Sincere apologies for lack of blogging; usual reasons - time, busy etc. So much good stuff I see/read/clock and wish I had the time to slam them all up on the web for you and/or as reference.

Anyway, quick one from this Sunday morning's toilet reading (!), "The Observer Music Monthly". Always a great read, particularly the new 'Screen Grabs' column which trawls YouTube for mad music clips (re-printed at end of this blog).

This month's winners include Adam Ant on 'Swap Shop' (yes, Adam needs a cameo in 'Pirates Of The Caribbean III - At World's End' alongside Johnny Depp!) here, talking about recession, tax, multiple personalities and struggling to recall what instruments he can play. Plus Johnny Marr & Morissey visiting a Manchester school in '84 to be interviewed by pupils. Quoting OMM, "Not deflated by the initial question of 'Who are the Smiths?, Morissey explains the moral significance of daffodils to belwidered 10-year olds before they return the favour with a tuneless version of 'There is a Light'.

Other cool bits in the mag include an in-depth interview with Dizzee Rascal on the eve of his 3rd album 'Maths & English' (seriously hot album it is too!) and one of the dons, true legend/character/institution, Sir Jimmy Saville in the 'Record Doctor' column which analyses a celeb's 'musical taste/health', offering a 'prescription' & 'case review'. So Jimmy apparently owns 1 record, David & Marianne Dalmour's 'Love Song'. Stop for a sec. to big up David Dalmour, he invented putting '2 turntables and a microphone' together; yush!! Anyway, back to the Saville anecdotes that rock:

(ON MEETING THE BEATLES):
'So in the canteen afterwards Brian Epstein came up to me and said: "Well, Jim, what did you think of my boys?" I said: "World class." He said: "That's a bit strong." I said: "Brian, watch my lips." He speaks as if addressing the village simpleton. '"World. Class. And watch this space."'

(ON HIS VINYL COLLECTION/DJ-ING):
"Savile has never had much interest in vinyl. This despite the fact that in 1942, in the top room of a building in Belle Vue Road, Leeds, he ensured he would always be synonymous with records when he DJ'd at a 'record dance', the world's first discotheque, with two turntables and an amplifier designed by the late Dalmour.

'Twelve people came,' he says. 'The equipment lasted for an hour and a half and I borrowed eight records from a friend.' Savile, it transpires, borrowed most of his DJ sets. 'You're in Yorkshire now,' he shouts. 'You. Don't. Buy. Things. In. Yorkshire.'"

(ON THE ROLLING STONES & ELVIS PRESLEY):
He'll happily tell you about his rapport with the Stones ('If they had a problem they'd say, "Get Jim in"'), about travelling to the States to give Elvis a gold disc (Colonel Tom Parker said: "You're late." I said: "It's 8,000 miles from my place to here and the traffic was a bit tasty on the road outside your gaff"').

Big up Sir Jimmy's ongoing string vest bizness!!!

All kicked off Thursday night with another Xfm Big Night Out at Carling's Brixton Academy. Great to see some of the headstrong/hardcore 'Rinse' community in the 'ouse i.e.. Zoe B, Holly P, Harry H and Nicky D etc. and to finally meet one of the legendary Hacienda Club's equally legendary DJs, Dave Haslam in the flesh (pictured/below left).

[Picture: Vincent Hymas]

We rocked the Circle Bar from 11PM-3AM, and I loved throwing down current Rinse bombs like Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black (Rumble Strips Remix)", Hot Chip's remix of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab", Calvin Harris "Acceptable In The 80s", Diplo's mad mashed mix of The Beatles "Twist & Shout" and Blamma Blamma's f*cking ludicrously fierce remix of Maximo Park i.e. "Terminal Velocity" (criminally turned down for some reason by Warp?!!) etc. - all in all a warm up to playing Barcelona's Razzmatazz 24 hours l8r.

So back to Barcelona, aided & abetted by Jahan and James G (aka Mr. Bootross). The repeated, almost Tourettes-like bank holiday lingo included "Pfffft!! (in-joke/toilet humour), "Mouth Party" & "Izz nice" (obviously Borat influenced) as well as healthy nods to Hans Gruber, the don Die-Hard baddie"Welcome To The Party Pal" and other "Die Hard" villains.

Couple of repeat visits to Raco De Vila, simply for that sizzling steak 'n salt, cooked on a hot grill bang on the table in front of you. DJ-ing in Razz's main room was rockin' as ever and after a minute's pause for the cause before the club shut at 6AM, I played Maximo Park's original "Our Velocity", swiftly followed by that diabolically dirty Blamma Blamma remix, "Terminal Velocity" check Javi (pictured middle/above Razz logo) having it beyond large to the tune in question!

Chilled Sunday at the Mediteranneo Spa before dinner with a bizarre dessert of yum (!) 'Strawberries & Scum'. Then, late night and after a warm up by La Terremoto DJs who played some killer euro-spanish gay-house (James G & I never found out what they were but very Studio 54 vibe) & camp classics like this version of Annie's "Tomorrow", it was time for another "Dancing Queen" event and a live performance by Sam Fox. Yes, people tend to immediately think of her Page-3 assets but what really stayed firm for the next 45 minutes was not my trouser-snake (!) but seeing her performance maintain Sam's status as a gay icon. Hands in the air for the classics, slow lighter waving for some new ballad material and pandemonium for the climax, "Touch Me".

Sam showed herself a true trooper backstage, with that Carry-On saucy sense of humour and loads of mad stories including the tabloid lies. I was impressed by how switched on Sam was even after I couldn't help being a bit of a geek reminding her about a ground-breaking remix she had done late 80s for "Love House" by Kevin Saunderson as he was hitting big time with Inner City. Sam name-checked the "Black Pyramid Mix" and for a moment was turning more anorak than me, going on about working with Full Force, her record company"Jive" pushing her to rap etc. etc.

Dawn came, power nap then mid-day flight home.