Greetings to all bloggers old and new, here we are again for another week. Hope the (bank holiday) weekend was a good one. Mine was spent camping in Cheltenham at the Greenbelt festival. The festival bit was good, the camping bit was not. The company was excellent, the tent was spacious but the Sauvignon Blanc was the right temperature. About 4 degrees. I'm sure if you are a polar explorer this is a weedy complaint but lying in a field as the condensation starts to ice over and the 4 layers of clothing you are wearing prove ineffectual is not really a fun thing to do. And I don't want to do it again. Ever. But when child 3 insists, I know I'll give in. Just the one more time then...
Back at 5 then, with some live tunes from the very talented Lissie. Her album "Catching a Tiger" is very fine and she has been getting great reviews for her gigs here. She's actually from California but spends a lot of time over here. If her contribution to the Great British Songbook is what I think it is, eyebrows will be raised, heads will turn and breaths held. 'She's not really going to try that is she?' 'Good Heavens she is!" and so on. Then again she might have changed her mind. Find out tonight!
And oldies today to say goodbye to "The Bill" which bows out tonight. After 27 years and 24,000 episodes it's the least we can do. Bill Oldies and not Bill Oddies just to be clear.
See you at 5.05.
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I blog this morning while watching the great pictures from Cornwall where Chris is doing his show today. There's nothing quite like the look of campers who have got up early. It's a rumpled, crumpled look. Too early for brushing hair. Too early for washing. It says canvas, anorak and dampness. And having a ball.
The lack of rain also means we are all automatically thrilled. The last week has been so dismal in some parts that we will pleased this weekend if it doesn't snow. The crowd with Chris look strangely familiar too. I'm sure I recognise some faces from the St Ives roadshow in 1990. I'm thinking of getting out my roadshow shorts again for one more spin around the block.
Well meantime we have an All Request Friday to contemplate. Top songs, top calls and texts from frustrated motorway dwellers who wont make it to the pub in time. Plus that first song chosen by you! Set that bar as high as it will go.
Enjoy your Friday, see you at 5.05.
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Well Autumn is well and truly here and it feels like a weekend of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Which is fine apart from the obligation to spend most of it in a tent. I used to love camping-all our family holidays were caravaning ones-but find that middle-age brings with it the desire for a decent bed. And curtains. Oh and warmth. Still compulsory family time, you know how it goes.
And you might be in the mood for a hearty stew but Nigel is promising a salad made with stale bread. I told him last week that it didn't get the pulse racing exactly but an Italian Panzanella salad is what it is. So let's all join in with the enthusiasm that we would greet a golden syrup sponge and custard with. 'Yes Nigel, nice basil leaves. Super tomatoes. Stunning balsamic vinegar. Pass the treacle.'
And oldies I hear you ask? Well this weekend sees Newqay hosting the British Surf Championships on Fistral Beach. What a place to be this weekend! There'll be a limit to the number of Beach Boys tunes available so lets think waves, boards and wetsuits.
And let's go surfing from 5.05...
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Morning Drive-bloggers and here's to a great Wednesday. Well done to all your offspring/relatives with exam results of note yesterday. Have barely seen child2 since yesterday but who wants to celebrate with parents for more than 30 minutes anyway? We aren't due another day like that for 6 years which is fine by me.
Lucky girl, she gets to come with me to see Spurs play tonight for another night of life-shortening tension. And that's just getting there. Show finish 7pm, kick off 7.45pm. I feel we will be late but will observe all speed and parking restrictions on the way.
Today it's lovely Paul Heaton day, the former Beautiful South man has a new album out called "Acid Country" and even though you probably have quite a few of his songs somewhere, you're going to find you have room for a few more. He's been on a 16 date pub tour, cycling from gig to gig and now the album and single are ready to go. Paul sings after 6.
And tunes today for the Air Guitar World Championships being held in Finland. Either guitar classics to strike the pose to, or songs to comment on this bizarre if strangely rewarding activity. Whatever inspires...
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I'm sitting at a computer that I know contains my daughter's GCSE results. I can see them sitting there. But she doesn't want to know about them, she wants to go into school for a bit of group therapy. So I will just sit here and blog away and pretend it's just a normal day. Those Student Essential types are waiting to help with advice if you need any or know someone who does. I just need patience, I'm not sure if they can help with that.
Top marks, A star grades etc to The Script who played last night on the show. They really are heading for the big time and you can see both their songs here. "Babylon" was a good choice of cover boys!
That man Gary Lineker turns up today. He's written his account of the World Cup Finals and if you want to relive the whole miserable experience, this is the book for you.
And oldies? Well let's go for career advice. As the final exam results of the summer kick in, everyone's after it or offering it. So put all your experience into a song title of note and leave it below.
Meantime, I'll just wait by this computer a little longer...
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I am writing this from the heart of the maelstrom. A fierce storm has been blowing the world around most of the night (so it seems to me) and I'm wondering if there might be a ferry to take me down the A12. I'll be relying on the good services of Lynn Bowles and Sally B more than ever.
One thing of note over the weekend. With relentless focus (in other words, ignoring everyone else) I finally finished that monster of a book I was blogging about on Friday. 'Under the Dome' by Stephen King is 1,074 pages long and has been hauled around by my weary bones all summer. It has been my entire walk on luggage. And now I am leaving it behind. Something lighter next time I believe. It was great fun (in a death and misery kind of way) and essentially, a vast tract against elected mayors. And local politicians in general.
