CAN YOU PLAY SOMETHING I CAN DANCE TO?
DJs hate requests. If you think that you know better than the DJ what the people in the club want to hear, you are wrong/stupid/drunk/all of the above. Any DJs out there got some stories? Please leave em in the comments.
Heres some goodies from Soulstrut forums, more over here...

"Are you going to play any hip hop?" (As hip hop is playing... they just don't know the tune. This usually happens when i'm playing Jurassic 5 for some odd reason).

Do you have anything thats like...not old?

"You're not even a real DJ. The DJ last week* was SO much better than you."*That was me.

At this past New Year's desi party, a fifty-something Indian guy walked in, heard the bollywood hits I was playing, and immediately told me "Play some Punjabi." I told him I would, and soon played Sukhbir & Daler Mehndi - that's Punjabi bhangra that pretty much never fails with the the older folks.
He and his friends dug it, going nuts on the dancefloor, so I got out a real bhangra oldschool classic (about being drunk) from probably the late 70s or 80s. Immediately the dancefloor stopped to commence ice grilling me. The guy came back with two other of his cronies, looking like they'd just eaten 15 sour lemons.
"That's TOO Punjabi."


The New Zealand Dance Chart - JANUARY 05
1. Chemical Brothers - Galvanize (Virgin)
2. Soulwax - E Talking (BMG)
3. Soul Central - Strings of Life (Defected)
4. Roni Size - No More (Full Cycle)
5. Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll (Breastfed)
6. Deep Dish - Flashdance (Positiva)
7. Dillinja -Thugged Out Bitch (Valve)
8. Slam - This World (Soma)
9. Chab - Closer to Me (Saw)
10. Evil Nine - Crooked (Marine Parade)

The Charge New Zealand dance chart is compiled from 12” sales through independent record stores, radio station play on participating dance-music stations and club play from a broad cross-section of DJ’s around the country. A weekly radio broadcast featuring the official top 10 is played weekly on the following NZ radio stations:

National: George 96.8 (Radio broadcast in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Ohakune, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin & Queenstown, plus internet stream and Sky Digital)

Local: Auckland, Up 107.3 (FM & internet stream), Julia 107.5 (FM & internet stream), Fleet 88.3 (FM), Twisted 107.7 (FM & internet stream) - Wellington, Firm 107 (FM & Internet stream), Munt 88.5 (FM) - Christchurch, Pulzar 88.7 (FM & internet stream), Mofo 107.4 (FM) - Tauranga, Blowhole 97.4 (FM) - New Pymouth, The Most 92.3 (FM) - Palmerston North, Control 99.4 (FM) - Nelson/Blenheim/Motueka, Fresh 95.4 (FM) - Dunedin, Radio One 91.0 (FM & Internet stream) - Queenstown, The Studio 96.8 (FM), -Invercargill, Aural 107.3 (FM) Via Ms Behaviour



from The Internet Museum of Flexi / Cardboard / Oddity Records...
"Once bound by cereal boxes, held in the pages of a magazine, wrapped up in envelopes sent through our postal system or given away casually with some product, these bits of paper and plastic yearned to be set free to fulfill their destiny as... PLAYABLE RECORDS
Come and take an aural and visual journey through a partial history of these strange but true recorded anomolies." via BoingBoing


Valentines day cards a la Simpsons... remember the episode where Lisa gives Ralph a valentine that says I choo choo choose you, with a pic of a train? Well, here it is, in downloadable form. Hot Dang. Don't say I aint looking out for your best interests, okay?

CELEBRITY PLAYLISTS AT iTUNES
Dubber's been harping on about iPods again, some interesting ideas on possible radio shows (fronted by himself, of course!) "People who recognise the white cables dangling from the ears of other joggers, commuters and strollers-in-the-park are unplugging, and 'jacking into' each others iPods.
It's kind of like a hit-and-run mixtape for a stranger, and there are things about it that I find really appealing. But the etiquette of it worries me slightly.
Surely not every iPod user has a reliably diverse and fascinating collection of music. " He points the finger at Dido and Chris de Burgh fans. Too right.

