Balearic Breakfast | Episode 224 | Meeting Marcia Carr & Family Gatherings (DJ Macaroon)
- by The Lioncub
- May 27
- 15 min read
Updated: Jun 2
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 224th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on May 27th 2025.
About this episode. – After playing an incredible set alongside Barbie and Paul (Love injection) at Brooklyn goodroom's (huge hugs to Susan for the the pictures!), Colleen took a nice breath of fresh air with the Balearic Breakfast family by streaming an exclusive new episode of our favourite show. And today's episode will bring you a lot of hapiness with both Marcia Carr and Ste Wakley both taking the con of our beloved musical ship!
A few quick word's about Marcia Carr's (she did a wonderful interview with Colleen on the Boat Pod) and about Steve's mixes. Marcia's mix is really one only the True Music Lovers will savour. I don't mean this in a bad way, but I insist on the fact that only those who Love Music from all genres willl truly understand what Marcia is proposing here, and it's Legit, it's pure, it's raw, it's unfiltered, it's beautifully mixed, reaching pure perfection several times (can you stay cool when hearing Santana's Incident At Neshabur mixed so perfectly right at I Remember Home's end, and crazily followed by Sadar Bahar's Angel Man ? 😍), and, first of all, it's diverse. But Diverse and United, and that's the true Mastery that our dear Marcia proposes us here.
On the other hand, Steve's mix is lighter, sunnier, a true musical moment one could have while being on a cruise, heading to a beautiful and sunny island. Steve's mix will take you to the dancefloor and will bring a big smile on your face (listen to how much the sound is clean, it's really something to notice)!
Ed. Note:
For those of you that would like to discover Steve's musical universe, you can follow him on his Mixcloud, he presently has a residency at the Lonely Mouth, a Japanese listening cafe in Bristol.
And, speaking about his own set, Steve shared: "I loved putting this set together, initially had about 3 hours of tracks I wanted to share, including ones I have only digital versions of (still can’t find me a copy of Ed Motta’s AOR, deluxe version, both English and Brazilian lyrics tracks), but slowly got it down to the hour, just.
It ended up as a reflection of both my music tastes and also my journey through music. As a disco boy, my heart is always where the funk is at. Throw in some jazzy chords and improvisation, a Latin beat (Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico), sassy vocals, danceable power and passion, and I’m there.
I do hope you enjoy the journey through this set as much as I do. Let me know what your favourite tracks are? Would love to hear from you."
All in all, both sets, each shining under a different musical strength, will take you to the Balearic Side of Life. I would like to end this note by saying that these two mixes show how much freedom a DJ has, and how much his own vision is crucial to craft a musical world... the one he shares with you... Be free, love music, and if you have a story to tell, grab them turntables and share your soul with the world... We're Waiting!
This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud at and features an exclusive mix and interview with Ms Marcia Carr. Marcia’s career has spanned 4 decades and has included international DJ-ing, radio shows and music journalism. Hear her story and her diverse and soulful mix on this week’s show. Swipe to check out a clip of her performing in our Love Dancin’ tent at We Out Here a couple years ago.
On the second half of the show we have a soulful mix from our Balearic Breakfast family member Steve Wakley / DJ Macaroon which is absolutely lovely. Thanks to both Marcia and Steve for filling in for me while I’m in New York and to the fam who gathered on the live chat this morning.
Next week I’ll be in Ibiza but will still be streaming with exclusive mixes from Pete Blaker and Carly Foxx.
