I have been taking anti-depressants for just over a week and I have noticed a difference in my temperament and general behaviour so that has to be a good thing. The thoughts of suicide no longer plague me and I am a lot calmer than I remember being, but there is another effect that I am not overly happy with. I'm not talking about the side effects (dizziness, nausea, the shits, and a general feeling of tiredness) but the effect that it has had on my creativity. 

At the beginning of the year I wrote a list of the things I wanted to do this year and even worked out a colour coded system of diary entries by where each colour depicts a different activity; The Sunday Alternative Podcast, The Sunday Alternative Live, radio appearances, compering gigs, The Random Saturday Sessions, filming, and other such undertakings are written in my diary in different coloured felt tipped pens. How organised is that? Although it is nice to be relaxed and catch up on reading, (not to mention how tidy my office is due to total lack of activity - I did a big tidy and sorted out my paperwork before I started the medication) I feel as though January has been a bit of a waste of time. All I have done is release a couple of episodes of The Random Saturday Sessions and two podcasts, the Bowie Day audio book doesn't count because that was recorded last year.

David Bowie's death had an impact on me just as it did a lot of people, but I have always been inspired to be creative by him (not that I am anywhere near as talented) and I know that everybody who mourns his death should do something artistic in his honour but I just can't be arsed. I couldn't even do the podcast last week because I hadn't listened to any other music than Bowie since the day he died, even now he is the only musician on my MP3 player. The ideas are there but the motivation has escaped me, I haven't even been to a gig this month, not one. To be honest I don't tend to go out a lot in January for some reason so maybe once I get back into watching live music I'll start to feel better. Imagine being a champion of new music and not going to gigs, this must be how Mark 'literally' Del and Dean Jackson feel all the time, I wonder how they cope with it. 

Maybe it was depression that encouraged me? A lot of artistic people have mental health issues so perhaps that is the key. I don't want to come off the medication, and I have been warned not to suddenly stop, but it is killing me that I am not excited enough to do something. The only downside to being free from depressive episodes is that on the flip side I also don't experience the euphoria that surges in and sets me off enough to spend several hours in my office working on something. Is it worth living as two very different people just to be able to get on with my work? 

Please read my January newsletter here.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #71 is available from here.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is the final one from West Bridgford and stars City of Kites surrounded by Christmas trees. Watch it here.

 

Picture from Membrain

If I kept on top of my paperwork then it would be a piece of piss to keep organised rather than waiting until I have a pile of papers all over the office floor preventing me from walking properly across the room without either slipping or treading on one of the cats disturbing their nest. It will perhaps be one of those jobs that I always meant to do but will never get round to completing properly due to having other things to do. If I got someone else to do it then there is no way they would do it how I wanted thanks to my rather convoluted system. Each reason to have papers has its own lever arch file; bank statements, bills (each company has their own file), and the more important stuff like the printed Word version of my reviews and other newspaper writing (along with any handwritten notes), lists of songs played on my radio shows and podcasts (dated - the podcast notes have dates written in red stating when they were recorded and released), emails and notes relating to The Sunday Alternative Live and The Random Saturday Sessions, and a file called 'miscellaneous correspondence' which contains emails that are worth keeping but not worth their own folder. Yes, I print them as I don't have a lot of faith in keeping purely digital copies. Then there's the boxes containing various things such as a box of gig tickets, wristbands, flyers (only flyers for gigs I have been to), programmes and such stuff. I also have boxes of CDs with podcasts and radio stuff on, a couple of boxes called 'Nottingham music' (I have started updating my Nottingham music archive purely on USB sticks now), and most anal of all I have a box of receipts that come out of cash-point machines 'just in case'. That 'just in case' is probably the same reason people give for keeping takeaway menus, old batteries, and screws. My reason is that some discrepancy on my bank account will be ironed out if I have a detailed record of my transactions although I have never been called upon to use them, which is a shame because they are all in date and time order fastened together with a treasury tag. I have also made room in the box of Christmas editions of the Radio Times for this year's copy, you just never know when you might want to know what was on during the Christmas holidays on a certain day of a certain year and I can be the one to tell you. Maybe there's a business idea there, I'll write it down and then place the piece of paper in the box labelled 'Abandoned ideas, notes, notebooks' and never think about it again.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #65 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. 

