The Cat on "Where The Action Is" on Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 19 April 2009

Today's theme is "Colours":

Booker T and the MGs - Green Onions (Volt 1962)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Sapphires - Slolw Fizz (ABC 1966)
The Blues Council - Baby Don't Look Down (Parlophone 1965)
Dodie Stevens - Pink Shoelaces (Crystalette 1959)
The Colorados - Lips Were Redder On You (alternate take) (Unreleased 1964)
Lorraine Silver - Lost Summer Love (Pye 1965)
The Move - Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree (Regal Zonophone 1967)
Love - Orange Skies (Elektra 1966) (Connect 3)
The Attack - Lady Orange Peel (Decca 1968) (Connect 3)
The End - Shades of Orange (Decca 1968) (Connect 3)
John Leyton - Six White Horses (HMV 1961)
Roy Orbison - Blue Bayou (Monument 1963)*
The Turtles - Outside Chance (White Whale 1966) (Birthday: 19/4/42 Mark Volman)
Buffy Sainte-Marie - Soulful Shade of Blue (Vanguard 1968)
Sam and Dave - Soul Sister Brown Sugar (Atlantic 1969)*
Christie Laume - Rouge-Rouge (Odeon 1967) (Foreign Language)
The Delicates - Black and White Thunderbird (Unart 1959)
The Fabulous Red Hawks - Highland Twist (Globe 1964) (Half-Time Instrumental)
The Kinks - Lavender Hill (Unreleased 1967)
Terry White & The Terriers - Rock Around The Mailbag (Decca 1959)
The Kinsmen - Glass House Green, Splinter Red (Decca 1968)
The Lemon Pipers - Green Tambourine (Buddah 1967)*
Jimmy Ruffin - He Who Picks A Rose (Unreleased 1969)
The Golden Crusaders - I'm In Love With You (Columbia 1964)
Green Peppers (with Justin Currie) - Honest Injun (Neon Tetra 2007) (Under The Influence)
The Hollies - Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress (Parlophone 1972)*
Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillet (Decca 1968)
Rosetta Hightower - Pretty Red Balloons (Toast 1968)
Pinkerton's Colours - Mum and Dad (Pye 1967) (Connect 3)
Deep Feeling - Pretty Colours (Label Unknown 1966) (Connect 3)
Young Idea - Colour of Darkness (EMI Columbia 1967) (Connect 3)
The Human Instinct - Pink Dawn (Deram 1968)
Andee Silver - Too Young To Go Steady (HMV 1964)
Maxine Brown - Baby Cakes (Wand 1967) (Two of a Kind)
Maxine Brown - Oh No Not My Baby (Wand 1964) (Two of a Kind)
Cilla Black - Something Tells Me (Something Is Gonna Happen Tonight) (EMI 1971)
Chris Farlowe - Paint It Black (Immediate 1968)
Ministry of Sound (aka John Carter) - White Collar Worker (Decca 1966)
The Cameos - Pretty Shade of Blue (Toast 1968)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

Finally getting used to the new CD players although I'd give myself 6 out of 10 for today's show. Always feel it's a waste doing a show when the sun's out. Who knew that summer this year would be a Sunday!

Due to a cock-up the following four tracks should have been played but were replaced by the ones marked with an asterisk:
Diane Renay - Navy Blue (20th Century 1964)
Hash Brown & The Cupcakes - I Got My Job Through The New York Times (Philips 1962)
Tracey Dey - Blue Turns To Grey (Amy 1964)
Wilson Pickett - Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You (Atlantic 1971)

Next week's show has been pre-recorded and has a theme of Names. I'm off to see Camera Obscura and Attic Lights in Glasgow that night. The week after that will be my birthday so I'm going for a Birthday/Celebration/Party theme. Then it's my annual homage to Eurovision...

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287AM - Sunday 12 April 2009

I recorded yesterday's show on Friday morning due to an annual family gathering in which we eat, drink and be merry.

The Knickerbockers - Lies (Challenge 1966)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
Karen Verros - You Just Gotta Know My Mind (Dot 1965)
Tammy St. John - Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind But Me) (Pye 1966)
Claudine Clark - Party Lights (Unreleased)
The Exciters - Tell Him (United Artists 1962)
Billie Davis - Ev'ry Day (Piccadilly 1966)
The Castaways - Liar Liar (Soma 1965)
The What Four - I'm Gonna Destroy That Boy (Columbia 1964) (Connect 3)
Mark V - Baby What's Wrong (Fontana 1964) (Connect 3)
Two of Each - Colour My World (Pye 1970) (Connect 3)
The Shots - Keep A Hold Of What You Got (Columbia 1965)
The Secrets - The Boy Next Door (Philips 1963)
Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild (Dunhill 1968) (Birthday: 12/4/29 John Kay)
The Starlets -You Don't Love Me (Tower 1965)
The Hipster Image - Make Her Mine (Decca 1965)
Francoise Hardy - Le Temps De L'Amour (Vogue 1962) (Foreign Language)
The Leaves - Hey Joe (Mira 1966)
Floyd Cramer - On The Rebound (RCA 1961)(Half-Time Instrumental)
Kriss Anderson - He's My Boyfriend (Old Town 1965)
She Trinity - He Fought The Law (Columbia 1966)
Marcie Blane - Bobby's Girl (Seville 1962)
Raylene & The Blue Angels - Shakin' All Over (Cuca 1966)
The Cryan Shames - Sugar and Spice (Destination 1966)
The Favourite Sons - That Driving Beat (Mercury 1965)
The Bangles - The Real World (Faulty 1982) (Under The Influence)
The Raindrops - The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget (Jubilee 1963)
Beverley Williams - Too Bad He's Bad (Unreleased)
Michael & The Messemgers - (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet (USA 1967)
April Stevens - Teach Me Tiger (Imperial 1959) (Connect 3)
Chris Farlowe - April Was The Month (Immediate 1969) (Connect 3)
April Young - Steady Boyfriend (Columbia 1964) (Connect 3)
The Mojo Men - Sit Down, I Think I Love You (Reprise 1967)
The Debutantes - Shake A Tail Feather (Standout 1967)
Helen Shapiro - Silly Boy (I Love You) (Pye 1969) (Two of a Kind)
Helen Shapiro - Easy Come Easy Go (EMI 1963) (Two of a Kind)
Jackie Trent - Such A Small Love (Pye 1969)
The Shirelles - I Met Him On A Sunday (Ronde-Ronde) (Decca 1958)
The Soul Agents - Let's Make It Pretty Baby (Pye 1964)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

Recorded on Friday for broadcast on Easter Sunday this show was a disaster. What can go wrong, will go wrong! New CDs players in the studio, in an unfamiliar position, threw me completely and the show was two hours of bumbling ineptitude (although that's what makes me so special!) 4/10.

Next week's show has a theme of Colours and the week after it'll be Names. The Names one will be pre-recorded this week as I'm off to see Camera Obscura and Attic Lights in Glasgow that night. The week after that will be my birthday so I may go for a Birthday/Celebration theme.

You just know that a film is crap when the TV and media adverts use testimonials from the Daily Star and News of the World. It also seems that “snort-out-loud funny” is the new “laugh-out-loud funny” in these reviews.

I really hate that you-scratch-my-back kind of reviewing – if it’s shit, say so. There are so many films – usually featuring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Seth Rogen and/or Will Ferrell – that I just think, “how the hell did that get made?” There’s a recession and millions of $$$ is wasted on pish.

Having moved to Dunfermline, the one thing I miss about Edinburgh is the Cameo Cinema. The Cameo Film Club membership was excellent value and you had a much more pleasant surrounding and ambience for film watching. The last film I went to see on the big screen was “Madagascar 2 – Return to Africa”, which was as a result of my parental responsibility (and cheap tickets). What struck me when awaiting the start of this sequel was that all the adverts for “Coming Soon” movies were either about cartoons, animals or cartoon animals. Any right-minded four year old would and should be insulted by the limited imagination of the filmmakers.

I couldn’t actually tell you when I was last within a picture house. It’s certainly not that there hasn’t been films I want to see because there has – Milk, Anvil, Salute, Telstar (delayed until 19 June 09) – I just haven’t got myself organised. The pfaff of trying to get through the current Edinburgh tram-induced traffic nightmare and get parked near the Cameo doesn’t help either.

Sadly the hideously over-priced Odeon in Dunfermline shows lowest common denominator films for the sort of people who go to the pictures but don’t know what they want to see. And don’t even get me started on the behaviour of some of these people. It seems that many of these morons can’t go more than two hours without eating, talking and/or texting. Give me being curled up at the end of my sofa and coffee on tap at home any day, especially as you don’t really have to wait that long now for films to be shown on telly or sold on DVD (other formats are available).

It’s being so cheery that keeps me going.

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 5 April 2009

Joe Meek would've been 80 today had he lived on. Tonight's show is a celebration of this wonderfully maverick record producer.

