P to the Cee

After a break of a week, we’re back on Saturday with live music on The Midsweep. Rase are coming in to have a chat and play some of their songs in acoustic form for us.

This is ahead of perhaps our most daring show next week, featuring The Amateurs and The Benwahs both performing live in the studio.

Things are developing on the show at an alarming pace, and we’ll also be recording each show independently and putting it up on Midsweep.com and SoundCloud, so you won’t miss a thing.

I’ve been out of a job for just under a month now and it’s not going well. Jobs available are oversubscribed and agencies aren’t interested in interviewing a lot of the time.

Most days I’m applying for 10+ jobs with most not even getting an acknowledgement. Not a good time to be out of work, even less so as I’m still owed money from my previous one.

Any tips out there?

I’ve always been slow getting round to some of the big things in life. I *should* have taken my theory and practical test when I was 17/18, but never had the money to commit to lessons week in/week out. It wasn’t until I got my own place that I actually looked in to the possibility of driving and even then things were stop, start (and not just my driving!)

I started learning when I was 22 and have been through a series of driving instructors, most good, and none bad but one in particular made me lazy. We’d spend the hour chatting and driving round instead of practising maneuvers like we were meant to.  Suffice to say I stopped learning with him and took a break of about 6 months before picking things up again.

I’ve now found an instructor whom I get on with, is flexible and always turns up on time for lessons. We have a chat while on the lesson, but he knows my weaknesses and how I should be combatting them.

Yesterday I (somehow) managed to pass my theory test. I’d done hardly any revision due to working long hours and being too tired to after work, so I was setting myself up to be told I’d failed. After I’d completed everything, I walked out of the insanely quiet exam room to the reception desk. A little old man picked up my license, matched it up to a piece of paper and pointed to the first line;

Congratulations, Mr Coyne, you have passed your theory test.

Still under exam conditions, I couldn’t burst out a cheer – but I did pump my fist a little before collecting my things from the locker and running as fast as I could to Michelle and Sophie who were waiting upstairs.

I’m now on course with my goal of passing my practical by the end of the year and regularly take out my car (which Dad left to me when he passed away) with Michelle supervising and offering guidance when she needs to.

It’s a new lease of life and something that is allowing my confidence to grow each time we go out. Will it make me pass my test? Of course not. That’s up to the examiner and how I drive on the day. All I know is, I now know I *can* do it, it’s just a case of proving it to that man/woman with the clipboard

A small audio update from me while I sort out some lunch

Since the age of 8, I’ve always had an interest in radio. My friend Dave and I used to spend hours over the Summer and Easter holidays recording our “show”. We’d play music, do interviews and even made up an actual football league using a combination of Actua Soccer on the PC and a Fußball table.

When I started podcasting, that interest was rekindled. For the 4 years I did bitjobs for the masses! I taught myself audio and video production, how to structure a show and interviewed a variety of musicians both over the phone and in person.

At the beginning of the year I was itching to further those skills and get in to radio proper. I’d heard of Rhubarb Radio from the Birmingham based twitter users I follow and after a little look on the site, expressed my interest for one of their training courses.

Fast forward a few months and I’ve been offered the Saturday morning slot – 10am – 12pm and will be taking the Midsweep show over to Rhubarb in the next couple of weeks.

This is a very exciting time for me and I plan on letting you guys in on how it all goes here and on twitter. If you’re interested in getting involved in the show in whatever aspect, get in touch. I’m looking to bring together a team of people to help source local music, organised interviews and get some marketing out there.

Welcome to PhilCee.com. It’s very much in it’s infancy at the moment, but give it time and this place will be filled with musings about all sorts of stuff.

Sit tight, and don’t be shy.