Listen back to the 224th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
THE PLAYLIST
Marcia Carr Playlist:
(1998) Ricardo Marrero Y El Grupo Tiempo – Un Sabor Latino
(2003) Alessandroni & Slope – Neonato' (Original)
Todd Terje – Preben Goes to Acapulco (Re-Edited With Love)
(1964) Anna King – If Somebody Told You
(1976) The Immigrant – I Remember Home (A Peasant’s Symphony)
(1970) Santana – Incident At Neshabur
(2013) Sadar Bahar – Angel Man
(2017) Monsalve Y Los Forajidos – Black & Decker
SAPPO – What Difference Does It Make (A Capella)
(2022) Souleance – Guili
(2020) Moments of Faith Singers – Look Up (Al-Tone Extended Mix)
(2014) Hot Issue, Victor Simonelli and Walter Warwick – Motion 96
(2024) Gasket & L.D.F. feat., Javonnte – Heaven
D Kintsugi HEAL – Music the Mantra (Brixton Boogie DUBB Mix)
(2016) Leron Carson – Lemonlime
(2024) Javonntte – How Did I Get Here (Love Drop Rework)
DJ Macaroon (Steve Wakley) Playlist:
(2023) Leon Thomas – The Creator Has a Master Plan (Peace) (Edit)
(1976) Ju Par Orchestra – Time
(1974) Love Unlimited – Move Me No Mountain
(2024) Moar – Brazilian Rhyme
(2021) Camille & Chez Damier / Nico Lahs – For Real
(1978) Metropolis – Every Time I See Him
(1977) Harvey Mason – Till You Take My Love
(1978) Toto (ft Cheryl Lynn) – Georgy Porgy
(2021) Alex Malheiros – Alto Veirdo / High Summer
(1977) Bill Withers & Studio Rio – Lovely Day
(2020) Scruscru – One for Xsuxsu
(2021) Scruscru & S Timoshenko – Slightly Wiggle
(2024) Tiger Balm ft Jodo Selva – Vem Ca
(2021) King of Nothing – Alright
MARCIA CARR'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN
[Colleen]
Good morning, Balearicans. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast on my MixCloud Live, and greetings to the family gathered over there. This morning, I'm in Brooklyn, so I have put together a show featuring two guests, my friend and DJ extraordinaire Marcia Carr. We'll have a chat about her musical journey and also her new compilation, and she's also put together a wonderful mix for us that also includes one of my favorite guitarists. It's truly eclectic. After that, we have a special soulful mix from one of our Balearic Breakfast family members, DJ Macaroon, or as we know him, Steve Wakely. I look forward to hanging out with you all in the chat, and now over to DJ Marcia Carr.
Greetings, Balearicans. I'm here in the studio with Marcia Carr, a legendary DJ. She's had a very, very long career, a woman I have admired from afar and up close, and she's also worked on a new compilation called Soul Damn Funky Presents New York Classics Vol. 2, compiled by herself and Russell Ruckman, and it's a really great comp, some beautiful soulful house. Hi, Marcia. How are you?
[Marcia]
Hi, Colleen. Thank you for that beautiful introduction. I'm well, thank you. It's a glorious week-end, the sun is shining, and yeah, I'm busy doing this, that, and the other, like yourself, sister.
[Colleen]
Great! Now, your career started around the same time mine did, and we've been working for about 40 years in music. Can you just give us a little snapshot history of how you got your start in DJing?
[Marcia]
So, how I got my start in DJing was basically, it started from the love, which from being a minor, taking my pocket money to buy records at Christmas and birthdays, that sort of thing, venturing into record shops when I became a teenager, and getting into it a lot more from moving on from family events, parties, and that sort of thing, and the school disco. I got into it by accident at university, when people found out that I could DJ, and I had records at home. I was asked to do the student unit disco, and one particular group of people, they wanted it for the women, so they'd found out what I could do, and I got into it a lot more then.
I was always into it because of the music, listening on pirate radio stations, but I took it a lot more seriously when I left school.
[Colleen]
How did you become a professional DJ? So, you started with the love.
[Marcia]
From the student union, really, and getting a gig in the West End at Busby's nightclub, getting paid, you could say, that was it, and then the passion grew a lot more, so that would have been the mid-80s, and I thought, well, I quite like this, and because I was listening to pirate radio as well at the time, and certain radio stations like Capital Radio, Greg Edwards on Capital Radio, Peter Young, and wanting to know more about the records, my curiosity just grew so much, and I was going to a lot of parties, I was also a jazz dancer, you could say, into the boogie music, meeting up with the guys, and I just thought, I can do what that guy is doing there, I can, what that guy's doing on radio, I like what they're doing, I want to do more of that.
[Colleen]
In the 90s, how did your career start to go in terms of getting out there and DJing in clubs and parties? Can you give us a little snapshot history of what was going on in the 90s?
[Marcia]
So, during the 90s, before my daughter was born, I was already playing out, as I'd say, from 88 to 91, 92, I was playing now a lot of one-off parties here in London, and I was getting some bookings, was starting to trickle through internationally. I was mainly London-based, and then I went to Back to Basics, which is in Leeds, I played with the Offbeat Crew, which is with Johnny Reckless and Seamus RG.
[Colleen]
So, I met you at Release the Groove back in 1999, I guess you've been working there throughout the 90s, and one of my philosophies is that great DJs come from working in record shops, because it really kind of promotes a certain diversity. I mean, you really end up listening to a lot of different kinds of music, and I mean, you're known for Chicago House, you're known for Gospel, Afro House, Four to the Floor, Techno, Broken Beat, Soul, I mean, your musical knowledge is expansive. Can you tell me a little bit about how your time at Release the Groove really influenced your style?
[Marcia]
So, when you met me in the late 90s at Release the Groove, before that I had worked at a record shop called Unity Records, which was called Red Records, and they had another shop which was in Brixton before that. My taste had already been wide and varied across the spectrum of black music, because of my foundational years, radio, going out to clubs, dancing, and just always buying all of this music coming up as a teenager.
