The DeeJay Thread

I'm still recovering from a weekend away with a few of the Singapore gang up in Phuket last weekend where more than a few drinks were had.  Didn't make for a very pleasant week back at work, especially being the first full five day week I've done since early April-ish.

Next weekend a friend is having a 'barbie' and has asked me along to belt out a few choons, on a friends' CD decks which should be good fun.  Haven't played in a long time so may be a bit rusty, haven't even been out since about March when we went to see Laurent Garnier, of Man With the Red Face fame.  And the time before that was early February when I went to check out Gareth Emery, then had to fly to India the next day which is not something I would recommend to anyone (flying to India I mean, not Gareth Emery, he's bloody good)...

To be honest I'm a bit gutted about the whole DJ thing at the moment as two of the three I'd like to see most seem to have something against me:

Deadmau5:  Played in Singapore a few weeks ago.  Had to throw out the cannot lah as was on a plane to Phuket that night.

Fatboy Slim:  Playing week after next, and alas, cannot lah again as will be on a plane to Bangkok. 

Dammit.  Its almost like these DJs are waiting for me to book a trip away before committing to play over here...

So all this talk of DJs got me thinking about great DJs of our time, and maybe its a sign of getting old but at the moment I can't get past Wolfman Jack, of American Graffiti fame:

Such a good movie.  And deemed so important it was added to the U.S. National Film Registry.  This was the Fatboy Slim or Deadmau5 moment of our parents (or maybe their parents) generation, and there is so much to like about the story:

• The station depicted in the film, XERB, was known as a 'Border Buster' and broadcast from Mexico into the USA with so much power one could drive from New York to LA and 'never lose signal' (Wiki)
• This movie launched the careers of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford, among many others
• With a budget of $777,000 resulting in over $140 million in revenue, percentage-wise American Graffiti is the 9th most profitable film of all time
• Directed by George Lucas, American Graffiti should not be overlooked by fans of other genres: the return on his investment in this film allowed him to fire up his Space Opera project, which later became the Star Wars project
• In terms of the soundtrack, few films can compete with deals struck with most of the major record labels of the day, with the exception of RCA.  There is therefore no Elvis Presley on the soundtrack.

Not sure about you, but I'm off to HMV to try and get my hands on a copy (it has been on HBO recently, but I want this one on dvd).

So to round this one off, still on the idea of DJs and Radio Stations, here's probably the least favourite, damn right scary station out there.  Some say its a Russian dead hand system... or maybe they're just reserving the frequency for later, all we know is its called UVB-76: The Buzzer.  And it broadcasts this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and has been doing so for many years now...

 

Lock up your children.  In Soviet Russia the radio turns YOU off!

Comments

[rc helicopter]

Impressive blog! -Arron