What the Dickens

I know it is a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but I am taking bookings for late November/December. One of my favourite things about Christmas is that I get to read the book and watch and listen to countless movie/television/radio/audio book versions of A Christmas Carol. In recent years I have released audio books of the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens (still available to download from here along with other treats), and this year I am upping my game.

On Friday 23rd December I will be giving a talk at the Nottingham Mechanics Institute titled Charles Dickens: The Man Who Invented Christmas, about the great man and his relationship with the festive season. I am available to give this talk in schools, societies, writers/book groups. In addition to this I also offer a storytelling show in which I read several stories, ending of course with the 'public speaking' abridged version of A Christmas Carol. I have an up to date CRB certificate (thanks to my day job in the legal business) if that helps to seal the deal.

During the Christmas season I can also provide a Christmas Carol themed quiz night, and if you want me to do I am also available to talk prior to a cinematic showing of one of the many movie adaptations.

Email me in the first instance to discuss your needs steveEoliver@gmail.com 

In other news on the same theme, I am planning on staging a radio drama style production of A Christmas Carol which will be recorded and made available as a download.

I am available for work in various other areas too, see here for details.

June Newsletter

We are now at the halfway point of the year and I am no nearer reaching any realistic amount of funding to make either the Saturday Breakfast pilot (I need £500 to make a low budget half hour pilot to use in the push to get a series) or the Woolly and Worth comedy. I turn 40 in two months time and I had hoped to cross a few things off my to-do list before then.

All you need to do is donate any amount, no matter how small, using the PayPal donate button at the top of this page. If everyone who reads this donated even one pound it would make all the difference. None of it goes in my pocket, it is all used to create free stuff that will entertain everyone. I think you'll agree that it is far better value than the TV Licence.

If anyone wants to donate a larger amount to really make a difference I would be eternally grateful. There are documentaries, comedy sketches, films and all sorts of delights waiting to be made.

Here's what else is happening:

The Sunday Alternative Podcast

Almost at the 100th edition, there's also a bonus podcast on a Bank Holiday Monday (please always refer to Bank Holiday Monday as Sunday +1). Showcasing the best new music around I guarantee to listen personally to everything I am sent.

The podcast is free and if everyone who listened donated once a month it would make a huge difference. If anyone wants to sponsor the podcast please get in touch, if I can get the funding I would like to be able to rent a studio to record live bands in session for special episodes in the future.

Listen to the entire archive of podcasts and radio shows here (and if you're feeling generous...)

The Random Saturday Sessions

On May 30th I filmed another collection of sets in Nottingham with Gerry Trimble, Paul Carbuncle, Strumming Johnny Carey, Misk Hills Mountain Rambler and Cameron Sinclair-Harris. These episodes will appear in the upcoming weeks (there are still two episodes from York to go out).

I had previously said that this would be the final time I do the series in Nottingham because trying to get Nottingham musicians to perform music (something you would think they would want to do), yet we had such a great time that maybe I'll do it again in the future. On Friday June 10th I am filming some bonus sessions and I will be filming at The Kimberly Jam festival on Saturday 18th June.

One of the things that the donations will help with is taking the concept out to other towns and cities to film local musicians performing. York was great fun so I would love to repeat the experience in Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Lincoln (this one looks quite promising) and London. If the donations really kick off then New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville would be quite cool.

If anyone would like to sponsor The Random Saturday Sessions and enable me to expand then please get in touch.

The videos are on my YouTube channel and the Facebook page is here.

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That's about it for this newsletter so I will leave you with these footnotes.

• The Saturday Breakfast Pilot needs £500 to get made.
• The Woolly and Worth film is written and although some bits are doable on a shoestring I want it to look as good as possible with regards locations and presentation. 
• Depending on someone else's schedule, a Kickstarter campaign might be set up in the not too distant future (hopefully) to help fund an animated short.
• Talking of animation, I have been helped out (not financially but with props) towards the making of a short 'stop-start' film that I will be making and releasing for free. 
• If you're in a position to pay me to work for you, then have a look at this page.
• My shop is open, all money goes into the filming fund.

Thank you in advance, all donations are gratefully appreciated.

