Late Night Radio

A lost draft...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:28:00 +0000

I just noticed this weird bit of rambling in my drafts from ages ago...

From now on instead of starting my day with a cup of coffee and the news, I think I'll just stumble out of my bedroom and throw myself down the stairs. It'd be a more enlightening experience, and it would probably leave me in a better mood for the rest of the day.

This morning I got to see a race car driver die in a brutal crash over and over again, and just now had the privilege of seeing the delightful video of a little chinese girl being run over by a car twice as a dozen pedestrians and drivers pass by her crushed body without so much as a glance.

My coffee was delicious though. All the way from Nick's Coffee House in Dublin. I'll probably keep that part of my morning routine. I can throw myself down the stairs and hopefully hobble or crawl to the kettle.

It's 2013! Holy shit! In unrelated news here's a new mix I put together....

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:24:00 +0000

Latest beatjesus's Cloudcasts on Mixcloud

Updated for 2012! Oh yeah.

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Man, it's been awhile. I hadn't realized just how long. Time just sort of slipped away. It has a habit of doing that.

It's 2012 now. You may have noticed. Good riddance to 2011, I say. Of the many years I have been alive that one sticks out as a particularly stressful one. So what's new? What's changed? In the world? In the media? Absolutely nothing from what I can tell. In my life? I moved. I got a new computer. I got a record player again, and with it a reoccurance of a severe vinyl addiction. I got my first DJ gig last month, playing some tunes and warming up the crowd before some live bands at a new venue in town. I played a bunch of great hip hop. A couple of people danced. The feedback seemed positive. I might be doing another one in April, possibly.

I'm flying to Dublin tomorrow night. I can almost taste the Guinness now.

I've been cooking a lot lately, riding my bike again and have even attempted running. What a shit habit that is. And as usual I have been increasingly frustrated with the awful state of current popular music. It becomes more clear every day that I am hurtling towards my destiny of being an angry old man who hates young people. Except in my case I feel I will be right. I imagine all old guys say that though, right? Maybe in my case it will be true though? It has to be.

This of course flies in the face of my attempts to be more positive, less negative and cynical. Fortunately I have videos like the Miles Davis concert I posted recently to wash away the bad feelings. Besides, it feels ever more redundant to complain about music celebrated in UK Top 40 charts.

I have also been coveting the ginger cat who lives across the street. He is a handsome gentle soul. I watch him through my kitchen window when I'm washing dishes, and pass him on the street walking to the train. He doesn't seem to know fear. He looks at people and dogs with the same innocent eyes, and enjoys a good cuddle. I cringe sometimes when watching him from my kitchen window when he runs across the street. Too many cars seem indifferent to running cats.

Anyway, since I've remembered this thing exists, I'll get back to posting stuff on here. You know, for the hordes at home waiting in front of their laptops with baited breath.

Oh and I hope you've all been well.

Astounding.

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Miles Davis: Stockholm 1967 from Jamie Wightman on Vimeo.

It's the Halloween song of the day!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:45:00 +0000

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:40:00 +0000

It's the song of the day!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:27:00 +0000

A good way to spend a day...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:19:00 +0000

Charity shops and soul food...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:13:00 +0000

I was in Preston last week. A town about an hour and a half south of here. Turns out it's the charity shop capital of the United Kingdom. Or at least I assume it is. It must be. It's like an elderly person's (or my) dreamland. Second hand shops as far as the eye can see! Stores full of second hand clothes and music and books! What's better than that? In all seriousness few things excite me more when I'm out shopping or roaming around a new town than stumbling upon an Oxfam shop.

In Preston it seems like every street has a charity shop on it. And yes, they have an Oxfam. I found a sweet copy of Waylon Jennings greatest hits in there. And books! Oh the books. I'd even discovered whilst researching Preston charity shops online before my trip(yes, I do that) that Preston had an Oxfam Vintage shop. For anyone unfamiliar with Oxfam that's where they send all the really sweet second hand clothes. Manchester has a great Oxfam Vintage shop in the Northern Quarter.

