Tess

..Hi there! I'd like to tell you about my radio shows on BBB FM 89.1. BBB is in the old railway station at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. The Barossa Valley is famous for its wine. I've been in the area for seventeen years and have been involved with BBB FM for 4 years. BBB is a community station, one of many in South Australia. Our station has the highest ratings in our area and can be picked up in many areas of the city and country. I got involved with Triple B FM because I have always loved music. I have a record and CD collection that goes back about 44 years, my first single being Green onions by Booker T and the MG's!!! I try to play music that doesn't normally get played much. I leave the popular stuff to the commercial stations! In Australia community radio is a big thing among music lovers! On Thursdays from 5-6 PM, I present "Blues and Rock at 5 O'Clock." Again most of the music I play is out of the mainstream. I try to include Australian blues and blues/rock but also love bringing out my old British blues collection as I am originally from London and grew up listening to British bands like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Graham Bond, The Animals and the original Fleetwood Mac. I like the old classics but also love discovering new bands. Talking is kept to a minimum. It's a drivetime show and I keep it up tempo! Some of my favourite bands and artists that I feature regularly on the programme are the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues, The John Earl Walker Band, Bondi Cigars, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl and Jimmie Vaughan. I'm a fan of blues harp especially the West coast players. The West coast guitar players are cool too, especially Junior Watson, Hollywood Fats, Kid Ramos and Little Charlie. I like a bit of rock 'n roll and rockabilly too and also the Hammond organ. I've collected records featuring the Hammond ever since buying Green onions!!! Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff are my 2 favourite players. I also like Charles Earland, Reuben Wilson, John Patton and of course the great Jimmy Smith. In the next life I'll come back as one of them! My favourite sax player is Stanley Turrentine. Lou Donaldson, Cannonball and Vince Herring are some other favourites. I have a large collection of Miles too. Once a month on BBB on Saturday nights I also host a blues programme. This one, I call "Saturday Night Blues." I try to mix it up a bit on this show and often play requests and have interviews. Because this programme is three hours long, I can feature a broader range of music including some acoustic music. At the moment I am also presenting True Blues on a Wednesday night alternating with Ric Paull and Jeff McEachen!!!In the past I have also presented a groovy jazz progamme and an entertainment programme.All this keeps me very busy, but I also manage a couple of bands. The Tony Luke Band are a local band, led by guitarist Tony Luke who has been playing since the early 60's.In July 2005 I met John Earl Walker, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the John Earl Walker Band. We immediately had a very good rapport and this has developed into a very close relationship. In March/April 2005 I visited John in New York and in July 2005 he visited me in Australia. He performed some gigs with local bands and it all went down very well. Now I am managing his band and we hope to get together permanently and marry soon but its not easy when we both have ties and commitments where we live.When I have time I like to play my flute in my flute/guitar duo with Michael Liddle on guitar. Last year we recorded a CD with jazz standards and some of Michael's originals. Its very much a spare time project but we both enjoy it! We do a few local gigs from time to time.When not listening to or playing music I enjoy watching movies. I often go for the more offbeat movies but often those are the ones that become really popular! The Coen Bros, Christopher Guest and Woody Allen are favourites. My favourite actor is Jack Nicholson and actress Patricia Clarkson.I do worry about the state of our fragile planet and what we are doing to it. Ive always tried to minimise my own impact by driving small cars, eating vegetarian food, avoiding plastic bags and planting lots of trees but we all need to do more! I am basically anti the capitalist system that has helped to cause our environmental problems.Only after the last tree has been cut down Only after the last river has been poisoned Only after the last fish has been caught Only then will you find you cannot eat money -- Cree prophecy