August!

It is the end of July and as the year races on, I am reminded of my schooldays when the end of the summer holidays there was the lift provided by my birthday.

That's right, my birthday on 27th August. Can we make a proper effort to once and for all get the word 'underfollowed' removed  from my social media? If you already follow me then you know that I am a great example of a Twitter user and too many people are missing out. My links are below, please do the honours.

September 11th sees my tenth anniversary in showbusiness, or to be more accurate the tenth anniversary of my big break. I am making myself available for interviews and features, although I am blacklisted for some reason by the press in my own home city. I thought this was the work of former entertainment editor Simon Wilson, who turned against me for some reason, but it has outlived him. However, I am not one to hold a grudge and I am sure that the paper does not want to look petty and unprofessional, they don't treat any other public figures in such a shoddy way. With that in mind, I look forward to the interview in the Nottingham Post celebrating my showbiz milestone.

I was planning on semi-retiring from the business after my ten years, but of course that has been kicked out of kilter by the pandemic so I do still have unfinished projects. These will be completed at a less pressured pace as there is no way of wrapping up and having all my work handed in on time. I will be returning to filmmaking so as usual I need help. The donation button is below, thanks in advance.

My autobiography was going to be my last big project, and this will be going ahead with a twist. As an early predictor of the power of podcasting and YouTube content, it is only fitting that my memoir be an audiobook available on YouTube. It will start with my radio career as that was how my break happened, the shows, the unreliable co-presenters, the music, the live sessions, the worldwide audience, and a show in America before taking a journey through my time as a critic, actor, public speaker, author, filmmaker and a short spell as a live music promoter. 

In other business, I have posters for sale:

Technically my debut as a comedy writer

A3 poster £10

Nottingham Council deleted their typo tweet but not before I screen grabbed the perfect response.

A3 poster £10

Email me at the address below with either 'Buster poster' or 'Nottingham poster' in the subject line.

My audio book Bowie Day is still available to download as a 'pay what you like' from here  

Due to not really knowing what was happening lockdown wise, I have not booked any live performances of A Christmas Carol or any Dickens related work. I will return to this in 2022 unless the covidiots have driven us back into lockdown.

I am having a big clear out prior to a life changing relocation so I am selling books, comics, records, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and VHS on eBay. I can't link to a profile but I do share my sales on social media.

Wash your hands and get the vaccine!

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Help me to make films, documentaries, podcasts comedy sketches and more (even in the current situation) by making a donation using this PayPal link. Everything created using donations will be released online totally free of charge without adverts. Be a part of something special and thanks in advance.

The word 'underfollowed' is still on my bio on social media. I am good on there but sadly not enough people get to enjoy it. If you follow me already then recommend me to your followers, if you don't then please hit these links:

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

Enquiries to steveEoliver@gmail.com

Almost Back to Normal

 As the lights begin to get turned back on in the new world on the other side of pandemic life, it is time to knuckle down and get back into the swing of showbiz. I have written previously about how I have not been lazy during lockdown, and I am now keen to get back to work.

This year (September 11th) sees me celebrate my tenth anniversary proper in the business. It was on that date in 2011 that saw my first edition of my radio show The Sunday Alternative and as that show was my big break that is where I officially start. I had done bits of stand-up, writing for print, stage and television and of course had presented a thankfully forgotten radio show on Sherwood Radio, but as none of it made an impact I don't count it.

Anyway, I am straying from the point. My plan, which I have never revealed before, hasn't quite gone the way I intended. Of course anyone who made any sort of plan in January 2020 was in for a disappointment. It was my intention to complete a handful of projects and then I wasn't going to totally give up but I was working towards retreating from public life to an extent. I was ready to start shooting a movie with work commencing March 2020, but that might be on permanent delay now due to needing crowded pub scenes. The last thing I want to do is use social distancing and masks in a film because it will date the film to a time that nobody wants to remember. This particular project will hopefully emerge at some point as an audio drama as I am trying to re-write it accordingly. There was also a short silent film and two documentaries and that would have been that. Exactly ten years is a good time to close the curtain, especially as I would have pretty much done what I set out to achieve. I was going to spend 2021 keeping a low profile and spending some time writing, I had planned an autobiography as a nice way to wrap things up.

If the right project comes along then I would do it, but I am looking forward to doing less. My relocation to Scotland was to coincide with this idea of slowing down, so that has been pushed back pending unfinished business in Nottingham.

On the subject of work and unfinished business...

You can help me to fund films, comedy sketches, documentaries and more by making a donation using the PayPal button at the top of this page or simply by clicking here.

