You’re a sister and let me introduce mine.

Really excited about the You’re A Sister gig we’re playing for Oxjam on April 16th. It’s being held in support of Oxfam’s Sisters on the Planet campaign. Entry is a donation of £3 or more… bargainous! You can find out about more of the acts by following the previous link. We’re playing with brilliant poet and compere Jodi Ann Bickley, my most fabulously heeled/voiced friend Stav and The Electrilickers, folk star Abie Budgen and of course, the lady fronted Che. We’ll also be entertained by the Atta Girl DJs – I’m particularly looking forward to their female records, particularly as Atta Girl’s Claire is a regular in the CIB shop, which is where I spend my Sundays.

Here’s a nice picture…. use for twitter/facebook profiles if you’re feeling supportive (please!)

So, to celebrate all things sister-hoody, I wanted to introduce you to the current line up of Get Frank.

First up, we have Mr James Chester on acoustic guitar. James is former Uni Rock Soc president and the longest serving musician of the group (alongside myself.) He joined after Nick Mannix had to leave to spend more time studying rocks and stuff. James accompanies me on many a journey to many a random venue. We have played in the wind, the rain and sometimes even indoors! We played outside New Street’s tourist info centre for Artsfest and hopefully we will continue playing for the foreseeable future. James loves a bit of Ska and Rage Against the Machine so often we like to slip in the odd RATM reference (ie. HUOGH! or similiar sounds…)

Next up, the genius that is Eve Hunt on drums. Eve has helped revolutionise the Get Frank sound. Suddenly we’re tighter, more upbeat and practices are even more fun. Eve keeps things light, punchy and pacey. And she doesn’t know how good she is, so if you ever see her at one of our gigs then please do tell her! She also copes mightily well to keep the boys in check, particularly as I have an odd appreciation for putting pauses in so many of my songs and it could otherwise be hard to keep up all together!

Then we have Miss Desiree Benson on glock and keyboards. Now I know I’m guilty of going up to Dezzie in practices and telling her to play something just once but she works it out anyway, because she’s awesome like that. I’m going to start writing more stuff specifically for keys so we can start showing her off a bit more! She’s also a darned skilled stylist and I very much need her in my life to dress me for gigs. Oh, and a great Burnfm DJ too!

The latest member to join our lineup is tallest member Richard B Brookes (or Richie B Brookes for short.) Richie brings with him a love of ska and nineties hitmakers Babybird – so much so that he spent the last weekend stalking them (he calls it ‘going to two gigs in a row’) We would do a cover of ‘You’re Gorgeous’ but it’s only a ‘feminist song’ when its sung by a man… maybe.

In fact you are more than welcome to interview the above without me. As I’ve only really been interviewed once and I forgot to ask for everyone’s names to be published in the article, nor did I ask for Kate Hindley’s wonderful artwork to be credited.

So yes, any questions for the band please ask away!

We’re playing a free gig at the Bulls Head, Mosley tomorrow at 8pm with a fantastic lineup including A Bull, Greatest Hits and Boat to Row so please do come along!

Frankie x

Should I stay or should I go?

Its nearly the end of my second semester. I have one two hour seminar left and a handful of deadlines for early next term… then that’s it. My undergraduate experience over.

I keep thinking about what comes next. Do I look for a job in Birmingham and stay for potentially another year or do I go to London (or elsewhere.) I’ve started applying for stuff (way too early, I know.) One thing I’m sure about is that I want to retain a sense of independence and not head back to Kent. It’s just no comparison to life in Birmingham!

What should I do…..?

Another thing about Skins.

A year or so ago I wrote a blog post questioning the content of the trail for the ‘next generation’ of Skins, aka series three. It wasn’t particularly approving, perhaps because I was a tad sensitive about a fireworks-in-a-night-club disaster and the fireworks-in-a-pub-lark of the ad (that debuted a few days later) felt a tad insensitive.

It’s testament to the popularity of the show that according to WordPress, that post was one of my most read.

I haven’t blogged properly for a while. I’ve been busy. And somewhat unmotivated – should I be writing this when I have so many other things to be writing. Personally I think that of course the answer is yes; that if something affects me deeply enough then I should rush to my macbook, flip it open and type away. But then other people might be writing and I’ll be saying nothing new – it’s exactly the same with your typical undergraduate essay. At the end of the day, you do it anyway.

