b-side records for this holiday season

the bside weekly nov30 06

brigidope here and im going to start posting our newsletter here too. so you will all get to enjoy the ramblings of mike marvel. yay

B-Side Records
2128 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94704
ph: 510-548-4882
www.bsiderecordshop.com
Store hours: M-W: 12p to 8p, TH-F: 11a to 8p, SAT: 11a to 7p, SUN: 12p to 5p

PLEASE NOTE: BECAUSE OF THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY, SOME OF THE NEW RELEASES IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER WILL NOT ARRIVE UNTIL THURSDAY)

REMINDER!!! Sunday Dec 10th: The last B-Side showdown of the year! Mix & Scratch battles will commence at 2pm with a Xmas dinner party following promptly.

BALLIN! Hi everyone and welcome to the B-Side weekly. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve got lots to talk about so a rambling I will go…

New Vinyl Highlights
The big one for the week is the OFFICIAL 12 inch single of Jim Jones “We Fly High” is now in stock (or will be on Thursday). We should have enough copies for everyone for a while. Another biggie for the week is a new Bay single. And it’s a new artist as well. His name is V White and he’s got a new 12 inch with 2 new tracks on it. I personally like the b-side track with e-a-ski a bit more than the a side.

Over in the less mainstream section, we got a cool mashup ep from world class dj A Trak. It’s basically an ep of some of his mashups from his Sunglasses is a must tour mixtape. We also haved a new Jurrassic 5 single called “Brown Girl” coming in on Thursday. I haven’t heard it yet so I can’t throw my 2 cents in.

The nice R&B release for the week is the new Amerie “Take Control”. We had promos of this a couple of weeks back and it sold like gangbusters. It’s a good song that’s been slowly getting airplay here in the bay.

Over in Old school, my friend Shawn has a trivia question for you: What is the world’s best selling 12 inch single of all time? Michael Jackson’s Thriller? No. The Macarena? Nope, Give up? It is New Order’s classic “Blue Monday” and we have that in stock now. It sold something like 3 million plus copies or so.

Nogt a whole lot new in compilations. We did get a new Top Secret in. Oh, did I mention we’re having a sale on all the Classic Party Rockers? For the entire month of December, if you buy 1 Classic Party Rockers, you ge the 2nd one for ½ off. So that’s like buying 2 for less than $18! What a deal. Sorry, this offer is only good for our in store customers. They have to suffer through this cold weather to get to our store. You online guys can sit in your living room eating cheetos and click away on the computer for your orders.

NEW SECTION!
OK, in the new but not vinyl section we have some new things in stock. We have lots of new shirts from Mixwell, ESDJCO, and Exact Science. We also have in stock now, turntable flight cases and 10 inch mixer cases. And finally, we have a new mix cd called Love & Happiness. It’s a slowjam mix made by some dude named Mike Marvel. Who the hell listens to slow jams anyways.


Mike’s Pick o’ The Week
My pick o’ the week is a no brainer. It’s the Jim Jones single “We Fly High”. Normally I wouldn’t recommend such an obvious single but I want to make sure all you djs that play out have this song because based on my experience this past month or so doin gigs, this is like in the top 3 most requested tracks I recievce. So I just want to make sure you guys have this in your crate when you get bugged for the 5th time in a night to play this song.

In Local News
The next B-Side battle has been set for Sunday, Dec 10. There will be both a mix battle as well as a scratch battle. Everyone is welcome to enter. There is no entry fee. Prizes will be announced soon. In the meantime, lock yourself in your bedroom and start practicing! The battle will start at 2pm and will be followed by a free Xmas dinner party afterwards at the store. The prizes for the 2 battles have not been offically decided but we’re tinkering with either getting the new ipod shuffles, a $100 gift certificate or my favorite idea: a 30 second all you can grab shopping spree in B-Side! Because we get a lot of last minute day of battle entries due to the sexy prizes, WE WILL NOT ACCEPT DAY OF ENTRIES. YOU MUST REGISTER AT LEAST 1 DAY BEFORE THE BATTLE!!! I urge everyone to enter no matter what your skill level. Battling is fun and is good for the dj community. So please show your support and participate or attend them before they die out.

For all my dj friends out here in the Bay Area, December is a time when you get offered a lot of mobile gigs for Xmas parties and whatnot. Just wanted to remind everyone we do equipment rentals. For $80 you can have a full PA system at your next mobile event. And for $100 you can get both a PA system and a lighting system. Wow that is bananas.



