RetroRuss on the Telly!!
I was invited today by the BBC to talk about family tax credits...a subject close to my heart!! Here are the pictures taken from a TV screen of me being interviewed. Knowing that News24 gets less viewers then my radio show gets listeners - here are the pictures.

I was asked at very short notice to do a gig on Saturday night, at the The Loaded Dog - which is in Leytonstone. Apparently they had booked a Jam tribute band who had cancelled last minute and sold over 200 tickets. Basically most people who had bought tickets decided to go away, however a few hardy souls decided to enter the venue, for a vastly reduced price to see RetroRuss! Basically this venue is a live music bar/pub.....in a fairly out of the way location in this part of East London. I set up and went to work.....the sound system at this place is awesome. It is the best I have ever played my music over - by a country mile. It has 4 huge speakers either side, two are clearly bass speakers....once we'd sorted the levels I got to work. The few that came up asked for music more on the 'cheesey' end of the spectrum.....however, given the location, the fact there was no more than 50 people in there (it holds up to 400) I was not going to not play these tunes. Anyway, the bottom line was that the people got up and danced and I think thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The venue owner's son was suitably impressed and has offered me a 6 weekly residency - details will be announced when known on the website. I recorded a lot of the night so if anyone wants a copy of the CD, they can do so with my compliments. We will hopefully create a 'jukebox' on the site which will allow it to be played but not downloaded

Also checked the hits on the website for the period covering last night's show on Jazz Syndicate Radio - through the roof!! I will monitoring downloads of the show carefully....if it exceeds 50 in a 3 day period we might have to limit the amount of times people can have this stuff.

Other stuff - apart from someone trying to use me for identity fraud, the government trying to demand £8,000 from me with menaces and the oven packing up not a lot really.

It's been a while.....

I was in New York last week, spent a week taking in all the sites and soaking up the atmosphere. What a fantastic city - it should be on the list of 100 things to do before you die. You only understand the word 'metropolis' after you've been there.

What amazed me was the fact that in so many places - shops, malls, restaurants, hotel lobbies, they played Disco music, also on the street people carried beat boxes with James Brown blaring out - fantastic. Clearly Disco is engrained in this city and part of the vibe. I chatted to lots of people who absolutely love the music. What did I do? I bought records of course!! I went to the House of Oldies and bought a load of vinyl - thanks to Bob who assisted me in the shop. His shop is in Bleeker Street, Greenwich Village...he was the only vinyl shop open so he got my hard earned dollars!!

These are the reocrds I bought: -

All 12" or albums First Time Around - Skyy (only ever seen a 7" of this before)

Disconet Volume 4 Program 10 (never had one of these before)

You're The One - Rory Block

Love Hustle - Family Affair

DJ Rogers - Trust Me

Tango In Space - Space

Slap Slap Lickedy Lap - Instant Funk (never seen it on 12" before)

The Players Association - Love Hangover/I Like It (from 1977 in perfect condition)

You Gotta Dance - Pacific Blue

Love Exciter - El Coco (have it on an album not 12")

Frankie Crocker Heart & Soul Orchestra - LP (hopefully it will be grow on me)

Passion Tracking Vol. 2 - High Energy compilation which I don't have much of.

Plato's Retreat - Joe Thomas

Lime - Your Love (more High energy)

Love Dancin - Marlena Shaw

Stone To The Bone - Timmy Thomas

Morning Music - Siren (Promo)

Don't Take Away Your Love - Hodges James & Smith

Off The Wall - Fat Larry's Band

All good stuff and feature on my latest JSR show - 22-04-2006.

Finally I have a gig on Saturday - 22nd April at the The Loaded Dog 485 High Road Leytonstone, London E11 4PG - it starts at 8.30pm goes on till 1am. Apparently the Jam tribute band were supposed to be playing but they cancelled. Over 200 tickets have been sold - so all these Jam fans are going to turn up and get RetroRuss instead. Can't wait!!!!

I'll probably be recollecting the gig the next time I write hear (if I'm still alive!!) - till then - here are a few more pictures on NYC!!

This will be my last blog for a week or so....nothing really has happened much - the gig looks less liekly so we are off to find another venue soon. No download this week as the show was destroyed in the post!! It arrived at the webmaster in pieces, and there's no time to re-send. Consequently this week's JSR show's playlist appears here.

JSR Playlist 08.04.2006

Got To Be Enough (Think About It) – Con Funk Shun
Headlights – Whispers
Beyond The Clouds – Quartz
Can’t Slow Down – Le Pamplemousse
Shake Your Groove Thing – Peaches & Herb
Don’t Hold Back – Chanson
No Time Like Now – Philly Cream
Bussle – Opus 7
Streetplayer – Chicago
Trip To Your Mind – Hudson People
Just Let Me Do My Thing - Sine
Shame – Evelyn Champagne King
I Feel Like Dancing – Mavis Staples
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Sylvester
Wastin’ My Time – Sticky Fingers
Cameosis – Cameo
Radiation Level – Sun
Gangster of Love – Johnny Guitar Watson
Do The Do – Bobby Rush

A real mix this week....It is highly unlikely I can record a show this week, but I have done enough now for a repeat (or two!).

More about my break from a 'Disco Life' in my next blog in a week or two's time.

Disappointing news - the party night currently hangs in the balance. We are waiting to hear from the venue whether they can get a licence extension to 3am. At the moment everyone has to be out by 2am, which means turning the music off at 1.30am. Too early in our view. Despite changes in the laws, as it is a 'residential area' the owner doesn't think it is going to be easy, despite the fact that htere is an all night eaterie literally over the road from the place.

I recorded the latest show last night - certainly hangs together well and sounds fine. This morning I took the Tube to work rather than my usual mode of motorbike. Despite the crowds, I listened to it all the way and was in a different dimension to all the miserable faces around me. How wonderful listening to classic Disco & Dance music while commuting 0 it made the journey very pleasurable.

An interesting topic has attracted a lot of posts on the Soul Music Radio Forum , regarding licences for Internet Radio. It would appear that the PPL want to charge more for stations who simulcast on the Web and AM/FM/Digital Satellite. This is exploitation and attempt to gain control of the only truly democratic, free speech vehicle by the Government. It begins to raises questions with regards to the whole area of Internet Radio. Of course copyrighted material should be recognised and artists paid their royalties, but to begin to 'tax' an area which would penalise individuals (like me) who get lot of pleasure from playing their nusic to an appreciative audience is unfair and unjust. It also goes against the spirit of what the Internet is all about. It would IMHO be the start of further government control on what content is allowed - the next step is censorship. I think that certain areas are taboo and applaud this and other government's efforts to stamp out things like paedophilia etc., however when things enroach on 'day to day' activity then it is one step too far.

Equally I believe that Pirate radio has a place. I am aware it is (in some instances) controlled by less than scrupulous individuals, however it serves an important service, uniting communities, bringing to the fore unknown artists as well as a destination where specialist music can be heard. Ultimately, with 3G, 4G etc, FM will inevitably become redundant so it will be an academic arguement say in 5 years, however that is a long time to wait and by then the Radio Authority will have come up of a way to prevent Internet radio from becoming mainstream, thus protecting big business radio opertaors.