BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT REVISITED

The dancers are doing it on that talent show. You know the one? I don’t have to give them a plug again do I? Oh all right then: BRITAIN HAS GOT TALENT It has you know. This week I saw not only another brilliant youth street dance troup but an absolutely brilliant young Scottish plumber who came out onto the stage like a mouse and roared with a voice like a LION. And my dears.... What a lion rendition he gave. Clear crystal tones with a hint of sultry under tones wafting through the big notes. The boy was good. I don’t think he will be a plumber for very much longer because regardless of whether he wins this talent contest or not, He’s got a massive future ahead of him and I know we will be hearing more from this young man over the coming years.
So you know what? I’m gonna stop being snobby about this show and celebrate the really great talent that is showcasing on this expose and laugh in the spirit of things at the way you are meant to with these things, at the ones who are downright hopeless but brave, the ones who are performers but not quite up to scratch and sympathise with those few who just missed the cut because the competition was just too good for them.

So I can only mention acts from the three shows I’ve seen and say good luck signature
Good luck the girl with the really, really clever dog whose act you have to see to believe.
Good luck the Michael Jackson lookalike dancer and his Sikh sidekick
Good luck the failed footballer with the amazing ball control skills
Good luck the dramatic Actor/singer who refused t be put off when Cowell told him that the piece he had chosen to do was the one piece that he Simon hated most in the whole wide world. The audience was aghast. Simon’s fellow panellists rebelled and interceded to give the poor guy another chance as he had not prepared anything else. The music was reset and starting from scratch this 18 year old went on to perform exactly the same piece and deliver a tour-de-force performance with the commitment and passion that had the audience stomping, shouting, standing and cheering in the stalls and galleries. It was nothing less than rapture in the house. Simon very graciously put his hands up and admitted that his performance was so dynamic that he was without question more than likely the find of the series.
Good luck Charlie Green.
Good luck to everyone who has got through to the semi finals and may the best act prevail.

Nice one Britons You got Talent.

The prize is to perform on stage at the Royal Albert hall in the presence of HRH Charlie Prince of Wales

Love My Music

I guess I am just a music Junkie. It is my drug of choice I love my music madly It has it's own true voice. I guess I'm hooked and like any unreconstructed addict I don’t want a cure - I'm stuck - I know I have my habit I love it way too much. As far back as I can remember music's been my crush. There are fewer things I love more in life than my old music Rush.

Music has been an ever-playing soundtrack accompanying me since before As far back as I can remember. Oh those many joyous, wondrous times when everything's been going well and all you can hear is the sonorous bell like chimes and good vibes. That vibe deep down inside that you only get from music's touch.

And then there have been the times when I’ve been mixed up and the TV is on the blink, the C.D playing stinks and all I can think is If I could just find that song if I could just make that link. If I could bang that drum and drink that drink of amber nectar to sooth my tongue so's I could sing, then maybe I wouldn’t be caught between this rock and a dubplates not really what is called for here. This is a mood that is more in need of love and care and tender melodies and maybe just a little music flush.

Music is my Karma, my Sutra the event horizon future. Music is my mantra I'm a chanter. When I chant I just get stronger. And: As far back as I can remember It has scored and accompanied the landmarks in my life. The high notes, low notes sweet notes, blue notes. The soft tones, the dramas that it’s nursed me through when I have been so down and blue. I have used it in so many ways. I have a type of music that I will listen to when I am blue I have a type that I will listen to when I am HipHappy, another reserved exclusively for between the sheetmusic, a completely different tempo when I want to get down and funk the living daylights out of .... But let me not distract or lose track of what I’m playing ‘cause when I am in a bubbly mood I love to play my reggae, but if I'm in a troubly mood I couldn't give a sheg-I gonna play my rebel music, non stop, throw down leggo music, Hip-Hop. If I'm in a thinking mood or contemplating something philosophical I'll go classical If I'm in a spiritual mood -transcendental I will sit down and go central. Cross legged, mantis like, and maybe hum a little and just chill. Still there’s only one real deal… Music... Hush! Music... Rush me Music.... Touch me. Music... Embrace me I win I got a King's Flush. Games done.
See!
I don’t mind that music fills my every waking moments and that I have been utterly infatuated with it all my life.
See as far back as I can remember: I’ve been it’s faithful husband It’s been my faithful wife.

