five by five » radio

Junk City 5×5 – the final set list

mic — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:19:25 +0000

It was so much fun to be involved in Tim and Sam’s radio show. The whole process of choosing songs, trying to find stories for each of them, burning them to CD.. and then driving off without the CD. As we were leaving Elphinstone, Tim drove off without an essential set of headphones. Then we got caught behind a learner driver, already behind schedule. Ah yes.. all part of the adventure.

The open mic can be a little terrifying.. even though we suspect there’s an audience of somewhere between 1-6 people. However these two wonderful people do their very best to make their guest feel comfortable. They are hilarious together, and are building up such a lovely new radio show.. i heartily recommend you listen in (fortnightly Wednesday evenings, wmafm.com).

Okay, here’s the set list i finally selected for Tim and Sam’s Junk City. Well not exactly.. i originally wanted to play Chemical Brothers’s In Dust we Trust.. but on the spot i chose Hand Made Hope from Emma Tonkin’s Cave of Lights feat. first chorus band of singers, because it brought me so much joy to be involved in the singing and production – and it’s a beautiful song.

But they don’t have either Chemical Brothers or Emma Tonkin on Grooveshark, so you’ll get Marc Bolan who was next on the list.

The stories? Well.. most of the first 5 – the melancholy ones – involve being a teenager in the eighties, filled with morose longing for adventures and safety all at once.

And the second 5 are all about the joys of moving to the rhythms of an unruly dancefloor.

There you go.

—————————————-
Of course i only got to #11 (skipping #10 in the moment), but here’s the full top20 list if you can’t get that grooveshark player to work for you:

01 – Billie Holiday – I Cried For You
02 – Eurythmics – Here Comes The Rain Again
03 – Split Enz – One Step Ahead
04 – The Reels – Quasimodo’s Dream
05 – Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence [Reinterpreted]
06 – Feist – Inside and Out
07 – b(if)tek – Wired For Sound
08 – madonna – Hung Up (The Album Version)
09 – bob marley vs funkstar deluxe – sun is shining
10 – Chemical Brothers – In Dust We Trust
11 – Emma Tonkin with first chorus band of singers – hand made hope
12 – Marc Bolan And T-Rex – Children Of The Revolution
13 – Fingers Inc. – Can You Feel It (Spoken Word – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.)
14 – b(if)tek – We Think You’re Dishy
15 – Black – Wonderful Life (Original Audio 1987)
16 – Cyndi Lauper – True Colors
17 – Scissor Sisters – Filthy Gorgeous
18 – Patti Smith – Smells Like Teen Spirit
19 – Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama Out
20 – The Reels – Pleasure And Pain

PLUS there is more

If you’ve never heard this remix of Can you feel it (the Larry Fingers Chicago house original).. tap into it here: The Martin Luther King remix, released in 1988:

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Junk City demands joy and melancholy

mic — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:46:42 +0000

Been listening to Tim and Sam on Castlemaine community radio. They have a delightful session of stories about melancholy and joy, called Junk City. Each fortnight a guest will come on and talk about their top 5 songs in each category, songs that moved you or touched you in some way. Helen’s an artist in Castlemaine, and i loved her choices of Cat Empire, Paul Kelly’s Billy Baxter and yes Tim Deee-lite Groove is in the Heart.

..and now they’ve asked me to join them. The show is coming up: 9:00-11:00 pm AEST Wednesday 21 September. [you can stream live at wmafm.com] The thing is to choose songs that have affected me deeply, songs that have a story. How will i choose? Here’s the long-list (below).

[Note, post-script: this long shortlist is out of date already. You'll see from my Last.fm profile what i've been listening to and loving in the last 24 hours - a better indication of what i'll be playing. And there's even a list of my most recently loved tracks, or sorted by all time.]

So i’m thinking: what would be my top 5 songs that spoke to my melancholy? Tough one to answer because i just wouldn’t listen to songs like that, i was so prone to depression.

1) Melancholy

Hang on, what am i saying. The Eighties. The Smiths. Joy Division. Dogs in Space. We were fully self-indulgent in that melancholy stuff.

The Smiths: That song about the double decker bus. Of course. When we were 20 and all thought we’d be dead by the age of 37, i decided to have a mid-life crisis early, get it out of the way. I remember driving somewhere with Jude, singing this at the top of our voices. Probably through a tunnel on the way back to North Melbourne.
Heaven knows i’m miserable now, girlfriend in a coma, how soon is now.. etc!!
Lithium by Nirvana was one of the first songs i ever learned to play on guitar, the first time i actually felt i could play a musical instrument. And even though i have no idea what he’s singing about, even thought he starts off with “I’m so happy”.. it just isn’t happy.
Culture Club, Victims. i had no idea what it was about, but it was dramatic and heartfelt, inviting much interpretive dance. My gender was up for grabs, and boy George spoke to many parts of me.
Midnight Oil Short Memory. No wait, that’s not melancholy – it’s despair and fury.
That song from the movie Once – Falling slowly. I remember Jon Murphy singing us this in the basement flat at James street the house on the hill. It was so beautiful i had to see the movie.
“Rooms for the memory” from Dogs in Space, as well as Marie Hoy’s version of Shivers
Mad World, the remake from Donnie Darko
Don’t Dream it’s Over, Crowded House
Quasimodo’s Dream by the Reels.
Cold Chisel: Four Walls, Breakfast at Sweethearts, Cheap Wine, Flame Trees,
Tainted Love
Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time
ABBA: SOS, Knowing me, Knowing you.
split enz: i got you, one step ahead
The Verve: the drugs don’t work
Radiohead: creep, paranoid android
Paul Kelly: to her door (is that the one i’m thinking of?).
..and the very magical Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child, Good Morning Heartache, I cried for you.

