Month: November 2011

  • Absolute Radio 60s is On Air!

    Go away and have a listen. Or find it on RadioPlayer. During the pre-launch period, the station made a little bit of press because it banned Cliff Richard from the station. I’ll stay out of the argument about the rights and wrongs of this, except to point out that Absolute Radio 60s is trying to…

  • James Burke

    If you’re old enough, you might know who James Burke is. He was the presenter of a TV series that had an enormous impact on me as a child – Connections. First broadcast in 1978, I think my viewings came in later repeats – especially (if my memory serves me) during school holidays when the…

  • Tour Du Danger

    On Saturday, around 300 cyclists took part in the Tour Du Danger, a cycle tour of London’s most dangerous junctions. This came less than 24 hours after a second cyclist had been killed at a junction in Bow which forms part of the Cycling Superhighway to the Olympic site. This was a protest at the…

  • Alison Krauss & Union Station

    I do love hearing Alison Krauss. Last time I saw her, she was touring with Robert Plant and was playing in Wembley Arena. The Royal Festival Hall is a much nicer venue, and she was accompanied by Union Station, her band of some twenty years featuring Dan Tyminski who shares vocal duties. This concert was…

  • Photos in London

    The Photographer’s Gallery might still be closed, but there are loads of excellent exhibitions of photos in London at the moment, and I’m struggling to keep up! At the National Portrait Gallery they’ve just opened the annual Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition. It’s only a couple of quid to get in, and it’s well worth…

  • Remember Remember the Fifth of November

    I had to pick up a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask in Forbidden Planet earlier today…

  • Radio Festival 2011 Report: Part Three – Festival Day Two

    This is a continuation of my report of this year’s Radio Festival. Part one summarising TechCon can be found here, and part two summarising day one of the main festival can be found here. The final day of the Radio Festival began with Jarvis Cocker who was in conversation with Arthur Smith. Cocker was there…

  • Radio Festival 2011 Report: Part Two – Festival Day One

    This is a continuation of my report of this year’s Radio Festival. Part one summarising TechCon can be found here while the third part summarising the second day of the main Festival can be read here. Before I head into the main proceedings, it’s worth also mentioning Monday evening’s “opening” event – the inaugural John…

  • Radio Festival 2011 Report: Part One – TechCon

    This is the first part of three part summary of this year’s Radio Festival. Part two can be found here, and part three can be found here. Each year the radio industry gets to meet in Salford at the Lowry in Salford Quays – just metres away from Media City where Five Live is currently…

  • Google Reader

    I’ve been shut away at the Radio Festival for the last few days (more about that soon), and since I was largely using a tablet computer there, I hadn’t yet properly used the new “improved” Google Reader until today. I’m late to the party, although it seems that basically nobody who actually uses Google Reader,…