Swimming with sharks and playing turtle shells, yes it's another hard day at the office...

Well, we're back from the jamming sessions with Norman Cook and Belizean the artists Andy Palacio, the Grandmaster and the Garifuna collective. It was just the nicest week ever with night time drumming sessions on the beach, snorkeling trips, jamming, fishing, recording songs, sunbathing and walking barefeet on the beach. It really couldn't have been any more perfect.

The first day was a bit chaotic as there were so many people at once, but things soon slowed down and good music was made in the process. Norman recorded 3 songs whilst he was here, with my favorite being a slighly more down-tempo track with Andy Palacio and the Grandmaster, which I think will be called 'GMT'. The stuff that was recorded here will not be released as Fatboy Slim, but as the Mighty Dub Katz on Norman's label Southern Fried Records.

One of the things that was interesting to see was the interaction between someone like Norman, who is of course a big time DJ/producers & these local musicians, none of which are professionals (even Andy Palacio, the biggest Belizean star, is a diplomat as well as an artist). Norman was surprised to see how all the Belizeans just froze the minute the recordings started in the studio. The whole set-up was just too alien for them & they struggled to create a vibe like they had the night before when drumming on the beach.

Ivan Duran from the Belizean label StoneTree Records explained that this was a common problem and that all their albums are therefor recorded in people's houses, with the singer set up in the kitchen, the drummers in the bedroom, etc.

Still, Norman patiently persevered and eventually managed to get some great stuff out of everybody.

Setting things up.


Norman trying to figure out where 'the vibe' has gone:

We were all so sad to leave. Maybe the following pictures will help explain why...

Caroline Prothero from Prohibition, Nathan from Southern Fried, Norman, Andy, the kids and I on our way to Shark Ray Alley, where we snorkeled with nurse sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, turtles and more.


One of the daily fishing sessions at the end of the pier (hoping to catch dinner). Much was caught, including a crab, but nothing big enough to feed us.

The biggest fish of the week was caught by Aidan. Sadly though, it was made of fabric. Lucas' 6-year-old friend Justin kept telling people that he had caught 'a slapper' the night before, which we believe was the snapper that the boys had caught (we didn't correct him as we all found it too funny)

Drummer playing the turtle shells. Norman loved the sound that night, but was less keen on them when he got awoken at 7 am the next morning by the 'tuning of the shells' outside his bedroom door. Still, it's all part of being in the tropics.

Belizean music

A while ago I wrote about the lack of a music scene in Belize. Well, that posting was not totally accurate. There is a lot of music being made in Belize, but you just don't get to hear much of it when you live here. It's a bit like the chocolate, really. See, some of the best organic chocolate in world is grown in Belize (the 'Maya Gold' from Green & Black), but it's impossible to buy any of it in this country. The cocoa beans get exported to Italy for processing, after which they're send to the UK for packaging.

So that's the story with the chocolate...then there's the Belizean music & on the local radio stations you only get to hear 'Punta' and the artist Super G!!!! (they always shout that name). I'm no fan of Punta, so I don't listen to the radio stations much. And I thought that that was the only music that was being made here. Well, I was wrong.

See, Norman Cook wants to jam with Belizean artists. So I started to do some research for him and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of music that was actually being made here. The best stuff can be found on the label StoneTree Records. Check out their site and click on the album artwork to listen to the tracks.

I will let you know next week how the jamming sessions are going.

Oh my GusGus!

The weird and wonderful Icelandic collective GusGus is at it again. They started out an arty supergroup in the 90s, with roughly ten members, including a former male model, a pilot & a mish-mash of the some of the finest in Reykjavík's art scene; actors, singers, photographers, etc. Some left, others came, the band faced bankruptcy along the way & through it all they continued to make great music.

Does anyone know if their stage shows are still as visually exciting as they once were? If you've seen them live in last few years, please let me know what they are up to on stage these days.

Fatboy Slim jamming sessions

Very cool! I'm setting up some jamming sessions with Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and a bunch of Belizean artists. We're gonna have a blast! I'm sure Norman will love this place!!!

And we're planning to document it all as well. James Hyman may even come and do this with me. Which means that we'll have the old Partyzone team back in action. I really hope he can make it. And of course, as soon as I am able to share any footage of all this, I will. Just keep checking in on this blog....

Madonna v. Timbaland?

So apparently Madonna considers recording a Timbaland track for her new album. I wonder if he's willing to produce the track for her though without featuring himself on it. Good old Timbaland...he obviously had enough of just being a superstar producer. These days he wants the groupies to scream for him and not just for the artists he's producing & so now he demands to feature on virtually every track he produces and to be seen in all the videos for the tracks too. He's becoming a bit like modern-day Puffy, isn't he?

For instance, it was so odd seeing him perform 'Wait a minute' with the Pussycat Dolls at MTV's New Year's Eve show. He looked totally out of place in between these long-legged dancing & pouting ladies. It didn't even seem like they enjoyed sharing the stage with each other to be honest. But it looks like Timbaland has made his mind up, he wants a bigger piece of the pie and that's it. Take it or leave it.

But anyway, he's a marvelous producer and, judging by some behind the scenes footage that I've seen of him, he's quite an entertaining exhibitionist too.

I guess this whole Madonna thing will be part of his 'collaboration' album that apparently features artists such as Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Ludacris, Chris Martin, Björk, Missy Elliott, and more. Do any of you know when that's meant to come out?

How's this for a wake-up call?

Want to get some goosebumps? Then watch this, it's bloody brilliant! If it doesn't make you sad, mad and/or inspired to take some kind of action, I don't know what could. It makes me want to cry out to the world:

"WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OURSELVES?????? THIS IS INSANITY!!!! LET'S STOP THIS MADNESS!!!"

It's the track 'Eyewater' by Cassius and Pharrell with a video directed by Kincaid.

Please, share this video with everyone!!!!!

Celebs in rehab

Celebrity & addiction, they seem to go hand in hand, don’t they? I know that many celebs have a bad influence on each other (Think Paris & Britney, Kurt & Courtney, Kate Moss & Pete Doherty, Whitney & Bobbie, etc.) but occasionally, people in ‘the industry’ reach out to others when they think they need it.

I was a bit of a wild child too back in the MTV days & strangely enough, I got lectured to by two of the biggest addicts in music history; Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Boy George.

Steve Tyler (who’s a lovely man, by the way) once gave me a long lecture on addictions before handing me a bottle of whiskey. We were at a party somewhere in Scandinavia to celebrate MTV’s birthday (can’t remember which one) & at this party they were only serving wine, beer and soft drinks. I didn’t drink beer or wine & wanted to drink alcohol, preferably vodka. So I was ‘on a mission’ and when Steve saw that I wasn’t going to give up until I found some hard liquor, he went to look for some on the Aerosmith tour bus. He returned with a bottle of whiskey, but looked rather worried & wouldn’t hand me the bottle until I’d given him the chance to tell me about his life, his struggle with addictions, etc. Obviously, I told him he had nothing to worry about. I was not addicted to anything and was only having some fun. I have to admit though; I did drink way too much that night and got into a bit of a pickle, so Steve’s advice didn’t really do that much for me.

