Happy New Year

All the best for 2012.

The First Annual Chris Skoyles Year End Awards: PART 2

Yes, as promised, I'm back with the second part of my Year End Awards. In Part One, we looked at my favourite albums, artists and gigs of 2011, in this installment we'll look at my favourite blogs, websites and other stuff from the past 12 months.

The 'Must have in your RSS Reader' Award for Blog of the year

WINNER:

Chris Guillebeau - The Art of Non-Conformity 
World-traveler, entrepreneur and author of the excellent book The Art of Non-Conformity, a great piece of writing about how to live an awsome life on your own terms, expands upon the ideas in that book with posts about life, work and travel in this blog of the same name.

I read The Art of Non-conformity book in the space of a day when I first picked it up earlier this year, and I don't think I've missed a single post from Chris all year, always finding something to motivate and inspire me whether it's in regards to my writing, long-term goals or generally kicking arse at life. Always a great read and definitely worth checking out.

RUNNERS UP:

• Hypebot.com
• The Problem with Young People Today

The 'Where would I be without you?' Award for Most Useful Tool of the Year

WINNER:

Springpad

After the rumours in late 2010 that Yahoo were killing off the Delicious social booking service, I set about looking for a viable alternative. 

A couple of options were tested, but Springpad was the clear winner; not only did it allow me to easily import all my bookmarks over from Delicious (which, as it turned out, was actually just sold, not shut down), but it also took over from most of the tasks Evernote used to handle for me, and did them much better and with a much slicker interface than Evernote.

Since then I've used Springpad to do everything from managing my Haigh Fest short list to keeping track of which poems I've had published to planning for meetings and more.

Overall it's an awesome tool and I'd be lost without it.

RUNNERS UP:

• Duotrope submissions tracker
• Hootsuite

The 'Time for a break' Film of the Year Award

WINNER:

Resurrect Dead 
It was at least four years ago that I first heard about Toynbee Tiles, mysterious pieces of art planted into the asphalt of US streets with cryptic messages about bringing dead folk back to life on planet Jupiter and making references to the work of historian Arnold Toynbee and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.

After originally reading about them in an edition of The Metro newspaper, my curiosity and hunger to learn more about the tiles led me to writing an article of my own, featuring interviews with Justin Duerr, Colin Smith and Steve Weinik, three men from Philadelphia who were working on a film about the tiles.

I quickly lost touch with them after the article, but kept up-to-date on the film's progress via the Resurrect Dead website and was delighted earlier this year when I saw that not only had the film been released, but it had done pretty well too.

That background aside, this is a really great documentary, full of mystery and intrigue, beautiful shot and well worth anybody's time.

RUNNERS UP:

• Rise of Planet of the Apes
• 127 Hours

The 'I'm Going to Hit You with a Big Stick' Award for Most Annoying Thing of the Year

WINNER:

Sitekit
I've been working with content management system Sitekit for the best part of the last twelve months at the day job and, funnily enough, whenever I've been faced with a web-based project at that same day job in the last twelve months, I've experienced nothing but frustration.

Chances are that those frustrations are as much to do with the awful computer I'm provided with at work, but even as terrible as that machine is, I doubt it's solely responsible for the amount of times Sitekit slowly grinds to a withering halt before crashing altogether.

Then again, maybe it is.

Looking around the 'net, I've read a lot of good things about Sitekit, so it can't be all that bad, but I could honestly write a 1000 word post about ll the headaches and frustrations I've suffered because of this particular CMS in the past year. I won't, but I could.

RUNNERS UP:

• People who readily share every detail of their lives on Facebook then complain about privacy.
• People who say "that awkward moment when..." and then go on to describe a situation that isn't really awkward at all.
• Running out of categories for 'Year End Awards' blogs

The First Annual Chris Skoyles Year End Awards: PART 1

It's that time of year when every institution and magazine on the planet looks back over the last twelve months in their chosen field and celebrates the achievements of others with their Year End Awards.

Of course, I'm neither an institution nor a magazine, but I am a man with a bit of time on my hands today; time I decided to spend concocting my own utterly random Chris Skoyles Year End Awards.

Part One of these awards looks at the year in music whilst Part Two, to be posted on Boxing Day, will deal with everything else that happened in the last year.

Please enjoy,

The 'Play on Repeat' Award for Album of the Year

WINNER:

William Fitzsimmons - Gold in the Shadow
I've been a big fan of Fitzsimmons for the past couple of years, and not just for that immensely cool beard of his. With only perhaps Adam Duritz (see below) coming anywhere close when it comes to pouring so much emotion into every word he sings, the Pittsburgh-born songwriter's last couple of albums, Sparrow and The Crow, Goodnight and Until When We Are Ghosts are truly beautiful, and I don't say that lightly.

