Recognise the scene with the drummer, the golden 'confetti', the distinctive dress and those feet? Yet another Eurovision winner with no shoes or socks, Emmelie de Forest was the reason for a major event in my life SIX YEARS AGO...
Have a look back at "Eurovision and Me" - it isn't that long but it does summarise why I set up my own Eurovision project and in particular why I called it what it is (leading to the radio show being named the same). As part of this celebration, I am able to do something different this year - dedicate at least half an episode of the radio show to my anniversary (the radio show reaches ONE YEAR OLD on 7th August 2019 - there will be a special show for that too). You will hear some songs that are my Eurovision favourites but I haven't got around to playing yet - everything onwards from Kate Miller-Heidke and "Ernie". I hope you enjoy my selections this week in hour two as much as I did choosing them. Have a listen:
And the show playlist?
I could have had a whole show just with my choices but isn't that what I do every week? I jest - I mean without songs relating to the current news of the previous seven days and other events I have found (there is a lot going on if you really look hard enough). My radio show anniversary needs some self-indulgence too...
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Yep, that is me with the old studio board - green labels and the Zara slider to 8, rather than max as it is now! It must have been anytime other than summer, as there is no way I could wear a rugby top at the moment. That is the biggest change in my Eurovision 'career' since my fifth anniversary article in 2018 - that and the fact that I am still learning how to combine preparing a weekly two hour radio show and write some blog articles in between! I fully recognise that for some weeks my blog has become merely a way of promoting my radio show - having said that, after writing articles around Tel Aviv time, I realised that I still love to compose blog posts too. I think that I am getting the hang of doing both and my slacking with my blog will stop in year seven! Let's have a look at my output, post-wise:
I am pleasantly surprised with the output during the last twelve months but I have to admit that 48 of the posts have included the Mixcloud versions of my shows to date! I know that there are fans out there who enjoy reading what I write so I intend to get that number up during the 2020 season. The main way of doing that? Continuing what I managed to do since July 2018 - attend events as Press as much as possible and contact the stars direct! I've had lots of interviews since August last year and I listed those in my Eurovision Moments article:
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The one from July 5th with this picture - I'm proud of that one, especially as it was such an 'out of the blue' picture (pardon the pun)! I plan to go as many events as financially possible and whilst there chat to the artists - I'm now drawing on the confidence of being fully prepared (and getting appreciative comments from those being interviewed too, thank you to Stee of Zibbz at EiC 2018 and Anna Bergendahl at LEP 2019) to push myself. I'd never have thought six years ago that I'd have the balls to ask a question at a Eurovision Press Conference or indeed of any Eurovision artist anywhere - maybe I will have the opportunity to ask more in The Netherlands...
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The Dutch media were predicting that these are the two contenders for where Eurovision 2020 will be hosted. It was confirmed by the Eurovision selection commitee, an hour after the end of my show, that Rotterdam and Maastricht were indeed the cities to be visited in the final stage of the process. If it plays out as far as this match in the 2019 season for the second tier of Dutch football was concerned, Rotterdam will win this battle and that will be where we are going. Having said that, Maastricht are going in all guns blazing financially, so I would suggest that the competition is a lot closer than we thought initially. This time, I plan to attend the full two weeks as press if going there alone - if my partner Ellen wants to go, I will revert to 'fan/tourist' mode! As for any Press accreditation, who knows who that would be for?
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Looking back to Tel Aviv, being out there as Press did limit my opportunities to chat in depth about the Contest day by day as I had done in Lisbon, but I think that Eurovision 2018 had more impact on me personally. My words in the blog were coming from a first time attendee - this year, even though I still managed to attend 5 out of the 6 shows in the Expo Tel Aviv Pavilion 2 (the Jury Final being watched from the Press Centre and thank you to KAN for issuing the Jury SF1 and SF2 tickets for free), the emphasis was totally different. Being Press gave a whole new version of the Eurovision experience. For a start, I have now experienced the "Red Carpet" - MyHeritage orange in Tel Aviv:
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This is my favourite picture by far from that Sunday evening in Tel Aviv - what had Conan just said to an Aussie Press bod that made his PR person smirk and him stare knowingly, waiting for the journo to actually twig that there was sarcasm involved? I will never know but I really wish that I had been out for week one to interview this guy - if I do go for Press in The Netherlands, covering the whole two weeks is absolutely vital. I was pleased with myself that I did get to experience all the official shows and even got to go to the British Embassy Party - potentially once in a lifetime experiences. Watch me continually apply for accred now and get it year after year, having said that...
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One thing I have been aware of is that during the 'white hot' part of the season (February and March), I seemed to be doing anything BUT write in the blog. I was appearing a lot on the excellent YouTube phenomenom ESC Fan TV and it is mainly due to co-founder and trailblazer Stuart Wilders that I got my press accred with Australia in Tel Aviv. When ESC Fan TV first started broadcasting on 15th November 2018, I was one of the guests and appeared on numerous episodes as the season progressed. What with doing 1-2 episodes a week, plus the radio show preparation for a two hour show (increased from one in 2018), I had spread myself too thin - I really need to stick to writing here and broadcasting on my radio show as priorities. ESC Fan TV now has so many great contributors that I think that I could just do the odd show in the run-up to 2020 and not be missed! It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience so if you fancy appearing on the show, you know where to look...
