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
Everything Goes, Anything Goes, All of the Time: Transmission 266, 2016 March 9
Slurry Tonight: Transmission 265, 2016 March 2
Cruising Altitude Departure 17, 2015 June 27
A Place in Space-Time Where It Is Still and Always 1987: Transmission 264, 2016 February 24
Cruising Altitude Departure 16, 2015 April 1
U_D_M Detour 18, 2015 March 27
U_D_M Detour 17, 2015 February 14
U_D_M Detour 16, 2015 January 30
U_D_M Detour 15, 2015 January 9
Cruising Altitude Departure 15, 2014 December 20
Cruising Altitude Departure 14, 2014 November 22
Take My Sins and Take My Tablets: Transmission 263, 2016 February 10
Seven by Kevin: Transmission 262, 2016 February 3
Everyone Gets Heaven: Transmission 261, 2016 February 2
You'll Forget About Life, You'll Forget About Time: Transmission 260, 2016 January 27
The Angels Only Look the Other Way: Transmission 259, 2016 January 20
Sordid Details Following: Transmission 258, 2016 January 13
Rush Hour of the Gods: Transmission 257, 2016 January 6
I Can't Answer Why, But I Can Tell You How: Transmission 256, 2015 December 30
What Kind of Dance Is This, Nothing Happens: Transmission 255, 2015 December 29
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