A Reeve And A Reeves

Penny's final outing as my co-presenter went very well and without tears. She will be back occasionally to fill in (having already been asked by Bainy to join him on Notts Live) and so will maintain a relationship with the station.

9pm-10pm

Squeeze 'Goodbye Girl'

Jimi Hendrix 'All Along The Watchtower'

Andy Williams 'Can't Get Used To Losing You'

Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'

Harry Champion 'A Little Bit Of Cucumber'

Jessie Wallace (as Marie Lloyd) 'My Old Man Said Follow The Van'

The Thrills 'Nothing Changes Around Here'

The Strokes 'Under The Cover Of Darkness'

Marc Reeves

'Judgement Day'

'Chameleon' (live)

'I Need You' (live)

'Easy Way Out'

David Bowie 'Heroes'

10pm-11pm

Peter Cook And Dudley Moore 'Goodbye'

David Bowwow 'Quite Ahead Of My Time'

PIL 'Poptones'

William Shatner 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:

Eric Weissberg and Steve Mande 'Duelling Banjos'

Alison Krauss 'Dimming Of The Day'

Earl Scruggs 'Fireball Mail'

Joy Division 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'

Swimming 'Neauton Wireless Crystal'

Kate Bush 'Wuthering Height' (played under sufferance, listen back on Mixcloud for the full context)

NOTTINGHAM 3:

Joshua Keogh 'Stone'

Frankie Rudolph 'Heart On Fire'

Marc Block 'Cradle Of Sunshine'

The Penny-ultimate

Penny broke the news to me tonight, as soon as she uttered the words "I need to talk to you", I knew. It was the same "I need to talk to you" tone of voice that you use to dump someone. I'll be sad to see Penny go as she made a big improvement to the show when it was in danger of jumping the shark, but having given some thought to the situation, I am looking forward to the challenge of doing it alone.

9pm-10pm

Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Elsie and Doris Waters 'Please Leave My Butter Alone'
Snuff 'I Will Survive'
Roxanne De Bastion 'Red And White Blood Cells'
Sham 69 'You're A Better Man Than I'
Damn Vandals 'This Amazing'
Damn Vandals 'Trouble With Jesus'
PJ Harvey 'Let England Shake'
Porcupine Time 'Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
Repetition
Fantastic Voyage
Sweet Thing

10pm-11pm

Charlie Drake 'I've Lost The End Of My Yodel'
Fields Of Nephilin 'Mourning Sun'

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
The Best Of Bluegrass 'Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms'
JD Crowe And The New South 'Flint Hill Special'
New Generation Bluegrass 'Three Rusty Nails'

New Order 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (Live at Festival Number 6)
The Procession 'Stopping Time'

NOTTINGHAM 3:
Fresh Eyes For The Dead Guy 'Blue Harbour'
Baby Godzilla 'Power Boat Disaster'
Georgie Rose 'Retribution'

Another Year Older

The bunting was cleared away, the last bit of cake has been eaten, and we've broken all of our new toys. This was back to business as usual for The Sunday Alternative, a year older but none the wiser.

9pm-10pm

T-Rex 'Hot Love'
T-Rex 'Telegram Sam'
Brian Fahay Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
George Formby 'Under The Blasted Oak'
The Toy Dolls 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon'
Shonen Knife 'I Am A Cat'
Detroit Cobras 'Cha Cha Twist'
The Donkeys 'Born With Stripes'
Flipron feat Neville Staples 'The Comet Returns'
James J Turner 'Let Love Into Your Heart'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
Please Mr Gravedigger
Silly Boy Blue
Cygnet Committee

10pm-11pm

Monty Python 'I Bet You They Won't Play This Song On The Radio'
Bauhaus 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'

Penny's Bluegrass Jamboree:
Iron Horse 'Ain't Talking About Love'
Little Big Town 'Born This Way'
The Pigs 'Doncha'

Bernard Butler 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (acoustic)

City and Colour 'Sleeping Sickness'
The Fall 'My New House'
The Cure 'A Forest'

Nottingham 3:
Amusement Parks On Fire 'Road Eyes'
Rapunzel M.A.P. 'I Want You Back Again'
Ryan Thomas 'Hangover Blues'

Happy Birthday To Us!

It was like introducing your ex to your current partner, (not that you would do that), when Chris Underwood turned up to join in with the birthday fun. He had to stop doing the show because family time took up a large chunk of his Sunday, (and rightly so). At least he had the decency to tell me rather than just not turning up and ignoring messages. Penny was back from her holiday too, and Rapunzel M.A.P. popped in to talk about her upcoming one-off 'comeback' night busk. She also brought a home-made card and a pork pie with a candle in, (a call-back for the really loyal listeners).

 

If the little cartoon of me looks familiar, look at my blog profile picture! Brilliant detail there eh? My girlfriend Mandi even made us some birthday cakes for the occasion.

The true radio fan will know the significance of the first track played, I'm shocked it hasn't ever come up in a pub quiz.

9pm-10pm

Max Wall 'England's Glory'
PIL 'Flowers Of Romance' (part of a birthday message from our punk rock colleague Steve Hardy)
The Undertones 'Teenage Kicks' (the favourite song of John Peel, the reason I work in radio. I am proud to be carrying on his work)
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
The Chameleons 'Don't Fall'
Jesus Jones 'Who Where Why'
Rapunzel M.A.P. 'Hologram Girl'
Eagles Of Death Metal 'Cherry Cola'
Tom Waits 'Big Black Mariah'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
I'm Afraid Of Americans
Magic Dance
The Laughing Gnome

10pm-11pm

Peter Sellers 'Bangers And Mash'
The Damned 'Smash It Up'
The Barnum Meserve 'If You had A Heart It Would Be Made Of Glass'
The Barnum Meserve 'Broken Window'
Riot Squad 'I Take It We're Through'
The Birthday Kiss 'Starting To Come Back To Life'
Jake Morley 'Pondering On A Scenario In Which I Am The Hero'
Paul Young/Honeyroot 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (our new game Paul Young Will Tear Us Apart, Penny won this week)

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
The Gourdes 'Gin And Juice'
Hayseed Dixie 'Walk This Way'
Bad Livers 'Lust For Life'

NOTTINGHAM 3:
Will Jefferey 'The Day Off'
Captain Dangerous 'Executing Elliott'
The Golden Troubadours 'Sunshine Eyes'

The One Before The Birthday Show

All alone again, with Penny on holiday, with nobody to stand in I did the show alone and rather than talk to myself, I bombarded the lucky listener with some of the best music that was ever made.

"Music you don't hear on the radio, on the radio"
Thinking of getting car stickers made with that on. I should also get stickers made with the quotes on; "the best BBC 6Music show that isn't on BBC 6 Music, yet", and my favourite comment, "the reason computers have speakers".

The show started with tributes to Hal David and Max Bygraves.

