Meet our guest blogger: freelance writer, internet broadcaster, on-the-spot Eurovision reporter and BAFTA-nominated podcaster - Edinburgh's Ewan Spence

Hello Ewan, a very warm welcome to Boom Bang a Blog from myself and our readers. Before we get going with the Eurovision side of things, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hmmm, that's tricky. The obvious place to start is I'm a Eurovision fan - and if you were online during this year's Song Contest you may have seen one of my many blog posts, articles or tweeets from Moscow around the Eurovision online world. By day I write about technology and media, with a focus on smartphones and portable computing. I'm a Sagittarius, and the best job description I can come up with is "walks around the internet like Caine from Kung-Fu if he had broadband."

And how did you first become interested in Eurovision?
 
Honestly I have no idea. I have memories of carrying a battered old black and white TV from the kitchen up to my bedroom so I could watch the Song Contest back in the early eighties - it wouldn't surprise me that my Dad was watching "The Searchers" for the millionth time on the family TV. I can't clearly remember there being a time when Eurovision wasn't there!

Memory plays tricks on you, so I've no doubt that there were some years in the late 70s I could have watched it, but as a bouncy toddler I wouldn't have noticed missing the show. But one of my first Eurovision memories is of buying the vinyl (look it up on Wikipedia kids, it's a physical compression format) 7 inch version of One Step Further, which sat in my collection alongside other classics like Dollar's Shooting Star and an LP of Geoff Love and his Orchestra. I think it was Big War Themes!

Have you ever been to the Contest? If so, was it as a fan, or did you get to go behind the scenes?

This year was the first time I had actually made it out to the Contest in person. Up until the year before it wasn't something that I felt I wanted to do - even though it was a fixed date in the diary and something that was looked forward to, it was more a TV event than anything else. But in the run up to the 2008 Contest, I had mentioned my annual 'tribute show' to Eurovision on my weekly rock music show (www.tpnrock.com) to some friends in the EBU Radio department, and through them I was introduced to the digital team at Eurovision, who for a brief moment thought I was in Belgrade.

And I thought... why wasn't I?

2009 saw myself at the Moscow Olympic Stadium. I went there as a freelancer, writing for a number of publications, as well as my own website and Twitter accounts, with the goal of covering the event in a way that only new media could. Quickly, emotionally, and with direct interaction with my audience.
 
This blog is one example, but how has modern technology changed the way fans can be a part of their favourite musical event?

One of the the things that has always struck me about Eurovision is that while the the mainstream media love to portray it as some crazy European thing that the UK just put up with; witness Jonathan Ross' interview with Jade Ewen when the clips of the more comedic competitors from the early seventies laced with the typical Ross wit was aired to demonstrate Eurovision to the viewers. Only thirty years out of date there Wossy! That doesn't really match up with the love I know the UK public has for the contest; viewing figures that rival the biggest Saturday night shows, a cultural appointment that the whole of the country has mentally marked; everyone asking who's going to win; and a lot of people who quietly confided in me they wish they could have been in Moscow as well.

What modern technology has allowed is a bypassing of the old gatekeepers who belittle our show, and talk directly to each other in the run up to the Contest, during the show, and directly afterwards.

It also allows mad idiots with crazy ideas to provide our own audio commentaries online and to provide a text-based commentary using Twitter from the auditorium itself. Which is what I was really doing in Moscow... and will likely be doing in Oslo (unless Graham Norton falls down some stairs again while I innocently whistle).
 
Your forthcoming posts for Boom Bang a Blog sound really interesting, especially as it's an area of the Contest I've never really dabbled in - what's it all about?

It's about the performers. And specifically the music behind the performers. Each entry has either won a National Final or been selected by a jury of peers. These performers have travelled a long road to get to that point, and it's rare that they have no background in music (even if 'their time' was just an unreleased album on Song BMG). Everyone can spot their favourites on the night, but how many people actually head out to find out more about them, and more importantly, go and listen to more of what makes them special - their music?

So I'm going to look at the larger repertory from some of my favourite artists who've performed at Eurovision, the artists where I've went out and got more music and more CD's by them, and introduce a wider world of Eurovision to the BBAB readers.

Sounds smashing! I know it's an old question, but we have to ask - favourite ever Eurovision song - and why?

The second I saw this question I knew I might be in trouble, because I don't really have a favourite as such. A lot depends on my mood and there's rarely a single song that fits everything. The usual suspects, eg Love Shine a Light and Molitva, are in there, but I've a soft spot for tracks like Olivia Lewis' Vertigo, Martin Sternmarck's Las Vegas and Tal Sondak's Ein Devar.

But then, hold on... there is one Eurovision tune that gets the heart going, that can lift my mood, and that stirs passion and devotion. Marc Antoine's Prelude to Te Deum... or the Eurovision Theme to everyone else. Sitting at home and hearing that familiar arrangement as the Contest starts is a rush every fan knows - but here's a little secret. See when it plays in the venue? The place goes absolutely craaaaaazy!!!
 
And just to round things off with a bit of randomness - what's your favourite sandwich filling?

Probably a generous helping of Turkey, mixed with meat from a herd of Wolves, preferably of the Sea, with a Twist of Love all washed down with a Spanish style Bloody Mary.

Ewan's spotlight on the acts who've taken part in the Contest - Eurovision Long Player - begins on Boom Bang a Blog next week.