The Good Grooves Finally Hit Canterbury

In Canterbury it's an empty weekend pretty much as Mum and Dad
are away in Nottingham returning Kate for her final uni semster
and meeting up with Dad's mum who's celebrating her birthday.

Tonight looks set to be good however as for once at Orange Street
they've got a rather promising event from three fellas collectively
known as RPM who look set to be spinning some definitive soul
tunes from the last 30 years which I hope will be both well known
and unknown.

One of the guys happens to be from Licorice Soul who have
released a compilation of what looks like an impressive list
of soul covers by British artists from when they were pretty big
so it will be great to hear how tunes such as "Soulful Strut"
and Kool and the Gang's "Funky Stuff" were interpreted.

Best of all, it's free to get in and will hopefully be a great
opportunity to meddle (if that's the right word. Probably not)
with others who enjoy similar stuff.

Provided they're not too cocky about it, but who am I to say?

Nah it's going to be good fun.

No Knowing Who To Turn To

Last night's leaders debate was probably my most anticipated one
based on the economy, cutbacks and other related issues.

To be perfectly honest it's left me feeling a bit undecided on
who to vote for if we're taking those issues solely into account
although despite Cameron increasing his popularity in the polls
I won't be one to turn allegiance.

I've just grown up with the perception that politician can be trusted.

As I type I'm having a gander at the last few minutes of
Smoke's 26 Hour Broadcast and it's a different state of affairs
this year as it's taking more of a chilled route with "Going To Bed With Edd"
and some really nice acoustic tunes from acts such as
The Stereophonics, K.T. Tunstall and Bill Withers.

That's definitely a more genuine approach with regards to
how everyone would be feeling at the end of such a long slog
and further proof of the station in terms of programming
going any where it wants to, but at the same time having
a solid presence and above all having fun.

To think that by June of this year it will be 5 years since first
broadcasting online and in it's many guises, to say it's become
quite a part of my life would be an understatement.

The Final Debate Of Great Mass

With the final leaders debate taking place tonight, it's
definitely going to be be a solid night in front of the television
with tonight's You Have Been Watching following afterwards on
Channel 4.

Coincidentally one of the shows that they laid into in the last series
has now made it to UK shores, that being "Iron Chef" which
I've never seen fit to watch a whole show in full, but basically
the premise is a tough contest to make a dish with a chosen
ingredient, whether it be beer, asparagus or whatever.

I've no idea of what I plan to do beforehand.
Maybe a case of buying a new DVD wallet as I'm starting to run short
of spare pockets.

Fully Visual

I've been dreadfully dull for most of today, rummaging through more of
my visual content on disc.
Unfortunately most men who do that sort of thing would probably
stay potent when searching through my DVD wallets but anyway...

This sort of relates to the newest addition to Smoke Radio in
the form of a streaming video feature designed specially for
tomorrow's annual 26 Hour Broadcast.

The part that interests me the most is that there's a
"record" function on there although I'm sure there's someone
else to cover that job now at the station nowadays.

I don't know what UStream's rules are, but it wouldn't surprise
me if at some point at least one presenter will end up getting
naked.

Last year I had to endure the dreadful sight of Alistair Collinson
from the Mjolnir boys whilst acting out a hastily produced
radio play.
That leopard skin underwear was pretty revolting, not to mention
the boys breaking the roles of no beer in the studio.

Then again at least we didn't do anything offensive to others
or set out to anyway.

I wouldn't even think of streaming my own room on UStream.

To be honest I've not done a video blog for months which
goes to show.

Finally, someone who I'd definitely recommend following on Twitter
after his "not off mic" incident this afternoon.

"The Fucking PM"

Being Kept Busy

I spent a quite a bit of last night editing on Windows Movie Maker
for the "post crawl recovery DVD" which I'm hoping will be viewed
back in Ealing on the night of my birthday booze crawl.

I keep going on about it but the whole idea of the do is
to revisit a "London weekend" from an earlier age,
only with no restrictions to what I'm allowed to drink at 25.

And also because it's the only thing taking place in
the next month that I'm genuinely excited about.

It's best to take into account however that things could change or
go balls up between now and then, or even on the day
itself.

I am dreadfully desperate at the moment to get a new terrabyte
external hard drive as I can be incredibly fussy over where my
music is stored and how it is stored.

Not choosing to arrange it via iTunes makes things even worse.

Best to carry on rummaging for now through old Tweety cartoons
and vintage TV ads.

The "Well Good" Outing

I arrived in London yesterday afternoon and along with Chris, Pete and Aoife
we made our way down to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith
to see the filming of an episode of "Lee Nelson's Well Good Show"
soon to be transmitted on BBC Three.

Played by Simon Brodkin, the mainstay of the show involved a
young South London teenage character interacting with the audience
and getting them to do silly things.

Not to mention this extremely tubby fella called Omlette who
spent the mainstay of the show eating from unpleasant looking
takeaway boxes that looked like the cushiest job in television.

There were also sketches within the show where my favourite was
Jason Bent, a brilliant pastiche of the up himself footballer.

I was certain that they could easily turn that into a sitcom itself
and was definitely the funniest of the characters.

The best bit however was at the end when a half naked Omlette
got cream licked off his belly by a dog whilst Lee's grandmother
attempted to rap to House Of Pain.

That was really surreal and the closest I'll get to being in the
audience for Top Of The Pops with the floor covered in dry ice.

Overall, despite the number of retakes for links etc, it was brilliant
and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series when it's
finally screened later in the year.

We ended up getting pizzas from the Domino's near Ealing Common
tube station and walked from there back to Ealing itself where
Pete decided to leave us, only to be delayed getting back as
a result.

Before going to bed the rest of us indulged in further laughs from
Facejacker and last Thursday's "You Have Been Watching" which
was probably even funnier than it was first time round.

I'll be making a visit back up there on the 5th of May after seeing
John Bishop at the Apollo.

The month approaching is going to be amazing.

Riverside Shenanigans

I'm hoping tonight goes well when I'll be heading over to see
Lee Nelson's show being recorded which will be shown on BBC Three
later in the year at the legendary Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

Having looked at the video preview on the BBC website, it looks
pretty chaotic and could be the liveliest things I've been to see
recorded.

Here's hoping I don't have a heart attack if I happen to be
picked on during the show itself.

Overall it will be good to catch up with the others who
are going, them being Chris, Aoife, and Ed Drewett.

I mean Pete Cooper.

Elsewhere the lineup for BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend
has been announced and it's sort of alright although I'd only
really get excited if I was there at the event myself.

Paolo Nutini and Alicia Keys would possibly be my standout acts
although it's good to see Crystal Castles and Faithless performing too.

I'm probably getting too old for the station itself, on the wrong
end of it's target audience but it's not really worth moaning about.

There's more to life than a noise box anyway.

Accidentally Losing The Blogger's Habit

I only just realised I haven't blogged all day but I doubt any of
you would have been anticipating.

My main reason for being distracted is that I've been getting to grips
with Windows Movie Maker which is limited when it comes to functions
but should be able to pull off something special I'm putting together
for those who end up back at Chris's house after my birthday crawl.

Which won't be many people I guess.

Basically it's a mixture of Blamires influenced nostalgia
designed for viewing after many a beverage
when you think everything's amazing.

And overall it's just for one weekend.

I'm making an early visit over tomorrow in fact as I've been invited
to see a recording at the Riverside Studios for comedy act Lee Nelson
who Chris has seen before as part of a birthday treat for Stoobie
as well as interviewing for the radio.

Pete's also coming as well so I've no idea how chaotic things will get.

Crushed traffic cones possibly?

To finish with, another blog post that had me thinking,
over what could otherwise be perceived as meaningless rubbish.

James Masterton's insight into McFly and how their
songs have never been ones for being memorable in the long term.

Not that I agree entirely of course.

Screen Defecation

Two revolting sights appeared on my television screen
earlier this evening.

The first being that highly inappropriate in-programme-pointer
towards the end of Doctor Who, spoiling what could have been
an amazing cliff-hanger with an animated Graham Norton.