9pm-10pm
Bomb The Bass 'Say A Little Prayer'
Sandi Shaw 'Always Something There To Remind Me'
Max Bygraves 'Tulips From Amsterdam'
The Stranglers 'Walk On By'
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Florrie Ford 'Down At The Old Bull And Bush'
The Wonder Stuff 'It's Yer Money I'm After Baby'
Black Flag 'Black Coffee'
Happy Mondays 'Rave On'
John Otway 'Beware Of The Flowers'
The Wedding Present 'Back For Good'
Skyway 'Fast Car'
The Monks 'Nice Legs Shame About The Face'
Jerry Reed 'When I Found You'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
1984
You've Got A Habit Of Leaving
Cat People

10pm-11pm
Max Bygraves 'Pink Toothbrush'
Jonathon Richman And The Modern Lovers 'Ice Cream Man'
Sebastopol 'All Eyes'
The Chantays 'Pipeline'
Link Wray 'Ace Of Spades'
Liz Lawrence 'Oo Song'
Louis 'Monkey Girl'
Flipron featuring Neville Staple 'The Comet Returns'
History Of The Trade 'One Arms Length'
The Trade 'Do You Want It?'
Gary Numan 'She's Got Claws'
Circus Envy 'Three Score And Ten'
Damn Vandals 'Can't Go Dancing When You're Gone'
Captain Dangerous 'Executing Elliot'
The Golden Troubadours 'Road Of Bones'

NOTTINGHAM 3
Practical Lovers 'Textbook Romance'
Blindsight 'With Open Eyes'
One Girl One Boy 'This One Boy'

All Alone On My Birthday Eve

No Penny this week, and this was my final show as a 35 year old! Joe Strummer would have celebrated his birthday this week, hence the abundance of The Clash, and Neil Armstrong died so the first track was for him.

9pm-10pm
REM 'Man On The Moon'
The Clash 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais'
The Clash 'Bankrobber'
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign On The Swinging Cymbal'
Flanagan And Allen 'Run Rabbit Run'
101ers 'Key To Your Heart'
Skanatra 'Fly Me To The Moon'
The Trojans 'Stand By Me'
Louise And The Pins 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'
Bobby Fuller Four 'I Fought The Law'
I Hate My Ex 'Baby Baby Baby'
Soulthrower 'Bad Romance'
Danny Kaye 'Inchworm'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
Magic Dance
Underground
There Is A Happy Land

10pm-11pm

John Shuttleworth 'Betty Turpin'
Nine Inch Nails 'We're In This Together'
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes 'Nothing Compares To You'
Guns and Roses Vs The Beatles 'Sgt Pepper's Paradise City'
Parastatic 'Where's Your Base?'
James J Turner 'Let Love Into Your Heart'
The Clash 'Janie Jones'
The Clash 'White Riot'
The Tuesday Club 'They May Look Cute'
Inspiral Carpets 'Tainted Love'
Orelander 'Boys Don't Cry'
The Ramones 'Judy Is A Punk'
The Undertones 'You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)'
The Wonderstuff 'Blackberry Way'

NOTTINGHAM 3
Royal Gala 'The Wren'
In The Teepees 'Arranged Allies'
Redbear 'Song For The Unknown Bear'

Greatest Hits: 'Louie Louie'

This is an edition of The Sunday Alternative's Greatest Hits, which is basically a way of recapping certain areas of the show so far. I like to try and keep the show as fresh as possible, and dropping regular features in favour of new ones is how it happens.

The feature Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll was an airing of my collection of cover versions of 'Louie Louie', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', and 'I Love Rock and Roll'. As you'll remember, there were a lot of them. This edition of The Sunday Alternative's Greatest Hits is only for the very patient. Or mad.

The tracklist is in chronological order of the songs being played on the radio:

The Kingsmen
Richard Berry And The Pharohs
Motorhead
The Clash
Toots And The Maytalls
Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
The Navarones
Paul Revere And The Raiders
Jeff And The Rfs
The Beach Boys
John Schroder
The Sonics
The Sandpipers
MC5
Iggy Pop
Black Flag

Listen to the podcast here.

It Was Brian Eno!

Last week I played a popular jingle known as 'the computer turny onny offy sound', which goes like this. You hear it in your house and at work every day, but does anyone know who wrote it and the others? As nobody heard last week's show due to the Olympic closing ceremony, I attempted to play it again. The faders didn't work so I couldn't play it, so I snapped and just said "It's Brian Eno". If there was a prize, then I would have won it.

With no Olympic closing ceremony to stop us, we managed a really tight two hour show. What better way to welcome back our millions of listeners after they deserted us for a week?

9pm-10pm
Scott McKenzie 'San Fransisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)'
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
Miss Piggy 'My Old Man Said Follow The Van'
Guitar Wolf 'Summertime Blues'
The Blueveils 'Come My Way'
The Tuesday Club 'Dolly Dynamite'
Hey Sholay 'Dreamboat'
Ringo Ska 'Can't Buy Me Love'
Nerina Pallot 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'*
Sebastopol 'Suffer Fools'
Joe Strummer 'Walk On The Wild Side' (a shit joke follows)
Half Man Half Biscuit 'Paintball's Coming Home'
Splodgenessabounds 'I've Got Lots Of Famous People Living Under The Floorboards Of My Humble Abode'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE: Covers special
Nirvana 'The Man Who Sold The World'
Peter Noone 'Oh You Pretty Thing'
Ian McCulloch 'Changes'

10pm-11pm
Lonnie Donegan 'My Old Man's A Dustman'
Peter And The Test Tube Babies 'Spirit Of Keith Moon'

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Lee Morse And Her Bluegrass Boys 'Nobody Cares If I'm Blue'
Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys 'Southern Flavour'
Honeywagon 'Billie Jean'

Jilted John 'Jilted John' (a really nice version, taken from the album)
Blakcan 'Dark Daze'
The Griswolds 'Psychobilly In Love'
The Swallows 'It Ain't The Meat'
Queen 'One Vision' (snippet for John Deacon's birthday)

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
The Petebox 'Where Is My Mind'
August Actually 'Vampire'
Injured Birds 'Forest' (live in session on Nottingham LACE)

*It is not a feature.

One Dog, No Listeners

We didn't have the audience we have become accustomed to tonight, and it was hard going doing the show with that in mind. The Olympic closing ceremony blasted us out of the water, so I recommend a visit to our mixcloud to put things right.Sam, the Trent Sound dog, also came in to see us. Penny became a cooing mess for a while but we managed to pull it back. I have to admit he is adorable.

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
Max Miller 'La-De-Da'
Cypress Hill and Slash 'Paradise City'
Green Day 'I Fought The Law'
Jim Bob 'Mr Blue Sky'
Elbow 'On A Day Like This' (the recording on mixcloud starts at this song for some reason, so you don't miss the joke that I wrote in about 2004 and have used ever since. Penny thought it was funny, but my girlfriend Mandi pointed out that she hasn't heard it a million times. Also, we played this before the BBC played it during the ceremony).
Frank Zappa 'Muffin Man'
The Gonads 'I Lost My Love To A UK Sub'
Toy Dolls 'There's A Trollop Up Elmwood Street'
Them Crooked Vultures 'New Fang'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
The Gospel According To Tony Day
Take My Tip (Davey Jones And The Mannish Boys)
And I Say To Myself (David Bowie And The Lower Third)

10pm-11pm
Monty Python 'The Money Song'
At Vance 'Money Money Money'

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Seven Little Sisters 'Where The Wind Blows'
Sarah Jaroz 'Come On Up To The House'
Alison Krauss And The Union State 'Choctaw Hayride'

Susanna And The Magic Orchestra 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'*
Bull Moose Jackson 'Big Ten Inch'
Eighty Eight 'BS I Love You'
John Frusciante 'Unreachable'
Desire 'Under Your Spell'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
Jake Bugg 'Lightening Bolt'
Riff Bastard 'Doom With A View'
The Afterdark Movement 'Made In Britain'

*It isn't a feature!

