Archives for July 2010

STUART BAILIE

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 26.07.10

Primal Scream - Country Girl (Sony)

The Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend (Beserkley)

Stornoway - Watching Birds (4AD)

Tom Petty - Listen To Her Heart (MCA)

Cherry Ghost - Only A Mother Could (Heavenly)

The Handsome Family - Drinking Beer On The Roof (Handsome)

The Burns Unit - Majesty Of Decay (Proper)

Willie Nelson - I'm Sitting On Top Of The World (Proper)

Little Hooks - Little Birds (Caleob)

Best Coast - Summer Mood (Wichita)

Jan and Dean - She's My Summer Girl (Sequel)

Escape Act - Folded Arms (Valta )

Karen Elson - The Last Laugh (XL)

We Are Dios - Ojay (Buddy Head)

Fat Freddy's Drop - The Raft (The Drop)

Second hour: Neil Hannon's Indie Disco (Previous broadcast, 31.05.10)

The Divine Comedy - At The Indie Disco (DCR)

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (Rough Trade)

Soft Cell - Tainted Love (Some Bizzare)

Depeche Mode - Just Cain't Get Enough (Mute)

The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man (4ad)

Stone Roses - Fools Gold (Silvertone)

My Bloody Valentine - Soon (Creation)

Blur - There's No Other Way (Food)

The Cure - Forest (Fiction)

Wannadies - You And Me Song (Indolent)

Ash - Oh Yeah (Infectious)

New Order - Blue Monday (Factory)

STUART BAILIE

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 19.07.10

Paul Weller - No Tears To Cry (Island)

Cashier No 9 - Gold Star (white)

Josh Rouse - Lemon Tree (Bedroom Classics)

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (Kitsune)

Band Of Horses - Factory (Sony)

Laura Marling - Rambling Man (Virgin)

Rolling Stones - Shine A Light (Rolling Stones)

Lowly Knights - You Can't Help Who You Love (We Collect Records)

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing (Island)

Tracey Thorne - Oh The Divorces (Strange Feeling)

Villages - Becoming A Jackall (Domino)

The Hold Steady - Hurricane J (Rough Trade)

Duke Special - Catfish (Reel To Reel)

Avett Brothers - I And Love And You (American)

Grovesnor - Taxi From The Airport (Lo Recordings)

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang (Side One Dummy)

Ash - Binary (Atomic Heart)

She And Him - Over It Over Again (Double Six)

Shane MacGowan - I Put A Spell On You (Concern)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Bright Lit Blue Skies (4AD)

General Fiasco - I'm Not Made Of Etes (Infectious)

Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land (Fat Cat)

Vampire Weekend - Holiday (XL)

Fionn Regan - Protection Racket (Heavenly)

Avi Buffalo - What's In It For? (Sub Pop)

The Divine Comedy - The Indie Disco (Divine Comedy)

John Grant - Where Dreams Go To Die (Bella Union)

Eels - Little Bird (Vagrant)

Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks (XL)

Beach House - Zebra (Bella Union)

It's been 30 years since Dexys Midnight Runners released their riotous first album, 'Searching For The Young Soul Rebels'. It was all brass and shouting, outsider mythology and reefer jackets on loan from On The Waterfront. To mark the occasion, there will be a special night on July 17 at Flapper's in Birmingham.

My understanding is that Kevin Rowland will be there with some of the old crew plus writers like Paolo Hewitt and Belfast's Anthony O'Shaughnessey, who became an accidental cover star after Kev spotted his picture in a newspaper. He'd just been intimidated out of his home, another wretched totem of our city in conflict. Kevin's own family story goes back to Kiltimagh, just like that other famous Culchie, Louis Walsh. And when Kevin's parents saw the album sleeve, they noted with satisfaction that it in was in the Mayo colours.

The night has been partly organised by Gavin Martin, co-founder of Alternative Ulster fanzine and now a mainstay of Talking Musical Revolutions, which aims to put discourse and participation back into the music experience. We're hoping to put together a Belfast wing of TMR quite soon, so keep on searching, soul people.

All you culturally curious people are probably hip to this already, but if not, please work your iplayer in the direction of Rich Hall's 'The Dirty South'.

