Driving Aquaplaning back from Manchester this evening, the rain was coming down sideways - as it had been since about 9 o'clock this morning. It truly was like the End of Days.
Craig Charles agreed to ride shotgun. He's the perfect passenger - playing as he did some spectacularly good choons. Like this:
It's from his new album Part Time Millionaire. I think it comes out next week. I want a copy. Now. It will be my Album of 2019; you just see if it isn't.
BBC 6 Music is hosting its very own Festival this coming weekend at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse.
Damon Albarn may be grabbing all the headlines, but there's some real nuggets to be found further down the bill and on the Fringe.
Not least The Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club: a Sun Ra tribute getting maximum mileage from one of space jazz's finest exponents. Fronted by Paddy Steer and Graham Massey they're playing two sets on Saturday. I spoke to their keyboard player on the phone yesterday: 'Should be good Dad' he said. I'm sure it will be.
BBC 6 Music are cock-a-hoop about finding a 'lost' radio show that David Bowie knocked up forty years ago to plug his then current album Pin Ups - a perfectly sculptured and segued homage to 60s London. Talking about his version of I Can't Explain, Bowie has this to say about The Who:
'...but the biggest buzz was back at The Marquee. They dressed weeks out of date, but they did all the right stuff – Martha & The Vandellas and all that. A lot of action on a night. They were our band, The Who.'
That's right, The Who's fashion sense was so ancient they dressed weeks out of date; Pete Townshend must have been hanging his head in shame.
I love the way Bowie put a sax on the song Townshend freely admits to nicking off The Kinks.
Just finished reading Phill Jupitus' Good Morning Nantwich (Adventures in Breakfast Radio) - the big man's intoxicating account of his 5 year tenure at BBC 6 Music. And a delightful read it is too. His love of radio, like a lot of us, goes back to the crackly pirates, swinging Radio 1, Terry Wogan and, no surprises here, John Peel. If Peel had ever dipped his toe into the torrent that is Breakfast Radio it wouldn't have sounded too dissimilar to Jupitus' morning output circa 2002-2007.
Interspersed with his recollections of the time (mostly good, if you discount his frequent run-ins with BBC top brass) he drops in a few playlists (mostly excellent) and even offers tips for anyone thinking of starting up their own DIY radio station.
Phill was kind enough to mention his memories of broadcasting his show from Medd Towers in July 2005:
''Next time out we were in Nottingham and in the company of the Medd family. Jenny and John with their tall son James who was fifteen and in a band and by now must be fending off the ladies with a shitty stick. They had cats, and we set up in their living room. Jenny made bacon sandwiches which really hit the spot.''
