Ginger DJ Rob

Heroes and Villains party DJ set

2011-12-18T17:51:00.001Z

Here's my first set from the Heroes and Villains party.

Heroes and Villains Party by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

Becoming Phwoarty - Heroes and Villains party

2011-12-14T09:42:00.000Z

I really wanted to have a party to remember my 40th by so chose fancydress. Thankfully my wife came up with the theme of Heroes and Villains which allowed a wide-interpretation. It wasn't all smooth sailing with the planning and preparation. Finding a decent venue in Brighton before Christmas proved to be expensive or couldn't offer a late closing time. Fortunately, good friends Paul and Sarah stepped in to host it.
Rejected costume ideas for me were Link from Zelda, Snake (with cardboard box) from Metal Gear Solid, Han Solo, Mad Max, Tron or a Galdiator/Trojan Warrior. Instead I kept it simple and played it for my look-a-likee, Simon Pegg having done Shaun of the Dead at a previous party. So, discounting films like Paul (not that funny), Run Fatboy Run (as a jogger?!) and Star Trek (love to but too geeky) I went for Sergeant Nicholas Angel.

Hot Fuzz costume

Possibly the most iconic part of the costume which had to be just right was the Police stab vest. I'd seen quite a few on ebay ranging from new ones around £300 to second-hand vests finishing their auction around £70 with loads of different sizes on offer (we're talking real ones that actually protect you from stabbing). After losing out on a few and worried about getting the wrong size I finally found one at Denbigh Army Supplies for £65. Bizarrely, there's an American Ebay trader who makes the iron patches for Sandford Police.
Basics like the white short sleeved shirt and black combats were easy. Ebay came to rescue for the gun holsters with the leg strap and belt ones easy to buy. Cheap aviator sunglasses were also easy to find and buy. I'm glad I spent the extra on some reasonably priced boots to get the look right. Guns were a little tricky but found a pair of £1.99 hand pistols (Poundstretcher) that fitted nicely into the holsters I'd bought. Finally, the epaulettes were a tricky one and could have turned out to be very expensive if I wanted to be really genuine due to be very collectable. Luckily the stab vest already had the black clip-on shoulder flaps so I found some sergeant stripe badges via ebay. The chrome/silver officer numbers were just not worth it in the end.

Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman or G-Force ) Princess or Jun costume

My wife went for a more ambitious outfit which involved weeks of sewing machine and pattern cutting training plus a lot of time and stress sourcing and creating a helmet. We'd found an American website offering cosplay custom-made helmets and took the risk of the long lead time needed to make and ship. By the time it came for the latest date to ship a phonecall to California revealed that the helmet was still being made in China and they had no way of contacting the supplier! Plan B was to find a suitable helmet that could be painted and adapted with a visor. Ski helmets were the chosen for their lightness and reasonable cost. More stress added with the Royal Mail playing silly delivery games and an angry misunderstanding between neighbours but we eventually got there.

Heroes and Villains costume party

Here's the evening's results including a lot of great friends going the extra mile for an excellent night:

Piñata Party

Another highlight for the night which I wanted to do was having a Pinata. Instead of the colourful paper-made donkey I found and adapted one shaped as a vinyl record. Here's the video of me bashing the crap out of it (filmed by Mark Allison):

New Twitter

2011-12-09T09:32:00.001Z

My HTC Desire smartphone updated last night with the new Facebook and Twitter apps. Really like them both with Facebook finally looking more like its full website version. But its the Twitter new look and function that's inspired me especially as I use it so often for both personal and professional purposes.

I've never really bothered with third party apps for Twitter and maybe I've been losing out on some cool gizmos but my phone's internal memory is already full with non-movable apps. For the mobile version of Twitter you can now switch accounts. Plus there's new icons to deal with:

I must admit, Twitter had been looking a little stale for awhile especially with Facebook making some 'marmite' changes and Google + trying desparately to pull in punters upgarding all its services like Gmail, Blogger etc.with the G+ corporate identity.

Embed this Tweet is a new feature which will allow you to add a related tweet to another website. In my line of the work this could be a really useful thing to stimulate debate and spark off more influence and conversation.
Here's an example of a tweet I did yesterday:

HTML version

Maybe I'm paranoid but when I'm introduced to new staff as the one who manages the website its like I'm just the handyman or cleaner here
— Robin Coleman (@gingerdj) December8, 2011

Shortcode version
[tweet https://twitter.com/gingerdj/status/144814141805301760]

Link version
https://twitter.com/gingerdj/statuses/144814141805301760

It looks like the HTML version works best with Blogger when clicking the date link where you'll see the status plus any Replies or other activity associated with the tweet.

Here's what social media gospel, Mashable say about it the refresh- 4ways the new Twitter is taking on Facebook

Next I'll be testing it out on the website I work on but currently only my personal Twitter account has updated with the new version.

Beach of the Dead: Zombie walk in Brighton

2011-10-24T13:49:00.001+01:00

I'd always missed the previous year's Zombie Walk perhaps down to being the same Saturday as Halloween parties or White Night. For this year's Beach of the Dead a few of my friends decided to join the undead celebration which by the end of the day seemed to be the biggest and best yet.

