Another Rock 'n' Roll Tragedy

I have to say it came as no surprise to hear about the death of Amy Winehouse. I remember a few years ago, seeing  a website on which people were guessing the date she would die on, and there had always been a sense of inevitability that she would be one of those rock 'n' roll victims.

Two albums were her legacy, but I expect we'll see a new album with material that she'd recorded but not yet released. I remember hearing her for the first time back in 2004. "Help Yourself" was the first song I heard and thought it was brilliant. Listening the album "Frank" confirmed that she was indeed a great talent, and although people will say that "Back To Black" was the defining album, for me "Frank" was the album that will show the best of her talent.

Her personal life appears to have been a well reported mess, and I can only think that she was a flawed person, talented as an artist, but unfortunately, someone who made the wrong choices along the way and ultimately paid for it.

My favourite Amy Winehouse song? Me & Mr Jones. I would have played it to death on the radio had she not done what so many do these days and used the "f" word in the song. It's a song that's evocative of a bygone era and only went to show that she had a wealth of knowledge about music.

I have no doubt "Valerie" will continue to be a floorfiller at discos for a long time to come and will ensure that she'll hold a place in the history of popular music.

Amy Winehouse R.I.P.

You can't help think that it was such a waste though...

Catching up

Well it's been a busy week or so since I blogged last. Life seems to be running away from me at the moment as I've been a bit bogged down with so much to do - In the past fortnight, I've done 8 radio shows, 2 parties, 2 weddings and a requestfest as well as getting the Pure Grooves web magazine ready for publication.

I have to say though, it's been a fun fortnight. I've played in front of over 500 people, and added a brand new show to my list - and from the first results on my listen again/download site, it looks as though the show could be a winner. The first set of results for that week showed that the new show had 10% more listeners than any of my other shows, which is heartening.

The fact is, I wasn't looking to do another show, and it just came from an opportunity, which makes it all the more worthwhile. The fact is that now I'm doing three, two hour shows and an hour show a week. It's meant that I'm now having to be more organised in the way I do things. I've now set aside Sunday to put together the playlists for all the shows. I takes around the same amount of time to prepare for a show as it does to actually do it. It just means that I'll have to forego doing other stuff on a Sunday - but I believe that for everything you want to achieve, there is a price to pay, and losing a Sunday is the price I have to play to get to where I want to be.

I'm not going to give you the playlist for all the shows I've done since last time as you'll be here all night. However, here are the links for last week's shows:

Flashback:
http://jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-13T07_00_40-07_00 
Pure Grooves:
http://jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-15T02_00_41-07_00
James Murphy's Friday Night Out:
http://jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-16T00_00_44-07_00
Sunday Shake Up:
http://jamesmurphy.podomatic.c?om/entry/2011-07-16T23_00_42-0?7_00

Don't forget that you can listen to the shows from the player at my web site as well
http://www.ontheradio.info

Speaking of which, I've added a guestbook to the web site so that you can get in touch with me - it may be that you want a request, dedication or to contribute something to the show. It may be that you just want to say 'hi!'.

We have a competition running on the site to win a copy of the Soul Unsigned 2011 (Summer) Session album. We've got five to give away and you just need to answer one simple question to enter the competition. It closes on 31st July, so you have still got time to enter.

This week's Pure Grooves magazine has just been published and the featured artist is Aretha Franklin. As always, it's free to read so be sure to check it out - http://www.puregrooves.info

One final thing, if you're a friend of mine on facebook and are a member of any of my groups, I'm going to ask you to like my newest page - On The Radio with James Murphy - this is replacing the group that managed to get archived by facebook, which lost me in excess of 1600 members. I'm hoping to convert all the friends from all of my groups to this one so that I can streamline my social networking news - I realise some people are members of all my groups, and are receiving up to three emails from me each week and more postings if they in all three. Hopefully by doing this I can cut down on the amount of info I'm bombarding people with, making it less intrusive.

