Al Kent's Million Dollar Disco Interview

Al Kent recently released the brilliantly produced Million Dollar Orchestra LP. He took on the difficult task of going back to an analog studio, and bringing in a gang of musicians to record a truly live and fully orchestrated disco LP. There are funky drumbreaks, booty shaking basslines, soaring string sections, horns galore and just about anything else you would hope for in a fully orchestrated disco LP comprised of a 12 piece band.

Click here to listen to a medley of the Million Dollar Orchestra LP.

He also runs the notorious Million Dollar Disco website, is one of the members behind the Northern Disco party, drops deadly disco mixes with tunes you've never heard before, and has edited more disco records than you own. Here is the interview I recently conducted with the man from Scotland, that managed to capture the essence of the backstreet disco sounds of NYC in the 70s, combined with the raw aesthetic of Northern Soul, while crafting it all for a modern dancefloor. Read on!
________________________________________________________

Let's go back to where it all began, how did you get into northern soul?

Northern soul was a progression from being a young mod. We were all already into soul stuff, but really obvious Motown kind of things. Stuff that was reissued or got played at the school disco. Marvin Gaye, Four Tops, Vandellas. And then Stax, Sue, Atlantic; similar stuff to northern, but nothing particularly rare or unknown. We had our own little scene, but once we looked old enough we ventured to some big boys' pubs and clubs, and this was the first time I saw and heard northern. It was all run of the mill records; Out On The Floor, Under My Thumb, Tainted Love, Skiing In The Snow, but it was nothing I knew then, and these guys were fucking dancing like nothing I'd seen before. So, slowly I started to get into that. Very slowly, because I didn't have a clue what the hell it was.
________________________________________________________
What were some of your earliest dancefloor memories?

My earliest memory of it is this guy Ped Smith (RIP), who was dancing to a Chairman Of The Board record at this club. He had all the gear on and had the floor to himself and was doing these crazy spins and drops and stuff. I just stood there watching him with my mouth open.
________________________________________________________
Club names?

The first "clubs" I went to were just hired out boozers - backroom function suite kind of places. Who knows the names now. Most Northern things don't really happen in clubs, it's YMCA halls, or ballrooms, or community centres. Anywhere with a big wooden floor and the chance of an all night entertainment license - or someone who's willing to hire it out with no questions asked.
________________________________________________________
Djs you liked?

The most important DJs when I was coming up were Keb Darge, Guy Hennigan, Dave Thorley - Dave ran an all nighter in Stafford that saved the scene after Wigan closed - Wigan was like the Ministry of Sound of its day - 200,000 members or something, and no quality control over the music. Stafford was all about rare, good records, whereas Wigan had become all about fast records regardless of quality. Those three totally flipped what northern soul had become by playing some astonishing music. Not what had become the standard northern soul sound particularly, that stompy motown stuff - most of that had been discovered by that point. It got called "sixties newies" , and "beat ballads" and stuff. I loved that.Then there was this guy Jim Tennant who was important to me, because he lived close to me and had just the most insane collection - his cupboards were full, under his bed was packed, record boxes everywhere - and all records you could only dream about owning. He'd been collecting a long time so had some serious treasure. He taught me a lot about music. And I taught him a lot about weed.The first time I met Jim was actually the first time I played at a proper northern soul do - I was on early doors so because no one was really there yet I played this crazy rare record that someone had cut on acetate for me. He just casually walked over and said "you shouldn't play bootlegs". I was mortified. And I never have since.Other Scottish DJs who I loved were Alan & Steve Walls, Mark Linton and especially the one and only Jock O'conner. Jock would play anything that was good regardless of tempo or whatever. My lasting memory of him was the last hour or two at Shotts all nighter when he'd play the most soulful shit just as the sun was coming up. And we were coming down. I'm sure I saw people crying.
________________________________________________________

Northern soul patches you wore? Any funny outfits? Fave dance moves?

