On arrival in London, Oxford Circus tube station was closed due to the Xmas light switch on meaning I had to get off at Warren Street and head over to my destination via Euston Road.
On the plus side I happened to pass the offices of Stern's Records, a top African label who have artists such as Orchestra Baobab, and the Raul Band who featured Salif Keita and Mory Kante before they both went off into successful solo careers.
Before meeting up with Joey, I happened to spot Pippa ST in a nearby pub on Great Portland Street and stopped over for a quick hello.
On meeting up with Joey I brought a Red Bull as per usual and due to the crowded nature we went outside to drink and catch up on various things.
That's not to say it was quieter as an Irish fella stopped over and told us a succesion of rather distasteful jokes, and I swear he must have had a lot to drink with me hassling him to relax and calm down.
Asides that it was time well spent where Joey revealed that he's moving with George Lamb to his new weekend breakfast slot on 6Music next year.
I also decided to get a few things off my chest such as the infamous visit to Nottingham earlier this year for Jingleday which more or less set it in stone that unless it's held in London, I will not be attending one of those again.
Hopefully I'll be seeing more of Joe in 2010.
I then made my way up to Harrow where after checking in at the Comfort Inn,
I made my way to the Junction where there were barely any familiar faces, possibly because all those at Uni were at the Undercroft as they were showing the Manchester United Vs CSKA Moscow.
The Junction on the other hand showed Chelsea playing Atletico Madrid which ended in a 2 all draw although I'm anticipating the match against
the Red Bastards this coming Sunday.
Shortly after half time, second year TV student Michael Bland showed up where we caught up over all sorts of things including his forthcoming DJ set at Trinity in early December which I may be attending.
Other arrivals included a few of the third year commercial music students including JP and Alex Lipinski who have been approached by Jamie King to record a Christmas cover to play on Smoke during the run up to the season, where one idea was to perform a version of "Stop The Cavalry" in the style of
Vampire Weekend which would be superb.
Also present were JC and Annabel who it was really good to see, and Annabel herself will be attending graduation to see her boyfriend take to the stage.
At around 10pm I headed over to The Moon on the Hill where a lot of second and third year radio people were about including Sophie, Jake, Spike, Rich, Fiz and Oli P, whilst from the second year were Matty ID, Rob, Ru, Lee Collins, Bedders, Mark Case, Jade, and Nicola.
Jade has taken over from Alice B hosting "Here Come The Girls" which I didn't expect as I thought Nicola would become a permanent co-host on Jade's specialist show.
However Jade's putting that to one side this year as she's got too many other specialist shows to deal with, although I think her and Nicola work really well together on air in a daytime format.
Alice on the other hand will be returning for the SRAs which I'm looking forward to although I still need to pay Potty the money, and I've no idea how a bank transfer works.
The third years meanwhile got quite a slating for their first "Wireless" show despite my positive comments, but I can understand and it's a shame how such really well produced presentation stuff can be let down by individuals who aren't too capable of driving a desk.
I should know.
However I know that it can get even better and have faith in them throughout
as it's a great format and a lot different to what we did last year.
Pretty much in the same way that G Radio was quite a long way off from Breathe London the year before and so on.
I also heard about some hilarious behind the scenes goss that I can't really mention on the site, but the words "know your limits" spring to mind.
Straight after, myself, Jake, Matty, Mark, Jade, Nic and Ru headed over to Trinity where "Antony from the Johnsons" was once again spinning some great indie tunage such as "Supermassive Black Hole", "Last Night" by The Strokes, and a few obligatory anthems such as "Teenage Kicks" and "This Charming Man".
Here's a few images from the night;
The entrance of the Stern's building.
Stretched with Spike.
Nic and Rich get "smashed"
Outside Moons with Ru, Sophie, and Jade.
"It's YOU!"
Nicola requests a tune from "Antony"
Nicola and Ru.
Lee opens wide.
Jadey Babes in her element.We made our departure at around 1:30am and it was after getting into bed that it hit me that I was feeling that my time was up over here.
There had been no aggro at all but I was feeling that I shouldn't really be here in Harrow staying over, although it was probably because I had an awful lot to drink and after I've drunk a lot, I turn into a stupid little child.
It's normally not until I'm back in Canterbury that I feel recovered which is possibly trying to tell me something.
Yes I've lived here on and off for 18 years but London's my true home judging by the amount of times I keep coming back.
In fact this coming Friday sees my next return as I shall be seeing Tortured Soul at the Jazz Cafe where I haven't been for nearly 18 months now.
As for this afternoon I plan to finish off the rather delcious stew I made yesterday, this time served alongside "la riz".
In less than two hours I shall be heading over to London where the first stop will be meeting up with Joey at the Crown and Sceptre.
Joe's still currently BAing at 6Music with George Lamb so I'll be interested to find out what will happen to him when George moves to a weekend slot next year which many seem is a perfect cause for celebration.
Especially if this article from the Media Guardian is anything to go by.
Straight after that I'll stop over at the Comfort Inn in Harrow to drop off my bags before heading over to the Junction where it seems quite a few people will be turning up including Matty ID, Jade, Nicola, Ru, and Rob.
They'll possibly be having a few of the first years tagging along now the new Smoke schedule's in full flow, although earlier this afternoon I was listening to the entertaining proceedings of the Lunch Bunch on this year's Advanced project;
"This Is Wireless".
My personal highlights were the pre-produced packages including Spike's one on disastrous Xmas light switch-ons, and "The Mega Moan" where Fiz would rant over an issue that bugged him, and sounded very similar to this fella.
Definitely a lively start and I'm certain it will get even better over the next two weeks.
Expect a few photos tomorrow, if I'm not too poorly.
I'm rather knackered despite barely making much of a journey today.
I went to the job centre and was given an application for an admin job at the
Herne Bay Martial Arts school where the hours and pay looked good,
but the only problem is that they want a handwritten covering letter.
Bugger.
It's good to have some sort of challenge so I may give it a go.
Not a lot happening for the rest of today apart from The Unbelievable Truth
on Radio 4 later this evening.
Actually I could do some more record rummaging as there's a lot of stuff I've
still yet to listen to including the most recent album by Peter Bjorn and John.
As I'm out in London and Harrow tomorrow evening, I may sort out another saucy pasta concoction tomorrow lunchtime, as it's more likely I'll be downing strong liquids after it gets dark.
I made my way to North London last night where Pippa and Holly were in Halloween apparel as were many of the guests.
I hadn't made the effort but I joked that it was either what I was wearing,
or to come dressed as Gary Glitter.
Other guests present included Martin and Stedders as well as plenty of Pippa and Holly's fellow CMP students such as Lottie and Duncan.
A few photos...
Stedders and Holly
Dummy Pippa
Martin gets spooned.
Achieving my aim as the Prince Of Darkness.
Martin as Norman Bates's mother.
What it really looked like in there.
Lottie and HollyHolly achieved an unintentional yet tenuous Halloween outfit without the wig as in the above photo, I reckon she bares an uncanny resemblance to Frances
from the early 90s ITV summer Saturday morning show "Ghost Train",
if this clip is anything to go by.
Even more ironic was that their bathroom floor shared a similar design to the room used in the game of "Skull".
As the night got older, we decided to play a game with the lights switched off, and using a pumpkin shaped torch we had to take turns to perform our own imaginary trail for an existing horror movie.As the game progressed some of them got siller by just doing any old television programme from yesteryear.
Here's a couple that I did, which you can have a go at yourself.
