Category: Past Events

Girl Power! Sunday Guests’ DiskoPogo special was feminised in style with this fund-raising charidee special in aid of The Lavender Trust. The DiskoPogo boys were on top form and suitably bowled over by beauty AND brains in the form of five guest female DJs on the summer solstice special.

Kicking off at 1600hours after sampling Electriks extensive lunchtime menu of sausage and mash was pink’d-up DiskoJim, kicking off on the shiny new equipment by blowing the speakers to Simply Red’s ‘Model’. In fine form with some sultry disco and 80s beats DiskoJim passed the baton over to DiskoGaz and then went on a raffle binge, rallying up the first few quid of the evening. DiskoGaz in true chauvinist spirit refused to pay his girlfriends £1.50 bus fare but was more generous to the crowd as he treated us to a bit of Marvin with ‘Whats Going On’. DiskoGaz then looked pensive as he dreamed of the good old days on Union Square (or probably an argument when getting home).

Massive Diskothanks then went out to the first of our female contingents, Madame Tukatz and Lil’ Dj Jazzminx, with a re-edit of the Pointer Sisters ‘Pinball numbers song’ (off of Sesame St). Some Brazilian funk with Public Enemy lyrics then followed, with the eclecticism reaching gigantic proportions, even when played at the wrong speed. Miss Bobbles then took to the helm with plenty more reggae and dancehall grooves; perfect auditory refreshment for lazy Sunday chilling. Madame Tukatz and Miss Bobbles drew on their decades of record collecting experience as the evening sun blazed on.

Balloons popped, dogs were sprayed pink, and the feminine touch continued as Nook resident DJ Millie stepped up next. Hugely experienced and seriously competitive, DJ Millie cranked up the pace with Mr Fingers ‘Can u feel it’ and Todd Terry’s ‘Bounce to the Beat’. Having possibly the biggest record bag of the evening, DJ Millie had something for all occasions and a future competition with the DiskoPogo boys looks a hot prospect.

Vicky Sponge was the last of the female contingent to grace the DiskoDecks, with a feminine blend of Dancehall and Dub to send the repetitive beats police back to their desks. Big respeck! Shortly after the sophisticated Sponge, the Nook’s big booze raffle was drawn by the green goddess, with the winning number being held by John Daly!!!! John wins over £100 of top notch booze!

Finally, with a new T-shirt on, and unusually for him not wearing any pink, DiskoDaz minced on at 2200hrs to fire up the funk and treat us to more unique DiskoPogo style-beats. The fun continued and the party got crazier until gone midnight, with what little available space on the floor being danced upon. Final tune was ‘Thinking of You’ by Sister Sledge.

Big thanks to everyone who came and supported the party and entered the booze raffle as we managed to raise £260 for The Lavender Trust and Breast Cancer Care. Stay tuned for more DiskoPogo this summer!!!!!  

From the rivers of Babylon, to the beaches of Chorlton, Saturday 13^th June saw DiskoPogo return once more with a beach-themed party, brought to you in conjunction with the British weather. Whilst the Nooks’ busy crowd enjoyed the sun, in direct contrast, the DiskoPogo boys locked themselves in the Cranny bassment to supply the tunes to upstairs and create the perfect atmosphere for another successful Saturday night pogo. In shorts and T-shirts, sunglasses and thongs, the recipe was full-on hot house vibes and sweaty summer sounds kicking off at 1900hours with DJ Summer-summer time Jones playing Madonna (Holiday), Instant Funk (Bodyshine), and Tony Lionni (Found A place).   

Treating us to extra sunlight courtesy of his reflective ‘Beachy’ head, Lifeguard DiskoScott ramped it up to full digital effect with some four-four beats from 2000 to 2100 hours. Effortlessly pressing all the right buttons, DiskoScott showed us what we’ve been missing since he’s been away (i.e. nowt). Also back from his jollydays, The Shamen DiskoJim pelted out some deep house grooves, kicking off with King Britt’s Philadelphia Experiment, and gliding through past summer classics such as Solu Music’s ‘Fade’ and Jon Cutlers ‘Its yours’. Taking time out to engineer a fully-fortified silicon scale replica of Glamis Castle, DiskoJim smoothly filled up the cranny by welcoming those sunburnt lobsters coming in from the Nooks’ outside boulevard.  