Not so Tired, Not So Broken

I watched 'Britain's Got Talent' this evening and was absolutely blown away by an amateur youth dance act that was out of this world. They presented: menacing, androgynous, dressed all in black, porcelain masks under hooded cowls, A kind of android type gang thing going on. All crouched together in one big amorphous, unmoving mass. And then they started to slowly disentangle. And then they started to dance. A three act micro street opera in less than three minutes. It was riveting, it was fantastic. No! It was absolutely bloody brilliant.

What really impressed me about these kids was that they were not privilleged beneficiaries of dance academies or stage schools. They all grew up in the hood and formed their little company organically. Their material was actually choreographed by one of the mothers. They came out onto the stage and put on the most thought provoking, dynamic amateur dance drama I have seen in a hell of a long time.

They were interviewed during the course of the show and revealed that their ambitions was not to be super stars or to make lots of money, but to be examples and good role models and positive influences on other deprived kids in their area. It emerged that they were already engaged in taking their act into inner city schools in an attempt to engage with and inspire younger kids to aim for more than what is on offer on the street corner. And they were doing it out of a genuine love for their art and a sense of responsibility and commitment to their community.

Now I have to tell you that I usually turn my nose up at these lame, tired, 'past-their use-by-date' talent shows because they tend to discover very little real talent and provide even less real entertainment. I am happy to say that having tuned into this show over the past two or three weeks, Britain does have talent and I hope we get lots and lots of it passing through the portals of Mixit.TV in the future.

MIXIT FORUM TEST

We're getting some fat feedback on site to the blogs that we have posted up over the last few days and it is our intention here at Mixit.tv to introduce a forum where you can come to chat, hang out, watch videos, talk to your friends just basically mixit up and party with us. We want you to invite your friends and tell them to invite their friends. We want to make this a fun place to be, where you can come and spend an hour, stop for three if you so desire; have your tea and come back for more mixit.tv. And you know the best thing about it is it's all for free.

We are now in the testing phase of this site and our forum. If you are reading this then you have
most likely been introduced by someone who knows either Alexzanda, Dennis, Derrick or Gerry and we would like to invite you to share the mixit forum with us, share your stories, share a joke. Tell us about your music. What you like what you don't like. Why? You can ask us entertainment /music related questions If we don't have the answers I am sure we know a man or woman who does, or maybe throw it open to the forum.

We don't have any age restrictions or age limits here on mixit. we intend to provide programmes to engage the entire family. Consider us like an interactive mall or a very, very good magazine that you can log into when you want to; bookmarking those areas to take you straight to your topic or programmes of interest.

This station is going to be fully interactive we want to hear your suggestions of the kinds of things you want mixit to offer you online. We want you to tell us when you are happy with us as well as whether you think we are not mixing it rich enough for your taste. We will willingly take your criticisms if you take the time to commend us when we are getting it right. The best way that you can do that is to participate and get your friends, where you are and overseas, to participate and interact with you and us on mixit. Welcome to MIXIT.TV may your stay with us be happy, enjoyable and fun and who knows you might even learn a thing or two along the ride.

Mixit.TV Forum Bear in mind that the site is still undergoing construction.

WHAT'S RAP GOT TO DO WITH IT?

In broken society Britain, if you ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, an alarmingly high number of them is going to tell you that they want to be a 'supa-star' or a celebrity and I say alarming because if the ones who have these lofty ambitions were paying attention to preparing themselves to be extraordinary human beings; then I would be at the front of the parade, cheerleading them to go get it. The problem is that they have the ambition without the grit to graft for it. or self discipline to even get or hold down ordinary jobs in the emerging super competitive IT world that they will be the inheritors of.

The problem is that many of them think that all they have to do is want it bad enough and it will somehow magically happen. Wanting it has supplanted working for it. They don’t have any talent to speak of, they don’t have extraordinary intellects. They don’t have tenacity or the endurance ethic but they want all the glory and all the accolades and they want it all now.

You cant talk to them about studying and slowly climbing up the ladder of success. You can’t talk to them about ‘payin’ no dues’ they want their piece of the pie now and they want it without any sense that they must put something in to deserve it. Now this might sound like I’m being down on the youth and being wholly pessimistic about them and their prospects in life but I am not. You see I think it is not too late to turn them around and put a stop to these unrealistic aspirations.

