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.

Third and final series of LP Box

Steve Oliver's podcast series Steve's LP Box has entered its third and final series. Originally a radio show within a radio show, (the final hour of The Sunday Alternative), it has carried on as a podcast only affair. After showing a diverse range of albums, some of which you might not have expected to see in Steve's collection, the final series of five episodes will be it.

Says Steve:
"I've enjoyed doing this particular podcast series, but the time has come to end it. I'm looking forward to working on new projects in 2014, podcasts and filmmaking being the main focus".

If you'd like to help with future projects (that will be made available free of charge online), then please feel free to make use of the 'donate' button at the top of this newsletter. Every penny that goes in is used to fund creative projects.

You can hear the first episode of Steve's LP Box here.

The Nottingham Music Call To Arms

Dear Nottingham music makers

The city's favourite radio show NottinghamLIVE is having its live Christmas special on Wednesday December 18th, and at first we weren't going to have a live guest.

Then we changed our mind!

Rather than going through the ball-ache of choosing one of you to bestow the honour of appearing on the Christmas show, we want all of you to turn up instead. You might have seen the Facebook post already, and a lot of you have already said yes. We basically want an all-star Nottingham choir/rabble to sing Christmas carols/songs on what will be Darren, Cassia, and my first Christmas special as presenters of NottinghamLIVE. You don't need to bring instruments, the whole thing will be singing/chanting only.

As is stands, we want you to turn up to the live show at seven o'clock at the Trent Sound studios, a lot of you will be familiar with the place already, and at random times we will do a song. As it's a Christmas show we will also be playing YOUR festive tunes of course, so make sure to email them to nottinghamlive@trentsound.com (they might also be played on my American show y'know).

We might come up with a more organised plan, possibly recording the whole thing in advance a week prior. However, at the moment this is all we have. To accept our invitation, please either comment on this blog or email us at nottinghamlive@trentsound.com

Steve (on behalf of Darren and Cassia).

The Robin Hood Sessions, a new podcast series

Follow The Robin Hood USA Sessions on Mixcloud

Exclusive live sessions from Nottingham artists, originally recorded for American broadcasts on The Sound Of Nottingham UK on Robin Hood Radio. This is a weekly series in which you can enjoy these sessions again.

Available every Monday, follow @SoundNottingham for updates

The Film Of The Radio Show

Below is a message from Steve:

As you may have heard by now, I am currently working on a documentary to commemorate the second birthday of The Sunday Alternative. It will feature talking heads and commentary from myself as I talk about the rise of the show. Some scenes will be filmed during the birthday show itself on Sunday 8th September, (the anniversary to the day, the actual birthday of the show will be Wednesday September 11th).

I am aiming for release on December 22nd this year, which will coincide with the Christmas special of the show, making that a very special Sunday indeed.

In order to make it even more special, I want to do a screening in Nottingham on the Sunday afternoon before I go off to do the show. As it's Christmas I would like to see if I can put on the screening as a free event. There will also be minor costs that will need meeting; food and travel for those taking part mainly, and so I am going to give 'crowd-funding' a whirl.

I don't want the hassle of a kickstarter campaign, especially as I'll be using them next year to take some Nottingham musicians to Connecticut in connection with my USA radio show. For that reason, for this particular project I am asking that people make use of the PayPal donation button at the top of this blog. That is why it's there, so I can afford to give free content away, and if there's enough supportive donations for The Sunday Alternative Documentary (working title) then I'll be able to put the finished film on YouTube and Vimeo rather than selling it on DVD.

The side links on my blog also take you to my Bandcamp page where I have audio books and two music albums for sale, and there is also the option to have my daily blog delivered to your Kindle for 99p a month.

Many thanks in advance to all those who help, and I hope the finished film is as good on screen as it is in my head.

*UPDATE* Of course it was unrealistic to expect to have a documentary made in such a short time, however I still wish to do this. Thanks for the money donated so far, the doc about the radio show will be made in 2014.

Scrapped series

Statement from Steve:

I was going through some old papers and found the log in details for the YouTube channel that carried my experimental series Charity Shop Film Guide, and have decided to delete it completely.