Dedidcated Whovians will know it's not the first time
the Irish entertainer has interfered with the timelord as due
to a sound fault in the first episode of the new series in 2005
digital viewers actually got the audio from his microphone as
he was hosting the preceding show "Strictly Dance Fever".

That's the pure definition in television terms of a "continuity error"
and as if all viewers of Doctor Who would stay on to watch that
pansy-fest.

There's even a whole thread on Digital Spy devoted to it.

The second puerile exploit was an act on Britain's Got Talent
that actually had me looking away from the screen as it involved
regurgitating coins.
The bad news for me and many other sensitive viewers was that
he got enough votes to go through to the second round.

However I was impressed to hear "Sing A Song" by Earth Wind and Fire
being used in one of the VT packages during the show as it's not
one of the band's most well known tunes despite being
a firm favourite with true EWF fans.

I haven't played any Earth Wind and Fire for a long time
on my radio show so if any readers have any suggestions from
any of their albums over the last 40 years they're more than welcome.

Obviously not the three big singles that get played everywhere else
but you get the idea.

Best to get away from my angsts and attempt to find
a few worthy laughs.

"Back Of My Neck Getting Dirty And Gritty"

Today's been superb as far as the weather has gone.

Not a great deal to mention as I've only really spent today listening
to and adding tunes to Spike Godding's Summer Spotify playlist
along with many other users who have added at least 200 tunes
throughout today.

That man should have every reason to celebrate having handed
in his dissertation along with the rest of the third years
and I'm hoping I'll see him with everyone else at our Stratford to Central
booze crawl in a few weeks.

I've made a few changes to the initial plan, as due to certain
people having late nights beforehand I plan to start off in
Stratford at a restaurant with Steven and Caroline for
a proper meal at lunchtime and then see how it goes along.

I don't want to go into too noisy places which may be quite
a task as it's FA Cup final day, and I am giving up seeing
Chelsea play Portsmouth for this.

So if anyone who's said they're going on the Facebook event,
it would be lovely if you could make the effort and if the weather's
good, it may be a beer garden crawl.

We never stick to initial plans if such a thing is arranged so
I'm not too fussed.

Provided I get to have a boogie in Soho later on, in particular
The Funky Sensation at Ronnie's Bar.

I'll have a lie down now in front of this week's Britain's Got Talent,
and later on this week's Good News with Russell Howard.

You judge which is the funniest.

The Leader In Creative Audio Production

Sad news has broken in the last hour or so as it's been announced
that Alan Fawkes, musician, composer and co-owner of the renowned
British jingle company Alfasound has died.

Radio Today Article

Taking it's name from the first two letters of
Alan's christian name and surname, Alfasound were definitely the market
leaders in British radio jingles in the 80s and 90s with many independent
and BBC local stations adding the unique instrumentation and vocals
to their on-air identities.

But rather than write about it, how about having a listen to some of
their finest jingles?

Devonair 1980 (Later resung for Lantern FM in Barnstaple)



Radio 210 (Reading) 1980



Chiltern Radio (Herts, Beds, Bucks) 1984 (First package with Dallas vocals)



Radio Hallam (Sheffield) 1985 (Featuring Jimmy Helmes)



BBC GMR (Manchester) 1988 (Featuring Lisa Stansfield)



Invicta Radio 1987



Metro and Tees 1987 (Worth paying attention to the cut at 0:43)



Trent FM 1991 - One of Alfasound's biggest clients in a collaboration with
JAM in Dallas



"Power Positive" (Essex FM 1996)



My personal favourite custom package by ALFA in their later days.

"Danceman" (Kiss 102 Manchester)



An amazing custom for the short lived dance station
now rebranded as Galaxy.

They may be filled with cheddar, and nowadays they could be easily
be perceived as parody, but the jingles produced by Alan and his
team were a big inspiration in developing an interest in radio
and overall a testament to the amazing musical ear he had
when it came to quality.

Condolences to widow Gaynor and the rest of his family.

Neily's Long Awaited Comeback

A radio legend returns to Kent's airwaves tomorrow morning as Neil Francis
stands in for Matthew Davies's show on BBC Radio Kent.

The man who lightened up many a journey from Canterbury to Faversham
in the late 90s when hosting Invicta FM's Morning Zoo along
with female co-host Sam, and Steve Ladner who's now presenting the
early breakfast show at BBC Radio Kent.

One particular stunt I can remember was when all the papers
were campaigning for Deirdre Rachid to be released from jail
back in the Spring of 1998, whilst over here Neil started producing
t-shirts exclaiming "Keep the damn woman locked up!"

Having just been let go from Absolute Radio, it will be great to hear
Neil back on the radio in his spiritual home, and the fact that he's a
Chelsea fan also falls into my good books.

Hopefully this will be the beginning of many more slots on the station.

Other than that, not much else planned for tomorrow apart from
a visit to Morrissons as we need to buy some wholemeal bread.

Well I'm the only one here who actually consumes it but you get the idea.

Finally, in response to Working Lunch being axed by the BBC, I thought
it would be more than apt to revisit Frankie Boyle's legendary gag.

The Slow Disappearance Of Dignity

An absolutely stunning day here in Canters and I'm hoping it carries on
over the weekend.

I pretty much got my fair share of sunshine when heading over
to Sittingbourne to the jobs fair at the Swallows Leisure Centre although
I lost about 2 stone when arriving as I had no idea of what exactly would
suit me.

I couldn't do any driving or delivery jobs for certain, and careworking
really would be out of my depth and ability.
It's reached a point where I really don't know exactly what I'm wanting
in terms of getting a job and I may be taking other people's
negative comments a bit too personally.

The phrase "jumping the gun" is very apt as Mum suggesting that
before deciding on whether to send that application form for
the OCN media qualification, I should ask what content they cover
on the course and how it is spread out over two years.

Of course I would be thinking that quietly but never have the ability
to actually ask that as a question.

It's a nightmare.

Deciding whether the right time is to ask a question
that is perfectly lenient but at the same time not trying to
come across as nasty.

Life is far too short to be like that.

A Uncomfortable Step Back?

The visit to the West Track studios today involved working on a video
shoot with a few of those studying for the Skillnet qualification
which allows people with learning disabilities to develop skills
in creative areas.

Whilst it was enjoyable and the people were supportive, I'm
rather uncertain as to what part I play.


That was written about 5 minutes ago before checking my e-mails
and now I've found out that the application form I was given was
to enrol on the course itself which is one lasting two years for
an Open College Network media qualification at level 1.

I'm more close to saying that I wouldn't want to go further with this
as it's a two year course and just seems like a comedown into learning
things as opposed to demonstrating.

I'm guessing my struggles are down to two things.

1: I am nervous at approaching people, radio stations,
production companies and asking where I could fit into things
without being told that it may not be as easy as I think it is.

2: I'm probably not that good at thinking on my feet after all
and don't know the ins and outs of communication.

It may be time to finally invest in invisible armour to take the
knocks and swim through this mudbath of rejection.

A Visit To A Sponged Setting

I made my visit to Chaucer House this afternoon and things seem
to be improving as they've managed to arrange a visit to the
West Track Studios in Canterbury which could open a few doors
in terms of getting on to bigger things.

I also gave my C.V. another reshuffle and added a personal statement
onto it which should be at least a step of things on the way to improvement.

Although as is often the case there's a bigger chance that shit will happen.

Apart from that there's not really much elsewhere taking place
so I'd best keep the Fleetwood Mac tune in mind; "Don't Stop".

Dark Laughs

It was one of those awful afternoons where I just got fed up with everything
and spent two hours sleeping under the covers.

In one of my frustrated Facebook statuses I asked if there
were any non-animated US sitcoms that are actually funny,
and in response I got quite a few suggestions such as
"How I Met Your Mother" which stars Dougie Howser MD,
I mean Neil Patrick-Harris, Curb Your Enthusiasm which has been
getting a lot of good correspondence over the decade
and Arrested Development.

