It has been a life-changing week, and whilst I don’t want to reveal why quite yet, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who have helped shaping and changing my life for the better these past 6 years.
The list is long, and I know that sometimes maybe people on that list might think that I don’t remember or am aware of the fact that I have so much to thank them for. But let me reassure you that I am grateful and thankful every single day, hour, minute and second.
I will save my thanks in words for you for another day, but in the mean time, here is a little selection of songs I put together just for you. Sometimes it’s just easier to say things with music.
Morning all! Just had a shower, been up since 8am – that should not be allowed on a Bank Holiday Monday! Have a little present for you all later this afternoon. But for now I gotta work away. Stay tuned…
*(Yes mum – I know that “pose” gives me wrinkles…!)
So this Wednesday I have been invited to play a set at “Off The Record”. It’s free all night and kicks off at 7pm at Wax Jambu on Upper Street. It’s a vinyl-only night and they have (maybe foolishly) told me that I can play whatever I want, so come and say hello if you’re in the area!
If you can’t be bothered – have no fear! You can watch me make a fool out of myself – live – on the Off The Record Ustream channel.
It went well, if I may say so myself… Massive thanks to The Jazz Meet for inviting me down to play some music! And thanks to all DJs, live band players and everybody else who showered me with the most wonderful compliments, making my face go bright red and all that. I might not be very good at receiving compliments but I do very very much appreciate them nevertheless ;)
So this sunday another Jazz Meet session will kick off at The Shoreditch on Shoreditch High Street from 3pm. It is a charity event so there is an optional £3 entry fee and all proceeds will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity.
Band:
The Jazz Meet Allstars LIVE
Featuring Jake Telford (Sax), Jessica Lauren (Keys), Max O’Donnell (Guitar), Jason Simpson (Bass), Killian Madden (Drums) plus guests
Special guest DJs:
Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s),
Simon Lee (Faze Action – Jazz and Latin set)
Orsii (Jazzman /Laidback)
Jake Holloway (BBE)
and Jazz Meet residents Sid Ford, Rob Coley and Jarred Rice
I’ll be on from about 4pm playing some Jazz (surprise surprise!), feel free to swing by if you’re in the area :) x
Tom and Zac from Keep Up! are covering for Dom Servini (head of WahWah45s) on his Colourful Radio show tonight and they asked me to contribute with a 30 min mix.
They will be playing music from the past, present and future and have a secret special guest live in the studio for a chat. To give you a clue: he’s not an artist, nor label manager but he has a huge role on London’s music scene.
Tune in live tonight between 9-12pm on DAB or on Colourful Radio’s website!
Hello my friends!
I hope you’ve had a nice weekend and that life is slowly going back to normal after the previous week’s unrest here in the UK.
In the midst of all the chaos last week, I took shelter at work to record a very special edition for my “Little Miss Sunshiine” show. I had the great honour of being joined by Gerald Short, also known as Jazzman Gerald, the founder and director of the label Jazzman Records.
As some of you might know, Gerald is my boss, so I have the pleasure of working with him on a day-to-day basis. But it is not every day I have the chance to sit down and have a “real” conversation with him about what inspired him to start up Jazzman, what his drive is and what thoughts he has on what other people think about him & his business and so on.
Apart from the interview you can also expect a bunch of fantastic, rare and obscure records being played on the show, covering a variety of styles.
Tune in below and check out my Laid Back article that includes pictures from the Jazzman HQ in West London.
There has been a lot of unrest here in London in the past 3 days and I think it is safe to say that the situation with riots here in London & other UK cities became really bad last night. I have to admit that I was beyond sad whilst watching all the live footage that was showing violence & looting in so many areas.
I woke up and felt very uneasy. As I was trying to catch up with all the events that had been going on, the news broke that the Sony DADC warehouse had burnt to the ground in Enfield, and for those who do not know or missed it, they work with PIAS, a distribution company that distributes records on behalf of A LOT of fantastic indie labels, a distribution company that I deal with on a weekly basis because we at Fat City buy records from them… Safe to say that I was (and am) gutted and even though they are uncertain of the exact extent of damages to all their physical stock, in all, it really felt like a big blow for independent music and all of us who try our best to support it.
As I was getting more and more upset by the events that had taken place the previous evening, a twitter account called @riotcleanup came to my attention. To my knowledge, the account had organised, on twitter, a spontaneous meet up in Hackney and other areas to help clean up the streets after the riots that had happened the previous night. It soon became clear that because the Hackney council had done such a fantastic job cleaning the streets from the early hours in the morning, @riotcleanup were trying to mobilise the people willing to help to other areas in London that had been hit – Clapham Junction was one of those areas.
After reading and hearing so many stupid statements and comments about the riots and the situation, I was feeling more and more restless. Surely there had to be a much better way of helping my community and my city than just sitting by a computer and reading comments & tweets from people that were spewing out a lot of stupid things. So I decided to take the afternoon off, go to Sainsbury’s and buy heavy duty gloves & bags, and for the first time in my life, go to Clapham Junction to help clean up the big mess that was left behind from the previous nights riots.