The Tornados - Telstar (Decca 1962)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Sharades - Boy Trouble (Decca 1964)
Lance Fortune - Be Mine (Pye 1960)
Beat Boys - Third Time Lucky (Decca 1963)
Glenda Collins - I Lost My Heart At The Fairground (HMV 1963)
Wes Sands - There's Lots More Where This Came From (Columbia 1963)
Impac - Too Far Out (CBS 1966)
Pamela Blue - My Friend Bobby (Decca 1963) (Connect 3)
Blue Rondos - Little Baby (Pye 1964) (Connect 3)
Mike Preston - Mr Blue (Decca 1959) (Connect 3)
Iain Gregory - Can You Hear The Beat of a Broken Heart? (Pye 1962)
David John and The Mood - Love To See You Strut (Parlophone 1965)
Joe Meek - Long Tall Jack (demo) (Unreleased) (Birthday: 5/4/29 Joe Meek)
Bobby Cristo & The Rebels - I've Go You Out Of My Mind (Decca 1964)
Michael Cox - Angela Jones (Triumph 1960)
The Honeycombs - Hab'Ich Das Recht (Have I The Right?) (Deutsche Vogue 1964) (Foreign Language)
Kenny Hollywood - Magic Star (Decca 1962)
The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers - Green Jeans (Triumph 1960) (Half-Time Instrumental)
Emile Ford & The Checkmates - What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For? (Pye 1959)
Millionaires - Wishing Well (Decca 1966)
Neil Christian & The Crusaders - The Road To Love (Columbia 1962)
Mike Berry & The Outlaws - Tribute To Buddy Holly (HMV 1961)
The Cameos - Powercut (Columbia 1963)
Checkmates - Sticks and Stones (Decca 1964)
Man Or Astroman - Taxidermist Surf (Estrus 1993) (Under The Influence)
Four Matadors - A Man's Gotta Stand Tall (Columbia 1966)
Jenny Moss - Hobbies (Columbia 1963)
Gene Vincent - Temptation Baby (Unreleased 1963)
Johnny Duncan & His Bluegrass Boys - Last Train To San Fernando (Columbia 1957) (Connect 3)
Burr Bailey & The Six Shooters - San Francisco Bay (Decca 1963) (Connect 3)
Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers - Kansas City (Columbia 1963) (Connect 3)
John Leyton - Son This Is She (HMV 1961)
Diane & The Javelins - Heart and Soul (Columbia 1966)
The Tornados - Globetrotter (Decca 1963) (Two of a Kind)
The Tornados - Robot (Decca 1963) (Two of a Kind)
The Ambassadors - Surfin' John Brown (Dot 1963)
The Honeycombs - That's The Way (Pye 1965)
Billie Davis - Don't You Knock On My Door (Unreleased 1962)
Heinz - Come On Let's Go (Unreleased)
Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers - I'm In Love With You (Parlophone 1961)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

Good news in that the "Telstar" movie finally has a release date. It goes nationwide on 19th June 2009.

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 29 March 2009

Here was tonight's 'virtual' playlist, which was recorded before last week's show because I was supposed to be in Blackpool. I say "supposed to be" because Mr Chicken Pox came to stay! And I didn't win at the awards!!

Val McKenna - House For Sale (Spark 1968)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Variations - She'll Know I'm Sorry (Immediate 1965)
Mike Stevens & The Shevelles - Go-Go Train (Pye 1967)
Gregory Phillips - Down In The Boondocks (Immediate 1965)
The First Gear - The In Crowd (Pye 1965)
Sandra Bryant - Girl with Money (Major Minor 1967)
The Poets - Some Things I Can't Forget (Immediate 1965)
Goldie & The Gingerbreads - Can't You Hear My Heartbeat (Decca 1964) (Connect 3)
David John & The Mood - Diggin' For Gold (Parlophone 1965) (Connect 3)
Golden Apples of the Sun - The Monkey Time (Immediate 1965) (Connect 3)
Joey Vine - The Out of Towner (Immediate 1965)
The Pussycats - I Want Your Love (Columbia 1965)
Eden Kane - Boys Cry (Fontana 1964) (Birthday: 29/3/41 Eden Kane)
The Soul Agents - The Seventh Son (Pye 1964)
The Mockingbirds - You Stole My Love (Immediate 1965)
Stone - Fille ou Garcon (Sloop John B) (Label/Year Unknown) (Foreign Language)
The Factotums - Can't Go Home Anymore My Love (Immediate 1966)
The Thunderbolts - March of the Spaceman (Label/Year Unknown) (Half-Time Instrumental)
Samantha Jones - Today Without You (Penny Farthing 1969)
Jan Tanzy - That New Boy In Town (Columbia 1965)
The Hotrods - I Don't Love Her No More (Columbia 1965)
The Ferris Wheel - The Na Na Song (Pye 1968)
Beat Boys - That's My Plan (Decca 1963)
The Bootiques - Did You Get Your Fun (Date 1966)
April March - Chick Habit (Sympathy For The Record Industry Records 1995) (Under The Influence)
Nico - I'm Not Saying (Immediate 1965)
Gene Chandler - Nothing Can Stop Me (Constellation 1965)
Peter Chris & The Outcasts - The Right Girl For You (Columbia 1966)
Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him (RCA 1963) (Connect 3)
Lulu - March (EMI 1969) (Connect 3)
Tracey Dey - Marching Home (Columbia 1966) (Connect 3)
Buddy Britten & The Regents - Right Now (Piccadilly 1965)
Benny Spellman - Fortune Teller (Minit 1962)
The McCoys - I Can't Explain It (Immediate 1965) (Two of a Kind)
The McCoys - Don't Worry Mother (Your Son's Heart Is Pure) (Immediate 1966) (Two of a Kind)
The Surfer Girls - One Boy Tells Another (Columbia 1964)
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Polydor 1971)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

With next week being Joe Meek's birthday, it'll be a Joe Meek special.

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 22 March 2009

Here was tonight's "Mother's Day" playlist:

The Chiffons - Nobody Knows What's Going On In My Mind But Me (Laurie 1965)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
Petula Clark - Heart (Pye 1965)
The Goodies - Sophisticated Boom Boom (Blue Cat 1965)
Syreeta Wright - I Can't Give You Back The Love I Feel (Gordy 1968)
Dorothy Berry - You're So Fine (Challenge 1963)
The Fabulettes - Try The Worryin' Way (Sound Stage 7 1966)
Cilla Black - I've Been Wrong Before (Parlophone 1965)
The Caravelles - Hey Mama You've Been On My Mind (Polydor 1966) (Connect 3)
Etta James - Tell Mama (Chess 1968) (Connect 3)
Barbara Carr - My Mama Told Me (Chess 1966) (Connect 3)
The Breakaways - That's How It Goes (Pye 1964)
Denria Lynn - I'd Much Rather Be With the Girls (Capitol 1965)
The Yardbirds - For Your Love (Birthday: 22/3/43 Keith Relf)
Dusty Springfield - I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face (Phillips 1967)
The Geminis - A Friend of Mine (RCA Victor 1966)
Liz Brady - Partie de Dames (Pathe 1966) (Foreign Language)
Earl Jean - I'm Into Something Good
The Ramblers - Just for Chicks (Decca 1963)(Half-Time Instrumental)
Connie Francis - Don't Ever Leave Me (MGM 1964)
Little Eva - Keep Your Hands Off Of My Baby (London 1962)
Carole King - Crying In The Rain (Dimension 1963)
Bessie Banks - Go Now (Tiger 1964)
Mary Wells - Bye Bye Baby (Motown 1960)
Barbara Lewis - Don't Forget About Me (Atlantic 1966)
Fanny - Long Road Home (Reprise 1973) (Under The Influence)
Sylvan - We Don't Belong (Columbia 1965)
Ellie Greenwich - You Don't Know (Red Bird 1965)
Peanut - Thank Goodness For The Rain (Pye 1965)
Ruby and the Romantics - When You're Young and In Love (Kapp 1964) (Connect 3)
The Emeralds - Wanna Make Him Mine (Jubilee 1964) (Connect 3)
The Sapphires - Who Do You Love (Swan 1963) (Connect 3)
Shirley Matthews - Big Town Boy (Atlantic 1963)
Jackie DeShannon - Dream Boy (Unreleased 1964)
Mama Cass - Dream A Little Dream of Me (Dunhill 1968) (Two of a Kind)
Mama Cass - It's Getting Better (Dunhill 1969) (Two of a Kind)
Cher - Dream Baby (Imperial 1964)
The Girls - Chico's Girl (Capitol 1966)
Fanny - Charity Ball (Reprise 1970)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

TIME TO ARMAGEDDON

Maybe it's just because I'm on a downer at the moment or maybe it's I just that I feel the need to 'cleanse my soul' (or some such bullshit) but I'm giving serious thought to setting myself a Time To Armageddon, a day of reckoning, if you will, when things MUST change.

The idea is that if I'm not doing the job I want by a certain date, or at least in a more creative one than the soul-sucking excuse for employment I currently endure five days a week, I would cease any attempt to find work happiness and "jack in" my life as I know it.

