I'm going to be petty for a moment and talk about an inconvenient aspect of death. It can really mess with the plans of the living. Here I was, planning on featuring a Leslie Winer record (NB that I did anyway) and in comes the news that Mark E Smith has died. What on earth am I supposed to do with this? I did what I could, and what I always do--I played a Fall song on the radio.
Should I have gone with two hours' worth? Maybe, though frequent listeners will already be overly familiar with my Fall habit. I certainly didn't become acquainted with the band through large doses. Funnily enough, my first relevant memory is of hearing a tune in the car, age 16 or 17, not knowing who it was, having it stick in my head firmly enough to drive me crazy with curiosity, and finding out years later that it was "Barmy." There was also Friend of Bombast Jeremy, who had a copy of Palace of Swords Reversed that he would try to get me to listen to but I couldn't seem to be bothered, most of the time. Still, things stuck with me--bits of "Leave the Capitol," "Fit and Working Again" and "Kicker Conspiracy," and all of "Marquis Cha-Cha." At some point I bought this compilation and was bowled over by the rendition of "Wings." (Ah, this one, here! So good!) I wouldn't call this succumbing instantaneous or gradual; it was very random and staccato. Things just lingered, waiting to be latched onto. Seems fitting.
It's been weird, the last 20 years, watching the man's personal decline--hearing about the belligerence, the drinking, the verbal and physical violence. I have to say that I haven't made sense of it--I'm unable to bracket off the "product" from the personal, but I also can't stop listening. I can't quit him though I know I probably should. It is probably like this for other people.
If this seems like an abrupt ending, that's how life works.
BOMBAST playlist, 2018 January 24, 2100-2300:
a train to Crewe
https://www.facebook.com/radiobombast?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/KidCatharsis
I Lose Myself in the Rituals of Bad Art and Failure: Transmission 303, 2016 September 28
Supposing We're All Wished Right Out Of Space: Transmission 302, 2016 September 21
U_D_M Detour 22, 2015 December 18
Here Am I, Your Special Island: Transmission 301, 2016 September 14
Running Towards Nothing: Transmission 300, 2016 September 7
U_D_M Detour 21, 2015 November 30
Something Might Happen, But I'm So Tired of That Word: Transmission 299, 2016 August 31
U_D_M Detour 20, 2015 October 30
You Say You Love the Shadow: Transmission 298, 2016 August 24
A Cheap Affair, A Sordid Truth: Transmission 297, 2016 August 19
When I Considered Chaos a Career: Transmission 296, 2016 August 17
Then They Expect You To Pick a Career: Transmission 295, 2016 August 10
It All Comes Down to Girls That Break My Heart: Transmission 294, 2016 August 8
Walk Me Down the Lane Where Shadows Will Be: Transmission 293, 2016 August 3
I Know That You Would Like Me If Only You Could See Me: Transmission 292, 2016 July 27
Gold Is the Sky in Concentrate: Transmission 291, 2016 July 20
Why the Grass Is Green and Why the Wind Is Never Seen: Transmission 290, 2016 July 16
A Discontinuous Continuity: Transmission 289, 2016 July 13
Hustlers Rustle and Pimps Pimp the Beat: Transmission 288, 2016 July 9
We'll Do Better Next Time, I Promise: Transmission 287, 2016 July 6
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