Anyway, so it was that I walked off the train in Preston excited about a rare visit to an Oxfam Vintage shop, and so after completing my business I walked to the street where the shop was supposed to be, and walked up it and down it, back and forth for an hour. I could not find it. I could only assume it had closed at some point. Or it was somehow invisible to my Canadian eyes. I was disappointed but the variety and quantity of other charity shops helped dull the pain. During my searching I found a copy of Grinderman 2 in a British Heart Foundation. A copy of Rounds by Fourtet in a small local charity shop.

I also stumbled on a great record shop called Action Records and bought a copy of Dr John's Gumbo for a fiver. For high quality second hand music it was a good day. Oh and I also passed my Life in the UK test. I guess that's of some consequence, too. Shortly after passing my test, I was walking around trying to find Preston's fabled Oxfam Vintage and stumbled accidentally on Coco's Soul Food. I knew immediately it would be wonderful because when it comes to food I'm good like that. I got a Smokey Barbecue Caribbean Chicken Burger and Fries, and yes, it was a majestic celebration meal. I took some picture's to remember it by:

I also found a copy of It Might As Well Be Swing by Frank Sinatra and Count Basie at the Scope charity shop here in town.

Oh and I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the newest series of Treme. I don't think a better show has been made about community and music. It's uplifting and heartbreaking and just a whole lotta fun to watch. David Simon's importance to American television and American culture in general cannot be overestimated. No one else is as obsessed with showing you the absolute truth as he is. Treme is an incredible celebration of the great city of New Orleans and a scathing critique of how badly it has been mistreated during and post Katrina.

On a final note I'm going to see Paranormal Activity 3 tonight with my wife, and my brother in law and his wife. So, yeah, there goes sleeping peacefully for the next two or three days. It's gonna be great.

It's the song of the day! (imagine if Hip Hop was still like this?)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:10:00 +0000

It's the song of the day! (for the incredible expanding Hayesbergs!)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:34:00 +0000

Dedicated with love...

Heading into the studio to work on our first two hour show...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Compulsions and late night rambling...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:55:00 +0000

I treat all the animals I pass while out in the world as companions. I think I weird out various neighbours and strangers frequently while doing so. But I can't help it. It's a compulsion. I can only apologise in advance if it ever happens to you.

I'm listening to the song Nightcall by Kavinsky right now. It's really good. I downloaded it from Emusic years ago and recently heard it in the film Drive. Now it conjures up images of Los Angeles at night, and neon and muscle cars and Ryan Gosling. That last part probably sounds a little gay but it's not. Not completely.

I also recently watched Warrior. Tom Hardy is in it, and Joel Edgerton. Edgerton was in the superb Australian crime film Animal Kingdom, and was also Uncle Owen in The Phantom Menace. Nick Nolte was also in Warrior. That dude is the real deal. You should see the film, it's pretty great.

I was just watching this Greek film Dogtooth. It's a weird weird film, but oddly captivating. Well at least it was until one character attacked a cat with a pair of garden sheers. The film is about parents who are raising their three teenage children in a strangely isolated environment.

I've been thinking a lot recently about the idea everything is one single moment. That there is no past or future. That everything happens in one stretched out moment. Sometimes it feels like I could close my eyes, open them again and I'd be an old man. Sat on the couch. I could open them and I'd be ten years old again playing in the snow. I could open them up and I'd be stood outside Flinders Station. I feel like these moments, all the moments that make up my life are separated by a membrane thinner than paper. That is only growing thinner. This idea kind of fascinates me but mostly it terrifies me. I don't know if you know what I mean.

I've been working on this radio show with two friends of mine. It's been reinvigorating for me creatively. For a while it had felt like my brain was shutting down. I'd sort of stopped thinking. Now I'm trying to think up creative themes and idea's for the show. It's been challenging. My brain has not been overwhelming me with original idea's. It's a little scary and more than a little difficult to be creative when you are seemingly incapable of original thought. Still I'm making this sound weirdly negative. It isn't. It's been a blast. We're going into my friends studio to record episode five this week, and we've just extended the running time for each episode from one to two hours. It feels good having to think again. The station should hopefully be up and running soon-ish. I believe there will be a trial run of some sort first.

