The BBC Radio London Playlst - It's Ironic how bad it is!

Sums up my feelings

I am going to start by saying I love BBC Radio London. It is 'my station' and has been since Robbie Vincent hosted the Crisis program and then Late Night London in the 1970's. Over the years, it has had some of the best presenters and best shows. As a music lover, the likes of Vincent playing soul. Charlie Gillett was a big champion of Ian Dury, as well as Elvis Costello and Grahame Parker and the Rumour. David Rodigan was highly influential in the Reggae scene, with his reggae rockers show, before defecting to Capital Radio to present Roots Rockers. These guys were essential listening when I was growing up and totally shaped my musical tastes. Along with John Peel on BBC Radio One, they were what we now call mega influencers, helping completely redraw the music map of the UK. 

In more recent times. Gary Crowley's show was a massive part of the rise of Britpop. I absoluletly love Crowley and his ability to alway be positive and excited about new music. When I was managing Britpop band The Sway, Gary was the first DJ to play their records (The band release a new EP after 30 years tomorrow. I'm no longer their manager, but they are well worth a listen - I well remember the band excitedly tuning in to listen to Silk on his show. They all went up to The Engineers pub after to celebrate with their mates!). His show was on a Saturday evening that was a bit inconvenient at times, but I always listened when I was in. 

Then there is Robert Elms, I have spoken many times about Elms here, so I won't go on too much, but he helped launched Amy Winehouse, giving her a first radio play. I'd say that at least 50% of the new bands I have discovered over the last 30 years, I've met through Robert's show. 

Now none of this would matter too much, if it was only about me and my particular musical taste. However, the UK music industry makes a huge contribution to the economy, over £5 billion a year last time I checked. People do not realise just how much music is produced and how much is used. Apart from the music on the radio, we have music in TV shows, music in films, music in games, live shows, etc. All of this helps employ people and generates huge amounts of cash. The UK punches far above its weight in the world music scene. However, this only can happen when there is a constat stream of new artists and new music coming through. 

Which brings us to the current music policies of BBC Radio London. I have no qualms with any of the presenters. All have been very supportive of my band The False Dots. with Elms, Eddie Nestor and Carrie and David Grant all kindly letting me plug my shows. Elms has a slot on his show on Sunday, when there is an hour dedicated to Londoners plugging events. However, over the last few years, the management of the BBC have come up with the worst idea ever. They have imposed a playlist on the station. Given that BBC Radio London is a public service broadcaster, funded by taxpayers, to my mind, the primary mission of the station should be to support London. If it is going to play music, they should trust presenters such as Elms to play what he sees fit. The primary focus should be playing music that has some sort of relevance to the city they serve. I run a music studio and I hear all manner of artists making great music, releasing fantastic songs, touring and playing hits from this and the last decade. All of these have a strong London link as they regularly use or have used our studios. There are similar studios and similar bands across London. Here is a playlist we made up of songs by artists who use our studios, just to illustrate the point. 

It was really brought home to me yesterday. I was driving to the gym, after my shift at the studio. I was listening to Jumoke Fashola's show in the afternoon. What song was played? Ironic by Alanis Morrissette, a single by a Canadian artist from 1996. I burst out laughing, what could be more ironic than that. Jumoke knows her onions. She's a working Jazz singer and hosts music events. I have no doubt at all that she could play absolutely amazing music if allowed to, but what do we get? Tracks that bear no relevance to the show, are not current, have little or no relation to London and worst of all for me, generate no PRS income for local artists.

What most listeners don't realise is that every time a track is played on the radio, the artists gets an amount of money. This helps pay the bills, supports the costs of rehearsals and future recordings, but the people who run Radio London do not seem interested in supporting up and coming artists. I know what their response is "Ah well, we have Jess Izzatt who does BBC Introducing". Yes Jess does a stirling job and I think she's amazing, but pushing new music to the margins is really counter productive. Artists need far more exposure and when new artists make great records, they should be played regularly. Instead, we get established artists being played non stop until you are completely sick of the song. 

The BBC should do what it's charter says and serve the community that pays its bills. The management of BBC Radio London are massively failing London based artists. This disrepects the talents that are their amazing DJ's. I have this question for the management. Do you seriously think that BBC Radio London would have it's legendary status if the likes of Gillet and Rodigan had been forced to play music chosen by someone else. It is hard enough being a musican in London, but the complete lack of support from the management of our local station is something I can't stomach. 

This year I've probably seen in excess of 100 up and coming bands at London gigs, 36 of which have played on the same bill as us at gigs we've performed. Some of them have been absolutely brilliant, yet I've not heard a track by any on BBC Radio London. Nearly all of these bands have music released. If it was just the False Dots and the BBC thought we were rubbish, I'd have no issue at all, but it is everyone. Given that I listen to the station (and it's rubbish playlist) every day, it breaks my heart. And for clarity, I've seen just about every genre of band, soul, reggae, punk, blues, rock, ska, jazz. Even Madness, who are mainstream and totally London, were hardly played when they released their amazing new album. 

