And he went on shouting through the window,
‘Pretty Vacant Maid Ibronka, what did you see looking through the keyhole?’

‘And my friends cut a hole through the wall and went along the road when they took me to the churchyard where they buried me in the ditch – but to a dead and not to a living soul am I speaking.’

Part 2 of Angela Carter’s fairytale The Pretty Vacant Maid Ibronka, first broadcast on Mining For Gold on Resonance 104.4fm and featuring the infamous Joy Casio Radio Orchestra.

I wonder what the future keeps in store for me… A psychopath out there fancies me…
We are after perverting an already quite perverted Angela Carter fairytale on Radio Joy tonight. The Pretty Vacant Maid Ibronka part one is an hour long soundscape that features Inga on laptop, James on casio, Naomi on piano and Johny on circuit bent yamaha keyboard and narration.

]]> http://radiojoy.co.uk/blog/2011/10/the-pretty-vacant-maid/feed/ 0 I wonder what the future keeps in store for me... A psychopath out there fancies me... We are after perverting an already quite perverted Angela Carter fairytale on Radio Joy tonight. The Pretty Vacant Maid Ibronka part one is an hour long soundscape ... I wonder what the future keeps in store for me... A psychopath out there fancies me... We are after perverting an already quite perverted Angela Carter fairytale on Radio Joy tonight. The Pretty Vacant Maid Ibronka part one is an hour long soundscape that features Inga on laptop, James on casio, Naomi on piano and Johny on circuit bent yamaha keyboard and narration. Radio Joy clean 59:59 http://radiojoy.co.uk/blog/2011/10/night-people/ http://radiojoy.co.uk/blog/2011/10/night-people/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:35:13 +0000 admin http://radiojoy.co.uk/blog/?p=1211

Gavin Martin (Talking Musical Revolutions) tells the tale of Lee Dorsey, backed by the Band of Holy Joy Radio Orchestra on casios, laptops, pianos, cymbals and casios and laptops…

911 ‘let’s get it over and done with’ tribute by Mike Brandon.

Fourty years ago one of the most ludicrous trials in the history of British jurisprudence reached its climax with the editors of a British underground magazine Oz being sentenced to up to 15 months’ imprisonment.

Tony Palmer’s book The Trials of Oz transcribes a lot of the court proceedings verbatim, and Vivian Berger’s defence is worth citing at length:

Asked by Mr Mortimer [defence] why he had contributed the Rupert Bear cartoon, he [Berger] replied: “I think that, looking back on it, I subconsciously wanted to shock your generation: to portray us as a group of people who were different from you in moralistic attitudes. Also, it seemed to me just very funny, and like anything else that makes fun of sex”. Mortimer asked: “You say you did it to shock an older generation? What relevance did Rupert have as a figure or symbol?” Berger replied: “Well, Rupert would probably be known to many generations as the innocent young character who figures in magic fairy tales. Whereas here, he’s just doing what every normal human being does.” “Was it part of your intention,” he suggested, “to show that there was a more down-to-earth side of childhood than some grown-up people are prepared to think?”

“Oh yes”, Berger responded cheerfully. “This is the kind of drawing that goes around every classroom, every day, in every school.” The Judge looked wounded. “Do you really mean that?” he asked… “Yes, I do mean it,” Berger replied immediately. “Maybe I was portraying obscenity, but I don’t think I was being obscene myself.”

Mr Leary [prosecution] then elucidated from Mr Berger that he lived with his mother and his two sisters, aged 10 and 12. Yes, he had often bought Oz magazine and yes he had usually left it around the house. His mother had known about his involvement in School Kids Issue and had actually encouraged the lad to contribute. No, she did not think that it had depraved or corrupted him… Mr Leary lurched to the meat of the matter, as he described it. “You were asked by Mr Mortimer,” he nodded, “about your contribution to the magazine. Do you remember saying: ‘I thought it was portraying obscenity, but not being obscene myself’?”

“Yes, I do remember saying that,” Berger replied, somewhat hesitantly. Quick as a flash Leary inquired: “And what did you mean by that?” Berger was not to be cajoled. “Well,” he replied, “if the News covers a war or shows a picture of war, then, for me, they are portraying obscenity—the obscenity of war. But they are not themselves creating that obscenity, because it is the people who are fighting the war that are creating that obscenity. The obscenity is in the action, not in the reporting of it. For example, I consider that the act of corporal punishment is an obscenity. I do not consider that the act of reporting or writing about corporal punishment is obscene”.

Something Beginning With L are a bewitching trio made up of Lucy Parnell (Vocals, Guitar), Jen Macro (Vocals, Guitar) and Jon Clayton (Bass, Keys). The band juxtaposes scuzzy electric guitars and buzzing synthesizers with acoustic fragility and electro-beats, guided into the light by the salient crystalline vocals of Lucy Parnell and Jen Macro who offer bliss-out close harmonies, melancholy and absorbing into the band’s encapsulating dream-pop.

Photo © Franek Strzeszewski

I Have A Beautiful Shadow All You Have Is A Stupid Smile: a fairytale by Johny Brown featuring Jonny Mugwump, James S Finn, Cris Lapthorne, Johny Brown and Inga Tillere.

Barry MacSweeney grew up in the west end of Newcastle. He worked as a professional journalist throughout most of his life. He met poet Basil Bunting in the mid-1960s and formed part of a local group of poets including Tom Pickard, Jon Silkin and Jeremy Prynne. Aged 19, his first book of poetry The Boy from the Green Cabaret sold well and his publishers, Hutchinsons, nominated him for the Chair in Poetry at Oxford. Unwittingly, he found himself to be the recipient of a publisher’s publicity stunt and received only three votes. It took half a lifetime for his reputation to recover. He died in May 2000.

