Monday 28 February 2011

Roxy 5000 - Check them out


Those of you that listen to my shows will know I played the new Roxy 5000 single in my 'Sunday Shake Up' show this week. Titled, 'Never Going Back', it features Terri Walker, and I've got to say I really like it.

I hooked up with Roxy Prince from the band today for a 40 minute phone call, and I've got to say this guy is putting the work in. It's really great when you come across someone who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to put the hours in to get it.

Roxy also comes across as a genuine guy, who is humbled by the support he's been getting. And he sure has been getting some support. Check this out:

STRETCH TAYLOR (Colourful Radio) - "really like this new joint "Never Going Back" from Roxy5000, its got a great vibe and it's so nice to hear a proper band providing the sounds, plus the vocals from Roxy & Terri Walker are the cherry on top of this quality bakewell tart, wicked!"

BRUCE HAWES QUOTES: "Would you like to know what I am "endorsing" for the future of the music industry, 'ROXY5000' is at the top of the list. FANTASTIC! SO endorsed by me, BRUCE HAWES, Composer (You really are THAT GOOD!)

"On the road or in the shower, ROXY5000 gohn give your tower power! Simon Bartholomew, Brand New Heavies "

"ROXY5000 Feat "OMAR and SHAWN LEE (When Love Takes Over"" Heavy Bass Led Funky Groove with a live jam session feel raising the feel good factor...GET ON IT NOW! ASH SELECTOR – SOLAR RADIO"

So it's not just me.

Watch the video and judge it for yourself..

Lawdy! where did that weekend go?

Well that weekend flew by! So what have I got to talk about today? 2 radio shows and a soulful night out. That seems like a good place to start.

Saturday starts off with the 'Pure Grooves' radio show. It goes out on Solar Radio at 2am, so it's always and early start. Lots of nice tunes this week.
Here's the play list:
1 Invisible Man's Band - 9 X's Out Of Ten
2 Lemelle - You Got Something Special
3 Jerry Knight - Overnight Sensation
4 Darrell Banks - I'm The One Who Loves You
5 Sam Moultrie - I'll Always Love You
6 Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon - Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache
7 O'Jays - (They Call Me) Mr Lucky
8 Jeff Perry - Love Don't Come No Stronger
9 Four Tops - Sweet Understanding Love
10 Trammps - Up On The Hill
11 Fonda Rae - Over Like A Fat Rat
12 Players Association - Get Down Mellow Sound
13 Willie Bobo - Always There
14 Donald Byrd - Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)
15 Mezzoforte - Rockall
16 George Benson - When Love Comes Calling
17 Full Flava ft Kelli Sae - Bad Habits
18 Lucy Pearl - Don't Mess With My Man
19 Salsoul Orchestra - Dreamin'
20 Phil Hurtt - Givin' It Back
21 Tata Vega - Full Speed Ahead
22 Rose Royce - First Come First Serve
23 Johnny 'Guitar' Watson - Booty Ooty
24 Mary Jane Girls - Candy Man
25 Locksmith - Far Beyond
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

At a reasonable sensible time later in the morning, I like to get the play list sorted for Sunday's show. This week it was nice to get a lot of requests and as always, we had a great 'Tracks Of My Years' selection sent in.

I really love the fact that my listeners contribute to this part of the show as it gives me the chance to play something I may have been overlooking. Around lunchtime, I recorded the show and had that ready to go.


Here's the playlist:
1 David Sanborn - Chicago Song
2 Incognito - Tin Man
3 Shakatak - Easier Said Than Done (Remix)
4 Smokey Robinson - Just To See Her
5 Anita Baker - Same Ole Love
6 Lionel Richie - Stuck On You
7 Roxy 5000 ft Terri Walker & Friends - Never Going Back
8 Drizabone Soul Family - I Fell Apart
9 Frank McComb - Whatcha Gonna Do
10 Etta James - At Last
11 Isley Brothers - Who's That Lady (Original 1964 version)
12 Bobby Wilson - Here Is Where The Love Is
13 Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme
14 Johnny Bristol - Hang On In There Baby
15 Earth Wind & Fire - Love Music
16 Richard 'Dimples' Fields - I Like Your Loving
17 Leon Hayward - Don't Push It Don't Force It
18 Evelyn King - Get Loose
19 Pasadenas - I'm Doing Fine Now
20 Odyssey - Inside Out
21 Dean Parrish - Bricks Broken Bottles & Sticks
22 Darrell Banks - Open The Door To Your Heart
23 Spiral Staircase - More Today Than Yesterday
24 Freddie McGregor - Can't Get You Out Of My Mind
25 Maxi Priest - You
26 Carroll Thompson - I'm So Sorry
27 Third World - Dancing On The Floor
28 Unlimited Touch - I Hear Music In The Streets
29 Chaka Khan - Eye To Eye
30 Raes - Little Lovin'
31 Michael Jackson - Rock With You
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

Next, it was time to do a bit more to the magazine. As we near the date for it to be published, each week, myself and Debz, start to work through what's in the magazine and make sure we've got all the links in where they should be, start to check for spelling errors and suchlike, and just basically go over it.

Because of the fact that we add Sunday's show and other little bits right up to the Sunday evening, we can't quite finish the magazine until then.

Saturday night was a great night in Cambridge, as Soul Express was on. Always a cracking night, DJs were Shaun Owen, who is starting to bring the jazzier funk side back to town. He's been playing some great tunes of late, and his set on Saturday didn't disappoint. Next up was Andy Stearn, playing the classics. The highlight of the night for me was Guest DJ, Tee Harris, who played a really great set, followed by Chris Brown, who, as always was on fine form.

With around 2-250 people in the room it was a brilliant night. It's also great for me to meet some facebook friends for the first time. It's funny, I've been in Cambridge for just over a year now and I'm still meeting facebook friends!

Sunday was, as you expect from me, more of the same. First thing Sunday morning (7am) I was up and getting the show out to the various places it needed to be. Then after a cup of tea, it was back to bed!
When I finally re-surfaced (11.30am - well it has been a long week!) It was back to playing some more tunes.

I have this ongoing thing about transferring more music to my disco computer. Another 70-odd tracks went across this week. Before I moved to Cambridge, I ripped all my CDs and vinyl, that I haven't already copied over to a separate hard drive - it's almost 1tb of music, and I'm slowly working my way through it, making sure that I don't have any copies on my database, and replacing my old vinyl versions with better sounding versions when I can find them. It's a long labourious task, and I'm not sure I'll ever finish it! What it does mean though is that I should always be able to find something different to play.

Onto the evening and it's time to finally get the magazine finished and published to the web. The last part generally take 90 minutes or so. However adding the videos takes a bit of time and so I always leave it overnight before it's made available to the public.

