diff --git a/core/utils/url.py b/core/utils/url.py
index 19b3ea1..de87667 100644
--- a/core/utils/url.py
+++ b/core/utils/url.py
@@ -1,7 +1,77 @@
 import urlparse
+import re
+from django.template.defaultfilters import slugify
 
 __author__ = 'fergalm'
 def urlclean(url):
     #remove double slashes
     ret = urlparse.urljoin(url, urlparse.urlparse(url).path.replace('//','/'))
-    return ret
\ No newline at end of file
+    return ret
+
+def unique_slugify(instance, value, slug_field_name='slug', queryset=None, slug_separator='-'):
+    """
+    Calculates and stores a unique slug of ``value`` for an instance.
+
+    ``slug_field_name`` should be a string matching the name of the field to
+    store the slug in (and the field to check against for uniqueness).
+
+    ``queryset`` usually doesn't need to be explicitly provided - it'll default
+    to using the ``.all()`` queryset from the model's default manager.
+    """
+    slug_field = instance._meta.get_field(slug_field_name)
+
+    slug = getattr(instance, slug_field.attname)
+    slug_len = slug_field.max_length
+
+    # Sort out the initial slug, limiting its length if necessary.
+    slug = slugify(value)
+    if slug_len:
+        slug = slug[:slug_len]
+    slug = _slug_strip(slug, slug_separator)
+    original_slug = slug
+
+    # Create the queryset if one wasn't explicitly provided and exclude the
+    # current instance from the queryset.
+    if queryset is None:
+        queryset = instance.__class__._default_manager.all()
+    if instance.pk:
+        queryset = queryset.exclude(pk=instance.pk)
+
+    # Find a unique slug. If one matches, at '-2' to the end and try again
+    # (then '-3', etc).
+    next = 2
+    while not slug or queryset.filter(**{slug_field_name: slug}):
+        slug = original_slug
+        end = '%s%s' % (slug_separator, next)
+        if slug_len and len(slug) + len(end) > slug_len:
+            slug = slug[:slug_len-len(end)]
+            slug = _slug_strip(slug, slug_separator)
+        slug = '%s%s' % (slug, end)
+        next += 1
+
+    setattr(instance, slug_field.attname, slug)
+
+
+def _slug_strip(value, separator='-'):
+    """
+    Cleans up a slug by removing slug separator characters that occur at the
+    beginning or end of a slug.
+
+    If an alternate separator is used, it will also replace any instances of
+    the default '-' separator with the new separator.
+    """
+    separator = separator or ''
+    if separator == '-' or not separator:
+        re_sep = '-'
+    else:
+        re_sep = '(?:-|%s)' % re.escape(separator)
+    # Remove multiple instances and if an alternate separator is provided,
+    # replace the default '-' separator.
+    if separator != re_sep:
+        value = re.sub('%s+' % re_sep, separator, value)
+    # Remove separator from the beginning and end of the slug.
+    if separator:
+        if separator != '-':
+            re_sep = re.escape(separator)
+        value = re.sub(r'^%s+|%s+$' % (re_sep, re_sep), '', value)
+    return value    
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dss/settings.py b/dss/settings.py
index 1eb21ac..386dc7e 100644
--- a/dss/settings.py
+++ b/dss/settings.py
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE = 'spa.UserProfile'
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
-        'NAME': 'deepsouthsounds',
-        'USER': 'deepsouthsounds',
-        'PASSWORD': '',
-        'HOST': '',
+        'NAME': localsettings.DATABASE_NAME if hasattr(localsettings, 'DATABASE_NAME') else 'deepsouthsounds',
+        'USER': localsettings.DATABASE_USER if hasattr(localsettings, 'DATABASE_USER') else 'deepsouthsounds',
+        'PASSWORD': localsettings.DATABASE_PASSWORD if hasattr(localsettings, 'DATABASE_PASSWORD') else '',
+        'HOST': localsettings.DATABASE_HOST if hasattr(localsettings, 'DATABASE_HOST') else '',
         'PORT': '',
         }
 }