The Finest Soul From Our Shores

Yesterday at Hampton Court proved to be superb with even better
weather than in Greenwich.

I managed to meet up with a few people from the Incognito message board
including Peggy who had travelled from Belgium, Bernie who made
his way from Germany, and Dave who has been present at just about every
single Cog performance I've been to.

First on stage were a superb British soul act called "The Deep M.O."
who not only had some great material, but stood out by being
the only band I know to have a female lead vocalist who also
plays bass.

Probably no surprise that they'll be the support act for Level 42
on their 30th anniversary tour in October.

Incognito were up next which was rather weird having them
opening for the Heavies but they were superb yet again.

This was probably the first performance by the band which didn't
include "Always There" within the set. And that's including the
mini-gig at Fopp.

However we did get to hear a few favourites that weren't played at
Ronnie's, including "Still A Friend Of Mine", "Reach Out", and "Everyday"
which was performed at the end of the set.

There were quite a few issues with sound levels as, the festival
organisers had been told to keep them to a specified level, meaning
that those stood right at the back of the ground heard it on a delay.

Most of the acts performing weren't happy, and a petition was
instigated for the attendees who were less than impressed.

The Heavies made their stage entrance at around 8:30pm and around halfway through, we made our way out of the crowds, and to the right of the stage
where some of us were quite literally dancing round handbags, whilst
others were doing silly moves on a plastic crate.

The band themselves were back to their best, with N'Dea Davenport
on vocals, with favourites such as "You Are The Universe", "Sometimes",
"Stay This Way", and an amazing close to the festival with "Dream Come True".

Here's a visual perspective of what went on;



The main stage on arrival.



With the main man himself.


Alongside Dave and "Insane Lorraine"



Joy Rose



Tony Momrelle



Vanessa Haynes



Bluey takes the lead with keyboard player
Matt Cooper on drums.



One of many attempts to get a shot
of N'Dea from the Heavies.



Alongside Peggy from the Cog forum.



And yes, Lorraine was stood on a crate
for this shot.



The united nations of Cog fans.

Definitely a Bank Holiday well spent, and there's a good chance
I'll be seeing a few of those present yesterday at KOKO in
November.

The Hampton Huddle

I completely forgot to write a blog post yesterday. But in all honesty
nothing too exciting happened, apart from the rather irritating mixed weather
making it the wettest journey I've made to the CSR studios since starting.

In just over an hour I'll be getting the train over to London en route
to the Hampton Court Jazz Festival and seeing two of the finest
British soul/jazz bands perform live, with The Brand New Heavies
followed by Incognito.

I'm staying over at the same place I stopped off at last weekend
which will be pretty convenient in terms of being near to the
NAS building where my Prospects meeting takes place tomorrow.

As far as the live performance goes, I hope this turns into
an annual event of sorts and the best way to spend a Bank Holiday.

And it doesn't look as if it's going to rain. For now.

Density In Dublin

Tonight's X Factor was on form once again although it's a shame
we didn't see more of Katy Perry at the Dublin audtions.

Although in all fairness most of those auditioning there were rubbish
and you thought they would have taken into account that it's the
city where John and Edward hail from.

Memorable moments included the return of a woman
who audtioned in series 5 but lost her bottle at the judges houses
stage. This time round, she managed to come out fighting, with
a stunning rendition of "Make You Feel My Love".

On a lower note there was a fella at the London auditions who
was dressed like Michael Jackson but didn't have the voice to match.
And the moment he said he was going to sing "Human Nature"
I immediately yelled out "NO!", and sure enough he managed to ruin
one of the finest offerings from Jacko.

There were some good choices of tunes used in some of the
pre-audition bits, with one of them being "Semi Charmed Life"
by Third Eye Blind from back in 1997, which was even good enough
to be included on one of Weird Al's polka medleys.

The auditions look set to entertain further, even if they do
keep replaying the "exciting bits" more times than they should.

There's the radio show tomorrow, and the last of my
"summer specials" where I've pretty much gone all out
with tunes from Mario Biondi, Jamiroquai, Booker T & The MGs,
and not forgetting George Benson.

A little bit of "Breezin" certainly won't go amiss.

5 Turns 20

Following on from the rather emotional farewell this morning,
Hopps and Chapple will be making an appearance at online station
Network North Devon tonight at 9pm where according to station owner
and ex Lantern jock Ian Starling, they'll be doing "the goodbye show
they couldn't do on Heart this morning".

That's going to be quite a listen by the sounds of things.

Whilst the station in Barnstaple may have departed the airwaves
it's 20 years to the day since the BBC launched it's fifth national
radio station with what was known as BBC Radio 5 in 1990.

It was different to the news and sports service it's now known as
although that's not to say that they didn't feature heavily within
the schedule.

However in addition to the commentaries which had been moved
from Radio 2 (who used to broadcast on 909 and 693) there were
also short stories for children broadcast nightly, and quite a few
comedy shows that achieved greater success on television made their
debut on Radio 5, such as They Think It's All Over, and Room 101.

The first presenter on Radio 5 was Bruno Brookes hosting a
launch programme called "Take 5". Although it was actually
pre-recorded as Bruno was standing in for Simon Mayo on Radio 1's
breakfast show at the same time that Bank Holiday Monday.

I seem to remember being at my mum's parents house that weekend
and made a visit to one of the beaches in Suffolk if I remember correctly.

It was a long time ago mind.

Nowadays 5 Live is still a pretty strong station with my most listened
shows on the station being Richard Bacon's afternoon show and of
course Fighting Talk which has pretty much become a Saturday morning
radio staple.

Long may the station continue, and beware of (right wing) imitations.

North Devon's Light Finally Goes Out

A rather mellow morning, and moreso for those in North Devon
as the station formerly known as Lantern FM made it's final broadcast
from the Lauder Lane studios this morning.

Presenters Hopps and Chappell kept their dignity throughout but
read out several messages wishing them well including one from
former newsreader and presenter Tim Pryor.