Three editions were initially uploaded, and I had intended to do more. However, I never seemed to find the time to do so, and have wanted to remove the three videos for a while. As I didn't know the log in details, the channel has been sat gathering dust. Pleasingly, the videos had quite a good number of views and comments, although there were some illiterate insults from someone who has followed me since Myspace. How he knew about the videos is beyond me, as he hates me so wouldn't be reading my blogs or tweets would he? Would he?

I still have the originals of course, and the poster that used to sit behind me in the videos. These are in my personal archive of works, and will be left in my will to The British Library, as will all my radio shows and written material.

Thank you to everybody who enjoyed Charity Shop Film Guide, there were at least three more editions left to do as I bought the films. As I said, I can't find the time and so must draw a line under it. I still like the idea of doing a 'Bad Film Club' type thing in a small cinema as I know it would do well, but not in the foreseeable future as I am too busy with other things.. The reason I know it would do well is that Broadway Cinema in Nottingham stole the idea and curated 'Bad Film Night' and that did very well.

Back Back Back

Official press release:

This is quite possibly the news that everyone has been waiting for, and so close to David Bowie's surprise comeback too.

Let us get straight to the point; The Sunday Alternative is coming back.

Please allow that to sink in a moment. Steve Oliver returns to worldwide radio on Sunday 7th April with one of the most popular radio shows of all time.

Starting again at the new time of 7pm-9pm, the show has had a revamp without moving too much of the furniture around. The music will remain of the highest standard; unsigned, punk, ska, alternative, and live sessions. Steve actually hopes to encourage an 'open mic' type atmosphere on the show, with musicians turning up at random to play live on air.

Last week, Steve wrote on his daily blog:
"I resigned from Trent Sound as a result of a petty argument, and never actually wanted to stop doing the show that I regard as my baby. You shouldn't pick a favourite child, but of all the projects I am involved in, The Sunday Alternative is probably the one that I will always be associated with and I'm delighted to be able to bring it back, if only to stop people asking me if I'm ever going to do it again.

Obviously I am proud of my involvement with NottinghamLIVE and the promotion of Nottingham's music scene, and of course I also love the show I do in America, again promoting Nottingham's musical output. Both shows are of vital importance, not only to Darren and myself, but to Nottingham. I will be continuing to do these shows on top of my commitment to The Sunday Alternative."

The All New Sunday Alternative, 7pm-9pm exclusive to Trent Sound

Two Mini-Albums

Official press release:

Two releases occur today that will appeal to music lovers and radio historians alike. Nottingham's Mr Radio himself, Steve Oliver, has secured permission to release two separate compilations of live session tracks recorded on his much missed radio shows.

The Sherwood Sessions

Who can forget Steve Oliver's avant garde two hour shows on Ollerton based community station Sherwood Radio? For just 39 shows, Steve got away with producing a true underground classic. Thanks to the show not being approved by lazy management, this pre-recorded show slipped under their noses and into the ears of a bewildered audience of thousands. The archive of shows is available online, and they show Steve's development as a broadcaster (this was his first radio work, and it shows)  and his dedication to pushing the boundaries. Combining unsigned bands, alternative classics, TV themes, children's storybooks, comedy sketches, music hall, (a theme famously carried on during The Sunday Alternative), and all manner of nonsense, it wasn't long before the show achieved cult status.

Aside from all that, the show hosted several live sessions from Nottingham artists and singers from further afield. The first compilation features tracks from that all too brief period between 2010 and 2011.

1. Captain Dangerous 'I Am The Wind'
2. Dan Korn 'Lost Love Shanty'
3. Redtrack 'The Liar'
4. Jo Hamilton 'Think Of Me'
5. Groucott and Hayes 'You Come Alive'

The Sunday Alternative Volume 1

With the closure of Sherwood Radio in spring 2011, the relief was felt around the world when Steve Oliver returned to radio on September 11th 2011 to present The Sunday Alternative on Trent Sound. This new show not only heralded Steve's return to radio, but allowed him to build on his experience and produce some of the best radio shows ever heard.

"this show is the reason computers have speakers"

"the best BBC 6Music show that isn't on BBC 6Music, yet"

When The Sunday Alternative came to an end following Steve Oliver's shock resignation from Trent Sound, a gaping hole was left in the medium of radio. He keeps hinting that the show will return, but time will tell. Maybe this is Steve's version of The Next Day by David Bowie, and he'll just spring back from nowhere? If that's the case, we should all keep an eye and ear out around his birthday in August!

