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
We're Probably Not Going To Be This Ambient All Evening: Transmission 403, 2018 April 18
Looking into the Void, You're Reckoning with a Question: Transmission 402, 2018 April 11
All of Us Do It, Each Time Asleep: Transmission 401, 2018 April 4
If the Music Is Square, It's Because I Like It Square: Transmission 400, 2018 March 28
Put Death in My Hands and I Will Pay with It For Sure: Transmission 399, 2018 March 21
Kept It Together, Held It Together: Transmission 398, 2018 March 14
Golden Vibrations: Transmission 397, 2018 March 7
Original Phrasing, Dialogue Verbatim: Transmission 396, 2018 February 28
More Dirt, More Germs: Transmission 395, 2018 February 21
Night of Forced Romantic Consumption: Transmission 394, 2018 February 14
See It for Yourself, but Not Through the Eyes: Transmission 393, 2018 January 31
Poured Kerosene on Some Bridges: Transmission 391, 2018 January 17
All This Peaceful Wilderness: Transmission 390, 2018 January 10
I Need To Cling to Something: Transmission 389, 2018 January 3
Chatting All the Chat, Now Look at You: Transmission 388, 2017 December 27
We're Going To Touch Part of You That's Never Been Touched: Transmission 387, 2017 December 23
Queueing for a Shuttle into Space: Transmission 386, 2017 December 20
Veering Back into the Usual Unprofessionalism: Transmission 385, 2017 December 19
My Cloudy Brain Remembers: Transmission 384, 2017 December 14
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