The answer can be found by highligting below the clue;
"In a hard to find village, an eccentric occupant makes a living by depositing psychedelic colours over individuals in perspex boxes, presenting well known figures with golden fists, and unleashing an ambomination with yellow spots"
Answer: Noel's House Party
And if you thought that was bad, it gets a lot worse;
"In the olden days it was a familiar sight, but by the 1990s it became more of
a nocturnal occurence. A sinister yet static perception, where amongst the vertical lines and colours involves a game of tick tack toe, watched by a scary looking doll"
Answer: The Test Card
I ended up falling asleep on the sofa next to Martin, with Zero 7 playing from Pippa's laptop which matched the mood perfectly.
I woke up just before 8am and made my way back to Canterbury where it's more than evident that Autumn has hit it's worst in time for the first day of November.
I felt absolutely dreadful on the journey itself thanks to the Archers Schnapps, but feel a bit better now.
I'm hoping to catch up with the guys again for the "Graduversary" which despite me graduating this year, I have been invited to.
I kept drunkenly exclaiming that all of us were there from the beginning and it will be an enjoyable night.
Out of quite a lot to come it seems.
I was caught up with things again yesterday, forgetting to write a blog post.
Having said that, I didn't really get up to much apart from a psychology appointment at the job centre which was more the equivalent of the Mental Agility round from The Krypton Factor.
I was given exercises such as rearranging a set of numbers in numerical order, and choosing an image from a set of shapes to match a pattern in the correct sequence.
I'm making another visit there on Tuesday morning.
At around 5pm a meeting for all the specialist presenters on CSR will be taking place at the Mungo bar at the University of Kent which I'm hoping will go OK, and straight after that I'll head over to Central and Pippa and Holly's halloween do at their house in Tufnell Park.
It will be good to see them and hopefully a few others.
I'm not sure when I'll head back tomorrow as they're having a movie-fest, but I'll probably want to pace myself before Tuesday when I'm meant to be meeting up with Joe.
I'm hoping this doesn't all end up being anti-climatic but everyone seems to be looking forward to graduation next week.
I'm especially pleased that Danielle Farthing will be joining us for drinks as she's one of us at heart although she appears to be getting on with the current year working on their new teen station "This Is Wireless".
Whether Phil Landers will show up is an uncertainty, but it would be good to have him around and just to give him the usual amount of stick as always.
The RAJARs haven't been looking too good this morning with Moyles and Wogan both losing listeners over the last few months although it's only a few hundred thousand.
To be fair I haven't listened to The Chris Moyles Show since July, which is almost the exact time since the last RAJAR results came out, although as is normally the case I'll start listening again after Christmas when it sounds as if they've given things a kick up the bum.
Although that's not to say that I won't give Chris Evans a listen, as I'm interested in hearing what he has to offer.
According to his Twitter, next week on the drivetime show they'll be getting listeners to enter a jingle competition to come up with a new short song for
his Breakfast Show.
I hope Paul Plant at Wise Buddah isn't too worried.
Despite a poor turnout for a signing in Manchester, I've heard good things about Chris's autobiography and it will possibly be a post Xmas purchase.
As for the RAJARs overall, meh.
Tonight I made my way to the University on the hill for the CSR Law training and I was trying really hard not to laugh, despite it being a very serious area of broadcasting.
Luckily Jamie the co-ordinator was OK about it and we got all the issues dealt with which mainly related to defamation.
For instance we're allowed to say that Cheryl Cole can't sing as that's
fair comment, but we're not allowed to refer to a doctor as "incompetent"
or a lawyer as a "cheat" without proof.
With that done with I'm heading back up there again on Saturday for a less than formal meeting in one of the campus bars with the rest of the Specialist people who have signed up.
I have some sort of idea of what I want to do, although it won't exactly be
a direct clone of Soul Expression.
I've been listening to a lot of early 90s house tracks recently and I reckon they could blend in well with current stuff like The Sunburst Band,
and Martin Solvieg.
Especially if the tunes in this montage are anything to go by.
It's still early days yet and I'll see how things go when I meet up with Andrew who looks after all the specialist shows on the station.
Tonight's Buzzcocks was an improvement on last week with Frank Skinner being a good host, with my favourite gag being the one about Bono and Spiderman.
I won't say the punchline, but 7 years ago David Gower used exactly the same line towards Jonathan Ross's face on They Think It's All Over to equally hilarious results.
I couldn't see Frank becoming a full time host, but that's not to stop him contributing on other shows as he's definitely re-invented himself in the last year or so.
Claudia Winkelman's hosting next week and while she's usually an entertaining panellist, I'm not sure how she'll manage as the host.
As for tomorrow goodness knows what's planned.
Probably more record rummaging.
I ended up having a lie down this afternoon.
That's how dull things are.
Tomorrow should be better as I'm doing the cooking once again and Frank Skinner will be hosting this week's edition of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
According to Phill Jupitus's Twitter, Charlie Brooker will be guesting on the show as a panellist which may suggest that he's becoming a sell out following appearances on HIGNFY, and Loose Ends on Radio 4 but with a Screenwipe Christmas Special, and a second series of Newswipe, I can't see his tounge getting blunt for a while.
I'm hoping that he also does a second series of what has to be the funniest programme on television this year, "You Have Been Watching".
Here's hoping they can do to John Barrowman what they did to Danny Dyer when it comes to respective presenting careers.
I'm a bit muddled about next week as I'm making a few multiple visits to London.
The first is this coming Saturday when it's Pippa and Holly's Halloween do, and the second is slightly muddled as I'm meeting up with Joey on the Tuesday and plan to visit Harrow for a Junction/Trinity night.
The only problem is that I haven't got anywhere to stay and if things don't go to plan, I may end up staying at The Comfort Inn or anywhere else that may cost a bit of bob to stay over.
However I defnitely need to sort out a stop off point for Friday the 6th of Nov as that's when I'm meeting up with Stephen to see Tortured Soul at the Jazz Cafe.
It's weird to think it's less than two weeks until graduation.
We really need to sort something out afterwards and I believe Chris and Denis have Stringfellows in mind...
Once again it's been rather empty today.
There was an interesting article in the Media Guardian today about a scribbled note by retired TV executive Alan Boyd written in Spring 2001 after a meeting with Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell who he had never met before.
They had met to discuss a possible Saturday night hit for ITV under the name of "Your Idol" and it then exploded into a much talked phenomenon a year later and spawned several other series of a similar nature.
I had no idea that Alan Boyd had a hand in commissioning Pop Idol, when you take into account he was responsible for producing The Generation Game,
and bringing Game For A Laugh and Blind Date to our screens.
However the thing I admire him for the most was when he was at TVS
who had a backlog of some of the finest gameshows on television at the time, and he refused to broadcast Giles Brandeth's "Star Quality" in their region
in 1989.
Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, here's another appearance of
Robert Popper's dissection from the first Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe. (0.45)
On a similar note there's another article on the BBC News website about how film and television in the present day can boost sales of otherwise forgotten tunes.
If anyone plans to audition for the next series of the X Factor, then I hope they opt to perform the Cog's "Everyday".
The extra hour in bed was worth it, although I reckon it will be quite a while before further extra hours spent lying down will come to an end.
Elsewhere quite a lot has been happening with Stewart Lee's stunt double being admitted to hospital, and Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber quite literally
fearing for his bollocks.
Cheryl Cole's latest solo effort has hit the top spot, which is essentially a doppelgänger for the Kelis and Cee-Lo duet "Lil' Star" from almost three years ago.