It is ironic that street ethics allows them to admire and role model the drug dealer, because he has plenty of bling, nice car and wads a cash, but not the Dr or lawyer who is making a valuable contribution to their environment. Both examples incidentally, make big-money but the one is street-lore sexy and the other is a job for smart people who paid attention in class. The tragedy is that translated into real life this street ................ says that the local bad boy excluded from school commands far more kudos than the goody goody A grade student who aint playin' the game and won’t join the gang.

How can it be right that a Phd or university degree is worth less than bling and conspicuous consumption?

What does rap and MTV have to do with the skewering of the expectations of young people? I know what I think. What about you?

ICE - in car ent... Come a long way (baby)

OK - I will admit it, I am a bit of a geek ... when it comes to technology, gadgets and general stuff I am the guy that knows why it needs to have 'A2DP' ...



Which brings me neatly on to ICE - in car entertainment, what's it all about, well the basics of it is the car stereo, you can connect that through to an additional amp, to subs and more speakers ... but thats not the side that really interests me - its the less tricked out, more smoother angle... Don't get me wrong, decent speakers, output and bass are a must, but I don't take it to the level of extreme ...

My next stereo is going to be gadget laden, seriously loaded with the right features -

• A2DP - which is just stereo bluetooth, this means it will talk to my Mobile (N95) or my Laptop (with an A2DP compatible bluetooth dongle)
  Beyond the being able to take calls handsdfree in the car, which is useful if your trying to find something or picking someone up, you can use the music stored on your mobile - which if your like me is a pretty sizable collection!
• DAB - digital radio, that step up in clarity and choice ... a seriously increased range!
• MP3 - Of course - but how is it stored ...
• SD Card
• USB slot

These last two are significant - half of my old music collection is now on a computer (or two), these have SD card slots and SD cards (cheap memory cards) can have 2gb on them easily, thats 4 x the size of an mp3 CD! We are talking about 500 songs you can easily change as easily as moving them to and from a drive on your computer. A USB slot - that can mean portable hard disks of 80gb+ you do the maths!

Heres the real question - why is it in ICE (In car Entertainment) you can get all the above for a pretty good price? Take a look at IceBuyer.co.uk or Maplin there is some serious deals out there! I haven't quite found the package I want, so for now I am sticking with the ol' mp3 playing CD player in my car at the moment ...

shame my music collections so bad

From Batty-Rida to Thigh-Diva

or
Bottoms Up
There is a 'youf’ fashion phenomena that you just got to have noticed if you live anywhere near a big town or urban city in the UK. You must have noticed it because its right there in your face and a bit of a cheek (pun fully intendedAndYouWillSeeWhat-I-meanLata) Young boys and girls shuffling around wearing the most uncomfortable looking excuse-for-pants. The 'He'; of the species will invariably have a nattily orientated baseball cap on. The 'She' will have tattoos and/or face studs and/or rings and/or multicoloured hair extensions/weaves, etc. He will have at least one hood (up or down optional) to his many layers of bootleg-designer tracksuit (tracki) tops ... And no I am not going to be down on hoodies, and join the righteously indignant lynchmob baying for their blood. I want to talk to you about BOTTOMS!

The phenomena to which I refer relates to the fact that this tribe of young boysNgirls are walking around with the top of their traki bottoms pulled down and somehow kind-a-perilously hangin-lo from their upper thighs. The crotch (vertical height from inner leg to top of shoe) of these special youf pants are cut so low that it allows very little opportunity for them to execute a normal-length stride; so they walk by doing a cross between a Geisha girl shuffle and Emperor-penguin hobble. Each forward step is pendulem perfect, side to side rocking motion. It is the most comical walking gaite you will ever see.

Now I am completely impressed by an amazing, some might say miraculous, balancing act that they pull-off, swaddled in this bondaged leggings contraption because these guys (and to be honest they are mainly guys) somehow balance their pants midway between their bum and their knees, which means that to all intent and purpose they are mostly walking around with their privates dangling above their pants instead of in their pants. They wear extremely long T shirts that I guess are meant to cover the crack in their assholes or maybe even their private parts. Anyway: they will take a few steps and then pull their pants up a bit, (not a lot just enugh to settle it back mid thigh) walk a few more steps and hitch up their pants again.

