Cor, two posts in two days. I’m really spoiling you. Well, actually, this is mainly just information for others who have experienced the same problem as me, or are thinking of getting one of these. This is the one I have, it’s listed as the “Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip”, and it looks a little like this…

Well, in fact it looks a lot like this, because that’s actually it. Now, I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and have suffered with the device having very, very little volume. I happened to be in may favourite chatroom, when Marko (who has posted a few comments on here too) mentioned, in passing that he had one.

[20:18:42] [Marko] I remember showing my mum and dad my little sansa clip mp3 player
[20:19:19] [Scribbler] Haha, I’ve just got one of those sansa clips
[20:21:38] [Scribbler] I need something to make it louder
[20:21:44] [Marko] louder?!
[20:21:52] [Marko] did you set the region to “world”
[20:22:10] [Marko] if you have it set to europe, it’ll be quiet
[20:22:15] [Marko] due to EU regulations

Well, I rushed downstairs as fast as my milky-white legs could carry me. I remember it asking me the region, but thought that was just for the radio, which I’ll probably never use anyway. I negotiated the menu and couldn’t find an option for that. However, I did a factory reset on it (Settings > System Settings > Restore), and got the option for “Europe” and “Rest of World”.

Naturally, I selected RoW, and found out I could then crack the volume up until ELEVEN. Problem solved, and I shall have a happy bus journey listening to “Crap From the Past” until my ears bleed.

Ahhh, yes. It’s the only Saturday night of the year I look forward to. It’s Eurovision night. the only night of the year where I can quite happily enjoy 20-odd songs of questionable garbage. And, as is tradition, I shall comment on here regarding my findings. So this post will look bare right now, but it will fill up as the night goes on, from when it all kicks off at 8. BRING ON THE CRAP!

Well, before it’s started, Status Quo have just been on the lottery. I’ve always had a soft spot for The Quo, and this isn’t bad. I’m not going to be running all the way to Amazon to buy it, but it if came on the radio, I wouldn’t turn it off. Though, chances of it actually being played on the radio are rather slim.

20:02: Oh dear. It’s a Eurovision butterfly.

20:05: Yeah, so they’re going through the buildup. They’re singing the new European anthem. Or something. It’s done by Avici and one of the blokes out of Abba.

20:14 – FRANCE

She really need to brush her hair. Song slightly reminds me of Black Velvet. I can’t remember the name of the song.

20:18 – LITHUANIA (Something)

That’s the song name. I missed part of the song while I went to get the laptop, but it was average.

20:29 Oh oh, oh oh a-ding-dong. I missed most of the last few minutes, I’ve just got my MP3 player to work properly.

20:31 – SPAIN (ESDM)

A song that stoarts off with bagpipes will either go one way or the other. It went the good way. I really liked that.

20:36 – BELGIUM

Poor guy looks like a young Chris De Burgh.

20:39 – ESTONIA

Oh, here we are, shitty, slow ballad that’ll probably do really well, even though it doesn’t deserve to. And dry ice.

20:43 – BELARUS

I’m sure this is on one of Shakira’s CDs. I like it. Except she appears to go Brummie… “When the sun is always shining on YAAAOW”. I missed the end of this song due to the fact iplayer crapped out.

09: MALTA

I realise it probably makes more sense to but the track number than the time.

10: RUSSIA (DINA GARIPOVA – WHAT IF)

I missed most of this, as I have broken the seal. didn’t seem to impressive

11: GERMANY

This wouldn’t sound out of place in a club somewhere. Come on, where are the daft songs? We’re up to number 11, and I haven’t cringed once.

12: ARMENIA

Composed by one of those blokes out of Black Sabbath. Hmm. Those flame effects are a bit yellow. they want to check for carbon monoxide right about there.

13: NETHERLANDS

Well, there was a brief pause there for a “comedy” film, and back to the songs. this is the worst one I’ve heard so far, which means, it’ll probably do really well. Slow, very little melody, and singer isn’t much of a looker. NEXT! Wow we’re half way through ,and I haven’t got bored of doing this yet. Hope you’re staying tuned.

14: ROMAINIA

Ah, here we go, the daft songs! Some bloke singing like an opera singer. I have no idea what he’s singing about.

15: GREAT BRITAIN

Here we go! I don’t know why they keep recycling old singers. Sponglebert Jumpydink last year, this year Bonnie Tyler. It’s the first time I’ve heard it, and so far it’s actually rather pedestrian. Where are the gimmicks? We wouldn’t have won in 1981 if it wasn’t for the miniskirts. We wouldn’t have won in 1997 if the singer wasn’t Canadian. It’s not great. but I do love Bonnie Tyler.

