I watched (with bemused detachment) the BAFTA TV awards the other night. It was something the family could watch together and it passed a dead hour before the news came on. Exhausted by struggling with my IKEA assembly earlier in the day, the settee and a glass of wine were proving to be the antidote to my attempt to understand the what that bloke in Sweden was meaning when he wrote ‘the manual.’
I realised I knew so little about any of the programmes on view. I recognised the faces but had little idea of what they were referring to. I reminded myself of my grandmother. We all used to watch Crackerjack (say it again!) on a Friday evening at their house and it would end up with custard pies littering the stage, songs being destroyed and various people falling over/dancing/being soaked. She’s literally marvel at the whole thing. ‘What a work!‘ Her only comment barely concealing what she was probably really thinking…’What a waste of everyone’s time and money.’
My heart lies in the radio. I sneak into the kitchen in an evening and listen for the odd minute or two. I ‘volunteer’ to take the car to the shops of a weekend afternoon and take a quick sweep around the stations..I remind myself of this young man:
Remember the scene in Woody Allen’s Radio Days? The mother takes her son who’s preoccupied by Western dramas on the wireless to the Rabbi for counsel. The Rabbi tells him that ‘Radio…it’s all right once in a while. Otherwise it tends to induce bad values, false dreams, lazy habits. Listening to the radio and these stories of foolishness and violence; this is no way for a boy to grow up.’
The young Woody responds, ‘You speak the truth my faithful Indian companion.’
The radio has been full of post General Election news and (though I’m not complaining) I think for 2 hours on Tuesday evening we can grant ourselves some tim to enjoy ‘our kind’ of music.
We’re very excited about our special guests this week: Lewis and Leigh. They are from Wales and Mississippi and they met in Nashville. They have released 3 EP’s so far and are on tour in Scotland. They will be in session with us down in Studio One and we’ll get to ask them lots more about what their current and future plans are.
We’ll also have music digitally realised by Danny & The Champions of The World, John Hartford, Emmylou and Rodney, Lucinda Williams and Eileen Jewel. We’ll have some vinyl glory too from Neil Young and anything else we can manage to fit in in two hours. It’s not TV – it’s better than that: Radio. In stereo and mono and it’s on anywhere you choose to go within the reach of BBC Radio Scotland. Join us, if you can, live tonight from five past eight.