Support the good cause on http://www.riotcleanup.com/
Here are some pictures I took whilst I was there helping out…
- Shops closed around 2pm at Clapham Junction station, here, the workers at fonehouse were taking down the plasma screen in their shop window
- 100s of people with their broomsticks in the air – all there to help
- People from all age groups, different backgrounds, different religious beliefs and so on all gathered and united to help clean up Clapham Junction
- Main roads were closed off for police investigation, the streets looked very messy and emptied out it was almost like a small ghost town
- Burnt down building, it took the fire brigade ages to put it out
- Starbucks with smashed windows – they were still serving the cleaners coffee whilst tidying up the mess in the shop
- TK Maxx had all their shop windows smashed and the entire store looted
- More people than rioters turned up to help clean up the streets
- Old and young – all came out with broomsticks, gloves and bin bags to help
- Some nice local brought free tea, coffee & biscuits for all the 100s of helpers. The local Sainsburys offered him free tea and biscuits to give out just before they shut
Now I’m not going to go into any speculations or reasons behind the riots here in London or the riots now happening in different places across the country, because the way I see it, there is not one specific cause to it. I did however read a great article on The Independent’s website by Camila Batmanghelidjh, so if any of you are interested, you can read her piece here.
I would like to point out that personally, I do find some comments & tweets from various different people rather upsetting… It feels like too many people are opening their mouths without really thinking of what they are saying and I get the feeling that under different circumstances, they wouldn’t be caught dead saying so much rubbish.
I know that I’m not originally from London or the UK, and I am aware of the fact that some issues in this city and this country are rooted in things that I might not have been affected by whilst I was growing up. But having said that, I have lived in London and the UK for 6 years now and I consider this country and this city as my home. At the moment, the family in my home is really hurting and I don’t see how all these negative comments and this negative energy that some people are having and spreading (not rioters & looters but “normal people”) are going to help the situation in any way.
When I decided to head off to Clapham Junction today, I did so because it felt like my “family” had been attacked and I felt very strongly about going there and helping out as good as I could. Now change the word “family” to community, or you can change the word “family” to city and try to look at it from a bigger picture (it doesn’t really matter which one, as obviously, it was my first time there today and I have no real blood family there). Instead of spreading even more negativity and creating more panic and fears through rumours, why don’t you get out and help your communities? It’s so easy to complain about things and blame various people about what’s going on – but what are you, yes you, actually doing to prevent it and/or help your neighbours and fellow citizens that have been effected?
The more I read and the more I see how things are unfolding, the more it is becoming clear to me that I personally have not been involved enough with my community and the people in it. But today I tried to rectify that by going out and helping my community, my “family”, to get back on its feet. It was a very small step in the grand scheme of things, but if a lot of people took small steps towards something positive, then maybe, just maybe, things would be different from now on.
Of course, these are just my thoughts and my opinions, and I might be naive and I might be wrong. All I know is that we can all complain and we can all moan and we can all point fingers and blame certain groups of people, whether those are politicians, the police, the looters, “youngsters”, the press and so on, but I doubt we will see any big changes in our communities, cities and this country if we’re not willing to at least try to change our selves a bit first and the way we think, act and treat each other.
Right! Im gonna stop boring you now. I am exhausted so I think I will try to get some food in my belly and get some rest. To all my London & UK friends – please be safe and careful. To the rest of you – thanks for your messages and for your concerns!
Chamber of Secrets
Wanted Wizard - The almighty Neil
Delicious meat
Butterbeer!
Orsii Potter with a golden snitch
Professor J.D. Dumbledore
Neil & Ellie - Quidditch masters
Paul looking rather concerned
Smokey!
Inhale - Exhale
Neil enjoying some Butterbeer
Guinness explaining how a knee works
Kim doesn't like being in pictures
A very cold Christie (she was freezing & sat inside)
Dumbledore with his lover
Guinnes having a laugh
The DEADLY Jelly Bean off
Paul get's a yummy centipede tasting bean
Cata got some vomit or mouldy cheese tasting bean
Paul won the DEADLY Jelly Bean off
Me just looking lovely ;)
Hello my friends!
So yesterday I turned 25 years old and that was celebrated in mainly 2 ways.
First up – I was asked by Fat City to dig through their crates and make a mix for their contribution to Mixcloud’s Celebration of Curation campaign that runs through-out August. Feel free to tune in and spread the word if you’re feeling it!
Secondly – Because I didn’t get any cake at work, the crew decided to let me do my own Specialist Chart for Fat City this week. One record for each year I have been alive, some stuff you can hear on the mix above and some you can’t. So feel free to check that out as well :)
Hope you’re all well by the way! Thanks for all the lovely birthday messages! I was blown away by the response <3
