Radio Gonzo

I have known Neil Nixon for a very long time, and it gave me great pleasure to welcome him into the Gonzo Family, first as a presenter of the Strange Fruit radio show, and then with his book 500 Albums you won't believe until you hear them. He thought up the idea for this book, though it was mainly a case of downloading the sort of things that have been going round in his head since he could first process a thought. You could regard the knowledge displayed inside as an impressive achievement or a cry for help. Either way, he's unlikely to change his behaviour now. When not writing books he juggles a range of jobs, one of which involves managing an undergraduate course in Professional Writing. A useful sideline of this course is the involvement with a community radio station – Miskin Radio – and the chance to present their alternative show, Strange Fruit, on which much of the music and many of the artists discussed in this book have been played. Last week I was doing my own inimitable thing that mainly inv