This weekend the second episode of TV on the Radio by Imaginary Stationswas beamed over the shortwaves in monochromatic colour in 405 and 625 lines, thanks to the services of the great Shortwave.de
Above is the studio version up on Mixcloud which features all sorts of theme tunes and cathode ray tube business from DJ Frederick and the crew. There are mixes from the Mysterious Kit at 02.02 and One Deck Pete’s “Alternative Television” at 27.24 minutes in, featuring audio memories from the good old days of the coin-operated TV set.
Tunes featured on “Alternative Television”:
The Tony Hatch Orchestra – Theme from Crossroads
Midnight Television – Commercial Dreams
The Lost T shirts of Atlantis – Theme from Crossroads
Ron Grainger – The Prisoner
Mice Parade – Stereolab Remix – Warm Hand in Farmland
(which samples The Persuaders theme tune)
Before the bad weather came to SE23 this afternoon we did a bit of tidying up in the polytunnel, giving the bench a good wipe down, making sure water weren’t building up in the plates/trays under the pots, lifting anything we could off the floor and general cleaning up as we’d hate to have any disease or what have you, especially on our first year of having one.
We looked online and it’s poor ventilation, lack of airflow and hygiene, that brings in the diseases so we’re a little paranoid to say the least. We heard via Facebook that Bez lost a load of seeds due to rats in his tunnel and he has only recently put the thing up as well. You’d be well disheartened if that happened.
We covered what we could with some spare bubble wrap and even put a makeshift cloche over some seedlings. We even put a couple of polythene bags over the ginger, lemon grass and basil plants on the bench. In the foreground is a tub where the garlic has been planted. We’ll lift them off every now and check to see how things are under the bubble.
It was 14°C in there today so we had the door open a little bit to get some air in but not so much so it brought the temperature down. It’s supposedly sunny tomorrow with a bit of wind so we’ll try and open a couple of vents but the door will certainly not be left open if there’s wind about! Told you we’re not paranoid (much).
As for the Star-of-Bethlehem seeds that we were kindly sent by Debby H, they are doing well on the kitchen windowsill. We’re chuffed that they germinated and can’t wait to see what they turn out like.
Hope those storms (Steve Austin and Bolero) subside soon, and they aren’t causing havoc to our gardening mates around the various part of the UK, so we can all enjoy that extra hour in bed and a Sunday tipping around the garden.
Just a little reminder that while we kip tonight the clocks will go back causing all sorts of havoc to sleeping, shortwave radio programming schedules and the like. So come 2am tomorrow morning in the UK, those hands of time will be turned back automatically (or manually when we wake up).
Cheers to our good mate Gerry Hectic for letting us know about Gardener’s WorldEpisode 29 where as he says, “Never thought we’d get electronic music on Gardener’s World – about 30 mins in…” “Join Jason Singh for an unusual journey through the garden, exploring the hidden sounds of plants.” The episode is available here.
It really is bonkers stuff as Jason uses a biofeedback device to come up with some ambient soundscapes by hooking up plants to a laptop. Tune in above and below for some top biosonification business.
And we love this tune. Thanks again Gerry and wonderful stuff Jason, it’s well up our street!
Cheers to The Rhythm Doctor for letting us know about a great LP called David Rodigan’s Dubwise Shower on BBE bandcamp here. There’s some classic stuff on there including the above horns cut of Delroy Wilson‘s “Have some mercy” that we haven’t heard before.
Also a version of Gregory Isaacs’“Walk right in” by Sylvan Morris & Andy’s All Stars.
And talking of said tune and thanks to Steve Barker playing it on On The Wire a while ago, here’s some Banjo Dub!
Firstly thanks a million to Mike from The Crossroads Appreciation Society (here) for his prompt reply and sterling work for finding the episode where the punk band were featured and for putting the clips up on youtube above. It’s a bit of a classic! From these clips we have found out that the band were called The Foremen (a play on four men perhaps, but the band is made up of three men and a women) and the line up was:
Danny Fielding – Lead Guitar and Vocals
Wally Roberts – Keyboard and Synth
Jeff or Geoff Blake – Drums and Percussion
Tracy – Bass Guitar and Personal Manager
They were at the Crossroads Motel reception on their way to the basement studio to record two singles. One of the songs was influenced by or used the lyrics from William Hughes Mearns‘ Antigonish or so Danny told Meg Mortimer later (Wikipedia mentioned that “David Bowie is believed to have partially inspired the lyrics for David Bowie‘s 1970 track “The Man Who Sold the World,” which describes an encounter “upon the stairs” between Bowie (who “wasn’t there”) and the titular figure”).
