Live Aid.

(from Wicked Gay Blog)


It's hard to believe that 25 years ago today LIVE AID happened. I remember it clearly because I was stuck with my family on the return leg of a cross-country road trip from Los Angeles. My family had a 'thing' for doing stuff like this. Somehow we made the trip in 3 days going west and just a little bit longer coming back east. Trust me, it wasn't cute by the beginning of day 3. We won't discuss the rest stop whore baths in New Mexico. ANYWAY, because of the 2 family conversion van caravan we had going on with my cousins, I missed the original telecast. I was devasted. I TRULY WAS. LOL. I remember seeing clips of it here and there on TV after the fact, but in a time before DVR's it wasn't until many, many years that I've been able to see it in it's entirety.

Heaven 17 vs La Roux.

So Hip It Hurts: electro heavenly summit

Vinny Vero from SO HIP HIT HURTS wrote an awesome post on Heaven 17 complete with some live studio bits that were recorded recently.  I can't believe "Fascist Groove Thang" originally came out in 1981!  Growing up in Bowie, MD during the 80's, I always thought that I had 'interesting' taste in music.  The New Wave just didn't click very well where I lived.  Little did I know at the time, it was all just great pop music from the UK.  Check out the link above for more songs and some duets with Elly from La Roux.

Freestyle (and then some) flashback.

This was made by @Haushaed, one of my DJ 'net friends. I'm such an 80's music freak, it's not even funny! Most people usually associate me towards the UK bubblegum pop realm, but I was also all about the freestyle and r&b jams too! This mix rocks the f*ck out! LOL.

(I'm also digging the social networking of the Mixcloud sight too...)

Never's Flashback Mix 1 by Haushaed on Mixcloud

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Paper Disco.

Okay --- I REALLY REALLY REALLY need to start packing for my trip to Toronto / NYC / DC right about NOW!

Good morning.

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Wordy Rappinghood.

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The Eternal Moonwalk.

This is cool.




The Eternal Moonwalk


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High Energy.

High Energy Ricki Lake.mpg
Uploaded by EvelynThomas

Don't ask my why I'm all about the HiNrG tonight. This track was posted on one of my favorite music blog sites tonight and I just had to do some digging around and share it's brilliance. LOL. Originally released in 1984, the synthesizer riff used here defined the 'disco' sound of the early-mid 80's. This clip comes from an old Ricki Lake Show taped in 1995. Check out the queens starting at 1:52. They're LIVING for this.


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And my love is like a prison wall.

But you could leave me standing so tall. GOLD!

Look who just reunited ...



I've got to come to the realization that I'm pretty much at the age now where my parents were when I was a teenager. Wow. In the mid-80's, it was music from these boys (among many others) that I listened and danced to in my basement. I had an exciting youth, eh? Spandau Ballet are definitely looking a little well 'worn' I guess. LOL. But at least they're performing together again. There is no doubt that Tony Hadley's voice is still amazing. The track GOLD starts at 4:53. LUVIT!


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When Your Heart is Weak.

An old college friend put this song on her Blip.fm playlist. I remember buying this 12" single when it came out in '85 or '86. I'm such a sucker for a song that has a great pop melody and awesome vocals. The idea of an upbeat and danceable 'ballad'??? Who knew.


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Dwarfed Punk.

A Disney-file I am NOT, but I thought this was cute.  Apparently Daft Punk are in line to do the music for the new Tron 2.0 movie due in 2011!  Details here.

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My road-trip mix tape.

Forget the fact that you can just hit 'random' on your iPod nowadays. Music is just way too accessible today. So if ever I were put in the situation to make up a playlist for a road-trip -- I think my brain might explode. It was was always a fun thing for me to make 'mix-tape's for my friends back in the day. It was always such a meticulous process for me to pick the right song(s) for each of my friends. It's all about that proverbial journey, right? If you kind of think about it ... that's how I approach my method of making my hour-long club dj mixes today.