Zombie friends consisted of office worker, disco dancer of the dead, dead Alice, senorita and a dead Jane Austin. The dining table was covered in copydex glue, fake blood, powder, some mirrors and a bottle Tuaca, the zombie choice of poison.

As if a distant church bell rang at 3pm, all zombies shuffled over to Victoria Park in Brighton where everyone compared bites, cut off limbs and zipped up skin. There didn't seem to be much organisation as for a starting time to get the mass killed off conga through town as everyone was either posing for the living. Somehow, they all set off down Church Street past the Brighton Dome causing traffic queues. I managed to find a good position away from the grabbing zombie hoard to stand on a bollard and look down and see a mass of undead harrassing cars, minibuses and pedestrians. It was a sound moaning, shouting and young children crying at the bloody sight.

The route winded its way through town and down to the seafront of which we took a short cut to catch them before they entered the Concorde 2 event.

Sonic Sushi 15th Oct photos and gingerdj mix

2011-10-21T13:47:00.000+01:00

First of all, thank you to those who came along to make our first Sonic Sushi night a success. We had a blast and from the grins and giggles of those dancing, looks like you had a good one too. We didn't quite expect the crowd to want it quite so hard and fast but you all lapped it up like tech-house nymphs!

As well as our normal party crowd it was great to see and meet some new friends including some from my hometown (Dereham) in Norfolk. Hopefully the venue will get their air-conditioning to work otherwise we'll have to bring in even more fans (the blowing kind).

We've already been asked back but haven't quite decided when's the date.

If you missed the opening set of Sonic Sushi by myself, gingerdj at the Globe then look no further (well look a little further than this awkward statement...its below here, right.)

House set - Sonic Sushi at the Globe (Brighton) 15/10/2011 by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

Full Set listing for the above is:

1. Samba By Faze Action
Kawa Z Gruntem By Catz N Dogz Feat. Pol On
Indigo (Original Mix) By Azari & Iii
No More Daddy (Ame Remix) By Dop
Venus (Sunshine People) (Dj Gregory Remix) By Cheek
Look Me In The Eye Sister (Audiojack Mix) By Groove Armada
Vitta Brevis (Pol On Remix) By Franco Cazzola, Titta
Ride With Me (Feat. Max C) Original Mix By Roberto Rodriguez
Captain My Captain (Rodriguez Jr. Remix) By Pan Pot Feat. Cari Golden
Afrodisiac By Cyro
Peter's Secret Weapon By Tigerskin
Party Over Here Party Over There (Pol On Remix) By Joyce Muniz
Jam Hot (Tensnake Remix) By Johnny Dynell
Under A Silious Moonright By David Bowie

You can check my DJ partner, Porntsar on his Mixcloud website

Mix 080711 by Porntsar on Mixcloud

Sonic Sushi - 1st Brighton DJ night!

2011-09-30T13:38:00.000+01:00

A date for your diaries: 15th October 2011 will be my first public DJ appearance in Brighton! Along with (secret after-party Disco Dungeon regular, Porntsar (or Kev to his mates) we'll be taking our bouncey, positive house music to the Globe Pub on Middle Street in Brighton.

For a taster of the sounds we will be playing visit my Mixcloud page (gingerdj).

Both Porntsar and myself use Traktor and Native Instrument's excllent Kontrol S4 and plan to link our two laptops and controllers to mix 8 channels. Inspired by Xpress 2's legendary 6 deck DJ performaces future Sonic Sushi play outs could involve multiple sound, sample, loops and effects.

Undiscovered pilot episode of Blackadder

2011-08-31T13:29:00.000+01:00

I'm a bit late finding this out but my Twitter spies led me to find this very old pilot for The Blackadder. I'm a huge fan of the first series where Rowan Atkinson's character was completely different to the Ben Elton influenced creation. Controversial for some I know but it just worked better for me. Its this more confident character that gets a practice within this pilot episode. It's based on the second episode of the first series, 'Born to be King' where Edmund plots revenge on the Scottish Supreme Commander, McAngus. I've added both videos below so you can compare the two versions where they use alomost the same jokes and script around Edmund having to book the entertainment for the coming feast (i.e. Morris dancers, Eunurchs etc.).

Its amazing that only Edmund, the Queen and Lord Percy were the only characters to be played by the same actors. Can't imagine Blackadder not having Brian Blessed and Tony Robinson, plus Prince Harry in the pilot episode is not the straight man.

The Blackadder Pilot episode

The Blackadder - Born to be King

Saturday SW4 2011: Not even Underworld could save it

2011-08-30T13:54:00.002+01:00

If it hadn't been for Underworld, I doubt any of us would have gone to South West Four festival on Clapham Common. The previous few times we'd been it had a slightly shambolic organisation and the crowd were getting less interested in the dancing and music aspect and more about the getting twatted and annoying others. Looking back through my blog and it seems that the last time was 2005 titled 'Cheesy daytime disco'!

Although the line-up was great, the organisers of SW4 really did skimp on the essentials such as tents that have enough room for people to actually dance instead of constantly being jostled and barged into by others and security staff who could give a fu*k. But it was the sound levels that were the main issue and according to South West Four website it was 'restrained by conditions set on us by the (Lambeth) Council'.