I don't mean that I would take a leap off the top of the Forth Road Bridge or choke myself to death on cornflakes (see the film "That Sinking Feeling"). I wouldn't even get a tattoo and ride off into the sunset with a couple of whores (it's not the same having to get public transport instead of a motorbike). I mean that I would give my life a radical re-think and total declutter. While it would be stupid of me to jack in my job (she-who-must-be-obeyed-wouldn't-let-me anyway), I figured that on my preferred Day of Doom I would do the following:

Stop Blogging
Stop Twittering
Scrap my MySpace page
Scrap my Jocknroll website/blog
Stop writing
Stop hosting quiz nights
Stop doing my hospital radio show
Scrap my magazine subscriptions
Clear out all my e-mails

I give up too much of myself, my soul and my time for nothing and to a largely unappreciative audience. Why should I bother? What's the point? I'm getting nothing out it but stress and grief. Mentally, I'm spent.

Maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself or maybe I'm just being a realist but we have so much physical and emotional shit to cart around and I am, quite frankly, sick of it. There just isn't enough time in the day to do those "when I get a day off" projects, which remain largely unfinished, and when they are complete take too much effort to maintain. Why bother?

How does 3 May 2010 sound? Is that good for you?

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 15 March 2009

Here was tonight's playlist:

Nancy Sinatra - Last of the Secret Agents (Reprise 1966)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Bats - Listen To My Heart (Decca 1966)
The Creation - Try and Stop Me (Planet 1966)
Emitt Rhodes - Fresh As A Daisy (ABC/Dunhill 1970)
The Crystals - Uptown (Philles 1962)
Linda Cumbo - Did You Ever Lose Your Mind (Over a Boy) (Select 1965)
The New Faces - (Walk Tall) Like A Man (Pye 1966)
Twinkle - Ain't Nobody Home But Me (Decca 1965) (Connect 3)
Billie Davis - Nobody's Home To Go Home To (Decca 1969) (Connect 3)
Darlene Love - Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home (Philles 1963) (Connect 3)
Jimmy Thomas - Where There's A Will (Mirwood 1966)
Linda Kaye - I Can't Stop Thinking About You (Columbia 1966)
Sly Stone - Luv 'N Haight (Epic 1971) (Birthday: Sly Stone 15/3/44)
The Marvelettes - Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead (Motown 1975)
The In Crowd - Blow Up (demo) (Unreleased 1967)
Stone - Les Framboises (You're So Good To Me) (Decca 1966) (Foreign Language)
The Exciters - Run Mascara (Roulette 1965)
Tony Newman - Let The Good Times Roll (Half-Time Instrumental)
The Cryan' Shames - I Wanna Meet You (mono) (Destination 1966)
Marmalade - Butterfly (CBS 1969)
The Girlfriends - My One and Only Jimmy Boy (Colpix 1963)
Millie Foster - Love Wheel (President 1962)
The Staple Singers - When Will We Be Paid (For The Work We've Done) (Stax 1969)
The Byrds - Lady Friend (CBS 1967)
Camera Obscura - French Navy (4AD 2009) (Under The Influence)
Love Affair - A Day Without Love (CBS 1968)
The Beach Boys - This Whole World (Brother 1969)
Cindy Williams - They Talk About Us (Parlophone 1967)
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - Motoring (Gordy 1965) (Connect 3)
The Supremes - You're My Driving Wheel (Motown 1976) (Connect 3)
The Kinks - Drivin' (Pye 1969) (Connect 3)
Jackie Lee - Anything You Want (Unreleased ?)
Jackie Lee - Love Is A Gamble (Pye 1969)
Amen Corner - Hey! Hey! Girl (Immediate 1969) (Two of a Kind)
Amen Corner - Our Love Is In Pocket (Decca 1968) (Two of a Kind)
The Shangri-las - Heaven Only Knows (Red Bird 1965)
The Rockin' Vickers - It's Alright (CBS/Columbia 1966)
Carole Deene - Some People (HMV 1962)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

I WON

Regular viewers will know I've been having battles with a number of battles with various organisations over a number of issues. Well, I've had a couple of victories, albeit minor ones.

The ILA have refunded my £200 through a most complex administration system. The learning provider had to "cancel" the course (even though I did it) and that would get the money back into my account. Now I go and do guitar lessons and I'm been thinking about doing sign language too. I was getting right into it having watching Mr Tumble on CBeebies. I found it quite exciting learning new words and their signs.

Orange have also stopped sending me stupid messages that I don't want, even though they promised before that they would cease. I still can't work out how my Calls Made/Missed Calls log has stopped since May 2008.

Asda still haven't phoned me back about the piss-poor service I got last week, which underlines my point.

The Dunfermline Press printed my letter this week about Councillor Martin; he was the one who insulted me in an e-mail and then made the rather stupid mistake of forwarding it on to me. He had sent a letter to the paper last week defending one of his party faithful who'd been slagged off by someone else in the paper. Pot kettle, Mr Martin, pot kettle. The DePress still aren't interested in my nomination for the National Hospital Radio Awards but they did feature the local girl who has made the last 10 for FHM's High Street Honeys. Can't think why!

You can hear my today on Jon Holmes' BBC6Music show between 2 and 4 (at about 3.45pm) talking about Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". I kid you not.

CAT-ASTROPHIC

I got offered a job with the RSPCA but the office was too small. There wasn't enough room to swing a cat.

DON'T STOP BELIEVING IN JOURNEY

On Saturday afternoon I'll be taking part in the Soft Rock feature on Jon Holmes' BBC 6Music Show. It was bad enough writing an appreciation of Status Quo for The Scotsman (I got paid but I felt I'd sold my soul) but any credibility I have remaining will now be up in smoke as I wax lyrical about Journey's powerpop ballad classic "Don't Stop Believing".

The most frustrating thing about it is that I went into my large singles box this afternoon and it wasn't there. I must have got rid of it pending a raid from the taste police. I recall it was a double A-side with another of their other big US hits from the "Escape" album, "Who's Crying Now" and came in a die-cut sleeve. It was being used to "sell" Journey in the UK but it never really took off, peaking in the charts at number 62. The other A-side "Who's Crying Now" was released again in August 1982 and got to 46.

I also found this out:

"Don't Stop Believing", the classic Journey power ballad, has just become the first catalog track in history to achieve online digital sales of more than 2 million units, according to SoundScan.

First made available through the iTunes Store on April 28, 2003, the truly timeless "Don't Stop Believing" has become the top-selling catalog track in iTunes history and the sole catalog track to have crossed the 2 million (double platinum) threshold. (The term "catalog" is used to refer to a pre-digital era track released for digital sales prior to the launch of the iTunes Store.)

"Don't Stop Believin'" enjoyed a massive resurgence in popularity in June 2007 after serving as the soundtrack to the climactic final set-piece of HBO's hit mafia family television series, "The Sopranos." Download sales of the song on iTunes rocketed an incredible 482% for the period from Saturday, June 9th (the night before "The Sopranos" finale) through Tuesday, June 12th, of that year.

As downloads of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" reached record numbers, demand for the band's CD catalog began accelerating and continue to this day."

Here are those singalong lyrics, reproduced with no permission whatsoever:

"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world She took the midnight train goin' anywhere Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit He took the midnight train goin' anywhere A singer in a smokey room A smell of wine and cheap perfume For a smile they can share the night It goes on and on and on and on Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching in the night Streetlights people, living just to find emotion Hiding, somewhere in the night Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill Payin' anything to roll the dice, just one more time Some will win, some will lose Some were born to sing the blues Oh, the movie never ends It goes on and on and on and on Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching in the night Streetlights people, living just to find emotion Hiding, somewhere in the night Don't stop believin' Hold on to the feelin' Streetlights people Don't stop believin' Hold on Streetlight people Don't stop believin' Hold on to the feelin' Streetlights people"

Hell, who am I kidding? It's a guilty pleasure and no mistake. Now where did I put that poodle-perm wig?


Other songs selected so far have been:

Heart - There's The Girl
Angry Anderson - Suddenly
Posion - Every Rose Has It's Thorn
Toto - Africa*
Scorpions - Wind Of Change
Kiss - God Gave Rock N Roll To You
Warrant - Heaven
Stan Bush - The Touch
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again*
Bon Jovi - Runaway *
Stryper - Always There For You
Def Leppard - Love Bites
REO Speedwagon - Keep On Lovin' You*
Firehouse - Love Of A Lifetime
Guns N Roses - November Rain
Bryan Adams - Heaven
David Lee Roth - Just Like Paradise
Cheap Trick - The Flame*
Aerosmith - Angel

I would agree with the ones with asterisks (I haven't heard some of the others) but I would also add Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart", Heart's "Alone", Grand Prix's "Keep On Believing" (1 week at 75 in the UK chart), Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield", Huey Lewis and the News' "Do You Believe In Love" and Asia's "Heat of the Moment".

What would you pick?

