Get Involved blog

Louisiana Red – Sugar Hips

Holidays went way too fast and, as usual, my exercise-to-food-intake ratio has been all wrong over the last couple of weeks. I had second then third helpings of sticky toffee pudding only yesterday. Good times! But I definitely feel like somebody turned gravity up this morning as I get ready to face my first day at work in 2011.

I’m pretty sure Lousiana Red wasn’t thinking of post-Christmas podgyness when he recorded this instrumental, Sugar Hips in the early 60s – but it still feels like an appropriate way to kick things off for 2011!

The Drifters – White Christmas

This is my favourite Christmas record of all time: The Drifters version of White Christmas with Clyde McPhatter making an appearance on vocal duties, released on Atlantic in 1954.

And with the crazy weather we’ve had the last week here across the UK, many of us might just get a White Christmas this year. However, snowfall over the next few days will piss a lot more people off than it will please, as snow is Mother the exact opposite of “a calm sea and a favourable wind” – it just isn’t helpful for people trying to get from A to B! I hope all this blog’s readers get to spend time with their families and enjoy a very Merry Christmas, whether it’s white or not. Best seasonal wishes! x

Larry Williams – Slow Down

It’s 30 years since John Lennon died and it’s still incredibly sad – but his legacy lives on. Derek over at Derek’s Daily 45 blog posted up Timmy Shaw’s fantastic Gonna Send You Back To Georgia on Wand earlier in the week, mentioning that it was one of the singles discovered in Lennon’s jukebox. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Lennon was a massive Larry Williams fan and loved, in particular, this awesome Specialty side cut by Williams in 1958.

Mmm.. must try and find a list of all the other singles in Lennon’s jukebox…

The regular Shing-A-Ling night that I was running with a group of totally awesome spinners of rhythm’n'blues, northern soul, ska and mod sounds is no longer a weekly affair… For now, it will be a series of irregular podcasts by the Shing-A-Ling crew AND other DJ’s whose work we greatly admire.

And so, it gives me an enormous amount of pleasure to introduce to you the 7th Shing-A-Ling podcast, put together by the wonderful Adam Weatherhead - the man who blogs and DJs as Diddy Wah.

If you’re not familiar with his brilliant blog and his leftfield selections of old gold on wax - then you’ve been missing out. I urge you to plug yourself in to his blog which you will find residing at diddywah.blogspot.com

But don’t plug yourself in just yet – check out his awesome new Shing-A-Ling podcast which is a voyage of surf intstrumentalism that you won’t forget in a hurry. Behold, I give you…

Mashi
by Adam “Diddy Wah” Weatherhead

DOWNLOAD IT(45Mb) / LISTEN TO IT

1. The Wailers - Mashi
2. Paul Revere and The Raiders - Night Train
3. The Rebel Rousers - Peter Gunn Twist
4. The Intrigues - The Belly Dancer
5. Preston Epps - Bongo Rock
6. The Gamblers - Moon Dawg!
7. Billy Strange - Hava Tequila
8. The Rondels - Back Beat No.1
9. Sandy Nelson - Let There Be Drums
10. The Rumblers - Boss
11. Jimmy Gordon - Buzzzzzz
12. Gary Webb - Drum City Pt.1
13. The Gee Cees - Buzz Saw Twist
14. The Hollywood Persuaders - Drums-A-Go-Go
15. The Nomads - Desert Tramp

Remember, you can subscribe to Shing-A-Ling podcasts either in an RSS feed kind of way here:
feed://getinvolvedclub.com/blog/Shing-A-LingPodcasts.rss.xml

or in a via iTunes kind of way here:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/shing-a-ling-podcasts/id327539298

It’s Halloween weekend so here’s a little mix of tunes I like to spin around this time of year…

Hairy Halloween Horror!

DOWNLOAD IT(45Mb) / LISTEN TO IT

1. Werewolf – The Frantics (Dolton)
2. Wolfman – Randy Fuller (Mustang)
3. Voo Doo Woman – Smiley Smith (Apollo)
4. Haunted Lover – Carole Bennett (Capitol)
5. Igor’s Party – Tony and the Monstrosities (Crypt)
6. The Monster – Evans Carroll and The Tempos (Bangar)
7. Psycho Serenade – Big Jay McNeely and Band (Swingin’)
8. Voodoo Mash (part II) – Shalimar and Friends (Del-Fi)
9. I’m The Wolfman – Round Robin (Domain)
10. Screamin’ Ball (At Dracula Hall) – The Duponts (Roulette)
11. It’s Your Voodoo Working – Charles Sheffield (Excello)
12. Spooky – George Barnes (Mercury)
13. Dinner With Drac – John Zacherle (Cameo)