First thing that put us in a bad mood was the queue. Seemed that the vast majority of those attending arrived after lunchtime. The queue winded its way behind the site looping itself and many people pushed in. It took over 30 minutes to get to the front. The second thing was the unfriendly security taking off my bottle of drink which was against the rules stated on their website.

The mud was another downer but that was no fault of the event and we were so glad we wore wellies (unlike some people wearing sandals). However, the event space was way too packed. £50+ for a ticket must have made the organisers a mint. Most of the tents were way too packed so we could only dance just outside the entrances.

Couldn't get any mobilephone 3G connection either so couldn't warn Twitter friend Jackie who wanted to avoid the long queues and be able to meet up. Unfortunately for her, she left early due to some unfavourables ruining her night and took shelter at the local pub where there were some nicer people to mingle with.

The Cocoon tent had appalling sound levels where you could hardly hear the music. The backstage graphics and dancers couldn't save that gagged affair. The Shake It tent had better sound quality but again full to capacity. Whenever it rained it was like sardines and ruined the experience. Most of the crowd didn't seem bothered about dancing either and just chatted which annoyed us even more. If you're not gonna dance then fu*k off! At least Laurent Garnier was to his old reliable good self and stuck around for almost all his live set.

When it came to Underworld themselves, again the organisers must have been screwed down by the council's sound restrictions. Comparing the size of the speakers to other festivals and there looked only to be a 10th of the size you would need for such a crowd. You could hear conversations around you more than the music. Underworld's performance was perhaps one of their worst sets sticking to their brand new album tracks which had a lukewarm reception. They played Dark Train at least which was a highlight and their light show, display screen graphics and effects were quite good. By 2 minutes to 9pm they were off and finished with all of us expecting an encore for at least Downpipe but no such thing happened (again down to the council's strict licence policy). However it just didn't make up for the poor value ticket price. My last memory, when leaving the site was of a violent fight with a kicking of some bloke. No security in sight and luckily a guy steamed in to stop further kicking. Even if SW4 get Daft Punk as their big act I would rather go abroad and spend the extra money than grace my pressence at that festival. Will never attend SW4 again!

After a bit of a wait for taxis we headed back to Steve an Sam's for some louder tunes and the promise of hearing Downpipe! I was also able to play a few new tunes which I think went down well. We left around 1am as a few of us had plans the next day.

London Prepares - BMX Supercross World Cup 2011

2011-08-19T20:36:00.001+01:00

After the major disappointment of failing to get Olympics tickets, Kerry found an alternative to get our bike sports fix. London Prepares was the organiser's way of testing out the newly built venues for next year's Olympics (and perhaps making a little money on the side). As well as basketball at the weekend, the Olympic Park was to host the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup. It was a two day event across a Friday and Saturday. Saturday's ticket instantly sold out so we had to buy Friday seats. Unfortunately, though annoyingly not known at the time of purchase, there would be no actual racing but just the riders doing their time trials for qualification.

Getting there was a simple tube train along the Jubilee line to Stratford. After that there was about a 5 minute walk around the new Westfield shopping centre being built. Before getting on the Olympics site bus, we had to have our bags scanned and walk through a metal detector. The site itself also had a airport feel with many views obscured by fences everywhere. Hopefully the landscaping will transform the site to a more open park environment. Lets hope they don't over do the security.

The BMX track looked very impressive looking more like a stadium Red Bull X-Fighters design. They were still 'shaping' the course after the reported rain from last night with a Bobcat mini-digger and a road construction roller which looked like great fun. The spectator stand wasn't totally full and we managed to get a decent view to see the course which included a tunnel for the lucky lady riders whereas the men had to contend with even more jumps.

Each of the riders had their own selected music as they rode their timed lap. Typical lap times were under a minute so you didn't get to hear much of their tunes. A few were stereo-typical choices for extreme sportsmen with one or two playing sweary over 18 lyrics whilst some Japanese riders chose quite down-tempo swing jazz

When one of the female riders went down after a bad jump landing, the paramedics rushed out with stretcher board to attend. The rider's music switched to the M*A*S*H theme tune which we found (unfortunate for the injured rider) hilarious. After I tweeted this fact, Twitter mate @stevewilde mentioned that Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) had the same observation status so it meant he was somewhere in the crowd. Kerry swore she saw him and I was expecting to hear his laugh but perhaps he tones it down in case of being recognised.

Spotted British BMX champion, Shanaze Reade as she sat just two rows from us and got pestered for her autograph by many a young fan including the two brats that kept passing us (can't you see I'm taking photos?!).

Despite the lack of racing it was a good experience seeing the complete Olympics' buildings and seeing some cool bikes.

Brighton Pride 2011

2011-08-14T10:35:00.002+01:00

Although I've lived in Brighton for fours years this was the first time I've been able to see the Brighton Pride Parade. Starting at 11am from Madeira Drive it snakes its way up West Street then down North Street turning left past Old Steine and down to Preston Park via London Road. We staked out a good shaded spot along Gloucester Place. It must have taken nearly an hour to reach us but it was worth the weight in gold glitter. There were some excellent costumes and some cheeky moments. The local police got a nice cheer after the riots business last week. Surprised to see many politcial parties having their own float and dressing up as outlandish as possible keeping within the brief of 'Out of this world' with so many sci-fi and alien costumes.