It is funny and wry and alert. The premise is that the American media has a downer on the southern states and that this is not altogether fair. Rich Hall is a grouchy diamond, subverting some of the worst clichés in his testy manner. But there are also times when he examines the facts and simply caves in. You can't spend too much time with an old KKK dude and feel that the organisation has got an unfortunate rep.

Rich swears a bit, so hey, be careful. Then again, he loves a bit of Tennessee Williams, makes the case for Elvis and Sun Studios and is bemused by Mark Twain, that northern blow-in. Altogether, it's 90 minutes of intelligent and sweetly sustained TV that makes you want to toast the makers with fine bourbon on an ante-bellum porch, high on bougainvillea fumes and mockingbird tunes.

July 19, 1982 and I'm on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, watching the carnival disgorge all of the floats, the samba rhythms and the masses of flowers. They call it the Bataille des Fleurs - a tradition that goes back to 1876 and the locals are evidently keen. Me, I'm signed up to a summer school in the University, learning a bit of French but mostly alive to the bold prerogative of youth.

We're staying in college dorms and our floor has bonded into an enthusiastic mass, from Portland and Montreal, Iceland, Sweden and Armenia. We party on the beach and collectively look forward to the arrival of the Rolling Stones at the Parc Des Sports De L'Ouest, July 20.

Which is why we are on the sea front during the carnival. We are casing out the grand hotels for evidence of the Stones and our best hunch is that some of them will be staying at the Negresco. Occasionally we sneak into the opulent foyer, but the officials know that we're too scruffy and excitable to be guests.

Just as the carnival starts to peak, a funky old window opens on the second floor. And a familiar profile is revealed in the Mediterranean night. Yes, it's Ronnie Wood, sidekick to Keith 'n' Mick and former cohort to Rod Stewart and the Faces. The hair is buoyant and spikey, the nose is regal and of course there is a ciggy on the bottom lip. He looks happy to be there.

Over the next hour, various members of the Wood family peek out at the procession. There's Ronnie's wife Jo and a few of the kids. Ronnie knows that a significant percentage of the crowd is now watching their own personal performance. And so Ronnie appears with a series of props, drinks and a shiny trumpet that he tries to blow a tune on.

The carnival now means little to us. We have found ourselves an actual Rolling Stone and he's playing a tune for us, albeit badly. Result.

The following day and we'll make our way early to the gig. With a ridiculous stroke of luck, we'll be taken on as temporary stage crew for the show. Hey, another story for another day...

Here's a photo of Tim Wheeler from Ash, in conversation with Terri Hooley of Good Vibrations fame. It was taken in Belfast at the weekend, just after a blazing all-ages show. And when I say the two were in conversation, I really mean that the guitarist was listening to an erratic monologue from his elder.

Q Magazine once wrote about Bono and 'the speech' which he apparently delivers to the new musical contenders. Essentially, his advice is to enjoy the trip. Well, in our parish, it is Hooley who baptises the new breed in brandy fumes, Zen puzzles and well-honed Undertones stories.

Most bands seem to enjoy the privilege. It's a rite and an entertainment, and somewhere in the middle of all the bluster and non-sequiturs are some valuable notes about capitalism, community and personal responsibility.

That said, we staged a rescue mission after ten minutes. Tim is a lovely chap and too well-reared to indicate that the speech is starting to drag. The best Hooleygrams are concise and funny, but that ain't always the way.

STUART BAILIE

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 12.07.10

The Wailers - Simmer Down (Soul Jazz)

The Hold Steady - Soft In The Centre (Rough Trade)

The Doors - Spanish Caravan (Elektra)

Escape Act - Salt In Your Eye (Volte Face)

Escape Act - Single Thought (Volte Face)

Wilco - You And I (Nonesuch)

Slow Club - Giving Up On Love (Moshi Moshi)

Shangri Las - Great Big Kiss (Spectrum)

Magic Numbers - A Start With No Ending (Heavenly)

Ash - Carnal Love (Atomic Heart)

Caitlin Rose - Shanghai Cigarettes (Names)

Jerry Lee Lewis - Break My Mind (Raven)

Tired Pony - I Am A Landslide (Fiction)

Solomon Burke - Nothing's Impossible (One World)

Divine Comedy - I Like (DCR)

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly - Collapsing Cities (CV)

Josh Ritter - Change Of Time (Independent)

Norman Blake - Butterfly Weed (Rounder)

Prince - Future Soul Song (NPG)

Solomon Burke - Oh What A Feeling (One World)

Junkboy - Friends Part 2 (Enraptured)

PJ Harvey - The Dancer (Island)

Kate O'Callaghan - If Love Is A Red Dress (white)

REM - So Central Rain (IRS)

Tired Pony - Get On The Road (Fiction) 4.