When put to the task of naming just 3 songs, it took me a while to make up my mind. I had to take out my regular fare of 'klink-klank' pots and pans house music that I usually listen to to help me narrow things down a little bit. I guess real songs will have to do for this exercise! lol.

Wow by Kylie Minogue

I just love it. Everyone just knows that I'm a pop-music sucker. Kylie is sooo under appreciated here in the US.

Be Near Me by ABC

This came out when I was still in high school and is permanently imprinted in my mind because of the cool "groovy" video. It's funny how great pop songs are actually kinda sad. <3

Handle Me by Robyn

Robyn is probably the only artist I've actually made it a point to follow this past year. She's great live and this particular song is just so SASSY!

The Wanderer.

Internet memes can be so laborious at times. Most especially when spread through Facebook postings. An old college friend tagged me on the 'Book in this one that I thought I'd share. (I really liked this one.)


Using ONLY SONG TITLES FROM ONE ARTIST/BAND, cleverly answer these questions. If you're reading this ... TAG! You're it! :-)


Pick a band/artist: BANANARAMA





1. Are you a male or female: SHY BOY

2. Describe yourself: MORE THAN PHYSICAL

3. How do you feel about yourself: ROUGH JUSTICE

4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: VENUS / HELP / BOY TROUBLE [the megamix]

5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: LAST THING ON MY MIND

6. Describe your current location: MOVIN' ON

7. Describe where you want to be: REALLY SAYIN' SOMETHIN'

8. Your best friend is: I WANT YOU BACK

9. Your favorite color is: EVERY SHADE OF BLUE

10. You know that: I CAN'T HELP IT

11. What’s the weather like: CRUEL SUMMER

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called? MOVE IN MY DIRECTION

13. What is life to you: LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE

14. What is the best advice you have to give: YOUNG AT HEART

15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: NATHAN JONES / ROBERT DE NIRO'S WAITING [2009 Tribal Mashup]

I heart PSB.

On Valentine's Day I put up a post stating I HEART U.  Although I it wasn't really officially dedicated to anyone in particular, I can now say I really HEART PSB.  The Pet Shop Boys, that is.  I've definitely been a fan of theirs from the beginning.  I've only seen them once live and they are amazing!  Can you say, "DRAMA for days?"  Yes honey -- total theater.  Blogger buddy Enda at Daddy or Chips? blog sums it up all quite nicely here.

Last night after 25 years of being in the music business, they get recognized at THE BRIT AWARDS for 'Outstanding Contribution to Music.'  I tried catching the show yesterday while it was being streamed live on the interwebs, but I couldn't connect.  Thank goodness for YouTube!  

Human.

I'm not sure how old this is, but I kind of dig it.



(Ari Gold vs The Human League vs Pierre et Gilles [erm, Aaron Cobbett]!)

Never gonna believe I'm actually hearing this.

Getting rickrolled by Barry! Oh really??? Looks like Barry Manilow is doing an album of 80s covers.

Victim-ized.

George is looking a bit, erm, 'healthy' here. I'm still debating whether or not this was him taking a new spin on the song or if it was just a BAD performance. He always had a knack for making the best pop ballads IMHO. Anyway, here's a little blast from the past taken from Italian TV recently.

Do you want it right now?

Yes kids, it's another mix for ya! Yup -- looks like I'm on a roll with a new little obsession du jour. This time it's some old and (possibly) forgotten house choonz from back in the day. It took me a couple of hours to do and I'm actually getting a good feel of this MIXMEISTER program. After the fact, it really is kind of easy to put one of these mixes together. Linking tracks together in a way that doesn't make you want to fall down and trip on the curb is another story! Train wrecks are NOT pretty honey! The one big thing that I'm getting out of this little 'practice and learning' session is that some songs are simply NOT meant to mix together -- no matter how you push, shove, squeeze, and tweak them! LOL.

