People often ask me what I actually do for a living, because I don’t have an office and am often away.The answer tends to vary from week to week, but here is how I have paid the rent during the past couple of years.working for the goNorth music event in Scotland; coordinating British Music Week in Berlin [2006]; showing German and Spanish speaking people Edinburgh, and its surroundings; I wrote for Billboard until they started illegally sharing my work while going on about the importance of protecting the copyright of songwriters; now I co-write a new music column [Under The Radar] and the odd exotic festival article for The Scotsman; I also write for Music Week and sometimes appear on BBC Radio; I've done research for Music Ally; Sometimes I DJ in Oslo’s finest hostelries, Mono and Internajional. Despite appearing to be frequented by discerning music lovers, the staff and clientele love nothing better than a blast of The Scorpions with The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bonnie Tyler and some no-nonsense soft metal; I've recently lectured at West Of Scotland University, which was aceWhat doesn’t pay my rent is co-running Born To Be Wide, a music scene social in Edinburgh. We invite bands, promoters, label people and music journalists to come and play their favourite records. They can play whatever they like, as long as it’s not by Joy Division or The Smiths/Morrissey. Since April we have also been hosting free seminars before the music begins. Topics have included: music management, unveiling the mind of a music journalist, how to get a gig and a Norwegian special.
