Tulips from Lew-is-sham

Yesterday we popped into that shopping emporium Lewisham Lldl and spied some gardening bargains. There were various variety packs of mixed summer bulbs and corms and we picked this one which was “Flower Masses Collection” for around £6. No idea if it is an actual bargain or not, but there’s 40 bulbs in there including one dahlia that went in a large pot near the house with a transparent plastic bag over it to keep any cold weather out. Also there’s some gladioli, lilly and african corn lilies that went in the ground probably a bit early but these things burn a hole in our pockets and we’re far too impatient to wait until the risk of frost is over sadly.

The bulb planting reminded us of a daft story from the Westminster City Council Gardening days that was covered in the Sounds From The South spot that we used to do many many moons years ago for the gardening programme The Dirt on Manchester’s Fab Radio International (show below). We wonder where Watford Mick is now?

There’s also a silly episode about when a gardener met some of his punk heroes in his council regulation Donkey Jacket here.

Best of luck with the weather and happy gardening over the bank holiday break!

 

Here’s hoping

The weather isn’t looking too great for the Easter weekend so who knows how much gardening we’ll get in. This week we’ve tried to do an little bit in the garden (weather permitting) after work for an hour or so. As you know a lot of small chunks out there really does add up and in the long run saves you a good bit of time.

The first tune for tonight is from a good few years ago which shamefully we’ve never heard of before or even the artist for that matter, it’s from Axel Boman and it’s called Sunrise Over Slussen. It’s on the strange side with a lovely piano riff, a great percussive sound and even some noises that Joe Meek would be very proud of towards the end. Very odd but very catchy. Lovely stuff!

The next is a cracking piece called Champion Sound Dub from Ono-Sendai Sound out of Tilburg, Netherlands. It’s a heavy understated piece and one that’s been played over and over a few times today.

And the final one from The Impossible Dreamers with a tune called Spin was heard on this week’s Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room on IDA Radio (Tallinn) and it’s from 1982 can you believe! What a mad tune.

Whistling three sheets to the Wind

Cheers to Justin Patrick Moore for sending us this great instrumental from Luna called Drunken Whistler and a lovely little number it is. For some reason it reminded us of something that may have been on Andrew Weatherall‘s excellent Live at Antenna Studios mix (below) which we have mentioned a good few times.

If you haven’t heard the mix before it’s well worth a listen, there’s a track from Manfred Mann of all people called Just for me (“And there, I saw trees reaching to the sky. And birds full of colour and flying high”) and Harpers Bizarre with Witchi Tai To. Excellent stuff of the eclectic kind! Cheers again Justin for sending us the track recommendation.

Music for snoozin’

Here’s the audio of yesterday’s Imaginary Stations show WZZZ, all about the art of sleep and dreaming. It was a horizontal themed show with music to drop off to and songs to dream to. 

 

There’s some great tunes throughout the hour from DJ Frederick and Justin Patrick Moore (have a look at his great new book here) and at 1.52 mins in there’s One Deck Pete with a 15 min mix called “You may say I’m a dreamer”. Gerry Hectic‘s answer mix “You’re not the only one” is here if you want to complete the set!

Here’s a tracklisting:
Jah Wobble – Fading (Instrumental)
L. Pierre – Fan-dance
The Barbados Steel Orchestra – Barbados My Island of Dreams
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – The Night
Owen Gray – Midnight Track

Have a good day and if you fancy a lazy Monday snooze, drop off to WZZZ!

Change up business

After work yesterday we did a little bit of de-weeding down the “wild bit” at the bottom of the garden. It looked alright during the height of its wildness over the last few seasons (above) but now looks pretty unkempt come this time of year.

We had an idea to keep the back of the area (that doesn’t get that much sun which is the main problem) still a bit wild and go back to growing some vegetables at the front. More on Bill Shimmers’ wonderful wildlife ponds that influenced us to make our own low-tech versions using the odd Dutch pot and large margarine tub that are plonked in the wild area here.

Once we cleared the front of the area and seen in plain terms what we had to play with so to speak, we popped down the nearest B&Q and got a bag of seed potatoes (Maris Piper of course!) for just over £4 and will start the chitting process over the weekend. We may even start a couple off under the old window frame we found in a skip years ago. The pic below is what we had growing in there a good few years ago (spuds, onions, broad beans and strawberries.)