As I haven't listened for quite a while it was good to hear some
of the catchy ads such as Westcountry Windows (to the tune of Craig
McLachlan's "Mona") and Pat Williams car parts ("#Pat William's got your part!")
who are based not too far away from the studios and have been around
almost to the day when Lantern Radio began broadcasting.

The final song played was "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles which was
also the first record played on Lantern FM back in October 1992
and that's when it started to hit me, especially in the final link
when Paul Hopper said it was a song that meant a lot to North Devon.

So that's it then.

Quality local radio in North Devon has become another victim
to the men in suits who could write their knowledge of great radio
on a postage stamp.

On a more hopeful note, best of luck to Hopps, Chapple, and especially
Suse who made me feel really welcome on my visit to North Devon back
in July 2006.

Lantern FM/Heart 96.2
19.10.1992 - 27.08.2010

Premature Ejecting

So the deserving winner of Ultimate Big Brother has walked out
after two days, after becoming paranoid about being stuck in a house
full of so-called celebrities.

At least Josie is courageous enough to deny being such an entity.

Having seen the latest goings on via the stories on various websites,
I doubt I'll be watching tonight or tomorrow's shows as they've
spoiled the identities of those set to enter the house, both of whom
are from the 2004 series.

Then again, Nikki hasn't been one of those nominated so her
brain dead persona will continue to cause chaos in the house
for quite sometime.

With Josie gone, I'd say that the overall winner would
be a toss up between Brian, and Nick and especially in Nick's case
he doesn't seem anywhere near as nasty as his trademark suggests.

Whilst I'm undecided as to carry on watching the series on a nightly
basis, I will definitely be watching the final night on the 10th of September
starting off at 7:30pm that Friday.

It's also the week before the Matt Bianco gig at the Jazz Cafe
and what will overall be a very entertaining autumn.

November Gain

November's going to be a great month for gigs.

First of all on the 4th there's the long awaited gig with Frankie Boyle
at the Hammersmith Apollo which I booked almost a year ago.

The following week on the 11th is another performance by Incognito
which must make 2010 the year I've seen the band the most times.

Fresh from their success on Terry Wogan's show last Sunday
Bluey and the band will be at one of my favourite venues, KOKO
just near Mornington Crescent tube station.

That date also happens to be the same night as the Student Radio
Awards so even if CSR get nominated, I will not be making my
way up to the arse-fest this year.

And then, two weeks later on the 25th will be Marcos Valle
at Ronnie Scotts which I'm really looking forward to, having
never seen the master of Brazilian music perform live before.

If him and Bluey got together, that really would be one of the best
collaborations.

But then again, Bluey could even work with someone as
horrendous as Leona and produce a quality tune that with
regards to Leona's voice, you could easily mistake it for Teena Marie.

I'll be staying over at Pippa and Holly's once again, although
we must sort something out to do together with Stedders
and all that lot as they really know how to have a rather
racous time.

Quite often involving battery operated water guns.

Ending With An Ego Clash

So the line up for the Ultimate Big Brother contest has turned
out to be better than I thought it would be with quite a stellar
set of housemates, even if there's a slight overdose of
celebrity contestants.

Personally I'm rather pleased to see John McCririck, and Nicki Grahamme
taking part as I know they're simply going to provide great television
and possibly a few hysterics, if I find myself drawn into the series
which unbelievably may actually happen.

Also taking part are Preston, Chantelle Houghton, Makosi,
Ulrika Jonsson, Coolio Brian Dowling, Nadia Almada,
and Nick Bateman right from the first series.

Ultimately, to use a dreadful pun, I would want to see Josie win
as the latest winner seems to be the only genuine contestant
taking part that you can warm to.

However it's not a complete line up as two more housemates
will be setting foot in the house on Friday with bets being
firmly placed on series 8's Brian Belo as one of them.

If I do get attached, I'll try my best not to blog about it constantly
but don't expect me to stick to that above comment.

It will be entertaining nonetheless.

Good Night.

Beyond Karaoke

This has been doing the rounds in the last day or so.

Cee-Lo's new tune with a radio-unfriendly title has issued
this innovative preview video which has caught on really well
and the fact that this isn't the official video is underselling it
by a long way.

More or less goes to show that big budgets don't have to
be an essential part of making memorable pop videos.

Nothing's planned for the rest of today, apart from
the final of Big Brother 11 coinciding with the launch to
find the ultimate housemate, with rumours that The Head from
Art Attack, I mean Alex Reid is making a return to the house
to compete for that title.

I've barely seen an episode since the launch night,
but all the same it will be interesting to see a few old faces
regardless of how irritating they were first time round.

Although to be honest I may have no idea how some of
them are.

Autotune=Out Of Tune

I finally managed to get round to seeing last Saturday's
X Factor in full and as a show overall there wasn't a dull bit at all.

Personally I think it's better without Dannii as a judge, and
more so that it can still work with three judges as opposed to four.

The idea of Dermot wearing a tie during the auditions stage
seems to work well too.

I guess I should cut to the chase however as the issue
that everyone seems to be talking about, is the addition of
a so called "vocal enhancing" tool to the auditions,
which shows the continuing proof of the show being far
from just a singing contest.

Either it's proof of what direction Simon Cowell wants the winner's
album to sound like, or most likely it's a case of ovine tendencies
striking again.

And it's not just Simon Cowell following this "phenomenom".
Even long established groups such as The Temptations have
implented Andy Hildebrand's record ruining technology for
their material.

All that aside though, I will definitely continue watching as
that's normally the case each year.

The Xtra Factor appears to have changed with new host Konnie Huq
at the helm, with items such as "Presentiators" and "Louis' Limericks"
shelved in favour of new features such as "Come Judge With Me" and
"Delve Into Dermot" but still retaining the more light hearted manner
and not taking itself as seriously as the main ITV1 show.

I doubt my sister who absolutely despises Konnie will be watching
when she returns from America in a few weeks.

"Don't Underestimate My Genius"

A bit better now, having spent the last 45 minutes with a penne bol
in front of MOTD2, and the Simon Cowell episode of Star Stories
broadcast around this time three years ago.

I didn't see it first time round (for obvious reasons) but it still
managed to prove that insistent swearing can be funny at times.