So quickly I’ll address the BBC 6Music debate. What this should tell the BBC is that the station needs development and a bit of TLC – and then more people will tune in. They should consider this publicity as good and gain a bigger picture of what people want and expect. Commercial radio is nothing like BBC radio -and thank goodness for that. Although sometimes I feel that the Radio 1 playlist is too similar to sister station 1Xtra and requires a tad more diversity (which is beginning to seep in again with the likes of Mumford & Sons etc,) oh and requires DJs rather than personalities/TV presenters, for me there should be no question of whether 6Music should stay or go. Of course it should stay, and of course all the people who claim to support it should go out and buy a digital radio (or stick a bookmark to the online player in their browser.)

I shall talk about the plans to axe BBC Blast in a post sometime soon – or will post something on 4Talent’s blog. I have been part of Blast. To be blunt, it would be a disaster for thousands of people like me. Opportunities are hard to come by, Blast vastly multiplies them.

Anyway. Back onto my former topic. At the beginning of tonight’s Effy centred Skins episode, the penultimate of series 4 and the current ‘generation,’ I said to my housemate “I’m not sure if they’ll recommission this.” Not because I think that they shouldn’t, but simply because with each new generation of cast and characters, the concept will become more and more watered down. The original viewers will grow older and perhaps further away as they become less satisfied with characters they no longer consider ‘classics.’ Added to this central characters Naomi and Pandora (sob) have not had their own episodes this year (budget cuts at C4) and fans may be unhappy with this.

Tonights episode was a slow burner. How does one deal with mental illness but retain the usual Skins ‘sheen’? (which is more of a layer of fabulous grime and a hint of smoke.) How do you try and settle the love triangle of Cook-Effy-Freddie once and for all without repeating former narratives? How do you literally make the audience sit up from the calm pace of an occasionally stilted episode and beg for the finale?

In the case of Skins co-creator Jamie Brittain, you take a tip from Dad and you force them to. I still feel slightly dazed, sickened even by the final moments of this evening’s episode. I used ‘sickened’ in place of shock – really I should say shock, but I’m the easily scared type. If you’ve not seen the episode then don’t read on. If you’re not planning on watching and I can’t convince you to then read on and then watch it (4od.)

At the end of the episode we were presented with a typical ‘Freddie-confronts-a-character’ scene. Only, when Freddie tried to leave confronted character’s house (Effy’s creepy counsellor who was somewhat reminiscent of Tony’s admissions tutor in his episode of series 2) The homeowner walked up the stairs towards the tiny landing Freddie could not escape from (locked door) with a pristine, white baseball bat. Cut to white door, frosted glass doorframe. Yells, thuds, bloodsplatter. Silence.

I sat on the sofa watching this and couldn’t move, just for a moment. Although there have been deaths in Skins (the wonderful Chris in series 2, Sid’s father; both beautifully written moments, and of course Sophia in the series opener which I was involved in the filming of,) This however, was something entirely new. There has been an element of choice in the previous deaths with suicide, avoiding medication and hedonistic lifestyles playing a major factor. Murder is something entirely different, a completely original element thrown into the mix and something that could possibly save the series from being known as the least engaging of the four. What was particularly interesting about the last moments of the episode was the trail for the final episode. It seems that Freddie’s 20 year old sister Karen, will be the focus. Karen featured far more heavily in the previous series and I do feel that the final episode will benefit from her return – it also means that the final episode of series 3, which was another love triangle centred episode is unlikely to be repeated in a different format.

I for one will certainly be glued to the TV come next Thursday!

I could have died.

Sorry to use shock tactics to get your attention! It’s not a lie – but it does require a long winded story [disguised as a review!]

Last night I popped over to Digbeth’s Rainbow for a night of sober fundraising recklessness. The University of Birmingham’s Oxfam Outreach society were holding their annual Rainbox charity event (I believe this may be a national thing – although I’m afraid I’ve not researched properly – I’m on a bit of a tight schedule atm.) £3 on the door, cakes for a donation. Bands. Brilliant!