This show was followed by my documentary about David Bowie's album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, you can hear that here.

The Ultimate Hoax

To celebrate Penny's few days in the week visiting Southend, a place very close to my heart, I played a couple of songs from Southend bands. The music scene in Southend was, (and I hope still is) almost as vibrant as Nottingham and I was proud to be a part of it.

I also managed to deliver a hoax bit of information dressed up as fact, that fooled the entire nation, and possibly the world as nobody contacted the show to say that they had spotted it*. As radio moments go, this is on a par with Orson Wells in 1938.

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
George Formby 'The Ace Of Spades'
Motorhead 'Ace Of Spades'
David Bowie 'Sell Me A Coat'
David Bowie and The Lower Third 'Can't Help Thinking About You'
(the above two songs played in absence of Steve's Big Bag Full Of Bowie this week)
Toots And The Maytalls '54-46 Was My Number' (I also played a snippet of 'Street Tuff' by Rebel MC to demonstrate the sample)
Bob Marley And The Wailers 'I Shot The Sheriff'
The Cure 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
Joanna Newsome 'Cosmia'
Breadchasers 'Things Will Be Better'
Eddie And The Hot Rods 'Teenage Depression'
Dr Feelgood 'Milk and Alcohol'
Flock of Seagulls 'I Ran' (This week's Dad Rock Classic)

10pm-11pm
Max Miller and Lonnie Donegan (a song that I can't think of the title of)
Wedding Present 'Interstate 5'
Richard Cheese 'Welcome To The Jungle' (played to plug the documentary about Appetite For Destruction coming up after the news)
Lonnie Donegan 'Cumberland Bap' (played a snippet to illustrate a joke)
Morrissey 'First Of The Gang To Die'
Half Man Half Biscuit '24 Hour Garage People'
Bill Hayley And The Comets 'Rock Around The Clock'
Bill Hayley And The Saddlemen 'Rock This Joint' (played both together to illustrate how the two songs are identical)

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Willie Nelson 'He Was A Friend Of Mine'
Dailey And Vincent 'On The Other Side'
Mindy Smith 'One Moment More'
(Penny's Bluegrass Jamboree was squeezed in this hour because we are only doing two hours)
Redbear 'Song For The Unknown Bear'
Dan Le Sac and Scoobius Pip 'Letter From God To Man'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
The Golden Troubadour 'Sunshine Eyes'
Tom Wardle 'California Here I Come'
The Money 'Star'

(The show was followed by my 25th anniversary celebration of Appetite For Destruction. You can hear it here).

*I played a spoof recording at the start of the show, apparently George Formby singing 'Ace Of Spades'. As I always start with a music hall song, I think I got away with it, as the listeners expect to hear that sort of thing. I then played the Motorhead version and announced that it came from an album called Metal Does Music Hall, and that the Formby version was the original. Listeners were informed that the album was long out of print, but that they could see Deep Purple's cover of 'Boiled Beef And Carrots' on YouTube. Not one single person got it!

The Return Of Penny

I've been thinking about the structure of the show, and while we were pre-recording the third hour we came up with doing Steve's Big Bag Full Of Bowie to close the third hour. The only way I fucked up a little, is that Penny sent me some song choices a couple of days ago and it was too late as I was going to a gig and missed the deadline. I assumed she would be using last week's choices, so it was resolved. It was hardly a crisis that threatened to bring down radio, but I fucked something up and I don't like that.

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
Harry Champion 'Boiled Beef And Carrots'
Bow Wow Wow 'Go Wild In The Country'
Spunge 'Kicking Pigeons'
Wire 'I Am The Fly'
Bush 'Swim' (we had just seen on Twitter that Rebecca Adlington had won a medal and panic-selected the first song we came across by typing 'swimming' into the computer's search system. We couldn't have picked a more inappropriate song if we'd tried).
Deer Tick 'Into The Storm'
The Flaming Lips 'Race For The Prize'
Jack White 'Blunderbuss'
Choking Susan 'Someone Else's Face'
Choking Susan 'Liar Liar'
The Radiacs 'She's My Witch'
UK Subs 'Down On The Farm'
Twisted Sister 'We're Not Gonna Take It' (DAD ROCK CLASSIC)

10pm-11pm
OK Go 'Theme From The Muppet Show'
The Who 'Won't Get Fooled Again'
The 101ers 'Keys To Your Heart'
I Hate My Ex 'Baby Baby baby'
Inspiral Carpets 'Paranoid'
The Decemberists 'This Is Why We Fight'
The Boy Most Likely To 'Be Gentle With Me'
Dave Gahn 'New Rose'
The Jam 'Give Me Just A Little More Time'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
Georgie Rose 'For Him'
Long Dead Signal 'Black Waltz'
Rob Green and Nina Smith 'Bad News'

11pm-12am

PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs 'The Ballad Of Jed Clampett'
Carolina Chocolate Drops 'Trouble In Your Mind'
Hank Thompson 'The Wild Side Of Life'

Kitty Wells 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' (played once again to show how it was written as a response to the Hank Thompson song)
Rebekah Delgado 'Little Boy Blue'
Spaceships Are Cool 'Gingerbread House'
Eddie And The Hot Rods 'Do Anything You Wanna Do'
Metallica 'Disposable Heroes'
The Soho Dolls 'Stripper'

STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
I'm Afraid Of Americans
Let's Spend The Night Together
Rebel Rebel

All By Myself

Penny rang in sick tonight, and I couldn't get anyone to take her place, so I had to forget that I dislike doing solo shows. Actually, I think you could probably tell the moment that my confidence kicked in. With nobody to talk to, I let the music do the talking.

9pm-10pm
Kitty Wells 'Heartaches By The Number'
Deep Purple 'Speed King'
Deep Purple 'Black Night' (Played in tribute to Jon Lord, and Kitty Wells)
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Stanley Holloway 'With Her Head Tucked Under Her Arm'
Snuff 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads'
10,000 Maniacs 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'
Half Man Half Biscuit 'Time Flies By'
Gang Of Four 'I Found That Essence Rare'
Rebekah Delgado 'Trying To Forget'
Rebekah Delgado 'Sing You Through The Storm'
Barenaked Ladies 'If I Had $1,000,000'
Dr Hook 'Roland The Roadie and Gertrude The Groupie'
Choking Susan 'Thimble Tits'
Choking Susan 'Touch Me'
Whitesnake 'Here I Go Again' (this week's DAD ROCK CLASSIC)

10pm-11pm
The Krankies 'Fan Dabi Dozi'
Sisters Of Mercy 'More'
Granville Sessions 'Pubsteppin'
Blak Magic Society 'Our Time'
The Toppers 'Baby Let Me Bang Your Box'
The Fireballs 'Torquay'
The Chantays 'Runaway'
Slash and Miles Kennedy 'Sweet Child Of Mine'
The Human League 'Black Hit Of Space'
The Farm 'Don't You Want Me?'
Curtis Magee 'Everybody's Making It Big But Me'
Spunge 'Down Under'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
Saint Raymond 'Shadows'
Joshua Keogh 'Stone'
Barnum Meserve 'Autumn Park'

11pm-12am
STEVE'S BIG BAG FULL OF BOWIE:
The Man Who Sold The World (Acoustic)
Pablo Picasso
The Bewley Brothers
Life On Mars (piano)

The Fall 'The Classical'
Ella Fitzgerald 'Summertime'
The White Stripes 'Baby Blue'
Ian Dury And The Blockheads 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' (live)
The Misfits 'Dig Up Her Bones'
Rancid 'Let Me Go'
Showbizheroes 'Thinking and Drinking'
Anti-Knowhere League 'Streets Of London'
October Sky 'The Message'

The Swear Box Is Filling Up

A very strange show tonight, I didn't have the motivation to begin with and felt as if I wasn't firing on all cylinders and had left my best fight in the gym, to mangle two expressions together. Penny has taken part in a fifty mile cycle ride today for charity, (sponsor her here) and was rather giddy. I found it a struggle for some reason, even though we had a guest; Darren Patterson from Nottingham Live, who is writing about the station. During the final hour of the show, which is confusingly recorded before the first two hours are broadcast live, Penny told me to fuck off. During the live show, Andy was refreshing the computer system from his office, and I couldn't control the studio PC. During a song, I forgot to switch the microphone off before complaining that Andy was 'fuck-arsing' around with the computers.