I am available for voiceover work, any job considered. Please email me in the first instance to discuss, my email address is below. Also use this address for writing work offers, this mainly consists of reviews/articles, sleeve notes, press releases, biographical works and ghost writing.

All that NFT business has passed me by so rather than try and find out what it is all about, I have turned one of my favourite tweets into an A3 poster. I like it because it pokes fun at Nottingham Council. They deleted their tweet when they spotted the typo and that messed up my quote tweet. Thankfully I archive my best ones so this survived. Email me (address below) with 'JPS Council' in the subject line.

A5 poster £10

Thanks to the help of the brilliant Twitter account @SlurpSloo, a missing piece of my archive has been returned to me. In my early teens I was first getting interested in writing, comedy and the combined joy of writing comedy. I went through a productive phase of sending my various efforts to print publications, radio and television to very little response (although don't get me started on the BBC2 series The Glam Metal Detectives using my childish material). All the money I spent on paper, stamps and envelopes in this pursuit was moderately rewarded eventually in the form of a two pound postal order thanks to the much missed comic Buster. To buy a copy of this then email me at the address below with 'Buster' in the subject line.

A3 poster £10

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Help me to make films, documentaries, podcasts comedy sketches and more (even in the current situation) by making a donation using this PayPal link. Everything created using donations will be released online totally free of charge without adverts. Be a part of something special and thanks in advance.

The word 'underfollowed' is still on my bio on social media. I am good on there but sadly not enough people get to enjoy it. If you follow me already then recommend me to your followers, if you don't then please hit these links:

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

Enquiries to steveEoliver@gmail.com

The Club is Closed

On Saturday I got halfway through recording an episode of Vinyl Comedy Club and was hit with the sudden realisation that I couldn't be arsed. As much as I enjoyed blowing the dust of the comedy records in my collection, I wasn't entirely happy with the format. I started this because I was in need of a lockdown project but the closer I came to filming it on Saturday the more I kept finding other things to do in order to put this off. 

I will possibly return to this idea at some point in the future with a more documentary feel to it but simply listening to it with a few comments and bits of information is not challenging enough for me. Throughout my career I have given up before the wheels fall off as I have always dreaded the idea of sticking to something just for the sake of it. 

My head is not right at the moment and I have hit a creative brick wall lately. I know I have left it a long time to complain about it but lockdown cabin fever has engulfed me. At the moment I am working on another music video and doing voiceover bits and pieces but other projects are gathering dust while a global pandemic plays havoc. A movie script I had finished was ready for filming to commence in March 2020, and then March 2020 happened so I am now re-writing it as an audio drama because it requires crowded pub scenes and I don't see that being possible for a few years yet. The last thing I want is a film with people social distancing and wearing masks because this will date the project to a period of time that people surely want to forget. Somehow I managed to write a spoof children's' book recently although I am supposed to be writing something else.

Anyway, in a nutshell, Vinyl Comedy Club is no more. For now at least.

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Help me to make films, documentaries, podcasts comedy sketches and more (even in the current situation) by making a donation using this PayPal link. Everything created using donations will be released online totally free of charge without adverts. Be a part of something special and thanks in advance.

The word 'underfollowed' is still on my bio on social media. I am good on there but sadly not enough people get to enjoy it. If you follow me already then recommend me to your followers, if you don't then please hit these links:

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

End of an era

At the end of the month the clocks go forward heralding the start of British Summer Time which will sadly be a little different this year. Throughout my career I have always taken the massive risk of ending something simply because I am no longer enjoying it and with this in mind I have made this decision to no longer embark on my twice a year Twitter marathon when the clocks change. I am sorry to leave this comedy trope behind as it brings a lot of enjoyment to people but part of being an entertainer is to always leave them wanting more.

For such a seemingly trivial endeavour, this actually occupies far more than a simple hourly post. Apart from the publicity during the build up, the actual effort of posting hourly is restricting on my movements. This requires an alarm to be set every hour as well as not being able to commit to anything time consuming that will potentially divert my attention. Having said that, I did manage to host my own stage for the 2018 Hockley Hustle on clock change Sunday but it did require a lot of attention. Good job I didn't drink that year.

Sunday is taken up with preparing and filming my series Vinyl Comedy Club so coordination would be difficult to maintain. I would like to apologise for not making more of this, I did consider doing a final one to bow out on.

Like David Bowie and Jim Henson, two of my creative heroes, I prefer to look forward rather then back. Although in September I will be celebrating ten years in showbusiness so there will be plenty of time for us all to look back together.

