No July schedule is complete for me without a visit to Ibiza. I've been heading there every year since 2003 to play at the island's original urban music party spot, Soul City, and this year's trip kicked off on Wednesday 11th. In previous years I've probably broken records for the shortest amount of time spent in Ibiza, having been on the ground for only nine hours, but this time, I opted to stay for two nights and have a more indulgent experience.
The Ryanair flight from Stansted was surprisingly civilised, and I was picked up by Ash, one of the three British DJs who spend their whole summers spinning at Soul City. Over in San Antonio, I caught an air-conditioned power nap, before walking round the bay to the notorious West End. Soul City's new resident for this year is Spina B from Huddersfield, who put in a blazing set, firing me up to unleash my best performance when I jumped on the CDJs. Soul City has undergone various forms of competition in recent times, most notably from the Twice As Nice camp, but has always seen it off and retained its place as the original and best at what it does. I very briefly said hi to my buddy DJ Jonezy from Plymouth, who'd been DJing over the street at Faces bar and had decamped to IBZ for the Summer. Soul City stayed rammed all the way to 6am, with a bunch of girls dancing on the bar throughout, (see video.)
After a welcome lie-in, I went for lunch with Soul City head honcho Julian, and caught up on all the inside information on Ibiza's nightlife game. Later, I jumped on a bus and made my first visit in a few years to Ibiza Town, which is far more built-up and congested than I remember it. For Instalment 2 at Soul City I played an earlier set, eventually getting away at 4am after being commandeered by host DJ Horse to drunkenly judge a 'sexy girls dancing competition'. I felt surprisingly OK after just three hours sleep as I boarded the 10am Easyjet, and headed home to a wonderful 'welcome home Daddy' from my two small girls. The rest of the weekend consisted of my regular Milton Keynes and Bath spots, plus my Sound Of Now radio show on Saturday evening.
I recorded a new 2012 instalment of my Just Buggin Illuminati Special podcasts which got unleashed mid-month. These could perhaps carry a snappier title, but, as the name implies, they're where I collate a batch of tracks whose lyrics address various aspects of what could be termed truth and consciousness issues, 'conspiracy theories' (to coin a dirty phrase,) and other subjects very much of the times; in short, an antidote to the ever-increasing glut of mind-control garbage in the mainstream! This one features tracks from familiar names like Public Enemy and Lowkey, alongside lesser-known ones such as Imani Hekima and Steve Wilks. Catch it on the link below. On the same Soundcloud page are the other volumes in this series, and the related Good Vibrations one.
Thursday 26th, the eve of the London Olympics, marked the last time I was prepared to be anywhere near the capital until it was all over. The options for getting to my gig at The Living Room in Tower Bridge were:
a. Drive and face the lunatic road restrictions of the 'VIP Lanes', which would surely double the length of the usual journey, but at least be able to bomb it home at 1am, by which point the restrictions would be lifted.
b. Take the train in and have an easy time of it, but then have six sleepless hours before boarding the first available train back at 7am.
Option a won out. It took just under three hours to get in, but an hour and a half to get home, and I thanked myself for the right decision as I sank into bed beside the wife at 3am.
As the Olympics opening weekend kicked in, I had a much more fulfilling event to look forward to. After my Oxford radio show and Living Room gig in Bristol on the Saturday, I headed to the University of Bath, where I had a (crusty) room booked for about five hours of sleep, before moving on for my first experience of the Glastonbury Symposium on Sunday. This is an annual conference/ get-together dealing with all manner of esoteric/ spiritual/ consciousness subjects, and I enjoyed a full day of presentations which covered hidden messages in TV, earth mysteries and 2012 issues, among others, culminating in a captivating two-hour evening presentation from Dolores Cannon, a past-life regressionist. It was unfortunate that some of the 'love and light' speakers showed no interest in going anywhere near real-world 'conspiarcy' issues (for want of a better phrase.) One of them even praised the Olympics opening ceremony occultfest as 'beautiful', and the Queen's jubilee orgy as 'wonderful'. Oh dear. Overall though, it made for a fascinating, thought-provoking day, and I look forward to getting back for more next year.
... and that was July.