Some critics expecting more of the aching melancholy and tender beauty displayed on older tracks such as Everything has Changed, Even Now and After All have been disappointed by Gold in the Shadow,with its more optimistic outlook and uplifting tone, but with such stunning tracks as The Tide Pulls from the Moon and Bird of Winter Prey, this is still better than anything else I've heard all year.

RUNNERS UP:

• Adam Duritz - All My Bloody Valentines
• Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

The 'Get this crap off my stereo' Award for Worst Album of the Year

WINNER:

Metallica & Lou Reed - Lulu 

I tried so incredibly hard to like this album, I really did, and not just because everybody else has been slating 'Tallica since they stopped being cool after that whole Napster thing. No, I'm that guy who even thought St. Anger was pretty good, so if Metallica were involved, I really thought, believed, hoped beyond all hope, that there'd be something to enjoy somewhere on this record.

Oh how wrong I was.

Sounding for all the world like a drunken old man rambling incoherently over a bunch of riffs James Hetfield never intended for public consumption, Lulu easily takes the award for the worst thing I've heard all year.

It almost breaks my heart to class Metallica as the worst anything, but my word this is terrible.

RUNNERS UP:

• LMFAO - Sorry for Party Rocking
• Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still speeding

The 'Where have you been all my life!?!' Award for a band I only discovered in 2011.

WINNER:

Seven Mary Three

There are many things I'm grateful to Stace for of which things like unwavering love and support are certainly the most important, but one of the simplest, most wonderful things Stace ever did for me was look at me with a shocked glare in her beautiful green eyes and yell 'What do you mean you've never heard of Seven Mary Three!?!'

She was right to be surprised too, because this is a band somebody really should have told me about before.

Of course, 7M3's most popular tracks like Cumbersome and Water's Edge are popular for a reason -they're awesome- but it's the album tracks such as the brilliant Margaret, Devil Boy, What Angry Blue? and Chasing You that, with at least 1,300 plays in 2011 (Thanks Last.fm!), make them both my favourite band of the year, and my most listened to.

Thanks Stacy!

RUNNERS UP:

• Hypnogaja
• The Blackout

The 'Wish I wasn't too old to crowd surf' Award for Best Live Performance of the Year

WINNER:

Jeramiah Ferrari at Haigh Fest

I didn't get as many opportunities to go gigs where I wasn't working or directly involved with the band as I would have liked this year, but that doesn't mean I haven't seem some incredible live performances. In fact, I've seen so many good live bands this year that this was a tricky one to pick.

Alas, the award really has to go to Jeramiah who, after getting a slot at this year's Haigh Fest thanks to overwhelming support from their fans, really rewarded those fans with something very special. I've seen Jeramiah live four times this year and they never fail to blow me away, but they really excelled themselves at Haigh.

RUNNERS UP:

• The Hicks at Bands for All
• Mother's Country at Millstone Rocks

I'll be back on Boxing Day with Part 2 of my Year End Awards.

2011: The Year in Review

I spent most of yesterday working on my goals for 2012

Broken down into the main categories of Writing, Music, Finance, Health, my goals give me a definite plan of action for the year ahead.

Today's post however, isn't really to talk about those goals at all. In fact, I only mention them due to the contrast between now and my life this time last year, when my only goal was not to have a goal at all.

Yes I know, this may seem counter-productive and goes against everything anybody will ever tell you about how to achieve more in your life, but as 2010 turned into 2011, the changes in my personal circumstances left me feeling free to head into the unknown.

Looking back, that's certainly a direction I'm glad I traveled.

In the early part of the year, it took me a freezing cold LSV Stadium. where I spent a good couple of Sundays trying my hand at sports journalism, covering Leigh Centurions home games.

OK, so reporting on rugby league wasn't to be my calling, but it was good fun whilst it lasted, and I believe the work I did during that brief period benefited my writing style in the long run.

As winter transitioned into spring, I spent most of my time taking The LINC Online and building it from scratch in a new CMS which, to put it bluntly, was quite the pain in the arse.

To be fair, I did learn some valuable new skills, got to work with a brand new system and starting from scratch on a site that had been growing into something of a beast over the last five years allowed us to scale down and really focus on a number of key areas.

Still, I won't deny that I was quite glad once that project was taken care of and I could move quite happily into my own Summer of Awesome Music.

It was a summer which, after selecting the line-up for this year's Haigh Fest and meeting most of the bands, began properly with my wonderful trip to Minnesota, which was mostly for the purposes of hanging out with Stace and meeting her family, but had the added bonus of a trip to the beautiful city of Hibbing and a sneak at Bob Dylan's childhood home.

I got back from America just in time for the Haigh Live concerts, followed by arguably the biggest and best Haigh Fest to date.

From there, we had the memorable trip to Samlesbury with Colour Me Blind and  some awesome performances from bands like The Hicks, Jeramiah Ferrari and Rescue The Eskimo at Bands for all.

The musical summer finally wrapped up with a three-day slog managing Millstone Rocks. 