In the meantime, this is not goodbye to public life. Alongside my weekly series, I have also recently joined the Nottingham history podcast We Share These Streets as narrator. As I write this newsletter I am directing another music video and making plans for life on the other side of lockdown, (I even have my vaccine booked). Once safe to do so I will continue making episodes of The Random Sessions and finish work on two short films that I was in the middle of before we all had to stay at home. 

I will be back!

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Help me to make films, documentaries, podcasts comedy sketches and more (even in the current situation) by making a donation using this PayPal link. Everything created using donations will be released online totally free of charge without adverts. Be a part of something special and thanks in advance.

The word 'underfollowed' is still on my bio on social media. I am good on there but sadly not enough people get to enjoy it. If you follow me already then recommend me to your followers, if you don't then please hit these links:

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

Unlocked: Part 2

As I said in the first half of this newsletter, the year started so full of optimism that the #SteveO2020 hashtag not only seems like years ago but also like the most amazing misfire.

However, now that the lights are slowly being turned back on I feel that the time is right to pick up. There are a few projects that I should have been working on before lockdown. We should be ready to start on one film fairly soon, which I have worked out can be done with all of the safety awareness of the new world. I have another film, a drama, which requires crowded pub and nightclub scenes so I am probably looking at a long wait or a major re-write.

So let's get down to business. Now that I am ready to go (and The Random Sessions is back) we need to inflate the coffers. I am aware that times are not the best at the moment for a lot of people, but for some people the lockdown has saved people money. Working from home has saved the cost of travel passes, food and that morning visit to the chain coffee shop. 

One of the positives from the bizarre events of the year so far has been the recognition of how important creative people are. Obviously we are not one of the emergency services and nobody suggested standing outside and giving us showbiz types a round of applause, but please try and imagine something. Try to imagine how your lockdown would have panned out without books, music, television, movies and other such form of creative arts you have turned to.

I have been churning out archive footage and creating new content throughout lockdown for free, the time is now right for the favour to be returned.

Your donations will be used to make films, documentaries, podcasts, comedy sketches and more, and in return for your generosity everything completed will be made available online totally free of charge without adverts. Please do what you can and remember that you are helping create something that everyone can enjoy, you're especially helping those who afford to donate. Remember how nice we all agreed to be when this all kicked off? Let's not forget that pledge.

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To help fund a range of documentaries, films, comedy sketches and more, please hit https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/steveoliverofficial and all the money donated goes into creating entertainment that will be made available for free.

Follow Steve Oliver on:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/steveoliverofficial

Twitter https://twitter.com/steveoliver76

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/steveoliver1976/

Please donate using this link https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/steveoliverofficial

Unlocked! Part 1

The #SteveO2020 hashtag was something I had to bury. Obviously I can't complain about my plans being poured down the toilet because there are people far worse off. 

I have not been idle during lockdown, all of us in the entertainment business have had to make significant changes to our output. Here is what I have been getting up to, all provided for free of course, if you have enjoyed any of it then please make a donation and I will use that money to make more entertainment.

Isolated Juggling: This seems like years ago.

Dog Walk Comedy: A daily joke on Instagram in the early days of lockdown, and a compilation on YouTube. I might bring this back.

The NottinghamLIVE Radio Archive: Live performances from the iconic and much missed radio show. These are the surviving recordings, more may surface. There are some that sadly are not good enough quality to upload.

The Sunday Alternative Live at The Maze: Surviving audio and salvaged video from this venture in 2015.

Gig Footage and Musical Miscellany: All uploaded with permission.

The Random Sessions Lockdown Top 20: Voted for by some of the artists who appeared on the show.

Vinyl Comedy Club: My latest project. I have a large collection of comedy records, mainly LPs, and every week I play one and critique it. 

For no real reason I suddenly came up with a spoof character, a piss take of the Covidiot brigade who seem determined to keep this virus spreading. He doesn't have a name and I might do some more videos of this nature.

Anyway, this was the first part of my birthday newsletter in which I looked back, in part two I will look into the future in this new world.

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To help fund a range of documentaries, films, comedy sketches and more, please hit https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/steveoliverofficial and all the money donated goes into creating entertainment that will be made available for free.

Follow Steve Oliver on:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/steveoliverofficial

Twitter https://twitter.com/steveoliver76

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/steveoliver1976/

Please donate using this link https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/steveoliverofficial

Locked In

I can't be alone in suggesting that the year 2020 should be written off as a bad job and we should be allowed to start over next year. That is assuming of course that there is a next year, and even if there is one, we have to assume that we will be out of lockdown and be allowed to get on with our lives (newsflash - we won't).

The optimism of new year has now well and truly eroded, so now we are adjusting to a different way of life.