Taking over from that crescendo, Beach Boy DiskoMike flooded the airwaves with a special blend of classic house. Dropping such dancefloor bombs as Pennies from Heaven by Inner City, and Arthur Russell’s ‘Wax The Van (Yam Who rework)’. Rounding off by wearing his sunglasses at night was Disko ‘Calvin Harris’ Daz. Slightly out of breath from blowing up inflatables, DiskoDaz kicked sand in the face of other geeks by belting out some more party grooves to take us up to midnight once more. Everyone that ventures over to DiskoPogo receives a warm welcome and gets involved in the fun so don’t miss out on future themed parties if you’re in the vicinity. Once again DiskoPogo proving that if it’s not Pogo it’s a no-go.…

Kaboom! Guess who stepped in the room? On Saturday 2^nd May we activated the Pogo reactor to give sunny Chorlton a blast of super-enriched soul, neutron disco, atomic funk and house vibes in true DiskoPogo style. With the usual packed ensemble of friends, chin-stroking beardistas and funky young mutant chickens like us, Diskopogo continued to belt out thermo-musical energy til early doors at The Nook, and, as the pictures prove, there was no shortage of radiation-based gags and hydro-cooled tomfoolery.  

First off was Atomic DiskoGaz, with his tune of the moment Idris Muhammad’s ‘I see music in your eyes’, and the Clash’s ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Inspired by Louie Vega’s choice, DiskoGaz set the reactor core to idle with his sustainable low-carbon emitting choices, and modern disco from Motor City Ensembles ‘Raw Cuts 3’ and Kenny Dixon Juniors ‘Yesterdays’ followed. Sector 7G operative DiskoMike also joined in this hour’s fun for a bit of disco radiation pressure with a bit of Eddie C (Make it better) and Paradise (Change). Trying hard to replace radiation poisoning with alcohol poisoning, DiskoMike also induced a bit of heavily reinforced house with Sterling Void’s ‘Runaway girl, and the awesome bassline groove of ‘Reach for me’ by the Funky Green Dogs.

Fuelled-up with some weird glowing stuff, Mutant DiskoJim threw down some reactor ragga with Overproof Sound System’s remix of Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’, subtly blended into the Atlantic records classic ‘Memphis Soul Stew’ by King Curtis. DiskoJim notched up the reactor to ‘throbbing’ as he atomically-fused brass and house music with Pacific 202 by 808 State in both the original and William Fairey Brass Band versions…..Atomic!!!!

By this time, one of the irradiated sacrificial operatives had escaped from the reactor face, as the facebook pictures and the Nook video show, spreading radioactive contamination. People panicked and thought we’d had an outbreak of swine flu, but luckily it was just a release of radio and chemically toxic materials from the downstairs musical reactor core, not causing them immediate harm, but reducing their life expectancies by some years.     

The Disko Daz-bomb exploded like a mushroom cloud onto the decks following the capture of the nuclear Diskogimp and inserted the control rods back to the reactor to power down the evening with pulsating vibes from The Fog ‘Been a Long Time’, Idjot Boys ‘Droid 2’, and 2020 Soundsystem ‘Sliding Away’. Last tune of the evening was the hardcore classic Zero B ‘Lock-up’, proving it’s another fine Pogo we’ve got you into…..

Aloha! The regular DiskoPogo event returns in the cranny on Sat 13^th June 2009 for a Summer Beach Party! Dressed up like ‘totally radical’ straight from the surf, and partying like the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson when he went, like ‘to-tally mental dude’, DiskoPogo aims to kick off a fantastic summer of events at the Nook – Wipeout! Sunshine smiles, bright Hawaiian shirts and exotically potent cocktails washed down to a backdrop of soulful summer grooves and beach party anthems in an awesome teenage mutant ninja DiskoPogo style. Surfs up!!

A toast…to England and St. George! Huzzah! On Thursday 23^rd April just before sunset, with God as our witness, our faces painted with the cross of St. George and England in our hearts, the DiskoPogo knights advanced on the Nook’s ivory towers from an Easterly direction in celebration of all things England and all things good. Tonight’s task for the brave knights of Pogo was to play as much Manchester and English artists as possible and to party like it was 1499!!!!

First off was Sir Disko of Daz, he upped the Englishness with a fine selection of tunes from his chamber of records, skilfully crafted to suit the early evening’s mix of Maids and Knights congregating in the courtyard. After a small Jam Attack, Sir Disko of Daz left the battlefield to socialise and become a menace in the courtyard….off with his head!