9pm-10pm
Queen 'Bicycle Race'
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Mike and Bernie Winters 'Batman'
The Jam 'Batman'
The Bodysnatchers 'Ruder Than You'
Band Of Horses 'Is There A Ghost'
Future Island 'Long Flight'
Butthole Surfers 'Who Was In My Room Last Night?'
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci 'Hush The Warmth'
The Clash 'I'm So Bored'
The Beatles 'Come Together'
Dire Straits 'Money For Nothing'

NB- Dire Straits was this week's 'dad rock classic'. Although I started the feature as a 'guilty pleasure' slot in which I could ironically enjoy woefully uncool songs. This has backfired a bit, as tonight's show proved as myself, Penny, and Darren were all sat in the studio singing along.

10pm-11pm
Peter Sellers 'A Hard Days Night'
Eric B and Rakim 'Paid In Full'
Chris Cornell 'When I'm Down'
Sleaford Mods 'Five Pound Sixty'
Gene Vincent 'Race With The Devil'
Tommy Steele 'Singing The Blues'
David Bowie 'When I Live My Dream'
The Shivers 'Kisses'
Super Furry Animals 'God Show Me The Magic'
Eurythmics 'Sweet Dreams'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
Royal Gala 'Blue Rinse'
Adam Peter Smith 'Already Here'
Ronika 'Clock'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Chris Reeve 'Fortune Favours The Brave'
Issac Moore 'White Oak'
Kruger Brothers 'Down In The Willow Garden'

Blondie 'Louie Louie' (for some reason I didn't play this during the run of Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll)
Soup Dragons 'Mother Universe'
Adam And The Ants 'King Of The Wild Frontier'
Passion Pit 'Little Secret'
She Keeps Bees 'Gimme'
Imelda May 'All For You'
The Big Bopper 'Little Red Riding Hood'
Nine Inch Nails 'Closer'

My First Avatar

Not a great deal of uptake on the request for people to send us their first ever Myspace profile picture. Thanks to Rebekah (top) and Dawn for being brave!

You can send your very first Myspace profile picture to thesundayalternative@gmail.com

Yourspace Or Mine?

The top picture was randomly taken from Penny's Myspace site, and the one below it is my very first Myspace profile picture. The conversation started because one of Penny's song choices, 'Step Into My World' by Hurricane #1, was her profile song. I asked one on air if it still existed and Penny didn't know. During the song I did a quick search and found Penny's defunct Myspace page. She hasn't touched it for about four years, which I think is about average. I was quite late abandoning Myspace, and went the whole hog and deleted it completely. I threw out the question of when was the last time you logged in to Myspace, and the most recent answer was two years! It is hard to believe that once upon a time it was the only social networking site, in my opinion it was always the best and would still be if they hadn't changed it around.

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey and his Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Harry Champion 'At The End Of My Old Cigar'
Pop Will Eat Itself 'Can You Dig It'
The Quarrymen 'In Spite Of All The Danger'
The Willowz 'Something'
Hurricane #1 'Step Into My World'
Dr Hook 'Cover Of Rolling Stone'
David Bowie and The Lower Third 'I'm Not Losing Sleep'
The Pastels 'Baby Honey'
The Tyde 'Psychedelic Pill'
Galaxie 500 'Don't Let Your Youth Go To Waste'
Marillion 'Kayleigh' (this week's dad rock classic)

10pm-11pm
Avenue Q cast 'It Sucks To Be Me'
Cream 'Sunshine Of Your Love'
Pond 'Moth Wings'
TSAR 'Calling All Destroyers'
Vaccines 'No Hope'
White Denim 'Shake Shake Shake'
Smashing Pumpkins 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings'

NOTTINGHAM THREE:
Harleighblu 'Casanova'
Manieres Des Bohemians 'Romanian Train Song'
Sleaford Mods 'Showboat'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Kitty Wells 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels'
Chubby Wise 'Peacock Pig'
Doc Watson 'Peach Picking Time In Georgia'

Calling All Astronauts 'Someone Like You' and 'Winter Of Discontent'
Chuck Berry 'Memphis'
Cryogenics 'You Will Never Know'
Davie Jones and The King Bees 'Louie Louie Go Home' (that's David Bowie in one of his earlier guises. This song is doubly interesting as it was written by Paul Revere as a sequel to 'Louie Louie', I should have played it while I was still doing Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll.

Forever Never 'We Close Our Eyes'
Camera Obscura 'French Navy'
Proper English Gentlemen 'Friend Of A Friend'
The Cult Of Dom Keller 'Worlds'

Goodbye Mr Disco

Sad news today, as it was Daniel's (he is the one in the middle) last day as a member of the Trent Sound family. He will be missed by all the presenters, as he was the one we turned to for jingles, technical help, and he was above all else a great person to have around for reassurance in case something did go wrong. Aside from that, he is a good friend and I think I speak for Penny too when I say that we'll miss his company on a Sunday night.

9pm-10pm
The Cranberries 'Dreams' (played in tribute to Nora Ephron)
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals' (intro)
Harry Champion 'A Little Bit Of Cucumber'
Toy Dolls 'Fisticuffs In Fredrick Street'
Sonic Youth 'Kool Thing'
Shel Silverstein 'You're Always Welcome At Our House'
UNKLE 'Burn My Shadow'
David Bowie 'Uncle Arthur'
Sippie Thomas 'I'm A Mighty Tight Woman'
Neutral Milk Hotel 'My Dream Girl Don't Exist'
The Pogues 'Maggie May'
Link Wray 'Ain't That Loving You Baby'
Bryan Adams 'Summer Of 69' (A Canada day 'dad rock classics' special)

10pm-11pm
Ronnie Corbett 'Fanny'
Johnny Thunders 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory'
Dick Venom And The Terrortones 'Science Friction'
Teenage Fanclub 'Alcoholiday'
The Coasters 'Poison Ivy'
Jimmy Lloyd 'I've Got A Rocket In My Pocket'

NOTTINGHAM THREE: (new feature)
Cantaloupe 'Hot Water Balloon'
One Hot Slice 'Drinks From The Bottle'
Natalie Duncan 'Sky Is Falling'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL:
Black Flag 'Louie Louie'
Blanks 77 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Joan Jett and Queen 'We Will Rock and Roll You'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Frank Wakefield 'The Old Cat Sneezed'
Dawn London 'Young Folks'
Steve Earle and Danny McCoury 'Pilgrim'

Amber Pacific 'Video Killed The Radio Star'
Shifting Buffalo 'Step By Step'
Louise Quinn 'Ghosts From The War'
They Might Be Giants 'How Now Dark Clouds'
Purity Ring 'Fireshrine'
Inspiral Carpets 'She Comes Into The Fall'
Shoot The Dead 'The Rage'
Emmy The Great 'Canopies and Drapes'

Let's see Daniel in full disco dancing action once again.

