Top jock James Zabiela delivered maximum festive cheer at the weekend while headlining at Familia’s Christmas Special at The Key in London. After spinning what was a sensational set at the club, James presented a signed Pioneer DJM-800 mixer to Involved charity prize winner Giles Butler (www.gilesbutler.co.uk)

Giles, a 20-year-old up-and-coming DJ/producer from Guilford, scooped the mixer, which James helped to develop with Pioneer, in a raffle during an Involved fund raising night held at Turnmills in London. Other prizes included tickets to Sasha’s forthcoming Secret Party and signed goodies from all the DJs who played at Turnmills for free. Among them was Canadian talent Luke Fair, who was selected at random to draw winners from the raffle. Like other DJs on Involved’s amazing line-up, Luke had bought raffle tickets to support the event and in a twist of fate pulled out his own ticket during the draw. Like a true trooper, Luke immediately re-donated the mixer and drew another ticket, and this time the winner was Giles.

James sadly couldn’t attend Involved’s triumphant party at Turnmills, but instead invited Giles to collect the mixer and hang out with him at one of his gigs. The event was Familia’s packed Christmas Special on Saturday 9th December, where James performed alongside Kos, Tom Budden and Dave Sandford. A student at the Academy for Contemporary Music in Guildford, Giles recently started a radio show and even runs his own music label, Electric Sleep Records, so meeting up face-to-face with decks ‘n’ EFX don JZ to pick up the mixer seemed like the perfect prize.

Involved is an extraordinary organisation that was founded by Steve and Shari Coe to help UNICEF protect the rights of children around the globe. By harnessing the caring-sharing power of the electronic music industry, Involved raises spirits, consciousness and cash in the most fun and imaginative ways. The inaugural event in Orlando in February 2005 when Steve’s son aka Sasha played two gigs in one night set the ball rolling, while the debut annual DJ Bowlathon during Miami WMC 2006 filled an entire bowling venue with heavyweight DJs. What’s more, Involved’s ongoing online auctions mean that you can carry on helping this commendable cause all year round by bidding for a myriad of unique items, including VIP packages to meet a who’s who of top international DJs, exclusive memorabilia and tons more fun things to make your world spin.

Involved starts the next online fund raising auction this week with VIP packages and seasonal gifts donated by DJs and the industry. These will be on offer throughout the holiday season. You could, for example, party with and receive a gift from Sasha, Erick Morillo, BT, Paul van Dyk, Steve Lawler or Danny Howells. So to get Involved, please visit: www.involvedevents.com.

www.familia-uk.com
www.thekeylondon.com

Words: LL