Spike also mentioned the US version of The Office which I completely
forgot about as Sirin lent the first season to me on DVD during my final
year at University.

It wasn't too bad although I possibly should have gone through it steadily.

I'll probably have more luck adapting to it than any US drama series.
Trying to fully convert me is like getting me to buy a Nickelback album.

"Calm Down Stephen Hawking"

I've just finished watching Le Donk And Scor-Zay-Zee and
without wanting to give too much away, it's a must watch
for Meadows fans.

Basically it's a mocku/rockumentary focused on "Le Donk"
a failed performer played by Paddy Considine who has started
nuturing a rap act called "Scor-Zay-Zee" played by himself,
and lives with him in a flat after being chucked out by his
pregnant girlfriend played by Olivia Colman.

Also worth mentioning with regards to the cast is the return appearance
of Seamus O'Neil as a lodger, better known as Big Al in Dead Man's Shoes
who uttered the now infamous (or in my case hilarious) "three twats!"
outburst.

Everything is pretty much improvised even to the point of
including Shane as part of the film itself along with producer
Mark Herbert, and The Arctic Monkeys themselves make brief
appearances at various points.

Apart from the offerings from Scor-Zay-Zay himself, the film
once again has a good soundtrack made up mainly of acoustic
offerings including a couple by regular Meadows contributor and long-term
friend Gavin Clark, of whom there's a song by his band Clayhill,
and a solo offering co-written by Nick Hemming from The Leisure Society.

Definitely a film worth killing an empty night with.

Balls To Budgets

I had a nice visit into Central London this afternoon where I met up with
Joe at the Green Man in Riding House Street.

I was almost confused at first as I passed one a boozer of the same name
in Euston Road, but I stuck to my first instinct to head for the one nearest
to Western House.

It was really good to catch up with Joey again where things are still
going well with Chris Evans even if the first RAJAR results are getting closer.

We also chatted about birthday plans and a possible visit back over to
London on the day itself which is only 5 days after mine.

I arrived earlier than planned in London so I had a browse in the
Oxford Street HMV where I finally managed to purchase a copy of
Le Donk And Scor-Zay-Zee, the latest offering from Shane Meadows
starring Paddy Considine as a failed musician turned roadie.

I'll give that a viewing after tonight's "Young Autistic And Stagestruck"
on Channel 4, making that the perfect Monday night antidote
to Twee on E4, and "Trash Borewood" on Five.

There, I've said it, come and hunt me down why don't you.

Seriously though, it will be nice to enjoy some escapism
in front of the box but not of a high budget nature.

"#Wooaah Wooaah Woooaaaaah!"

Save for the usual jumbled mumbles, this week's show went pretty well
with a few tunes chosen at the last minutes including "You Gave Me Love"
by The Crown Heights Affair, after discovering it's resemblance to
Beggar & Co's 1981 brit funk tune "Somebody Help Me Out".

I also played a sort of topical one at the end, Ms Dynamite and
"Afraid 2 Fly" from her 2002 debut which is actually one of my
favourites from the LP.

So tomorrow involves another visit to the Job Center, followed by
high speeding it to Central London where I hope to meet up with
Joey and get a few things out of my system.

Not at Joey's expense of course, who would want to do that?

No, he's still one of the most genuine people I've known from University
and especially from the radio course who I don't think anyone
has had a bad word to say about.

I'll be particularly interested to hear what live performances he'll
be going to this year and how things have been going
on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

With Moyles stranded in New York, I'll definitely be listening longer
and to be honest I find Evans's offerings a lot less irritating than that
stupid "Where Am I" game with Tim Westwood.

I can just hint that Moyles's eventual downfall will be by not getting
too big for his boots (as that's more or less the case already) but
falling into the DLT/Simon Bates category of sounding old and tired
which many reckon he already is.

But that aside in 2010, he's still better than any of the dullards that
infest the rest of Radio 1's so called "personality" airwaves.

"The Long Awaited Defeat"

This evening's ranged from either disappointing or average.

The first being the Blues being knocked down 2-1 to Spurs giving
them a good possibility of being in the Champions League next season.

I can manage a loss however, too many positive things happening
elsewhere, or are yet to happen elsewhere.

The first Britain's Got Talent of the new series managed to live
up to expectations however.
It wasn't really anything too special.

I'll probably carry on watching next week and the nightly finals
but around the time of my birthday I may start to lose track
as it's slowly starting to show signs of age.

Or should that be continuing signs of staged?

Why on earth does the whole programme have to look like
a movie trailer with every cutaway being a fade to black?

I'm sure it will get better as the series goes on although
if the rumours that Katie Price is to become a judge on the next series
ring true, they will have lost themselves a viewer.

Tomorrow will be a lot more laid back and then of course there's the
radio show, which in the brighter spring conditions I'm actually
looking forward to each week, but not getting over obsessed with it
like I was at Smoke.

That's quite possibly because I know I could get booted at any time
but asides that it's settled down with the new station managers
now in control.

Best just to let things go past.

Daleks And Xs

Another Saturday morning spent as always listening to Fighting Talk
where this week saw the welcome return of German stand-up Henning Wehn
as a pundit.

I'd see that as the ideal warm up to what will be a strong viewing
schedule on television later tonight with episode 3 of Doctor Who
"Victory Of The Daleks" set in the Second World War.

And of course, later on sees the return of possibly the best or should
that be the most bizarre audition show, Britain's Got Talent.
I've tried to avoid any details about the acts taking part although
I'm certain that one of them consists of an act which involves burping.

Expect Twitter feeds to be clogged with #BGT hash tags over the next
few Saturdays, where as mentioned before the initials simply stand for
"Bloody Great Television".

Even if Amanda Holden's involved.

Hopefully it won't go overboard into too much of a frenzy
like last year with singing trolls etc

Unless Bill Bailey plans to audition.

A Show In Search Of A Format

Tonight's viewing was pretty much disappointing in terms of Frank Skinner's
new series "Opinionated".
It just didn't know what it was and had no proper opening or structure
to it, let alone being below mildly amusing.

It seemed like the sort of thing that was better suited to the 6:30pm
weekday slot on BBC Radio 4.

Luckily I managed to catch up with last night's Have I Got News For You
on iPlayer with Robert Webb managing to do a surprisingly good turn
as the host.

Just a shame about the fella off of Shameless who plays Frank
who was useless as a panellist, but it was good to see Marcus Brigstocke
back on the show who must be the only person to have hosted the show
twice and made multiple appearances as a panellist since.

Russell Howard's Good News was also entertaining where
personal highlight included a video of a monkey knocking a man off a bridge,
and more on the story about the Scottish Labour candidate who got
sacked for his tweets referring to old people as "coffin dodgers".

Finally, with the remake of The Prisoner airing tomorrow evening
I thought it would be appropriate to dig out this once more,
and one of my favourite television memories from an early age.

Good night.

Well It's Better Than Looking Backwards...

What has been happening?

Absolutely sod all.

At present or within the last month or so I've constantly had my
mind focused on what's happening in the next few months, in
particular my birthday crawl through London which is due to take
place in less than a month, my possible visit to Lounge
with the CSR team, and a four day weekend in New York in late July/early
August.

Mum and Dad will be travelling further after that for another 10 days
so it will just be me at home, and unless I finally have a job
I'm guessing that part of the time will be spent in London.

That will definitely be happening on the 7th of August as Denis
will be returning for a visit over and has planned a circle line
pub crawl which this time round I hope to actually complete.

However this coming Monday I'll be in London to meet up with "Joe Schmo"
as he's referred to on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show for a drink
in Central London, this time at pub that I've never been to before which
I'm looking forward to.

I'm hoping they've got a better set of drinks than most of the
other pubs in the Great Portland Street area.

Britain's Got Twatheads

So what was to make of the first televised leaders debate?

In terms of issues there was nothing really that drew me in
and convinced me to radically decide on who to vote for.

I though it was focusing too much on wrong doings of the past
and not towards how things could be improved on a positive
state in future with all three leaders butting in wherever possible.

