A Blessed Mixtape

Unless you've been lying under a rock for the last few months you will know today is D-day here in the UK. And even though I have very little with royalty or the institution of marriage, I couldn't resist the whole royal wedding fever while making a new Spotify mixtape for TwentyTrackTape...

BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT contains 20 songs that cover all aspects of marriage: courtship, persuasion, parents' disapproval, objection, going to the chapel, the punch up at the wedding, solidarity, regrets and divorce.

Of course The Dixie Cups are on it with their Chapel Of Love, as well is Morrissey's Will Never Marry. There's Hot Chip's ode to monogamy and some good advice on marriage from Jimmy Soul and Smokey Robinson's mother. As I'm not the romantic type there a quite a few songs about divorce on it, including a song by Marvin Gaye, who recorded an entire album about his split from Anna Gordy (as part of their divorce settlement Marvin had to pay an extensive percentages of royalties of his next album to his ex. Consequently he made Here, My Dear, 14 songs about the deterioration of their marriage).

Especially for those of you who don't have Spotify, I'm treating you to a couple of the 'high lights' of my mix:


The Shangri-La's - Give Us Your Blessing. Get it here (YSI).
The Shangri-La's are one of my favorite girl groups. The girls sing like their chatting to each other, and lots of their songs are a bit sinister with sound effects dramatizing the mood. Wedding bells, a thunder storm and car crash can be heard on this song about two teenagers who run away because their parents don't approve of them tying the knot and crash themselves to death.


The Five Du-Tones - Divorce Court. Get it here (YSI).
A hilarious song that reenacts a court session. Especially one of The Five Du-Tones singing the wife's lines in a high pitched voice, and the husband breaking out in tears at the end!


Barrington Levy - Quick Divorce. Get it here (YSI).
Another song set inside the court. The reggae singer begs and pleas the judge to dissolve his marriage as fast as he can.

The hardest part of making this compilation was to limit it to 20 songs. I would have loved to included a Latin version of Frank Sinatra's Love And Marriage as sung by Peggy Lee, or I Cried All The Way To The Alter by country singer Patsy Cline or any song by The Wedding Present. But alas for them! Also my beloved Mirah didn't make the cut with Til Death Do Us Part, but I will share it with you here.


Mirah and Golden Bears - Til Death Do Us Part. Get it here (YSI).

And if this song was on Spotify it would have definitely made the list. More sound effects!

Roy C - Shotgun Wedding. Get it here (YSI).

Listen to the whole BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT playlist on Spotify by clicking HERE. Chick here to visit my Spotify profile.

How (not) to clean your vinyl

Last week a friend of mine rescued a big bag of 45s from the skip at the charity shop where she volunteers. Knowing how much I love my vinyl she invited me over to do some cherry picking over a lovely pint of Cornish ale. She would give the rest of the records to a friend, who makes bowls out of them. To be honest I thought it was going to be 99% rubbish, but I was amazed of what came out of that bag! These were all singles from the sixties, I think from a jukebox (as they had no sleeves). There were The Beatles and The Stones, there were some crooners (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones), some rock 'n roll (Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker, Brenda Lee) and some Motown and soul (Al Green, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina, The Supremes, The Four Tops). I also took a few with intriguing titles, like The Human Jungle/Onward, Christian Spacemen by The John Barry Seven. Lucky me!!

Now I didn't expect these records to be in mint condition (they came in a plastic carrier bag - without sleeves...). But the biggest problem was that they were disgustingly dirty! So I went on the internet and Googled for cleaning advice for vinyl. Enter Nerdworld. I found all sorts home made recipes for cleaning fluid, using various amounts of distilled water, washing up liquid, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, Triton X-100, and/or tile cleaner. There was one guy who swore by using a diaper (a cotton one that is). Big no no's are using ordinary tap water and playing your records wet. A good way of drying them is putting them on a drill and then spinning them at the highest speed! Though this might be a myth.

They probably need a good clean in one of those machines, which "will apply the record cleaning solution, properly scrub the record and finally vacuum the dirt and liquid off leaving you with a dry and pristine vinyl record". But with these records 'a blind horse couldn't do any damage' (as we say in Holland), so I thought I'd just give it a go with some water with a few drops of washing up liquid and some cotton pads. I probably broke all the golden rules of record cleaning, but it helped. Somewhat. Just look at the dirt that came off!



