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Archive for the ‘NEWS STORIES’ Category

Ali G meets the FBI (classic interview- Youtube) click on the picture

Over-dressed Tube train travellers who look like they’re high on drugs could be Al Qaida terrorists, London’s Evening Standard revealed this week in an article examining the latest police anti-terror tactics.

Cops on the Underground and also at Heathrow airport are applying Israeli style profiling tactics to hunt out potential suicide bombers, the paper revealed, also looking for those demonstrating ‘nervous behaviour and avoiding eye contact’.

In more anti-terror news, Doncaster traveller Paul Chambers, 29, was arrested and detained in a cell for seven hours a week after he Twittered a message to friends in which he joked about ‘blowing Doncaster Airport sky high’.

In a sympathetic article, the Independent newspaper said Mr Chamber is the first person to be arrested in the UK for a Twitter post and revealed police have seized his mobile phone, laptop and home computer while they continue deciding to prosecute him or not. Mr Chambers has also already been banned for life from Doncaster Airport. Civil liberties guru Tessa Mayes was unimpressed.

“Making jokes about terrorism is considered a thought crime, mistakenly seen as a real act of harm or intention to commit harm,” she told the Independent.

“The police’s actions seem laughable and suggest desperation in their efforts to combat terrorism, yet they have serious repercussions for all of us. In a democracy, our right to say what we please to each other should be non-negotiable, even on Twitter,” she suggested.
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Tommie Sunshine (click on the picture for his Soundcloud page- loads of great music)

Legendary American DJ Tommie Sunshine was unceremoniously booted off the decks at a party in Brooklyn last weekend just moments after starting his set.

“2nd track of my set, the cops shut down the rave I just played in Brooklyn,” said Sunshine on a message he posted on Twitter, “The last thing this city (New York City) needs to worry about is kids dancing,” he added.

Chatting to Skrufff the flamboyantly bearded experimentalist (described on one site as ‘a man who’s making a run for sticking to the ZZ Top look longer than some actual ZZ Top members’) expanded on what happened.

“The party was in Red Hook which is off the radar in Brooklyn in what is normally a bar with a stage. There were hundreds of kids there and when I say kids, I mean kids: the only people there who were over 18, worked there,” said Tommie.

“I’d gone on just after Odi, a New York drum & bass legend who had the crowd foaming at the mouth, so I was taking the speed back down to 132bpm, which was a chore. I’d started playing Yolanda Be Cool – Afro Nuts, the Douster Remix, the kids were going mental and the next thing I know, a cop is standing in front of me yelling “TURN IT OFF!” he recalled.

Despite stopping the party abruptly, however, the cops were otherwise reasonable, he revealed.

“There was no sign of anything happening beforehand though if there was I would never have seen it as I get VERY lost in my music, but oddly they treated me fine,” said Tommie, “They let me walk out the front door.”

“They also treated the kids with respect which is more important. They are just trying to have fun and escape the reality of this awful time in this country.”
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Click on the picture for Factory Manchester's website

Ex New Order bassist Peter Hook is launching a new nightclub in Manchester called the Factory located where the offices of the band’s legendary label Factory Records used to be.

Kicking off promotion for the club with a minimalist website and Facebook group the promoters described the Factory as ‘a new indie rock + roll club and live venue’ and added a typically bleak Mancunian reference to Factory Records’ rise and fall.

“20 years since the birth of Madchester the building that started it all and ultimately destroyed it all (is back),” the release says, adding “FAC251: Head office of Factory Communications… Built by Tony Wilson, designed by Ben Kelly & Peter Saville, paid for by New Order and broken by the Happy Mondays . . .”
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Eddie Halliwell (click on the picture for more about ear-plugs)

UK hearing health organisation Don’t Lose the Music are giving away hundreds of ear protection devices in response to news that the European Union is planning to introduce decibel limits on personal music players such as Iphones.

Don’t Lose the Music/ ACS founder Andy Shiach said his organisation are opposed to limiters, explaining that the key issue in reducing the risk of hearing damage is blocking out external sounds.

“When you want to listen to music, or indeed speech the source you want to listen to has to be approximately 10 decibels (dB) above the ambient noise level,” he told Skrufff.

“If limiter devices are set to 90dB, for example, that means that when you have an ambient noise level of 90dB (which you frequently experience on the street or on the tube) then it won’t be possible to hear anything.”

“The best way to protect ears is to block off the ambient noise by sealing the ear canals, this provides approximately 26dB of noise reduction, meaning that if the street sound was at 90 decibels, with protection you could hear the music well at 74dB. That’s significantly less than the 8 hour average daily noise exposure of 85dB imposed by European noise at work legislation. People could then turn the volume up to feel the beat, without exposing themselves to dangerous levels,” Andy continued.

“Though I’d like to stress that ACS don’t advocate listening at high sound levels. Education and awareness are the key to understanding noise levels,” he added.
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toilet brush covert surveillance camera (click on the pic to buy)

Activists from the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) came out in support of full body scanners at security checkpoints at airports this week, suggesting travelers should regard the experience as being equivalent to taking a ‘naked vacation’.

