Yesterday was the first Thursday of the month so I was once again ensconced in the cosy surroundings of the Nelson and Railway in Kimberly. I am going to try for a full sweep and go to every one this year if I can in the hope that I might win a prize. This means that I will have to remember not to get booked for a Dickens show on the 6th of December. Last night, and I can't quite remember how this conversation started - not because I was drunk but I just forget, we discussed the idea of leaving the pub after the December gig and getting a plane to Las Vegas but I can't imagine that happening. For the first time in ages I actually turned up on time which was good because George Gadd was opening. The fact that he was opening, combined with the fact that he did the gig in the first place was something that a lot of Nottingham musicians should take notes about. A lot of musicians that are way below him on the ladder (including George's ex-girlfriend) would consider a pub gig in the sticks to be beneath them, obviously these are the ones who will never break out of the city's glass walled environs towards bigger and better things. George has sold out Bodega and played massive shows far and wide yet he was still available to appear bottom of the bill at a pub gig for about forty people. You have to respect him for that.

Another person on the bill was Richard Jenkins, who I obviously asked to make an episode of The Random Sessions (aside from the beer and the company, this is what I go to this event for) and Paris Alexander (pictured) who has come on in leaps and bounds since we filmed an episode last summer so I want to get her in the studio (upstairs room at the Hop Merchant) again as soon as possible. Megan was also there who has expressed an interested in returning for a second episode as she has developed immensely since starting out only a couple of years ago when a mutual friend sent me a video of a nervous performer playing an open mic night. This is a lovely knock-on of making these videos with a mixture of established artists and relative unknowns. 

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Once again I went to the Kimberley Sessions last night to see The Girl and The Stone (I'm grateful to Will Jefferey for the lift to Kimberley) mainly but also Jasmin Issaka (who I only properly met for the first time last night and asked her if she would record a Random Sessions), and Jonny Olley. George Gadd was booked to play but had to pull out due to illness and shamefully I can't remember who replaced him. 

This is turning into one of my favourite gigs to attend as there's none of the shit that can happen in the city centre. Although you do have to put up with a certain amount of talking, the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming and although you're only up the road from the heaving metropolis you could be in a country pub deep in the moors. 

One the way home, (I had a lift from Jonny Olley with Jasmin in the car too) I threw out a casual comment about how much I enjoy live music and said that if I had to choose between getting rid of my records/CDs/tapes or never going to a gig again I would choose gigs. There would also be more room in my house of course. It is an interesting choice to have to make, and fortunately not one that I have to make in real life because if someone knocked on my door to remove my music collection I would murder him/her and bury their remains in the park over the road where I take Jack. However, given the choice for me it would be live music all the way. I posted this hypothetical question on Facebook when I got home and received a handful of comments, none of which really answered my question if I'm honest.

It's a question you could take to all kinds of extremes I suppose, would you not have a kitchen in your house if you could eat out for every meal? Maybe you would need a small kitchen for making hot drinks. Would you get rid of your television to be able to go to the theatre or cinema every evening? 

Would you stop reading my blog if the opportunity to do something far more interesting came along? I fucking would. 

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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

Thank you in advance for donating using the PayPal button at the top of this page. It all goes towards creating podcasts, sketches, documentaries, films and more, all of which I will make available for free in return for your generosity.

Picture by George Gadd

Picture by Me

I took yesterday as a day holiday from the day job in order to get caught up with what I consider to be proper work as I am also taking Friday off to go to York for the night. Although I didn't get through everything I wanted to do (story of my life) I did at least get some important stuff done, in particular recording an episode of The Sunday Alternative Podcast to avoid the pressure next weekend. We get back on Saturday night and can comfortably predict that I won't be motivated to do any work then and I try to avoid recording the podcast on Sunday as it doesn't leave me a lot of room for error. 

There was an article somewhere online yesterday about how you lose out by going to work on February 29th so I did the right thing. I suppose if you are paid hourly then you're okay but if you are on an annual salary (as I am at the solicitors) then I would be giving them a day of work for nothing so by staying at home I beat the system. Of course this would have been a bigger victory if I hadn't been working on various projects that don't make any money, so I will call it a draw between the system and myself. Actually the system wins overall because as a self-employed person in a precarious sector (I mean music and entertainment not the solicitors bit) I don't get extra money at weekends and Bank Holidays either, ergo I was financially better off when I worked in shops and pubs when I was younger. I wasn't literally financially better off because those jobs paid shitty wages but you get my point, I hope. I'm not sure what my point is any more, I am trying to get back into writing a regular blog and this whole paragraph possibly explains why I gave it up.

