Olympics Do 2007

 Welcome to my regular feature here in The Shed , First issue I wish to tackle is what makes a good Dj, there are two types of Dj, a record collector and an entertainer, the record collector, who may have a very good collection and worth thousands of pounds, 9 times out of ten will not make a good Dj, on the other side of the coin, an entertainer who knows his job, can do it with Cd’s, Mp3s, or even a laptop plugged into the mixer..

I for a start fall into both of those above, I have a good collection, but prefer to work with Cd’s, reason being, I don’t want my vinyl messed up and ruined by someone else’s poxy needle.

Now a good Dj is someone who can read the dance floor and keep it full and pumping, not someone who will play for himself and sometimes his mates, but fails to see people leaving in their masses.

I know most Dj’s get frustrated that they cant make the dance floor move with the latest tunes they have brought or downloaded and have to go back to soul and ska every time. Just as much the dancers get annoyed with the Dj cos he is playing indie and not soul, Believe me its catch 22 no matter what the Dj does.

The method I use is the simple 4 x 4, in simple terms, 4 ska then move on to 4 soul, then 4 indie and so on. But keeping an eye on the floor at all times, one type of music doesn’t work quickly move on to the next. Sometimes I even find myself being cornered into the soul and ska and a little bit of mod routine, but as long as that dance floor is 100% full, I will end my set a happy bunny.

I have worked hard to get where I am now, mostly ups and some downs, but you learn what works and what don’t….

What to Play

The word SCOOTERIST, meaning scooter rider in turn means we are not all the same. This causes the Dj more hassle. Punks, Mods, Soulies ,Goths, Ravers, Psycho billys, Skinheads and even Metal heads all ride scooters they turn up at scooter rallies so they all surely have the right to listen to what the want …. No…. it don’t work that way, I promise you

You Dj and find out, I have played Carwash and got sworn at, I have played Ace of spades and nearly ended up in a fight. In my early days of being a Mod I was well and truly blinkered and only listened to Mod music. But soon opened up when that style of music was starting to get stale, still a Mod but at least when I go back to my Small faces, Jimmy Smith and Secret Affair it all sounds fresh again, surely that’s the way we should all start to think. If a record comes on you don’t like, wait 3 minutes and the record would have changed, and you’ll appreciate your music more….But it will never happen,

I wonder sometimes if the Scooter scene is doomed, ending when the last narrow minded scooterist reaches 65 and has a heart attack on the dance floor…..I did say I wondered, cos lets face it the average age of the scooterist on the rallies now is mid forties..

Lets move on …

Follow me as I give reports on the rallies and Do’s I Dj at , with a look from the Dj;s side of the event, and the goings on behind the decks……

The Olympics Do, 10th Feb 2007

Scootergoth and myself set off from Colchester heading towards Dudley, nipping into Tecos ½ mile from the hotel for tonight’s refreshments, and boy were we glad we did, as bar prices were stupid, a bottle of Magners costing a whopping £4.50.

We settled into the hotel and after drifting off to our favourite burger express we returned to an empty hotel, wondering if we had come on the right date, quick bath and I set about putting Scooterist Radio flyers and Postcards in the hall ready, bumping into Ginger and Caroline doing the same for his now famous Easter egg run, and gofer drinking one of his many pints to be downed that night, the bar was slowly filling up with the Disco equipment being set up by Chevy. The night was slowly falling into place.

Returning back upstairs to collect my loved one, I dumped into Johns mate Dave, and Mr John Boland himself, walking the corridors aimlessly. Quick natter we all went back to Fiona’s and my room for a quick intake of verbal Tenerife dabbling.

It wasn’t long before we headed downstairs to the bar, F*** me it was heaving 4 or 5 deep at the bar. I made a move up the Dj area to check my on and off times, cool I was on at 11:30 time to mingle, the usual suspects clinging to their chairs and tables, Mr Foster was doing his rounds with VFM Postcards, bumped into Mag, Mark(Lambretta art), Usual Colchester get up and go crew Rene, Sally and Dom and Kristy and Kim, time to sour up the beer and get the heart beating faster, and before I knew it I was taking over from Daz . Now I must say this year’s equipment was the best ever the Olympics had got in for the Dj’s to work with. The bass levels even knocking my cd’s on the floor. I had been playing Big Boss Mans Boogaloo on the radio for a couple weeks prior to the event and was sure it would work well, mmmm a Dj never learns, it flopped, but quickly moving on to the Beats “Twist and crawl”, I used one of my best Dj tools to get the crowd into a night they would not forget, my voice plus the volume fader, the crowd had to work hard that night, with them signing most of “I predict a riot” and “Going underground” and a few others to boot. The dance floor was packed right up to the moment I left the decks at 1am. What a cracking night, left Chevy to finish off and headed into the bar it was still buzzing in the bar or was that still buzzing in my head…….Having a very interesting chat to Kim and Kristy for a few hours, made me think, should I have said what I did about my ex scooter club…….Booze and stuff, equals a truth serum…not good. Spent some time speaking and comparing notes with ex Colchester scooterist Paul and Norwich Gal Donna, and having a good laugh. Fiona was well away chatting to Maria and Becky.

It was finally 5:15am when Fiona and myself went to bed…

As always a cracking night by the Olympics Scooter Club, if this is how the rest of the session is going to turn out, god help us…its gonna be a party.

Sadly I did take my camera but not knowing at the time I was to do these reports for The Shed, I didn’t use it, …

Join me next time when I give you the goings on in Tenerife and good tunes to buy or download……

Dave Porter

VFM/SiR