Playlist 07.11.08

I've been working almost every Friday night since 1999. Big deal, I could be digging a ditch instead of playing tunes until midnight in Studio 8a, but it still curtains your social life and demands a degree of alertness that many of the listeners aren't signed up to. Judging by the letters and e-mails, my parish is drinking wine, shooing the kids off to bed, taking a bath or rolling a fat one. Hopefully, not all at the same time.

Sometimes, a degree of self-pity comes into the gig. It's hard when I walk past the various hostelries of Belfast on a Friday at six, and the office workers are settling in for a long night of recreation. But to combat this sentiment, I played a tune by Canadian act, The Cash Brothers. Their big tune was 'Nebraska', about driving through a dark night of the soul listening to the Springsteen tune. But there's also some quality lyricism in 'Night Shift Guru'. It's about the really grim jobs in all-night convenience stores, and it goes like this:



"I'm punching in potato chips

And sugared water and cigarettes and dream magazines

Presidents and condiments and cheese

Squeeze 'em hard and what you get is grease

And I'm punching in anti-freeze and condoms and processed cheese

And me here to please."

Playlist 07.11.08



BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Fridays, ten - midnight

Ronnie Spector -Work Out Fine (High Coin)

Ryan Adams - Born Into a Light (Lost Highway)

Brian Houston - The Queen Of Hearts (live session)

Glasvegas - Please Come Back Home (Columbia)

Dr Dog - 100 Years (Park The Van)

Brian Houston - Feeling In The Morning (live session)

The Fantastics - Soul Child (Freestyle)

Steven Lindsay -Monkey Gone To Heaven (Echo)

Barrington Levy - Here I Come (Soul Jazz)

Walter Becker - Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore (Sonic 360)

Ash - Angel Interceptor (Infectious)

Working for a Nuclear Free City - Sarah Dreams Of Summer (Melodic)

Pocket Promise - Facing Down (Stop:Go)

Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us (Columbia)

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Rough Trade)

Joseph Arthur - Faith (Farago)

James Orr Complex - Angry Mob (Rock Action)

James Luther Dickinson - Casey Jones (Sepia Tone)

Echo and The Bunnymen - My Kingdom (Rhino)

Here Comes The Landed Gentry - Leadbelly (white)

Half Pint - Greetings (Soul Jazz)

The Action 13 - More Bread To The People (Sanctuary)

Cash Brothers - Night Shift Guru (Zoe)

Neon Neon - Dream Cars (Lex)