So, anyway; celebrity playlists at iTunes.... they've got a million songs to choose from, but... "Most celebrities listen to the same music everyone else listens to on the radio or sees on MTV. The most popular celebrity song selections include OutKast's "Hey Ya,'' Kanye West's "Jesus Walks,'' Coldplay's "Clocks'' or "The Scientist'' and tunes by such acts as Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Prince, U2, Jay-Z and Eminem.

Mischa Barton might think her taste is pretty eclectic, but her playlist - think Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses - is more mainstream than anything you'd hear on an episode of [her tv show] "The O.C.''
Full article here...

DEEP FUNK
Keb Darge is easily the most entertaining DJ I have ever seen. His set on friday night was so much fun - sure, he's not flashy with it, no fancypants scratching, beat juggling or mixing, just one incredible tune after another. He gets on the mic too, not to MC, but to talk to the crowd like a radio DJ, with some fairly colourful language. "That's a classic by... now here's a new discovery for you, you lucky f*ckers..."

He played old and new funk, a bit of soul and r'n'b (old school); he even played one tune twice, a new release by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. When it finished he picks up the mic and says, "that's a gorgeous little f*cker, let's hear it again, I'm just gonna keep talking til the record starts cos I havent cued it, oh here it comes..." He DJed for 5 hours nonstop, which is pretty amazing when you consider he played 7" 45s for almost all that time - they only last about 2 and a half minutes before you have to start the next one. That's a lotta work for a DJ. Top bloke. Heard some good stories about what he got up to after the gig too...

I caught the Feelstyle at the tail end of BFM's Summer Series (and avoided all the angsty young men and their guitars, of which I hear there were plenty, sigh) and man, he was good. Joined by the Submariner on the mixer and Camillia on backing vocals - he introduced them, saying "they make me look good!" Singles Su'amalie/Ain't Mad At You and Outside Enclosure both sounded great, and Submariner got cheeky on it and dropped his remix of Bic Runga's Something Good, with Camillia singing Bic's part. She has a great voice, and sounded better than Bic Runga, no kidding. She may have come third in NZ Idol, but she has more talent in her big toe than Ben Lummis and that Murphy kid combined. When she drops some solo ish, it's gonna be huge (and memorable).


"These stories from the dark side of record digging veer between disgusting and funny. Usually at the same time. [Look out for the Kiwi entry, mentions intermediate school]

New blog alert (well, new to me anyhow): Promo Copy, an anonymous site by someone clearly in the deep belly of the music industry beast. People outside that sphere may not find much of interest here but for those of us who deal with this world day in, day out, this guy/gal speaks what we dare not say most of the time." Both the above via O-Dub... check his latest audio posts, new tunes from Prefuse 73, MIA, Lyrics Born and more.

from Coolfer...
"Another musician has become ensnared in U.S. visa rules. DJ/producer Laurent Garnier has cancelled three U.S. tour dates because of problems with renewing visa. He wasn't denied entry, though. He cancelled the dates because he refused to comply with the demands of his local U.S. Embasy.

In his own words:

"I am very sorry to have to cancel my forthcoming U.S. tour due to what I consider to be completely unreasonable demands by the U.S. Embassy in France in order to renew my work visa.

In order to obtain this new visa, the rules have once again changed since November 2004 and I would now have to not only fill out an exceedingly probing application form, but also be interviewed by a member of the Embassy staff, and provide proof of ownership of my house, details of my bank account, my mobile phone records, personal information on all my family members and more. I consider these demands to be a complete violation of my privacy and my civil liberties and I refuse to comply.

I am horrified by these new regulations and feel really sad that this is what some call freedom and democracy.

It has now become almost impossible for an artist to come and perform in the United States. And until this new proceedure changes I will unfortunately refuse to comply with this nonsense.

Thank you for your understanding.

Laurent Garnier"

Just last week, the Village Voice covered the many visa denials of such beloved Cuban musicians Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Los Van Van and Chucho Valdez. Writer Larry Blumenfeld called it a "Cuban music crisis—-a development that has more to do with the Cold War than the War on Terror."