BAIBS Thursday 28/11/13

Buongiorno!

Ah Italy. One of my favourite places. Spent my 11th birthday up Mount Vesuvius. Not sure you wanted, or needed, to know that.

Didn't see one busker as I walked through town but I did see a 6 foot chicken. So that's all good.

I have problems with my ego. I've always liked to think of myself as reasonably modest. I was a guest on Andrew Isaacs's show yesterday, Doncaster Is Great. He invites the great and the good of Donny on for a chat. He's been nagging me for ages to come on and as it's my final week at Sine I finally succumbed. He insisted on calling me a star which, whilst flattering, I also found a tad embarrassing. But at the same time my ego does love it when I walk into a pub and everyone knows me and even more so when they praise the show.

Another ego boost came yesterday when I was inadvertently included on a Doncaster Tourist Board guided tour. Before I continue I must mention that out Tourism Board has just won an award at The White Rose Awards. Hats off to Colin Joy and all his team for their tireless, and very often unappreciated, hard work. I was walking past said tour, being guided by my mate Andy, who said a quick hello and enquiry after my yak before he then proceeded to explain to the group who I was and what I did. I should say I'm available for all future tours and at 6'5 I could come in very handy. 'OK ladies and gentlemen. Half hour lunch. Feel free to explore on you're own and we'll meet at 1pm under Saynor.' (Many thanks to the late great Douglas Adams for that joke.

You'll all be pleased to know that I've just successfully negotiated my third cup of coffee of the day. Although after yesterday's shenanigans there is now a ban on all drinks in the Sine FM studio. Apologies to all my fellow presenters that my legacy would appear to be you going thirsty.

So final show tomorrow. It hasn't quite sunk in. I was doing some vague maths and although this is far from accurate I reckon I've done somewhere in the region of a thousand shows. Hard to tell given time off etc. Here's something else I worked out that I'm quite proud of. The two marathon shows that I did with Mark Kelly add up to 152 hours. Some presenters at Sine do 1 hour long show a week. It'd take just under 3 years to clock up that kinda radio time for them. Or if you want to look at it another way, one team's Premiership season (ignoring cup games) lasts 57 hours. Again, a player would have to be ever present for 3 seasons to match the biggest shows hours.

Too squeeze everything into tomorrow's show I will be starting at 6am. So many people who want to come in for a quick chat or play live. Again I am deeply flattered and humbled. I shall leave all the gushing for tomorrow's blog.

Just a quick thanks to the lovely Tracey for agreeing to get up at 4am to get me there on time.

Laters

SS

Playlist Thursday 28/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen

Ma And Pa - Fishbone

Heavyweight Champion Of The World - Reverend And The Makers

Black Man Ray - China Crisis

Blink Of An Eye - You Addiction

Wake Up Boo - Boo Radleys

Reputation - Section 60

Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello

Forty-Five Hundred Times - Status Quo

I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N - Noah And The Whale

Given To Fly - Pearl Jam

Hjerteknuser - Kaizers Orchestra

Down At The Doctors - Dr. Feelgood

Cemetry (An Ode To The IRS) - Bang Bang Romeo

Like A Dancer - The Enemy

Reach Out I'll Be There - The Four Tops

Where Did Our Love Go? - The Supremes

(Love Is Like A) Heatwave - Martha Reeves And The Vandellas

Good Enough - Dodgy

Weather With You - Crowded House

Just Another Girl - The Killers

Minute Mile - The Rifles

Ripples - The Coopers

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Wednesday 27/11/13

Fourth coffee's a charm.

It took me 4 attempts to drink a full mug of coffee today. 1st one was at half 5 this morning in Chesterfield. Coffee made, cigarette lit and my taxi came early. Couple of gulps and on my way. Coffee number 2 was purchased at Chesterfield station. Another stamp gained, free coffee tomorrow. Just as well as I didn't get to drink this one. Got on the train and as I sat down dropped my coffee all over the table. I was still mopping the mess up as we pulled into Sheffield. To add to my woes my leg went dead on the train and as I got up to alight at Donny I fell over. And on arriving at Sine I trapped my fingers in one of the shutters. One of those days. 3rd coffee came courtesy of Helen at Sine and as I reached for a kitkat I knocked my coffee, losing half of it over the keyboard. Apologies to all at Sine for losing the use of the letters L, O and K and for the letter I deciding it wanted to continue life as a 9. On today's playlist I claimed to have played ust Fr 9fe by 9ggy Pp. Still they can sack me after Friday or take it out my wages. My fourth attempt at coffee came on the train back to Chesterfield and despite travelling down a track that appeared to have speedbumps the coffee successfully made the journey from cup to stomach without to much fuss.

