Can You Help?

The New Year is just around the corner and I’m trying to forget that we first have to endure Christmas before we get to it. I am bursting to get moving on various projects in 2015 but I need help.

Everything I make will be made available online totally free of charge, so I am asking you to please consider this when you see the PayPal button above my blogs. I make The Sunday Alternative podcast every week and write 365 blogs a year for no obvious financial reward. I rely on the donations to enable me to carry on putting out free content, and will use what goes into the pot to make entertaining things for you.

In addition to the donation option, I also have a range of audio books for download on a ‘pay what you like’ basis and books available for the Kindle. All the money I make from these sales will go into the same fund.

One of my audio books, A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens, is too big for Bandcamp to host so I will email it to anyone who donates one pound or more and then emails me with ‘I paid a pound or more’ in the subject line, my email address is steveEoliver@gmail.com

A Sunday Alternative bag will be on sale in the New Year, sadly I couldn’t get them ready in time for Christmas but I’m sure they’ll go down well as Valentine gifts.

The first two projects for 2015 will be a pilot for a cookery and music series that will be uploaded to a YouTube channel on a weekly basis (if a series is made). The video will be used as the video for the crowd funding campaign on Indie GoGo. I will also be making a special video for Record Store Day that will be released on the day. Both of these projects need money to make them.

Even though it didn’t work out last year, I still haven’t given up hope of making a documentary about The Sunday Alternative. Ideally I’d like to have it ready in time for release in 2016 as the fifth anniversary of the show will fall on a Sunday.

As the party season is upon us, please consider buying one less drink on your next outing and donating to the fund, imagine how proud you’ll be at having helped.

A Dickens Christmas Collection - new audio book available now.

My latest audio book, A Dickens Christmas Collection, is available to download now. As usual it is free with the option to pay if you want to. There are three separate tracks on this collection, A Christmas Goblin, Nobody’s Story, and The Child’s Story. I was intending to make it a four track album with A Christmas Tree but unfortunately it is a long story and therefore the file is too big for Bandcamp to cope with.

All the money raised will go back into the fund to help me to create short films, documentaries, podcasts, comedy sketches and loads more that will be made available completely free of charge.

The Christmas Tree will be emailed to anyone who makes a donation of a pound or more using the PayPal button on my blog pages. Just email me with “I paid a pound” in the subject line, my email address is steveEoliver@gmail.com

You can download A Dickens Christmas Collection from here.

Back When I Was Crap At Radio...

I have overhauled a dusty old blog with a view to promoting it again. My collection of radio shows for Sherwood Radio is now freely available online to enjoy. Re-live my early days in radio when I was rubbish, and hear just how I managed to develop into the broadcaster I am today with shows in the UK and America. Although I don’t feel as though I deserved the plaudits comparing me to John Peel, I have listened back to a few of these shows in preparing this blog and can see how the seed was planted that grew into The Sunday Alternative.

Apart from a couple of missing editions, every show can be listened to again. Please realise that I know that I was shit in the beginning so there is no need to tell me.

I have installed the PayPal button so that you can help me to raise funds to continue to provide free online content. There is of course no obligation to pay anything if you can’t, but as always I thank you in advance if you decide to drop a virtual coin into my virtual hat.

You can listen to my Sherwood Radio archive here.

Audio book released today!

The audio book of Whatever Happened to Nathan McKenzie? is available to download now. Written by my brother Jack over four years, it has taken me the best part of this year to record it, it’s a long book but worth sticking with.

I have set a price for this which reflects how much work has been put in to this, although my share of the money will go into the fund for making new content.

If you are buying someone an MP3 player for Christmas then this is the ideal thing to pre-load, especially for fans of time travel mysteries.

The audio book is available from here.

The book is available from here.

Consigning An Idea To The Box Of Abandoned Ideas

I have made the decision to scrap a proposed podcast series titled The Shoebox Collection. Having written two episodes, I haven’t found the time to write the next two, and certainly don’t know where I would find the time to record it if I had.

The inspiration came from the public airing of John Peel’s record collection, and I decided to do a similar thing with the demo CDs I have accumulated over the years. I was aiming to find out what had become of some of the names in my archive, some still playing and some having stopped altogether. On the podcast I intended to play the songs on the CD and give some direction on what, if anything, the artists are doing today.

My reason for scrapping the project is mainly an issue of time, but also because I felt it would be a struggle to keep it interesting for the listener who has never heard of some obscure singer who sent me a CD in 2004 and presumably wouldn’t give a shit what they were doing nowadays.

So now the two scripts I have written will go into the box of abandoned ideas, perhaps to see the light of day in the future.

A Christmas Carol audio book

My audio book A Christmas Carol is being re-released this year as an album and is an available to download free or you can pay something if you want to. Any money made will be used to fund further free projects such as podcasts, documentaries, comedy sketches, and short films. 