Kevin Bishop took on the role of the man with "genius",
in a well researched send up of the impresario's career up to 2007
where judging by the time of transmission, they only just slipped
in the bits about Britain's Got Talent, and Louis Walsh rejoining
The X Factor after his supposed sacking.

I also liked the use of M's "Pop Muzik" as recently covered by John & Edward
on their album and having heard it, I don't think their version's too bad
surprisingly.

Although that's mainly because the vocal harmonies on the track
aren't done by them.

I still haven't seen last night's opening episode in full although
from what I caught from the 10 minutes I saw, it seems to have
improved, mainly due to Simon wanting to cut down on sob stories.

I miss Star Stories, but then again it probably ended at the right
time after three series and could have got stale if it went on
for longer.

However production company Objective are still providing
the goods if Pete Vs Life is anything to go by.

Good Night.

So Called Allowances

This could end up going on all night, possibly longer.

I really have no idea where I stand within my current circumstances
and although there's nothing tense between anyone at home,
I'm very close to cracking altogether.

It's hard putting how I feel into words at times, and it can take up to
two years to finally work out exactly has been getting to me.

I think my main worry at present is the fucking Job Centre, and the length
of time they are taking to get my claim sorted, which is just bollocks.
It's not even in my bank account and it seems as if it's their aim
to make things more difficult.

The one thing I've learnt from this is not to go on holiday until
I have a proper job as the stunts at the Job Centre will just
want to waste more and more of my time, trying to sort something
out that can be done a lot quicker than they say it can.

I need to change things rapidly, and immediately to that extent.

Mid Life Crisis At 25

There's been a lot of misunderstandings on both my part and
those who are unintentionally causing me anxiety.

I'm starting to become very concious over who I spend my
time with in London, mainly from a money point of view
because it's no good spending half my weekly allowance
to travel up there on the odd occasion only to end up
being depressed as a result.

At the pub crawl two weeks ago, towards the end I was just longing
to go back to Pippa and Holly's house because I was getting
too over emotional over issues.

It's just harder than me to let go of things, than it is for other
people who are in more stable positions than I am, and
a return to London really is the only solution.

And that's not to say it will change things instantly,
but at least I'll be within reaching distance of those I can
talk to sensibly and in a civilised manner.

But if I'm being honest, I don't want to be part of a culture
that seems to have a law of putting the word "actual" before the
end of a sentence, and whose idea of a night out is
a grill night at Spoons. (Gets bucket out)

And I can't pretend to like things that I should be liking
at my age as that would just make things worse.

I'll need to take a lot more time into things that I like rather
than constantly let bad things get to me which shouldn't.

It won't change instantly but hopefully within a few months
it will start getting there.

The words of Morrissey remain true; "These Things Take Time"

"Beyond Colour, Beyond Creed"

Last night was good fun, starting off in Kilburn at Steven and Caroline's
flat, and my first visit there too actually.

The occasion was Caroline's 22nd birthday party and the guests there included
quite a few of Caz's friends from Brambridge as well as a few friends
of her housemates.

I was the only person from University present which I guess was a
good thing to an extent, although a few things stuck in my head
for a long time as I left the house, which if it wasn't for the Incognito
gig would have ended the night on a low.

It wasn't the case however as I met up with Stephen Howie in the
Brewmaster pub near Leicester Square tube before heading
over to Ronnie's for what was a superb set from Bluey and his
musicians with Vanessa Haynes, Joy Rose and Tony Momrelle on
vocals.

New tracks from the album were performed including "Life Ain't Nothing
But A Good Thing", "1975", and the cover of Boz Scagg's "Lowdown",
as well as old favourites such as "Talkin' Loud", and "Always There".

My personal highlight once again was the cover of Banda Black Rio's
"Expresso Madueira" which got the audience of Ronnie Scott's on their
feet, and towards the end it was pretty raucous.

The best bit was when Bluey accidentally said that there was "no reason
to dance" when he meant "no reason not to dance" resulting in
a few jeers and prompting me to heckle "#Cheerio cheerio cheriooo!"
in good spirit of course.

Oddly enough, this was the first Incognito gig I've been to where
they didn't perform "Everyday" but that wasn't an issue at all
as Ronnie Scotts was a fantastic venue for the band in terms of
acoustics.

I'm looking forward to seeing them in Hampton Court just over a week
away, provided that the job centre sorts my money out as they've
not done sod all at this stage.

This morning was spent at a lovely French place where I met up
with Joe and caught up with various things.

On the positive side of things I'm feeling as if I'm able to talk less
about my personal radio exploits at Uni in his presence,
but when faced with those who were responsible for making it
difficult for me (not necessarily of their intention) it can be difficult
to let go.

I feel that some sort of recluse maybe the right thing to do for
the next six months at least, excluding the various gigs of course.

That way I'll be able to focus more on trying to find a job
for myself, rather than getting envious of other peoples.

Then again, no one knows what's going to happen as even
a few people who were in the year above me at Uni have
branched out into other things away from radio and seem
to be enjoying what they do.

It can happen.

The Kilburn Stretch

This morning's been pretty stressful.

Thankfully I've got past the obstacles and in just under an hour I'll
be heading over to London with a very limited amount of money.

I may end up walking from Kings Cross to Kilburn Park
after checking into the hostel having familiarised myself with
part of the route on the pub crawl a couple of weeks ago.

Hopefully it won't be a problem if I arrive too early as
I'll want to make the most of what I've got up there at Caroline's birthday
before heading back into Central to meet up with Stephen
and see the one and only Incognito at Ronnie Scotts.

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting up in Goodge Street with Joe
who just finished a superb show on Sussex community station
Uckfield FM this afternoon with some superb music from the likes
of Marillion, Edwyn Collins, and even a bit of Lonnie Donegan.

North of Watford however, things aren't looking too good
with yet another of my favourite stations reduced to a corporate clone.

Well, maybe that description's a tad unfair but Hull's KCFM has
undergone the full Lincs FM makeover with a change of logo
to match the group's colours, and replacing the superb TM jingle
package with the less than impressive S2 Blue one which can be heard
on the rest of the network.

