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Man-of-Mystery

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New podcast dropped. This time Kate has selected 16 cracking tracks! here's the shpeel:

Wow – have we got a show for you today! Presenter Kate Mowbray has dug up some gold nuggets from the late fifties, through the sixties, to the early seventies. You’ll hear tracks by Jimmy Smith, the Marvelettes, the Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Doctor John, Jackie Wilson, and many more. Solid gold Soul and R&B, including tracks covered by the Beatles!

 

Reggae Mike

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New podcast dropped. This time Kate has selected 16 cracking tracks! here's the shpeel:

Wow – have we got a show for you today! Presenter Kate Mowbray has dug up some gold nuggets from the late fifties, through the sixties, to the early seventies. You’ll hear tracks by Jimmy Smith, the Marvelettes, the Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Doctor John, Jackie Wilson, and many more. Solid gold Soul and R&B, including tracks covered by the Beatles!


I stopped listening to Kates shows awhile back because her style of presenting was too slow between all these feel good tracks. Not to say her style doesnt have a place.I think the way you do it complements the songs and the time period more to my liking. All that said this show was fun for me, great selections and just enough info.
 

Man-of-Mystery

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I stopped listening to Kates shows awhile back because her style of presenting was too slow between all these feel good tracks. Not to say her style doesnt have a place.I think the way you do it complements the songs and the time period more to my liking. All that said this show was fun for me, great selections and just enough info.
I know what you mean about Kate's style; it grew out of her double-hander show (Bubble Rap) on STAR every Sunday, which she presents with her friend Milo. It's a Hip-Hop show, but they spend a lot of time intensely discussing the music. She does that less on Soul Shack, but still does a lot of talking. My style, when I was in the studio, was to try more to recreate the music-rich feel of 1960s pirate radio stations. Still, I love that she agreed to carry on the show after I left St Andrews, and she is one of my best friends from that uni.

Incidentally, Bubble Rap holds a record for the longest-running show on STAR. As for Soul Shack, we're going to wrap it up at the end of this semester and concentrate on home studio sessions. These will be all-music, until I can find some way of balancing the sound on voice recordings on my iMac with music mp3s. I'll be producing them, and Kate will be suggesting tracks - I've been surprised by many of the tracks she has picked so far, I think she has a keen ear and a willingness to push the envelope a bit.

For the future, I'm looking at tracks that would fit in a courtroom ('Here Come the Judge'), the Northern Soul tracks mentioned in a panel of the Dundee Tapestry at the V&A, tracks on the Sue label, tracks inspired by the Blues Brothers movie, and so on. Oh, and I'll take requests right now and pass them on to Kate.
 

Reggae Mike

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I know what you mean about Kate's style; it grew out of her double-hander show (Bubble Rap) on STAR every Sunday, which she presents with her friend Milo. It's a Hip-Hop show, but they spend a lot of time intensely discussing the music. She does that less on Soul Shack, but still does a lot of talking. My style, when I was in the studio, was to try more to recreate the music-rich feel of 1960s pirate radio stations. Still, I love that she agreed to carry on the show after I left St Andrews, and she is one of my best friends from that uni.

Incidentally, Bubble Rap holds a record for the longest-running show on STAR. As for Soul Shack, we're going to wrap it up at the end of this semester and concentrate on home studio sessions. These will be all-music, until I can find some way of balancing the sound on voice recordings on my iMac with music mp3s. I'll be producing them, and Kate will be suggesting tracks - I've been surprised by many of the tracks she has picked so far, I think she has a keen ear and a willingness to push the envelope a bit.

For the future, I'm looking at tracks that would fit in a courtroom ('Here Come the Judge'), the Northern Soul tracks mentioned in a panel of the Dundee Tapestry at the V&A, tracks on the Sue label, tracks inspired by the Blues Brothers movie, and so on. Oh, and I'll take requests right now and pass them on to Kate.
I though about how thats your friend and it was sweet of her to keep the show running. I think theres a little mechanism that will balance your sound, Ill send some info about it when I find the one I got.
 

Man-of-Mystery

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I though about how thats your friend and it was sweet of her to keep the show running. I think theres a little mechanism that will balance your sound, Ill send some info about it when I find the one I got.
When you're ready, I would be more than grateful. I'm trying to avoid buying an expensive microphone at the moment, because I've had to spend money like water this month. But I'll probably have to get, one sooner or later, that has better reproduction than the thingie in my iMac.
 