With his jousting pole firmly in hand Friar DiskoGaz was next up to the battlefield, gallantly riding in on his trusty steed with a selection of mid-century hip-hop beats and dirty dungeon disco such as Q-Tip ‘Breath and Stop’, David Joseph ‘You Can’t Hide (your love from me)’, Kathy Diamond ‘Over’, and a bit of Sir Eddy Grant, telling us how he didn’t want to dance no more.

The warm Spring eve suited the outside throng, and more peasants aplenty gathered within The Nooks patriotic environment to pay homage to the great knights of Pogo and the patron Saint of our fine nation, St. George. Not a pew was to be seen upon the hour of 2100 as The Nook was as crowded as Little John’s jockstrap.

Back from the crusades was the mighty Sir Disko of Jim, abstaining from the demons of drink to fight the mighty dragon and ravish a few wenches nevertheless. Some classic tunes from Soul II Soul (Back to life and Jazzie’s groove), The Chimes (Heaven), The Police (When the World is running down), De-Lite (Wild times), and a Guy called Gerald (Voodoo Ray) were some of the weapons he used to pillage the village of Chorlton.

Lord Disko of Mike then entered the battle, firmly swinging his meat cleaver to and fro as he scythed down the enemies ears with The Stone Roses ‘Fools Gold’, Leo Zero ‘Message of Love, Suzi Carr’s ‘All over me’, and Talk Talk’s ‘Life is what you make it’ resounding from the battlements. Mike also included a few musical pauses for toasts….’to the Queen, Duke of Lancaster!’.

As dusk fell, taking us out of another successful DiskoPogo adventure came The Soup Dragons ‘Can you dig it’, The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Peppers…’, Talking Heads ‘Once in a lifetime’, and Joy Division’s ‘Love will Tear us Apart’. Join us Saturday 2^nd May as THE most successful year for South Manchester’s music scene continues as DiskoPogo goes ATOMIC!

Sunday 29^th march, the beginning of British Summertime, a day of rest, a day where mothers take cakes out of the oven, and little lambs stroll upon the hillside comically falling over. DiskoPogo KICKED ass this Sunday from start to finish at the Nook in Chorlton village in what was perfect weather for a perfect day. Having an early start due to a packed DJ rota, the boys began to drop some grooves from 1700hrs onwards when they rose from their stinking pits and began consuming as much hair of the dog as possible. With the deck upstairs instead of their normal downstairs cranny hideaway, DiskoPogo controlled the music and tempo of the upstairs bar more effectively this time, and it showed later on!

First off was DiskoScott, treating us to a digital mix of supreme quality. Scott had just eaten seventeen courses of Sunday lunch at his mams and his bloated beats cast a perfect backdrop to the early afternoon, with Dubtribe Sound Systems ‘Do it Now’, and Shara Nelsons ‘Go that Deep’.

Second up, was DiskoMike at 1800hrs, letting his hair down after a good 5 or 6 pints of Sagres to play some delights such as St Etienne ‘Only love can break your heart’, and SOS band ‘Just be good to me’. DiskoMike got asked to play at a wedding some time in the distant future, such was his quality. However, DiskoMike also tried to steal other DiskoDJs thunder by playing Max Sedgeleys excellent ‘Happy’ and Corinna Joseph’s Basement-Jaxx-produced ‘Live your life with me’. Tut tut tut.

Third up a newbie Dj – DJ DiskoRoddy, chucking out some classic jazz-funk rhythms for DiskoPogo from Level 42 (Living it up) and King’s ‘Love and pride’ as the room began to spin and more Mossley old-boys and Chorltonites came out of the woodwork to enjoy the lazy Sunday afternoon drinks and luminous Gin (only the Nooks Gin glows in the dark). Even at this earlyish hour, the intimate crowd showed their enjoyment by dancing and singing along. 

Belting it up in true summer fashions at 2000hrs, was the almost-as-pissed DiskoJim, actually mixing his records effectively this time. Tracks from King Britt, Innocence (Natural Thing), Deee-lite (Picnic in the Summertime), and SWV (Alright) led up to a smooth soul section with the legendary Al Green track ‘Lets stay together’ and Marlena Shaw’s ‘California Soul’ proving to be popular with the impromptu dancefloor area. The vibe was flowing through the Nook, easily the most packed place on the Wilby road block.