Talking A Lot Of Toilet

Penny returned to The Sunday Alternative tonight, having been away in Brighton last weekend. The conversational tone didn't leave the smallest room in the house for a great percentage of the time, but it was a lot of fun trying to steer Penny away for her to go right back there. It gave me the idea that we should record our conversations during songs when the microphones are off, to release as a separate 'bonus' podcast. It was nice to have Penny back, as we work really well together, I didn't really feel on form tonight but I like to think that we still pulled a great show out of the hat.

We were of course severely hampered by the fact that England were playing, and then went into extra time and penalties. It will serve everyone right that they missed the show to see England die on their arses once again. The show is one of Trent Sound's most downloaded 'listen again' programmes, which does make me wonder about doing it live. Live feels better though. As soon as this particular edition is available to download, I anticipate a surge on the National Grid, and the Internet to melt.

9pm-10pm
The Flying Pickets 'When You're Young And In Love' (played in tribute to Brian Hibbard)
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'/Peters and Lee 'Welcome Home' (I faded the usual intro into 'Welcome Home' as Penny had returned to the show)Binnie Hale 'A Nice Cup Of Tea'
The Vapours 'Turning Japanese'
Manic Street Preachers 'Motorcycle Emptiness'
Violent Femmes 'Color Me Once'
Kingmaker 'Armchair Anarchist'
The Given Motion 'Blink'
Nightmare Arcade 'Underworld'
Redbear 'My Name Is Kieran'
Portugal The Man 'Guns and Dogs'
Gold Panda 'You'
Tom Cruise 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' (this week's 'dad rock classic' chosen because I saw Rock of Ages in the week)

10pm-11pm
Ken Dodd and The Diddymen 'Where's Me Shirt'
Sultans Of Ping FC 'Where's Me Jumper'
(We both realised that we should have played 'Donald Where's Yer Troosers' to make a trilogy of trying to get dressed and not being able to find anything)

The Brian Jonestown Massacre 'Feel It'
Cryogenics 'You Will Never Know'
Pree 'Lack Of Fight'
POND 'Moth Wings'
Tray Electric 'Don't You Wish'
Long Dead Signal 'A Question Of Violence'
Will Jeffery 'Dorothy Jean'
(the above three all played at yesterday's Waterfront festival, and form a now regular triple whammy of Nottingham acts. Incidentally, you can see Will Jeffery perform 'Dorothy Jean' on the show here or in 3D here)

Crystal Castles 'Crimewave'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL:
Iggy Pop 'Louie Louie'
Dave Wallace 'Ska Like Teen Spirit'
Joan Jett with The Sex Pistols 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Chris Reeve (no relation to Penny) 'Just Like Red Wine'
Screaming Jay Hawkins 'I Put A Spell On You'
Natalie Merchant 'Down On Penny's Farm'

Attila The Stockbroker 'The Bible According To Rupert Murdoch'
Billy Bragg 'Never Buy The Sun'
The 45s 'Couldn't Believe A Word'
Leadbelly 'House Of The Rising Sun'
Jimmy Edwards 'Love Bug Crawl'
Nick Harper 'By My Rocket Comes Fire'
Metric 'Black Sheep'
Sapphire Lane 'Huntdown'

Which Trent Host Has Broadcast The Most?

Penny was away this week, so in stepped Trent Sound's very own super-sub Andy Haynes to join me for The Sunday Alternative. We have always had a good rapport, but have never done a show together, so tonight was a lot of fun. As we have both presented other shows as cover, we decided to work out who had broadcast the most hours on the station. I thought it would be close, but I also knew that he would win. He did!

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal' (intro)
Ella Sheilds 'Burlington Bertie'
Dead Kennedys 'Kill The Poor'
New Order '5-8-6'
The Amber Herd 'Thursday'
Age Of Chance 'Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Noise'
Sham 69 'Hurry Up Harry'
Splodganessabounds 'Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps'
Black Sabbath 'War Pigs'
Black Sabbath 'Paranoid' (both used as this week's 'dad rock classics'for my dad who loves Black Sabbath, and I have him to thank for the early development of my musical taste)

10pm-11pm
Cannon and Ball 'Everybody's Making It Big But Me'
The Busters 'We Are The Champions'
PIL 'One Drop'
Bad Manners 'My Girl Lollipop'
Calling All Astronauts 'Winter Of Discontent'
Yuck 'Get Away'
The Vaselines 'You Think You're A Man'
The Passmore Sisters 'Difficult'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL:
MC5 'Louie Louie'
Beki Bondage 'Smells Like teen Spirit'
Greencard 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am
ANDY'S PHYCADELIC PSUNSPOT: (A one week only replacement for Penny's Bluegrass Jamboree)
The Greencoats 'Away In A Dream'
Tame Ipala 'Solitude Is Bliss'
The Orange Alabaster Mushroom 'Tree Pie'

Ned's Atomic Dustbin 'Happy'
The Frank and Waters 'This Is Not A Song'
Blak Magik Society 'Our Time'
The Smears 'Wrath'
Ben Dalby 'Tact'
The Jesus Lizard 'Whirl'

And The Clothes Stayed On

Another brilliant show, the studio was as hot as ever. Penny wasn't telling the truth when she announced on air that we were broadcasting the show naked. I'm not sure I'd have been allowed to post that photo to the blog.

9pm-10pm
Brian Fahey Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals' (intro)
Vesta Tilley 'It's Part Of A Policeman's Duty'
Michael Monroe 'Do Anything You Wanna Do'
Damn Vandals 'Revolution/Rehearsal'
The Stranglers 'Peaches'
Evans The Death 'Catch You Cold'
The Tornadoes 'Telstar'
Heinz 'Just Like Eddie'
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds 'Into My Arms'
Eddie and The Hot Rods 'Gloria'
The Bad Shepherds 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight'
Jayne's Addiction 'Summertime Rolls'
Steel Panther 'Eye Of The Panther' (This week's 'dad rocker')

10pm-11pm
Harry H Corbett 'Like The Big Guys Do'
Cinemawave 'Projektmusic'
Ulysses Storm 'Franska The Bear'
Dick Venom And The Terrortones 'Cycledyke Blues'
Jimmy The Squirrel 'How I Go'
Alexa Hawksworth 'No Place Like Home'
The Avalanches 'Frontier Psychiatrist'
The Pixies 'Caribu'
Pree 'Lack Of Fight'
Mark Lanegan 'Hit The City'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL:
The Sandpipers 'Louie Louie'
The Wounded 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Hello 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am
Penny's Bluegrass Jamboree:
Mountain Quickstep 'In Isanbul'
The Osbourne Brothers 'Somehow Tonight'
First Aid Kit 'Emmylou'

Killing Joke 'Wardance'
Rebellious Jukebox 'Killer On The Dancefloor'
Jake Bugg 'Saffron'
Cast From The Big Stiff Tour 'Be Stiff'
The Travelling Wilburys 'End Of The Line'
Bad Manners 'Lip Up Fatty'
The Antlers 'Two'
Autopsy Boys 'Rich Kids Playground'
Curtis Whitefinger 'Why Do You Treat Me So Good?'
Wax Audio 'Thunderbusters'

Who's Got The Cutest Cat?