Ha! Yes, I had some patches. I still have them in fact. I had the talc, deodorant, change of clothes in the holdall covered in patches. I didn't wear a vest though. Too skinny. But I did have the wide trousers and shiny soled shoes. I wasn't a great dancer, I didn't have any of those crazy moves you see. But after a few lines of whizz - I was all over that floor.
________________________________________________________
What was the first real soul record you bought?

Hmm.. It's hard to say. What's real soul? The first record I had that turned me onto soul was this comp on Tamla Motown called "20 Mod Classics" that I bought on my way home from school one day. It was all Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, The Velvelettes, Vandellas... I didn't really understand it. The music we were into then was like The Jam and The Chords - guitar bands who dressed mod. But it had a big mod target on the front so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and got into it a bit after a few listens.I don't know where we got the information from back then, but somehow I got into more of this stuff. There was a shop near me, The Record and Card Centre - they sold greeting cards, but had a little bit at the back of the shop with some records. They had this big book you could look through and pick records for them to order for you. It was all new, or reissues obviously, but I was there all the time. Then I remember having things like Sweet Soul Music, and Hold On I'm Coming and stuff on original 45s - I don't know where I would've got them though.The first "northern" record I remember finding was "Interplay" by Derek and Ray - a truly awful record. It sums up what Wigan Casino turned into - not in the least bit soulful, fast, stompy instrumental with bits you could clap to. I was young though. I thought I was the man because i had a northern soul record.
________________________________________________________
When did you realize some of your records weren't really just northern soul, but they were also disco records?

I'm not sure. There wasn't any moment when the penny dropped. I remember buying Four Below Zero on 12" because I really wanted it and couldn't find the 45. And I hated it. It was too long, too much instrumental at the end. And it just sat there looking all big and stupid. Obviously it said "Roulette Disco" on the sleeve. But I don't remember noticing that. And to me then, disco was Saturday Night Fever, and Funky Town, and D.I.S.C.O, so there was no connection for me. I was still into '60s stuff then mainly, just starting to like "modern". Most of what I got into was disco-ish, but I just didn't know it at the time. And I don't remember a point when I realized.
________________________________________________________
How did you end up getting into both disco and house?

The first time I really remember taking disco seriously was when I bought a load of 12"s from this really crappy record shop in Glasgow. I'd been through every single 45 in the place and found nothing. So I had a quick look at the 12s - there was some Salsoul, same label as Eddie Holman and Skip Mahoney, so I might as well take them. And then anything else that looked similar, or was from the '70s I ended up buying. I guess that was when I started noticing things like "special 12 inch disco mix" or whatever. I've always had this attitude to music too, that I want to be into things that other people aren't. It comes from northern soul I guess. So collecting disco records at that time seemed pretty cool.I got into house by accident. People I knew were going to these parties and taking pills and telling me I should come along. I was still going to all nighters, snorting speed. The first time I saw one of the parties it kind of freaked me out - Yogi Haughton used to do these all nighters where there was one room house, and one room soul. I was going to the toilet when the door to the house room opened and it was like shoulder to shoulder, sweat, strobes, crazy music. I didn't get it. It just looked scary. Then a while later at Southport we took acid and ventured from the soul room into the main hall. We'd seen it during the day and it was all dayglo paint, big spheres hanging from the ceiling and stuff and it looked stupid. But when it was full of bodies and music, and we were tripping, it suddenly made sense. So I started going to parties and kind of got into house for a couple of years.
________________________________________________________
What was the first record you made, and what inspired you to commit that crime?

Shit. I won't even tell you the first record I made. Just in case it shows up somewhere. We split a 12" with Kevin McKay from Glasgow Underground, and pressed up 300 copies or something. It was nothing more than us wanting to make a record because we could. We didn't know how. And it showed. The weirdest thing was, we sold all the records! The first record I made on my own was actually called "Million Dollar Disco" - I sampled Janice, and put it over house drums. That was it. And people bought that too!________________________________________________________
Tell us about shying away from house, and getting deeper into disco edits/disco.