This includes those of us in the entertainment business across the board. For my own part I have obviously had to ditch The Random Sessions for the time being. I was about to start work on a documentary before everything went to the wall. I also had a short film in the works and both of these required other people and locations. The biggest kick in the teeth for me is that I was given the green light to film a documentary relating to Goose Fair, which is 99% likely to not happen.

Anyway, here is how you can help me during this period of weirdness:

Donate using the button at the top of the page or by hitting this link.

I find it hard to get people on board with the whole crowdfunding thing. My annual Twitter help during clock-change weekend did not meet its targets so I am already behind. Although my productivity has had the brakes applied, I am still attempting to keep providing content. There is a load of unedited footage from over the years that I am working through and uploading to YouTube, including old NottinghamLIVE radio performances, footage from my stages at Hockley Hustle, and other bits and pieces.

Had I had time to prepare I would have invested in some proper equipment. All I have is the camera that I use for The Random Sessions and my phone. If we ever get out of this I am going to build a broadcast studio in my cellar for live/pre-recorded visual and audio output because it is clear that this is the future. The way we work will change dramatically on the other side of this, if there is another side.

Dog Walk Comedy is a daily joke on my Instagram.
Isolated Juggling is a YouTube series in which I make use of lockdown by learning to juggle.
Coming soon, The Random Sessions Lockdown Top Twenty.

I am currently recording bedtime stories for my niece and nephew which are for their eyes only. However, if you have kids then I can make a tailored storytelling video for them. Just make a payment of £5 using the PayPal buttons, and add some details (what story do you want/kids names and ages so I can personalise them).

I will use the donations to create films, documentaries, comedy sketches and podcasts when I can. In return for your generosity I will make everything I create available free of charge online for everyone to enjoy, so please be a part of something amazing.

Aside from donations, (and if everyone reading this drops two pound, I would get just over a quid after PayPal cuts), there is something that you can do if you can't afford to donate; share the videos on your socials and spread the joy. The local press have embargoed me so I rely on word of mouth for publicity, I did reach out to them and try to get them to drop the media blackout but to no avail.

One final thing, please help me to remove the word 'unfollowed' from my social media by following me:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Subscribe to my YouTube.

Many thanks in advance.

Happy New-sletter Part 2

It is time to get serious and pick up the slack from a slow few years. This is hopefully my last full year living and working in Nottingham and I have unfinished business to attend to. 

First of all, this year you can help me to finally lose the word 'underfollowed' from my social media. If you don't already follow me then please do so on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you do follow me on any of the social media, then please recommend me to your followers. 

The big thing is to finally get the hang of crowdfunding as it hasn't been a massive success for me so far. It really is quite simple, everything I make using money donated is made available for free, without adverts. Everybody can enjoy it thanks to your generosity so you can be proud of being part of something. There are plans on the back-burner for comedy sketches, short films and documentaries (as well as keeping The Random Sessions going) but there's also more ambitious projects involving puppetry and animation so please hit the PayPal button at the top of this page or simply go to this link and donate what you can, it is all much appreciated. 

If you donate £3.65 then you are only paying 1p a day for everything I provide, in fact you are getting a day for free because this is a leap year. Of course if you can afford more then even better, more money makes more content. I know that January is a tough month because you will have been paid before Christmas so how about a break the internet donations blast on payday?

Thank you in advance.

#SteveO2020

Happy New-sletter Part 1

2019 was neither one thing or another work-wise, or so I thought until I looked back through my work journal for the year and realised that I had done more than I thought.

• Filmed final scenes for Curse of the Jester which was released on August 29th, and you can watch it here.
• Filmed 34 episodes of The Random Sessions. There are only two episodes unreleased which will drop this month, and you can watch every episode here.
• The entirety of my final go at hosting a stage at the Hockley Hustle in 2018 was released as a playlist, you can watch those here.
• I hosted two Songwriter Sessions gigs at the Central Library in Nottingham, one as a stand in for Ben Smith and one as a crossover with The Random Sessions which of course I filmed.
• Hosted a stage at the Kimberley Jam on an insanely hot day in July, although I filmed all of the sets they are not suitable for release due to the large volume of people talking.
• On the subject of talking at gigs, I once again performed my poem Shut Up And Listen. I was a bit tipsy and forgot the words despite having them in front of me.
• I released three experimental short films:
• Relax With The Swans (watch)
• Kurt Says Hello (watch)
• Lightning (watch)
• Completed a screenplay for a short film that I will hopefully be able to film this year.
• Edited the first four gigs from when I hosted The Sunday Alternative Live at Nottingham's much missed venue The Maze. The trailer is up now and the episodes will be released this month.

