OnEurope_Live.. from Moscow

Missed opportunities - #26 in a series which never claimed *every* day would be a Tuesday.

: nick_at_esc; December 19th, 21:20

Belgium. 2004. This rocks.

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Missed opportunities - #25 in a series which totally neglected to number #24 properly.

: nick_at_esc; December 17th, 11:27

Well, I'm not so sure about yesterday. It was alright, though - thanks chief.

Today I'm heading all the way back. There really wasn't a lot of OnEurope about when Sandie Shaw was choosing a song for herself - maybe a little Hacksaw and a little Kowalczuk, but not much else to speak of. By the magic of YouTube, I'm obliged to offer up two songs in today's segment - one taken opportunity, and one missed one. I hope it's just my internet connection that's locking the video up after 1:45, because the good bit won't kick in until about 3:00. Ask Any Woman - lovely, lovely song and I can imagine Sandie up there on stage in the Wiener Schnitzel absolutely pouring her heart into it.

NickD said....

: oneurope; December 16th, 20:53

"As it's Christmas, you can post a missed opportunity to *my* Blog"

Cheek! ;)

My first choice was Norwegian from their 1996 National Final. Unfortunately it was so obscure that Youtube said "no".

However, my 2nd choice, also Norwegian, was there.... Now.... TEN TIMES this man tried to get to Eurovision, Got there once with a very pants song, and scored a big fat 0. However this should have scored him something!!

Missed opportunities - #23 in a series where even Tuesdays can feel like Tuesdays!

: nick_at_esc; December 15th, 11:16

So I've been looking back over the weeks to see where I ought to go next, and lawksalawdy but I haven't paid Norway a visit yet. Our gracious hosts for next May that are going to be feeding us with the sights and the sounds and the cakes and the local equivalent of Red Bull - and I've been ignoring them. It's shocking.

I'm in two minds about what NRK should offer us as the opening morsel, the introductory act, for the big night on Saturday May the twenty-somethingth of May, nineteen-two-thousand-and-ten. I'm torn between Rybak's 13 Horses, or a joyous revisiting of this enjoyable and slightly ridiculous little ditty from 2003:

Missed opportunities - #22 in a series with good news and bad news, but possibly not in that order

: nick_at_esc; December 14th, 11:19

The 2010 on-season is starting to roll into shore, like a tidal wave of music destroying all the carefully crafted castles of opportunistic sand and burying them under a thick layer of tuneless flotsam and jetsam and waveson. There will be nuggets of missed opportunity in the piles of stinking seaweed, crude oil and pan-European rotting fish, no doubt - but Missed Opportunities will be taking a rest in the new year and handing over control of the blog to the brand new search for our Oslo Superstar, before returning refreshed in the summer.

We're not going without a fight though, and missed opportunities will be popping up like shining stars in the storm at random times right up to the 31st of December. In a nutshell, anyday could be a Tuesday!

We begin our final hurrah with a brief hotel stayover in Vienna (or possibly Salzburg) in 2005, in which that blimmin' idiot Alf Poier has literally no idea of the utter lunatic brilliance he creates when he's not trying very hard.

Missed opportunities - #21 in a series that's been eating toasted cheese for supper lately.

: nick_at_esc; December 8th, 19:44

With reference to the previous two missed opportunities, I'd just like to make clear that it is still Christmas, and will be for some time to come. Therefore, this week we're heading off to Cyprus, the year-round island, for a song that's redolent of cold nights in front of a blazing fire. It's by Alex Panayi and Marlain, and remarkably it's good. Sorry, I mean it's remarkably good. Damned English word-order thingy...

Missed opportunities - #20 in a series that's going off-piste.

: nick_at_esc; December 1st, 11:54

So it's actually December, then. Christmas time is coming. Santa's on his sleigh. Kids around the world are dreaming of unwrapping that magical parcel to find a smart and fashionable new jacket, or maybe a brand new shirt in honour of their favourite footballer, or just something simple like a Fisher-Price Tom Morley voodoo doll set.

Yep, it's all about the kids really.

Missed opportunities - #19 in a series that keeps thinking it's Tuesday

: nick_at_esc; November 24th, 11:21

So here it is! Merry Christmas! Everybody's having fun!

It must be true. I was in a hotel bar in Milton Keynes on Sunday evening, and that nice Noddy Holder came on the telly and said so. The calendar says it's only November, but who are you going to believe? Some silly bit of paper, or Noddy Holder?

