Links Galore

Nothing much happening in my Second Life its all kind of on hold due to the brutality of real life; but anyway there's also a lot of Northern Soul stuff going on in the real world. Great Radio 2 documentary plus a major film for next year check the links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0186ss5

http://northernsoulthefilm.com/

Also noted from the messages popping up in my e-mail box that Slate is playing almost non stop with lots of impromptu nights happening. hope everyone is having fun and a Merry Christmas to you all.

Whats going On...........

So its been very quiet on this blog, reasons too many and all to do with reality biting me on the @rse, creating a myriad of obligations that have not left me much time for frivolous frippery. I have been popping along to Soul Mods, helps me chill and get away from stuff; also listening to the cool documentaries as part of the Soul Week, check it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00przy5

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00gkz4w

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01300fj

Hopefully you can listen in, never sure if BBC links can be accessed outside of the UK but I'm sure you clever techy types know how to circumvent such issues. 

Anyway, back to my virtual life - its hit another hiatus whilst things this side of the screen get resolved; there have been a few really fun nights at Soul Mods with various people on deck its still the greatest place for virtual mods on the grid and if you have not been,,,why the feck not!

Pretty bland post this but hope you enjoy the links and hopefully once this immediate issue is resolved things can get back on track virtuality wise, keep the faith!

ciao

A film Star is Pixelated*

As I missed out on the uber cool Soul Mods film preview Seren kindly put together a little Albion mini-feature, thank you.

*Did you see, because I'm English and not American I said film rather than movie, because I speak English not an American version of it it so you can feck your 24/7 I prefer all day all week etc. Ta very muchly.

The Modfather truly has Soul

Now many of us eighties throwbacks who sought mod rather than frilly shirts and kilts as our inspiration during our youth are firmly convinced of the immense soul on display during the Style Council years. And, whilst many yearn for a Jam reunification [err not moi I saw them as a kid why spoil the memory we are all older, greyer, balder and fatter] few call out for a revival of the classic Council line up. Yet, the Style Council oozed modernist class and their songs were soul monsters and perhaps the best way to illustrate this is not to link up some Council YouTube but instead to exhibit a few cover versions. Soul indeed...

Now if that cant convince you of the Style Council's quality, not sure what else can! And while I'm wittering on about quality any techy sods [like Kim Slate Eden et al] who know how to "capture " these tracks from YouTube I'd be very grateful for a copy ta very muchly.

However don't assume all covers are great.....Weller goes all Bon Jovi courtesy of Rod the plod, err I mean mod.

....and lets be frank the Manfred's don't do much better do they?

Now it would be churlish to leave this little post on such sour notes so chill to this better cover if you please.

ciao, more actual Second Life stuff next time I promise hahaha

Paul Weller- Starlite by IslandRecords AR UK

And much as we adore the past we also look to the future Weller single release for the summer, chill

More Virtual Magic

Admittedly it lacks a degree of Albionawesomeness but its my own fault for not getting my @rse into gear, and Seren did kindly give Albion a sequel all to himself.But this is the club I witter on about the most in this blog; and these are the wonderful people who populate our marvelous little mod metaverse with magnificent avatars full of good humour kindness and style. Roll film......

Its great isnt it!

Lets not forget...

we all have real life issues going on. All the sods wish our dear friend Lupo the best and offer our condolences.

Now back in the virtual world Lupo had to cut his brilliant set short after some personal issues arose. Slate took over and was doing great right up until I crashed so I'm guessing everyone continued to have fun, whilst sparing a thought for Lupo.

I hate my computer, its typical i miss lots of Soul Mods events and thejn when I finally make it online the bloomin' thing crashes. Never mind Second Life I'm thinking of inventing terminal life for this poxy PC, curse you PC World for replacing my defunct faulty PC with this pile of poo. Ahhhh vent over, so lets see what shall I witter on about. Not much to say really, set cut short at Soul Mods followed  by my crash, and that's about it. Hardly worthy of a blog post but I note I have been a bit tardy of late with the posting so felt compelled to put one up. I was feel slightly '67 mod yesterday so went with a mish mash of items to affect that kind of pop art dandyism sported by the Small Faces and Who amongst others, plenty of ruffles on show.

