M Is FOR MASHUP - February 26th, 2009
Can You Useo A New Mashup Album?
By DJ Useo
If you're a regular reader of this column, you will have noticed a number of rerun articles over the past couple months. Circumstances beyond my control took me away from the internet for the most part. One thing in my control was I still had my trusty mac, lots of mixing software, & a massive number of pellas. Without the daily distraction of the net, I found myself with lots of time to mix, & did I ever. Some days when the fever hit me just right I'd produce as many as 3 tracks a day & a few times about 20 tracks a week.(!)
Amazingly, to me, the quality remained high despite the sheer volume of work. By the time I got back to the net, I had easily 100 fine dance mashups. Way more than enough to fill my radio shows, podcasts,mixes & still contribute plenty to other people & their shows. I was certainly not going to release a 100-track collection, so I pared them down to just the best 2-discs worth. This still seemed like too many, so I gritted my teeth & hacked it down to just one disc of the absolutely best cuts. This record I call 'CONTACT'.
'CONTACT' is 15 tracks of dance pleasure guaranteed by the Bootleg Association Of Nomania to have you replaying like a Useo addict. I did up a 'Contact Album Medley - 15 Tracks in 9 Minutes' as a means for unsure listeners to decide to download. The people I previewed it with were massively positive. The regular response I got was 'Aww! This isn't enough!' With a style of tracks that combines rave, house, goa & several more dance styles, there's something for everyone.
You'll hear tracks like 'That's Not My Bleeding Heart Name' (The Ting Tings vs David Vendetta), 'James Brown Is Brutal' (L.A.Style vs Funkdust), & the floorfiller 'NYC It Again (Armand Van Helden vs Chemical Brothers). Artists used include only ones I actually bought, like Disco Kings, Erasure, Fragma, The Shamen & many more current & past label acts.
DJ Petrushka has been previewing tracks on her Tuesday radio show
PAT THIS WEEK for the last few weeks & the reaction couldn't be better. :)
Grab your copy with the direct link at
groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2009/02/contact-new-useo-dance-mashup-album.html
The medley is available in the same post for those of you who want to sample it first before investing the bandwidth.
I hope you give it a chance. I'd appreciate it & manm will live you better.
Mix Of The Week - Since this is my day I picked this new mix by me, 'LIVE ROCK', an hour 'mix' of live rock tracks. All songs are unreleased recordings of indeterminate origin by rock bands like Vast, The Hives & Taking Back Sunday.Link found
here -
djuseo.multiply.com/journal/item/211/Live_Rock_Mix-My_Gift_To_You
Mashup Tip : Wav files mix way better than mp3's.(Wow,that's an actual tip!)
DJ's WANTED NOTICE!!!!!!!!!
Wadio (radio) has a fantastic bootleg radio station.
The Wadio station will be making upgrade modifications in March & one thing they also want to do is to fill up the last few DJ slots. If you are, or want to be, a radio DJ, go by to the site & apply thru the front page ad. Join the ranks of dj's Guv'nor, Tizwarz, Icky, Sfreeman, DJ Petrushka & myself. Thrill to the excitement of live, non-commercial radio.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Postcard from India (sfgate.com)
What not to step in, and what the stoned monk said about the garbage.
Garrison Keillor: Cold comfort (chicagotribune.com)
Some friends from the Confederacy came to visit us in St. Paul last week when the temperature was around zero and so we had to haul out electric blankets and crank the thermostat up to 68, but they still felt "chilled" and so I made them go for a walk outdoors, and when they returned, they felt warmer. They only needed to get perspective. Cold is not so cold if you compare it to actual death.
John Crace: Meet the future of teaching: Mr Confucius (guardian.co.uk)
Schools minister Jim Knight hopes to incorporate Chinese philosopher into English secondary syllabus.
Michele Hanson: So men may soon be living as long as women. That's not good news - unless you're a bridge player (guardian.co.uk)
Think carefully, men, before you preserve yourselves too well. Those extra years may be blighted by Alzheimer's disease or a living death in an institution.
Andrew Tobias: Less Stuff (andrewtobias.com)
As the problems mount and our President confronts them squarely (did you see his speech yesterday, and the remarkable q&a?), it becomes increasingly clear that we face an opportunity, like a heart-attack patient who just might quit smoking, start eating right, and biking to work; thereby setting himself on a truly healthy path.
