Brierly Hill 90210 presents... 2005 v2

Brierly Hill 90210

The year begins with George W Bush celebrating a second term as US president while the world mourns and prays for those effected by the massive Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of 2004. On the personal front, by February, we were pregnant again and, after many nervous months, this time it stuck. Looking back, I don't remember a direct connection but find it hard to believe it's a coincidence that I wanted to do something musical and creative while we were expecting. I was experiencing a slow realization that I no longer liked the music that I liked, if that makes any sense. I didn't want to listen to the music that was being offered through mainstream outlets so I started searching out new and interesting music, not paying attention to whether it was actually released by a record label. That concept of “record label” was disappearing and the DIY essence of punk rock that I fell in love with as a teenager was once again to the fore, more so than ever. Folks could record whatever they wanted in their bedrooms, basements and garages and make it available to the world on the internet and new sites such as MySpace. The Wrong Music collective in the UK was even being referred to as “the new punk” and, with surprisingly impeccable timing, I was becoming involved in a new golden age of music. In hindsight, likely because of impending fatherhood fostering a sense of “legacy” and I'm sure because of John Peel's passing the year before, I wanted to share my musical discoveries with an audience. So in June, with no clue what I was doing, I launched Brierly Hill 90210 as a weekly, 1-hour online radio show on Live365. By the end of the year, a handful of like-minded individuals had discovered the show, liked what I was doing and started to contribute suggestions. That improved the quality of the show and one or two more people would find me. I don't want to say audience figures snowballed as episodes often had a listnership that could be countered on the fingers of one elbow! But I felt part of something bigger and of “community” that I'd never experienced since listening to John Peel under the bed covers many years earlier. About to turn 40, I was like a kid with a new toy and new friends. Welcome to a whole new world of discovery and adventure. Welcome to 2005.