More disasters came with a failed attempt to buy a charger for my iPod. It's a little shuffle thing and apparently chargers for it no longer exist. I tried various electrical shops in town with no joy at all. One particularly helpful shop assistant, in a store I wont name but always makes me fancy a poppadom, tried to sell me something that wouldn't do the job but looked nice, and was cheaper than the name brand alternative, which also wouldn't do the job. He did suggest the apple shop though. Didn't get a charger but I've a bag full of Granny Smiths.

Hmmmmm not one of my best. I did walk twice round the Frenchgate Centre looking for said Apple shop. It had made a definite effort to confuse me by:

A: Not being called the Apple shop but KRSC or something and
B: Being very shut.

So another day of music free train journeys. Still, I do get to listen in on people's conversations. I have no idea what was being said on the other end of the phone but the young lady behind me didn't sound happy at all when she said, 'We're not doing that again. It made a right mess and I'll never fix that hole.'

Accordion busking day in Donny town centre. One busker made me want to do a hornpipe before leaving me feeling sea sick. Another duet made me pine for real coffee, croissants and gauloises cigarettes.

I'm now going to attempt coffee number 6 of the day.

Laters

SS

Playlist Wednesday 27/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Chasing Rainbows - Shed 7

Seven Seas - Echo And The Bunnymen

American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem

North-South Divide - John Lennon McCullagh

Stingin' Belle - Biffy Clyro

Thunderstruck - AC/DC

I Useta Love Her - The Saw Doctors

Supersonic - Oasis

Born Under A bad Sign - Richard Hawley

Can Stand The Rain - The Talks

On A Mission - The Skints

Holidays In The Sun - The Sex Pistols

Panic - The Smiths

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Waterfront - Simple Minds

Days Are Forgotten - Kasabian

Transmission - Joy Division

Graceland - The Bible

Under China - Auction For The Promise Club

Lust For Life -  Iggy Pop

Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix

A Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys

The Dead Of Night - The Tricks

If Ever I Stray - Frank Turner

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Tuesday 26/11/13

Corresponding blog 2012: I was waffling on about sawdust in my waffles and rolling around in rook pies. I'll be honest, I have no idea!

Big shout out, can you shout out in a blog?. Big write out to Darrin Snider and Jack Barkley from Fishers, Indiana in the good ol' U.S of A. Is that a bit patronising? As you may, or equally may not, be aware Darrin and Jack are the guys who gave myself and Mark such sterling support from across the pond during the 80 hour show. And once we got past the cockle/clam confusion we were flying. We've stayed in touch since and the last I heard they're planning on naming a cocktail after Mark and putting on SiFest just to raise money to get me to the States so we can have a pint. If this is all true it's a plan I'm all over! Although it brings to mind a Monty Python joke:

Why is American beer like making love in a canoe?

It's f***ing close to water.

Is that my invite gone?

And why do we do this whole thing with the asterisks? We all know what that word says. Does it become less offensive due to the missing 'uck'?

I've just had a message from an old friend saying they dreamt about me last night. So I replied with the obligatory 'scary' and got nothing back. That's just annoying. Just cos I always take the p**s (there we go again) about your inability to keep your leg unbroken there's no need to freak me out. You know who you are.

In a similar vein I may have insulted a pigeon this morning. I had a dream about a pigeon. Nothing spectacular. It was just walking round the car park with a toy dragon in it's mouth. Analyse that f**cker. (I'll stop that now). Anyway, I passed a pigeon on the way to Sine FM Towers this morning and told him I had a dream about his mate last night. So many presumptions there. For a start it could have been a she. And what I've basically said is you're not good enough to be in my dream but your mate is. Or even worse the pigeon could have been thinking 'I think you'll find that was actually me in your dream.' So what I've said to it/him/her is you all look the same to me. I always thought I was more open minded.

I believe I've waffled enough and the Chesterfield train is calling. Not literally but you know what I mean.

Laters

SS

Playlist Tuesday 26/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Breathe - Prodigy

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors

Seven Nights,Seven Days - The Fratellis

Atmosphere - Joy Division

Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello

Hearts Arte Breaking - High Hazels

Kennedy - The Wedding Present

Never Fade Away - Spector

Night Mail - Public Service Broadcasting

Hot In The City - Billy Idol

Torn On The Platform - Jack Penate

Drink, Dance, Play - Young Kato

Dreaming - Blondie

Rag Doll - Aerosmith

I'll Be Fine - White Valentine

Get Back - The Beatles

This Is Real - The Enemy

Spanish Stroll - Mink De Ville

One Drop - Public Image Ltd.

