And now, the end is near

Who's that writing for the Guardian about Nottingham's Selectadisc facing the final curtain? Only our very own Mike, inbetween interviewing Lionel Richie and catching Animal Collective on tour (which frustratingly didn't take in Oxford). The shop closes its doors for the last time at the end of the month, and Mike's article is a fascinating insight into its roots as a humble market stall, about which I knew nothing.

It'd been a while since I've nipped over to Troubled Diva - I'm not managing a lot of blog reading generally at the moment - so I was dismayed to find I've missed out on Mike's marvellous Which Decade Was Top For Pops? feature for another year. Suffice to say my five points for the #1s would have gone to Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass' in an instant, though I'd have been with Mike in awarding 'The Fear' four.

Coincidentally, after last night's Richard Herring gig (review to follow) I bought a copy of 'Bye Bye Balham', the book of the first six months of his blog Warming Up. Opening it at a random page, what should I find but a post enthusing about the variety of blogs available (this was February 2003, I should add) in which Herring mentions, among a list of things he's read about, "a man who is comparing singles from the same week in different decades (categorised by chart position)". Sound like anyone familiar?