This year's Pride was no longer a free event at Preston Park (at £12 pre-booked or £18 cash entry). I didn't really enjoy it the other year, mainly because of the soaking wet rain that drowned even the highest platform wearing tranny. Instead we headed to the seafront and the Volks club to see Gus DJ for Calabash via Morrisons in St James Street who must have had their highest number of customers like ever. The early drinking took effect and loads of us were dancing to the camped-up house and disco. So infectious was it that even a visiting Methodist gospel church group joined in. I'm almost thought it was some comedien's dressed up as a prank. Gus's set went down really well but the next DJ changed the vibe completely so we decided to go home and prepare for the evening's entertainment around St. James Street and the rumour of Danny Rampling DJing at Black Rocks Bar.

It was a gross under-statement to say that the St. James Street street party was busy. It took ages just negotiating our way through the hedonistic crowd who wearing an overload of colour and style. When we arrived at the street entrance to Black Rocks bar we realised from the queue it was a one in one, one out rule. Instead we headed over Paul's then onto Riki Tik's to see a couple of mates DJ. We didn't hang around for long with our energies seriously depleted from the previous night's clubbingat the Green Door Store for Go Bang.

Welsh wet weekend

2011-08-07T21:09:00.002+01:00

We'd been meaning to take a break around Snowdon for years but it was the long drive that always put us off. We booked the Courthouse bed and breakfast in Betws-y-coed for £70 a night whilst our camp(ing) friends, James and Emma stayed at Cae De Campsite further west of Snowdon. The drive was as long as we dreaded and with the M25 being typically busy and reaching the M6 around Friday hometime it was a headache-inducing longhaul. Thankfully our B & B hosts settled us in without fuss explaining the breakfast arrangements (they only served between 8 and 9am but this suited us fine). The Courthouse itself was situated right next to the river and Betws-y-coed and its surrounding countryside was beautiful, clean and almost traffic free. We stayed in the Interrogation Room and the whole place was decorated with old police bric-a-brac.

Headed into town (I say town but more like a single high street) for some food and settled for the Royal Oak Hotel for their Llugwy River restaurant. The Welsh belly pork topped with scallops was amazing whilst Kerry's main course of Welsh lamb was so good the chef was asked to take a bow (not quite but he did get thanked in person). No room for dessert and an early night for our hike up Snowdon the next day.

Snowdon and the PYG track
Our cooked breakfast was perfect at the Courthouse and set us up nicely for the day. The B& B was full with an American family, a Frenchman and a couple of guys. Our hosts were very helpful with a local weather report and even lent us some maps and advice. The warning of the parking fees (£10 at the start of the PYG track) helped soften the blow. However, when we arrived to the car park at 9:30am it was already full and had to drive a further 3 miles to use the park and ride. It was cheaper at £4 parking and £1 for the single bus ticket.

The hike itself was quite hard going though enjoyable before the rain. Views around the horseshoe shaped mountain were impressive looking down at the lakes below. The top wasn't visible due to the low clouds though on other peaks you could spot the odd nutter scaling the tougher routes. The PYG or Pen-y-Gwryd hiking track was very uneven in places and you would need concrete ankles if you went for the trainer option. There were some sections when climbing up was the only option. After about 90 minutes it started to rain. With no shelter, there was no option but to carry on. I had to improvise tearing a carrier bag to cover my backpack which helped protect my camera for some time at least. It was pretty hard going after that depleting our motivation until someone on the way down told us we only had another 30 minutes to go. Visibility was also a problem as we couldn't even see the railway track until almost standing on it!

The final peak itself looked as though it had been built to add another 5 metres and there was a queue of people waiting to scale it for their final accomplishment photo. The general wettness and cold of the situation meant I couldn't be bothered and all I could care for was to get under shelter and eat lunch. I had to smile at seeing another seagull mocking us like Nelson from the Simpsons (ha ha). It was rammed inside the visitors centre feeling like an evacuee campsite with no seating or even elbow room. After our packed lunch (nice little service provided by Courthouse B&B though would've anything other than cheese and onion crisps though it came with a flask of coffee for £4.50 each) we tried drying off our coats in the toilets. Like the posh restaurants they only had the Dyson turbo dryers - great for drying hands, rubbish for drying clothes.

The return journey started off rain-free but after 30 minutes it persisted down again. We'd hoped to match the 2.5 hours walk but the rough and wet track meant our knees were aching and there were a couple of slippages along the way. I couldn't wait to see civilisation and the car park.

After some rest back at the Courthouse we headed out to see James and Emma's campsite and brought them back to Betws-y-coed for a evening meal. Every restaurant we tried was fully booked or a waiting time of 30 minutes. So we waited for a table in the Grill restaurant within the Royal Oak hotel to become available. Food was nearly as good as the previous night except they needed to downsize their starters as it nearly ruined the main course.