Here’s Jose Gonzalez with “Love will tear us apart”:

Songs that bring joy.

Back in the eighties when i was a wee teenager i had a mix tape full of songs to give me that uplifting feeling. Oh it was super-daggy.

Everything’s All Right from JC Superstar,
Black: Wonderful Life: “Look at me standing here on my own again”
Shona Laing: Glad i’m not a Kennedy, and You are the one,
That song.. [from that movie], (by that guy).. hm. What was it?
When Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond sang I feel love mixed with Johnny Remember Me
The Housemartins: Caravan of Love
Lou Reed: Perfect Day of course – this one because it’s from a day i spent with my friend Annie. We walked around Albert Park Lake and laughed and talked for hours on end. As we drove back along the North South Highway of St Kilda Road, she played a version by the Frogs (or was it the Trogs?).
Toyah Wilcox: i want to be free.

Yeh i was in bad shape, and needed plenty of holding on.

And now i’m looking back across my life, thinking of all the songs that have brought me so much joy and hope:

Blondie: I’m on E, I didn’t have the nerve to say no, X offender, Kidnapper, Man Overboard, Love at the Pier. Blondie’s version of New York Post-Punk was really a bunch of pure and lovely pop, and their first couple of albums are full of songs that don’t really mean much but totally spoke to me at the time.
Come on Eileen wasn’t on the tape, but i can think of many dancefloors where it’s got us all up dancing. Including the other night when DJ Sean M Whelan ripped up the Willow Bar for the High Noon festival.
Eurythmics came out with song after song that were inspired and genius. There Must Be An Angel, Miracle Of Love, Here Comes The Rain Again, Love Is A Stranger, Who’s That Girl, Right By Your Side, It’s Alright (baby’s Coming Back), Thorn In My Side, Sweet Dreams (about half of these belong in the melancholy section don’t they)
Golf Course by the Ears, the time when the band came back for their reunion gig at the Corner hotel.

True love, the marching girls

There are a few albums that it’s really hard to pick any track from, because they form such a powerful and coherent whole.

Koyaanisqatsi (oh all right, the opening track)
Soundtrack from the film Diva, especially La Wally and Promenade Sentimentale
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses is an album that speaks directly to my heart and always has. Recently Lou and i sat and listened to the whole thing together, which was such a special experience – delightful to have someone listen along with me, when it’s usually a solitary affair.
Cocteau Twins: Treasure
Not Drowning, Waving: the Cold and the Crackle
Evolutionary Vibes vol1
b(if)tek: 2020 (maybe Wired for Sound is the stand-out because of its cultural reference to the original.)
Blondie: Plastic Letters is their best in my heart, an early one.
Urban Brazil compilation (Future World Funk Presents Urban Brazil)

Joni Mitchell, “I am a woman of heart and mind”, from the heart-speaking album “For the Roses”:

Since then:

Chemical brothers: Brothers gon work it out, Block Rockin Beats
Mr Fingers: Can you feel it? (the Martin Luther King remix especially)
Underworld: Born Slippy
War Pigs (version by cabaret band, what are they called, with that woman who tattoed her eyebrows back on.. come on help me out here
Dos Gardenias from that movie, Buena Vista Social Club

So many songs bring me joy. How can you choose just five.

Madame Zuzu singing “Besame mucho” at Open Studio.
Flying Scribble playing “Anyway” or Animation in my head.
Martin Martini “take your skin off and dance”.
Half a lamington by Spoonbill, first heard at bar 303.
Paul Kelly “Leaps and Bounds”.
Sweet transvestite from Rocky Horror, Touch-a touch-a touch-a Touch me.
Nick Cave: Wild Roses (no wait, that’s melancholy. Actually it’s melodrama, scratch that one).

Shona Laing was on my original anti-depression mixed tape back in the late eighties. This is such a classic – and totally dated song: Glad i’m not a Kennedy.

photo credit: DrawPunk (Thanks dude). and photo credit: bjornmeansbear

..and another joyous track. This one was playing a lot at the turn of the century. Emma threw an amazing and glamorous dinner party, where Annie and Bruno were on French television as the Antipodean midnight reporters. Hilarious. And we kept playing this track, Sun is shining – the remix. And dancing. “Makes you wanna move your dancing feet.”

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The man with no language. (via Radiolab, WYNC)

mic — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:46:08 +0000

This is extraordinary.

