The Nottingham Post didn't print my April Fool story after all; in fact after reading the whole paper about four times I still wasn't sure which story was meant to be the spoof. I didn't get time to read any papers this morning nor did I listen to the radio or watch television before midday so for the first time in years I wasn't able to partake in my favourite sport of finding the 'funny' story.
When Leftlion launched the Kickstarter campaign to help go to a monthly magazine they obviously didn't spend any of the money on extra printing as it has become much harder to find these days. Last night I finally got my hands on a copy and read it this morning on the tram to town, although they didn't print an April Fool story I couldn't help feeling that I was part of an elaborate joke.
Leftlion, for those that don't know, is an independent arts magazine for Nottingham available for free in many outlets such as record shops and bars. It covers many topics and since the 2011 Christmas edition has covered the local music scene more extensively, having previously been mocked for ignoring music in favour of 'cocktail bars and catwalks'. They carry interviews with notable people from Nottingham's worlds of art, film, theatre, music...can you see where I'm going?
I have never received so much as a mention in this magazine despite all that I have achieved. Not that I think they owe me some exposure, it's just amusing how they make so much effort to ignore me at all costs. They didn't mention The Sunday Alternative radio show despite its success and the live appearances by such Nottingham acts as Golden Troubadours, Barnum Meserve, Fighting Evil is Cool, Practical Lovers, Ryan Thomas and more, nor did they even give it a mention when one of their editorial staff (Penny Reeve) joined the show as co-presenter. The Sunday Alternative podcast is listened to all over the world and is one of Nottingham's many international exports along with Raleigh, Players, Paul Smith and HP Sauce, yet because it has more listeners than their own podcasts (which stands to reason as theirs are Nottingham-centric) they won't mention or feature it. The NottinghamLIVE radio show wasn't worthy of a mention despite being the only radio show in Nottingham to feature live musicians (something The Beat still don't do), but we expected that because Leftlion are in direct competition with the online magazine side of NottinghamLIVE. (We also forced NUSIC to abandon its policy on only having session guests that hadn't done a professional session before because we got everyone first, including their latest one by the brilliant Anwyn Williams). A radio show in America devoted to Nottingham music, giving every Nottingham artist their first airplay in America, that's got to be worth a column inch or two hasn't it? No. Neither is it worth mentioning how prolific I am in the world of podcasting and how I predicted that podcasts and the Internet in general would eventually compete with television and radio. They also won't mention how I predicted that downloads would be the best thing to happen to music, especially for unsigned artists, and they never seek my opinion when talking about the Nottingham music scene (the Nottingham Post are guilty of this too) because they would rather ask Mark 'literally' Del or Dean Jackson despite their lack of 'hands on' knowledge. Although not directly Leftlion's fault, their media partner NUSIC (in reality nothing more than a blog and podcast just like mine except with fewer listeners) have never asked me to sit as a Future Sound of Nottingham judge or take part in one of their workshop events; it is as if I don't exist.
This brings me to the latest issue. There is this month an article about The Old General in Hyson Green, an iconic Nottingham landmark that has sadly been allowed to crumble so that the council have an excuse to knock the building down like they do everything else and build yet more unnecessary student accommodation. When writing about something, one would imagine a cursory amount of research taking place which might bring the author's attention to certain events. If this article about The Old General in this month's Leftlion wasn't so half-arsed then they would know about the fact that I campaigned for several years to maintain the hundred year plus tradition of dressing the statue up as Santa Claus at Christmas, they could have spoken to me about The Old General but chose not to. A couple of days ago I commented that I could find a cure for all known diseases and solve world hunger and Leftlion wouldn't mention it.
Tonight outside my local shop I was stopped by an old lady who recognised me, not from my radio career but from the campaigning for The Old General. It was a lovely coincidence to have this happen on the same day as I read about it in Leftlion and proved that it is normal people who matter and not some elitist rag in a Hockley bubble of self congratulation.
I am looking forward to the October issue of Leftlion where they publish an article about Goose Fair and the (the) mushy pea stall without mentioning how I saved it.
Due to illness there is no edition of The Sunday Alternative podcast this week.
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April housekeeping
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