Ieeew!! It took me an entire evening to brush and wipe them all off, but here they are now, nicely stacked in crisp white sleeves that I ordered on eBay.


Listen to a few of the treasures I received. Luckily for you guys I don't have one of those USB record players, so these MP3s are with out the crackles, scratches and dust :-)

I am extremely happy that Fingertips I and II by Little Stevie Wonder (aged 12 at the time!) was saved from the bin. It's a live take cut in two, so the jam just continues on the B-side. "Stomp your feet, jump up and down and do anything that you wanna do!"

Little Stevie Wonder - Fingertips I & II. Get it here (YSI).

Nice bluesy swing/big band tune, until 'Raelette' Margie Hendrix rips it up after a minute and a half. Holy shit.

Ray Charles - You Are My Sunshine. Get it here (YSI).

Another gem is Al Green's beautiful Tired Of Being Alone. But the B-side Right Now, Right Now is also a great track. Very funky, very Papa-Was-A-Rolling-Stone-esk.

Al Green - Right No, Right Now. Get it here (YSI).

Worth a clean right?!

New Orleans Doll

You know how you start out surfing the web with a particular goal and with in no time you're totally sidetracked and end up god knows where. This is exactly what happened to me last night. I was looking for a large but still handsome and stylish rucksack (quite a quest I can tell you) when I found some very strange and somewhat disturbing pictures on some sort of 'life style' blog...

The pictures were of New Orleans singer Ernie K-Doe. Now Ernie made some great tunes in the early '60s, with and without the legendary artist/producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint. His biggest hit was Mother In Law. Probably lots of people could relate to the lyrics "The worst person I know / Mother-in law, mother-in law... Satan should be her name / Mother-in law, mother-in law...". Other songs, like Here Come The Girls and Certain Girl are absolute stompers! I never knew much about Ernie besides the fact that he was a great singer and I absolutely loved these songs. But after seeing these pictures I became curious. Turns out this guy was quite a character!

☝ Ernie at the beginning of his career (please note this is not one of THE pictures I was talking about).

After his success in the '60s and some flops in the early '70s Ernie developed an alcohol problem. But he managed to turn his life around in the '80s when he got a radio show. It was pretty popular, thanks to his "explosively energetic announcements and frequent self promotion", calling himself "Emperor of The World" and “the Greatest Boy-Child ever conceived at Charity Hospital in New Orleans”.

In the '90s he and his wife opened up a bar in New Orleans and called it the Mother In Law Lounge. Ernie sang his greatest hits on Mondays and his wife Antoinette would serve soul food. Sadly Ernie died in 2001 of liver and kidney failure. Antoinette continued running the Lounge and she turned it into a shrine for her late husband. She even had a MANNEQUIN of Ernie made! It would sit in the bar somewhere and it would regularly change outfits. So here come the slightly weird pictures I was referring to:





☝ Ernie the doll. On the last two picture with his wife.. euh widow Antoinette. And Usher.

The doll even ran for mayor of New Orleans in 2006!

During Mardi Gras 2009 Antoinette passed away. Their daughter kept the bar going for some time, but she closed it in June last year after a car drove in and crashed the place.. What a pity!! From what I read it must have been a great place! She sold a lot of the paraphernalia and fixtures of the bar at a garage sale. I sure hope she kept the mannequin!

"The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!"



Ernie K-Doe - Here Come The Girls. Get it here (YSI).


Ernie K-Doe - Certain Girl. Get it here (YSI).

Still under the covers

The heating is blazing, the warm water bottle is in daily use and "I am sitting in front of my computer with a blanket like an old person" as well: it got chilly here in Wales! And wet and grey and windy. But these covers are keeping me warm these days...


Erma Franklin - Hold On I'm Comin' (Sam and Dave cover). Get it here (YSI).


Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover). Get it here (YSI).


Body Language - Sandwiches (Alaska In Winter Remix) (Detroit Grand Pubahs cover). Get it here (YSI).