 The jacket is an old favourite from Meriken, the shirt and ruffles are from the SF Design lord lace in black, the shoes were FREE from Kalin, [I am aware you cant see them but what the feck] and the stripey trousers are new from ,,,hmmmmI forget where but will update this post next time I log on and get the details. Anyway not much of a colour splash just greys and blacks but it still has a very '67 feel at least I think so, style over substance every time, but only in Second Life obviously. Typing this Saturday morning after missing another night at Soul Mods, I miss so much not sure I'm entitled to call myself a sod anymore anyway hope you all had fun at the Slate extravaganza!

Odd sods, us? Surely not!

Shauna's Birthday

Amazing what a few days away from the screen does, missed Thursday at Soul Mods and a few other trickles of entertainment, but this IT abstinence meant I was in peak condition for Fridays fun fest at Soul Mods. And, it was Shauna's birthday so what a great night to return for. Slate was DJing, there were a good crowd to celebrate the birthday girls aging and the chat and action was nothing but fun. Dugi had a chocolate cake with a dancing pole installed and obviously went balloon insane....he likes balloons y'know. And, its amazing just how many avatars can fit on top of a large slice of cake. You just don't get this kind of present in real life. Shauna got to select pole dancers as befits a birthday girl and danced with lots of sods and seemed delighted with her birthday treat. Another fun fuelled fest at Soul Mods, everyone appreciating the hard work put in by Slate to DJ on these nights, after all he has a real life too, although how he fits it in with his dedication to the virtual life. Second Life stamina, few can match him,,,,party on like it '67.

I had a lot of fun and made it past 11pm for the first time in a while so that was good, great tunes great laughs great people and cool avatars. The future is retro, party til its ninety sixty nine!

Self Pity Grump over

And so as its Albions rezz day I have decided to play DJ today and just pile a load of , what I think are, cool YouTube videos on here until I get bored of adding them. As Captain Oats said,,,,I may be some time.

Well ten seems like a good number, obviously its easy to fill up the entire blog with great YouTube tunes, but these ten were the first that caught my eye as I typed in Northern Soul to the search facility. Anyway listening to them made my foot tap. This DJing malarky its easy, oh yeah all I'm doing is copying and pasting this is virtual virtual DJing!

What have I been up to....

An odd week in Second Life shuffling along trying to find things to do. Logged on and visited Moonletters and had a wander around. Evelyn was there in her sharp looking E-Type she gave me a rather slow ride around the Moonletters streets. Then I rezzed my Porsche and we had possibly the slowest sports car race known to the virtual world. After a couple of laps and the rezzing of a few more cars Shauna arrived and rezzed her London Taxi cab and we took another trip around the wider Penny Lane sim. Not your typical taxi journey as we ended up in a pond, stuck down a ditch, and lost in a marshy jungle type prim mess; luckily for us Shauna was able to pluck us from our midden and plonk us nicely on a better piece of land until we finally found tarmac and completed our journey. A very interesting car journey, then Shauna informed me that there was a soul night at the Hangout with Janis Short as DJ.

So, I said my goodbyes and hopped on a teleport to the Hangout to listen in to some great tunes, there were a few sods present and Janis' usual crowd all enjoying some fantastic tunes. A great night and everyone had fun, some great chat in the chat line as people had a few laughs and jokes. A great night in; however, I retreated upstairs to the lounge bar to escape the particle lights which were a tad too bright for me now. Rather strange conducting a conversation from upstairs with those downstairs.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Hangout listening to some marvelous tunes. Janis will be DJing less regularly in the virtual world as she has aquired a real life job, that damn real life interfering with our entertainment, how bloomin' dreadful. I dressed in my best Oirish paisley green mod outfit, and grooved away alone upstairs like a sad Billy no-mates. After a while all got a little tiring and I took my leave and logged out after having a great time. Having so many good nights in Second Life of late its almost a crime to get so much great entertainment for so little effort, log on and have a raft of great DJs play me great tunes. However being a greedy geezers and still like to call out for more, lots more soul lots more mod and more mod fashion but I'm a difficult geezer to please! Check out the flyers and attend the events as the DJs relish the support and everyone appreciates being appreciated! Sermon over....

