‘Money For Nothing’

And on the subject of the BBC who we have continually criticised for dumbing down musical taste in the UK, and adhering to a biased and unjust play-list system… The corporation becomes evermore powerful and wealthy off the backs of the taxpayer, able to outbid any other station for so-called ‘cutting edge personalities.’ Thanks to the unacceptable behaviour of some of these personalities the true nature of BBC is beginning to unravel, and the millions spent on individual employment contracts revealed. I for one will no longer pay the licence fee until the size of this monopolistic and arrogant broadcaster is scaled down in both size and importance.

‘Hallelujah’

X marks the spot where Simon Cowell is able to latch onto money-spinners, at little cost, to go on and make huge profits. I don’t think there is one original idea in the man’s head; he’s like others out there who have made vast fortunes of the back of those with genuine talent. But what’s so extraordinary about this is that it took 500,000 applications, 180,000 auditions and many months (costly) broadcasting to select a single performer who should have been spotted by A&R people easily, and many moons ago. Incidentally, I now know why pretty-as-a-picture Sheryl cried just about every time she appeared – she’s thanking her lucky stars that with no talent she’s where she is today…

‘Times They Are a Changin’

Shakenstir has gone through a dramatic period of change which was necessary because of severe problems with hosting and design. It’s taken several months to redesign, rebuild and re-host the site to new specifications which meant we were off air. The new site is still being fine-tuned in order that by January 2009 we’ll be blasting away at full speed. We’re also aiming to have our Internet radio station broadcasting by February featuring the very best contemporary music together with some older favourites. For the last few months we’ve been presenting shows on a local FM station which will be included and are very different… Also watch out for our new series of digital publications including rock/lifestyle magazine Burn and ReLiveIt which features great live music photography.

‘Comin’ On Strong’

Two acts to watch out for in 2009 are The Hours who are releasing their second album and David Ford who has yet to dent the airwaves but is the finest UK singer/songwriter prospect right now.