And that's what I did this morning. By 7am, it was online and ready to read!


This week, Debz has worked on Craig David as our featured artist. As always there is plenty to read in the magazine. It's a labour of love for us. We just hope you like it!

If you check out the shows or the magazine, and enjoy them, please tell your friends. We really would like to share our love of music to as many people as possible.

Tilll next time...


Saturday 26 February 2011

Is 'Jailhouse Rock' the gayest song ever?

I want to start this blog by saying I love Elvis Presley's music. He was a legend and his music shaped they music for years to come, and I've loved 'Jailhouse Rock' since I was a kid, but I'm sorry, it's so gay!

Consider these lyrics:

"Number 47 said to number 3,
You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see,
I sure would be delighted with your company,
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me"

or

"Shifty Henry said to Bugs 'For Heaven's Sake,
No ones lookin', now's our chance to make a break',
Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said 'Nix Nix,
I wanna stick around a while, and get my kicks"

And this is because the warden threw a party!

Surely I'm not the only one to see this!

I am now going to hide behind the settee and await the flak!

Whilst I'm waiting, watch the video



Speak soon...

Friday 25 February 2011

I've got that Friday Feeling!

Have you?

It's been a funny old week. In my last blog I told you about the record I heard on the radio that I didn't know the name of - well I've now got it. So that will feature in next week's Flashback Show.

'What about this week's show?' I hear you ask. Here it is

And here's the play list:
1 Duane Eddy - Forty Miles Of Bad Road
2 Jim Lowe - Hucklebuck
3 KC & The Sunshine Band - Boogie Shoes
4 Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me
5 Patsy Cline - Just Out Of Reach
6 David Essex - Gonna Make You A Star
7 Neil Sedaka - Calendar Girl
8 Typically Tropical - Barbados
9 Adam & The Ants - Stand & Deliver
10 Cilla Black - You're My World
11 Beatles - Day Tripper
12 Sandie Shaw - I'll Stop At Nothing
13 Chicago - 25 Or 6 To 4
14 Johnny Tillotson - Poetry In Motion
15 Evasions - Wikka Rap
16 Badfinger - Come & Get It
17 Jimmie Rodgers - Honeycomb
18 Everly Brothers - Bird Dog
19 Barry Biggs - Sideshow
20 Bobby Rydell - Kissin' Time

To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com
I've had some new idents made this week as well - a set for the Flashback Show, done by Don Roberts in Canada, and also some done by Roxy 5000. They should start being played in the shows this coming week.

As always, I've been getting some new music to add to my database. A lot of it is transferred from vinyl, but I've also heard a couple of albums I liked this week and some of those tracks could well be heading into my show play lists this week as well.

My tune of the week that I've managed to lay my hands on, is by the Isley Brothers and it's the original version of 'Who's That Lady' from the 1960s.. It's pure quality. Listen out for it on my show on Sunday.

I just mentioned Roxy 5000 have done me some idents, and they have a great new single featuring Terri Walker, called 'Never Going Back'. That too will be in my show on Sunday.

So what else have I been up to this week? Well I've been preparing for next week's first Soul Medicine night on the 4th March.

I've made a mix CD to give away to the first 20 through the door, and it's jam-packed with some great tunes. Here's a sneak peek at the cover.



So what's on the CD? It' a guarded secret, but if you're one of the first 20 through the door on Friday, you'll be getting a copy, so get there early. It's FREE entry as well. It doesn't come much better than that does it.

What will I be playing on the night? I really don't know yet. It will depend on who comes through the door and what they like. Personally I can't wait. The one thing I'll assure you is that I'll be playing feel good tunes that will have you up and dancing.

Tomorrow night is going to be a great night here in Cambridge, as the Soul Express is on. Always a cracking night with a great turnout of around 3-350 people who know how to groove. I'm not playing tomorrow, so you'll find me on the dance floor.

If you go, make sure you come and say hello. Speak soon...


Wednesday 23 February 2011

A mild state of shock

Well I have to say I've had a few unexpected things happen over the last few days. And for a change they've been all good.

Firstly, I received an email the other day asking if I would syndicate my 'Sunday Shake Up' show to another station. And so from this week, it will be going out on Soul Groove Radio, a fairly new station. The show will be airing on Sundays from Midday.

Those of you that know me will know that I'm not just a soul lover, I'm lucky to love many types of music. And for that I have to thank my Dad. He's the one who caused my love of music, even if he didn't do it on purpose. From the minute I was born, music seems to have had a hold on me. My first memories involve a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder and the great sounds I used to hear whenever those reels were turning.

I have a nostalgic love for the hits and songs from the 50s and early 60s because of this. And a couple of days ago, I came across and new radio station called Cruisin' Oldies Radio, which plays oldies from the 50s 60s and 70s. So yesterday morning, I decided to give it a listen. I was happily listening to the tunes from the past when they played a song from one of my Dad's old reel to reels. Hardly surprising when you consider that my Godfather owned a record shop and my Dad was a Pirate.

However, it was a song that I've been looking for for years. The problem as always been that I didn't know who it was by, or the title. I've used the words from the chorus to try and find it and various parts of the verse but to no avail. Anyway, I looked on my media player and guess what, the song title was there with the artists name. Finally after over 35 years of searching I now have the name! I was in a mild state of shock for a while. After a quick search on Youtube I found it. The song is 'You' by the Aquatones from 1958.

I have now found the song and will have it in time for my Flashback show next week.

So while I was on a roll, I put a message on my status asking if anyone could help with another track that was on my Dad's tapes that I've been hunting for. This song is 'Play That Big Guitar' by Bert Weedon. I've hunted for years but never seen it advertised anywhere. If searched record shops, charity shops, been to record fairs, and eBay, but never even had a sniff.

I thought I may get lucky and one of my fb friends might have it. No such luck - however, I then get a message last night from one of my fb friends - and guess what? There's a copy on Ebay! How about that?
So guess what I'll be bidding on this week?

I've got 3 remaining Reel to Reel tapes of my days from the late 50s and 1960 and I've spent years trying to get the records on them. I'm down to the last 10 or so. The biggest problem I have with them is that they're mostly instrumental B sides I think. Or rarish songs like the Aquatones one. But hey, that's half the fun of it.

I've been told for years that I've got a special love for the oldies from that era, and they're right. Just hearing them takes me back to when I was little and I'll not apologise for it I have a great respect for the artists of the time as they were the ones that changed the music we listen to forever. They were the pioneers who followed the R&B roots and brought us to rock and roll and onward.

I've been lucky, I was fortunate enough to remember when Motown hit the UK as my brother was about 15 at the time and loved them, so I remember him playing all the early Motown records (or should I say Stateside and Oriole), and then the sounds of Atlantic. I can even remember how upset he was when Otis Redding died.

