Hi everyone, Andy Hooton here\u2026..<\/p>\n
Wolverhampton born and bred but now exiled in The East Midlands and spreading the Black Country dialect to anyone who is brave enough to attempt to decipher what I\u2019m saying!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been a Funkateer since 1974 when I first heard some \u201cproper\u201d Kool & The Gang \u2013 the track that really hit home being \u201cRated X\u201d from the \u201cGood Times\u201d album. With Wolverhampton being something of a Northern Soul stronghold (the legendary Catacombs Club was based there) Funkateers were very much in the minority and we were regularly ridiculed for our drainpipe trousers and pointed shoes. Thankfully, we held firm and our numbers increased\u2026..with just a little help from Dr. Funkenstein and the Disco boom, oh, and a certain man in a white suit.<\/p>\n
I began my association with \u201cour music\u2019 as a collector initially (spending small fortunes in Pep\u2019s Downtown Records; Ruby Red Records; Sundown Records and Graham Warr Records), but dabbled in DJ-ing at house parties and Wolverhampton\u2019s Club Lafayette. Venue-wise, I regularly attended all-dayers at Manchester Ritz; Blackpool Mecca and Birmingham Locarno, and went to some great nightclubs too \u2013 Rafters (Manchester); Chaplin\u2019s (Birmingham); Rum Runner (Birmingham) and Soul\/Funk\/Jazz-Funk nights at the aforementioned Club Lafayette. Early DJ influences would have been Colin Curtis; Graham Warr and Shaun Williams, but I did get to witness the likes of Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent when they ventured north. In pre-internet days, Blues & Soul magazine was my bible!!!!!<\/p>\n
Artist-wise, I\u2019ve always liked Kool & The Gang (pre-1979 though); Brass Construction; Earth, Wind & Fire; Kleeer; The Crusaders; Fatback\/Fatback Band; Mandrill etc, and in amongst my favourite albums would be The Miracles\u2019 \u201cCity Of Angels\u201d; Undisputed Truth\u2019s \u201cHigher Than High\u201d and Airto\u2019s \u201cTouching You, Touching Me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Away from music, I\u2019ve spent a lifetime in cricket \u2013 both as a player and umpire. I am a lover of technology (Rega; Apple & Denon DJ); Adidas Originals and a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers (Football) and Worcestershire (Cricket), and I enjoy walking and climbing in the more scenic areas of our magnificent islands.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been broadcasting for several years now, and after a three year tenure elsewhere, I\u2019m honoured to bring my \u201cShifting Gears\u201d show (and my accent\/dialect) to JFSR!<\/p>\n
Funk not only moves, it re-moves\u2026\u2026.dig!!!!!<\/p>\n
#notjustaboutanthems<\/p>\n
#SoulAgainstCancer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi everyone, Andy Hooton here\u2026.. Wolverhampton born and bred but now exiled in The East Midlands and spreading the Black Country dialect to anyone who is brave enough to attempt to decipher what I\u2019m saying! I\u2019ve been a Funkateer since 1974 when I first heard some \u201cproper\u201d Kool & The Gang \u2013 the track that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"genres":[12,11],"rs-languages":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/show\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/show"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/show"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/show\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1204,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/show\/398\/revisions\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genres","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genres?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"rs-languages","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jfsr.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rs-languages?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}