My foray into live music promotion didn't go as smoothly as I had planned, hence the fact that there aren't a great deal of videos online yet due to various problems. I have had to wait for audio to come back from the venue and video-wise it has been one disaster after another. October's gig was filmed by my dad but the camera kept cutting out but I had taken little snippets on my camera and plenty of stills to pad the finished result out. The footage I have from the very first gig will be a nightmare to put together as it consists of a lot of sweeping shots that will be a ball-ache to synchronise, the second gig wasn't filmed at all due to an almighty fuck up, there is sufficient footage of the third gig to enable us to have made a video of each act albeit not the full performance. I decided that the videos wouldn't be the full set after all although that decision was made for me. For the final show I was filming it and once again the camera kept cutting out resulting in the need to do some pretty crafty editing. One of the main problems will be syncing the audio and the video now as I did a clap to camera (haven't got a clapper-board) but that's no good if the video is in bits. From the last gig I have enough footage to get some videos out once I get the audio, as I recorded several songs by each act on my back up camera. 

Today I was looking for the card with the videos and photographs on and couldn't find it anywhere. I knew there was a moderate amount of footage on the video camera but I needed the back up stuff that I had on a card and there was no sign of it anywhere in my office. It wasn't in any drawer by my desk, and more worryingly it wasn't in the little box of USB sticks and cards. As far as I was concerned this was the final straw that convinced me to give up trying to get the live gigs out as a video series as it just wasn't worth the aggravation. Having checked several cards before checking the most recent USB sticks (just in case I had transferred them) I concluded that I must have deleted everything thus losing it forever.

Eventually I found the card with the footage on to my enormous relief. It was in my camera. You just wouldn't think of looking there would you?

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #65 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. 

Aren't I tall in this picture?

Last night was the final night for The Sunday Alternative Live (for this year) as I am going to take a break in order to get the videos sorted. To be honest this whole thing has been a big headache behind the scenes yet an utter delight to watch the finished result. Tonight I couldn't video an entire set because the camera kept stopping with a message saying that filming had been suspended. How I am able to film a day out for The Random Saturday Sessions but not a continuous half hour without things going wrong I don't know. As we are not releasing the whole set on YouTube it doesn't really matter but that decision was made due to the lack of complete footage. On the bright side, we have the full sets on audio so there's scope for a podcast series in the future. 

My dad was ill with a bad back and didn't come along to film the show as there's a lot of standing involved. To add to the situation I had forgotten to ask around for someone who could do the door so I was running a one man operation. Luckily my friends Jon and Jo turned up so Jo, bless her, sat on the door for me from time to time. Everything seemed to be a problem for me last night although a lot of it was in my head because I worry about things in general. One of the biggest issues appeared to be that nobody could decide who wanted to sound check in what order when we were getting close to opening time. 

The line up was another beauty and I am genuinely very pleased with myself at the standard I have managed to stick to. One Million Motors (or John as I call him) opened up the proceedings, including reminding me of the time he swore on my radio show when he played. I had previously asked Bainy if he would mind if Blue Vulture went on second because I wanted Diablo Furs to go on later and potentially get a bigger audience. I take the piss out of Bainy and we have the sort of friendship where you don't offend each other with insults (at least I hope it's a friendship, maybe he means it), in particular my refusal to give his band any higher compliment than 'quite good'. The truth is, and here is where my mask slips, that they are a great live band and went down well with the unfortunately small audience. I am pretty certain that Diablo Furs only really got going this year but they have come on in leaps and bounds since the first time I saw them. Headlining was Trioxin Cherry who brought a following with them, not many but it doesn't really matter because everyone enjoyed it and the people who played got paid. Trioxin Cherry play all over the place and have a big following so I am surprised I got them to agree to appear if I'm honest and they played as if they were playing to a packed arena which is how it should be. If I have seen them before I can't remember it but they played an amazing set and rounded off the evening beautifully. 