Premature Book Plug

I have finished typing the final draft of my book Bowie Day. 'Book' might be a bit grand as is smaller than a book but bigger than a short story, so I'm going with 'novella'.

The story (my first work of fiction, unless expenses forms count) is influenced by Charles Dickens and has TWO main characters called David Bowie. It will be released on the Kindle and as an audio book download on Bandcamp on January 8th 2015, two days after you've taken the decorations down. I have picked that date because it is of course David Bowie's birthday.

In an ideal world I would have all the publicity blasted out on the actual day, which is a Thursday if you're interested. Before Christmas I will be arranging this, so hopefully I'll be spending that Thursday talking to people about the book.

The thought has crossed my mind about doing a public reading on Heddon Street in London (if you need to ask the significance then it won't be your kind of gig) which will be free but I'll be essentially busking. Maybe several ones spread out during the day. Even cooler would be doing all the phone interviews from THAT phone box!

Anyway, until January.

Goodbye America...

This weekend's edition of The Sound Of Nottingham UK will unfortunately be the last one. While I have enjoyed doing the shows and sharing the eclectic musical output from the city of my birth, certain factors are getting in the way of producing the show.

Most of Nottingham's music makers are nice people and I have made some good friends among them. The show has been well received by the vast majority, and even if people don't recognise me they twig when I mention 'that American radio show that plays Nottingham music'. My gratitude to Marshall Miles for giving me the show is as strong now as it was on day one. I never imagined having a radio show on an American station so that is quite an addition to the CV.

Sadly the negatives keep eating away at me. The biggest being the attitudes and ego within the scene, this hasn't got better and it is this delusion of grandeur that will prevent certain artists from breaking out. It used to annoy me when an invitation to appear on NottinghamLIVE was met with one of two reactions. The first was saying they'd come on when they had something to plug, when we explained that we asked people on merit and weren't a show that relied on people appearing as part of a publicity junket. This even happened when I was doing sessions for the American show! A few people found their way onto my blacklist which effectively meant that they received no more airplay on thee other side of the Atlantic. To my mind this diva behaviour hadn't been earned; you can only become a prick when you're at a certain level; Axl Rose is a good example. 

Then came the issue of new material. I have had to resort to asking for tracks for the show, and while most have been grateful some have treated the idea of American airplay as an inconvenience. A lot of the time this happens with artists with managers, so I would ask that they take a good look at who is supposedly looking after their interests and ask themselves if they are doing their job properly. Compere this to The Sunday Alternative, for which I receive songs from PR companies and labels from all over the world because this is how the music business works.

A combination of apathy and cliques are stifling Nottingham, as is the closed door policy of certain organisations. The Nottingham Post were good enough to run a story when I first started doing the show, it was a good angle to have a show for Nottingham musicians to receive their first American airplay, but no other media organisation got on board. I can't be too harsh on a certain arts magazine as they are still only just getting used to covering music, having only done so for the last three years of their ten year history. If I ran a cocktail bar they would have written pages about that. If I knew nothing about music and never went to gigs, I might have been asked to judge their talent shows too!

Nottingham musicians will still be played on The Sunday Alternative, which receives hits from all over the world and they will also be invited onto the new video version. I will continue to give my support to the local music scene, nothing has changed there, I am perhaps the most active supporter.

My advice to the new bands and artists is to try not to become part of a clique, and don't take any arsehole tablets as they are highly addictive.

It has been a pleasure doing the show, and despite the minority of twats I am proud to be part of the Nottingham music scene. My final show will be my favourites, and the version of the show that appears on Mixcloud will be half an hour longer.

Update

I don't do enough of these newsletters, but that's because there isn't a lot to say most of the time. Here is a brief update on what's going on in Planet Oliver...

The Sunday Alternative relaunching as a podcast has been a huge success, so thank you to everyone who has listened so far. Don't forget to tell your friends.

I'm still doing the American show every week. It won't be long until I'm at 100 editions of The Sound Of Nottingham UK.

I am developing two Internet television projects at the moment, The Sunday Alternative and Saturday Breakfast. TSA will be fortnightly (alternating weeks with the audio podcast) and SB will be weekly but filmed in a series bulk. Both will feature the best live music from around the country while at the same time remaining focused on the Nottingham music scene. I am filming a pilot TSA so that we can look at it and see what needs doing, which although being labelled as a none-broadcast will probably be released online at a much later date.

Filming a pilot edition of SB will be a little trickier, as I have only heard back from one suitable venue (it has to be a venue with a kitchen) and they want three hundred pounds for room hire. On top of other costs I reckon we can film it for five hundred and come away with something workable. I may even use the pilot as the fund raising video on a crowd funding site, or use it to try and gain sponsorship. Even if the pilot is filmed at this place I don't think we'll use it for a full series as the owners don't seem (at this point) to appreciate that it will essentially be an advert for them too.