PISS POOR SERVICE

I had to leave work this morning to pick up my daughter because she's covered in spots. After two buses home, I picked her up from pre-school and drove her home. After an afternoon of "Lady and the Tramp" (interrupted by the window cleaner and a stupid saleswoman who didn't want to take no for an answer and asked for my address even though she was standing at my front door in front of the number with the street sign behind her. She can't read because we have one of the "No Salespeople" stickers in the window) and CBeebies.

A trip to the doctor confirmed our fears about chicken pox, although she's had it before. After picking up mummy from the station (a special "thank you" to the dickheads who continue to park at the entrance to the car park instead of IN the car park. We literally scraped past one Chelsea tractor but fuck 'em - your car's worth more than mine and parked stupidly so I hope the damage to your vehicle wasn't trivial) and dropping them home I head back out to Asda to pick up a prescription for Calamine Cream and get some petrol. There's is where the "fun" begins.

I get to the Pharmacy at the Halbeath Road branch of Asda in Dunfermline. I wait what seems like an eternity to get served. During this time I fill in the form on the back (thinking this might help the harassed-looking staff) and wait to be served. Finally, I'm served - it is now 1745. The lady looks at the script, turns and picks up a jar of cream from behind the counter. Instead of handing to me, she passes it to her colleague and turns to me to say "that'll be 20 minutes"! I'm speechless. She then, thinking I'm half daft, writes "6.05pm" on the collection receipt.

Incredulous, I wander off to find some bin bags and look at the DVDs. At 6pm exactly I return and take a seat. Having been told the script wouldn't be ready until 5 past I sit down and wait for my name to be called. And I wait...and I wait...

At 6.35pm one of the assistants finally asks me my surname - she may have been prompted by the steam coming out of my ears and face like thunder that met her question. I ask her rather firmly and in front of about seven other customers why it's taken her 35 minutes to ask me my surname, what did she think I was waiting there for - a bus? I ask why if they're so busy that people have to wait 20 minutes for a script, even when it's on a shelf behind them, does she have time for a 10-minute chat with a passing friend? I let her know in no uncertain terms how piss-poor I think the service and that I'll be making a complaint. (I almost failed to mention that while the backlog, like Ulrika Jonsson, continued to mount, the pharmacist actually pissed off somewhere else for 7-8 minutes too.)

Yet another long queue, now being told it'll be 30 minutes to get a prescription, is waiting as I storm off in the direction of Customer Services. The queue is quiet and has no doubt been hanging on to every word of the rather one-sided conversation. The clueless assistant seemed to indicate that it was ME who should have informed HER that I was there (I was sitting less than 3 feet away from her for 35 minutes). Not once did she enquire if I was being served, as any customer assistant worth their salt would have done. I finally received the cream some 50 minutes after I handed the prescription over. That, to me, is unacceptable.

I tried to stayed calm as a rather panicky Customer services assistant tried in vain to locate the Manager. After 5 minutes he showed up. As calmly as I could, I laid the facts in front of him, gave him my details and told him I was off to administer the cream to my chicken pox-ridden four year old. He said he would be in touch. I decided against getting petrol at Asda after all (fuck 'em) and drove home, still fuming. (I went to Tesco to get the fuel while the Good Lady Wife was watching Heston Bloomingheck.) Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!!

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 8 March 2009

Here was tonight's playlist for the award-nominated (did I mention that?) "Where The Action Is":

The Shangri-las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss (Red Bird 1965)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Cyrkle - Turn Down Day (Columbia 1966)
The Stories - Love Is In Motion (Kama Sutra 1972)
Sharon Tandy - You Gotta Believe It (Atlantic 1968)
The Beas - International Girl (Label and year unknown)
13th Floor Elevators - (I've Got) Levitation (International Artists 1967)
Homer's Knods - Mr Rainbow (Pye 1969)
Annette Funicello - Pineapple Princess (Disneyland 1960) (Connect 3)
Little Eva - Sugar Plum (Give Me Some) (Unreleased 1968) (Connect 3)
Patsy Ann Noble - Sour Grapes (Columbia 1963) (Connect 3)
Julie Grant - Count On Me (Pye 1963)
The Liverbirds - Shop Around (Label and year unknown)
The Monkees - All The King's Horses (Unrelased 1966) (Birthday: Mickey Dolenz 8/3/45)
The Action - Shadows and Reflections (BBC 1967)
Norma Tracy & The Cinderella Kids - Skateboard Song (Label and year unknown)
Louise Cordet - Que m'a-t-il-fait? (Label and year unknown) (Foreign Language)
Billie Davis - I Want You To Be My Baby (Decca 1968)
The Rustlers - A Matter of Who (Pye 1961) (Half-Time Instrumental)
First Crow To The Moon - The Sun Lights Up The Shadows of Your Mind (Label Unknown 1967)
Aerovons - The Train (Parlophone 1969)
Jan and Dean - The Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review and Timing Association (Liberty 1964)
The Velvelettes - A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush) (VIP 1965)
The Ashes - Let's Take Our Love (Label and Year Unknown)
Lulu - Rattler (EMI 1967)
The Thrills - Bug Sur (EMI 2003) (Under The Influence)
The Freshmen - Carpet Man (Pye 1968)
The Music Machine - The People In Me (Label Unknown 1967)
Herman's Hermits - Bus Stop (Columbia 1966)
Stamford Bridge - Happiness and Rainy Days (Label Unknown 1970) (Connect 3)
Julie London - February Brings The Rain (Liberty 1956) (Connect 3)
The Searchers - What Have You Done To The Rain? (Pye 1964) (Connect 3)
The Montanas - You're Making A Big Mistake (Pye 1968)
The Birdies - The Hucklebuck 65 (Label and Year Unknown)
Wilson Pickett - If You Need Me (Atlantic 1965) (Two of a Kind)
Wilson Pickett - Don't Fight It (Atlantic 1965) (Two of a Kind)
Two of Each - Trust (Pye 1969)
Sandie Shaw - Downtown (Pye 1965)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

I would give tonight's show 9.75 out of10. I really enjoyed it.

Until next time, good night and good health...

RADIO KILLED THE RADIO STAR

Yesterday I attended a Radio Academy event at the Royal Concert Hall called "Foot in the Door". It was supposed to be just for radio students but, after initially being told I couldn't go, I was invited too. (Thanks to John Collins (no, not that one), Helliate and Laura.)

While in my ways I was glad I went I left feeling rather more depressed than when I arrived (and I've been very down this week). I took a lot of good information away and I certainly asked plenty of questions - I figured it might be my only chance.

The event was split into a number of sessions covering different areas of radio/broadcasting.

Imaging - Marketing a station's brand
Indies - Getting work on the BBC via independent producers
Music radio production - Selection and scheduling of music on the BBC and independent radio
Speech sequence radio production and presentation - Producing busy, regular speech radio
How to get your work commissioned - Exactly as it sounds
Podcasting - See above
Music Presentation Skills - What rocks on air and why
Community Radio - As it says

I plumped for Podcasting, How To Get Commissioned, Indies and Music Presentation Skills, although the last one seemed to have disappeared so I plumped for a very busy Speech Production table.

The podcasting table featured Karen Miller and Jim Gellatly, who already do their own (excellent) podcasts and Tony Currie who runs Radio Six International, an Internet radio station based in Glasgow. Most of the chat centred around money; namely licences from PPL and the mouthful that is the MCPS-PRS Alliance. While it made no attempt to cover up the realities I felt the dark clouds of doom begin to hover.

Cumulo Depressus showed no sign of disappearing through "How To Get Your Work Commissioned". Okay, maybe they were just being realistic about your chances of getting your ideas commissioned or even stolen but there was definitely an air of doom and gloom about it all.

The third table, after a very pricey lunch in the Concert Hall cafe, was even more depressing. Colin Somerville is someone I grew up listening to over many years and while it was great to put a face to the voice he seemed tinged with a world-weary sadness that didn't fill me with hope for my own chances of getting paid for doing what I love to do. Again, maybe he was just telling it like it is, keeping it real, making sure we were under no illusions as to how tough 'the business' is but it just made me feel like going home.

The last table, Speech Sequence Radio Production and Presentation, gave me a bit more hope. One thing I did learn is that Scott Wilson, resplendent in a lovely grey golfing jumper, doesn't need a microphone! Ever! I managed to chat with two of the panellists from this table later on, namely Graham Stewart and Stephen Hollywood, both who work for Radio Scotland. Graham presents "Morning Extra" on Radio Scotland and I phoned in on Christmas Eve to talk about two of the featured topics - Christmas records and working over the festive period. I was on air when I was on my way to do my Christmas Countdown show on VRN. I also had a chat with Stephen Hollywood, a senior Producer for Radio Scotland who looks after Fred MacAulay's Show. I was interviewed about the Jocknroll Best/Worst Album Poll by Fred and I spoke to Stephen about being a music contributor on the show. If you don't ask...

After an excellent closing speech by Trevor Dann and a brief chat with Jim I made my way to one of my least favourite places, Buchanan Street Bus Station. Even in broad daylight I'm very wary of the place.

While the event was well organised I did feel at times that I was on my own and spent a lot of wondering aimlessly around. I did meet and talk to a few people but most of them were the actual panel members for each group.

