Latest
addition to the Sparkle LIVE HOUSE/DANCE roster are San Francisco's electronic alternative
dance duo/group, Fans of Jimmy Century. Check out there groovy,
tasty tracks bringing to mind Goldfrapp, Dee-Lite, The Eurythmics,
Oakenfold, Sneaker Pimps and Siouxsie. However, their own
undeniable & distinctive flair is charming and apparent.
The duo/group of vocalist/composer Alicia Peron and musician/composer
Victor James bring with them much experience with modern music
having played the San Francisco bay area club scene in several
popular bay area bands, one of which was discovered by Ric Ocasek
during his A&R stint at Elektra Records. But feeling a natural
pull toward the electronic/dance genre, Fans of Jimmy Century
was born in October 2006.
The building security guard downstairs
said we were the female electronic equivalent of the Dandy Warhols...somewhat.
Smooth beats & melodies come to life with a thick fringe
of euro trash & noir cinematic soundtrack. Rats, sounded
a bit syrupy, didn't it? How 'bout simply "the grooves are
swell. The voice & grooves rendezvous well." There,
we've written our own review and it rhymes.
In 2007, FOJC won
the Independent Music Award People's Choice for best Electronic/Dance
track. They made a splash at the Winter Music Conference 2007
in Miami, where DJ Ron Slomowicz, dance expert and journalist
for DanceMusic.About.com gave FOJC the award for "Newest
Musical Trend To Watch."
FOJC will soon set a date for
widespread digital release for full-length CD "Twist of
the Banshees." With current remixes by Lenny B, Klubjumpers,
& Haki and upcoming remixes from Germany's Tube & Berger
and NYC's Eric Kupper, FOJC is set to launch their CD to radio
in early 2008 on the heels of their successful trip to the Amsterdam
Dance Event. Tracks from the CD are already gaining top licensing
in television's most popular shows including "Ugly Betty,"
"Samantha Who," "The L Word," & "The
Hills," with more placements coming up in many of television's
hottest fashion, photography, runway, extreme sports, and club
scenes. The fashion world is taking note now with FOJC tracks
featured during San Francisco Fashion Week by top designer Genevieve
Primavera in 2007.
A
few surprises lurk around the corner in early 2008 with collaborations
with the top names in dance music - along with pending performances
at several of the UK's top festivals. In other health-related
news, Victor has quit smoking. Alicia's oral obsession with fake
cigarettes remains. And as far as location goes - we are beyond
the valley of the dolls.
We
are very pleased to welcome legendary trance DJ and Peach club
night (the most successful club brand ever in London) founder
Graham Gold onto our the new look TRANCE/HARDER roster.
Graham's
committment to the scene to play exciting fresh new music is
almost unparalleled. Years of experience has taken him to all
corners of the world playing for all the major brands and festivals,
including Glastonbury, Homelands, Gatecrasher, Gods Kitchen,
Passion, Slinky, Impulz, Earthdance, W.E.M.F., Summadayze and
The Street Parade in Zurich in fact as clubland goes, there re
very few places in the world he hasn't played and Graham is a
welcome guest, time and time again.
He
has been in the DJ Mag Top 100 7 out of the last 10 years (2
years at 22 and 5 inside the Top 40) - no wonder clubbers and
the industry honour him with legend status! Voted Best
Trance DJ at the Underground Music Awards in 2003, Graham has
won every accolade...
...in the Kiss
100 Awards for many years event beating DJs such as Judge Jules
and Danny Rampling. Graham has sold over 700,000 mix albums across
various leading brands including Kiss Mix, Kiss in Ibiza and
Club Cuts. He has remixed for Carl Cox and he also ran the highly
successful Good As label which gave Matt Darey his first ever
UK top twenty single. Good As also managed the UK diaries of
Tiesto, Armin and Ferry Corsten from 1998-2001.
Graham
was the first DJ/promoter book Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten,
Tiesto and The Flash Brothers into the UK.
He appears regularly in every leading dance music publication
and was even featured in the special GOLD edition of Vogue!!
Graham is still on top of his
game production today with Paul van Dyk caning the last 3 Gold
productions - "Glorified" (alongside Armin and Paul
Oakenfold) in every set, Graham's newest release on Recoverworld's
Flux deluxe label. It has also been signed to the massive Dream
Dance Vol 45 compilation-Germany's biggest compilation series
as well as the prestigious "Delirium" compilation from
Dave Pearce. That and other successes have justified Grahams
decision to reduce his gig schedule and buy his own music studio
- after 2 intense years of honing his already developed production
skills he is now turning out tracks that are indemand from the
World's elite
And
if you needed anymore proof that you can't keep a good (or should
that be Gold) man down, his famous club night of 14 years, Peach,
has also returned to the UK's capital, making it once again,
THE trance night to be seen at in London. His weekly radio show
"Trancedayze" spans the UK, Australia, Slovakia, Russia,
U.A.E., Scandanavia and South Africa plus he has monthly shows
on the top global web stations: Ministry Of Sound Radio, DI.FM
and ETN.FM.