Why are we in the little studio? The one where we do pre-recorded content?
Why are we reading Saturday's paper?
Why is this blog being posted on a Saturday?

It's as if we came in on Saturday to pre-record the show. Actually, that is exactly what we did. Penny is at the Dot to Dot festival tomorrow, and I am in need of an early night in order to go and collect my daughter on Monday. The weirdest thing about doing a pre-record, (we record in three blocks of 58 minutes, to slot the shows in after the news) is that we could do the show in order. Normally, we do the third hour first as a pre-record, before doing two live hours.

One of the things we riffed on was our cats, and who has the cutest.

Penny's cat is the top one, the other two are mine.

9pm-10pm
The Smiths 'The Queen Is Dead' (suitable for a jubilee weekend)
Brian Fahay And His Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
George Formby 'I Wonder Who's Under Her Balcony'
Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen'
The Coral 'In The Morning'
Killing Joke 'New Uprising'
Captain Dangerous 'Everything Beautiful Reminds Me Of You'
Injured Birds 'Clams'
We Show Up On Radar 'I'll Be A Ghost'
Golden Earring 'Radar Love' ('dad rock classic')

10pm-11pm
Status Squid 'Boring Song'
Sham 69 'Hurry Up Harry'
David Lee Roth 'California Girls'
Of Montreal 'The Party's Crashing Us'
The Correspondents 'Washington Square'
Sleigh Bells 'Infinity Guitars'
Cud 'Neurotica' and 'You Sexy Thing'
Captain Dangerous 'Heather and Tommy' and 'Forgive Us we're British'
Weird Al Yankovic 'Smells Like Nirvana'

(We, by which I mean I, fucked up the times and didn't have time to do Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll so I played this and was supposed to play another of his but had to wait until after the news).

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Eric Weissberg 'Duelling Banjos'
Fade To Bluegrass 'Enter Sandman'
Trampled By Turtles 'Widower's Heart'
Weird Al Yankovic 'I Love Rocky Road'
John Cooper Clarke 'Salome Malone' and 'I Married A Monster From Outer Space'
The Apples 'Chemical Sniffer'
Dick venom And The Terrortones 'Science Friction'
John Otway 'I Will Survive'
Gypsy Kings 'Inspiration'
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Go On, Get Wasted'
Pink Floyd vs The Bee Gees 'Staying Alive In The Wall'

We also talked about the Captain Dangerous album launch gig that we went to last night. Last night being tonight, as we are recording the show for tomorrow. I hope we enjoyed it.

It's Getting Hot In Here!

We had a lot to live up to after last week, we have already discussed when exactly we would jump the shark, but we aren't going to do it just yet. Tonight was another live music show, with Fighting Evil Is Cool (or three representatives) appearing in our very warm studio. It was so hot that we did our first outside photo. 9pm-10pm The Bee Gees 'Massachusetts' (once again I wondered if a cool and sexy alternative music show should play such a song. Once again I realised that the brothers Gibb are owed a huge debt by the music business, in addition to their own hits, they wrote for a whole wealth of singers. there are, according to one obituary, 6,500 cover versions of a Gibb composition published. Even I wouldn't be able to collect them all!)

Brian Fahey And His Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
Florrie Ford 'Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside' (summer being the theme this week)
Fuzzbox 'Pink Sunshine'
Gregory Issacs 'Love You In The Morning'
Jake Bugg 'Lightening Bolt'
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Bruce Campbell'

I interviewed the band, and they performed acoustic versions of:

'Gangsterfish'
'The Hobo Song'
'Propane Nightmare' (Pendulum cover)
'Dog Meat'

The interview and live session can be heard as a stand-alone podcast here.

Meatloaf 'Bat Out Of Hell' (this week's 'dad rock classic')

10pm-11pm
Barbara Windsor 'Grin And Bare It'
Sex Pistols 'Holidays In The Sun'
Refused 'Summer Holiday vs Punk Routine'
UB40 featuring Pato Banton 'Baby Come Back' This version of the song was Penny's choice, I wanted to play the original version. We had an on air arm wrestle, and I lost.
Arrested Development 'Mr Wendall'
Little Richard 'Long Tall Sally'
Rolf Harris 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport'
Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel 'Here Comes The Sun'
The Who 'Summertime Blues'
Mungo Jerry 'In The Summertime'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL:
The Sonics 'Louie Louie'
Bunny And Cloud 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Shocking Lipstick 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys 'Southern Flavour'
Edgar Meyer 'Here and Heaven'
Evil Jack 'Untitled Banjo'

The Puppini Sisters 'Panic' (I'm considering a feature on Smiths covers when the well eventually runs dry of Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll covers)
Blind Guardian 'Mr Sandman'
Willie Nelson 'Bring Me Sunshine'
The Frames 'Revelate'
Maximo Park 'Hips and Lips'
The Lemonheads 'Big Gay Heart'
Giorgio Moroder and Phil Oakley 'Together In Electric Dreams'
Regina Spektor 'Us'
Buena Vista Social Club 'Chan Chan'
Nina Simone 'My Baby Just Cares For Me'

No time for a mash-up this week!

Depression + Nervous Energy = Great Show

I came very close to not turning up tonight, having been going through one of my episodes of depression just lately. Plus I was tired from last night's Guns and Roses concert which I had been up until six o'clock this morning wring the review for. But I am very glad I did come in, as we took part in perhaps the best show ever. Not just mine and Penny's best show, but the best edition of The Sunday Alternative so far!

Last night, Penny went to a gig. Last night, I went to a concert. Regular listeners will know the difference between a gig and a concert, and even though I prefer gigs, this was a concert I couldn't turn down. Anyway, I invited Guns and Roses to come in for a live session, and Penny invited Practical Lovers in. Only one band turned up.

To be fair, Guns and Roses have a concert tonight in Liverpool.

9pm-10pm
Crowded House 'Don't Dream It's Over'
Donna Summer 'Dim All The Lights'
(I didn't know whether we should play Donna Summer on an alternative music show, but I reasoned that her influence on popular music should not go unrecognised)

Brian Fahay and his Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals' (introduction talk over music)
Gracie Fields 'The Lambeth Walk'
Davy Jones 'Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner'
Squeeze 'Up The Junction'
Julia 'The Very Best'
Carter USM 'Billy Smart's Circus'

Practical Lovers 'Put It Bluntly'

Penny interviewed the band, as she knows them personally so I figured she would be more comfortable with it than I would. They also performed two tracks in the studio, 'Textbook Romance' (the new single), and 'Falling Down'. The entire interview and performance can be heard separately as a stand-alone podcast here. The videos of the songs can be seen here, and here.

We didn't have time for 'dad rock classic' this week as we ran right up to the news.

10pm-11pm
20th Century Coyote 'I'm Evil'
Guns and Roses 'Dust and Bones'

Practical Lovers 'Long Flight' (this week's topic was cover versions that in your opinion beat the original, so Practical Lovers agreed to stay on and perform this Future Island song). Hear it here.