I also jogged over to Soulsville to listen to a few soul tunes at the club on Tuesday. As ever I tended to stay quiet in the corner and just listen in to the great music. Marvelous music in the virtual world, just wish their was a lot more of it, oops I'm off on my rant again.

These virtual days lets hope they never end,,,,,

My Tuesday Evening...

... fingers crossed.

Frantic real life day abso-feckin-lutely knackered, looking for some virtual light relief so was delighted to read Shauna's piece over on Moonletters that there is a Blues Brothers Tribute taking place this evening at the Wu Wu Bar so I logged in earlier to discard my pirate clobber from Slate's great pirate themed night at Soul Mods; and, donned a cool black suit and hat, all I need now are shades and I'm your man! So if your thinking what can I do this evening grab a virtual taxi and get yourself over, I am hoping for a strong Chicago bluesy nights entertainment listening to some sharp R&B, so shake a tail feather and get on down.

See, I told you I was bloomin' knackered, I don't even know what day it is. Mentally frazzled I thought it was Tuesday today, feck me its Monday!

No virtual night out yesterday, I spent the  evening ...asleep now tonight, Tuesday as Shauna has said, I'm putting my shades on and getting virtual, see you all there!

Well it was a truly spectacular show full of glitz and excitement, however on my arrival I was unable to hear the stream and so whilst it was a marvelous spectacular and yet without the tunes it was turning out to be a damp squib. Then triumph I got the stream the tunes roared through and the whole experience lifted off; Dugi and Shauna were present but both left early - other commitments, as I had myself and after just under an hour it was time for me to go too. But, it was a fantastic night, brief but great! Such is the virtual world a brief but bright shining star, top entertainment all over the grid just check it out.

Gremlins and Great Tunes

The computer gremlins were out to get me yesterday and I fell victim to their evil ways several times. First they robbed me of the stream and I opted to relog; but then my modem or some other techy malfunction stuffed me and I lost my connection, reboot time. Following basic IT helpline procedure I turned the damn machine off then back on and waited. Click click log back on, errr no I got some waffle about DNS or some such techygarble not connecting, bugger repeat on/off sequence. Ahhh and I'm back in the room, lost the stream a couple more times and crashed as my Internet connection went down, ranted a little but my Thai Chi mentality meant I threw nothing out of the window. Eventually I got back, stream locked in and no further crashes, although there were a few clouds in the room. That just seems par for the course in Second Life these days.

So, why was I so desperate tom get in world afterall sometimes after such torment I say feck it and go and watch TV, or if I'm desperate talk to the wife [only kidding m'dear obviously I'd never voluntarily chat to you, OUCH!]* Simply because the couple of tunes I heard before my Internet ordeal sounded so cool I was desperate to hear more, and so like some strung out virtual music addict I thumped tables viciously stabbed at buttons and indulged in a little swearing all in the pursuit of returning to Soul Mods. 

Anyway enough of my tribulations. Eden was up on decks for the first time in a while and blasted back in fine style. Though my listening pleasure was disjointed I heard enough and followed the chat sufficiently to endorse the set as another mod triumph. Some great tunes were played and a good crowd of people turned up to hear a great set. A lot of "wbs" were being typed amidst the usual mayhem in the chat line so perhaps it wasn't just me who was having problems. Surprisingly Soul Mods became wimmin central for the evening as Dugi and Albion were severely outnumbered. We did our best not to offend the chicks, no David Cameron blunders here, and thus rescued ourselves from a possible beating -  although something tells me Dugi quietly regrets that! Anyway I mindlessly digress, its a dreadful flaw but its my blog so yer stuck with it, tough. Where was I? Yeah, back on track now. Great night with fantastic DJ, super tunes and wonderful people and despite the troubles I had still had fun and a few laughs. Next time Eden is on decks get your act into gear and get over its bloomin' marvelous.

Then to top it all Dugi announces that Slate Friday DJ and general loon wants to have a theme for Fridays soiree, PIRATES! Time to dig through my inventory and locate a few pirate outfits but who do i go as. As the girls bemoaned the lack of time I rifled through my inventory, I have plenty of junk in there so getting some pirate garb is not an issue, but....

