Zane Lowe Takeovers 2009 with The Prodigy

If you are reading this then you have the technology.

On Monday Jan 12 the Prodigy stepped in for Zane Lowe on his 7 - 9 pm Radio 1 slot while Zane is back home in New Zealand for his annual months holiday.

It has to be the best two hours of radio that I have heard since DJ Hype on Fantasy FM back in late 1989. You can play the whole show again using the radio1 listen again feature until Monday 19th please please go do it. If your musical history is anything like mine I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

I was blown away with just how good it was, so many tunes that hold up to anything out there today. The whole thing brought back so many great memories of the good old days (Radio Babylon in particular made me tingle).

So go and listen to the best couple of hours radio you are likely to hear anywhere.

Here is the track listing for the show to prove it.

19:00
The Prodigy - 'Invaders Must Die' (Cooking Vinyl)
Chase And Status - 'Against All Odds' (Ram)
Bloc Party - 'One Month Off' (Wichita)
Feed Me - 'The Spell' (Mou5trap)
Public Enemy Vs Zinc - '138 Noise' (White Label)
White Lies - 'To Lose My Life' (Fiction)
First Record The Prodigy Ever Bought
The Specials - 'Gangsters' (Crysalis)
Hottest Record In The World
The Prodigy - 'The Omen' (Cooking Vinyl)
Method Man - 'Release Yo Delf' (Prodigy Remix) (White Label)
Tommy Sparks - 'I'm A Rope' (Electric Eyeball)
Dorp - 'London Out There' (Caned And Able)
Slipknot - 'Duality' (Roadrunner)
Jay Z - '99 Problems' (Roc-A-Fella)
15 Minutes To Rave
The Prodigy - 'Android' (Cooking Vinyl)
Dominator - 'Human Resource' (White Label)
The House Crew - 'Keep The Fire Burning' (Production House)
Justice - 'Phantom Part II' (Soulwax Mix) (Ed Banger)
Dizzee Rascal - 'Sirens' (XL)
Tenor Saw - 'Ring The Alarm' (Relentless)
Metronomy - 'A Thing For Me' (Because Music)
Big Daddy Kane - 'Death Of Kane' (Warners)
Hijack - 'Hold No Hostage' (Potty Mouth)
Prodigy Soundclash
Keith: Meat Beat Manifesto - 'Radio Babylon' (PIAS)
Maxim: Urban Shakedown - 'Some Justice' (Urban Shakedown)
Liam: Egyptian Empire - 'The Horn Track' (Ffrreeedom)
Rage Against The Machine - 'Vietnow' Sony)
Prodigy's Winter Warmer
Turbo Fruits - 'Volcano' (ARK Recordings)
Queens Of The Stone Age - 'Feel Good Hit Of The Summer' (Vertigo)

Now this is my kind of adventure

I for one hope this trip goes without any incidence. Bart can I have a flying car for next Christmas please!!

By flying car from London to Timbuktu
By Jude Sheerin BBC News

The Skycar can take off at 45mph. (All car images are mock ups)
A voyage to fabled Timbuktu in a flying car may sound like a magical childhood fantasy.
But this week a British adventurer will set off from London on an incredible journey through Europe and Africa in a souped-up sand buggy, travelling by road - and air.
With the help of a parachute and a giant fan-motor, Neil Laughton plans to soar over the Pyrenees near Andorra, before taking to the skies again to hop across the 14-km (nine-mile) Straits of Gibraltar.
The ex-SAS officer then aims to fly over the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, above stretches of the Sahara desert and, well, wherever else the road runs out.
But forget Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - this flying machine is based on proven technology.
Touch of a button
Designed by a young British inventor, the Skycar enables its driver to pilot the vehicle at the mere touch of a button as though it were a microlite.
The team behind it calls the Skycar the world's first road legal biofuelled flying car.
Mr Laughton's destination is the west African country of Mali and its city of Timbuktu, a place which has had a mystical, "middle of nowhere" reputation since the heyday of Victorian exploration.

I thought this would be an interesting challenge... Timbuktu is an iconic and quirky destination
Neil Laughton
The daredevil 42-day expedition will pass 4,000 miles (6,400 km) through France, Spain and Morocco, head into the Sahara by way of Mauritania and Mali, before returning home via Senegal.
He had also hoped to make the 22mile (35km) flight across the English Channel, but that plan was vetoed by civil aviation officials.
Even Mr Laughton - who has scaled the highest mountains on seven continents and trekked at the North Pole - admits his latest "boy's own" adventure is a little eccentric.
"I like variety and thought this would be an interesting challenge," he told the BBC News website. "Also Timbuktu is an iconic and quirky destination."
The father-of-two says his long-suffering wife's initial reaction to his latest feat of derring-do was "unprintable", but she is now fully behind the charity mission.
Ultimate boy's toy
As he prepares to set off from central London on Wednesday morning, Mr Laughton is optimistic the Skycar's maiden voyage will go smoothly.
SKYCAR IN NUMBERS