May Newsletter

How can it be the fifth month of the year already? Things are still not moving along as quickly as they should be and I'm afraid to say it is the fault of you reading this. Donations have not been sufficient to get anything significant off the ground. Please do consider making a donation using the PayPal donate button above, none of it goes in my pocket of course, every penny will go into creating online entertainment that will, in return for your gift, be gifted back to you. I want to make short films, documentaries, comedy sketches, and podcasts that will be made available free of charge.

For roughly £500 I can make the pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast, a music and cookery interview show. The pilot will then be used as a Kickstarter video to attempt to raise funds to make a series.

For about the same costs I will make the long mooted feature about Woolly and Worth, the advert mascots for Woolworths. This is a dark comedy drama about what happened to the double act after Woolworths closed down in 2008.

There's other things in the pipeline too, so please donate what you can. 

News

The Random Saturday Sessions: Series 5 was filmed on Saturday 30th April in York and a great day was had by all. These episodes will be with you soon. I would like to do more of these out of Nottingham and travel to places with a thriving music scene, this can be possible with some donations to go towards the cost of travel and refreshments.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast: Now on episode 86 with a bonus edition ready for Bank Holiday Monday, this is still a great way to discover new music in an attention span friendly half hour podcast that is available free of charge. Your donations ensure that I can continue to do this.

Many thanks.

The wonder of Woollies and crowd funding

Photo from This Is Money

This project has been in limbo for far too long and so this newsletter is published to draw your attention to it. I actually conceived this idea in January 2009 when the final Woolworths stores were locking up for the final time and the nation was still mourning. 

I have changed the formatting slightly over the years whenever I come across my notes but I do have a script in place that follows the turbulent years following the closure of Woolworths and the effect that it had on the two mascots Woolly and Worth. We find out that the celebrity lifestyle disappeared and the pair suffered severe hardship eventually living on the streets.

Now they are making the ultimate showbiz comeback, but is the world of retail advertising the same as it once was and will a sheep and a dog still be as popular as they were in their heyday? 

The film is a dark comedy about the excesses of fame and fortunes lost. 

I don't anticipate needing a fortune to do this but there will be some expenses that need covering, especially after the filming when the technical stuff kicks in and all the editing and sound work will need doing. Woolly and Worth are two cuddly toys that I have and need to convert them into puppets and will be operated using the 'hand and rod' technique (like The Muppets were). For some scenes we will need to use some kind of trolly system for walking scenes. I will be paying for a film crew and a small cast of actors and two puppeteers. 

If you miss Woolworths and would like to see this film made, then please make a donation (however large or small) using the PayPal button at the top of the page. As always, all of the money that is donated using the button will be used to make short films, documentaries, podcasts, comedy sketches and other such things that I will make available to watch/listen to online totally free of charge - my gift as a thank you for your gift.

Thank you.

April Newsletter

Four months into the year and I am still way off target for the things I want to achieve before Santa visits again. I can't express enough the importance of upping the crowd funding by donating what you can, even pennies all add up, in order to help bring these ideas to fruition. Please remember that I don't take any money personally, it all goes into making entertainment that will be given away for free on the Internet. Currently the thing I am saving up for is the pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast, which I think I can do on the cheap for £500. There will then be a Kickstarter campaign to hopefully make a series and the pilot will be the campaign video. To make the series properly won't be massively expensive so the target amount won't be huge, however I do want to pay the people who work on it and make it look as professional as possible. 

All donations are appreciated and it is a good deal when you think about it, certainly better value than the TV Licence. Whether you make a one-off donation or a regular payment I appreciate it all the same. In order to concentrate on one thing at a time I will focus the payments on making the pilot first and getting the Kickstarter going. 

In other news, here are some free things to hopefully spur you on:

The Sunday Alternative Podcast is still rolling on of course, listen to all episodes here. 

The Random Saturday Sessions has two episodes left to air at the time of writing this, I definitely want to do more especially in other towns and cities and donations will help with that. Like the series on Facebook here. 

I am doing a video blog on my Facebook page and putting up some cheap and cheerful little bits of comedy that I have filmed on my phone. Again I hope that the free content will spur on donations. Basically anything I don't spend money on will go on my Facebook and the more elaborate things will go on YouTube. Give my Facebook page a like here.