16: SWEDEN (ROBIN STJERNBERG – YOU

I usually have a soft spot for Sweden’s entries. One of my favourite songs is “Invincible / Evighet” by Carola. Unfortunately, this doesn’t meet up to the same standard as that.

17: HUNGARY

Yeah, I’m not always watching the screen, so to answer a question, that’s why I’m only putting certain track names in. the guy has glasses like I had when I was 8.

18: DENMARK

Apparently, this is the favourite to win it. Same with bagpipes. songles with penny whistles in them can go one way or another. I can see why this is the favourite, as I’m really, really liking it. Golden confetti really fucks with the iplayer stream.

19. ICELAND

Not bad, though the singer looks like the love child of Rick Wakeman, and Rod out of Rod, Jane & Freddy.

20 AZEJ…. AZJERBI…. ABERJI…. BORAT

Bloke in a box. Instant flashbacks of Peter Griffin cocking his leg and farting. What happens if there’s a fire and he needs to get out there? Now they’re filling the box with rose petals! Let’s hope the guy doesn’t have hay fever.

21: GREECE

A track called “Alcohol is Free”. and YES! This is the type of shit I was this for. Mad as a yard of mince. Douse Points!

22: UKRAINE

Singer carried on my 7′ 8″ bloke with size 24 feet. Big feet, big socks. I bet he can’t walk into Primani and get a back of five near the counter. Song forgettable.

23: ITALY

this was at number one for 8 weeks in Italy. I’d love to check the records and see when the last time we had a Eurovision song at number one BEFORE the contest. I’ll bet it’s a while ago. Music in Italy must be non-existant if this sold well. I don’t like it at all.

Is there a break soon? I need a wee.

24: NORWAY

Graham Norton’s just given his first warning about strobe effects. Now, so far before every song that uses them, it warns you with a big banner across the screen. Surely, if he’s giving the warning audibly, the only people who are listening, are those who can’t actually see, negating the need to audibly announce the strobing effects.

I’ve not actually listened to the song. I’m still trying to work the warning.

25: GEORGIA

It’s like a modern version of “Save Your Love”. One more song and then I can get a packet of Monster Munch and a piss. Not at the same time, might I add.

26: IRELAND

Normally they have good songs. Heavy percussion is a bonus, so I like the backing track but the song itself really isn’t amazeballs.

SONG’S FINISHED. To the toilet!

22:39
Right, here we go. Results time. 39 results to go.

22:49
29 results to go, and we’re second last, with one point. We need to pull out of this shit.

And, it was around that part of the night I gave up. We’d lost horribly, and I had some other things to play with, so I went off with those. We didn’t finish last. I think we were about 5th last. Can’t remember, don’t particularly care. Still, it was an enjoyable mess of songs. Some catchy, some complete dross, and some I’m actually considering buying. All in all, it’s been just like every other Eurovision. Except, it’s just not the same since Terry stopped doing it…

I wasn’t planning to write a blog post tonight, however, I’ve just learned that the local commercial radio station for Teesside, is about to close its doors for the final time. As of Monday, TFM and Metro Radio will merge. And, despite not listening to it for many years, I will certainly miss its prescense.

Thanks to a shock announcement this morning, (or probably yesterday morning by the time I finish blabbering on about my memories of the place)it was announced that their offices will close.

As much as I say I don’t listen to it NOW, and my memories are all happy ones. I can even remember as far back as when it was Radio Tees. Barely. There are some tapes kicking around the house that remind me of this fact.

It’s quite concidental that earlier today, I was, once again, converting some old tapes from the 90s. Listening to them made me go back to the good times. It was when local radio WAS local. Phone-ins existed. Music didn’t just some off a big server. There had to be someone there to swap the CDs, play the jingle tapes, satisfy the advertisers. It was a world where you got to know the DJs. They, in rare occasions, would even do stuff for you.

Flashback to 1998. “Angel” by The Quest Project had been scheduled for release. On September 7th 1998, I was inside the local record shop (don’t get me started on the demise of THOSE!) for 9AM the day it opened, and canned the shelves. No sign. Odd. I even asked the guy at the counter. He checked their new releases list, nothing there either. It had sank without a trace. Even the radio stations had stopped playing it.

After “Tom’s Talk-in” fell off the airwaves, it was up to the guy who answered the phones, Richard Kell, to man the desks for a while, I contacted him through email and asked if he knew what had happened with it. He didn’t, but he’d check with the station to see if they had a spare copy, and gave me a direct number to call him. I did, and unfortunately, he wasn’t able to track down one. He did, however, play the song for me on the radio. I was the happiest person alive for four whole minutes!