Weight: 1,000lb (480kg)
Engine: Four cylinders, 1,000cc
Flight range: 185 miles (300km)
Cruising altitude: 2,000-3,000ft (600m-900m)
Top speed: 70mph (110km/h) airborne; 110mph (180km/h) road
Cost: £50,000 ($76,000)
"Clearly the reliability of the car is crucial. We're going to have to cope with wind chill temperatures as low as -30C and blistering heat up to 50C. But it's been fully tested at a secret location and it 100% works."
With the help of sponsors, the team has invested about £250,000 ($380,000) developing the vehicle.
The brains behind the two-seater Skycar is 29-year-old inventor Gilo Cardozo, who will join Mr Laughton as co-pilot for the African leg of the trip.
The self-taught engineer's Wiltshire-based firm, Parajet, manufactures the industrial paramotors that propel the Skycar once it is airborne.
He has been dreaming of creating a flying car - the ultimate boy's toy - since childhood.
"The inspiration came from realising we can drive and we can fly, so why can't we do both? The problem all along has been the wing technology, which we think we've cracked with the Skycar," he said.
Mr Cardozo built and co-piloted the powered paraglider which took British TV survivalist Bear Grylls over the summit of Mount Everest in 2007.
He plans to sell the Skycar commercially to the public at £50,000 per vehicle, if it can prove its mettle on the Timbuktu mission.
'Unsavoury people'
The team is keenly aware, however, it is not just the environment which could prove hostile.
In 2007 the annual Paris-Dakar rally was cancelled amid reported threats from Islamic militants in Mauritania.

Inventor Gilo Cardozo is the brains behind the Skycar
Mr Laughton said: "Sadly the political situation in some areas on our route is not good and there are some unsavoury people about so we must be careful."
On the road, the Skycar takes barely three minutes to convert into an aircraft.
The driver unpacks the special nylon wing from the boot, before unfurling the parachute on the ground to the rear.
The powerful fan's thrust propels the buggy forward and provides enough wing lift to take off at just 45mph (70km/h), from any "airstrip" longer than 650ft (200m).
Once airborne, the driver uses pedals in the zero-carbon vehicle's foot well to steer the Skycar by tugging cables that change the wing's shape.
Should something go wrong, the pilot can launch an emergency parachute, which should allow the buggy to drift safely back to earth.
A convoy of support vehicles will accompany the team every step of the way.
What the nomadic camel caravans of the Sahara will make of the flying machine is anybody's guess.

V V Brown - Crying Blood

Thanks to Jules Holland for bringing another talent into my world.

I grabbed this from a web interview, thanks M Online.

V V Brown is a singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist currently living in east London. The talented artist has written songs for successful acts such as the Sugababes and the Pussycat Dolls and is now shifting the focus to her own solo material.

Debut single Crying Blood garnered critical acclaim from the music industry and V V is well-known on the live circuit.

M Online caught up with V V to find out more about her music, her work for other artists and see what advice she has to offer aspiring artists.

V V interview part one and two.

Thank you Santa

I just wanted to say thank you to all my family for making this Christmas a very happy one. I love you all.

I received some fabulous gifts this year, so thanks to:

Mum and Dad for the Le Creuset cookware, very nice indeed, add to that a TomTom sat nav from my Dad. I must have been a very good boy indeed at some point this year but I can't think of when for the life of me .

Thanks to Sharon and Damien and the kids for a great day being Uncle Tony and having so many hugs I lost count, and for my Hugo, I never leave home without it.

Thanks to John for my Blu-ray copy of This is England. I can't wait to see it.

Most of all thanks to my hubby, he gave me a new sound system for my iPod, a cosy M&S bath robe, some jim jams and best of all he is going to record all of my old vinyl over to my laptop and my iPod. Thank you babe, I love you.

To everyone reading this I hope you had a great Christmas filled with all the things you wished for, and to a very happy, peaceful and prosperous new year. Here's to a great 2009 - Cheers!!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Jahcoozi - Asian Bride Magazine. Pure Breed Mongrel .2005.

I love YouTube

Mongrel Talk Love Music Hate Racism in Schools

new trance for 2009

This track is Rob Richards - Dreamer.

It come from the stable of Robert Brown. He is friends with my very good friend Emma's younger brother Shaun. We all attended the same school and are friends through Stantonbury Campus Facebook group, so I thought I would give him some support. He has started his own record label (Inner City Records) based here in MK. Check out more here on YouTube.

