Plenty Vibes : Ain't Nothing But A Summer Jam

This weekend see's my friends down at Plenty Vibes holding their first club night in Luton. It's a home town return for the Sheffield based blog/club night and it's sure to be the highlight of summer playing only the biggest garage, grime, house and hip hop tunes. Nights such as Plenty Vibes to me seem to be the future of  partying as it's guaranteed to draw in a big crowd, I guess indie club nights just don't hit the same spot they used to. You can only pretend to dance to Chelsea Dagger so many times. I even had a go at it myself earlier in the year putting on Get Buck Wild which will definitely be making a return later in the year. Give a listen to the special summer jam mixtape to get you in the mood and I guess I'll see you there!

We like to party. We like, We like to party

For the past two and a half years Dark Party have been the best night out you can get in Luton and dare I say anywhere else in the Three Counties. Started by superstar DJ and my good mate Ginger John along with his gaggle of Lutonian RUDEBOIZ  Smith and BoaBoa Dark Party has grown from a small club night in Luton to bringing it's recipe on how to party hard to Brighton and London. If you want to hear the best music and meet the best people Luton has to offer then you go to Dark Party! On a personal level, to me Dark Party is the glue that holds the Luton social scene together, it's where I met all my best friends and  has the best vibes your likely to get in a small town 30 miles out of London. This year has already seen up and coming Brummies Peace play a night and this coming Saturday will feature the amazing party boys Fairs Ohs which will go down a storm in this current hot and humid weather. Dark Party is a kind of club night your more likely to find in Shoreditch in London, Digbeth in Birmingham or the Northen Quarter of Manchester but it's here in Luton and I'm oh so very grateful for it!

LTN

You may or may not be aware of the fact that I live and go to University in the infamous Bedfordshire town of Luton, voted crappiest town in the country two years in a row. The subjects normally brought up when I tell somebody where I'm from these day are either something to do with  the airport, The EDL, violence, crime and whatever else they get a glimpse of on the News and Traffic Cops. Moving to the town from Birmingham when I was younger I hated it with a passion but more recently I've come to realise 'It ain't so bad'.  It isn't the ideal place to live I'll admit but I will defend Luton if I have to and I'm proud to say that I bloody live here. Makes me sounds a little stupid but living here definitely made me street wise and I don't think I'd be the person I am today If I hadn't lived here. Little experiences growing up like trying to sneak into Yates's when I was 17 and going to watch screamo/metal bands like Enter Shikari and Gallows (I was such greebo) at the Hat Factory and S.U when I was 16 all are part of the make up of me and are also how I connected to people around me forming friendships that are still strong even now after many of them have moved out of the town. The reason for writing such a soppy post  is that recently I just keep seeing such vile things about the town in the media but what I see it juxtaposes what is really happening in the town, For example Jay Z was recording in the town just the other day and liked it so much he came back for more. Bafta award winning screenwriter Jack Throne who is the force behind stunning British television drama such as Skins, The Fades and This is England 86, 89, and the forthcoming 90; lives in Luton and has openly talked about how much he loves the town and how it inspires most of his writing. In the upcoming weeks my town will also see the arrival of the Olympic torch and while this happens the much hyped 'Love Luton' festival is taking place with headline acts Olly Murs and The Wanted which will be a big draw to the town, my mum bought me tickets to see Olly but would rather see The Wanted. I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes Luton is a massive shit hole and if you had the money you could live in a lot nicer places but it really isn't as bad as many  make it out to be and living here is pretty hilarious at times. My likes and dislikes, my hunger and passion to think outside the box have all come from living in Luton so In a way I'm glad my family did make a move up here all those years ago. I've met some of the most amazing people in this town and we always know how to have fun in Luton so I think you should come and join us and LOVE THE LUTON LIFE.  