In an ideal world, I'd have everyone's email address and be able to send one email with all the information on it, but the way facebook works, it's unlikely I'm ever going to achieve that. As someone who really wants to achieve more in radio, it's important to me to have email addresses of people in the groups - I'm sure that when I lost the old OTR page, I also lost a lot of members who weren't personally friends on my profile page. That will mean they no longer will be able to follow what I'm doing.

That's also one of the reasons that I'm now trying to utilise my web site more. The more people coming through the website the easier it will be to keep they fed with information.

And finally what's in it for you? Well, I'm a great believer in the fact that you never stop learning, and I'm always looking at ways to do things better. Nowhere more so than in my radio shows. I'm looking to improve them and make them into the kind of shows that more and more people will want to hear. I'm doing ongoing research into what people want to hear from my shows, and I'm always going to try and improve them as bring you a better show.

In the couple of years I've been doing them, I'd like to think I've seen continual improvement, not only in my presentational style, but also the quality of the music I've been playing. My four shows are all different in their make up, and I'd like to think each show has it's own personality. My hope is that there is something of interest to people in the 30-65 year old age groups, who can't find what they want in mainstream radio. Time will tell how much I achieve.

Till next time...

I'm beginning to think I'm a trendsetter

I'm a great believer in trying to promote myself and get my name out into the arena. I don't see a problem with that. I think myself and Debz work very hard at it.

I mean, a free web magazine that takes around 30 hours to produce each issue. We maintain groups on facebook and are forever promoting my various Radio shows (now 4 a week) and other activities.

What annoys me somewhat are people who feel that they can hitch a ride. I've had a couple of people want me to put their radio shows in my magazine, but don't want to pay for the privilege of me advertising them. If they want to be in a magazine that much, they're more than welcome to start one as I did.

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me to give their first event a shout out on air and possibly in the magazine. There was no clash of interests for me so I did as it was their first event. Well blow me down - they asked again this week! I don't mind doing a favour now and again, but I'm not too happy about being taken advantage of.

I've managed to get some CDs to give away in a competition which is on my web site and will be going in the next issue of the magazine. I posted the competition and what do you know some people have started making a comment about the CD and then plugging their own shows and events. If it's someone I know personally I don't mind so much, and if it's someone who's plugged anything of mine I don't mind, but I get annoyed when it's done by people I don't even know personally. They usually get deleted - although I think I'm going to have to start plugging my stuff on their pages and see how they like it.

And the newest one I've seen was this afternoon - I've been doing a Requestfest in Cambridge for around a year now and did them before I moved here from Weymouth, so it really winds me up when I see an event in Cambridge that's a Requestfest under a different name (and it's in a venue I used to play in).

I'm not upset at the fact it's a blatant copy of what I do, it's the lack of imagination - why can't people try to do something different?

I should be chuffed that so many people want to be associated with what I try and do - it's just a shame they're not willing to put in the amount of work to do what I'm trying to do.

People eh?

Till next time.....

So... how did I get on?

I think that just about covers it! I did my presentation yesterday it it seemed to go over well, and hopefully I answered their questions with enough information.

It only took around 10 minutes to cover what I felt needed to be said - they should have enough information to make a decision on how Social media can work for them. Was nice to see one or two even taking notes.

I've not mentioned it before, but my eldest son has been here to stay since last Wednesday. Today is his last full day before he goes back to Dorset tomorrow, so I'm going to take the rest of today off and we're off out, once he's ready.

So a short blog today, but I promise I'll do better next time.....

OMG... I've got to do a presentation!

I've been in Cambridge for almost 18 months, and am still trying to build my reputation and network of people that know me in the city.

With that in mind, around a month ago I joined an executive networking group of business professionals to help in the process.

At the last meeting, we were discussing social media and how it can help with networking and in particular looking for work.

As many of my facebook friends will vouch, I am something of a self promoter, after all, like my Mum used to say, if you don't promote yourself, who's going to do it for you?