Coming Around - The Vans

Drinkin' my Whisky - Slug The Nightwatchman

Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys

The Chain - Fleetwood Mac

Elysium - Section 60

Shackled And Drawn - Bruce Springsteen

What You Do To Me - Teenage Fanclub

Heroes - David Bowie

Goodbye Kiss - Kasabian

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

The Miracle Of Love - The Eurythmics

I Lost Myself At Hello - Infirmity

Proud Mary - Ike And Tina Turner

She Bangs The Drums - The Stone Roses

You And Your Ego - Hail To The Eskimo

Coffee And TV - Blur

The Sweetest Thing - U2

Valerie - The Zutons

Goodbye Life - Famous Villains

Is  Vic There? - Department S

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Monday 25/11/13

I thought it would be interesting to look at the corresponding blog for this time last year and see what I was up to. Nothing much has changed really. I was waxing lyrical about tie shopping, satsumas, pie and seeing The Vaccines live. I do actually remember that tie shopping trip vividly in fact from my vantage point sat on my bed I can see said gold, could be orange, tie.

Anyway, an apology. I was chatting to my very good friend Dean Cousins on Friday night. His mother, May, is a big fan of this blog and when I found this out, beginning of October I believe, I suggested that we should go out for a sherry some time. Now what I've done there is generalise in a non too complimentary way i.e. Lady of a certain age, therefore must drink sherry. It would seem I'm very much mistaken and for that May I apologise wholeheartedly. She hates the stuff. Nice glass of wine it is. I'm still gonna have sherry though. I love a drop of Bristol Cream.

Just looking back and spell check would appreciate it if I changed satsumas to Matsumoto. Had a quick check. Matsumoto is a Japanese city in the Chubu region on the island of Honshu. It's a designated Special City, twinned with Salt Lake City and looks very nice on the photos. But I doubt you can get 8 for a pound on Donny market. Satsuma is a small town in the Kyushu region. Easily get 8 of them in a small brown paper bag.

It's my final show on Friday. Have I mentioned this? Thought so. I've been writing down tracks that I'd really like to play though not sure I'll fit them all in as there's quite a few artists wanting to perform live too. But, I was wondering, when will I start using proper grammar? That wasn't it at all. I was wondering if you lot out there had one song that would sum up the show? Please be gently with me. The Selecter's On My Radio as a suggestion would just cut me to the bone. And also, there's that quality grammar again, any suggestions for what the very final song should be?

I'll be honest, I've already picked a final track. I'm just intrigued as to what people come up with.

Another weekend gone. Rovers won but it barely registered as Friday night passed in a blur of magic tequila as the lovely Tracey has a birthday party to remember. That I can't really remember.

Right I'm off to find out if exotic pie's on the menu tonight. Pie. See. Told you nothing much had changed.

Playlist Monday 25/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Common People - Pulp

Geraldine - Glasvegas

The Opener - The Courteeners

Debaser - Pixies

Kayleigh - Marillion

Adore Me - Bang Bang Romeo

Hope Street - The Levellers

The Other Way - Polkadodge

The Only Living Boy In New Cross - Carter USM

Magpies - Wolfgirl

Too Much Pressure - The Selecter

The Killing Moon - Echo And The Bunnymen

The Pretender - The Foo Fighters

Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid

The Power Of Love - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Minute Mile - The Rifles

Permanent -Section 60

Black And White Town - Doves

Pacifier - Catfish And The Bottlemen

When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge

Ruby Soho - Rancid

Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode

Sally MacLennane - The Pogues

Mrs. Robinson - The Lemonheads

To Be Like - China Rats

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

.

BAIBS Friday 22/11/13

Xin chào!

Vietnamese! Staggering.

Two secs. Random play on the jukebox thinks that Celine Dion is acceptable. Celine Dion will never be acceptable. Even if you have fallen off a boat.

Hard earned spent on Desmond Dekker. That's more like it.

So I managed four shows this week! Let's try for the full five next week, my final week. It still hasn't sunk in to be honest. As I keep mentioning you're all welcome to the final show a week today.

Pedestrian crossings. More specifically pelican crossings. Zebra crossings I get. Black and white stripes. Makes sense. But why a pelican crossing? And what about puffin, toucan and pegasus crossings? I Think whoever gets paid millions to name UK road crossings got a bit giddy with pegasus. I'll be honest I never knew puffin, toucan or pegasus crossings existed. Toucan I quite like. It's for pedestrians and cyclists. Two-can. Clever. And you get a Guinness at the other side.

I've totally forgot why I first brought up the subject.

Oh aye. As you know I revel in my pedestrian status. I like to think it's due to some kind of independent, bohemian, eco-friendly attitude but basically I can't drive. If I could I'd never walk anywhere again. But I'm still a proud pedestrian and try to be considerate of others, especially at pelican crossings. If I see a gap in the traffic coming I will refrain from pressing the button and make use of the gap thus negating any hold ups. Sadly what tends to happen is there's no gap, you press the button and the lights change just as a gap in the traffic comes along and as you get to the other side an irate motorist pulls up at a crossing with no-one using it but the lights on red. It tends to leave to a torrent of abuse which is a bit harsh really. I'm sure they'd agree if they knew the full facts.

