New Jogging Compilation - Track Listing

A friend of mine recently expressed an interest in Jay Z. I was pleasantly surprised that other white collar professionals are immersed in the rap game. This compilation was recorded this evening and is being mailed tomorrow!

1) I.Z.Z.O. (HOVA) - Jay Z, live from MTV unplugged
2) Dear Summer - Jay Z
3) Hard Knock Life - Jay Z
4) Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay Z
5) Encore - Jay Z
6) Heard Em' Say - Kanye West f/Adam Levine of Maroon 5
7) Diamonds (remix) - Kanye West f/Jay Z
8) Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It - Dem Franchise Boyz
9) King Without a Crown (album version) - Matisyahu; (this version features some nice vocal harmonies with the backup singers). Did you know that Matisyahu is a stage diver?
10) Road to Zion - Damian Jr. 'Gong' Marley f/Nas - Marley's tone is super raspy to good effect!
11) Rompe! - Daddy Yankee f/Young Buck and Lloyd Banks of G Unit; not fully embraced this song yet, but think that reggaeton will remain hot in 2006.
12) Hips Don't Lie - Shakira w/Wyclef Jean (I love this song! At first I rejected the silly title, but it's addictive - watch out!)
13) Dash My Curry (skit) - MIA (Sri Lankan born MIA was trained by Peaches, and she is nearly as nasty)
14) Bucky Done Gun - MIA
15) Waiting for Tonight - J. Lo (an all-time favorite)
16) Honest Mistake - The Bravery
17) The Love in Me - Lisa Stansfield
18) Sincerity - Lisa Stansfield
19) You're Beautiful - James 'Philly' Blunt

I wanted to include Jay Z's 'Beware' with Panjabi MC, but it was one of those weird video CDs. Technical problems.

e-mail DJ Jagged at gregg@ambientdj.com to request your own copy.

Photos from Day at the Park

A Day at Mercer County Park, starring

CHARLOTTE-

THE DUCKS-
MAX-

And Zach and Gregg -

It's Spring 2006!

Overall, this winter has been rough. Zach has been bringing home an incessant stream of colds and viruses from preschool and sharing the love. I think I'm on my fourth illness of the year, which is way out of the norm.

This past week I booked two weddings - one for a Friday night in May and the other for a Saturday in November. Interestingly, November is nearly full booked on Saturdays, while August is wide open. April features only two events at this point, but May is very full. One prospect, Jamie, who I'd been speaking with for almost two months finally folded and decided to use a friend of a friend. Nancy, a bride who booked last August, requested a refund of her deposit as a friend of a friend will be doing it on the cheap, or for free. Is everybody a DJ these days?

One of my Mackie 1521 speakers has a vibration problem which flares up on bass-heavy songs. After speaking with Mackie tech support, it seems this condition is going to require repair. It's headed to the shop in Edison. In the meantime, I've ordered some Mackie 450s, a size down but suitable for most mobile gigs, including weddings. They are backordered and it might be a few weeks. Glen from Promo Only is going to throw in a free pair of Senseiser headphones in recognition of the delay (timely, since one side of my headphones is blown).

Mike Z, Gregg W. and I are going to see Pearl Jam on June 1 at Continental Arena! I just got off Tickemaster - couldn't get the lower level seats, but was able to get upper deck on diagonal, row 13. I guess that will work.

Recorded the Mike Z. bachelor party mix CD recently. Am going to insert track break points using Nero (this is a new trick I learned and that should be well-received by the peanut gallery), and remove several tracks.... in one case, there was a nick on the CD which cause a skip. In the other, the EQ sounded bad on one particular song, so I'm panning it.

My next event is a wedding reception on April 8th in Basking Ridge. The bride is from South Africa, with some resemblance to Charlize Theron; the groom is an American in medical supplies sales. They were already married abroad, but are doing it again for the U.S. side of the family.

We have been busy preparing for my dad's upcoming 60th birthday party on April 2nd. Hope he likes his present!

Last Friday night's gig in Carteret went very well. A new song that I discovered was S.O.S. by Rihanna. It's an upbeat dance song over a sample of Soft Cell's tainted love. I think it's going to be a hit.

Lastly, I developed a roll of film from the summer and have some nice photos of Club 2606 4th of July Party. I'm going to get those scanned and hopefully have them posted to this blog soon.

Winter Photos of the Gang

"Get Off the Tracks Mike"

It was a relaxed weekend. On Saturday, I decided to take my son Zachary for a train ride on New Jersey transit. He is very fond of trains, and needed to get out of the house. I parked, purchased tickets. We waited inside the terminal as it was quite cold and windy. An excited passenger came into the terminal and said that somebody was standing on the tracks. Zach and I headed outside to check it out, and sure enough, about 50 yards beyond the terminal, a young man was on the Amtrak line (the fast one), standing there, with his arms out and to the side. That passenger who reported the incident went to the side of the track to talk to Mike. The police were nowhere to be found. We learned that the distraught man's name was "Mike". As some point, Zach shouted "get off the tracks, Mike!" Mike was not budging and the police still weren't there. Finally, Mike walked to the side and shook the interventionist's hand. But then he went back out to the track. The interventionist continued talking, and after a bit Mike left the tracks again. This time they went down the slope to the parking lot. On cue, two patrolmen sprinted along the train tracks and when I peered around the corner, Mike was on the ground in parking lot. Thank God the situation didn't end in tragedy. Hopefully Mike will work through his issues.

The train ride was uneventful.

Today was our annual "Holy Supper" ceremony at church - essentially Holy Communion. It was a nice service - and cathartic. We later dined for lunch with Grandma Dot and the Coons. Grandma recently fell and fractured a bone in her arm. At 93 years old, she is somewhat frail, yet still living on her own. Unfortunately, she has been falling an increasing amount in the past year. The topic of assisted living as an option has surfaced, but not yet been resolved.

I decided to purchase the CATraxx music cataloguing program, and entered about 200 albums this week, or nearly 3,000 songs. While business is slow in the off-season, I'll continue cataloguing. I was re-hired for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Awards dinner in May. This year it's at the New Brunswick Hyatt.