Wie schön das ist

It's 19.00 and I'm ready for bed. My eyes are droopy and the skin below them is a dark shade of purplish blue... I am recovering from a fantastic weekend. Friends of mine got married on Saturday, but the celebrations lasted the whole weekend! It was a special day for a number of reasons. Of course it was special to see my friends getting married, but there were a lot of details that made this wedding an extraordinary one: the fantastic setting of Cardiff Castle, the cake and the stunning wedding dress (both made by the bride herself!), the Dusty Springfieldesque hairdo’s of the bridesmaids, the beer (smuggled across the German border by two of their friends) and last but not least the ORIGAMI FLOWER ARRANGMENTS (also made by the bride herself!!).


For the party they’d booked the EXCELLENT Klezmer Kollective, an 8-piece outfit from Cardiff. Their music led to wild and ecstatic dancing by all guests (as you can vaguely see on the picture above)! As there weren’t any DJ-facilities the couple had asked me to put together some compilation cd’s for the evening and night. Because the now-husband is German and the now-wife is Welsh I dug up songs by German and Welsh artists and some odd covers in either German or Welsh, some of which I’ll share with you here. I especially love Motown ‘auf Deutsch’, they sing with the cutest accent. Sehr süß!

Marvin Gaye - Wie Schön Das Ist. Get it here (YSI).

The Beatles – Sie Liebt Dich. Get it here (YSI).

Marty Roos - Blauer Montag. Get it here (YSI.

Tom Jones – Ring Of Fire. Get it here (YSI).

Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright - Newport Ymerodraeth State Of Mind. Get it here (YSI).

the foxy golden girl

Blanche, she's here!! Not shaped like an old lady, but like a mobile soundsystem.


We took a very boring grey walker, spray-painted it pink and kitted it out with alot of gear and now we can make alot of noise, everywhere! We stroll behind the walker in style while playing a happy mix of boogaloo, reggae, soul, dancehall, dub and all the other things that make you feel sooo good!!

It's all in our coconutsmix. Have a listen here.

To celebrate the birth of Blanche we will be going for a loong walk in Berlin this summer. We will hit every spot we can and keep you posted on everything that is going on. So if you're in Berlin this summer.. Come boogie with us!

Soul, Steel and Show

I was just surfing a bit, checking out some music blogs when I suddenly stumbled on this post about The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band at the Funk my Soul blog. Having a soft spot for the steel drum I immediately downloaded the MP3s this kind blogger had ripped off the LP Soul, Steel and Show. It was - I kid you not - the best thing I heard in a long time! This album is such a gem (and priced accordingly.. it is very sought after), I just have to share it with you.

The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band consists of musicians originally from Suriname and Trinidad and apparently they had several hits in the Netherlands and Germany in the seventies. I learned a few other interesting facts about the formation on the extensive Zaanse Pophistorie website. Like that they were founded by Adolf J. Tevreden, that their manager was Joop Koekkoek (which I found funny because that's my dad's name), that they were sampled by DJ Shadow and that they're still together. So I'm wondering: when's their next show??


Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band - Theme From Shaft. Get it here (YSI).


Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band - Feelin' Allright. Get it here (YSI).

the Berliner Skank a la Dutch Dolls

So after a little over five weeks I'm back in Cardiff. Except for the rain, it feels nice to be at HOME again. Surrounded by all my stuff, having a closet full of clothes to choose from, being called 'love' by the cashier at Tesco's, a PROPER INTERNET CONNECTION... The latter, plus the fact that we worked/partied/relaxed a lot, were the reasons for the infrequent postings the last couple of weeks. But I'll make up for it now by giving you some of Berlin's highlights according to Dutch Dolls...

Like this tiny Greek restaurant called Thalassa (Körtestrasse 8) in Kreuzberg. No live music, no tacky decor, no colums. This family run restaurant serves finger licking yummy food, prepared by a big mama. Highly, highly recommended!

Does fermented cabbage sound appealing to you?! To me it never did! But in Korea they love the stuff: kimchi. I've never been a great fan. So when I made a bet (trying not to drink alcohol for one day..) my challenge would be to eat kimchi. Of course I failed... So off we went to Kimchi Princess, a new, stylish Korean restaurant in Kreuzberg 36 (almost too stylish for its surroundings). I had a kimchi crêpe and it was de-li-cious! I'm converted :-)

One of my best nights out ever was probably at Kiki Blofeld: dancing to obscure soul & funk music in a boathouse, chilling outside by a campfire and playing foosball under the stars. Brilliant!! This picture of the (then empty) boathouse doesn't do it justice at all!