Of course, the management will totally ignore me. But sooner or later someone will see sense. 

Friday Fun - 22nd November 2024

 As always, in the long held tradition of Barnet blogs, we start with a Friday Joke. As we so often are, we are endebted to the rather wonderful Mr Robert Wilkinson for a cracker! If you are looking for a good stocking filler for Dad, Roberts Dad joke books are worth a punt. 

pic.twitter.com/xFArkShGLC

— Robert Wilkinson (@robertwlk) November 21, 2024

Onto local football news. Fancy seeing a massive FA Trophy clash? Hadley FC (Barnet's oldest club) will be running a coach to Oxford on the 7th December for their mega clash against Oxford City!

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We have a few amazing local gigs this weekend locally

Other Gigs

Friday 22nd

The Sebright Arms 9pm – 11pm - The Revivals (Covers)

Butchers Arms 9pm – midnight - Harripaul (Pop/rock/jazz/blues)

Builders Arms 8pm – 11pm - Karaoke with Caz

Barrington 8.30pm – midnight - Karaoke with Neil

Ye Olde Monk and Holt 8.30pm - midnight - DJ Sadie Disco

The Haven 8pm – 11.30pm - Denis Cook – (Musician/vocalist/DJ)

Saturday 23rd

Butchers Arms 9pm – midnight - Beyond Retro (Rock & Roll)

East Barnet Legion 9pm – 11pm - The Natalies (Covers)

The Barrington 9pm – Midnight - Odyssey Blues & Soul Band (Soul/blues/jazz)

Ye Olde Monken Holt 9.30pm – midnight - Alex Kennedy (Acoustic Covers)

Maddens 9.15pm – late - The Jiminy Rocket Band (pop and rock covers) 

Sunday 24th

Builders Arms 7-10 - Joanne Devall + Bob Hadrell (jazz)

Monken Holt 7pm – 9pm - Pippa Goodfellow (Soul/blues/jazz)

Butchers 8.30pm – 11.30pm - Pauls Jam

Maddens 7pm – 10pm - Interfunk

Monday 25th

Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) - Barnet Acoustics Sessions

Wednesday 27th October 

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 11pm - Open Mic Night

Thursday 28th

 Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 10.30pm - Traditional Irish Session (Irish Folk)

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And finally, a plug for my band, coming up in on December 13th. Save the date! Click on image for tickets!

And please have a listen to our new album >>>> CLICK HERE <<<<

Rock and Roll Stories #17 - The dread of the day after and keeping energised

 What is it like being in a Rock and Roll band? It's amazing most of the time. Most of our gigs are fun, I've always loved rehearsals,  recording is a really uplifting process, turning ideas into something tangible that you can be proud of and will endure. Of course there are bad times. The False Dots have had 38 different members over the years and not all left on good terms, but that's true of every aspect of life. There are bad gigs, where for whatever reason, it just doesn't happen onstage, but that is pretty rare.

However there is one thing I dread. It is the day after. I alluded to this in my last feature in this series, where I recalled my feelings on returning from our tour of Sweden. I wrote "When I was home, I can remember running a bath and staring at the ceiling and wondering if times would ever be as good again. " The feeling when you've worked hard on a project, you've planned for it for months or sometimes longer, then its done. There is an emptyness. When the False Dots first started, Paul Marvin, son of guitar legend Hank Marvin was our drummer. Hank kindly let us rehearse in his private studio in his mansion in Radlett. Although he is an internationally famous guitarist, in his home he was just Paul's Dad. I was keen to pick his brains. I asked him for any advice for when the band started gigging. His reply was very insightful "Always try and have the next project lined up, before you finish the current one". He added that it's always good to give the fans something to look forward to when you are closing the show. At the time, I didn't really understand. When the band started gigging, I always tried to ensure that we always had one in the pipeline before we did our next one. It keeps everyone energised and engaged, but it wasn't until we got back from Sweden, with nothing lined up, that it really hit home. 

In my day job, running the studios, we see a lot of celebrities and stars going out on tour. On Monday I had a quick chat with Leee John of Imagination. He was in rehearsing for some forthcoming gigs. I like Leee, he's a proper character. He always has a string of projects on the go. They all sound interesting and he has lost none of the energy he has for music and life. He gets a kick out of playing music and rehearsing. He posted this clip from their recent rehearsal

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Leee is a great example of how keeping busy and energised keeps you in great shape! There are a few projects Leee has been working on for ages that sound brilliant. I am sworn to secrecy, but I always ask. The answer is usually, "Oh, I've just not had the time". 

Once you lose momentum, it can be really hard to get it back. There are a fair number of studio customers we see, some who are (or were) high profile, who come in to try and get projects going. For such artists, the biggest problem is often that they put a band together of pro musicians and start to rehearse and then key players get poached by other bands or projects that actually have work in the calendar. It is hard to survive at the moment on the wages of a musician, so if you get an offer of regular work, it is hard to get back in the saddle.

