"the radio still sucks" - ataris

"every now and then i turn it on again but it's plain to see that the radio still sucks"


i remember the death of xfm.

it had been a gloriously uncommercial, eclectic station prepared to take risks, to play stuff noone else was playing, to not be rigidly trapped in a playlist. it had had to make a few compromises to get a permanent licence, and i still didn't like all of the wide range of stuff they played, but it was great because they played bad stuff, sometimes barely listenable stuff, in amongst the fantastic stuff.

it came as a shock to me, though i later found out industry people were well aware of its imminence, when in late august of 1998 it just disappeared - with a short loop of mor repeating endlessly on the frequency.

a couple of weeks later it had turned, through some black magic, into a weak virgin radio clone, and it took many years for it to re-evolve into its current state which is at least listenable, particularly at night. but it can never again, i fear, be the revolutionary force it tried so hard to be.

the world would probably be a slightly better place if it had succeeded

"this is not a love song" - angelou

"we can sit and talk all night, spectate and philosophise but there's no rehearsal this is the real thing. so lets just say that you got it wrong and this is not a love song"



the monkey bar was one of those places that just had to exist. by day a scratty cafe, by night host to an eclectic range of gigs and club nights. i have a strange range of happy memories of it - the gig i played there was enhanced by the singing of drunken dutch sailors, the dub night had an open african drumming circle in the upstairs room and there was psycho's.

every third thursday a weak comedian would compere an acoustic night. i saw a lot of these gigs, but the only one that is specifically memorable was seeing angelou.

now, as you may have noticed, if you give a girl a guitar i am weak around her, and if you give a pretty and talented girl a guitar i am literally putty. they sung a complete set of soul-shatteringly lovely songs, threw in the best cover of buckley's hallelujah i have ever heard and were funny and endearing between songs. holly even seemed really sorry for having to take money from me in return for a copy of their cd afterwards.
it was an evening of beauty and i walked home in a daze that night with autumn thinking about turning into winter around me.