Notes on Clinton Sparks, Middlesex, and Jake La Botz
By JIM SULLIVAN | October 17, 2006
Clinton Sparks |
DJ CLINTON SPARKS’s tag line is “Get Familiar,” and America may do just that when he joins the artist still called Diddy (we think) and the Press Play Band on an international promo tour that kicks off this week with a variety of TV appearances. The Boston-based Sparks — ex of JAM’N 94.5 and HOT 97.7 — just won for “Best Radio Show of the Year” at the Power Summit Awards in the Dominican Republic. Sparks says a friend at Diddy’s Bad Boy company introduced them. “They needed someone to be the most electrifying, energetic DJ. The DJ provides that excitement, that other voice hyping up the crowd.” He and Diddy have put together a mix tape called Don’t Call It a Comeback!, and a tour is planned for next year. You can hear Sparks do his stuff on www.smashtimeradio.com.“Make It New” at Middlesex Lounge celebrates its second anniversary on October 19. The Thursday series has been pumping out house and techno with DJs DAVID DAY (of our own “Circuits” column), BILLY KIELY, ERIK PEARSON, MIKE UZZI, and ALAN MANZI since 2004. To celebrate, the club is bringing in YARD from Chicago and POPONAME, a solo act from Köln, along with former Six Finger Satellite dude DJ JUAN MACLEAN. . . . And don’t forget gritty bluesman JAKE LA BOTZ, who’s playing an unusual venue this Friday, October 20 at 6 pm: Fat Ram’s Pumpkin Tattoo in Boston. Singer/guitarist La Botz sports a lot of tats, so he figured why not play where he lurks. His tour includes 19 other like-minded venues as he promotes his new Graveyard Jones.
On the Web
Clinton Sparks: http://www.clintonsparks.com/
Email the author
Jim Sullivan: jimsullivanink@verizon.net
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