Also of course I put in two shifts when the clocks changed doing my usual good work on Twitter. This of course didn't attract any local media attention and I was disappointed in the fact that donations didn't meet expectations. I also did not manage to attract any sponsorship.

Talking of the local press, this links in to the main point of this newsletter. For some reason I am subject to a media blackout. As far as I can make out, I am the only public figure in Nottingham with this childish and unprofessional treatment, the worst part being that a charity single I released got no attention. As a way of making amends, I have suggested that Simon Wilson, the entertainment editor of the Nottingham Post (he used to have a pullout but now he has been relegated to a few pages at the back) make a donation to Hockley Hustle charities, but at the time of writing there has been no confirmation regarding the amount. 

The first thing you can do to help make 2020 a successful year is to email the following people and ask that the media blackout be lifted:

simon.wilson@nottinghampost.com

newsdesk@nottinghampost.com

jaredwilson@leftlion.co.uk

There's also Notts TV, East Midlands Today and BBC Radio Nottingham, but I don't have the email addresses for them. Please BCC me in and forward me the replies as I am interested to get to the bottom of this situation.

Thank you.

#SteveO2020

August newsletter - It'll be my birthday soon

It has been a while since I posted a newsletter so there's a lot of business to attend to. Although I have been busy this year I am still hitting a brick wall trying to get people to understand how crowd funding works. For this reason I am still a long way behind on the old to-do list so hopefully this newsletter will provide the nudge required.

The Random Sessions continues, I have come out of promoter's retirement to run a stage at this year's Kimberley Jam, work has began on an audio documentary, and today I watched the finished version of The Curse of the Jester which will be released very soon.

August is my birthday month, 27th to be precise, and I turn 43 this year. With this in mind, please could you consider donating £4.30 at least? Things have become a little more urgent on the donations front as I have set a target to move to Scotland in a year, two at the most, and I have unfinished business this side of the border. To make things even easier, aside from using the donation button at the top of the page, you can also follow this link.

I want to complete a short Hitchcock style thriller in Nottingham as I have already scouted a good selection of locations. Also, another short comedy that I have written, possibly a documentary about a popular Nottingham band, and a smattering of Nottingham-centric documentaries. Once I have done these, I promise to leave town, I am sure that's a good incentive for a few people!

So in summary, I need donations in order to entertain you. There's also a shit-load of ideas in my collection of notebooks that I would love to breathe life into.

In other news

I made a relaxation video which follows a family of swans on the River Lean in Nottingham. Hit this page which, once you have read it will lead to the video on YouTube. As always you can make a donation by hitting either the button at the top of this page or by going here.

I am starting to share live music from my archive, sometimes just the one song and sometimes a full set - either video or audio. Not everything will be released because I am asking permission from the artists that I have recordings of. Although these won't be the best quality because they were mainly phone recordings, I am editing these up into something rather nice. It doesn't seem right to use these videos to try and ask for money as I feel as if I am insulting the artists, so feel free to donate anyway to help me do my thing. To soothe your conscience, you could research the musicians that I feature on the channel and go and see them live, buy their music or merchandise, that sort of thing.

Like most writers, I archive everything. This includes tweets. Did you know that you can only see your most recent 3,200 tweets and not go any further back? I don't keep them all, just the really good ones in particular the funny ones. These are saved as jpegs and I will provide a disc of these to my 2000th, 3000th etc follower. A CD is also available for sale, like a greatest hits album eh? Email me with 'Tweet CD' in the subject line if you fancy revisiting jokes that were once topical (the horse-meat scandal, Jimmy Savile for example) and funny observations.

In other other news, we can generate funds in a number of ways

I have written a half hour version of A Christmas Carol suitable for public readings, condensed without losing any of the story and ideal for Christmas festivals, parties, schools and the like. This script is available for sale, email me at the below address with 'A Christmas Carol' in the subject line for more details. If you would prefer to have me read it in front of an audience along with a sequel set five years later called Finding Scrooge, then I am available, email me with 'Christmas shows' in the subject line.

Read about my typewriting service here.

As time seems to roll along so quickly, it will soon be goodbye to British summertime with the changing of the clocks. As always I will be providing a dedicated hourly service via Twitter and you can help me monetise this by reading this page.

For all of the above please email steveEoliver@gmail.com

Social media

Follow me on Twitter

Follow me on Instagram

Like my page on Facebook

For a man and artist of my calibre, I am still woefully underfollowed on all of the above. I have no idea why but you can help me to change this by recommending me to your followers. The blue tick has no appeal to me because Twitter (in particular) threw it around to a load of nonentities so it has lost its value. 