Remember it may be cold and rainy and there my be the odd frost to come in the post but if you get out there now and make a start, that’s one less job for you once the garden heats up and all hell breaks loose. It’s strange as once it starts, it’s mid-summer before you know it.

The soundtrack to writing this post is last Monday’s Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room from IDA Radio. There’s some great stuff as always on the show including Brian Eno/Jah Wobble from the 1995 Spinner LP (the one with a spanner on the cover). Well worth a listen on a chilled Saturday morning.

Music to send you to sleep

Tune in via Shortwave Gold this Sunday 10th March 2024 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then at 2100 UTC on 3975 kHz to the sound of sleep with WZZZ. This is a horizontal themed show and they’ll be lots of great tunes to drop off to and to dream to, all around the sleep theme from the Imaginary Stations crew of DJ Frederick, Justin Patrick Moore and One Deck Pete.

At 1.50 minutes in they’ll be a mix from One Deck Pete called “You may say I’m a dreamer” with tunes by Jah Wobble, L. Pierre, The Barbados Steel Orchestra,
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and Owen Gray. Tune in for an hour of tunes on a sleepy tip next Sunday if you fancy a morning/afternoon snooze or an early night depending on the time.

And our good friend Gerry Hectic has compiled an answer mix (above) called “You’re not the only one” and an excellent mix it is too so listen and dream. Cheers Gerry it’s great stuff! Here’s the tracks:
Janek van Laak – Sloppy Dreams (Sonar Kollektiv)
King Jammy – Dreams (Dub Version)
MG Gost feat. Jack Jones – Dream Chaser
SEED Ensemble feat Cherise Adams-Burnett – The Dream Keeper
Spiritczualic Enchancement Centre – Dreaming of Miles Davis (Transporting Salt [Enhanced Version])
Miles Davis & Michel Legrand – The Dream

Rainbows over Lewisham

Yesterday the weather forecast on the telly said it was officially the first day of spring even though we thought spring started around the (spring) solstice but what do we know? We’ve just looked online and here’s the official line: “The spring season associated with the vernal equinox, called astronomical spring, occurs on or around March 20, but meteorologists recognize March 1st as the first day of meteorological spring, which is based on annual temperature cycles and the Gregorian calendar.” Ah so now we know.

It’s been a weird mix of rain and sunshine here today and on the way back from an early morning jaunt to see if they had any gardening based centre-aisle specials in Lewisham Lidl, we caught a rainbow (above).

This afternoon between the showers we tidied up the bed next to the garage, trimmed off any dead wood and gave the soil a good hoe over. A couple of days previous we cut the lawn (giving it three quick cuts as it was so overgrown. We did the old council springtime trick of first cut of the mower on long and then two “shorts”, also a rake in-between every cut) it looks a bit better now and another cut in a week will have it looking great. For a maximum “crisp” look to a lawn, tinker around the edges with some clippers or a strimmer.

Whenever you think the season starts, watch the weather as it’s well cold tonight and for God’s sake don’t be fooled just because we have a couple of sunny afternoons of late that spring has finally sprung.

 

The Bedworth musical connection

The other week we had a bit of nostalgia for second-hand shops that smelt of damp and mould (Post here). Recently whilst going through records for a shortwave mix we found an ace LP called “Step Forward Youth” featuring Prince Jazzbo, I-Roy and The Aggrovators with a stamp from one of the shops we visited that day.

 

We checked on google to see what the shop is now and of course we weren’t expecting it to be Westminsters New and Used Furniture as we’re talking 1978/79. It was worth tapping it in though as what a nice suprise we had to see it now as Keith Richard’s Hairdressing. Great stuff, we love it!

A ten inch mix for a Tuesday night

Here’s A Ten Inch Mix from One Deck Pete which was recorded especially for the Imaginary Stations show WS10S, a celebration of the Ten inch single that was broadcast last December. Here’s the tracklistings:

Jasmine Ntoutoume & Madtone – What is man? – Blossoms Kitchen 10” Dubplate
Zap Pow – Broken Contract – Inbidimts/Trojan Records 10
Ellis Island Sound – Republica Evescarra (played at 45rpm) – All City 10
Les Kidnappeurs (Main Theme) (Revisited By Jackson) – Barclay 10
Nicola Conte – Jazz Pour Dadine (The Dining Rooms Remix) – Schema 10

Enjoy!