The eclectic mix of music was still there, as were the unsigned artists, many getting their first radio play (to an international audience) on The Sunday Alternative. As essential a part of Sunday as the roast dinner, the day of rest hasn't been the same since.

This compilation features live session tracks from a legendary show.

1. Adam Clarkson and Rob Rosa (Captain Dangerous) 'Executing Elliott'
2. The Golden Troubadours 'You Made It So'
3. Patrick Plunkett 'Hooked On Desire'
4. Marc Reeves 'Easy Way Out'
5. Will Jeffery 'Dorothy Jean'
6. Jake Morley 'Sideline'
7. William Tennant 'I'll Never Be Doctor Who Now'

A full collection of podcasts, and a radio archive, can be found at Steve's blog/website http://thesteveoliverblog.blogspot.com

Steve is available for publicity interviews regarding these new album releases, and can be contacted directly steveEoliver@gmail.com

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveOliver76



Piling On The Bowie Excitement

Worldwide official press release:

As March is already being referred to as 'Bowie Month', it is with perfect timing that we can announce the return of the ultimate David Bowie podcast Moonage Daydream. Originally presented by mysterious Bowie blogger Jean Genie, the return sees a new presenter in the form of the show's producer Steve Oliver.

Steve Oliver's name won't mean much outside of his hometown of Nottingham England, where he is a hugely influential broadcaster nicknamed 'Nottingham's Mr Radio'. He hosts NottinghamLIVE on the local station Trent Sound, and also takes Nottingham music to an American audience with his show The Sound Of Nottingham UK, on the Connecticut station Robin Hood Radio (see the link?), which is played twice a week to the East Coast on FM, AM, and satellite television. The show also has a cult following in Nottingham itself.

Around the world, his name is best associated with The Sunday Alternative. Earning him the mantle of John Peel's successor, Steve's Sunday night shows were compulsive listening around the world. It broadcast from Trent Sound in Nottingham every Sunday at 9pm-12am UK time, and featured the most eclectic range of music imaginable, from unsigned artists, live sessions, punk, ska, rockabilly, country, hip-hop, and for good measure, an old music hall song or two. One of his later features was Steve's Big Bag Full Of Bowie, in which three Bowie tracks were played together uninterrupted.

"The Sunday Alternative is the reason computers have speakers"

"The best BBC 6 Music show that isn't on BBC 6 Music, yet"

Something of a podcast factory himself, Steve started producing Moonage Daydream last year. Failing in his attempts to persuade Jean Genie to bring it back, he sought permission to present it himself, also taking over writing and researching duties. The show will be released twice a month, due to Steve's other radio and writing commitments.

Steve Oliver: "I'm very excited to be doing Moonage Daydream and becoming part of the Bowie canon. It's a popular show, so I hope I can do it justice and carry on the great work of Jean Genie and finish the David Bowie story to date".

Moonage Daydream will return with a look at the Ziggy Stardust era of 1972 into 1973. Each episode will centre around an album, but also tell the story of that particular time. There will also be episodes devoted to films, and even his 'Dancing In The Street' duet with Mick Jagger will get a mention, as will Tin Machine. The series will conclude with The Next Day, and the excitement surrounding Bowie's surprise birthday comeback in his 66th birthday.



Steve Oliver is available for publicity interviews, and can be contacted direct:

Punk, Pop, And Puppets

The second series of my podcast Steve's LP Box has finally arrived. Below is the official statement/press release.

Originally a third hour strand of the legendary radio show The Sunday Alternative, and now a podcast unfettered by the 58 minute restriction, Steve's LP Box continues to surprise. That is certainly the case with this series of six, which might just blow apart Steve's super-cool, Mr Indie, music snob, image. Acknowledging that good pop is better than bad (insert your preference here), Steve has included Kylie Minogue's debut album alongside Madonna's True Blue. To restore things slightly, there's also Nine Inch Nails, Blondie, The Clash, and The Muppets!