“Polls regularly show that about one in five North Americans have skinny-dipped in mixed company already. So if travelers just think of the screen as a virtual skinny-dip, something regarded as American as apple pie since before Norman Rockwell, everyone wins in the name of better air travel security,” said AANR Executive Director Erich Schuttauf.

“Put this issue in its proper perspective,” My Schuttauf recommended, “A trained security professional in a remote monitoring station takes a few seconds discreetly screening passengers to be sure they’re only bringing what nature gave them aboard.”

The issue of strangers remotely examining other peoples’ naked bodies via high tech cameras came into sharp focus in the UK this week where Sky News revealed that arrests for voyeurism have doubled in the last four years, as cheap spy cameras have become increasingly easy to buy via the net.

“Unrequited love, jealousy and suspicion are also driving these offences,” Simon Davies of Privacy International told Sky News, “We’re receiving an increasing number of calls from very distressed people who have found hidden equipment.”

One such camera the channel singled out was Omeju Tech’s ‘Toilet Brush Sleuth Gear Recluse’ which retails for US$298 on numerous websites.

“Inside this ordinary looking Toilet Brush is actually a camera, with a High Resolution 640 X 480 system using a SD card for Memory,” Omeju’s sales blurb enthuses, “The Toilet Brush Sleuth Gear Recluse can go anywhere (and) record everything without attracting any attention. Just Set the Toilet Brush in your desired location (and) record!” they explain.

http://www.bathroomspycamera.com/productsshow.php?id=188 (specifications: Ideal for covert surveillance, no more pin-holes: Frame-integration-technology camera ideal for night vision . . .’)

Jonty Skrufff (http://skrufff.com); Follow Jonty on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jontyskrufff

Gilbert Stafford (click on the picture for his Facebook Memorial page)

Celebrity club doorman Gilbert Stafford died last week, aged 57, after a 30 year career which saw him overseeing seminal East Coast nightclubs including Area and Crobar in both New York and Miami.

Erstwhile Limelight promoter turned leading nightlife columnist Stephen Lewis paid tribute on Blackbook.com.

“While I and many have described clubdom as a game of smoke and mirrors, people like Gilbert, and there are only a very few, showed us that it isn’t greed, money or lust that drives the good ones,” said Lewis, “Clubs are a world of love and exploration and self-searching and beauty.”

East Side icon Lady Bunny spoke equally fondly of the legendarily dapper doorman, recalling happy times bumping into him at club entrances and elsewhere.

“He was always very genuine and jovial but with an ‘I’ve seen it all, honey’ attitude,” said Bunny, “The last time we spoke was on the street maybe a year or two ago and he mentioned that he was writing a book and moving to LA. He was a little over New York City as many old-timers are,” said Bunny.

The pair first crossed paths in the mid 80s after Bunny moved from Atlanta to New York when Gilbert worked the door at seminal nightspot Area.

“My first gig in New York City was at the Pyramid club in the East Village and occasionally, if we could afford cab fare, we’d bundle into a taxi and head downtown to Area; by far the hottest spot for scenesters in town in the mid-eighties,” Bunny recalled.

“Our drag was very rag tag, straight from thrift shops, but Gilbert would honour an old custom called club courtesy which called for admitting other club employees who were out on the town for free.”

“No matter how fancy the folks in line were, Gilbert would rush our entire crew to the head of the line and whisk us in for free. And often hand us drink tickets, which made us feel like superstars. I’m not sure how Gilbert even knew us; he may have partied at the Pyramid on his nights off. But after that initial connection, it was always easy for us to pick up where we left off and he was a brilliant conversationalist.”

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He's behind you! (click on the picture to listen to Dave Clarke's White Noise Radio show)

Holidaying DJ icon Dave Clarke narrowly escaped being bitten in half this week, after a ‘dinosaur-huge’ suspected Great White shark attacked a swimmer close to Dave’s luxury hotel in Cape Town.

“A man got eaten by a shark yesterday, all the beaches are closed and people are being advised to only use tidal pools,” Dave confirmed, “The beast was apparently as big as a minivan and there were 19 further sightings, it’s a shame Rob Schneider (star of Jaws) died,” he added.

Following the incident, the normally unflappable and notoriously willful techno don admitted he’s following life guards orders to stay out of the water and has been constantly scanning the ocean for giant dorsal fins.

“Some of the towns here may have English derived names, but this isn’t the English Channel, this is where wildlife is wild and Man isn’t always the top predator,” Dave shuddered, “I’m off to the pool now, it’s safer,” he told Skrufff.

Zimbabwean swimmer Lloyd Skinner, 37, was attacked as he stood in waist-deep water 20 metres off shore at 4pm local time, Bloomberg reported.

“According to the witnesses, it was a very big shark, it was a very big one you know” Johan De Witt, an inspector of marine and coastal management told Cape Times [ITN] “They reckon it came all along the side of the catwalk, it swam all along the side there and they only saw it at the last minute.”

