Music Talks Terry Smith

My guest in this episode is Craig Colby, a master storyteller with a successful 30-year award winning career in television working for The Sports Network and the Discovery Channel amongst others. 
In 2017, the opportunity of losing his job presented itself and he set up his own story telling company Colbyvision. He now spends his time helping production companies broadcasters and business owners make top-notch programs & tell their stories. 
 
He also has one of my favourite Lockdown stories. Craig connected with people over Facebook by wearing a different hat each day for 125 days and people then shared their hats in the comments. At the behest of his mother this then became his first book ‘ALL CAPS: Stories That Justify an Outrageous Hat Collection’ which won the Non-Fiction Category at The Canadian Book Awards in 2022. 


Craig comes to Music Talks via my dear friend Jesse Jackson from the Set Lusting Bruce Podcast. Jesse’s intro mail included the great line ‘Craig’s book is Music Talks with hats!’ – how could I resist. The book is available on Amazon but if you are in the UK and want a physical copy it currently ships from the U.S. but believe me its worth the wait! 


It’s no surprise that Craig has a compelling story to tell with lots of great insights and observations. He also put a lot of work into making song selections that have a personal connection but also have a connection to what was going on in the wider world.  


Craig’s song selections were: 


60’s      -           Love Child                                         -           Diana Ross & The Supremes 
70’s      -           Don’t Take Away The Music   -           Tavares
80’s      -           Modern Love                                   -           David Bowie
90’s      -           Fumbling Towards Ectasy        -           Sarah McLachlan
00’s      -           Lonesome Day                                -           Bruce Springsteen
10’s      -           Tightrope                                           -           Janelle Monae
20’s      -           As It Was                                             -           Harry Styles 

Enjoy :-)


If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .

My guest in this episode is Marian Jago, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Jazz Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 
Marian comes to Music Talks through the miracle and wonder of social media and a shared love of the music of Bruce Springsteen. I saw a post in a fan group on Facebook that said, ‘my course on Bruce Springsteen’ and that was Marian. We got into a dialogue and to my amazement she was teaching her course ‘Three Minute Records’ at my local university in Edinburgh.  


Inevitably we talk about Bruce and the course, but we cover a lot more ground than that in this episode.


Prior to becoming an academic Marian was a Producer of Live Concerts and Events before dedicating herself to becoming a Jazz Saxophonist. 


It’s a remarkable story of commitment and determination where she gets to meet, and is consistently helped by, a host of jazz luminaries from Canada and the US, and this culminates in Lee Konitz the composer and saxophonist being her tutor for eight years. 


Like many people I have a very romantic view of the life of a professional musician and Marian does a great job of painting a picture of the harsh reality whilst also saying ‘this was the happiest time of my life’. 


Though now living in Edinburgh Marian is Canadian and that is a theme that runs through our conversation and not just in terms of some of her choices. 

Regarding choices Marian is transparent about her dislike of rules and authority and so she submitted two sets of song choices to me for the episode – ‘The Rule Abiding List’ and ‘The Alternative List’. You will need to listen to get the full story but here is the ‘Rule Abiding List’. 


70’s - Another Brick in The Wall  -               Pink Floyd
80’s - Down in The Bottom              -               Colin James
90’s - The Obvious Child                   -               Paul Simon 
00’s - It’s Alright with Me                  -               Murley-Bickert-Wallace  
10’s - At Transformation                    -               The Tragically Hip 
20’s – If I Was The Priest                    -               Bruce Springsteen 
Outro – Welcome to Hard Times  -               Charley Crockett 


Enjoy 😊



If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .

My guest in this episode is Brian MacKay who was introduced to Music Talks by Roy Sharples my guest in Episode 61. (Thanks Roy!) 


Bryan is just 50 and works in a third sector charity.  He lives in Peterhead, a large fishing port in Aberdeenshire, with his wife, 4 children and a Cockapoo acquired during Covid. Like me Bryan is the youngest in his family but in his case, he had three older sisters and on his own admittance was spoilt rotten as a child. 


Since 2015 he has been a keen runner and next month, he will run his first Marathon and an Ultra Marathon is the eventual goal. 


That sort of commitment and determination can also be seen in Bryan’s obsessive love of bands and music, and he has some great stories to tell, including how Lana Del ray made him late for work.!. His musical taste is genuinely wide ranging, and I can’t wait to pull together the Playlist for this episode as he touched on so many great artists in our chat. 


Bryan’s song choices are: 


70’s -     Please Mr. Postman -                                  Carpenters
80’s -     Waterfall -                                                        The Stone Roses
90’s -     Dead Flag Blues -                                         Godspeed You! Black Emperor    
00’s -     Slow Show                                                       The National
10’s -     Video Games                                                  Lana Del Rey 
20’s -     Death Is Not The End                                Embrace        

                                                   
If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .

My guest in this episode is Henrik Johnson, who is my first guest from Sweden. 
Henrik was born and grew up in a small town called Karlskoga which is between Stockholm and Oslo. Whilst not ‘desperate to get out ‘he left Karlskoga at the first opportunity and has subsequently lived & worked on three continents including stints in Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Greece. For the past 20 years home has been Southern California where he lives today in Newport Beach with his wife Lisa and their 6-year-old daughter Sarah. 


Henrik’s story is one of grabbing opportunities when they come up (even if it takes you to a war zone) , making what you enjoy your guiding light and recognising that necessity is the mother of invention.  It also contains a brilliantly romantic story of him, very uncharacteristically, inviting Lisa his wife on a sailing holiday in the Caribbean after their first date! 


Like many of my guests Henrik shares a twin passion for music and technology and you can see this running through his music choices. Not surprisingly though he starts with Abba and the delights of Eurovision, and because of the brilliant story above I made an exception and allowed Henrik to choose his first dance song at his wedding for the 2010’s 


His song choices are: 


70’s        Waterloo                                                              Abba
80’s        Just Can’t Get Enough                                  Depeche Mode
90’s        Friday I’m In Love                                             The Cure
00’s        Nothing But You (PvD Radio Mix)          Paul Van Dyk 
10’s        What A Wonderful World                           Louis Armstrong 
20’s        You Are                                                                   Gareth Emery                                                 
 
If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .

My guest on this episode is Christina Boubalou who comes to the show via an introduction from a previous guest Roy Sharples (Ep.61). Thanks for the intro Roy, and your continued support. 
I’m delighted to say that Christina is my first guest from Greece, and she is a true Athenian. She has lived there all her life and continues to live there today along with her husband who was her best friend in high school! 


Christina always thought she would become a chemist but through a set of happy accidents she started her working career in 1997 in the music industry with Virgin Records. She later moved into Marketing & PR in the corporate world but describes her time in the music industry as ‘the best job I ever had’. 


In her own words she has always been ‘obsessed with music’ and on numerous occasions it has been her ‘saviour and salvation’. She talks fondly about the challenges of getting to hear music and see live shows in Greece and for me that was a timely reminder of how spoiled we were musically growing up in the UK or the US. At the end of the day though music lovers will always find a way. 


Whilst I wasn’t aware when Roy made the introduction Christina is also a big fan of Springsteen and on July 23rd she will be in Munich for the first time to see him live, I just wish I could be there with her 😊 


In addition to her song choices Christina also chose a word to describe each decade and I have included these below. Enjoy! 
70’s -     Birth                     Love Is The Drug                              Roxy Music 
80’s -     Dream                 Livin’ On A Prayer                            Bon Jovi 
90’s -     Adulthood         Dance Of The Bad Angels          Tim Booth, Angelo Badalamenti 
00’s -     Reinvention      Hung Up                                                Madonna 
10’s -     Maturity             Jenny Of Oldstones                       Florence + The Machine 
20’s -     Cycle                      Nightshift                                            Bruce Springsteen



If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .

My guest in this episode is friend and colleague Mike Palmer. 
A Middlesborough lad, Mike moved to Manchester in 1984 to study Computing at UMIST where his degree supervisor was Bernard Richards, one of Alan Turing’s last students. Mike has never left the Northwest and he and his family have become committed ‘Mancophiles’, not least because of the great environment the city provides for music and the arts.
Mike is a passionate music lover but it’s words that really impact him and as per the title of the episode on occasions make him cry. Similarly, recorded music is great but for him it’s all about the live performance. He inherited this love from his parents (who met Ella Fitzgerald!) and he and his wife Gerri have passed that on to his two daughters Emily and Anna.

Consequently, each of his song choices are from bands he has seen live. 
Mike has a wealth of great stories including: 
·         The Clash at Manchester Apollo in 1981
·         Bowie at Murrayfield in 1983 on the Let’s Dance Tour 
·         The Smiths at Middlesborough Town Hall Crypt in 1984
·         Chatting with Michael Stipe at Leeds Warehouse in 1984 
·         Asking Don Letts to move out of his seat at a Big Audio Dynamite gig in 1986
·         Radiohead at Glastonbury in 1997
·         The XX at a secret venue under Victoria Station with 60 people in 2013
·         The joy of attending Green Man every year with about 20 family and friends


Mike’s song choices are: 
70’s        (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais         The Clash
80’s        New England                                                             Billy Bragg
90’s        Fake Plastic Trees                                                   Radiohead
00’s        One Day Like This                                                   Elbow
10’s        Make Me Feel                                                           Janelle Monae 
20’s        The 345                                                                         Self Esteem 
If you would like to be on the show then please contact me at musictalkspod@outlook.com Please follow and like Music Talks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod . You can also find me on Twitter @musictalkspod .