What's even more annoying is fellow pedestrians who turn up at the crossing after me and, despite the wait light being on, insist on pressing the button because it is quite obvious that we're waiting for the green man purely because I am unable to press a button correctly.

Right, gotta go. I'm throwing a party tonight for the lovely Tracey and I've not actually done any work for it yet. Thankfully others realise the lack of talent to my limits and crack on on my behalf.

Laters

SS

Playlist Friday 22/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Rango - Catfish And The Bottlemen

All Together Now - The Farm

Church Not Made With Hands - The Waterboys

Elysium - Section 60

Yes - McAlmont And Butler

Velouria - Pixies

Adore Me - Bang Bang Romeo

Under My Thumb - The Rolling Stones

Genius Of Love - Tom Tom Club

Houses In Motion - Talking Heads

A Message To You Rudy - The Specials

Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

If I Had A Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies

Like A Dancer - The Enemy

One Way - The Levellers

Vicar In A Tutu - The Smiths

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police

Yesterday's Men - Madness

Oblivion - Terrorvision

Ultraviolet (Light My Way) U2

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah - The Pogues

Only You - The Flying Pickets

Unbelievable - EMF

Roses In The Hospital - Manic Street Preachers

Elspeth - Southern Sunrise

Magnificent 7 - Bad Manners

You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys

Oceans - Dexters

Ready To Die - Famous Villains

Love Cats - The Cure

Do You Remember The First Time? - Pulp

My Hero - Foo Fighters

Ain't Even Done With The Night - John Mellencamp

Real Gone Kid - Deacon Blue

Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen

You Are The Everything - R.E.M.

Minute Mile - The Rifles

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Thursday 21/11/13

                                                                                                         مساء الخير

United Arab Emirates!

 I know!! 

Oh pay attention!!!

Top right!!!!

That's what happens when you play Rock The Casbah.

Another late blog. Sorry. My life at the moment seems to be incredibly hectic without that much getting done. I'm spending a lot of times on trains. I'm a big fan of the rail timetable. One of the most inventive works of fiction known to man. The only guarantee is that the time a train is due to leave is the precise time that there is no chance whatsoever of it departing. I have many friends who work on the railways and by no means is this a dig at you but I hold you all personally responsible, and just in case they take that the wrong way for the first time in this blog is a smiley face.

Thus:

:-)

Ah, before the discovery of the smiley face or usage of the somewhat annoying lol so many texts got misunderstood. Though there is nothing as frustrating as getting a text that just says 'lol' or 'K'. 

I'm on a train again later today and just found out there are delays due to signalling problems. If I had a case I'd rest it.

Another short show today due to waking up in Chesterfield, still I'm only two more morning's away from a free coffee at Chesterfield station. I'm looking at free coffee Thursday next week. Today's show was flying until Mark Kelly went and got all emotional on me. It's a week tomorrow that I announced my departure from Sine FM and I thought it was odd that Mark hadn't been in touch with me in that time. He was obviously plotting and putting this together: 

http://youtu.be/oSZDrSeQeq4

Gotta be honest, all the memories this video stirred had me filling up and the last half hour of the show was a bit of a blur. Luckily the final half hour included a Blur triple play which cut down on having to talk. For some reason, even after 4 years, I still pronounce Blur as Bleugh on the radio. 

Back to Donny tonight to trip over some Darlingtons.

Laters

SS

Playlist Thursday 21/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

The Hard Way - Dexters

Rebel Rebel - David Bowie

(All I Wanted Was) Danger - The Milk

Love Her Madly - The Doors

North-South Divide - John Lennon McCullagh

Save A Prayer - Duran Duran

The Rising - Bruce Springsteen

Saviour - Canterbury

Moondance - Van Morrison

Einstein A Go-Go - Landscape

E=MC2 - Big Audio Dynamite

The Whole Of The Moon - The Waterboys

Midnight Wave - Two Wounded Birds

Teenage Icon - The Vaccines

Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen

Venus As A boy - Bjork

Birthday - The Sugarcubes

The Death Of You And Me - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Dignity - Deacon Blue

Hotel Room - Richard Hawley

The American Dream - Beast

End Of A Century - Blur

Song 2 - Blur

The Universal - Blur

Minute Mile - The Rifles

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam

Panic - The Smiths

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Wednesday 20/11/13

Well as soon as the blog's back it buggers off again. Having announced my imminent departure from Sine FM I vowed to do every show leading up to my leaving and fell at the first hurdle.