Without wanting to reignite things, but I think the fact that I have pulled such strong names is down to the same reason a lot of people dislike my style. It is easy to think I'm that arsehole who slags people off but I don't do it deliberately, I just don't filter. The flip side of this is that when I get behind a band then they know that I mean it and know that I will treat them nicely. What I lose on the swings I gain on the roundabouts. 

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #62 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.

My dad has a new toy and it's a film editing studio programme in his office and he has done a fantastic job of somehow making sense of some of my visions and back of a cigarette packet notes and creating something even better than I could have imagined. Today I took delivery of all five episodes of The Random Saturday Sessions that we recorded in Beeston and from this coming Saturday I will be releasing on a week in the order in which they played on the day, a system I am sure will fall apart once we've done West Bridgford as there are more people coming and I might not be able to keep track. 

We have also started working on the videos for The Sunday Alternative Live which won't be as easy because we have had problems from the start with the video recording (and long delays between the actual gig and receiving the audio) so we have had a rethink on the original plan to release the entirety of the artist's set as a YouTube video and will instead be cobbling together a shorter visual release with the scope to release a full audio podcast at a later date. Although I kind of know what the videos will look like this will have to wait a while until I have time to go round and spend time working on them with him. Sadly this is at the moment the closest I have come to making an idea come alive that I had in 2007 to create a television show online to showcase new music. As I have said before very few people in 2007 knew what I was talking about. My aim was for a Jools Holland type of affair in a big room with several bands and singers ready to take their turn, with better music of course. The show was going to be called The Pod (as in podcast) and it was impossible to pitch because the concept of television on the Internet was an alien one to most people. YouTube was only limited to ten minute videos back then when it had the strap-line 'Broadcast Yourself', and technology was against the idea too because most people's access to the Internet was via a computer - a proper computer in the corner of the room rather than a laptop. If I had announced in 2007 that one day we would be doing most of it on a mobile phone I would have been burned as a witch. 

It could happen with enough funding of course!

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #61 is available from here.

===

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.

You get 365 blogs a year, a weekly podcast and a forthcoming Nottingham music podcast (at Christmas) free of charge already.

Some ways to help:

You can have a kazoo cover dedicated to you.

Beat the 5p carrier bag charge here (and check out other goodies)

Download my audio books here.

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23:3

Bollocks! That's what I say to you and your silly children's storybook. Sunday was once a day of rest and fun for me but now it is pretty much a work day (apart from the trip to my dad's for lunch which takes me out of circulation for a few hours). Not that it isn't fun and of course I'm not working down a coal-mine but I often wonder how I managed to turn Sunday into a working day. I suppose the pivotal moment was hosting a radio show with the word 'Sunday' in the title and then the name growing into a monthly gig and successful podcast. 

I'm not complaining of course, I'm also not complaining about the fact that I woke up this morning with my stomach feeling like a washing machine thanks to an overwhelming nervousness. At the time of writing this blog I still haven't left the house and I have been for three separate poo visits to the toilet. So far this morning I have uploaded and spent some time doing the usual shouting on social media promoting the podcast and taken Jack for a walk to try and clear my head. My head didn't clear, for today I am about to leave the house and host a stage as part of the Hockley Hustle. 

This is only the fourth staging of The Sunday Alternative Live (it counts as canon even though it isn't as The Maze) and is a pretty big deal. There's a lot riding on this and any major fuck up will hurt me, not that anyone might even notice but for me it will be the worst thing in the world. 

My first port of call will be breakfast in Hockley followed by a day at Bunkers Hill, wish me luck.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #59 is available from here

===

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.

You get 365 blogs a year, a weekly podcast and a forthcoming Nottingham music podcast (at Christmas) free of charge already.

Some ways to help:

You can have a kazoo cover dedicated to you.

Beat the 5p carrier bag charge here (and check out other goodies)

Download my audio books here.

There is a better version of this picture but I like the fact that nobody seems ready.

I decided not to do a podcast this week as I didn't want to take away from the release of the video today by bombarding people with advertising. This was a tactical decision of sorts because I hadn't had time to record it what with being away for the last part of the week and by the time I got home and unpacked I couldn't really be arsed recording. 