(note: Enda - after making this mix I totally just noticed that I bit off 2 tracks you used on your 'Even More Unacceptable in the 80's' mix. I swear it wasn't intentional. Great minds think alike I suppose! LOL. Anyway, I just downloaded it today while I was making this mix and I'm LOVING it!)



Mike's 2nd Mix (House)
Situation (Hercules and Love Affair Mix) - Yazoo
Move Your Body - Xpansions
Big Fun (Simian Mobile Disco Mix) - Kevin Saunderson feat. Inner City
Passion (Do You Want it Right Now Mix) - Gat Decor
Hideaway (Dubfire Needs to Score Mix) - De'Lacey
Crazy Cool (Deep Dish Crazy Cool Club Mix) - Paula Abdul
Ultra Flava (Grant Nelson's 3-tier Experience) - Heller & Farley Project
Stinkin' Thinkin' (Junior Style) - Happy Mondays
Muzik X-Press - X-Press 2
Big Time Sensuality (Dom T. - Big Time Club Mix) - Bjork

Look Out Weekend!

White bois (try to) rock. This kid is a trip!


Debbie Deb - Look Out Weekend (1984)

DJ Mikey Mike in da mix.

Finally! An actual mixed-set from yours truly! You just don't realize how many YEARS in the making it has been for me to actually churn one of these out. Over the years I've collected so much (and lost just as much) music that one of my creative outlets was to make customized 'mix tapes' for friends on cd's and cassettes! They were never properly DJ mixed per se, but were nonetheless meaningful in the track selection(s), etc. With the amount of actual vinyl I owned in the 80's, people always thought I actually was a DJ! Believe it or not, I had a cheesy Radio Shack mixer set up and a belt driven Technics turntable from 1979 + a non-Technics generic turntable setup in my room too! Suffice to say, I was NOT. Not a real beat mixing DJ at least. Anyone can fade in and fade out records, right? I just did not have the patience and resources at the time to learn how to do it properly -- the beginnings of my ADHD I suppose.

Anyway, so it's 25+ years after my first thoughts of pursuing such an endeavor. I got some cool advice from fellow blogger Enda who, himself, is a great bedroom dj. [He writes the Daddy or Chips blog and posts some of his mixes online from time to time.] Thanks to today's technology, I was able to shrink a couple of decades of learning time to just a couple of hours with the help of a program called MIXMEISTER STUDIO. It's an all-in-one suite where I can cut and paste mp3's with the help of harmonic and beat mixing tools. On the upside, the program allows you to concentrate more on the art of dj'ing and song selection than the technical side of it. On the downside, it's just taking the easy way out. Oh well -- do I really care?!? LOL. The one cool thing is that I can ultimately hook up some MIDI hardware to my computer to allow me to use an actual mixing board and such in the future.

Below is the mix that I did tonight. It took me about 2 hours to do and is no where near perfect. I just concentrated on how to do transitions and where to identify the proper intro's and outro's of songs. Yes, train wrecks abound ... but not so much. In homage to my teen years, it's an 80's mix! Oh yeah -- the program I used is just the trial version and you'll hear a very nice lady reminding you as such throughout the hour of music. I'll fork over the $199.95 AFTER I get a little more practice. Anyway, I hope you like it and tell me what you think.



Mike's 1st Mix (80s)
Be Near Me (Munich Disco Mix) - ABC
I Can't Help It (Extended Mix) - Bananarama
Living on the Ceiling (Extended 12-inch) - Blancmange
Don't You Want Me (Fascination Disco Mashup) - Human League
Slang Teacher - Wide Boy Awake
Situation (Re-recorded Remix) - Yazoo
Chains of Love (Truly In Love with the Marks Bros. Remix) - Erasure
Beethoven (I Love to Listen to) (Razormaid Mix) - Eurythmics
Preacher Man (Raging Bible Belt Mix) - Bananarama
Our Lips are Sealed (Special Club Remix) - Fun Boy Three