So, my experience to that point, getting into the record shops, it was already formed, I would say, and I see that as a really good part of my character building, meeting all the lads as well, and siphoning information from them, because they don't always give it voluntarily!
[Colleen]
Now, when I also met you, you were also at a group of women called Lady bugs. Can you tell us about the Lady bugs crew?
[Marcia]
When I joined the second incarnation of the Lady bugs at the invitation and the behest of Orin Afronaut, he brought me, Sophie Callis, Tayo Moroney, and myself, and then later on, MC Marshmello joined in at one point.
[Colleen]
And can I just interject, just to say who Orin is, Orin is Bugz in the Attic, so I think not everybody is going to know exactly who he is.
[Marcia]
Yes, sorry, Orin Afronaut is a member of Bugz in the Attic as well, but as an artist in his own right as well, worked with the late Phil Asher and lots of other people, he brought us together as the Lady bugs, because we were always going to the parties, I was always going to Plastic People.
When I joined them, Orin already knew that I was already writing about Broken Beat through music journalism, because in the 90s, by accident, again, or organically, I became a music journalist, knew the guys at Touch Magazine, Jamie D'Cruz, and I met by chance the artist, recording artist, Tashan in London, and I told the guys, I said, oh, I met Tashan, just bumped into him down the road, going, you lot should be writing about him. And Jamie goes, you can write, you can speak English, can't you? Why don't you write about him? I did it, and that was my first featured main piece ever as a music journalist.
[Colleen]
Amazing. It's amazing.
[Marcia]
I then was writing reviews for Blues and Soul, Straight No Chaser, and so the music journalism, the working in the record shops, are all part of the jigsaw puzzle. If you had the jigsaw puzzle of Marcia Carr all of these pieces would fit in there. I then worked on radio, and also, I attended South London College for a period, and I helped them set up a radio station. It was G2K Radio. I literally just remembered that, and I was raising my daughter as well at the time. I was also a single parent, so juggling all of these plates, because I wanted to get back to the music, it can be a lonely road sometimes. I'm not saying I didn't have the support of my family, but sometimes even there can be battles in the family, but I was determined I'm going to get back to the music, so that taking the time out to concentrate and focus on that for a while, I understand that priority. Lady Bugs, all of these things, they all helped me, and I kept the music journalism going, and music PR as well.
[Colleen]
That's great. Let's keep the music going right now. We're going to get back to the music. We're listening to a mix from Marcia Carr, which I absolutely adore. Also, she has Santana in it. I've talked about this on the show. Carlos Santana is my favorite guitarist. Let's get back to the music, and we'll catch up with Marcia again towards the end of her mix.
[Colleen]
And now, we're back in the studio with Marcia Carr listening to her glorious mix. Of course, I was shazamming before I got the track list because it's so freaking good. Anyways, Marcia, you founded a community or a collective called GirlzBLike about a decade ago. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[Marcia]
Yes. Thank you for bringing that up, Colleen. Founded in 2015, We are Girls Be Like 10 is our hashtag. The platform is all about celebrating women selectors who I see have been visually supporting the arts and the culture behind vinyl records that we all love, just as you do, you know? We don't want the pretenders out here. We're not about DJs. It's a digital-free zone, I like to call it.
[Colleen]
That's great. Digital detox!
[Marcia]
Yes, you can detox all you like because we're not entertaining that in the spaces that we've used over the last 10 years to host all of the parties, which are every other month.
[Colleen]
Where are the parties, by the way?
[Marcia]
Presently, I've been blessed to facilitate them at Grow, which is in Hackney Wick. It's in East London. The management and the team over there are really lovely, honest, grounded, down-to-earth people. They're about community. It was born partly out of knockbacks, people telling me that I can't, I'm not worthy. No, we're not doing that. We're not entertaining women to do this, that and the other. I personally got tired of the rejection and the knockbacks and being told no. I thought, I'm capable.
I know lots of women who are bloody good selectors. I'm fed up with this. Without a financial pot of money or anything, I just started it. It's like God said to me, just start where you're at. Stop putting these obstacles up. I thought, yes, I'm going to grab the ball by the horns and I'll just start where I am. It's coming from a formidable, grounded space. We're not about fanfare and fancy lights. Just come in because I've selected you because I know you've got good taste in music. As we say in Jamaica, you're not of the draw. Bring the tunes, come and play them to the crowd. We're showing them that, actually, women in a DJ booth, we actually do know how to do more than press buttons.
And guess what? We're not hiding behind any digital fascia to sync or quantize. We're not doing any of that. We're just going to either play back to back, cut on the beat or mix and blend. That's how it's been the last 10 years and long may it continue. So Yes, we are celebrating Milestone and our motto is, guys dance, girls DJ. I'm just flipping it. I'm just flipping it. That's why the girls is spelled with a Z because it's about women. Whether we look tomboyish or the most feminine women in the space, we are women selectors and you will hear what we've got to say because we've always been here.