And then when I was 16 we had Disco! The great change of my generation. Like I said, my life is all about my music. It always has been and it probably always will be.

What's on the agenda for today? Work on the magazine, sorting some more music for the disco (that's still an ongoing thing) and then I need to sort the play list for this week's Pure Grooves show and then record it later.

While I'm doing this, I'm listening to Cruisin' Oldies Radio and they've played Clarence 'Frogman' Henry's 'But I Do' and now The Poni-Tails 'Born Too Late'. I'm in aural ecstacy here! See you later........

Monday 21 February 2011

Well it's Monday and once again a brand new week starts off. But it's been since Friday since I put my thoughts down, so let me see, what can I waffle about today?

Ah - the weekend. If only. I don't seem to have a weekend as there's always something to do. Those of you that have been following the blog for a while will know I seem to be doing the same thing each week - it's much like anyone else I suppose.

Saturday morning started with me putting together and recording this week's Sunday Shake Up. I miss doing live shows, but with the show going out on lots of stations at different times, it's not practical to try and do them live. However I always record them as though it were a live show. A lot of pre-recorded shows are voice tracked, and what I mean by this is that all the chat between the songs is recorded in one go and just inserted between the songs. Although this can work, I don't feel that I come across in the same way as I do when I actually do the show in real time.

After doing the show, I needed to get on with the magazine. It is an ongoing thing as the week goes on to put it all together. There is always something that needs to be done. As an example, on Saturday, I went on the hunt for all the music that was going to be placed on the 'A-Z of Soul & R&B' pages.

Each week there are 4 artists and each artist has 6 songs added to the page. Which means a trek around youtube, then I need to get links, I need to get the page set up and all the videos linked to the words.

It's not a massive job, but just that page can take up to 90 minutes to do. Also, we spend a bit of time each day surfing around to see what we can find.

Anyway once I'd finished doing a bit to the magazine, it was around 2pm. Now Saturday evening I was going out to 2 events in Cambridge.

The first one was "Step Up and Believe" at Nusha - Shaun Owen and Simon Fraser are the resident DJs and this was the first event. Guest DJs on the night were Dave Malone and Simon Petts.

Whilst I was there, really nice jazzy sounds were played. Hopefully this event is going to add the the music scene in Cambridge.

From there, it was off to Cambridge City Football Club for the City Stop Soul Night. Plenty of people were there, the dance floor was busy all night and a good time was had by all.

A great night finished off with a large Kebab on the way back - perfect!

Sunday morning is all about the radio show. That was posted to the various stations and gets played at various times throughout the day. It is also posted onto my facebook pages early in the morning.


Here's the playlist:
1 Keni Burke - Risin' To The Top
2 Stanley Clarke - Heaven Sent You
3 DeBarge - I Like It
4 Bruce Hawes - I Want To Be Mellow
5 E Life - Something About You
6 Ty Causey - Rocket To The Moon
7 Teddy Pendergrass - When Somebody Loves You Back
8 Johnny Mathis - Simple
9 Gloria Scott - Too Much Lovemaking
10 Barbara Lewis - Hello Stranger
11 Ruby & The Romantics - Baby Come Home
12 Barbara McNair - It Happens Everytime
13 Eddie Kendricks - Date With The Rain
14 Sly Slick & Wicked - Ready For You
15 Flowers - For Real
16 Rah Band - Falcon
17 D Train - Shadow Of Your Smile
18 Maze ft Frankie Beverly - Too Many Games
19 Lindy Layton - Without You
20 Donald Byrd - Love Has Come Around
21 Jones Girls - You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else
22 Odyssey - Native New Yorker
23 GQ - Disco Nights
24 Sister Sledge - Lost In Music
25 Randy Crawford - My Heart Is Not As Young As It Used To Be
26 Lonnie Liston Smith - Never Too Late
27 Barbara Pennington - Fan The Flame
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

From there it was back to the magazine to update links and suchlike. Then I added the Featured Artist pages after Debz has given me the files and added the Welcome page as well as sort out the index page and then check over the magazine. It's not until around 10 at night that I start to upload the magazine to the site and check that it's all working correctly before being happy that it's all ready to go.



And indeed it's ready. This week, we have The Main Ingredient as the featured artists. Also all the usual features and one new one. We hope you like it. If you do, don't forget to tell your friends!

So what's on for the rest of the day? More of the same. Start on the new magazine, sort a play list for the 'Flashback' show and get that recorded. Ad see whatever else needs doing.

Till next time...

Friday 18 February 2011

I said 'Help Me Lord'...... and he did!

Yesterday was a long one. I was awake at five past six and fifteen minutes later, I was starting to record this week's 'Pure Grooves' show.

I don't know why, but I feel that I do better shows if I'm up early. Like I've said before, I ought to have been a breakfast DJ. Quite a good mixture of music in the show and I was happy with it. Now if I can just sort out the way I speak, it should all be honky dory!

Once I'd finished the show I set to work on the magazine again. I sorted a couple of the features for this week and typeset them. We have a new feature starting in the magazine this week that I hope people are going to like. And I had to get some photos for that. And I needed to write the opening piece for it. Debz has started work on this week's featured artist. You'd be amazed how much searching she does each week for the information she requires to do the piece. And then once she's got what she needs, she goes through it and then writes it.

Once I'd spent a couple of hours on the magazine there was the little job of getting the new music I had ready to go on my computer. I added another 52 tracks to the database yesterday - 20 of which were new entries to the Top 40 from the last two weeks. I really don't know why I bother. Maybe I'll play five of the 20 over the next 2 years.

Since the charts have reflected downloads, they seem to have lost credibility in my eyes. As an example of why I think this, I point to something like the Glee Cast. Over the past year, they've had around 10 different tracks in the charts. They're not necessarily singles as we'd have bought in the past. And as far as I'm aware they're songs from the show. Now while I think this is OK - the problem is that each one never seems to be in the chart longer than 2 weeks before its another one.

Longevity seems to be over in the singles chart as we used to know it. Whilst there are still a few good records in the charts, overall it seems to be fairly poor. I realise it's always had poor records in it. I point to 'Shaddup Your Face' and 'Grandma We Love You' as examples, but the situation where I'm getting 20 new entries in a fortnight also tells the story of how disposable chart music is becoming.

The other day someone was asking how long current music would last in our memories and most people said less than a year. I have to be honest. when I'm DJing, I sometimes look at last years tracks and struggle to remember 75% of them as I'm looking at them. And I'm sure it's not just because my memory is going.

So onto the evening and this week's 'Requestfest'. No doubt you've read the title of today's blog and thought to yourself 'I wonder what that's all about?'. Well now you'll find out why.

