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
Bodies Up and Bodies Down, Bodies Moving All Around: Transmission 491, 2019 October 30
Hundreds of Miles Going Nowhere: Transmission 490, 2019 October 23
Greatness in Me, You Can't Make Me Feel Less: Transmission 489, 2019 October 16
Despite All My Rage, We Still in a Daze: Transmission 488, 2019 October 13
Melt the House, Wake the World: Transmission 487, 2019 October 9
The Night Is Made of Rocks: Transmission 486, 2019 October 5
Can't Be Trusted 'Cause You're Living in the Past: Transmission 485, 2019 October 2
When One Road Close, Another One Go Open: Transmission 484, 2019 September 25
U_D_M Detour 39, 2019 September 21
If I Could Just Explain the Way My Mind Is: Transmission 483, 2019 September 18
U_D_M Detour 38, 2019 September 14
From Childhood's Hour I Have Not Been As Others Were: Transmission 482, 2019 September 11
Business Is Ok But I Miss Working with the Young Folks: Transmission 481, 2019 September 8
Off and On He's Been Here, Guess He'll Never Go Home: Transmission 480, 2019 September 4
U_D_M Detour 37, 2019 August 31
Apologizing Is Terrifying: Transmission 479, 2019 August 14
She Reassured Me with an Unfamiliar Line: Transmission 478, 2019 August 9
You've Been At It So Long It's Chronic: Transmission 477, 2019 August 7
Rest in Power, Emma Durutti: Transmission 476, 2019 July 31
Maybe You Should Know That I Suffer from Sudden, Startling Revelations: Transmission 475, 2019 July 10
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