Wednesday 6th November

I missed the show last week, both ‘missed’ and ‘missed’ if you get my drift. I missed it because I went to a gig, and I missed it in the ‘I miss you’ sense. This week I was back with my little radio family of Nottingham music scene flag wavers and trumpet blowers Darren (not that one, I know two Darrens) and Cassia and looking forward to being back in business. Sadly I haven’t had time to listen back to the show that they did together, so for all I know they might have been having a really good time last week and realising that I was the weak link in the show and when I turned up this week they would tell me that I wasn’t required anymore.

That didn’t seem to be the case as I was welcomed back into the fold, although sadly managed to be late. The news on the hour is the acceptable level of arrival time (although I aim for about quarter to) but I didn’t turn up until the first song was playing which meant that I couldn’t properly say hello to our guests who were waiting for their moment. I was updated on some technical issues from last week which meant that they didn’t broadcast for the first ten minutes of the show, which was sorted out thanks to Joe.

I picked a brilliant week to return to the fold, (my week off made me realise how I couldn’t seriously give up radio) as our live performance this week came from The Hargreaves Sisters. Eleanor and Stephanie perform separately and as a duo, which is what I was expecting to see. However, they had a full band with them and performed one of the best sets I’ve seen in Trent Towers (not an actual tower) for a while. Although I make ‘bootleg’ recordings of the live sessions for my own archive, I have started making sure that I am not in the broadcast studio when the set starts as you are trapped. The guests are performing on live radio in front of thousands of people across Nottingham so it would be a bit wrong to go wading through the room. From my vantage point in the live room doorway I witnessed a lovely performance; maybe it’s a sibling thing but their chemistry and timing is a joy to behold, watching people perform in the intimacy of the studio is great because it is possible to see things you could easily miss on stage. The sisters have material being released soon which will at least give us an excuse to ask them back on again very soon as they were great fun and delightful company.

Picture taken by Mike Atkinson, who I seem to have forgotten to mention in this blog. He was good though!

It was the first time I had asked the traditional question of which cartoon character they would have sex with to women, (I bottled it with our last female guest as she seemed a bit hoity toity and might have gone all princess about it), which was a bit nerve-racking to be honest. They both pulled a shocked face when I asked the question, and I was at that moment a bit worried that I’d crossed a line (I prefer to walk along the line as if I am a tightrope walker) by asking it, but thankfully they took it in good spirits. Cassia has never been a fan of that particular question and would like to see an end to that element of the show, but I think it still has some level of merit despite the childishness of it. The question was originally intended to break the ice and was supposed to be thrown in when an interviewee wasn’t being talkative enough, but has taken on a life of its own and become an expected part of the show. On the other hand, it would be a shame if musicians were put off coming in because of it, although it would be a silly musician who turned the show down. Maybe we should retire the question, or maybe we should judge each individual case every week?

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