First up on the bill was gifted singer Bethan Court, who used to sing for a band called The Harbour Lights who have unfortunately now disbanded. This may, however, be a plus for Bethan as it will give her a chance to experiment with younger, edgier material. Last night she performed a range of covers including Emmy The Great’s First Love and Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. There is a fabulous ethereal quality to Bethan’s voice – it’s depth of tone lulls one into a sense of security which didn’t quite fit with the latter two songs, particularly when performed in such a musically sound way . I would love to see her perform material that she herself has written or has been written for her so that she can explore the content of the songs truthfully. That, in time, will guarantee a more affecting performance. I hope that she finds a band to work with soon, because I really want to see her perform again.

Next up, the Miles Bradley fronted LookiMakeMusic who haven’t had a great deal of gigging experience as a group. This wasn’t, however, an issue to themselves or the audience. Miles is a witty orator rather than virtuoso singer lamenting love, breakups and Supersonic Vague/Snobs in a self effacing way. Like a less enthusiastic Eddie Argos I suppose! He’s got a very good sense of rhythm, particularly when reciting very very fast passages of lyrics – almost like a MC crossed with a slam poet. Musically the band allow themselves to vary their accompaniment between sparse and robust – the robust, collective sound being particularly effective (as one would expect.) One moment where all members sang in enthusiastic harmony was particularly impressive. More please lady and gents! One thing that did stick out was the occasional use of violin by muli-instrumentalist Caitlin Price. To me I didn’t always feel that the timbre of the violin quite fit with the rest of the music, particularly at the end of a couple of songs where it was played for a couple of phrases longer than the other instruments. This was not due to Caitlin’s abilities – she is a very capable, impressive musician. It was purely a concept that didn’t quite gel for me. The synth, however, went down a treat!

Third to take to the stage were Young Runaways, an event looked forward to by many of the event attendees. The Wolverhampton wonders burst into their set and never lost a drop of energy throughout. They produced a set of well crafted, musically interesting pop songs, with a wealth of experience clearly on their side – it’s not hard to tell why they’ve been played on Tom Robinson’s BBC6 Music introducing show… Theirs is music of the heart swelling kind – that is to say, you can stand (perhaps sway a little) and watch respectfully, or you can jig to the music joyfully – the resulting rapture is still the same. Gorgeous.

The penultimate act of the night was SDF. I can honestly say that I have no idea who they are and still don’t (as I was in the bar during their set… whoops!) Although my housemate DP reviewed them as ‘confusing.’ Basically he had no idea if they were ‘trying to be ironic as they stood in a line and danced campily.’ However DP admitted that he rather warmed to the band and others I spoke to from the audience ruddy appreciated them. If you like your electro, check them out.

The act that the audience had unanimously braying for all night was uni musicians The July Days. I’ve been a fan (and, hopefully) a friend of the band for a while so haven’t written too much on them so as to remain unbiased, however after last night I really felt that seeing them for a measly £3 donation (they have the potential to command a lot more) meant that they deserved a little more of my time (and words – if they have the potential to be worth anything.) The band always kick off with singer Reece Lipman’s introduction; ‘This song is called I Said, You Said and it goes like this.’ – which is fast becoming a bit of a trademark! The band had a generous 45 minutes onstage (which rushed by as furiously as ‘badger haired flemmy skeleton’ Sam Lewis’s mighty drumbeats.’ We were treated to classics such as ‘Babe Ruth’ and ‘Hollywood’s Future’ as well as similarly older, less played songs such as ‘Broken Lyrics’ plus newer material such as ‘Empire State’ and ‘Quirky Isn’t Working.’

I think it was halfway through ‘Babe Ruth’ when I looked over at Sam Cowley (Sir Digby himself) and realised that we both knew the words so well that we should audition to be backing singers/dancers (I have choreographed a rather fetching dance, you see.) Unfortunately, from the looks of the rest of the crowd, we’d probably have a lot of competition!