Well it was suggested that someone gives a presentation on Social Media and how it can aid you in work or business use, and they asked for a volunteer to do it. Guess who said they would?

Yes, you got it - gobby here!

''I'll do it'' I said. You could almost see the relief on other people's faces when they realised it wouldn't have to be them.

And so it gets to this morning, and, although I've thought about it through the week, I've only scribbled the odd thought down during the course of the last 10 days or so.

Well... I've got to do it tomorrow afternoon, and with nothing of note to talk about, I had to get up this morning and come up with a fairly brief presentation. How was I gonna do that? Luckily I had a flash of inspiration.

I've built my presentation around the following words:

What, Where, Who, How, Why and When

That gave me a framework to go on. And with the help of google, I've managed to come up with a 10 minute presentation that will cover the basics, and hopefully motivate some people to have a go.

How will it go? Lord only knows! I've read it back a few times and I think it should be OK.

I'll find out tomorrow!

Till next time...

Life's peculiarities

It’s funny what can happen on a day to day basis.

Over the last few week’s myself and Debz Promo have been talking about what we could do to move my radio shows on.

We started talking about various things and ended up putting together the first stage of a gameplan to move onward with the radio shows, and to that end we started to put in place stage one.

Without going into too much detail, I want to create radio shows that people want to listen to and look forward to hearing. And with this all in mind, I have proceeded to do what I do whilst trying to improve on each show (not that I don’t try and do that already).

Also I have been spending time on the web site as well, trying to make that more user friendly and to add new features to that as well as putting a new player on the site to listen to the shows.

Then on Monday last week, having completed the recording of the ‘Flashback’ show, and having not too much to do that evening, I decided to do another of the live one-off theme shows I’ve done of late.

I mentioned on facebook that I was going to do a show and that I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, and one of my listeners, Keith Doxey came up with the theme of ‘Summer Breeze’, aimed at getting the feel of those summers gone by and the songs that remind us of summer and summer holidays as well.

That seemed like a great idea to me, so I quickly found a few songs that would fit the theme and proceeded to start the show. I got some requests in as well which helped to fill in the playlist as the show progressed.

Another listener, who happens to be a presenter as well, said that he thought my show should be going out on FM in-stead of on the net. I told him that would be great if anyone wanted to take it.

He then told me he’d email the owner of an FM station he has a show on and try and get him to check the show out. And he came up trumps. Within 15 minutes the owner of the station messaged me to say he was listening to the show.

He listened to the show for a while and then asked if I’d be interested in doing a show on his station ACE FM in Spain. Absolutely! We chatted about a time slot and what sort of show he’d like me to do. I gave him an idea for a show I’d like to do, and he agreed to let me run with it.

And so, from Friday 8th July, I’ll be presenting James Murphy’s Friday Night Out.

I have to thank Lee Vincent (the other presenter) for taking the time and effort to email the station owner on my behalf.

Sometimes, when you decide it’s time to move on, things start to fall into place.

Consider what happened - I didn't have much to do that evening, so decided to do a show. A listener came up with a theme which I liked. Another listener thought the show was good and put me in touch with someone who runs a station. That person, tuned in, and because of those few things, I now have a new show on an FM station in Spain.

But it’s so true what people have told me in the past. You can’t do it all yourself and you need help along the way. But you have to help yourself.

I helped myself by deciding to do a live show when I could have done something else. Keith helped by coming up with a theme. Lee helped by emailing somebody for me, and because I played some great requests (chosen by others), I now have a new opportunity opening up.

I’m not sure I believe in fate, but had not one of those little steps along the way happened, then I wouldn’t be looking forward to a new show.

Like I said at the beginning, it’s funny what can happen on a day to day basis.

Till next time...

So, you need to book a DJ

Now you're having a function and looking for a Disco and a DJ for your entertainment. It's not something you do on a regular basis and you're not sure what you should be looking for, after all, discos are all the same aren't they?