My personal opinion was that Nick Clegg managed to come
across as the most genuine although that's partly because of
the way that Brown and Cameron have become dangerously
caricatured over their respective times in positions of power.

As for the programme itself, it was nice to see the studio
building at the start of the show where luckily the Granada signage
dating back goodness knows how many years remains intact.

As for the set, I felt rather nauseous throughout.

Again you'd think that we're in a parallel universe but there's a difference
between seeing bright primary colours in a 10 second sting or minute
long title sequence in the "golden era" as opposed to them
permanently being shown on screen within a 90 minute programme.

Alistair Stewart as the host/moderator on the other hand could be
perceived as a psychic in the way how he knew how interrupt
one leader's speech and let another one put their point across.

The Facebook/Twitter discussion was full of jokey comments about
ITV's handling such as if the leaders would get buzzed mid speech,
or when Jedward would make their way on stage.

Thankfully, despite the distracting stripes it wasn't too over the top.

Straight after was the first episode of You Have Been Watching series
2 where this week's guests were David Baddiel, Liza Tarbuck
and Scottish stand up Kevin Bridges where it got off to a moderately good
start.

The best bit had to be the clip of Jamie Oliver
breaking down in tears over the fact that the Americans
didn't get his method of turning healthy eating habits into "magic".

Rather disappointed that Charlie has dropped his "END OF THE SHOWWW!"
catchphrase but other than that it's a positive start to what will
be another strong series.

An ideal time to get some shut eye I guess.

The Most Ridiculous Ruling In Radio

Many are calling this the day when local commercial radio finally died of death.

This is in response to OFCOM's new rules that from June,
stations in smaller towns are able to co-locate with larger stations
in big cities if their revenue's down and ratings aren't
bringing in the bob, as well as being allowed to reduce hours in
local programming which really is the last nail in the coffin.

This could ultimately mean that Galaxy could broadcast to all
it's stations solely from Yorkshire, Real Radio could broadcast on it's
own from Wales, and Magic could broadcast it's content from London
but still be heard in Manchester, the North East etc

You get the idea.

Radio producer James Masterton summed it up perfectly on Twitter
in a way by saying that rather than hassle OFCOM to change the rules
they should get people who actually know how to run
a radio station and get in the right revenue rather
than giving up and merging with bigger stations.

It's pathetic really, and especially that with regards to content
I personally find the content of smaller local stations such as
Channel 103 in Jersey, and occasionally the KM stations
more entertaining and individual than the bigger groups such as
Global and so on.

Although in KM's case, all their stations were in fact the merger of several
smaller stations in Kent and I wouldn't be too surprised if in 5 years
it will be one single station and essentially being what Invicta FM was
before the Heart rebranding.

As is always the case whether I choose to listen is my own choice.

Taking To The Stage With Great Elevation

After what seems like a month, (although it was really just two days)
I finally got round to gandering at "Young, Autistic and Stagestruck"
which started on Channel 4 on Monday, taking an insight into 9
autistic children begin a journey taking them to the stage as part
of a performing arts club in Hammersmith.

There's definitely potential as far as the series goes as each individual
has their own traits which were introduced well within the episode
include a 19 year old girl who enjoys music and performing but finds it
hard to take even the tiniest bit of criticism.

Others included a 17 year old from Liverpool obsessed with Bambi
and sticking to regular routines, a 12 year old boy with physical tendancies
who had threatened to kill himself in the past, and a 9 year old girl
reluctant to join in with activities due to her short temper.

I could fully identify with the 12 year old when explaining about Asperger's
Syndrome as a disorder that gives you a wide imagination which you obsess
about, but find it hard to come to terms with what's really happening.

He definitely put it into a way that I'd never be able to work out and
it's absolutely spot on.

I can constantly obsess all the time about well structured but impossible
to play rhythmic synth piano chords, and animated rollercoasters
and dodgems, but it's getting my head round the fact that others
who speak to me the most simply don't get it at all.

Luckily there are others I know who are understanding, and the likes
of Denis and Tudor who know about my crazy interests in television
and music and have the sense of humour to match.

The difference is that they're also on the ball about planning ahead
and have got good things lined up for them.

That's another part of the Autistic/AS disorder.

Changing subjects at any given opportunity, so I'll quickly
sum it up by saying that I will definitely be watching the second
episode of the Channel 4 series to see how it all unfolds.

Tomorrow's viewing however is full to the point of having
to watch some of the shows on demand later on.

Them being Have I Got News For You and Outnumbered due to them
going out at the same time as the first of the televised leader debates
which tomorrow will be the turn of ITV1 with Alistair Stewart in charge
of proceedings.

The must watch event for me however, and I will refer to it
as an "event" will be the return of You Have Been Watching
with Charlie Brooker, where according to Twitter Charlie has
a new haircut which gets a fair amount of ribbing.

I wonder if I should ever take the risk?

The "Must See But Haven't Yet" List

Just as an aside, I thought it would be worth listing a few
television series, most of them from the last few years
that despite their potential appeal I've never got round to viewing.

Here goes;

The Inbetweeners

Shameless

Minder

The Sweeney

People Like Us

Brass Eye (The series. I've seen the special.)

Marion And Geoff

Nathan Barley

Jam

Quite a lot of Chris Morris stuff in there although with Jam I'll be
able to understand more of the story behind Adam & Joe's amusing
send up "Goitre".
Unfortunately because this is written, I can't utter the title
in a deep voice for comic effect.

If anyone's got any more suggestions for any series that are similar
to the above, then you're more than welcome to do so.

Mixtape Malarchy

Some good news to start today off as the BBC have revealed that plans
to re-brand 6Music as "Radio 2 Extra" have been diminished.

Radio Today Article

Tim Davie Blog (BBC)

I've already mentioned why I thought that was a stupid idea in
the first place so there's no need to go further with that.

On a lighter note I had a listen to Adam Buxton's Mixtape on iPlayer
and it's not too bad a show where this week the theme was
"Toddler Tracks".

I.E. tunes that can be enjoyed by little children despite not being designed
directly at them with examples including "Altogether Now" by The Beatles
"Out Of Space" by The Prodigy, and "Baggy Trousers" by Madness.

And I bet the recently turned station manager at CSR Andrew Venning,
will be appreciative that at the end they played one of the tunes
from the Japanese "Ukelele Beatles" album.

It got a bit too bogged down in the interview with the ex-Supergrass
members, but apart from that it's won't stop it from being one of my
must-listen to shows on the iPlayer.

And more importantly a good reason to keep the station on air
as I've no idea where else Adam Buxton and indeed Joe Cornish could
do a similar show playing that diverse a selection of music.

Comedic Spin

With the Tory manifesto in full flow, Keane have got a bit pissed
off with the Conservatives using one of their songs as part of their campaign.

It's prompted a fellow radio producer and music fan who I follow on Twitter
to make comments about disregarding their albums within his collection
and wanting them to stop whingeing about it all.

Considering it's a predominately right wing station he works for
(I bet you can't guess which one) I noticed his tweets earlier in the week
looking for hashtags on #libdemfail following ones with #labourfail.

I could have suggested him to start searching #toryfail but I'm
not sure if I'd have gotten off lightly.

To be fair I appreciate how Cameron has been severe with
dealing with the extracurricular activities of MPs, especially
during the expenses scandal, but I just find it hard to warm to him
overall and I will stick to the simple message on the Facebook group;
"I've Never Voted Tory Because I'm Not A Fucking Idiot".

Even if we do end up with a Conservative government,
it will still give comedians things to joke about at least.

I've never been able to take politics too seriously.

I made a mistake on an earlier post with regards to The Vote Now Show
as The News Quiz returns this Friday on BBC Radio 4 in the run up
to the election.

It's worth having a look at this article from the Guardian looking
at how Radio 4 in particular are putting a fair dosage of comedy
in the run up to May the 6th.

I really wouldn't know how to live without satire.

