Standing on platform 3 of Inverness Station with one foot in the train and one foot on the platform is not where I expect important decisions about my programme to be made. However that's what happened this morning as Miss Babs and I attempted to make our way back home after spending the night in Inverness to cover the launch of Doctor Who. Due to the heavy snow we were unable to get back to our Glasgow studios.
As everyone else boarded the delayed train she was on the phone booking studios while I was working out train times and trying to find out if the driver thought 6 feet of drifting snow and blizzards might slow the train down. The decision to not attempt the journey was made as the whistle sounded. Talk about keeping your options open til the last minute!
It meant a bonus day in the strangely snow-free Highland capital, however as my colleagues in our Inverness office are quick to point out it's not Inverness that's cut off from the central belt, it's the central belt that's cut off from Inverness!
Doctor Who fans should not miss Tuesday's show when we will be taking the show to Inverness as the Doctor Who bus comes to town. The new series will be premiered before a group of specially invited schoolchildren who will then get the chance to put their questions to the new Doctor and his Scottish assistant.
Along with our usual contributions from GIO regulars they will also be picking their songs for Tuesday night's theme, which of course had to be science fiction!
Monday
It's the big ask where we feature songs about begging, pleading, asking etc. Suggestions could include Please Stay, Last Request or Don't go! Let's have your demands...
Tuesday
Sci-Fi is the theme to celebrate the launch of the new series of Doctor Who. Doctorin' The Tardis is a must for tonight. I also know how fond our bloggers are of The Rah Band's Clouds Across the Moon so tonight could be the night boys...
Wednesday
Towns, Villages and cities anywhere on earth is the theme tonight. Will the Get It On tour bus be following The Road To Aberdeen or will we be spending Midnight in Moscow? You decide...
Thursday
As Archie Fisher presents his last ever Traveling Folk, tonight's show features the folky side of pop. We could have Richard Thompson doing Britney, contemporary folk bands like Mumford and Sons or perhaps the folk acts who made it into the charts. Some of you might even want to suggest a flute based, folk rock outfit from the 70s. Unlikely I know,
but I thought I would make the offer, after all this is the groundbreaking music programme that played Zappa and Zep in the same show!!!
ÌýWell folks, a mere three months after we launched ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland's
motivation season I have finally completed my challenge. That challenge was to learn to dance - and not just any old dancing but 'streetdance'. According to this week's , it's going mainstream and is influencing theatre and all kinds of other artforms. They say that streetdance is "classic funk (popping and locking) and b-boy styles (breakdancing and hip-hop), club and house dance, MTV-style formation, vogueing and the explosive energy of krump. The result is a potent mix, and rhythm is its lifeblood." Wow - and here's me thinking it was just striding about looking mean and moody in a pair of joggies. I don't know if rhythm was my lifeblood, but I'm pretty sure the only thing that was surging through my veins was fear. Learning to dance was one of the biggest challenges I've taken on and it has caused me great angst, but at long last it's done. I hope the video makes you smile. Thanks to Jackie Moir, my amazing and motivational dance teacher. If you are needing some help with your challenge then you can still find some advice on our
'New You' site.
Look's like last week's 'spring' theme did the trick as the sun is out - well at least is was out for the end of our Sport Relief mile on Sunday. Well done to everyone who took part. The Glasgow mile was full up and it was a great sight to see thousands of people run over the squinty bridge. There was some terrific support along the way but of course the real support came from everyone who sponsored one of our milers. Thanks folks.
Here are this week's themes. Hope you like them...
Monday:
It's all about goodies and baddies and heroes and villains - Jan from Rutherglen came up with this theme - so we could have The Police chasing after The Killers and the Little Devil doing battle with Angels. Surely someone will suggest Billy Don't be a Hero....
Tuesday:
'I bet you think this song is about you' is a theme that we are returning to by popular demand. Denise in Loch Lomond and Ken on the text both got in touch to suggest it. Let's have the songs that you think were written just for you - were you the Lady in Red on Chris De Burgh's mind or was David Byrne's Lazy penned in your honour.....
Wednesday
Songs about regrets was suggested by Pauline in Bearsden as a theme so let's get it on tonight. Obviously Edith Piaf didn't have any but there are plenty of artists who did.
