that I had chance to sit down and get ready for the evening, along with Joe Swing and I have to say he's a really nice guy and even though he was suffering with a cold, his singing voice was really good. If you're ever looking for a 'Rat Pack' style singer for an event, I can thoroughly recommend him. Please check out his web site by clicking on the link above.

So when it came to the night's festivities Joe Swing started the evening with a 45 minute set, I followed him for a short while playing music that followed his style, and then he came back and did his second 45 minute slot. After that I played for the rest of the evening.

My brief was to play requests and anthems that everyone would know and to go across lots of different genres, so as to play something for everyone. Well there were around 250 guests, aged between 16 - 75, so there was a wide range of people, but the majority were in their late 30s to mid 50s, so that gave me an idea of what to play.

Knowing a  lot of the guests also made it easier as I knew a lot of the types of music they would like. And with requests coming in, that also helped. The great thing about New Year's Eve is that people are always up for a boogie, and this year was no exception. There were people on the floor for the whole time I played and I'm pleased to say that I had some lovely comments.

Funnily enough, I find that doing events for people you know is a two edged sword, as although it's really friendly, you sure do get some stick from them.

Anyway, here's the playlist:
Set 1
1 Bobby Darin - Lazy River
2 Dinah Washington - September In The Rain
3 Ella Fitzgerald - Desafinado
4 Nat 'King' Cole - Let's Face The Music & Dance
5 Tony Bennett - Rags To Riches
6 Robbie Williams - Have You Met Miss Jones
7 Frank Sinatra - Come Dance With Me
8 Dean Martin - Volare
9 Louis Prima & Keely Smith - On The Sunny Side Of The Street
10 Sarah Vaughan & Billy Eckstine - Cheek To Cheek
11 Louis Prima - Just a Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody
Set 2
12 Tymes - Ms Grace
13 Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat
14 George McCrae - Rock Your Baby
15 Trammps - Hold Back The Night
16 Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson - Valerie
17 Duffy - Mercy
18 Martha Reeves & the Vandellas - Dancing In The Street
19 Supremes - Baby Love
20 Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
21 Freda Payne - Band Of Gold
22 Chairman Of The Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time
23 Lionel Richie - All Night Long (All Night)
24 Michael Jackson - Beat It
25 Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
26 Shalamar - A Night To Remember
27 Temptations - Treat Her Like A Lady
28 Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing
29 Barry White - You're The First The Last My Everything
30 Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
31 Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
32 Alexander O'Neal - Criticize
33 Drifters - Saturday Night At The Movies
34 Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs - Wooly Bully
35 Millie - My Boy Lollipop
36 Little Eva - Locomotion
37 Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You
38 Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine
39 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown
40 James Brown - Sex Machine
41 Fatback Band - Do The Bus Stop
42 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
43 Cheryl Lynn - Got To Be Real
44 Sharon Redd - Can You Handle It
45 Robin S - Show Me Love
46 Mousse T vs Hot N Juicy - Horny
47 Ultra Nate - Free
48 Dan Hartman - Instant Replay
49 O'Jays - I Love Music
50 Taste Of Honey (A) - Boogie Oogie Oogie
51 Shalamar - Take That To The Bank
52 Rose Royce - Car Wash
53 Earth Wind & Fire - September
54 Michael Jackson - PYT (Pretty Young Thing)
55 Various ft Queen - New Year Chimes - Auld Lang Syne - Don't Stop Me Now
56 David Essex - Gonna Make You A Star
57 Jeff Beck - Hi Ho Silver Lining
58 Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman
59 Elvis Presley - Return To Sender
60 Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There
61 Chris Montez - Let's Dance
62 Chubby Checker - The Twist
63 Elvis Presley - His Latest Flame
64 Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell
65 Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack
66 Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
67 Bobby Thurston - Checkout The Groove
68 Fatback Band - I Found Lovin'
69 UB40 - Red Red Wine
70 Bob & Marcia - Young Gifted & Black
71 Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
72 Temptations - Get Ready
73 Supremes - The Happening
74 Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself
75 Edwin Starr - SOS  (Stop Her On Sight)
76 Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright)
77 Bill Haley & The Comets - Rock Around The Clock
78 Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode
79 Fats Domino - Be My Guest
80 Buddy Holly - Rave On
81 Eddie Cochran - C'mon Everybody
82 M People - Movin' On Up
83 Ce Ce Peniston - Finally
84 Incognito - Always There
85 Pussycat Dolls ft Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha
86 Rihanna - Rude Boy
87 Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy
88 Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
89 Carl Carlton - She's A Bad Mama Jama
90 Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
91 Marvin Gaye - Come Get To This
92 Al Green - Let's Stay Together
93 Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
94 Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour
95 Temptations - My Girl
96 Barry White - Just The Way You Are


Anyway, I finished DJing at 2.15am and was chatting to friends until about 3.15 when I packed the disco up. I left it in the hotel overnight and went up to bed around 4am.

After a few hours sleep, I got up at 7.30am, loaded the disco into the van, and headed for Chertsey, where I reloaded it all into my van again. I then headed down to Weymouth.

I arrived at Weymouth at around 11.15am, to find my two sons in bed, one of them with a girly cuddled up to him. They eventually got up around 4pm, and my youngest son and I went to get something to eat. After coming back I chilled for the rest of the evening watching Morcambe and Wise on TV.

One of the things with moving to Cambridge was that I left a van in Weymouth full of equipment, and I also have a portakabin there. The van hasn't moved for around 2 years and had gradually deteriorated and during that time I've been paying rent for the van and portakabin. So this morning, I went and unloaded everything from the van into the portakabin. No big deal until you realise it was a big van with a luton body on it and it was packed. It took me from around 9.30am to 1.15 to unload it with the help of one of my sons. The van is being scrapped so that meant I don't have to worry about selling it and it will be picked up and taken away. It also means less expense.

I left Weymouth just before 2pm and arrived back home just after 6pm. I came in packed my clothes and stuff away and put my disco computer away, made a cup of tea, some honey and lemon for my dodgy throat, and sat down to do this blog.

That brings us up to date, so now I'm gonna put my feet up and chill. It's been a hectic few days and I have to say I'm glad they're over and I'm now home.

Speak soon