His epic poem Ranter written in 1984 evokes the marginalized voices of mid-seventeenth century political and religious radicals who considered the poorest beggars, even ‘rogues, thieves, whores, and cut purses’ as ‘every whit as good’ as the great ones of the earth. This sect known as The Ranters believed that faith itself alone was sufficient to attain salvation, making adherence to religious law unnecessary and thus rejecting the notion of obedience, making them a threat to the stability of the government.

Brian Gibson reads the first part of Barry MacSweeny’s Ranter alongside extracts of text written by Abiezer Coppe and Jacob Bauthumley in 1650.

‘This is How we Walk on the Moon’ by Cris Lapthorne is a one hour study of the late great NYC composer Arthur Russell and takes in Alan Ginsberg, Talking Heads, Larry Levan and many others.

Charles Arthur Russell Jr. (1952 – April 4, 1992) was an American cellist, composer, singer, and disco artist. While he found the most success as a dance music artist, Russell’s career bridged New York’s downtown, rock, and dance music scenes; his collaborators ranged from Philip Glass to David Byrne to Nicky Siano. Relatively unknown during his life, a series of reissues and posthumous releases has raised his profile in recent years… Russell was born and raised in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he later studied the cello and began to write his own music. When he was 18 he moved to San Francisco, where he lived in a Buddhist commune and studied North Indian music at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He met Allen Ginsberg, with whom he began to work, accompanying him on the cello while Allen sang or read his poetry… In 1973, Arthur Russell moved to New York and began study at the Manhattan School of Music, also working as The Kitchen’s musical director. He formed a band from 1975–1979, The Flying Hearts, recorded by John Hammond, which consisted of Arthur (keyboards, vocals), ex-Modern Lovers member Ernie Brooks (bass, vocals), Larry Saltzman (guitar), and David Van Tieghem (drums, vocals), with a later incarnation in the 1980s that included Joyce Bowden (vocals) and Jesse Chamberlin (drums). He contributed to The Flying Hearts in studio work and, occasionally, in performance with David Byrne, Rhys Chatham, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Jerry Harrison, Garret List, Andy Paley, Leni Pickett and Peter Zummo. From 1975 to 1979 this ensemble, together with Glenn Iamaro, Bill Ruyle and Jon Sholle, performed and recorded the orchestral composition of Instrumentals (Disques du Crepescule, 1984, Belgium)… In 1979, Arthur wrote and produced “Kiss Me Again” under the name Dinosaur. It was the first disco single to be released by Sire Records, and the first of many of Arthur’s innovative dance tunes. This was followed by “Is It All Over My Face” by Loose Joints, released in 1980. In 1981, Arthur Russell and William Socolov founded Sleeping Bag Records and their first release was his 24-24 Music. The number “Go Bang”, which originated from this album, was re-mixed as a 12″ single by Francois Kevorkian. These songs were all frequently played at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage; in particular, Levan’s remix of “Is It All Over My Face” (one of his earliest remixes) has been recognized as a prototype of garage music… In 1983, the album “Tower of Meaning” (Chatham Square) was released. This compelling and meditative recording, conducted by Julius Eastman, represents just a fragment of a much larger composition, which includes voices along with its instrumentation… At the same time, Arthur continued to release dance singles such as “Tell You Today” (4th and Broadway, 1983) an upbeat dance groove featuring the vocals of Joyce Bowden. Additional dance tunes included Wax the Van (Jump Street, 1985) with vocals by Lola Blank, “Treehouse/Schoolbell” (Sleeping Bag, 1986) and “Let’s Go Swimming” (Upside/Rough Trade, 1986)… During the mid 1980s, Arthur Russell gave many performances, either accompanying himself ..o with a myriad of effects, or working with a small ensemble consisting of Mustafa Ahmed, Steven Hall, Elodie Lauten and Peter Zummo… 1986 saw the release of “World of Echo” (Upside/Rough Trade, 1986), which incorporated many of his ideas for pop, dance and classical music for both solo and cello format. The album was well-reviewed in Britain and included in Melody Maker’s “Top Thirty Releases of 1986″… Arthur also collaborated with a number of choreographers, including John Bernd, Diane Madden, Alison Salzinger and Stephanie Woodard… Arthur Russell died of AIDS on April 4, 1992, at the age of 40. In an April 28 column, Kyle Gann of The Village Voice wrote: “His recent performances had been so infrequent due to illness, his songs were so personal, that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music.”.. Russell was prolific, but was also notorious for leaving songs unfinished and continually revising his music. Ernie Brooks said that Russell “never arrived at a completed version of anything,” while Peter Gordon stated, “his quest wasn’t really to do a finished product but more to do with exploring his different ways of working musically”. He left behind more than 1,000 tapes when he died, 40 of them different mixes of one song… In 2007, “This Is How We Walk On The Moon”, a song which appears on the 1994 album “Another Thought”, was used in a UK television commercial for T-Mobile. Also in 2007 the artist Johanna Billing exhibited a video of the same title, which included a cover of the song, at Documenta 12 in Kassel and at a gallery in Edinburgh. .. The documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell by director Matt Wolf came out in 2008. The prize-winning film enjoyed great success at film festivals worldwide and had theatrical runs in Londpon, New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. It is available on DVD worldwide… A new record of unreleased recordings, “Love Is Overtaking Me” (Audika), was released in 2008.