My dad edited the video together and everyone involved loved it so he has the job, the only critique that we made the finished product a bit too long. This was ideal for this particular video as it was a promotional film for our Hockley Hustle stage but for future days out along these lines I have thought of how to play it. Rather than only playing one song (which was probably necessary on this occasion) I think it would be better to have each artist play two or three songs and the video will just be their set on a weekly basis. Depending on how many people take part it will give me plenty of material to put out a weekly show. Whether the three songs all take place in the same location or not is down to the mood of the day but each artist will have their own show to promote on the social media sites. 

We have already started talking about the next day trip out and getting very enthusiastic about how far we can take this, so be careful when enjoying a cup of tea and a sticky bun in the peaceful surroundings of your local tea shop because if you see a gang wandering in brandishing guitars you could find yourself at an impromptu gig.

The Hockley Hustle Practice Run can be viewed here.

===

September housekeeping

Please consider making a donation using the PayPal button to help finance ongoing projects such as podcasts, short films, documentaries, comedy sketches and other entertainment that I will make available online free of charge.

Any money made by the sale of products on my shop page also goes into the fund, ideal Christmas presents!

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

After last month I thought that I had turned a corner regarding the monthly gigs but last night's show had a smaller audience which goes to show what a struggle this is going to be to pull off. I don't know what is stopping people coming, it certainly isn't the bookings that are to blame because I had once again pulled in a good quality bill. Maybe it's the location, maybe it is because it's a Sunday night, whatever it is I don't get it but something needs to happen soon otherwise I am going to have to sit and think about the future of this project. Part of the attraction for me was the opportunity to produce a video series but that has been hit with a constant stream of problems resulting in being on the third gig without a single episode being released. Sooner or later the venue will realise that we're not exactly a goldmine and as such might decide to give me up as a bad job. I had wanted to expand The Sunday Alternative Live to another city once a month but financially speaking it might not be worth it especially as at the moment I don't have travel expense and pay people using the door money. Promotion wise I do as much as I can but as the artists are sharing the entry fee between them (I don't earn any money from it and don't want to, bands need paying in real money and not exposure) it hasn't gone unnoticed that some bands are doing more advertising than others. 

Anyway, despite the low turn out the night was another high quality one although I couldn't relax because I was taking photographs and filming short snippets to slot into the main recording that was being filmed from a static camera. My dad filmed the whole thing so at least we actually have visual footage to work with. At the weekend I am finally going to get my hands on the videos of the first gig (I already have the audio) so that's four episodes that can see the light of day. Jay Brow opened the show in high spirits, it isn't my place to say on here why he hasn't exactly had a good month or two so to see him on such good form playing mainly from The Breakfast Club's back catalogue. The Herron Brothers were the first out of town band I have booked, coming from Derby. They went down well with the small crowd and it would be great to see them playing Nottingham again soon, in fact they are at the Hockley Hustle next month. PTO were next, a band I was really pleased to have on and Fleets honoured their booking by playing an acoustic set to cover the absence of their holidaying drummer.

To go back to the Hockley Hustle I have next month off from The Maze and with it I have moderately less pressure because it is part of a large festival so people with wristbands can come and go as they please, and with it being a charity gig I don't have to worry about making enough money on the door to pay the artists with. Talking of which, last month everyone got £25 yet last night they all got £6. I hope it doesn't go to their heads.

The Sunday Alternative #55 is available from here.

===

September housekeeping

Please consider making a donation using the PayPal button to help finance ongoing projects such as podcasts, short films, documentaries, comedy sketches and other entertainment that I will make available online free of charge.

Any money made by the sale of products on my shop page also goes into the fund, ideal Christmas presents!

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

If I was getting bored and jaded with the local music scene then last night was just the kick up the arse I needed to unravel that feeling and revive my interest. Only a true music lover would pay a fiver to get in to see the opening act before buggering off somewhere else, which is just what I did at the start of the evening as Simon York was kicking off the night at The Chameleon as support to Spiral 69 and as a big fan of his band Luxury Stranger (who once supported Spear of Destiny and wiped the floor with them) I wanted to catch him as I hadn't seen him play live solo before. I would recommend that anybody knocking around the Nottingham music scene with an acoustic guitar first goes to see Simon play a solo show before trying for themselves. You should take a notebook and pen with you to make notes on how it is done as he will make you look stupid. There are too many kids moaning about feelings that they are too young to have felt and Simon York last night knocked them all into a cocked hat. Luxury Stranger play all over the country and have (naturally) made very little impact in Nottingham, which of course draws me to them because their under the radar status appeals to my own outsider status within the scene. While there are pricks about I am happy to kick against them with company like this. 