And years later, I was lectured again. This time it was in a hotel room where we were continuing the night’s party. Hotel rooms have always been the real ‘VIP’ rooms to get in to, not the ones at the club. Most parties only really got going once people got back to the hotels (this is why hotel managers often weren’t too keen on ‘industry people’ staying with them, they caused to many complaints by other guests)

Boy George sat me down that night, away from the others, and gave me a long lecture on the dangers of addictions. I can’t remember exactly what he said, as I was a bit trashed at the time. But I do remember thinking: ‘Cool, I’ve now been lectured by two of the worst addicts in music history. All I need now is for Keith Richards to lecture me & I’ve done the whole list’

(Boy George, by the way, is an absolute doll and is also incredibly funny. I love him. We've had many fun adventures with over the years)

In the end, it wasn’t any lectures that stopped me from doing what I was doing, it wasn’t rehab & it wasn’t nicotine patches or being ‘born again’. I simply grew up, my lifestyle changed and I decided that the hang-overs just weren’t worth it anymore. Guess I never really was addicted to anything then, but because I seemed so wild, people assumed that I was.

So does rehab really work? Often it doesn’t. Just like nicotine patches and diets often don’t do the job. I believe that you have to make some drastic lifestyle changes & change your own self-image to make the other changes last. Once your self-image has evolved, you’ll notice that certain behaviors no longer fit this new image. As long as I saw myself as a rebellious teenager, I could go out, get trashed, make a fool of myself occasionally and be grumpy whilst I nursed my hang-overs.

These days, I see myself as a responsible & loving mother and wife, and as a professional, healthy and out-going resort owner. So obviously, I live a healthy lifestyle. It’s been many, many years since I’ve been intoxicated in any shape or form & I do not miss it in the slightest.

But what I do not understand though is how women like Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Whitney Houston, Courtney Love & Kate Moss (amongst others) could see themselves as loving and responsible mothers whilst going out and getting hammered all the time. I just don’t see how that works. How on earth do they deal with their kids the next day? Or do they not see their kids until after lunchtime? And when their toddlers throw temper tantrums, do the mums simply join in? I think that’s what I would do if I had to deal with a tantrum whilst being hung-over. They are hard enough to deal with sober.

Part of the problem, I believe, is that our culture makes many women in the spotlight feel insecure about ‘just being a mum’. It’s like they somehow need to prove to the world (and themselves) that they are still young & ‘with it’. What these young mothers could do with is their own support system. They should start hanging out together and with some other ‘super star mums’ that can actually be a role model for them, those in the limelight that are not scared to be a mother and a woman.

Anyone out there who wants to start this support group for these poor mums? They can get together once a week, with their toddlers (and nannies?) in tow, share their experiences, swap Gucci bags, teach their toddlers how to pouch at the cameras, etc. (sorry, I’m making fun of the whole thing again)

No seriously, these women need help. Maybe Dr. Deepak Chopra should jump in here. He has some wise things to say about addictions and might be able to help these women change their lifestyle in more ways than one.

For the sake of their children, I wish them well & I hope that not more of these women will go the way of Anna Nicole Smith or Paula Yates. And I hope that they can start by forgiving themselves for the mess they got into. They can start anew today.

So good luck ladies! May love be with you.

My Robbie Williams paparazzi hell.

Whilst I'm on the subject of Take That, I might as well tell about the whole 'Robbie Williams Paparazzi trap' that I walked into all those years ago. This is what happened:

I was at the MTV office one day, when several people started telling me that Take That were in the studio and that Robbie from the band was dying to meet me. He, apparently, was looking all over the studio for me. Now, I wasn't much of a Take That fan at the time (I was mainly into underground stuff back then) & I wasn't sure which one of the guys was called Robbie. But anyway, I made my way down to the studio to say 'Hi'.

As soon as I walked in, Robbie shot towards me. He shook my hand and said:
'Oh my God, I'm such a big fan of you' & 'Wow, my legs have gone all wobbly'.

I was gobsmacked. Here was a guy who was obviously quite gorgeous and quite famous (understatement!) & he just told me that he was a fan of mine???? I didn't know what to say.

After a short awkward silence, he asked me:
'Is that a throat sweet that you're eating?' (It was)

He followed me to the dressing room, where I gave him a sweet & where we chatted for a few more minutes. I can't remember what on earth we talked about, it must have been silly chit-chat. We were both very nervous and neither of us had the courage to ask the other for a phone number or anything else, but we both walked away grinning from ear to ear.

I was very excited about it all. He was one of the cutest guys I had met for long time & I was dying to tell someone about it. So I phoned the girl at my record label's press office as she was always going on about Take That. I had been spending a lot of time with her recently as my record was about to be released (I used to make the mistake of thinking that all those I worked closely with were actually my friends, which is a very dangerous trap to fall into in showbiz), and I told her what had happened.

I also told my best friend/manager (who also was quite into Take That) and she did ask me: 'Can I tell people about this?'

I saw nothing wrong with that. I mean, it wasn't a secret that I met him. But I guess I just didn't fully understand what was involved in this 'telling'.

So anyway, I just continued my life, doing what I had been doing. My single was about to be released and I was going up and down the country promoting it. Of course, a lot of interviews were lined up too.

And this is what happened in one of the first interviews: the journalist asked me a few questions about me and my single, but at the same time he didn't seem that interested in anything I said. I was starting to get confused, when suddenly he asked: 'So what about you and Robbie Williams?'

I wasn't sure what he was talking about, as I didn't even realize that Williams was Robbie's last name. I actually thought he was talking about the actor Robbin Williams.

When he saw how confused I looked, he said:

'Robbie Williams. The guy from Take That'
'Oh, him. Yes, we met recently'
'So is it true that he is a fan of yours?'
'Well, yes apparently so.'
'What did he say when he met you?'
'Oh, not much. Just that his legs had gone all wobbly'
'So have you guys been going out since?'
'No, I only met him that one time'
'Has he phoned you since?'
'No, he doesn't have my number'
'What would you say though, if he asked you out? Would you say yes?'
'Yes, I think I would. He's a very cute guy'

And that was it, that was all I said. But it was the start of a bloody tabloid nightmare. Suddenly everybody started writing stories about me and Robbie & about how I was 'The most hated girl in Britain'. The whole thing was just a pile of crap. I started to receive some pathetic death threats from Take That fans (I was never scared that anyone would ever actually hurt me though) and when the press got a whiff of how angry all these Take That fans were, they started saying that I had two 24-hour security guards with me and that I was fearing for my life. Again, a load of crap. I have no idea where all this nonsense was coming from.

