P. Diddy gives money to Mark Ronson

Super-producer Mark Ronson once got a $100 tip from P. Diddy.

While Mark has made his name recently through his collaborations with some of the UK's hottest singers including Amy Winehouse, he revealed that he lived in New York in the early 90s and worked as a DJ for £25-a-night at various clubs.


It was at one of these hotspots Mark was spotted by Diddy, who liked his music so much he decided to give him his details. Mark said: "The first time I met him he said, 'I like the way you DJ' and gave me a $100 bill with his number on it. Mark admits he was so pleased with the bill that he framed it and put it up on his wall, but he was eventually so desperate for cash he was forced to spend it.

He added: "I saw P.Diddy this year and reminded him of the story - and he gave me another $100 bill!" Mark, by the way, is currently producing the new album of the Kaiser Chiefs.

Now, many, many years ago I had something slighty similar happen to me. Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays and Black Grape) handed me an papertrip with the Black Grape logo on it, whispering: 'If anyone else ever shows up with any of these, tell me. I have the copyright on them'. I thought it was hillarious and folded it into my Black Grape CD sleeve, planning to always keep it. But when I checked the CD sleeve months later the trip was gone (maybe my crazy flatmate swiped it, I don't know)

I know, that's not as cool as being handed a $100 bill with Diddy's personal number on it, but it's my own 'ravers version' of that story. Hihi...

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...