I was never really that big a house head. I think it was more the parties than the music for me. There was this massive explosion in the 90s here when everyone in the country had decks and spent all their money on records. And I hated that. I bought some records and did some DJing, but I couldn't really keep up, because my heart wasn't in it. I kept making records, some of which are actually OK, but I didn't really go to many parties, or listen to much of the music, so I had no inspiration. Eventually I realized that I wasn't enjoying it at all. I remember playing somewhere and just looking at my watch the whole time, thinking, fucking hurry up and be over. The next time I DJed I played only disco. And that was actually a good decision, because I've had way more gigs since then, and obviously love playing this music. I doubt I could've done it without the house gigs first though.I'd always mucked around with edits, from when I mastered the pause button on a tape recorder. I didn't know I was editing. It was just kind of fun. But pointless. Then when I got a Mac I'd do it on there. It was only when I realized I could burn this stuff to CD that I started doing edits seriously.
_______________________________________________________
What was your inspiration for MDO?

The real inspiration for MDO was this journalist from Edinburgh - he interviewed me for a newspaper and asked if I could send him some music. So I sent him a load of the house stuff I'd been making and he emailed me a while later to say how surprised he was. He seemed genuinely disappointed. And I felt ashamed He told me he expected it to be more traditional disco, and I kind of realized I was being lazy. I wasn't making music that I felt. Just boshing together a couple of samples for a quick buck. If I wanted to keep making music, I had to make disco music. So I sampled some drums and percussion from old records and got a friend to come over and play some keys for me. I still had no idea what I'd do with it, but it was a step in the right direction away from the stuff that had been boring me.
________________________________________________________
Were you listening to any records in particular during the creative process?

Nothing in particular during the writing process, but I did play a lot of music to the band. I played things like Lenny Williams "You Got Me Running" and Salsoul Orchestra stuff to Charlie for keyboard parts, Lots of Earl Young for Jim the drummer. Then me and Marco listened to Walter a lot when we were mixing. I don't think we managed to capture it though. Not enough PCP.
________________________________________________________
How did you write the songs?

I can't read or write music, so the songs kind of wrote themselves. I played Raymond (keyboard guy) some records, said I like this bit here, and this bit here, and he played his interpretation of it. We did some guide basslines on a synth too. But that sounded nasty, so I asked around and found a bass player who played the parts properly. I found out a guy who I knew from DHP as a disco head only lived five minutes away from me, AND he plays guitar. So he came down and I recorded him. Then I started editing. And editing. And editing. Till I had maybe a dozen tracks that sounded like they were going in the right direction. Then I got asked to do a live show, so had to come up with a band quick style. I asked around and ended up with a new keyboard player, a drummer, two percussionists, bass player, guitarist, two saxophonists, trumpet, three vocalists. And me on syn drums. So I thought, hmm... a band? It seemed stupid to go back to the sampled beats on the Mac, so I asked them if they were up for it, and they were. We started rehearsing; I played them the stuff I'd done. They kind of played it back, the horn guys would have an idea, try it out, the keys guy would do his thing, it all developed. All the rehearsals were recorded, so every week I'd go home with a CD and edit all the new bits in, and the shit bits out. Take my edited versions to the next rehearsal and so on until I felt we were ready.
________________________________________________________
How did the band come together?

See above. It was just a case of asking around. OK, you play bass - do you know anyone who can play keys? You play keys, do you know anyone who can play drums? I'd DJed a couple of times with these guys on sax, so I looked them up, they knew a guy who could play trumpet and a guy who could play trombone, so they hooked that up. And they also knew how to score strings, and had the contacts to get the players.
____________________________________________________________
What was the recording studio it was done in?

We recorded in a place called The Barn. I'd done some artwork for the manager of Marco, the guy who runs it. So I looked him up because I knew it was a proper studio and not some protools kind of place.
________________________________________________________
What type of rooms were used?

