In the pop Kitchen
With Ellen and Mark
And when you think there we are all done and we are up to date, so today there is still something that eludes, some trick of the light, some strange music and of course there is and it is the most appropriate because it is the Lost show, oh sadness of sadnesses, because that is what happens. We make a show, sometime in one of these recent years and we talk about the state of being lost because it is so interesting, lost songs, lost shows, lost albums, lost bands, lost people, the ontological state of being lost, because if that exists, and it surely does it implies that there is another, a state of being found, and that is where we are trying to go. We have all been lost have we not. I mean haven't we? It's kind of part of the human condition. And banging things and shouting about it is just part of what pop music is all about. In the middle of this journey, or at the beginning, there is a lttle cry of helplessness and hopelessness and is it possible to reach out to other humans through the magic of radio and music and grasp each other and say it is ok you are not lone we all feel like this. And then we find each other and it is ok eventually. It used to be shared through the radio, and vinyl, and the tapes we made off the vinyl and the music we sang together and now we have a million platforms and all the music that has ever been made at our fingertips but it's sort of the same. The Go-Betweens are good aren't they? Oh those summer days of lost innocence and the everexpanding possibilities of life. In an unscheduled visit to IWFM towers, due to technical difficulties, we record our summer special in Howard's studio and pop cultural shrine. This is a proper pop kitchen show. Jolly and full of airheady 3 minute pop tunes. Thank the good Lord for things that don't matter. In my mind the Summer Special is inextricably connected with the Beano and the Beezer Summer Specials, those big copies of your weekly comics that came out in the summer when you were a kid. I don't know why and it probably doesn't help. Doesn't matter. This is a great pop kitchen, hope you enjoy it in the stupid happy summer spirit it was made in.
E
So I think this is the right order. I don't think there was another show in between. And as we have already established The Christmas Special is the Pop Kitchen's natural home format. There is no escape from the fact that pop music is steeped in populist religious sentiment and theological confusion whether you like it or not. Pop music is full of love and angels and the little baby Jesus, it starts from the church, it is full of people's hopes and dreams and contradictions, good will and selfishness, love for family and being sick to the back teeth of family. It is cheesy as all get out. It is irredeemably camp. It contains multitudes. Some good ones here. We are on top of our technical hopelessness and we just don't care. This is a moment of pure pop innocence before the world collapses.
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This is fun. It is easy for me to say that there is much fun to be had smashing the patriarchy, being a middle aged white male etc. I am fully on board with this project not in spite but because of being a middle-aged white male etc. Let me off the hook please. And there we go, once again begging women to sort out my mess. But If you venture out on to the social media platforms, and Lord knows I try not to, you will see a lot of defending the indefensible by misogynist nut jobs, particularly on twitter, that is both tragic and terrifyingly awful. If only it wasn’t also to some extent succeeding in protecting the status quo and still condemning half the human race to such injustice and unfairness. To pretend that this not happening, to deny it and defend it? I don't understand that. So let's enjoy smashing it. Smash me , I am a pumpkin full of stupidity and was for years on these issues, and still am I so far as I am a social construct of the patriarchy. A constructed pumpkin of stupidity m’lud. That is my defence. I say twitter because that is what I see out there highlighting extreme examples of attacks on high profile women but this stuff is everywhere in the full range from knowing eye-brow raise to Trump himself. And the patriarchy is just one aspect of the whole intersectional house of cards. Shut up Mark it’s only a radio show, and a fun light hearted pop show at that. And The Rev Ellen, the woman actually running the show doesn’t need to be managing your codswallop while rattling out this narrow cast media content of pop culture and spiritual empathy. (And also incidentally being the financial mainstay and head honcho of the family while I witter on about this and that, take pictures, bake bread and live the life of Riley.) This is the second of producer Howard’s fully fledged visits to the Pop Kitchen itself, and for logistical reasons we ended up at the dining room table instead (riveting stuff this) in those glorious pre-pandemic days. Oh if only we had known what lay in wait for us, we wouldn’t have known what to do with ourselves. Probably would have had some kind of hug fest which Ellen would have hated so just as well the future remained a mystery right up until Boris Johnson kissed Donald Trump and invented COVID. But I would have loved the hug fest, and I’m sorry my powers of precognition were insufficient to initiate it. Sorry guys. Instead we were too busy balancing a lovely vocal mike on a beanbag and trying to find enough phono to mini-jack connectors and drinking loads of tea. Samuel Beckett cast his inscrutable gaze down upon us from behind his fake moustache; who knows what he made of our efforts to polish and share meaning from the music and madness which we, well mostly Ellen in this show, have selected. We do that not naming thing again, it takes us ages to name Lesley Gore who sings "You Don't Own Me" while we go on and on about the fact that Quincy Jones produced a song written by two men. And we don't name check Anohni on the Coco Rosie tune or go into detail about those awesome individuals and the collaborations they are making which is almost deliberately perverse considering the heat of the debate around names and pronouns: we just expect you to know all that. In general I just read whats on Spotify and google stuff. Culture is complicated