Then again I can't really criticise it without bringing Fire Island's cover of Blaze's "If You Should Need A Friend" to mind, which sounded almost exactly like Incognito's biggest hit and I wasn't complaining.
If there's anything worth complaining about, it will be what seems to have become another annual cash-in for Cowell, even if it is for a good cause.
Yes, the X Factor Finalists are releasing a second charity single (well, almost) which this year is a cover of the Michael Jackson dirge ballad
"You Are Not Alone".
This year it's in aid of the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, which is an oxymoron in itself as I reckon that the end product may result in the patients feeling even worse.
I can remember seeing last year's release for the first time, after a very moving VT package of the British soldiers in Iraq, ruined by something which could make you appreciate the original version of Mariah Carey's "Hero".
Key change for the sake of key change, which may be why they chose the R.Kelly penned Jacko track this year.
Luckily I'm in a position to avoid it all especially with my recent record purchases including a compilation of early 80s rarities from Leroy Burgess.
The man who co-wrote and performed on possibly my favourite tune of the decade "Suvivin" by The Sunburst Band.
Currently as I type I'm listening to a more superior record from the Jackson family, that being Janet's debut release "Control" from 1986 which is probably her finest release yet.
Who cares if it's dated slightly?
Urban music had more of an edge musically in those days.
I swear that the song "You Can Be Mine" in turn was the direct influence for New Kids On The Block's "The Right Stuff".
Actually "Rhythm Nation", and "Janet" were just as good with the tune
"That's The Way Love Goes" really bringing back strong memories of spring 1993.
I can still taste the spag bol...
Tonight I went to see Stewart Lee's stand up at the Gulbenkian which was similar to his TV series, only without the unfunny sketches.
The comedian on before Stewart was Canadian stand-up Tony Law who I haven't seen for years, since he was a panellist on the short-lived Channel 4 panel game "Does Doug Know" which also had an early appearance for Reginald D Hunter.
It was quite a short set, but I'm guessing he didn't want to overshadow Mr Stew who provided a fantastic routine including a very open lambasting of
Richard Hammond which resulted in me standing up when everyone clapped.
Another part that made me laugh was a rant about the Magners slogan about it being made from "100% pear" as opposed to "pears".
If my camera's batteries weren't flat, I would have brought it with me as he was signing DVDs after the performance, but asides that it was another Saturday well spent.
I really should make this a weekly habit as there's barely any way I'm going to get a genuine laugh from the television on offer on that night of week.
Bar John and Edward of course.
Nothing too spectacular has happened today.
Another visit to Ashford took place for the AS social skills meeting where we had moved rooms to a more impressive, yet slightly old fashioned looking room with timber panels on the roof, and a disused fire place.
It also sloped slightly which made it more fun and if I had the money,
I'd love to decorate my room in a similar style.
It would certainly fit in as the chimney takes up quite a bit of room in there
and would look better alongside it all.
Tonight's Have I Got News For You managed to deal with the news story of Nick Griffin in an unexpected, but hilarious manner.
I won't say what they did in case anyone hasn't seen it, but it could possibly
be one of the funniest things I've seen on television this year.
The News Quiz on Radio 4 dealt with it in an even amusing manner by proceeding the question on him with a snippet from Bing Crosby's
"White Christmas".
As suggested yesterday, he certainly got an early Christmas present,
even if it was ironically the equivalent of a lump of coal in a stocking.
Elsewhere I'm in the latter stages of my "biog" of sorts, and onto the Spring Semester of my final year, whilst listening back to some of the shows on Smoke from around the same time.
Having not heard many of them first time round, I have to say that a lot of them were on top form with shows such as Matty and Manish on requests, Chas And Dave (not thee Chas and Dave) and Max DMC's "Beats And Pieces" which used to precede my show and quite rightly won the Best Specialist prize at the Smoke Awards.
This year innuendos were out, and full on sex based humour was in
with no holds barred.
Especially on what had to be my overall favourite of the year "Mjolnir In Your Ear" where Sam Taylor, and Phil Landers along with their mates Rich and Alistair brought comedy to the airwaves with their surreal humour, and plenty a slip of the tongue.
I'm glad I left the station when it was at it's best, and it looks set to continue that way with the new arrivals and me fully out of the picture.
Let's hope they do well at the SRAs which take place almost exactly a month today.
Tonight's Question Time met my expectations as in no way were the audience in favour of Nick Griffin.
It was very civilised and staged managed perfectly, although the audience were active as always and Mr Griffin was in constant denial over issues that even the least intelligent member of the public would be able to identify with.
Especially with Youtube being all the rage.
He had a great opportunity to explain his views and activities that he was involved in that fell out of favour with others, but he was just being pathetic and living up to his image of hate.
Most of the issues discussed were related to the BNP's overall attitude towards imigration and using Winston Churchill as an icon, but towards the end they discussed whether the Daily Mail should have published Jan Moir's article on Stephen Gately.
I was fuming when Mr Griffin said that homosexuality shouldn't be taught in schools, as it's more than evident that things have well and truly moved on.
Overall it was more than evident that the programme didn't change anyone's opinions on Nick Griffin, and that he managed to well and truly prove himself,
as a fucking twat.
As I type I'm listening to Richard Bacon on 5 Live discussing the programme with a selection of opinions, whilst according to Hattrickster on Twitter, tomorrow evening's Have I Got News For You looks set to deal with the issue in "grown up humour".
With David Mitchell in the chair, I'm fully certain that it will achieve that aim spot on.
It may also raise a few points that I'm too stupid to work out at this point.
Good Night.
I forgot to write in my last blog post that tonight sees one of the most anticipated television programmes of the year.
Tonight's Question Time sees the controversial appearance of Nick Griffin on the panel and the BBC have asked for extra security at the location where the programme's being recorded.
I know it's caused controversy, and that the BBC have been accused of chasing ratings, but I just think that it's going to make great television either way seeing one of the biggest twats in the country getting laid into by the public.
Surprisingly I've woken up at a more sensible time this morning, despite staying up until about 1am listening to the Foals album.
And it's not too bad, I doubt it would go into my top 10 discs of the decade but would possibly be bubbling under in the top 20.
Most of the tracks in the first half of the album despite sounding identical all seem to blend in brilliantly, and I love the offbeat style towards the end, especially "Big Big Love (Fig.2)".
Now I know why Caz gets all excited over it, but in all fairness I very much doubt "Moving With The Shakers" would be anywhere near within her favourite albums of recent times.
It's going to be good fun putting together my favourite albums of the last 10 years and if I'm lucky, it will be done in audio form.
I ended up waking up at 11am this morning which is worrying when considering I've reached this part of post-Uni living.
Even worse is that I need to be up before 9am tomorrow as I have a meeting with the disability woman at the Job Centre tomorrow morning.
Elsewhere, there's barely anything else worth blogging about apart that it's been bloody raining.
I may head over to Sainsbury's after my appointment as we're out of all the usual wares, i.e no wholemeal bread, no fizzy drinks and so on.
That aside, more writing and rummaging will make up the rest of the day, as well as Buzzcocks which this week is hosted by who I think could be a long term replacement, Jack Whitehall.
Community radio is definitely the future of radio in terms of developing potentials who do it entirely for the love of it, and not for a cheap laugh or as a short term stepping stone.
There's a fair share of rubbish as well but none of what I've listened to today fell into that category whatsoever.
As per usual I had a listen to Sarah Thompson's Get Up on XStream East where after last week's Blondie balls up, she actually played the
Monday Michiru cover of "Call Me" that I sent to her last week originally
just for her to have a listen to.