Trance is not really my thing but I am more than happy to support a local artist. Good luck Rob.



Only 79 views so far be one of the first.

Northern Soul

I was bored this morning so I hooked up YouTube and off I went on one of those journeys that could take you anywhere.

Well I ended up here. Northern Soul, a particular musical movement from the 70's the main base was in the north of England. More particularly for this post anyway at the Wigan Casino, not a casino but a dance hall. The owners got an all night licence so that punters could dance all night. Well from 12.00 to 06.00 am. No alcohol could be served to keep within the licensing agreement, so these kids danced all night on a high, fueled by the music of black America the other dancers and maybe a little speed.

The first clip will give you an idea of what the scene was all about. The documentary from the 70's the middle clip gives a bit more background but I felt it was missing something I want to know more about the people, and what the music from a different place and time meant to them.

Apparently there is a movie in the making that documents the rise and fall of a particularly English party scene. So maybe I will get the answers that I need from that when it is released.

I am from the south and just a little to young to have been a part of this incredibly interesting scene, so I mainly missed out, though I was aware thanks to some northern friends at school (Marie B in particular).

Looking back it strikes me that there are some strong similarities between the Northern Soul scene of the 70's and the rave scene in the late 80's early 90's a scene that I spent so much of my time and sweaty energy following .

I too had a church to worship at each Friday and Saturday night (Labyrinth at the 3 aces club). Where too no drink was sold (apart from water) and everyone there was in it for the music the dance and the excitement of being directly involved in a form of expression that was truly ours and no one else's, at least at that time. It was also a time of strong friendships bonding myself and my fellow ravers. Imagine a train load of excited teenagers and early twenty somethings off to London to one of the most hardcore clubs in existence at that time. We were all paid up members and regular faces and we all reveled in those moments of realization of what we were doing. I don't remember this specifically but the Prodigy played their first live PA here and were regular members themselves, I must have been there as I was always there every Friday or Saturday without fail. It was as hard as it got. These clips bring back those same feelings. Memories as hard as they get and then some.

I am looking forward to the film next year, I will post more info when I have it. In the mean time enjoy some classic Northern Soul.

If you're out there Santa

KASRA : ALL SOUNDS ELECTRIC 2

CAUSE 4 CONCERN : DREAM KILLER

Lusciously dark like 80% chocolate.

Dump Road - Socal Bombing

What a feeling. I love this video 5.05 of pure bliss.



Once more with feeling.

Sign language taught to deaf dog

Todays ahhhh dog story.

Sign language taught to deaf dog

Zoe is gaining confidence as she masters more sign commands
A deaf dog has been taught sign language by an animal charity in order to help find her a new home.
Zoe, an 18-month-old Dalmation, is being cared for at the RSPCA's Little Valley Animal Shelter in Exeter.
Staff at the shelter were worried Zoe, who is almost completely deaf, might be overlooked by prospective adopters.
But they say she has taken to the new routine "like a duck to water" and has already learned seven sign commands, including "sit", "stay" and "lie down".
Gill Hodge, an animal behaviour assistant at the shelter, said: "When she came to us, Zoe was very timid and lacked confidence, and it soon became apparent she was deaf.
"Her deafness meant we could not train her with voice commands in the usual way, so we came up with the idea of sign language."
The RSPCA hopes the dog's new-found confidence will help her find a suitable home.

Test reveals dogs' jealous side

Any of you out there with two or more dogs will know full well that they get jealous. For instance, Cooper will not allow Bart and I to kiss or hug in the kitchen without leaning against me so hard that we have to stop before I fall over. One dog can not be cuddled, stroked or brushed without the other being obviously put out. Hora it has been proven, dogs get jealous. Now we can all get on with our lives. Interesting story just the same.

The dog handshake is initially rewarded with food
Scientists in Austria say they have found a basic form of jealousy in dogs.
The Vienna-based researchers showed that dogs will stop doing a simple task when not rewarded if another dog, which continues to be rewarded, is present.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the scientists say this shows a sensitivity in dogs that was only previously found in primates.
The researchers now plan to extend their experiments to look at co-operative behaviour in wolves.
The experiment consisted of taking pairs of dogs and getting them to present a paw for a reward. On giving this "handshake" the dogs received a piece of food.
One of the dogs was then asked to shake hands, but received no food. The other dog continued to get the food when it was asked to perform the task.
Reward value
The dog without the reward quickly stopped doing the task, and showed signs of annoyance or stress when its partner was rewarded.
To make sure that the experiment was really showing the interaction between the dogs rather than just the frustration of not being rewarded, a similar experiment was conducted where the dogs performed the task without the partner. Here they continued to present the paw for much longer.