As soon as Simon finished I was on my way to Jam Cafe to catch The Rutherfords and Diablo Furs, there was someone else on the bill but he/she didn't turn up. Both bands played a blinder and the advantage of seeing something loud is that it doesn't matter if ignorant people talk through it as you can't hear them. It doesn't stop them but you can't hear them. 

I genuinely believe that Diablo Furs are one of the most exciting bands on the circuit at the moment and get stronger with each appearance. You can catch them at The Maze on Sunday 1st November for my Sunday Alternative Live.

Pleased to announce that I have joined Diablo Furs as kazoo player.

The Sunday Alternative #54 is available from here.

===

September housekeeping

Please consider making a donation using the PayPal button to help finance ongoing projects such as podcasts, short films, documentaries, comedy sketches and other entertainment that I will make available online free of charge.

Any money made by the sale of products on my shop page also goes into the fund, ideal Christmas presents!

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

The official announcements took place in Nottingham while I was away this week so I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to be shouting about it, but now I can finally go on record and say what I have been desperate to say for ages. The Sunday Alternative Live will next month be a part of the Hockley Hustle. Aside from my thinly disguised hint a little while ago I have done really well to keep quiet. 

As I said before I have in my opinion one of the strongest line-ups of the whole festival and as I am someone who has still never really been accepted with open arms into the Nottingham music scene this is a pretty big deal for me and a bit of acceptance for The Sunday Alternative at last. I don't know if I will be able to have everything filmed and recorded as usual seeing as this is part of a bigger event so I will have to wait and see. 

What this will achieve if I don't fuck the whole thing up is a further string to the bow of the name The Sunday Alternative as a (grits teeth to use a word I didn't really want to use) 'brand'. I've already gone from a radio show to a much more successful podcast and now a live gig so I am always looking at how to add more strings to the aforementioned bow. Although I don't want to get into competition with the other promoters around Nottingham, I do feel that as a one man operation that I can stand alongside them. Once I'm standing beside them I'll get someone to tie all their shoelaces together so I can win!

The Sunday Alternative #53 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

The intention to film the bands who play at The Sunday Alternative Live hasn't exactly gone to plan so far, although I do have some good news regarding the footage from the first one. After what happened at the last show we decided to take matters into our own hands and do it ourselves. My dad will be filming and has spent all day today giving himself a crash course in editing and all the technical stuff in preparation, so at last we will be able to put out a regular weekly video on the show's YouTube channel. To avoid clashing with the regular audio podcast I will probably put these out on a Saturday morning.

Now that we are self sufficient and not depending on one of the most unreliable sectors in Nottingham the doors are open for some of the other projects that have been simmering away on my to-do list for far too long such as the pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast. There are other things too that we might get out of the way this year but realistically might have to wait now and be added to next year's list, although 2016 is mostly all about filming stuff so hopefully by the end of it there will be plenty of content floating around the Internet for you.

As always we have a slight stumbling block and that is finance. Please consider making a donation using the PayPal button above as it all goes towards paying people (not me though, creativity is my reward) and making films and stuff that in return for your gift will be given away free of charge online. If you can afford to make a regular donation then please do as it is cheaper than the TV Licence and it helps make things that are worth watching. If you want to help and get something other than free content to show for it, then follow the links below for a list of ways, I can't believe nobody has put in for a kazoo cover yet, I am rather good at it you know.

The Sunday Alternative #53 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

Picture from Wikipedia

People keep asking me why The Sunday Alternative Live isn't taking place in October, as I have only announced the line ups for September and November so far. The fact is that I am staging a gig in October and I have a line up to die for. Today I finalised the full running order. 

