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DJ Streets Ahead

by on 26. Jan, 2012 in Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Misc, The Eighties, The Nineties, Video

Sad to hear about the untimely passing of DJ Streets Ahead (Shem McCauley) one of the UK’s pioneering scratch & cut exponents, who’d re-invent himself in the mid-90’s as the successful dance music producer, Slacker. More recently he moved to Bangkok, Thailand, which is where he died (cause of death is still unconfirmed).

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Ali At Three Score And Ten

by on 17. Jan, 2012 in Black Culture, Documentaries, DVD, Film, Misc, The Eighties, The Seventies, The Sixties

Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest sportsman of the 20th Century, and certainly one of its foremost historical figures, is 70 years old today.

The much loved former heavyweight boxer was labeled a big mouth when he started out, and nicknamed the ‘Louisville Lip’. When he fought the fearsome champion, Sonny Liston, for the World heavyweight title in February 1964 the majority of people expected him to be well and truly shut up, but he upset all the odds and beat the man regarded as ‘invincible’ by many boxing critics. Ranting from the ring directly after the fight he came out with one of his best-remembered quotes:

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Year Of Decision

by on 06. Jan, 2012 in Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, Hear, Misc, Records, The Seventies

On New Year’s Eve, for the first time since I started up again, I was deejaying as one year passed into the next. Although I’ve had bookings every New Year’s Eve since 2004, I’ve always played after midnight, but this year I made 2 separate appearances in London, the first at the Slide & Get Diverted party in the Brixton Clubhouse between 11pm and 1am (my later date, from 3am and 5am would be over in Greenwich at the Defected event at Proud2 in the O2 Arena).

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Christmas Classics

by on 21. Dec, 2011 in Animation, DVD, Film, Misc, My First / My Favourite, TV

12 months ago, in the post ‘A Christmas Gift For You’, I related one of my favourite aspects of Christmas – how it provides the opportunity for me to give an annual listen or two to the seasonal masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Gift For You’ (aka ‘Phil Spector’s Christmas Album’). http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2010/12/a-christmas-gift-for-you/

By the same token, the festive season has its own special movies that are always good to watch again, no matter how often you’ve seen them before, because they embody the spirit of Christmas, connecting you right back to your younger self, when the magic shone brightest.

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Racism In English Football

by on 31. Oct, 2011 in Articles, Black Culture, Misc

In many respects we’ve come a long way from the overt racism I remember in the 60’s and 70’s, but every now and again I feel a shudder that keeps me aware that it still resides not far beneath the surface.

I don’t normally comment about football related issues, but this has a wider social context. Football has recently become the focus of some high-profile accusations of racism, but with investigations on-going with regards to the Evra / Suarez and Ferdinand / Terry cases, applying the premise of innocent until proven guilty, I don’t want to opine directly about these instances. However, there have been a couple of newspaper quotes I’ve read during the past week that beggar belief.

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Sir Jimmy Savile

by on 29. Oct, 2011 in Manchester, Misc, Radio, The Eighties, The Fifties, The Forties, The Nineties, The Seventies, The Sixties, TV

Seminal British Disc-Jockey Sir Jimmy Savile died today, two days before his 85th birthday.

Leeds born Savile claimed to be the first DJ to use two turntables, in the late 40’s. Although this remains disputed, there’s no doubt that Savile was a pioneer when it came to playing records in dance halls, most notably in his home city and across the Pennines in Manchester.

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Shoutout

by on 13. Oct, 2011 in Art & Design, Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Documentaries, Fashion, Film, Misc, The Nineties, The Seventies, The Sixties

Just wanted to make you aware of a project my former Invisible Players colleague, Don Letts, has been commissioned to produce, focusing on the clothing brand, Fred Perry, and its cultural relevance in the UK from the Mods in the 60’s to Britpop in the 90’s, and right up to date via their association with Amy Winehouse, whose designs for the brand continue to be released, with the full blessing of her family, following her untimely death last July.

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Jerry Leiber & Nick Ashford‏

by on 24. Aug, 2011 in Black Culture, Misc, Records, The Fifties, The Seventies, The Sixties

Two black music greats died this week. To name but some of the songs they co-wrote with their partners:

‘Ain't No Mountain High Enough’, ‘Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing’, ‘California Soul’, ‘Don’t Cost You Nothing’, ‘Hound Dog’, ‘I’m Every Woman’, ‘Is That All There Is?’, ‘It Seems To Hang On’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘Kansas City’, ‘On Broadway’, ‘Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)’, ‘Spanish Harlem’, ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Surrender’, ‘There Goes My Baby’, ‘Yakety Yak’, ‘You're All I Need To Get By’

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Amy Winehouse

by on 25. Jul, 2011 in Misc

Last Saturday evening I was in my hotel room in Ghent, Belgium, trying to catch up on some sleep before a gig there than night. I was awoken by the ringing of the phone, it was someone from the event letting me know what time they’d pick me up to take me for my soundcheck. No sooner had I closed my eyes to grab a couple more hours than my wife, Tracey, called me to break the news that Amy Winehouse had been found dead. Like many others that day, I was shocked but not surprised, her death, at just 27 years of age, being something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, many journalists having written her obituary long ago in readiness for this tragic eventuality.

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A Year In The Blogosphere

by on 21. Jun, 2011 in Misc, Read

Today marks the first anniversary of my blog launch, when I quoted The Beatles to kick things off: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2010/06/and-in-the-end-the-love-you-take-is-equal-to-the-love-you-make-2/

The blog has since become a mainstay of what I do, with 90 separate posts to date, an average of 7.5 per month throughout this first year. It’s pretty time-consuming, but well worth the effort as it allows me to cover a wide spectrum of interests and influences, which hopefully compliments my approach as a DJ, where I try to connect the past and present, both via the music I play and the way in which I play it.

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