At the moment, my band, The False Dots are in what might be called a rich vein of form. We've had a run of brilliant gigs, we released an album on Sunday, which has been well received. We have a gig in December lined up at The Dublin Castle, after a brilliant show at the weekend. We are also making a special live video as well as a fly on the wall video. We have also started work on a brand new album, provisionally called Groovetown. This is going to be a very North West London take on Northern Soul and Mod culture, with a sprinkling of Ska and punk in there somewhere. 

We also need to start looking at the gig calendar for 2025. We have none in the book for the year at the moment. We need to rectify that before the 13th December, when we do our next gig. There is nothing worse than the day after feeling, when you realise that you've got nothing in the diary.

My advice. Keep energised. 

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Talking of keeping energised. Please book a ticket for our next gig, it should be a corker and a great way to kick of Xmas!  >>>>> CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS <<<<<

And here's our new album

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Hello to the wonderful world of Bluesky and how are you doing to everyone else!

Me

Today I joined Bluesky! Not because I am leaving Twitter, I discussed my views on that last week, so I won't go over the ground again. I made the decisions so that no one else nicks my Barneteye handle and pretends to be me, which would be more irritating than anything. I've not really decided how I will use it. I will have to see if I get on with it and it is a useful tool. I have an open mind, so if there is something wonderful I've been missing, please let me know!

I suppose that its possible there are a horde of brand new friends out there waiting to say hi and make my life even more wonderful, who've never heard of me or this blog, so I thought I'd give a little resume of what the Barnet Eye is and who I (Rog T/Roger Tichborne) is.

The Barnet Eye

It is a blog I started by accident in May 2008, which has gone on to have nearly 4.5 million hits (last time I looked). It originally started as a blog on the Barnet Times, until the then Conservative administration at Barnet Council of Mike Freer and co threatened to pull council advertising unless they booted me out. I originally intended to blog about local music, but one of my early blogs upset them and a battle between myself and the local Tory ensued. In October 2008, my Barnet Times blog was shut down after the editor Phil Crowther gave in to pressure. The local Tory bigwigs went out to celebrate the "end of my blogging career". That went well!

Oddly, my biggest supporters were local Tories who had fallen out with Freer. They encouraged me to continue on Blogger. I did. I assumed that without the Barnet Times backing, no one would read it. However the opposite was true. Not only that, a whole host of other Barnet blogs started, inspired by this blog. We became known as The Famous Five. I was made a Guardian Top London blogger and contributed articles to the paper about mismanagement and outsourcing in local government. In 2011, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and decided to start a cancer blog. This has attracted huge interest. Seeing that such blogs had an audience and were appreciated, I also started blogging about dyslexia, as this has blighted my life. I also cover football and music. In recent years, the blog has become more about Barnet life than Barnet politics. I've also become a published author, contributing a chapter to a book called West London Wildlife on Aurora Books.

About Me. 

I am a self confessed football nut. I support Manchester City FC and Hadley FC (a local team in the Southern league Division 1 Central). I play guitar and sing in a band called The False Dots, who released our debut album after 45 years together last Sunday. You can listen to it here.

I have a wife of 29 years, three adult offspring and two rescue dogs who are my world. I have a band, who I believe are the finest, most creative people on the planet. I believe that all musicians are angels in disguise (except me), sent here to make our passage through life bearable (but be warned and remember Lucifer is an angel as well if you read scriptures and believe in that sort of thing). 

I believe in God, but I suspect my view of Gods nature is not a very mainstream one. I go to The Sacred Heart Church, because I find that it helps keep me sane. I despise people who use religion as anything other than a search for personal enlightenment. Those who use it to control people, seek power or start wars are, to my mind evil. I feel very let down by most people in religious authority, but I will not cede them the space. 

I am scared of nothing, apart from snakes and believe that I've outlived my usefulness in this world, and so am no only here to cause trouble and enjoy myself. I drink too much beer, but only in my spare time with friends, in private I have a somewhat inappropriate sense of humour at times. I try not to tell lies, but do appreciate that sometimes the truth starts wars (be it in my front room or in the Middle East), so recognise that occasionally a porkie is required.

Everything I write in this blog is a genuine, honestly held view. I get things wrong, and when I do I apologise (even if I don't like the person). I have a bunch of friends who help me out when needed, who I owe the world to.

I'm deliriously happy and contented 95% of the time and devastated for 5% of the time, usually when people I had faith in let me down. 

That's about it. 