March Newsletter

Alas, there is not going to be an album of Kanye West covers performed on the kazoo. What you failed to grasp if you didn't donate is that the album idea was a joke in order to raise awareness of crowd funding. The £100 I asked for was going to go in the pot to make short films, documentaries, comedy sketches, the Saturday Breakfast pilot, and more podcasts. Please do make use of the PayPal button at the top of this page (and indeed all of my blogs) and make a contribution.

On my shop page there is a range of ways you can help, all of which involve buying something.

Why not get me to record a kazoo rendition of a favourite song for your own YouTube dedication? It might make a romantic gift for your loved one. Find out how here.

Here's a few things I want to get off the ground and need help with. Please remember that everything I make will be made available online for free, my gift in return for your gift.

Saturday Breakfast pilot, Woolworths based comedy short, bringing back Moonage Daydream (the Bowie podcast that takes a long time to write), bringing back and finishing off the Covermount podcast.

I am available for hire too, look here. In addition to the things listed I can also do you a nice press release sheet for your band, here's an example.

Ongoing:

The Sunday Alternative Podcast: This is perhaps the best new music podcast you could listen to, but then I would say that. I do it for free and don't charge for it, if you donated 52p a year then that's a penny per podcast. Catch up with all episodes here.

The Random Saturday Sessions: Possibly my favourite project, all I do is meet up with a gang of musicians and then find somewhere to play. We all do this for free and pay for our own drinks and food. With a healthy amount of donations we could pay to expand to other cities, maybe by buying a van to travel in. Catch up with all episodes here.

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your donations.

February Newsletter

To celebrate the fact that today is the first pay day after Christmas and we are all back in funds, I have brought the February newsletter out a few days early. What with today being the first Friday with a full wallet since being paid early last month, what better time than now to remind you about how much value you will get compared to the TV Licence.

There are a few reasonably big filming projects in waiting, and all it takes is a good blast of funding. Every penny that is donated using the PayPal button will be used to create short films, documentaries, podcasts, live performances and all manner of quality entertainment that I will put online to be enjoyed by everyone for nothing. This includes a chat show, a radio drama (both recorded in front of an audience and released online for free), and the pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast.

If you head over to my shop page there's a host of ways to help, including Sunday Alternative bags and t-shirts, audio books, and the chance to have a kazoo rendition of your favourite song recorded just for you.

So why not celebrate the first pay day of the year by donating £3.65 and getting everything I provide for just a penny a day (with a bonus day as it's a leap year), if you do it now before you go wasting it in food and utility bills then it is done for the year. Of course you could pay more if you want or even make a regular donation if you want to, it all goes to provide entertainment. Maybe one day I will be able to quit working for a firm of solicitors (possibly before they realise I don't really know what I'm doing) and draw a wage from this but for now I am happy to be the giver of fine art (or to piss about playing the kazoo).

In other news:

The Sunday Alternative Podcast rolls along every week, appearing online every Sunday, would you believe? Listen to past episodes here.

Bowie Day: The audio book of my short story is available to download for free with the option to pay what you like. It would be cool if you pay something though because it goes in the creative fund. Download it from here.

The Sunday Alternative Live: No immediate plans to do this again but there will be sporadic video releases of past gigs over the coming weeks. Check out The Sunday Alternative channel on YouTube, also contains performances from the radio show.

The Random Saturday Sessions: The final Nottingham tour (maybe) takes place on Saturday 30th January before branching out to other towns and cities, past episodes are available to watch from here.

January Newsletter (the £3.65 plan)

Happy New Year, let's make this a good one. Last year saw some planned projects stall due to lack of funding which is a shame and not just because it adds to this year's workload. Please consider the PayPal button when reading the blog or listening to a podcast because even the smallest sum will make a difference, to make it easier I thought of an idea - just donate £3.65 now and be done with it. That way you have paid me upfront for the year at the rate of 1p a day, it doesn't seem like much but it's more than nothing. Of course if you want to pay more then that is cool too, (and very much appreciated) so why not just donate £365.00 now and be done with it if you think £1 a day is reasonable? You would actually be getting one day for free because I have just realised that 2016 is a leap year.

The fact is that your donations really do help and in return I will use every penny to make documentaries, short films, long films if enough money is raised, podcasts, comedy sketches and a whole host of things that I will put on the Internet for the whole world to enjoy free of charge. Imagine how good you will feel knowing that you were part of that? 

In addition to the donation route there are also a range of items on my shop page. Why not get in early to beat the 2016 Christmas rush?