However the dilemma is who do I go as? Do I go as the madcap Captain Jack, put on my neat Johnny Depp skin and woo the laydees; or do I opt for the more sinister Henry Barbosa, nasty pirate captain and spooky looking avatar. Or, should I go as the coolest of them all - my good self and merely slap on a hairy wig and some pirate clobber and scowl a lot. Whatever I opt for it looks like its going to be a night of mayhem. Slate's regular gigs are crazy enough and we were reliably informed he has a few surprises planned. It may not be strictly mod, but the tunes will be and the people too so if your feeling jaded, grab a pew throw on a cutlass type arrr matey a lot and join in the mayhem, see you there!

*I have no idea why I do these Dandy/Beano comic aside conversation, the wife's at school teaching and I'm on my own drinking tea. Is it early onset dementia? I 'll let you know,,,err what was I saying, do you take sugar?

Bit of Northern Soul Literature

Just discovered this on Radio Four a trio of short stories about Northern Soul at Wigan Casino; I enjoyed listening to them and hope you enjoy it too. Have a listen:

They say the floor at the Casino is amazing - a sprung wood floor! And they can fit 1200 people in the ballroom there. Twelve hundred people dancing!'

David's mate Batty converted him to Northern Soul: lending him obscure records, teaching him dance moves and describing the legendary club. The plan is to hitch-hike to Wigan to experience the Casino for themselves.

Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road.

The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.

These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.

Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.

Written by Laura Barton. Read by Bryan Dick.

Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 1. Ten Miles High

Rita works in the cloakroom of the Casino, and hasn't been on the ballroom floor since the days when it was called the Wigan Empress. But then Frank starts calling.

Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road. The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.

These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.

Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.

Written by Laura Barton. Read by Melanie Kilburn.

Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 2. What Shall I Do?

It is all about ritual. Saturday comes and Rob, a seasoned DJ at the Casino, is sorting through and packing his records for the night.

Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road. The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.

These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.

Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.

Written by Laura Barton. Read by Daniel Rigby.

Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 3. Three Before Eight

Northern Soul life in literature, not sure how much longer these will be available for but have a listen if you can, I enjoyed the stories and think they may trigger a few memories for some of you.

ciaio

The Virtual Bubble

Been very quiet blog wise for quite some time, but its a lazy bank holiday weekend and before I plunge into the hectic maelstrom of real life Easter activity I figured I would blab on here about whats been happening in my virtual bubble.

Obviously most of this revolves around the great club nights at Soul Mods and the crazy wonderful people who bring the pixelated world to life with their music, their chat and their laughter. Lupo and Slate; Eden and Kim and now Shauna all entertain us with their great selection of tunes but those in attendance play their part whether its Josie dressing as a tuna, or Seren rifling back our idiotic sentences, yeah be scared of what you say the stupid within you will be revealed. Everyone in the club plays a role in making it what it is, and I for one appreciate everyone who turns up and contributes to making Soul Mods such a fun place to be. Right that's the simpering gushing praise over with I shall return to my ego ridden, grumpy self.

Before that though, I must comment on last nights set at Soul Mods. Last time out Kim had horrendous software issues that prevented her from delivering her set and we were very lucky that Eden stepped in to fill the gap. Last night was Kim's return to the decks with all such software issues resolved. And what a joy her set was; so many outstanding tracks were played Kim was really applying the pressure to Slate who is DJing tonight [expected the unexpected from him, as we are all too well aware, Ive seen the boxes of Bud so am anticipating a riot of fun and musical mayhem, but I digress]. I had a great time listening in ,the chat lost me a little on the computer game discussion as I am still struggling to come to terms with the demise of old favourites that I did understand. Go on treat yourself you remember these :

http://www.commodore.ca/arcade/asteroids.swf

Stand out track for me was a sharp French disc that I was utterly unfamiliar with, and that's the marvelous thing about Soul Mods Ive been introduced to so much new music, I am happy in my aged musical orbit and then the DJ will spring something new on me that sends me spiralling off into new sounds, its bloomin' great. Still grooving to this track today although its been replaced by the wonderful Redskins at the moment. Enjoy the tune and thanks to Kim for delivering it, hopefully see you all at the mad house that is a DJ Slate Soul Mods gig!