The Random Saturday Sessions is on a little break for the moment yet I ended up filming a couple of sets on Friday (26th) at Wired Cafe in Hockley. Earlier this week I was contacted by Patrick Craig through the Random Facebook page to ask if I would do something with them as he and Joe McCorriston were in town for a gig. I told him that I wasn't doing another filming day until the end of March (25th) but would try and find somewhere to record a special edition. To be honest I was flattered that someone came to me rather than me having to recruit people for a tour so wanted to repay that. Planning a filming day is the least enjoyable part of the series as you start off with a shitload of people saying they are up for it and the nearer the day gets the more people drop out. Wired were good enough to let me film at fairly short notice, (not quite as short notice than we would have given them on a normal filming day of course) and everything went smoothly. Having never met either of them I was a bit nervous but they were brilliant and it turned out we have mutual friends in George Gadd and Gerry Trimble (but to be honest everybody is friends with Gerry). 

Once I was finished I did a quick turn around at home and left the house again to head to Bunkers Hill where the very same Patrick and Joe were performing (separately, they aren't a double act) along with George Gadd at a night that Emma Bladon-Jones regularly puts together. I'd not been to this night before but will make an effort to get down more often, especially with out of town musicians being thrown in to break up the monotony of the sameness that can happen in Nottingham. 

I can't wait to share the videos on the YouTube channel, but for now there's plenty of old episodes here.

The latest episode of The Sunday Alternative is here.

The March newsletter explains why you should be donating to help fund creative projects. Have a little read and share it about, and thank you in advance for your contribution.

Picture by George Gadd

Sunday is a day of rest so they say, whoever said that doesn't work in the music business. My day started with the usual advertising admin for this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative Podcast before I crammed a bowl of cereal inside me and headed to town to finish recording a few songs for the Christmas special episode of The Random Saturday Sessions. I know it isn't Saturday and as we planned this filming session it wasn't particularly random either but hey, it's Christmas. By rights we should have filmed it in August like the Christmas specials on telly.

These meetings with music maker friends is always a fun day and today there were plenty of laughs and even a bit of Christmas spirit from me, not a lot but enough. Brett Sinclair joined us in between gigs (although one was cancelled due to the weather) to perform his new single 'Break Open The Bucks Fizz' and regular Random Saturday players George Gadd, Alexa Hawksworth and the man who gave me the idea, Gerry Trimble came along to be filmed getting in the festive mood, George even wore a Christmas jumper. A lot of the fun comes from the stuff that doesn't get shown on the series such as Gerry's "I'm fucking freezing" outburst when filming in West Bridgford and the numerous outtakes. Other things need showing but don't fit in the series so I am going to start putting little extra videos on the Facebook page when I get round to it, until that happens here's a practice run of an ensemble rendition of 'Fairytale of New York' - the finished version (it took several goes to get it right and even in the finished version everyone looks as if they'll burst out laughing at any minute) is a work of art that people will talk about for years to come.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #66 is available now from here

Please read my November newsletter about funding for new projects.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is here. 

It soon rolls around and today was the day we filmed the next batch of performances for The Random Saturday Sessions. As far as YouTube hits are concerned it isn't exactly breaking the Internet despite me following the advice given on TFI Friday by Justin Bieber and tagging the videos with such misleading click-bait as 'cute kittens', but it remains a lot of fun to be a part of so even if nobody bothers watching them I will still do them as long as I can get people involved. We met up in West Bridgford this time and the town was full of the Christmas spirit as today was the switching on of the lights later on. This put everyone in the mood for some festive music so we were able to film some extra songs for the extended Christmas special that will be released as a standalone video on Christmas Eve and not be a part of the episode numbering. Each tour is going to be presented as a series and as such the Beeston videos are series 1 and today is series 2. By my rough estimation I now have a weekly series to last until the end of January, not all of the Beeston videos are out yet, indeed today saw Cibele's set released and Gerry's set will drop next Saturday. 

