I turned every page and carefully looked at each entry, part of me knew I wouldn't be in it but it would have been nice to have some recognition for a change. Lurking on the fringes does suit me and of course people who like and respect me like the fact that I don't play the game and kiss the arses that need kissing in this city, but a list of the most influential people in Nottinghamshire, (the whole fucking shire not just the city) might have been a nice thing to be included in. Morbid curiosity is what made me read this supplement, I usually fillet newspapers and discard the pull-out sections but not on this occasion.
I've said before how I could win an Oscar, the Nobel Prize, get to number one in the charts, turn up on Eastenders playing the crazy machine gun maniac who wipes out the whole of Albert Square, become Prime Minister and discover a cure for all known diseases in the same week and the media in Nottingham wouldn't write a single word about me, so of course I knew that I would be overlooked, but so were other people. There were of course some worthy entries but a few that raised an inquisitive eyebrow at, for example Jake Bugg and Su Pollard made the cut. Okay so Bugg got Nottingham mentioned in the national press but he's one difficult third album away from obscurity and as much as everybody loves Su Pollard is she really influential?
This isn't to say I have a given right to be in this list, after all what have I achieved apart from giving Nottingham artists their first radio sessions in many cases, giving Nottingham artists their first American airplay, playing a great deal of bands before BBC 6 Music, presenting a podcast that is listened to around the world, campaigning against talking at gigs and saving the bowl and ladle of mint sauce at the Goose Fair mushy pea stall? Why isn't Will Robinson on the list for building I'm Not From London up to what it is today? The people who run the (the) mushy pea stall at Goose Fair for being the only stall selling freshly cooked peas and keeping it real and the tradition alive?
There was one comfort I could take from being snubbed by the writers of this list, and that is that Mark 'literally' Del wasn't in it either. Another thing that I have taken from this is the title of my autobiography; Less Important Than Su Pollard.
The Hockley Hustle Practice Run can be viewed here.
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September housekeeping
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