I have no excuse. Well, I do. There's always an excuse. It's whether it's acceptable or not and mine frankly isn't. I met up with my son Monday night for a catch up and a chat but instead of chatting we just got very drunk. My best mate Ian tagged along. With his bike, the green dragon. I'm praying there's some CCTV footage somewhere of three drunken men on, actually mostly off, a bike. So Tuesday's alarm went off to be greeted with a sod that. Then I remembered why I was meant to be up by which stage a migraine had taken up residency in my head and diving back under my quilt seemed the best option all round.

Oh and many thanks to Andy Milner for saving me some steak and stilton pie. That stuff is gonna be legendary.

Which leaves me with only 7 shows to do. Potentially. The final show on Nov 29th is probably gonna start at 6am (ha!!!) to cram everything in that I want to. You're all welcome to come and join me. I started writing a list of songs I really wanted to feature on the last show. Got a bit choked as I wrote it. It has become extensive and what with the promise of some live performances too I think I'm gonna need 4 hours.

My request policy for the show is pretty much established now. If it doesn't fit it doesn't get played. Which translates as if I don't like it it doesn't get played. I've even said no to the woman I love when it comes to requests. And yes that is the only time I say no to the lovely Tracey. Some may call this arrogance, some may just say if you don't like it get your own radio show. A prime example is R.E.M. - Shiny Happy People. R.E.M. will always be welcome on the show but that particular song is a shocker so it falls by the wayside. But in a pre festive mood of generosity I decided to have a request amnesty but as is always the case people abused it with ludicrous requests so we're back to the my word is law option. You only have yourselves to blame.

Right gotta fly. Well, not fly. I'm on the 12:58 Chesterfield train which really doesn't fly but saying 'right, gotta train' would give totally the wrong idea and is such appalling grammar that I'm ashamed I've even included it here.

Laters (because that obviously is grammar of the highest order)

SS

Playlist Wednesday 20/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Jungle Music - The Specials ft Rico

Country House - Blur

Is This Our Day In The Sunshine - Section 60

Pacifier - Catfish And The Bottlemen

Five Get Over Excited - The Housemartins

Can Stand The Rain - The Talks

Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals

007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker And The Aces

Saturn 5 - Inspiral Carpets

Smile - Lily Allen

Babies - Pulp

Back Of My Hand - The Jags

Do I Wanna Know - Arctic Monkeys

Everest - Public Service Broadcasting

Sabotage - The Beastie Boys

Fire - Kasabian

Love And Pride - King

Brilliant Mind - Furniture

Fat Old Sun (Live) - David Gilmour

2-4-6-8 Motorway - Tom Robinson Band

The Hard Way - Dexters

Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club

Hotel California - The Eagles

Slight Return - The Bluetones

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Monday 18/11/13

Return of the blog, once again, return of the blog, top of the world, return of the blog, watch my flow.

Thanks to the superbly overrated Mark Morrison for my blatant plagiarism there.

It's getting on 4pm which is late for my blog but given it's the first one in over ten days I think we should excuse any tardiness and just be glad it showed up at all.

So where have I been you ask? Well as you know I only blog when there's been a show to attach a playlist to and there's been a dearth of shows recently. This is due entirely to me refusing to get out of a warm bed in Chesterfield to catch a 6:15 train to come do a late show every morning when I'm over there, which is quite a lot. It's a lovely place to be, what with the 2nd most gorgeous cricket ground in the country, the crooked spire and a very hot girlfriend.

But, I hear you cry, there have been instances where there has been a show but still no blog.  Well, yes, but thanks to the unique way in which BT is funded I've had no internet access for much of the last two weeks. Douglas Adams once touted the theory that paying your bill only attracts attention to yourself which is when it all goes wrong. Anyway after ten days of talks on the phone to BT (including one instance of 'does the line you're calling on still work') in which I repeatedly mentioned the router being pretty much dead a BT engineer came out to inform us that the router was pretty much dead.

So we're all back up and running now and here we are. But I should guide you back to that fourth paragraph. That is still an ongoing situation and one of the reasons for me making the decision last week to call it a day on the breakfast show. I started in November 2009 and feel 4 years is a good crack of the whip. I'll save any gushing comments until the final show related blog (Friday Nov 29th), for yes, due to popular demand the blog will continue after my days at Sine FM have finished.

On a more sombre note it's a year today that my friend and Sine FM colleague Pete Meredith died. I still miss Yorkshire Pete so much. The funniest and most genuine man I have ever known. I am the proud owner of a certificate from Guinness World Records for the longest radio show ever. Myself and Mark Kelly are credited with the record but it's a simple statement of fact that without Pete we wouldn't have made it. When the record was broken both myself and Mark said let em have it. But when Pete died we independently decided we wanted that record back for Pete more than anything. When we did the 80 hour show it was so much harder and didn't have the same spark about it. That spark was Yorkshire Pete. I should say I've never drunk red bull since that first marathon show and if you're wondering why you need to check the blog for this day last year!