Nouvelle Vague 'Teenage Kicks'
Marilyn Manson 'Tainted Love'
Billy Bragg 'That's Entertainment'
Johnny Cash 'Hurt'
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes 'Rainbow Connection'
Operation Ivy 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'
Gary Jules 'Mad World'

(Above tunes relating to our 'cover versions' theme)

Soft Cell 'Sex Dwarf'
The Cure 'Boys Don't Cry'

LOUIE SMELLS LIKE ROCK and ROLL:
John Schroder 'Louie Louie'
Bruthal 6 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Dragon Ash 'I Love Hip Hop'

11pm-12am
PENNY'S BLUEGRASS JAMBOREE:
Old Crow Medicine Show 'Raise A Ruckus'
Earl Scruggs 'Fireball Mail'
Devil Makes Three 'Beneath The Piano'

Ozric Tentacles 'Space Out'
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Ten Times More'
Obsessive Compulsive 'Man vs Machine'
Black Super Rainbow 'Sun Lips'
Wolfcrusher 'No Chance'
Redbear 'Forest Ambulance'
New York Dolls 'Personality Crisis'
Ladyhawke 'Back Of The Van'
Dick Venom And The Terrortones 'Terrortone Pheromone'
The Ramones 'Baby I Love You'
Rick Astley vs Nirvana 'Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up'

Getting The Hang Of It

I still find it confusing to pre-record the final hour and then go on to present a live show for two hours. The temptation to refer to 'later' in the recording, or refer to 'earlier' during the live part, is something of a head-fuck. But I'm getting there.

9pm-10am

Everett Lilly And The Mountaineers 'Speed At The Sound Of Loneliness'
Sam and Dave 'Hold On, I'm Coming'
{The above pre-openers played in tribute to Everett Lilly, and to Donald 'Duck' Dunn}

Brian Fahey and His Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals'
Harry Fragson 'Hello, Hello, Who's Your Lady Friend?'
Bowling For Soup 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want'
Reel Big Fish 'Beer'
The Stooges 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine 'The Only Living Boy In New Cross'
Billy Bragg 'A13 Trunk Road To The Sea'
Ben Folds Five 'Underground'
Broken Links 'Elektrik'
The Starland Vocal Band 'Afternoon Delight'*
The J. Geils Band 'Centrefold'* {This week's Dad Rock Classic}


10pm-11pm

Rambling Syd Rumpo 'The Ballad Of The Woggler's Moulie'
The Rocking Vickers 'It's Alright'
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band 'Delilah'*
John Otway 'The Green Green Grass Of Home'*
Lou Reed 'Perfect Day'*
The Kinks 'Lola'*
The Vapours 'Turning Japanese'*
Frigid Pink 'House Of The Rising Sun'*

*This week's listener topic was about songs that you didn't get the meaning of straight away.

The Pixies 'Where Is My Mind'
Dresden Dolls 'Girl Anachronism'
The Hellset Orchestra 'Come Into My Lab'

Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll:
The Beach Boys 'Louie Louie'
The Ukelele Orchestra Of Great Britain 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Miley Cyrus 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am

New Feature to start the final hour...
Penny's Bluegrass Jamboree:
CW Stoneking 'Jungle Blues'
Curtis Eller's American Circus 'Sugar In My Coffin'
Union Station 'Dust Bowl Children'

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine 'Panic'
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Ten Times More'
Bernard Sumner 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
Practical Lovers 'Textbook Romance'
Jenny Lewis 'Black Sand'
Melissa Auf Der Maur 'Followed The Waves'
The Toy Dolls 'Yul Bryner Was A Skinhead'

Mash up ending:
Amy Winehouse vs Queen 'Crazy Little Thing Called Rehab'

We Do The End At The Beginning

There wasn't a great response to this week's listener topic, which was about gigs or concerts that you were taken to as a child. We 'did' the subject after the ten o'clock news, which is probably going to be the regular time for it.

We did our first full three hour show together, (I did the final hour alone last week), and everything went swimmingly. The only problem with pre-recording the final hour before doing the first two hours live is remembering the continuity. If in the third, (which is our first) hour we refer to a song we played 'earlier', then we need to remember to actually play it. There was one incident where we ignored that rule, fortunately nobody seems to have noticed but the perfectionist in me finds that sort of thing a little annoying.


9pm-10am

The Skatelites - Guns of Naverone {Played in tribute to Lloyd Brevett and
The Beastie Boys - She's On It Adam Yauch, who both died this week}

Brian Fahey and his Orchestra 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal'
Max Miller 'I Never Thought That She'd Do That To Me'
Blur 'Let's All Go The Strand' (a music hall double whammy this week, with Blur's version of the popular song)

Pearl Jam 'The Kids Are Alright'
Pop Will Eat Itself 'Bulletproof'
Gary Numan 'Haunted'
The SkaDaddiez 'Hotel California'
Carolina Chocolate Drops 'Cornbread and Butterbeans'
Radiohead 'Fake Plastic Trees'
Neil Young 'My My Hey Hey' (this week's Dad Rock Classic)


10pm-11pm

Bruce Forsyth 'I'm In Charge'
Nine Inch Nail 'Something I Can Never Have'
Taco 'Putting On The Ritz'
Freddie and the Dreamers 'You Were Made For Me'*
The Shadows 'Foot Tapper'*
The Detroit Cobras 'He Did It'
The Wedding Present 'A Million Miles'
Hallouminati 'Sing For The Unknown'
Richard Hawley 'Leave Your Body Behind You'
Neatral Milk Hotel 'Naomi'

*Played for our feature of gigs and concerts you were taken to as a child.

Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll:
Jeff And The RFS 'Louie Louie'
The Bad Plus 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Hayseed Dixie 'I Love Rock and Roll'


11pm-12am

The Austin Francis Connection 'Drop That Beat'
Baby Godzilla 'Braille For The Axeman'
Cantaloupe 'Horse'
Goodnight Astronaut 'Getaway'
Babes In Toyland 'We Are Fammily'
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Gangsterfish'
The Given Motion 'Watching You Drown'
Choking Susan 'Smeared Lipstick'
Billy Idol 'Dancing With Myself'
David Bowie 'Pictures of Lily'

And ending the final hour with a 'mash-up' in future:
MC Hammer vs Eurythmics 'You Can't Touch Sweet Dreams'

We just need to think of a feature to begin the third hour.

Sugar Rush Birthday Girl

Tonight we were wearing our oldest music t-shirts, mine used to be black of course. It dates from 1999 I think, and was given to me by John Otway himself, who is a casual acquaintance of mine. How's that for name-dropping?

I didn't have a good start to proceedings today, as (and here is our little secret), the final hour of the show is pre-recorded. Now we broadcast until midnight, but Andy the boss isn't willing to wait until midnight for us to do the show live, and he doesn't trust anyone to lock up. Obviously we'd prefer to do the whole show live, but at least we have a three hour show now. Penny was running late due to her birthday celebrations, so I did the pre-recorded show by myself. It was weird having to pretend it was now just after the eleven o'clock news, and I didn't explain Penny's absence in case she appeared at any time. As the 'live' section of the show finished just before the eleven o'clock news, we made a point of saying that Penny had to leave early because of catching a bus.