What’s on Mike’s Mind
This Sunday I am running in another marathon. It’s the one in Sacramento. Whenever I mention this people always ask me the questions:

Q:Wow, a marathon. How far is that? Is it like 10 miles?
A: A marathon is always 26.2 miles

Then when I say that, they go:
Q: Godd*#m! You have to run the entire way?
A: Yeah.

Then they reason:
Q: You must take steroids or be some super athlete cuz I get tired just driving 26 miles. What’s the secret?
A: Lots and lots of running. And slowly building up your endurance so your body can handle the punishment. (a year ago I could barely run 3 miles).

And then lastly:
Q: Why the hell would you want to run for 26 miles nonstop?
A: Everyone has a reason but I guess I like to run them to see what I can really do. It’s like you’re pushing yourself to the limit. But once you finish you’ve got such a huge sense of accomplishment. It’s something I can’t describe. Plus while training you get in good shape (some of you may remember I used to be a bit chunkier back in the day).

I urge everyone one to try it at least once in their life just to say that you did it. Hey Lance armstrong did it 2 weeks ago in New York and I know he’s a super athlete but P Diddy also did it and comedian Wil Ferrell and so did Oprah. Hell if Oprah can do it then so can anyone!


And now onto the vinyl …

Hip Hop
A trak - sunglasses is a must ep
Jim jones – we fly high
Akon – konvicted lp
Jurrassic 5 – brown girl
Ugk – stop n go
Game – doctor’s advocate lp
Lil wayne and birdman – stunin like my daddy
Lil jon – snap you fingers
V white feat. E-a-ski – we at it again
Procussions – celebration
Nas – hiphop is dead (whitelabel)
Jay z – lost ones (whitelable)
Yung joc – goin down
Hoodstarz – how we do
Rick ross – blow
Lil jon – act a fool
Snoop feat e-40 - candy

RnB
Amerie – take control
Justin timberlake – my love
Rihanna – sos
Shareefa - need a boss
Maxwell - ascension

Reggae/Reggaeton


Rock/Pop



Old Skool
New order – blue monday
Tribe called quest – check the rhyme
Tom tom club – genius of love

Compilations
TOP SECRET – DECEMBER 2006 – RELOADED!
Lil Jon ft 3 6 Mafia – Act A Fool
Jay Z – Lost Ones
Rich Boy – Throw Some Dees
Trick Daddy – Bet That
Birdman ft Lil Wayne – Know What I Am Doing
Nas – Hip Hop Is Dead

restocks:
almost all classic party rockers are in stock and on sale! (buy 1, get the 2nd for half off)
all from the bay’s now in stock (volumes 1 thru 4)
Sexyback remixes

Battle Breaks
bastard langiage tour lp

CDs DVDs
Mike marvel – love and happiness

GEAR
Exact science shirts now in stock
New esdjco winter line of shirts now in stock
Eurolite turntable and mixer cases now in stock!

BSIDE SHOWDOWN!

CRIBS B-Side Edition

This is how we record audio snippets for the website. Boring and not as tech intensive as a studio installation of pro tools... but it gets the job done.

I've been kinda lagging as the unofficial official self-appointed b-side historian. Sorry kiddies.

One thing that's kinda cool about being a part of B-Side is that people randomly let me into their houses! No really!

About a month ago, me and my AZC crewmates DJ Wh0 and DJ Roza, duped local dj favorite

Jayvi Velasco into showing us his crib.






(mixer collection. so necessary.)


(we can't help but go through his collection)

we ooh'd and ahh'd over his extensive collection while talking about the usual dj nerdery like the versatility of vinyl as dinnerware, serato v.s. gerbils in hand to hand combat, and how to get rid of pesky girl scouts and their cookies.


later on i asked Jayvi some questions via myspace and here they are:

name: Jayvi Velasco

how long have you been djing: Since 1991

djs who influenced you: see bio

what do you spin: see bio

best experience djing: Philippines & Hawaii

general shout outs/whats ups/rants about the GNP of kuala lumpur.... no comment

contact info for gigs: jayvi_velasco@hotmail.com, www.myspace.com/jayvi


i was actually hoping for his point of view on the introduction of non-native lemurs and it's affect on the banana farming of Kuala Lumpur... but i guess he is saving that discussion for the next time we hang out.



