Genius

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Yes. I took the insoles out of my old AirMax 95s and put them in my cowboy boots. GENIUS.

Snail

Found this dude on my wall yesterday. Biggest English Snail evAr!

I wanted to cook him in garlic butter. But I let him roam free instead. Slither free even.

New Tracks Up on the Webstore!

Hi guys - Ok this isn't strictly blog fayre, but I guess you guys that read this are my proper fans, so in that case you deserve a head start on some of these new things up on the webstore, seeing as they're so limited... 

Just a quick few links to some new products up at www.beta-store.com - the last 2 are VERY limited so get in there quick! ;-)

Glamour for Better "Architechs of Discotech" (John B Remix):

White Labels

http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?

act=shop&process=full&id=340
Full Artwork
http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?act=shop&process=full&id=341
mp3
http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?act=shop&process=full&id=342

This is also up on itunes and most other digital download stores too so its easy for those of you that don't use vinyl...

Limited Edition John B Russian Mix CD "To RUSSIA With LOVE":

Regular
http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?act=shop&process=full&id=344
Limited Edition Box
http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?act=shop&process=full&id=343

BETA 20 // John B "When the Time Comes" b/w "Dancing in the Dark" // Test Pressings:

http://www.betarecordings.com/store/index.cfm?act=shop&process=full&id=345

Mad Weekend!

Ok. So I fixed the PC, now I can relax. I had to do some hardcore g33k motherboard bizniz though - but anyway...

Had an amazing weekend, a drunken one - being the first full weekend I've had free since I can remember... Hooked up with a bunch of mates on Friday night and went to Jodie Harsh's night, Circus, in Soho. Had a superduper fun time, took a gazillion photos, almost was in a fight on the way home, some of my friends actually WERE in a fight on the way home, and we met heaps of fabulous people & things.

Just went out in Maidenhead on Saturday night, only drinking Sangria. Ace move. Ate too much junk food though. Offset my mighty jogging skills for the week which is a shame...

All the photos are here on my flickr page:

PC Dead again

Arg. My PC has died again. Lame. I feel like half the time I'm just an IT support Manager for my house rather than a DJ/Producer. Arrrrrgggggg. Why can't computers just WORK!?

I want to do this to it

Couple of Photo Galleries up from last weekend in Canada!

I blagged all the decent pics I could find off people's facebooks & had some kindly emailed to me too, thanks guys! Collated them all on my facebook page so checkkkem out!

Winnipeg (Friday night): CLICK HERE 

Edmonton (Saturday night): CLICK HERE

Gotta say thanks to everyone that came out and both sets of promoters for looking after me so well! 

Oh, and Vinny & Barry - don't forget to send me one of those phones - OMG legendary! They actually work!

Made it to Edmonton!

Hi from Edmonton! I almost didn't think I'd make it though! The flight from Winnipeg this morning was delayed, then cancelled, then uncancelled - not the sort of thing you want to deal with on 4 hours jetlag sleep and a bit of a hangover! 

Air Canada are cool though and sorted it out so I made it and now I'm just chilling in the hotel here waiting for some room service before my wierd timezonefrazzledisco-nap...

Winnipeg was great last night, I really enjoyed it! Really fun crowd! Was cracking up at Mr Blaze grabbing the microphone and just going "Holy Shit!" every time I dropped a new track! Haha!

And special mention has to go to the lovely wine, all Canadian too, I was VERY impressed. I even had my own special wine server lady!

So yeah, thanks guys! See ya again soon, and Edmonton, see ya tonight!!

Video from Miami!

Just uploading this to youtube, facebook, podcast etc - thought I'd let you guys know first...

Photos from Miami on Friday

Here's a few photos from my gig in Miami on Friday at the Laundry Bar (can't take credit for these - blagged them off Vaginal Kamaz's flickr page - thanks!)

With Jenna, Jessica & Casey Killjoy

Dunno what was going on here...

As seen on TV in miami...

Got in from my gig on Friday night to see some WIERD stuff on TV...

"When You release the seed in your hand, God will release a harvest in his hand"

WTF?!?!?

Sexchatline commercials on the next channel. OMGOMGOMGOMG.

Wow - what a weekend!

Gotta be quick here, I'm about to check out of the hotel here in Baltimore - but yeeeeeehar this weekend has been crazy!

Miami was nuts on Friday, smashed the laundry bar 200% and what can I say about Starscape last night! I had the honour of playing the closing set as the sun rose up over the bay. Man what an experience. I managed to get 2 hours in - treated it really like a journey and went pretty trancey towards the end as the run rose. Really a beautiful experience. Thanks to everyone that was there with me!

Oh, and I found an unopened bottle of Grey goose, and some posh Gin under the decks... If they were yours, sorry! I promise they'll be put to good use!

I filmed quite a bit last night, so I'll edit it quick when I get home and upload this week.