Important - Calling all my male friends

Calling all my male friends. Last year I had a radical prosatectomy. I was diagnosed in 2011. I had HIFU treatment in January 2016 that addressed it for seven years, but it came back. Luckily I was under surveillance, so they were able to address it and my last post op PSA test came back clear. I opted for the operation as Professer Christopher Eden assured me that his procedure had a strong likelyhood of retaining my erectile function and my continence. He was true to his word. Why was I diagnosed? I had a male all round health check in 2011, that deteted a high PSA. I'd only gone to the doctor as I had a knee problem following a football injury, he suggested the 'MOT'. If you are over 50 or have a family history of prostate cancer, get a check. I wrote a song chronicling my journey. It is funny, but 100% true - please have a listen and share this, this is important. I was gobsmacked when I was diagnosed as things like that don't happen to me.

The biggest mistake you can make in your life

Contemplating Life

There are two major things that shape our lives. The choices we make and the events that we don't control. Twice in the last two days, I've seen examples of people making extremely bad choices, which could have changed their lives forever for the worse. One of them could also have changed mine. Yesterday, I was about to cross the road on the pelican crossing at the bottom of my road, which crosses Mill Hill Broadway. I pressed the button (why do people stand there and not press the button and hope it will change?). The light changed and I was just about to step out into the road, when I noticed a woman driving a blue BMW hurtling towards me, totally ignoring the light. I stopped and she sped straight through. Having been run over and nearly killed in Burnt Oak, when someone did exactly the same thing, I am cautious. But she wasn't cautious. She was driving like an idiot and she could have killed someone. It seems to me to be the height of stupidity to risk killing someone and a jail term as a result, to get somewhere 20 seconds quicker. Why? The thought crossed my mind that if I'd not spotted her or wasn't paying attention, I may be dead. 

Today I saw the complete other end of the spectrum at the very same spot. As I walk down my road, I can see the same pelican crossing. As I approached, a woman pressed the button and the lights changed. I was paying attention, as I thought I may be able to get across, but I was a tad to far and couldn't be bothered to run. What she did next really shocked me. Rather than cross, she looked at her mobile phone and stopped. I have no idea what was so exciting that she just stopped in her tracks and gawped. What she did next stunned me even more than the events yesterday. The lights changed again and were flashing yellow. She then walked out in front of the cars that had been stopped and were starting to pull off, causing them to brake. She was clearly completely distracted. Although the cars were not moving quickly, it was stupid and reckless. A lady standing next to me, looked at me and shook her head. It occurred to me that if you put the two events together, where both a motorist and a pedestrian are not paying attention and are also clearly distracted then they both could have made the worst decision in their lives, presumably without consciously realising it at the time. 

At the time I was run over, I was regularly doing a Yoga class in Mill Hill, with an amazing Yoga teacher called Joyce. It took me three months to get to a position where I could consider Yoga. When I went back, she enquired after my health and asked about my absence. I explained how a speeding driver, jumping the lights had run me over. Her response rather irritated me at the time, now I understand it. She said "You've really got to be more conscious of what is going on around you". What annoyed me was that it wasn't my fault and even the bloke who did it admitted that. But Joyce was right. If I'd had my eyes and ears open, I would have realised. You can be 100% in the right, but it won't make you feel any better when a car splatters you. 

About fifteen years ago, on Mill Hill Broadway, at the very same spot as the two incidents mentioned above happened, I was about to cross the road, with the lights being red. I'd just got off the train and there were several other people. Being cautious, I noticed that a car was speeding towards us and the person driving was looking at their phone and also hadn't noticed. As I realised that it wasn't safe to cross, a lady next to me saw the green man and without looking stepped onto the road. I realised that she was going to get run over, so I physically pulled her back and said "look out", she screamed and was just about to harangue me, when the car sped past and she realised she'd have been hit, if I hadn't grabbed her. I apologised profusely, and said "Sorry I had to do that, I realised you'd get hit". She was quite badly shaken up. She thanked me and explained that she'd "had a terrible day at work". We then both went on our way. It was at that moment that I realised what Joyce was saying and properly appreciated it.

The biggest mistake we can make in our lives is to not be conscious and pay attention and not just at road crossings. That was just an illustration. Yesterday, my band launched our debut album, only 45 years in the making. We had an afternoon gig at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town. It was amazing seeing so many of my friends out. to see us. As I was about to start singing one of the songs, Joyce's words "You've really got to be more conscious of what's going on around you" popped into my head. IT was so jarring that it put me off the lyrics and I completely garbled the words to the first verse of The Burnt Oak Boogie. But a more important thing happened than just singing a song correctly. I looked on and appreciated what was happening. No one forced those people to come. They came because they knew they'd have a good time, maybe meet some friends, maybe make sone new ones. I have no idea how many were there, it was a good crowd. The following comment was posted on the bands Facebook today "It really was fantastic! To anyone who missed it make sure you go to the next False Dots gig, it'll definitely cheer you up no end 😁".  