Charity, its good for the Soul

Logged on to the grid on Saturday and headed off to the Acropolyse for a Race for Life Charity (a UK based cancer charity similar to the Relay for Hope US charity) event, a mammoth eight hour event hosted by three soul DJs, as I arrived I was given a great welcome by Baron and a friendly group of dancers. Joined by Aston and Dugi we settled into a groove to hear some standout tunes. Baron never disappoints on that score, and was soon throwing out the popular, the cool and the rare and entertaining us all, even some who were new to Northern Soul, Baron's set is usually an education as well as entertainment and once again he didn't disappoint.

Unfortunately, I was again a passive presence at a club that had great tunes and some lively chat, I'd expect nothing else if Dugi is present. Even if a club is quiet Mr Rubble soon puts an end to that. I occasionally dipped into chat but for the most part enjoyed the tunes and rested my old peekers, hahaha. But from the glimpses I caught on my HUGE chat text it seemed like everyone was having great fun. And, fantastically after a brief chat with Baron, that Real Life can be a real bugger, I later learnt that the event delivered a whopping 40k plus for the charity. Okay its confessional time. A weakling such as myself failed to last the pace and I logged off around 23.00 UK time, but I feel certain those that stayed had a marvelous time, each one a hero of soul.

ciao.

Silent Crashing

For the second night in a row I secretly crashed whilst at Soul Mods, this happened a lot during my early virtual days but has not happened for many many months. Basically the musical stream continues and my screen shows the action of everyone dancing only there's no chat as I have been disconnected. In a quiet club this means you think you are still in there, luckily Soul Mods is a rowdy friendly place and so the lack of chat alerted me to the fact I was logged off. Linden arses!

Other than my crashing they were good nights at the club, uber Madrid mod Lupo played a blinding set on Thursday with a few stand out tracks, Wild Thing by Wilson Pickett from the Hey Jude album set my ears on fire and I have had a daily listen since. The usual nutters were in attendance, but something very fishy was in the air, and it wasn't just Josie. How often can you get a fish into your conversation, endlessly it seems, cant say the clubs not got sole!

On Friday, with Slate in Spain enjoy Sun Sea and Sangria [was that him in the back of the van on Benidorm*] Soul Mods played host to Janis Short on decks. Janis plays a mean sixties set and kept the troops entertained in the maniacs absence. I had fun even if I was quiet, the new non-reading regime. Then I crashed, bugger. Well hope the virtual world treats you kindly I might even post some more and stop being an idle git.

ciao

*Benidorm trivia, I know the fat lad who got his hat nicked in last nights episode, and was doing the Benny Hill chase near the end, Benidorm the sit com not the town, lol.

A Quick Plug

Failed to make it at the Killing Moon on Saturday, but you can catch up with events there here: http://slfix.com/?p=14242 . Have fun y'all.

The Silent Dancer

Last night I ventured onto the grid and visited an old club in a new guise. The Soulsville Club unveiled a new construction for PT's rezz day, and from the chat I think its to be a permanent fixture, fingers crossed. Its a great concept, the club is housed just off the platform of a tube station, on the Northern Line. The club itself is minimalistic fitting the stark tube architecture. Old school white tile [as used for the In the City album] with various suitable graphic posters dotted about. Personally I thought it looked great and is a welcome addition to mod architecture since we have lost so many great builds over the recent past. Anyway, enough architectural waffle, lets talk tunes.

The set was a soul inspired set, lots of Motown and Northern Soul, with a diva section from Miss Diana Ross, PT was DJ, for his own rezz day - best option then you get to hear all your favourites. I enjoyed the set was fun listening to some familiar tunes and a few new ones. As ever the early start at the Soulsville means I have real life stuff to attend to so I was my usual silent dancer in the corner listening in and enjoying the tunes, singing along on occasions, the wife loves that! There was a big turnout for the event and the club was buzzing, always nice to see a club full, or even half full, and judging by the chat rifling up my screen everyone seemed to be having a great time. I left as the party was still in full swing, great tunes and a fantastic looking club. I look forward to occupying that corner a few more times, maybe I'll even join in the chat.

