June 2003
June 21
Received fourteen tapes from Raffael in Germany, as arranged this morning, which was a nice package to almost trip up over outside my bedroom door! He should receive or should have received already two CD’s full of MP3’s. I’ve added the new tapes to the listings. I’m currently enjoying the Blackmarket/‘Hyper D One in the Jungle tape from Radio 1.
June 20
The Carriers Arm’s in ‘Bergholt will be getting a lot of business from my friends and I over the weekend. Tomorrow evening Tom and Ian are coming for a drink and some pool [always good to get some practice in preparation for Rob the following day]. And on Saturday Rob, Ben, Ian and Tom are meeting up in The Carriers in the afternoon instead of an expensive Friday night out on the town. We’re hoping the weather will be nice so we can sit outside and chill out in the beer garden they have. Then later when it’s a bit cooler go inside to play some pool. I’m sure there will be some bets on the Tom vs Rob pool matches!
On the job front; I’ve decided to go back to working for Top Job at GFM after having no success looking for a job while being with the Jobseeker’s Allowance. I’ve gotten myself into a lot of debt so I need desperately some income. I just hope they’ll have me back — I left them in the lurch a bit. I’m to wait until they call to say when there is some work there. In July they run the big Sun newspaper £9.50 holiday promotion which means a lot of work. I’ll continue to look for a permanent job while working as a temp, and also save up as much money as I can — after clearing my debts — for a new car. Last Friday I saw Rob and gave him my CV to hand in to his company in the hope of getting a job there. Rob’s probably hoping I do (and stay) because he’ll then be entitled to a free £500!! I feel a lot happier and kind of relieved to have the prospect of work… though I would feel a lot more satisfied if it was a really decent job.
June 17
For those who have the username/password to the photo archive, I’ve added another page from the old archive; around 50 pics from Clives Party held August last year. Also changed a couple of captions after getting some funny suggestions, direct from Ian on MSN Messenger.
June 16
Returning to updates after a few weeks of neglect… not just the personal homepage, but The Programme Covers Project, too. Contributions are still coming strong, I’m just suffering from a lack of motivation at the moment I’m afraid. After the re-design (a while ago now) I have been struggling to find the extended time needed for the updates and the thought of never being able to form that ultimate collection of covers renders the whole project somewhat pointless. I will however continue with it, as the visitor hits haven’t suffered through my lack of updates, and I’m still getting new subscribers to the mailing list (now almost 90).
The photo archive (access via username/password only) has had an update, with the inclusion of Ian’s photos from a few weeks ago, another Friday night in Ipswich town. Ian and I have since missed out on the regular Friday nights in town, preferring instead to join the rest for a drink in my local in East Bergholt, and stay there while the others head off into town. Lack of funds is the reason. I’m in so much debt, going out on an expensive night in town is out of the question for the moment. Photos from East Bergholt’s annual Pram Race are also now online, so check out the “latest pics” section, and look out for more of the old archive appearing some time soon.
I’ve been getting a fair number of offers of mix tapes to trade since the re-design. I’m currently recording some 14 tapes onto CD to trade with a German guy whose list is nothing short of massive. I’ve picked out all the Hyper D ones I’m missing because I want to have as many tapes of his as possible. Hopefully the deal should go off this week — I’ve just got to finish recording all the tapes.
Talking of Stevie Hyper D; last week (after having become frustrated by searching for Hyper D lyrics, only to find all the websites using the same copied lyrics that someone spent time working out), I started transcribing some of his lyrics. I’ve got some new complete sections that I’m trying to learn (I find it harder usually to remember the lines rather than to say them, although some parts are just amazing). I started on other chats/speeches/lyrics of his, only to get stuck trying to divulge what he says. Maybe once I’ve got some more I will put them up on a page — I like the idea of having a Hyper D dedication or something — if I can be sure others won’t pinch my transcription.
And I’ll quickly try to bring you up-to-date with the pool rivalries; Rob was amazingly defeated not once, but twice by Tom last weekend. Rob has made sure of a clause which meant if Tom won, he would have to give Rob the chance to redeem himself straight away (which I bet Rob now wishes he didn’t make sure of). Somewhat unbelievably, Rob fluffed the second game also, giving Tom not only his first, but second victory against Rob in the space of 20 minutes. An amazing outcome, which I’m sure Rob wants to forget.
Platinum has pointed out that our website, The Drum & Bass Fever is now defunct because of a breach of Freenetname’s rules and regulations. That’s the third domain of mine they’ve shut down — I guess it was only a matter of time. So anyway, if anyone wants to take over the domain (www.drumbass.co.uk), it’s now for sale or at least web space for it is (available via the actual address). We had planned to further expand and improve the site, eventually, but now without a home, the project is looking dead. A shame, as not long ago a D&B producer contacted us with some more lyrics for it. I’m thinking I will upload it at some point to this host, but probably won’t get around to updating it for quite some time!
I’ve said a lot already today, but I just wanted to mention where I went at the weekend… Venom did their second night at Kartouche in Ipswich on Saturday. It was Bassman (not long out “the pen”) and Trigga B2B, heading the MC’s. 5ive-O was hosting, alongside DJ’s SS and J Majik. When Trigga came on I heard him say it was his first time Ipswich; well I don’t think he would have been all that impressed by Ipswich. At least not by the turn out — the place was empty — those in attendance were having it though so hopefully he won’t be put off visiting again. The first Venom night had Skibadee on the bill, and unsurprisingly it was rammed, despite having to pay £10 more.