It doesn't appear to be getting any better as it's recently
been announced that they're the latest to follow in the wake
of the Digital Economy Act by moving Compass FM to the Lincs FM
studios in Lincoln, and Rother FM to Trax FM in Doncaster.

Fortunately there's been no mention of name changes, yet.

Just a shame about the increasing amount of voicetracking
but as long as it's being broadcast from Hull, Stamford, Doncaster...

Undiscovered Strengths?

My last day at Enterprise Opps went better than I thought, as
not only did I get a reference, but also a really nice card from
those who I've worked with over the last two weeks.

I didn't get anything like that at SE back in March so it probably
goes to show that I'm better suited to organising figures and information
rather than sorting out playlist details.

This weekend looks set to be pretty good as Mum & Dad have
gone up to Woodbridge to see Jo's mum, so tonight I plan
to enjoy a pork stew with mushrooms and rigatoni pasta,
whilst tonight's viewing highlights will consist of Chris Evans'
debut co-hosting The ONE Show, and the third part of the
well observed "Pete Vs Life".

As well as yesterday's Daily Show on More4 of course.

The ideal warm up to what will be an amazing weekend
with Incognito at Ronnie's being the highlight.

"If You Don't Want To Know The Score"

Bit of a change in viewing procedures today, as I've been catching up
as opposed to reminiscing.

In this instance I've had a gander at episodes 1 and 2 of
Pete Vs Life which has pretty much lived up to expectations.

From the same company that produces Peep Show it's more
than notable that the main character is somewhat of a dead ringer
for Robert Webb, although the overall style of the show
is even more innovative.

I won't give too much away in case anyone hasn't seen
it yet, but I'm pleased that Ian Kirkby has adapted a Geordie
accent for his commentator, reminiscent of the voice he used
for a similar part on Dick & Dom in a boxing sketch.

It's on the DVD compilation and has to be seen for it
to do full justice.

As for the sitcom itself, it's easy to identify with all of
Pete's anxieties, illustrated brilliantly by on-screen astons
like you'd get in a televised football match.

Quite a few familiar faces have appeared so far including
Michael Fenton Stevens (KYTV, People Like Us) as the father of
the environmentalist, and Ricky Grover (Bulla, Black Books)
as the Turkish restaurant owner.

I didn't manage to spot Chris Chilvers as an extra in the second
episode so I may need to give that a closer viewing.

But I suppose that's a good thing as it means I'm starting
to wean off the habit of watching television in an obsessive manner.

Overall the series will definitely remain on my "must watch" list
for the rest of it's run.

An "Enterprising" Placement

With only two more days left at Enterprise Opps, it's going to
be quite a struggle adjusting to the old daily habit of searching
and surfing.

I'll do my best to make myself as useful as possible
although the rest of the staff seem to think it's
a nightmare to complete a spreadsheet when I've
managed to get it done within half a day.

I must be doing something right. For once.

The last two weeks have definitely sped by, although
I'm confident I'll find something that earns a bit of
bob by the end of the year, especially as I've started the
transitions scheme in London.

The main thing is not to let any aggravations get in the way.

The solution would be to cull them from Facebook.

One individual who certainly won't be in the firing line
is Stephen who I'm meeting up with on Saturday for the Incognito gig.

It's probably the first time we've both been to a gig at Ronnie's
at the same time so it will definitely be a different experience
to that at the Jazz Cafe.

And with better acoustics and all.

Clamped Down Comedy

This article had me silently raging this morning at work.
How I managed to control myself was pretty much beyond belief.

Kevin Eldon On The Axing Of "Lizzie And Sarah" - STV

I personally thought the one off episode was a bit graphic
and near the knuckle, but that did not take away the fact
that it had some brilliant writers and actors working on it
and it pleased a small but devoted audience.

Only the BBC decided to shunt it to a ridiculous timeslot
of midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning and
decide to use it as an excuse not to give the go-ahead
for a series.

I wouldn't say that comedy on television has become
more conservative, almost the entire fucking broadcasting
industry is leaning towards those sorts of politics and
I've seen it happen in front of my very eyes during my
time on the radio course.

How people in power have such short minded opinions
and want to offer us watered down content, and Kevin's
probably right about the internet being the only outlet
for coarse comedy if examples such as Channel Bee, and
Richard Herring's As It Occurs To Me are anything to go by.

I'm so glad that no one in my family has strong
opposing political opinions as that would just make things
worse than they are now.

Having said that, despite my Mum and Dad being Labour
voters for most of their life I can remember Dad being
really angry about the outcome of the Hutton report
and making cynical comments about Blair being "a bully".

To be honest though, I'm only really likely to argue
with those who have very conservative opinions.

So there goes my chance of getting a radio job at "SHOUTsport"

Overall here's to online uncensored comedy with not
a toffee nosed programme executive in sight.

"Morning Loves!"

Well I never saw this coming.

Simon Bates is to join Smooth Radio to host their national
breakfast show from January next year, ending a 14 year stint
at Classic FM, 7 of those spent hosting their breakfast show.

Media Guardian Article

Already the London breakfast host Graham Dene has made
his departure with Lynn Parsons filling the hot seat until
Bate's arrival.

Whilst the broadcast has his critics, I reckon it will be good
to see "Simes" back within a pop format (well, sort of) on
a day to day basis, although the move means he will
also leave his Sunday morning show on the Gold network.

On that subject however, two ex Absolute/Invicta FM jocks
have been making the odd appearance on the station
them being John Osborne and Neil Francis.

I'm guessing the connection with absolute is that one
of the big bosses there happens to be Lee Price who
was a deptuty programme controller at Invicta FM
for many years alongside the likes of Simon West,
and the late Tim Stewart.

Back to the original subject, and alongside Mark "Goodybags",
Lynn Parsons and Andy Peebles, it seems that Smooth really
could end up being a nursing home for the Radio 1 of 20 years ago.

Awkward Viewings

Pretty average day at Kent Enterprise House.

Things didn't really get any better at the Job Centre where
it appears that Mum may have to attend every time I sign on
as she's my appointee.