Graham's
fan base is huge and worldwide and his website gets around 30,000
hits each year with his bi-weekly podcasts are going out to a
regular 6000 signed up database and growing weekly.
Chris Hampshire,
the MD of Recoverworld "Graham
Gold's influence on dance music today cannot be understated.
A true industry pioneer he has played at every club that is worth
playing at and his radio show on Kiss helped to define musical
the tastes of a generation. He continues to draw in new fans
week in week out with his hectic DJ schedule. With such a depth
of musical knowledge and influences his productions are always
something special and his debut single on Flux continues in this
vein"
It
has been a very long tough year since the tragic and untimely
death of Christian Solari on 28th February 2007, a dear personal
friend and close business associate of Sparkle Agency and an
inspiration and advisor on many of our biggest projects. We
know he's with us in spirit, and we remember him here - loud,
cheery, and full of sound advice.
Christian,
a product of the famed Italia Conti stage school, had an impressive
and varied career in the entertainment and music industry as
a dancer and choreographer and TV actor, before forming production
company Fabulous Entertainment with which Sparkle had close links.
His dance and choreography credits included Take That, The Spice
Girls (including the Spiceworld Tour), Boyzone, Sir Cliff Richard,
2 Unlimited, 'The BRITS' as well as number of TV roles including
appearances in the legendary BBC series 'Grange Hill' and cult
comedy 'The Comic Strip Presents'.
His
'SEARCH
FOR A BAND' productions for Clarion
for OXY/Glaxo Smith Kline, seen on national TV, cable TV's 'The
Box' and MTV in 2000 - 2003.
as well
as featuring regularly in Smash Hits and My Kinda Place were
the blueprint for "Popstars", "Pop Idol",
and "American Idol". A consumate professional,
he always managed to surprise and impress and anticipate the
industry - booking an unknown band called Blazing Squad for the
2002 'Search For A Band' finals show in Leicester Square, to
coincide with the week they shot to No 1 in the UK National Charts
was typical of Christian's style, vision, and entreprenerial
spirit.
On
occasions when we ran into tight spots at Sparkle, 'Mr Fabulous',
as he was fondly nicknamed during the time he shared offices
with us, always pitched in and helped out, and we were happy
to be able to return the favour in opposite circumstances. We
will always remember Christian for being a total superstar, and
for the friendship and help he gave us and our artists.
Our
thoughts are with his families and young sons Oscar and Oliver,
and the many many friends he made worldwide. If you would like
to leave a message or memory, or have photos of Christian you
would like to share please goHERE
"Sleep
well buddy, we all miss you very very much - you may be the loudest
guy we ever knew, but without you the silence is simply deafening."
'Mr Sparkle'
Due
to increased demand we seeking one further UK-based freelance
or self-employed printwork and web designer to work from
their own home/studio to help us meet overflow workload. You
must be an imaginative designer with experience outputting for
professional print standard to deadlines. We prefer PC-based
designers however you can be Mac skilled providing you can receive
and deliver work in PC-friendly formats - most of our customers
only use PC. Broadband connection is a must and a large
capacity email account. You must be good with spelling, grammer,
and attention to detail.
Familiarity
with the dance music industry, culture and fashion is essential
and you will already have a portfolio of work in this sector
to show us. Commissions are usually piece work rather than
hourly rates - mainly flyers, posters, logos, CD art, and artist
profiles. We also have web, e-flyer, eBay and MySpace design
work so if you have Flash, CSS, and HTML etc skills then even
better.
This
is a great opportunity for a new designer/design business. EMAIL
US your CV now.
Apparantly
BA are imminently to introduce sweeping cuts to baggage allowances
on medium and long haul flights on the sly. You will only be
able to take ONE item of hold luggage per flight - additional
bags are charged at over £100 each way EVEN IF YOUR TOTAL
WEIGHT is within your allowance and the ticket was purchased
prior to the new rules. . Also total allowance is going down
to 23kg per flight later in the year. This has substantial implications
to those with record bags and performance equipment.
Artists are advised
to ensure that any BA flights purchased by bookers include your
additional additional luggage items - make sure your contracts
specify exact luggage requirements - pieces and weights of each.
Or alternatively boycott BA in favour of other carriers! STOP
PRESS BA have recently done a climb-down on applying this
rule to existing ticket holders but insist they will be introducing
this across all their medium and long haul flights this years
Not
content with gracing Jools Holland and Sharon Osbournes shows,
and Top of The Pops and various music interludes in between our
sax star is currently on UK TV screens every evening, draped
across the bed of bluesy boozy Rehab songstress Amy Winehouse,
as part of the high profile album sales campaign, we hear that
Aaron will be playing the BRITS with Amy and be part of her firstr
major tour. Fair play Aaron!
After
many months nursing a back injury that has effectively prevented
her from taking many exotic international bookings we are very
pleased to tell you that premier urban DJ starlet Emma Feline
is now much recovered and is looking forward to being available
for long-haul destination bookings once again.
Emma has been
making steady progress but has wisely been taking things carefully
in recent weeks, keeping to gigs mainly within the UK and European
arena building up her strength for a trip to the USA in December,
and is throwing her diary open to all destinations from Christmas
/ New Year and throughout 2007.