Further Homogenising

Again another uninspiring Monday as always where on my visit to
the Job Centre I found out that I wasn't successful at my interview
at Enterprise House two weeks ago.

It was nice of them to let the Job Centre know first without telling me
beforehand wasn't it?

Nah, I can get over that and I'm sure there's more worth going
for, especially as I was given a phone number to an admin agency
in Ashford which only needs the two steps to be taken if I am
to be more confident;

What does the job involve?

How do I go about applying?

I'm sure there's more to it but I'm too empty headed to work
out what.

Only two major elements can provide confidence, booze, and friends
who you're drinking with, even if they don't get it at all.

Moving onwards, this must have provoked many radio fans especially
6 Music listeners with the mere hint that the trust may give the green
light to changing the station to become "Radio 2 Extra".

That's the solution, remove a successful brand name and replace it
with one that unlike 6Music, has no idea who it's solid target audience
is that it wants to be aiming at.

Or has been told by the BBC Trust to aim at.

I won't dwell on it too much as it's early days but it's simply
the stupidest re-branding scheme for a BBC radio station I've known
along with the proposed changes to BBC Radio 7 on similar lines.

For those still following me on Twitter, my Save 6 Music banner won't
be disappearing from my profile photo, even during the run up to the elections.

I'm very tempted to unfollow anyone with a Tory banner
on their profile photo mind.

The Forgone Cup Final

It was a good show tonight after a two week break, made even better
by this afternoon's football scores.

Earlier on Manchester United had more or less vanquished their
chances of winning the Premiership after a goalless draw against Blackburn
and during the show itself I got even more excited as Portsmouth managed
to smash Spurs with two goals including a penalty.

So that's the FA Cup pretty much in the bag for the Blues, but even
if Chelsea lose to Portsmouth I'll be too drunk to even give a shit
due to it taking place on my 25th birthday.

I've no idea how I'll spend tomorrow. Apart from two visits
to the Job Centre of course.

There will definitely be two must listen radio appointments,
on Radio 4 nonetheless with the first Unbelievable Truth
that I went to see being transmitted, and the second being
"The Vote Now Show" giving a thrice nightly irreverent take on the
election campaign with the manifestos being launched this week.

Telly and radio wise, it's definitely going to be a week of hilarity.

"Not For A Stereotypical Man"

Another Sunday and an unintentional late start.

Well, getting up at 9am when I wanted to be up at 7 but it's not too much
of a bug.

This weekend has seen one of the BAMS alumni make his regular
presenting debut on BBC Radio Jersey, that being Tim Pryor
who's presenting the weekend breakfast shows including a religious
faith show on Sundays which he's described to me as a challenge.

I'll need to listen back on the iPlayer although whether I can
stomach Daniel O'Donnell and the like is another story.

If Tim doesn't get inaugurated into the Smoke hall of fame
in the next two years, then that will be more in-justified than
the decision to put me in there last year.

Especially considering the amount of enthusiasm and pushing
to get the whole thing off the ground.

Elsewhere Chris and Pete have taken a short break from their
Saturday afternoon Hayes FM show.

I'm guessing that the reason is because Pete's got a busy schedule
performing vocals with Professor Green ahead of the single coming
out on Monday.

I still swear it's a direct resemblance if you've seen the video.

First show after two weeks tonight, and it's going to be a solid
soul show tonight, with the usual dosage of wine bar arrangements
and low lit disco tunes.

Stuff such as Florence, and Hot Club De Paris does sound a bit out
of place but the question is whether it has to be relevant to Canterbury,
or whether it offers something different to the station.

All the clubs that play that sort of stuff are on the west of the county
with places such as Strawberry Moons in Maidstone, and Roni O'Brien's
Kent Soul Sessions in Gravesend.

It's hard trying to fit in with a load of soulboys 20 years my senior.

"#Weee've Lost Your Bags"

This has put me to shame.

The full version of the tune from the 1989 British Airways "Face" ad
also known as "Aria On Air" based around the familiar "Flower Duet",
and produced by the late Malcolm McLaren which I had no idea about.

Around that time Malcolm was taking classical and operatic
influences within his material and putting them to good use.

The title track of the "Waltz Darling" album was chosen
as the Best Foreign Video on the The Chart Show 1989 Special
although the video above is in full, in stereo, and has no balloons
covering the screen.

Back to BA, and in 1992 there was another arrangement of
the Flower Duet but this time using African children's choirs
to accompany the duet itself.

I can't remember the name of the track but it was one of those
released on the late Charlie Gillett's Oval label, and co-produced
by David Lowe who did the theme tune to The ONE Show and
the man behind Touch And Go's "Would You?".

See the resemblance?

As I type I've got an annoying headache which is more of an
command to get outside and enjoy things.

An iPod touch may be the solution and the Jazz FM app
so I can finally listen to Peter Young in the bright sunshine
which I've been wanting to do since discovering the show
7 years ago.

Judging by his dress sense, it would be perfectly matched.

Fear Of Creativity

Jonathan Ross's interview in the Weekend supplement of The Guardian
really hit home to some extents, especially when he explained his reasoning
for wanting to leave the BBC.

I won't give away the whole of the article but it basically said
that those at the top were very weary of programmes taking things
to the next level, in fear of what the government would say, especially
if the Conservatives take charge.

I wouldn't surprised if such politics occurred in other companies,
I.E. higher figures afraid to take risks or be creative as they are worried
about what even higher people will say.

That certainly seemed like the case at University and the radio station
between 2007 and 2008 from a personal level although in this case
it was the current management trying too hard not to upset or should
that be upstage those who were in management the previous year
and still had "high profile" shows.

Well "high profile" because they themselves said so.

Thankfully that's been diminished and things have changed albeit
with the odd slip up on the way.

It's a bugger to let go of such things but it Matty, and Matt etc told
me about what happened at the SRA conference in Nottingham Trent
a few weeks ago where Wise Buddah's Chris North explained that the reason
Smoke didn't get into the Top 3 best stations in 2009 was that the entry
focused too much on the re-branding, rather than the programming content
which in itself was a hell of a lot more varied than ever before.

Having seen the 2008 entry I can understand how we came second
although it focused more on the events and how it got out to students
etc.

Anyway best to look ahead and I'm pleased I don't really know anyone
in the year below, as when Matty, Jade, Nicola etc graduate next year
I won't have any ties still attending the University of Westminster.

I just want them to still do well, and with Audio Boo becoming all
the rage, platforms are well and truly unlimited.

I really think CSR should take a similar route in relaunching itself
as Smoke did, but instead of giving a complete overhaul they need to
implement a mass marketing campaign around Canterbury to get
themselves known.

The logo should stay how it is, but other areas such as the website,
the Twitter feed and other parts really need to be more relevant and
show off the great potential it has.

It's just a case of fulfilling the remit, especially with the license
renewal approaching within two years.

I may consider getting one of the management team to go through
my own show to see how it can be improved, especially as one
of them used to have a senior position at KMFM's newsroom and seems
to know his stuff about the basics of broadcasting.

But I'd imagine the more important thing is just to get on with it,
and with a new team running the station and a two week break
nearing an end, I'm certain that this week will go pretty well.

Playful Banter

Last night's Comedy Roast was probably the funniest of the three that
went out, with Chris Tarrant essentially being subjected to a lot of coarse
insults.

Sean Lock's speech was probably the most vile out of the lot
although thankfully guest Paddy McGuinness got a lot of stick for
his awful "Take Me Out" series from earlier in the year.

Whether that was worse than Tarrant's "Man O Man" is a tough
choice to make.

The running joke was that all of the gameshows apart from Millionaire
that Tarrant had hosted were rubbish or had been embarrassing flops
and if The Door was anything to go by last week, then I reserve judgement.

I was surprised they were allowed to have two c-words unbleeped too
as you'd be lucky to get away with one.

I'm sure the dads watching (or possibly grandads now) were pleased
that Sally James from Tiswas was one of the guests however.
.
She really was the Holly Willoughby of their day it has to be said,
although Sally never really had much of a TV career after Tiswas
and it's unsuccessful spin off "OTT" went kaput.

