Put another nickel in,
In the Nickelodeon,
All I want is loving you
And music, music, music... ^*


Last Monday, I went to a pub quiz at the Temple Bar on Cowley Road that's organised by my mate Richard. I first met him at my job agency, Champion Technical, when I turned up to beg for work and he commented on my 'Rock Of Travolta' t-shirt. We got to discussing music, and it turns out that he used to DJ for the Oxford Brookes indie night, just as I DJ for the Oxford Uni one. Since then I tended to pop in most weeks to talk to him about music and stuff, but until recently we hadn't made that all-important move towards meeting in a non-professional capacity. I mean, how do you ask another straight man out anyway? The way that I did it was to have him invite me to the pub quiz that he runs, with the promise of a pint and some questions about obscure mid-nineties indie music. I've been along for three weeks now, and have been greeted with touching gratitude each time.

It's all quite good fun. The quiz itself is a tad pedestrian, with too many (i.e. some) questions about soaps and sports for my liking. However, the music they play between rounds is impeccably chosen indie/alternative stuff, the prizes awarded for winning each round range from Matey bubble bath to house-plants to a round of drinks for the whole team, the final round involves a home-made acrylic-plastic-and-fairy-light 'Wheel Of Misfortune', and the answer sheets are distributed and collected by a pretty lady with short blue hair and roller-blades who dresses as a different film/book/album title every week. I was accused of hallucinating her by some, but her existence has since been independently verified by tinyjo, truecatachresis and squigglyruth, who were the rest of last week's team. Previously I'd turned up with too few people to form a team of my own, so formed alliances with anyone nearby. This time we had enough people, and did much worse as a result. I think the problem was that we know nothing about soaps, nearly nothing about sport, and even the current affairs round was of the tabloidy sort that can be tricky if your only news sources are Radio 4 or BBC Online. The only time anyone's specialist field of knowledge fitted the round was the 'One Hit Wonders Of The Mid-Nineties' round (set by Richard, of course), which I was single-handedly able to identify 80% of (and I got another one after we'd handed in our answers.) Shit, I owned 6 of them. Still, we had some fun, I think. All we need next time is Pub Quiz Weapon X, aka sparkymark, Thane of Trivia...

Good news from Richard, though: I have my first paid DJing gig! Yes indeed, from 7 until 11 this Thursday (tinyjo's birthday, I'm sure you'll recall) The Temple Bar will be hosting its first indie night, and I will be one of the DJs. What's more, I have been promised 'ten quid and a sandwich' for my trouble.

<style="chemical bothers">Superstar DJs... Here we go!</style>

Not really sure how long I'll be playing, whether they're expecting dancing or just sitting around appreciatively, if there'll be any talking between records (shudder), what flavour sandwich, or anything, but hopefully I'll be finding out tonight. If any of y'all fancy coming along this evening (be there by 8:30, £1 per person to join in) or on Thursday, do let me know and I'll give you further details...

While I'm on a DJing tip, I ought to mention that my set at Bar Baby was, of course, storming. Hell, it impressed Richard enough to get me this new gig even though he was too drunk to be let in to see it. That set list in full:

'Sleep On The Left Side'	- Cornershop
'Don't Falter'	- Mint Royale (feat. Lauren Laverne)
'Devil In Sports Casual'	- Midfield General
'Push It' / 'No Fun'	- Salt 'n' Pepa / The Stooges (mixed by Soulwax)
'Hate To Say I Told You So	- The Hives

Short, but sweet. Well, tinyjo, cleanskies and truecatachresis (who were kind eoungh to turn up to support me) seemed to like it, as did a big man with enormous hair and an attractive woman who I didn't know. What more could I ask? Sorted.
Should you be interested, there's a photo of me in full effect on the wheels of steel on the Stick It On web-site, but it's hidden in a rotating Flash monstrosity, so tinyjo has been kind enough to host it here.


*</name> Not sure why I know this tune. I have the feeling it was used as a jingle for advertising or on the radio. It occasionally surfaces in my head, and seemed peculiarly appropriate today.
Googling for it, I learn that it appears to be by 'Teresa Brewer with the Dixieland All Stars' and called (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music! You've got to respect punctuation like that...