PUSSYCAT PUSSYCAT WHERE HAVE YA BEEN?

Who? You? Or me? If you have no idea where you have been then it's no good asking me. But where have I been? I have on the tropical island of Hawaii for the past few light years, trying to develop a new coconut and pineapple flavoured zit.

I'm afraid I wasn't successful in my quest, and only managed to produce a cottage cheese tasting pus, and one that can only likened to wallpaper paste. So I have swum (or is it swam) back to the Uranian moon of Holland to look at reality right in the face. And what an ugly beast it is!

For those who have been emailing me trying to get your mits on the first 5 volumes of the Carty Mixes on CD, I am working on it. The tracks are still available for free from antfan.com, but it seems that's not enough. I have to think of a rather cool disclaimer for the small print on the CD covers, as some of those old mixes are rather embarrassing to hear now.

The CD covers will be slightly re-designed so that the spines look sexy together on a shelf, or in a bin, or whatever you do with them. I have thought about re-creating some of the dodgier mixes, but end up creating new ones. So I may as well just remaster the old tracks and bang them out to the Carty Store.

The much praised (and thank you for that) "Makes me Proud..." is also expected to make a CD appearance. I have some excellent remixes by Antflavour and Ciaron that just have to be heard. The only delay is for a new mix of it from me...which has been started...honest!

Still on the Carty Mixes front, Volume 11 isn't far from completion. Expect to see The Family Of Noise (Dot Com Remix), Lou Reed Dive (Dance) (Remix), Jason Mraz vs AATA (Carty Mash-up), something with Wonderful and Beautiful Dream, an un-used track I created for adam-ant.net when Justin Swan was at the helm, a mix I performed at AntFest in 2007, and one from an Ant Lib convention a few years back (I forget the date).

What about the website (cry the emails)? Hmmm. Well it needs some housework to keep it looking not so out of date, but to be honest, I don't have the drive to run an Adam & The Ants site anymore. That doesn't mean there won't be any updates. You'll hear of them here first, so keep checking in.

BRING ON THE DANCING WHORE, SIS!

It is with no great shame for me to announce that I certainly am not a musician. I have said it enough times before. So what am I? How do I classify whatever it is I do?

Well, I used to be a DJ, but hung up my headphones years ago. Anything that I do nowadays which happens to fall into this category is just a one off. I still have the passion, but no real desire.

I used to be a radio presenter (as opposed to "radio DJ" - I so hate that phrase!), but hung up that microphone shortly before working 18 hrs a day, running a team of 40 (commission only) sales people for a marketing company in Cardiff, Wales.

In recent years I have tried my hand at podcasting. It is the closest I got to doing my favourite job of all, but it's not live. It's all edited and loses that excitement, no matter how many times I edit the excitment in (or out!). I have been searching for the perfect podcast software that records a show all in one go (i.e. live), but no luck yet. Anyway, no new podcasts for over a year, so I am not one of those podcasters really.

I have, for the past 7 years, been remixing other artists' songs for my own gratification and pleasure. It's an extension of being a DJ, as I used to mess with other people's music on the turntables in the clubs. Even "remixing" is a term I tend not to use often. I like to call it "post-production". Posh eh?

That leads to production itself. Meaning 'producing other artists'. In simple terms, it's a lot like remixing, except the brief is not all mine. Then there's producing my own creations. Remember, I am not a musician. So what does this now make me? An artist? Me? (Yes, I am laughing at the prospect!).

There are many ways for people who make music to have their creation heard on the web. But now it's becoming a bit of a joke with certain social networking sites. Sometimes it's due to copyright issues, which is fair enough. But other times it's just plain pathetic. MySpace used to be a good platform for me to promote my 'work'. It seems that this is no longer becoming an option, as even the act of uploading a new tune hits many unexplained brick walls.

I use my Internet provider's podcasting service to make tracks available for downloading and streaming on my site. But I need a good embedded music player.

Step in ReverbNation. I'm giving this one a trial run as it links to my pages on FaceBook, Bebo (didn't know about that one, did you?), MySpace (!) and a few others I have yet to discover. I have a link, but I am blogging this via email (a first!). So let's try the link: http://www.reverbnation.com/carty

UPDATE: My site's pages are all back online, I just need to creating a new "landing page" (the page you see first) to link to the important (i.e. non-Ant) stuff.

The Carty Blog

Princess Charming: Beyonce channels the spirit of Adam Ant for head-banging World Music Awards performance

(nicked from the Daily Mail in the UK.)

Move aside Madonna, Beyonce Knowles is fast becoming the biggest pop chameleon thanks to her ever changing looks.

After performing in a cropped blonde wig and Terminator-style Cyborg hand in recent weeks, the R&B singer debuted yet another new look at the World Music Awards last night.

Beyonce appeared to channelling the style of Eighties icon Adam Ant as she performed her new track Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) at the ceremony in Monaco.

As she took to the stage on Sunday, Beyonce shunned a glamorous gown like many of her contemporaries in attendance that night for a New Romantic swashbuckling pirate look.

Dressed in spray on trousers, a frilly white shirt and velvet jacket, Beyonce shook her head and wiggled her backside in the high energy routine.

(Carty did not write this - he tried some new 'copy & paste' method)

Today, I am madly in love with this morning's cup of coffee.

I damn well needed that.

(Although I can't be arsed to write anymore, so maybe I need another cup!)

THE FAMILY OF NOISE (DOT COM REMIX)

Yesterday, whilst reading one of the Ant forums inbetween working for a living, I saw Cork post that he had been listening to the Never Mind The Ant Box CD.

This CD was a 22 track production disc featuring tracks meant for use in the NMTAB quiz. Unfortunately, the venue was too noisy to play music, which was a disappointment as the theme tune is just brilliant! However, the first 20 attendees of the Family Reunion event found a copy in their goodie bags.

Anyway, Cork mentioned how he was enjoying track 11 from the CD. I had no clue what track 11 was until I arrived home. It was the remix I made of "The Family Of Noise", which is actually more of a mash up between the NMTAB theme tune (The Wolfmen's "Taliban Sam"), The Beatles' "She Loves You" and of course Adam And The Ants' "The Family Of Noise".

I stole the above image from Cork's site at Mulitply, because I am like that.

Ironically, within moments of me completing this remix, Niall X had also completed a remix of the same track for the Family of Noise organisaton. But I didn't tell you that as I don't know if they have announced it yet. (But it is bloody fantastic - and I didn't tell you that either, as I have not heard it, have I?)

Little known fact - Niall X is also a Welshman called Chris! Yes, we are the same person, although I'm sure his missus will have something to say about that.

Anyway, never mind the drivel, here's the Carty remix:

Adam & The Ants - The Family Of Noise [Dot Com Remix]