Finally

Don't forget to make a donation, however big or small, by going here.

If you would like to sponsor The Random Sessions by way of 'read out' advertisements then get in touch.

May Newsletter

Nearly five months into the year and it has been one of slight disappointment to be honest. Apart from being allowed to try on Punch and Judy puppets.

As usual I was hard at work during clock change weekend on Twitter helping out with the confusion, but the downside is that I didn't raise a lot of money through this. Apart from not selling a single advert, the donations were very thin on the ground. I was hoping to be able to announce that I had raised the necessary finance to make a short film after the weekend but it wasn't to be.

April's payday weekend has hit us so please can you see your way clear to dropping a few quid or whatever you can afford using the PayPal button at the top of this page. Every penny that goes into the fund goes into creating films, documentaries, comedy sketches, podcasts and the continued run of The Random Sessions. In return for your generosity, I will make everything created available online completely free of charge for everybody to enjoy.

If only impressions were donations

On the subject of The Random Sessions, I have taken a break from releasing the main episodes while I get the Hockley Hustle videos out, and today the whole day of shows is available. As for the main series, I am still enjoying this and have this year changed things up a little by introducing the interview element and adding the Facebook bonus video on the Random Sessions Facebook page. There are still a good few episodes ready to go out every Sunday, but apart from one in May I am taking a short break from filming while I concentrate on a couple of other projects.

One of the things I will be working on is some work on a documentary I am planning about Punch and Judy. Aside from writing the narrative I am taking a day trip to the Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival to record vox pops and gather material. I also have a first draft to write for a radio play and hopefully make some moves regarding other projects. The Random Sessions will return though although I would love to find a sponsor for it, to be able to up the production a bit without taking away from the DIY ethos and more importantly to be able to pay the artists who appear. 

I found these blank cassettes in my office, and now I am thinking of a way to turn them into money without simply selling them.

Other ways to raise funds, all of which will go into the PayPal account to create free entertainment.

Typewriting service: More details here.

Kazoo: More details here.

More importantly though, please just give what you can using the PayPal button at the top of this page, thank you in advance for becoming part of something brilliant.

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You can help to remove the word 'underfollowed' from my bio by following me (and recommending that others do the same) on Twitter and Facebook 

February Newsletter

January is just bollocks isn't it? 

On New Years Eve we're all full of optimism for the year ahead and make all kinds of nonsensical promises to ourselves, only to realise that January is just bollocks. The dregs of Christmas hang in the air like a bad smell, and worst of all everyone is skint. It seems so nice to be paid early ready for Christmas until you realise that the distance between receiving your December salary and your January salary feels like a million years. With this in mind I think it's time we treated January as a buffer between Christmas and the proper new year, which technically starts in February when we are all back in funds. 

So, happy new year proper. This is the one I want to look back on as the year that things finally turned around and started happening. Last year was a bit slow with regards to creating entertainment for you so we now need to pull together and make things right. If you haven't donated before, then please consider it now.

There are things in the pipeline that I need funding for, not a huge amount but just enough to get things moving. We all know how crowd-funding works by now, everything I create will be made available online completely free of charge for everybody to enjoy. In addition to this I will (new offer for the new year) pull two people at random from those who donate and send some gifts relating to the things I make, a finished film on DVD or an audio CD, that sort of thing. 

For this year I am bringing back the audio podcast of The Random Sessions, which will probably be fortnightly although I would like to do it weekly. I also have another series of podcasts that I am discussing, The Random Sessions starts back up this month with a slight change of format, new audio books are on the way for Christmas, all of which won't cost a fortune. However I have documentaries, films, sketches and other things that need funding. 

Please share this newsletter around and if you have never made a donation before then why don't we make 2019 count? If you have never donated before, then now is your chance to make things right. Perhaps a monthly amount on payday if you can manage? However you decide to do it, please remember that you will be becoming a part of something wonderful.

If you would like to be a big backer of a project then please email me and we can sort something out.

The PayPal button is at the top of the page, thank you very much in advance.

August newsletter and it's my birthday!

The year rumbles on but we are no nearer to getting any serious work done due to the lack of funding which is an issue that we need to get a handle on. Hopefully we can get the coffers filled up a bit and get something sorted out for 2019. This is my birthday month, so before the 27th, we are going to have to work together to make a difference.

At the moment I am at a loss as to how people get any decent results from crowd-funding but I am sure that this blip can be sorted. 

Let us see how much we can raise before the 27th of this month, and here are some ways in which money can be raised. Don't forget that every penny goes into creating comedy sketches, films, documentaries, podcasts and more. In return for your generosity and help I will release everything online totally free of charge.

