Norton to succeed Wogan on Eurovision Destroys any UK Hopes

Posted on August 17, 2008
Filed Under Daily Links, Eurovision | 2 Comments

NNNnnnnnooooooo!!!!!

No on the count of “Execs have big plans for the show and want to make it more glitzy, with one eye on X Factor [UK ‘Talent’ Show).” I’ve said this before, we don’t win Eurovision because the UK mainstream media does not take it seriously. Having a talent contest, for amateurs, and then throwing them on the stage in front to tens of thousands of people in the stadium and expect them to blow the superstar singers of other countries away in a live performance?

No on Wogan not making his mind up (sic): “Terry may decide he still wants to do the commentary for the actual contest but if he doesn’t, Graham will do that as well” You can’t have it both ways, with all this hedging. Either 100% in or 100% out. Don’t just idle along on autopilot, because that kills any authentic commentary (listen to this year’s and those from the mid to late 80’s and compare).

No on the count of Graham Norton. He’s a very competent presenter, he’s clearly got a nice deal with the BBC, and his recent work with “I’d Do Anything” certainly drew out the best in the amateur performers, but the word amateur is the key here. Having seen some of the stars of those show perform in a recent Edinburgh Festival production, I can’t see how sending talent show winners into the bear-pit of Moscow for one of their first live gigs will lead to anything more than around 35-40 points for the UK, and nothing higher than maybe 15th.

Other countries have stars queuing up and volunteering to represent their country - System of a Down just announced they would re-form if Armenia wanted them to represent them at ESC2009. The BBC is treating it like a sideshow. If we want to be serious about Eurovision by all means have some sort of UK selection program, but we should be courting established songwriters, lyrists and performers. We should be approaching well known bands and singers that will be able to tap into a fanbase in other countries

How can the UK do well in Eurovision again? I think that’s for another post. For now, it looks like the BBC is going to serve up ‘the same again’ and not change their approach.

And Paddy O’Connell must be quietly furious this gig isn’t his…

The Royal Mile, The Edinburgh Fringe, and The Podcast

Posted on August 17, 2008
Filed Under Daily Links | Leave a Comment

Just posted one of my favourite podcasts of the year… “Walking Down The Royal Mile” for the Edinburgh Fringe show over at The Podcast Network.


Show Notes - MP3 File - RSS Feed

The principle is a pretty simple one. Start at the top of the Royal Mile, where all the Fringe festivites and promotion are going on, and start recording. Then just bounce between people (and puppets - quite a few of them this year) until you hit the bottom of the mile. A simple idea, but bursting with content, and a bit of a challenge to hold it all together on the street with almost no preparation.

Anyway, the Fringe podcast still has a week to run, and there are 17 episodes from 2008 already if you’ve not been keeping up. And if you have been following the show, why not leave a review/comment on the podcast at iTunes (and you can subscribe there as well).

How To Prepare For ‘Spontaneous’ Interviews

Posted on August 17, 2008
Filed Under About My Sites, Links to my Articles | Leave a Comment

Mixing up the regular posts I do over at the Creative Choices Blog, and my coverage of the Edinburgh Fringe, I’ve been talking there this week about how I prepare for my interviews… the ones that sound rather scattershot and improvised, but still get to the point in the time needed…

Many years ago, while doing some work at a local talk radio station, I was told by the lead presenter one of the lessons that was passed on to him… “preparation, dear boy, preparation, that is the key.” It’s a rule that I certainly take to heart, and one that might be good for you all to consider as well.

More over on the Creative Thinking blog.

Wogan to Step Down From Eurovision

Posted on August 13, 2008
Filed Under Multimedia, Politics | 2 Comments

The hints have been there for a while, but with William Hill stopping taking bets on “Terry Wogan to not host Eurovision 2009,” I think it’s fair to say that it is time for Wogan to step down from Eurovision commentating duties. He once gave a piece of advice to someone starting to commentate for the first time (I think it was one of the Scandanavian countries)… Paraphrasing the exact quote, but “If it looks like a duck, the audience can see it’s a duck. If you don’t say it’s a duck, the audience won’t be with you.”