A lovely sunny cold morning greeted us as we met up for coffee so we popped over to the park to record Jay Brow's songs. As usual we were met with the mixture of cooperation, generosity and bewilderment that normally follows us around although we were met with more negativity than we are used to. This didn't dampen our spirits though as the places that welcomed us were charm personified. Jacob and Adam, half of The Mithered, made their début as did Alexa Hawksworth, Lisa DeVille and The Idolins and stalwarts Gerry Trimble, Anthony Smith, George Gadd and Cibele all played. 

What made this 'tour' more special is the fact that we actually had an audience for a lot more performances this time around. There will always be people who try and carry on as if The Random Saturday Sessions isn't blocking off the part of the shop that they need to be in but today people were taking notice and applauding. I suppose it's a bonus to walk into a shop and see someone singing but I do wonder if the presence of the camera has something to do with it too. The Mithered played a greetings card shop and George played a fairly posh looking chocolate shop to an appreciative gathering (George even sold a CD to someone in a shop queue). It is the independent businesses that accommodate us the best and this was especially true of the hardware shop that The Idolins played in. They even allowed us to attempt a recreation (with a difference) of the legendary Four Candles sketch. Alexa played in a very trendy home made toys type of place (I do have the names of the places written down so we can credit them on the videos) and the reaction was the same, 

For me the best example of a business welcoming us came when Lisa DeVille played her set (plus a duet with Cibele for the Christmas special) in the upstairs of Cured, a bar come restaurant, and not only did they seem to stop serving food while she sang, the people sitting at the tables listened and applauded. I had a horrible feeling that we would be talked over but I'm sure Lisa could have done an entire set without complaints. The upstairs room would be the perfect setting for some kind of music related session, possibly on a weekend afternoon, so of course I suggested it to the manager. It would be interesting to see if I get some comeback from it though. 

It was a long day and the cold had set in by the time of the final performance, City of Kites (Gerry and Ant without Will) played in the outside seating area of a deli surrounded by Christmas trees in nets ready to be sold. This will add a special festive ambiance to the video which makes it a shame that it won't be coming out until the end of January.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #64 is available now from here

Please read my November newsletter about funding for new projects.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is here. 

The most photogenic person almost obscured by a guitar case

This is turning into my favourite project of all, today we hit Beeston for the first round of impromptu performances for The Random Saturday Sessions. Part of the beauty of this series is the simplicity, it is 100% acoustic music so there's no fannying about setting up and sound checking and the only microphone is the one on the video camera. This means that the YouTube videos can be turned around pretty quickly and it gives me five weeks worth of content (starting next Saturday with Paul Warnin singing in a laundrette) before we have to do it again. Once again it was raining and we had issues with nobody turning up on time (not dissing anyone, I was late too) but we soon got down to business and started at one end of the High Street and working our way down. 

I'd never met Paul before but he fitted right in and played first off in a laundrette, thankfully it was quiet and a couple who were doing their washing kept out of the way, not that we asked them to rather I don't think they wanted to get involved. As an antidote to their discretion a man came in and started emptying a machine right in front of the camera unaware that he will soon be a viral superstar (assuming anyone watches the video). To be honest, this isn't for the general public. That is how I treat all of my work, I do it for my enjoyment and if other people like it then that is a bonus. I love the way that this concept has taken off with the minimal amount of planning, it isn't a new idea by any means - Gerry Trimble was involved with a series called Addistock Sessions a little while ago that filmed performances without amplification in a variety of locations - but it's a wonderful way to promote local musical talent to those who might not usually be exposed to it, whether they like it or not. Incidentally, it was Gerry's idea to do the Hockley Hustle promo video which spawned the idea of making it a regular event.

George Gadd performed in a bicycle shop, Fleets singer Cameron Sinclair-Harris played in the outside seating area of a coffee shop in the pissing rain, Cibele played in the much needed warmth of a bookshop (when her video comes out check what book I'm holding during the introduction, it's a funny in-joke) and Gerry played in a churchyard. One of the best things about the days spent doing this is the social aspect, we had a nice pub lunch and wiled away the afternoon playing pool. 

We have already arranged our next day out in West Bridgford on the 21st of November and the videos will start appearing on Saturdays. I can't be arsed setting up yet another Twitter account (I hate the way you need a different email address each time you set up a separate account) but there is a page on Facebook you can 'like' if you like. I'd like that.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #60 is available from here

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October Housekeeping

Donations have slowed down a bit and this has had an adverse effect on filming plans. Ideas are waiting to become reality so please do consider making a donation using the PayPal button above.

