I am currently trying to tidy up my web presence so that I have fewer sites to maintain, and deciding what to mothball and what to delete altogether. My old website has now gone, as it started out as a simple to use site and in the best traditions of the Internet, became difficult to navigate once they implemented unnecessary changes (Twitter haven’t heeded the warning example of Myspace and Facebook and as such might be the next casualty thanks to their hideous new design). I’ve been using this blog as a one-stop shop to all of my work so haven’t maintained the website for ages, and would have set up another one if I could have found a free to use service that make sense. Freewebs (which gave you a ‘dot webs dot’ within the URL) wasn’t up to the job, and another one I tried but can’t recall the full name, Weeble or thereabouts, didn’t look good either and as I don’t know anyone who uses it I couldn’t ask for advice. Weeble might be the best, but as I have never seen a website that uses it I don’t know. Maybe nobody uses it and they are waiting for the first person to create an account.

So far I have mothballed the Mixcloud and Soundcloud profiles for The Sunday Alternative as I intend to keep them as museum pieces of the show when it was on Trent Sound. However I am still using the show blog and various other places. One thing I was keen to get rid of was an old YouTube channel called The Oliver Sessions. The name related to the comparisons that were made between John Peel and me when I first got into radio, and although it was flattering it is something I have never encouraged. The channel was made up of live appearances on the Sherwood Radio show, the Captain Dangerous balcony shoot, the video I made with Jake Morley in a beer garden and some of the early sessions from The Sunday Alternative. It was too messy a channel and I set about trying to close it, which wasn’t easy as in order to close it you have to close the entire Google account that it is a part of. Luckily, the blog is connected to a different email address, and so I deleted the Gmail address that I didn’t need any more.

What then happened was that I tried to sign into my main email address that I use for most things, and it told me that the account doesn’t exist. I had that momentary panic that makes your blood stop flowing and your body temperature shoot up, as I thought I had dropped a bollock by deleting the wrong account. I typed in the URL of my blog and it came up with a 404 message to tell me that the blog didn’t exist. As this blog has been going since 2007 (daily since 2011) I realised that I had lost a lot of information in one go. Not only had my blog gone, which is irreplaceable, but all my pages too. My pages can be replaced, but without the blog I wasn’t sure if it was worth it. This also meant of course that I had lost the blogs for The Sunday Alternative, The Sound Of Nottingham UK, my newsletter, the old Sherwood Radio blog, the album review blog that I haven’t had the time to do for ages but I had been intending to start again, and least serious of all, the photo blog containing plates of colour separated Skittles.

The strange thing was that my email address was still there, so I sent a ‘help’ message to Mr. Google to see what had happened and if I could retrieve everything. Within minutes I had an email back saying that my blog and everything connected to it was right where it should be.

Obviously I was relieved that I hadn’t fucked it up by deleting the wrong Google, but the strange thing was that I had already resigned myself to not having the blog anymore. If the worst had happened I could have rebuilt the ‘website’ element of it in time, but as for the blog itself I started to wonder what I would have done. The original intention was to enable myself to say that I had written something every day, even if the blog was the only thing. When it started I wasn’t as busy as I am these days; I didn’t work in radio, nor did I write for the newspaper. In fact I didn’t seem to be making much headway at all. There’s a part of me that wonders if the blog (the daily blog at least) has outlived its original purpose now that I have so much stuff going on. The blog did spawn two books I suppose, (available from here) but the newspaper work has also resulted in a book, and I have just finished writing another one that will be out next year. I have never written fiction before so this one was a challenge and it has made me want to do more of the same, so I have pulled all the notes I made when I found the weirdest ever to-do list at the tram stop and attempted to kick start the book idea I had based on that. Radio has been very kind to me, giving me two successful and highly influential shows in this country and another one in America, and The Sunday Alternative is heading into an exciting new future. It looks like my film making career will soon be receiving the much needed kick up the arse it has been waiting for, with at least one project coming off the starting blocks this year, a project that I have had the idea for since 2008.

Did the blog help with any of my successes? I don’t know the answer conclusively and suspect that I never will, but it has certainly been of use. It has produced two film ideas and a book idea simply by writing about something that happened during my day, but would my slow but sure climb up the ladder continue if I stop writing a daily blog, or do I need to continue with it in order to keep my ideas coming? Perhaps this will be the last ever blog, then we’ll know for sure. On the other hand, I am an obsessive completest and couldn’t leave the daily blog behind, could I?

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Listen to The Sunday Alternative here.

I recently wrote the following passage in my notebook:

The Sunday Alternative needs to be much tighter. Although it is always evolving there are areas that I find distressing. Today’s show went very well in terms of music and guests, but there were too many holes.