Really good stuff although it wasn't the only distinctive cover as at the end of the show Sarah played a version of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" by Vampire Weekend which was even better and different in style from the 1988 original.
Chaka Khan actually recorded a cover of the same song earlier this year but Vampire Weekend's effort manages to outshine it completely.
The Magic Gem this week was "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman which is further proof that 1988 was a great year for timeless tunes.
I imagine Sarah's heard the whole album which is just as good, especially the song "If Not Now".
I'm starting to look forward to Sarah's show more than Grooveline which follows it, although I'm still listening and in fact meeting up with Stephen in two weeks when Tortured Soul perform at the Jazz Cafe on the 6th of November.
He's also going to the Shalamar gig at the Indigo2 the week before, although I've reluctantly resisted the temptation.
I'm sorting the cooking out tomorrow and I want to try and use a powder or spice I've never used before within what I make.
I'm dreadfully picky so it may be quite a task.
Whatever happens I'm sure it will pay off well.
Most of the morning has been spent listening and viewing one of my favourite female radio presenters Roni O'Brien, who still presents her Insatiable Soul show on Solar Radio, but also presents a show on Havering's community station Link FM during the week between 11am and 3pm.
The nifty live webcam allows us to see and hear her broadcast live and it's nice to see Roni out of her comfort zone and proving she's more than capable.
Where else would you hear Fleetwood Mac followed by Flip 'N Fill?
I suppose you could call it "Hotter And Fresher"
However the part that stands out the most are the jingles for the news, weather and travel, which dare I say are "of their time".
Basically, imagine the music that used to go out on Channel 4 in the 80s
when there were no adverts to show during the breaks.
Personally I think they're better than the rather strung out idents that are played on Hayes FM, although Chris and Pete do have their own jingles to counteract.
I really must listen to more of Roni's Solar Show as it's been quite a while now and I'd really love to meet her as well.
It's not often you discover someone who loves the really good stuff music wise, but is also a looker as well.
Having said that, there were a few rather nice women boogieing to the rare groove tunes played in Mr Scruff's set at Lounge in the summer as seen here.
It's a bit distorted but it more or less gives you an idea.
I'm worried that I may end up being stuck in a timewarp once again, due to the side effects.
Pardon the pun, if you take the record playing in the above video into account.
Click Here(Apologies for the bad sync)
The BBC Trust have cleared Mock The Week over the petty scandal involving the Queen's pussy which took place almost a year ago, but is almost three years since Frankie uttered that joke.
BBC News Article
And it's a more than justified decision over a load of idiots who just wanted to indulge in "offense fodder".
However the show has been rapped for a joke made about Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington in the 2008 series which I can fully understand as it's a bit far to make coarse jokes about those who haven't reached public figure status as Adlington was relatively unknown at the time.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the broadcaster's passing, Bob Harris will be presenting a tribute to Roger Scott on his Radio 2 programme this coming Saturday which should be an interesting listen.
The broadcaster who spent many years on Capital Radio, and later at Radio 1 was one of those who inspired many a radio presenter who put music at the forefront of their shows, and I'd love to have heard the "Radio Radio" documentary that Johnny Beerling and Phil Swern produced in 1989 shortly after his death.
That's not to say that Scott avoided ridicule as in this previously featured example from the Bastard Brothers.
Roger's passion for Bruce Springsteen probably matched my penchant for playing Incognito an awful lot, but not to the crude levels as suggested by the above audio.
Overall this Saturday should be a good listen.
Barely anything to comment on, apart from the fact that I've only just realised
how fucking scary last night was.
I plan to have an early start tomorrow to make a visit to Morrisons to get a few wares although I'm not sure exactly what to get as I don't know when I'll get a chance to do any cooking this week.
I didn't see the X Factor tonight but there's no need when several people are commenting about it on Facebook and Twitter, and UKNova gives me the opportunity to fast forward it with no ads etc, and get to the meaty stuff.
Or judging by the comments on Cheryl Cole's performance, "rancid" may be more apt.
I got into a muddle laying into Chilvers on Twitter when I thought he was saying the X Factor was the best thing on TV by a long way, when he was actually referring to Flash Forward.
That's essentially a series I wouldn't really dismiss as rubbish, but would just pass me by in general.
US dramas have never really grabbed me because as much as I try to get into them I ended falling asleep before an episode has finished.
I suppose it's a natural cause.
I'd imagine the next week up until Saturday again will be pretty quiet, although it's the Saturday after that I'm more excited about when it's Pippa and Holly's Halloween do in North London.
I doubt I'll be dressing up specially for that.
What until 20 minutes ago was a brilliant night at the Gulbekian, turned into one of my most feared experiences I have known of in Canterbury.
I made the rather risky step of getting off the bus at the bridge near the East Station and when walking through the gate into the nearby alleyway I got cornered by about five 16-18 year olds who seem to get pleasure out of physically attacking innocent people who they don't even fucking know.
I didn't get hurt luckily and literally had to run at top speed before they gave up, losing my mobile phone and house key whilst doing so.
I then went back with Dad who was armed with a rolling pin and we managed to find both my phone and house keys but I will never go past that area of Canterbury again after dark.
Putting that to one side, tonight's gig at the Gulbenkian was on top form where Reginald managed to be even ruder (i.e. naughtier) than he is on television with a superb stand up act covering all sorts of taboo areas.
Reg was sporting yet another new hairstyle, this time done up in dreadlocks.
In the first half there was a support act in the form of Australian comic
Steve Hughes who appeared earlier this year on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
Like Reginald he was also on fire, with an extended stand up tackling the overzealousness of health and safety and political correctness in the modern world.
I really started getting into it, when a moody fella walked out of the theatre just as he was going on about people being offended for the sake of it.
From then on I felt less nervous about laughing and was quite literally in hysterics throughout, wishing I had a pause button.
Especially after the jokes in Reg's set about masturbation.
I was impressed with the music played in the interval as one of the tracks was Incognito's "Get Into My Groove" from the 1999 album
"No Time Like The Future".
It was one of those performed at the Indigo2 gig earlier this year, but I prefer the Jazzanova remix released a year later giving it the broken beat treatment.
However putting my near beating aside, it was an amazing performance and I'm hoping Stewart Lee will be just as good next week.
To finish with on a rather refelective note, it's more than right that my thoughts are with Ross Goodlass and his family, and I'm sure him and co-host Ricky will appreciate why I thought it would be appropriate to remember
the real star of their show, Nanna Glover.
This particular extract is from the boys' final show last May and contains one of the funniest ever responses from Nan as a result of the intense nature of the game "Challenge Nan".
Towards the end is the full version of Ross Tilley's specially written song for Nan which she certainly didn't take too seriously, but when it came to providing the laughs, Jacqui Glover managed to deliver exactly that for three years at Smoke Radio, even if it wasn't always her intention.
I'm sure I can speak for everyone who's been part of the station,
when saying that we'll miss you Nan.
Tonight's Have I Got News For You got off to a good start where the highlight had to be the "collider" gags.
I won't give anything away in case no one has seen it yet.
But with the show nearing it's 20th anniversary, it's worth noting that for 37 of the 38 series, Big George's theme tune has remained the same and possibly could do with a makeover.
There's no better man for the job than Paul Wells as seen here and I reckon that with an extra overdub for the piano swirls near the end,
it could work perfectly by just speeding up the opening titles to
fit in with the length.
