The fourth and final part of my recent 12 hour DJ set for United We Stream GM is available now and features tunes from The Sugarhill Gang, Azari & III, Bell Biv DeVoe, Fingers Inc, JM Silk, Jungle Wonz, Sheena Easton, Talking Heads, Frankie Knuckles, Queen Latifah, Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Judy Cheeks, First Choice and more. If you’d like to listen to all four parts, which feature a real eclectic selection of tunes from the 1960s right up to the present day, then please subscribe to my Mixcloud Select profile where you can download your own copies and get access to lots of exclusive content that you won’t find anywhere else. As I mentioned previously, as soon as I finished my 12 hour DJ set I began thinking of scores of records that I wished I’d played so look out for some new mixes from me soon made up of some of those tracks which will be exclusively available to Mixcloud Select subscribers. By paying a small monthly subscription you’ll be supporting the creators involved in the music featured in my mixes who will get paid royalties which is very important right now due to live venues and clubs being closed.
You’ll have noticed that I’ve not been live-streaming online recently and, as mentioned in a previous blog, this has been a deliberate and conscious decision on my part. Throughout April and May I was DJing online three or four times a week and I’m proud to have helped raise thousands of pounds for various health and night time economy charities and thousands of you watched and joined in. However, it’s a lot of work for no return and as DJing and performing is my main source of income I decided to spend most of June lobbying and raising awareness of creatives, musicians, DJs, performers and others like me who have seen their main source income practically disappear overnight. The fact that live venues and festivals can’t operate also means that the wider economy and millions of other people who rely on the night-time economy and live entertainment are also suffering financially. That’s why I’m supporting Forgotten Ltd with their #ForgottenLtd campaign, Excluded UK with their #ExcludedUK campaign and The Artists’ Voice with their #LetTheMusicPlay campaign. Click on their websites below to find out how they’re all campaigning for the self-employed, small business owners and musicians, performers and live venues and please share what they’re up to so that we can spread the word and raise awareness. Don’t forget to share their hashtags when posting on social media for maximum effect. My local MP’s office contacted me yesterday to tell me that my MP was going to raise these issues in Parliament and to arrange a Zoom call with me for next week. If you have any questions you think I should ask her, please let me know by getting in touch with me via my social media channels or by using my website Contact form. You can find the links to all of my social media channels on my website Homepage.
While we’ve all been stuck at home during lockdown I’m really pleased and grateful that lots of you have been supporting me by buying my new range of t-shirts and sharing pictures of yourselves wearing them online. Many of you have been asking if I plan to sell sweatshirts and other items of clothing that feature my official GP Smiley logo from my official online store, so I’m currently looking at doing so in the coming weeks. Look out for some limited edition clothing coming soon too. If you’d like to treat yourself to one of my t-shirts or other merchandise then please visit my Store.
Finally, because I miss DJing and performing live so much I’ll. Be back online with some live-streaming DJ gigs soon, so look out for announcements here and across my social media channels too. In the meantime, thank you for your continued support and let’s hope that I can see you all on a proper dancefloor soon. Keep your eyes on my website Gig Guide to keep up to date with my rescheduled and postponed shows for the latest up to date information.