Portmeirion - A Prisoner's home
This has been on my to do list ever since I watched the Prisoner (the original not the confusing, bland 2009 version). Portmeirion is a like an architecture mash-up of Mediterranean seaside towns with a Welsh twist and its where they filmed the weird weather balloon chasing spy TV series starring No. 6 actor, Patrick McGoohan who insisted he was a free man. As soon as we entered the gates the theme tune filled our minds. I thought I was going to be disappointed but every view just took me away to a good memory of the TV programme. The inland beach is a natural wonder in itself which stretched almost beyond the horizon. Luckily the tide was out and was dry enough to walk on. Beside the beach and quaint mini-town there's an impressive forest and garden walk to get away from it all.

A quick visit in the Prisoner shop for some new No. 6 drinks coasters then back on the road for the long journey home. After the horrendous journey on Friday night we were blessed with a stress-free drive back.

July new DJ mixes

2011-07-12T23:27:00.000+01:00

Birthday celebrations for Emski and Affy at the Disco Dungeon. Two new mixes from the night:

Before Midnight mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

After Midnight mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

Goodwood Festival of Speed

2011-07-03T20:11:00.042+01:00

Been planning to do this for years but I think Wireless Festival had always been on the same date. In comparison it was about the same price for entrance at £50 a ticket plus Goodwood FoS didn't specify what would be showing.

It was also a chance for me to have some quality father-son time however when he turned up he was not alone! In fact he brought his new (since February) girlfriend along who he'd forgotten to mention...at all. Awkwardness ensued and luckily (for him) we were able to buy another ticket.

We knew we had to get up early expecting some traffic (arriving about 9:30am) but really the queues for the car park wasn't too much to complain about. What we didn't expect was the time to walk and queue to the main entrance. It must have taken half an hour with no toilets along the way. You couldn't ignore the amount of helicopters flying in or out which I mistakenly took as a famous person taxi service. Alas it was just a pleasure flight, a very popular one at that. Next year, to avoid the queues, we'll either get there earlier or camp for the whole weekend.

Once inside the grounds we skipped past the new car showroom and crossed the track towards the house and massive tubular shaped Jaguar E-type art installation. It was a lot more busier than I had expected and any chance of viewing cars were usually met by a swarm of people three layers thick. We were keen to see the Formula 1 cars and any drivers so headed for the paddock and F1 area. Again, the crowds made it difficult to see or photograph with a lot of shots of just backs of heads. One highlight was hearing the Lotus F1 garage progarmming the car engine to rev the Star Spangled Banner in tune.

We hung around the F1 marquees then found the driver entrance to their invite only garden restaurant. They were a few autograph hunters who must have been committed fans or greedy ebayers as I didn't recognise most of the drivers. I did 'pap' Lewis Hamilton's dad who was giving out his signature. Had to laugh as an excited (but obviously poor in sight) fan rushed up asking for Lewis' autograph to his dad. I even saw Nigel Mansell (sans Ned Flaunders tashe) being bombarded by autograph hunters looking completely hassled as he tried to go about his business.

My dad had told me previously that he was to meet up with a Japanese business customer at 1pm at the Kennels somewhere on the Goodwood grounds. It wasn't on the programme map and even most stewards hadn't heard of it. When we eventually got the location, It was located way off the main public area past one of the more interesting and expensive car parks. However, to get there meant crossing the service road when the supercars were going on track. The safety stewards were being a right pain not letting anyone cross at the slightest sniff of a car in sight so it meant we were late to meet. Managed to clock Nico Rosberg in a golf cart returning from a hillclimb then get soundblasted by the overhead Vulcan bomber. Eventually we got through and walked another 10 minutes to the Kennels, Goodwood's member's clubhouse. We had lunch but still no sign of the Japanese businessman. Either he had the same problem as us or his English let him down with the wrong place.

Wandered around a little more taking in the sights behind the house then back to the front just as Brian May doing guitar solo on a pickup truck and a gospel band had parked on a huge American truck and trailer. Way OTT but very funny and entertaining. After Brian got whisked away, another guitarist was waiting to play more rock as he did a Brian May himself on the house rooftop!

Towards the end of the day it seemed that the programme timings were slipping ad so the last Formula 1 session was at least 30 minutes late. We headed to the start line of the race course to meet up with my dad and to try and get a good viewing position. Throughout the day we could see how useful getting grandstand tickets were (though the extra £40 each on top did seem outrageous). Instead we managed to get into the BP uncovered grandstand for free and stood right next to the starting position perfect for seeing the wheel-spins.

By 5pm my dad wanted to go home but we carried on wandering the festival and came across the action sports arena where the Red Bull X-fighters were wooing the crowds with their motoX stunts. A nice end to the day apart from the traffic queues at Arundel on the way home.

Lucha Future at the Brighton Dome

2011-07-01T23:51:00.001+01:00

Lucha Future had been advertised at the Brighton Dome for a while but we had resisted buying tickets partly because of price. It wasn't until a mate gave us a 2-4-1 code via the Dome website we bought some quality tickets.