In return for your gift I will make entertainment that I will put online to be enjoyed free of charge by everyone. Comedy sketches, documentaries, short films and podcasts are waiting to be made so dig deep.

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The starting line up

After a lot of preparation and panic, last night finally happened, the very first gig under the name The Sunday Alternative Live. I was nervous about things going wrong but everything seemed to tick along smoothly apart from a few minor matters such as not getting in the building exactly on time and late arrivals from the bands. Everyone had been asked to show up at five o'clock to give plenty of time for soundchecking and sorting out, but when I arrived only City of Kites were waiting outside. Adam Clarkson had a good reason and had warned me in advance that he was going to turn up, play, then leave because of childcare issues and I was genuinely very grateful that he didn't pull out, even though I would have understood if he had. George Gadd and The Breakfast Club were held up in traffic but there was sufficient time for everything to be ironed out. 

Adam Clarkson

As with all new gigs, this wasn't particularly well attended but the prime motive for these nights is the filming for the series. Of course it would be nice to have a full house because all of the door money is shared between the acts, (I am a strong believer in paying people for services) but I am not going to be disheartened by the poor numbers for a first night. The way I see it, it is the public's loss that they missed out on such a strong line up for an opening night. As far as last night's performers are concerned, I have started with the bar raised. Adam is someone I have enjoyed and supported for years, both as a solo artist and with his band Captain Dangerous, and went down well with the small but appreciative audience. Adam aside, it was nice to see all the bands hanging around to watch the rest of the show, something I am keen to encourage. City of Kites blew the cobwebs off the room with an extremely loud set, they did an acoustic set on the radio show last year but sadly that show didn't survive. I hope enough people heard it to be able to compare and contrast. Gerry Trimble is one of the nicest and most enthusiastic people on the circuit and it is impossible not to like him. Prior to doors opening he tidied up the beer garden/smoking area and sorted out the tables in the venue. He is hosting a charity event at The Maze on the 19th for Cancer Research and the artists last night let him have all the door money which I thought was a lovely gesture and I could tell from his reaction that he was moved. 

City of Kites

I had wanted a solo/band/solo/band running order and Adam's predicament automatically put George Gadd on third but I wasn't sure how the bands were going to be placed. Of course the only thing to do is play an on stage game of 'scissors paper stones' between members representing The Breakfast Club and City of Kites. It is a little known fact that this is how Live Aid was sorted. 

George Gadd

George Gadd appeared on NottinghamLIVE in 2013 which was our first meeting and we got on straight away thanks to a shared sense of humour; we spent a fair bit of the interview discussing which cartoon character you would have sex with. I worked with him later the same year for my American radio show but for some reason haven't worked with him since. His band Little Bribes played a gig a little while back at the Golden Fleece and it was them that I originally booked but they weren't available. On his own he is great though and delivered a great set that again was popular with the room. 

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club were a great booking for the first show (as of course were all the acts) as I only saw them live for the first time last year, (I wrote about them in detail here) and they are on their way up with a new album on the horizon and a consistently strong (if a little shambolic looking - it adds to the charm) live set. They closed the show in style, asking the audience to build the set list as they went and over-running beautifully by playing a couple of encores.

Then it was all over and plans for the next one commenced, August 9th at The Maze if you can make it. The line up isn't 100% set yet but I will announce it as soon as I can.

The Sunday Alternative #46 is available from here.

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July Housekeeping

Bags and T-Shirts are still available from here. All money goes in the fund. Feel free to browse the shop page while you're there.

If you donate £5 or more, you get to choose a song for me to cover on kazoo for a YouTube video, details here.

Seriously, I am grateful for the donations so if you haven't got round to it yet, I thank you in advance.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

Picture from Elvis Presley-pedia 

Yesterday was a Bank Holiday yet I still couldn't switch off and had a bit of a productive good fortune. First of all I managed to arrange a meeting (drink) with Max Johnson (from off of The Most Ugly Child) who will be filming the live performances for The Sunday Alternative Live shows at The Maze. On the tram journey to meet him in Hucknall I was contacted by Adam Clarkson confirming his availability for the night which means I have my first line-up sorted. I can now reveal that playing the first gig on Sunday 5th July will be (in no particular order, I am toying with not publishing a running order so that people have to turn up to watch the whole show) George Gadd, City of Kites, The Breakfast Club, and Adam Clarkson. This is a pretty strong bill for a first show so hopefully this could be the start of a good series of events. The sets will be filmed with me doing a pre-recorded introduction and the videos will be available on the YouTube channel that hasn't been used for a long time. I will also be taking the audio for use as future podcast material, either in full or as a teaser for the videos.

