Setting up a new phone

My phone started to freeze on me and reboot at random times so after trying a few things like uninstalling apps, clearing caches and so on, I figured it was time for a new phone. 

All was going well with the phone due to be delivered today, but I was then told I would need to give the delivery driver a 4 digit code which was in a message on my phone... which had now given up the ghost and died on me. 

The O2 website is a good example of "let's cram as many options onto our help pages without actually letting customers speak to a human being or give them an email address to contact tech support." I couldn't phone or message them as my phone was playing dead and any emails I sent were returned as undeliverable. 

Thankfully I managed to get through to them on Facebook and after a while my phone decided it would boot up for one final time and I was able to get the code for the courier.

I then had fun logging in to my Google account which I had to do as I'd backed up my contacts there, but all is now pretty much done with it also having downloaded most of my apps which was an unexpected bonus. It's now hassling me to use its Gemini AI feature. No thanks. Not today.

What I find irritating is that just having a password is no longer good enough. You need a passcode or some such thing as 2 Tier logins are now the order of the day. This is ok if you can access the device they send the codes to, but if your phone is Fubar, you're up the creek without a login option.

I have a background of working in IT, mainly as a technician supporting users and troubleshooting PCs and printers, so I'll keep buggering on and will get there in the end. But for others of my generation and those older (I'm 62) this sort of palaver could just be too much and I can imagine many oldies just giving up and abandoning this ever-increasingly difficult digital world. 

I should say the O2 tech support people on Facebook have been very helpful. 

I'm now listening to the REM album Monster and the song Let Me In is oh so appropriate.  

OTBT mix 10 August 2026

On this mix you can hear music ranging from Stephen Stills and Anne Briggs recorded back in the 1960s to a track from the new release by American trio I'm With Her. 

Listen now on Mixcloud or from Monday on Ginger Feather FM at 1pm or 8pm.

Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine
I'm With Her - Ancient Light (live)
Los Lobos - Bluebird
Stephen Stills - Know You've Got To Run (demo)
Crosby & Nash - To The Last Whale a) Critical Mass b) Wind On The Water
Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me
Kitty Macfarlane - Wrecking Days
Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening - Colliers
Leveret - Oh The Days When I Was Young / Young Collins Rant
Jamie Smith's Mabon - Gareth and Aoife's
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jay
The Carrivick Sisters - Amsterdam
Anne Briggs - Rosemary Lane
Maddy Prior - Somewhere Along The Road
Will Pound - Waxy's 

Off The Beaten Tracks 3 August 2026

Listen now on Mixcloud or on Ginger Feather FM from Monday at 1pm and 8pm.

Re the title of the Annlaug song...
The Norwegian phrase "Stovet som glitrar og gror" translates into English as "The dust that glitters and grows" or "The dust that sparkles and thrives."

George Harrison - Any Road
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Psycho Killer
Helen & The Neighbourhood Dogs - Not That Kind of Girl
Peter, Paul & Mary - Leaving on a Jet Plane
Jon Palmer Acoustic Band - One Fine Day
Kat Flint - The Blinking
Honey & the Bear - The Swallow
Annlaug Borsheim - Stovet som glitrar og gror
Police Dog Hogan - The One on the Left
Mikey Kenney - Tiny Little Light
Moll Baxter - She is Dragon
Salt House - Unspoken Waters
Rock Salt & Nails - Someday
George Harrison - Piggies (live) 

The George Harrison Project at the Lancaster Grand

Having watched a video of the Project before last night's gig at the Grand, I realised that these guys were not your typical tribute band like The Bootleg Beatles. There would be no costume changes or dodgy scouse accents but rather a celebration of George’s music played by a five-piece rock band.

As I have been a fan of Harrison’s music for most of my life, I reckoned I would know most, if not all, of what they would play. And this was the case with the set list ranging from early Beatles numbers such as Do You Want To Know A Secret and Don’t Bother Me via songs from his solo albums “All Things Must Pass” up to “Brainwashed” and three numbers from the two Travelling Wilburys releases. The one song I didn't know was a Bob Dylan number which I think George covered for a film soundtrack.

But I was pleasantly surprised to hear the song Photograph which I’d forgotten George co-wrote with Ringo and was on the latter’s self-titled 1973 album. There were some lovely photos of the two of them projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage. 

If I have any criticism of the gig it would be that the sound was not so good in the first half and I was sitting just down from the sound desk. The keyboards were barely audible while the lead guitarist was in danger of drowning out the rest of the band especially when he was playing slide guitar. This was a shame as George was known for his delicate slide playing especially on a song like If Not For You.

