Where our intrepid editorial team take an askance lookat the weird and wonderful world of music and media.

I hear that studio owner/record producer David Pickering Pick is beginning to doubt the sanity of our esteemed editor.

It might have something to do with the fact that he has been locked in ffg studios while the bald editorial one produces an album for Jonathan Day. But it probably has more to do that Cummings has chosen to specialise in losing ffg artist interviews. For issue 10, Cummings travelled from Walsall to Cheltenham to interview John and Gill Broomhall, bought back the interview whereon he lost the tape! A subsequent telephone interview had to bring the Broomhalls to Cross Rhythm's readers. For this issue, Cummings travelled again from Walsall to Cheltenham, this time to interview Keith Thompson. He interviewed Keith. The next day Cummings discovered he'd not turned the tape recorder mike on. One wonders what the absent-minded editor / record producer is going to with Jonathan Day. Watch Cummings on that erase button, Dave.

Followers of the expanding praise and worship ministry of Doug Williams were no doubt pleased to see his name on The Worship Leaders' compilation issued recently by Kingsway. Unfortunately, that's all you got. Despite his name on the inlay card, Doug wasn't on the album!

Congratulations to that doyen of the gospel scene Roy Johnson for getting regular national TV. exposure almost nightly on our TV's. Whadya mean you've missed it? Roy provides the vocals on the Sela Beds commercial which features a revival of the Five Satin's doowop classic "In The Still Of The Night".

Those of you who purchased Marc Catley And Geoff Mann's The Off The End Of The Pier Show' album on Plankton were no doubt bemused by James Attlee's review in Cross Rhythms 10 which contained the observation "the album opens with a rocker called This is Your Doing' that could be a cut taken from 'Eh! Geoff Mann Band'." Our insightful reviewer could hardly be more right. "This Is Your Doing" does not appear on the 'The Off The End Off The Pier Show'! The song is in fact on Eh! Geoff Mann Band's new 'Ministry Of The Interior' album on Food For Thought. So how did this mind-warping mistake occur?

Disasters in the CD. factory? Someone spiking Attlee's coffee with acid? No, something more prosaic. James does not own a CD. player So that whenever CR's over-worked editor wants Attlee to review a CD. or research an artist, the supremo has to use the editorial office CD. player and cassette machine to produce a cassette dub of the CD. But Cummings found that the value-for-money 'Ministry Of The Interior' contained too much music to get onto a C90 cassette, so put the concluding track on the other side, before continuing his dub with ... you've guessed it... The Off The End Off The Pier Show'. Unfortunately, a less than attentive Mr Attlee failed to detect the juxtaposition. Of such mishaps the Cross Rhythms legend continues to grow though to be fair to James he still has some way to go to match Melody Maker who once reviewed two single-sided test pressings of a hot John Lennon / Yoko Ono album believing the sibulent hiss that their dodgy office stereo picked up from the completely blank sides of the album were all part of some obscure Lennonn/Oko avant-garde experimentation! The subsequent review puzzled many.

Though we would stress that the great Geoff Mann clanger is entirely disconnected, this issue sees the official departure of James Attlee from the hallowed chair of Cross Rhythms' Assistant Editorship. We're gonna miss you, mate. James has taken up a sales job with a book distributor. Happy bookselling James, and as soon as you've got some money (a possibility now you've left Cross Rhythms) get yourself a CD. player. Cross Rhythms new Assistant Editor is Gavin Drake. Like seemingly everyone involved with Cross Rhythms Gavin will combine another job, administrator of new management/production company Work Station, with his editorial duties. Like his predecessor, Gavin owns no CD. player.

Whatever gifts Tony Cummings may possess it would seem ecological words of knowledge is not one of them. In gathering research for his Cliff interview he dug out a copy of Cliffs Gospel album 'Walking In The Light' issued in 1983 with sleeve notes by ... you've guessed it ... Tony Cummings. The first sentence reads: "Cliff's fame circles the planet like the ozone" Who'd have thought that nine years on the planet has got holes in the ozone layer but there is no break in sight for Mr. Richard's worldwide acclaim. Certainly not Cummings. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.