Flying back to the Uk today, then a few days at home, then back out to Canada for more gigs next week! Don't tell Al Gore about my carbon footprint!!!

xxx

JB

Apologies...

Just a note to let anyone in Russia know that I won't be appearing in Murmansk tonight.

I only found out on Tuesday night that my flights had still not been bought, and because it had been left so late, there weren't any of the good options left (ie I was left with LOOONG waits in Moscow or St. Petersberg, and the BA and BMI flights I would have wanted were sold out etc etc).

Anyway, my job is to go and DJ, not sift through loads of flight ticket options, the promoters & my agent should have sorted it out a long time ago (my agent thought they had) and although I'd love to play in Murmansk I'm not going to put myself through the hell of flying all the way there on a crappy Aeroflot OLDDDD cramped plane, and sit waiting in Moscow airport for 12812891821 becuase someone else fucked up and the only flights left are the shit ones...

We're talking to the organisers to get me there on another date, maybe in June. IF the flights are OK... I'll post the gig on my myspace gig listings when/if that happens.

Sorry to all the fans looking forward to the show tonight, but I won't be there... :-(

xxx

JB

New Podcast up!

Woohar!

The guys at Champion Sound in Leiden (Holland) recorded my set (with my permission!) when I played over there a couple of weeks ago - I've been through and podcasted it up and its now uploaded and ready to go!

If you're already subscribed to the iTunes podcast feed then you'll probably already have downloaded it automatically - if not, you can go to podcast.john-b.com to grab it now! Enjoy!

xxx

JB

Photos from St. Petersburg Last weekend...

Thanks to Mr. Oding for sending me the links! I've put all the good ones I could find up on my flickr here.

Here's a few:

As seen on the Autobahn to Frankfurt

We always seem to stop at this gas station on the way to Frankfurt Airport after I've done a gig in Mannheim... I've never had one of these mighty kebabs, but the chef sure makes them look like I'm missing out...

Played MS Connection in Mannheim on Wednesday again, for the e.Motion guys. Great as ever - really good crowd - everyone was out because there was a public holiday that weekend so no work on Thursday. Some VERY drunk people in there... Ahem Johann... Fell asleep in the booth next to me! hahahah! Big up to Thorsten for the Reisling and sorting out the Wienerschnitzel while I watched the football!

Watching Man U/Chelski UEFA Cup Final, waiting for room service! Yummm!

Oh yeah, did a really cool photo shoot before the gig too, proper professional in a studio bizniz, think you'll like the pics - so look out for them soon... They made me up like a Hindu God with many arms and stuff. Pretty bizarrro, but I think it'll turn out ace. Booyah!

St. Petersburg Last weekend

Had a pretty heavy one last weekend, or guess its kinda 2 weeks ago - been slacking on the blog... sorry folks...

Did St. Petersburg on Friday night for my mate Stas' Birthday - at a cool, smaller venue called 'Friday Club'. Was super hot in there, but a well up for it crowd so I had a laugh. The little vip backstage area was fun - they'd bought a GIANT bottle of Johnny Walker or some kind of whisky - it was SOOO big it came on a crane-like device to help tip it over to pour it. Mad. I managed to get some decent wine (South African Chenin Blanc is still smashing it) so was happy. Whisky is too strong for The B.

Stas with some random Birthday present...

Birthday Paparazzi...

Was pretty mashed though - there's not many direct flights from Heathrow to St. Petersburg, and with my routing needing to get me to Vienna the next day, the only itinerary that would work involved getting the 6am flight to Russia - so my body clock was totally f&*ked. Flew straight to Vienna the next day, although I gotta say, St. Petersburg airport is the slowest, most badly organised, beurocratically bogged down pile of shit airport I've ever had the displeasure of flying out of. 

Massive lines all over the place, first just to get to the check in area, you get your documents checked and bags scanned. The whole terminal entry area was made up of 4 or 5 HUGE lines just snaking randomly around the hall. No signs telling you which was which, no people helping or directing you. No announcements. And most of the passengers are Ryanair-types that haven't got a clue. They think T5 is bad? Lame. Anyway, I scoped it out and picked the shorter line and eventually made it in - flashed my nice card and got in the Business class line.

St. Petersburg Airport dumbass massive lines


Then waited another 30 mins in the Passport checking line. Kids crying etc etc. Got to the Business lounge to grab some free food... Rough. Funny crackers, and get this, cheese - just those slices you get wrapped individually in plastic wrap to put on your burger or whatever. T5 wins again! Then when they announce its boarding time the lady says I have to just push into the line (yes theres ANOTHER one) for another security scan - which is literally taking up the whole departures area. I'm like 'fuck that - you're taking me there' (politely) so I made the Business class lounge lady escort me to the front of the line so I wouldn't get lynched by the angry Saga Holidays ppl and drunk Rusky business men! Anyway it worked and I lived happily ever after, but man, Russian Airports are really sucking for me at the moment - apart from maybe Moscow - they've sorted out DME recently.

I digress.

