8. Turn radio interviews with musicians into podcasts (Part 2)

So, I have a few more interviews to post in this blog, however, I can't seem to find the data for the last two. I sent myself the Audacity file from the radio station but the data didn't copy over with it. I'm on the case and will hopefully retrieve the data if I can (if they still have the same computers).

At least I have one to post right now which I thought I had lost forever and was so gutted but then I found the mp3 in a different folder on my hard drive - my interview with Jamie Hartman from the band "Ben's Brother".

I just listened to it again and really enjoyed the interview - it's probably one of my favourites. I've time-stamped all of the tracks in the interview so you can see what Jamie chose to play and chose to sing if you click the link below.

I hope you enjoy listening to this.

Radio Northwick Park is now Radio Harrow and you can find them on www.radioharrow.org. 

14. Donate £40 a year to charities (Year 4)

I must be a generous person because I've finished year 4 already in only six months.

I think this next one should technically be part of year 3 but, regardless, I have still raised over £40.

My friend Johnny Kellar did a bike ride from London to Cambridge to raise money for Tzedek's "School for Life" programme. Tzedek is the Jewish community's response to extreme poverty. I sponsored Johnny £10 for this.

Not from this particular bike ride but this is him with a bike!

The next donation I made came at a time of sadness. Someone who I had known for almost half of my life was taken from us by bowel cancer at the age of 52 on 8th November 2015. Keith Chilvers from Radio Northwick Park (now Radio Harrow) had been battling bowel cancer for three tough years but I'd never seen him as happy as he was with Kim despite everything he was going through. When my friend Charlie called to tell me the news, I was in shock at first and then inconsolable because, since I stopped volunteering at the radio station, I hadn't seen him for so long; I felt like I hadn't had a chance to say goodbye or at least get one last cuddle. A fund was set-up through Keith's condolences page on the Radio Harrow website in his memory to raise money for Beating Bowel Cancer. I donated £15. I have some fond memories of Keith which I shared on the condolence page:

Cuddly Keith was the most wonderful guy. I've known him, pretty much, half of my life since I became a member of Radio Northwick Park in 1999.

I have some great memories of Keith:

1. When Keith secured our lottery grant (sorry Wes) when he became Chairman (only a couple of days into the role - to be fair, Wes did a lot of the hard work) and I became Fundraising Officer.

2. Keith helped me put together some of the RNP quizzes. I will never forget editing the film scenes round together at your house and laughing the whole time (you never did give me the DVD ;)!).

3. When we worked on the Jack Petchey Foundation and other grant funding together. You really did know your stuff.

4. When you were really keen to create the "RNP Band" and we roped in Rich Whiteley and Hedley Knights. You were an AWESOME bass player. I enjoyed our rehearsals immensely. On the RNP gig night at Trinity, a certain drummer (Hedley) drank a bit too much before our set, but we still had a laugh even if his timing was off.

5. I felt truly honoured to be invited to your wedding to Kim. You both looked amazing and it was lovely to spend that evening with you both.

6. Our trek to Manchester to appear on BBC TV's Battle of the Brains. I think we had more fun trying to find the restaurant for dinner (thanks to a defective Matt Nav)!

There are so many other memories but I don't want to take up half of this webpage.

The work you put into RNP and then to Radio Harrow (after HCR) was incredible and truly inspiring. I could easily have seen you become Mayor of Harrow!

The photo of me giving you a big kiss sums up how much I loved and respected you. I'm going to miss my cuddles.

My thoughts are with Kim and the family - may you always find comfort in your memories.

God bless xxx

Me, Keith and Flora on "photoshoot" night for the new Committee in 2000

Also, in November, I donated £10 to Neil Crayne for taking part in the Winter Run 10K for Cancer Research. He seems to be becoming a bit of a running addict. I won't run in Summer, let alone in Winter. Good on the guy!

I sponsored Johnny Kellar £5 in April this year as he was putting the bike aside and putting on his running shoes for the Virgin Money London Marathon. Johnny has been a big supporter of my music and comes to my gigs regularly so I felt I couldn't not give him another donation. This time Johnny was raising money for Action Aid.

Run, Johnny, Run!

This month I sponsored my lovely friend, Selena's husband, Charlie for taking part in the Brighton 10K for Breast Cancer Care. Despite getting an injury half way, he finished in 48m 39 secs. That's impressive!

Finisher!

Denise Parsons presents a radio show on Radio Verulam in St. Albans and also runs live music events which I've played at this year. Denise is due to take part in a parachute jump with the Mayor of St Albans, Salih Gaygusuz, on 15th June (it was originally supposed to be 18th May but due to poor weather conditions it was moved) and they have raised over £2,000 for Crescent St Albans. The charity has focused on HIV support for 30 years - the last six years with no statutory funding.

All worthy causes I'm sure you'll agree!

28. Plant a tree

As you may already know (if you're an avid reader of my blog), the tree has already been planted but I wanted to give an update on its progress.  It seems that it is bearing fruit earlier than we imagined and perhaps, late summer, we might actually be able to pick some plums from it.