I've just been speaking about the charts and what's in it. Well, I started last night, played a record to get it started, only to find that I was playing to a room that was 90% people younger than 20. Joy of joys I thought to myself as the requests started to come in.The usual N-Dubz, Eminem and charty tunes that I love to hear.....not.

As usual the thing that always happens - 'lets choose some junk tunes' - this week's were Bob The Builder's 'Mambo #5' and The Cartoon's, 'Wicth Doctor' and I was quickly losing the will to live.

I was thinking what have I done to deserve this, when in walked a couple of people, one of whom I recognized. A soulster had arrived! and about 20 minutes later, some more turned up! then with the exception of the odd request from someone else, it turned into a great night with some proper music. You know, with real instruments - brass and strings and real drums.

So well happy in the end. Especially when as the people who'd been in the pub started to dwindle away, and it was left with this group of soulies chatting and having a good time. I would so love it if we could build on that and get more coming. Afterwards the Landlord was pleased that some new people had come into the pub that hadn't been in before.

It would be so great if we could turn the Requestfest night into one that resembles a soul night out. Is that too much to ask Lord?

So here's the play list for your perusal and you'll see what I mean about how the requests changed as the night went on.

1 George Michael - Too Funky
2 N-Dubz - Say It's Over
3 Kelly Clarkson - Because Of You
4 REM - Losing My Religion
5 JLS ft Tinie Tempah - Eyes Wide Shut
6 N-Dubz - Feva Las Vegas
7 Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
8 Pasadenas - Riding On A Train
9 Bob The Builder - Mambo No 5
10 Nelly - Just A Dream
11 Kinks - You Really Got Me
12 Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
13 Eminem ft Lil Wayne - No Love
14 David Bowie - China Girl
15 Cartoons - Witch Doctor
16 Killers - Mr Brightside
17 Bruno Mars - Grenade
18 Chris Brown - Yeah Yeah Yeah
19 Nero - Me & You
20 Keni Burke - Risin' To The Top
21 Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
22 Cee Lo Green - Forget You
23 Black Slate - Amigo
24 Bashiyra - Mistified
25 Chase & Status ft Liam Bailey - Blind Faith
26 Take That - Greatest Day
27 Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain
28 Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
29 Roxette - Joyride
30 Chi-Lites - Hot On A Thing
31 Stylistics - People Make The World Go Round
32 Emotions - Flowers
33 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue
34 Source - You Got The Love
35 Odyssey - Don't Tell Me Tell Her
36 Westlife - Home
37 Procul Harum - Whiter Shade Of Pale
38 Kevin Rudolf ft Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock
39 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
40 Mitch Ryder - Devil With A Blue Dress On - Good Golly Miss Molly
41 Bobby Hebb - Love Love Love
42 Pendulum - Witchcraft
43 Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
44 Lighthouse Family - Ocean Drive
45 Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - Tramp
46 Betty Everett - Getting Mighty Crowded
47 Barbara Lewis - Pushin' A Good Thing Too Far
48 Doris Troy - I'll Do Anything
49 Marvelettes - I'll Keep Holding On
50 Chris Clark - Love's Gone Bad
51 Carla Thomas - B.A.B.Y.
52 Irma Thomas - What Are You Trying To Do
53 Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
54 Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
55 Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing
56 Yvonne Baker - You Didn`t Say a Word
57 Fred Hughes - Baby Boy
58 Dee Dee Warwick - Do It With All Your Heart
59 Jackie Ross - Selfish One
60 Tammi Terrell - All I Do Is Think About You
61 Tammy Montgomery - If I Would Marry You
62 Jimmy Ruffin - Lucky Lucky Me
63 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - You're All I Need To Get By
64 Joe Hicks - Don't It Make You Feel Funky
65 Tommy Neal - Going To A Happening
66 Billy Prophet - What Can I Do
67 Darrell Banks - Open The Door To Your Heart
68 Jack Montgomery - Dearly Beloved
69 Eydie Gorme - Everybody Go Home
See you next time.....

Wednesday 16 February 2011

What's on, What's Happening and What's next

So Wednesday's here again and as always it's been another busy day, starting off with a visit to a Pub at around 10 this morning to see about whether they'd be interested in me doing some nights there. There may be some in the future, but certainly not before July. It's a shame, but hey that's life.

Don e a few other bits and pieces, before coming back to do a bit more work on next week's Pure Grooves web mag. I have to say it's been really heartening in the last fortnight or so to get the supportive messages we've been receiving. What's also been great is the fact that we're getting numerous subscriptions to our mailing list each day at the moment. It's a healthy sign, and one that makes us feel we're doing something right.

Late in the afternoon, this week's 'Flashback' show was added to facebook.

Here's the play list:
1 Matt Bianco - Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed
2 Sam Cooke - Frankie & Johnny
3 Modern Talking - Brother Louie
4 Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda
5 Mel Torme - Comin' Home Baby
6 Archies - Sugar Sugar
7 Johnny & The Hurricanes - Reveille Rock
8 Marty Wilde - Bad Boy
9 Elvis Presley - Rock A Hula Baby
10 Rod Stewart - Maggie May
11 ELO - Sweet Talkin' Woman
12 Pickettywitch - That Same Old Feeling
13 Johnny Otis Show - Willie & The Hand Jive
14 Three Degrees - Year Of Decision
15 Clovers - Love Potion No 9
16 Buddy Holly - Listen To Me
17 Drifters - You're More Than A Number In My Little Red Book
18 Johnny Nash - What A Wonderful World
19 Marvin Rainwater - Whole Lotta Woman
20 Van Morrison - Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

After doing that I did a few updates to the On The Radio website.

From there I thought it was about time I did a few more vinyl conversions to add to my disco computer. It's been ages since I've done any and I always enjoy doing them, even though it's a long and labourious job.


 I did around 30 singles and an album. I now have to run them through some software and try and clean them up before I add them to the computer.

After I've done this blog, my last job of the evening will be to sort out the play list for this week's Pure Grooves show. It seems I'm getting busier and busier these days. The problem is that it's all preparation work and that's what takes time.

Speaking of Pure Grooves, yesterday, I added the links to last week's show on facebook.