I did one of those Mojo-esque music questionnaire things for the local paper the other week. The feature is called Pet Sounds. It included a god awful photo of me and in the piece I used the word veracious. What an asshole. That's what I probably would have thought if I was a stranger reading the paper at home. I don't believe I've ever used the word veracious in real life, but I couldn't resist the urge to be a little bit of a pompous dick. It's fun.

If I had to put it down to one thing, I'd probably say the main reason I love cats is because they're jerks.

Am I the only one who finds the theme song for QI with Stephen Fry a little emotional?

I've been listening to Incesticide by Nirvana whilst writing most of this. It's been a long time since I've listened to that album because my physical copy is in Canada and for some reason I forgot to add it to my hard drive before I left but I just found it on Spotify. Hairspray Queen never gets any less goddamn amazing. Jesus I love this record.

Oh and I just watched the trailer for Paranormal Activity 3. It freaked me out. I'm a real sucker for those films. The first one got in my head and stayed there for days. I still don't look at attic doors in the same way. And even though the rational side of my brain understands how gimmicky and artificial those films are, the irrational(and dominate) side of my brain does not. The irrational side of my brain is desperate to suspend it's disbelief for two hours. It's fun.

I discussed Paranormal Activity with my friend recently. We were visiting him and his lovely family in Ireland and he showed me a sophisticated baby monitor he had purchased. It had a little video camera on it that recorded the crib. So you could watch and listen to your baby from the comfort of your living room. The little screen on his mantel displayed a small slightly grainy greenish night vision view of his little girl asleep. I asked him if he'd seen Paranormal Activity? He said no. I said he wouldn't look at that baby monitor in the same way ever again if he did. Then we had a completely unrelated discussion about Catholicism that kept us up far longer than we had anticipated. That was a good trip. He has a little girl who could power the universe with her joy and infectious enthusiasm.

Finally, it's late and I'm tired. Well, I'm tired now but I'll still lay awake in bed in the dark for a fucking hour.

Oh before I do go a big Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home. I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner ever to celebrate. Never has a chicken been butchered so badly with a carving knife. It was delicious though. I cooked chicken because turkey wasn't available. Tomorrow I'm making chicken soup. It's going to be monumental.

Anyway, good night.

It's the song of the day!(no cursing)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:59:00 +0000

The inevitable end...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:50:00 +0000

It's the song of the day!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:37:00 +0000

Hey film lovers...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Carl Dreyer's highly influential horror masterpiece...

It's the song of the day!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Brand new posters for our upcoming new radio show, Alternative Revelations!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:08:00 +0000

We're trying to cover all the bases...

Wonderful Film Trailers #23 (in no specific order)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:29:00 +0000

A new compilation!

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:31:00 +0000

Listen to it here.

It's the song of the day! (a Monday afternoon pick me up!)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:26:00 +0000

I love a lot of music and have a lot of favourite songs. But when push comes to shove I honestly struggle to find a song that makes me feel better than Say No Go. Four minutes and twenty-one seconds of joy...

Heading back into the studio this week...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Ten years ago...

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:14:00 +0000

Ten years ago today I was in the middle of the Toronto International Film Festival. I had the festival pass that gave me tickets to watch fifty films in ten days. Five films a day. My first film would be around 9am and the last would play at midnight. I'd race to catch the last subway at 2am, and would be up and out by 8am. Stand in line....watch a film...stand in line...watch a film...it was magnificent.

Saturday September 11th I woke up around 7:30am feeling like a zombie but excited about the sixth day of the festival. I rode the subway down to Yonge and Bloor, most likely stopped for a coffee from a Second Cup and walked the two or three blocks to the Manulife Centre at Bay and Bloor. I took my place in line and soaked up the atmosphere. It was clear and warm, the sky was bright blue and everywhere you looked people talked about movies.

