Shack Up presents.......... J. Rocc

J-Rocc is the founding member of The Beat Junkies

Established in 1992 in Orange County, California by J-Rocc who is African-American.

The Beat Junkies have won prestigious DJ battles and competitions like the DMC, the Supermen, and International Turntablists Federation competitions and going to world tour exhibitions. They have traveled and performed across the United States as well as Japan, Germany, Amsterdam, and Canada. The Beat Junkies as a Crew and individually have also featured in many other acts alongside artists such as Jurassic 5, The Visionaries, The Likwit Junkies with Defari, Phil Da Agony, Cypress Hill, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Dilated Peoples, andPeanut Butter Wolf who was so influenced by the Beat Junkies that he recruited Homeless Derelicts (Grand The Visitor and Architect currently members of Urban Umpires) whom were featured on Beat Junkies Vol.1 and released them as the second ever Stones Throw Records release.

The group was established in 1992 by J-Rocc. The original members included Curse, Rhettmatic, Melo-D, Icy Ice, Symphony, & What?!. Shortkut, D-Styles, Red-Jay, Havik, and Tommy Gun (who joined in late 1992) were later added. DJ Babu joined the Junkies by late 1993; the newest member is currently Mr. Choc, who was added to the crew in early 1996. 

Incredibly lucky to meet this guy last night in Kelly's Bar in Galway thanks to Dj Graham Dolan who warmed up for him and who both played an incredible set. One of my favourite hip hop turntablists. Reminded me of times Breakdancing in King's College London in 2003! Jim Scully from Melbourne was there doing the six step with me,.. in particular to this chewn below. Classic. 

Parkour - Free Running in Jerusalem

This is how Free Running is uniting Arabic and Israeli teenagers

Dani, 17, performs a jump flip

 Dani, 17, back flips in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem - a bustling thoroughfare that had been a terrorist target in the Second Intifada

Ibrahim, 16, pushes off on a tree near the city walls

 Yazan, 17, back flips on a road in south Jerusalem

 Dani, 17, side-flips on a painted wall

 Yazan, 17, also shows off a side flip, this time in an alley in the Old City

Ibrahim, 16, on a dome atop David's Tomb on Mount Zion

Matanya Tausig's outstanding photographic project. Courtesy of The Independent 

Chewn from the Tune Yards

This footage is slightly astonishing



Via Spherical Notions inspiring music blog
For more check out.:
http://www.tune-yards.com/

Patrick Wolf Nipples in the Sugar Club

Patrick Wolf played on Monday 21st of March in the Sugar Club in Dublin, and I was lucky enough to gather up enough energy, after my long weekend in Wales, to make it to the gig. Monday night gigs are tough, and as much as I was dying to see the man perform, he didn't really help himself by keeping the crowd outside waiting, by nearly one and a half hours, before they would allow entry. The excuse given, was a problem with broken sound equipment, awaiting replacement from Belfast. Either way, I sure don't let these things annoy me. In fact I have been known to share Herr Wolf's relaxed sense of time, on occasion. The mood was building in the Sugar themed club, and he played well to the adoring and forgiving crowd, helpless to the sound of his velvet voice. Onlookers in the crowd included Wolf's own family members which resulted in the man himself looking very proud in front of his committed Irish followers, amidst them of his own true blood. 
Here are a few moments captured by snaps. 

My favourite moment was after his beautiful opening song, when funnily enough I ended up at the VERY end of the entire crowd, as a man does. Having dreamt the night before of being right up the front, within spitting distance of the man himself, SLR camera in hand, snapping away with my new flash and winning smiles, this seemed like a dose of a reality kicking Monday. As my friends reminded me of how the ideal never quite works out that way, I had a private moment of extreme excitement during the second chewn when I decided to mirror his stage antics right behind the entire crowd (excluding one unenthralled bar man), and boy did it deliver me a slightly guilty pleasure. Happy with the attention, from the lucky few behind the sound desk, who were brave enough to look the other way, yes, I guess you could say I did have the Time of My Life. 


Bravely enough though, I managed to make my my ideal (previous nights actual dream) a reality by moving to the forefront of the stage. I managed to get a really good view of the performance and he even smiled at me as I was pointing at my green Gillian Welch T-shirt, during his astonishing encores. Wolf, dressed very much like a leprechaun, had won the crowd at that stage, some of whom had surmounted to the tops of their tables, in search of magical positions and pots of gold.  
Will post link to video uploads later here... (sorry about the sound Kwality, but equipment got damaged). 
And here is the Setlist from the night courtesy of Setlistfm.

1. Armistice 
2. Time Of My Life 
3. Bluebells 
4. Wind In The Wires 
5. The Libertine 
6. The Bachelor 
7. Tristan 
8. Vulture 
9. The Days 
10. Who Will? 
11. Together 
12. Damaris 
    Encore:
13. The City 
14. The Magic Position 
    
    
    * Other moments from the Gillian Welch experience from the long weekend that had just past which was simply sublime. 
    
    

Sings: 'Colwyn Bay, let's pull together, Colwyn Bay... '