I have been considering the fact that the live gigs will be available as online videos which might mean that Saturday Breakfast might have to be abandoned. It will mean having to film bands for both projects and I don't want to cross contaminate between the two ventures, neither do I want to be seen to be prioritising between having a band on one instead of another. This only becomes an issue if Saturday Breakfast goes beyond the pilot stage as I have a band booked for that and it will only become a series if the budget is raised by crowd-funding. What I might do is present the pilot myself and find someone to present the series and I will direct it so as to not spread myself too thinly, or take the format out of Nottingham and film it in another city of music. London is an option obviously, and I am close to Sheffield and York. Doing it elsewhere means that it doesn't become too Nottingham-centric and will go some way to helping promote the podcast. If I do take it to another town or city then I will present it as it will be a good way to make some noise as I am not overly known outside Nottingham for anything other than the podcast. Actually the podcast doesn't really get a lot of attention in Nottingham oddly enough. I can't understand why, people do listen to other things besides Nottingham music don't they?

The podcast doesn't look like going ahead this coming weekend due to ongoing technical issues; I am currently waiting for the delivery of a new microphone. According to the tracker it has been dispatched, presumably from the moon given how long it is taking. 

No podcast this week.

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May housekeeping 

Please consider making either a one-off or regular donation using the PayPal button above this blog. Every penny will be used to fund creative projects that will be made available for free.

The Sunday Alternative is a free weekly podcast. I am aiming to start making this podcast in a studio with live bands in session. This will cost at least £50 per episode so please give whatever you can.

52 podcasts and 365 blogs a year must be worth something to you?

The Sunday Alternative bag is on sale now. All you need to do is click on the PayPal button and donate £6 (or more if you're feeling generous), then email me at the address below with 'BAG' in the subject line and your name and address in the email.

(All money from the bags goes into the fund to create free online entertainment)

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76 

A little bit of the rock face has been chipped away at today as I have recorded one chapter of the Bowie Day audio book. It is only a short story so it should be all recorded by the end of the week. I could have got it all done in one sitting but I spent a while catching up with the blog (even though I have only actually published as far as Friday at the time of writing this) and couldn't be bothered doing any more. As a work displacement activity, while at the same time trying to appear as though I was doing something productive, I tidied up the office a bit. I regularly take boxes home from the offices at court that originally contained reams of A4 paper and use them as filing boxes so I am able to store all the stuff that has been littering my desk and surrounding floor space. Every time I tidy up I come across something interesting (when I say interesting I am using the word somewhat recklessly) and today I found several wristbands from gigs. It isn't very often I go to a place that uses wristbands, most venues use the hand stamp, but as a hoarder I keep the papery wristbands and write on the back the date and the artist I have seen. When I die I am sure that even the most dedicated music archivist will probably drop them in the nearest waste paper basket but I am trying to keep them together along with flyers, posters, set-lists and other such gig flotsam - not that there is a great deal of that sort of thing available these days as most people rely on Facebook events. It would be a shame to lose the physical side of things which is why no matter how infrequently I do it I will always try and have something to put in the box. There is a challenge for musicians; print flyers and provide souvenirs for the more obsessive among your audience.

My gig diary for this week is empty so far apart from a choice on Thursday so I will have time to catch up on work unless I am alerted to something in the meantime. It is a double-edged sword really; I want to go and watch live music but I want to be working but I can't do both. Last Sunday I asked on Facebook for gig recommendations and George Gadd offered to come round my house and play for me. Apart from giving me the idea for an online video series, (I was thinking maybe on an afternoon tea theme - I've written it down so don't steal it), this occurred to me as the best of both worlds. I could have bands performing in my office while I work therefore I would be getting my fix of live music and fulfilling my obsession with writing a minimum of 500 words a day - it would be just like having the radio on.

This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.

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April housekeeping

Please consider making either a one-off or regular donation using the PayPal button above this blog. Every penny will be used to fund creative projects that will be made available for free.