Thursday
We're letting the percussion section take the lead tonight - Phil Collins obviously loved to lead with a big drum beat, and John Lennon loved the sound of bells .....it was a tambourine that got the Bangles Walking Like An Egyptian and the percussion section was out in force for the Copa Cabana.....so songs that start with something you bang, shake or rattle can all feature tonight.
Are we human or are we dancer is not a question many of us thought we'd be contemplating but thanks to The Killer's odd grasp of the English language we have been. Following a particularly successful dance lesson this week I have decided that I am not human and am dancer! More on that next week when hopefully my Usher inspired streetdance video will be online. And it's only taken me three months to learn ( as opposed to the four weeks I originally thought it would take!). ÌýÌý
The Killers' track has already been nominated several times for tonight's show which is about the oddest lyrics of all time. Patrick Mccafferty frustratingly submitted this great list of odd lyrics but didn't include the titles. Producer Richard and I have managed to get nine of them without looking them up. Let's see how many you can spot...
Where you keep your Rolling Stones records and a friend of Sacha Distel,
Ìý
Funny how your feet in dreams never touch the earth,
Ìý
The pumps don't work cause the vandals took the handles,
Ìý
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand.
Ìý
Swatting them Charlies with it from here to kingdom come,
Ìý
When your world is full of strange arrangements and gravity wont pull you through,
Ìý
Ono ono onomatopoeia,
Ìý
I asked the waiter for iodine but I dined all alone,
Ìý
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti,
Ìý
She just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich,
Ìý
I don't want to see a ghost...I'd rather have a piece of toast,
Ìý
Only the very young and the very beautiful could be so aloof,
Ìý
On a morning from a Bogart movie in a country where they turn back time,
ÌýÌý
Locked up inside my opium den surrounded by some Chinamen,
Ìý
There's NazisÌýin the bathroom just below the stairs
Thanks for all of the good suggestions last week. Friday night was very busy and some great tunes suggested. Risky summed up the spirit of Friday nights in his email: "I have to say I particularly enjoy this new Friday random session, it's like an iPod on shuffle!" Keep it random folks, it's what makes the show unique.
Monday
Tonight it's all about what you shoulda, woulda, coulda. The Clash 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?', Bob Marley 'Could You Be Loved' Or Eurythmics 'Would I Lie To You'. If you could, we would love to hear from you, should you have a suggestion for tonight's Get It On!
Tuesday
Hopefully tonight won't seem like hard work - we're asking you to think back
to your first job and the song that reminds you of it. It could be something that
was number 1 when you got your first summer job, or maybe a tune from
LP you bought with your first wage packet. Or simply a song that is all about
the type of work you did.
Wednesday
Listen carefully for tonight's theme - the lyrics are decidedly strange ( mind you so are some of the artists)! See if you can come up with any odder than this lot.
'If I Was A Sculptor, But Then Again No?' (Elton John)
'Coast To Coast, LA To Chicago' (Sade)
Or 'You're About As Serious As A Nuclear War' (Duran Duran)
Thursday
Spring is just around the corner (20th March) so tonight we celebrate a new season.
It could be The Lovin' Spoonful doing 'Daydream', Louis Armstrong ' What A Wonderful World', The Go Betweens 'Spring Rain' or even Tulips From Amsterdam!
It's time once again for another week of themes. Check out the Get It On homepage for a video with full details of the themes. It's also an opportunity to marvel at the utter green-ness of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s wallpaper! Not very soothing on a delicate Monday morning...
Monday
It should be a noisy night in the studio as we could have Seventy Six Trombones, a Different Drum and a tune on My Old Piano. It's musical instruments name checked in song for tonight's theme. Patsy Cline's Triangle anyone?
Tuesday
Regular blogger, Henri Hannah has come up with this theme: What song would convince you to have the artist as your partner? A Case Of You would surely make Joni Mitchell perfect girlfriend material, and when you first heard that voice did you want to make Barry White your first, your last and your everything?
Wednesday
A great theme from Simon on the text who wonders what headline acts you have seen in your local town hall. 'Wee toons, big bands' is his idea. The Proclaimers in Dunoon? Morrissey in Greenock or even Elvis in Prestwick. Vic Galloway is looking after the show tonight and tomorrow.
Thursday
What do Groove Is In The Heart, Brown Girl In The Ring and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry all have in common? They were all originally B-sides and that's the theme tonight. A lot of the bloggers have suggested this theme so it's thinking caps on folks...
