Jo Whiley n stuff...
**Update from James**
Hi,
You may be familiar with Jo Whiley. She and I have had a cat and mouse relationship for some time. Over the last ten years I have sent her literally thousands of emails, with not one single reply. I am the persistent cat; she the elusive and particularly cunning mouse.
I have emailed her with ideas for her show, criticisms of artists in her Live Lounge, sarcastic suggestions that she should at least MENTION the ....Glastonbury.... festival, and even updates on my personal life.
Her weekday show on Radio One has now moved to the weekends, possibly in an attempt to avoid me, but still I continue to send her my thoughts, my ideas, my suggestions.
You might think that this was some kind of attempt to get the band signed through inundating a celebrity DJ with messages, but thinking back I don't think I've ever mentioned Timshel at all. Possibly a good thing, as recently I've begun to think that Jo Whiley hates my guts.
Anyway, a few months ago I thought it might be an idea to attack from another direction. You may be familiar with Jo's 'Changing Track' segment. This is where a member of the public sends in a semi-tragic story of a life changing experience that they have always associated with a particular song. Jo reads the story out, then plays the song. It's uplifting, you see? Usually you get relationship breakdowns, affairs, accidents or drugs - mine had it all.
I would love to end this with the news that Jo had read out my 'Changing Track' on Radio One, or even sent me a reply, but alas - no. Not a sausage from my elusive mouse.
My determination is undampened though, and I will carry on letting Jo know the things that concern me, that make me happy, that make me itch.
That 'Changing Track' email in full:
However, the bubble was to burst in an extraordinary fashion as I was involved in a building site accident that left me without my left leg and my right arm. I also damaged the top of my spine which left my head lolling about on my shoulders like a balloon on a stick.
At first, Madeleine was very supportive and spent days at my bedside as I adjusted to life without key limbs and the ability to support my own head. She nursed me through those dark times, and supported me in my dream to climb Mount Everest.
I was distraught Jo, but I focussed all my attention on the Everest climb - building my remaining muscles into tightly compressed orbs of strength. It was in June 2006 that I finally felt ready, and set off on my highly publicised ascent of Everest, the sarcastic belly laughs of my detractors ringing in my ears.
It was while I was covered in mud, being held up and photographed by these men, that the strains of a piece of music reached my ears. It must of been playing on one of the men's stereos and I was immediately struck by it's power and uplifting quality.
On my return to England though, things were to take a disastrous turn for the worse. I was kidnapped, Jo.
A gang of local youths picked me up off the floor and took me back to their drug den, hacked off my remaining limbs and plied me with 'acid'. I lost my mind, Jo.
In those darkest of times, that piece of music came back to me and played on repeat in my head as I hallucinated hordes of deformed vampire bats hurling insults at me in thick scouse accents. It was only my focus on that joyful tune that got me through that very low point and, as the youths discarded me on a council estate in Watford, I could still hear it playing and feel its power.
That tune has never stopped playing in my head at a deafening volume, Jo. Doctors have told me that this an affect of the 'acid', and that it would most likely play on repeat inside my mind forever. It's a good job I like the tune, eh Jo?
My life isn't perfect, Jo. But as I sit here typing this, that piece of music is still ringing in my ears - reminding me of the struggles I have faced and the perils I have overcome.
I only recently found out what the piece of music is, as I never saw the television show, but I have now. Jo, my changing track is the theme tune to the excellent BBC TV series presented by Peter Purves, 'Junior Kick Start'.