Anyway, Robbie obviously thought that I had run straight to the tabloids to sell my story and to get publicity for my single. Okay, so my name was now in the news, but I was deeply unhappy about the whole thing and extremely embarrassed. This so wasn't me. I had never experienced the Tabloids before and had no idea how that whole sleazy world operated.

I never did have the courage to bring any of this up again with Robbie, even though our paths crossed repeatedly. I was too embarrassed about my gullibility at the time and was worried that Robbie wouldn't have believed me anyhow.
So from that moment on he kind of gave me the cold shoulder. We'd talk to each other, but only as much as we had to. We both ignored what happened and I would watch him pick up several girls in front of me over the years. Did he do that on purpose or couldn't he have cared less? I have no idea.

Still, I guess it was a blessing in disguise. Because I liked him at the time, he liked me...something might have happened between us if it hadn't been for all of this. And let's face it, the guy does not have a particularly good track record when it comes to relationships. So maybe I did get some public humiliation out of it, but at least I was spared the possibility of a messy relationship with a guy who has major personal problems.

So, there you have it. That was one of the most infuriating & embarrassing experiences of my life. Nothing compared to what celebrities go through these days with their own paparazzi hell, but humiliating for me none the less.

So how is Robbie these days anyway? Did I hear he's in rehab again? I hope he'll find his peace, the guy seems to always be looking for 'something' in all the wrong places. Obviously, LA is not really a good place for finding peace & neither is London. Too many hanger-ons & too much temptation. The boy should take a leaf out of my book and spend more time in nature. I think he needs it.

Anyway, I wish him well.....

Take That!

I'm delighted to see that Take That have managed to make such an amazing come-back, because they're just the nicest guys ever. The thing that always impressed me about them was how genuine their interest was in their fans & how much time and energy they put into signing autographs, taking pictures, etc. Whatever it was the fans were asking for.

Most artists that I've met over the years have been very selective in who they were being nice to. So whenever we filmed with them, they would be very friendly to me, the director, the producer & whoever else who seemed 'important'. But Take That were an exception. They would treat everyone equally. They would spent time with and afterwards even remember the name of the person bringing the teas and coffees. And when they came to the studio repeatedly, they would ask after people's sick family members and whatever else they remembered from the conversations they had last time. This was all the kind of stuff that happened behind the camera and something the larger public never got to see, but it's something that really impressed me and always stayed with me.

Their overall attitude also rubbed off Robbie Williams, even when he was in the midst of his 'rebellion'. I remember stumbling out of a Paris hotel after a particularly heavy night with a small group of people that included Robbie Williams & Brian Cannon (The slightly insane photographer of most of the old Oasis album covers and the inspiration for the lyric 'Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball')

Anyway, Brian and I legged it into the car as fast as we could, we did not want to look at and/or talk to anyone. We just wanted to make it through that day without puking or collapsing & I know that Robbie felt as bad as we did. Still, Robbie stopped to talk to each and every fan outside that hotel, with us cursing him and telling him to get his arse in the car or we were going to miss the bloody train (there was a general strike in France that weekend that included all the airports, so we all had to take the Eurostar back to London)

Still, back to Take That. I'm just happy that after all this time they are back. And I love their new track 'Shine' and the video for it, in which Mark Owen looks a bit like the Artfull Dodger. Very cute.

It is kind of bizarre though to think of them as a boyband these days and pictures of them pouting at the camera make me laugh. They just seem to old for that now. Still, if anyone deserves renewed success, they do.

Now, I still need to write down the whole stupid tabloid trap that I walked into back in the Take That days. Where the newspapers branded me as 'The most hated girl in Britain' for allegedly going out with Robbie (which wasn't true). Anyway, it's a long and embarrassing story so I'll have to really sit down for that one.

Bastards!!!!!

I can't believe it, Utube has banned several of my clips. My music videos, my interview on Harald Schmidt, etc.

Why? Because of copyrights? But I'm actually the person in those clips & I personally paid for the making of those music videos (out of my royalties). So whose rights are we talking about here?

And anyway, no one would ever want to use any of these old clips again, so why can't they be posted on Utube for those few people who have an interest in being nostalgic? I mean, come on! It's so bloody greedy, this 'we're just holding on to everything until the end of time with no interest of ever using it' stuff.

I think that after x-amount of years these things should become public property and Utube could be like a public museum. But no...the big guys are not interested in sharing. All they want is money! (Sorry, I'm getting carried away here. But I just get so annoyed with these bloody corporations and their rules and regulations)

Hmmm...I'll have to get creative and find another way to get this stuff back on my blog. So watch this space.....

Sounds of the tropics

We've just come back from San Pedro on Ambegris Caye, one of the Belizean islands. With blue skies, white beaches, dolphins playing off the coast in the afternoons, what more could you possibly wish for? Well...maybe a fully equipped recording studio? But of course, you won't be able to find that on a little Caribbean island like Ambegris Caye? Haha, that's where you're wrong!

Mata Grande Studio has just blown my mind. I'm absolutely in love with it. Not only is it a professional, fully equipped music recording studio, it's actually one of the nicest I have ever seen. All these overpriced London studios are just boring, dingy places in comparison to this. Now, there were no recordings going on whilst we were there, but I've been told that the acoustics are second to none & I can believe that, because it's obvious how much thought has gone into the whole place.

So the set-up with this studio is that the bands or artists recording there get a whole private resort thrown into the deal, with 2 swimming pools, a private beach, etc. And it's totally tucked away (only to be reached by boat) so no one should ever bother them there. Ebbe, one of the owners, totally understands the rock & roll mindset too, proven by the fact that he's buying tons of silly 'boy toys', like radio controlled helicopters, boats and off-road cars for the bands to race with in between takes (this next to the well-stocked beach bar, of course)

As you can see, my little boy Lucas loved being in the studio too.

Anyway, I'm very excited about this new gem of a place here in Belize and I'm sure that I'll be spending a lot more time there in the future.

Play with the changes

4 Hero have done it again, they've released another beauty! 'Play with the changes' is a just a fantastic album. I've always loved these guys. Their music is so diverse and composed so well. If you haven't heard 'Play with the changes' yet, go do it now!

Oh, and just for old time's sake, some classic 4 Hero for you all....

You've come a long way baby!

I've always been a sucker for Drum n Bass. There's nothing like the full body work-out you get when dancing at a good DnB night. When the DJ was really good, I didn't even want to intoxicate myself in any way as it could get in the way of my dancing (you never know how things might 'fall' from time to time, know what I mean?)

Some of the most memorable club nights I have ever attended have been DnB nights, with a vibe that is impossible to explain to anyone who wasn't there. It was a mix of danger, decadence (at a later stage) and explosive devotion from its followers. Instead of putting their hands up in the air, people would throw flames up or just hold up their lighters on the highest setting (DJ Hype told me that on some nights people were even firing guns in the air, although that would have been a bit too much danger and excitement for my liking). The crowd on the dance floor and around the DJ booth would just go insane on some tracks, demanding several 'rewinds' to keep them happy.