For the grand ‘Quirky Isn’t Working’ finale myself and Ms Helen ‘Shaniqua’ Shepherd (one of burnfm‘s newest DJs) took to a rather wobbly picnic table and gave it some ‘Kevin Lyttle‘ dancing. When the audience demanded an encore (and the band repeated ‘Babe Ruth’) we were joined by more jubilant dancers. This, ladies and gentlemen, is where I nearly died. The table bounced up, down, forwards, and backwards, but myself and Shep did not mind. When I did get a little scared however, we hopped off and headed to the stage in preparation for invasion…. just as the song ended. Rats!

Get Frank are playing an acoustic at the Bristol pear this Saturday so I hope some of you can join us. It’s a mere minimum £1.50 donation for entry (proceeds to the DEC Haiti earthquake appeal I believe.) Rainbox raised (at last count) a massive £700 for the Oxfam earthquake appeal so I hope we can raise a sum too!

The July days also sold a special acoustic EP for charity yesterday (an amazing £1) yesterday. Here’s mine:

Aren’t you the jealous ones?

Right I’m off to rehearsals.

Frank. x

p.s

To those of you reading on Facebook, this post, like most of my ‘notes’ originated from http://www.getfrank.co.uk, just so you know!

Say f*ck off to 3 mobile…

If someone ever tries to recruit you ‘as a friend’ to 3 mobile then say go away. Or tell them to get real. Say anything that means ‘no’ basically.

I have never recommended or been recommended to 3 mobile (I won’t hyperlink, they don’t deserve it) Right now I’m typing this with a phone painfully sat under my neck, my precious minutes being spent on a 3 customer services helpline (it’s been 4o minutes now….) All I want to do is cancel my mobile broadband. I stupidly went for an online offer (half price with 3 phone contract) 18 months ago. I was told 6 months ago that I couldn’t pay a penalty charge to scrap the contract so I’d have to wait. And wait I have.

The reason I ceased using the 3 mobile broadband service was quite simply because it wouldn’t work. And when I could get a connection it was so slow it actually ran me up £50 bill (from £7.50.) Looking back I should have contested this, but was woefully naive. So I uninstalled the modem and put the dongle aside to wait out the contract (when I did try to reinstall it wouldn’t work.)

I’ve been on the phone for 45 minutes now trying to get rid of this sodding contract. I couldn’t directly dial the broadband helpline because it asked for the associated broadband number which isn’t printed on the broadband sim card or dongle itself. As it is connected to my original mobile account I rang the mobile helpline. After a lengthy wait followed by a lengthy explanation they put me through to someone who would ‘cancel it for me’ who then told me that I had to give a 30 day notice period (which I certainly wasn’t told about 6 months ago else I would have cancelled in December.) This person put me through to another person, who told me not to cry and then put me back to the person before, who seemed surprised and said he would take it up with this department. He then said he would put me back through to the person who had sent me to him. That was at least ten minutes ago (the call has now been 50 minutes long.)

A scottish voice just answered the phone. Apparently the system is down and no one will be able to sort me out. So I have spent 52 thankless minutes waiting for something that will not happen. Firstly I cannot get that time back, secondly apparently I will not be able to reclaim the minutes either. I am extremely upset, agitated and distressed. This is not a way to spend an evening. I shall be writing to 3 customer services immediately. If you’ve had a similar issue you should too:

3 Customer Services

Hutchinson 3G

PO Box 333

Glasgow

G2 9AG

My amazing radio debut and other news…

Today at 1pm my first Amazing Acoustic show will be played on Amazing Radio.

I’m a bit worried about hearing my voice – it’s annoying at the best of times. I’ve kept links short and arranged back to back songs to avoid upsetting Amazing Radio listeners who are used to hearing only music (presenters have been only been on the station some evenings this week – and currently there’s just a few of us.) You can see the presenters here. We each have our own Amazing Tunes page so you can see what we’re listening to and playlisting – and leave us a comment.

Amazing Radio plays only unsigned music which it collects from Amazing Tunes. Artists can upload their tracks onto Amazing Tunes and have the option of purely streaming the tracks to potential listeners, making them available for radio airplay or selling their music for 79 pence. They get to keep 70% of money raised through such sales. Listeners can get their favourite Amazing tracks onto the DAB Amazing Radio station (also online) by tagging them, rating them and generally giving public kudos. The site has a chart too so users can easily see which songs are getting the best feedback.