What is Lucha Future? Basically Mexican wrestling for the Pepsi generation., young, bold and masked! The Dome put on some Mexican food behind the bar plus a few special margarita cocktails. The bar started filling up with some true fans donned in wrestling masks with one guy dressed up as Hulk Hogan adding to a great atmosphere. Inside the Dome, you quickly realised how many seats were unsold.

The event started with the announcer dressed in some sort of space-suit escorted by a couple of space hostesses. He really knew how to big up the wrestlers and the forthcoming action. Before we got to see any wrestling the electronic band came on the stage behind the smaller than expected ring. It was a four-piece band officially titled, Nortec Collective Presents Bostich+Fussible. Two guys in the middle with i-Pads sequencing the beats whilst a guitarist and an accordion player brought a country vibe to their boppy electronic sound.

After a couple of songs the announcer piled on the build up to bring on the referee then the wrestlers themselves. The first performers were young and without any personality, and quite skinny to be honest. Still, their moves were quite impressive and the crowd warmed up shouting insults or cheers at both the good side or bad guys.

The wrestlers got bigger and more elaborate in moves and with their costumes and the crowd got rowdier with more drink until the next bar break. Some of pantomime moves had to be laughed at as wrestlers extended their fall further to escape the ring plus some one wrestler even missed his call on song as the announcer himself had to fetch him from back stage. Another performance from Bostich and Fussible, this time using their Yamaha Tenori until the grand finale of a six man tag match.

Some really impressive masked men came on next with the exception of one wrestler who I'd even seen on TV via Justin Lee Colins' Channel 5 show from last year. Cassandro was perfect for Brighton with his/her bouffant hair, make-up and glam-rock leotard - totally stealing the show. Blue Demon Junior had an amazing entrance himself but didn't have the moves to match. It was a great end show piece and we left hoarse from shouting and laughing especially as the crowd got more funny with comments at Cassandro like "don't touch the hair" or "go on, get him Freddy Starr". Otherwise at the full price it would have been I would have expected all the wrestling to match the full-on entertainment as the finale.

My London to Brighton BHF bike ride 2011

2011-06-21T22:58:00.000+01:00

This year's British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride was a mixed bag to be honest. I really enjoyed last year's #L2B as there was the challenge of doing my first plus the weather was a lot more kind. I'd originally missed the deadline to sign up but was given a second chance with only two weeks to prepare. With those positive memories still buzzing I instantly signed up for a second go.

Stolen pleasure
With just over a week to go I arranged for my beloved mountain-bike to be serviced by South Coast Bikes (picked up on the Thursday night). I'd replaced the cassette and chain a few weeks ago but the gear changing wasn't quite right. Having been in London all day Friday and getting home late, South Coast Bikes were due to return my bike on Saturday morning. A slightly subdued message left on my mobile-phone from the repair shop to call them back resulted in the bitter news of my Giant XTC1 had been stolen that previous evening. Thieves had broken in to their premises, walked passed 40 odd other customers' bikes and stolen mine and another then left in a van according to the CCTV. This obviously f*cked up my plans for training and ride but carried on with my 8 year old bike.

The weather that Saturday was not kind either. I tackled Ditchling Beacon to see if I could cycle the 15 minutes it takes uphill as a measure of fitness. After almost being drowned in the downpour and pelted by the hail earlier (this is June remember), I managed to climb the South Downes beast. At the top though I was sweating badly and a bit out of breath. Not a confident sign for the main event just 8 days away. In fact, my own training before the event wasn't to the same level as last year. Although I commute by bike about 5 miles everyday, I only managed to do about 4 or 5 long rides (10-12 miles) in preparation. I mostly blame the weather.

BHF balls-up
Registering so early this year I expected to receive all my rider information, number, transport etc. weeks before the actual date. In reality, I had received nothing right up to the last few days. BHF's helpline was constantly engaged, their email took days to respond and when they did respond they made a standard response which didn't even answer my issue. Contacting them via Facebook and twitter only had a marginally better result due to others agreeing or 'liking' the statement I was making. Eventually, an email arrived with my rider number and start time. A day later my transport details arrived but something must have gone seriously wrong in this year's process.

The big day

The day itself was a bit more chaotic. I arrived at 5:45am to join the queue for the lorry transportation but it took another 40 minutes to leave Brighton. I'd heard people say that the A23, the main road to London was shut and indeed when we got to the road it was blocked off. A 20 mile diversion meant my planned 8am start was scuppered especially as I had to register again at the BHF information tent. Even when we approached Clapham Common the coach driver didn't even know where to go.

The information tent looked busy when I arrived but the BHF volunteers were quickly dealing with people along the queue. By 8:45am I was in the 8:30am pack to start. Without any real time to properly prepare we were off which was slightly annoying as I hadn't sorted out my backpack drink or selected a decent album to listen to on my walkman.

Being at the back of the pack meant slow progress through London even more frustrating than last year to the point of even having to walk at some tight sections or approaching junctions and traffic lights. The cycle traffic didn't really thin out until at least 15 miles out. There were a few annoying riders out there that took it far too seriously cutting up others and overtaking and squeezing into gaps almost causing accidents - if you're reading this road racers, you're all knobheads!