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So what next for this blog and the 2020 season? Only 47 days to go until the 'official' start of our journey to The Netherlands and there will obviously be an article every seven days that includes that week's radio show. I will try to cover as many NFs here as I can, in line with my active decision from the start of my time at the radio station to play as many entries as possible, not just each nation's Eurovision one. I hope to be able to attend as many Eurovision events as possible and I already have three lined up before Christmas:
Will I get the opportunity to interview the stars of each show? Watch this space but I hope to be able to chat with other Eurovision artists as part of the radio show. Most of what I will write is unknown at the moment, of course - we can never tell where the pathway to the Eurovision fortnight will take us, all that we know is that the 'season' officially starts on September 1st (unless you include the Final of P4 Nästa in Sweden on 24th August, giving us the first artist for Melodifestivalen 2020). The OGAE Second Chance Contest 2019 is always the last event that I am involved with each year and my marks have already gone in to be counted into the UK Jury scores - that's another article to write fairly soon!
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As this is part radio show post and part anniversary blog article, show 50 will include all of the Golden Stag Festival 2019 artists that have competed in Eurovision or related shows (hence the logo above). As for the upcoming year for the blog, who knows what will happen?
"Let Me Be The One", in its blog form,
posted its first article on July 17th 2013!
Have a look back at "Eurovision and Me" - it isn't that long but it does summarise why I set up my own Eurovision project and in particular why I called it what it is (leading to the radio show being named the same). As part of this celebration, I am able to do something different this year - dedicate at least half an episode of the radio show to my anniversary (the radio show reaches ONE YEAR OLD on 7th August 2019 - there will be a special show for that too). You will hear some songs that are my Eurovision favourites but I haven't got around to playing yet - everything onwards from Kate Miller-Heidke and "Ernie". I hope you enjoy my selections this week in hour two as much as I did choosing them. Have a listen:
And the show playlist?
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
"Arcade" - Duncan Laurence
"Lejla" - Hari Mata Hari
"She Got Me" - Luca Hänni
"Love Is Blind" - Donny Montell
"Stronger Every Minute" - Lisa Andreas
"La La La" - Massiel
"Det finaste någon kan få" - Molly Sandén
"On My Own" - Bishara
"Kärleken finns kvar" - Ann-Louise Hanson
"Hold Me Now" - Johnny Logan
"Forever" - Alekseev
"Gravity" - Zlata Ognevich
"Sweet People" - Alyosha
"(I Would) Die For You" - Antique
"Ernie" - Kate Miller-Heidke
"Fairytale" - Alexander Rybak
"Nel blu dipinto di blu" - Domenico Modugno
"Molitva" - Marija Šerifović
"Song #1" - Serebro
"I Feed You My Love" - Margaret Berger
"Scarlet Song" - Ray Caruana
"No One" - Maja Keuc
"Vuelve Conmigo" - Anabel Conde
"Show Me Your Love" - Tina Karol
"Je N'ai Que Mon Âme" - Natasha St-Pier
"Only Teardrops" - Emmelie de Forest
I could have had a whole show just with my choices but isn't that what I do every week? I jest - I mean without songs relating to the current news of the previous seven days and other events I have found (there is a lot going on if you really look hard enough). My radio show anniversary needs some self-indulgence too...
Year 1 : 45
Year 2 : 63
Year 3 : 74
Year 4 : 64
Year 5 : 101
Year 6 : 96
I am pleasantly surprised with the output during the last twelve months but I have to admit that 48 of the posts have included the Mixcloud versions of my shows to date! I know that there are fans out there who enjoy reading what I write so I intend to get that number up during the 2020 season. The main way of doing that? Continuing what I managed to do since July 2018 - attend events as Press as much as possible and contact the stars direct! I've had lots of interviews since August last year and I listed those in my Eurovision Moments article:
Eurofest's Summer Party with Anna Bergendahl
EuroStarz 2019
Eurobash 2019
Will I get the opportunity to interview the stars of each show? Watch this space but I hope to be able to chat with other Eurovision artists as part of the radio show. Most of what I will write is unknown at the moment, of course - we can never tell where the pathway to the Eurovision fortnight will take us, all that we know is that the 'season' officially starts on September 1st (unless you include the Final of P4 Nästa in Sweden on 24th August, giving us the first artist for Melodifestivalen 2020). The OGAE Second Chance Contest 2019 is always the last event that I am involved with each year and my marks have already gone in to be counted into the UK Jury scores - that's another article to write fairly soon!
Written Word
Radio Show
YouTube Contributor
Anything else to add?
Join me on July 17th 2020 to find out!
Join me on July 17th 2020 to find out!