Thursday, January 24, 2008
My Private Passions
I fear it is time to start plugging my appearance on Radio 3's Private Passions this Sunday at noon. You may recall I blogged about the joyous experience of recording this a few months ago. I shall not listen. I don't listen to myself on radio and I don't watch myself on television, which is probably why I never get any better at either. Nige, who got hold of a tape, tells me it's okay and ends with a good, shuddering sob - for the listener, not for me. Anyway, you are required to listen and then phone the BBC duty officer to say how wonderful it was. It's the law.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
I don't believe I've ever heard you speak, Bryan. If you don't sound like the gravelly, baritone, bearhugging brute of my imagination, it will come as a terrible shock.
ReplyDeleteHe sounds like a priest.
ReplyDeleteI heard you on Irish radio last year. From what I recall - and bear in mind my two sprogs were in the back seat paying no attention whatsoever and doing their utmost to ensure I couldn't either - you don't speak with a gravelly baritone. No, I don't remember a gravelly baritone. On the contrary, you spoke rather quietly. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was mellifluous, but definitely easy on the ear. All in all, not a bad voice for radio (and a great face!).
ReplyDeleteI am sorry I am going to an all-day Winter Beer Festival.. Otherwise I would have been right there...
ReplyDeleteWill there be a podcast of it by any chance? BBC World Service doesn't broacast to my end of the world.
ReplyDeleteP.S. If Bryan was in Norfolk at the time of the interview, I expect he'll sound flat.
ReplyDeleteYou canlisten to shows on theBBC web site or, if you use a PC, via iPlayer
ReplyDeleteAH, I see that now. Good! And I see I can time shift, too. I love ya' Bryan, but I'm not gettin' up @ 4AM Sunday morning to listen to ya'.
ReplyDeleteListen and weep. You won't be sorry...
ReplyDeleteand as many repeats as you need for seven days after - but you better have the latest version of RealPlayer or you'll find you won't be able to use fast forward.
ReplyDeleteI'll listen though I don't expect much on the music front - I've had more than any normal man can take of classical string quartet already this week! what do you see in it? it's the equivalent of chinese water torture to my ears.
is this your voice? you know, I think it might be.
ReplyDeletethere are a lot of voices but FF to a wee bit before half way and immediately after the irish fella.
this might help find your place too.
ReplyDeleteHoping to be out on the bike at that time and don't think I can risk a shuddering sob on the M40. I'll try to record it. With luck the file will fit on CDs for Dadaist purposes. It could be an idea to pop these in plain brown envelopes, write "Private Passions for sale - only £10" on the outside and leave them lying around the many coffee bars, bookshops, even betting shops, etc, here. Bound to be some surprised takers.
ReplyDeleteBryan, ever worried about stalkers...
ReplyDeleteBryan, that's quite a presumption that at about 3 mins to 1.00pm I'm going to be sobbing in a shuddering manner. Is it the emotional tug of the music? Is it a revelation so profound that even my cat, who hates you, will take on an air of deep melancholy? You don't announce an end to blogging, do you? It's not your health, is it?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking forward to the programme since October, but am now concerned that the listening pleasure will be spoiled waiting for, and wondering about, those final minutes. Perhaps I'll record the programme then whizz to the end, discover that Michael Berkeley sums you up as 'one of Britain's finest writers and commentators, a man of wit and wisdom, far-seeing, with a deep understanding of the human condition, who's like, in a world of increasing blandness and superficiality, we may not see again. I therefore urge you, dear listener, to treasure him while you may.' If so, I can get the sob out of the way, shudder a bit, return to the beginning and enjoy an hour of thought-provoking radio. Oh, perhaps I'll be better off going for a walk.
No, it's just the last track, Johntyh
ReplyDeleteFor my money, Johntyh, the real sobfest is near the middle - a heart-wrenching Schubert litany, highly recommended for funerals (certainly beats My Way). It could have sailed out on a sea of tears too, but, after the last (and greatest) piece of music, back come Bryan and Michael saying their goodbyes. There's a lot of laughing along the way actually...
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, Ian, that is me. I think I have a fat voice
ReplyDeleteit isn't the voice I imagined you'd have but it sounds okay to me.
ReplyDelete