These two little projects are top of my list at the moment, which is why I am once again passing my hat round. Once I have made the shows, they will become available online absolutely free of charge. Please find it in your hearts (and pockets) to make a small donation (or a big one) using the PayPal button on this page. I am not out to make a profit, I am just out to provide entertainment.

I will also put the money that my main blog makes from Kindle subscriptions, and downloads from my Bandcamp page.

Many, many thanks in advance

Steve

Nottingham musicians...

I posted this on Facebook earlier, and as it's too long for a tweet I'll leave it here. Basically it is my response to all bands/musicians who are entered in the Future Sound Of Nottingham competition. 

"As one of the many cogs in the wheel of the local music scene, it would be unfair for me to pick a favourite and unprofessional to boot. Nobody involved in radio, podcast, promoting, or management should vote in the Future Sound Of Nottingham. I do however wish you all the luck in the world".

Some video changes

I am in the process of deleting an old YouTube account called The Oliver Sessions, a name I didn't really like but couldn't think of anything else at the time. It was set up when I started on Sherwood Radio and I suppose I used the John Peel connection/comparisons a little too much.

Two videos with the biggest amount of views have now been added to my own channel.

It is an almighty pain in the arse to do this as you have to delete your entire Google account, so in future my email address is steveEoliver@gmail.com

A Christmas Carol audio book

In December 2012 I released an audio book of A Christmas Carol that was available to download in four separate chapters (or 'staves' as I used Dickens' word) from my BandCamp page. As with all of my audio books, it was available to download on a pay-what-you-like basis.

While there are still audio books available to buy, I have removed the four separate audio books of A Christmas Carol for the time being. In December I will be re-releasing the book as one download in album form.

There will also be a brand new Dickens Christmas audio book this year.

You can download audio books from my page on BandCamp.

Under The Bonnet #1

I am doing some work to tidy up and streamline my presence on the World Wide Web, the first step was to remove my old website. From now on the nearest I have to a website is the main blog, and I will also make more effort to keep this newsletter updated regularly.

New podcast

A new podcast with a difference, this one won't be in the general public domain as usual. Blogcast Monthly will be available by email only from a dedicated address. 

The podcast will feature a selection of music from some of the best unsigned bands around, and general talk about whatever is going on, like an audio blog. It will only be about half an hour in length so will be ideal for downloading to your MP3 player for the commute to work. It will be emailed to you on the last Friday of the month, payday!

To receive the podcast all you have to do is send a blank email to blogcastmonthly@gmail.com now and you will be added to the mailing list. I will not make your email available to anyone else.

There will be an option to have older editions sent your way too, but there shouldn't be a need to as the first one won't be sent out until just after midnight on Friday 25th April.

The Sunday Alternative Film

Today is the first day of a 40 day run of the crowd funding campaign to raise funds to make a film about The Sunday Alternative. Aside from making a donation, you can help by spreading the word via social media.

Thanks

Let's Work Together

This year I hope to get several projects off the ground that have been put to one side for too long. These are short comedy films and an attempt at a documentary series. There is also a short human interest feature that was turned down by East Midlands Today, but has legs (and is of importance to people in Nottingham) and so will become an online video.

The first thing I want to get off the ground is a documentary about my radio show The Sunday Alternative. I originally thought of this in the week of the show's second birthday but realised that time was against me. If I can get it made then I will hold on to it until September and put on a screening before releasing it.

I don't really want to reveal too much about other projects, (mostly short comedies), as I am very protective about my ideas/paranoid about having them stolen (Broadway Cinema syndrome is what I call it). However, details will be revealed once sufficient money has been raised to finance the next idea.

Here's how I want to work it:

Rather than a- spend my own money making a film (something that only the richest people in the world would be willing to do) and b- spend even more money producing DVDs to distribute and sell, I have devised a lovely way of doing things that will benefit everyone.

Above my blog is a PayPal button. Simply show your enjoyment of my free archive of radio shows and podcasts/ reviews/ 365 free blogs a year (366 on leap years), by clicking on that button with a donation. I will ONLY spend that money on making short films/comedy sketches/ podcasts that in turn I will make available totally free of charge.

Likely costs:

People to film everything.
Expenses to actors.
Food, drink, petrol (cigarettes will come out of the personal pocket of any involved smokers, myself included)
Hire costs of cinema/conference area to host free screenings, which will provisionally take place in Nottingham and London but possibly other areas.

After the free screening, the finished result will be uploaded to Youtube for all to see and enjoy.

I won't make any profit from this, I am more interested in getting my work out there to be enjoyed.

Let's do this!

Happy new year.