Jonty Skrufff's Blog

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click on the picture for Pioneer's videos

CDJ market leaders Pioneer revealed details of their new top-of-the-range mixer the DJM-2000 this week, just weeks after launching their CDJ-2000 digital decks.

The ultra-flash new mixer comes with high-tech touch screen technology and ‘removes the need for an external effects unit’, said Pioneer and will be retailing in shops for €2,000.

Pioneer’s ‘Europe Press Department’ emailed Skrufff about the new product (anonymously; ‘they don’t want to put their name to it as they get bombarded’ their publicist explained) and said the new machine is aimed towards club owners rather than bedroom DJs.

“The DJM-2000 is targeting the club installation market and top professional
DJs, we would expect the ratio between clubs and individuals buying them at home to be heavily weighted towards the club installation market,” they explained, “The CDJ-2000 / DJM-2000 is designed and built for the very top pro DJs for continuous reliable use in club environments.”
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Click on the picture for detailed advice on UK police tactics & your rights

Essential advice for dealing with UK police (includes ‘REMAIN SILENT - We strongly recommend you answer ‘no comment’ to all questions and during interviews, for your own benefit and that of others. From the moment you are stopped, everything you say is evidence – there is no such thing as a ‘friendly chat’. The police are trained to get information out of you, so stay strong. Do not sign any statements . . .’)

penis trousers on the catwalk: click on the picture for video footage (SAFE-ish for work)

Spanish fashion designer Isabel Mastache stole the show at this week’s Madrid Fashion Week when she presented models wearing trousers with a stitched on, partially engorged penis and scrotum bag.

Leading style blog Queerty was unimpressed, however, branding the ‘penis trousers . . . batshit crazy designs’ and decreeing ‘fashion is not about putting cocks on parade.’

Rival trend spotting portal Famespy.com were not so sure.

“Critics are completely two sided with this design,” Famespy suggested, “Some believe it to be a clever and genius way to express the beauty of fashion and the soul, while others are purely disgusted.”
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UK Dance pioneer Piers Sanderson's excellent upcoming acid house documentary (click on the picture)

Click here for a trailer of Piers Sanderson’s upcoming documentary on the birth of acid house- Piers was there from the very start: looks like being a fantastic, as-it-was documentary.

The Bismarck (click on the picture)

Independent Scottish beer company Brewdog unveiled a new 41% alcohol strength beer called Sink the Bismarck this week, in a canny move to reclaim the world record for producing the ‘world’s strongest beer’.

The new brew is 1% stronger than rival German beer Schorschbock and in no way at all could provoke irresponsible drinking, Brewdog boss James Watt assured the BBC.

“It’s ignorant to assume that a beer can’t be enjoyed responsibly like a nice dram or a glass of fine wine. A beer like Sink the Bismarck should be enjoyed in spirit sized measures,” he insisted.

“It is important that you be careful with this beer and show it the same amount of sceptical, tentative respect you would show an international chess superstar, clown or gypsy,” he curiously added.
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Click on the picture to hear Ghost Machine on Radio 1

Click here to hear Judge Jules spinning my new remix of Dare and Haste’s Ghost Machine on his Radio 1 show (which went out live on Friday February 7). This is the second week running Jules has played the track: to hear it in full click here (or click on the soundcloud widget on the right)

It’s 42 minutes along (you can scroll along easily by dragging the slider if you’re in a rush..;-)))))

Click on the picture for John Lilly speaking- fascinating

Cambridge University Professor Simon Conway Morris warned that aliens could soon turn up on Earth, this week and suggested the ‘‘greedy, bullying extra-terrestrials’ could be planning to colonize the planet and plunder our natural resources.

“Extra-terrestrials . . . won’t be splodges of glue … they could be disturbingly like us,” the professor of evolutionary paleobiology told the Times, “and that might not be a good thing – we don’t have a great record.”

The Professor was speaking in advance of a two day scientific conference examining the latest information on potentially habitable planets and the implications for Earth and struck a chord with the view of techno veteran/ sci-fi obsessive Jeff Mills.

Chatting to Skrufff four years ago, Mills admitted believing in aliens, citing the size of the universe and humanity’s level of inter-galactic ignorance as factors underscoring his belief.

“There are things out there,” said Mills, “and I think it’s probably just a matter of time (before we meet them). Things (encounters) may have happened already and these things were maybe held back from the public or things will happen in the future and maybe some people know, some people don’t know,” he speculated.

“But this planet is not protected by anything, we are basically floating in space like all other things, so at some point there should be some contact with something, good or bad,” he warned.
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Dirty Dancing (Youtube) clip on the pic: NOT SAFE IF YOU'RE TRAPPED IN A US HIGH SCHOOL!

Officials at Union Grove High School in Wisconsin, USA, published a detailed list of regulations for students hoping to attend the school’s annual winter ball this week and warned that those dancing ‘inappropriately’ will lose ‘dance privileges’ for a year.

“When dancing back to front all dancers must remain upright, no sexual bending is allowed,” the school’s ‘dance policies and procedures’ document declared.

“Examples are, no hands on knees and no hands on the dance-floor with your buttocks touching your dance partner. There will be no touching of the breasts, buttocks or genitals. There will be no straddling of each other’s legs. Both feet must remain on the dance floor at all times,” they ordered.

Union Grove Principal Tom Hermann defended the new sanctions.

“The expectations of dressing appropriately and dancing appropriately have always been in place. What we wanted to do was spell this out to make it as clear as possible,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Times.

“We’re trying to teach kids to act appropriate in a formal setting,” he added. “That’s the point of having a dance anyway.” (http://tinyurl.com/yhuofwa)

http://www.ug.k12.wi.us/ d T(Mission statement: the Union Grove High School Staff, in cooperation with parents and the community, will equip students with the skills necessary for a productive life in an ever-changing world.

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

Aaron Mellor, Ben Kelly, Peter Hook, picturte by Kevin Cummins

New Order legend Peter Hook chatted to Skrufff this week about his hugely ambitious plans for new Manchester club the Factory and revealed that he has no concerns about losing face if it fails.

“No not at all, I’m very resilient and some would say two faced, I have a spare, you know,” he chuckled.

“Am I a masochist? All musicians are, it’s what keeps you writing great music,” he laughed, “It’s pain, pain and more pain, bring it on.”

The new three room venue is located in the building where Factory Records’ old head office was located and bears striking similarities to Factory (and New Order’s) previous club the Hacienda. Featuring a mix of weekly indie rock and dance parties spread over six nights, the opening weekend includes performances from Mani from the Stone Roses and Sean Ryder from Happy Mondays though Hooky stressed he has no concerns about repeating his Hacienda mistakes (wonderfully documented in his recent autobiography ‘The Hacienda- How not to run a club’).

“This time we haven’t made the errors which crippled us in the past with the Hacienda,” he explained.

“Last time it was like buying a second hand car and then not putting something aside for the things that you know are going to be wrong with it. This time I’ve learnt from my mistakes and am working with people who have a very practical outlook on running a club,” he said.
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Chris Morris tackles the twin towers (click on the picture)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SPWgodul_E&feature=related