Dutch Dolls had another memorable night out at Cassiopeia in Friedrichshain. The ruins of an old factory house two concert venues, a beergarten (check out the pic), an open air cinema and skate hall. Very raw, but the atmosphere is very gemütlich. We shaked our booty to some live R'n B (!), hip hop and dancehall till dawn!


Two nice dives in the neighbourhood of the Falkensteinstrasse in Xberg are Madame Claude and Konrad Tönz. In Madame Claude you can play ping pong or play your musical instrument at one of their open mic nights. Sometimes they have bands playing in their tiny and very damp basement. Oh I just love Konrad Tönz! The bartender is superfriendly and he blends in neatly with the retro interior of the bar... The DJs spin their records (boogaloo, schlager, (ost-)beat, soul and jazz) on two mono record players. Dutch Dolls recommends buying a bottle of sekt (German sparkling wine) there. The bartender will keep it chilled for you in the fridge and he'll fluff you up every now and then.

They say "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". So when in Berlin, go to the fleamarket! The one on Arkonaplatz has a very nice selection of old junk (I should say vintage - go to Mauerpark for a massive amount of just junk). Once a month the legendary punk club SO36 has a Nachtflomarkt. The quality of the goods isn't that great, but it's cheap. So at least you still have a chance of finding a real treasure here. Another big plus is that you can 'trödel' here with a beer in your hand and excellent soul music in the background!

More legendary punk is to be found at the Ramones museum in Mitte. On display are Ramones memorabilia from some obsessive fan. Which is great! There's a framed pair of Johnny's pants, old report cards and of course lots of pictures and posters (there are actually some pretty cool photobooth photo's and contact sheets). Every punk-ish band that visits Berlin drops by at the museum and they often do an acoustic live show. For FREE!! I went there to see the Riverboat Gamblers! I enjoyed it a lot, even though they couldn't rock out as much since they didn't want to trash the museum. On YouTube I found the video that the guy in front of me made. He was clearly into it as well; the camera is bouncing to the rhythm...



Bye bye Berlin, until next year!!

fan of a thousand dances

Back in the days when I was young and started going out I didn’t have a clue what to do with myself on the dance floor. So together with some friends I ‘invented’ a dance that gave us something to do to those idiotic eurodance tunes, and that prevented us from looking like total hay sticks. Our dance moves were based on domestic chores… Do the dishes! Iron! Vacuumclean! Clean the windows! Do some painting! With a little imagination you can picture it, right?! Och, it's a great dance. I still do the domestic-chores-dance every now and when I go dancing, and I’d like to think I can pull it off.

So I dig songs that are all about a dance instructions. I started to collect them. The Twist, The Locomotion, The Boomerang, The Zonk, The Kangeroo, The Mashed Potato, The Monster Mash, The Wah Watushi, The Shing A Ling, The Roach, The Bug, The 81, The Camel Walk, The Funky Chicken, The Duck, The Bird, Walking the Dog, The Harlem Shuffle, The Clapping Song, Footstompin’, Barefootin’, The Monkey Walk, the list goes on and on… Yeah, it was a real craze in the 60’s!

And it’s a real craze right now in the dancehall/UK funky/grime scene as well!! Migraine Skank, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, Stanky Legg, Stupid Skank… Watch the Fresh Az Ice Dancers do all these dances to this track by Doctor. Pretty brilliant!



So I’m leaving you with one oldie and one contemporary dance-song. Now go practice in front of the mirror.

Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time. Get it here (YSI).

Gracious “Napa Man” K – Migraine Skank. Get it here (YSI).
Instructions on how to do the Migraine Skank here ;-)

shake rattle & bowl

Should you ever be in London and feel like BOWLING, go to the basement of Tavistock Hotel for some good clean fun!
A friend of mine celebrated her birthday here last Saturday and WE HAD A BALL (sorry, that was too cheesy). DJs were spinning rock 'n roll, soul, garage rock, girl groups and boogaloo while I was guttering every single throw. The place got packed; cardigans, petticoats and polkadots galore! There was some serious hipshaking going on at the dancefloor, while the bowling continued and burgers were being served in the diner. Ace!!

There are Shake Rattle & Bowl clubnights in Bristol as well!
www.shakerattleandbowl.com