This weekend was another two day whirl in which not a lot seemed to happen but I didn't get stressed out about it. I'm still not convinced about these tablets I'm taking as I have yet to rediscover my creative urges and am apparently quite happy to not do anything at all. Work wise January has been a big waste of time and if I don't shake myself out of this funk soon it'll be December 31st and I'll be kicking myself. One thing I managed to do on Saturday, even though it took me all day, was to compile the music for this week's podcast. I had been listening to tracks all week and sorting out the ones that I wanted to play but didn't get round to recording it until teatime. At least I was able to get it all set up ready for Sunday otherwise I would have a rush job on my hands recording it on the same day, something I have always tried to avoid. The Sunday Alternative Podcast 72 went out on Sunday teatime as opposed to lunchtime as I woke up far too late to be able to advertise it before going for lunch at my dad's, something that would have stressed the none-medicated me out no end. 

On Saturday The Random Saturday Sessions series continued its uninterrupted run with an episode we filmed the weekend before Christmas. Maybe it is because it was just before Christmas but only two people took part last time which I found a bit dispiriting so hopefully the 30th of this month will pick up a bit. I shouldn't have felt too bad about the poor turn out though because we ended up having a whale of a time and even I managed to summon up some Christmas spirit from somewhere. Nick Alsam took part, we hadn't met since he appeared on NottinghamLIVE - he was the only solo performer to make three appearances. He has mainly worked outside of Nottingham just lately which I think is the best thing a Nottingham musician can do. We spoke about one of my favourite subjects; musical cliquishness in Nottingham, something a surprising amount of musicians open up to me about. We were on hand to offer support early on and Nick is one of the small minority who haven't forgotten this, and I personally think it quite a special achievement to have got him to take part in this because he is one of those people who will go far yet I believe he won't turn into a dick. The set he recorded (at Broadway Cinema, although they seemed weirdly shy about us mentioning their 'branding' for some reason) was brilliant so I recommend you follow the link below as soon as you have finished reading. Gerry Trimble also came along, officially making him a veteran of the series, and was great company as ever.

On the subject of Nottingham music, a musician who recently recorded a session for NUSIC remarked on how Mark 'literally' Del wasn't even present for his/her (it's not my place to name names) recording of the songs and turned up afterwards to carry out a half-arsed interview. At the beginning of December I covered Our City, a gig at Rock City celebrating Nottingham's music output by putting together a line up that didn't properly represent Nottingham's music output. I was outside having a cigarette at nine o'clock before St Raymond started and witnessed Dean Jackson (from BBC Radio Nottingham, the presenter of BBC Introducing for this neck of the woods) turning up. 

Dean Jackson, champion of local music, has JUST arrived. Even Mark 'literally' Del has been here all night.

— Steve Oliver (@SteveOliver76) December 4, 2015

The doors opened at six o'clock (if I'm remembering it right) and the first act was on at half past, again I might not have remembered it fully. To give Mark 'literally' Del credit where it is due, he was there from the start. It must have taken a lot for him to do that because not only does Del hate live music, he also hates watching up and coming bands who nobody has heard of so this must have been a strain. The next day I received a message on Facebook from one of those female singers we have here, a very good friend of mine, which demonstrates exactly what I have been saying for years.

Ref Dean Jackson turning up late- when I went to rough trade to watch the bbc introducing thing, he talked over the Idolins set at the bar, then was on his mobile not listening to a fucking thing they did. Then during their last song he came to the front and took a picture of them. Then after they'd come off stage he had his photo taken with them and gushed about how great they were. He's a two faced prick who just wants to be seen in the right places. I really can't stand the vile silly old man. X

After Nick had finished playing we went to The Angel to play pool. Gerry played his set in the beer garden/smoking yard which ran on for about twenty minutes with various false starts and having to move out of the rain. I (and indeed a lot of people involved in music) have a lot of time for Gerry, one of the genuinely nice people and even when he is making a fuck up of his songs he does it with a level of panache that has to be seen to be believed. Gerry left before us and things got a little messy when a guy who had been watching us play joined us and started buying us drinks, including shots of Black Sambuca. The afternoon ended with us singing Christmas songs with a gang of blokes dressed in Santa suits, and if it wasn't for the photo I wouldn't believe that either.

Please read my January newsletter here.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #72 is available from here.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions stars the aforementioned Nick Aslam, watch it here.