The show wasn't a smooth one by any means, I was already stressed out because I couldn't get in the pre-record studio straight away. There were minutes between finishing that and starting the live show at nine. I like to have a coffee and a think before the show, but I had to go straight in without any real preparation. We had the first section lined up of course, but it took us both a while to relax into the show. Penny was disoriented from some rather heroic birthday partying, and even slipped up and said "fuck" on air, which we glossed over with good humour. I'm amazed I've never dropped that clanger myself, as I am a naturally sweary person in casual conversation. As good as the show sounded, we were both doing it like ducks; smooth and calm on the surface, but flapping around underneath.

That's not to say we didn't enjoy it, I can't speak for Penny but I thought it was a brilliant piece of radio that I can't wait to hear again. Having Penny there has made a hell of a difference to the show, and I am looking forward to a long and successful partnership (professionally of course) with her.

We played the usual high quality musical offerings too:

9pm-10pm
Altered Images 'Happy Birthday' (for Penny's birthday)
The Flying Burrito Brothers 'Dark End Of The Street' (played in tribute to Chris Etheridge)

'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal' (the talk-over intro)

Lily Morris 'Waiting At The Church' (music hall opener)
Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen'
The Carpenters 'Rainbow Connection'
Since Monroe 'DJ'
The Wonder Stuff 'Blackberry Way'
Paul Curtis 'Nottingham Song'
Mike and Bernie Winters 'Batman' (played as part of Nottingham's Batman connection)
The Jam 'Batman'
Stevie Wonder 'Signed Sealed Delivered, I'm Yours'
Beck 'Loser'
Johnny Cash 'Rock Island Line'
Queen 'Hammer To Fall'
Run DMC and Aerosmith 'Walk This Way' (this week's 'dad rocker')

Hip hop style posing from Daniel and myself, no idea why this seemed like a good idea. We seem to be making a definite point of keeping our bottoms as far away from each other as possible.

10pm-11pm
Morcambe and Wise 'Bring Me Sunshine'
Faith No More 'The Real Thing'
LL Cool J 'I Need Love'
Ian Dury and the Blockheads 'Reasons To Be Cheerful Part Three'
Yunioshi 'Believe It'
You Slut! 'My Bloody Jesus Explorer On Fire'
Patti Smith 'Until The End Of The World'

Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll:
Paul Revere and the Raiders 'Louie Louie'
Luka 'Smells Like teen Spirit'
Paperbox 'I Love Rock and Roll'

11pm-12am (Just me for this bit)
Alexei Sayle 'Allo John, Gotta New Motor?'
De Heiderjoosies 'Wannabe'
Lenny Kravitz 'Are You Gonna Go My Way?' (acoustic blues version)
Laurel and Hardy 'Johnny Won The Lottery'
The Lucky Strikes 'Beast Burnt Down'
Golden Troubadours 'Silent Revolution'
The Raid 'Heads or Tails'
We Show Up On Radar 'I'll Be A Ghost'
Wholesome Fish 'Reubens Train'
Rapunzel MAP 'Hologram Girl' (a familiar name for Trent Sound listeners, as she co-presents Nottingham LACE in addition to her singing career).
Jake Morley 'Sideline'
The Wonder Stuff 'Save It For Later'
Fresh Eyes For The Dead Guy 'The Shape Of Bruno Brookes'
Bow Wow Wow 'C30 C60 C90 Go!'

The Best Gig I Didn't Go To

This is the profile picture that will be appearing on several Sunday Alternative sites. Can you guess what time we posed for it?

The show gets better and better, tonight was a classic and I really enjoyed it. I think the future of the show is bright, Penny and myself work very well together. To say that we only met the week before her first show, this is a comfortable radio partnership and have started to look forward to the show again. The comedy element with Erik was cool and everything, but we did run the risk of jumping the shark a bit. I'm glad to be steering the show back to the original remit, and returning to an emphasis on music. We also had a good response to the topic this week, the best gig you didn't go to. You had tickets but couldn't/didn't go, and have regretted it since. There was one that I didn't see until it was too late, from Andy Davis:

Had a ticket for the opening night of Rock City - Iron Maiden, 1980? It was cancelled because of a problem with the venue and never rescheduled, I waited over a year to claim my refund just in case. I think the first Rock City gig was Shakin' Stevens a couple of weeks later!!!

In answer to the question mark, Rock City did indeed open in December 1980 and Iron Maiden were cancelled because of problems with the electrics. I wonder if had Andy kept the ticket until 1996, when Maiden returned to Rock City, they would have honoured it. The fact that Maiden performed at Rock City in 1996 surprised me, as they would surely have been stadium sized by then. Unless this was a special secret gig. By coincidence, I asked Penny on air if she would rather a gig or a concert, and we agreed on gig. I would much rather see a band upstairs in a pub than at the Ice Arena, (as I call it). A listener contributed to the subject with her tale of missing Guns and Roses at Rock City in 1987, but seeing them at Donnington a year later. The idea of seeing the 'proper' Guns and Roses in a club venue seems so far fetched now, especially as they moved up the ladder fairly quickly. I saw them in Milton Keynes in 1993, and I am so glad that I did given what they are nowadays, although it was at a stadium concert. Rock City, we agreed, is the biggest club level venue in Nottingham, so once a band gets bigger they progress to the theatre or the arena, depending on their popularity.

We did of course play some musical offerings of the highest quality:

Bert Weedon 'Guitar Boogie Shuffle'
Jeff Healey 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'

(Both above songs came before the official opening tune, in tribute to Bert Weedon, who died this week).

'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals' (opening introductions talk-over)
Harry Champion 'I'm Henry The Eight I Am'
Jane's Addiction 'Been Caught Stealin'' (prompting a tweet from @NurseGeek1975 congratulating me on such a link. I really have a passion for the Victorian music hall comedians and their songs. I am planning a music hall show for the station, just a one-off pre-record for the Bank Holiday).

David Bowie 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City'
Practical Lovers 'Put It Bluntly' (appearing on the show on 20th May)
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Life In Magazines'
Fists 'Weekend'
Hot Japanese Girl 'Mixtape'
The Futureheads 'Hounds Of Love'

Stevie Nicks 'The Edge Of Seventeen'*
Guns and Roses 'Paradise City'* (these two songs played to top and tail the 'best gig you didn't go to' discussion. We talked over Nino Rota's 'Romeo and Juliet', or the Our Tune theme, as it is popularly known).

Journey 'Don't Stop Believin'' (this week's 'dad rock classic', taking the concept back to my original intention. Hopefully, at least one listener followed the lead and videoed themselves singing along and will send it so I can add it to the blog).

Reg Varney 'Come On And Tickle My Fancy' (the comedy song that opens the second hour)
The Clash 'Armagideon Time'
The King Blues 'What If Punk Never Happened'
Radiohead 'Sit Down Stand Up'*
Nirvana 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'* (Again these two songs were used to accommodate the subject, and once again we talked over the theme from Romeo and Juliet. As soon as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' kicked in, I realised that I had fucked up because a version appears in the 'Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll feature).
Kagoule 'Silvercloud'
Cantaloupe 'Hubbub'
Prince and The Revolution 'Let's Go Crazy'
The Wedding Present 'Brassneck'

Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll:
The Naverones 'Louie Louie'
The Meat Puppets 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
L'Arc en Cial 'I Love Rock and Roll'

We now have a page on Reverbnation. The songs are all taken from our live sessions, and are only available for streaming. There isn't a lot to the page yet, but I hope to be adding a weekly video of the two of us.

In other news, as from next Sunday the show is running until midnight, giving us an extra hour.