Today's playlist of 'Angel in the morning' on Cool FM Aruba

Pump it- Black Eyed Peas
You decide- Orange Grove
The day I died- Just Jack

Fame- Irene Cara (today is the release of the remake of Fame. It really was due a remake, as you can see by the clip ; )



Empire state of mind- Jay Z ft. Alicia Keys
She's got me dancing- Tommy Sparks

Take me to the hospital- Prodigy
Rythm is a dancer- Snap

Pass the dutchy- Musical Youth
Boys & girls- Pixie Lott
Basket case- Green day
Rich girls- Down with Webstar

It's time to burn- Storm (2009)
Take back the city- Snow patrol
No one takes away your freedom- Scissor sisters versus the Beatles (mashup)

Pursuit of happiness- Kid Cudi
Calle ocho- Pitbull
Tik tok- Kesha




Look what you've done- Jet
Fergilicious was here- Fergie versus Royksopp (mashup)

Press it up- Sean Paul
One- U2 ft. Mary J. Blidge



Boys and girls- Blur
Celebration- Madonna
Wearing my rolex- Wiley

Today's playlist of 'Angel in the morning' on Cool FM Aruba

Jamaica, Jimmy Screech
Make me, Janet Jackson
Rich girls, Down with Webstar

I'm not alone, Calvin Harris
Funhouse, Pink
Happy, Leona Lewis



Baby, baby, baby, Make the girl dance
Empire state of mind, JayZ ft. Alicia Keys
You decide, Orange grove

Boys and girls, Pixie Lott
Rap das aramas, Cidinho doca

Love is all, Roger Glover



View to a kill, Duran Duran
Sexy chick, david Guetta ft. Akon

Chillin', Wale ft. lady Gagga
Look what you've done, Jet
Suddenly I see, KT Tunstall

Take me to the hospital, the Prodigy
The fear, Lily Allen

I like to move it, Reel to Real
Alone in the dark, Tiesto



The magic switch, Will Smith versus One T Cool T (mashup)
Pursuit of happiness, Kid Cudi

Fergilicious was here, Fergie versus Royksopp (mashup)
She is love, Parachute
Blanco, Pitbull ft. Pharrell

Op z'n Hollands

Just thought I'd give you a quick update...most of 'Op z'n Hollands' has been filmed. It was good fun. Now we'll have to wait and see if it looks okay on TV. We had some major teething problems with the show, but solved them after a while. I'm now in discussion about a new TV project.

My radioshow 'Angel in the morning' now runs from 10am-12pm, mon-fri on www.coolaruba.com. Every day I get phonecalls and MSN messages of listeners who want to know the names of certain tracks that I play, so I have decided to use this blog for my daily playlist, starting tomorrow.

And, by the way, I am no longer in the band RetroMatic.

Adios, my dears!

Internet problems...

Haven't been able to blog much as we have lost our internet connection at home and in the radio studio I never have enough time....

For today, just a quick picture of my performance last friday. As you can see, I was having a good time!

Daily radioshow

Just wanted to let you all know that today I have started doing a daily radioshow on Cool FM, called 'Angel in the morning'.

So instead of doing my Saturday afternoon show for the station, I now broadcast every mon-fri, 10.30 am- 12.00 pm, Aruban time (-4 GMT) You can watch and listen to me live on the Cool FM website: http://www.coolaruba.com/

I have to admit though, watching a radio DJ at work is generally bit boring (definitely not the same as watching a VJ ; ) but still....

And you can chat with me whilst I'm on-air. Either by Messenger (angelmorning@live.com ) or just send me a text on Aruba phone number: (297)-747 3562

Looking forward to hearing from you

My BBC World service interview on Madonna's 50th birthday

This went out on the BBC World Service yesterday. Everyone has an opinion of Madonna and what it means for her to have celebrated her 50th birthday whilst still topping the worldwide charts. These are my personal thoughts on her, her music and her amazing career.

madonna interview BBC world service.mp3

By the way, before I anger any hardened Madonna fans, let me just explain why I said that 'Madonna is very clever at looking what's happening on the fringes of the music scene, taking elements of it & making it her own'.