Richard left, Tom Davies returned, Tom left again, and I never really listened to the station again. Onn the odd occasion that I’d spin the dial and it’d land on 96.6, it just wasn’t TFM anymore. Technology was onbviously moving faster than my listening style was accustomed to. It seemed that every show was either broadcast nationally, or prerecorded. It was now easier to copy and paste a show together, than it was to have a guy sat there with a box of CDs, a few jingles and a smile on his face. Its target audience age kept getting younger and younger, and this type of rubbish programming is acceptable to them. Allegedly.

Despite this, the frequency is still automatically programmed in pretty much every radio we own. It’s TFM. It’s local, even if I keep expecting to hear traffic recorts from Barney the sodding Dinosaur.

So, back to the memories. The roadshows were a great hit with me. These are the days before internets, so being able to see what the presenters looked like was a rare occurence. Just like every walk of like, some look like you expect them to, some don’t. the first one I went to was a TFM-organised one, and the headline act was… erm, PJ and Duncan, now formally known as Ant and Dec. There was me, and my mate Ste. I was 14, he was a couple of years younger. We hung around long enough to see them play “let’s Get Ready to Rhumble”, and then disappeared onto the beach to bury each other in the sand, and play Ridge Racer in the arcades.

I remember one particular roadshow. It was literally, the worst planned roadshow of all time. They’d planned to have it at the Hartlepool College of FE. Wow, this’ll be great, you’d think. A college? Loads of listeners there! Whoever booked it, can’t have explained which car park they had in mind… it was the staff car park. Honestly, there were four people there, and two of them were me and Chris. In fact we just happened to be talking about it the other day. One of the DJs at that roadshow would go on to have one of the best “breakdowns” in radio history. I’m not talking about technical breakdowns, I’m talking mental He shall remain nameless, for the fear of this incident appearing in earch results for him.

Anyway, it’s a normal afternoon show. I’m in my usual position, huddled over my Amiga, with TFM providing musical accompaniment. A remake of Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” starts playing. I don’t think much of it. Probably listenable. Not much else. It fades out and starts playing again. A bit odd. The song comes to an end again, and the DJ pipes up… “I’m not really supposed to do this, but they won’t allow this song on the air, and I think it’s going to be massive, so here it is again”. The song plays for a third time. By this time, things were starting to escalate. The song fades out, and there’s chaos. Banging on the studio windows can be heard. He continues to talk. “Somtimes you have to stand up to what you beilieve in radio, and this is going to be a massive hit for Leo Sayer… *bang bang bang bang*… I’m just gonn….”

There is silence, followed by static, as presumably they’d cut the power to the station / transmitter. This continued for about 15 minutes before things started to come back online. Robert Miles’ “Children” played through a rather low quality loop, preumably to keep the link to the transmitter open while everything starts back up. The “Programme Controller” for the station announces his apology that a presenter “overstepped the mark”, and oddly, the incident was never mentioned again, I believe the DJ in question actually went on to remix a Leo Sayer song, featuring on the CD single of the track.

Well, I’ve overstepped my personal 1,000 word limit quite nicely, and seeing as this update doesn’t have any photos, I’d be surprised if anyone has made it I LOVE MY MAN TITS this far down, so I can probably get away with inserting a humorous message somewhere in this sentence. I shall continue, as it’s a subject dear to my heart. Let’s continue at around the 1998 mark.

There was an announcement by the station that they were selling off all of their old records. A radio station? Records? Element? I was indeed in it. One slight problem. I was on the dole, or in college, earning a pittance for doing placements. Back then, money was something other people had. Still, Chris and I (ooh, the grammar nazis would be proud), headedover to Thornaby, more exactly, to Yale Crescent, the home of TFM. There were boxes and boxes of records. Singles, album’s 12″s, the lot. I spent a good few hours there, and knowing I only had literally pounds to my name, game away with a handful of singles, all labeled up with the old Radio Tees logos, cardboard sleeves, and handwritten notes of chart histories of the records, and if they were featured on any shows. I picked up Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way”, with all of the stickers, and notes that it was Alistair Pirrie’s pick of the week when it was released.

My favourite purchase of the day would have to be the 7″ version of “Stainsby Girls” by Chris Rea. this was the original version, as opposed to the remixed version that seems to be the one on all of the Greatest Hits CDs. Unfortunately I managed to break it a few years back, so I don’t have it anymore, but I still remember the record, where I first got it, and more importantly, hearing it being sang live when I went to see Chris Rea play last year.

I may bore you with more TFM memories over the coming days, as I know you’re dying to hear them (this is more of a niche entry than my usual shite!)but I’ll finish by giving an update on theleast few posts. Daddykins is once again being a pain in the arse. Back to normal, then. Senta (aka, Dog 1, aka Wobblydog) continues to improve. She is almost, but not quite, okay. Today has been the first time in a week she’s eaten from her bowl. I’ll keep updates on separate posts from now on, but thought I’d tag that onto the end for those who made it this far.