The funniest thing is to see them run (if you can call it that) their running action comprises a quick burst of straight legged tiny steps, punctuated by a little hop as they quickly hitch-back-up-their pants; then another little burst of mini steps. If you haven't seen these guys in motion you probably think I am exaggerating? I'm not! They really do do this. I have a theory about why they take these tiny steps and daren’t bend their knees, and it is because if they made a fully fledged stride they would rip the crutch out of their pants, If they bent their knees then they would stress the fabric and catapult their pants past their knees to their ankles; and lets face it, that would be embarrassing for the poor loves... Innit?

I went into town yesterday and was standing on the platform waiting for a train to come in and all of a sudden I saw this 6”5 youf He couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 years old but an enormous youf enormous, not fat just well. ... really big, and you could tell that he was only a 'babby'. And the poor thing was Hop-Skip-and hobbling his way down the stairs to the platform. The trousers that he was wearing must have been made on a 5”6 tailors-dummy because the poor lad could barely move his feet from one step down to the next. He was clearly in some measure of discomfort, but he valiantly soldiered on, having to pull his pants up every other step. The thing is that he would only pull his pants up as far as his bloody mid thighs even though there was ruffled trouser draped around his shoe, enough to pull them up to his bum at least, if he chose to. It was at this point that I thought: Here we have the definition of a fashion victim, personified... Innit?

I remember only a few years back when the progenitor of this style, "ghetto hipster/battyriders, crossed the Atlantic from the good ol’ USA. It was basically baggy pants hitched so far down the hips to show off the white Calvin Kleins with the CK label on full view. This then progressed to pants pulled down only as far as the crack in their bum or the protuberance of their front bulges, but that was then and o so long ago. This years gutter (sorry) ghetto fashion is to wear (lets call them penguin pants) belowBattyBulge, hitched on mid thigh. I guess next year we will see them hobbling around with their pants around their ankles and wearing a dress/kaftan/kilt to cover their unmentionables.

These are the ‘Youfs’, B boys and their girls called Biatches. And if you haven't encountered this phenomena as yet, do not fret ‘cause they will be appearing in your town or a town near you very soon... Innit

Tomorrow I want to talk about the ‘G-string-Thong-Thing You know? The Knicker-on-show-down-below Lower-and-lowering-still-belt-line’ Defined and adopted by the female of this fascinating specie. I will be speculating How low their drawers are likely to go.

Broadband rip off ?

I was just chatting to a friend about this whole broadband rip off - and he asked the question - so what ? Well the truth is that today it doesn't really effect 80% of us, but it might be that your one of the few it does.

If your paying for 8mb or above, you should be able to watch HD TV streamed over the web to your PC (which in turn can be connected to your HD TV) companies like BBC, DivX are all working on making this possible - however if your 8mb is really only 2 or 3 mb then you can't watch it without severe buffering (it pausing to download the next chunk) or it having to be in lower quality.

"...The typical Internet connection is 2 to 3 megabits per second, says Laszlo. The minimum needed to stream HD-quality video is 5Mbps. Laszlo added that even if bandwidth were to be increased, computers with lower graphics processing power may be unable to display the richer details that HD provides. ..." - full article

Point is that for music - you don't need much more than 2mb for reasonable quality, unfortunarely its proved those of you paying for that aren't getting even that ...

Unfortunately in this case you don't get what you paid for people paying for 8 often get less than 4 ... you can stamp your feet but there is very little they can do about it - and frankly when ever I have bought broadband I have known I am not going to get it ... it depends on many factors including where you live (how far from the exchange etc... ) but shouldn't your ISP, before you buy it, before you expect high quality HD to be streamed over your unlimited (by the way, its not always unlimited) connection ... shouldn't your ISP should tell you the truth?

The Grime of the Century has not been committed

The urban music scene in the UK is under serious pressure. I would go further and say that it is actually in terminal decline and sinking in a quagmire of its own making.

There are some serious young artists out there who are multi talented, committed, all round entertainers who write great lyrics, make really good beats and know how to pull off great stage performances. The problem is that the Grime scene that most of these talented young boys2men choose to express themselves in, does not lend itself to grooming them for any sustainable career outside of the very narrow, largely underground UK grime scene itself.