Vienna was cool too - I played at the Zoo Club - I think I've played there in the past but forgotten what it looked like. Oh yeah I do remember - they said it used to be a Gypsy owned place where they did massive weddings, and like the last time it was used for that there were about 40 knife-related injuries over the 2 day event! Hah! Ravers are more peaceful... They showed me photos of all the illegal modifications that had been done to the building before it got turned into the club - the Gypsy guys had built some massive kitchen - totally dangerous and fire hazard stylee against regulations with this huge Pig Roaster Spit Roast thing and all sorts. Bizarre.

Oh God and the Vienna hotel room. Man. I actually changed my flight so I could just get out of there and not even try to sleep - got the FIRST flight back to London. The Hotel Mercure in Vienna FYI. I think they gave me the last room in the hotel cos I was probably the last person to arrive that day (some big AIDS charity concert on in town) and man, that was blatently the WORST room I've ever been in in Europe, if not the world. Supposed to be a 4 star hotel, and this room was way smaller than my little room when I was a student. On the top floor, with a sloping roof, little single bed, and literally no room to swing a cat - and SOOOO hot. It was a pretty humid day, but only May so obviously not that bad, but I guess all the heat was just rising up the building and hitting John B in the room! Even though it was on the 7th floor, when you opened the window to get air in it was super loud from the road, next to the Railway station, and the fan for the room literally had no place to sit - and the cable wasnt long enough to get it near the window to blow the air in. Nightmare. So yeah, sucked. I wrote them a letter telling them to turn that room into a stock cupboard or something! 

Hotel Mercure Vienna - supposidely 4 Star room. Hot like a sauna baybeee.

I'm still looking for decent photos from those 2 gigs so if any of you lot have em, chuck them over in an email ya?!

F*ckspresso

My Krups has bitten the dust. (Its not just mice that die in my house now).

Been on a wild goose chase of customer service phone calls, but its been sorted out and John Lewis are replacing it for me apparently. I still have to go without my fabulous espressos for another week though! :-( 

If you see me tweaking out around the Costa at Heathrow about 5am tomorrow, you'll know why...

I'm off to St. Petersburg for a gig on Friday, then Vienna on Saturday, so looking forward to that - got some great new tracks to play out this week, and a prototype version of a new track I've ALLLLLmost finished, so listen out for that one!

See ya there!

xxx

JB

Wednesday in Londinium

Not much to mention here apart from I had a cool time in London last night. Went up to meet Hayley then went to the Sanderson Hotel's 'Long Bar' for the first time in ages, and had forgotten how PIMP it was. Drunk £8.50 glasses of Sancerre for far too long to be economical, but had a really amazing time - lovely, comfortable surroundings and ace social biznizz. 

Hayley on a posh couch.

King Andy

My good mates Colm, Jack and Andy came down for a bit, then we went on to Swerve at the End (respect to Sarah for getting us in!). Had to leave early to catch the 130 train back home, which was a shame, I had to miss half of Blame's set and totally missed Fabio. Saw Shy FX down there and had a quick chat, but had to leave so we spent our limited time there just chilling in the corner where it was a bit quieter and you could chat without yelling. I missed the Sancerre though... :-(

Oh hahah and the train ride home was entertaining. Witnessed a very strange love triangle/domestic situation between some gay guys, or guy guy and lodger with some history, who had been out separately but come back on the same train, with different partners, and one was wearing the other guys necklace, which he pulled off him, and then just kept coming back in a very theatrical dramatic way and having words. Passed the time indeed. I had a mighty feast of random ethnic sandwiches from the 7-11 to eat while it all kicked off too. Funtimes!

The Mighty Garden!

The mighty Garden of Beee-den is finished pretty much. Got my man Shaun to landscape it last summer, but I had one last border that we didn't do anything to, so last weekend I went and got all gardenery and dug it up, put fertilizer and manure in and planted a gazillion Patunias and Bizzie Lizzies. Then put 6 huge bags of forest bark all over the top to stop the 'orrible weeds coming back. MIGHTY! 

Went to Homobase this week too and bought a fab parasol to go on my table. THE MIGHTY PLAN IS COMPLETE.

Oh and check out the cool Beta Recordings lazer etched tile my friend Uli from Germany arranged and sent over for my birthday last year. Cool beans!

So yes, I plan to conduct lots of business in the garden, with wi-fi over the summer. And have BBQs for people in bikinis.

Leiden recording....

Wooo. Just got the mp3s in from last weeks gig in Holland, they recorded the set and it came out pretty well... I'm gona whack a few jingles on it on Monday and then up as a new podcast so keep your eyes peeled! Or ears ;-) Turns out I played the same first few tracks as I did on the last live set I recorded, so you'll have to forgive me - but it goes pretty leftfield after a while - I played a lot more electroey than normal.

Took these photos while backstage. It smelled funny down there. Backstage was basically UNDER the stage. The walls were pretty. ;-)