I will do record a video of myself playing your favourite song on the kazoo for donations of £5 or more and for the January sales I will do two songs (two songs offer ends on January 31st). You might also want to buy a video dedication for your loved one for Valentine's Day. What could be more romantic than 'your song' played by me on kazoo, perhaps the song you walked down the aisle to or your first wedding dance?

This year I want to (finally) get round to filming the pilot of Saturday Breakfast as a priority. Also in the pipeline is a chat show recorded on stage in front of an audience that will be recorded as a free podcast, a radio drama again recorded in front of an audience, and if I get the time I want to finally film the Woolly and Worth comedy documentary that has been on the back burner for far too long. 

I turn 40 in the summer so in many ways I see this year as a last chance to see through some of the projects that I have been wanting to get through for several years to enable me to start afresh. All donations go towards that goal. It would be nice to be able to draw a living wage from the PayPal fund and go full time but one thing at a time.

The PayPal button is at the top of the page, why not click it before you close this page? Many many thanks in advance and may your 2016 be a good one.

December Newsletter

It's December so it is okay to mention Christmas. Here are a few last minute present ideas.

If you're buying someone an MP3 player for Christmas, then you could load it up with a festive audio book or two. There's a range of them on my Bandcamp page including my readings of popular Charles Dickens Christmas tales.

A Kazoo Christmas with Steve Oliver is my debut album featuring ten festive favourites as you have never heard them before. It is released on my Bandcamp on Saturday 12th December and I ask everyone to share and tweet using the hashtag #kazooturday. The album will be free to download with the option to pay any amount you like.

This is the album cover

It is now too late to order t-shirts and bags for Christmas presents I am afraid, although they make nice presents any time of year, and the bags will pay for themselves by avoiding the 5p charge for carrier bags. It is also too late for a festive kazoo dedication video due to me not having the time, but worth considering for Valentine's Day?

As with all of my projects, all money raised will go not in my pocket but put straight back into creating short films, podcasts, comedy sketches, and documentaries that I will make freely available online in return for your gift. 

In other news:

The Random Saturday Sessions: Series one is all online now and at the time of writing this newsletter, episode two with Jay Brow is available now. There's an extended Christmas Special being released on Christmas Eve with Brett Sinclair, The Idolins, Gerry Trimble, George Gadd, Josh Kemp, Jay Brow, Alexa Hawksworth and a duet between Lisa De'Ville and Cibele. The version of 'Fairytale of New York' is something that has to be seen to be believed. 

The Sunday Alternative Podcast: Still going strong and available for free every Sunday, 2016 sees the fifth anniversary with a special concert. 

Steve Oliver's Nottingham Noise 2015 is a special four part podcast with my favourite releases from the city of my birth. The first part drops on Christmas Eve with the series continuing on Boxing Day, December 27th, and New Year's Eve.

Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol): Due to not having time to give it publicity, I will be postponing the release of the audio book until January 1st 2016, the perfect start to the new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, if you buy one less drink when you go out and donate the money instead that would make a massive difference.

November Newsletter

Like it or not, Christmas is getting closer and so in the spirit of the season I am here to give you some present ideas. First though, the news.

The Random Saturday Sessions has kicked off and at the time of writing this newsletter there are two episodes already up from Paul Warnin and George Gadd. This doesn't cost anything to film (although it would be nice to have money available to pay everyone's travel expenses at least) but the editing is a time consuming process.

A Kazoo Christmas With Steve Oliver, my debut album, will hopefully be ready for release at the beginning of December. For financial reasons it will only be available as a download but with your help I could set aside some funding to make it available as a CD. LP, and cassette for Christmas 2016.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast will have reached 70 editions by the end of this year and there are no signs of me giving it up. Not only do I record and upload it for free, I also make it available for free. Everything I make will be available for free in return for your generous gifts.

Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol) will be available very soon. It has been recorded and should be released early December as an audio book. If you're buying someone an MP3 player for Christmas, then why not load it on there as a bonus present. It'll be a free download with the option to pay what you want, and all the money goes into the fund to make entertainment for you.

The Sunday Alternative Live has finished for this year and may return if I have the time next year. Every band and musician has been brilliant but the project has been fraught with problems behind the scenes. My intention to make this into an online series has had issues from the start, both with the filming and the audio (I received two gigs worth of audio back - August and September - at the end of October). We are now working on getting them out as soon as possible and there's already one up to watch. All the door money was shared out between the artists and I took nothing, just saying.