Choosing a DJ for your function is one of the most important decisions you can make to ensure the success of the event. Everything else can be perfect, but if the music isn’t good, the party will fizzle. Selecting the right Disco for your party can be confusing. There are over 15,000 DJs in the U.K. all promising they’ll do a great job for you. So how do you pick the right one for you? Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide you with some guidance to help you make the decision easier.

The best and easiest way is to find a DJ you’ll like is to hire one you’ve already seen. If you’ve been at a wedding or party where the DJ was great, find out who he or she was. If you didn’t get their card, ask the host or the manager of the function room where the party was held.

If you haven’t seen a good DJ recently, ask your friends. Your friends probably have the same taste in music as you. Maybe they’ve been to a function you missed. Let them know ahead of time you’ll be looking, and ask them to keep their eyes and ears open.

If the first two suggestions don’t work, your job gets tougher. You might have to go to the Yellow Pages. Look under Disc Jockeys, Mobile Discos, Music and Entertainment. Circle the ads in which the DJ mention the type of party you’re planning. For example, if you’re planning a wedding, a DJ whose ad says ‘We specialise in Weddings’ would be a good one to call. You’ll probably find several DJs whose ads look good. Alternatively, you can search the internet. There are many good directories to check such as the Wedding DJ Association www.weddingdja.co.uk which will even help you find DJs and Discos in your area.

How do you tell which one is best? Probably the worst way to choose a DJ is on price alone. Some DJs are more expensive than others. Prices can range from £120 to £800+ for a 4 hour event. That’s quite a difference, and it would be very tempting to choose the cheapest alternative. If that’s all you can afford, then you have no choice. But, consider the law of supply and demand. There is a reason that some DJs charge more than others. They are usually worth it. More expensive DJs tend to be the more experienced DJs. They can charge more because they have a lot of jobs, and they have a good reputation. Generally, the DJs on the low end of the price scale are new to the business, and trying to get established. They could do a good job, and might be worth a shot if your party is on the informal side. But there is probably more at risk with a less experienced person.

As you speak with the DJs, pay attention to their professionalism over the phone. It tends to spill over into their DJ style. The most important thing to ask is their experience with your type of event. If you are planning an event like a wedding, it would be normal to expect a professional DJ to have performed for at least 25 of these events. A number in the hundreds is actually common for a DJ who is well established.

DJs with less experience might also do a good job. And they’ll usually cost less. If you talk to one who sounds interesting, ask them for references. Get 4 or 5 names and phone numbers of people who have recently hired them. Call these references and ask about the DJs performance. Any DJ can easily give you 2 or 3 names. Getting more names is a better test of the quality of their performance.

You might also ask the DJ if they are performing in a location where you could see them. If so, make a visit, unannounced. Observe how the DJ interacts with the crowd. Are people having fun? Are people dancing? Is the music too loud? Is the DJ dressed appropriately? These are all good clues to the DJs skills and personality.

Always ask the DJ about their policy on requests. The best DJs will take requests from the audience and work them into their routine. However, do not expect the DJ to play every request. Many requests are simply inappropriate for the mood of the event. A good DJ is not a jukebox. He will blend requests with songs he feels will properly motivate the crowd. The art of DJing is timing, and this takes experience. Forcing a DJ to ignore his or her instincts by making them play every request will result in an ‘uneven’ (and less fun party). On the other hand, the DJ should try to play as many of your audience’s requests as possible. Try to get a feel for their philosophy of requests as you interview them. It is also appropriate to give a DJ a list of 5 or 6 songs you ‘must have’. Just don’t make that list 15 or 20 songs long.

Many DJs boast about the number of songs they have. While variety is great, the fact is that they will only be able to play 60-70 songs in a four hour show. Having the right 60 songs is a lot more important than having 20,000 songs your crowd doesn’t want to hear. After you tell the DJ what type of party you are having and who the audience will be, ask him what type of music they’d suggest. You should feel comfortable with most of his or her selections.