A brief leaf war 2013-2014 update. I ventured up to the Registrar's Office in Elmfield Park today. Why? you ask. Sod off, I reply. I only got a brief look at the park but the leaves are well on top. DMBC will need some industrial strength pointy sticks for this one.

Well it's nice to be back in blogland again but I must dash.

Laters

SS

Playlist Monday 18/11/13

Goodbye My Friend - White Valentine

Hello Again - Neil Diamond

Rest In Peace Yorkshire Pete

The Hard Way - Dexters

Wherever I Lay My Hat - Paul Young

Orange Crush - R.E.M.

Like A Dancer - The Enemy

Follow You, Follow Me - Genesis

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

The Other Way - Polkadodge

Lovefool - The Cardigans

Road Rage - Catatonia

Hunger - Frankie And The Heartstrings

Rise Up - The Skints

You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart - The Eurythmics

Elysium - Section 60

Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Middle Sea - Yuck

Naive - The Kooks

Lip Up Fatty - Bad Manners

Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey

Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway

Silence Is Easy - Starsailor

Imagine - John Lennon

Stingin' Belle - Biffy Clyro

The Dancing Song - Little Comets

Somewhere - The Pilots

A Certain Romance - Arctic Monkeys

Sally Cinnamon - The Stone Roses

Mind - The Farm

St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) - John Parr

Pure - The Lightning Seeds

Not Too Young - The Tricks

Never Knew Your Name - Madness

On My Radio - The Selecter

Rat Race - The Specials

Pinch Me - Barenaked Ladies

Hate To Say I Told You So - The Hives

Kids In America - Kim Wilde

Cherry Bomb - John Mellencamp

Bring On The Dancing Horses - Echo And The Bunnymen

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers 

FAMOUS VILLAINS - Doncaster Leopard 02/11/13

If you did a league table of Donny bands then Famous Villains are firmly established as perennial Premiership title contenders already with one eye on Europe. But they're up against it tonight. New songs and new members always have the most hardened of fans slightly on edge and the Villains have both tonight. Add to this the power surges tripping out stage lights and half the instruments throughout the set and the battering gale outside and it's gonna be one to remember, hopefully for the right reasons.

We needn't have worried. Former Pilots Rob Hamilton (drums) and Richard Cook (additional keyboards) look, feel and sound as if they've been with the band from day one. The new songs are immediately recognisable as Famous Villains' gems and the guys had blown The Leopard roof off long before the storm had chance.

As for the power surges I spent most of the gig with my finger in a fuse box just 'to keep the engine running'. (When I wasn't eyeing up the tasty blonde at the bar). OK it meant people had to wait for beer but Famous Villains or alcohol? The Donny sextet will always be my drug of choice.

As always Famous Villains take to the stage looking, well, magnificent really. Tobin on keyboards looks like he should be selling Snake Oil in the 1880's Deep South. You'd buy it too. Jaz tucked in a corner effortlessly keeping the new Kirk/Hamilton rhythm section flowing. Cooky's hammond sound the perfect sidekick to the Snake Oil salesman, Ant energetic as always, a sweat soaked twirling acoustic guitar flying all over The Leopard stage and Neil, stage front, the epitome of cool. I swear this man never sweats.

So these new songs. A lot of bands would slip them into the middle of the set, surround them with old favourites, just to be safe. Sod that. Villains open with new number Beg And Steal and by the end the crowd are already word perfect. The band storm through the ten song set never once missing a beat despite my inability to reach the fuse box quickly every time.

I had Rob and Neil on the show the Wednesday before the gig and said I struggled to pick a favourite Famous Villains song. I'm just reading the set list now. Everyone is a belter from the staccato Changes With The Moon, to the singalong friendly Keep The Engine Running, Goodbye Life and 8 O' Clock Blues to Ready To Die and Burn This City when the boys rock out big time.

To soon the band are off stage. The crowd, baying for more, dripping with sweat. They would have been less wet standing in the storm. Back on stage and again they refuse to play safe by introducing the second new song of the night, Nobody Cares, as the first encore. Then it's into fan favourite Spies before the finale. The last few times I've seen Famous Villains Ant will ask permission for the band to join the crowd. As if they need permission! Normally a raucous acoustic Neil Young standard will follow with huge wall to wall smiles. Not tonight.

Tonight just Ant ventures into the crowd, asks for help with this last song as they only learnt it this week. Tobin slides into the intro of Lou Reed's Perfect Day. It's a little messy, it's a lot ad libbed, it's joyous and a very fitting tribute indeed.