(jayvi is such a super host)




(he had to usher DJ Roza out for being too hyphy)




if you would like to be considered for B-Side CRIBS edition hollerate (peenoybee@ g mail dot com)

dillz

im left wondering if people actually read this. probably not since its only been mentioned in the bside emailer once. infact i dont even know if mike knows about it. but the emailer goes to like a few hundred people so at least two people should know about it.

so to the two people who read this... thank you. and let me know if im doing a good, okay, so so , or outright shitty job of bside blogging.

ive been listening to alot of dilla produced music lately. unfortunately alot of dilla's musical contributions went unnoticed until he passed. there were people who knew... but i know that a couple times ive pulled something out of my record shelf and been like "ugh dilla did that?"

the most recent one was probably erykah badu- cleva.

speaking of badu and dilla... "Didn't Cha Know" just came on in the itunes. killer. savage. the drums are really fucking with me. dilla has that type of production where you go back to certain songs and different parts of the production stick out...

you probably noticed the picture of "The Shining" and "The Shining Instrumentals"

well yeah, this is a b side blog so im going to talk about b side related stuff. usually.

but in anycase... the shining is a solid ass release. if i remember correctly this was supposed to come out before donuts and then bbe finally released it after dillas passing. the instrumentals... so necessary. because unfortunately busta just isnt working on "Geek Down"... i'd almost go so far as to call busta a liability on the track.. so greatfully there is the instrumental version of the album to provide you with un tethered enjoyment of dilla's production.

and without the vocals, the production on this album really stands on it's own... almost transforming each track into a different song.

you need this in your life.

i think i say that too much

well im a say it again... you neeeeeeeeeeeeed this in your life

and each extra "e" in "need" represents one extra level of urgency in your needing this album... both normal and instrumental versions.

whats good yall. brigidope here, and i've been lagging on the updates, but hopefully i can get into the full swing of things.

b-side related... my crew, the amazing zoo crew, in conjunction with The Formula DJs, is throwing another party at club 6 in SF. nov 10th. Daddy Rolo is going to be headlining and doing a special hip hop set for us. For those of you in the know, Daddy Rolo is a member of Lonestar Sound- one of the top ranking reggae crews here in the bay; as well as a former member of the world famous Pirate DJs. It's sure to be off the hook. Our last party went off pretty well. Vinroc super killed it, playing everything from hyphy, to true school hip hop to soul.









so check it out nov 10th. @ club 6. holler at me: peenoybee@gmail.com if you need more info.




we've been listening to the new Grouch and Zion I album lately. It's definitely a solid album and is one everyone should check for. choice picks for me right now is the track produced by headnod from crown city rockers, and the track feat. esthero. ESTHERO. yeah they got esthero on the album. you need this in your life.
i'd post actual track names but i dont have the cd cover on me.

me and the homies from Fresh Kicks and Buddhapparel went to the "Heros In The City Of Dope" listening party at poleng a little while back.

it was pretty dope, had some food. some drinks.
amp live got pretty nice on the decks
we had to cut before j boogie got on but it was a cool little party to celebrate the album release.











we should be getting the vinyl for the album in soon and i think the first single off the album is the track with mistah fab on it.

keep checking back... ill be sure to stay up on the updates.

/.b

the first blog

yo this is dj brigidope on the bside blog. for the most part it'll be me, pone, and the mike marvelous holding down your b-side records online marauding experience.


vinroc was hanging out yesterday taking some pics for his press package. he titled this one "the bside buttheads." are we really buttheads? nah not really but im sure you guys have witnessed bside buttheadery from time to time.

incase any of you were wondering what djs at a record store listen to on the regular, usually our aural experience consists of records we need to record, (yeah we record snippets for everything we put online.... tedious it is, but we do it cuz bside luhh da keeeids,) the radio so we can keep tabs on what the general population is listening to, and mix tapes.

well not mix tapes but mix cds. for all intents and purposes here in b side blog land, a mix tape is probably on cd. confusing? maybe. illogical? not in the least.

inanycase we have recently been bumping the mixing stylings of djs eleven and matthew africa: Dirty Raps- The Best of Too $hort.


two words for you....


it's. ill.

ok so "it's" is a contraction of "it is" which means that technically "it's. ill." is a three word phrase.....but yeah grammatical crazyness abounds here at bsideblogland. it's how we keep it trill.

i digress.

the whole point of this after hours tirade is to say that we listen to mixtapes, and that Dirty Raps- The Best of Too $hort is a so solid ass collection of classic too sheezey prose. plus the homies got a buttload of drops and adlibs from the short dog which would make for a dope listen in itself. ok maybe if you are a music nerd would you find it dope to listen to 40 mins of short dog drops.... then again what dj isnt a music nerd?