Now for some shopping ideas!

The Sunday Alternative T-shirt, with or without the back slogan.

The Sunday Alternative bag helps you look cool and beat the 5p carrier bag charge.

T-shirt and bag are available from my shop page.

My audio books are all available from my Bandcamp page.

My books are all available from my author page on Amazon.

For £2 I will write a letter of complaint to the business of your choice, example.

For £5 I will record a cover of your favourite song on the kazoo, or maybe you'd like to dedicate a song to a loved one? Here's how.

Don't forget that all money raised goes into the fund to help make entertainment that I will make freely available. In the long run, it is better value than the TV Licence. 

BRAND NEW OFFER.

For £20 I will make a one-off unique cassette for you. Here's how it will happen:

1 - Hit the PayPal button and donate £20

2- I will receive an email notification from PayPal that contains your email address.

3- I email you to confirm receipt and to thank you.

4- You email me 10 songs of your choosing.

5- I record the songs for you with a special message and a bit of in-between song chat on a cassette that will be exclusively yours. Only one copy of this tape will ever be available*, you are free to share it online if you wish - it belongs to you.

6- I will make you a cassette sleeve that is just for your cassette and post it to you.

*One copy will be made and placed in my archive, this will never see the light of day, so not strictly unique but yours will be the original.

In 2016 I want to get cracking on a number of delayed projects that need your financial input, once made they will be available for everyone to enjoy free of charge. These projects include the delayed pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast (which will cost about £500 to make on the cheap), a radio drama in front of an audience that may pave the way for a series, a chat show in front of an audience which is provisionally a series of six episodes, an all day free entry gig on September 11th to celebrate five years of The Sunday Alternative, and of course the ongoing weekly Sunday Alternative podcast along with The Random Saturday Sessions series.

Please consider making a donation if you enjoy my daily blog or weekly podcast, either a one-off or a regular contribution would make a difference and enable me to make these projects a reality. If you can't afford to then please enjoy them anyway but make sure you share and tweet for me so that maybe someone you know can help. 

If you're a business and want to sponsor one of my projects then please get in touch. It could be the podcast or something else, email me and we'll talk.

Thank you.

Follow @SteveOliver76

steveEoliver@gmail.com

Like me on Facebook

August Newsletter

We are now in the eighth month of the year and at a standstill as far as work is concerned. In unrelated news, it is my birthday on the 27th of this month so a nice present would be a donation using the PayPal button. This would be spent on creating podcasts, documentaries, short films, comedy sketches and various other entertainments that I will make available to enjoy online for free.

The above t-shirt and bag is also available to buy, all the money goes to the same creative fund. They are on my shop page.

I'll play you a kazoo song request, find out how here.

Letter of complaint written for you for £2, here.

Fundraising news and kazoos!

The PayPal donations have been a bit thin on the ground just lately, (although I am grateful to those who have contributed) and I am trying to raise the funds to film a pilot for a cookery and music show among other things; those other things are:

• A live talk show filmed in front of an audience.
• A radio style drama, again in front of an audience, to be made available as a free download.
• The comic-documentary about Woolly and Worth, (the puppets from the Woolworths adverts) that has been on every bloody to-do list since 2009.
• A documentary about The Sunday Alternative (possibly to be screened in Nottingham and London) to commemorate the fifth anniversary in 2016, which will be extra special because it lands on a Sunday.

There are other things too and they cost money, not a fortune - I'm not trying to remake Star Wars or something, (I'd remake American Graffiti, the best film George Lucas made), but more than you'd think. Although I will be using the money to create all sorts of stuff (comedy sketches, documentaries, podcasts, short films, musical projects, art installations) that will be available to enjoy for free. Even if you paid £2 a month that is helpful to me, and more value for you than your TV licence. Ideally I would like to be able to draw a modest wage (I don't have a lavish lifestyle) and go full time self-employed but that is for the future, if I'm lucky.

There's a range of ways to donate by buying something over on my shop page, but I have come up with an idea.

For every donation of £5 or more, you get to request a song. I will film myself playing your request on the kazoo and post it on YouTube with a dedication to you. I am Nottingham's premier session (kazoo) musician and some people* call me the 'beating heart of Soft Silly'.