enough without trying to do proper research. So apologies again but we do try and have a go and I think there is some great stuff on the list. What a show! This is the good stuff right here. Ellen, using her expertise as a professor of popular music and music hall takes us on a journey through time to the cultural focal points that actually caused pop music to exist as we know it. A whirlwind tour in fact. Listening back I think there is possibly a bit too much explainotainment from me, but I can't help myself I do love this stuff. There was some madness going on in the Invisible Wind Factory that day which makes the sound quality in the speech sections a bit dodgy, so it might make it difficult for some people to grasp the awesomeness but trust me this is people waffling on about pop music at it's very best. Here are some photos of that day. The first one is of Howard. Look at his lovely big microphone! The final picture of rehearsals which were going on downstairs might in some way explain the extra sounds you can hear. This show is back to normal personnel wise but still working through the Gentle Protest playlist, hence the Pt 2. Listening back we are quite earnest but we really mean it when we are talking about this music. This is the stuff that formed us as people and because of that we never see music as totally detached from the various struggles against oppression no matter how much Ellen likes Steps. Music is important and it means something. So we are quite earnest in that regard which is maybe why we sound like that. Also it is the first really long show we do because we need to play all the tunes. I think I add some stuff not on Sarah's original list but I am not sure, I can't remember and no actual list of the show seems to exist. It's the Pop Kitchen but not as we have come to know it. Producer Howard stands in for me because I am in Australia having a frabjous time with Eva and Elise and Joey and Erin. What days. So what can I say cos I wasn't there? Inspired by the amazing Sarah Corbett who had invited people to contribute to a gentle protest playlist online, this is full of lovely music that also has a point to make. If you are not aware of Sarah's work check her out and particularly her book "How to be a Craftivist: the Art of Gentle Protest," available wherever books are sold. But probably coolest is to get it from here: https://craftivist-collective.com/our-story/ so you can also check out her site. It's a great playlist which takes two shows to do justice to and also affords Ellen the opportunity to lay her socialist cards on the table. Meanwhile we are visiting Eating World and Yoghurt Land and that beach from Home and Away. Oh Australia, God Bless You.
So I am sharing Sarah's playlist which I think Ellen must have worked directly from, there is no Pop Kitchen Gentle Protest playlist that I can find.
We are getting a little more into our stride here, and starting to relax. I take ownership of my technical incompetence. We see the appearance of certain recurrent obsessions such the The Kinks and Big Star, and music that Eva is into. Also I think that this is the first time (apart from Christmas) that there is a theme which in this case is Eva leaving for Australia. Realising that themes are useful we employ them a great deal from now on, but the best ones, like this one, are deeply personal. This was during a period when Howard had the desk set up right by the window so it was a spectacular place to be, overlooking a great expanse of wasteland to the south of Trafalgar Dock with the river beyond. Our first Christmas show. You can tell Ellen is completely content in this format. The Christmas Special is probably her natural home. Funny how particular Christmas songs have their moment and then get overplayed. This was the year of Low's "Just Like Christmas" for me, I couldn't get it out of my head but it's burnt out for me now. The same goes for Joni Mitchell's "I Wish I Had a River". Whereas "All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue" by Over The Rhine doesn't get overplayed so it's fine. I can't find a picture from the day we recorded this. I remember the weather was foul. I did find a couple of shots from the IWF Christmas Fair from around this time at which Howard and Rob played some tunes, Howard quietly dressed as usual.
I think this was quite chaotic process so the playlist is absurdly long, obviously we didn't play all these. I'm not sure what was happening. We also made our one and only live appearance for IWFM shortly after this when we played an early slot on New Years' Eve at the Kazimier Garden. I include the playlist, it's pure pop. Ellen's work for sure.
The second show and my first appearance which lets Howard off the hook. He was present of course doing all the techy work and we all were chatting during the songs but you don't hear him, although I think he does appear from time to time in other shows. Howard is such an essential presence in the Pop Kitchen that it always seems strange to me that he doesn't seem to be there. Another glimpse behind the curtain for you there. Listening now I think we make a painfully stilted start, and never fully relax or totally enjoy ourselves in this show but we seem determined to continue and talk about our next show at the end. I made a mistake in this show which has annoyed me ever since. I meant to play "Get Over It" from OKGO's brilliant self titled debut in 2002. I introduced it elaborately and then played "Here We Go Again", their treadmill dancing mega hit from 2005. I realised as soon as I played it but could say nothing, just hoped that nobody noticed. We also play "Meet on the Ledge', the Fairport Convention song that has become more commonly used as a funeral song but that we asked a friend of ours, Paula Simms to sing at our wedding; the reason being that we first got together when I was working on a tour of Paula's solo show in which she sang that song. So it means loads to us and carries a huge amount of love. Here's a couple of pictures of Ellen and Howard from the day we recorded this. All in all it is another list of our favourite tunes and favourite artists. The Pop Kitchen is all about that really, what else should it be? |
AuthorMark Loudon. Photographer and layabout. Archives
December 2020
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