The last couple of days have involved more bookings for forthcoming gigs, the first one being Stephen K Amos making a vist to the Marlowe Arena
in Canterbury in late November, and the other being a return appearance for
The Sunburst Band at the Jazz Cafe at the end of January next year.
The Stephen K Amos gig takes place two days after the Student Radio Awards where this time round I'm just going to the awards and the after-party as there's no way I'm paying £30 for a meal that if last year was anything to go by, isn't worth the fucking money.
It also makes it easier for me not to feel too involved with things as it will be way past graduation, and I'd prefer to feel more like a visitor on a drunken night out as I doubt I'll be the only one attending for just the awards and the alcohol.
Finally, I'll leave you with the fact that if this article is anything to go by,
Charlie Brooker is a media hero, and Jan Moir is a nasty, fascist cunt.
Good Night.
I got so caught up in things once again that I forgot to write a post yesterday.
It will all be over by November, so if you ask me nicely and are brave enough, you'll be able to see what I've been up to over the last month or so, writing wise.
Last night was also my first CSR team meeting where we got introduced to the various programming departments i.e. daytime, speech, and music.
We were unable to do the health and safety training however because of risk assessment forms that needed to be redone but asides that I'm hoping that I'll get past the induction stage pretty soon.
I could possibly have a good chance as the guy in charge of specialist music said that they were needing more dance shows on the station, so where my proposed idea wouldn't necessarily be a dance show as such, I have played quite a bit of soulful house which barely gets played on the radio and if there is anyone else who submits a similar idea then I will be very impressed.
It sounds like a very well organised station especially as it's aimed towards the community and they said that the overall aim of the specialist music shows is to "educate the listeners".
I may have quite a tough job on my hands if I'm to be successful but it's definitely worth a go.
Following my post about Leona a couple of days ago, if anyone's heard her new single I swear the chorus sounds very similar to that of "If I Had A Hammer".
The line which goes "#I'd hammer out danger" and so on as it's practically the same tune.
I'll tell you what, If I had a hammer...
Tonight sees the return of Have I Got News For You now onto it's 38th series where hosting tonight is a long awaited return for Martin Clunes, with the welcome return of Charlie Brooker as a panellist, and what may possibly be a not so welcome appearance for Arlene Phillips.
She wasn't much cop appearing on Buzzcocks last year and just find her irritating overall.
But then again, that's what made her stand out on the show that brought her to greater status whereas her replacement should have been given the job as a replacement for Tess Daly.
People in television don't have a fucking clue these days.
I may have an exclusive on my hands, as following the assualt of Leona Lewis at a book signing in London this afternoon, a certain fellow University student Steven McIntosh has been arrested and called in for police interrogation.
Nah, that's probably not really the case, but I don't know anyone who has as much hate towards a public figure as he does for Leona.
Having said that, if Sir Andrew Lloyd-Nobber was to make a public appearance near my presence, I could end up doing something potentially worse.
Aside's that it's been a rather empty and not that an exciting day to the point I don't even know it's a Wednesday, but tomorrow there's a few things lined up including a visit to Zizzi's tomorrow lunchtime with friend of the family Concha,
and later that evening I will be making the first of two visits this week to the UKC campus for a meeting about CSR and where they'll hopefully get all the Health and Safety nonsense out of the way.
I should be careful saying that mind, as it was Health and Safety misunderstandings that unintentionally extended my stint at Smoke Radio.
Not that I'm complaining but I'm hoping that the whole procedure won't be too overzealous or discouraging.
Either that or I'll need to adapt a "skin of steel" regime.
It will be fine, nothing too daunting I hope.
The plans for the weekend prior to graduation have been slightly ruined as for some undisclosed reason the Student Radio Association have moved the 2009 awards at the Indigo2 to Tuesday the 24th of November.
I'm not sure whether I'll want to turn up now due to the long gap between now and the date itself although I'll probably give in nearer the time.
Whatever happens, I'm there for Smoke Radio as a station, and not for anyone individually.
It's not all bad as last night I booked tickets to see Tortured Soul at the Jazz Cafe on Friday the 6th of November and what will be my first visit there in almost 18 months.
I can't believe I didn't go there at all during my final year at university, but it has lost a bit of reputation recently with Bluey from Incognito,
and former Shalamar vocalist Jody Watley boycotting the venue.
Tortured Soul on the other hand are responsible for one of the best albums of 2009 with "Did You Miss Me" and like most acts I've seen at the venue, it will be interesting to see what they're like when performing live.
I'm hoping that we sort some sort of other do out around graduation time, possibly a Trinity/Junction night in Harrow?
I might actually do that the Tuesday before as I'm meeting Joey that evening in Central and may head up there afterwards.
Last night's lecture with Phil Redmond on BBC 2 last night, really got a few things straight about children's television in the present day, and how the "nanny state" could extend even further.
One such example involved a scene from Brookside in 2003 where a 12 year old boy was making a saucepan of beans for his mum.
Channel 4 were weary about showing a child of that age handling cooking equipment so they had to change the script to illustrate that he had got a scout badge for being able to do so.
Whereas a scene from Grange Hill broadcast on CBBC the same year showed children climbing up drainpipes and onto the school roof that didn't cause any concern at all.
Another important issue discussed was the bullshit statement in the
BBC Trust's 2009 review that "children's programmes are at the heart of our output".
Yet out of the 5 billion pounds that the BBC receive from the licence fee,
only 1.3 million is spent on original children's output.
Phil also discussed how no one between 12 and 16 years old is catered for by the BBC and hit the nail on the head with regards to BBC Switch being a poor equivalent to Channel 4's teen output.
Towards the end, the Grange Hill/Hollyoaks creator suggested that the BBC should be merged with Channel 4, with BBC 1 and 2 continuing as they were, and BBC Three and Four taken into control by Channel 4.
It's an interesting idea but with regards to output, a lot of work needs to be done and as I've mentioned before, what are we going to look back on in 30 years?
It's more than guaranteed that all the television obsessives will just remember how shit Sam and Mark are, if the bosses don't get their act together.
On a more positive note, series 3 of The Sarah Jane Adventures starts this week so there's still a bit of hope.
I didn't see any of series 2 but hopefully it should still be an entertaining watch.
Today involved a visit to the Job Centre for a meeting with one of the advisors, and things could hopefully be looking positive as I've arranged a series of
15 minute sessions taking place once a week for six weeks beginning on the
26th of October.
The only problem is that I'll need to rearrange for the week beginning the 9th of November, as I will be in London attending the graduation ceremony.
I've no idea what everyone's doing around that time, although I'm hoping that a few of us can arrange some sort of piss up around our busy schedules.
I mean their busy schedules.
Tonight's going to be a late one as on BBC 2 after Newsnight, Phil Redmond will be presenting a Royal Television Society lecture on the future of children's television.
Or to be more specific whether it has a future at all.
Definitely one of my favourite areas on interest although I won't go into too much detail as there's several previous blog posts that have given my overall opinion.
I'll probably have a few things to say afterwards, as the creator of Grange Hill and Hollyoaks will probably come out with a few things I'm too thick to work out myself.
Tonight's X Factor Sunday show met all expectations.
It was tacky, slightly strung out, and rather anti climatic.
Worst of all was the dreadful group performance with all the contestants at the start, where before you thought "I Got A Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas couldn't get any worse.
It appears that Simon Cowell wants to cash in on the fact that his show is the only real platform for pop acts to get wide exposure in front of big audiences, and wants to make the show even bigger than it actually is.
Possibly sour grapes after the BBC wouldn't let him buy the rights to
Top Of The Pops.