Many DJs also boast about having great equipment. Unless you are familiar with professional audio gear, you probably won’t know which brands are great and which are budget. However, your DJ should at least have professional grade equipment. If they list brand names you are familiar with at the local electronics retailer, that is a cause for further questioning. Home stereo equipment is not designed to stand up to 4-5 hours of high volume use. It could fail in the middle of your party! For example, typical professional DJ power amplifiers usually have 200-600 watts per channel, where consumer amplifiers that are considered powerful may have only 100 watts per channel.

Some DJ companies have more than one DJ working for them. In this case, it’s important to get references on the particular DJ who will be assigned to your show. Even if the company has been around for ten years, they might have hired your DJ last week. He might be a pro himself, or he may be newly trained. Be sure of who you’re getting.

The perfect DJ for you will be affordable, experienced at your type of event, and have great references. There are probably a lot of DJs who fit that description. As you search remember that above all, you want your event to be fun. Also remember, you need to feel comfortable with your DJ.

I hope this helps you, as you look for your entertainment.

James Murphy owns Impact Disco Entertainment and has been involved in the DJ/Entertainment field since 1977. He can be contacted for questions by email – impactdisco@aol.com or telephone (07786) 387338. His website is http://www.impactdisco.com/

Guilty Pleasures...now doesn't that sound nice?

A few years ago I used to listen to a radio show called 'Glitterball' on BBC Radio Leeds. It was presented by cringy 70s style DJ called Dr Dance, played naff music and I loved it!

People used to get in touch and request all sorts of rubbish and he'd play it. It was just brilliant. It always featured well in the download charts and seemed to have worldwide listeners. At the time I was living in Dorset, so it certainly had a more than local following.

I'm not sure what happened to it, but it's no longer on. I've hunted for it's show website and I can't find it either. However, it got me to thinking about how I'd enjoyed it and wondered if it could be a viable show to produce and present.

It's not going to be a show for the serious minded music listener, but if you're up for a bit of fun, it could be well worth a listen.

Anyway, last week, I had a night free, and on a whim, I decided to broadcast a show with 'Naughty But Nice' as a name and Guilty Pleasures as a theme. As I only announced 10 minutes before going on air that I was going to do it, I never expected too many listeners. However I was pleasantly surprised how many logged into the show during the time it was on.

More surprising is the amount of downloads/listens again it's had in this week since the show went out. It make me think that this show could have somewhere to go.

So without further ado, here's the Naughty But Nice show for your pleasure....is that the right word?

Here's the link

Here's the playlist:

1 Jingle - Asteroid (Pearl & Dean Theme)
2 Joy Sarney - Naughty Naughty Naughty
3 Tina Charles - Dance Little Lady Dance
4 Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie
5 Andrea True Connection - More More More
6 Aneka - Japanese Boy
7 Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
8 Pointer Sisters - Slow Hand
9 Sheila & B Devootion - Singin' In The Rain
10 Cilla Black - Something Tells Me
11 Eric Carmen - Hungry Eyes
12 Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up
13 Pussycat - Mississippi
14 Eruption - I Can't Stand The Rain
15 Rocky Horry Show Cast - Touch A Touch A Touch Me
16 Paper Lace - Billy Don't Be A Hero
17 Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy
18 Raffaella Carra - Do It Do It Again
19 Pete Rodriguez - I Like It Like That
20 Jackson Browne - Stay
21 Boystown Gang - Can't Take My Eyes Off You
22 Exile - Kiss You All Over
23 Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville
24 Mavericks - Dance The Night Away
25 David Christie - Saddle Up
26 Boney M - Daddy Cool
27 Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy
28 Jimmy Young - Man From Laramie
29 Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting
30 Alessi - Oh Lori
31 Barefoot Man - Big Panty Woman
32 David Dundas - Jeans On
33 Judge Dread - Big Six
33 Barry Blue - Dancing On A Saturday Night
34 Fern Kinney - Together We Are Beautiful
35 Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe
36 Kenny - Fancy Pants
37 Kelly Marie - Feels Like I'm In Love
38 Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down
39 Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night
40 Belle & The Devotions - Love Games
41 Nolans - Who's Gonna Rock You
42 New Seekers - Never Ending Song Of Love
43 Sheena Easton - Nine To Five
44 David Cassidy - Puppy Song
45 Osmonds - One Bad Apple
46 Liquid Gold - Dance Yourself Dizzy
47 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
48 Robin Sarstedt - My Resistance Is Low
49 Maureen McGovern - Continental
50 Guy Marks - Loving You Has Made Me Bananas
51 Village People - Can't Stop The Music

