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I’m DJing tomorrow night, Thursday 17th August, in Nolita for a brilliant charity event in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation. The gig is organised by the wonderful Thalia Heffernan and her boyfriend Ryan McShane and they’re fundraising tomorrow night and also in September by walking the Camino de Santiago. There are a lot of live musical guests tomorrow night, as well as myself and January Winters DJing, plus there’s a plethora of incredible raffle prizes, details of which can be found on the event’s facebook page. The event starts at 6.30pm and tickets are €10, available on the door, but if you can’t make it to the gig you can donate online here.

It’s based on a real-life phenomenon, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, a women’s professional wrestling promotion that debuted in America in 1986. An African-American woman becomes ‘The Welfare Queen’, there’s a Indo-American character called ‘Beirut the Mad Bomber’, and a heavy-set girl is given a quick Peruvian makeover and cast as ‘Machu Picchu’. Ruth’s former best friend Debbie Eagan (played superbly by Betty Gilpin) is cast as the main attraction ‘Liberty Belle’, the all American girl. And if you’re looking for a movie to watch this weekend there are new additions to Netflix that I’ve already reviewed, all of which I’d recommend: Bernie, While We’re Young, Chef, and Trumbo.

On 14th June I did a gig that will be one of the highlights of my career; the re-opening of the National Gallery after over six years of refurbishment. When I was booked for the gig, the musical references I was given included Max Richter and Mica Levi; a world away from the usual party playlist requests. And so over the course of two-and-a-half hours I played music that I never usually get the chance to play – Steve Reich and Bernard Hermann and Agnes Obel and Mahler among many others – This haunting mash-up of Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ with Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto II was on my playlist from the get-go.

She cites her influences as Erykah Badu, Macy Grey, ASA, Chrisette Michele, and Nneka. She says she only got serious about singing a year ago but it looks like she’s already set for huge success with her latest single ‘Troublemaker’ racking up 500,000 plays on Spotify in two months, and a Choice Music Prize nomination for ‘Song of the Year’ in 2016. Diffusion Lab are behind this video, as they were with the Jafaris video I posted recently. You can catch her live at Sea Sessions this weekend and on the Other Voices stage at Electric Picnic.