The Barn is just what it sounds like - an outbuilding on an old farmhouse where Marco's family live. It's been partitioned off into a control room and live room. And he was just building a drum booth when we first spoke. I had to wait a few weeks to start recording for him to finish it. When we recorded the rhythm section they were all in one room, the drummer in his booth, but we put up these big boards to stop the sound leaking between instruments.
________________________________________________________
Type of mixing boards? Microphones? Other equipment specs?

OK. I'm not very technically minded like that, so I have no idea on specifics. All I know is we recorded everything through a big fuck off desk. A proper mixing desk, not some on-screen protools number. We recorded to a mac, because it's the 21st Century, but everything was mic'd up, and went through the desk. No plug ins were used at all. Ever. The whole point of going to Marco was because I knew he had all this gear. He's a gear nerd. Everything's either vintage, or as good as vintage would be. And instrument-wise - the keyboards were vintage Wurlitzer and Rhodes, The Clav's real, the synth's a vintage Moog, the drum kit was vintage - The drum kit was gold glitter- vintage syn drums. All for real. It took Marco and Jim, the drummer, the best part of a day to set up a snare. We tried three different ones and fucked around with mics and tape and gel for hours before we were happy it was the sound we needed.
________________________________________________________
Any neat studio tricks used to get a certain sound?

The strings were probably the sneakiest thing. There was only a quartet. So we recorded them a few times to get a fuller sound. Same with the horns. They all played their parts twice, sometimes as harmonies, to sound fuller. There were a lot of guitar pedals used on instruments, guitar fed through the moog, lots of little things like that we tried out. The whole string section went through a vintage tape echo for fun.The songs were bounced of reel to reel too at the end of the mixing sessions.
________________________________________________________
How many sessions took place?

I lost count. We did two days with the rhythm section. A day for horns, one for percussion. Two days for strings, two for vocals, and I don't know how many overdub sessions we did. We got a bit carried away to be honest. It was like, if we're doing this thing then fuck it, let's just do it. Marco still laughs about the amount of tracks we had running at one time. Then we had writing sessions, editing, which was a lot of sessions. I ended up bringing it all home to work on because it was costing so much in studio time. We did everything in one take, so there were a few bum notes, or timing issues that had to be edited. The arrangements were nothing at all like what had originally been written by this point. And I couldn't stop myself from rearranging every time I had an idea. Then we had the mixing sessions. Some songs took three days to mix. It was a big project.
_______________________________________________________
How many people in studio at once?

The Rhythm section days were the busiest. There was me and Marco in the control room, Jim in the drum booth, Kev on guitar, Stephen on bass and Charlie on keys. Colin and Alan brought their saxes too and played along to give the band more feeling, but we didn't record them that day. So that was nine including Charlie's girlfriend.
________________________________________________________
What exactly did Tom Moulton tell you about recording strings?

Pretty much what we thought already. To record them a few times and double up. What he suggested though, that made a massive difference, was to not only record the quartet, but to also record each instrument on its own. So we had the full sound of a quartet a couple of times, the violins a couple of times, viola and cello. Then we did harmonies on viola etc. So we ended up with a fucking big sound. Some of those songs have like 48 tracks of strings on them. Plus the tape echo.
________________________________________________________
Did you pray to Walter before you went to bed?

Every morning and every night. We started each day by listening to his mix of My Love Is Free in a huddle, did high fives and got to work...
________________________________________________________
How did you handle the live shows you did?

We only did one show. For the Glasgow Jazz Festival. Mark Robb who ran a stage there heard the early demos and asked if I could do it. This was when the band was formed initially. We did I guess about ten rehearsals, but there wasn't one where the whole band was there. Everyone had busy schedules, so one week there was no trumpet, one week no percussion and so on. We just did mostly covers to make things a bit simpler - we did Wake Up And Be Somebody, Never Gonna Let You Go and a few other things. So the gig was scary - no one was really prepared because we hadn't learned the songs properly or fully rehearsed. But it went well. Really well. No mistakes, no fuck ups, full dancefloor, great reaction.
________________________________________________________
Do you want to tour with the band?