Soulsville UK Club

Great Nights, Great DJs

A couple of good nights at Soul Mods last week. Huge blow that Kim had some techy issues, as I love her heavy ska laden sets; but, lucky for us Eden stepped in and delivered a great impromptu set. The usual reprobates were there and a good time was had by all. Friday was the usual wacky weekender from Slate, with much craziness, great tunes and bizarre happenings as always.  A Northern Soul heavy set this time out Slate delivered some really fine tunes that kwept us all bouncing in virtuality and in reality, at least I was bouncing, no mean feat at my age, I'm 87 y'know [applause...haha, wonder who really believes that]. Lots of Gene Hunt activity near the end of the set as Slate handed out masks and we dipped our toes in seventies Glam. I had to leave before the end [up at 7am for real life dad stuff Saturday morning] but am certain the madness and laughs continued for a while longer.

Its marvelous that the virtual sixties influenced entertainment carries on into Saturday at the Killing Moon, and Shauna's efforts to set up the event is much appreciated. Indeed Shauna debuted as DJ there this weekend and did a great job. Strong words of encouragement from old hands like Slate and Eden helped I think, and at least there was no swearing, kicking of computers or toilets interludes like one great DJ I could mention......

A great night with some great tunes, generic sixties rather than pure mod but no less entertaining with some fine tunes thrown into the mix. I really enjoyed myself and judging by the comments flowing through chat so did everyone else. Hats off to Shauna for providing a fresh venue and getting on decks herself,,,err Dugi, hahaha. I admire anyone who does this techy DJ malarkey as its so beyond my meagre techy talents they are like ancient metal smiths of the dark ages. Weird clever geezers and geezerettes capable of strange wonderfully magical feats. Good on you all, and thanks for the tunes. Time to rest my weary eyes, ciao.

Virtual goings on....

I headed to the second sixties event at the Killing Moon on Saturday to spend some time chilling out to some tunes. The DJ for this event was Magdalena Bing and she played some great tunes, mostly generic sixties rather than mod, with the odd seventies and fifties tunes hurled into the mix. A lot of Beatles and Kinks were played along with a few other standard sixties tunes and everyone seemed to be having fun. It was the usual Moonletters suspects in attendance at the pub, which is encouraging and hopefully means that the Saturday session will continue.

Other goings on over the virtual weekend were limited, grabbing a couple of freebies and getting some clothing from the Marketplace which undoubtedly I'll waffle on about at some point. Need to speed up though I think as some stuff I buy at the Marketplace seems to vanish soon after; a few items I had locked into my favourites section have vanished so apologies if I blog something and you follow a link to a vacant page. My procrastination begs your forgiveness, right time for some breakfast. I may log on this evening I wonder if there's anything worth attending, AAi maybe?

It was a quiet night gridwise and I ended up at the Soulsville club, there were not many there but I enjoyed a nice set of sixties soul tunes from PT whilst I attended to some real life issues. So I was pretty much a non-presence at least Albion bulked out the dance floor. A shame it was not better attended as there were some cool tunes. Later I did head off to the AAi, it was also very quiet here with one of the smallest crowds I've seen there fdor quite some time. Claire was playing some fine tunes and I was settling down for the duration when I was reminded of an early morning start and therefore had to cut my visit short, pity! Anyway, that was the virtual going ons in my Second Life over the last couple of days.

Friday night Fun Factory

Friday night, nothing on the telly, no babysitters so how do I fill my evening: only one course of action...Soul Mods! Friday is a fun night Slate plays great tunes, some old some more recent and his set list is lively and very entertaining; however, its the huge sense of fun he imbues into his sets that make it such a please to attend. He takes time out to create daft links, voice overs and other stuff merely to give us a laugh or put a smile on our faces. Absolutely fantastic, marry that with his excellent tune selection and it creates a marvelous atmosphere that all who attend enjoy. I left before the end but it was gone 11pm when I left, Slate is fairly flexible on that score and his gigs don't so much over run as flow on past the 11pm slot.

So, it was another great night although the new fad for gesture quotes leaves me a little confused, especially when there are dozens being fired off simultaneously I lose track of who is saying what. Ah I guess I'm just too slow to keep up. One quick reminder that Saturday now has a viable sixties/mod venue at the Killing Moon, its well worth supporting this event as there are too few venues playing what I like to call our kind of music*. To read more on tonight's event read this

*Bollox, I have morphed into David Jascobs