A Christmas Carol

Once again I am taking bookings for Christmas, and here is a list of Dickens related ways I can be of service. In addition to this, I am selling a printed version of my half hour reading text of A Christmas Carol which is ideal for performance in schools and festive events as well as for broadcast. I have also included slight stage directions and optional props. For details about this please email me at the address below.

The Unqualified Lectures

Another one of those ideas that came to me while taking my dog Jack for a walk. It is basically a way for me to challenge myself as a writer and public speaker. Anyone who donates using my ko-fi account chooses a subject, any random subject. I then go away and do some research on this subject and write an hour long lecture that I will perform to an audience who have paid enough to get in to cover my venue hire costs. Once I have done a few of these I will try and develop this into a one-man show to take to Edinburgh. 

Ko-fi

You can still make donations using the PayPal button at the top of this page, but I have created a ko-fi page too so you can make small payments in return for the things that I make and upload for free. I will add things to this page to hopefully encourage more regular donations. My ko-fi page is here.

Twitter

I would really like to change my Twitter bio and especially remove the word 'underfollowed'. Someone in my position should be in the tens of thousands at least and there are a lot of people missing out on the fact that I am a fine example of a Twitter user, mixing jokes, observations and a smattering of plugs for my work interspersed with the occasional photo of my pets. As another birthday present from you to me, if you follow me on Twitter then get recommending me and hopefully I will finally get to make edits to my bio.

Thank you in advance for reading and sharing this newsletter.

S

PS - The Random Sessions series is still going, so is The Sunday Alternative podcast. I am also making a documentary, working on a screenplay with Nottingham musician Ian Brough, and working on the next instalment of The Curse of The Jester. Surely worth the price of a drink?

Halfway Through the Year

I am writing this newsletter on the Monday after a weekend in which the aim was to try and raise £500 in donations in order to allow me to start filming. What I had forgotten though, is that nobody seems to grasp the idea of crowd-funding anymore. 

You pay (in the UK) £150.50 a year for your TV Licence. Your input of £150.50 funds television, radio and online content. It isn't just your £150.50 that finances an episode of Eastenders, your payment is pooled to finance content that anybody is able to watch. You put in a little, you take out a lot. 

I am not asking for multi-million dollar blockbuster money here, my work is on the low budget spectrum and I will share the finished product on YouTube for everybody to enjoy. Here's another example, it costs £8.80 to go and see a film at Broadway Cinema in Nottingham (or 'the house of stolen ideas' as I call it). One of the films currently being shown at Broadway is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and that, according to Wikipedia, cost $170million to make. You put in a little, you take out a lot.

Here's something else, here is my Twitter statistics for the weekend - it isn't massive but I am strangely underfollowed, no, I don't understand it either.

My point is that if the above figure was translated into pounds, I would have more than enough to get to work and start making entertainment for people to enjoy. Unlike the cinema or theatre, or even your TV Licence, you can choose how much you donate. 

To keep the costs down, although it won't make them disappear altogether, I have made the decision to make several documentaries as audio rather than video, I will still need to do a fair bit of travelling though. However the comedy projects need to be visual (especially as one is a silent film) and they aren't cheap. I reckon I can do the first project for £300 at a push, it'll be tight but I am sure I can do it without losing quality. 

Filming wise, I have been through my notebooks and a box with 'Notes and ideas' written on and need to get moving. There are seven short films, mostly comedic that I want to get off the ground and am scared that I will die before I get everything finished off my ideal to-do list. Once I have finished I am not bothered because I would rather leave a legacy of entertainment behind than a box of notebooks.

The PayPal button is at the top of this page, please donate as much or as little as you can. It will be worth it. If you are in a position to bung a larger amount there then I would be forever grateful. You could also download one of my audio books from my Bandcamp page. There are more audio books to come in December and rather than a kazoo Christmas album this year I am making an album of Glenn Miller compositions. 

In other news, I am not doing my Die Hard one-man show this year due to not having finished it properly. I will instead be doing more readings of A Christmas Carol and Finding Scrooge (which is being published this year and I have written the foreword to. Hopefully I will be able to tour Die Hard towards the end of 2019.

Here are some other ways you can help swell the coffers and be a part of something brilliant:

Kazoo: 

For £5 I will record the song of your choice on kazoo and send it to you, it is the ideal present for someone you love.

Typewriting

Letters, essays, whatever you like. I will type it up for you old school for 50p a page.

Just email me steveEoliver@gmail.com, which is also my PayPal email

Thanks in advance!