Here's the playlist:
1 Incognito - 1975
2 Peo ft Mirjam - Must Be Love
3 Seductive Souls ft Aaron Washington - Your Love
4 Bobby Mardis - Keep On
5 SOS Band - Take Your Time (Do It Right)
6 Fonda Rae - Touch Me
7 Mark Morrison - Horny
8 D'Influence - Magic
9 Black Science Orchestra - Sunshine (Soul Weekender Mix)
10 Hi Tension - How Do You Feel
11 Voyage - Let's Fly Away
12 Rokotto - Boogie On Up
13 Mel Hayes & The Boogie Man Orchestra - Lady Lady Lady
14 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Where Are All My Friends
15 Earth Wind & Fire - Happy Feelin'
16 Herbie Hancock - Bomb
17 Hiroshi Fukumura - Captain Caribe
18 Tatsuro Yamashita - Solid Slider
19 Foster Sylvers - Misdemeanor
20 Lyn Collins - Think (About It)
21 Chakachas - Jungle Fever
22 Millie Jackson - Kiss You All Over
23 Heatwave - Feel Like Making Love
24 Al Mason - Good Lovin'
25 Love Unlimited Orchestra - High Steppin' Hip Dressin' Fella
26 Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch - Together
27 Van McCoy - Hustle
28 Natalie Cole - Annie Mae
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

And that brings us up to date.

It's nearly 10 to 9 and I'm now off to spend the next couple of hours putting this week's play list together.

Where has the day gone again?

Speak soon...

Monday 14 February 2011

It's gotta be a manic monday - oh oh yeah!

As usual Monday seems to run away with itself and leave me chasing behind, trying to catch up.

It starts off bright and early getting the Pure Grooves magazine published. It takes around an hour to get that sorted and for the links to be posted where they need to be done. Whilst I'm getting the magazine sorted. Debz the Promo Girl is sorting out all the emails and getting the mailing lists sorted to send out all the information to subscribers. I am pleased to say that the Pure Grooves mailing list continues to grow on a daily basis. And long may it continue to.

Here's the link to the magazine

As I was saying last week, I'm pressing on with the promotion of the new 'Soul Medicine' night. Here are two more of the flyers that have gone on facebook over the last few days. The aim is just to get the name into the memory banks.



Earlier on today, I sorted the play list for this week's 'Flashback' show. The around five o'clock this afternoon, I recorded the show, so it is now ready to be uploaded for the stations to take before I put it on facebook on Wednesday. Whilst I'm on the subject of the show, each week, in the Pure Grooves web mag, I do a couple of pages called 'Going Back In Time', and it's there where I write the stories behind the shows, giving you a little background on the artists and songs in the show. That gets sorted after the show, and the 'Birthday Files' are added to the mag at the same time.

What are the 'Birthday Files'? It's part of the show where I read out two listeners birth dates and names and play the UK number one from the day they were born. This week I played songs from 1962 and 1971.

My final job for the day is to update the blog and get it posted. So that what I'm going to do now.

The time is 5 past 8 in the evening and I'm outta here! See you soon...

Sunday 13 February 2011

Lazy Sunday afternoon-ah!

Well Sunday's here - I've always wanted it to be a lazy day, but it never really seems to be. More of that in a minute.

Well, Friday came and went. College in the morning, then a bit of food shopping and back home to sort out the play list for the Sunday Shake Up Show. After that I needed to sort everything for the wedding I did last night.

Saturday was much as usual, I recorded the Sunday Shake Up show on Saturday morning, had a bit of lunch and then went off to do the wedding afterwards.

Setting up was a nightmare, as there was already a disco set up as it had been left there from a previous event. By the time it was out of the way I had less than an hour to get set up before the bride, groom and their guest got there. I managed to get that done and then it was playing background music through the meal, before going on to do the night's entertainment.

This morning is primarily about getting the Sunday Shake Up Show out to the stations and then onto my listen again site. Once that's out of the way I go back to the 'Pure Grooves' web mag and getting the final pieces and general tidying up. By this stage of the week, both Debz and I just want it to be done and dusted, but it never gets finally finished until around 10 tonight if we're lucky. As I'm writing this, Debz is doing her welcome message for the magazine. It is truly a joint effort and we're extremely proud of it.

Somewhere in between the work, we'll hopefully get chance to sit down and have a spot of lunch.



Here's the Playlist:
1 Curtis Mayfield - Makings of You
2 Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie - Hot Butterfly
3 Mandrill - Too Late
4 Vel Omarr - Change Is Gonna Come
5 Darryl Grant - Don't Underestimate The Power Of Love
6 Drizabone Soul Family - Girlfriendz
7 Omar - There's Nothing Like This
8 Teena Marie - Portuguese Love
9 Charme ft Luther Vandross - Georgy Porgy
10 Sam Dees - After All
11 Michael Franks - Barefoot On The Beach
12 Phil Perry - Keep Reminding Me
13 Loleatta Holloway - Casanova
14 J Blackfoot - Taxi
15 Dee Edwards - Deal With That
16 Walter Jackson - It's Cool
17 Ujima - I'm Not Ready
18 Light Of The World - London Town
19 Leon Ware - Why I Came To California
20 Joe Sample - Burnin' Up the Carnival
21 Dayton - Sound Of Music
22 Gwen McCrae - All This Love That I'm Giving
23 Ozone - Our Hearts Will Always Shine
24 Gene Chandler - Get Down
25 Patrick Juvet - I Love America
26 Gary Criss - Girl From Ipanema - Brazillian Nights
To hear James' recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

And that's about it from me for today. Catch you later...

Friday 11 February 2011

Feel Good Friday and a look back

So as we come toward the end off the week I suppose an update on what's been going on, is as good a way as any of starting.

Wednesday morning, was another early one. Up at 10 to 6, and was recording this week's Pure Grooves show by 10 past. That's the beauty of being able to record your shows from home. By half past 8 the show was done and dusted, and winging it's way to Solar Radio.

Next up I had to work on the magazine for a while - this week is Issue 26 - it's hard to believe that we've been doing it for 6 months. From 12 pages in Issue 1 to 26 in Issue 26, it seems to have taken on a life of its own. We seem to keep adding its to it, and it seems to be taking longer to do each week. We could go fortnightly to make it easier, but we can keep current by doing it weekly, so that's what we decided to do. Mind you, sometimes it's really hard to find stuff to go in it.

As I said earlier in the week, Soul Medicine is to replace 'Motown and More'. But now comes the task of getting the name into people's conciousness. I went on a marketing course a few years back and one of the things that was stressed to us , was that a person needs to see something at least 8 times before it becomes recognizable - and so I've been trying to come up with little slogans which tie to the 'Soul Medicine'  name to help people remember it easier.

Here's an example of what I'm trying to do -





Hopefully this will help people to recognize the brand. I think it's important that I get the event off to a flying start. And hopefully this will help.

Wednesday evening is about the 'Flashback show.' This is sent out to the stations and published on line simultaneously each week.