[Colleen]
I've always found, especially women from our generation, that we had to create our own thing and even Balearic Breakfast, in a sense. I do this on my own platform or create a classic albumsundays. You create your own things. My friend Janie Hopper did the same with Liquid Sound Lounge in New York. It's really great. Congratulations on your 10th year.
[Marcia]
Thank you.
[Colleen]
It's fantastic. Also, congratulations on your compilation. Is this the first compilation, Soul Damn Funky Presents New York Classics Vol. 2?
[Marcia]
Yes. On the invitation of Mr. Victor Simonelli, who's from New York City.
[Colleen]
Great DJ and producer.
[Marcia]
Yes, of course. Legendary as well, who I met in the 90s. And Russell Ruckman. He loved Paul Trouble Anderson as much as I did. We have slightly similar music tastes. Those two were having a conversation and they said, we'd like to invite Marcia to compile the second installment of Russell's series. Yes, he's done it a couple of times before with Todd Terry and also with Victor previously. So I thought, I'm honoured. This is the first time in a 40 plus year career that somebody's actually invited me to come in and put together a compilation album.
I was invited. I picked six tracks with great difficulty out of a catalogue of a thousand plus records that Victor Simonelli owns from his vaults. And I had to get it down to just six track titles, which I did.
And I decided to include the hot issue Victor Simonelli and Walter Warwick motion 96 track on the mix, which everyone can hear on your show, because I wanted to actually highlight a different side of Victor Simonelli, his sort of more disco side. And so I picked that track and all the other tracks are gospel inspired selections. You've got Ann Nesby on there, of course...
[Colleen]
... and Federal Hell. I love Federal Hell.
[Marcia]
And the Ronnie Canada track is a track that Paul Trouble Anderson used to play. And because he is one of my favourite all time selectors who inspired me much as well, I wanted to showcase many sides of Marcia, the many facets musically. So Connie Harvey's on there as well.
[Colleen]
Oh, Connie Harvey, Daz and Gru, Tommy Musto, who I produced my first record with. I mean, it's fantastic. This is, you know, it's a great, great. I love it. It's like a soulful house sound. People, if you want to find it, you can find it on Beatport, I believe, at the moment.
[Marcia]
It's on the Traxsource, and we are in the midst of trying to get the vinyl compilation together, so it will be out there in hardcopy format. Hopefully late summer into autumn, they'll be in the shops, because I'm also finding part of the selection, there are a couple of tracks I thought, I know from the crowds I'm entertaining, who I'm blessed to say are also younger, and then they're interested in what I have to bring to the music table on the decks. I thought, they'll like this track, they'll like that track, because they tried and tested, and I thought, yes, those will work.
And so some of them are going to be available in vinyl format for the first time, some of these picks, and some available for the first time, some of the remixes in digital format. So we feel it, Russell and I feel it's a win-win, and Victor's totally behind it. So I'm proud to be part of this compilation, and I hope it's the start of many more projects to come with other people out there across musical genres that I so love.
[Colleen]
Fantastic, and I hope so too. So one last question before we get back to your mix. What's going on this summer? Where can people hear you? Are you at any festivals, or any places playing around the UK?
[Marcia]
The last three, four years, I've been blessed with some nice opportunities, and I'm grateful for that. So yes, I'm going to be teaming up with Luke Una bomber. I'm playing at his E-Sol Cultura spot in Manchester, also playing with him and Shea Damier in the autumn as well.
Festival-wise, I've also got the Wildwood Festival that's coming up in June.
[Colleen]
That's a fun one, yeah.
[Marcia]
Yes, I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm making my debut there, and in between we've got Girls Be Like Dates, and I'm playing at the Pacific Tavern with GW Jazz. Shouts to Gordon and his wife. And yeah, I've got a few other bits coming up. The Margate Soul Festival as well, that's in August.
[Colleen]
Marcia, thank you so much for being a guest on the show. I wish you all the best of luck with your first comp, and wishing you many more returns on that one. And have a wonderful summer. And for those listening, I hope you can catch her live, because she played at our Love Dance in Tempe before, and she rocked it.
Marcia, thank you so much for joining me.
[Marcia]
Colleen, Cosmo, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. And you keep flying the flag, doing what you do, because you love it from the heart. That's what keeps us going.
[Colleen]
That's right, I agree.
[Marcia]
We're mothers, we're friends, we're lovers, we're all this, that and the other. I'm God-fearing as well, but I know this is the mantle that God has given me, and I'm going to continue to pursue it on, while we have breath, yes? Let's slaughter them out there in the dark music arenas, because we have so much goodness to share!
[Colleen]
Yeah, absolutely.
[Marcia]
One loves Sis!
Comments