But then again, the X Factor's been in a deluded daze since the first series.
Robbie's barely changed in my opinion on him and the song wasn't much cop either, but as for Alexandra, I will say that out of all the contestants who have won the series, her single has to be the strongest "debut" out of everyone by a very long shot.
Others aren't too sure with Matty ID on Twitter referring to her as a
"Primark Beyonce" which had me laughing to say the least.
As long as she doesn't get too much overexposure, and people don't start putting her on undeserved pedestals it should be fine.
But remember, this is the X Factor I'm talking about where there's never a pedestal out of sight.
Or a perspex staircase at least.
I doubt I'll be making the effort to watch the Sunday show on a regular basis, save for the results themselves but whatever happens, it's going to be a very long 9 weeks either way.
I never expected to wake up this morning and read on Digital Spy that Stephen Gately has passed on at just 33 years old.
Not being an obsessive fan of him or the rest of the boys, I'm not emotionally effected but oh my, it's difficult to get my head round it.
There's quite a lot to get through in this blog post, not least that following the muddle up of photos with Jade a few days ago, it's more than true that she was eliminated last night from Strictly Come Dancing.
Yes, the mum from the OXO ads and one of the Loose Women was given the boot and I swear that Lynda share's some of Jade's characteristics.
She was probably the only female contestant I was warming to this series as they're not really any lookers competing this series?
I probably won't see myself watching another episode until the final at Christmas.
Last night's X Factor on the other hand got off to a strong start where Stacey outshone everyone else because they were either too bland, or too ambitious.
But the ambitious ones were entertaining it has to be said although I bet I'm not the only one who was wanting the stagehand to snap the ropes that John and Edward descended from so they crashed to the floor.
I should really elaborate on why I liked Stacey's performance as it intimidates me when others speak well of other public figures but can never explain what it is that makes them that good.
It's probably because Stacey took the unpredicatable route of choosing a song by Coldplay, that being "The Scientist" and changing the key, making it sound like a different song altogether.
She's got no hope of being eliminated from the show tonight whatsoever,
as I hope that infamy falls on Dannii Minogue.
You really don't say those sort of things in public with regards to someone's sexuality, especially on a live television show.
That's just not on at all, no questions asked and anyone watching would have heard the stunned silence that followed after what Dannii said.
She's going to get such a lambasting in the next week or so.
This morning's quite a special one as it's exactly one year since Robbie Vincent started spinning the soul on a Sunday morning on the relaunched Jazz FM.
Since then it's pretty much been a regular occurence, and although his links may not make the most sense, the music played has been superb right from the beginning.
Acts such as The Jazz Invaders, Norman Brown, and Physical Therapy are some of the many undiscovered gems from the past brought to light on that show that would otherwise be disregarded completely as no one else will touch it.
Even if it is synthy and "sickly", it's still good stuff and it's ideal escapism from the mediocrity that dominates the airwaves elsewhere.
There's no signs of stopping for quite a while yet.
Just a quick apology, I wrongly identified Jade in the SRA photos from Wednesday when it was actually Matty Deller and Rob's housemate Rumer.
Jade still has her reddish brownish hair from the latter half of last year and has been a rather busy woman over the last month or so since returning to University.
Hopefully it's not too much of an embarassment.
If the photos below are anything to go by, a lot of people would be shocked at what I got up to in London last night;
Don't be misled,
This was the venue where Jane chose to hold her get together for a few of her University pals, and on arrival I had no idea that it was actually situated within London Bridge railway station resulting in me pottering round the area for half an hour trying to find the Shunt Lounge.
When I did get in, it looked like a very suspicious place where the actual lounge was at the end of a very long dark tunnel with occult images and artefacts.
It reminded me of the equally claustrophobic "Time Tunnel" endgame from the early 90s CBBC gameshow "Clockwise" with Darren Day which if I could find that round on Youtube would make a lot more sense.
On arriving inside I met up with Caroline, Steven, Jane and Ross Powell who had managed to find their way in to the rather packed but gothic looking venue.
I'm certain I had seen it on television before but Caroline was certain that the Editors shot some of the artwork for their 2005 album "The Back Room" which could most possibly be right.
To make things even more bizarre they had a chair under a spotlight which anyone could sit on, and video screens showing Tommy Cooper but with the sound switched off.
Here's a few more photos from the lounge;
The "Token Oz" herself.
Steven, Caroline and Ross.
Outside the shot stall.
One of the many good looking movers,
with the Madonna t-shirt.
The music that was playing was amazing, especially after 11pm when they started spinning 80s soul, and house tracks from the latter half of the decade including "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume, "Theme From S-Express", "Good Life" by Inner City and best of all "Love Can't Turn Around" by Farley Jackmaster Funk.
I was rather confused however when they started playing one of my favourite 80s disco tunes "Breakin' Down (Sugar Samba" by Julia and Company and halfway through they faded it out and played Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" only to fade "Sugar Samba" back up and play to the end after Kim Carnes had finished.
The best part of the night was when the woman in the photo at the top came down from a bedsit above the bar and started pole dancing, accompanied by Janis and her version of "Summertime".
At the end she passed out and had to be lifted by some of the male models, although whether it was part of the act, I have no idea.
I left at around midnight in hope of getting the train to Peckham Rye but I ended up walking to Elephant and Castle, getting the bus there and finally arriving at the Peckham Lodge which was like a bloody labyrinth.
Thankfully one of the members of staff showed me to my room and it wasn't a bad place for £40.
I left at around 7:45am and got the train to Victoria, and then back to Canters.
Well done Jane overall, a superb venue with the music to match.
I may make that a regular stop off point or at least one to return to for a future visit.
As for tonight, the X Factor goes live in the first of it's new Saturday and Sunday live shows.
Danyl's got a bit cocky since his first audition so I'll be backing either Stacey from Dagenham, or Jamie Archer.
I'm not too sure of Stacey's makeover she's had to make her look like Suzy Quatro but the producers seem to want to make products rather than performers.
It will be the only time this month I will see the Saturday night show as I have two visits to the Gulbenkian in the next couple of weeks, and Pippa ST and Holly are holding a Halloween do at their place at the end of October.
However I may be tempted to go earlier as on Friday the girls have arrange a visit to a do at the Arches club where 808 State will be DJing as well as an appearance by Janet Street-Porter's ex Normski.
I'll see how things go but late October/early November's going to be quite a hectic time.
This afternoon's session in Ashford went well, although at the beginning Des decided to bring up the subject of whether there should be more female football referees.
I was trying hard not to laugh as it immediately brought to mind this clip of Danny Baker on Fantasy Football League and his story about a referee who was not afraid to make the detailed errors of the players public.
(Contains very strong language)
I still haven't heard Danny's new Saturday morning show on 5 Live despite being a recent convert to Fighting Talk which follows afterwards.
Although I may end up missing both programmes tomorrow, if I'm too hungover from tonight to get back to Canterbury by 11am.
Overall I'm really looking forward to catching up with Jane as it's been well over a year now and even if the weather's not so good, the night itself should be a raucous one.
A few changes have been made to tonight's plans as Jane's drinking do takes place at 8:30 tonight at a venue called the "Shunt Lounge" in London Bridge.
Why it shares a name with one of the House Robots from Robot Wars,
I have no idea, but I won't do the "Activate!" joke again.
Those who may be show up include Steven, Caroline, Ross Powell and Tudor which will guarantee an enjoyable night.
It could also be an early birthday do for Ross as he's 23 next week.