I definitely want to tour next time round. I've had a lot of enquiries, but haven't really had time to act on them. The band's too big to handle. Well, it's not even a band. If it was just a group of young guys with guitars who could get in the back of a van and tour the country it would be fine. But it's not. Everyone has their own projects, or day jobs, or new babies, or whatever. So getting them into rehearsal, never mind touring is a lot of hard work. Then there's the budget. Who the fuck can afford something like eighteen musicians and a DJ..? I'm looking into ways to make it work though. Next time we record I'll make it part of the plan.
________________________________________________________
What's up with future MDO projects?

I've started writing. I've given a couple of them a few ideas to work on, so I'll start the whole process again soon. I'm working on a few other things just now though, less ambitious projects. So I want to get them finished before I dedicate another two years of my life to a pointless pursuit of disco perfection again.
________________________________________________________
Let's talk dj'ing:what is your ideal set up?DJ setup?

I'm not fussed. As long as it's not some crappy pioneer mixer. I like Allen & Heath because they've become kind of industry standard. It's easy to use and sounds decent. Obviously a nice Urei or something is a treat. And if I had the funds I'd treat myself to a DJR 400. I don't use vinyl for club gigs any more (everything is edits) so decent CDRs is important. And fucking monitors that actually work in a decent position in the booth. Ones that won't blow my eardrums out please.Oh yeah - I'm not a fan of stages. I like to be on the dancefloor when I DJ. It seems a bit weird on a stage.
____________________________________________________________
What is your ideal promotion of a night?

Promotion is hard. And getting harder. People are getting lazier. Going out's not so much of a big deal. Over here anyway. Promotion used to involve printing up a couple of hundred cheap flyers and leaving them in some record shops. That's my ideal promotion. Now it's all Facebook and shit. I hate all that. I've learned a lot over the last couple of years, especially with Northern Disco. We've hounded the press, got mixes on radio shows, competitions to win tickets and stuff. It's a lot of work, but nowadays it needs to be done. Even with the biggest DJ on the flyer it still has to be pushed big time. We're hoping to book some lesser known DJs soon, just people we know to have great taste and great records. That'll be hard work.
________________________________________________________
Why does northern disco move so many locations?

We haven't moved that much. The first party was supposed to be a one off. We hired this place called Urbis - a giant glass building in Manchester, flew in Rahaan, and had a ton of DJs playing in the bar. It was a big success, so we decided we should try for a regular party somewhere. Urbis is too big, and is council funded I think, so there's a lot of health and safety shit involved. Lights have to be kept on, no balloons near fire sprinklers and shit - not the kind of place you can really let go and have a party. So we did some Fridays in Mint Lounge. That's a great venue. Almost perfect. Nice layout and decent sound system. But Fridays are always too much hard work. It has to be a Saturday to feel right. So we moved after almost a year to The Attic. We did one party there with Rahaan again, and me and Kon. That was the last one we did as we honestly can't agree on DJs to book now. There are so few people who could play a proper disco set, but also pull the size of crowd we need to break even. And we really don't want to go for obvious names. We're looking at venues for October now - maybe the Attic again, who knows. That's Lee's job.
________________________________________________________
How big is the disco ball at the northern nights?

The disco ball in Urbis was huge - about five feet or something. We haven't used that since though. Maybe we should again. For the Dimitri party we had about 100 mini disco balls.
________________________________________________________
When's the next northern disco, or future plans?

October hopefully. With the best DJ ever in the history of DJs. And a big giant mirror ball.
________________________________________________________

Anything else you want to add?

Yes. Disco is music that was made sometime in the 1970s. It's usually quite fast, but not always. It's a form of soul music. It can be quite funky too. Remember that.