Clown Parlour - Half Of You (White Mountain)

Paddy Glasgow was on the first hour of the radio show, talking about Tom Petty, Chuck Berry and the imminent fun of his Glasgowbury Festival, high up around Eagle's Rock. I asked him to sum up the event in one sentence and he raved for a good five minutes. Which was pretty succinct by Paddy standards.

In the second hour, it was a musical profile by our Cultural Attaché, Reggie Chamberlain King. This time around the subject was the Belgian legend Jacques Brel, He was a word-slinging troubadour, champion smoker, poet and misanthropist. We heard his music being approached by David Bowie, Scott Walker and Nina Simone, who delivered 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' with pure desperation. The drama of that song is that the spurned lover is never going to win back the other, and as the song collapses into begging and deal-making, you know that the love is royally doomed.

On another blog entry, I once mentioned the artist called Momus and his stunning Brel EP. But Nina is somewhere else, and you're glad that it's nowhere near your own emotional postcode.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 05.07.10

David Bowie - Young Americans (EMI)

The Gaslight Anthem - Boxer (Side One Dummy)

Bombay Bicycle Club - Ivy And Gold (Mmm)

Tom Petty - Running Down A Dream (MCA)

Aaron Shanley - Somebody To Take Care Of (White Mountain)

Colenso Parade - Find Your Mother

John Grant - Chicken Bones (Bella Union)

The Charlatans - Love Is Ending (Frinck)

The Beat - Tears Of A Clown (2 Tone)

Phoenix - Armistice (Virgin)

Field Music - Let's Write A Book (Memphis Industries)

Roosevelt Sykes - New Orleans Jump (Retro World)

Little Johnny Taylor, Ted Taylor - Walking The Floor (Retro World)

Gaslight Anthem - Diamond Church Street Choir (Side One Dummy)

Jacques Brel profile with:

David Bowie - Amsterdam (RCA)

Jacques Brel - Jacky (Phillips)

Nina Simone - Ne Me Quitte Pas (Pid)

Scott Walker - Funeral Tango (Fontana)

Drive By Truckers Danko / Manuel (New West)

The Band - Whispering Pines (Capitol)

Escape Act - Tired Of Being Pushed Around (ATL session)

Susie Hug - Lonesome Dream (V68)

Johnny Flynn - Barnacled Warship (Transgressive)

Van Morrison - Almost Independence Day (Warner)

As a family, we rolled through the Harry Potter years without too many issues. But that has given way to Twilight, New Moon and now Eclipse, as the notion of blood-sucking boys with wan faces has played havoc with my daughters and their psychic well-being. They have been retiring to their rooms, like Victorian ladies, to vent their grief and to read more of these Stephenie Meyer mope-fests.

And so this was our Vampire Weekend, as different parts of the family have been travelling in well-scheduled rotas to view Eclipse at the cinema. They already know the plot, they are fully up-to-speed with the casting news and occasionally I hear them musing about whether the new film's director can possibly live up to the work of the predecessor.

Our house is groaning with posters, annuals, branded watches, jewellery and I believe a board game. When we travel in the family car, the Twilight CDs are forever bleating out their goth-lite gubbins. They regard my indifference to all this as a major character flaw, likewise my reluctance to side with either the werewolves or the undead. Yes, I dozed off in the middle of New Moon and emitted a few dad snores, but does that make me a bad parent?

So I dutifully made the trip to the cinema to see the latest instalment. And I do understand that there's a metaphorical side to all this that relates to girls and their hormonal upheavals. Hence the silly plotlines and the meticulously sculpted hair. Yet as the emotional intensity is ramped up in this latest episode, I started looking at the courtship scenes on screen and realised that in the next few years, there would be real-life dramas in our household to rival anything that's going on in this mythological zone. Heaven help us all.