To hear  recent shows, go to http://www.jamesmurphy.podomatic.com/ - you can now also use the player on my re-designed web site to listen again to. Ideal if you want to listen at work!

Till next time...

Why Twitter makes me feel like a twit

Please help me with this one. Do you understand Twitter?

I really am trying to work it out, but I just don't seem to be able to follow what happens there. I'm following people, but I don't understand their messages. I keep seeing all these weird links but they mean nothing to me. I post, and yet after 382 of the damned things, I don't think I've had a reply to more than one of them.

I've just upgraded my 'On The Radio' website again and wanted to add buttons and stuff from twitter, and when I try to use any of their buttons, all I get is an error on page message.

I've tried to follow others' conversations and I can't make head nor tail of it.

But the worst thing of all for someone like me, is how do you try to get across a message in 140 characters, when I'm a waffler and need that many just to say hello?

I'm determined to get the hang of it, if only to prove to myself that I'm not a twonk!

Silver Surfers, 'Diggin' the Dancing Queen, Days Out & a Wedding

Sounds like the title of a Richard Curtis film doesn't it?

Well it's been a bit hectic this last week or so, and I've not had time to update, so here goes!

As many of you may know, I'm doing a part time ITQ course at College and it's progressing nicely thanks, but when I was there one day last week, I saw a sign for Silver Surfer day. Basically it's when pensioners can come in and have a day learning how to use the net if they hadn't used it before.

Now I know I sometimes think on a parallel dimension to everyone else, bit this is what I saw when I read the sign.

I have been informed since (because I asked), that nobody turned up with a surfboard, so as usual my thinking was a bit out.

Debz the Promogirl managed to get me in hysterics again this week. She told me that she was watching 'Glee' with her daughter, when the cast were singing Abba's 'Dancing Queen', and it was during the song that for the first time she realised what 'Diggin' the Dancing Queen' meant. Apparently, she had always thought that 'Diggin' was a naff Swedish name, and that 'Diggin' was the Dancing Queen's name! It's no wonder we get on so well eh?

I did a wedding last Saturday - Lovely venue, lots of nice people, and a great time was had by all. However, why is it you always get one who misses the tone of the wedding and makes requests that are so wrong for the night and the vibe that's going on. Yes, I got one. From having requests that were, ranging from Motown to Dance tunes, a bit of Disco and that sort of stuff, I had one guy that requested the likes of Erasure 'Blue Savannah', New Kids On The Block 'Hangin' Tough' and The Smiths 'This Charming Man'. Totally not what the Bride & Groom wanted. And when I said I couldn't play them, he went chasing the Bride and Groom and dragged them over to get me to play them. Whilst they both said no, he kept on to them throughout the evening and in the end they relented and said yes to shut him up!

Talk about killing a dance floor - cleared the floor and went from plenty to about 3 or 4. Then I had to start all over again and get people back on there. It's OK, I did it, but it just spoils the flow and means you've got to start all over again.

On Sunday we took a trip into God's own county, that of course being Essex, and went to a barbecue. It was great to meet up with some old friends and it was really good to have a day off - it was the first one I can remember having in ages. I even ended up doing a small guest spot on a Radio station.

Bank Holiday Monday also meant that it was time to get this week's Pure Grooves webmag published, as well as record the 'Flashback show'.

Tuesday is the day I record the 'Pure Grooves' show, and so that brings us about up to date!

Here's the link

There's no getting away from it, my life seems to revolve around music. Till next time...