The problem is that Wogan now not only says it’s a duck, but then critisises the duck for looking terrible and being something that’s not the exepcted norm, and the country should be ashamed. There’s a fine line between enjoying the moment, and a public beheading. I think Wogan is veering towards the latter.

He’s also fallen into the trap of the myth of the block voting deciding the winner, an entire countries phone voting being bought by another country, and that the best songs don’t win (see here for my counter-claims refuting the block vote and the best song argument).

My biggest worry, from a UK perspective, is who the BBC put in his place. I’m not going to look at betting odds here, because there’s too much variance in the BBC to decide this, but you have to wonder if they will go down the easy “let’s take the mickey” routine that Wogan has practiced over the last few years (cf Jonathon Ross, or any ‘named comic’); to emphasis the so-called camp elements with Graham Norton - although how the last three winners (Ruissian solo singer Dima Bilan, the Serbian pocket dynamo of Marija Serifovi, and Finnish hard rockers Lordi) fit in with camp I don’t know; or simply plonk in another Irishman (is Eammon Holmes really being considered?)

If I had to choose from the available pool at the BBC, I’d have to put my hat (rather gingerly) on Paddy O’Connell getting the gig. Partly because he’s Irish, partly because he has the touch of the “this is all rather silly” without hitting the bitterness of Wogan, but mainly because he did a good job on commentating on the Semi-Finals for BBC3 this year.

Don’t get me wrong, Wogan will be missed - I’ve not had a Eurovision without him - but if he’s going to move on, then there needs to be a serious brainstorming meeting at the BBC on how they handle Eurovision, from picking the host, to the presentation on TV, to the host, and how it is promoted. The choice of the host is going to let Eurovision spread it’s wings even more, or have them clipped by a UK that is percieved to not understanding why ‘Jonny Foreginer’ likes funny songs. Someone needs to take control of Eurovision, stop treating it like a burden, and realise that the viewing figures are as strong as your flagship programs.

Mr Director General of the BBC [Mark Thompson], my contact details are here.

Edinburgh Fringe Podcast Doing Well in iTunes

Posted on August 12, 2008
Filed Under Links to my Articles, Podcasting | 1 Comment

The Fringe podcast is a lot of work (I’ll do a recap at the end of the month for you all, right now I’m jsut avoiding the obviousness of the work levels) but the reaction it gets, from private mails and recognition around edinburgh is lovely. And the world likes it too… with a Festival pick in iTunes, and it’s currently climbing up the ‘Arts’ chart in iTunes.

Currently it’s sitting at #6 (from the position of #24 earlier this morning), with only the might of the Guardian (one podcast) and The BBC taking in the five slots above me. I think it’s an almost impossible task to get on a par with The Archers at #1, but I’d love a top five chart place this year (I saw a peak of #8 last year). If you’re listening to the show, then point everyone at the iTunes URL or the natural RSS feed!

Jason Byrne on Being Creative

Posted on August 10, 2008
Filed Under Links to my Articles | Leave a Comment

Over on the Creative Choices blog, I’ve posted a small snippet of last weekends long review with comedian Jason Byrne from the Edinburgh Fringe Podcast, specifically on how a comic renowned from improvisation goes about being creative.

Edinburgh Fringe Podcast #2, with Stephen K Amos and Guy Hollingworth

Posted on August 2, 2008
Filed Under Links to my Articles, Podcasting | Leave a Comment

Second Edinburgh Frigne show went up today (saturday) but only now blogging here - was running out the door for the final press launch. Anyway, the big play button for Show #2 (2008) follows…


Download MP3 - Show Notes - RSS Feed

Who Pays The Creative Blogger?

Posted on August 2, 2008
Filed Under Links to my Articles | Leave a Comment

The short answer is you pay yourself, you get your readers to pay, or you get a third party to pay you to do your work. But it’s a bit more detailed than that, and that details is something I go into at the Creative Choices blog.

Most ventures start from an initial idea that you have, and to that is added your personal time and effort… which of course is a cost you consciously pay. In all the budgeting you do, remember that your time is worth something as well. But for any creative project, you’ll need resources, which invariably cost actual money to keep them going. Where does the money have to come from? The triangle mentioned previous has three sides, and these represent the three different groups that could finance your projects.