The night will be headlined by The Wild Man of Europe, a band I have seen a couple of times now since they performed live on my radio show. Their album is out now and has been getting rave reviews all over the place so this is quite a strong booking and a chance to see some genuinely nice people playing on my stage. Another band I am proud to be hosting is Prefontaine, finally back together with a change of personnel on drums and lead guitar. I know how much Gary in particular has missed being in a band so it is nice to be able to be putting on their comeback show. Bill Kerry from DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show will be opening, and elsewhere on the bill there is Subway Circus, a band I have never worked with (there are still a few). The Amber Herd are a band who until now have successfully managed to avoid working with me so their luck has run out as they are booked on this show, as are City of Kites and George Gadd's band Little Bribes. My good friend Lisa DeVille (as she is known professionally) will also be playing as will Fleets and a side project from Golden Troubadours, Bowman Hull and the Instant Band.

Quite an impressive line up and far more people than usually play at my gigs. As I have only recently turned my hand to live promotion, this will be the fourth Sunday Alternative Live and logistically my biggest one yet. This means that there is the scope for far more to go wrong, or a highly rewarding challenge, I'm not sure which one of those it will be yet but I'm looking forward to finding out. 

This gig won't be at The Maze, but at the moment I am unable to say anything else on the matter until I get the okay.

The Sunday Alternative #51 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

Last night went brilliantly as far as the activity on the stage was concerned, I am always a bag of nerves wanting everything to go well and last night I nearly blew a gasket - more of which in a moment. Last month I had asked everyone to be at The Maze for five o'clock and we weren't let in until half past, so I figured that we might as well meet up at half past. As things in my life tend to happen, we were let in nearer to six o'clock, I might say six next month but not bother leaving the house until quarter past. 

To further save time there was an equipment share going on so the band who supplied the drums (I paid very little attention to this process aside from helping carry a few bits in) did a main soundcheck just to see if everything worked, with a quick 'line check' (I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about) as each band went on stage. My friend Simon Waldram was first on the bill, having turned up even before I did as I found him sitting on his guitar case outside The Maze as I got off the bus, had I had time to think and get my camera out without causing a fuss it would have made a brilliant album cover. Simon played a great set but he wasn't happy with it and ended by taking off his guitar and throwing it to the ground in frustration. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong for him but he soon cheered up, it would be sad if he went away thinking he didn't play well because he opened the show brilliantly. The Sherwins are a band who got in touch with me on Twitter a while ago and sent me some music which I was sufficiently impressed with to play on the podcast and was glad to be able to get them to play one of my nights. Although not a massive name on the circuit they went down really well with the crowd (a lot more of a crowd than last time so hopefully the gig will build each time) and genuinely seemed happy to be on stage. 

The Spangle Corps recently played to a fairly well populated Rescue Rooms so I was in two minds as where to place them on the bill. I have always said that I didn't want the order to be based on crowd pulling ability so part of me thought about putting them on first or second in order to fill the place up early and give the less well known Sherwins and Simon a bigger audience. On the other hand, I have seen it happen far too often where a band will fill a room only for everyone to leave as soon as they're finished making the headliner play to the bar staff. The most obvious placing would have been to have them headlining but that might have had the same effect but in reverse in that the audience wouldn't show up until it was their time to go on. Besides, Fighting Evil Is Cool! are a headline worthy band in their own right and while I didn't want to upset anyone by bringing in a hierarchy I do have to think about how the gig pans out. Nobody else seemed to have been concerned which goes to show how much I overthink things. The Spangle Corps and FEIC! both delivered storming performances demonstrating how to own the stage and put in a show, everyone pulled together and made this a real pleasure to be a part of, I sometimes forget that this is a gig that I am in charge of. My workload was reduced significantly as my dad turned up and ended up taking the money on the door, and talking of which it was cool to be able to pay everyone for playing, especially as my handing money over was met with surprise as they weren't expecting to be paid. Nottingham's music scene usually runs on a mixture of goodwill and bullshit and I (despite what many people think of me) only operate on goodwill and leave the bullshitting to those who do it best. 

