Hi there just a quick one this week. I'd just like to say to DR. S. at the St Richards hospital. You are a real arsehole. I played extra time for you and I broke the golden rule. I didn't ask you for money up front. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't ask for the main fee upfront? Would you have shafted me over that as well? Probably but we'll never know. Sometimes I'm too trusting but I'm not a total bloody moron! Interesting subject is money and payment. Right now a mate of mine is trying to get money out of a certain hotel in Brighton for a number of Christmas functions, one of which I did for him myself. This hotel chain is owned by a multi millionare from what I am told and has a pretentious variation on the word "blue" in it's title/brand name. The payment has been politely asked for, invoiced, politely asked for and subsiquently ignored and ignored and ignored. It's now at the court stage and they are theatening an order to shut down the business or some such "seemingly out of proportion, but necessary to solve the problem" thing.

Just think how much better this world would be if everyone, business and private actually paid their bills on time! Yes it's mad, it's crazy and it seems like a new and radical idea doesn't it? No not really. Bills are my first priority. If you make extra money. Pay the bills first. Peace of mind is priceless. Carribean holidays are nice if there's enough left over. If not, you have more time than you think. Make the extra money. Don't borrow unless it's an emergency. Debt and late payment are the scurge of the modern age, along with drugs and fake mental disorders - To sell more drugs of course. Anyway, I digress. Tight bastards are not exclusively rich. There are poor tight bastards and rich tight bastards. It's not a good measuring stick. At least poor tight bastards have some justification for holding onto their precious lolly (there's a word from the past). Rich tight bastards or even slightly rich tight bastard doctors have no justification. If you deliver a great product (which everyone else agreed that I did) then you should have fair exchange for it and if that doesn't sound fair it's a good sign of insanity. So there you are Doctor S. You're not just a tight slightly rich bastard but you're a fruit cake too with a genuine mental disorder. I'd just like to finish this bit by saying thank you to the other doctor who promised to sort out payment the next day and then never called. You guys are an inspiration to us all.

In complete contrast I would like to say a big thankyou to Wendy and family with the After eight club for a great comedy relief night on the Friday 18th March where we raised around £500.00 and the crowd were absolutley brilliant. I love it when the crowd get's into the dancing en-mass. It's my main statistic of course and try as one might it doesn't always happen. So once again thankyou all and you can check the review out here

See you all next time and have a great week. Don't forget the clocks go forward this weekend so I feel your pain when it comes to getting up an hour earlier! Take care,

Mike.

Hi all. Haven't posted for a while as this winter has been pretty quiet to tell the truth. Never mind. Had an 80's party on Saturday hosted By Stuart Duff from Megafan records for his wife Yolanda's birthday. I had to increase the size of the already large show to accomodate the main attraction Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot from 80's number 1 selling album band Curiosity Killed The Cat. Not that Ben is large physically, I mean I had to dig out the old CDN88's (twin CD player - one of the best in it's day) to play the backing tracks for the act. This made a large disco set up as you can see below:

Ben sang well and got a great reaction from the ladies:

Also a really nice guy and a fellow Level 42 fan, so that means he can do no wrong in my book..

Also, at some point in the night, one of Stuarts other artists (he actually has Chaka Khan on his books amongst others!),Robbie Craig from 2 step garage act Artful Dodger sang "Woman Trouble" with his lady support vocalist joining in on the choruses. Wow! what a voice that bloke has..And his lady too! every bit as good. I must say although I loved Curiosity and bought their debut album on cassette, I had a special place in my heart for  the Artful Dodger track. I was just starting out as a DJ early in the naughties when this track appeared on the scene. It never got a huge reaction on the dance floor at the time, but you know what? I loved it and I was behind the decks, so on it went gig after gig. I don't often make exceptions like that, but this song was funkeeeee!

You can just see yours truly looking much more serious than I actually am as usual..

All in all a great night and Beckie I have to say got right into th idea and dressed for the part:

This picture doesn't do her look justice but it's the best I've got on this camera.

Well hope you enjoyed this blog at least a little as much as I enjoyed doing the show. Check out Stuart and Yolandas review

Ok see you next time and have a great week.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi again everybody. I have an idea which I've bored others with from time to time over the years but never really voiced in the broad spread that this blog no doubt achieves!

Ok actually I've no idea how many folks read my humble thoughts other than a few definites but anyway, what do you think of this...

I nearly always do gigs which start at around 7:30 pm and end at around midnight.

That's a long time isn't it? do you think the crowd dance attentively for all that time? Mostly no. I mean there's usually upwards of two or three at least on the floor for most of the night but the main rush comes at around 9:30pm to 10:00pm and then again in the last 45 minutes. This isn't because I'm a bad DJ. Read the reviews yourself.

Just occasionally or at Christmas functions I come on late and play for 2 to 3 hours. This has the effect of concentrating everyones attention and the shows can't help but be more snappy and a little bit more exciting. In fact I've had some of my wildest gigs and best crowd reaction in this shorter format. This, I'm guessing is why most concerts are around this length. Just immagine if I came on at 9 or 10pm and everybody just went for it big time on the floor.....This is why I charge a set fee now and not so much an hourly rate, as I believe after many years of exprience that it's quality, not quantity that counts and let's not forget the oldest rule of entertainment: Always leave 'em wanting more...Not for nothing was that saying a cliche long long ago.

If your another DJ reading this or another customer or a friend, I'd really appreaciate your view on this. I'm genuinly interested to know what everyone else thinks.

Not a lot to say other than that rather important point, except that spaces are filling up for the summer now so please don't miss out on the wonder that is the Cloud And Sun funky-assed disco in 2011!

Take care and I'll leave you with something to cheer you up in this incessantly rainy January.  This is one of my favourite clips from last year:

Take care and see you soon..

Mike.