Controversially, then, I'm going to celebrate Christmas with a missed opportunity that isn't really all that Christmassy. I'm heading back to Estonia's first national final in 1993, in which the delightful Janika Sillamaa performed a series of delightful songs. This is just one of them. And I think it just might have been cute enough to progress from the Ljubljana preselection.

Missed opportunities - #18 in a series of ripping yarns.

: nick_at_esc; November 17th, 12:23

Let's go back in time! A time of love, and peace, and the days of an early computer error leading to a massive world oversupply of lurex. It is of course 1982, the year of Nicole's Ein Bisschen Frieden and Harald Schumacher's challenge on Patrick Battiston. But there's a little known fact about the European Festival of Popular Song in Harrogate, and that is that the United Kingdom of Stuff had a perfect opportunity to send an entry that was exactly the same as the Irish one. I present both songs here for comparison purposes.

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Oh yes - we will survive, just as long as I have interweb I know we'll be alright!

: oneurope; November 15th, 12:16

Now, you may be wonderin' why I have gone all Gloria Gaynor on yer but there is a reason.

OnEurope's webhosts have decreed that we can't host anymore sound files ( booooo) - so 2010 is going to be an Mp3 - free zone...

Now for a millisecond, I thought about closing the site - then I had a though - MP3's are old hat - YOUTUBE is the way to go!

So, we're gonna Youtube you to hell.... We'll be providing links to other sites so you can get your Mp3 fix - but most importantly we'll be sicking up videos so you can see files as soon as we get notification of them! - I'm proud to say that I also get NF results up FIRST and that will continue to be the case!

We also have got access to live chat software so we are gonna get interactive every weekend of the NF season and come May, we are going to be in Norway giving you the coverage you are used to.

On a personal level it means so much that you come and visit and think the site is worthy of your patronage, I can't tell you what it means to know that it has a loyal band of supporters and THAT is one of the reasons why the site hasn't ran away into the night!!

Missed opportunities - #17 in a series from a desperate fugitive.

: nick_at_esc; November 10th, 11:49

*furtive glance*

Don't tell anyone I was here, right? I'm being pursued by a madman who's trying to make me book bargain flights from Gatvik to Oslo for next May before the bonfires have even gone out, and I'm trying to pretend I'm not getting the emails so I can keep the money in my account instead and earn a massive -0.05% interest pre-tax. In the meantime, here's a still picture of a rather attractive Slovenian who wouldn't expect a long slow nanana to make anyone's night short and memorable.

*vanishes*

Missed opportunities - #16 in a series of impenetrable in-jokes.

: nick_at_esc; November 3rd, 11:13

So the escnation MB's all preparing for a weekend in Dublin, and obviously I, as an affiliate site, wanted to mark the event in some way. Tricky to find the right one though - Einmal Wasser, Einmal Wein really only works if it's Zweimal Wein and ideally Hunderttausendmal Wein. Tel Aviv Shota Lecha'im is in the right ballpark, but again it's got too much Lecha'im and not nearly enough Shota. "What if Milly hadn't got to bring the Mexicans?" is a great alternative universe question, but wouldn't have gone down well.

So where else could I go for the ideal blend of drunkenness, inappropriate touching, and that unmistakable Dublin native ambience?

Obvious, really.

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Missed opportunities - #14 GMT/#15 BST.

: nick_at_esc; October 27th, 12:22

Yeurgh. I spent half of Saturday night putting all the clocks back and wondering what possessed me to move them in the first place. And then I caught a glimpse of the outside window at 16:50 GMT yesterday and went "Yeurgh" again at the gathering darkness. I don't like this time of year. It makes me think of Albanian finals and Bulgarian quarter-finals and rumours of Despina Vandi and those dreaming days when the BBC's Big Idea might still be something more appealing than a Jemini reunion.

I don't want wind and rain and leaves and early dusks. I want sun, and sand. So if you're like me and you've been working all year and you're also more than ready for some sun and some sand then... well, let's... Get Ready For The Sunsand with Alana Dante. *points in the general direction of Alana Dante. The crowd applauds weakly*.

Well just so you lot know - I am still alive and posting...

: oneurope; October 25th, 12:59

After my telling off for posting inappropriate content on my own blog ( Thanks Nick!!) - I decided to keep quiet and just pootle with the main site..