Man-of-Mystery

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Here's this week's podcast. Kate had to head home to Kent quite quickly - family emergency I think - so I've strung together a home studio special. Here's the shpeel:

DJ Doctor PT stepping in with a home studio session here at the Soul Shack. These are all tracks you’ll know if you’ve ever seen the Blues Brothers movies – they’re not necessarily the versions that were featured on the soundtracks, but there are solid gold originals here. You’ll hear Taj Mahal, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and many more. We finish off with Booker T & the MGs wonderful album version of “Time Is Tight.” Play the whole podcast loud, and listen all the way to the end!

STAR Soul Shack - home studio session 2024-03-27 by STARSoulShack | Mixcloud
 

Swampster

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I enjoyed that.

Orange whip?


Regarding Kate's DJ style, I've only listened to a couple. She doesn't do the kind of show where the patter is the main thing and the music is almost an aside - hers seems focussed on features of the music and why she has chosen it. She doesn't go the whole Alexis Korner route where you get to know the catalogue number and the drummer's shoe size (though the internet makes that unnecessary anyway) but she is far more music lead than a lot of modern UK DJs.

Regarding differences in style, I heard the other day a repeat of a programme that Tony Blackburn and Johnnie Walker did about their Pirate days. One of them contrasted that with the early days of Radio 1 where they were limited in how much 'needle time' they were allowed, with a certain proportion having to be live music. They said that this was why Radio 1 & 2 merged after the breakfast slot, with both airing Jimmy Young who played some music but also had a lot of chat.

I've only heard a bit of US radio - what I heard was either almost entirely chat or was so music based that I don't think I heard the DJ speak at all. The first day I was in California, I heard Hotel California on the radio and we thought 'What are the chances of that?!'
Rather high it appears - the playlists seemed incredibly limited, While I liked just about everything I heard on 'KBEAR - California's Rock'n'roll bear' even a couple of days of it was starting to pall. That was in the 90s but some of the online classic rock stations seem equally limited.
 
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smalltownbigboots

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Great to learn all that about the shop, Botolph and Thin White Duke. I am jealous of you being able to go in person and I wish I'd thought to ask here before doing all my own research.

Someday I am sure I'll get to the shop but this time I had to order online. I did speak with someone on the phone first and confirmed that they get their suits made at the same places as J. Press, where I was able to go in person a few weeks ago to try things on and check for the union label in the jacket pocket. (I would have bought a J. Press suit but they were sold out of my size. Now I see they have more sizes in stock and they're on sale now too, oh well.)

At present, the O'Connell's house brand suits from Canada are made by Empire and the U.S. suits are made at Rochester Tailored Clothing, where Hickey Freeman was made until recently. Both Empire and RTC are union.

The suit I got has 3.5 inch lapels and is 9 inches across the hem, which is certainly broader than I'd usually wear since I'm on the tall and slim side. But again, it's for work. And maybe I'll try to get the jacket and trousers slimmed just a touch. (I do know a sack suit should not be slim fit.) Meanwhile I'm very pleased with the high rise of the trousers.
Following up on my posts some months back about Ivy style jackets, I wanted to share a few acquisitions in that vein. I keep meaning to ask someone to take a picture of me when I'm wearing them and have consistently failed to remember. Finally thought I'd just go ahead and post the items.

The first is a tweed sport coat that my uncle recently gave me. He bought it in 1967 and had finally grown too big to wear it (it's a size 39L, perfect for me). It is 3-roll-2, sack suit cut, soft shoulders, 2 buttons on each sleeve, slim fit.

Second is a Harris Tweed I found at a local thrift store, same size and similar vintage I suspect. Same classic features, but a narrower lapel that seems more consistent with mod suiting to me. Also not as loud as the one from my uncle.

Finally my J. Press suit, which I bought new last fall. Botolph's description of the differences between J. Press and O'Connell's convinced me to get this and return the suit I had gotten from O'Connell's. (Thank you!)
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The J. Press suit is just a little slimmer and fits me much better while still looking traditional. I love it.

All three items are union made, of course.
 

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