There are other notes, but I wrote the above lines while listening back to the show later that night. I don’t like listening to myself but have decided to give the show a listen every week as a post-mortem. The show has evolved over the years but I don’t really know how, and can’t really pinpoint specific turning points. In my head I know what I want the show to be, and as good as it is, it will always be open to intense scrutiny from me. I am my own worst critic which I imagine is a good thing as it means I can never become complacent. If I had the time I would listen back to every show and write up a detailed essay on the good and bad points of the show and what I could have done better. However, I can’t be bothered so if anyone wants to do it for me then go to the Mixcloud page and start from the beginning if you want to listen to just over two years worth of shows.

For the last few weeks I have been doing the show alone, mostly with a live music guest. At first I was reluctant to do the show on my own as I like to have someone there to bounce ideas off, but I am growing used to the show being my solo project. There have been four co-presenters since the show started, each bringing a different style to the show. Chris, Erik and Penny were all a great deal of fun to work with. They all had a little problem with turning up on time, if at all, but listening back occasionally brings me fond memories of the life of the show. With Erik we talked too much and turned it into a comedy show, with the music gradually being sidelined, so I brought back live music so as not to totally lose focus. Gary has been great but he has been unavailable for the last few weeks for a variety of reasons that I will respectfully not go into. I feel that I can only do the show on my own if there’s a live guest, because otherwise it is just me basically saying “that was a record, here’s another one, that was a record, here’s a longer one because I’m going out for a fag” for two hours. Obviously the music is great, but as a whole it isn’t great radio.

I’m not sure about the future of the documentary as the Indie Go Go campaign hasn’t really taken off, it will still be made but I can’t really commit to a definite ‘when’ on it. Just lately I’ve been toying with developing the filmed element angle and maybe doing a purely filmed version of the show as a weekly or fortnightly video series featuring live music (obviously) and short interview segments. Maybe a comedy sketch or two could be included, and the whole thing (which for authenticity I would actually film on Sundays) will be made available the following Sunday. This is a project on the list of things I hope to get off the ground before the end of the year, along with some other ideas. Promoting live music in a variety of different visually interesting ways is something I’m looking into, possibly dusting off my proposed but immediately discarded cookery series to include a musical element.

I had intended to do more with filmed content for the show, including the live sessions and interviews but also incorporating behind the scenes footage and items for camera only. This was to be uploaded as a weekly video uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo. As things stand though, this hasn’t been possible as we are on borrowed time as far as live music is concerned at Trent Towers (not an actual tower) so I didn’t want to start something I would have to abandon as it gathered momentum.

Another idea I had was to ditch the daily blog, as it can be a bit of a drag (to write I mean, figures show that it is still considered a good read, unless one person reads it five hundred* times of course. To replace the blog, and the daily commitment of having to find something to write about, I have been giving some thought to doing a weekly podcast. In this I would talk about my week and play some of the music I have been sent that I didn’t get time to play on the radio. It could also include guests and live music sessions, but as I would do doing it in my house that could be a bit unworkable.

*daily average 

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Monday 18th November

I bought a new diary at the weekend after a lot of searching for the perfect one; week to view with enough room in each entry to write quick little notes, it had to also fit in my pocket. You would be amazed at the sizes of some pocket diaries, the makers of these items should do some research into the size of pockets before being allowed into the diary maker’s guild, if such an organisation exists.

Of course there’s nothing in it yet as I don’t really like writing in a new diary until the start of the year. The Post-It notes (other sticky notes are available, they don’t actually stick though) on my office wall have been arranged into order of most likely to be workable. Reading back my blogs to edit them recently, I’m disappointed by the amount of projects that have been mentioned but have yet to come to anything. I know that I should be pleased with myself over the last few years for what I’ve achieved in radio, and that I have also maintained several podcast series and written three books, but it’s the filmmaking that I really want to get my teeth into. A couple of days ago I mentioned to Mandi about a film that I had written in my blog about some years ago, and she commented that I said about it years ago. My greatest fear is that my headstone will read ‘Here lies Steve Oliver, he said he was going to do stuff but didn’t’. The satisfaction of pulling a Post-it off the wall is something I haven’t experienced for quite some time now, and so I hope that by the end of 2014 I can at least have reduced them to the extent that I can see some of the wall.

Aside from short comedy films, I also have plans for one-off sketches, documentary, a live RHLSTP style show, several music projects, and more podcast series. There’s also an idea I am throwing around regarding Eastenders, which will be easy to make (it’s a podcast for fans with a twist) and will be available for free. Podcasts form another great part of my to-do list, although as I can do these at home it is a little easier.