Here's the playlist:
1 Rolling Stones - Route 66
2 Pete Wingfield - Eighteen With A Bullet
3 Bobby Day - Over & Over
4 Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancing
5 Gibson Brothers - Cuba
6 Kate Bush - Babooshka
7 Billy Ocean - Stop Me (If You've Heard It All Before)
8 Elvis Presley - King Creole
9 Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking
10 Bee Gees - Massachusetts
11 Mink De Ville - Spanish Stroll
12 Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - Goody Goody
13 Jackie Wilson - Talk That Talk
14 McGuinness Flint - When I'm Dead & Gone
15 Lulu - I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)
16 Beatles - You're Gonna Lose That Girl
17 Real Thing - Raining Through My Sunshine
18 Little Anthony & The Imperials - Tears On My Pillow
19 KC & the Sunshine Band - Queen Of Clubs
20 Fats Domino - So Long
To hear James' recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

Thursday is generally catch up day. It's the day when I sort out music that needs to be sorted for different shows etc, new music added to the disco computer and suchlike. I'm doing a wedding on Saturday that was booked last May, and so I was checking over the paperwork to make sure I could remember what's needed.

Today is college day. I'm learning how to use Dreamweaver at the moment, and I'm redesigning the 'On The Radio' website to give it a new look, in line with my other web sites. It should be finished soon and then I'll upload it and that will make the collection of web sites look uniform.

Looks like another action packeed weekend!

Catch you later....


Monday 7 February 2011

I Got My Mojo Workin'

Well it's a Monday,  and as usual that means I've had to get the 'Pure Grooves' web mag published for reader consumption!
Lots of great stuff inside the magazine - I can't believe we're at Issue 25 already! next week will see our 6 month anniversary.

Now uppermost on my mind is the 'Soul Medicine' night on the 4th March. As you will know this is replacing the 'Motown & More' nights I'd been doing since last May. I really want these to take off and be the very best night in Cambridge on the first Friday of each month, and as the title of this blog suggests, I've had to have my Mojo working, trying to come up with a promotional campaign, so that the very first one hits the road running. This is harder than it seems. So at the moment, I'm just trying to come up with a small flyer each day to get people recognising the name.

So this afternoon, I've also had to record this week's Flashback show. I sorted the play list out last night, and this afternoon I cracked on and got the show done. As always it will be sent out to the radio stations on Wednesday morning and will go online on Wednesday evening. There are 20 great tunes in this week's show. So catch it when it's on.

After that, I had to record some more segments for a Canadian Pod radio show that I contribute to. Each week I do a Motown & More segment, where I pick one Motown tune and then I delve into the funk trunk to pick another. You can find this show at Don's Pod Radio. Don is the guy that encouraged me to go on this little trip of Radio presenting, so the least I can is contribute the the show that led me into this route I'm enjoying so much.

And that brings me up to date - I've got a curry simmering in the kitchen, a glass of lager waiting to be drunk and 'Aliens' in the DVD waiting to be watch, so that's your lot for today.

See ya soon!

Sunday 6 February 2011

Soul Medicine, Sunday Shake Up and the guy that likes the occasional rant

I'm getting excited about starting Soul Medicine next month - I've wanted to have my own night here since I moved to Cambridge, and have only really been able to take over someone else's (Motown & More). But now that we've buried that, I have a blank canvas in which I can create the night I want.

To me as a DJ, there is nothing quite as good as watching a dance floor full of people enjoying themselves. It's something, I've been fortunate enough to have been able to do over the years, and it's the reason I still love doing what I do so much. And that's the aim for 'Soul Medicine' - quality music and people having a great time.

Motown and More was never what I was about - whilst I have to say I love my Motown - even when mixed with Northern and Modern, wasn't quite what I'm about - I like to have the ability to be creative and play what feels right for the crowd at the time, and unfortunately, the crowd that have been coming to those nights are too varied and not consistent enough to build on the genres that the name implied.

Yesterday, I had a phone call that backed up what my intuition had been telling me all along - and that was that Northern Soul followers won't go for that event name as it sounds too handbaggy (is that a real word?) if you know what I mean.

So whilst we say a fond goodbye to Motown and More - I can't feel anything but excitement about 'Soul Medicine' and hope that people come along and look to have a great night, because that's what I'll be aiming to give them.

As usual Sunday is 'Shake Up' day - so without further ado - here comes the play list and link.


Here's the play list:
1 Maxwell - 'Til The Cops Come Knockin'
2 Angie Stone - No More Rain (In This Cloud)
3 Ralph Tresvent - Sensitivity
4 Imagination - Found My Girl
5 Chaka Khan - What Cha' Gonna Do For Me
6 George Benson - 20/20
7 Vesta Williams - Dedicated
8 David Ary - Billion Dollar
9 Nathan Watson - Reach Out (Sed Soul Mix)
10 Drifters - Like Sister & Brother
11 Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose - It's Too Late To Turn Back Now
12 R&J Stone - We Do It
13 Joe Sample - X Marks The Spot
14 Roberta Flack & Michael Henderson - At The Concert
15 Stylistics - If I Love You
16 Bobby Womack - Harry Hippie
17 Billy Paul - Thanks For Saving My Life
18 Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
19 Teddy Pendergrass - More I Get The More I Want
20 Don Ray - Got To Have Loving
21 Paulinho De Costa - Carnival Of Colors
22 Rudy - Lovely Day
23 Johnny 'Guitar' Watson - I Need It
24 Vicky D - This Beat Is Mine
25 Evelyn King - I'm In Love
26 Melba Moore - Love's Comin' At Ya
27 Whispers - It's A Love Thing
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

And finally - sorry for my rant yesterday - I can't help it - There is nothing worse than being angry with yourself for allowing yourself to stop being true to your beliefs, and as it was stupid o'clock in the morning and I had no-one else to get it off my chest to, the blog became my sounding board.

Still, I suppose it made the blog sound more interesting. Till next time......


Saturday 5 February 2011

Goodbye Motown & More - hello Soul Medicine!!!!!!!!!!

Those of you that read my blog will know that in Friday morning's blog, I said that I may be losing a night of work per month.

When I went to tonight's Motown & More I was hoping for a better night as a fair few people said they were coming. It turns out some of them didn't and it left the night short of people - and we've had too many of those lately. It got to the stage tonight when people were leaving at 10ish and I thought that either I'd turned into a crap DJ or it was time to say F**k it! and keep going, but to do what I'm good at and make the night work.

I may have substituted playing some rarer tunes from some that are more common, but I was determined I wasn't going to lose another night's work. And I'm pleased to report, it worked.

Since I've been in Cambridge, I've been to lots of events and watched other DJs work to packed floors and I knew that I'm as good as some of them, but I've not been getting the floors as full as I should. Maybe that's because people didn't know me round here. Well I've been here for almost a year now. It's time that I made sure people do know I'm here, and that I'm a good DJ too!