December Newsletter

I believe the youngsters write abbreviated exclamations these days and one that I might use when I realise that it is December already is WTAF! Where did this year go? 

During December I will be performing Christmas storytelling shows at the following venues:

Library of Birmingham, 2pm-3pm Saturdays 2nd/9th/16th/23rd

Malt Cross, Nottingham (A Christmas Carol and Finding Scrooge), 2pm-4pm Sundays 3rd/10th/17th

Beamish Museum, County Durham (A Christmas Carol) Thursday and Friday 7th/8th/14th/15th/21st/22nd

Also on a festive note, I have released some more audio books:

A Christmas Story Collection available from here

Christmas Day in the Workhouse (poem by George Robert Sims) available from here

The third in the trilogy, Yet Another Ka3oo Christmas with Steve Oliver is the soundtrack to your present opening morning and the festive lunch and it is available from here.

There is another album coming out soon when Nottingham band Lorna release a new musical version of A Christmas Carol that I have done the spoken word for. My part was recorded on a hot day in June. 

Looking at my to-do list for the year that I wrote in January, I have hardly managed to accomplish any of it and it is mainly due to funding issues. Crowd funding only works as a two way street, you have to donate in order for me to create things. After I have created the thing, be it a podcast, music video, comedy sketch or whatever, I will make it available online completely free of charge. Everyone is a winner. It is worth pointing out that I am providing you with a weekly new music podcast, a monthly audio podcast of The Random Sessions, a weekly Random Sessions video, the occasional comedy sketch and other stuff besides. All this content is free and the reason I have upped my output by re-releasing new versions of the live performances on my radio show under the title The Sunday Alternative Radio Sessions among other things is to further encourage donations to help me make bigger and better things. Aside from documentaries and comedy, with more money feeding into the PayPal account I can start to look at more ambitious projects.

My traditional hourly update tweets on the Sunday the clocks change went ahead, but I was disappointed that I didn't sell more advertising as I thought that I was on to a good idea. The money I would have made from a full weekend of sponsored tweets would have helped me finish a low budget film which would have gone out for free after a round of film festivals. Alas, thanks to yet again coming up with an idea that people don't quite understand has been my downfall. Hopefully I can get small businesses to understand by the time the clocks go forward.

With Christmas on the way, if you have not donated before then why not make a Christmas present? It all helps towards the cause and helps entertain everybody who wants to be entertained, so if everyone who reads this newsletter donates a throwaway amount, say a pound or a fiver, then you will be helping a great deal. 

I have some plans already made for 2018 and will continue to provide free entertainment. During the first few months of the year I will be plundering my archive and making some hitherto unseen footage available on YouTube and making new stuff alongside it. However, there are some things that need a serious injection of money so although nothing I intend to make is massively big-budget, I can't make it for nothing. Everyone will get the opportunity to see it for free and you could play a part in that so please remember me during your Christmas generosity - you tip the postman and the binmen after all so think of it that way. 

Merry Christmas and here's to our collaboration coming to fruition at last.

Bonus newsletter - advertising opportunity.

A traditional event that I am fond of has achieved cult status is my helpful tweets during the Sunday that the clocks have changed.

This year I have decided to expand this to the Saturday too ('this time tomorrow it will be...') for a special reason. Sunday Alternative Productions is a production company that cares little for profit. In return for donations I release everything online totally free of charge, donations however sometimes take a dip and an occasional boost is needed. Therefore I have decide to allow sponsorship of these legendary time checks to raise funds.

Underneath the line 'this time tomorrow it will be...' (Saturday 28th October) and 'in real life, it is...' (Sunday 29th October) I will mention your business along with your website and a few details, within 140 characters of course, and a photo.

All you have to do is make a donation via the PayPal button at the top of the page in the first instance (£10 per tweet - or more if you wish) and in the notes say a little bit about your business/band/service and leave the rest to me. I will dedicate the weekend to making sure that I post hourly between 9am-midnight on both days, although I can't purely for the sake of fairness reserve or guarantee a specific time (unless you really want a specific time in which case please negotiate and I will for a higher fee).

You can of course buy more than one time check, obviously at a tenner each time this is amazing value for money. This is ideal for independent businesses who don't have the advertising budget that the big corporations have, and also for bands with an album or tour to plug.

There are thirty tweets available (15 on each day of clock change weekend) so it is a good idea to get in quick.

All the money generated once every slot is filled will go into making a low budget film that has been on the cards for too long, a short thriller made as a homage to Alfred Hitchcock. Once it has done the rounds of film festivals it will of course be released on my official YouTube channel for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you in advance for joining me in this venture.