Just hit the PayPal button and donate £5 or more. The notification email from PayPal will contain your email address so I will write to you as soon as I can to ask for your song choice which I will then record just for you.

Deal?

The Record Store Day Video (working title)

The filming of The Record Store Video (working title) is going ahead (all going well) on the weekend of Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March, and will be released on YouTube on the day itself. It's a short video about the ethos of RSD and my opinion thereof.

We are doing this on a reasonably low/none existent budget but as always could use a little help. Please do consider making a donation via the PayPal button above to help towards this and other entertainments, all of which will be available to enjoy completely free of charge online. If you can afford to give something then please know that it is much appreciated. If you can't afford to give anything then please could you share/tweet/Facebook the life out of it when it comes out?

Thank you

The Sunday Alternative needs you!

I am always looking for ways to improve the podcast and keep it constantly evolving as it is now in the fourth year of operation. To bring back the feeling of the old radio show I want to start doing it from a studio with facilities to host live music sessions and extending the podcast to an hour or more.

Here's the request for help:

I am looking for a studio that can help, the podcast would have to be recorded in the week and edited together before the finished audio is handed over for me to upload on Sunday morning as usual.

This needs to be a fairly long term project and I will want to agree on a legally binding contract. I want to be safeguarded against cancellations that are not my doing.

I will negotiate on the studio costs, and will be willing to run an advert for the studio within the introductions and name-checks; "This is the Sunday Alternative podcast recorded at (studio name and address, website, twitter handle) studios..."

I will retain all copyright on the podcast and the audio archive will not be kept by the studio.

With this in mind, I am once again shaking the collection tin. The podcast will now incur costs BUT will still be made available as a freebie to listen to and download. Please consider buying something from the 'Shop & Donations' page or making a donation using the PayPal button above. Whether you donate a penny, pound, or more, it all helps and I thank you in advance for it.

If you have a studio and would like to get on board, please email me steveEoliver@gmail.com 

Music and Cooking!

I have had the go-ahead to make a pilot episode of a music and cookery show that will hopefully become a series, either later this year or in 2016. The series has been mentioned on my blog in the past, and unless I can come up with a better title it will be known by its working title of Saturday Breakfast.

When/if it becomes a series, Saturday Breakfast will appear on YouTube every Saturday morning, and will provide live music and a breakfast recipe. Let’s face it, there just isn’t enough cookery in the media is there! The pilot episode will appear on YouTube but more importantly it will be used as the video on Indie Go Go to raise the money needed to make a full series.

Blue Vulture are the band appearing in the pilot, Oliver Smith Productions will be filming it and doing all the technical stuff, and the highly recommended Café 101 have allowed us to use their premises.

There are inevitably a few expenses involved in making a show like this, so I politely ask you to consider making a PayPal donation. If you want something in return then I will send you an audio book or a copy of Bowie Day, just email me with ‘I paid a pound or more’ in the subject box and your choice from the Shop & Donations page in the body of the email.

Don’t forget that all the money that comes my way will be used to make this and other entertainment such as podcasts, comedy sketches, documentaries and loads more which will all be available free of charge.

Thanks in advance for your generosity.

Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol)

Today is David Bowie’s birthday and the day that my short story Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol) is released. I have put the book on the Kindle after a lot of faffing around and it is still processing so who knows when it will get properly published. Not to worry, as I can let you have it anyway. All you have to do is donate one pound or more using the PayPal button above and then email me with ‘I paid a pound or more (Bowie)’ in the subject line, I will send it straight to you by email.

As always, this money will be used to create free online content such as podcasts, comedy sketches, documentaries, and short films. Feel free to donate at any time out of the goodness of your heart, or claim something for your money with something from this list.

My email is steveEoliver@gmail.com

The T-Shirt Wearer's Guide To The Ramones

A one-off podcast explaining the band to people who bought a t-shirt in Primark (other cheap and nasty sweatshop clothes emporiums are available) despite having never heard a single Ramones track. This was concieved in February 2014, written in March and finally recorded on 24th June 2014 but has remained unreleased until now.

It is a free podcast for you to stream or download, although I do ask as usual that you consider the PayPal donation button. This will enable me to continue to provide free online entertainment.

The podcast is available from here.

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.