Another witness described the shark as  ‘dinosaur huge’ in a post on Twitter immediately after the attack while another described how it ‘came from below and ‘ripped Mr Skinner apart’ (News24.com)

“The shark attacked him three times,” Ian Klopper from the National Sea Rescue Institute added, ‘It didn’t bite him and let him go. It came back and carried on eating.’ (Daily Mail)
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Lady GaGa barbie dolls (not for sale)

Finnish electro-house producer Jori Hulkkonen complained that ‘music has lost it’s meaning’ last week, in a detailed tirade in which he also suggested that Web 2.0 social networking has led many stars to lose their ‘sense of mystery’.

“I’ve always loved artists who create an image, a stage persona and represent their music through that. Now with Facebook and Twitter, and reality shows like (Pop) Idols you know everything – and more -about these people by the time the first single is out. These people seem like ordinary, gifted, but ordinary people who just make music,” said Jori.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t like ordinary people and I don’t care about the music they make,” he told TurboRecordings.com (http://turborecordings.com/gameover)

Flamboyant French electro-tech legend Lady B (aka Bruno Gauthier) linked to the article (on Twitter ironically) and broadly agreed with his sentiments.

“I wrote ‘Amen’ before I reTweeted Jori’s article because he pointed out exactly what’s happened in recent years in the music industry; ‘music has lost its meaning’ and that’s true not just for music but for everything’.

“Music is no longer an item such as a CD or piece of vinyl any more though the industry continues to sell it as though it’s a physical product. We have to relearn our relationship with music again, which, I think, will become closer to real emotions rather than marketing,” he predicted.

Lady B admitted he’s personally an enthusiastic adopter of social networking though stressed he’s careful about what information he posts.

“Social networking is a great way for me to stay connected with people, particularly when they’re far away and also to have immediate and direct contact and access to people you like,” he pointed out, “But I never post my moods or what I’m doing, those matters are for real life.”

“I’ve had to learn some rules, however,” he continued, “I’m an instinctive person and I tend to trust people too quickly. That means I’ve wasted too much time on a few people who weren’t worth it.”

He also admitted to previously revealing too much ‘two or three times’.

“I made some confessions to badly intentioned people,” he said, “I realised it afterwards, too late.”

Click on the picture to follow Lady B on Twitter

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Click on the picture for full details of the awards

French independent music organisation Qwartz has selected Jonty Skrufff’s remix of Motor’s single Death Rave as one of seven nominees for best track of 2009 in their ‘Dancefloor/ Clubbing’ category.

Additional contenders in the same category include Citizen Records’ Monosurround (‘We in Hello World), Kompakt’s Supermayer (Hey Hotties!’) and HANDS’ the PCP Principle (‘37/41 in electronic violence phenomena).

A total of 43 tracks have been nominated by a panel of prestigious industry judges including Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bernard Parmegiani and David Chauveau who blindly listened to 4,077 tracks over the last few months before making their selection. The public are now being invited to vote for their favourites with the winners to be announced at a prize giving ceremony being staged in Paris on Friday April 2.

“I’m surprised and absolutely delighted that my remix has been selected as one of the Qwartz jury’s favourite tracks, particularly as it’s the first solo remix I’ve ever done,” said Jonty.

“Of course music is always about personal taste though I now find myself in that tantalizing position of wanting to win and feeling the temptation to launch a DJ Top 100 style ‘vote-for-me campaign’, he laughed.

“I won’t but I will ask readers to vote for one of the tracks: you can hear them all in full on Quartz’ website ((http://tinyurl.com/y96ot5s)

“I’d also like to add that I’m particularly honoured to going up against Monosurround and Supermayer and would like to thank Bryan and Oly from Motor for giving me the opportunity in the first place,” said Jonty.

All 43 tracks can be heard in full on Quartz’ website (http://tinyurl.com/y96ot5s) with voting now open.  Death Rave is also on Soundcloud here: http://tinyurl.com/yachmbt

http://tinyurl.com/y96ot5s (Qwartz awards: full details here: ‘– Qwartz, a program dedicated to the promotion and support of independent musical creation, announces today its sixth edition nominations and the opening of votes to the public . . .’)

Seb Mortimer (Skrufff.com)

Qwartz nominations; click on the picture for voting details

Fish Go Deep (Shane's in the glasses) click on the pic for more

Fish Go Deep is the production alias of Irish duo Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson from Cork who for 15 years have made a living spinning, producing and promoting (deep-ish) house music.

Best known for their top 30 UK hit ‘The Cure & the Cause (which came out on Defected in 2005 with fresh remixes last October) the duo continue to spin weekly in Cork and overseas, with Shane recently headlining Indonesia’s JADE dance conference in Jakarta.

http://www.fishgodeep.com

Skrufff: What trends- in music and clubs, do you expect to be big in 2010 and beyond?

Shane Johnson (Fish Go Deep): “I’m still hoping that the song will make a comeback. Not the big diva stuff, just some interesting house vocalists with good songs. It’s been a while.”

Skrufff : What do you anticipate will be the future for record companies and producers? This year and in 5 years’ time?

Shane Johnson (Fish Go Deep): “For a start the classic major record label model is well and truly finished. I’m sure the trend towards artists selling directly to fans will continue. Hard to know where the digital download stores will fit into all this but I guess the more specialist ones will survive as general music portals.”
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