good bless you all.

i lived much of my teens in my local record shop, rayners lane record and disco centre, run by jon jules. (i first went there with mum who who was after some japanese jazz funk)!!

it was a mecca for someone like me…there was a real community feeling as we just went there to meet up, chat, and of course, listen to the new tunes…there was never any pressure to buy, but you always would…

in my early days when i couldnt afford ‘imports’, i would go through the sale stock, and picked up gems like joe smooths promised land, etc…

almost every weekend, jon would close the shop and kick out all the kids who just hung out at the arcade machines, we would have a lock in and jon would start mixing it up!!

i never realised it but a flurry of important movers and shakers in the dj/record world would also pop in – people like the late great james hamilton from record mirror, who came in to borrow records to review for his bpm section; chris paul who started a very famous night called orange at the rocket, whch went on to camden palace…i were many others but i cant recall…

as i grew older, i would venture into the west end and on to groove records, tag records, black market and uptown records…also hmv and virgin – i never knocked the mainstream shops because sometimes they had the hidden jems…for example, in the portishead essential mix, there was an amazing reworks of shirley temples light my fire, but i never knew anymore about it…then years later, in my local virgin, i saw light my fire remixed by louie vega on a unknown label…bought it on the off chance and wham!!! – the very same tune! thats the thing about buying vinyl, you dont necessarily get with downloads…

i am a vinyl junkie because thats what i grew up with, and in some respects, feel very sorry for the youngsters of today, who wont be able to ever have what we did…

the heart and soul of record buying has truly vanished from the high street, and now that major dance labels like defected have stopped pressing vinyl too, i cant see it ever lasting…

i know we have to embrace the future, and the dj revolution has well and truly begun…its just a shame thats no way (at present) to transfer the ‘digging’ culture that you and i both grew up with!

just out of interest, if you havent seen it yet, i highly recommend a film called scratchin…i wont say anymore than that!…