Don't get me wrong. I don't think I'm the best DJ here - I don't want to be. I don't much care for politics, and I don't have a massive ego that makes me think I'm better than everyone else. However, I know I'm good at what I do, and I'm sick of wondering what I'm doing wrong. And therein lies the problem. I'm gonna go back to doing what I do well.

Lately, I've had some good nights, but too many bad ones for my liking. Well you know what? I've had enough of wondering what I'm doing wrong.

I know I'm a damn good DJ and if I have to substitute some rare tunes to do it, I'll have to. But it's about time I showed Cambridge what I can do. I've been thinking that Motown and More needed revamping. I took over an ailing Motown night, and I've been trying to pick it back up - firstly by adding a bit of Northern and Modern to the mix.  It's never really been my night though.

It will be from next month.

I love soul as a genre and have wanted to play across the board - and as from the next time that's what's going to happen. If we have people there that want more Northern, then that's what I'll do. If they want some 70s soul, then that's where we'll go. This doesn't mean I'm gonna start playing kak though. There are enough places that do that already.

I'm determined to make Soul Medicine the best first Friday of the month in Cambridge. We may not get hundreds there, but we'll get enough - and they'll have a great night out.

So what happened tonight? I really don't know - but I decided to do what I know how to do well - and that's make sure that the people that are in the room have a great time.

So here's the playlist. While it may not be what people have been used to seeing from me at Motown and More - tonight when I finished I had everyone in the room wanting me to carry on because they were having a good time.

1 Gene Chandler - Does She Have A Friend For Me
2 Carleen Anderson - Buttercup
3 Michael Wycoff - Looking Up To You
4 Nathan Watson - Reach Out (Sed Soul Mix)
5 Beres Hammond - Do This World A Favour
6 Edei - Loved (Sed Soul Extended Mix)
7 Kenny Thomas - Thinkin' About Your Love (Neil T Scam Mix)
8 Barbara McNair - It Happens Everytime
9 Jimmy Ruffin - I've Passed This Way Before
10 David Ruffin - I Can't Stop The Rain
11 Rufus - Hollywood
12 OC Smith - La La Peace Song
13 Bill Withers - Don't It Make It Better
14 Marvin Gaye - Too Busy Thinking 'Bout My Baby
15 Jnr Walker & The All Stars - How Sweet It Is
16 Marv Johnson - I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose
17 Mary Wells - My Guy
18 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Third Finger Left Hand
19 Jimmy Ruffin - It's Wonderful To Be Loved By You
20 George Lemons - Fascinating Girl
21 Jackie Wilson - Whispers (Getting Louder)
22 Pookie Hudson - This Gets To Me
23 Willie Hutch - Soul Strut
24 Originals - Don't Stop Now
25 Isley Brothers - Harvest For The World
26 Imperials - Who's Gonna Love Me
27 Linda Carr & The Love Squad - Highwire
28 Temptations - My Baby
29 Stevie Wonder - Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours
30 Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes Two
31 Freda Payne - Band Of Gold
32  Chairman Of The Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time
33 Millie Jackson - My Man A Sweet Man
34 Tammi Lynn - I'm Gonna Run Away From You
35 Supremes - There's No Stopping Us Now
36 Barbara Randolph - I Got A Feeling
37 Detroit Spinners - I'll Always Love You
38 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
39 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown
40 Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
41 Otis Redding - Love Man
42 Aretha Franklin - Respect
43 Jackie Wilson - Higher & Higher
44 Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat
45 Trammps - Hold Back The Night
46 Tams - Hey Girl Don't Bother Me
47 Martha Reeves & the Vandellas - Dancing In The Street
48 Isley Brothers - Tell Me It's Just A Rumour
49 Kim Weston - I'm Still Loving You
50 Kurt Harris - Emperor Of My Baby's Heart
51 Billy Arnell & The Sparkles - Tough Girl
52 Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
53 Heatwave - Boogie Nights
54 Rose Royce - Is It Love You're After
55 O'Jays - I Love Music
56 Lou Rawls - See You When I Get There
57 Gloria Scott - Too Much Lovemaking
58 Bobby Womack - So Many Sides Of You
59 Dean Parrish - I'm On My Way
60 Darrell Banks - Open The Door To Your Heart
61 Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself
62 Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright)
63 Supremes - The Happening
64 George Benson - Give Me The Night
65 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Onion Song
66 Temptations - Get Ready
67 Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
68 Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine
69 Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Going To A Go Go
70 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
71 Billy Ocean - Red Light Spells Danger
72 Booker Newberry III - Love Town
73 Galaxy - What Do I Do
74 Supremes - Automatically Sunshine
75 Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
76 Gonzalez - Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet
77 Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
78 McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now
79 Shalamar - Take That To The Bank
80 Edwin Starr - Contact
81 A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
82 Sylvester - You Make Me Feel Mighty Real
83 Evelyn 'Champagne' King - Shame
84 Kool & The Gang - Ladies Night

There are some requests thrown in there as well. I'll leave you to guess which ones they are, but for one of the few times lately, I can go to bed knowing I turned it around and made it a great time.

The first Soul Medicine is on 4th March. I know there is another night going on that night with Chris Brown and Andy Stearn going on in Milton - their night will be great. But mine is going to be as well. This city is big enough that we can all have great events. I've decided it's time for me to have some too...

Friday 4 February 2011

Flashback, flyers and Chocolate Cake!

OK. So let's recap the last few days.

Wednesday is a day when I catch up on paperwork and all that good stuff - except it's not really that good. So this week, I didn't bother.

I was up around 6.30am and the first thing I did was to record this week's Pure Grooves show. I've always felt that I should be a Breakfast show presenter, because I'm at my best first thing in the morning. By dinner time I'm going downhill! I think this week's show is a good one, with a pretty wide range of tunes. There's new stuff from the likes of Tom Glide, we've got a bit of Mario Biondi. No, not THAT one! And we also have Dexter Wansel, Will Downing, The O'Jays and much more. Tasty eh?

The show was done and dusted by 6.30, so I had a look over facebook answered a few emails and once that was done, I went to see my mate Max. Max Rees is a bit of a legend in these here parts. Since I came to Cambridge, he's taken me under his wing, and tried to guide me in the ways of the music world. His knowledge of the soul scene is second to none and I've learned so much from him. And we have some real in depth conversations. He is a bit of a progressive guy who has moved on with the times and embraced today's music. And he does try to get me to open my eyes to the new stuff......I sometimes think he wants to punch me for my views though! But we do get on well and I feel I've become a better DJ with a wider taste and knowledge in music because of him. (OK Max, you can give me that £20 now!).

Wednesday is also about the Flashback show. I started this show as a one-off on the last August Bank Holiday, as I was bored and had nothing to do. Loads of people asked me to do more, and from what was planned to be a one-off, it's developed into a show that is well-listened to and now on a few stations as well.
The idea behind the show was to play 20 Golden Oldies from different eras, hopefully not too many of the same that you can hear on normal radio.