What can we say
except glad to have you back in full effect, and careful pulling
your record boxes off the airport carousel!
Bookers please
contact us now for Christmas/NewYear availability and enquiries
for 2007
Vegas
remixers Elektrik Haze bust their Ibiza cherry this weekend with
an exclusive 3 hour main room LIVE set at Space Ibiza for 'We
Love Space' (Sun 10th Sept) alongside Groove Armada and Layo
& Bushwacka.
Elektrik
Haze's Dave and Botek will be doing some serious pre and post-gig
plugging for their current Eminem remix (in the Ibiza record
shops now and promo'ed below) and the forthcoming 'Elektro Loser'
remix of the anthemic Beck track so if you are it here this weekend
keep a watch out at Judgement Sundays, Charlys Angelz @ Play
2 (Sat) the pre bars in San An and of course the sunset bars
and if you see them give them a 'Hey Elektrik Haze' shout
Urban
/ close-up magician Richard Bellars has been wowing royalty,
the great, the good, and the megarich (and no doubt some who
are all of those things) at the World's best and most prestigious
hotel - the amazing sail-shaped, 7-star superhotel, the Burj
Al Arab, during a 3-week residency there - receiving a truly
overwhelming response from the elite clientele.
Already
gaining a reputation as one of the World's premier young performers,
an engagement of this stature will be sure to boost his careeer
standing - a landmark booking (and an instantly recognisable
one too), that will announce to his fellow magicians very clearly
that Richard Bellars, Magician, has well and truly arrived.
DJ
Woody, inventer of the complex 'Woodpecker' scratch, has been
one of the World's leading exponents of the scratch 'n' tricks
school of DJ'ing for several years since first entering and reaching
the UK DMC Finals in 1999.
Since
then Woody's 'battle' statistics speak for themselves - 2000
2nd Place SEMC battle, 2000 2nd Place ITF UK finals, 2000 4th
place UK DMC Finals, 2001 Northern DMC Champion, 2001 2nd place
UK DMC Finals, 2001 UK Vestax
Champion, 2001 UK ITF Champion, , 2001 World ITF Champion,
2002 2nd place UK DMC finals, 2002 UK Vestax Champion, 2002 WORLD VESTAX CHAMPION, all this and an international
event list as long as your arm for shows and sets.
Woody
is an honoured addition to the Sparkle books - after all how
many DJ's can say they have had DJ legend Qbert on the phone
asking for scratch tips?!!!! Available as solo artist for
showcases and DJ sets or as live decks 'n' drums duo project '10
Man Walk'
No,
not the New Testament chap - but live house stars JESUS
FROM IBIZA. Hailing from Italy rather
than Palestine and wearing rather more fashionable attire than
their namesake, Jesus From Ibiza's 'JFI Lab EP' CD featured on
the DJ Mag cover followed by an August feature announcing their
UK arrival.
Get
down to the CUBE
& STAR,
39 Hoxton Square, London on 2nd Sept and we guarantee you'll
be in for an extraordinary show - plus JFI's DJ Morano and VJ
Joey Skye (more soon) will be mixing the tunes and visuals. Footnote
- awesome gig, watch out for regular appearances from JFI/Joey
Skye at this venue soon.
Femme
Fatale, Miss Behavin', SophieDJ and rising star Candice McKenzie
have all been chosen to add some additional glamour to the Stella
McCartney beauty range promotion at top West End department store
Selfridges. The promotion which runs for two weeks will feature
2 x 2-hour cool and funky DJ sets every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday lunchtime and late afternoon.
Brand
promotion and sponsor work certainly seems to be popular with
our lady DJ's at the moment with several other contracts underway
including Joyce Mercedes headining a massive Chivas Regal event
in Hong Kong.
The
Gulf's premier DJ competition run under the long established
Heineken 'Thirst' banner attracts performers from all over the
region. Past judges have included Paul Oakenfold, Tiësto,
Roger Sanchez, Steve Lawler, and we are very pleased to say that
our top female spinner Miss Behavin' has been invited by Heineken
to join the judging panel for 2006 as well as headlining the
performance event at Bahrain's top club 'BJ's.
Miss B's last
visit to BJ's was described by manager Rich Evans as "The
best guest DJ we have ever had play at the club!". High
praise indeed from a venue that has hosted shows for the cream
of the World's DJs.
We
were recently asked to provide some single female DJs for a new
prime time ITV dating show to replace Blind Date. For privacy's
sake we won't disclose which brave hearts volunteered, but some
lucky ladies will not only get a healthy dose of prime time TV
exposure, a luxurious weekend away and sumptious meal a deux,
but may also meet their Prince Charming in the process!
Sharp
eyed daytime couch potatoes may have seen DJ Chris C go head
to head with his best mate on C5's 'Brainteazer'. Despite a runaway
start Chris ended up being a gracious loser, however, glamorous
show host Alex Lovell took a bit of a shine to our Chris and
kindly gave the dance DJ/Producer some well-deserved big-ups.