Thanks for the interview Al!

The Million Dollar Orchestra's "Better Days" album has just been made available on I-tunes, and there are still some shops that may have copies of the vinyl 2xlp. If your shop don't have it, ask them to get it!

http://www.milliondollardisco.com/

Hang on reel tight

We've got some interviews I'm waiting for answers on, and other interesting things coming soon, just hang on tight. I also decided to update previous posts with some well deserved text. I've been busy lately so I've just been posting things to fulfill my duties as a blogger, however I need to take it a step beyond that. Hopefully the updates put things in context for you guys. Enjoy!

Let Me Down Easy - Rare Pleasure

I won't lie to you, the slightly cheesy proto-house piano riff gets me open. Beyond the piano, there is still something about this song that gets me open, that I still have a hard time articulating. It is so fluffy I should almost be embarrassed about it, but strangely enough I'm not. This is a killer dance floor anthem that should have any real disco crowd vibing right along to it. It is so simple and effective, making it even closer to the best and most basic of house tunes. Repetitive riffing, chanty and easy to learn vocals, and we can all relate to the theme of the song. Just like my man Oddysey once said about a similar tune, "Yo this song bring the bitch out in me!" I think we can all relate to that shit, whether we want to publicly admit it or not. "Let me down easy" by Rare Pleasure, take us away to that special place!

Fulton County Line - Tommy Stewart

From the maestro himself, a killer tune. So funky, so "rare groove" too. British boys love this one, and anyone who has a f*cking pulse should love this one too; Seriously funky stuff, that I can really get down too. Another incredible production by Tommy Stewart. If you are not as deep as some of us other psycho music fans are, and you don't know who Tommy Stewart is, you can learn about him through a great interview conducted on my fellow disco criminal Geoff's blog: CLICK TO READ TOMMY STEWART INTERVIEW

Enjoy the tune and the interview!

All This Love That I'm Giving - Gwen Mcrae

We all should know Gwen Mcrae from her hit song, "Funky Sensation". If you don't already know that tune, then I have no idea how you found my blog. She had made a few funky LPs we could all get down to, and if any of you know me, you know my obsession with phrases such as "keep the fire burning", "fire keep on burning", "we keep the fire burning", etc etc etc. Well Gwen has recorded a fantastic tune called "Keep the Fire Burning" which I plan to post in the future when I feel like visiting time tested crowd pleasing classics. But in the meantime, I feel like visiting one of her much lesser known tunes and LPs. If I'm not mistaken, most copies of this LP were recalled for some reason or another, making this a very rare vinyl LP. I am posting one hell of a killer tune, that most of you will never own an original copy of. And if you find yourself an OG copy, consider yourself lucky! Enjoy the slept on brilliance of this tune by none other than Gwen Mcrae!!!

Who could send this guy away? - Garfield Fleming

After Asaf played Garfield Fleming's "Don't Send Me Away" at the end of the night at the last Foreal People party, I had to go home and keep listening to the tune. When I did a little on-line search, I was really happy and surprised to find this video of Garfield Fleming revisiting his classic for the youtube music audience!



Here is the original classic in it's full length glory:

Fox 50 & Wax Poetics Radio Show

If you spend the night in, Thurday nights are the business on East Village Radio. Our partner in Foreal People crime Josh Dunn AKA Fox 50 hosts the Wax Poetics Radio show from 10pm-12 midnight. Josh is a recent transplant from Detroit, and he is our new friend. He has some HEAVY crates. Seriously, he needs a crate boy to help him carry them. Click on the link to hear the latest show, and submit your crate boy resume:

WAX POETICS RADIO SHOW

Last night's show had Sampo aka Dj Anonymous arriving from his flight directly from Finland. It was nice to meet him and the hang with the crew last night. Hazy memories of great tunes, too much beer and wine for me, and chocolate chip cookies. Trust me, you don't want to miss this one. Check it while it's still archived!