I like to thank the following people for their time and words of wisdom: Graham Stewart , Stephen Hollywood, Paul Saunders (Programme Director for Radio Clyde who allowed me to foist my demo on to him), Nick Low (Demus Productions, who voted in the Jocknroll Singles poll), Karen Miller, Tony Currie and last, but not least, the larger-than-life Jim Gellatly, who did a little piece to camera for a rolling Jocknroll project that I'm working on (and not telling you about yet).

NO WONDER I'M DePRESSED

As regular readers will be aware I’ve been short listed for the Best Newcomer award at the National Hospital Radio Awards. I’m rightly proud of my achievement thus far and why shouldn’t I be? I worked hard for it and I always say that if you don’t blow your own trumpet, no one else will.

The radio station I’m on doesn’t seem to have a policy when it comes to issuing press releases to publicise events and achievements so, with the chairman’s permission, I put one together myself. The small but perfectly-formed press release, in which I actually gave top billing to my colleague John who is nominated in one of the more prestigious categories (Male Presenter of the Year, which he has won twice), was e-mailed to the local free papers, as well as the Fife Free Press and the Dunfermline Press. The radio station is based in Kirkcaldy but I sent the information to the Dunfermline Press because I figured that they might just be interested in a story of a local resident doing good.

I had hoped that making the final 10 of a national competition might be deemed newsworthy but, no, they weren’t interested. (I don’t know if it was in any of the free papers because the one week in which I wanted to read them they never appeared!) Anyway, imagine my surprise when I saw THIS STORY from this week’s Dunfermline Press.

Now why do you suppose that my story didn’t make it and this one did? We’re both in the running to win a UK-wide competition and yet the tall, leggy, big-breasted father-of-one is ignored in favour of a 23-year-old phlebotomist*.

Maybe if I offered to lie down in my vest and pants they’d print my story too.

The newspaper’s snubbing of me may have something to do with the time I took them to the Press Complaints Commission over their attempt at character assassination. I’ve also written to their letters page about issues that I thought would be of interest to them and local residents only to find my letter doesn’t appear in print and but a story on the same subject appears elsewhere in the paper. No thanks, no acknowledgment, nothing.

I’ve also been known to point out their spelling mistakes and grammatical errors so maybe it’s understandable that they might want to take their “revenge” by ignoring a perfect decent little story. It’s their choice, albeit a rather sad one, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face.

What is rather ironic is that there’s a possible follow-up story/photo-opportunity because Stagecoach have kindly offered to sponsor us on our trip to Blackpool by loaning us a 7-seater people carrier, complete with a tank of petrol.

The only problem is that the DePress hates Stagecoach more than it hates me!

The Cat
=^..^=

* If Ms McDaid wins she gets £10,000, an appearance on the cover of FHM and a chance to present a music show on KISS TV. My prize, if I’m lucky enough to win, will be a certificate, a mention in On-Air magazine (the official journal of the Hospital Broadcasting Association) and the undying admiration of my family and friends. (There used to be cash prizes but times are hard). Ms McDaid says she’ll buy her mother Botox, while I’ll be lucky if I can afford a stick of rock.

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 1 March 2009

Here was tonight's "fame" playlist:

Heinz - Just Like Eddie (Decca 1963)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
David Bowie - Andy Warhol (RCA 1971)
Twiggy - When I Think of You (Ember 1967)
Gloria Hunniford - Are You Ready for Love (Tangerine 1969)
Sophia Loren - Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo (Parlophone 1961)
John Leyton - The Great Escape (HMV 1963)
Billy Boyle - My Baby's Crazy 'Bout Elvis (Decca 1962)
Bonnie Jo Mason (Cher) - Ringo I Love You (Annette 1964) (Connect 3)
Polly Perkins - You Too Can Be A Beatle (Oriole 1964) (Connect 3)
Rainbo (Sissy Spacek) - John You Went Too Far This Time (? 1968) (Connect 3)
Marlene Dietrich - Near You (? 1957)
Mike Berry & The Outlaws - Tribute To Buddy Holly (HMV 1961)
Adrienne Posta - Shang A Doo Lang (Decca 1964) (Birthday: Adrienne Posta 1/3/48)
Patrick Macnee/Honor Blackman - Kinky Boots (Deram 1964)
Mark Wynter - Can I Get To Know You Better (Pye 1965)
Brigitte Bardot - Moi Je Joue (Mercury 1964) (Foreign Language)
Maya Angelou - Since Me Man Done Gone and Went (Liberty 1957)
David McCallum - The Edge (Capitol 1967) (Half-Time Instrumental)
Jimmy Tarbuck - Someday (You'll Want Me To Love You) (Immediate 1965)
Josephine Baker - Don't Touch My Tomatoes (Label/Year Unknown)
Cilla Black - Work Is A Four Letter Word (Parlophone 1968)
Anita Harris - Something Must Be Done (Pye 1966)
Bruce Forsyth - I'm Backine Britain (Pye 1968)
Jayne Mansfield - That Makes It! (? 1966)
OMD - Pandora's Box (Virgin 1991) (Under The Influence)
Gillian Hills - Tomorrow Is Another Day (Vogue 1965)
Shirley Abicair - You Can't Hide A Broken Heart (Piccadilly 1967)
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore/The Breakaways - Bedazzled (Decca 1967)
Diana Dors - So Little Time (Fontana 1964) (Connect 3)
Linda Thorson - Here I Am (Ember 1968) (Connect 3)
Jenny Moss - Big Boys (Columbia 1963) (Connect 3)
Judy Carne - Sock It To Me (Reprise 1968)
Janice Nicholls - I'll Give It Five (Decca 1963)
Alison Wonder* - Once More With Feeling (Columbia 1970) (Two of a Kind)
Cheryl St. Clair* - I'll Forget You Tonight (Columbia 1967) (Two of a Kind)
Marilyn Monroe - Heatwave (? 1954)
Lenny Gamble** - I'll Do Anything (Anything She Wants) (Polydor 1973)
Susan Hampshire - When Love Is True (Decca 1965)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

*Singing nom-de-plumes for Cheryl Barrymore, wife of Michael
**Tony Blackburn does Northern Soul

Tonight's show was probably a 8/10. I forgot one of the tracks I was going to play and it through me for a few minutes.

Until next time, good night and good health...

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 22 March 2009

Here was tonight's "fame" special playlist:

The Chiffons - Nobody Knows What's Going On In My Mind But Me (Laurie 1965)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
Petula Clark - Heart (Pye 1965)
The Goodies - Sophisticated Boom Boom (Blue Cat 1965)
Syreeta Wright - I Can't Give You Back The Love I Feel (Gordy 1968)
Dorothy Berry - You're So Fine (Challenge 1963)
The Fabulettes - Try The Worryin' Way (Sound Stage 7 1966)
Cilla Black - I've Been Wrong Before (Parlophone 1965)
The Caravelles - Hey Mama You've Been On My Mind (Polydor 1966) (Connect 3)
Etta James - Tell Mama (Chess 1968) (Connect 3)
Barbara Carr - My Mama Told Me (Chess 1966) (Connect 3)
The Breakaways - That's How It Goes (Pye 1964)
Denria Lynn - I'd Much Rather Be With the Girls (Capitol 1965)
The Yardbirds - For Your Love (Birthday: 22/3/43 Keith Relf)
Dusty Springfield - I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face (Phillips 1967)
The Geminis - A Friend of Mine (RCA Victor 1966)
Liz Brady - Partie de Dames (Pathe 1966) (Foreign Language)
Earl Jean - I'm Into Something Good
The Ramblers - Just for Chicks (Decca 1963)(Half-Time Instrumental)
Connie Francis - Don't Ever Leave Me (MGM 1964)
Little Eva - Keep Your Hands Off Of My Baby (London 1962)
Carole King - Crying In The Rain (Dimension 1963)
Bessie Banks - Go Now (Tiger 1964)
Mary Wells - Bye Bye Baby (Motown 1960)
Barbara Lewis - Don't Forget About Me (Atlantic 1966)
Fanny - Long Road Home (Reprise 1973) (Under The Influence)
Sylvan - We Don't Belong (Columbia 1965)
Ellie Greenwich - You Don't Know (Red Bird 1965)
Peanut - Thank Goodness For The Rain (Pye 1965)
Ruby and the Romantics - When You're Young and In Love (Kapp 1964) (Connect 3)
The Emeralds - Wanna Make Him Mine (Jubilee 1964) (Connect 3)
The Sapphires - Who Do You Love (Swan 1963) (Connect 3)
Shirley Matthews - Big Town Boy (Atlantic 1963)
Jackie DeShannon - Dream Boy (Unreleased 1964)
Mama Cass - Dream A Little Dream of Me (Dunhill 1968) (Two of a Kind)
Mama Cass - It's Getting Better (Dunhill 1969) (Two of a Kind)
Cher - Dream Baby (Imperial 1964)
The Girls - Chico's Girl (Capitol 1966)
Fanny - Charity Ball (Reprise 1970)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

IN IT TO WIN IT – COMPING IS THE NEW ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

In these financially stretched times people are looking at ways in which to make money or get something for nothing.