Why they've only brought this up now is just bollocks
and neither of us are happy about the circumstances.

Hopefully my allowance will start again when I've handed
in the form they gave me that I didn't have time to complete
in the Job Centre itself due to the ridiculous time they
gave me for my appointment so near to closing time.

The second episode of Grandma's House meanwhile
was just depressing.

I understand it's meant to be dark humour, but it was
too close to home in places and not the sort of thing
I'd want to sit in front of with the intention of escaping
from everything else.

My aim now is to raise a few laughs before bedtime (possibly waking
Mum and Dad up in the process) by re-viewing a few more vintage
episodes of Russell Howard's Good News.

Things are slowly changing though I'm not sure which way.

A Transatlantic Comeback

Not that exciting a day really.

I made my way back onto Canterbury's airwaves this evening
where it was pretty empty as expected but the show went fairly
well where I had a bit of an Incognito overdose by playing
five tunes from them, four being from the latest LP.

I'm back in Herne Bay tomorrow, where with the spreadsheet
task completed, I'm looking forward to what they've got
lined up for me to follow.

I've also got to go to the Job Centre later on where hopefully
I'll restart my Job Seekers Allowance claim.

I think the lesson I've learnt is not to go on holiday until I've
got a proper job. And I'm sure Mum and Dad will benefit from
that too next time they decide to head over to
a far flung location.

Controlled Election Chaos

Good start to the Premiership this afternoon with a massive 6-0 win
for Chelsea against West Brom, and Blackpool coming to the fore
against Wigan.
Not so good for fellow London clubs West Ham and Spurs,
the latter of whom drew goalless against Man City.

I'm pretty sure tonight's Match Of The Day will be one to preserve.

Elsewhere, I decided to have a break from my usual comedy rummaging
of the year so far, and take a trip back 13 years to the 1st of May 1997
and BBC 2's Election Night Armistice which was up against the live
coverage of the results themselves and hosted by Armando Iannucci,
David Schneider and Peter Baynahm.

Compared to this year's Alternative Election Night on Channel 4
(recorded in the very same studio) this was far more contrived
and full of gimmicks such as Jenny Powell keeping progress
of results in a similar style to Wheel Of Fortune,
and Valerie Singleton reporting from a "bouncy house of lords".

Not to mention a phone vote for a choir to sing "swingle"
versions of TV news themes, with the Channel 4 news theme
being the most notable, and a badly arranged rendition of
Rick Wakeman's "King Arthur" which was dropped this year
as the BBC's election theme tune.

It's worth mentioning that the show shared the same
phone number as CBBC/Live And Kicking, that being the
memorable 0181 811 8181, although sadly it didn't have
the jingle to accompany it.

Despite appearances from Kevin Eldon and Sally Phillips, it
was a sign that the Armistice team were starting to show
signs of age and even Armando himself later said it was inferior
compared to Channel 4's effort his year which he guested on.

I plan to revisit the show tomorrow evening after the radio
show and I've still got to sort out the playlist, which may
happen during Greg Edwards on Jazz FM.

On a similar note, the website has a special message from
Robbie Vincent, who it appears is on the way to recovery
and hopefully will make a return to the airwaves by the end
of the year.

Hopefully Greg will be kept on elsewhere in the schedule
as he deserves a permanent spot on the airwaves
after his somewhat hasty booting from Gold two years
ago.

Oh well, it's Global's loss from what has become a
bog standard oldies station that no fucker listens to.

Transatlantic Triumph

After giving my room a bit of a clear out to the point of near
spacious, I've finally got round to listening to the latest Incognito
album "Transatlantic RPM" in it's entirety and once again
Bluey and the guys have done a top job.

With an array of guest performers such as Chaka Kahn, Leon Ware
and Ursula Rucker, they add something extra special to the Cog
sound with personal favourites on the album including
"Let's Fall In Love Again" with Tortured Soul's Christian Ulrich,
"Everything That We Are" featuring Luckyiam adding a bit of hip hop
to the Cog sound, the superb cover of Banda Black Rio's
"Expresso Madureira" and a superb turn by Mario Biondi
on "Can't Get Enough".

To have Mario and Bluey working together really is that special
and he also appears with Chaka on the album opener "Lowdown"
giving a pretty good take on the Boz Scaggs tune.

I guess the only bad part is the struggle of deciding what tunes
to play on the show this Sunday but I'm pretty certain
it will be prominent for the next few weeks at least.

"#The London Sound"

Rather disappointing start to the day on finding out
that long established Dallas vocalist Dan Alexander has died.

An unfamiliar name, yet heard all over the world on many
jingle packages dating back to the PAMS packages as used
on Radio London and BBC Radio 1, to the many JAM jingles
he sung on for over 20 years before retiring.

There's a few photos of him on the JAM website where
I personally reckon he shares a resemblance to Kenny Rogers.

Final day of my first week at Enterprise Opps and it's definitely
gone quickly.
I'm not sure what Mum and Dad are up to on returning but
my plan for tonight is mainly to see the second part of
"Pete Vs Life" on Channel 4 which has been getting good reviews.

The only actor I know of in there is Ian Kirkby as one of the commentators
as he appeared in Dick & Dom, and Palace Hill which is really
going back a bit.

That's not too important however, as the plotline sounds pretty
good overall.

There's also a new series of Chain Reaction starting tonight
on BBC Radio 4 where this week impressionist Ronni Ancona
interviews stand up Lee Mack which should be very enlightening
for many a comedy fan.

Here's hoping nothing unlucky happens.

Awaiting My Allowance

Well these are quite literally my last moments of freedom, as
Mum and Dad are returning home tomorrow after the rest of
their holiday in America.

I still need to sort out reclaiming my JSA with Mum as she's
my "appointee" but as soon as that's finally done I can be more relaxed.

Well, I've still got one more week left at Enterprise House but
that makes things far more productive.

The plan for this weekend is to listen to the two albums I've been
anticiapting all year, them being Incognito's "Transatlantic RPM",
and Leroy Burgess's "Sugarhill 83-86" LP.