The dog sees its partner rewarded
Dr Frederike Range from the department of neurobiology and cognition research at the University of Vienna, says this shows that it was the presence of the rewarded partner which was the greater influence on their behaviour.
"The only difference is one gets food and the other doesn't, they are responding to being unequally rewarded." she said.
The researchers say this kind of behaviour, where one animal gets frustrated with what is happening with another, has only been observed in primates before.
Studies with various types of monkeys and chimpanzees show they react not only to seeing their partners receiving rewards when they are not, but also to the type of reward.
The dog study also looked at whether the type of reward made a difference. Dogs were given either bread or sausage, but seemed to react equally to either. Dr Range says this may be because they have been trained.
"It's through the fact they have to work for the reward, this confers it with a higher value," she said.
Evolution
The researchers say this behaviour, reacting to others receiving rewards, may represent an earlier stage in the evolution of co-operative behaviours seen in human and primates.
"I think it's a precursor, simpler than in humans, it's a selfish behaviour, they don't react to seeing others treated unfairly. With humans they react, say it's unfair, we can't see anything like that in the dogs," said Dr Range.

The dog soon refuses to raise a pawThe researchers say the type of behaviour exhibited in the experiment is probably due to the dog's close association with humans. Dr Range says other animals need to be studied to really show how animals naturally exhibit jealousies or cooperate.
"I'm sure that it's not something that evolved with the dogs, we will have to test it in wolves and other cooperating species," she said.
Dr Range is currently rearing wolf cubs in order to perform similar experiments. She says the wolves will be able to do the paw test, but that it is really the wrong experiment. She regards this as something unnatural, that dogs are taught by their owners.
"They can give the paw, but it's not the right test. We must take the human out of the equation, then we can compare directly wolves with dogs."

Cute

Sir Rupert, the Gay Knight

Milton Keynes is on the up

We have been the butt of many jokes over the years. You can say what you like about my dear city, "it's just full concrete cows and roundabouts". True these things do exist here but there is much more than just these two things to Milton Keynes. Though they do seem to be the most common landmarks associated with the city from the outside. Here are a few facts to put that straight.





So tell me where else in the UK can you live in a city of close to 300,000 people and ride a bike to work from one side of the city to the other and not cross a main road? We have over 120 miles of redway (a cycle network that goes through city parks and estates but hardly cross any main roads). For most Journeys the redway network is faster than using the grid road system

There are supposedly 20 trees for each resident planted throughout the landscaped conurbation. This is great if you are a dog owner as I am or a parent as many residents are. Milton Keynes has one of the youngest populations in Europe. So much open space on your doorstep no matter where in the city you live.



We also have lakes for fishing as well as some set a side for more active water users. We have the wakeboard centre at Willen Lake for instance.



For the more cultural there is the Japanese Peace Pagoda the first in the UK. There is the art gallery in the theater district and the theater where Henry Winkler is just about to start playing in panto, Oh yes he is. To top all of this off we are only 45 minutes from central London by train.

Did I mention that we are also home of the WW2 code breakers and the birthplace of the modern computer at Bletchley Park.



I was reading something on MSN news today that listed the top 50 destinations in the UK for a day out. MK came near the top.

How about some indoor real-snow skiing and simulated skydiving to liven things up? According to research by VisitBritain, the Xscape entertainment complex in Milton Keynes was one of the nation’s most-visited attractions last year, drawing 6.9m people – that’s over three times as many as the Tower of London. A striking modern building, the second-tallest in Milton Keynes, Xscape contains a real-snow ski slope, a climbing wall and even a new wind tunnel that imitates the experience of freefall skydiving.

So if you fancy a great weekend out there are worse places to visit 6.9 million people cant be wrong can they? See you soon.

Russell Brand - Surprise Visit on Loose Women

Miss you!

Facts about England

I can confirm this is completely accurate.





Guess who was mostly on YouTube tonight.

Someone needs a Valium

Lowkey - In My Lifetime featuring Wretch32

In My Lifetime is the first official single off Lowkey's new LP Dear Listener and features Wretch 32 of The Movement.

"Lowkey's dope! Definately representing for the UK"
Ghostface Killah (Wu-Tang Clan)

"One of my favourite rappers right now"
DJ Semtex (BBC 1Xtra + Dizzee Rascal's DJ)

Thanks to Ian from 7Thirty Entertainment Management, Marketing and Consultancy. Who emailed this to me today and asked if I would put it up on the blog. There was no doubt that I would. A video is to follow but this is so hot off the press it hasn't been filmed yet. I will post it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

I am hoping to get tickets to a gig a bit closer to MK than Manchester where Mongrel are playing on Saturday. If you are one of the lucky ones please let me know how it went. So jealous!