Today we can offer you The Script playing live after 6. I met them at Maida Vale a couple of years back doing some live songs for Radio 2. They were hoping for big things from their debut album back in '08 and so it came to pass. It went to number 1 and they have since opened for Paul McCartney, Take That and U2. So that'll be ok really. New album is called 'Science and Faith' and hear them live after 6 today.
And songs please for the return of X Factor. You know you want to. It returned on Saturday night and low and behold, it's in all the papers again. No X Factor hits however, if that's ok. In the box below, ta.
See you at 5.05.
One week since returning from holiday and I still haven't finished my book. This is of course a mistake as if you haven't finished it by the time you go back to work, it might remain unfinished for ever. It'll join that pile of books by your bedside table where it'll stay for a few months before being shifted somewhere it doesn't mock you. Then you'll chuck it out.
Last night I kept going as late as I could but in the end was defeated. Not by tiredness (unusually) but by weight. My book is too heavy. I've always known it's a monster since I bought it but last thing at night, it seems like I'm doing a gym workout. But I need to keep going as there are only 200 odd pages to go and when you've been through more than 800, you have to finish. I have invested too much leisure time to give up now. And it's great fun. I haven't read a Stephen King book since I was 20 but 'Under The Dome' is a corker. And having lugged it half way round the world, I'm a fitter man for investing in it.
Bloggers favourite holiday reads for 2010? Any not finished? Ho hum.
Meantime, the weekend approaches and we need to get stuck in to a monster of an ALL REQUEST FRIDAY from 5 so those magnificent songs to kick things off can be left in the box below. You are too kind.
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...it's the parents who suffer the most on days like these. Sure it's tough for those getting results but the hunched, sleep deprived parent has been mulling this day for months, maybe years. We went through it last year and it was pretty rough really, though it turned out fine in the end. And it is perspective that is hard to find today, so if you're in need of some sound advice, those good people at Student Essentials are there and poised. Then we get a few days before the GCSE's kick in, planning in this house has started already.
So I think we should do STRESS on the oldies today. Not just academic stress but ALL KINDS OF STRESS OK?
And young Nigel will work wonders with Scotch Eggs later (or is that scotch eggs?)
All we have to do is get through till 5.05. See you then.
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Good morning to all Drivetime bloggers (blog soundtrack is Chris playing OMD and the new CD by Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle but not together). I spent an agonising evening with my daughter (only Spurs supporting child I managed to raise) watching the match v Young Boys last night. No fun at all but what did we expect. Still it's 2 hours of TV that I watch with her and that makes it unique. I just can't get that interested in Americas Next Top Model or Hollyoaks. But after last night's horror show, I might have to reconsider.
Live tunes today! Before I went on holiday I was going on about the album by I Am Arrows called "Sun Comes Up Again". It's basically the work of Andy Burrows who was in Razorlight and it's full of really interesting pop songs in the Divine Comedy, Badly Drawn Boy style of cleverness. Listen up after 6 as they will be in with instruments at the ready.
And oldies for you to have a go at? How about the final of Celebrity MasterChef which starts tonight? Food, TV, Celebs, Kitchens etc what more could you ask for.
Enjoy your Wednesday, see you at 5.05.
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That first day back really never changes. The slightly embarrassed walk into work as people comment on your tan, health or lack of it, the realisation that you haven't bought anyone presents and a few well chosen stories from your holiday that folk listen too politely, before drifting back to their desks. A desk full of stuff that will take all day to sort and quite a few times when you wonder whether you can remember how do to do the job. Then after 10 minutes it feels as though you never went away. Really enjoyed yesterday, hope you did, if not er, I'll try to do better today.
Today we welcome the Ivor Novello award winning Sharleen Spiteri, formerly of Texas and now a judge on Sky's "Must Be The Music" which started on Sunday, hosted by Fearne Cotton.
And oldies, well how about fish, fishing and fishermen and women. Rivers, sea and catching, you know. "Two Tone" Britain's biggest carp at 67lbs 14oz has finally given up the ghost. Old age has finally caught up with Britain's largest recorded freshwater fish so let's mark the moment with a few fishy oldies. Place your catch in the receptacle below.
See you at 5.05 Drivetimers!
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Hello to all you lovely bloggers and drivetimers, I have missed you all. Every single one of you. Thanks for keeping the blog ticking over. 2318 comments is a lot of discussion whichever way you look at it. I was tempted to post a sneaky new one while no one was looking but decided that wouldn't be right or wise if the family got to hear about it.
Suffice to say 3 weeks off felt lovely and spent some of it in Nashville where we should all have gone round the Country Music Hall of Fame and I would have chosen Bob Harris as our tour guide. It's a terrific tour anyway but going with Whispering Bob would have been a real treat. The 105 F heat is a wee problem but the A/C chills you enough to cope with it
I have doubtless put on a stone due to excessive consumption of fries, ribs, slaw and pancakes but will hold my stomach in for the webcam.
So today's Drivetime then. Let's do diamonds and jewellery please on the oldies. Lots nicked at the weekend at the Royal Exchange but more importantly, lots of good songs to choose from. Please leave in the usual space below.
And we welcome Colin Murray to Radio 2, he's the new host of "Match of the Day 2" and an all round good egg. He'll be my guest after 6.
Homework, Confessions, Showstopper, Tweet o'wisdom all back today (as well as Pauline but not Matt) and looking forward to it. Roll on 5 o'clock!
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