It will be quite a long one tonight as Channel 4 are showing
their revised rundown of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups.

If you look at the number of acts who have become familiar
sightings on our screens then I'm certain that there will
be plenty of new additions in comparison to the original rundown
four years ago.

I still need to get round to listening to Erykah Badu's album
as well before tomorrow's show.

Artists like her, with her vocals reminiscent of "Lady Day"
work a lot better at night time.

Ballot Based Humour

A very empty Friday almost spent asleep for about 20 minutes.

I'm bored to the point of not wanting to even eat or drink anything
although in fairness I am full up as I type.

Nothing alcoholic, or colourful will have me wanting to down it,
and not even anything with pastry with sultanas inside it can excite me.

We all get like that but I suppose it's just a sign
of being knackered.

In terms of radio listening and radio comedy to be more specific
The Now Show will be going out 3 nights a week at 11pm on
Mondays to Wednesdays in the run up to the election with
"The Vote Now Show".

This will be broadcast in addition to the regular Friday show
with the shows themselves being recorded four hours before
transmission, so I'm looking forward to what Punt and Dennis
will have to offer.

As for tonight it's the final one of the Comedy Roasts with
Chris Tarrant being the subject.

I still haven't seen the one with Bruce Forsyth but having known
of him and Tarrant for longer, I'm sure it will be more entertaining
than Sharon Osborne.

I liked the jokes that ripped the piss out of her ITV1
daytime chat show, mind.

Telly and radio wise it's going to be good, with Fighting Talk
live from Liverpool this weekend which is always even better with an
audience adding to proceedings, the second Doctor Who with Matt Smith,
Channel 4's revised list of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups, and
Greg Edwards again in for Robbie Vincent this Sunday on Jazz FM.

It appears that Robbie isn't well at the moment so here's hoping
it isn't too serious, although Greg's more than a superb stand in.

The good grooves are still alive, even if everything else
is struggling to stand on it's crutches.

"Making Me Itch"

It's easy for me to get antagonised.

I'm finding it hard to understand that a conversation isn't exactly
a blog post and that's partly why things haven't been too good living here
especially with everyone else on their Easter holidays from University.

When I compare a conversation to a blog post, I mean refusing to give
others a chance to speak.

The next time I make a visit up to London I'll make a lot more effort
but to be fair there's no one really who intimidates me as much
as those who I have to live with.

My next visit itself will be the ideal situation as on the Monday after
next I'm meeting up with Joey in W1 so it will be good to hear how
he's been getting on as a BA for The Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

However right now I'm in one of those moods, and I've only just realised that
conversation hogging can even take place on MSN/Facebook chat.

You can tell if that's the case when the speech bubble/typing icon
appears on screen for so long (unless it's crashed of course).

Ross T was always the worst offender unsurprisingly,
whilst I was at Uni.

Even in text form there's no shutting him up.

Actually that's a bit gutsy of me to say, considering this is
the one thousand, one hundred and first blog post.

However on meeting Joey in two weeks it will be a good laugh
whatever happens.

I need to spend time having a more relaxed visit without any silly
arguments and just relaxed conversation, like the lovely visit I had
to Leicester Square with Steven a few weeks ago.

I'm hoping we can do something similar on my birthday
with Caroline in tow as well as Chris won't be able to turn up to the
crawl itself until 3pm, so the three of us could go somewhere nice
in East London to get some grub down.

If it's OK with Chris actually I'm starting to realise that rather than
go to a club, we should have some sort of Jenga night at his
whilst indulging in booze and the DVDs I hinted at yesterday
with the old television stuff etc

A late night 90s party or something although we wouldn't
get too raucous.

On a more serious note it's worth mentioning Malcolm McLaren
who in addition to the Sex Pistols also brought hip hop
and breakbeat to the UK with the amazing "Buffalo Gals".

The song that inspired both Neneh Cherry and Eminem for
their respective hit singles, and is one of my favourite air drumming tunes.

A very talented if slightly eccentric manager/performer.


1946-2010

Setting The Barbican Alight

An amazing performance lifted up the Barbican Centre last night
when the legendary and MOBO nominated Salif Keita took to the stage
along with some superb musicians.

The atmosphere was pretty much electric with everyone on top form
and the audience on their feet throughout, as the Mali artist
performed a selection of tunes mainly from the last 10 years including
his most recent LP.

The musicians were amazing especially the percussionists,
the bass player who was celebrating his birthday, and one of the guitar
players who at one point started scatting to the notes he was playing
that would convince a blind person that George Benson had walked on stage.

My personal highlights included a really attractive dancer
by the name of Sissoko Hawa, and at the end of the gig itself
when many people in the front row where I was sat were encouraged
to invade the stage and start dancing during the last song.

I wasn't one of them, but it looked amazing.

The fact that it was all performed on acoustic instruments added
to the rawness and made it special and to finally see Salif Keita
perform live after 23 years was quite something.

I may be tempted to have the 1987 album "Soro" as a Blam Jam
Gem blog post in future which is more of an "Afro-Pop" record
compared to what was played last night, but it certainly put him
on the map.

Go on, you try and stop me.

Overall thanks to Jane and John for inviting me over due to one
of their children being stranded in Leeds and skint.

It was a good night elsewhere as Manchester United lost to Bayern
Munich in the Champions League QF second leg, and the Sony Radio Award
nominations were announced last night which looks really good this year.

BBC Radio Berkshire's Andrew Peach has been nominated three times
in the News and Current Affairs category, Best Speech Broadcaster,
and Breakfast Show of The Year (Under 10 Million) against others
including from my neck of the woods John and Jules from BBC Radio Kent.

If the name sounds familiar, Andrew also reads the news for Radio 2
at weekends.

Chris Moyles and Lauren Laverne are up against each other in the
Music Radio Personality category although Lauren's also up for
the Best Music show category too.

Others worth mentioning are Richard Herring's "As It Occurs To Me" podcast
being nominated in the Internet Category, Mike Chadwick's Southern Comfort
"Big Easy" from Jazz FM in the Branded Content category, and probably
best of all, LBC's James O'Brien being nominated for best interview
for his "phone confrontation" shall we say with Frank Lampard.

There's so much good stuff in line for a gong this year
it has to be said.

Another Telly Tangent...

This video is a pure reminder of happier TV Times. Puns aside, this was in the twilight days when TV Times and the Radio Times were magazines that just catered for ITV and BBC on their own respectively.

From the 17th of November 1990, some Anglia continuity beginning
with a Saturday night trail for an almost perfect schedule consisting
of Catchphrase (the TVS version), Blind Date, and Beadle's About.

Back then Catchphrase resulted in personal outbursts, so it would be more
than likely that the viewing in our house would involve The Noel Edmonds
Saturday Roadshow on BBC 1 with the Gotchas, the Giftbusters,
and of course the Gunge Tank.

The trail itself is notable for the voice being Nick Jackson who was also
the announcer on Catchphrase, and the music used being Matt Bianco
and an instrumental track from their 1985 album called "Up Front".

Even better is before the ad-break itself is a promotional trail for
Breeze AM which was Essex Radio's AM station after the 1989 frequency split.

It was different from most AM stations as rather than playing all-oldies
like Capital Gold, it leaned towards light standards resulting in what
sounded like a poor man's Radio 2 at the time.

Still at least the ad includes one of the Century 21 jingles near the end.

However 20 years on I would more than happily watch a schedule
consisting of Catchphrase and Beadle's About as opposed
to Harry Hill's unfunny jokes and Dancing On Ice.

Then again most of those who I was with at University were more of
the Baywatch and Gladiators line up which just wasn't me at all.

Possibly because they were both hour long shows and my attention
span is pretty poor.

Not to mention the fact that they stayed in the schedule
for far too long.

ITV was never really a mainstay in terms of a Saturday night schedule
in my house prior to Ant & Dec's arrival with Pop Idol.

