Marlena Shaw, live at the Hare and Hounds
Bobbie bought tickets to go and see Marlena Shaw and was really excited about it – but then a trip out of town clashed and she wasn’t able to go. She was really deeply disappointed.
Instead, Clutch and I took the tickets and went along. It was okay – the band were good and everything, but it wasn’t an amazing gig – and I suspect Bobbie might have been just as disappointed if she did go.
Tagged: live, Marlena Shaw, Music, Photo
Today’s idea is really just a question – and a really bleeding obvious one at that:
Why doesn’t this thing have a DAB chip in it?
And, for that matter, why doesn’t pretty much every other phone available on the market also have a DAB chip? Given the popularity of in-car docks, and the sheer ubiquity of mobile phones, it seems like such a complete and utter no-brainer.
I don’t need A radio – I just want THE radio. And I already have something I could listen to it on. Whoever’s job it is to make Britain “digital”… sort it out, would you?
I don’t get many letters. I get a lot of mail – but it’s mostly bills and junk.
But I received a letter today, which was nice. The purpose of the letter was to invite me to be a Fellow of the RSA, in recognition of my “experience and expertise of communities in the online environment, and valuable work with New Music Strategies advising the music industry…”
To me, as a New Zealander, the RSA is the Returned and Services’ Association, a voluntary and charitable organisation to help ex-military service people. They organise the poppy appeal for ANZAC day. And they also have cheap pubs for members.
It turns out that over here, the RSA is something quite different. It stands for the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. I’m not sure why the M & the C don’t make it into the acronym.
I’ve replied saying I’m interested, and apparently it means I get to put FRSA after my name – me and 27,000 other people around the world. We’re apparently a bunch of “achievers and influencers from a wide array of backgrounds and professions” and we’re united by “a commitment to improve the prospects of our communities and build a better society.”
Not sure what that all means exactly yet, or what will be required of me, but it all sounds rather interesting. I’ve done a bit of a check though, and it doesn’t look like I’ll have to learn a secret handshake, undergo any bizarre rituals or become a Tory.
So with that in mind… always nice to get a letter, I reckon.
Tagged: RSA
45 year old Hereford man, Matt Grimes
After work, a bunch of us slipped off to the pub for a pint to celebrate Matt’s 45th birthday. If it ends in a 0 or a 5, you have to have a drink. That’s the rules.
Matt took over from me as Degree Leader in Music Industries at BCU
a couple of years back, and does a far better job of it than I did. He’s a smart guy – good radio producer, pretty knowledgeable about punk and related forms, great teacher, really organised administrator – and he’s a regular Shambala attendee too, so clearly a good sort.
Having chosen a rural life, a day at work requires a 3 hour train journey each way for him, so it was good to catch him on a day we were both there and there was something to celebrate.
Happy birthday, Matt.
Tagged: BCU, Beer, Matt Grimes, Photo
When I first thought of today’s idea, I immediately put it in my “that’s just stupid” pile. It’s certainly not terribly technologically sophisticated.
But the more I think about it, the more I want one for real – and when I asked for other people’s opinions, one of my colleagues at work enthused “well, it’s not that stupid…”
So here it is…
Pebble Splash
It’s… a tray of pebbles for the shower.
That’s all. It’s a tray. It has pebbles in it. You put it in the shower.
You stand on it while you have a shower. It’s got holes in it for the water to run out. You leave it there till next time. It’s sort of self-cleaning, for the most part.
I imagine a couple of different sizes. One for those showers that are only showers, and another for those showers that are also baths. Pebbles would be replaceable, but you’d probably want smallish, smooth, round ones.
For the record, here’s my thinking that went into this:
1) It’s nice to stand on pebbles;
2) It would be nice to stand on pebbles while you’re in the shower;
3) Let’s put pebbles in the shower.
Just me?
At home with academic and author David Hendy
I had a meeting in Oxford with David Hendy today. He’s a Reader at the University of Westminster and the author of some very fine books about radio, including the highly acclaimed Life on Air: A History of Radio Four.
His book Radio in the Global Age (2000) was immediately a prescribed text for my class back in Auckland, and it was that book that really gave me permission to take seriously some of my own ideas about digital radio, the internet, and media in general.
It was also the book that encouraged me to stop simply being a radio tutor, and try my hand at actual research. All in all, it’s probably fair to credit David with a large portion of my academic trajectory (or, at the very least, the inspiration thereof), and the fact that I ended up in the UK doing what I do now.
I first met him at an international academic radio conference in Madison, Wisconsin in 2004 – where I was giving a paper on Internet Radio. It’s also, incidentally, where I met Tim Wall, who was on the same panel as me, and is the person to thank for getting me over here. But it was David’s ideas that got me that far.
Amazing thinker, a really beautiful writer – and just a thoroughly nice man. Sometimes you meet your heroes, a decade on, and they make you gnocchi for lunch.