I sometimes wonder how many things in our life we really can consciously change. One thing I do know for certain is that if I am feeling down, I can consciously change my mood by listening to music. It washes away, not forever, but for a few moments the worries, concerns and distractions of our day to day lives. For those few seconds when Joyce's words echo'd around my mind, I realised that I am blessed. I make time to let music in and to chill out. I don't want to be that person who is so stressed and so in a rush that they miss seeing a red light, or so distracted that we step out when the lights have changed. I tend to relax by watching football and listening to music. It may not work for you, but something must. Don't neglect that. Give yourself time to unwind. If you've had a bad day, do something about it before you walk under a speeding car, because you are too lost in your thoughts to see it heading for you. If ever I had a really bad day in the office. I'd go to a quiet pub, have a single pint, eat a bag of nuts and read the Evening Standard before I headed home. I'd also put a couple of tunes on the Jukebox. Such things are simple but they can really make a difference.

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The False Dots launched our new album yesterday, entitled "A finger in the Sun". Please click here and have a listen to it, if you enjoy what I write. I don't ask for much, but I'd love you to have a listen and tell your friends if you like it >>>>> CLICK HERE <<<<<

The Saturday List #462 - My top ten musical moments ever!

 The music we love is the soundtrack to our lives. For me, there are some moments that are indelibly burned into my memory as mindblowing moments of bliss. As my band, The False Dots face the biggest moment of our career, with our album launch at The Dublin Castle tomorrow, I thought today would be a great day to share my best musical moments.

1. The Ramones at the Roundhouse in June 1977, when Joey Ramone came out with the GABBA GABBA HEY placard during pinhead. The gig was mindblowingly good, but this was the moment that stuck in my brain forever. It was the moment I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was fourteen years old and at that moment I realised Id spent my life waiting for this one moment. 

2. Wire. 1978. The Marquee club. Wire are a bit of a difficult band to enjoy. I absolutely love them, but they only play new songs at shows. They had made a seminal punk album called Pink Flag. I went expecting to hear all of these masterpieces. They only played one song from the album. What I didn't know was that they had recorded a new album called Chairs Missing, that was evern better. It was not punk, it was arty new wave. The songs were unlike anything I'd ever heard. One of the songs, Practice makes perfect, descends into manic, hysterical laughter. It was one of the most intense moments in any gig ever. It literally blew my mind. Of course the next time I saw Wire, they didn't play it. 

3. Hot tramp, I love you so. The last line of the chorus on Rebel Rebel by David Bowie. I was on a date with a girl I had the real hots for. We were having a drink and flirting like mad, when this came on the juke box. When it got to that line, we both looked into each others eyes, sang the line and kissed. It was my best jukebox moment ever.  It also cemented Bowie as one of my favourite artists ever.

4. 54-46 was my number. May 2017. My daughter was at Uni in Leeds. In a moment of drunken foolishness, she fell 30 foot out of a tree she was climbing in the town centre. We got a call from A&E to say she was in a bad way. We dropped everything. They wouldn't tell us her condition until we arrived. How we didnt' get a speeding ticket I will never know. We got there and to my immense relief she was sort of ok, but had multiple fractures including a badly broken arm, which required a large metal plate in her arm. We brought her home. She was really down. The Specials were playing at Hatfield House. We got her a ticket to try and cheer her up. Toots and The Maytells, a band I love, were supporting. To be honest, I was so stressed that I wasn't really looking forward to the gig. But as soon as Toots kicked off, my blues disippated. When they played 54-46 was my number, the whole place went bonkers. I looked and saw my daughter smiling. I knew everything would be Ok. 

5. I am not sure of the year, I think around 1990 but I may be wildly out. I went to see The Dickies at The Powerhaus venue in Islington. I'd not seen the band for a decade, since The Marquee in 1978, when The Banana Splits song was in the chart, which was one of the best gigs I've seen. I didn't have high hopes, as it seemed to me that most of the punk bands had run out of energy and lost their way. How wrong could I be? The Dickies were blindingly good. They had a relatively new song called "If Stuart Could Talk", off Stukas over Disneyland. It was an OK song, not a stand out. However when they performed it live, they added a bit at the end. The theme of the song is that the singer is having a conversation is having a conversation with his penis, which is called Stuart (who is not overly happy with the attention Leonard Graves-Phillips has been paying him). I was quite enjoying it, when the band unexpectedly (for me), segued into Listening to You by The Who. Graves-Phillips produced a giant Penis glove puppet to perform the "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me" line. It was the most mindblowingly hilarious moment in any show, ever. It completely pricked the pomposity of The Who song. 

6. The Gangster of Love. My brother used to ask me to babysit for his kids when they were little. He'd buy a bottle of cider and give me a fiver. I'd get one of my mates to nip over and we'd listen to his record collection. He had such artists as The Velvet Underground, The Electric Prunes, Country Joe and The Fish in his collection. Being punks, it was a sort of guilty pleasure to sit there and listen to them. We put on Sailor by The Steve Miller Band. A record my brother told us was the best album ever. We quite enjoyed side one, span it over and played side 2. Track 3 is a cover of the Johnny Guitar Watson song "The Gangster of Love". We were listening to it, enjoying the vibe. About halfway through, the at around 1.20 into the song. The band all crack up and stop playing and it seguey's into a Jimmy Reeds song "You're so fine". We looked at each other and cracked up. We sort of realised that the band had a sense of humour. Much 1970's prog rock was rather po faced. This was a great antidote. 