Since time immemorial, my favoured way of getting ‘owt for nowt’ has been crosswords, competitions and free prize draws. While I have dabbled in slogan competitions, with limited success it has to be said, I prefer to take my chances in the first-out-of-the-hat/waste paper basket/receptacle of choice (delete as applicable) arena.

While family responsibilities and the damned inconvenience that is work have taken up most of my time, I still keep my hand in. The explosion of the information super dual carriageway that is the Interweb has seen infinite comping opportunities. While the barely-read, hardly-entered comps of local and free newspapers are still a favourite the Internet is the place to go for all manner of gratis booty and all for sending an e-mail or filling in an online form.

Over the years Mrs Cat and I have won many, many prizes (probably in the thousands) and even our daughter has received the reward many compers long for – the LWE. The receipt from your postie of a Long White Envelope is often met with an anticipatory thought of “ooh…I wonder…”. While the LWE is still much sought after, I tend to receive more CJBs (Chunky Jiffy Bags) these days, usually containing a CD, DVD or book.

In the early days of comping it wasn’t so easy to get rid of the unwanted runners-up prizes but now eBay has turned the worst of prizes, even that John and Norma Major jigsaw*, into a money-maker.

(* The Big Issue used to make it easy to enter all the comps on one page by putting all your postcards in one envelope and I was a very regular winner, including the aforementioned jigsaw. Often I would win more than one prize in an issue. I no longer have this jigsaw; it went to a charity shop).

Here are some of our family competition win highlights:

1996: Damien Hirst Beck's bottle and t-shirt (x 2), 48 cans of Hooch (from 85 prizes)
1997: Chance to take penalty kicks against John Leslie at Easter Road during Hibs-Rangers (from 46 prizes)
1998: £500 sports vouchers (from loads of prizes)
1999: Case of sherry/cooler/apron/towels (from 52 prizes)
2000: Fridge freezer/£200/Hi Fi** (from 33 prizes)
2001: Rough Trade 25th anniversary goodies, DVD player (from loads of prizes)
2002: £2000** (from 13 prizes, a barren year)
2003: Weekend break, portable TV (from 29 prizes)
2004: Loads of little prizes (30)
2005: 10 Billy Connolly DVDs (from 23 prizes)
2006: £300 Sony Centre vouchers (from 28 prizes)
2007: Bowie/Marley/Presley books, signed electric guitar (from 13 prizes)
2008: Travelodge Weekend for 4 (from 14 prizes)

**TV game show wins

Okay so no cars, big holidays or huge cash amounts, let alone that van load of stuff they give away on The Gadget Show but they keep coming, although competition, so to speak, is more fierce.

I have to confess that one of my first comp wins was for tickets (and a signed album) for what turned out to be my first ‘proper’ gig. While the “cool” people will wax lyrical on seeing T-Rex at Manchester Free Trade Hall or David Bowie at Murrayfield, my first live musical experience was courtesy of play-pause-play jazz-funk specialists Shakatak. Of course, if anyone asks I substitute the truth with my second gig, Aztec Camera at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall in December 83 supported by Hurrah and Tempa.

From relative soft drug of comps, crosswords and free prize draws I made the natural progression to the hard stuff of game/quiz shows and I’ll share my thoughts and experiences on that subject in the near future. Don’t do Countdown kids; it really screws you up.

STILL ILL - UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE RANT

Sadly, I was unable to do my radio show on Sunday due to a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea that Linda Blair would've been proud of. I lay the blame firmly on the KFC I had on Friday night, which woke me up at 4.30 on Sunday morning sweating like Michelle McManus in a cake shop. I didn't learn my lesson from the last KFC I had, which had the same effect. Next time, I'll have fish and chips.

Thanks to the BBC and the print media for spoiling the result of tonight's University Challenge final. By featuring high-scoring Gail Trimble, the captain of Corpus Christi, in today's papers and on the 6 o'clock news the result is rather inevitable. They didn't actually give the result out as such but I'm thinking if she'd crashed and burned in the final there wouldn't have been so much coverage. Thank you BBC for spoiling the outcome of one of my few weekly pleasures.

While I admire her intellect on academic subjects she would still struggle to get into my pub quiz team. Could she name the four Banana Splits or the England international footballer whose first four caps were under four different managers? I very much doubt it. As for her being the "thinking man's crumpet", well, she's not that good looking. Does being intelligent automatically make a woman sexy? In fact, I think she's quite plain, not ugly, just plain. She reminds me of a bespectacled Melissa Gilbert in "Little House on the Prairie". All she needs is the pigtails and the Amish get up.

We had the same hysteria in 2007 when Daisy Christodoulou led Warwick University to victory. Was she intelligent? Yes. Was she attractive? Maybe. Would we have the same press coverage if a man was so dominant? I doubt it.

TWITTER v BLOGGING, COMPLAINTS, WEBSITE HELP NEEDED

It seems that since I joined Twitter I’ve stopped Blogging, well almost. Although the more I think about it I know that’s it simply because I’ve been so busy. I’ve attended two one-day courses this week; one to do with Dreamweaver, which I’m using to upgrade the Jocknroll website, and one for work to do with my employer’s new Intranet/Content Management site. Both were interesting in their own ways and I look forward to utilising what I’ve learned.

It seems to be feast or famine with me when it comes to Blogging. I had a ‘rich vein of form’ recently but I’ve only posted my radio show track lists since then. Mind you, I’ve been replying to entries by Clair, Modern Gutnish and Avenues and Alleyways who are never anything less than interesting.

I’ve had some more Recommends in The Scotsman:
- Best Slosh Songs
- Best Unfinished Scottish Things
- Best Scottish Lurve Song

I’m still having issues with the ILA and my learning provider (I’ve lost £200 in funding thanks to a cock-up), the BPI (no reply yet regarding my Brits observations), E.ON (no reply to two e-mails) and Orange (still getting messages that I was told would stop) and when any of them get back to me I’ll let you know what they say.

I enjoyed a Twittering menage-a-twit during The Brits with Jim Gellatly and Joe McAlinden on Wednesday. Rather ironically, I didn’t actual watch it and instead chose to comment on their observations.

More work is required on the Jocknroll website and I’m looking to join up with Amazon Affiliates. Yeah, selling my soul a bit but I’m not greedy. I just want to make enough to pay for the running of the site and to maybe get some Jocknroll t-shirts and badges made. I’ve added a whole load of new album sleeves this week and I’m now looking into things like Keywords, Descriptions and Google Analytics. (The site does have some text embedded to do with Analytics already but I can’t access the information. You won’t be surprised to know that I’ve e-mailed them for help.)

I need to think about what direction I want the site to go in. Any ideas? Maybe we should run another poll. I need to add more Artist links, as well as checking all the links on the Links page to ensure that they’re still extant. I hate going on to other websites and finding out-of-date links.

Does anyone know the best way to get up to date Scottish Music News on to the website? RSS perhaps. Or even General Music News in which I can weed out the non-Scottish stuff.

I’d appreciate any comments on the Jocknroll website from my Blogging Buddies. I can take it on the chin(s), whatever your observations are.

Does anyone know how I can link the headlines from my Jocknroll Blog entries to the main website, maybe like a news ticker-tape? I’m also looking at adding a new Contacts page on the Jocknoll website with Blogger and Twitter widgets embedded. Does anyone know how, and if, I can do this? Questions, questions, so many questions.

"WHERE THE ACTION IS" on TWITTER

It's 1610 and I'm at the studio for my hospital radio show. I'll be twittering throughout it to let you know what I'm playing. Join me at Twitter from 1700 (until 1900) for my lurve special. If you're expecting Mariah Carey or The Bangles, you'll be mightily disappointed.

Twitter is the best way to know WHAT I'm playing WHEN I'm playing it, mainly because I'm not allowed to tell you what I'm playing before I play it. Some radio regulation.

Testify!