Saturday Breakfast: We are making a pilot episode of this music and cookery show and we need your help. Your donations will help to get this made.

The Sunday Alternative is a free weekly podcast. I am aiming to start making this podcast in a studio with live bands in session. This will cost at least £50 per episode so please give whatever you can.

52 podcasts and 365 blogs a year must be worth something to you?

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76 

Picture from Impact, the link is worth clicking on for the hilariously ill-informed guide to music venues.

I have just returned home from a rare gig, one that contained a totally new (to me) line up of acts. There are a great deal of bands and musicians from Nottingham that I rate very highly but as I was saying to my friend Gary, I am starting to tire of seeing the same artists every time I go out. This gig was listed in Leftlion magazine's picks of the week so I was a little taken aback to see that there wasn't a single member of their writing team in attendance, how do they know what to go and see? It's almost as if Nottingham's music scene is governed by people who don't have the first fucking idea what they are talking about. I'm not suggesting that Nottingham's music scene is governed by people who don't have the first fucking clue what they are talking about, but that is the impression one gets. I can say what I like because I am invisible to Leftlion so they'll never know. Perhaps they gave up on music and have reverted back to cocktail bars and catwalks like the old days before they acknowledged local music existed. 

The pub wasn't exactly what you would call full, let me put that another way, the pub was virtually empty. A few people turned up to talk over the acoustic musicians but that is par for the course I am afraid, we moved tables to try and get out of earshot and it worked once the other bands kicked in. I would have done another recording of the gig talkers but the Wi-Fi was a bit shaky so I lost interest. 

As I said, it was nice to be seeing an entire line-up of music makers that I hadn't seen before even though the night was a little on the flat side. More people would have made a difference but Nottingham has a slightly hit and miss approach to live music and tend to have the opposite opinion to mine in that they happily go to the same things every time. First on the bill was an acoustic duo called C.R.A.F.T. who surprisingly (only surprising because I am getting a bit bored with acoustic musicians) caught my attention straight away with their delivery mixed with humour and a few covers thrown in for good measure although a little floppy in places - if you say that you're not having a good gig then people will take your word for it if you're not careful. I'd like to see them again but after they have tightened things up a bit, not that I disapprove of musicians having a laugh but forced banter that sounds rehearsed makes my teeth itch. I also hate the need to retune after every song, either have a spare guitar on stage with you or invest in a better one.

Sunset Nebula were next, an instrumental band who I had mixed feelings about. There's no denying that they are a band of talented musicians, but it did seem to blend into itself a little bit after a while and if it hadn't been for the gaps when one tune ended and another one starting them you wouldn't know. Please don't think I'm slagging them off because they were very good at what they were doing, it is just that it wasn't really for me.

I have worked with George Gadd a couple of times and have always enjoyed his company, and it was his new band Little Bribes that I was most interested in seeing. Having only seen him as a solo performer before it was refreshing to see him in a band and playing a far punkier sound. The only problem (which wasn't the band's fault) was the sound quality in the pub that sometimes interfered with the vocals. That said, even Rock City has issues with the sound in different parts of the room so maybe it is the shape of the Fleece that causes this problem. 

All in all I am glad that I went tonight if only to see something different. As for next week (I rarely go out at the weekend as the town fills up with idiots) I am unsure what I will be seeing apart from Georgie Rose's gig on Friday but hopefully there will be something worthwhile on before then.

This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.

===

April housekeeping

Please consider making either a one-off or regular donation using the PayPal button above this blog. Every penny will be used to fund creative projects that will be made available for free.

Saturday Breakfast: We are making a pilot episode of this music and cookery show and we need your help. Your donations will help to get this made.

The Sunday Alternative is a free weekly podcast. I am aiming to start making this podcast in a studio with live bands in session. This will cost at least £50 per episode so please give whatever you can.

52 podcasts and 365 blogs a year must be worth something to you?

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76 

It had to happen; I am my own curse guardian. For as long as I have known Mandi I have been looking for a reliable film maker to help with various projects. Sometimes I will mention a particular project and she will comment on how long ago I first mentioned it, as you can imagine that sort of response is just what I need to hear. Reading back through old blogs it makes me sad to see to what extent this side of my career has hit the buffers. Reliability has always been the stumbling block; that and the fact that a lot of so-called creative people are full of bullshit. Despite my success in the areas of radio and podcasting I still get frustrated at the fact that I can't get other projects off the ground.