To give you a brief background; I planted a plum tree in loving memory of my Grandpa Monty.

One side of the tree

Another view of the tree

There's going to be a lot of plums and a lot of jam being made!

8. Turn radio interviews with musicians into podcasts (Part 1)

I've started to upload these but I'm having a difficult time with the uploading of one interview in particular.  While I attempt to rectify this I will give you the first instalment of these as I want to upload them in chronological order to my Mixcloud account - www.mixcloud.com/laurenrichradio.

So, some background: I joined Radio Northwick Park (Northwick Park Hospital's dedicated radio station) in July 1999 as a volunteer.  I started presenting the request show; moved into producing David Reece's show and then got my own show.  I started off presenting a 2 hour show - songs from the sixties (as I was obsessed with that decade at the time).  After a few scheduling changes and content changes I ended up doing a show based on brand new music and interviews.  I started interviews in 2007 on American singer/songwriter JJ Appleton.

In 2008 I interviewed Mia Silvas twice.  The first time wasn't recorded but the second time was.  She also kindly volunteered her services to play at the Radio Northwick Park charity gig night I co-organised.

I interviewed another great American singer/songwriter - Emily Zuzik.  I met Emily at a gig she was playing in London with another singer/songwriter I was a fan of.  We got chatting and I offered to interview her on my show (I'm pretty sure that's how it went down).

The next interview in the list wasn't music related so technically not a "musician" but it was an interview I was proud of.  In celebration of V.E. Day I wanted to interview my own grandparents.  I wanted to give them a unique experience and it was lovely to have them in the studio with me.

At the same time I was working full-time, doing the radio, writing my own music and managing a band.  I thought it would be a good experience for Love Revue to come into the studio with me and get some interview practice.

Sometimes the musicians couldn't get into the studio so, on this particular occasion, I conducted a short telephone interview with Patrick from the band Van Tramp.



The first time with a keyboard in the studio was with Holly Rose.  She and her manager came into the studio for an interview where there may have been a couple of accidental naughty words!



In 2009, my mate, Scott Dean had entered the Live & Unsigned competition and asked me if he could have a few interviews as he progressed through the competition.  I, of course, obliged as I was a massive fan of his music and voice.  Below are the three interviews over a four month time period.



The brother of a friend of mine was in a pop duo that launched a song that took over the airwaves for weeks in the summer of 2009 (not just for "15 minutes" - see what I did there?).  Nick and Mike from The Yeah You's came into the studio and were amazing.



That's all of the interviews for now.  Part two to follow in due course.  In the meantime, happy listening!



Radio Northwick Park is now Radio Harrow and you can find them on www.radioharrow.org. 

35. Buy and build the Tower Bridge Lego

I can't recollect when I first saw the Tower Bridge Lego.  It may have been in the Lego Store or it may have been an advert online.  What I do remember, however, is that I knew I wanted to build it.  It was a lot of money though.  I knew I'd be saving for quite a while.  Then, a couple of birthdays ago a clever friend of mine bought me a Lego voucher.  My last birthday I requested Lego vouchers from my friends and most of them obliged.  I decided to pay for the rest myself and bought it in January.

When the box arrived I got incredibly excited.  When I got around to opening it, I thought I would construct it like when I build IKEA furniture where I count out all of the pieces first to make sure I have them all.  However, at 4,295 pieces I quickly changed my mind.  Aside from the fact that in book one (of three) there didn't seem to be a list of pieces anyway.

The box

I decided I would create a video sped up of me building it which you can see below.  It took me a few days but it was great fun to build.

It turns out, in the back of book three...there's a list of all of the pieces!!!

As a Lego VIP (anyone who registers on the Lego website can be a VIP) I got points for my order.  I now have points to spend on more Lego...what to buy next?

I also recommend that you check out the Lego Ideas site.  You can login using the same VIP details.  It's a site where people upload their ideas for new products and you can support them.  To support the ideas you don't need to pay towards them, you just need to click to support.  The more support these Lego innovators have; the more chance their product will get the green light to become a new product on the shelves.  This project here is one of the ones I'm supporting.  It's a Beatles set.  Less than a year left to support.

BEATLES LEGO

Has anyone else reading this built Lego to "Tower Bridge" scale?  Are you an instructions person or a creative person?

What's made me even more proud is that my five year old niece is starting to get into Lego and can follow instructions very well.  I can't wait to show her Tower Bridge.

I find building Lego incredibly therapeutic and especially because...EVERYTHING IS AWESOME (see Lego Movie)!


The music in the background of the video is Matchbox Twenty's "How Far We've Come" live from Wembley Arena - 1st May 2008.

4. Take a drum exam (Part 2)

Since April I have come on leaps and bounds.  Gareth wanted me to take the Grade 3 exam in July but I wasn't confident enough so I worked and worked on the songs I was doing to make sure they were near perfect for the exam in December. 

There was no backing out - on 29th September 2015 I booked my exam.  I was determined that anything less that a distinction would not be good enough so I went to Mill Hill Music Complex to rehearse when I could.