As good as the gig was I did have reason to fly off the handle at the guy (I won't name him) who had been tasked (and was expecting to be paid) with filming the sets for the series. It soon became apparent that he had fucked up big time and had only filmed the first two sets before his memory card (singular) filled up. I had had a few pints and was running on the adrenalin of having a gig to run and nearly ended up punching him. As a compensation to myself I somehow ended up with his memory card which I took home expecting to find Simon Waldram's set and The Sherwins, at least I would have two weeks worth of episodes. Putting the memory card into my camera and plugging it into my laptop I soon realised that all that he had recorded was around two minutes of footage. 

A plan of action is needed now as it appears that people who want to become film producers in Nottingham tend to be either slow or unreliable. Chances are we will be able to borrow a camera for the next one before hopefully raising the money via donations to be able to buy our own equipment and do the thing ourselves. 

My conversation with the filming guy carried on into this morning and we have settled our differences. I apologised for getting angry as I shouldn't have lost my temper, I am not apologising for my anger as such because I was justified but I acted on impulse and should have dealt with it in a calm and dignified manner. Of course I won't be using him again for filming but he is an old friend so although things might be uneasy at first I will have a drink with him again in the future. 

The Sunday Alternative #51 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

Thanks to the day of uncharacteristic productivity that I went through in the week, I was able to stay in bed a little while longer. All I had to do was change the date on the blog page to make it visible and blast out some advertising tweets and Facebook posts and my job was done. Sunday morning is always a bit of a bad-tempered affair because Mandi will eventually start hassling me to hurry up and get ready to go for lunch at my dad's despite the fact that I will usually be ready to leave the house before she is. This time around I had done the bulk of my work already but sadly didn't really do a lot of advertising for the podcast as I had a gig on the evening and had been giving that a last minute push instead.

I am writing this in the afternoon before leaving for The Maze and I have a good feeling about tonight's show as I have put together a strong line up (as I did last time, that might have come out wrong) and everyone seems up for it. I am using a different video guy tonight so hopefully the weekly YouTube series can kick off fairly soon - I still haven't had the videos back from the first show yet which is a bit of a downer on my plans as that is four episodes that I am missing and it is a pity that I informed the artists that they were being filmed for that purpose. Hopefully now The Sunday Alternative Live will finally be starting life as a video series, a vision I have had for some considerable amount of time now. 

Anyway, quick visit to the toilet and last minute check I have everything I need (keys, phone, wallet, fags, lighter) and I've off.

The Sunday Alternative #51 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

On Sunday night I had two pints of Nottingham's most famous laxative, Shipstones Bitter which made it a good job that I had booked yesterday off work to concentrate on 'proper' work. By proper work I mean a lot of catching up in my home office. I should do this on a semi-regular basis really as it was a hugely productive day that I wrote a list for the day before and pretty much stuck to apart from a few things that aren't urgent. It could have gone wrong and I might have stayed in bed until the middle of the afternoon and got nothing done at all, but thankfully Jack was agitated and seemingly desperate to get outside. I usually walk him before work and on days off he doesn't usually get taken out until about nine or ten, he gets a walk at around two o'clock in the morning so he always has a good unload to tide him over. Today though he wanted to get out and I pulled on some clothes and he dragged me down the road until he eventually let go with an almighty deposit. Of course I am a responsible dog parent and would musically have picked it up and put it in the bin, but I would have needed a spoon for this, my saving grace was that he did it on a verge on the side of the path underneath some nettles so at least it wasn't going to become a burden on someone's shoe. He kept assuming the position throughout the walk and appeared to be in discomfort for the most part of our outing, he was just dripping the remains out so I decided to keep him out until he seemed to have emptied himself and we ended up being out for two hours. 

Once I had made breakfast and attempted to feed Jack (he didn't want anything and I didn't force the issue) I set about getting on with it. I rattled through and managed to record Sunday's podcast and did all the uploading and set up the blog page so all I have to do on Sunday is press a button and it is done. After doing some advertising for the next gig I recorded a small podcast to preview it, something I think I will do for all of them from now on, and uploaded it straight away. Once that big job was out of the way I ploughed through the outstanding admin tasks, emailing all and sundry with various replies and comments before it was time to have a late lunch. The interview with Will Robinson about Waterfront was emailed in to the paper as was some information about The Sunday Alternative Live in the hope that they will do something with it. 

