The pirate radio/Rare Earth connection

Here’s a wonderful track (complete with the classic radio being tuned in intro) from a forthcoming shortwave mix that’s called MV Ross Revenge (For Ever!) and it’s by Morschen43 from Le Puy, France. The Ross Revenge was/is the home of the great Radio Caroline (and Radio Monica) from 1983 which once nearly became a cropper on the infamous Goodwin Sands. More on Goodwin Sands and the irregular cricket matches and utter lunacy that sometimes happened there (and still does), here.

Talking of pirate radio stations here’s a snip from the Radio Nordsee/Radio North Sea International film and for years we’ve always wanted to know what the track playing for the first ten seconds was and tonight we’ve found out what it was thanks to the powers of the internet. It’s the start of a song called Big John is my name by Rare Earth.

In the clip does the DJ Leo van der Goot just play the first 30 seconds of the tune and then fades it out or is there another version where the start ends the track so to speak? We would like to know, any ideas?

And if you want more of Rare Earth in a percussive style this one below is crazy! Uncredited edit allegedly by the great François Kevorkian.

Who would have thought it, in January too!

We had no idea that the weather would be so nice today, the north of the UK have had power cuts and storms galore yet the sun was out in SE23.

We took advantage and cut down the dead wood on some rosemary, thyme, oregano and some mint in pots (the only way to grow mint unless you want to plant to take over your garden). Above is an example of some other dead wood in the sun.

We also moved some dormant plants about and gave them a little watering in. There’s a forecast of rain tomorrow but we had a nice “red sky at night” so we’re a bit confused. Not sure if we’ll be able to get out tomorrow but it was nice while it lasted today. Roll on the spring!