Listen to the story about a woman who taught a 27 year old Nicaraguan man how to understand language for the first time. “Something about his eyes caught her attention.” She uses sign to communicate, and he echoes everything she signs – right back at her. “Visual echolalia.” She could see intelligence in his eyes, but realised that he had no language; he didn’t even know he was deaf.

“What have you been doing for 27 years?” she wonders.

Listen for the moment when everything changes. It brings tears to my eyes when i hear what happened.

via Words – Radiolab.

From the people at Radiolab. These 2 men make radio that seems to flow in a kind of liquid conversational story. The narrative is so beautifully woven from multiple voices, without signalling when the voice changes.

Flock of Two

Or try this episode, a more recent one about a guy who’s been emotionally rescued by his African grey parrot. It’s a lovely story.

[Episode is called "Flock of Two".]

i heard this via the Science Show (abc) podcast. When Robyn Williams goes on break, he plays Radiolab episodes instead.

And i think this might be the latest episode:
Radiolab

Get your podcast gear into action and subscribe: that is my unsolicited advice to you.

Falling

Also this episode on Falling. i listened to this whole hour and it was packed full of amazing stories. Did you know the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel was a woman? But she didn’t gain any of the fame or fortune she should have. Did you know that cats have fallen up to 42 stories in New York city and walked away unharmed.. but if they fall between 5 and 9 stories, they can be seriously injured.

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“Du rouge a levres sur une cochonne” .. too funny!

mic — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:03:41 +0000

Two Canadian comedians make fun of Sarah Palin, with her full co-operation. Tim turned up at my house this morning and told me about it, so i had to listen.

Sarah doesn’t notice when he gives the wrong name for the Canadian Prime Minister, she doesn’t seem to shudder when he says he loves killing baby seals ..

Even dumber than Dan Quayle, it seems.

But ouch .. the Hustler joke was going too far, wasn’t it?

Did she not notice the French “Prime Minister” telling her he loved watching a porn-u-mentary about her, or did she diplomatically let it slide? You wouldn’t expect sexual harrassment from one head of state to another (potentially on the same level) .. but i’m sure it happens.

Link: Trail Blazer Blog | The Dallas Morning News.
Link: BBC also.

On the positive side, listen to this guy on the BBC .. ‘Redneck votes for Obama’. Good man.

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extraordinary event at 3RRR

mic — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:07:19 +0000

Wed 8 Oct – Don’t cut my fringe straight please .. was totally intriguing and mostly enjoyable. 12 artists playing live to air over 2 hours was a very ambitious idea for the Dance Cadaverous lady (Sophie B) .. and it was well worth the mad pins and needles you get from sitting on a hard floor and twisting in five different directions.

Bum Creek set a really good tone for the night. They are utterly weird, yet strangely good fun. Noises and growling merge with instrumental random-ness to produce a nice kind of bizarre. Kind of like Bad Taste by Peter Jackson. Horror music.

At the end of their set they switched over by pulling the jack out of the amp .. and the next guy plugged in. Some artists i could have listened to for much longer, while others were unbearable at the two minute mark.

Most fascinating instrument of the night went to the guy who’d built a box out of metal springs and coils. There’s no way i could describe either his action or the sound that emerged .. it was entertaining.

Pikelet i love. Great loops, driving rhythms .. endlessly creative.
Qua brought people to life with some dancey beats.

It was fun watching the host attempting to give each band their two minute warning .. most artists were fully absorbed in the experience, so she would have to creep up quietly and make a play for eye contact. Everything went smoothly.

Until the final segment, where everyone jammed together. This was ugly .. and got the most walk-outs. Intriguing, entertaining, but just noisy. i stayed out the distance, to test my endurance.

PS: Qua and Pikelet are playing with Mountains in the Sky, 8th November at the Corner.
gray is playing with Qua, plus it’s my birthday – who wants to come along?
(now here’s a test to see if anyone’s reading ;-]

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chalki on faine

admin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:29:00 +0000

So yes, i had an interview with jon faine (a month ago now). It was a strange experience for me, as i don’t often appear on radio. You can hear it all over again .. right here.

Or tune into his more recent work on the abc site.

provided by ODEO

Listening back, i mildly regret implying that people in the bar were not likely to be literary critics. It was funny at the time, a standard knee-jerk dig at people you don’t know, insinuating a lesser intellectual sophistication, and flag-flying the stereotype that “rednecks can’t read and probably wouldn’t want to anyway“.

(When in fact a whole heap of well-educated people are ignorant and prejudiced too.)

However i have worked for many years with people whose self-worth has been destroyed by the stigma of low literacy. Believe me, if you can’t read in this society, you get looked down upon by everyone.

On top of this, having a low level of literacy is about more than your own personal abilities; in fact the overall levels of health, wealth, employment and social cohesion in the local community all contribute to a person’s ability to learn at school. There was some great research recently that highlighted the interconnectedness of all these factors.

Apart from that, i’m okay with the interview.
i’d recommend following up that research – Tony Vinson and Peter Norden. Brilliant.

(image: thanks mrtwism)

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