Jack seemed to be over the worst so he must have just eaten something that didn't agree with him and upset his stomach, to be honest I have mornings like that. To help him to get his appetite back I took him to the park to chase his ball for a while. I still don't like to take him there any more since the incident on Good Friday, but he is over it even if I am not so it isn't fair to deny him of it. I tie the lead up around the gate and don't move from the spot now, always on the lookout for someone coming in who ignores the rules and then swears blind that right is on their side. Jack chased and fetched his ball non-stop for about forty minutes before picking up his ball and walking to the gate, his way of showing that he has had enough fun and exercise for one afternoon. 

I had wanted to do some recording of the Bowie Day audio book but couldn't really motivate myself to do that, so I attempted to kick start another of my projects. It started as a joke but I am determined to see if I can do it, and that is the kazoo Christmas album. Sitting at my desk and tooting out a respectable rendition of 'Silent Night' I became aware that I was being watched, turning round I was confronted by Jack sitting there with an inquisitive look on his face. Every time I tried to continue I just started laughing, so if A Kazoo Christmas With Steve Oliver doesn't see the light of day then you know who to blame.

The Sunday Alternative #50 is available from here.

===

August housekeeping

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76

If I'd taken the Post-It notes off the wall first I could have avoided that little Sharpie mark.

November is sorted for The Sunday Alternative Live and it is another good one. At some point I should hopefully get round to filling September but so far I have August and November sorted. You may be asking why I haven't got a Post-It note about October, and I wish I could say why but it is something pretty fucking big and it is killing me not being able to say, it's like trying to hold in your farts in polite company. 

One Million Motors is a one-man operation and although Nottingham is flooded with men with acoustic guitars there are a few that stand out and John is one of them. He appeared on the radio show with me in January 2014 and I haven't caught a lot of him since for some reason so I'm looking forward to having him on the bill. Daiblo Furs impressed me when they played a gig at the Golden Fleece that Darren and I were broadcasting from and they had only played a handful of shows before that so now that they've got a few more notches on the mic stand I'm excited about how they will progress. I will confidently say that if they stay together and put the heavy lifting in they could be as big on the local punk scene as Dick Venom and the Terrortones or Trioxin Cherry. 

Talking of Trioxin Cherry, I am really pleased to have booked this band, and a little surprised to be honest. Of course The Sunday Alternative as a brand is a pretty big deal but I had an idea that Trioxin Cherry were perhaps a little too big for a gig like mine. To be honest I had the same thoughts when I confirmed The Breakfast Club and Spangle Corps so maybe I just have an inflated idea of a band's size. All you need to do is get down to The Maze on Sunday 1st November to see what I mean.

Blue Vulture are quite good too.

The Sunday Alternative #48 is available from here.

===

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

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote this on Facebook.

Live music promoter was never one of the things I ever wanted to call myself and I can honestly say that I was quite happy sticking to being a kazoo player and crisp critic with radio presenter, podcaster, writer, journalist, film maker and everything else on the side.  It wasn't until last year when certain arguments kicked off that I learned that I am quite appreciated within the music world and several people asked me why I didn't put on gigs. The obvious answer is that it looks easy but is actually quite challenging, which is why I kept out of it and decided a long time ago that I much preferred to enjoy live music as a member of the audience. When I casually tossed that Facebook post out into the Internet I wasn't expecting a great deal but it was nice to see people I hold in high regard saying that I should.

Three months later and I have Post-It notes facing me as I sit at my desk, rather than just to the side of me. If anyone reckons that putting on gigs is a piece of piss then they are wrong. For some reason I am having the biggest headache organising September as people are all on holiday. Who goes on holiday in September? Some bands and musicians that's who.

I'm not complaining though, I am loving it. Yes it is stressful at times but the end result is the reward. That is my philosophy in all aspects of my work to be honest; I hate writing and recording podcasts for example, but I love new music and sharing it. I also love the feeling of finishing a podcast and seeing it on the Internet. Writing newspaper articles is a tedious job but finishing it and seeing it in the paper is cool. The biggest ballache of all is writing a daily blog, a commitment I can't shake off but it makes me happy knowing that people are reading it. Or at least hoping that people are reading it.

The Sunday Alternative #47 is available from here.

===

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