7. Falsedub. In February 1982, The False Dots were in a studio owned by Ray Randall, bassplayer of The Tornados in Hendon. We were recording a new demo tape. One of the songs we'd written was a rather bad cod reggae/ska track called Falsedub. We simply weren't good enough musicians to get the right feel. We had a rock drummer who wasn't adaptable enough. I really wanted the track to work, so I booked some more studio time with Ray to remix it. Bassplayer Paul Hircombe came with me. We had a cunning plan (the sort you make when you are young and stupid). We decided that if we got some really strong ganga and mixed it whilst being stoned, we'd get a proper reggae vibe. Ray merrily joined in. We went in and spent six hours smoking and putting heavy delay and all manner of strange noises on. By 2am in the morning, we had completed the masterpiece. Ray gave us a master tape and a cassette. It genuinely was the most amazing music we'd ever heard. The next day, I went around to Paul's to excitedely listen to it. He put on the cassette. It was absolutely awful, what were we thinking. It was an expensive lesson. As an aside, the song was called Falsedub because we'd played it at a party at a squat in Maida Vale. We asked a wise old Jamaican Dread brother what he thought of our reggae song. He said "man, that ain't reggae, that's false dub".  He preferred a number that sounded a bit country and western.

9. Aland, January 1982. The False Dots were on tour in Scandinavia in January 1982. We had to play a gig in Aland, which is a Baltic Island that is Finnish. We played a venue called Pub Bastun. They paid very good money, but we had to play three sets of 45 minutes in length. We didn't have enough songs, so we frantically learned two sets worth of covers and dusted off every song we'd ever played. One of the songs we learned was the Steve Miller band song "Space Cowboy" (not The Joker, which references it). It has the same riff as Lady Madonna by The Beatles. It ends with a stop and a short drum break. To pad it out, we decided that our drummer would play a drum solo at the end. Paul Hircombe suggested that we'd do the solo with a strobe light on. Paul 'obtained' a strobe light and we rehearsed it. It was hilarious as it appeared Mark was playing in slow motion, whilst frantically bashing everything in sight. We decided that we'd end the first set with it. Until that moment, the Fins were midly enjoying the tracks, but not getting too involved. When we played Space Cowboy, their ears pricked up. I think they expected Lady Madonna. At then end when the lights were cut and Mark did his solo, they went mental. After that they really got going. When we finished the final set, they bayed for an encore. We said "We've got no more songs". They all bayed "Play Space Cowboy again". So we did, three times. There was a moment when Mark was doing his solo in the final set, with the strobe on. There were massive great Viking hulks dancing on tables, seemingly in slow motion. I will never forget looking at the scene and wondering if we'd ever get a response like this again. I wondered if anyone would? The next morning a few of the punters turned up. We were the first English band to play Pub Bastun. One guy said to me that he'd never seen an English band before, only Swedish and Finnish ones. I asked if he liked us. He said "Your playing is rubbish, but your attitude is amazing and I've never seen a gig like it. All of our bands are very regimental". I hope our playing has improved a bit. 

10. The Family Stone at The Jazz Cafe. I can't believe this was 2012, over 12 years ago. Sadly, Sly was not playing with them. But I cannot tellyou how good they were. Rather like the Dickies at The Powerhaus, I really went out of curiosity. From start to finish the gig was amazing, but when they played Higher, I was transported to a better place. When the brass really kicks in, it just is so uplifting. That was the moment I decided I wanted a band with brass in it and it's why Tom Hammond plays guitar with The False Dots. 

As I compiled this list, it reminded me of just how much I love live music. I could have made this a top 25 or even a top 100, possibly even a top 1,000. An important thought occurred to me. These days so many people at gigs are obsessed with taking videos that they miss such moments. One thing I guarantee with gigs is that the videos never capture the moment. Professional crews rarely do, so what hope have you. Put the phone away and groove on down and feel the moment. My biggest bugbear of all are people who talk at gigs and don't enjoy the music. If I ever become world dictator, I'll employ people with electric cattle prods to shut them up. A mate recently told me that he'd "given up on gigs as they are too expensive". I pointed out that venues like the Dublin Castle, where we play tomorrow charge a tenner for entrance. You will notice that none of my moments occurred in Stadiums with mega artists. I passionately believe that if you want to see the best music, go to a small club. If you can get down tomorrow to the Dublin Castle, please do.