The podcasts were written and recorded in this order:

Madonna True Blue
Blondie Parallel Lines
Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine
Kylie Minogue Kylie
The Muppets The Muppet Show Album
The Clash Give 'Em Enough Rope

They are all available to listen to from here.

For promotional interviews, quotes or whatever, contact anothersteveoliver@gmail.com

New Book: First Draft

My latest book First Draft is now available to download to your Kindle from here.

The audio book version is available to download, either free or pay whatever you like, (I said pay what ever you like. By the way, PayPal take just shy of half, just saying), from here.

I write music and comedy reviews from time to time for The Nottingham Evening Post, (as I still call it), and usually am required to write 200, 250, 300, or 350 words. My trouble is that I write far too many notes during gigs, and think up clever lines on the way home. The finished product has to be emailed to my editor overnight, so I write it up as soon as I get home. Hitting the 'word count' button usually tells me that I have written far too much, and the agonising process of chopping the article to bits follows. This can take longer than actually writing the bloody thing. I thought it a shame to waste all those poor rejected words, so I decided to put together the reviews from 2012 in their pre-edited form.

There are a few reviews that aren't included, this is because like a twat I hit 'save' instead of 'save as' and the originals disappeared.

Going back through the reviews and attempting to put them in order was a bit of a task. They are saved on my computer as 'Gig name first draft' and 'gig name final draft', but I haven't dated or numbered them. I therefore had to go through my 2012 appointments diary to put them in order. It's funny how long a year is when you go back over it in such a way; I remember how cold it was at The Nottingham Playhouse in February, how we seemed to go in phases of visiting the same venue, and how my girlfriend stopped me from having sex with a member of my laminate five.

Enjoy the book, if you're not inclined to read then you can listen to the audio book as a whole album. I have set the Kindle price to be as cheap as possible, and I only get a 30% royalty.

I don't want to clog up mine or anyone elses Twitter timeline with a stream of advertisements, so I've put together a newsletter instead. I haven't done this for a while...

Free Things

The Sunday Alternative lives on as a podcast, and as an hour long show on Top Wave Radio, Sundays 7pm-8pm.

The Sound of Nottingham UK (the home of Robin Hood, on Robin Hood Radio) broadcasts in the new time of 11pm Friday night (4am Saturday UK) and as usual on Sunday 1pm (6pm UK). If you live outside Robin Hood Radio's FM catchment, then listen online.

My radio and podcast archive can be found on the side links on my main blog. I'm working on getting the Sherwood Radio archive online, but The Sunday Alternative, Covermount, and Steve's LP Box can all be found there too.

I have turned my blog into a website of sorts, as my website wasn't really being used, so now you can find links to my newspaper reviews, photos, and anything else of importance.

Money Things

Please remember that we all need to eat

If Santa is bringing you a Kindle, then why not pop along to pick up your copy of Musings?

The sequal to Musings is also available, so how about downloading Christmas Musings?

As you're getting a Kindle anyway, you don't have to read my daily blog for free anymore. For a mere 99p a month, (about 3p a day), you can get it delivered to your Kindle.

The audiobook version of my famous blog Last Christmas is available to download.

December Dickens: Over the month of December, I aim to watch/listen to a different version of A Christmas Carol. This project is for a book due for Christmas 2013. I aim to do more, but at the moment you can download my version of A Christmas Carol.

The audio books are available to download for free or pay-what-you-like. Please consider this while choosing. I put out a lot of free content, and intend to continue in the new year. Please give what you can, however big or small. By earning from the audio books and Kindle books, I am able to put free stuff out. The donate button on my blog is there for that reason too, the more money I receive, the more likely I am to give stuff away free.

If my work makes a million pounds before Christmas, I will give 3/4 to charity, (£250,000 is enough), and dance naked in the fountains on Boxing Day.

Happy Birthday Appetite For Destruction

On Sunday 5th August, The Sunday Alternative will only be a two hour show. From 11pm until midnight, I present Happy Birthday Appetite For Destruction, in which I play and talk about one of (if not the) greatest rock album of all time.

Hello America!

I am starting a new hour long show for the Connecticut based station Robin Hood Radio, playing songs by Nottingham based bands and musicians. I'm not sure how they came to be named after Robin Hood, but the idea of the show is an attempt to link Robin Hood Radio with the home of Robin Hood.