That festival was undoubtedly one of the most rewarding things I've ever worked on, but it sure was hard work, so I was glad when August slipped into September and things began to quieten down somewhat.

Of course, the winter months weren't without their own memorable moments.

Between receiving a place to run the 2012 Virgin London Marathon, writing for Lifehack.org  and getting my act together ready for the big charity gig in January, I've been  busy the last couple of months working hard on a couple of projects, all of which I'm hoping to see flourish in 2012.

Over all then, 2011 wasn't without it's challenges, but by seizing those challenges and overcoming them, I find myself in a much better place than I was this time last year, with a much clearer direction and a whole bunch of exciting goals that I can't wait to get to work on in 2012.

Couldn't be bothered reading all that? You can check out some of the highlights of my year in the timeline below.

on Dipity.

Coming Soon: Gigging for Higgins

Poster for an all-day charity concert I'm organising in January featuring some fantastic bands. You can view more about this gig on our Facebook event.

There's no 'I' in scene

Moco Perform in Leigh, 2007

I was told a good joke last week.

Hunched over the bar in a nice little music venue in Leigh, the owner first told me that they were almost fully-booked for 2012, and then added that any remaining slots would only be given to bands prepared not to play any other gigs in town for the entire year.

As a heavy Friday night faded to the dull chill of a Saturday morning and this somewhat baffling booking policy was revealed to me, I hung on the owner’s every word, lips curling into the slightest of smiles in anticipation of the punchline.

It never came.

Instead, I was offered the simple justification that ‘it stops bands making a name for themselves here and then using that to get gigs at other clubs.’

I’ve tried to see it from this point of view, I really have, but the more I think about it, I really can’t see much justification for such a policy.

I’ve heard of these kind of agreements before of course, and in some of the larger cities they’re more or less common practice.

Colour Me Blind’s headline show at the Retro Bar in Manchester this Wednesday for example, has a ‘no-compete’ clause of sorts in which the band agrees not to play anywhere else in the city that month.

To me, this does make sense and does at least work in the band’s favour; Manchester is a huge part of the UK music scene with many venues of all shapes and sizes, and by not gigging there every week, this one show they are playing becomes all the more important.

It also gives us the chance to concentrate our marketing efforts and draw an audience to this one show rather than three or four.

That I like. That I can get behind.

Squeezing onto an already-full line-up at one venue on the condition that we don’t gig anywhere else in town for an entire year? That kind of agreement has so many flaws in it that it’s hard to know where to begin.

But begin I feel I must, and so here’s the first point:

A band plays in Leigh, 2006.

Leigh isn’t Manchester.
I mean no disrespect to Leigh whatsoever; it’s a perfectly lovely little town with a brilliant art gallery, a fancy new sports stadium and three-or-four small pubs hosting live music, all of which it should be proud of.

Especially the music venues.

I don’t know of many towns the size of Leigh that have a similar number of places for bands to ply their trade, and I know from working on Haigh Fest that there’s some really good bands coming out of the area, but it’s a push to compare it to the thriving reputation Manchester’s music scene has developed for itself over the years, and yet even the city’s most prestigious venues wouldn’t ask bands to stay away for a whole year in return for one gig.

Credit where cred it’s due
Those Manchester venues are unlikely to take as much credit for a band’s success as our friend in Leigh seems to be.

‘it stops bands making a name for themselves here and then using that to get gigs at other clubs.’

I don’t really mean to take anything away from this venue, it is a pretty good place for live music, but a band isn’t going to develop a reputation from playing at that, or any other venue, alone.

A band makes a name for itself by working hard on rehearsing, writing, promoting and getting really good then getting out there to as many people as possible and proving just how good they are, not by playing one show a year in a small town.

If anything, it’s the awesome bands who perform there that enable this venue to make a name for itself, not the other way round.

There’s no ‘I’ in scene
It just seems to me that, by adopting this attitude, the venue is taking more credit for the healthy music scene in Leigh than it really deserves. Not to say it doesn’t deserve any, but in this blogger’s mind a strong music scene depends on having a number of quality bands playing at a number of quality venues.

Forcing bands to limit themselves to one venue, especially if they’re only squeezing on to an already packed line-up and only likely to get one gig per year, is likely to do more harm to the music scene than good.

Lack of opportunities
Especially at a time when live shows generate more income for an artist than music sales, and especially for unsigned acts who rarely make much money either way, gigs are a valuable source of income,.

All this little ‘no shows in town all year’ policy succeeds in doing is robbing bands of opportunities to make some money (I could rant about how poor the payday is at this venue, but let’s focus on one thing at once, shall we? ), improve their performance and develop their fanbase, a fanbase who would ultimately follow a band to shows right across town.

More fans coming to more shows by more bands in more venues equals a thriving music scene.
Having bands give up all other opportunities to play in town throughout the year in return for one poorly-paid slot at a decent venue is at best shortsighted, at worst damaging to a local music scene in which bands and venues rely on each other for success.

And that’s really nothing to joke about.