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
Cruising Altitude Departure 30, 2018 December 8
Songs About Bad People: Transmission 436, 2018 December 5
C'mon Queenie, Let's Get With It: Transmission 435, 2018 December 1
I Make My Own True Crooked Way: Transmission 434, 2018 November 28
U_D_M Detour 34, 2018 November 17
Daddy Goes Dancing with Mommy-O: Transmission 433, 2018 November 14
Feels Like Murder But That's Alright: Transmission 432, 2018 November 7
Cruising Altitude Departure 29, 2018 November 3
No More Worlds Like This, No More Days Like That: Transmission 431, 2018 October 31
U_D_M Detour 33, 2018 October 27
People Differ in an Absolutely General Way: Transmission 430, 2018 October 24
A Love Like Ours Is Rare: Transmission 429, 2018 October 17
We'll Be the Pirate Twins Again: Transmission 428, 2018 October 14
There's Always Danger in Your Dreams: Transmission 427, 2018 October 10
Sardonicus Keeps Smiling Till the End: Transmission 426, 2018 October 3
You Broke the World That You're Not Long For: Transmission 425, 2018 September 26
Can I Be You, I Don't Want To Be Me: Transmission 424, 2018 September 19
Dare To Live in Your Body: Transmission 423, 2018 September 12
Hold Onto Your Darkness: Transmission 422, 2018 September 5
If Your Heart's Strong, Hold On: Transmission 421, 2018 August 22
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