Podrophenia 15 - Never Mind the Monarchs, Here's the Podcast

Right up the royal wedding

By real appointment Podrophenia the XVth brings you a barely regal parade of popular song with a royal variety of spongers, posh nobs and hangers on all making the playlist: from Kings to Queens to Dukes. Plus raise high your red berets - there's an exclusive tune from Socialist Rhythm and Bluesers Thee Faction to keep us dressing to the left

Natter-wise we spread out a finger buffet of band name confusement, right royale tack', a meaty new fast food fragrance for men and how flat is my head?

It's music for corgi kicking without a whisper of the W 'n' K words..

Podrophenia 15 - Never Mind the Monarchs



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I'm dedicating this post to the memory of one the of the original Queens of Punk - Poly Styrene:1957-2011

A happy couple that nearly got an invite to pitch up and play on the poddy.





Something I contributed to the  Patchwork of Flesh blog

Dear Diary:1980 - April

April 1980 comes with a handful of calendar conundrums.....

Which era did ITV's Hollywood series cover (finished on the 1st)? I seem to remember it being the just silent/Sennett/slapstick age - but this may be because of a tie-in Harold Lloyd poster still in the loft.

Pelican Tennis (5th) - rings an unanswered bell

But 'snake, pub, fair' (13th) ? Not a clue!

Sinclair (9th) was the local bobby on the beat. A 'Mr Nasty' cut of copper, famously quick with his clips and fists, who on this occasion took to throwing me around the rose gardens (mostly trees and holly bushes in reality) by the throat - simply because he thought I was 'smirking'. Perhaps my God Save the Queen tee rattled him, or that we'd sometimes sing the Batman theme as he went barreling by on his boneshaker bike with the wind catching and flapping his cape.

'Gillow hit on head by roll' (22nd) could be where some sparky type threw a jam roll out of the school changing room windows, bouncing off of Andrea Gillow's noggin, only for a second sarney to land squarely on the head of a passing PE teacher. Whoops..class detention for that one (at lunchtime too - grrrr)

And it must be spring as local temptress LOTR seems to to be presenting again (18th)!

Singles added to the collection are: Devo, the Cockney Rejects brand of boot-boy of Oi and The Undertones. As a variant I'll post a lesser heard versh of My Perfect Cousin

The Undertones - My Perfect Cousin (demo)





Chartwise the top 75 is as Randomland as ever - 10 to 20  being a cross generational peppering of pop.And the albums *goes cross-eyed* John Cooper Clarke neighboring up with Martie Webb. And where did Bobby Vee come from!

Top 75 singles

Top 75 albums

The Bruce Lee double bill, seen at The Classic, Westcliff was my third trip to an X certificate. Previous peeps were Saturday Night Fever (age 12) Carrie/Pirhana (age 13)

A bass in the country: rocking and rolling around The Wolds and Wales

Cotswold visit the tenth saw us revisiting a few old favourite paths and places and ticking off some new to-do locations: Oxford, Snowshill Manor, the Hook Norton Brewery

It really is the perfect place to spend a spring break - the space, the silence, the green lanes and lack of traffic, spotting frisky-legged lambs a'leaping and fidgeting themselves about the fields or having yourself a lazy bumble around the daffodil and limestone landscapes.

On a musical motif, two local-to-Stow ledge's include bass players - Alex James, whose farm is just a couple of villages up the road and John 'The Ox' Entwhistle, whose Quarwood Mansion can be seen here..



Although a pint in Keith Moon's pub that-was in Chipping Norton still remains on the next time tick-list. On the subject of pubs, if you ever find yourself in Stow The Queen's Head is a must visit - Donnington Brewery's BB is the fruitiest pint I've tasted since this.

Rounding off the run was a long weekend in sunny Shropshire, where spin-outs included a white-knuckle drive/crawl across The Long Mynd, nipping into Wales (Powis Castle and Rhayader). Getting back to bassics, our Shropshire accom' was pitched just a short hop from Fishpool Farm - Ronnie Lane's post Faces home.

Plonk Update: Even though the cottage I've snapped is signed 'Fishpool Farm' on the gate - digging about the net since, I think Ronnie's may have been the next one up. I'll clarify when we revisit 

Unusually we hadn't included any of Plonk's output in the albums packed, but fave tunes soundtracking the trip turned out to be some XTC outtakes from the Fuzzy Warbles volumes..

XTC - Spiral



And the entire Pugwash back catalogue (thanks to Piley Supplies ltd )

Splinters in your fingers...

Well boys, girls bloggers and blogettes we're away for a week and bit. Rolling round the Cotswolds and revisiting sunny Stow and its surrounding areas. Already I'm mentally stretching out at the very thought of doing a smart right into Burford 'Gateway to the Cotswolds' and leaving all the usual fuss and faffery over the hills far way.

Although, one event that could have kept me anchored back in Southend happens this coming Sunday, when, local keyboard whiz kid and compositional pixie David Woodcock unwraps his third album Splinters at The Railway Hotel..

Splinters will be showcased with an afternoon of live music where Dave will be joined by the album's collaborators for live run throughs of his 15 newly minted tunes. I'm unable to get Splinters in my mitts until we're back, but both of Dave's previous outings Homemade and kitchen Sink will be packed in the holiday napsack.

So while we're away from home and way out west - I'll leave you with you a song about our home town - a sort of Blur, Kinks and Madness stomper framed around an actual Southend street.

And yes all David Woodcock songs really are this good..

Yoko Eno

If you're not a Twitterer (yet), and even if you are - did you know the sunglasses fancying, pocket-sized, heavyweight-ledge that is Yoko Ono does a weekly Tweet-centric Q and A session?

Buzz your notes and queries here #yokoQandA and Yoko grabs a handful from the virtual bag(ism}.

Well, strike me down me with Pellici's hand-cut chip - I've only gone got a three out of three hit rate to date haven't I? Do you reckon they could be a bundled up and called an interview?

The Quinn Martin/Instant Karma epilogue: I told Pellici's about Yoko's reply. Turns out several interiors for Nowhere Boy were filmed at Pellici's, as vintage caffs like this just don't exist in Liverpool anymore.

Not a million miles from same-era Eno is it really...

Podrophenia 14 - April Fool's Day

Tomfoolery and Joker's Wild are a couple of vintage TV themes you'll find rattling around in the latest podcast from Piley and I, an April Fool's special - with a motif of comedy/novelty records. Contemporary comedians, retro radio stars and unlikely outings from cult rockers all get popped on the playlist..

Piley brings you an update on Malawi's cheek-clenching Windwatch situation, while I revisit Alternative 3, a Science Report spoof that backfired (unlike the good people of Malawi) causing East Anglia's own War of the Worlds style frightener.

Running to a budget-busting 12 tracks and 70+ minutes - you can grab our jamboree bag of tunes and chat right here..or iTunes if you prefer

Podrophenia 14 - April Fool's Day

One of my nearly, but not quite tracks...Billy Howard - King of the Cops