The old bike kept going but the gears kept clunking and skipping. There were some great outfits for the special occasion. A few superheroes like Spiderman, Superman etc, spotted Mario a couple of times and a couple of guys as stereo-typical French cyclists (see my YouTube video). Best costume for me though was Big Bird found on BHF's Flickr site.

Stopped 3 times to refuel and managed to cycle the whole way up Ditchling Beacon as you can see below. We had a quick shower of rain before Ditchling but after the Beacon the wind had picked up and the sky looking ready to unleash wet hell. Indeed it did and for 2 miles it was like being pricked by 1000s of wet cocktail sticks. My trainers were soaked and squelchy too and my legs pale white since I was wearing shorts. Still I didn't want to stop and just wanted to finish.

It was a welcome sight to see Kerry, Kev and Karol at the finish line and a relief it was over. I had enough energy for more but being soaked just took the fun out of it. Next year I think I need some company if I'm going to do it again. Any offers?

Special Thanks
As well as the 'fun' aspect, there was a serious cause to this ride. Just want to say many thanks to those sponsoring me. I managed to raise £190 plus Gift Aid which makes a tasty £240.77. Well done eh!

Senna - The Movie

2011-06-06T20:08:00.001+01:00

Saw this Sunday night at the Duke of Yorks, Brighton. I always knew how good Ayrton Senna was as an F1 driver though before his unfortunate death back in the early 1990's I remember being slightly put off by some of his 'godly' quotes. What the film did explain very well was the F1 politics that worked against him at times, the worshipping of his Brazilian fans and perhaps some of the worst crashes Formula One has seen. The result was an engrossing documentary making a change from the big budget sequels that the summer will be churning out. Good to see the cinema packed out to proving motor racing's popularity.

June Tunes

2011-06-02T13:08:00.000+01:00

There's some tasty tunes out there at the moment which have inspired me to do some DJing. First of all I've created a new chart of my recent downloads.

I have a couple of DJ mixes out there on Mixcloud. First one is a 30 minute 'studio' mix for some competitions I've entered with. I say 'studio' but I actually mean dining room table.

Sonic Screw-up by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

The second mix is a live one direct from the Disco Dungeon for Paul's birthday party. It starts off quite tame after Paul's house mix then adds more tech-house influences. Quite pleased with this one as the crowd enjoyed it too.

Double-D Mayor in the house mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right (Revisited) Full Length

2011-05-21T20:23:00.000+01:00

So loving this!

Brighton Fringe: Max and Iván's Holmes and Watson

2011-05-14T23:52:00.007+01:00

We've been seriously busy over the past week with practically every night out at a different Brighton Fringe show or Great Escape gig. More on that when I invent that time-machine. But first, a pair of sweaty fellas I've been looking forward to seeing (no, I don't mean the contents of my pants after a cycle ride).

Tonight Matthew, Max and Iván were going to be 'The world’s greatest detective' tackling 'Chicago’s murky underworld'. It was going to be 'A prohibition-era tale of revenge, whiskey and javelins.' In case you're still confused I'm referring to the latest show from a pair of talented comedy actors who are a regular feature at the Brighton Fringe.

Their previous shows used their own style of comedy sketch with their 2009 Televisionaires show (their Mario & Luigi meets Martin Scorsese was hilarious) then their 2010 show, simply titled Max and Iván (loved their bad stand-up comedian character with inner monologue). Unlike Late Night Gimp Fight who produce every sketch with an almost guaranteed punchline and barrel laugh, Max and Iván are more like comedy craftsmen sculpting characters, catchphrases, awkward situations and direction into a full-bodied performance. For a Saturday night and with the Great Escape in full flow, the Marlborough Theatre was a lot more packed than last year and deservedly so.

Their latest show goes like this. Holmes is now a washed-up, gibbering wreck of a detective of which Watson has to put up with. Meanwhile, in Chicago some evil plot will reunite the detective duo with a past villain. Perhaps their recent viewing habits had matched mine with the recent BBC series of Holmes and combining it with Boardwalk Empire. Along the way we meet some shape-shifting henchmen with javelins, prostitutes and showgirls for some love interest and Chicago's mob bosses.

The duo cleverly switch scenes throughout the hour with flashbacks to fill in past events making the show perfectly timed but still at a fast pace. At times there are up to five or six very amusing characters within a scene yet the pair never miss a line or forget their character. Nice use of the Charleston dance too, genius!

This new show just confirms their talent on their ability to expand their writing and performance skills to another level. I often think that they could benefit from costume changes or props but this would just slow the pace down.

What really made my night was actually being recognised by the duo as we passed them on the stairs. "You're GingerDJ" in very excited voices, "you gotta blog about us!". I felt really guilty for not staying for a drink but at least its inspired me to keep blogging.

Good luck to them in Edinburgh and I hope they don't get lynched for their Scottish accent!

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DJ Shadow at the Brighton Dome

2011-05-12T23:49:00.006+01:00

To open the Great Escape festival, DJ Shadow brought his Shadowsphere for some top trip hop sounds and AV delights. We arrived just after the doors opened expecting an early show but were treated to two very good support acts. No idea who the first act was but he did manage to whoop up the small crowd with his guitar and sampler set.