With songs like this and the use of a synth, could they be considered even Post-Punk or New Romantic with that image? Or are we being very genre-pedantic there?
Mike told us “There was a ‘story’ to the recording studio which was opened by Chris Hunter (David Hunter’s son). It was called Eldorado Records which had Kate Long (Kate Robins) as its major star. Really Lew Grade’s way – as he had several times prior – to
get a chart single seen on Crossroads to get into the charts.” Brilliant stuff.
He went on to say “Not sure it would be classed as a social issue, but for whatever reason, ATV wanted to show the punk group in a positive light. The alternative music show Revolver at that time had been produced in the studio next door (which is) possibly the reason they did it”.
We love the clip, which starts “With Meg being annoyed with them, playing their music loud in the reception. But later one wanders into her office, she assumes to cause trouble, but he instead has a nice conversation with her.”
It’s terrible to think that all of this time that we thought the band were the ones who started the fire. Apparently not but Mike added “A long time ago one of the actors who played a punk in the band did email us to mention he also played one of the ‘thugs’ that started the fire”. We knew that Danny Fielding and his mob were the good guys!
If you want to know anything about the long-running Soap Opera and we mean anything we recommend you to visit the fan club site here. There is so much info on there, including music related referenced, including a Coventry Connection (of course) here:
Wilfred Burns and The Connaught Light Orchestra – Cathedral Close From 1958 part of this track was used as the closing theme to the episode which saw Meg sitting in Coventry Cathedral following Sandy’s car accident. Released by Conroy Music, BM 115-B.
Cheers again Mike and thanks very much for your help again!
We managed a few hours in the garden this afternoon and it was nice to be able to spend some time out there. We picked our beef tomatoes (above) from the polytunnel, and a couple of hours later a sauce was made (then later frozen) with a couple of chillies added to give it some heat.
In the tunnel we gave the workbench a bit of a wipe down, as we’re a bit paranoid that diseases and the like can spread quickly so we always check there isn’t a build-up of water on the plates below the plant pots, cut off anything that looks dead or damaged and also check any that we may have missed out while watering. The tunnel is starting to fill up now as we’re bringing in anything that could be damaged by the frosts (in a few weeks’ time?) and starting off some vegetables including parsnips, carrots and some onions and garlic in large tubs.
We also stuck some onion bulbs outside (above) after clearing an area in the side bed and made sure to put down protection from any birds and squirrels who fancy nicking them.
And we just seen on Facebook that Bez has just got himself a polytunnel, good stuff. That’s a nice sized one!
Years ago a good mate of ours (Ricky R.I.P.) always used to tell us that he watched an episode of Crossroads where a punk band (who were recording at the state of the art recording studios down in the motel’s basement at the time) were ticked off by Meg Mortimer and kicked out of the motel’s reception. Because of this interaction, the punk band were linked as one of the possible suspects for burning down said motel thus putting an end to the popular series.
We didn’t see the episode but we imagined some scruffy leather-jacketed, short-haired louts with black ripped T shirts with guitar cases pushing poor Amy Turtle out of the way, stubbing out their Player’s No. 6 out on the reception desk and spilling Breaker lager over the CM-initialled reception carpet.
Amazingly we have just found some footage from the said episode. The band look more like Sigue Sigue Sputnick than The Suburban Studs and we love that one of the members is carrying a transistor radio. What is funny though, we mentioned Sigue Sigue Sputnick and what do you know, we also found a picture of Tony James (and Billy Idol) in the motel’s reception. There can’t be a connection can there? Did Generation X actually record in the basement studio with Shughie McFee at the controls?
PS. If anyone knows what the punk band was called, what songs they were recording downstairs in the motel’s basement or if you were one the actors who played the band, please get in touch at one deck pete (at) gee male dot com
While we were putting together a shortwave mix we came across a cover of the Crossroads Theme Tune that we couldn’t stop smiling to by The Lost T-Shirts of Atlantis. It is some tune! (The cast above including Carney the Gardener, Benny and is that Buzz the hippy character with the long hair and beard at the back?)
Question of the evening is “What does hearing The Theme from Crossroads by Tony Hatch, mean to you?” Answers to one deck pete (at) gee male dot com.
While we were putting together a shortwave mix we came across a cover of the Crossroads Theme Tune that we couldn’t stop smiling to by The Lost T-Shirts of Atlantis. It is some tune! (The cast above including Carney the Gardener, Benny and is that Buzz the hippy character with the long hair and beard at the back?)