The Cat
=^..^=

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 15 February 2009

Here was tonight's fine playlist:

The Ronettes - Baby I Love You (Philles 1964) RIP Estelle Bennett
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Valentines - Get Yourself Together (Sound Stage 7)
Brian Poole & The Tremeloes - Do You Love Me (Decca 1963)
The Sweethearts - No More Tears (Kent 1966)
The Morning Glories - Love-In (Warners 1967)
The Moody Blues - Love and Beauty (Decca 1967)
The Goodnight Kisses - Devil In The Dark (Atco 1964)
The Turtles - Guide for the Married Man (White Whale 1967) (Connect 3)
The Knack - (The Man from the) Marriage Guidance & Advice Bureau (Piccadilly 1968) (Connect 3)
The Delicates - I Want To Get Married (Challenge 1965) (Connect 3)
Peter London - I'm Your Lovin' Man (Unreleased 1965)
Love Affair - Everlasting Love (CBS 1968)
The Kinks - I Need You (Pye 1965) (Birthday: Mick Avory, drummer, 15/2/44)
The Monkees - Love To Love (unreleased 1967)
The Bobby Fuller Four - My True Love (Mustang 1966)
John Leyton - John C'est L'Amour (Son This Is She) (HMV 1961) (Foreign Language)
The Belles - Cupid's Got A Hold On Me (Unreleased 1966)
Dave Clark Five - First Love (Piccadilly 1962) (Half-Time Instrumental)
The Action - Love Is All (Unreleased 1967/1968)
The New Breed - Friends and Lovers Forever (Decca 1965)
Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers - I'm In Love With You (Parlophone 1961)
Felice Taylor - Captured By Your Love (Kent 1968)
The Athenians - I Got Love If You Want It (Waverley 1964)
George Chakiris - Heart of a Teenage Girl (Triumph 1960)
BMX Bandits - Love Makes The World Go Round (Creation 1996) (Under The Influence)
Billy Fury - When Will You Say I Love You (Decca 1963)
Barbara Ruskin - Light of Love (Piccadilly 1966)
Reparata and the Delrons - Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Hearts? (Unreleased 19??)
Dickie Valentine - Venus (Chancellor 1959) (Connect 3)
April Stevens - Lovin' Valentine (Atco 1965) (Connect 3)
Chet Baker - My Funny Valentine (? 1962) (Connect 3)
The Looking Glass - Silver and Sunshine (How Wonderful Is Our Love) (Valiant 1967)
The Puppets - Three Boys Lookin' For Love (Pye 1964)
Love - The Daily Planet (Elektra 1967) (Two of a Kind)
Love - You Set The Scene (Elektra 1967) (Two of a Kind)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

LAST NIGHT'S TELLY

Wasn't last night's telly great?

First there was a welcome repeat of "The High Life" on BBC4. It was the episode where Sebastian and Steve enter the Song for Europe competition with their lyrical masterpiece "Pif Paf Pof". "Oh, dearie me!"



This was followed by "Early Doors", which seemed to have slipped under the radar for many people. Think The Royle Family but set in a pub with Roddy Frame doing "Small World" for the theme tune. Excellent. "Crime Can't Crack Itself!"



The second series of the much talked about "Mad Men" ensued at 10. So glad it's back!



"Shameless" on Channel 4 clashed with "Mad Men" so we Sky+ it. This is followed by another comedy that everybody I work with doesn't watch, "The Big Bang Theory".



There's even a website where you can buy some of the stuff the Big Bang Theory characters wear. It's at www.sheldonsshirts.com My favourite character is Howard Wolowitz, who looks like he was in the Lovin' Spoonful. Testify!

What's on tonight? Fuckin' "Waterloo Road"! Thankfully "Damages" is back on Sunday.

MY SPACE TOO

Letter to the DePress:

“Last night (Monday 9th Feb) I witnessed two cars, each parked across TWO spaces within the car park at the Woodmill Road side of the Dunfermline Town train station car park. Not only that but one of them was parked across two of the extra-wide spaces set aside for the disabled. They didn't have a blue badge. Is there no end to people's stupidity and selfishness?

What's the point in having parking restrictions if they're not enforced?”

JOB DEVALUATION

Found out last week that my job has been devalued and I’m dropping two pay points under the new scheme. Along the corridor, people in a similar role have gone up two pay points. And, just to rub salt further into the gaping wounds, we’re now being asked to do some of their work because their department has staffing issues. This is also despite them having access to a further nine members of staff within their own department. Is it any wonder I’m so depressed? It is yet another kick in the teeth from an employer who really must hate me. If I get demoted any lower I’ll be serving bacon rolls in the canteen next week (actually it would probably give me more job satisfaction.)

TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY REGENERATION

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7881594.stm

Whilst I would nominate my home town of Dunfermline, I sometimes think that people get the town centre they deserve. Who would get your vote?

MUSIC LIKE A VITAMIN - SONG APPEAL

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival would like YOU to suggest songs that inspire hope. We are looking for songs that inspire, uplift, provoke thought and stir the heart; songs which have offered you hope and encouragement in moments of feeling down as well as songs that encourage self-empowerment.

The songs YOU suggest, from sad songs, to love songs, songs about relationships and life, songs to empower, anti-war songs and environment songs, will be collated by the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival along with some of Scotland's finest musicians. The collection of songs you suggest will be used to inform the Music like a Vitamin strand of the festival in October 2009, and will possibly be performed at one of the festival gigs.

Here are some suggestions to stir your thoughts:

Lou Reed: Perfect Day
Bob Marley/Joe Strummer: Redemption Song
The Clash: London Calling
David Bowie: Heroes
The Smiths: There is a Light and It Never Goes Out
Johnny Cash: Jackson
John Martyn: Over the Hill
Arcade Fire: Intervention
The Ramones: I Wanna Be Sedated
The Undertones: My Perfect Cousin/Teenage Kicks
Elvis Costello: Good Year for the Roses
Bruce Springstein: I’m on Fire
Metallica: Nothing Else Matters
Guns and Roses: Sweet Child O' Mine
Beatles: Hey Jude
Elvis: I Just Can’t Help Believing

Please email your suggestions to mhfest@gmail.com, naming song and artist or visit us at: Mental Health Festival website or www.myspace.com/artsandfilmfestival

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (1 – 22 October 2009)

Pamela Clarke
Marketing Lead
Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival
http://mentalhealthfestival.dreamhosters.com/

The Mental Health Foundation
Merchants House | 30 George Square, Glasgow G2 1EG
0141 572 1662 | 07966 312 013

The Cat sent in these suggestions:

The Beach Boys – Forever (LOVE – My wedding/first dance song!)
"If every word I said could make you laugh, I’d talk forever"

Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – Tears of a Clown (SADNESS OF A SPURNED LOVER)
"If there’s a smile on my face, it’s only there trying to fool the public"

Verdelle Smith (also covered by Caroline Munro/Young Idea or the original Italian version by Adriano Celentano) – Tar and Cement (ECOLOGY)
"I looked for the meadows, there wasn't a trace,
six lanes of highway had taken their place,
where were the lilacs and all that they meant,
nothing but acres of tar and cement."

Jackie Lee – The Town I Live In (BOREDOM OF SUBURBIA)
"The town I live in has 27 churches"

The Foundations – Now That I’ve Found You
Brian Wilson – Love and Mercy
Elvis Costello – I Want You
Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet
Billy Bragg – The Milkman of Human Kindness
Roddy Frame – Reason for Living
The Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World (anti-war)
Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier (anti-war)
Pete Seeger – Where Have All The Flowers Gone? (anti-war)
Edwin Starr – War (anti-war)
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On? (anti-war)

TICKETBASTARDS OF THE WORLD UNITE

The ticket above is a reminder, to me at least, of a lost age. Along with the (virtual) disappearance of Woolworths, cassettes and Top of the Pops, the day when you could put a cheque for £6 in an envelope, post it to a tiny record shop in a little town and, within a week, receive a ticket from them for that prized gig are long gone. Or at least on their way out.

The news that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are planning a merger/monopoly will, for me at least, see the end of me going to "big" gigs. Not that I was ever really a fan of them in the first place. Who wants to stand a mile from the stage, listening to a distance hiss masquerading as music, in a field with pissed up arseholes who only want to hear "the hits" (what, you saw REM at Murrayfield too?).

With more add-ons than Facebook, Ticketmaster have always got right up my nose. Fees for "admin" (that's printing them off and putting them in an envelope), fees for postage (with a tidy bet over for profit) and fees for putting the MDs children through school. Apparently there's the facility whereby you can print them off at home but they still charge YOU. More neck than a bag of giraffes.

Remember when it was all about the ticket price? The ticket above, from The Smiths' 7-date Scottish tour of 1985, cost me £6. Okay, £6 and a stamped-addressed envelope, but, to all intents and purposes, £6. Now it seems there is no limit to the number and amount of charges adding on to the face value. Ticketmaster doesn't stop there though. They recently apologised to Bruce Springsteen (read all the comments too) and his fans after people wishing to buy tickets were redirected to a site, TicketsNow, which sold tickets at even more extortionate rates.

With the exception of the Edinburgh and Glasgow gigs, when I bought the tickets in person in the capital, all my tickets for The Smiths tour of 1985 were bought by sending a cheque and an SAE. I saw Norman Blake and Davie Scott, ably supported by the reformed Vaselines, and it cost £10. There was no booking fee, no admin fee, no building facility fee and no credit card fee. Well done to the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline.

It guess it won't be long before this becomes a major problem in Britain and by the time anything is done to stop it it'll be too late. Please support your local venues and your local bands and give them your money rather than some monopolistic behemoth of a company whose watchword is greed.

The Cat
=^..^=

Further reading HERE.