Eventually the line started moving and we made our way into the Varsity Cinema. The lobby was alive. Line ups veered off in all directions. Volunteers answered questions. Movie fans and industry types waited patiently. We made our way into the theatre and our seats. Today I was about to watch World Traveller A film by Bart Freundlich starring Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore and Liane Baliban. A story about a family man who on one random day leaves his family and goes on a personal odyssey across the country. As the theatre filled up, people ate breakfast, drank coffee and water and talked about the films they had watched the day before.

I went to all the festival films alone back then (I didn't know anyone else interested in watching five films a day for ten days straight) so I sat and watched people. I was very very content. Just before the lights went down a member of staff walked up to the front of the theatre and said there were reports of an incident in America. That further details would be available later. And to enjoy the film. People looked curiously at one another as the cinema grew dark and the screen lit up.

When the film ended and the lights came back on people waited. Often they have special guests(actors, filmmakers, producers) who do a question and answer after films at TIFF. Another member of staff walked up to the front of the cinema again and said there had been an incident in America. That man people were reported injured or dead. To remain calm.

The world outside the theatre was chaos.We walked out of the theatre into the lobby of the Varsity cinema. People moved quickly in all directions. I walked out of the Varsity into the Manulife Centre. There was a constant murmur in the air. Many voices talking at once, worried and confused. Volunteers did their best to answer questions. I was confused. I stood and watched people rushing back and forth. Talking on cell phones. I walked over to a volunteer and asked what had happened. There had been a terrorist attack down in the U.S. Forty thousand people were reported dead. I just looked at him. I headed for the escalator and made my way out of the building onto the sidewalk. People were stood around with strange looks on their faces not knowing what to do. I asked an old guy with a beard what had happened. He said there had been some sort of terrorist attack on New York City. He said his name was Richard and asked if I was okay. We talked for a bit. He was a nice man. One of those mid-sixties, world weary, well educated, funny calming types. He helped me get my head around things a little bit.

I overheard someone mention something about people watching a screen down the street. I walked along Bloor to the corner of Yonge Street and stopped. All the traffic had stopped. The street and sidewalks were full of people stood looking up, like a scene in a science fiction movie. They were starring at a giant screen. I looked up. The giant screen that normally showed commericals and weather updates and news now displayed a shot of downtown New York city. Smoke poured out of the World Trade Center towers. As I watched, bewildered and unbelieving, a plane entered the frame. It was quiet on the street. No one talked. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I was dazed. I watched the screen for a long time, horrified and mesmerized.

I made my way back to the Manulife Center, not really knowing what else to do. I found Richard again and told him what I saw. He had seen it too. I don't remember specifically what we talked about then but I know it was big existential tragedy of life type stuff. He was trying to get in touch with his son down in America and I decided I had to get in touch with my family. I found a payphone(I didn't own a cellphone) and called my mom. It became even weirder once I was talking to someone from my own reality, someone familiar. It felt completely inconceivable that this was happening in the mundane world I lived in every day. It was too big of an event.

I walked to the subway and waited on the crowded platform for the next train. The ride home was silent. No one seemed to have anything to say to anybody. I got back to my apartment and sat on the couch. It seemed even more surreal watching it on normal television in my living room. Hearing newscasters reporting all the details. Watching the terrible footage over and over. I called my friend Steven and woke him up. He'd slept through it all. Have you seen the news I asked? No. Put on your television. Why? What happened?

I put my memories of this day in the same folder in my head as my memories of our car crash or our near drowning in Byron Bay. Visceral, and brutally real. Memories where you are unselfconsciously aware of your own mortality. Memories where you feel oddly alive and aware of being a part of something larger. A part of the collective group that makes up humanity, and this terrible tragic world in which we live.

It's the song of the day! (and my advice for you)

noreply@blogger.com (halfman_halfmachine) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:02:00 +0000