Other presenters new to Amazing Radio include ex Head of Music/partner in crime Fuzz Chaudhrey, super cool Our Beat is Correct podcast producer Tom Cotton and Trevor Dann, former Head of BBC Music and chief exec of The Radio Academy.

If you miss my show today, it’s repeated Wednesdays at 7pm. I promise to improve as the weeks go on!

In other news, Un Coupe de Foudre, my friend Alex Buckmaster‘s short, no budget (and no time), Custard-Factory-Jay starring film is going to be played at Camden’s Roundhouse Theatre at the opening of their new cinema on the 18th January.

Happy weekend everyone

Kate Hindley artwork

My friend, filmmaker Alex Buckmaster was kind enough to commission me some artwork as a birthday present.

Kate Hindley is a Worcester based artist who has illustrated for Okido magazine and Girls Who Draw (a more extensive list can be found here.)

I’m rather excited as apparently more stuff is coming soon! (Check out them purple glasses and the little uke…)

Unfortunately this is a bit of a short post as I’m in the midst of Winter break essay writing, but I’ll be back soon with details about my new radio show on Amazing Radio, a new digital radio station that only plays unsigned music.

We’re also looking for a bassist for Get Frank, so if you’re interested or know anyone who might be please GET IN TOUCH, frankiepromotes@googlemail.com.

Happy new year!

back to band

I’ve not played a gig for other a month now… I’m hoping people don’t forget me!

It’s a decision I’ve made partly cos I’m so darn busy, but also because I’ve got a new drummer, Eve and a new glock/keys player, Desi. It’s really exciting because it means I’ll be able to have more fun when I’m performing rather than having to stick by the mic stand. It’s also exciting because Eve is an incredible drummer – not just in the playing sense but in the way that she can listen to something and bring something completely new to it. She likes to look at my lyrics and play something that works with them rather than purely keeping a beat. It makes me think of a time supporting the wonderful Dan Smith when his former manager told me I ‘had it’ and discussed drums (back then it was just me and my friend Nick doing our duo thing.) He was of the opinion that drums are purely to keep time but I’m starting to do a u-turn on this. I think that from our few practices together as a new line up, precussion has become an essential part of what I do. As my own precussive skills are limited, a lot of the stuff I utilise on my poorly recorded myspace demos can sound quite samey.

Hopefully if anyone who reads this and has seen us live before, or will do in future will be pleasantly surprised! I’m hoping that the lovely Mr Hearing Aid will pop along and give his opinion on our progression. Unfortunately we’ve lost our sax, but we’re aiming to sound a lot more together before we hit the ‘scene’ again. I’m also writing new material – aiming to produce more stuff along the lines of ‘Cautionary Tale’ – style rather than content.

(I have never actually watched this video before… I usually record them and shove them on Youtube…. it’s so different to how it is now!)

I’ve never been too keen on ‘Cautionary Tale’ yet a lot of people (well I say a lot… I mean most of the people who’ve heard my stuff) say it’s one of my best songs. It is always fun to play with a band though!

This is the first ever incarnation of ‘Arrangement’. I’d had the uke for a few days and was writing as I learnt new chords…

and this is the second

The new version, as of yesterday is nice and slow… until a few bars in. Then we ska it up. That’s another thing about being a collective – the influences that everyone brings. James, our guitarist is really into ska (and Abba as the chords I found in his guitar case yesterday would have me believe,) and we’re always break into a song by Spunge every now and again (usually that old classic ‘Kicking Pigeons’!)

I’ll hopefully record a practice soon so you can share in the fun!

My nearly-the-end-of-the-year resolution!

Who says you can’t attempt to make ‘fresh starts’ before January?

I’ve become slightly concerned about my little grey bubble that I’ve begun blowing recently! The thing about being president of a society, and a substantially sized one at that is sometimes it’s easy to take it all too seriously! I tend to think of myself as a radio station manager rather than a student club leader which means hat maybe I invest too much of myself into it.