Beardyman
I was a virgin before hearing him but for a first time Beardyman broke me in good and sore for more. I knew he was talented but his range of beatboxing and bang-on accurate rap impressions were excellent. He had such stage presence and confidence that you couldn't help but smile and laugh at his mouth-making beats. There was no mention of McVities though though he'd probably never buy a packet of biscuits again! Personal highlight was his rendition of Daft Punk's Around the World.

The Shadow appears
All throughout the support acts there was a sphere structure on stage but no mixing table for the Shadow. After Beardyman's equipment was cleared off, DJ Shadow came out with a huge applause saying his last performance in Brighton was ten years ago. He went into his sphere and the audio-visual spectacle began starting with some familiar older classics. I tried taking some video but the Dome's soundsystem has most cleanest, most powerful bassbins ever cancelling out almost all the music from the recordings. What we did witness was the clever use of projectors making the sphere into planets, sports balls, ballbearings, eyeballs etc., etc. even the Death Star which got a huge cheer. Only DJ Shadow's hand appeared out of the top of the sphere to make sure the crowd knew he was playing live.

Later the sphere rotated to reveal the DJ and he introduced his new material. It was good to see him perform live though his new EP stuff was a little hit-and-miss which still pleased the crowd but maybe out of politeness or just thankful that he was here in Brighton at all.

A few more classics mixed in with his newer (Outsider) hip hop stuff still whipped up a cheer storm and then a 15-20 minute encore. At the end, we concluded it was one of the Top 5 gigs ever!

DJ Shadow Highlight Reel from Tribeca Flashpoint on Vimeo.

IDS 'Can the media save the world'

2011-05-11T21:45:00.001+01:00

I've only blogged about this Fringe event as it was organised by my employer and I helped out with the social media promotion and event photography.

As a public event I was expecting some off-the-street nutters but they didn't really turn up. For a slightly academic debate we had an excellent turn-out with the Friends Meeting House caretaker having to put on extra chairs. Slightly random woman asking me who the speakers were but I let her off for being partially sighted. We had the Telepgraph foreign affairs editor and a Guardian journalist attending/speaking (pictured).

At the end we had a Brighton Fringe rep turn up and requested a copy of my photos! The next day they were on the Facebook page - result! All the photos can be seen on Flickr.

Get Carter - staged version at the Hove Townhall review

2011-05-10T22:44:00.002+01:00

I only discovered that the story was based on real events instead of the Michael Caine version that made it a British icon. With last year's excellent Breakfast Club still in my mind, I was expecting this show to use another Brighton and Hove public building. Instead there was a multi-level stage with pub bar, a single bed and a lounge.

It started off with a telephone conversation with Carter saying he was going up North to bury his brother and investigate who killed him. Carter arrives at what I assumed to be a relatives house but only work out later that its his dead brother's spirit replaying old memories and giving the audience some background to keep the story on track. As well as the main scenes, instead of playing out the complicated action sequences, the actors would narrate to explain what they were doing or feeling - sometimes this over-simplified the situation. At other times, you glad of it as some of the actors didn't project their voice enough to be heard properly complicating things.

The actor playing the main role had the cockney boldness but didn't quite have the dominance you'd expect. Other characters seemed perfect for their roles like the gang bosses, the brother's murderer and London henchmen. The worst part of the performance was the lighting as cues were missed and lights went on unexpectedly.

Overall it was a good effort if you're a fan of the story but perhaps a bit dull for those unfamiliar to it.

Atters Attree's Paranormal Terrors

2011-05-09T22:37:00.001+01:00

Atters is a Brighton Chap legend who models himself on English scoundrel, Terry Thomas. His show is almost a PowerPoint presentation on his paranormal investigations then has special, sexy guests filling in with saucy acts. A kind of Carry on X-Files. Catchphrases involved 'swabs' and 'probes' etc. I loved his persona and caddish approach but you couldn't quite help thinking it was a bit unreheresed. The cabaret element was a little borderline at times especially the pant-wearing pervy female strippers giving the audience an eye-full more than expected. Perhaps the show would have been better on a Friday night at about 10pm.

Since writing the above I've since discovered this video which is dated three years ago and is the same material. No wonder some of the audience were a little quiet, perhaps expecting some new jokes?

Jardin Flambeau at St. Ann's Well Gardens

2011-05-07T23:34:00.004+01:00

Saturday night was a Brighton Festival free event in a Hove public park. The fire-art installations were beautiful with some eerie jazz music for a chilled feel. Very much like the hedonistic feelings of Glastonbury and Big Chill.

Late Night Gimp Fight review at Brighton Fringe 2011

2011-05-06T22:24:00.001+01:00

Location: Three and Ten Pub, Upstairs Theatre

One of our favourite's from last year's Fringe returned with 99% new comedy sketch material. These five guys pack in some great laughs and seemed to have invested in some in-between videos as the next gag gets set up. The humour is low-brow, silly and childish in places but that's typically perfect for my level that's guaranteed to shock you into laughter. Highlights for me were the CCTV of one of the Gimp's mum and her bedroom plus the opening and closing musical numbers were brilliant.

When will these guys get a TV break?!

See the Late Night Gimp Fight website

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