And I'm pretty certain that one or more tracks from both
will be played on my "comeback show" this Sunday.

To be honest, it really does feel like a long time since my last show
but I doubt I've been heavily missed.

Waiting To Collapse

Some things never change, despite other changes in circumstances.

To put it another way, I ended up falling asleep at 5pm
waking up just before the kick off of the England game
where I gave up after about 20 minutes.

Yes we beat Hungary in the end but I wanted to get my meal
sorted to enjoy in front of the Daily Show on More4
where John Stewart has had a shave for some reason or other.

Tomorrow's probably going to be more of the same, only
that I'll plan to use rice with what's left of tonight's stew
instead of pasta.

I guess the good thing about this routine however is that it
makes Friday's more meaningful which I haven't had for a long time.

Good Night.

Topical Rummaging

Morning.

Really stunning outside so hopefully I won't be such a miserable so and so.

Well certainly not at Enterprise Opps as it's pretty laid back there
and I'm getting closer to completing the Word Document
listing all the competing companies.

The next step is to sort out the spreadsheet, but that should be
just as enjoyable.

As planned, last night I made a start re-viewing the last series
of HIGNFY although it could be called viewing for the first time
as it was the extended episodes which I haven't seen before.

One of them was the second episode with Richard Herring and
Victoria Coren as the panellists which contained many pause
button moments and it even allowed Herring to get away
with two fucks, which I bet he was pleased about after
getting worked up about his appearance on Just A Minute
this time last year.

I guess the show I'm looking forward to reviewing the most
is the Election special hosted by Jo Brand, where
Paul and Ian formed their own coalition.

It's going to be a nightmare deciding which jokes go
into the compilation.

Is The Best Yet To Come?

Bit of a rather mellow one today.

Nothing bad happened at work (if I can call it that) but it's been
rather miserable outside and I wouldn't call that inspiring.

Hopefully a spag bol in front of The Daily Show on More4 will cure that,
followed by another outing of Andy Parson's "Britain's Got Idiots" DVD.

That man's pretty much secured himself as my favourite
political comedian and I doubt I'm the only one who would share
those sentiments.
I may also start re-viewing the last series of HIGNFY and continue
with my timecode logging for the Xmas comedy compilation MP3.

It may not seem that creative, but there's something magical
about hearing TV comedy panel shows in audio form.

A Return To Blogging Form?

I've swung through many a different mood today.

Attempting to restart my jobseekers allowance has been the least
of my worries, but hopefully those who I know personally at the
Job Centre Plus will look into it and have it sorted before
my next visit to London.

At least with the long arrival of a short term daily structure added,
and with Mum and Dad still away in America, I've started to adapt to
a proper manner of "me time" by being more productive, viewing
and listening wise at least.

Simon Amstell's sitcom wasn't too bad, as I expected it to be dark
and I can fully understand how his insecurity plays a part
in his character.

I should make a correction however as Rebecca Front actually plays
his mother and not his auntie as I wrongly suggested in the last blog post.

I guess that was my obsession with the Catchphrase appearance
playing it's part and I suppose whoever's reading this
would have though I'd have laughed at his Dame Edna impression
at the end of the episode.

The funniest thing I heard tonight on the other hand, was
Just A Minute on BBC Radio 4 with John Sergeant proving a better
contestant on the long running panel game, than he was a dancer
on Strictly Come Dancing.

Despite proving to be hilarious at both and such a modest fella.

To be fair though, John was a contestant on the second TV version
of the show on BBC 1 eleven years ago.

It's easy to take the mickey out of Nicholas Parson's bumbling
attempt at authority, but there are only so many times he
can firmly tell the audience "those are the rules!" whenever
they "aaah" a contestant for hesitating etc.

One person who ended up doing the opposite with a
far more hilarious response was John Stewart on The Daily Show
on More4 this evening, where after the audience started jeering
because they were running out of time with an interview with
Will Ferrell, John simply responded with
"Get your own f**king shows then!"

And considering the accessibility of podcasting,
you'd be surprised at how many have done well in just that.

To finish with, a few of Corrine Drewery's words of wisdom

"Sorrow is her only souvenir"
(Swing Out Sister, "Between Strangers", 1989)

And all us fellas have definitely been there.

Good night.

"Amstell's A Beer, I Like Beer..."

Despite so much going round in my head, I managed to get some
good shut eye ahead of my first day at Enterprise Opps.

I've no idea what's going to be involved but it's only been up to
now that I've started bricking it.

I had a weird dream about American politics and family values as
well last night which could have been influenced by me downloading
an audio book by Glenn Beck called "An Inconvenient Book".

I haven't listened to it yet (and will probably never get to the end)
but despite my dislike for the broadcaster, I think it's good to get
both sides of the story, so when I've finished the book I bought
in New York.

I'm hoping to have a laid back one in the front room tonight
finishing last night's chicken stew with freshly boiled rice
in front of The Daily Show on More4, followed by Dragon's Den
and Simon Amstell's new sitcom on BBC 2.

With regards to the latter, I'm more impressed about Rebecca Front
from The Day Today and The Thick Of It appearing as Simon's auntie.

I can tell however that due to Simon's lack of ability to adlib,
and more than evident self-awareness, this may end up suffering
from "Bo Selecta" syndrome.

I'll give it a go however.

But on that very subject, here's Simon aged 14 back in 1994 appearing
with his real aunt on the Family Channel's version of Catchphrase
hosted by Andrew O'Connor.

You can really understand why Amstell went for Front to
play the part in the sitcom if the resemblance is anything to go by.

Anyway, already the ever ambitious Amstell was making quite
a few appearances on the box including Gamesmaster as mentioned
in the clip, and of course the spot on Anne and Nick's show
which Davina McCall humiliated him with on Buzzcocks not long ago.

And yes before you say it, I know there's a deaf interpretor,
which if I was watching this at an earlier age really would put
me in a nervous disposition because in the ever exciting endgame,
she is blocking the clock in the bottom of the screen.

Especially as they manage to get the winning catchphrase just
on zero, meaning that the infamous noise can just be heard over
the musical sting at 2.40.