You may recall back in April I posted part one of this blog.  At that time I was playing Chain of Fools at a slower than regular speed!  I had also thought that I might play All Day and All of the Night by The Kinks as my technical piece.  I found it quite challenging so decided on a folk song called John Barleycorn instead.

Sheet music with helpful tips from Gareth

I bought some smaller drumsticks to be able to play this song's dynamics better.  They were purple (of course) and shiny.

Gareth also notated one of the songs I wrote with Mark Holland (The Game).  I initially wanted to do "Cards" because it's in 3/4 time but because we recorded it without a metronome I couldn't be sure that it was strictly the correct BPM the whole way through.

Neatly transcribed by Gareth

The date I was given for the exam was Monday 7th December.  Leading up to this date I was getting more nervous so I practised more at Mill Hill and made sure I had at least one lesson a week with Gareth.

Here are some videos of me playing these songs at Mill Hill.  There's a tiny mistake in John Barleycorn because there's one bit I hadn't perfected until the lesson before my exam (cutting it fine).  You might not notice it but Gareth will and I certainly won't forget it.

Chain of Fools

John Barleycorn (Technical Focus)

The Game (free choice)

On the day of the exam I left a lot of time to get to Hatfield just in case of traffic so I ended up arriving incredibly early.  I went off to another room in the school with Gareth to have a quick rehearsal.  I absolutely NAILED the songs in the rehearsal.  There was no way it was going to be that perfect in the exam!!!

I was my usual cheery self walking into the exam but I was a bag of nerves inside.  The drum kit was in front of the examiner and when I sat at the kit, my back was to him.

The exam went so quickly.  I knew there were a couple of things I could have done better but all in all I was pretty confident.  A few days later I received my Examination Report.

I GOT A DISTINCTION!!!

There were some great comments on the report.

Chain of Fools - A solid groove at the opening with generally excellent timing and fluency. Fills played with accurate sync to backing.  Dynamics observed well on the whole.  Overall, an excellent attempt.

The Game - Excellent dynamic contrasts in this piece.  Good rhythmic control.  An engaging rendition overall.

John Barleycorn - Coordination was handled well with even kick/snare interplay.  Rolls executed smoothly with a good sound.  Improv fills tastefully judged.  This was a musical and well communicated performance.

Improvisation - An appropriate groove chosen here with some tasteful fills and variations employed.  A musical shape to the test with a good build. 

Then under general comments he wrote: Congratulations!

I was over the moon!  I knew if I worked hard enough that distinction would come to me!

I am now a Grade 3 level, Rock & Pop Drummer.  Will I continue?  I won't be doing any more exams in a hurry but I may still have the odd lesson when I can!

Me and my certificate (that I need to get a frame for) and a purple drumstick

12. Obtain 40 albums in a single year (Year 3)

It's almost the end of 2015 and I thought I'd share with you my list of top 40 albums I obtained during the year.  The list is in this order based on what I enjoy listening to the most and also my favourite artists.  I never go into the technical side of things like the production etc. it's purely on how I feel when I listen.

Feel free to comment below about what your favourite album of the year is and why.

No.	Band/Singer	Album
40	Natalie Imbruglia	Male
39	Jeff Lynne's ELO	Alone In The Universe
38	Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds	Chasing Yesterday
37	Mini Mansions	The Great Pretenders
36	The Darkness	Last Of Our Kind
35	Josh Groban	Stages
34	Adam Lambert	The Original High
33	The Hoosiers	Secret Service
32	A Great Big World	When Morning Comes
31	Brandi Carlile	The Firewatcher's Daughter
30	The Shires	Brave
29	Shinedown	Threat To Survival
28	Mumford & Sons	Wilder Mind
27	Lucie Silvas	Letters To Ghosts
26	Kodaline	Coming Up For Air
25	Grace Potter	Midnight
24	David Cook	Digital Vein
23	Brandon Flowers	The Desired Effect
22	Jewel	Picking Up The Pieces
21	James Bay	Chaos And The Calm
20	Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats	Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
19	Tim McGraw	Damn Country Music
18	Carrie Underwood	Storyteller
17	Jack Savoretti	Written In Scars
16	Zac Brown Band	Jekyll & Hyde
15	Father John Misty	I Love You, Honeybear
14	Adele	25
13	Minnie Birch	Floundering
12	Katie Nicholas	Dizzy
11	Jamie Lawson	Jamie Lawson
10	Greg Holden	Chase The Sun
9	Faeries	Only Ever
8	Hudson Taylor	Singing For Strangers
7	Pearl And The Beard	Beast
6	Muse	Drones
5	Nerina Pallot	The Sound And The Fury
4	Kacey Musgraves	Pageant Material
3	Chris Stapleton	Traveller
2	Lifehouse	Out Of The Wasteland
1	Rob Thomas	The Great Unknown

It was really difficult trying to decide between Lifehouse and Rob Thomas but had to go with the one I listened to the most and sang along to the most and stayed in my head the most - and that was Rob.

Year 3 is DONE!

Looking forward to some amazing album releases in 2016. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS!