Something's Gone Wrong Again

A channel dropped out while I was playing a record about a month ago, leaving just a crunching noise coming from one of the speakers. I checked the leads, fiddled with settings and cursed a bit. Everything else feeding off the amp appeared to be working fine, so I reasoned that it must be a connection in the turntable. After a little research, I discovered a place about 20 miles away that carries out general electrical repairs, so I took my turntable in for a service. Back at home, literally an hour later, my old laptop died. (I have a new laptop, but I still haven't got around to transferring all my photos and music across) I phoned up the same servicing place to find that yes, they were confident that they could get the laptop up and running again, at least for long enough to allow me to retrieve everything from the hard drive. 'Bring it in' they said.

A week later I made the 40 mile round trip to pick up the turntable and drop off the old laptop. When I got home I plumbed the turntable back into the system and sat back to enjoy some tunes. After a minute a channel dropped out, leaving just a crunching noise coming from one of the speakers. The fault was somewhere in the amp all along.

On Monday I got the call to say that my laptop was ready for collection. I mentioned the amp to the guy on the phone. 'Bring it in', he said. So, yesterday morning, I disconnected everything from my trusty vintage amp, placed it carefully on the back seat of the car and set off on another 40 mile round trip to drop it off and pick up the laptop. Two miles down the road the engine started stuttering and lights began to flash on the dashboard. The car shuddered to an undignified halt. I raised the bonnet and stood by the side of the road looking at the engine in despair, as traffic whizzed by inches away.

I only want to listen to a record.

You Can't Get the Staff

By the time I became a Manager in 2002, the Coffee company for whom I worked had established a very strict recruitment procedure from which we were instructed not to deviate, comprising of an extensive, structured interview and the diligent completion of a hefty written assessment of each and every applicant. I would always sneak a question or two about musical tastes into every interview though - it had to be done. If I had my way, I would never have employed anyone who didn't at least like The Buzzcocks and The Ramones, though on reflection, the implementation of this policy would probably have left our stores extremely short-handed for most of the time.

Here's a less frequently aired favourite from each of those great bands.

Steve Diggle

In November 1979 I sat backstage at the Lyceum Ballroom in London and helped to interview Buzzcocks (no definite article) for a friend's fanzine. My pals and I had shambolic conversations after the show with Steve Diggle and, less enthusiastically, Pete Shelley that were somehow stretched over two issues of said journal.

Shelley may be the songwriting genius, but I've long considered Diggle to be the engine room of the band - pushing, driving and cajoling - not to mention throwing a few shapes for all he's worth! That being said, over the years Steve Diggle has come up with a fair few little nuggets of his own.

Today is Diggle's 57th birthday and it's (unbelievably) 33 years since he was good enough to give some of his time to a bunch of ne'er-do-wells with a cheap cassette player and access to a photo-copier.

Happy birthday Steve - here's one of your nuggets.

Perfect Pop - Guest Contributor

By way of rounding off this week's short series of posts, Steven from Manchester has been in touch. Apparently Steven was in a band for a few years in the 1980s and still occasionally finds the time to get up and belt out a few numbers now and then - including these interpretations of some great pop moments.

Thanks for your suggestions Steven and good on you for sticking at it, your big break could be just around the corner.