UPDATE: Graham Robb has written a post on the change here. It is important that word is getting around about this change.

Well, I’ve just bought myself a Collectorz Connect account. that means I’ll shortly be putting my music database online PROPERLY, and it’ll probably be around for many years to come. Unless, like all internet-based services, is that it’ll die a complete death long before then.

I’ve been using a piece of software to manage my music collection for some time now, and I’ve made a few half-arsed attempts to get the damn thing online. These have been mainly down to the difficulty of the “export” feature of the software. It outputs HTML files, which aren’t easily searchable, aren’t exactly beautiful, and weren’t the ideal option. Uploading involved exporting to a directory, creating a tarball of the files, uploading to the server, untaring via a shell, and hoping, nay praying I managed to get the command right. If I didn’t, it would usually mean I’d overwrite a file somewhere on the site. There was a time I managed to create an 80Mb HTML file of complete garbage by doing this. Not ideal.

Therefore, I hope this is a better solution.

It’s not ideal, as I don’t host it myself, but this solution will last until 2017. That means it’ll probably outlive this site, the majority of my music collection, and the amount of times I’ve been in and out of the doctors and/or hospital in 2012, it’ll probably outlive me. Er, on the plus side, it takes me one click to update the database, and I still have the ability to share just that little bit more about my favourite music, even if both of my readers couldn’t actually care less.

Feel free to browse the collection here:-

http://connect.collectorz.com/users/scribbler/music/view

No doubt that’ll replace the “Collection” link in the sidebar, if and when I can be bothered to do it.

Cor, (almost) three posts in three days. I must be spoiling you! OK, so the last two weren’t of particular interest to anyone other than those that has a failed NAS drive, but they still count.

I’m happy to report that this one won’t be of interest to anyone either. Sorry about that.

I’ve spent the last few hours on this dreary Sunday morning, by listening to music. Nothing special there, I admit. This is, however, Amiga music. I’ve spent the last few hours going through some of my old favourite Amiga MODs. Now, for those of you who don’t know what a MOD is, or think it’s something you put on an in-game weapon, it’s short for music module, and it was an extremely popular way of making music via computer, using something called a tracker. My writer’s block is creeping up on me already, and I currently can’t describe what a tracker is (except for a delicious cereal bar), but if you ever played a game on an Amiga, Atari ST, and certainly some of the consoles, you can bet it was composed on a tracker. I’ll let Wikipedia tell you if you want to know any more.

I must admit, I’m not much of a musician. I couldn’t carry a note in a bucket, yet still, I spent most of my last school years playing about with OctaMED, ProTracker and various others, knocking out daft little tunes. This was before the days of the internet, and certainly before mass storage was available, therefore, most of my MODs were only heard by a few people. I’d often give Amiga formatted disks to friends with them on, and then think no more of them. Surely, I’d *always* have a copy, and will *always* be able to listen to them. No. Pretty much all of my Amiga data disks have been destroyed. I have a couple of game disks hanging around, but almost any work I’d done on the Amiga is long gone.

A few weeks ago, I discovered I’d actually lost all contact with Wayne, the old school friend who I mentioned a few times on here a few years ago. My only contact with him was through email, and even then, I’d not heard from him for a couple of years. Thanks to the Virgin/NTL email fuckup, I dropped him an email to see if he’d been affected. Turns out he had, and his email address is no longer valid. I know I’d sent him a LOAD of my stuff back in the day. Gutted, I turned to Facebook, to see if any of my other school mates may have had a copy. It drew a blank

Sadly, yet amazingly, the only one I can think of that survives, is one of the very first I ever did, and one of the ones I’m most ashamed of. I never gave it a proper name, but it is heavily based on “mod.fairlight” – if you were lucky enough to get the Amiga Format version of OctaMED on the coverdisk, you’ll recognise this as the demo track that came with it. Before the internet, I had to bastardize what little music I had, in order to learn the program. I was lucky enough to have borrowed a sampler from the afore-mentioned Wayne, which allowed me to record samples and fit them to the music. For this particular MOD, the vocal samples were mainly from a radio talk show, hosted by a person with the initials “TD”, and this is all it was ever known to me…. td.mod

Computers have moved on, I have went through dozens of hard drives, yet still, this td.mod, like a bad penny just simply won’t go away. Chris came round, and I played it to him again after at least 16 years of not hearing it. He couldn’t believe I still had it. It created an instant ear-worm, to the point he was quoting “Salted-salted-salted peanuts?” to me, some 7 days later.

It is, with the least bit of pleasure, I bring you, one of the most painful things to hit human ears.. here it is… TD.MOD!

And that wasn’t even my original point of the post. It would appear my brain got sidetracked about the fact that everything I have ever done is complete shite…