Here's the link to the show

Here's the playlist:
1 Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat
2 Fats Domino - Sick & Tired
3 Fleetwood Mac - Oh Diane
4 Georgia Gibbs - Tweedle Dee
5 Joe Jones - You Talk Too Much
6 Showaddywaddy - Under The Moon Of Love
7 Glen Campbell - Southern Nights
8 James & Bobby Purify - Morning Glory
9 Everly Brothers - Walk Right Back
10 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap - Young Girl
11 Sweet - Co Co
12 Jim Stafford - Spiders & Snakes
13 Ricky Nelson - Poor Little Fool
14 Rolling Stones - Miss You
15 Elvis Presley - Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do
16 Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday
17 Steely Dan - FM
18 Bill Haley - Dance With A Dolly
19 Johnny Rivers - Mountain Of Love
20 Matt Monro - Born Free
To hear James' recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/

As you can see, Born Free is there as a tribute to John Barry, who passed away earlier this week.

Right - moving on - Requestfest.

As regular readers of the blog will know, I always say that each one is totally different. This time was no exception. This week, we had someone in the pub that was celebrating his birthday, and knowing he likes a bit of reggae, his friends were requesting some, so you will see there's a reggae bias in this week's playlist.

My mate Max (who seems to be involved in today's blog quite a bit), came along with a young lady, and made the night really enjoyable by giving me stick all the time (in a nice way - and very funny). He also made one or two decent requests - but no, I didn't play Hands Up by Ottowan for him. I even had a text request from the Promo Girl for D.I.S.C.O. (I didn't play that either). Is there an Ottowan resurgence coming? If there is, I'm off to Australia!

Anyway, here's last night's playlist:

1 David Bowie - Golden Years
2 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
3 Lighthouse Family - Ocean Drive
4 David Ruffin - I Can't Stop The Rain
5 Hollies - On A Carousel
6 Pendulum - Slam
7 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Billericay Dickie
8 Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock
9 Prodigy - Omen
10 Cuban Ize - African Message
11 Armand Van Helden - My My My
12 Fatback Band - Wicky Wacky
13 Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
14 Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That
15 Human League - Don't You Want Me
16 Benny Troy - I Wanna Give You Tomorrow
17 Jah Cure - Searching For A Girl
18 Usher ft Will I Am - OMG
19 Blackfoot Sue - Standing In The Road
20 Queen - Bicycle Race
21 David Joseph - You Can't Hide Your Love From Me
22 Surface - Happy
23 Bruno Mars - Grenade
24 Nelly - Just A Dream
25 Tom Browne - Funkin' For Jamaica
26 Akon - Bonanza (Belly Dancer)
27 Omarion - Entourage
28 Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier
29 Gyptian - Hold You
30 N-Dubz - Say It's Over
31 Police - Roxanne
32 Stranglers - Golden Brown
33 Bob Marley - Three Little Birds
34 Joe Turner - Honey Hush
35 Etta James - Seven Day Fool
36 Ne*Yo - Because Of You
37 Bob Marley - Iron Lion Zion
38 Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
39 UB40 - Rat In Me Kitchen
40 Micky Modelle vs Jessy - Dancing In The Dark
41 Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight
42 Prince - Purple Rain
43 Buddy Holly - Everyday
44 UB40 - Kingston Town
45 Destiny's Child - Girl
46 Nora Dean - Barbwire
47 Craig David - 7 Days
48 Eddy Grant - Do You Feel My Love
49 Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes
50 Jimmy Cliff - King Of Kings
51 Seal - Kiss From A Rose
52 Professor Green - Monster
53 Ne*Yo - Beautiful Monster
54 Mario Winans ft P Diddy - I Don't Wanna Know
55 Boyz II Men - End Of The Road
56 Guns 'n' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
57 Usher ft Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
58 Eminem ft Lil Wayne - No Love
59 Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes
60 Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town
61 Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - Stay

As I said, it was pretty wide-ranging.

So all in all, a good night. Dampened slightly by the fact that, when I packed up, I was told that we may have to cut back to one Requestfest a month, as the pub isn't doing as well since the new VAT changes - it appears people don't have so much money to spend. Tell me something I hadn't already realised.

It's a good job I made the brochures earlier in the week. I'd better get out there hustling for more work.

Ah well.... at least there was chocolate cake there last night. And very nice it was too........

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Everything's Tuesday

Well it's been another busy day here. It kicked off with a visit to the College. As I've said before, I'm learning to used 'Dreamweaver' and as part of my course, I'm revamping one of my websites. Now that I'm getting the hang of it (slowly), the web site is starting to take shape, although a couple of things aren't going right yet, but as they said in that famous 70s TV show, "We can re-build it!"

I came back and started sorting some more Northern Soul tunes to put on my disco computer. I'm slowly building up my collection of Northern Soul tunes and I've got just under 1000 - however I'm still learning what I've got so I'm not yet an expert.

Then earlier this evening I posted this last week's 'Pure Grooves radio show. I'm having a few problems uploading to Podomatic at the moment so I've had to use another site for the moment. Anyway, here's the show link.


Here's the playlist:
1 Maze ft Frankie Beverly - Silky Soul
2 Soul II Soul - Time
3 Terry Ronald - What The Child Needs
4 Cameo - Back & Forth
5 Central Line - Nature Boy
6 Seawind - What Cha Doin'
7 Peter Brown - Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me
8 Linda Clifford - Runaway Love
9 Double Exposure - Everyman
10 Fat Larry's Band - Center City
11 CJ & Co - Devil's Gun
12 Aquarian Dream - Phoenix
13 Dennis Coffey - Scorpio
14 Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes
15 Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground
16 TS Monk - Bon Bon Vie
17 Dynasty - Here I Am
18 Chemise - She Can't Love You
19 Barbara Pennington - Spend A Little Time With Me
20 Brief Encounter - What About Love
21 Jean Carn - Bet She Won't Love You Like I Do
22 Grupo X Ft Lisa Millett - Brand New Love
23 Blaze - Breathe (Hardsouls Latin Direction Treatment)
To hear my recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com

While I was out today I was thinking that it's about time I approached a few venues with regard to Friday Night events. At the moment I'm only regularly working on the first Friday of the month, so it would be nice to fill the other three Fridays.

So after putting the show online, I decided to design a new brochure to show to venue managers. That is now done, so I've made a viewable one that you can go and have a look at. I would appreciate any feedback you have on it.

You can see it by clicking here. It is password protected, so you'll need to type in the password which is: letmein - nice and easy to remember lol.

The only other thing I have to do tonight is sort out my play list for this week's Pure Grooves radio show, which I will record in the morning.

It's all go...