How was your 2003?

[Belson]

So how was it for you? How's about you share some of your highs of 2003. Not necessarily just tunes, but moments, tings that a g'wan.......mention any downers if you like, but I'll be keeping mine all positive, cos really 2003 wasn't a great year for the Belsmeister.


Good things -

Not necessarily top of the heap, but for the purpose of this list it is. The one, the only, mighty FRESH BRILLO   . I think we have something very good going here chaps, and not only good, but I'ld say a touch envied in other fields.

Francois de Roubaix - Les Levres Rouges. Thriller, killer, diller.

Speedometer @ HF&S - just sublime, and for me **the** live act doing it at the moment.

QSO - Pushin' On. This 45 is so good, it's just soooo good. A staple to my set pretty much every where.

Jazzy Jeff @ Southport - the night I lost my nads. Absolutely blew my mind like none other. He's a must see, in my book.

Maz Sedgley - Happy. So much joy on a bundle of 12" wax.  In a relative year of gloom, this one shone.

Pete Isaacs Jelly Jazz @ the Eden Project. Such an inspired night - one to treasure until the next one.

England Rugby World Champs. Now I know why I played rugby for so many years. So no more.

Updated the studio set up. Still learning all of it, but the wisest purchases I made all year. 2004 is looking ***very*** musical indeed.

That'll do for now - looks like 2003 wasn't too bad after all!

See y'all on 8th December for the Xmas Brillo mashed-up.

 

[eclipsechaser]

ups

meeting some of you lot down at hf&s
finding loads more music to listen to. Far too much to list
going to scotland to see an eclipse
baker brothers gig in islington
buying a motorhome and planning my next 2 years on the road
my missus for keeping me on the staight and narrow.

downs

too much stress during my working hours.
getting burgled
waiting to rent my bloody house out.

[pokester]

Not that good record wise.....

Best record I bought this year for me was RTB sa gostima...
(if there is a beter big band jazz-funk record out there I want it )
And found my orig cover copy of open sky unit.... after a few years searching...




The fun part was meeting all the record minded people all over the europe....

(cheers, sermad, guillaume, seb, john, anthony, vincent, benny, peter , jakob, all the brillo's I met ........

[llmod1]

One of the highlights for me was our Best of Brillo night. That really was a top, top night.

[Matt Hero]

A few from me.....

This Years Good Things....

Brillo
Both the Monday nights and the stellar (stella ?) 'Best Of'. I had been a bit nervous before attending my first meet, thinking that It might be a bit 'highpowered' for the likes of me, but everybody I've met through the nights have been top draw and it well worth the lengthy trek that I do there and back each month. I've learned *so* much from y'all, thanks for all the knowledge, laughs and beer.

Still Finding Records I Like
OK, I've moaned about the lack of gear at the boots and charity shops, but on the face of it I've found quite a few decent records for cheap... Power Pack, Elaine Delmar Lps amongst them. What I have found, is that charity shops on the whole are becoming a major part of the 'beaten track' - wierd looking junk shops than no bugger ever goes into are the future. That and house clearance auctions.

This Years Bad Things.....

The War
Words fail me here people.

Finding I agreed with something Micheal Howard said...
...this is a distinctly worrying development.

Getting on the wrong train home from Brillo
Petersfield station at 2am after the last train has left and I'm 40 miles from home is an overrated experience.

Rich moving to Cambridge
So where am I going to crash in London ? Talk about selfish Rich.

[sermad]

I've had a more down than up year. It's been emotional and I hope 2004 will relax a bit! Two weeks in barbados over new year should be a good start.

Good

Moving to london and going out loads with the posse here. Many a good night out with Nick C, Rich Hero and Bongolia! Get out the batty!

Again you can't beat the Brillo! The og lords of the london undergound! I doth my cap for starting this and for Nick C for having the brains to put it in a wicked pub with a great vibe and a great barmaid.

Seeing color climax replay the drama suites at HF&S. Made my head spin!

The Big Chill. This year was incredible. The sun was wonderful, sounds orgasmic and the beer freeflowing. Nice.

Getting back into some serious training again. Moved onto kali, jkd and vale tudo now! I know

Seeing saddam go. I'll never forget that day.

I've had no big scores this year but I've had probably one of the best years for rounding my collection. I feel I'm more focused on music now (I was quite anal) and I feel I'm more open about new musical styles (island and african music being a prime example).

Bad

Oh where do I start.

We haven't heard from our family in iraq for months now. If they are alive then I would like to know.

Moving to london...the place is a steaming crap hole. Well where I live is anyway. Why anyone would want to live here is beyond me. I simply cannot live without the sea. Going home on weekends is such a brilliant feeling.

Getting bike jacked wasn't fun.

Getting burgled also wasn't great.

Seeing that guy die outside my house.

[Rich Hero]

In no particular order...

Climbing with mates.  'Cos it's got me out of dingy, musty shops into the great outdoors and provided the little exercise I get. And it's healthy to socialise with a circle of friends who have absolutely no interest in record nerddom and put that side of me into perspective.

Going abroad.  Haven't taken much time off in the past few years but I've been to Paris and Spain since starting the new job, and taking breaks is a good thing. I'll definitely be doing more of the same in '04.  

Records.  I can't can single out any in particular but the shelves have filled out steadily in 2003, to a point where I can now attempt to weed out the unecessary crap without leaving one 45 and a couple of LPs.