Andrew O'Connor now runs Objective Productions which amongst
their back catalogue include Peep Show so it just goes to show
that the future of comedy can appear in the most unexpected places.

This site being certainly not one of them.

I'm getting even more nervous now, to the point I may have to take
a bucket on the bus to Herne Bay.
Which come to think of it is pretty normal, provided there's a
spade with it, which in my case there isn't.

Sobering and Crawl Photos

I felt rather rotten for most of the morning without the need
to eat or drink anything.

Pippa, Holly, and James eventually woke up and it was good
to finally spend a bit of time with all three of them,
although Stedders doesn't actually live with them of course.

Part of it was spent watching last Wednesday's YHBW Crime Special
and Holly also being a big Angela Lansbury fan was rather
shocked at her exercise video.
Nevertheless it was still hilarious, proving that even if you're
not really into crime dramas, it still provided entertainment.

The plan for the afternoon was to head over to the maze in
Trafalgar Square, but in the state I was in, I wasn't too sure about
carrying two heavy bags through Central London,
so I headed back home on what was actually a very smooth
tube/train journey for a Sunday, with not a diversion in sight.

And we've been waiting long enough so here's a few of
the photos that I took over the weekend.


A poignantly named pub at Mornington Crescent station.


The old TV-AM building.


The booze crawlers at Temple.


The side-effects of a spillage.



Alongside Caroline.



I was so lucky not to have to participate.



Shana stumbles across the dummies.

There's more of a similar nature on Facebook, but overall well done
to Denis for arranging this and getting everyone together.

Best Crawl Ever?... Quite Possibly

What can I say.

Today has been amazing for so many reasons.

The planned crawl which as expected, didn't cover the whole Circle Line
turned out to be a day full of fun, boozing, and a few emotional things
towards the end which made me turn my head around to some extent.

I met up with the main protagnists Denis, Chris and Tudor at Victoria
Spoons at around 10am where we were later joined by Steven and Caroline
before setting off on the crawl itself.

On arrival at Temple we met the ever delightful Gulshana and Danielle
and at Liverpool Street we were joined by Mattie Bennett with
the two Phils, Landers and Harris in tow by the time we arrived at
our final port of call, Baker Street Spoons.

At the time I write this I can barely remember what happened at prior
to Baker Street, as it was around that point I started to get
a bit depressed and emotional to an extent, with regards to wanting
to live in London permanently and Chris, Steven and Caroline quite rightly
had to get some home truths (to use a rather dreadful pun) across
about possibly moving to somewhere in Canterbury to get independence
from Mum and Dad before moving to London, as that couldn't stop
me from visiting them altogether.

I explained to them that without meaning to be negative, I liked
the idea of listening to music on my own within my own domain
without others being present and it even resulted me in drinking
sips of a half drunken pint of beer because I was in such a state.

I eventually got over it after a few more WKD Blues and headed back to
Archway at 11:30pm where hopefully I'll get to have a proper chat
with Pippa tomorrow as I haven't seen her this weekend.

Stedders is still about though and although I've only really got
to known him properly since my twilight days of Uni, he's such
a nice guy and always seems to have the time to talk about things.

As do Denis, Chris, Caroline etc as they emphasized it specially
just before I left.

However I really wanted to get back so I could listen to
an otherwise obscure library LP that's lurking on my hard drive
and I may as well share the link from the Pornotrond blog
(don't get any ideas!).

Prestige (Wolfgang Käfer & Peter Vanderlohren)

The two tracks I particuarly like are "Rainbow Rider" which sounds
almost similar to Take That's "Meaning Of Love", and "Free At Last"
which could have been the result of Meco covering the original
Star Trek theme, like they did with Star Wars.

It may have even accompanied Carol Hersee and Bubbles
on BBC 1 and 2 back in the 80s.

I do go on don't I.

I guess we've all got our personal comforters but I'm more
than happy to share them here.

Night.

Best Gig Of 2010. So Far...

I'll take back what I wrote in the last blog post.

Down To The Bone were absolutely stunning at the Jazz Cafe last night
where all the band members were lively and on good form.

Even the absence of Tony Remy (and his talking guitar) didn't
ruin things as quite a lot of the tunes performed turned out to
be better than they sound on the original LPs.

The highlight for me being "Zodiac" as released on the 1999 LP
"Urban Grooves" and later sampled by Copyright for their soulful
house offering "Good For You".

The uptempo arrangement and the fantastic keys brought a tear
to my eye, which hasn't happened since the Earth Wind And Fire
gig at Wembley Arena four years ago.

I also loved the performance of "Should've Been You" from their
most recent album which featured Hil St Soul on vocals,
but for the live performance was a lovely looking woman
called Neo who did just as good a job.

I have definitely underestimated the band up until tonight
and could well be in the same league as Incognito,
The Reel People etc in today's "proper" modern British soul.

The gig finished pretty early at around half past ten, cutting out
two songs from the planned set list in the process.

I was stood at the front as always, so could clearly see them
laid out on stage.

I got back to Holly's in good time where herself and James
were present where we spent most of the night watching
very naughty videos on Youtube (not in that way),
such as this hilarious "sweded" version of Jurassic Park which
looks like the sort of thing that Adam & Joe would have done
before their TV career kicked off.

I also managed to accidentally discover this dubbed version of
"The Trap Door" which had me laughing, although this video
sort of had me feeling unnerved.

It could possibly explain why I'm still up with Holly and Stedders
now in bed, although part of the reason is because I'm finding
it hard to contain my excitement of tomorrow's pub crawl.

So many more faces I'm looking forward to seeing, and
to be honest I'm also looking forward to the drunken aggro.

I really want to stay in London. I've never felt more at home.

If any tune matches the atmosphere of where I'm staying at this time
of night it has to be this offering by The Brothers Johnson,
"Streetwave" from the album "Blam!" oddly enough.

Love it.

Good night.

The Water Filled Archway

I arrived in London around midday and headed over to the Essex Road
near Angel for my meeting with Prospects about the transitions scheme.