Feel The Spirit

This band just goes off like a firecracker. Incredible 12", one of the most sought after, and incredibly rare. For the common folk, there is a re-issue of this tune out there.

Throw those dancing shoes on for this one, and don't look back.

I feel like dancin'

This one is popular with the kids these days :) Another rare 12" that sums up the way I feel about nightlife. I don't want to sit down, I just wanna keep on dancing. But honestly, this reminds me of Nell's on 14th Street for some reason. I'm not saying they played that record there, but for some reason I feel like this tune encapsulates the mature sexiness of that club in the early 90s. I remember feeling like I needed to step my game up for that party if I wanted to meet women in the club, because they were always on that sexy r&b tip ;) If you can find this record, just pack it up in your bag, place it on the decks of the next party you play, and let her rip.

I Love The Night Life

Consider me a victim of NYC nightlife. I've been going out since I've been 14 years old (many moons ago), and I still can't get enough of this shit. I've been going to jazz/funk, disco, house, afro, soul, reggae, hip-hop, etc clubs since as long as I can remember, which meant sneaking into clubs illegally. There is something so damn funky about this tune, and it simultaneously celebrates all things nightlife, which brings out the nostalgia in me. I can remember the way I felt the first times I visited clubs and heard so much amazing music that changed my life, when I hear this tune. Road trips, playlists, getting bent, mix-tapes, gear, late nights, buses, fly girls, turntables, record stores, DJ crews, promoting, etc etc etc. And we still have so many good times ahead for us. New friends, new venues, new vinyl discoveries, new parties, and of course the future of Foreal People! This jam sums it up for me, and I hope it does for you too!

Party Pics

Great Memories at The Lucky Cat!

More memories are still waiting to be created. Watch this space to find out about our next Secret Rendezvous of deep disco, modern soul, boogie and "specialty dance music"! You too can be Foreal.

Renegade Party People

Foreal People just had it's last great party at The Lucky Cat, and we've decided to change venues and become more of a renegade party. Where will Foreal People pop up next? Who knows? But that's part of the fun! So for now, we are currently looking for a new venue to take our night into. So expect to see us pop up again soon somewhere around town, with our posse of specialty dance music renegades. Until then, keep digging, dancing and keep dreaming about that better sound...

Nightlife Really Turns Me On!

First off, thanks to all the dancers that come out and continue to inspire us to do what we do. I love seeing people break a sweat on that dance floor, and love seeing those smiles. Big ups to special guest Asaf, you murdered it with some of the deadliest tunes that have officially made our wants list. And of course kudos to Ben and Josh for their killer sets. Seriously, you guys always get me hyped. I can't wait for the next one.

P.S. A special middle finger goes up to the police for writing me up for that bullsh*t ticket!

K-I-DOUBLE-L-E-R-S: THAT'S THE REASON FOR MY SUCCESS

ACAPULCO GOLD are OG New Yorkers.  I've known Augie since the days of rolling around the city causing trouble back when we were pre-teens from Queens.  Pilot Markers, 360 Kickflips, Brooklyn Banks, Giant Step, Nasa, Sound Factory Bar, Dope Radio Shows, Windmill Attempts, Contests, Duct Tape, Mixtape trades, Grip Tape Art, never getting your Videos back, etc, you remember those days don't you?  I've got mucho love for real deal dudes like Augie that lived that era to the fullest with us like that, and was honored when he asked me to do a mix for his clothing label.  Here is the link to a mix of some real deal old school late 70s-early 80s vinyl recordings from this great city we grew up in:

Disco Rap Punk Funk Roller Boogie Synth Bug Out

Enjoy!

Fire Keep On Burning 2

I forgot I created this blog earlier in the year, so I have some serious catching up to do.  Here is a mix I did for fellow disco criminal Al Kent from Scotland.  It was one of my New Year's Resolutions.  Posted on www.milliondollardisco.com, here is the direct link: 

Fire Keep On Burning 2

Hope you enjoy it...