New job.  Still not sure if it's a good move or a bad move but making a move was necessary... Maybe it'll finally give me the kick up the arse to work out exactly what it is that I do want to be doing. (But those of you who've known me for a while know not to hold your breath when I say this   ). One of the worst bits about it is missing out on H,F&S and all the other London knees ups with you guys.

Brillo and VV.  One and the same thing for me 'cos it stills feels like I know plenty of you I haven't yet met in the flesh. Brillo's never been the same twice but even those when I wasn't sure about making the trip into town were more than worth it. I've learnt of so much decent music from both the site and the meets but that's second to the fact that everyone who contributes is a proper diamond geezer. Cheers one and all. And Best Of Brillo was easily one of the most enjoyable nights I've had all year.    Can't wait to do that again.

There we go. The music's been good, the company's been good, the rest could be better so bring on 2004 and let's improve on 2003...

       

[Rich Hero]

Quote[/b] (Matt Hero @ Dec. 02 2003,15:01)]Rich moving to Cambridge
So where am I going to crash in London ? Talk about selfish Rich.

I've told you, it's not Cambridge...    How can somewhere on this tiny little island be so remote from *anything*  (Stansted excluded - of which I intend to take full advantage as I've already mentioned)??? Trust me Serms, London maybe shitty but it's strange how quickly I missed it. Tubes and nightbuses (or any sort of public transport for [email protected]£k's sake), record shops, cinema's, clubs, restaurants... I dream of those.

[Si Cheeba]

One major downer for me this year so I'll just concentrate on the Leapers and Uppers

Guest spots at some great clubs

Jelly Jazz - Storming night - totally rammed (on a Wednesday in Plymouth&#33 with a great crowd and top fella Mr Isaacs in full effect

MotherFunk - Large props indeed to Gino for the hospitality and his family for the great food. Fryer in full eff-eez-eck and a packed crowd shouting for more at 3am. I like Edinburgh.

SoulExplosion - Berlin represents with one of the best Funk45 and Latin Boogaloo clubs - full stop. Great City too - Frank Soulpusher's superb hospitality and me falling out of rowing boats will never be forgotten!

SoulCellars - Johnny Green in Southampton runs his own venue with a passion for the music - and he's a City fan - what a man. Some great nights here over 2003 & more to come next year.

BRILLO sessions
Who'd have thunk it? When Mark, Greg and I sat at a little table in darkest soho at the latter part of 2002 - that this would lead to meeting a great bunch of guys - yeh, I mean you boys, if only the world could learn from our brotherhood...where the Northerners speak to Southerners, Scottish speak to English and any johnny foreigner who want's to gatecrash is actually welcomed into our throng!?

And props to the Nick for the inspired move to the Salmon resulting in the legendary Saturday BRILLO night last month.


Prague - nowt to do with records, just a great place to visit. Everyone needs to go. £45 return from Stanstead too. How nice is that?

new music
A few tasty bits of new music came through the mostly disappointing barrage of releases - things like the Max Sedgley 12", the BeatFanatic 12", the GAMM label, The Irfane 12" and sorry peeps, but I liked the LP and the twelves from Format. Oh and the Ugly Duckling LP and twelves rocked my boat - especially the track with Gran Puba.


My little Bro's Wedding Well done young un. His mate's best man's speach was a killa - great family vibes all round on the day.


The weather
I like it hot - the summer lasted six months this year. Carry on with global warming - my palm trees are coming on a treat...

Onwards and upwards - 2004's looking like it should be interesting already.

[Nick Cope]

Bit of an odd year for me, going freelance with mixed results, good but not there yet - that kind of sums it up. However:


Brillo The highlight we've all shared this year. Great fun! I particularly like the way it's just grown organically, no need to promote, and everyone gets some real history...

Hot, Funky & Sweaty Not quite there yet, but some solid fans and some great gigs. Next year's plan is to set up a 'mini gig' network between my night and all the other little funk nights in London, so we can get loads of gigs for all the hardworking funk bands out there. Boogaloo Invesitigators have been driving down from Glasgow since 8am for Christ's sake!!

Color Climax @ HF&S Special mention needed cos they blew my mind when they ripped into their cover of the Hanged Man theme right at the end.

Gemm For emailing me to let me know they found me an E.Rodney Jones for cheap! Fuckin love that record...

And finally... All of this year's honeys!

[bongolia]

cheer up Rich, you have Essex Girls!

and you can go to Jamie Oliver's dad's pub and the schooltrip-tastic Stansted Mountfitchet Norman castle

[rolex baxter]

allrighty, its pretty easy to forget about the good things which happen so here goes:

7 weeks out of the country this year - rolex does allright on the travel/holiday front ... t'was a pleasure to meet the Eman at the Angel Islington pizza joint whilst in London (unfortunately I wasn't there at Brillo time) and Formigo when in AKL. Similarly, it was great to meet up with the missing in action Raj Mann when he was out my way.

bachelor days - ditched the flatmates and got my own pad this year, interesting .. bit of a sound den nahmean, no neighbours either whooorrr!!

the tunes - more and more madness. I'm no uber heavyweight but the knowledge (and collection) is expanding almost everyday  

dj krush & the beat junkies - two of the best gigs I caught this year, missed the jazzy jeff show as I was playing a party that night but I ran into him at a local shop and he kindly oblidged my request for a couple of snaps, one of which will be getting published next week

the bad, hmmmm

well seeing Belson mentioned the rugger, can I just say it was bit of a travesty when the ABs were knocked out - the poms are touring NZ for 2 tests next year so we'll be looking to knock em off the park!!

the current global instability is also quite disconcerting

onwards to 2004