• Return of the Bush

    Return of the Bush

    Today, tickets went on sale for Kate Bush’s (allegedly) one off comeback show, I say ‘allegedly’ because the cynic in me is sure that these ‘one off’ gigs are just test gigs to build demand and see if there is a possibility to do more (see the Stone Roses 2011). The tickets for Kate’s gig…

  • Radio Show: Croydon’s music scene in the 70’s – The Greyhound

    Radio Show: Croydon’s music scene in the 70’s – The Greyhound

    Tune into Croydon Radio at 10 am tomorrow for my latest show, focusing on The Greyhound music venue, Croydon in the 70’s and the bands who played there. Featuring music from: Queen, Mott the hoople, Genesis, Pink fairies, Elton John, T-Rex, Roxy Music, ELO, David Bowie & Lou Reed and an interview with the old manager Howard…

  • Heart of the Community Awards, Sept 2014

    Heart of the Community Awards, Sept 2014

    Last night I attended the Croydon Heart of the Community Awards, an award set up by the Croydon Advertiser to assist people working hard to make a difference in the community in Croydon. I was humbled and blown away by the amazing people in Croydon making differences in their own ways, quietly & wholeheartedly with…

50 years of Pet Sounds and Brian Wilson on tour

Monday 16th May 2016 was the 50th Anniversary of Pet Sounds, an album most people aged 35 upwards have in their music library. It has touched the lives of generations, it is critically rated by many of the great musicians and is often cited as being one of the best albums of all time (it’s actually Rolling…

Podcast with Francis Rossi

A month or so ago I had the pleasure of bumping into Mr Francis Rossi of Status Quo and he was kind enough to help us promote Purley Festival by giving me an interview. I transcribed part of the interview for the Croydon Advertiser. You can listen to the podcast here.

10 reasons why you should kill your television

A month ago we took a leap into the unknown (at least since our 20s). We decided to get rid of our Virgin box and relinquish ourselves from the millstone around our neck commonly know as ‘The Television’. Since its invention in the 1950’s, the television has become a staple in our daily lives, used…

Down and out in Soho – My funny Valentine

We don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day but this year we decided to push the boat out and head up town, inevitably we ended up on a massive pub crawl but we found some real gems that I thought I should share. The first is The Angel in St Giles High St, spitting distance from Denmark…

Interview with Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading, MBE and more importantly – according to her – (BA Hons) has won the coveted Ivor Novello Award, been nominated three times for a Grammy and twice for a Brit, written over 20 albums, has a plethora of gold, platinum and silver discs, been honoured by the Queen, sung for Nelson Mandela and…

Interview with Spin Doctor’s front man, Chris Barron

You can pretty much guarantee that anyone in the UK who was in their teens or twenties in the early 90’s will have fond memories of dancing The Spin Doctors alt-pop chart toppers like Two Princes and Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong, you might even find they have a copy of multi-platinum album Pocket Full Of Kryptonite in…