Before that I will be heading over to Ashford once again and Des's Social Skills group for people with Asperger's.
I'm hoping we get asked if we want to discuss anything topical as I'm willing to bring up the issue of Dale Winton's inferior replacement on "Hole In The Wall" slipping the tongue.
They're actually discussing the usage of such words on Nicky Campbell's phone in on 5 Live this morning and it's questionable why such words are "unacceptable" in modern society, while such a fuss isn't strung out about words such as "limey", "pom", "yank", and other such nicknames for different nationalities.
I won't lie in saying that I have used such words myself in a derogatory context in the past, especially during my mental health phase when I was bollocked by the nurses when I kept getting out of my bed at night and was in great pain.
When I was physically restrained by one of the coloured members of staff,
I went into even more anguish and in wanting to be let go, I let out with a rather unacceptable outburst.
I didn't get a formal reprimanding, so maybe they were understanding in the long term that I was very ill, but it would have been less offensive to have used the c-word expletive in that context, as to put such nationality issues to mind really isn't on.
As for tonight, I'll also be able to get a few things down me before going by finishing the chilli I made yesterday, although there's probably enough for three days helpings for one.
The title of the posts relates to the fact that I was quite literally "Back And Forth" as the first single of the fondly remembered vocalist suggests.
I'll go onto that later.
After checking into my hotel I made my way down to the Marylebone campus where the first people I saw were News Editors Lee and Lynne.
As I made in inside Intermission there were several people about including Rob, Matt From Leeds, Matty ID, Manish, Spikey G, Jake, Rich, Fiz, and Sammy C and Frank McWeeny taking care of spinning the disks.
The only alumni apart from myself were Phil Landers and Stewart Paske.
Well Phil's not really alumni yet, but you get the idea.
The awards were announced by the guys from 95.8 Capital FM and here's what we managed to get nominated for;
Best Station
Best Marketing and Branding
Best Outside Broadcast (Smoke's Summer Send Off)
Best Technical Achievement (Outside Broadcasts)
I've heard that the best station audio entry for Smoke is really good and I'm hoping that it will be uploaded soon.
Apparently Dan Roberts put so much time into it, he had to forfeit his own entry for Best Male.
Here's a few photos of all our antics.
Alongside Nicola Rumer.
Downhearted Dan
Sat with the soon to be Class of '10
The ever supportive Potty.
Lee predicting my later situation that evening.
After Inter:mission closed it's doors, I was drunk enough to want to get the tube back to Harrow and attend the Traffic Light party at Area along with Lee, Rob, Matty ID, Lynne and a few others.
The queue was rather long however so I got headed over to get the tube back to Baker Street and on my way to Northwick Park station I bumped into Danielle from Dezza who's redoing her final year on the radio course.
She's returned to living in St John's Wood, but stopped over to Harrow in hope of meeting another old face Sean Curran, but to little success.
It was great to see how she's getting on and she seems to have clicked with a few of "the good guys" including Oli, Fiz and Sammy C.
There were no tubes on the Bakerloo line to Paddington so I waited at the bus stop outside the station for the nightbus, unaware that I got on the one going the other direction which took me past Kings Cross and Liverpool Street and stopped of in bloody Bow.
I ended up getting another one back, to Bond Street, changing for another that went via Paddington and I finally got some shut eye, if only for three hours.
I decided to kill time when waking up by watching the telly but switched off after 10 minutes when realising that GMTV was just as depressing and patronising even without Fiona Phillips.
I spent the rest of the time finishing off Peter Kay's new book which I won't give away but is a very good insight into his stand up carreer and how a few ideas and situations ended up as jokes within his routines and TV series.
As it was a lot better outside than the last few days, I decided to walk most of the way via Edgeware Road and Marble Arch and onto Oxford Street passing
Chris and Pete's place of work along the way.
I made my way over to Charing Cross tube station via Tottenham Court Road and the Brown's restaurant.
A location I would prefer to forget in all honesty as it was where my second Smoke Awards were held and possibly responsible for where the agony of '07 started.
I'm back safely in Canterbury now and as there's no one home I'm doing the cooking tonight which will probably invovle a lovely mince concoction with easy cook rice.
That's an ideal cure for my drunken behaviour as I'm still not 100% recovered.
No better time to move on really.
My last ever Student Radio nominations take place tonight at Inter:mission on the Marylebone campus and overall I'm looking forward to seeing plenty of old faces and drinking quite possibly my first VK in 6 months.
I don't know what we've submitted for but it wouldn't suprise me if we've entered the Best Station category which we've been second in for the last two years.
I'm hoping that amongst those present tonight include Potty, Dan Roberts, Matty ID, Manish, and Jade provided she's not too busy rehearsing for Strictly Come Dancing.
She really has come a long way since the OXO ads.
I'd imagine that after results we'll all go boozing at Cheapskates or somewhere similar like last year although I'll need to make sure I get to my hotel in a stable state.
I'm stopping over at the Mina House Hotel which is near Paddington station.
How I'll make my way up there from Central in good time remains to be seen but it may be an idea to check in before going to Inter:mission.
It's the first of two visits to London this week as on Friday I'm meeting up with Jane and plenty of others as the "Token Oz" returns to London.
It's going to be a liquid filled one.
I didn't post yesterday as I was so caught up in other things writing and listening wise.
I've no idea how it slipped my mind actually.
Yesterday morning I made my way up to the UKC campus again, this time to give in my membership form for CSR.
I've been given a card with a rather dreadful photo of me on it, and it's a case of waiting to hear what happens afterwards.
The rest of the time, it's been difficult getting over the excitement of returning to London tomorrow for the 2009 SRA Nominations.
It will be great to see plenty of old faces, and possibly a few new arrivals keen to join Smoke Radio in 09/10.
The station has started broadcasting again and I've been dipping in and out but at the same time not trying to listen for too long.
However I can honestly say that it's a stronger station without my presence
as they've got a great line up of both daytime and specialist presenters blended in together.
Dan Roberts has been doing breakfast, Matty and Manish are still hosting the requests, Jamie and Greg have gone daily this week with their alternative show, and Max DMC and Frank McWeeny are still spinning the beats on their respective shows.
Nothing's really changed heavilly since the summer, but it's focused towards the freshers on all campuses and it's more wider and less niche than it was this time 12 months ago.
They'll continue for years to come and when I've got graduation over with,
I really will be set to move on and see what happens.
On that note I plan to get my gown ordered today for the day itself.
A few others are feeling dismissive about the whole thing but I'm all up for it.
As long as it's not a bloody High School Musical state of affairs I'll be happy,
but we're not living in an X Factor-esque bubble of over dramatising things.
That's a TV show that should be given the same sort of treatment as I had two years ago.
Tonight's X Factor met expectations by making sure the right people went through, even Louis's controversial choice of John and Edward.
Honestly, the overall aggro will make great television and even if it's happened before I doubt any walk outs will be long term.
It certainly feels like a different show since Sharon Osbourne was a judge, and it will be interesting to see what will prevail of the "new look" live shows next Saturday and Sunday.
It may be one of the only live Saturday shows I'll see this month as in a couple of weeks I will be spending the next two Saturday's at the Gulbenkian again, hopefully cracking up at Reginald D Hunter and Stewart Lee respectively.
I'm actually heading up to the nearby University tomorrow to hopefully hand in my form for the radio station CSR.
Whether it will lead to anything I'm not sure, but if I do get in, it will give me something to be occupied with and possibly enable me to be more productive in terms of finding jobs.