The Partyzone was around at the early days of Jungle, which over time became Drum and Bass. I remember interviewing the likes of Goldie, Roni Size, DJ Krust, DJ Hype, Zinc, Fabio, Grooverider, etc. on a regular basis. Now, it took a fair while to get accepted by those in the jungle/ Drum and Bass scene. Many were very anti media and thought that we (James Hyman and I) were just jumping on the bandwagon. So some of my hardest interviews have been with DJ's and producers from that scene. My God some of them were moody. Although none of them ever beat Rebel MC. He was the biggest s**t I've ever had on the show.

Still, like I said, I did love the DnB scene. And the best set I ever watched was by DJ Hype. I can't remember the name of the night, but it was somewhere in Germany. When Hype played the stage was full of other DJ's, producers, etc. Normally people would leave after their set was done, but here they had nowhere else to go, so everyone stayed and watched Hype. And they all just freaked out when they saw him play. The guy is a bloody genius & he mixes with an ease that I have not often seen in anyone else, he even looks slightly bored or disinterested whilst doing it. It's such a turn-on to see such a genius in action. So I did end up have a slight crush on him back then. Not that the guy was particularly good looking, but just because he was so cocky and talented. I never told him or anyone else, though : )

I've always had a soft spot for geniuses. I can't help it. It's just so bloody sexy to see that kind of confidence and skill. Guess that's why I ended up marrying a genius myself (no, not a DJ, but a man with many talents including football, search engine optimizing, other 'nerdy' computer stuff, plus an outlook on life that's genius in itself ; )

Anyway, I'm digressing...back to DnB.


The minute I moved to another kind of jungle (the one here in Central America) I stopped looking at what was happening in the DnB scene. I literally haven't looked back since that November in 2001 when we moved away from London. I still listened to my old DnB music when working out, but that was it. But recently I decided to take a quick peek at what's been happening in that world.

And it's great to see things like DnB TV , to see all the old faces still doing their thing & to see the talent that has emerged since I disappeared from the scene, like Logistics and of course Pendulum. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

Oh, I do miss a good dance now and then.....

My old music videos

It's always a shock to me to see how dodgy my dress sense was back in my 'raving' days. Especially the outfits in 'When love rules the world'. Still, we've all had our moments and I guess it's all part of 'growing up in public' like I did.

Apart from that, I do enjoy looking back at these clips. They bring back so many good memories. Floating on that love heart at the thermal springs in Iceland and cutting my foot open when I jumped off it one day (I was in agony throughout all the dancing scenes, but tried not to show it). And then there was the dancing in that silver flashing kaleidoscope thing in 'Let this feeling' & suffering a short epileptic fit from the strobes. No seriously, I did have a lot of fun doing these videos. For instance, I loved doing the the flying scenes on the Andrew Logan Pegasus sculpture & enjoyed working with my dear friend Matthew Glamorre who directed the 'Let this feeling' video.

Matthew organized some brilliantly bizarre club nights (I guess he still does) & we hang out quite a lot back then. Here are some of my favorite Matthew Glamorre memories:

1. Going to several spiritual sites in England with Matthew and some friends (the Goddess day trip), with Matthew Dressed up as a rainbow for the occasion. We got some funny looks at the motorway restaurants and petrol stations that day ; )

2. Watching men in business suits breakdancing at one of his clubnights

3. Sitting down on the dance floor, playing 'pass the parcel' that same night

4. Matthew's various theme parties in London brothels

5. Andrew Logan's 50th Birthday party, which we all celebrated whilst shooting waterguns at each other

6. Some other strange day trip Matthew had organized where a mix of extravagant dressed-up Londoners loaded themselves into a double-decker bus and went for a picnic in the country side (doing games like the egg & spoon race and the 3-legged race).

Hmmm....I did have a lot of fun with him. Guess I should try and get back in touch & see how he is. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. Enjoy my little moments of pop:

Latest from Toby Amies

He's always been a great presenter, that Toby Amies. I loved him back in the days at MTV & he still cracks me up with this new showreel of his.

And he is one of the only people that I know who can get away with the writing the following sentence in an email:

"I have finally returned from Tasmania full of Antipodean vigour for 2007" (any idea what Antipodean means, anyone?)

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the guy is not only funny, but extremely intelligent too.

And I remember him as one of the veejays that were very 'real', if you know what I mean. There was no bullshit with him, he didn't suck up to anyone. What you saw was what you got. A bit like Ray Cokes and Steve Blame. Actually, Kimsy and Enrico were genuine too, as far as I was concerned. Some of the other veejays became too big for their boots after a while. I won't mention names here as many of those affected surely will have come off their high horses since then, so I won't drag them through the dirt.

Still, Toby was one of the ones that I always liked and respected, even if we weren't the closest of buddies at the time. He was the indie kid, I was the little raver...we mixed in different circles.

Have a look at his showreel if you haven't done so already and let us know what you think:

http://www.moneymanagementuk.com/showreel.asp?showreel=Toby%20Amies

My appologies for the blogging silence

Sorry people, but we've just come back from our Aruba trip, which was filled with lots of time on the beach and hanging out with family. No time for music blogging. But I'll make sure I'll catch up a bit in the coming days.

I dug out some old MTV tapes at my mums and will try to digitize them soon. I was looking for my James Brown interview, but sadly enough couldn't find that. I did however found my first ever interview! My show with Tina Turner (what a first interview to have!)

I hope the tapes haven't deteriorated too much over time. I'll let you know soon.

Play me another fat one!

I received a funny email today from a person who is thinking of coming to Belize for a holiday (or vacation, for those of you from the States)

Anyway, he was asking me if I could give him the 'inside track' on who would playing here in Belize over the Valentines day period and which parties or festivals will be on in Belize during that time.

Well, what can I say? No one will be playing here. No one ever does. There are no parties in Belize ever to speak of (as far as I'm concerned)

I mean, there are 'parties' here sometimes, but not the kind of parties you and I would have in mind. The only music that gets played in Belize is Punta (which I hate) and these days (lucky enough) also Reggaeton.

Anyway, if you are expecting any big name DJ to ever play here....forget it! The nearest places to go and party and/or to hear dance music would be Playa Del Carmen or Cancun, Mexico.

Belize is really funny when it comes to music. It must be one of the only places left on earth where people don't know who Madonna is or who the Beatles were (Which is also the reason why more and more celebs decide to spend their free time here) I asked one of our tour guides recently if he had ever heard of Micheal Jackson and he answered 'Yes, I think so. Is he that black dude who looks white and who wears gloves?' He didn't know what his music sounded like, but had seen the child molestation court case on CNN.

Anyway, for me it was bizarre moving from a place and a scene where music was everything to a place where there isn't even a decent radio station. The radio stations here play a random mix of dodgy music, from Reggae to soppy songs from the fifties & US Rap to Country. It's like someone went through the bargain bins and donated all the records that were worth less than 50 cents to the Belize Radio stations. It's a sad state of affairs.

