Welcome to issue 8. This week we tell you about a series of SSRadio events happening in Chicago, let you know about some exclusive new shows starting this month, take five with Marky Mark, and announce the winners of the recent Bargrooves Summer Sessions II CD giveaway.

We are excited to announce a series of SSRadio after-parties to coincide with the massive Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago this August!

In collaboration with 5 magazine, North America's only magazine dedicated exclusively to House music, we are putting on several evening events around the city to cater for the House crowd, with our flagship Saturday night party playing host to Jon Cutler (NYC) and John 'Julius' Knight (Miami) alongside the SSRadio Allstars (London).

• Thursday 6th August @ Betty's Blue Star, with Rees Urban (Chicago), Kristopher Muse (Chicago) and the SSRadio Allstars (London)
• Saturday 8th August @ The Griffin Lounge, with Jon Cutler (NYC), John 'Julius' Knoight (Miami) and the SSRadio Allstars (London)
• Sunday 9th August @ Betty's Blue Star, with Andre Harris (Chicago), Sean Smith (Chicago) and the SSRadio Allstars (London)

As with all our events, we will endeavour to stream them live as-it-happens (technical resources depending!), and of course make the recorded audio available for listen-again and podcast after the event.

We are pleased to be welcoming the following DJs to the station:

Jay McKnight from Mozambique starts his Sexy House Sessions show on the Deep & Soulful channel, every-other Friday at 18:00 UK time from 24th July 2009.

Sergio Matina out of Italy brings you the TendenziA Groovy Session show on the Tuff & Twisted channel, every-other Thursday at 17:00 UK time from 6th August 2009.

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Marky Mark first cut his SSRadio teeth on the Deep and Soulful channel way back in 2006, but when we announced the launch of the Funk and Disco channel in January, Mark was one of the first to move over to the new channel and demonstrate that his musical knowledge spread far beyond just House music. We caught up with Mark to find out a bit more about what makes him move...

1. Describe the music you play?

   Eclectic, disco, funk, soul,rare groove, jazz funk, latin, jazz, soulful & jazzy house.

2. Who are your inspirations, ie. musicians/producers etc?

   Numerous - Quincy Jones, Stevie, Roy Ayers, Michael Jackson, Incognito, Grover Washington, Patrick Adams, Tortured Soul, MAW, Prelude - toooo many to mention!

3. What are your current top 3 tracks?
   1. Neo - Smile
   2. Melba Moore - Standing Right Here
   3. Earth, Wind & Fire - Can't Hide Love (MAW Remix)

   All Soul Motive anthems!

4. What is your most memorable set or DJ moment?

   Holding our own nights for our own crowd, and playing what the f**k we like, always with the ability to read the crowd and take the music in the right direction. Wheres my 'no silly requests' t-shirt?!

5. Tell us something we don't know about Marky Mark?

   I run the Dancetrax vinyl and CD online store, for classic and collectible dance music.

You can catch Mark's Soul Motive show on SSRadio's Funk & Disco channel every Monday at 14:00 UK time. And if you can't catch it live, you can of course listen again and podcast at your leisure.

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We are pleased to announce the winners of our recent Bargrooves competition to win a copy of their latest Summer Sessions II compilation CD. Congratulations go to the following newsletter readers:

Petiri Gabor, leebadabing, Claudia Ciccocioppo, Daniel Astier, Bheki Maseko, Girts Betmanis, Richard Tregarthen, Bjorn Van Gestel, Murat Selcuk, and DJ Daniel.

You will all shortly receive an e-mail requesting the postal address that you would like your prize sent to. Big thanks to the generous guys over at Bargrooves for offering the prizes.

That's it for this issue, we hope you enjoyed reading. Of course, we're always looking for ways to improve it, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please do let us know.

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