The finished results will be made available free of charge, either on YouTube, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or wherever. I like the idea of staging free public screenings too, or maybe the ‘pay what you like’ model that Prefontaine used for their gig at Jongleurs. All of this (especially with regards to hosting free screenings) will cost money, which is where you reading this blog come in. If I was to use Kickstarter, (I don’t honestly know if there is another ‘crowd funding’ website available), then not only would I have to set a target amount, but I would also have to provide certain gifts as incentives to donate. By using the PayPal account attached to this blog, I don’t have to promise presents to people who give me money. The finished product will be free, so that is surely incentive enough isn’t it? If you enjoy my blog then please show your appreciation, imagine I’m a busker standing in the street with my upturned guitar case and you walk past. You would chuck some coins in wouldn’t you? Look at it from that point of view, this blog is my music, my laptop is my instrument, and the button above the blog is my upturned guitar case.

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My daily blog can be delivered straight to your Kindle for 99p a month (link)
I’m raising money to make a film about The Sunday Alternative and put on a free screening, please read my latest newsletter.

Any money donated to the PayPal account above will be used to make films, podcasts, and other content that will be made available free of charge.

Friday 25th October

Every now and then I pull an all-nighter in my office, as I have always worked better at night and have a lot of work on at the moment. Last night I managed to get a load of songs for The Sunday Alternative uploaded and sent across, while at the same time figuring out the music for this week’s American show. I then got on with little tasks that I hadn’t had the time to do properly such as the radio blogs and uploading to the Mixcloud archives; when I saw how far behind I was with the Mixcloud for The Sound Of Nottingham UK I realised that this is one of those jobs it’s better to do a bit at a time as I have months worth of shows to catch up with. All in all I should have been happy with what I managed to do last night and this morning, but I’m never happy really and always feel that I should have done more, recording the remaining episode of Steve’s LP Box for example.

As always when I’m working, I had two tabs on my computer open; one with Twitter and one with Facebook (remember Facebook? It’s making an inexplicable comeback) and would occasionally have a quick look at. Maybe this is why I don’t get more done? A lot of employers don’t allow access to the Internet during work time, so perhaps I should do the same until I give myself a designated break? I remember a few years ago I organised this idea with Mandi where I woke up with her and had breakfast, and she texted me when she arrived at work, which was my cue to start myself. She texted me when she had a break and when she had lunch, and I would have the same breaks at home until she texted to say it was time to go back to work. During that experiment I managed to get a lot done, although looking back I realise that I didn’t have the workload that I have now. Or maybe I did have the workload but thought I had all the time in the world to work at a more leisurely pace?

Thanks to having the Twitter/Facebook windows open, I saw my old friend Wayne Bavin was doing the breakfast show on Norwich 99.9FM so decided to listen online. Once again I was struck by how ideal he is for this kind of radio. I first met him in the mid-1990s when he was a club DJ and even then he had a DJ’s mentality. His musical offerings this morning weren’t to my taste (although he throws in a few good tracks so he can’t be entirely bound by a playlist like most commercial stations), but I like to listen to him when I can because of his skill. He’s writing an autobiography of his nomadic life of wandering between stations as a freelance stand-in called Radio Gypsy, and I am writing the foreword to it, one of the things I refer to is the very fact that he still hasn’t got a permanent radio home yet. I would recommend listening to him but it’s hard to know where he’ll be next. Perhaps best to follow him on Twitter.

It made me wonder if I could do what he does. A lot of people close to me tell me that I shouldn’t be on Trent Sound and that I should try and get in at BBC Radio Nottingham or some other station, and although I agree to some extent I have always resisted attempting it. Not because I’m not good enough as I do believe I have the skill, but because I have never wanted to compromise my musical output. On the other hand I do feel as if I might have painted myself into a corner by somehow becoming known as a cool, serious broadcaster rather than a “let us know the funny things your goldfish did today, we’ll have more after a couple of songs followed by the traffic” type. I didn’t set out to be this type of presenter, it just sort of happened. Could I take a job with a bigger station and play music I have no say in? I’d enjoy the fun aspect of it, and I’d also enjoy being able to interview none-music guests, I’d probably even enjoy representing the station in a shopping centre doing some dopey Saturday afternoon ‘fun day’. Would people take me seriously at gigs though? Would I have to say goodbye to my credibility? Maybe if I carried on doing what I do at the same time, after all John Peel presented Top of the Pops and nobody complained.

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I’m raising money to make a film about The Sunday Alternative and put on a free screening, please read my latest newsletter.

Saturday 3rd August

It annoyed me that I didn't get up until late, as I had a busy day ahead of me. Once again I found myself working on a Saturday, which for a self-employed person is reasonably pointless as I don't get paid time-and-a-half for it, I do it because I enjoy what I do. It isn't about the money, although it does help you to eat and stuff so please find my Bandcamp page in the side links to this blog. Alternatively, above this blog is my PayPal 'donate' button; go mad!

