As I write this I am currently transferring my show from MiniDisc to PC. By the sound of things I need to change my needles!! You obviously lose 'sound' when transferring from analogue to digital and then compressing the files. However the tunes just sound too tinny....got some good feedback from the show on that was broadcast on Saturday night - always good to know that people are listening in!! Ben liked it as did Richard Felstead, a Soul Music radio forum regular (one of the proffessionals) as I would call him, who broadcasts on a few shows....me being fairly new to this radio thing I have to say I feel very pleased that both Ben and Richard enjoyed my show.

It's funny but as I record them I think - oh my god, that was crap, or I think I said the wrong thing, but when I play them back they don't sound too bad. I did make one faux pas on this show - but you are going to have to listen to it to hear where!!

I'll record another show sometime in the coming week....

As it was Thursday I played a liveset at http://www.smokefm.co.uk . Basically the set was 'Part 2' of the set that is broadcasting on http://www.jazzsyndicate.co.uk on Saturday night!! The playlist is available on the site. I did repeat some of the tunes but hey what the hell - all good!! John was in attendance and we had as usual a good chat about life, the music and the universe. It was good to meet Andy Mac too!

Yesterday I recorded a show for JSR - but haven't downloaded it yet to the PC for burning!! A mixed bag - bit of everything thrown in for measure no silly mistakes but as I was recording it I was watching Chelsea vs. Barcelona with Josh!! As I was talking in the mike, Josh let out a big expletive!! Now you are recorded in posterity....and no I won't be playing any punk on the show anytime soon!! Also yesterday I got outbid for a record I had been tracking on Ebay. It was bought by a dealer - Chris Bangs...nice guy..but he's already got a copy for sale at a huge price!! I often 'check-out' Ebay - the price of some of the 12" is absolutely staggering....currently watching 'Six Million Steps' by Rahni Harris - current bid £26 with 21 hours to go....I have three copies of this record. It's very tempting to perhaps start to sell some of my doubles (or triples) but I will resist.

Went with PapaG to check out a venue - got very definite positive vibes about it....I sent an email to the owner and we are waiting to hear back as to whether he's interested in hosting 'Lets Get It Together'. I think our crowd would like it there - it's fairly easy to get to, good parking and naturally the music will be great!!

Tomorrow night, down to some serious business - PapaG and I are off to check out a number of venues so we can get Lets Get It Together back on the road....for those not familiar this was our 'Party Night' - it was what can only be described as a success.....everyone really enjoyed it - the format worked and the venue was OK. It is on CD recorded for posterity....

As http://www.jazzsyndicate.co.uk are having a live night tomorrow (Saturday 18th Feb), my usual show will not go out. However it is there for downloading!! It will however go out next week 25th Feb. Alas I am unable to join the crew in Essex - a member of my family is returning from her skiing trip that evening! I will be there in spirit and certainly 'locked on' to hear the proceedings. Spoke to Marky Mark who has given Soulpreacher (Ben) of http://www.pleasure-angels.com a slot!! Can't wait to hear it!!

Well, I am typing this when I should be doing a show at http://www.smokefm.co.uk. Unfortunately Smoke's new ISP have failed them causing the connection to the Internet not to work. I was rather looking forward to it. Some new features up on the website with the latest shows now available....

Latest Playlist is now on-line - check it....also I discussed with my Webmaster a 'new feature' - "Track of The Week" - which will be available for listening. My JSR show was repeated tonight so it was good to hear it again and hopefully there were a few people 'locked-on'.....looked on eBay and couldn't believe the prices for some good tunes - £10.50 for Francine McGee - Feelin Good...jeez I paid 99p in 1978. Should have bought 10 copies! I am watching a copy of Trip To Your Mind - on sale for £34.99, no-one's bid yet. Later going to investigate some of the suggestions a couple of guys have made on http://www.discomusic.com - 2nd hand vinyl outlets in New York.

It is such a shame that modern technology does not play music over the web as well as old' technology - transferring vinyl to digital and then to get it to play over the www requires the music to be compressed - this invevitably leads to loss of quality. As I type this I am listening to my latest show - "A Trip To Your Mind - Hudson People" in particular. It loses so much of the 'bite', tone quality....On this track checked on eBay today and saw a copy for sale at £39.99...is it a £40 tune? It is a good!! I first thought this show was OK when I heard snippets of it when recording onto the PC, however playing this show back I have to say it could be one of my best!!

Other news - Lets get It Together could be back - G's found two venues - that we need to check out....one holds 300 the other 400. Sweet!! I also need to check out S's CD that he sent me last week I just haven't got round to it!! More news on this as it arrives!!!!

Well being a wet, dreary Sunday, what better thing to do then record a show for JSR. This show - to be webcasted next Saturday night consisted of the tracks found in my loft!! They are tunes that have more or less stood the test of time. Some harcore Disco in there...I do feel the 'stand out' track is Hudson People - Trip To Your Mind....had problems recording.....notably the bloody deck decided to play up!! The torque has defintely gone on one of them. makes cueing really hard, and when I mxed in 'Love beat' I had forgotten to put the level back up so mixed to silence. I wonder if anyone will notice?? LOL!!

Well content wise I think it is one of my better ones, skill wise/proffessionalism....not my best - but I have done worse.

There are quite a few tunes that didn't make 'the cut', notably an interesting Gladys Knight 12", Stacy Lattishaw LP, Low Rawls, Eddie Henderson, plus quite a few more....I'll save them for Smoke on Thursday.

Today was spent moving vinyl around. 80's pop in the loft and most of the 70's downstairs....well not all of it, there's still four or five boxes, but most are 'doubles, or triples' (I discovered 4 copies of Let It Lay by Gonzales!!) These records haven't been touched for around 10 years....I was pleased to find Streetplayer by Chicago, Trip To Your Mind - Hudson People & the original promo of Jupiter Beyond (which I knew I had but hadn't seen). Basically I brought down 70 reccords (12" & LPs)....enough for two or three shows. Coming to a radio station soon!!!

Tonight was all about copying shows from one place to another....for various people. I'll drop the CD round to the Webmaster tomorrow for uploading so that they are there. So playing around with CD burners is such fun...not. Hoping to get a good reaction to the show tomorrow night and will also play a visit to the loft to see what's up there and maybe feature them on a show. Definitely doing Smoke next week so we will have to dig out quite a few records for both shows!!

 

Well, I have had a blog spot for ages but never used it....given all the publicity I get (LOL), I thought I would start to create a blog properly!!

Anyway, this weeks show was recorded on Tuesday night between 9pm & 11pm. I decided to dig into boxes that have been sitting in an upstairs cupbaord for a while, rather than my usual DJ boxes or the big green crates. I started to liten to tsome of the tracks on Sunday night, deciding what I was going to play. I try and follow the same format for all my shows - starting with Disco/Dance, then Funk, then Jazz Funk, then a bit more commercial. It was a bit more challenging using the boxes and resisting diving on elsewhere, however I do have a few 'doubles' so I was able to play more commercial stuff by not breaking my rules. I was pleased with the mix between track 2 & 3 - almost seamless. The AKD Band track was a good find and I'm sure will appeal to those who like 'obscure' Disco (well it's obscure to me!).

Had problems downloading onto the PC using the MD renderer so resorted to a commercial PC recorder which cost £18.00!!

No http://www.smokefm.co.uk show this week but will be on http://www.jazzsyndicate.co.uk 8pm to 10pm Saturday Night....enjoy the show!!