Is there any one out there over the age of 25 who can name me five successful grime artists? Can you name me three? You would have to be a die hard grime fan or someone involved in the industry to do that. So my question is what future is there for grime music? Does it have any legs and will people be raving about it in twenty ten or even five years time?

I constantly tune into London urban radio to hear what's going on and get a feel for new stuff or emerging talent. To be honest 99 times out of 100 I leave not only unimpressed, but disillusioned. The problem for me with grime music is that it all seems so samey samey. I watch satellite tv, searching for up and coming indie artists who are saying something, and end up depressed with the derth of talent that doesn’t-shine-through. They all seem to be the same. Same words, same licks, same bad boy posing off against everything outside of his homey's endz and the crew. Again and again, just a different rhyme order, a different camera angle. Same game just another name.

This unfortunately (some would say appropriately) named grime music is our home-grown young black boy inner city created genre; by young blacks for young blacks ... and what do they do with it? Slag each other off run each other down, cuss each other out. All the while underlining every slur with a convincing rhyme on the violence that will be meted to anyone who stands in their way or even looks at them out of turn.

I love rebelious music, but rebel music should have a cause. These poor lads I view as rudderless and all at sea. There is some great music being produced here in the UK, I am however, anything but enthusiastic about the lack of musical or stylistic development from our inner city young Black British youth. Urban music is in a parlous state. Their raison d'être is I say again: obsessed with attitude over content. Saying very little that is new but saying it fast furious aggressive and very very loud.

Yes! There is talent out there, but this talent seems to have stagnated in its self enforced ghetto, incestuously feeding off itself and its claustrophobic environment. It stays defiantly impervious to any and all positive influences that might make it more palatable on a bigger (international) stage. There are really only two exceptions that I can think of - Bashy and Sway - who buck this trend …. And do you know, I know that even as I write this; the hard core fundamentalist grime aficionados are frothing at the mouth and spitting “HeDuntKnowWhatHe’sFuckin'bumbuClaatTalkin’AboutDuzzHeBredrin?"

When are we going to see someone emerge from the maddening mass (or should I say morass), step up and represent? Black kid, white kid, I do not care, just someone please Step Up!

I have seen very few artists and fewer bands/crews over the last 3 years who have got anything going on. A couple of years ago I came across a crew called Trinity and Rukus coming out of Derby, who I thought were absolutely brilliant. I would have sworn at that time that they would sweep all before them conquer Britain and rule the world, but alas they do not seem to have made much commercial headway. I hope those guys are still together and out there struttin' their stuff because they rock. I would have loved to say “Grime” but it just doesn't have the same ring about it … Does it?

Time to move forward

With so many up & coming talents, in singing, dancing, and acting, with over the board entertainments, mixit.tv is a breath of fresh air for many new artists; I believe mixit.tv can be a performance stage for the world to see new talents.

We have seen the birth of MTV, MySpace, YouTube, facebook all sharing success on what they offer to billons of people all over the world, trust me when I say there is room for one more.

Look out world, Mixit.tv is on the move.

How to know what really is good music ...

People have been talking about web 2.0 for ages, but I have to confess I just hate buzz words - I work in the web world and I have to be honest I am a serious geek - that said I hate the way everyone uses buzz words to describe anything and everything - but I think Last FM is very cool

For those who don't know one part of it is a small application you download and it 'spies' on what you listen to, through anything from itunes through to winamp or what ever else - it does some cool stuff with this data for example suggesting other music you might like, ranking tracks and more ... it ranks tracks not on sales and single plays but on all plays - so the tracks that ou bought and listen to regularly -the real quality - it ranks higher! This to me is cool. it knows the quality stuff - number two is the Beatles - number one is probably thanks to the new free single - Cold Play.

Starter for ten ...

Welcome to Mixit.TV - whats it all about? good question, this is undoubtedly an evolving website, a focus on music of all genres not just what is popular but also what is genuinely good.

We will also be taking a slow look at style, gadgets, mobiles and life in general think of this as a good magazine with strong opinions. I myself am I bit of a geek who loves to listen to some seriously rubbish music, you can see what I was listening to til recently via the Last FM website... (I am dergal2000 - don't ask, its an old username).

This is a consolidated effort with people who all come from different backgrounds so have truly different views - whats cool, whats not and where to put in an apostrophe.