Dance Music (obviously) never made it into Belize and probably never will. Raggeaton is the closest they'll ever come, I think.

Personally I'm too busy being a mum to be going out clubbing these days anyhow. So I'm alright with it for now. I do miss having an occasional dance, but I'll try and get my fix when we come back to Europe this summer. And thanks to James Hyman's 'Rinse' CD's I do have a steady stream of good music to listen to in the car.

So Dan....thanks for your email. I'm sorry it made me laugh, but this 'music thing' is a constant joke amongst us here. Still, you are more than welcome to bring your girlfriend to our quiet jungle lodge & we'd be happy to organize all kinds of adrenalin filled adventures for you. But if you want to check out some cool DJ's on your travels you may want to skip a trip to Belize.

Let me know what you want to do....

The ever elusive Ray

My God, Ray Cokes is crap at updating people on his life. He keeps promising to write something for me to post here, but then nothing comes. Even his MySpace page hasn't had a new posting since July 2006. What's up Ray? Sort it out!

By the way, I can't get that 'tickytacky' song out of my head. You know, that song from the series 'Weeds'? It's actually called 'Little boxes' & I just love it. The lyrics are so funny. If the series 'Weeds' has not been shown in the country that you live in, do check out the soundtracks (series 1 & 2) to that show on Itunes. They are great. And aparently there is a third season coming in 2007.

Some more 'Sound of 2007'

Oh my God, I've just been saying how great MIKA is, but I just had a listen to him on Itunes and that track 'Relax, take it easy' is just horrendous! I don't mind the club mixes, but the radio mix is crap. Still, he's good live. I also like that track from 'Just Jack' (who is also on the Sound of 2007 list). But Itunes only had one track of his though. What else has he done?

Oh, and this whole 'New Rave' thing is just a load of nonsense, isn't it? I really can't see anyone doing any fancy moves to the Klaxons (or am I missing something here?)

Sound of 2007

Flamboyant pop singer-songwriter Mika has been named the best new talent in the BBC's Sound of 2007 music poll.

Check him out on 'Later with Jools Holland' (Jools was our old neighbour back in London, by the way)

This guy is very cool indeed. He has the looks, the voice and the lyrics. Great, great, great! People are comparing him to Scissor Sisters and Freddie Mercury & my little boy Lucas seems to think that he looks like our friend Bart ; )

Have a listen....

What a great way to start 2007!

I received the nicest email the other day. It told me something that I was always quite aware of, but that no one ever told me directly; basically that the Partyzone and MTV in the nineties were so important in uniting young people from all over Europe, the former East Block countries, the Middle East, etc. We brought youth culture to places where it was hard to get it any other way. We educated kids musically, opened their minds and gave them the feeling that they were part of something.

That thought always meant so much to me & I took the role as 'messenger' very seriously. Uniting young people was something I really wanted to do and it was also what attracted to me to the whole dance scene, that whole feeling of all being one. Guess I'm just an old hippy at heart : )

So anyway, I loved getting this email. Check it out:

Hi Simone,

I found your wonderful blog the other day and was so happy seeing some of the old partyzone footage and also finding that you have followed your dream in such a beautiful place like Belize.

I must say I was addicted to PartyZone (in its last 2-3 years of existence because I didn’t have cable before) and sort of lived for those Friday nights. Basically everything that I knew about dance music was due to your work and dedication. And believe me, a 16-year-old boy to have heard about (and listened to) Laurent Garnier, Derrick May, Carl Cox, Moby or Marusha in 1996 in Bucharest, in post-communist Romania, was a rare occurrence.

Now it looks so simple, go on the internet and find whatever you need, but back then, your 2hr show was one of (if not the only) source of information, music and club-culture for all these eastern european countries. You couldn’t buy that kind of music, there were only pirated cassettes from Poland with shitty music and no CDs or vinyls. So I would record cassettes from the TV speaker to keep that music and listen to it again and again.. so, yeah.. it’s fair to say: “Simone, thank you for influencing my life as much as you did as a teenager and for giving me that kind of musical background”. And also James Hyman, I didn’t see him on camera but I remember his name appearing on the credits screen together with a bunch of people (researchers or whatever).

Anyway when the show ended (I remember you being at a snow party somewhere saying “it’s over guys, they’re taking us off the air”) I was pissed on MTV for that and for all those other changes that started to make the channel to what it is now (common and useless hit rotation machine). 10 years later I’m working as a programmer/designer and, thanks to you, involved in the clubbbing scene here with http://www.nights.ro/; you on the other hand gave up all that crazyness for a quiet life in a tropical resort. That change must have been really tough at first, I mean I would freak out to live in a place with less than 2 million people around, but there’s a time when I do think about family and kids and getting away from this fast pace, but I’m still young and I guess I can take some more clubbing for a few years or so. I wish someday I could be lucky and bold enough to take a decision like yours. For the moment, I’ll put Belize on my destination list if I ever decide to take an extended trip like that, it looks fabulous.

I wish you and your family a great 2007, with only good things coming your way!

All the best from light-snowy Bucharest.
Cosmin.

Merry Christmas!

I guess you're all well into the eternal hang-over that is the Christmas season.

Nowadays there are no office parties for me, no frantic shopping sessions, no 'Christmas number 1' nonsense (Thank God, so much crap gets released that time a year) and no Christmas tree.

We're in the middle of construction as we have to finish our new accommodation by the 28th. In the meantime, the resort is full & my babysitter is on holiday.

So what I'm trying to say is that there is little room in my head for music, blogging, etc. I will check in again after Christmas. Have a good one!

I'm having a bit of a Faithless day

Okay, I'll promise to stop going on about Faithless and 'To all new arrivals' after this. But I just love that being a parent has been such a muse to their new music. As a mum, I can totally relate to the lyrics on 'I hope' and the little kid's voice on 'Music matters' melted my heart. So big up to all the mums and dads out there! May we all be so inspired by this, the hardest job on earth. Enjoy your little angels!

Outrageous!!!

After reading up a little on Faithless today I was outraged to discover that MTV banned the video for Bombs when it came out last September. The video shows how war and violent images have become part of our everyday life. It is social commentary at its finest! So why was it banned?

So from being the ones to play Faithless when no one else would, MTV has now become the corporate giant that does not allow people to express their dissatisfaction with things like the war. All I can say is that I am happy that I was part of MTV at a time when it had a social and political conscience.



This video also reminds me of the old Damien Loeb paintings, which were actually the ones he was working on whilst I was staying with him years ago. They depicted pictures of beauty pageants and other cute images in front of explosions and other war scenes . Quite disturbing, but incredibly powerful.