The Cat on "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 8 February 2009

Here was tonight's fine playlist:

John Martyn - May You Never (Island 1973)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
Shelley Fabares - The Things We Did Last Summer (Colpix 1962)
Tammy St. John - Life and Soul of the Party (Pye 1966)
The Pan Pipers - Stop (Pye 1969)
Joey Vine - Out of Towner (Immediate 1965)
Petula Clark - Reach Out I'll Be There (Pye 1967)
Del Shannon - Keep Searching (Follow The Sun) (Stateside 1964)
The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina (Smash 1966) (Connect 3)
Elton John - Tiny Dancer (DJM 1972) (Connect 3)
The Action - Land of a Thousand Dances (Parlophone 1965) (Connect 3)
Sandra Barry - Question (Pye 1965)
The Royal Playboys - Arabia (Dode 19??)
The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett - Lady Willpower (Birthday: Paul Wheatbread, drummer, 8/2/46)
Les Variations - She'll Know I'm Sorry (Immediate 1965)
Jackie Trent - Take Me Away (Pye 1967)
Adriano Celentano - Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck ("Tar and Cement") (label and year unknown) (Foreign Language)
Mally Page - I'm Tired Just Looking At You (Pye 1965)
The Tornados - The Ice Cream Man (Decca 1963) (Half-Time Instrumental)
The Parliaments - Time (Revilot 1968)
The Factotums - Can't Go Home Anymore My Love (Immediate 1966)
The Kinks - She's Got Everything (Pye 1968)
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Atco 1967) RIP Dewey Martin
The Poets - Baby Don't You Do It (Immediate 1966)
The Spectres - (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet (Piccadilly 1967)
Primal Scream - Movin' On Up (Creation 1992) (Under The Influence)
Dickey Lee - She Wants To Be Bobby's Girl (Label and year unknown)
Tony Jackson Group - Fortune Teller (Pye 1965)
Peter's Faces - Suzi Q (Piccadilly 1965)
Bobby Bare - Detroit City (RCA 1963) (Connect 3)
Tony Rivers & The Castaways - The Girl from Salt Lake City (Immediate 1966) (Connect 3)
The Shangri-las - The Train from Kansas City (Red Bird 1965) (Connect 3)
October Country - October Country (Epic 1968)
Del Capris - Hey Little Way Out Girl (Label and year unknown)
The Clique - You've Been Unfair (Pye 1965) (Two of a Kind)
The Clique - Time Time Time(Pye 1965) (Two of a Kind)
Fifth Dimension - Puppet Man (Bell 1970)
Julie Rogers - Long After Tonight Is All Over (Pye 1974)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

IGNORANCE IS BLISS FOR THE RUDE BOYS (AND GIRLS)

When e-mails began to replace letters as the communication tool of choice it was felt that the quicker missive would get answered just as fast. Sadly, it seems that the reverse is happening.

People and companies who can’t be bothered to reply to even the most basic of e-mailed correspondence are increasingly frustrating me. In some cases these e-mails are being deleted without being read. One company in the latter category is RyanAir and now I can add the BBC to that ever-growing list.

Last year I had an interview with the BBC in Glasgow. I chased them up for more than a month to get feedback. It was bad enough not getting the job without having salt rubbed into the wounds. Two weeks ago I received four Read Receipts on my PC from the Beeb, except that these e-mails hadn’t even been read. My original e-mails were sent last August and now they were deleted without being read.

I e-mailed a Radio 2 this week for some basic information for a piece I’m putting together for The Scotsman’s Recommends section. There wasn’t even a “we’ll get back to you” type of reply.

A simple enquiry to Ryan Air as to whether a service that was scheduled to begin was going ahead was deleted without being read. A subsequent e-mail asking why was, you won’t be surprised to learn, deleted without being read.

Since December I have had a similar problem with the ILA (Independent Learning Account) Scotland. In the first week of December I sent them an e-mail asking for confirmation that I could put some money from my 2008 Account (£200) towards my 2009 course. I had read somewhere (I can’t find it now) that I could as long as the course was booked within 2008 and the course took place within the first 6 weeks of 2009. The reply to the e-mail was to ask me to phone their Helpline!

This week I tried again and I was told that, “Due to data protection and for security purposes, you will have to contact our freephone helpline again for that information.”

My reply was swift:

“You can't be serious!

"Due to data protection and security purposes"? In what way is answering a very simple query by e-mail breaching data protection and security? Thousands, nay, millions of companies manage to answer questions by e-mail every day. This is a joke. My course starts on Monday and I can't get a simple answer to a simple question by e-mail. My tutor has asked me to get confirmation of my entitlement IN WRITING. If this lack of communication of behalf of the ILA causes any problems with my course I shall be making a complaint.

Unbelievable.”

Health and Safety? Data Protection? Nanny State? The world has gone completely hatstand.

As regular readers will recall I sent a missive to the PR company for the Brits to ask some questions and make a few comments. I was told that it had been forwarded on to someone at the BPI. Again, I’m still waiting.

I e-mailed E.ON twice recently and I’m still awaiting an answer to both questions - one was aksing when they were going to bring the prices down and the other was to request a change of tarriff.

I just think it’s rude, very very rude.

As this point I should give some praise to Orange because they got back to very quickly after I e-mailed them recently. Unfortunately when it came to dealing with the two issues I had called them about they were as useful as a trapdoor on a canoe. I keep receiving messages from Orange themselves about Data Services and then a follow-up about installing these data services. I’m a bit dense about the inner workings of my phone and no matter whether I replied Yes or No or simply ignored them they continue to come. The person who called me from Orange listened to my problems and put me through to someone on the Indian sub-continent whose first job seemed to be to sell me a Raccoon package. If I wanted a Raccoon package, I’d have asked for one. He said the messages would stop and they haven’t.

I also pointed out a problem I had with the phone in that since May 2008 I have no record on my phone of All Calls, Answered Calls, Dialled Calls and, most importantly Missed Calls. Again, I was told this would be sorted and again it hasn’t been. I’m loath to leave Orange because I get £5 for every time I top up with £50 but this is the second time they’ve cocked up. I won’t bore you the details of the previous problem but I did 100 free texts out of them.

I’m still waiting to hear from the Dunfermline Press as to why my recent comment was deleted. Someone printed something similar and it wasn’t removed.

Isn’t it ironic how poor communications companies are at communicating? It’s good to talk (but only if we can sell you something first!)

The Cat on the award-nominated "Where The Action Is" Kirkcaldy VRN 1287 AM - Sunday 1 February 2009

Here is tonight's playlist, which celebrates 50 years of Motown:

Martha (Reeves) and the Vandellas - Dancing In the Street (Gordy 1964)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)
The Contours - First I Look At The Purse (Gordy 1965)
Diana Ross & The Supremes - Love Child (Motown 1968)
The Isley Brothers - Behind A Painted Smile (Motown 1968)
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears of a Clown (Tamla 1967))
Tammi Terrell - Come On and See Me (Motown 1966)
The Velvelettes - Lonely Lonely Girl Am I (VIP 1965)
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Every Beat of My Heart (Vee Jay 1961) (Connect 3)
Hearts of Stone - If I Could Give You The World (VIP 1970) (Connect 3)
The Marvelettes - Locking Up My Heart (Tamla 1963) (Connect 3)
Rare Earth - Get Ready (Rare Earth 1970)
Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers - Does Your Mama Know About Me (Gordy 1968)
Chris Clark - From Head To Toe (Motown 1967) (Birthday: Chris Clark 1/2/46)
Shorty Long - Function At The Junction (Soul 1966)
Kim Weston - Looking For The Right Guy (Tamla 1964)
The Four Tops - Piangono Glo Vomini (I Can't Help Myself) (Foreign Language)
Barbara Randolph - I Got A Feeling (Motown 1967)
Earl Van Dyke & The Motown Brass - 6x6 (Motown 1967) (Half-Time Instrumental)
Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright) (Motown 1965)
Edwin Starr - Twenty Five Miles (Gordy 1969)
The Miracles - Come On Do The Jerk (Tamla 1964)
Jimmy Ruffin - I've Passed This Way Before (Soul 1966)
Kiki Dee - I Second That Emotion (Motown 1970)
The Temptations - Little Miss Sweetness (Gordy 1966)
Big Sound Authority - This House (Is Where Your Love Stands) (Source 1985) (Under The Influence)
Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) (Anna/Tamla 1959)
The Four Tops - Bernadette (Motown 1967)
The Monitors - Number One In Your Heart (Motown 1969)
Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell - California Soul (Tamla 1970) (Connect 3)
Marvin Gaye/Kim Weston - It Takes Two (Tamla 1967) (Connect 3)
Marvin Gaye/Omah Page - Rilleh! (Motown 1965) (Connect 3)
Tommy Good - Baby I Miss You (Gordy 1964)
Mable John - You Made A Fool Out of Me (Tamla 1960)
Brenda Holloway - When I'm Gone (Tamla 1965) (Two of a Kind)
Brenda Holloway - Tell Me Your Story (Tamla 1965) (Two of a Kind)
Eddie Holland - Leaving Here (Motown 1963)
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble (Decca 1967) (show theme)

Next week it's back to the usual mix of mod, soul (Northern and Southern) and alternative pop from the late 50s through to the early 70s. Coming soon: an Immediate Records special, a famous people special and a "lurve" special for Valentine's Day!

Good night and good health!