Why I am staying on Twitter/X

I was asked yesterday "when will you be quitting Twitter" by a good mate. I was a bit miffed in truth, that someone thought I was so indecisive that if I thought a platform was completely untenable, I'd not depart immediately. There has been lots of talk of quitting Twitter recently. Everyone from the Guardian to Clifton Suspension Bridge have left the platform. If I am honest, I've given far more thought to stopping my subscription to The Guardian than I have to 'quitting Twitter'. The reason? Well it costs me a small fortune to buy the Guardian and there is almost nothing worth reading in it. I used to have a whole list of people that I'd check in the morning, as they had something worth reading. These days, it really is only sketch writer John Crace left, as well as Dooensbury on a Friday morning. I buy the Daily Express and The Guaridan every day. It gives me a balance of writing on the right and left. It helps me hone my arguments. Much of what is in the Express political content is complete rubbish, but a trip to Twitter will confirm that there are no shortage of people who beleive it. Let me give you one example. This morning, their political writer Leo McKinstry claimed Labour were wasting Britians reserves of oil and gas by not exploiting them. Think of this logically, it is an absurd statement. The reserves will be there forever, until we extract them. We are simply making a decision not to exploit them now. If that decision turns out to be a mistake, future generations will still have some wealth in the bank. If I hadn't read this twaddle, I'd not have my arguments formed should someone say something so ridiculous. There was a fascinating feature about a crime writer and how his terrifying experience of being abducted as a teenager influenced his writing. The only article of real interest in the Guardian today (apart from Crace & Doonesbury) was an interveiw with Gwen Stefani, where she admitted that Madness and the Specials were two of her favourite bands. Stefani is a big guilty pleasure of mine (don't tell Mrs T). She used to be on rotation at the Gym when I used to do a lot of running on a treadmill. The point I'm making is that as a rational person, I don't spend money on information sources because I agree with the politics of the owners. 

If I didn't subscribe to products owned by people I find reprehensible, I'd never have subscribed to the Rupert Murdoch owned Sky Sports. As a football fan, this would have meant I'd be depriving myself of one of the few things I really enjoy. Of course, I hated lining the pockets of Rupert Murdoch, a man I despise and who I believe has caused more damage to the Uk than anyone since the second world war. But life is full of compromises. Had I not subscribed to Sky Sports, it would have massively impacted my life in a negative way. I doubt Rupert Murdoch would have missed the money I spent, that made its way into his bank account. Ironically, Sky studios in Elstree have actually ended up making a massive contribution to the local economy. I still can't stand Murdoch, but the concept of watching Strictly on the BBC instead of the football on Sky is something that I personally couldn't do. I'd much rather Someone else got the cash, but in our Capitalist society, that is not how it works. We get these powerful billionaires with a monopoly on information and we have to live with it. It is also worth pointing out that before Sky TV, football coverage was far less professional and there was far less opportunity to watch it. The sad truth is that such billionaires do deliver products that make our lives better, even if they do many other things that make our lives worse.

Which brings us to Elon Musk and Twitter. I first heard of Musk when I started using Ebay in around 2002. I made a small fortune trading on the platform. Musk also owned Paypal. Whatever you may think of Musk, Paypal is a brilliant platform and is the payment platform we use for online payments at the studio. For someone despised by the left, it is rather ironic that Musk invested a fortune building the Tesla green brand, which makes electric vehicles and batteries, which are seen as the future of the green economy. Unlike Trump, who is all for a dirty carbon economy, Musk has probably done more to move us to electric than any other person on the planet. You may not like it, but the facts are there. Then there is SpaceX. Now you may see it as completely bonkers. Musk says that it is the only way that humanity can ever survive in the long term. Moving  beyond planet Earth will secure the long term future of humanity.  He has a point, whether you like it or not, it is a worthy goal. Which brings us to his takeover of Twitter. From the moment it was first mooted, it was met with howls of anger from the left. "How dare a zillionaire take over a start up that we like?" seemed to be the refrain. 

Twitter was a company bleeding money. Press coverage indicated that when Musk saw the books, he was horrified. Much of what he's done to try and make it turn a profit has been very painful, but he's not the first boss to fire staff in a loss making business. He's not the first boss to try and wring every penny out of his customers. He's also not the first boss to mess up a product. Twitter is now a horrible environment. Musk welcomed back the likes of Tommy Robinson and all manner of US far right loonies. He made changes that encouraged them to spout bile on line. There is nothing nice to say about it, except that in the West we believe in free speech and sadly that means these sort of people have as much right to spout bile, so long as they are not breaking the law, as woke lefties like me. 

I have my own suspicions as to why Elon Musk has snuggled up to Trump. I suspect the main reason is that he knew Trump would win and it would be good for business. He is in the inner circle. He has the opportunity to shape the future of the USA. Unlike just about every other appointment Trump has made, Musk is actually very intelligent and has acheived things in his life. His wealth was built in tech and in spotting opportunities that no one else even realised existed. How could he not see an opportunity in what the Trump presidency offers? Musk does not come from a mega wealthy background. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, emerald dealer, and property developer. He clearly comes from a family where taking risks and seizing opportunities is in his blood. My assessment and it may be cruel, is that Musk see's Trump as a gateway to realising his dreams of space exploration and destroying the old financial world order. He sees a bloke who appears to be suffering from a touch of dementia, who has appointed a bunch of absolute morons to run his government, because they all tell him he's marvellous. If you are clever, ambitious and a risk taker, what is not to like?