Faithless

Yes, they've done it again. Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz have produced another musical gem with 'To all new arrivals'. It really is a great album & something that is even playable in my serene jungle setting here in Belize (a lot of bands/acts that I used to listen to simply sound 'too urban' and chaotic here)


When Faithless released their first album 'Reverence' no one seemed to be particularly interested in them. I believe their label was even thinking of dropping them at the time (or am I getting confused with Moloko? I'd have to check with James now, I'm not 100% sure anymore)

Anyway, when James Hyman (my old Partyzone producer) and I first heard 'Reverence' we got incredibly excited. This was one of those albums that we phoned each other out of bed for. One of us would occasionally discover a track or an album at 2 or 3 in the morning and would instantly wake up the other as we knew that there weren't many other people who would freak out to the same level as we did about music, so this is something we shared with each other. We would virtually be screaming, jumping up and down and just generally be so excited that would not be able to go back to sleep. Being passionate about what we were doing with the Partyzone doesn't even do it justice, being obsessive about it is more accurate. We lived for this stuff. And we especially lived for 'discovering' gems like Faithless.

So we contacted the label, set up Faithless' first ever TV interview (on the Partyzone of course) and we even supported their first tour! And the rest, as they say, is history...

A few months later they flew James and myself out to Amsterdam to join them at one of their gigs as a 'thank you'.

To this day, my proudest achievement as a Veejay was playing a small part in the breakthrough of new artists to the mainstream. Acts like Faithless, Moloko, Prodigy, Tricky, Goldie, etc.

Some more retro moments...

Great track

I love this tune by Death in Vegas with Liam Gallagher, called Scorpio Rising.

It's funny actually, Death in Vegas have done some great music over the years, yet when I saw them perform live (many years ago, I admit) they were dull as hell. I hope their live shows have become a bit more interesting since. I assume they must have.

And Liam Gallagher, of course, is a great rock & roll vocalist and performer. But he is, without a doubt, one of the dumbest people I have ever come across. Shame really, as I always found him quite sexy. But he was (and still is, I'm sure) someone who constantly says the most stupid and rude things. The kind of person who joins a lively discussion, opens his mouth and brings everything to a dead halt. Simply because his comment was so brainless, no one knows how to follow it up. After a long silence, there will usually be an 'anyway' from someone and the discussion returns to where it left off before Liam butted in. Such a shame. Anyway, you don't have to listen to him talk, just enjoy his singing...

For those of you who understand German....

This must have been one of my last ever TV appearances before moving to Belize. The Harald Schmidt show. I always loved being on his show (I was there 3 times in less than 3 years) and was sad to hear that the show no longer exists. What does Harald Schmidt do these days? He was a great host.

Anyway, in this interview I talk about 'Popstars' and the band we formed on that show, who became the 'No Angels'. I'll blog about them in the coming weeks too.

Shopping in Mexico

It's 5.23 am and I'm the only one up so far. Just wanted to say (before we're off to Chetumal, Mexico on our shopping trip) that I have made my mind up about that Gwen Stefani track.

I like the sample of that Sound of Music track, but the song would have been much better if Gwen hadn't just sang the obvious over it (i.e. the original melody)

So, as far as I'm concerned, it's poor song writing. If she would have sung a completely different melody over it, something that had nothing to do with the Sound of Music, it would have made the whole 'joke' very subtle, where right now it isn't.

So, my verdict...6 out of 10 for that one.

Anyway, I better get my shopping bags ready : )

True to their name

Regardless of what style of music you are into, you have to go to Itunes (or where ever you purchase your music) right now and buy the 'All Angels' track 'Songbird'

I can't imagine that there is anyone out there that won't love this. It is just so beautiful and soothing. The voices are amazing!!!!

Go right now, buy it!

Actually....whilst you're out music shopping...have a listen to 'We used to vacation' by "Cold war kids' as well. That's another one that I love.

Great party tune

The Rapture, with 'Whoo!Alright, Yeah...Uh, Huh!' of the album 'Pieces of the people we love'.

I know that some of the tracks on the album where produced by Gnarls Barkley member and Gorillaz producer Danger Mouse, but am not quite sure if this was one of them.

And by the way, I love the band's bio on their website: 'Origin of the band. The Rapture. Formed in San Diego, moved to New York, slept under a bridge. More to follow...'

Well, that's indepth. A bit like this blog, really ; )




Oh and talking of Danger Mouse, I love how he went around British record stores replacing 500 copies of Paris Hilton's album 'Paris' last summer with spoofs albums with altered artwork and a 40 minute instrumental that contained various ridiculous statements by Paris.

I think that's funny. Admitting...she is an easy target, with plenty of dumb statements to choose from. Still, I'd love to hear what Mouse's version of 'Paris' sounds like.

And, I hate to admit it, but Paris' music debut actually quite surprised me. Her voice is not bad. I mean, she's totally unoriginal, with the video for 'Stars are blind' being a total re-enactment of that old Madonna video (damn, what was the name of that track again? That black and white video where she was plashing around in the sea with a mermaid boy and kept flexing her muscles...you know which one I mean?)

And when I first heard 'Stars are blind' I though it was a new Gwen Stefani track. Oops!

And, whilst we're on that subject, here's Gwen's 'Sound of Music' moment. Very weird indeed. I can't quite decide whether I like it's quirkiness or whether this is just too stupid for words. I think I'll stay on the fence until the track either grows on me or until it makes me want to pull my hairs out. I'll get back on that some day...

For what it's worth

During my time at MTV my music knowledge was pretty extensive. I took music history seriously & always kept up to date by reading the music mags and of course by watching tons of MTV. As soon as I entered any hotel room I'd switch on MTV and it played constantly in the MTV building as well.

My pursuit of music knowledge was nothing like James Hyman's obsessive compulsive thirst for fact, figures and obscure samples & I was no walking, talking 'music library' like Paul King, but still...I knew my s**t.

Then we left for Belize in 2001 and I completely stopped following what was going on. To be honest, I think that it was all too painful for me to see how everyone was still 'out there' doing their thing whilst I wasn't anymore. I mean, it was my own choice to move to the Belizean jungle, but I hadn't fully thought through what that was going to mean in reality, that it would mean the end of my career.

Anyway, after years of souls searching and deciding to make things work out here, I'm now very settled in this jungle lifestyle and feel blessed to be here every day. I am no longer envious of anyone else's life anymore & it no longer hurts to look at what's happening in the world of music.

I'm even getting to a point where I no longer feel embarrassed about my huge gap in recent music knowledge. I even think that it makes things more interesting in a way. What do I mean with that? Well, I now am an outsider looking in. I am not influenced by any hype, fad or scene that might be going on around me. I just see and hear things for what they are. I don't know what any of the recent bands or artists where up to a year or two years ago, I just witness where they are at this very moment.

And, even though I am outside looking in, I also know what things look like from the inside as I spent so much time there myself.

So, I guess it's quite a unique perspective and one that's hopefully going to result in some interesting observations and conclusions.

There has been lots going through my mind lately with regards to what I've seen and heard, I'll start sharing in the coming days...

Email from Ray Cokes!