It does seem that Nick has been doing his own thing quite well to be honest, which is very good of him and hopefully you lot will love it just as much as I do ( Thank you Nick!!)

Now, back to me! - I've also been absent because of my University commitments and my work and health life have been stopping me from posting and updating just as much as I wanted it too - but exams have now finshed and I am back!! - ish ;o)

As you can see, the site has had a good makeover and *I* think it looks a damn sight better, the layout uses GIFs, but hell, it's easier for me to update!
Back by popular demand is the National Final Calendar ( Well demand of ONE, but thats popular) and we're still updating videos!

See, I do loves you!

Missed opportunities - #14 in a series of stuff I like, mostly.

: nick_at_esc; October 20th, 18:09

Let's be honest here - there are parts of the world where I know the Eurovision history intimately, and other parts where it's a closed book. The bits I'm intimate with (as it were) are going to get more of a look in around here. Case in point from the land of my birth - if not for dear old Samantha Janus's underwear looking really, really Eurovisiony (or at least, being something that the UK televoting public wanted to see more of), this would have headed off to Rome instead and possibly would have done some serious damage after it got there.

On the other hand, it might have arrived three years too early and achieved precisely nothing. Hard to say for sure!

Oh, one other thing - I have to say this - the lines have now closed, please do not call or text as your vote will not be counted but you may still be charged.

Missed opportunities - #13.1 in a series which seems to be making it up as it goes along

: nick_at_esc; October 13th, 19:49

It's still Tuesday, so I can still post another one if I want to, so there. There aren't enough songs about ham, in my opinion, and I'd have been delighted if this had gone to Dublin instead of Dreamin' or that Always You nonsense.

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Missed opportunities - #13 in the series on #13 of the month, which bodes well.

: nick_at_esc; October 13th, 0:26

Let's face it, it was only a matter of time before this turned up.

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Fehlende Gelegenheiten - #12 in einer Reihe von Ohrkatarakten

: nick_at_esc; October 6th, 20:13

OK, alright, this is the last week of Germany, for a bit. I leave the era behind with a heavy heart and a bumper package from 1979. These are all brilliant, except for one which is...odd.

( And many more... )

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A message to my heart

: nick_at_esc; October 6th, 12:28

We've had a letter from a Mrs. Trellis of North Wales. Or from a Mr. OnEurope of Staffordshire, whichever is teh funneher.

Dear nick_at_esc,

IS this the last week

Of Germany?!

PLEASE!!!

That's a tricky decision to make, quite frankly, and I'm not at all sure which way to jump. Germany, or not Germany? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Ohrwurms, or to take arms against Samba Si Arbeit No... and have a sing and end them. For who can bear the undiscovered countries which puzzle the will, quite frankly, with a bare bodkin, and enterprises of great pitch and Moment, and currant buns, and I've completely forgotten what I was talking about.

Here, have this as a sort of bonus item while I'm thinking about it.

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Missed opportunities - #11 in a series which takes in the whole of Europe and spans every era.

: nick_at_esc; September 29th, 19:03

This week, our unguided tour of time and space visits Germany in the early 1980s. Which is, of course, completely different from our recent visits to Germany in 1976 and Germany in 1979.

It goes without saying that anything other than Rucksicht (Vorsicht, Einsicht) would have been the wrong answer to the question "So, how are we going to defend the German colours on home soil then?". But given that, they had some danged fine alternative options. My choice is one that has many things I like - perhaps the most arresting first five seconds I've heard in a song in ages, some wonderful grumpy charisma by the performer, a lyric whose Babelfish translation fascinates and moves me. It also has a deliciously lovely accordionist who smiles far too much in the circumstances, a backing band that could easily have used the space better, and the sort of ending that says "This is a four minute radio song, and I ain't wasting time on a proper big Eurovision finish that'll get used precisely once, so I'll just sort of stop instead".

Don't look at me like that... I was this close to choosing Leinemann instead!

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Missed opportunities - #10 in a series that I'm certain used to be on Wednesdays.

: nick_at_esc; September 22nd, 22:37

Tuesdays are the new Wednesdays here at OnEurope Towers! Well, I'm working a couple of evening shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays now, in a desperate bid to be able to afford a couple of Fantas at Oslo prices next May. Literally a couple - they'll have to last me the fortnight! Either way, I really need to put Missed Opportunity night somewhere a little quieter.