When I was at Sherwood Radio one of the bosses owned a production company making educational DVDs, and offered to help me bring some of my comedy ideas to life. This gradually downgraded to the offer of a loan of a camera, then eventually not being able to help me because the camera was broken. The camera? This sort of thing has been a blight on me for too long, people saying they can help when they clearly can't. I thought that Oliver Smith was going to be a solid enough person to work with but the alarm bells first went off at the time he took to reply to an email (email, as I have said before, is the worst method of communication as far as getting a response is concerned) so I was back to the drawing board.

Lee is someone I have known for ages and has recently started his own video company in addition to writing, live music promotion, and being in a band. Finally it seemed as though I had someone to trust and help me make my filmic dreams a reality. Everything was in place for this weekend and filming of The Record Store Day Video (working title) would finally go ahead. Two actors were in place, (Gary and Craig), a musician was booked (George Gadd, last minute replacement for Gerry Trimble), and Lee and his colleague in place for filming. What could possibly go wrong? 

Something inevitably was going to go wrong because this is me we're talking about. Who was going to be the person to let me down this time? Actually it was me; despite usually being on the receiving end of last minute excuses I had no choice but to pull the plug because I am feeling so ill I couldn't envisage being filmed talking to camera and trying to be light hearted. There is also the fact that it is scheduled to be an early start tomorrow morning and I don't think I am up to it. I am annoyed with myself as usually I just roll up my sleeves and carry on with my life but this time I must be really poorly as I just want to rest. This time around I am going to enjoy being ill just like Mandi does. 

All I want to do at the moment is sleep which is what I am planning to do quite a lot of this weekend.

Listen to this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative here.

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March housekeeping 

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Is there an accepted convention when it comes to what goes on toast? I don’t mean supper snack toast but breakfast toast. If I’m having jam or marmalade I will still put butter on first, as it softens the toast. People who spread jam straight on a slice of toast without the butter underlay are surely lining themselves for a harder toast experience, and who wants that?

Here’s another thing, I strongly advise that if you haven’t tried it already then please try Weetabix with butter and jam on. It is actually nicer than Weetabix with milk on to be honest.

I can’t be alone with this one; when I’m making myself tea at home, (I make myself two mugs at a time for reasons I don’t really know), and the cereal box is looking tempting, I will stick my hand in and pull out a handful of corn flakes to eat as a little nibble snack.

These were the main topics of conversation yesterday between four grownups at ROFL Audio studios, where we were recording this week’s exclusive USA session for The Sound of Nottingham UK. I was meant to be working with The CTRL, but due to illness they had to pull out. I went on Facebook (remember Facebook? It’s making an inexplicable comeback) to see who was online. Pulling up the live chat box from the corner of the computer screen, George was the top of the list of people online. I asked him and he said he would be up for it, and that was that sorted. If his green dot hadn’t been showing, it would have gone to someone else, that’s how things are booked nowadays it seems. It is certainly better than dealing with managers, who tend to get ridiculously above their station when it comes to trying to book an artist.  Not that I'm naming names, but I had a conversation on Twitter with a woman who said that she would definitely be up for it, but then gave me her manager’s email address to arrange. Manager emailed me to ask all sorts of snotty questions, which is a shame because it reflects badly on the artist and makes them look a bit precious. In this day and age I don’t really understand why music management is even still a thing, given that a singer can communicate directly via social media. Once an artist pisses me off enough, I add them to the c-list which is a shame because we all know what the ‘c’ stands for.

I don’t pay the artists who come on the various radio shows I do, so there’s no need for all the stupid questions from managers. If I was a singer and my manager informed me that they were responsible for losing me a live exclusive for an American radio show, which had the knock-on effect of blacklisting by the presenter who also presents two important radio shows in the UK then I would sack them immediately.

Luckily there a still a huge amount of artists in Nottingham (the UK capital of music) that haven’t got twattish managers seemingly preventing them from having a career. George had been on my want list for a while but I knew he had to go back to university in Birmingham (at the end of next week), so as I was booked pretty far ahead I knew it wasn’t worth asking him. Although I’m a massive fan of The CTRL and hopefully will reschedule their appearance on the show, this was a lucky little twist of fate. The evening was a lot of fun and evidence of it will be broadcast on The Sound of Nottingham UK this coming weekend.

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