SS

FAMOUS VILLAINS SET LIST 02/11/13

Beg And Steal
Lying At The Side Of You
Changes With The Moon
Millionaires
Valentine
Keep The Engine Running
Ready To Die
Goodbye Life
The 8 O' Clock Blues
Burn This City

Nobody Cares
Spies

Perfect Day

BAIBS Monday 04/11/13

I try and keep both this blog and the show light hearted but every now and then something crops up that can't be ignored. This morning was one such occasion and I'll be honest it's peed me right off!

It's that time of year when narrow minded sheep get all protective about Christmas and someone posted on facebook this morning a headline from a paper stating 'Council ban Christmas so as not to offend Muslims.' It's ludicrous nonsense and blatantly untrue. It didn't mention which paper had printed it though the typeface did look very Daily Mailish. Sadly far too many people buy into this bullshit and the despicable BNP prey on just such stories. I refused to let it pass and posted the following status on the breakfast show's page:

If you're gonna post crap about Christmas being banned cos it offends Muslims please get the f**k off my friends list and come back when you've got an education

I then received a text from my boss at Sine asking me to soften it a bit as he was fending off a twitter complaint about it and the show's facebook page does come under the Sine FM banner. I removed any hint of swearing but left the status up and proceeded to find the twitter complaint. The tweet was from Radio Watcher and said is this the kind of message a community radio station should be putting out? 

I tweeted them myself asking if it was the content or the language they'd took offence at and got the reply that they'd not took offence and that it was just a question. To me that reads 'I'm gonna stay right here on the fence, didn't think there'd be any follow up to it and this is a real cop out'.

Anyway I tweeted back that I stood by my statement and as a community radio station surely it is our duty to be vocal about narrow minded bigots, to encourage community and to at least try and educate. I got no reply to that but I'll be honest it had got me riled and was preying on my mind all throughout the second half of the show. 

I appreciate that while anything I say or write is obviously my own view I do have a duty to Sine Fm not to offend. But if, albeit maybe not in the most articulate of ways, speaking out against bigots and racism is unacceptable then we have a very major problem on our hands. I should say that my bosses at Sine fully backed the sentiment of the post but I should be aware of how people view certain things and any anger I'm feeling is not directed at Sine FM at all 

I can't describe how much this has got to me. I'm gonna have a couple of days mulling.

'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.'

Laters

SS

Playlist Monday 04/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Fictional State - To Kill A King

Walk - Foo Fighters

She Bangs The Drums - The Stone Roses

Rise - PIL

Drinkin' My Whisky - Slug The Nightwatchman

Honky Tonk Woman - The Rolling Stones

Good Enough - Dodgy

Teenage Kicks - The Undertones

American Dream - Beast

Someone's Looking At You - The Boomtown Rats

The Love Cats - The Cure

Good Morning Britain - Aztec Camera ft. Mick Jones

Jump - Van Halen

Cure - The Missing Pages (Happy Birthday Kieran)

Goodbye Life - Famous Villains

Since Yesterday - Strawberry Switchblade

Elysium - Section 60

When Doves Cry - Prince

Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

After Hours - We Are Scientists

Antarctica - Sound Of Guns

Kid - The Pretenders

Black And White Town - Doves

I See You, You See Me - The Magic Numbers

Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols

Are You In Love With A Notion - The Courteeners

Layla - Derek And The Dominoes

The Great Leap Forward - Billy Bragg (for Radio Watcher)

Sparky's Dream - Teenage Fanclub

The Cutter - Echo And The Bunnymen

The Bartender And The Thief - Stereophonics

Faces - Ratells

Another Nail In My Heart - Squeeze

Cool For Cats - Squeeze

Ma And Pa - Fishbone

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

BAIBS Thursday 31/10/13 & Friday 01/11/13

OK, to begin with yesterdays playlist. Yesterday began with a croissant on Chesterfield station at 6am and finally ended in my bed at 2am this morning with Wensleydale cheese with cranberries. In the 20 hours in between I never found time to blog!

Playlist Thursday 31/10/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Dreaming - Blondie

Just Like A Woman - Black Spiders

19-2000 - Gorillaz

Sidewinder - Catfish And The Bottlemen

The Other Way - Polkadodge

What A Wonderful World - Joey Ramone

Go Wild In The Country - Bow Wow Wow

Enola Gay - OMD

Second Minute Or Hour - Jack Penate

Like A Dancer - The Enemy

Reputation - Section 60

The Electric Co. - U2

Desire - U2

There's A Ghost In My House - The Fall

Cherry Bomb - John Mellencamp

Ready To Die - Famous Villains

Live Forever - Oasis

Sabotage - The Beastie Boys

Long Walk Home - Bruce Springsteen

Life On Mars - David Bowie

Night Boat To Cairo - Madness

Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club

Upstarts - Johnny Marr

This Charming Man - The Smiths

The Eton Rifles - The Jam

Rango - Catfish And The Bottlemen

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

You will notice my one tip to Halloween there with Ghost In My House. I figured that'd suffice. So yesterday.