Take the Burnfm mousemats situation. The mats, which cost burn £700 and the Guild £300 are far bigger than the size we asked the Guild to order. Apparently this is the fault of the supplier. The biggest issue is that the Guild logo takes up over half the space on the mat meaning that although Burn’s investment was of a much higher sum, the Guild appear to have much more of a visual benefit. These mats are going to be placed in computer clusters where the Guild – or Burn – have ever been able to advertise before so I don’t accept the counter argument that ‘the Guild need the advertising less than Burn so should pay less.’ At the end of the day advertising space is advertising space! The Guild also need to raise awareness about their own site. The biggest issue is that perhaps a smaller mat would have saved Burn money (as well as meaning that the Guild logo wouldn’t stand out as much.)

So that’s the stressy bit out of the way. On a positive note we’ve got them! After around 4 months of planning (since June) the mousemats are now safely with University IT services. Hopefully the mats will last around 3 years a provide a unique way of connecting with potential audiences – after all, all they need is headphones and they can plug into the library computers.

I guess I need to think about the positive things achieved this year at Burn! It’s just frustrating when you put time, effort and most of all passion into a project and it’s not entirely perfect, it can be hard to swallow – particularly when there are over 100 people looking to you to sort things. Any mistakes ultimately fall to me – if someone says something incriminating on air, for example, I may be the one who is ultimately disciplined. When you try and work with people who have less interest in a project than you have your sense of urgency isn’t matched and priorities are different – therefore wires have crossed.

I had a really stressful day last Wednesday. There’s no need to go into details really – there’s not much point, although I’d like to say that it is unfair that the way that staff talk to guild members is not seen as important as how staff are approached by members. I usually communicate everything by email, but not being able to be at the Guild every day I sometimes cannot wait for a reply and have to have a face to face conversation. These conversations are best had in comfy chairs (or at least sitting down.) When there’s an imbalance in the room – i.e someone is seated and another is stood awkwardly by the doorway, it can escalate to something unintended all too easily – tense body language is read wrongly etc… I’d also had the stress of showing the 27 strong committee the mousemats. I’d been frightened that they would be upset with me for giving the go ahead with them but luckily they were supportive as ever.

So, anyway (onto the point!) I went home when I’d finished Burn duties and wrote on my twitter an angsty (borderline hormonal sounding) tweet about how I was ‘fed up of the guild’ and that the ‘VPSAD’ was going to have a meeting to tell me off (or something along those lines.) Actually, upon reflection I shouldn’t have brought the VPSAD into it – and as such I’ve deleted the tweet. It wasn’t a personal attack on the VPSAD herself (I didn’t name her, because it was a general moan about the structure of the guild rather than the way she does her job – I was annoyed at how the VPSAD has to carry out the potentially uncomfortable council of disciplining a student rather than the student and the offended party having that discussion themselves. Had I been asked for an apology, I most certainly would have given one – I had my deputy manager with me and had I been offensive I’m sure he would have had a quiet word with me post event and I would have immediately tried to rectify the situation. I have never set out to deliberately offend anyone.

This is why I want to publish a public apology to the Guild’s VPSAD, Emma Packham, because I understand that my public tweet may easily have been offensive. Emma has been a great support to Burn, myself and all other students involved in societies since she took to her role and has always been open to chats with me – and I’m honestly really sorry if I caused her any upset.

Tomorrow Emma and the Guild gang will be campaigning with a flashmob at the Old Joe clocktower on the University of Birmingham Edgebaston campus (12.50pm.) This campaign is to try and ‘tell David’ Eastwood, the uni’s Vice Chancellor that a rise in tuition fees to £7000 plus is unreasonable. David will be One of the six people sitting at the Governmental table making such a decision. If you are reading this and are available then please come down and support. At 1pm we’ll be heading off to Joes Bar in the Guild to find out more.

Hope you are all well!

Frankie x

It’s burn a while!

Hello!

It has been a while hasn’t it? I’ve graduated from Channel 4, returned to University, proceeded with my court case (still waiting for a date but have received the ‘defence’) and got a radio station back up and running.

This Freshers’ Week was the first time Burnfm broadcasted outside into Mermaid Square. We weren’t allowed to broadcast into the Societies Fair but we did get to have a small speaker in the corner of the Sq. Although small we did get some lovely comments from the people in the square and got to have fun running around trying to find guests. It also gave us the chance to open up Burn’s doors to our fellow societies and sabbatical officers (who did an awesome job throughout the week, particularly Emma Packham the VP Student Activities and Development, Fabian Neuner, Guild President and…. heck all of them! Katie Ford, VP of Sport was brilliant to interview on air – she’s a natural.)