Ellena was very helpful and together we managed to set out an
action plan of some sorts with the possibility of finding jobs in
London looking more plausible.

I'm now in Archway where Holly's currently present with Pippa
arriving tomorrow.

Holly's seems to be stalking this fella along with Stedders
and making productive use of water pistols and water bombs.

Luckily she hasn't made use of them yet.

In just a few minutes I'll head over to the Jazz Cafe to
the Down To The Bone gig although looking ahead to
tomorrow, it seems very minor compared to what will be taking place
tomorrow.

Overall, even if the weather is poor it should be a fun couple of days.

"The Weekend Starts Here"

I need to be up in good time tomorrow to make my way down to London,
and there's quite a bit to carry.

My sleeping bag being one item but hopefully it won't be too much of a
bugger to handle overall.

First of all will be my meeting about the Transitions scheme from the
NAS and later on will be Down To The Bone performing at the Jazz Cafe.
The band made one of the best soul/jazz albums of 2009, and
having never seen them perform live before, I know it will be quite
a treat.

I'm staying over at Pippa and Holly's this weekend and Stedders
will be popping over on the Friday which I'm just as excited about.

I promised I would bring drinks with me so I'll need to find out
everyone's tipple.

And not forgetting those will be taking part on the almost
Circle Line pub crawl with Denis etc which despite a few station closures
looks set to go well.

I have been anticipating this all summer and this could be the
definitive highlight of an otherwise dismal year.

Criminal Not To Laugh

Last night saw the long awaited transmission of the You Have Been Watching
Crime Special, shown on E4 at 12am which saw an excuse for
a tongue in cheek comment from the announcer.

The programme was due to go out two months ago but was
delayed due to the Cumbria shootings, and with all the fuss over
Raul Moat, there was never going to be any chance of it being shown
on "prime time" Channel 4, but thankfully it didn't mean that
it wouldn't be shown altogether.

However what was probably more shocking about the programme
was in the first part when they looked at detective dramas,
one of which being Murder She Wrote.

This lead to a shocking sighting of an "exercise video" by
Angela Lansbury which I'm not going to give the details of
for very good reason.

My favourite part of the programme was when they compared
British fly-on-the-wall police documentaries to US series such as
the long established "Cops".

Again I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet but
whenever I hear a reference to "Cops" I will always think of the
hilarious mickey-take in the Simpsons including the theme tune
by Inner Circle; "Bad Boys".

The guest line-up was superb with Rufus Hound being hilarious
as always, a very welcome appearance for Armando Iannucci,
and the rather nice Josie Long although this time round she appeared
to have less make up on.

Come to think of it, she bore an almost direct similarity to
former Doctor Who assistant Sophie Aldred who I'm pretty
certain Tudor's met at least once.

Overall the show was definitely worth the wait and a brilliant end
to the series.

With that out of the way, the RAJARs were released today
with the listening figures between April and June launched
to the public, revealing that Chris Evans has taken a dip in numbers
but still remains on top.

Heart 106.2 meanwhile has become the most listened to station
in London, and Absolute Radio has seen an increase of some sorts.

And the good news is that 6Music has retained it's high listening
figures so there's still hope in the fact that people really do listen.

My First Outing Of August

Not that I've got anything to own up to.

I made my way to Central London this afternoon to meet up with Joe
for a drink in a superb pub in Great Portland Street called The Albany.

It was good to find out what's been happening over the last couple
of months, and things still seem stable with the only genuinely
honest fella from the radio course.

We'll probably meet up again later in the month, possibly
on the day after I'm going to see Incognito at Ronnies.

Tomorrow will be a staying in day of sorts, due to the long
weekend starting off on Friday which will probably be spent
re-viewing comedy shows from the year so far, as I do.

Not forgetting noting down timecodes for when I extract the audio
for this year's Xmas compilation.

That's going to be fun in some ways.

Still Lagged?

As expected nothing really happened for the rest of today.

It's looking good for tomorrow however as I'm making yet
another visit over to London, this time for a drink with Joey
where it will be good to hear how he's been getting on over
the last few months.

Not a lot else to get done before this Friday, although I still
need to make sure the girls who I'm staying with in Archway
know that they agreed to have me over at their's this coming
weekend.

I completely forgot about the pub crawl and just how good it's
going to be overall.

Best go easy on the drinks before then.

New York Revisited

I was expecting to be rather exhausted to the point of wanting to have
a lie down, when getting in this morning.
Having said that, I spent half the train journey asleep so I guess that's
covered.

Let's get straight to it then, and New York itself was at very high
temperatures throughout the whole weekend, even at the slightest
drop of rain.

I didn't go to too many exciting places, but made a few visits to Central
Park, had a look at a few interesting television and advertising
pieces at the Paley Center For Media, and went up to the top of the
Rockefella Center.

Along with Mum, Dad and sometimes Kate if she was around
we also went to some amazing restaurants too including an Italian place
in Greenwich Village called Montes which lets you choose from
a range of pasta and a range of sauces.

As a result, the rigatoni bolognese I went for was superb.

Here's some of the photos I took whilst there;



The view from outside our hotel.



Outside the Paley Media Center



An avenue named in honour of one of the city's
well known disk jockeys.



The Maine Memorial.



The CNN building.



The Empire State Building, lit up
in the US flag colours.



And the same building taking from
"Top of the Rock"



From the other side of the top floor.



A bizarre visual ad for The Fashion Center.



Beldevere Castle.



A crowded Times Square.



A live ad hoarding taking live images into
a virtual Polaroid still.

I'm in the first light blue bit on the left.

We also went to see the new stage play of
The Addams Family, starring Nathan Lane from
The Producers playing Gomez, which had a few witty lines
although Mum and Dad didn't seem to get some of the references.

I also stopped off in the Borders near Madison Square Garden
where one of the books I bought was "Common Nonsense",
looking into a US broadcaster I've mentioned on the blog a few
times, who is known for dividing the opinions of Americans
with his sometimes outlandish statements.

Definitely one I'm looking forward to reading.

Overall, despite getting exhaustive (and bloody boiling at times)
it was a visit well spent.