I'm tempted around the time of my birthday to edit a "Drunk DVD"
putting late 80s LWT continuity and ads within one of the episodes
of The Chart Show I have from around that era, to possibly view on returning
from the Stratford to Central crawl.

If anyone in London's happy to let me display animated dodgems, and
videos of Colour Me Badd and Crystal Waters just for one night, it would make
me the most ecstatic and boozed up I have ever been with my favourite
people in the same room.

Messed Up Monopoly

Yesterday was an enjoyable one with the usual circumstances.

I.E. by the time I got to my hotel I felt dreadful and started feeling
sorry for myself in the usual manner due to the comedown feeling
of having to go home in the morning.

Other than that it was good to see everyone including birthday boy Matt,
Matt's partner Nick Martin, housemates Jade and Nicola, and Matty ID.

We were also joined by a really nice Australian exchange student called
Amelia who doesn't like being called "Mel", housemate and TV student Rosie,
and a few of Matt's mates from the Student Radio Association.

As expected, we didn't stick to the Monopoly pub crawl and ended up going
to a Spoons in Liverpool Street to get some grub, followed by one in
the Soho area.

At this point Jade, Nicola, and Rosie departed, and the rest of us went
deep into the heart of Soho starting off at G.A.Y., then Ku-Bar where
we were joined by TV students Mark Case and Beth, and towards
the end of the night we went to a couple more claustrophobic gay clubs
that were playing some rather superb tunes.

The last of which span quite a few late 70s disco tunes such as
"Love Sensation", Dan Hartman's version of "Relight My Fire" and Anita Ward's
"Ring My Bell".

Matt and the rest of the guys decided to make a return visit to G.A.Y. but
with the time nearing midnight I thought it would be best to head over
to my hotel near Victoria Station.

And in the usual manner here are a few photos;



With the ever nonplussed Nick.



Stranded Jade.



Stood with Amelia



Inside G.A.Y. with the video for Lulu's "Independence"
playing. I think I've found my favourite club...



Nick, Lukus, and Matt in the disco club
which I can't remember the name of.

I thought this would be my only visit to London this week
until finding out that I've been invited over to a gig at the Barbican Centre
this evening where Malian music legend Salif Keita will be performing.

One of many African artists championed by the late Charlie Gillett,
this really will be a night worth spending.

I'll stay easy on the drinking however.

The Huddersfield Huddle

It's definitely the right day for it in terms of crawling where outside
it's simply stunning.

I'm hoping to see a few more old faces, quite a few of them I doubt
I've seen since the 2009 Student Radio Awards so this could
be an attempt to ensure that night wasn't the last I saw of everyone.

I don't care if CSR get nominated, I will not be attending
this year as there's too much bitterness for the sake of it when
people don't win, and too much arrogance from those who do win.

Not long to go now as I need to get the train leaving Canterbury from
9am to ensure that I can get on the Victoria line en route to
Elephant and Castle, hoping I meet Matt, Nicola, Jade etc.
and a few others for Matt's 21st birthday crawl.

It's going to be fun times for sure and a regretful night should
I drink too much.

April's going to go well. It's getting better.

Welcome To The Pleasure "Dome"

Tonight's Comedy Gala turned out to be better than I thought
it would be.

My personal highlights were Jack Dee, Rich Hall, John Bishop,
Bill Bailey with Kevin Eldon, Noel Fielding, and an amusing finale
from Lee Evans.
To be fair I haven't seen any of Lee's sets in full but it had me laughing
more consistently than most of the other acts.

The not so good acts were Shappi Khorsandi doing more self-racism gags,
and the rather poor Kevin Bishop sketch which as you'd expect was gag free.

Not to mention the unwelcome appearance by Jordan and Alex Reid
which was well handled by Michael McIntyre afterwards.

The hi-jacked ad break with Jimmy Carr was rather anti-climatic considering
the funniest one has been circulating the internet in the last week.

That being the Go Compare ad where Jimmy gives "Gio Compario's"
go-nads a deserved crushing.

If anything it reminded me of this amusing ad for Carling Black Label
from the mid 80s, well regarded by telly fans although it was only shown
a couple of times.

My personal standout is the music, which is based around the Bonanza
theme and I like how the familiar Carling Black Label jingle
is subtley slipped in within the strings.

There were also a few trails for forthcoming shows over the next week
and Channel 4 have got it nailed comedy wise.

As well as the Comedy Roasts on Wednesday to Friday, there's an updated
rundown of the 100 Greatest Standups which may see either Boyle or McIntyre
knocking Peter Kay off his podium.

Best of all however is the second series of You Have Been Watching
which starts on Thursday the 15th, which is starting earlier this year
possibly to avoid overshadowing the final series of Big Brother.

Putting the Spoof News Boos to one side at this time,
really was the right idea timewise as there's so much funny stuff
on telly at the moment.

The Laziest Weekend

Once again I've hardly been doing anything this Easter Monday.

Although that will probably pace me prior to the Matt's Monopoly Crawl
tomorrow which I'm hoping will go well.

Whilst the rest of my Aunt's family have now headed home
Laura's still present staying for an extra night before heading
back to her own house in Canterbury where her boyfriend
Josh will be back over here.

I must print off my hotel reservation form before 9am tomorrow
where this time I'm staying in a hotel not too far away from Victoria
Station.

The only problem is that I won't be able to check in until after 2pm
but it won't be too much of a worry as I plan to travel light.

Best to take tonight easy too, with the 02 Comedy Gala on Channel 4
and depositing midget gems into my mouth.

That could be suggestive in so many ways.

Kamara Karma

I was obviously too drunk and distracted to take notice of this yesterday
but this clip of Chris Kamara on Gillette Soccer Saturday has been
spreading Youtube by storm.

I won't give too much away for those who haven't seen it
but this is television platinum defined.

Jeff Stelling being the pro he is manages to deal with it
at ease with the usual dose of good humour.

I imagine we'll be seeing this on The Big Fat Quiz at around Christmas
and if it doesn't get included, I will down a vodka lemonade
mixed with tequila.

This could possibly be the best bit of television from 2010.

The Extended Spectrum

Not looking good outside at all, proving that April is living up to it's name.

Not a major worry mind as Greg Edwards was in for Robbie Vincent
on Jazz FM again and it looks as if he'll be back next week as well.

Whether it's a a permanent stay I've no idea, but here's hoping
he gets a regular gig on the station before too long.

Despite stints at Radio 1 and Capital, I completely forgot that
he used to host a show at Invicta FM 20 or so years ago.

This must have been around the time when fellow soul jock
Dave Brown had permanently gone to East Anglia to do shows
at Radio Orwell and Saxon FM before taking a five year hiatus
from presenting, prior to the launch of Vibe FM.

On a similar note Greg mentioned that he was spinning the discs
at the Maidstone Strawberry Moons tonight.
I was thinking of going to the London one on my birthday until
finding that it's a fancy dress night on the 15th of May.

It may be a visit to the Roxy near Tottenham Court Road for
some proper rock and roll, with some new wave thrown in.

Hopefully we won't see any of these consequences as seen in this
rather hilarious video, where our old mate Peter Cooper
ends up turning into Peter Simon.

Definitely a physical challenge too far.

A More Sober Easter

Bizarrely I don't feel badly hungover compared to how I was
on getting into bed last night.

I'd best avoid the booze if I am to participate in the Monopoly crawl this
coming Tuesday.

As is always the case, lots of things start springing to mind at random
for no reason whatsoever, one being the Red Hot Chili Peppers
video as I believe it's the only pop song in the last 15 or so years
to have kazoos on it.

If anyone else knows otherwise I'd really love to find out.

I certainly don't remember Simon Mayo wanting people
to tweet suggestions for the kazoo to play at the start of his Radio 2 show.

On that very subject I bet Simon will be pleased to see his
favourite "Christian rock" act Delrious? hit the top 10 this week
after championing them for so many years.

Further proof that we really are sinking in terms of mediocrity.