This wasn’t a problem when they did While My Guitar Gently Weeps with the guitarist doing a great job of playing the Eric Clapton part. As I commented to my wife at the end of that song, he makes a much better Eric Clapton than a George Harrison. *

But this comes back to my original comment about how they are not a tribute band. They weren’t pretending to be Harrison and whoever he played with be it John, Paul and Ringo or Jeff Lynne & co in the Wilburys. With the improvement of the sound after the interval I relaxed more and enjoyed the gig for what it was - a bunch of guys who obviously love George’s music and were not only playing the songs but also giving us a bit of chat about how some of the songs came about.

Personal favourites from the set list would include All Things Must Pass, Beautiful Girl, Something, When We Was Fab and a great version of the Carl Perkins song which The Beatles covered, namely Everybody Wants To Be My Baby. That last one got us up and dancing.

When music is as important as George Harrison’s is to me, it’s perhaps inevitable that you feel protective towards it. But despite those few minor quibbles, I have to say the guys in the Project are doing a great job of keeping George's music alive. 

So would I recommend you go along and see them? Yes, absolutely. But if you’re expecting them to put on orange robes for the Hari Krishna chants in My Sweet Lord I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.

                                                         *********************

PS I've sat down and made a list of all the songs they played last night and reckon it was over 30 so we definitely got value for money. One or two like What is Life were cut a bit short but otherwise it was pretty much what you would hear on the original records. 

* It turns out that the lead guitarist was a last minute replacement for their usual guitarist who had been taken into hospital for an urgent operation. 

OTBT Americana mix 27 July

A mix going out on Ginger Feather FM the w/c 27th July. I've included tracks by singers I haven't listened to in a while including Christa Couture and Tony McLoughlin along with some retro sounds from Sheesham & Lotus & Son.

Listen now on Mixcloud.

Kris Kristofferson - Me and Bobby McGee
Sarah Jarosz - Green Lights
Sam Baker - Say Grace
Kathy Mattea - Little Glass of Wine
Indigo Girls - Least Complicated
Del McCoury Band - Almost Proud
Christa Couture - Sing For Me
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Fortune Teller
Woody Pines - Keep Your Hands Off
Tony McLoughlin - Turn The Music On
The Magpies - Galileo
Tim O'Brien - Forever Young
I'm With Her - Crescent City
Tracy Moore - Swanee River Boogie
Sheesham & Lotus & Son - Viola Lee Blues
Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Plastic Jesus 

Off The Beaten Tracks 17 July 2026

My last Richard Thompson gig was a year ago this month at the Warwick Folk Festival so for no other reason than that, I've got a track by him from his live album Ducknapped and covers of his songs by Grace Petrie and June Tabor. I've also included a re-recording of Crazy Man Michael which Fairport put on their 2012 album By Popular Request. It was a song which Richard wrote with Dave Swarbrick for Fairport's Liege and Lief album. 

Listen to the show on Mixcloud or at 8pm from Monday on Ginger Feather FM.

Francesco Buzzurro & Richard Smith - Mambo Italiano 

Fairport Convention - Crazy Man Michael 

Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Twelfth Day - You're The One For Me Fatty 

Grace Petrie - Beeswing 

James J Turner - Spirit and Soul and a Handful of Mud 

Michael Chapman - How Can a Poor Man 

KT Tunstall - Miniature Disasters 

June Tabor - Night Comes In 

Richard Thompson - I Misunderstood (live) 

Angie Palmer - The Fiery Lake 

Siobhan Miller - Bonny Light Horseman 

Amy Thatcher - Ian's Favourite 

OTBT Mix 10 July 2026

A mix for broadcast on Ginger Feather FM next week. It has a theme of the sea, boats, ships and sailors with two tracks from the new album by Cara titled Our Ship is Ready. I think this is the second mix with this theme that I've done but there are so many folk songs inspired by the sea.

And if you like Megson's take on The Silent Boatman, check out the version by George Clinton's band Parliament. It's a beautiful recording of the Ruth Copeland song.

Listen to the mix at your leisure on Mixcloud. 

Steve Knightley - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
Cara - Our Ship is Ready
Miranda Sykes - Sea Glass
Kris Drever - Braw Sailin' on the Sea
Megson - The Silent Boatman
Life and Times - Where the Working Boats Went
The Bad Shepherds - Shipbuilding
Claire Hastings - I Missed The Boat
Odette Michel w/ Phil Beer - Rolling Shores Of England
Cara - The Sinking Ship
Fara - West Tide Story
The Rosie Hood Band - Wild Man of the Sea
The Mizzen Crew - Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor
Skipinnish - The Island
Rackhouse Pilfer - Two Oceans
The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc - Da Greenland Mans Tune

Many thanks to Kim Edgar for the free download of the Cara album.