Thursday, 11 February 2010

February 2010 Soul Mix

Download here (MP3 format, download then unzip)


  1. Little Milton - I Know What I Want - Checker

  2. Charles Greene - Double-E Agent - ANLA

  3. Ray Scott and the Scottsmen - Feeling No Pain - Decca

  4. Jackie Lee - Try My Method - Mirwood

  5. The Larks - Soul Jerk - Money

  6. Bettye Swann - Lonely Love - Money

  7. Doc and the Interns - Baby I Know - Now

  8. Tommy Tucker - Oh! What a Feeling - London UK (UK only)

  9. Otis Clay - I Testify - One-derful

  10. Scott Bros Orch - They All Came Back - Toddlin' Town

  11. The Traits - Harlem Shuffle - Universal

  12. Cannibal and the Headhunters - Out of Sight - Rampart

  13. Gene Burks - Monkey Man - Arock

  14. JJ Johnson - I Dig Girls - Calla

  15. Sammy Jones - Cinderella Jones - Wand

  16. Panic Button - Hitch It To the Mule - Chalom

  17. Betty Everett - Too Hot Too Hold - Vee Jay

  18. Fontella Bass - I Can't Rest - Checker

  19. The Kittens - How Long (Can I Go On) - Chess

  20. Eddie Holman - Stay Mine For Heaven's Sake - Parkway

  21. Josephine Taylor - Good Lovin' - Mar-V-Lus

  22. Bunny Sigler - Can You Dig It - Parkway

  23. The Soul Sisters - Think About The Good Times - Sue

  24. Little Richie - Just Another Heartache - Seventy Seven - sadly not Sound Stage 7! :(

  25. Z.Z. Hill - You Were Wrong - MH

  26. Billy Young - The Sloopy - Jotis

  27. B.B. Brown - Low Down Dirty Tramp - Dit Dot

  28. Little Milton - Driftin' Drifter - Checker



some cheapies and old favourites in there...

Thursday, 24 September 2009


featuring LIVE

THE SEVERED LIMB

D-66

Firstly, thanks to everyone who made it along to our Birthday do... And to the great bands The Dirty Robbers and Tom Colborn. Sure everyone had as greasy a time as we did. Sorry if it got a little cramped, we'll be making more room for dancing this month, and sorry if anyone didn't get it (we heard that the doorman was turning some away as the venue had reached capacity)...

Moving on to October, we are pleased to host 2 high grade live acts... Firstly, The Severed Limb, who have been steady knocking em out at venues all over town with their unique twist of skiffle, rock n roll and more, so it's probably over due that we had them down at the Juke Jam...

We are also pleased to have along the virtuoso thrash blues wildman D-66 who will be serving up some of his "Chaindog Blues". His own recipe and a down home delicacy to be savoured!

Resident DJ's Liam Large and Michael Jemmeson alongside regular JukeJam guest DJ Snakester will break things up with bursts of Hot 50s RnB, Ska, Blues Rockers, Early Soul, Dance Craze Instrumentals and lots more...

We should have a limited batch of CDs (after running out last month) and of course our custom Jukebox Jam badges for FREE on the door... Plus don't forget our new label, with both 45 releases available for sale at the special price of 5 quid...

Releases are:

JBJ-1001 Rose Mitchell – Baby Please Don’t Go B/W Jo Ann Henderson - Baby Please Don't Go

JBJ-1002 Joe Tex – Pneumonia B/W Pneumonia (Organ Alternate)

Both for sale for £5 – retail price higher

£4 before 10.00pm (and to Juke Jam badge-wearers all night), £6 after

9pm til 3.00am

Peter Parkers Rock and Roll Club
4 Denmark Street
West End
London
WC2H 8LP

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Jukebox Jam - Friday 12th June 2009

Jukebox Jam!

Friday 12th June at the George Tavern

http://myspace.com/jukejam

Featuring Live

LITTLE G. WEEVIL

Playing House-Rocking, 'Apple Picker' Blues

http://www.myspace.com/littlegweevil

TOM COLBORN

Delta-influenced Bottleneck Shouters!

http://www.myspace.com/tomcolbornblues

With

Guest DJ LIAM HUGHES
of the West One R&B Club

And residents LIAM LARGE & MICHAEL JEMMESON

Putting down the no nonsense 50s / early 60s R&B, Jump, Blues Rockers, Boppers, Dance Craze RnR, Mambo and a smattering of Ska Scorchers.

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Vestax Handytrax hack - moving the power switch

The Vestax Handy trax is an excellent little portable turntable with only two real drawbacks. One is the size - it's slightly too large to fit in most shoulder bags; the second is the stupid positioning of the power switch - on the outside of the case where it can be easily switched on accidently, draining the batteries.

I've been fed up with the power switch for a few years, and have finally got around to moving it to a more sensible position. On the photo to the right, the new power switch is the metal toggle switch next to the speaker (Positions where the switch could be placed are limited, restricted by the speaker, the circuit boards inside, and the space required to play a 12" record). The instructions below are how I did it. This procedure is at your own risk and will undoubtedly invalidate your warranty.

(You can't really see on the photo, but another improvement that I already made was to add sticky-backed felt to the platter to help prevent scratching records).