I've been trying to get hold of Ray Cokes for ages now & am happy to report that I am finally back in contact with him. He's doing well and is promising me an update on his life to post here soon.

In the meantime, I am bugging him to start a daily vlog (video blog). Wouldn't he be brilliant at that? I'd watch it. I can just see Ray do silly stuff like this:





To see what other Vlogs are out there, check out the Vloggies Awards website & Rocketboom (just as one example of a daily vlog). I love all this stuff.

Ipod flashmobbers

This is just the funniest! I noticed the following article on the Daily Mail website:

Hundreds of flashmob clubbers dance in silence among commuters at Liverpool Street station

Hundreds of people descended on Liverpool Street station for the biggest ever turnout for the latest internet craze - mobile clubbing. Armed with MP3 players loaded with favourite tracks the "clubbers" arrived on the concourse just after 7pm last night. Students, business people and office workers danced in silence as they listened to their iPods among commuters listening to announcements about late trains.

Details of the time and venue were sent by email. The event is similar to the flash mobbing movement pioneered in New York which involved large numbers of people gathering to conduct bizarre activities.

One commuter said: "It was entertaining if strange to see all these people gyrating to their own beat. It was the Soul Train arriving at platform one."

Fantastic 'bastard pop' mashups!

You have to go check this out, this is brilliant! A site called 'Good Blimey' that features 2,747 mashup tunes (for you to listen to and even download).

Big up to James Hyman for finding this gem of a site.

Enjoy!

Moby & I

I am very confused about the new Moby video. It's for his track with Debbie Harry, called 'New York, New York'. The song itself is pleasant enough, but the video????? The reason I'm so confused it's that it's such a bad 'not funny!' video & Moby normally has a great sense of humor. I know, because Moby & I used to be very good friends. Sadly enough, we don't talk to each other these days. I think I broke his heart or just bruised his ego (to this day I'm not sure which it was). I'll go into the story in a minute, first have a look at the 'New York, New York' promo & make up your own mind...

So anyway, how/why did I break Moby's heart? Well, we used to hang out a lot. We actually made a great team, Moby and I. I stopped him from getting too uptight about things & he used to inspire me mentally-he's incredibly intelligent- and blow me away musically-he used to play my piano or sit and and play the guitar for me. We really loved hanging out together, the only problem was that he fancied me and I didn't fancy him.

Anyway, Moby got the wrong end of the stick and started hinting to people (the press included) that we were some kind of item. I had planned a trip to New York to stay with him, so I decided to let him know ahead of time what the deal was. He took it well and we both decided that I should still come to New York.

Once I got there it turned out that he was a bit peeved and had ordered his best friend Damien Loeb (an amazingly talented but struggling artist back then & a superstar painter now) to entertain me whilst he would continue his work in the studio. So during the day I would hang out in Damien's art studio/apartment and at night the three of us would hang out together. Visiting the three vegan restaurants in New York that were strict enough for Moby to eat in (yawn!) or watch crap videos like Pooh Bear in Apocalypse Now (Moby's choice of movie). After a while, Damien and I had more fun together and didn't really want to drop whatever we were doing during the day to suit King Moby.

So, to make a long story short...Damien and I started seeing each other. Moby was not too happy (obviously) and the whole thing became a bit of a mess for all of us. The relationship didn't last & I let the two best friends get on with mending their friendship.

It's a shame really. They are both such interesting characters. It would have been nice to have stayed friends with them. But there you go, love triangles are messy things to get into. I guess I should have known the trouble it would cause and never have gotten involved with Damien in the first place.

Anyway, that's all a long, long time ago. I'm just happy that life as a married woman and a mother is so much less complicated : )

So, just for old time's sake, a very melancholic live version of 'Go' from the Partyzone studio. Check out Moby and I cross-dressing in this clip too. We swapped outfits half-way through the show & continued the interview with me wearing Moby's jeans & T-shirt and Moby wearing my sparkly dress.

Will the real Richard D. James please stand up?

One of my strangest MTV moment was the following part of the Aphex Twin interview. Before the interview I was told by everybody that Aphex Twin (aka Richard D. James) was a complete freak, that he had simply taken 'one trip too many' and that he therefor made such bizarre music, drove around in a tank and performed live shows whilst lying down.

I thought that that was too simplistic an explanation. I was convinced that there had to be more to it. I mean, Aphex Twin is weird. Without a doubt. But I wanted to know what really made this guy tick. Why was he so weird? If what he said in this interview is true, it would definitely explain it all. Unless...it's all one big lie. You never actually know with him. So be ready to be sucked into the weird world of Aphex Twin.

Let me just set the stage: Aphex Twin had released an album called Richard D. James and had told the press that it was dedicated to his dead brother. No one knew anything more than that. So I asked him about it & here is his answer:

More good stuff...

Oh, the joys of online music videos. Still, they either of poor quality or take forever to download (for me anyway. Is it maybe 'cause I'm out in the Belizean jungle?)

I've decided to stick to posting the lower quality ones (Utube). Who can be bothered to wait for these downloads?

Anyway, what I've come across today...lots of crap (I'm sorry to say), lots of 'okays' and a few I really liked like these:

A very 'Partyzone' tune and vid. It makes my head bop. Nice! 'The knife' with 'Like a pen'.






Good track, powerful video. 'The Dears' and 'Whites only party'.

Some promos I've enjoyed in the last few days..

I can't help it. I'm just a sucker for pop, pop, pop videos....

Beck's 'Cellphone's dead'. My favorite Beck song ever.



Corinne Bailey Rae. Oh my God, what a voice. Beautiful.



And Mickey Avalon's 'So rich, so pretty'. Naughty and very rock & roll. I like it!

The music we like to play at our jungle resort

People often ask me what music I listen to these days. I always explain that at the Belize Jungle Dome it simply sounds wrong to play anything too 'full on'. So no underground dance music blaring through the jungle, but generally soothing sounds that complement our nature surroundings. A good example is Zero 7. We love playing their music whilst lounging in the pool. Check out their video for 'Futures'. It shows the composing and de-composing of foods, leaves, etc. Like Cliptip pointed out, rather hypnotizing...


We also love to play all kinds of Latin Grooves. A fun and poppy example of this is the track Millionaire by Plastilina Mosh. Directed by Punga Visual Consorcio from Mexico.

By the way, for those of you who love watching tons of cool music videos, go to the Ninja Tunes video page (great archive)

Podcast

I was interviewed by the American Composers Forum recently for one of their Podcasts.

Click here to listen.

One thing though, at the end of the interview I talk about maybe returning to Europe one day and getting back into music or television but, to be honest, I can't really see that happening. Our life here is just too good to swap for anything like that again. And anyway, I'd have to battle like a mountain lion to get back into the scene. I really can't be bothered to do that all over again. That stubborn teenage drive is gone.