Americano

It's no secret that I have a massive obsession with teen movies, hell I even wrote a 2000 word essay on the genre. Teen films from the late 90's are my hands down favourite and titles such as She's All That, Cruel Intentions, Drive Me Crazy, Clueless and Bring It On all take pride of place in my dvd collection. What started off as something as innocent as quoting lines from the films on a day to day basis and lusting after a life of proms and cheerleaders has now led to me wanting to look like a jock. Every time I see a baseball jersey or some kind of athletic looking clothing in a shop I feel it's my right to own it. The 'jock' look is something I've seen pop up briefly into some of the menswear shows taking place these past few weeks especially in the Topman Design S/S 2013 collection, which put forward the the high school 'jock' look but in bold block colouring and oversized, sculptured  cuts. This only encourages me to add to my already growing collection of baseball jerseys and jackets for the rest of this summer and summer 2013.

SOZ BEB.

Once again I've left a huge gap between my posts which I apologise for. I can only explain my actions by saying I was dead busy at uni all year and because I honestly just forgot all about the blog. Now that I'm back I suppose an update on myself is in order? Well not much has changed really,  I have completed my second year at university and received some pretty good grades but that's really all to report back on (I'm just not very interesting). From now on I'll be posting about something or other all the time. Promise. 

When I was YOUNG.

I've been feeling all nostalgic recently and looked through old family photos and it got me thinking about my likes and dislikes when I was a child. I realised I was a bit strange when I was little, I mean I liked all the usual normal Disney films and endless CITV and CBBC shows but I was obsessed with the macabre. Films like Death Becomes Her, Beetlejuice and Hocus Pocus were my favourite films which I would watch nearly everyday and t.v shows like The Munsters made me wish my family were all members of the living dead. Is that normal for a 4 year old? I know it was the 90's and all but it cant be right. I guess I loved being frightened when I was little, for some reason I loved the thrill of it. I'm pleased my parents just let me go wild when I was young as it did wonders for my imagination.

In my mind it's forever 1999

This Saturday coming is 90's night at the edge night club in Luton, this event has made my 90's appreciation which has been going on for the past year or so hit it's peak. What I mean by this is all I'm currently watching is 90's TV and film, all I listen to are 90's songs and only dress in clothes that I feel has a 90's essence to them in some way. sad I know but I don't have much else going on in my mum life right now and as I said before summer is when I become obsessed with stupid things. I guess it's all just escapism and longing for simpler times in my life. My day's are currently filled with watching Two of a Kind, Boy Meets World, Twin Peaks while listening to the likes Eternal and Gina G and after I'm done with that I try to look for disgusting 90's looking to buy. My childhood love for Graham Coxon has also been reawakened. I need to get a job but untill then I have THIS PLAYLIST which right now is what my life consists in full.

To much free time

Summer for me stands for too much time on my hands meaning I become obsessed with silly things, X-men being the key factor. It's a cartoon I'm constantly watching at the moment thanks to the whole of series 1 being on Youtube. I was always obsessed with it as a child but I have a new appreciation for it now I'm older, it's stylistically very 90s so therefore appeals to me straight away. Watching X-men then got me hooked onto Sabrina and Saved by the Bell so right now I feel like have travelled back into a void sending me to 1999. This longing for a childhood long lost made me go out a bottle of Pepto Bismol and put it high up on a shelf in my house as i always remember it being when I was little and unable to reach, I was always drawn to the colour and bottle for some reason. Sophie Ellis Bextor has been added in just because I can't stop listening to her new album.

Open up my eyes

Right now I cannot stop listening to/watching/singing/dancing to The Sign by Ace of Base right now. It encapsulates everything I love about the 90's in one song. The tacky production and summery and care free nature of the song are so perfect for this time of year and it's safe to say I want all of their outfits more than life. I thought I'd revisit this gem from my childhood when trying to look for a good 90's outfit for a club night in Luton coming up soon and realised that I'd happily dress like I'd fallen out of 1997 any day!

Ace of Base - The Sign