After a successful Burn introduction meeting (which featured legal training from wonderful University lawyer James Piggot) we managed to get down to training. This year, rather than train people in large groups (and a very small studio) we devised a training rota, training smaller groups (ranging from around 1-5 people – last year it was around 20 at a time.) We decided that DJs had to have both legal and studio training before going on air – so even past DJ’s had a refresher and more in depth legal training than ever before. I’m also planning on sending out a feedback form shortly so we can develop this further.

On Monday we went on FM for the first time since Spring 2007 (before I was even a student.)

On Wednesday members of Midlands student radio stations joined Burn at the Guild for some informative Q&A’s from the West Midlands branches of Galaxy FM and Heart. They gave loads of advice about being on and off air – and I’m hoping to get some more experience soon. Deputy Programme Controller of Heart West Midlands, John Collins also popped into the Burnfm studio with weekend breakfast presenter Matt Jarvis to give Burn DJ Rob Watts the shock of his life! Rob, being the trooper that he is successfully managed to involve Matt and John in the conversation (about 500 Days of Summer.)

In the evening we headed over to TC’s, an undervalued Selly Oak establishment to hear the nominees for this year’s Student Radio Awards. We hadn’t entered a great amount and weren’t nominated however you still have to consider that we’ve still not been long on air. Perhaps surprisingly for me I’m not at all bothered! In fact, I had a ruddy brilliant time! The ‘Social Sams’ (Sam Cowley and Sam Willet, Burn’s Head and Deputy Head of Social) organised the evening party and looked after me rather well. Willet infact described me as being ‘amazingly happy.’

It’s pretty obvious, but I’ll say it anyway, Burn wouldn’t be Burn without the committee. There have been times when people have been telling me to give it all up and maybe I would if it were not for them. Next year, once a new committee has taken our place I hope we have ex committee socials!

Our current ‘big challenge’ is to get Burnfm played in venues around the guild such as Joe’s Bar and Spar. Now we’re on FM, Spar may be possible (but I want to finish the week so I can make sure that everyone is ready.) A motion was passed in Guild Council to make sure that Joes Bar play Guild TV on its TVs and to make sure that Burn is also played. We don’t mind if this is not full time – (the saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ comes to mind) however if Guild Council has decreed this, surely it should happen? Students have said it’s okay, many Guild staff have also said they think it should happen – it’s the Venues team that haven’t agreed to anything.

If the Guild is for Students then why is it being run (in some places) entirely as a business? Students were lead to believe that an event featuring Calvin Harris would feature a live performance from the pop star (and they paid £10 for the privilege.) Instead Mr Harris arrived at approximately 2am and played a DJ set (his third event of the evening.)

I saw a fantastic DJ set at the Guild in my first year – it was the fabulously talented Zane Lowe and was part of the Guild Awards afterparty. (I paid £6 for both Guild Awards and aforementioned party,) so surely when one pays £10 to see someone, they expect them to do more than just plug a couple of laptops in? Why would you want to see a DJ play their own voice loops? (The word ‘tragic’ comes to mind.)

I also have a serious issue with Guild Venues as they dislike direct contact with me. I decided to pay them a visit to ask if a full building event would be occurring on Tuesday as the original act had been cancelled and I’d just heard that Simon Bird of The Inbetweeners would be doing a show. The reason Burn needs to know about events in the Guild (and I would say more than most other societies do) is because sometimes these events mean that DJs are not allowed to enter the building to do their show. Now these DJ’s pay for the privilege of broadcasting. It’s also hard for them to build up any kind of following when the schedule is disrupted. Some events mean that we can’t broadcast from the studio, and others still let us – this is what we need to know. Looking at a poster does not tell us this. The same with if a full building event is cancelled. I need to know so I can reinstate the DJs for the evening.

Right, rants over! It’s Peep Show time!

Frank x

Redbrick editor Nick Petrie has helped give the Redbrick Online website a complete (and seemingly Guardian online inspired overhaul) – it’s looking rather fantastic so be sure to check it out.