It may be cold outside but inside there’s always music

There’s not much to see in the garden at the moment but the compost heap is still composting, the fish are swimming at the bottom of the pond and there’s protection all around the garden for the forthcoming cold snap(s). Apart from the odd bit of tidying up we haven’t done that much apart from visiting the compost heap with the odd teabag and veg peelings. When we can remember we always stick a small layer of already made compost on the heap from the dalek bin beside it which will hopefully help the whole process.

We’re also in the process of looking through our seed tin. Even if we can’t do anything in the garden at the moment at least we can plan for the spring.

And if you’re finding the cold is getting to you, get your stereo/headphones on and have a listen to the studio version of Radio Clarion for an hour of trumpet based delights, well worth listening to. It also features at 8.40 minutes in a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” with tracks from The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook.

And thanks to our good friend Gerry Hectic here’s a great trackfrom Telefís ‘Falun Gong Dancer’ with Jah Wobble – Donkey’s Gudge Dub. Excellent stuff with a nice video too.

(Good) Tune for a Tuesday

Cheers to Your Host from This is a music show for playing the version of Show us the way from Hell & Fire on last week’s show, and what a tune! And one that made us think of the wonderful Joya Landis and John Holt duet from years ago.

And talking of the excellent This is a music show here’s said episode of the show for your listening pleasure!

The trumpets sound, the angels sing

A week tomorrow (and the Sunday after) Radio Clarion takes to the shortwaves via Channel 292 with a trumpet themed broadcast. Tune in on your shortwave radio or by clicking here at 1200 UTC on Sunday 23rd/30th January on 9670 kHz.

There will be a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” featuring The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook. After the broadcast the audio of Radio Clarion will be posted up here. #shortwavesnotdead #trumpetsnotdead

A tune for a frosty Friday morning

A big cheers to Your Host of This is a music showThe finest second-hand vinyl finds only on shortwave” for alerting us to this tune from The Romeos from an LP called Precious Memories which was played on the show the other week. There’s is something about this tune that grows on you!

Good times never seemed so good

Here’s a great tune from a few years ago but just discovered the other night. It’s called Clarion from Handbook from the cassette and bandcamp set called Junky and it’s a tune. If all goes well it’ll be broadcast as part of a wind-instrument heavy mix called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” on the aptly named Radio Clarion over the shortwaves soon. Keep them peeled!

Also while looking through some old LP’s this evening we refound this tune, Darling Jeboza Macoo by Stranger Cole. It’s another version using the “Seeing is knowing” (by Stranger and Gladdy) and “Kimble” (by The Creators aka the late great Mr Lee Perry) rhythm. As we love those, we love this!

On the way to the peak of normal

Now we’ve reached the winter solstice we’re on the way to longer days and hopefully warmer ones too. This morning was a cold one and there was a frost. The dahlias need forking up, cleaned up and stored indoors and the garden needs a general tidy up before the real cold weather sets in.

For the first time in years we’ll be having Brussels sprouts fresh from the garden on Christmas day as the don’t look like they’ve “blown” (here) and/or nothing’s wiped their rear end on the stalks (see story here). Compared to the ones in the organic shops they’re small but who cares as they look good enough. They take a while to grow and we’ll let you know after Christmas dinner if they tasted alright.

Just after Christmas is the KMTS End of year broadcast on the shortwaves via WRMI on Monday 27th December 2021 at 0000 utc on 9395 kHz. There’s a couple of mixes from One Deck Pete including “The circles of your mind” featuring these two great tunes below. If you haven’t a shortwave radio you can always click here on the afternoon after for the listen again of the show.

Anyway a big cheers to all our friends around the globe (and around the corner) and hope you all have a great festive period and remember it won’t be long now until we can start sowing and get out again, let’s hope 2022 is lots better than 2021.

Reasons to be cheerful part 201

Big shout to our good radio friend across the pond DJ Frederick Moe for alerting us to this ace track (with an equally ace dub) from Roger Rivas called 10 Plagues on the Happy People record label. Turns out Roger is the organist from The Aggrolites, is from Los Angeles and also the A side is available for free here. Big shout to Happy People records for their altruistic ways! “What a tune!” as they say.

And now the end is near (possibly)

We gave the lawn its final cut of the year yesterday. It’s the second week in November and the grass is still growing strong. Hopefully giving the lawn the last run in with the mower so late in the year will make a it a little easier when the flymo comes back out next year.

We’ll still do the old council mowing trick of “two cuts in one” in the spring. We go over the lawn with the mover blades on the highest setting (giving it less of a cut). Then give it a quick rake over (even thought you may have a grass catcher on the mower) and then go over it again with the mower blade one notch lower. It takes longer but saves less effort on the blades. And can you believe the cosmos is also still going…

Ere’ got any vintage obscura mate?

We’ve just discovered a brilliant internet radio station called Vintage Obscura that plays a cross section of tunes across many genres. As it says on their twitter here all tracks are: more than 25 years old and have fewer than 30,000 views on YouTube.

This is a tune that is just playing now Lillian Allen with Unnatural Causes. Wonderful stuff. Do yourself a favour and tune in here.

 

What goes around comes around

Earlier this morning we passed on another container of home made comfrey liquid to spread the love/smell/word. The container this time was a well washed out non-bio Tesco washing liquid bottle.

On the way back from the exchange a massive plastic bag of daffodil bulbs were found sitting outside someone’s front wall with “Take me” on them. Is that what you call gardening karma? May be deemed a little late to put in but who cares!