I think I'll keep all future involvement (if any) online or do some stuff here in Belize. I'm getting more settled here every day. This tropical lifestyle really isn't a bad one ; )

Ray Cokes & Duran Duran on MTV's Most Wanted

This clip shows why Ray Cokes was and always will be 'Mister MTV'. His show 'MTV's Most Wanted' was totally unique. No one had ever made a television show as crazy as that. And the 'Most Wanted' crew became minor celebrities themselves as Ray included them in the show constantly. Many copied his presenting style (especially Chris Evans) & to this day I do not understand how Ray could have disappeared from the screens like that.

Some random Partyzone & MTV Dance clips

Over the years I've noticed that American TV crews nearly always use cue cards or auto-cue (where the text scrolls down in front of the camera lens, seen by the presenter, but not visible on television). Nothing they film seems to be spontaneous, everything is scripted. I've always hated that. Whenever I was forced to use auto-cue, I felt like a school teacher. I always preferred to improvise (even if it didn't look as 'slick') or else I would spend hours learning my lines. Anything to avoid cue cards/auto-cue. Have a look at this Jenny McCarthy clip & you'll see what I mean...




This next clip cracked me up when we found it in our archives. It was one of many bizarre and funny Ibiza moments. Sadly enough, it's not the clearest. The 'stun gun episode' had already started by the time the camera started rolling. Still, I like it.

And I believe that this clip is from that summer in Ibiza when Lisa I'Anson, Tania (who worked on the Partyzone) and I went 'missing'. Any of you from the UK may remember that moment. Lisa was meant to do a live BBC radio show from the island, but never showed up. So what happened in those missing hours???? Let's just say that things got slightly out of hand at the infamous Manumission Motel. You just can't help doing stupid things in Ibiza (just see this clip, if you don't believe me...)



One of the worst interviews I've ever done was my first interview with Underworld. Karl from the band treated me like dirt, he really did. I had never been treated so badly by anyone in my life. He wouldn't answer my questions, told me to look the answers up myself & was trying to get the other band members to be rude to me too. It got so bad that at one point I told the camera man to just 'stop rolling' (lucky enough, he only pretended that he did, so everything ended up on tape)

I then said something along these lines: "Look, do you think that I care about any of these questions? Do you think that I give a flying f*** about your stupid band? You're not doing me a favor, I am doing you a favor. I'm promoting your music here. If you can't be bothered to co-operate, let's just end the interview right here."

After that, he behaved a bit better.

I've never tolerated much bad behaviour by bands on my show. As far as I was concerned, they were on my turf. They had to play by my rules! I even once handcuffed a bad behaving guest (forgot his name) and told the Guns & Roses guys to go f*** themselves. Again, after that, they were nice as pie. Stupid rock & roll behaviour!

Anyway, here's Karl trying to apologize....

Celebrity blogs

Everybody seems to start a blog at some point or another, but not many stick to it.

Already fallen by the sideline are the blogs of:

• Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
• Gwen Stefani
• Avril Lavigne
• Barbra Streisand
• Mos Def

(amongst many others, I'm sure)

So what's up then? Are these stars just too busy? Well, other celebs/musicians still find time for a steady stream of posts, so I guess there's no real excuse.

Check out the following blogs:

• Madonna (Brilliantly personal blog & I love the fact that she's a 'Blogspot' blogger too)
• Radiohead
• Moby (I've always enjoyed his ranting ; )
• Barenaked Ladies

I'll look out for others...

My favorite site this week!

I stumbled across an amazing blog. It's called Cliptip & it shows brilliant, high quality music videos. As a matter of fact, I've been coming across so many fantastic videos online. My God, if only there were that many great (dance) clips around back in the Partyzone days. We used to have to scramble around looking for half-decent videos to show and used to have to beg labels to please consider making them.

Very frustrating. Now all this great stuff is out there & now MTV only plays these stupid reality TV shows. I don't get it...

I mean, it's fine that you can find great clips online, but I really like the ease of having music videos playing in the background whilst I get on with my life. Am I showing my age here? Am I just not getting it?

And by the way, does anyone knows what would happen if I started to grab music videos off other sites and posted them here? Would I get sued?

The only ever Aphex Twin TV Interview! (part 1)

This was a very unique interview. I had been warned beforehand that Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) only answered questions with yes or no. If he answered them at all. Well, I had no problem getting him to talk. It actually became quite a revealing interview. Enjoy!

Great radio

All dance music lovers (especially old Partyzone fans) should listen to James Hyman's "The Rinse" on Xfm. It is a brilliant, trainspotty type of show that will surely introduce you to a gem or two. James Hyman, of course, was the main brain behind the Partyzone & when you listen to his radioshow you'll notice how similar it is, it's like the Partyzone on radio (See? It didn't really die ;)

"The Rinse
James Hyman presents a two hour eclectic mix, covering all genres of club, DJ and dance culture. Tune in for monster giveaways, guest mixes and interviews with key DJs, producers, remixers and artists, and offer up your shout-outs and requests.
The Rinse is on every Saturday Night (9pm-1am, UK time)"

Two clips I love

I have always admired those who can produce cheap & effective music videos. An interesting story or a good idea can carry itself. "Praise you" from Fatboy Slim was a good example of this and so are these two videos from Sick puppies and Ok, go. Enjoy!

Shaun Rider on poisoning pigeons

I love this interview with Black Grape, especially because it is so unique to get Shaun Rider interviewed whilst he is (reasonably) straight. The reason for him being sober was that the guys had just come back from somewhere in Scandinavia & had not been able to buy any drugs there. This whole interview is brilliant to watch. I'll make sure we'll digitize the rest of it in the near future.

Later on in the day, Shaun Rider came over to me and passed me an LSD (paper) trip with the Black Grape logo on it. He told me that if anyone ever offered me one of these, I had to tell him. He said "I designed them. I have the copyrights"

My plan was not to take the trip, but to keep it folded into the artwork of my Black Grape CD. Thought it might be worth something some day. Sadly enough, I lost the bugger. What a shame!



And my sincere appologies for looking like a dodgy drag queen in the following clip. Especially the wig is too bad for words. That must be why they brought in stylists for the veejays in later years ; )

Still, it was cool watching Junior Vasquez in action. New York nightlife always made for a nice change of scenery for me...

MTV's Partyzone clips

We've finally got the old Partyzone clips digitized. Here are two short ones. The thing that makes all these 90's MTV interviews even more special is that most of the MTV Europe footage from that time got burned down at a fire at MTV's library. Guess we were the lucky ones...

So on this blog in the near future, expect the following clips:

1. The only ever Aphex Twin TV interview (with a rather shocking revelation)
2. The tape that got me in trouble with Kylie Minogue many years ago (I never meant to upset her and did apologize afterwards)
3. Shaun Rider on poisoning pigeons
4. Looking like a drag queen with Junior Vasquez
5. Moby unplugged, plus Moby and I cross-dressing
6. Our mate Justin getting stung with a stung gun (on his own request no less!)

And much, much more...

So let's get started. Let's go back to the old school!