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
To Those Who Offend You, Show Mercy: Transmission 381, 2017 November 29
You've Made Me Suspicious of People Who Are Kind: Transmission 380, 2017 November 19
Asterisks in My Eyelids: Transmission 379, 2017 November 15
From Luxury to Landfill: Transmission 378, 2017 November 8
Catharsis Family Values: Transmission 377, 2017 November 1
Join the Queue of Future Has-Beens: Transmission 376, 2017 October 25
Where People Feel No Anguish and Need No Hate: Transmission 375, 2017 October 18
In Fact This Is Very Serious; I Have Nothing To Regret: Transmission 374, 2017 October 11
Question Sessions over Cakes and Coffee: Transmission 373, 2017 October 4
Noodle and Man Are Separated by a Comma: Transmission 372, 2017 September 27
One of the Perks of Being a Radio Personality: Transmission 371, 2017 September 23
Mundane by Day, Inane at Night: Transmission 370, 2017 September 20
Send Flowers, Please: Transmission 369, 2017 September 16
My Skin Is Deeper Than Is Thought: Transmission 368, 2017 September 13
Deep Into the Empire's Ear: Transmission 367, 2017 September 6
For Reasons That Are Not Going To Be Disclosed: Transmission 366, 2017 September 2
Are You Patient and Kind with People: Transmission 365, 2017 August 30
You Think It's Over Now, But We've Only Just Begun: Transmission 364, 2017 August 25
We Smoked in Heaven and We Laughed Off Hell: Transmission 363, 2017 August 23
Everybody Tests the Membrane, But No One Pushes Through: Transmission 362, 2017 August 16
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