Obviously the show is pre-recorded, as it would be a hell of a commute, and although a fairly easy show to do, (no need to be date specific or mention upcoming gigs for example) it presents a good opportunity for me to get my voice heard in America. We do of course have listeners to The Sunday Alternative all over the world, but appearing on an American station is something different altogether.

"The sound of Nottingham UK, the home of Robin Hood, on Robin Hood radio"
I came up with that myself!

My show broadcasts Saturday 1am and is repeated Sunday 1pm, those times are their times. Over here it'll be Saturday 6am and Sunday 6pm, and of course you can listen online!

More Radio Randoms

On the 19th May 2012, I co-presented Nottingham LACE on Trent Sound with Rapunzel MAP. We might have mentioned that we were going to see Guns and Roses in concert later that night.

Hour one
Hour Two
Hour Three

Radio Randoms

I don't want to upload these to The Sunday Alternative mixcloud site, as they aren't really 'canon'.

Nottingham Lace, 12th May 2012: I co-presented with Jason Loftus this week, you can listen again to the show.
Hour one
Hour two
Hour three

Trent Sound morning show: I sat in for Andy Lloyd on the morning show on two occasions. I tried to sneak in as many of my own song choices as possible just to try and liven things up.
29th February 2012, hour one. Only the first hour survived on this day.

27th January 2012:
Hour one
Hour two
Hour three

Happy Birthday Dickens (contains a plug)

On the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, I am happy to announce (very early) that this coming Christmas will see the release of my audiobook series Charles Dickens Christmas Books.

They will appear, one story at a time, advent calender style, from 1st December. The books will be available to download on a 'pay what you like' basis.

Blog Now Available On Kindle

I'm not sure how this will work, or if it will be worth it, but my daily blog is now available to subscribe to on the Kindle for a mere 99p a month.

You can of course just read it for free on this blogger profile, it is up to you.

Christmas Musings Available Now

A good reason to ask Santa for a kindle, my new book Christmas Musings is available to download now. If you're buying a kindle for a loved one, why not pre-load it with both of my titles?

More titles to come over the course of next year, only on kindle. At a price that's right!

Christmas Musings is available from here

Musings is available from here

Back On Radio

I am pleased to announce that I will be returning to radio, on the Internet station Trent Sound. There won't be a lot of difference between the new show and the old Sherwood Radio show, although I am bringing in a few changes to keep everything fresh.

The high standard of music will remain; the best selection of unsigned bands, alternative classics, punk, ska, reggae, rockabilly... the list goes on. Basically, anything good, an intelligent and eclectic blend of music you won't hear on your bland commercial 'same six songs, all day long' local radio shows, or Radio 1. In addition to the music, there will also be classic comedy clips and live bands in session.

A new twist will be that I will be joined by a different guest co-host every week, that I have personally invited, from the worlds of creativity.

The twitter hashtag #steveradio will be re-introduced, and for those of you who haven't joined twitter yet (it is 2011, what is wrong?), there will be a facebook page. This will open on the day itself. The Oliver Sessions blog, and youtube channel, will be brought out of mothballs for use on the new station.

If there are any features from the old show that you would like to see come back, (no promises), then let me know and I may consider it.

The show is Sunday nights, from 9pm to 11pm, starting on September 11th.

Steve Oliver's Covermount Cassette Show

In the last newsletter I mentioned my four part series based on the NME tapes C81 and C86. These short programmes are now expanding into a permanent series.

Steve Oliver's Covermount Cassette Show broadcasts on Monday night at 10pm on Sherwood Radio.

If you missed it then it is available as a podcast here.

New Radio Series

I will be presenting a four part series paying tribute to the legendary C81 and C86 cassettes, that were given away with the NME in 1981 and 1986 (hence the titles). The first show, C81 Side One, is broadcast on Monday 4th April at around ten o'clock.

DVD News

The new DVD from comedian Richard Herring is available to buy from here and in the shops. It is best to buy it from GFS though, as because they are an indie label, they need our help to keep going.

On the GFS version of Hitler Moustache, you get three discs of features including as an Easter egg on disc three, my interview with Richard from backstage at the Nottingham Playhouse in January.