That is not to say I don't have massive concerns, which are probably just due to my paranoid and cynical nature. My biggest is Musk's investment in "The Boring Company". What does every credible Bond style villain have, whilst they are planning to destroy the world with nuclear bombs? A massive bunker where they can be safe. I do wonder if Trump ever watched any of the Bond films with Roger Moore? If I was him, I'd be a tad reticent about snuggling up too close to Musk, but maybe that's just why I don't own Paypal and am not President of the USA.

A friend suggested that Musk wants to be the next President. Whatever you may think of him, that's impossible as he was not born in the USA. It would require a change to the constitution and I doubt that will ever happen. I suspect Musk has bigger dreams. He has his eyes on the whole universe. For him, I suspect the USA is a bit small for his ambitions. My gut feeling is that Musk will be one of the few sane people in the Trump administration and that cannot be a bad thing. What few people seem to understand is that as the owner of Twitter, he has ownership of one of the biggest data mines of personal information on the planet. Every opinion that you've ever expressed on Twitter is owned by Mr Musk. I used to write software that mined information to spot fraud patterns in UK government benefits payments. What we soon learned was that once you start looking at such data, you learn all manner of things. A whole bunch of types of fraud were identified that no one even new existed until the data was crunched. I have no doubt that all of the Tommy Robinsons and their followers are having their data thoroughly crunched as we speak and I suspect that the usage of the data will only become apparent when someone realises how you can use it. I suspect that with AI analysis, Mr Musk will be able to study my Twitter history and tell me what colour underpants I'm wearing, what I'm having for dinner tonight, what time I go to the toilet, what I'm listening to on the radio and all manner of other information that would be highly useful if he decided to destroy me by fair means or foul. Whilst I doubt I'd find myself in his crosshairs, I do wonder if all of these libertarian Americans who he's actively encouraging to share their lives and thoughts on Twitter will be quite so lucky, when they cease to be useful and stand in his way. 

And if you've been tweeting your life away for the last fifteen years and you've quit, it's too late. You've already put it out there.  Every time you've tweeted that a company has badly served you, every time you've posted a restaurant, gig or coffee shop you like, every time you mention someone you know, everything. It's all there and it can all be crunched. Even things like the time you tweet at will give away things. There is also the location you are tweeting from. All of it. Not just Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. All of them. The reason why a loss making concern such as Twitter was worth so much to Musk is because Tech investors understand this. Let me give you a trite example. If Mr Musk owned a rare bootleg album of The Ramones at The Roundhouse in 1977, he could get his lackeys to crunch Twitter and he may well conclude that I'd be a great person to sell it to and send me a Tweet offering it to me. There are far darker things he may want to do with data. Who knows? The sad thing about Twitter and all of these other platforms is you've already put it out there. 

Which brings us back to the title of this blog. Why I am staying on Twitter.

1. It costs me nothing.

2. IMHO Musk is no worse than most other multi billionaires and tech companies.

3. The horse had bolted, my digital history on Twitter is already in his hands

4. I beleive in free speech and much as I dislike nutcases, they have as much right to post crap as snowflakes like me. I don't want to belong to a platform that is an eho chamber for my views.

5. No one has actually made a rational case for leaving, other than their personal dislike of Musk.

6. Twitter is still the best of breed and I see good content on it.

7.  I dislike Rupert Murdoch more than Musk and I still have Sky Sport, so it would be deeply hypocritical to flounce off Twitter just to keep my lefty mates happy.

8. Every review of every film, play and record I've read in the Guardian in the last ten years has been wrong, If they like something, it is invariably rubbish and vice verse, so their flounce off Twitter is most unconvincing.

9. Like reading the Daily Express, Twitter exposes me to difficult arguments from people I don't like, which ultimately makes me better able to argue my case.

10. If Musk succeeds in his aims of moving forward humanities colonisation of space, it may mean humanity lasts a bit longer than it would if we were earthbound. As someone with a vested in the survival of humanity, it seems a worthy ambition.

11. Its the zillionaires that we never hear about who really worry me.

12. Having someone in the Government of the USA who is not a thick, useless Trump yes man can only be good. 

And what would make me change my mind? That is really quite simple. If I found that I couldn't be arsed looking at it anymore. I'd not flounce off, I'd just stop looking at it and unconsciously disengage, like I did with Friends Reunited and Myspace. Or if Elon Musk bans me as he doesn't like this blog.

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Anyway, now I've got your attention, here's another plug for The False Dots gig on Sunday at 2pm, at The Dublin Castle. Please come along. We are launching our first album in 45 years! 

Tickets Here >>>>>> wegottickets.com/event/627785