"George, Being George: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals" by Nelson W. Aldrich: A review by Scott Sherman (The Nation; Posted on Powells.com)
Plimpton was in the grip of a quixotic notion: to become the "last-string quarterback" of the Detroit Lions. When he arrived at the Lions' training facility later that summer, he was greeted by the equipment manager, Friday Macklem, who declared, "I hear you're a writer turned footballer. You're going to play for us -- making some sort of big comeback."
JANSSEN & EDWARD WHITELOCK: "Apocalypse Jukebox: The End is Near, There and Everywhere "
In this excerpt from PopMatters' new book Apocalypse Jukebox, Janssen and Whitelock talk about "the devil's masterpiece for trapping teenagers, making them his slaves, and causing them to be the enemies of God."
Greg Kot: "The Mac is back: 'Unfinished business' reunites the band" (Chicago Tribune)
As the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham goes, so goes Fleetwood Mac.
Debra Craine: A happy escape from ballet (timesonline.co.uk)
Sylvie Guillem has moved into producing and starring in her own projects - and she doesn't miss classical dance one bit.
Michael Jensen: The United States of Keir Gilchrist (afterelton.com)
In an exclusive interview, the 16-year-old actor talks with us about his role as a gay teen on the hit Showtime series starring Toni Collette.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The "Guilty by Association" Issue
Amnesty International is urging the suspension of US military aid to Israel in a report that details the recent use of US weapons in Gaza. (CommonDreams.org)
Do you support their call to do so or not?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results next Tuesday.
responded:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny, but cool.
House Passes Resolution
Paul Newman
Paul Newman, the late actor and 10-time Academy Award nominee, has been honored by lawmakers as a screen legend and humanitarian.
Newman died Sept. 26, 2008, at age 83 after a long battle with cancer. The House on Tuesday night approved a resolution recognizing Newman's achievements on and off screen.
Newman and his popular food company, Newman's Own, have given more than $250 million to charity over the years. He also helped to start "Hole in the Wall" camps across the world for children with life-threatening illnesses.
The resolution is H.R.18.
Paul Newman
2 Child Actors Get New Homes
'Slumdog Millionaire'
The two main child actors from "Slumdog Millionaire" are to receive new homes from the Indian authorities after the small-budget movie swept the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.
The Mumbai homes will go to Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played the younger versions of the movie's central characters, Latika and Salim, in the rags-to-riches romance about a poor Indian boy competing for love and money on a TV game show.
There was an outcry after pictures emerged of the child stars living in squalor despite the $15 million movie earning about $100 million since its North American release in November.
But Boyle and producer Christian Colson have flatly rejected claims of exploiting children for the movie.
They said the children were paid above local Indian wages and enrolled in school for the first time with a fund set up to pay for their education, medical emergencies and "basic living costs."
'Slumdog Millionaire'
Blues Hall of Fame
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal, the blues legend whose vibrant, worldly music encompassed African-rooted sounds of all kinds, will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Mahal, whose real name is Henry St. Clair Fredericks, has been selected along with New Orleans soul singer Irma Thomas, Chicago bluesman Son Seals and ragtime guitar player Rev. Gary Davis to join the Blues Hall in Memphis, Tenn. They will be inducted in a ceremony on May 6, which will be followed the day after by the Blues Foundation's 30th annual Blues Music Awards.
Mahal was raised in Springfield, Mass. His mother was a schoolteacher from South Carolina and his father, of Caribbean roots, was a jazz pianist. Later, his stepfather came from Jamaica.
Taj Mahal
Quits Barenaked Ladies
Steven Page
The lead singer of popular Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies, who was charged with drugs offenses in the United States last year, is leaving to pursue a solo career, the group said on Wednesday.
Steven Page, 38, was arrested in July 2008 and charged with drug possession after police found the singer with cocaine at an upstate New York apartment. In October, the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor.
"By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies," the band said on its Web site, saying Page would be pursuing solo projects.
The five-man group was best known for hit songs such as "One Week", "Pinch Me" and "If I Had a Million Dollars" and received two Grammy nominations. The remaining members of the band plan to stay together.
Steven Page
'Speed-the-Plow' Grievance Hearing
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven will again be centre stage in New York.
Piven plans to attend a hearing Thursday at Actors' Equity Association on a grievance filed by the producers of "Speed-the-Plow," which the performer quit after his doctor said he was suffering from mercury poisoning.
Both sides are expected to present their case during the proceedings, which will be closed to the public. The grievance committee, composed of five actors and five producers, could resolve the case or one (or both) of the two parties could file for arbitration.