And any adminstrative, data input jobs that are fair and won't involve me working antisocial hours.
I'm a right picky one.
I just don't want to be in a position where even if you do earn money, you're fucking ruined anyway because there's no time to spend it or what have you.
I doubt certain authoritative figures (well that's what the Job Centre like to think of themselves as) will appreciate this but I'm quite happy with how things are currently.
When I stop this incessant writing of my last four years at University it may start to hit home with regards to being unoccupied.
But then again, once it's written it won't harass me again.
I made my first of what will be quite a few visits to the Gulbenkian Theatre for this month, where Beverley Craven gave a superb performance consisting of material from all four of her albums including her latest LP "Close To Home".
Personal highlights included "Joey" which Beverley wrote about one of her pet dogs, "Mollie's Song" from her second album written about one of her daughters, and the rather moving "Without Me" which was written after her diagnosis of breast cancer which she survived.
Beverley performed vocals and played piano, alongside some top backing musicians including Frank Mead who's played sax alongside Five Star and Go West, and Gary Sanctuary on keyboards who's performed alongside Michael McDonald and Chaka Khan.
Towards the end she performed her more well known tunes including "Holding On" and the superb "Promise Me" which has to be one of the best ballads of the 90s.
After the performance, she signed autographs in the main entrance and I got a signed copy of her latest album and she was also happy to have a photo taken.
During the interval I had a short chat with Ben one of the ushers, who was one of my colleagues at ASDA and also went on two of my visits to Venice before heading to University in Leeds around the same time I started on the HND course.
It was good to hear how he was getting on and that he also had sense to leave behind the corporate goings on of the Wal-Mart owned monster.
Overall it was a delight to see one of the finest female vocalists who's yet another of those who's been overlooked in favour of lesser performers.
The plan for today is to go into M&S to try and find a new suit for me to wear at graduation which is almost exactly a month away.
Mum and Dad are going away this weekend so it's just me present although I will be heading out tonight to see Beverley Craven at the Gulbenkian.
It's worth mentioning this interview recorded with Alex Belfield where Alex seems to balls up the interview inappropriately and you can't help but feel sorry for the performer.
The reaction to Frankie Boyle leaving Mock The Week has been immense with several people on Facebook lamenting his departure and even the setting up a group demanding him to return with over a thousand members.
On the plus side, the series looks set to return in January instead of July and
I'm hoping they'll split it into two six week series rather than a long 12 week series lasting throughout the summer.
Tonight's outing means missing the X Factor but I'm not too fussed as on tomorrow's show when they reveal who's got through into the live shows,
they'll probably replay some of the performances as they always do to fill time.
Having said that, Kylie Minogue's appearing tonight, but there's always UKNova.com to grab hold of the show later.
Well this is quite a downer.
According to Chortle, the BBC have announced that Frankie Boyle won't be appearing on the next series of Mock The Week due to the performer wanting to pursue other projects including a new stand up/sketch show.
I'm disappointed, but it's good that he's leaving while the show's still on top form, which has resulted in it being recommissioned up to 2011.
The final show without him worked OK, but over a 12 week series I've no idea how it will continue.
Overall it shows that in the present day a lot of presenters and regulars on television shows are fully aware that they can't go on forever and seem to quit when we least expect them to, with Simon Amstell on Buzzcocks being another recent example.
I've decided to treat myself however, by ordering tickets for Frankie's
"I Would Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face" tour at the Hammersmith Apollo which isn't until November 2010, but it means another visit back to London.
Hopefully I'll be living there, but then again I also want Andrew Lloyd Nobber to melt.
Overall MTW will certainly not be the same without it's equivalent of dried fruit in a danish pastry.
Series 23 of Buzzcocks got off to a better start than I hoped with James Corden proving that he's a lot funnier on his own.
Well, when he's not in a double act.
I can't remember any specific jokes off the top of my head apart from the ones about Lee Ryan from Blue who I very much doubt will ever set foot near the show again.
The panellist who stood out the most was Paloma Faith who took James's gag well about being "another Amy Winehouse" although her overall manner reminded me when Amy was on the show first time round in 2004 when the "Frank" album was out and she was quite a looker.
That apperance even got in the good books of local performer Robert Wyatt which is quite an acheivement if any.
Rhod Gilbert's hosting next week with comedian Greg Davies as one of the panellists who's the tall fella that made possibly the funniest SWLTS suggestion in the last series of Mock The Week (2.04)
Not sure what's planned for tomorrow.
There's Peep Show but if it's as shite as last week's episode was, I'll give up.
David Mitchell possibly shares the same trait as Corden with regards to being funnier without a straight man.
Last night's MOBOs saw some good results in terms of JLS getting two gongs, one for Best Newcomers and the other for Best Song which is pretty impressive considering the amount of time they've made their mark.
It was also good to see Chipmunk pick up the award for Best Hip Hop act and Trevor Nelson winning the Best DJ prize.
One particular part that interested me was the VT for those in the running for Best African act, where Salif Keita was one of those nominated.
DJ Edu said that he shouldn't be on the list and be straight in their picking up an Outstanding Contribution award and rightly so as that man has to be one of the best unsung performers in the world.
The "Soro" album from 1987 is superb and even if it's not timeless in terms of instruments used, it's still very much worth a listen due to the liveliness and his amazing voice.
As for the show itself, I ended up switching off about three quarters of the way through as I was getting fed up with the pointless interviews and inserts from Peter Andre of all people.
Honestly, that man added as much to the awards as a jar of jam would to an Irish stew.
Prick.
I'm up slightly earlier than usual and as a result I'm having a trawl round the various breakfast shows from the various commercial radio stations with their ridiculous song intro competitions, and slightly misinformed celebrity gossip trash.
I'm thinking thank heavens for Chris Moyles, as he simply doesn't do that crap,and is never afraid to say what he's really thinking even if it does push the boundaries.
To be honest I'm still taking a break from his show whilst I write my biog but anyone who keeps on saying "he's gonna leave in the next year" for goodness sake, get a life rather than speculate on the future positions of others who probably don't lead a glamourous life as we all think they do.
Even if he does announce his resignation tomorrow, he'll probably be around for at least three months so I'll have plenty of time to get my fair share.
That's not to say I don't get speculative myself, but more on the future of TV shows such as Buzzcocks which returns tonight with James Corden as the first guest host and Noel Fielding as permanent team captain.
I'd definitely say it's time to put the show to bed as it's lost it's edge for a long time, especially when compared to shows such as Mock The Week which can guarantee a laugh every week all down to it's very strong team of regular panellists.
Whereas Buzzocks tends to have a lot of awkward moments from musicians, GMTV presenters and so on who have no comedy value whatsoever.
But then again rather than let the pungence of the show take over my life,
I tend to avoid it in favour of the funnier stuff out there.
It works for me when putting Shooting Stars to mind which can please the idiots all it wants.
Having thought about it, Buzzcocks can empty its bowels all over the so called comedy of Prick and Nob.
My favourite era of Buzzocks had to be around the time I was at college in my first couple of years there when Sean Hughes was leaving and Bill Bailey was starting on said show.
Both of them were hilarious, but it was Mark Lamarr's gags that had me laughing as they were proper jokes and not just death threats to artists he hated.
But personally, the show really should be put out of it's misery, as even in Simon Amstell's last series it was showing signs of age.
My only hope is that the guest presenters know a bit more about music than he did, and James Corden's proved himself in the past, if his word for word rendition of "That's Not My Name" on last year's Big Fat Quiz was anything to go by.
