life in the city can be so hard

Aside from griping about PIP (still waiting for my tribunal date), banging on about Philadelphia and HUconnexion18, I've recently been doing some really exciting work with an old friend.

He's a member of the Department of Social Services at Loughborough University and he got in touch to see if I would like to co-author an academic paper for an upcoming conference.

But wait a minute Steve, I hear you cry. What kind of Academic qualifications do you have, aside from an unwavering belief in the rightness of your opinions on music?

Well...

The conference is on DISCO and he wanted me to analyse some musical extracts as part of the paper. We've met up a few times to discuss our approach and he sent me some music.

does "independent scholar" just mean "opinionated git"?

And parts of my brain which have been dormant since I graduated with a borderline-useless degree in English and Music have woken up!

I've been analysing melodies and orchestration and putting forward my opinions about what they actually mean in conjunction with the lyrics.

It has been so cool to be working on this so I'm eternally grateful to John for getting in touch with me.

Even better, our paper has been accepted for the conference at the University of Sussex next month.

Sadly I won't be attending (these things are EXPENSIVE) but I think John will be much better at presenting our paper. I have been known to waffle, especially when nervous.

I'm hoping this will open an entirely new career for me - ideally involving lounging around and pontificating about music.

Maybe I'll eventually appear as a panel member on Front Row. Or (LIFE GOALS) as a talking head on a BBC Four music documentary!

We can but dream.