Basically, as I was working on the Partyzone, I often saw first-hand what was happening outside the mainstream & I often saw or heard how Madonna incorporated these things into her own performances. Very clever of course, as most audiences would not know where these ideas came from and would assume they were Madonna's own creative inventions. And I bet that she surrounds herself with some hot young things who will let her know what music to listen to and which acts to watch.

Brian Adams used to attempt the same thing and would hang out with young (at the time) people like myself & would ask us all about what was hot. I would take him out occasionally and show him what was happening in London & would mention tracks for him to listen to. He never really got it though, he's too set in his ways. When he mentioned to me that another young friend had called him 'a musical dinosaur' I just giggled.

Still, he's a brilliant artist of course & a wonderful person. But he has never been really 'with it' like Madonna always has been.

I also mentioned U2 in the interview (which was edited out), as they have this same talent that Madonna has, they always have their finger on the pulse, they check out hot new acts, they get inspired & then they incorporate elements of it into their own performance. It simply is the only way to stay relevant.

Back on radio/ Madonna's 50th birthday

After a 6-week-break I will finally be back with the Weekend Express on Cool FM tomorrow from 10-12 am (Aruban time)

Also, somewhere between 6-9 am (UK time) tomorrow, I will be discussing Madonna's 50th birthday and look back on her career on the BBC world service.

My God, I have missed radio. It will be good to back! Oh, and happy birthday lady Madonna.

Possible VJ reunion?

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that Radio 3FM in Holland are considering setting up an MTV VJ reunion. This is something that has never happened before & would be soooo cool! If you think they should go ahead with the idea, let them know. Post a comment on Michiel Veenstra's blog: www.michielveenstra.nl

Just scroll down to the piece on our interview & tell him you'd like to see/hear the old VJs again.

I so hope this will happen. In the meantime, you can read about what many of the VJs are up to these days in the 'VJ updates' postings from this blog.

Morgenochtend 'te gast' bij Michiel Veenstra op Radio 3FM

For those of you in Holland, I'll be chatting with Michiel Veenstra op 3FM. Sometime between 6 & 9 AM. It turns out that tomorrow (the first of August) is the 22nd anniversary of MTV Europe. I would say 'happy birthday', but to whom? To all the old fractions of MTV Europe? Nah...guess the channel is dead and gone. So sad : (

No Weekend Express until August the 16th.

Just wanted to let you know that I won't be doing any radioshows until we go back to Aruba again. I had hoped to broadcast from Belize this summer, but we just couldn't find a studio/local radio station to do it with. Oh well, in the meantime, I've been collecting new music and am rearing to go. I'm so looking forward to getting back behind the microphone and telling everyone of the great new music that's out there...

Back off to the Cool FM studio

Good morning! I'm just getting ready to go to the Cool FM studio again to record my radio show 'The Weekend Express'. I'll be live on air between 10-12 am Aruban time. Tune in if you want or join the chat here on the blog. I'd love to hear from you. Tell me what you think of the videos I've posted in the last few days, share your thoughts on recent pop news or just say 'Hi'.

Love, Simone

Just found a picture of our first RetroMatic performance

BTW, the radioshow today was great fun. I'm starting to get the hang of it and am enjoying it tremendously. Thanks for the online messages, everyone. Special thanks to Yianni from Greece for the kind words. And keep on dancing y'all.

Radio show number 2

Well, I've made it through my first performance with the band and also my first radio show for Cool FM. As a matter of fact, my next show is on tomorrow morning. This whole week has been filled with learning to use new software, finding out how to convert music files, edit them, etc.

It's such fun working at Cool FM. Everyone is super friendly on the team and there is a certain excitement to the station that I enjoy. That real 'start-up' feeling that MTV Europe had as well when I first joined. I've always functioned better in 'start-up' situations anyhow. Once companies become corporations I usually bail out. I just don't enjoy working for corporations, eventhough the rewards that you receive for that are often high. Give me the excitement of the chase for 'greatness' over actual 'greatness' any time.

And as a great man once said (was it Ghandi by any chance?):

'True success should not be measured by what one receives,
But rather by what one has to give up'

Whenever I've worked for corporations I have felt that I had to give up on many of my ideals and conviction and therefor give up part of who I was. That was definatelly my feeling at MTV once the original vibe had left the company.

So anyway, what I'm trying to say, is that I am enjoying myself very much here in Aruba at Cool FM.