 As I said the day began in Chesterfield with a warm Tracey but out into the cold for the 6:15 train to get to Sine in time for a truncated show. Straight from Sine to The Leopard where I moved some things, put taps in other things, nearly killed myself falling off a table, got cobwebs in my beard, got frustrated by a pumpkin and eventually rocked out to Catfish And The Bottleman dressed as a clown. Thus:

I should point out that was pre-rocking out. One of the joys of The Leopard is the informal atmosphere we try and create so that bands are happy to mix with their fans til the early hours. Sometimes not always a good thing. Blowing bubbles and dancing to Mink De Ville with Stiff Little Fingers' drummer Jim Reilly at 5am is all well and good at a weekend but by 2am this morning I was ready to drop so I took to my bed with the aforementioned lump of cheese while the Catfish party continued. It was a school night after all. I got back today to find The Smashing Pumpkins here. I wish!!!! That should read smashed pumpkins. Apparently the Ratells from Sheffield set about them in the early hours. 

So up at 5:45 this morning feeling fresh as, well, something not very fresh at all to be honest. Again forgot that The Darlingtons were staying over but thankfully only tripped over there amps today, not a bass player. Kinda drifted through today's show with no real idea what I was doing. Nothing really new there then. 

Since moving to The Leopard I'm not really up to date with this year's leaf war. May have to nip down to Elmfield Park just to see how the battle lines are shaping up. My money's on the leaves as per. Something's just occurred to me as I type that. 

Thought as much. 

Given my early blogs were obsessed with the leaf war I just checked and I've missed my first anniversary. Nothing new there either. This blog is one year and a few days old. And still it's full of inane drivel.

My point here, and again I've tangented. That so should be a word, sod it. It is now. Er, yes, my point is that with no front line leaf action I need another fallback topic of discussion so I'm stepping up my busker watch. Favourite buskers in town today. The Peruvian panpipe band. I'm not exactly a fan but they remind me of The Fast Show and always make me chuckle. And outside Binns, it's not Binns now is it. That big shop that sells shirts and toasters. You know it. Anyway thought I'd spotted a genius busker there. He was dancing around, playing only a tambourine and yet sounded like a jazz quartet. It wasn't til I got past the van full of people lying about Talk Talk's unbeatable prices that I noticed there was actually a jazz quartet behind him. 

So much to today. Again! This room needs tidying. The lovely Tracey is braving a night at The Leopard, braving being very much the operative word and as I survey my room I see a discarded clowns outfit and a crumpled santa outfit on the floor. It's been that kind of week. And if you were wondering The 48ks filmed the video for their Christmas song here on Tuesday night. I was in it looking like this:

So tidying to do, washing to do and food would be good. And I quite fancy a nap. But I've gotta buy Jake Bugg tickets for the eldest daughter and Johnny Gibson's last show on Sine starts in 45 minutes and I did say I'd be there. Gotta fit a shower in somewhere too. I'm campaigning for at least an extra 2 hours  in the day. Still wouldn't be enough knowing me.

OK off to squeeze all the above into 3 hours.

Thanks for the banana Helen.

Laters

SS

Playlist Friday 01/11/13

The Mighty Ship - The Housemartins

Light My Fire - The Doors

Sidewinder - Catfish And The Bottlemen

Time For Action - Secret Affair

I Love You Suzanne - Lou Reed

Ceremony - New Order

Elspeth - Southern Sunrise

Blink Of An Eye - You Addiction

Stop Your Crying - Spiritualized

Special Brew - Bad Manners

Last Train To Transcentral - KLF

Aubrey - Stone Ugly

Ashes To Ashes - David Bowie

Psycho Killer - Talking Heads

Under China - Auction For The Promise Club

This Song - The Enemy

Made Of Stone - The Stone Roses

Borderline - Polkadodge

Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard

Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield

Run Right Back - The Black Keys

Bassline - Reverend And The Makers

Safe European Home - The Clash

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police

All Together Now - The Farm

Pinball Wizard - The Who

Night Mail - Public Service Broadcasting

Las Vegas (In The Hills Of Donegal) - Goats Don't Shave)

Goodbye Life - Famous Villains

Moondance - Van Morrison

Rainy Night In Soho - The Pogues

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam

Hotel Room - Richard Hawley

Cabron - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bikini Girls With Machine Guns - The Cramps

Best Of You - Foo Fighters

Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers