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Rick Heffernan dropped out of an Irish design school to move to a pre-EU Vilnius, Lithuania on the basis of running the Baltic's best underground night club, and since then he has never looked back and worked full time in all aspects of the music industry including record deals with boutique labels to outdoor Eastern European raves for 30,000 people. Rick learned the ropes of the music industry from Paul Murphy, 80´s London jazz DJ pioneer, many moons ago and worked with such artists as: Grace Jones, Orbital, Nightmares on Wax, et al. Soon after he took on a 3-year management contract with original Studio 54 DJ legend, Nicky Siano. Thus far Rick lived in San Francisco, Vilnius, Helsinki and flew extensively to most corners of the planet, before anchoring himself in Barcelona’s music industry. He now calls the Catalan capital of Barcelona, more specifically the Gracia District, his home.

Recent Posts
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The Leroy Burgess Synthesis: Tripping with a Soul Icon

Interview with Leroy Burgess
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As one of disco boogie’s founding fathers, Leroy Burgess boasts a formidable body of work in the music industry. Every DJ, musician, disco head, boogie fanatic and soul brother is inevitably a fan of his legendary voice and the production skills that shaped scenes from the underground sound of the 70s’ smooth soul right on through to modern day house, collaborating with such artists as Ron Carroll and Joey Negro. His studio creations, reaching tour audiences across the globe, have given the world over vinyl slices of New York to add to their record collections. Burgess has also gained a huge following that ranges from London to Tokyo; he’s been specially invited to Rome to lecture young music students at the Red Bull Music Academy’s yearly get-together, which saw participants from ever corner of the planet wide-eyed at Burgess’s generation-crossing influence.

24 August 2009 10:43am | 3Comments
 

Interview: Paul Murphy

As prolific purveyor of 80’s dancefloor jazz and Wire Magazine’s first DJ of the year (circa 1985), Paul Murphy is one of the original London legends. Cited by everybody from Carl Cox to Gilles Peterson as their major influence, Paul was the first DJ to introduce jazz to the dance floor and thus, influenced a generation of young Londoners.

20 June 2009 5:19pm | Comments
 

Q&A: Bob Jones

swsat-may07-bozakBob Jones career in the music business started in May 1967, he secured a DJing job at his local youth centre and gained his first ‘club’ appearance in 1971. His music policy was, as it is now, the highest quality black music, featuring soul, dance and jazz, and he has been recognised worldwide as one of the first DJs ever to play jazz to a dance floor as early as 1971

He has played in numerous clubs and venues across England, Europe and the world. In 1981 he played on the pirate radio stations in Essex and London, and quickly gained a reputation for playing quality black music and was asked to join Blues & Soul magazine as their jazz correspondent in 1983.

10 April 2009 10:37am | 4Comments
 

Jose James

Fiesta de la Merce – Catalan, Barcelona
Date: 9/22/08
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It’s always nice to witness an artist onstage whose prolific musical output pushed him safely past that point in his career path that some like to call “making it”. Only this time around, Jose James is cruising down that path at two miles per hour, so everybody can take note as his stereo pumps out the smoothest shit produced in the industry. He arrived at the annual Fiesta de la Merce, for the weeklong party

3 October 2008 6:56pm | 1Comments
 

Summercase ‘08

With half the members of Stones Roses present in their own right, as well as aging punk blueprint drafters and modern British soul groups topped off with a shoeless and carefree Debbie Harry; the Summercase festival turned up the heat on a Spanish summer night. Barcelona, Spain was home to yet another weekender of amps, bleeps, screams and thumps. And now in its third year, this festival, had already hosted events showcasing the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Air, DJ Shadow, Daft Punk and the Chemical brothers to name a few. This year was no exception to the line-up

4 September 2008 2:05pm | Comments
 

Sonar ‘08


Sonar ‘08
www.sonar.es.

Arriving on the heels of a sweltering heat wave in mid-June, the Sonar ‘08 Festival provided a three-day weekend of non-stop electronic music for the 60,000 partiers who attended. The annual festival is now pushing past ten years when it first began in the Catalan District of Barcelona, Spain. Since then, the festival has grown into a mass media affair

18 July 2008 1:50pm | Comments
 

Primavera Sounds ‘08 – Part II

Estrella Damm Primavera Sounds – Barcelona, Spain
Event: 5/23/08 – 6/1/08
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Currently in its eighth consecutive year, Estrella Damm Primavera Sound’08 brought together a broad and eclectic line-up of more than a 150 artists stretched across thirteen stages of music

4 July 2008 6:18pm | Comments
 

Primavera Sound ‘08 – Part I

Estrella Damm Primavera Sounds – Barcelona, Spain
Event: 5/23/08 – 6/1/08
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Proving they are ballsier than most outdoor festivals of the same draw, this year’s Primavera Sounds ’08 boasted a broad spectrum of talent ranging from well-known bands

25 June 2008 2:58am | Comments
 

My Life: The Gracia District


(Barcelona, ESP) – Moving into a new hood especially in a new country can often be a daunting task. Yet traveling extensively over the last seven years to various parts

1 May 2008 2:38pm | 3Comments