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Don Cornelius

by on 01. Feb, 2012 in Black Culture, Hear, Records, RIP, The Eighties, The Seventies, TV, Video

As host of US TV’s quintessential black / dance music show, Soul Train, Don Cornelius, who died today, aged 75, was an iconic black music figure. Everyone who was anyone in the Soul and Funk world appeared on the programme during its 70’s heyday. Film director Spike Lee would aptly describe it as an “urban music time capsule."

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Living To Music – Paul Simon ‘Graceland’

by on 31. Jan, 2012 in CD’s / Digital, Documentaries, Hear, Living To Music, Records, The Eighties, Video

Since scaling the dizzy heights between 1965-1970, with partner in harmony Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon’s solo career, despite a strong start, had gradually stalled from the mid-70’s onward and, by the 80’s he was pretty much regarded as a name from the past who, like other names from the past, continued to release LP’s that no longer caught the public’s interest. His album prior to ‘Graceland’, 1983’s ‘Hearts And Bones’, was considered a commercial flop (although it would receive retrospective critical acclaim) and, with the weight of failure on his shoulders, it looked like his best work was well behind him.

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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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Confused, Misused And In The Dark

by on 13. Jan, 2012 in Black Culture, DVD, The Eighties, The Fifties, The Seventies, The Sixties, Video

The issue of racism is well and truly back in the news following recent events - the Stephen Lawrence trial, the murder of Anuj Bidve, an Indian student in Salford, the ‘My Tram Experience’ YouTube clip, the Suffolk ‘gollywog in the window’ case, the Diane Abbott ‘divide and rule’ tweet, and, of course, a whole series of football related incidents, which have blown-up to a level that few could have envisaged when I made my ‘Racism In English Football’ post just a few months ago, at the end of October

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Remix, Cut ‘n’ Paste, Mash-Up and Edit

by on 07. Dec, 2011 in Documentaries, DVD, Hear, Records, Remixes / Edits, The Eighties, Video

As I navigated the winding country lanes on my way to the M5 from Minehead, where I'd been playing the Sunday night 1.00am-3.00am closing slot / graveyard shift at the inaugural ‘House Of Fun’ weekender, I was pleased to discover that there was a programme on the radio about the JFK assassination 48 years ago in 1963. Always a subject of fascination, this would help me whittle away half an hour of journey time as I weaved onwards towards the motorway.

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The Mindscape Of Alan Moore

by on 06. Sep, 2011 in Art & Design, Books, Comics, Documentaries, DVD, Film, Read, See, Video

It’s only three months since I blogged about ‘Getting My Dylan On’, setting the wheels in motion for a voyage of discovery that took a turn in a direction I hadn’t anticipated, into the world of ‘Watchmen’ and onto the author behind it, feeding me full of impressions and insights as a whole new vista opened up.

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Everything Is A Remix

by on 05. Sep, 2011 in Articles, Books, DJ / Club Culture, Film, Remixes / Edits, Video

Thanks to Vinz on the Brownwood forum I came across this fascinating illustration of how nothing created is truly original. Looking at music, film, literature, science and technology, ‘Everything is a Remix’ is a four part series of visual online shorts produced by Kirby Ferguson, a New York-based filmmaker.

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Three From Seven

by on 31. Aug, 2011 in DVD, Film, See, The Fifties, Video

‘Seven Samurai’ (1954), directed by Akira Kurosawa, is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest films ever made. Set in Japan in 1587, it’s the story of a village of poor farmers who hire seven ronin (masterless samurai) to protect them from bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops. Kurasawa, widely regarded as Japan’s greatest director, would go on to make other essential movies, including ‘Throne Of Blood’ (1957), ‘Yojimbo’ (1961), and ‘Ran’ (1985), but ‘Seven Samurai’ remained his defining work.

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Legend – Manchester’s Other Club

by on 23. Aug, 2011 in Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, Hear, Manchester, Records, The Eighties, Video

For my 100th blog post thought I’d flag up another personal anniversary this month.

Everyone has heard of The Haçienda, but not many people know about Legend, which could well be described as Manchester’s other club of the 80’s – I was fortunate enough to be associated with both.

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Glasto Wow Downlow

by on 28. Jun, 2011 in DJ Appearances, Hear, Mixes, Video

Made my Glastonbury debut last Friday – a double-header kicking off with an evening appearance on the Wow! stage, before heading across to NYC Downlow for a late slot. Mixes from both have just been added to my SoundCloud page and are now available to download. The first is the full two hour recording from the Wow!, the second is the majority of my appearance at the NYC Downlow (missed the opening 15 minutes because I was trying to sort out a problem with my reel-to-reel).

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