I've no idea how I'm spending today due to me giving my show a much
needed break, but I guess it will involve more rummaging through
recordable discs etc where there are definitely many unwatched documentaries
I've still yet to have a gander at or listen to.

I really should look into getting some sort of archival job
or something similar.
Especially as when it comes to television news
I'd much prefer to have a rummage through original footage
rather than half inch a grainy video from Youtube.

Always worth having a go.

"One, Two, One Two Three, I Got A Ticket So Rock With Me"

Let's say that things took a slight turn as I did manage to see a
fair amount of the Manchester United Vs Chelsea game.

After a start off at Cafe Rouge the guys I were with headed over to
The Jolly Sailor pub where on arrival the Blues were leading 1-0.

We ended up winning 2-1 and by 5pm the remaining people I was
with were at the claustrophobic but entertaining Penny Theatre
in the Northgate Area where VKs were £1.99 per bottle.

I decided to part with a few coins on the jukebox and was impressed
to see that Incognito's "Everyday" was on their, complete with the CD
cover as the illustration but not so impressed when it played as
what came out of the speakers was "Always There".

Talk about epic fail, especially as the caption on the video
jukebox said "Everyday".

I was too pissed to rant too much as there were plenty of other
gems that got played at random such as "Got The Feeling" by 5ive
as they were known back then, and best of all the Red Hot Chilli Peppers
cover of "Love Rollercoaster" which had to be one of my favourite
records and videos of 1997.

Not least because it bears a mirror resemblance to the 1989 titles
of The ITV Chart Show.

We were also engulfed in the superb game between Burnley and Man City
where the Mancunian Blues slaughtered Burnley although I headed
off around 6pm so I could get back in time for the first Doctor Who.

The episode itself was superb and showed a lot of potential
but the new titles and theme arrangement were lacklustre.

Then again in my eyes nothing will beat the Sylvester McCoy
opening titles.

I'm more than just a little tipsy and it's only 10pm.

I'll be well shattered tomorrow morning.

Absent At The Most Crucial Times

I'm rather down about missing the Manchester United Vs Chelsea game
this lunchtime due to another engagement that's been arranged for
quite a while.

Such a crucial game as well and not having an iPhone will make things
worse, on coming home to finding a selection of wall posts and Tweets
ripping the piss out of me should the Red Bastards end up winning.

Elsewhere Erykah Badu has been charged with indecent exposure
or the US equivalent, during the making of her video for "Window Seat"

And this is probably the first video I've watched in a long while
where I've paid solely to the content and not imagined
in a geeky way when the pixelated icons appear with gossip
about the artist.

The tune's pretty good too and I'll definitely be giving the
album "New Amerykah Part 2" a listen sometime this weekend.

And I've heard from quite a few people that it's a lot better
than volume 1.

Waiting patiently for tonight's Doctor Who certainly
won't be a problem.

A Return To Creativity?

You know that you really need to sort yourself out when you don't
work on a normal Monday-Friday scale and still treat
public holidays as excuses to do something extra special.

I decided to actually get off my backside and have a rummage through
my recordable data DVDs and found an interview with jingle producer
Chris Stevens, now one of the big guys at TM Studios in Dallas.

It was good to find out the story of how that came about
and made me realise why it's such a good thing to be interested
in.

Anyone wanting to get into that area of radio (and have a lot more
luck than I have) should definitely give it a listen.

And this guy's a proper radio geek and all and a nice fella too.

The interview was taken from Ryan On The Radio.com and it now appears
that there's an interview with Sandy Beech, the guy who co-produces
Chris Moyles' jingles at Music 4, and I was lucky enough to meet last year.

It's interesting to hear how he got into station imaging,
and his time as the PC at Invicta FM at just 23 years old, where
he developed the idea of "The Morning Zoo" establishing a single
breakfast show as opposed to one for each frequency.

As well as having a hand in their rather impressive jingle package
from Groove Addicts that can be heard below and no prizes for guessing
what song the first one was based on.



One particular part of the interview I like is when he mentions what it was like to record the strings for the latest set of jingles for Chris Moyles
and how the feeling of hearing it played in the Abbey Road Studios
was so effective, it moved him to tears.

If I was stood there when the strings for Incognito's "100 Degrees And Rising" album were recorded in 1995, then it's probably safe to say that the
main studio itself would be turned into a swimming pool.

It's also worth listening to the bits that had to be cut out of the main
podcast and particuarly the parts about Ryan becoming a talk show host.

He could be the replacement for the recently ousted George Galloway
on talkSPORT so they can fulfill their right wing quota
of the non-sports presenters by 100%.

To sum it up, this audio would be brain food prior to attending
a radio job interview.

Good News Means Funny News

It was definitely an entertaining night in front of the laugh box
starting off with the new series of Have I Got News For You with
Lee Mack in the presenters chair.

It was Paul Merton's guest who was the standout part of the
show, that being UKIP MP Nigel Farage who made himself the
inevitable target of getting a right good knocking.

He reminded me of the disgraced Lord Brockett who took part
in series 3 of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and presented
an ill fated Saturday night endurance show shortly after,
that got canned by ITV after just two shows.

The big stories covered this week included the build up to the election
paying specific attention to Tony Blair "bigging up" the Labour Party
and turning into Joss Stone at the beginning of his speech.

And although it's over a week old, there was no way the series
could avoid the Dispatches documentary resulting in three
Labour MPs being suspended for their lobbying.

Russell Howard's Good News was also on top form where
attention was paid to a rather dodgy photo of a naked man with
his penis inside a car exhaust pipe.

Richard Herring was making jokes about exactly that 8 years ago
in his "Talking Cock" stand up, although ironically he used to write
for Good News until he got sacked due to other commitments.

Another part which I liked was when he took the mickey out of Akon
and nailed everything that's wrong with American R&B.

Well, US rap artists who constantly brag all the time over
an unmemorable beat.

Thankfully over on our shores we have the likes of Dizzee Rascal
and Professor Green providing a more genuine look on life.

Speaking of UK acts, Craig David got extracted when they
showed a news report of him becoming a UN Ambassador.

He also happens to have a "new" album out which I imagine
is entirely coincidental.

No word of lie, I was planning on featuring that on the radio show
this month after hearing the pretty impressive take on
"Standing On The Shoulders Of Love" but the rest of the album is
just covers of bog standard standards.

One of them being "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay"
although nothing can beat the Al Jarreau version.

It's further proof that without The Artful Dodger (who co-wrote most
of the first album) Craig David is even more of a parody
than the one on Bo Selecta.

"Thursdays Are Funny" (BBC 2, Autumn 2007)

It was another long night again as I was encouraged to join
a conversation on Skype between Chris and Stoobs, the majority
of which was spent guessing song intros, mash ups, and soundtrack
scores to big budget movies that I have never seen in full and
have no intention of doing so.

It was good fun mind, it got rather funny towards the end when
Stewart brought my attention to a argument between
Piers Morgan and Ed Byrne on Simon Mayo's 5 Live show back in
January 2009.

It immediately brought to mind an even more embarrassing public
appearance by Piers when he guested on Have I Got News For
You in 1996 and made himself look even more juvenile by
throwing petty insults towards Ian Hislop.

On a similar note the show's back tonight in it's new Thursday slot
with quite a good guest line up with Lee Mack hosting
and Scottish stand up Kevin Bridges as one of the guests.

With Russell Howard's Good News later on,
tonight's definitely going to be a good one for laughs.

Elsewhere I'm pondering on whether I should get a haircut
before Tuesday.

Not that I should smarten myself up for a pub crawl,
but it's getting a bit long and with just today and Saturday
being the days when the hairdressers are open I'd best decide fast.

Even More Fluteful

I often make mistakes in my blog posts and one of them
being that "Flute Loop" sounds nothing like "The Magic Flute"
in whatever way.

I got it muddled with Bach's "Badinerie" brought to my attention
after I found an arrangement by The Swingle Singers on Spotify.

That will provide the Gleeks with entertainment if they're
missing the show that much on these shores.

Otherwise it's perfect listening at this time of the night.