Due to the sobering effects of Red Bull and feeling as if they needed to perform for once, DiskoDaz and DiskoGaz decided to gay it up by getting behind the decks ‘togeva’ at 2100hrs to play us out of this bonus DiskPogo special back-to-back. Such crowd pleasers as St Germain ‘Rose Rouge’, Simbad ‘Soul Fever (karizma remix)’ and Mr Fingers ‘Mystery of love’ were to name but a few from this legendary DiskoDuo. Rounding off the night, DiskoPogo’s odd couple played the classic ‘Burning Up’ from Imagination, and Sabres of Paradise ‘Smokebelch’. All too easy….

Hold up wait a minute let us put some groove in it…………………….

Chocs away!!!! Yeah baby DiskoPogo was back, and the (Nook and) Cranny was decorated to full effect such that the Nook and DiskoPogo came together on Sat 21st March like MAGNET AND STEEL!!!! Yes it was the second DiskoPogo event, themed to do with planes and that, and featuring a cameo appearance by the one and only MC Tunes, who didn’t manage to split the atom again, but joined the fun nevertheless! Launched by Wing Commander DiskoJim at precisely 1800hrs and giving the Nook’s brand new sound system a first blast from his disco and 80s sounds, DiskoPogo kicked off with an airport theme and plenty of brand imaging thanks to the guys’ tireless PR efforts since the last party (17^th January). Resembling an unqualified airline pilot, DiskoJim got DiskoPogo 2 off to a flying start, advancing on his crazy midnight antics last time. Playing Liquid Liquid ‘Cavern’, Roxy Music ‘Love is the Drug’ and Rockers Revenge ‘Walking on Sunshine’, the cockpit rocked-it straight off.

Subtly taking over the controls at 1900hrs was the extremely small-headed DiskoGaz, proving that ‘if the cap doesn’t fit – still wear it!’. Throwing his CDs all over the decks, DiskoGaz played a more modern theme tune with The Pharcyde’s ‘Drop’, MIA ‘Paper Planes’, and Big L ‘Put it on’ to name but a few. The informed crowd at this stage enquired about DiskoGaz’s song choice, as at DiskoPogo, the DJs are as friendly as Mother Theresa. 

The funk hit the fan to a background of Lee Scratch Perry in the Nook’s newly-decorated basement, as at 2000hrs sharp was DiskoGav, treating us to a masterclass in hat-wearing and funk, even though he copied a few of DiskoJims song choices from last time (i.e. Barrabas ‘Woman’). DiskoGav, a resident at Cord bar, scratched it up royally with his usual blend of beats old and new, attracting crowds from inner-Chorltonville.

Next on was DiskoMike treating us to a bit of old school with Joey Beltrams‘ seminal ‘Energy Flash’ and De La Souls ‘A Roller Skating Jam named Saturday’ on the menu. DiskoMike also played the awesome We Got the Funk’ by Positive Force, a true Paradise Garage and Frankie Knuckles inspired classic. By this time the Nook was bursting at the seams with a mix of cultured individuals enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, eclectic music, and superb choice of drinks. Westons Cider was a favourite, and the ever-present threat of lashings of Sagres on Draught proved tempting for all present.

Dive-bombing like a spitfire at 2200hrs was DiskoDaz, heading straight for the Pyrenees with some stone-cold choice classics. Fresh from Berlin, DiskoDaz paraded the new DiskoPogo banner to full effect as people slowly realised DiskoPogo wasn’t just a massive piss-take. Lucky Daz saw the biggest crowds of the night as plenty of Chorlton’s finest partygoers checked out DiskoPogo for the very first time and stayed with us all night long to continue the party and general mayhem.

Last but certainly not least at 2300hrs was the pizza-eating legend DiskoScott. Treating the crowd to a dose of Hardcore Uproar’s ‘Together’. Suddie Ravell the lyricist on that record was then informed via the medium of telephone. For a reduced 15 minutes spell due to environmental noise pollution, DiskoJim returned to the controls to successfully guide the party back down to earth. FPI Projects ‘Rich in Paradise’ and the massive ‘Trickshot’ by Ceasefire rounded off the night, but would people stop touching my records when I’m playing again or else I will get very ANGRY!