More, as always, at the Creative Choices blog.

Here Comes the Edinburgh Fringe Podcasts for 2008!

Posted on August 1, 2008
Filed Under Daily Links, Links to my Articles, Podcasting | Leave a Comment

Fringe podcast has started again - I suspect many of them will be cross posted here, but in case you want to be niceley organised, this is the RSS feed for just the Fringe material.

The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Show #1 (MP3 40.4 mb, 44 minutes 10 seconds)
DOWNLOAD the podcast by right clicking on this link, or press play and listen in your browser.


Download MP3 - Show Notes - RSS Feed

August the first, and the starting gun on both the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe Podcast has fired. Which means a month of daily podcasts from the biggest arts festival on the planet are going to be heading towards you at top speed (or whatever your broadband is capped at). For the opening show, I thought it was time to dig a little deeper into the relationship between the festival and Scotland’s capital city, so I spent some time with Councillor Steve Cardownie, the Edinburgh Festival and Events Champion.

On the show front, one of my favourite groups, Tha Martians, are back with a new show called Greyfriars Twisted Tales, and I caught up with them at a rehersal to talk about the show and grab some unplugged music from the show. It’s also your first chance to meet Georgina Sowerby and Brian Luff, who are running their own daily show at the Fringe - they’ll be popping back with their guests and thoughts on Edinburgh from a behind the scenes perspective throughout August.

Do leave your comments on the website or email me on ewanspence@gmail.com.

The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Show #1

Councillor Steve Cardownie
Edinburgh City Council, Festival and Events Champion

The Martians - Greyfriar’s Twisted Tales
at the Musical Theatre, George Square

Sowerby and Luff - Sex Tips for Pandas
at The Dragonfly (Part of PBH’s Free Fringe)

It’s Time For… The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (and Podcast) for 2008

Posted on July 27, 2008
Filed Under Links to my Articles, Podcasting | Leave a Comment

Ah yes, August is almost here. And that means, for many in the Arts and Festival scene, their thoughts turn to Edinburgh, and the Fringe.

As do my thoughts, because for the fourth year running, I’ll be producing and acting as the main host on The Podcast Network’s Edinburgh Fringe Show. It will also continue as a co-production with The Stage, and feature in their coverage as well. The show format - a daily 30 minute ‘magazine’ style with news from around Scotland’s capital, interviews with the people behind the shows, the venues and the organisations, along with whatever ideas I come up with while out on the streets - stays pretty much the same; but the guests and topics are as varied as the Fringe itself.

The numbers of the Fringe give an idea of the scale of the event, and how much it can take over the city. There are 247 venues hosting 2,088 shows from 18,792 performers for a grand total of 31,320 performances. Now try pouring that into 21 thirty minute shows. Along with your diary management, and the diaries of the people you are interviewing and are appearing on the show, or doing accoustic musical numbers, or teaching me to play the Ukulele… Don’t forget you need to see the shows as well.

It’s something that a lot of people do for various websites and publications (and I’m sure I’ll talk to many of them throughout the month), but it doesn’t make it any more than a black art that you can only learn by being faced with the programme, a blank diary, and a list of phone numbers that may or may not still be people’s agents after last year. So that’s what I;ve been doing on and off throughout July - maybe thirty minutes a day of planning.

Today was the first day I sat down with the schedules, diaries and bits of paper, and started dropping names into the actual programming grid to see who would go where, which interviews could be ‘paired up’ to make thematic shows (which then lead to fluffy bits between the major elements), and generally how good the three dimensional jigsaw looks this year.

No I’m not saying who’s already on it, who’s in the probables list, and who I’m avoiding with a wide berth. Neither am I saying who else will be joining me on the show to help with interviews and providing a behind the scenes look at the Fringe. For that you’ll have to watch the blogs over the next few days.

The first full preview show will go out on Friday ( August 1st 2008) so until then add the RSS feed to your podcatcher or RSS client, and if you’re in Edinburgh… let me know.

Next Page »