I was in my office all day recording the latest exciting installment of Moonage Daydream. This edition is all about The 1980 Floor Show, which took place in 1973. This edition was finished (the writing part) on Thursday and I've been looking forward to getting it recorded and uploaded. I am very pleased with the series so far, and although I don't get too many listeners on Mixcloud, it is getting good figures on the Internet archive; swings and roundabouts. Due to the research and writing process, Moonage Daydream takes a long time to make, and the pressure of having to do this on a weekly basis would probably kill me. The trouble is that I'm leaving very long intervals between each edition, which can't really be helped unless I forget everything else and concentrate on just producing this series. As I do Moonage Daydream for myself out of love, I obviously can't afford to do that. There's also the matter of all my other projects, so I do get a little sense of relief when I have uploaded an edition, as I know I can forget about it and de-Bowie my brain for a little bit, (although nobody should ever totally de-Bowie their brains of course). To counter this problem, I will be putting out short filler podcasts that will be of interest to Bowie fans, but won't have anything to do with the continuity of the main series.

Acting impulsively, I started one of those jobs that you immediately regret starting; I decided to tidy my office. After I'd done some of the boring stuff like fill the recycling bag up with assorted scraps of paper, old newspapers, pop bottles, and other assorted office debris, I then tidied all the boxes of Christmas decorations in the corner. As we 'top up' every year, the collection is taking up more and more room.

My favourite discovery was a collection of boxes all containing demo and promo CDs that I had amassed over the years. The over-cautious part of my brain is scared to part with these on the off chance that one of them will become mega-stars and I will have a rare piece of treasure worth literally dozens of pounds. All the stuff from my promoter days is boxed up in storage, so these shoe boxes full of CDs are from when I first started writing for Night Flight and then presenting on Sherwood Radio. This was the last gasp for the era of demo discs in the post, as nowadays the majority of music that I get sent I receive through emailed MP3 files. It's quite a fast progression really, as I had got used to the postman bring packets to my door containing cassettes for my consideration. The first time someone sent me a CD I immediately thought the sender a flashy show-off, of course this was when CD production wasn't the simple, do-it-at-home task that it is today. The compact disc gradually became the thing, until eventually the thought of sending someone a cassette suddenly seemed weird and outdated. These days of course you can buy as many blank discs as you can carry out of the pound shop, and the CD writer on most computers means that everyone can be their own record label boss. However, some time in the early 2000s, (one of those strange happenings that nobody can stick an exact date on - a bit like when women's pubic hair became extinct) I received an email that asked me to click on a link to their Myspace page to listen to their music. I didn't even know what Myspace was, and this was in the days when nobody dared to click on a link in an email because we thought our computers would crash and our house would burn down. So the lifespan of the mailed CD was only a few years compared to cassettes before them, and links to pages and attached MP3 files after them. That was one of the things that stood out from the collection in my office; how so many bands and singers didn't have a 'proper' website, but had a Myspace site. It's hard to believe that Myspace has gone to the great Internet dustbin along with Geocities, Compuserve, Hotmail, Lycos, Ask Jeeves, Popbitch, and so many other names that you are reading in this blog and saying "oh yes, I remember that" to yourself, and the likes of Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Reverbnation, and others now exist in its place to help provide a service to musicians.

A lot of the names on the CDs have no meaning now, so I would be interested to find out what became of them. There are some names that have gone on to good things, (I'm especially proud that Jake Morley and Calling All Astronauts were heard on my show first), and a lot of Nottingham music that I will definitely keep. Actually, the Nottingham collection is now in one box of treasure that I might add to my archive that gets left in my will to the library. One of my favourite bands, the criminally not yet world famous Captain Dangerous, feature quite heavily. They used to be represented by Manila PR, who I've had a good working relationship with for a number of years, and they sent me their singles. Funnily enough, Manila PR themselves have made the move towards sending emails these days. I tweeted that I have so many Captain Dangerous promos, and was tweeted back from their account, (which I think is Adam but might be Miles, I have never thought to ask) asking how I had got hold of them.

This has given me an idea for a podcast series, (because I don't have enough to do already), playing these CDs to refresh the memory of music lovers. As preparation I would take notes from their dormant Myspace sites, (or at least I would if I was able to, as looking at Myspace is impossible nowadays on Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome can fuck the fuck off in my opinion), and the single sheet press releases that I have a box full of. The idea originally came to me a while ago when John Peel's record collection became public property. I imagine that the best way to do this would be to try and index the discs first, to see how many different CDs from the same artists I have, as they will make longer and possibly more interesting editions. The people that only sent one song might not even be worth doing really. Now all I need to think of is a name.

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