Tools:
  • Hand-drill
  • Phillips screwdriver
  • Soldering iron
  • Wire cutters and wire strippers (or use sharp scissors)
Components:
  • Miniature SPST toggle switch. I used the Maplin FH97F Ultra Miniature toggle switch, however the white plastic case of the Vestax is very thick (~5mm) and one suitable for thicker panels would have been better. Any alternatives should be fine providing the height of the toggle is less than about 15mm (so it doesn't catch on the arm).
  • Short length (10cm?) of plastic shielded wire, one end stripped ~3mm, the other end stripped to 10mm
Layout of the Vestax Handytrax:

With the back cover removed, the handle at the bottom and the platter face down, the internal layout is as follows:
  • Top left - Circuit board 1 - power supply and audio output circuit board
  • Bottom left - Circuit board 2 - amplifer and power switch circuit board
  • Between the two circuit boards is the speaker
  • Right of circuit board 1 - the pickup arm
  • Below the pickup arm - a mini circuit board for the motor stop/start switch
  • Centre - battery compartment
  • Far right - the motor and turntable platter
The external power switch is on the lower circuit board and stops both the amplifer and the motor (the switch controlled by the pickup arm only stops the motor). It is this that the toggle switch will replace.



Instructions:
  1. Unplug the AC power supply and remove the batteries.
  2. Turn upside down and remove the grey base - there are 8 (identical) screws to remove.
  3. Turn the right way up (so the platter is facing you, and the handle at the bottom). Cover the bottom-left hole in the speaker grill with masking tape.
  4. Carefully drill through this hole to enlarge it (the toggle switch I used required a 5.2 mm mounting hole - so I used a 6mm drill bit). You may wish to drill through again from the other side to clear the hole properly.
  5. Prepare the toggle switch - because of the thickness of the panel, I only used the sprung washer on the rear and a nut on the front of the panel - the second nut and large notched washer were discarded (If your toggle switch has a longer 'bush' you may want to keep all the nuts and washers).
  6. Wrap the 10mm stripped end of the length of wire around the toggle switch with the sprung washer. This is to earth (US: ground) the metal parts of the switch.
  7. Insert the toggle switch, and add the nut to the front panel side and tighten to hold the switch in place. Try and make sure the toggle lines up neatly (moving either up-and-down or side-to-side as preferred).
  8. Remove the 2 (identical) shorter screws holding Circuit board 2 in place.
  9. Find the 2-core power cable that connects to the circuit board in the top-left corner, above the power switch (the connection is labelled 'switch' on the component side of the circuit board).
  10. Snip this cable close to the connector.
  11. Put circuit board 2 back in place and replace the screws.
  12. Follow the cable back to circuit board 1, and move it so that it reaches the toggle switch on the right of the speaker. You may need to loosen the speaker and the other circuit boards to do this (Remember to put the screws back).
  13. Separate the two cores of the cable and strip the ends.
  14. Solder the ends to the toggle switch.
  15. On the right hand edge of circuit board 2 is a small metal wire protruding a few milimetres, connected to earth. The other end of the earth wire from the toggle switch (from step 5) should be soldered to this.
  16. Now, replace the grey case (being careful not to trap any wires) and (before replacing the screws) test the toggle switch works by using the AC power supply.
  17. Once happy, replace the 8 case screws.


Now I'm not sure if I should remove the old switch or not - if removed, I'll have to find something to block the hole left in the casing. Ideas welcome!

Pork and Beans - Friday 29th May 2009



A new night of vintage Rhythm & Blues and Soul, Pork & Beans at Positively 4th Street (four minutes from Warren Street, Euston Square or Mornington Crescent Tube stations).

Residents Ethan Saunders and Timid Tomas are chuffed to be joined by Michael Jemmeson (Jukebox Jam) and Alan Handscombe for the opening night.

8pm - 1am, and all this for £3 on the door


Facebook event

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Sunday, 17 May 2009

May 2009 R&B mix

Another 75+ minutes of rhythm and blues 45s:


Download here
(MP3 format - download then unzip)

  1. Hamp Jones - Pack Your Clothes - East West
  2. Wynonie Harris - Git To Gittin' Baby - King
  3. Louis Jordan - Bills - Warwick
  4. Charles Calhoun - My Pigeon's Gone - Groove
  5. Duke Jenkins and his Orchestra - Shake It - Cobra
  6. Rosco Gordon - Just a Little Bit - Vee-Jay
  7. Jimmy Rogers - I Can't Believe - Chess
  8. Little Walter - Nobody But You - Checker
  9. Red West Combo - My Babe - Santo
  10. Blue Bull - I'm A Loser - Uni
  11. Sonny Forest - Travelin' - Verve
  12. Byther Smith - So Unhappy - Be Be
  13. George Allen - Come On Home - Sotoplay
  14. Rene Hall's Orchestra - Twitchy - Specialty
  15. Huey Smith and his Clowns - Genevieve - Ace
  16. The Moonriders - Easy Easy Cha Cha - Candy
  17. The Champs - Beatnik - Challenge
  18. The Page Boys - Barricuda - Hamilton
  19. Dolly Lyon - Palm Of Your Hand - Apollo
  20. Bent Forcep and the Patients - I Know What Happened to Baby Jane - Original Sound
  21. Donnie Elbert - Wild Child - DeLuxe
  22. The Newports - Dixie Women - Kent
  23. Buddy Ace - Screaming Please - Duke
  24. Lee Rogers - Troubles - MAH's
  25. "Sugar Boy" Williams - Little Girl - Herald
  26. Albert Washington and his Kings - Ramble - Finch
  27. Tarheel Slim and Little Ann - Can't Stay Away From You - Fire
  28. Johnnie & Joe - You Said It and Don't Forget It - Chess
  29. Etta and Harvey - Spoonful - Chess
  30. Rosco and Barbara - Could This Be Love - Old Town - Rosco Gordon and Barbara Kerr
  31. Gino Parks - For This I Thank You - Tamla
  32. The Sparkels - Try Love (One More Time) - Old Town

Thursday, 7 May 2009