G’Day World #334 – Leo Sayer
Posted on 24. Jul, 2008 by Cameron in Podcast
In 1980, at age ten, I bought my very first LP record – “Living In A Fantasy” by Leo Sayer. I listened to it constantly – 20 years later I bought it on CD and today it’s always on my iPod. Leo has had several Number One hits around the world, “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (a U.S. Grammy winner for the year’s best Rhythm and Blues Song), the romantic ballad, “When I Need You” (1977), which reached number one in both the UK and U.S.
He also had remakes of Bobby Vee’s “More Than I Can Say” (his fourth UK number 2 hit, and in the U.S., number 2 pop and number one in the adult contemporary chart), and Buddy Holly’s “Raining In My Heart” (1979) and “Orchard Road” in 1983. In the U.S., three of his singles – “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (1977), “When I Need You,” (1977) and “More Than I Can Say” (1980) – were certified gold.
This morning he chatted with me for an hour from the city he now calls home – Sydney, Australia.
Check out his official site, LeoSayer.com, for updates on his touring schedule and to read his blog updates.
Buy his new album “Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow” and “Living In A Fantasy” from iTunes:
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Hey… I’m still here
Posted on 22. Jul, 2008 by Cameron in General
Yeah I know I’ve been quiet for a few weeks. I expected to have more time / bandwidth in France than I ended up getting. And I’m currently editing a podcast that I recorded in Ajaccio with an Israeli historian Allon Klebanoff about J. S. Bach which will be up soon. Meanwhile, I’m crazy busy with client work and family stuff.
This week I’m also interviewing pop star Leo Sayer (who’s “Living In A Fantasy” album was the first LP I ever bought and it’s still a favourite) and I want to do a show about American anti-war activist Howard Zinn who I was recently introduced to by a new friend I met in Ajaccio.
My trip to France was AMAZING by the way. I should do a show on that as well at some stage. I wish I’d kept my video camera on all the time so I could record the “Buskers Of Paris” podcast. I met loads of new friends, many of whom you’ll meet via the show over the coming months. I met a couple of Israeli historians (in addition to Allon) who will come on to discuss the roots of anti-Semitism and a Swiss-Cuban ballet journalist / historian who will come on to debate the legacy of the Castro regime with me. And much much more.
Of course I also recorded all of the Napoleonic Society’s congress in Corsica and shot a bunch of video in Paris with my Napoleon co-host David Markham, all of which will be coming out on a DVD pack in the near future (yes, you’ll have to pay for it you cheap bastards).
So…. I’m BACK with a fury, ladies and gentlemen. Get ready to rumble.
My Legion of Merit Award
Posted on 17. Jul, 2008 by Cameron in General
So while I was in France I was presented with the quite-prestigious “Legion Of Merit” award by the La Société Napoléonienne (aka the International Napoleonic Society) for my “contribution to the promotion of Napoleonic history” via the Napoleon podcast I produce on TPN.
As you can see, I’m the 97th person to receive the award. It’s quite a thrill for a long-time Napoleon enthusiast such as myself, especially considering I’m neither a scholar nor a historian.
On my first trip to France four years ago, I visited all of the Napoleonic sites and dreamed of one day making a contribution to Napoleonic history. That was before I’d even heard of podcasting. So to be presented with this award four years later is pretty cool. Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there – you too can wear big gold bling around your neck. No wait, wrong lesson. Hmmm, let me refer to “CAMERON’S BOOK OF LESSONS”… oh yeah, here it is – “What You Conceive and Believe You Can Achieve”.
I think there are some videos and photos of me receiving the award which I’ll post up when I get them. Currently I’m still sitting in Changi Airport on my way home. It’s a SEVEN HOUR stopover. Unbelievable.
Bonjour from Ajaccio!
Posted on 08. Jul, 2008 by Cameron in General
Today is day three in Ajaccio and I’m having an awesome time. This is my 2nd trip to Ajaccio (the first time was in 2004, just after I left Microsoft and before TPN) and I absolutely am in love with the place. Think Cuba but with modern cars and without the economic sanctions, and you’re pretty close. It has lots of old, beautiful but dilapidated buildings, lots of cobbled laneways filled to the brim with outdoor cafes and restaurants and bars, a hundred Cuban cigar stores (“Tabac Le Havana”), breath-taking mountain views across water filled with yachts, folk musicians playing bawdy French folk songs in restaurants, etc. I’m here with a terrific bunch of people, academics from around the world, scholars, musicians, and they are all wonderful, passionate, and hugely intelligent. I’ve spent many hours discussing Judaism, Israel, the Holocaust and the Palestine question with a party of Israelis scholars in their late 80s, who were alive during WWII, and I hope to get them recorded for the show before I leave.
We’re all staying up very late each night, drinking chestnut whisky, smoking Cuban cigars, in outdoor bars, debating religion, politics, history, art, you name it. I’m in my element.
Internet access is spotty though, so I’ve hardly been online and haven’t churned out any podcasts yet, but I hope to before I leave.