Piven departed the critically praised production of Mamet's comedy in December, less than two months after the show opened on Broadway. His doctor told the show's producers that Piven was "seriously ill" - possibly from eating too much raw fish - "and unable to fulfil his contractual obligation to 'Speed-the-Plow."'
Jeremy Piven
Cannes Palme d'Or
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood received a special top Cannes film festival honor Wednesday - three months before this year's festival opens on the Riviera.
Festival President Gilles Jacob presented Eastwood with the special Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, at a private ceremony at the chic Parisian restaurant Le Fouquet's.
The privilege honored what a festival statement said was "the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft." Jacob said it also was a "testimony of my admiration and a quarter-century of complicity."
Eastwood, who is 78, was in Paris to promote his latest movie, "Gran Torino," which he directed and in which he stars.
Clint Eastwood
Lays Off Laid Off
Microsoft
Microsoft Corp has dropped an attempt to recoup some severance money from 25 recently fired workers it mistakenly overpaid.
The Redmond, Washington-based company, which announced a plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs in January, acknowledged on Sunday that it had tried to get the overpaid workers to return the extra money. But late on Monday, it reversed course.
"This was a mistake on our part," said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mailed statement. "We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner."
Microsoft is "reaching out to those impacted to relay that we will not seek any payment from those individuals," according to the statement.
Microsoft
Consumate Pro
Chris 'Tweety' Matthews
MSNBC's Chris Matthews said he was surprised by the "peculiar stagecraft" of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress, leading him to quietly say "Oh God" as Jindal approached a microphone.
The remark inspired a brief Internet guessing game about who had said it and questions about whether someone at MSNBC was mocking the Republican governor.
Matthews' barely audible "Oh God" appeared to be a classic case of someone talking on TV without realizing their microphone was on, and potentially embarrassing to a network many Republicans already regard with suspicion because of left-leaning talk shows by Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.
"I was taken aback by that peculiar stagecraft, the walking from somewhere in the back of this narrow hall, the winding staircase looming there, the odd antibellum look of the scene," Matthews said in a script for his "Hardball" show on Wednesday. "Was this some mimicking of a president walking along the state floor to the East Room?"
Chris 'Tweety' Matthews
Melting Faster Than Thought
Antarctic Glaciers
Glaciers in Antarctica are melting faster and across a much wider area than previously thought, a development that threatens to raise sea levels worldwide and force millions of people to flee low-lying areas, scientists said Wednesday.
Researchers once believed that the melting was limited to the Antarctic Peninsula, a narrow tongue of land pointing toward South America. But satellite data and automated weather stations now indicate it is more widespread.
The melting "also extends all the way down to what is called west Antarctica," said Colin Summerhayes, executive director of the Britain-based Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.
By the end of the century, the accelerated melting could cause sea levels to climb by 3 to 5 feet - levels substantially higher than predicted by a major scientific group just two years ago.
Antarctic Glaciers
Woman Sues
Morgan Freeman
The woman who was with Morgan Freeman the night of a car crash that injured both of them insists she was never romantically linked to Freeman and is suing the actor for negligence.
Demaris Meyer and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, held a news conference Wednesday announcing that Meyer has filed a lawsuit against the 71-year-old Academy Award winner.
In the days after the accident last August, Freeman's lawyer, Bill Luckett, told media outlets that Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, had been separated since December 2007 and were getting a divorce. Several media outlets reported that the 48-year-old Meyer was Freeman's mistress.
Meyer said Wednesday she met Freeman the night of the accident at a dinner party at the Bayou Bend Golf and Country Club that she had been invited to by Luckett. Meyer said Freeman had been a "perfect gentleman" that evening and agreed to let her stay at one of three houses on his property, so that she "would have an easier drive to work the next morning."
Morgan Freeman
Scientists Build Computer Model
Snowflakes
The random, symmetrical beauty of snowflakes has been recreated in a computer program, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
It took four years for two mathematicians from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of California, Davis, to develop the computer model's theory and perform the computations.
"Even though we've artfully stripped down the model over several years so that it's as simple and efficient as possible, it still takes us a day to grow one of these things," Wisconsin researcher David Griffeath said in a statement.
In nature, snowflakes form from water molecules crystallizing around a speck of dust or other material. The result is intricate fern-like stars, needles and prisms, often adorned by tiny ridges and circular markings.
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