Don't let that put you off though, everything else is the same. Germany is the new Germany, the 1970s are the new 1970s, odd is the new peculiar, and Meinunger and Hornung are the new Meinunger and Siegel. Work? Yes! Samba?... possibly.

Missed Opportunities - #9 in a series where I can't say without guessing what number I've got up to.

: nick_at_esc; September 16th, 15:38

I return to Germany earlier that I intended to - to be truthful, having discovered the motherlode, I could spend the rest of my life watching old German finals and still never fully understand what on earth they were thinking. 1976 is a particular treat for all the senses, with another subtly understated backdrop. I've opted here for what at first glance looks like a bit of overblown godbothering nonsense, but could actually be about almost anybody. My guess is that it's about the madcap and zany presenter who dominates the show with his jolly quips and wacky japes.

Missed opportunities - #8 in a series of stuff

: nick_at_esc; September 9th, 23:31

I'm dragging us back to 1995 tonight, whether we like it or not. And the fact that I can't actually find the national final performance anywhere on YouTube suggests this isn't going to be an especially popular choice.

This is exactly the sort of thing I normally hate. People singing the same thing at me 74,000 times in the space of three minutes and going nowhere in the process. And yet, and yet... this has something about it. It doesn't have any opera singers or the lovely Danijela, but it has something else. Something I like - a lot. I give you, therefore, Srebrna Krila. And I have kept the receipt.

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Counterpoint to the counterpost

: oneurope; September 9th, 23:24

Don't Panic Europe - I'm sure service will be resumed shortly, in the meantime - and as this is a counter post - *this* is what HAS been playing in my head all day for no reason!

Thanking you

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Miss opportunities - #7 in a serise of mistruped subject lings.

: nick_at_esc; September 2nd, 11:46

I haven't visited the very decade we're living through yet, in this series of videos which I choose single-handedly for your delight. And I haven't visited the Netherlands, either. And this piece of cheerful drivel is just one of the very good reasons why I prefer living further back in the past than that! Still better than Re-Union though...

Missed opportunities - #6.5 in a series of, umm... thing.

: nick_at_esc; August 26th, 21:53

I thought I'd better go for something as unPeggyMarchlike as possible for our bonus feature, and it doesn't come much less PeggyMarchy than this. In this video from 1997, evil TV hypnotist Derren Brown makes an early bid for world domination by trying to convince Malta that he's a Maltese pop star called Mark Tonna. Sadly but rather brilliantly, the Maltese inexplicably all forget to vote for him. Bummer.

Missed opportunities - #6 in a series of uncredited YouTube videos that I shamelessly filch.

: nick_at_esc; August 26th, 0:55

It's a bit early in the day for this, but it's Wednesday local time so I might as well. Maybe I'll do another one in the traditional mid-evening slot.

1969 was a fascinating time in the history of television. Broadcast technology was starting to switch to colour transmissions, but sadly nobody bothered to tell the German set designers, hence the disappointingly bland and monochrome backdrop we see here as Peggy March misses her big opportunity to go and be perky and swinging in Madrid. I blame Siw Malmkvist.

Show yourselves Europe

: oneurope; August 22nd, 13:32

Hullo!

As I am busy working on the site - I forgot that you are all here - so SAY HELLO - especially Mr Pooh Sticks whom I have missed and hope I did not annoy?!

As for site stuff - I am planning a live blog that is actually LIVE ( I have some software and its free!!) - so I might be doing a test event shortly - possibly a meet and greet with me - you lucky people! ;)

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Missed opportunities - #5 in a series of opportunities which have been missed.

: nick_at_esc; August 19th, 21:16

So, those 1980s, eh? Glitter! Glamour! Leather! Hair! Big hair! A piano! And a musical motif which has more than a hint of the theme from Postman Pat about it. Early in the morning, just as day is dawning... Tum-te-tum. Good job there was a Lotta Engberg (and nearly everyone else present) available to keep it well away from Bruxelles...

Future missed opportunities - #1 in a series of 1.

: nick_at_esc; August 19th, 14:22

An extra bonus for you all this week, you lucky lucky people. I desperately want three-quarters of this mob in Oslo next year, but I bet it won't happen. No reason to think that it would, either, apart from my fevered imagination. You couldn't choose two of them to leave at home.

I've got a corker of a genuine missed opportunity coming up later this evening, mind. Watch this space!

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