Tuesday, January 09, 2007

On Another Planet



Dearest Friends, it feels like I've been away on another planet for just aaages! In actual fact, it's been ten days or so since I last entered the blogosphere - egads! That's like a year in cybertime. I shudder to think how behind the edge I must be. I mean, swathes of bands must have faded in and out of cool during this time. Sigh. But anyway, I'm back, and pleased to be so. I look forward to catching up with you all.

Speaking of planets (note: all charges of contrivance must be filed in quadruplicate with the relevant authorities on, and only on, the fifth Thursday of the month), this week Contrast Podcast takes to the heavens with its theme of "Planets and Other Heavenly Bodies." Tim has fired up the old flying saucer and I think we're in for a truly cosmic experience. Heed his siren call to the stars, select your space conveyance of choice, and come listen to Podcastica Galactica!! You can go to hyperspace directly via this link, or you can subscribe via the following RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ContrastPodcast.

And so, onto our planetary itinerary:

(00:00) Yo La Tengo - Moonrock mambo
Tim from the face of today

(04:23) Wheat - Closer to Mercury
Crash from Pretending life is like a song

(08:15) 2 Skinnee J’s - Pluto
Tom from Other People’s Toys

(12:17) Torchomatic - Venus calling Earth
GD from Bitesize Bonus

(16:16) Animals that swim - Near the moon
Ross from Just Gimme Indie Rock

(19:18) T.Rex - Planet Queen
Mu from Faces for radio

(23:15) The Police - Walking on the moon
Rick from Are you embarassed easily?

(28:47) Red Hot Chili Peppers - On Mercury
Andy from Circles of concrete

(32:35) Ash - Girl from Mars
FiL from Pogoagogo

(37:37) Sun Ra - Rocket number nine take off for the planet Venus
ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away

(43:58) Glenn Tilbrook - Neptune
Natalie from Mini-Obs

(48:21) Moonbabies - Stars of Warburton
Marcy from Lost in your inbox

(53:21) Kronos Quartet - Marquee moon
Bob from Gimme Tinnitus

Next week, CP goes all questionable with the theme "Where?" To find out how you can participate, hop over here.

For this particular voyage throughout the solar system, I was fortunate to be accompanied by Dearest T and Dearest Wife. A finer crew I could not have wished for. I hope you will thrill to the tension and danger of our wee space opera. As for the music, Ash won out by a fraction of a light year, but a few other ditties came close:

The Pixies - Planet of Sound (buy here )
"One fine day in my odd past, I picked me up a transmission." Trompe le Monde isn't my favourite Pixies album, but this song gets me to Warp Factor 9 every time.

Zombina & The Skeletones - Red Planet (buy here)
The Cramps go surf 'n' ska on the set of Night of the Living Dead. Worra lorra fun, fun, fun from these groovy, ghoulish, garage Liverpudlians.

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet (buy here)
The original version of this poptastic classic, and the best. All other versions --by Blink-182, The Replacements, The Mighty Lemon Drops, etc-- are but dwarf stars to Pete Perrett's grandiose gas giant.

Also in the running was the lovely Interplanet Janet of Schoolhouse Rock fame, but in the end I decided that without the visuals it wouldn't be the same. Apologies to my Dear non-US Friends, as this probably did not feature on your childhood cultural roadmap. But I'm sure all you Yanks out there, at least those of a certain age, will feel the tug of nostalgia as you watch this:

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

happy new year fil! i love the schoolhouse rock too :) xxoo c

Mentok said...

How's it hanging, fil? (ha, that reminds me of a joke. You can probably guess which one ;-) )

The Another Girl, Another Planet song was loadsa fun.

Trust you had a happy new year. It's good to have you back.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, FiL.

U R Oysseus! The epic and wandering hero, known for his eloquence in speaking and (far-out) adventures.

Anonymous said...

Grreeetings Spaceman FiL and thanks for being on the podcast as always. Let's make 2007 a fab year for podcasting .. to infinty and beyonnnnnnnnnnd!

Anonymous said...

I was beginning to wonder if perhaps the greatest armadillo ever was lost in outer space...Hope all is well and I seriously have to say that your pick and and your runner-up picks were some of the best of all time.

Schoolhouse Rock, Interplanet Janet would have been awesome, but I am just glad to see you.

I send my love to you and Mrs. FiL and of course to the cutie little ones (with a couple of tickles just for laughs)

:)

mjrc said...

i second all the above welcomes! i was getting real tired of looking at that odd-albeit-transfixing woman on the beach. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back with another posting that made me laugh out loud.

Can I suggest one Jupiter-sized omission...'Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualised'?

I would also loved to have heard 'Mars Sparkles Down - The Wedding Present', but then I should stop being so lazy about contributing to the podcast.

On a more positive note....only the certifiably insane would dare disagree with your comments on 'Another Girl....

Anonymous said...

Hello Fil c'est vrai qu'Another Girl n'existe que dans sa version originale. C'est pour moi une chanson inaccessible, intouchable.

Read you soon amigo

Anonymous said...

FiL,

I'm sorry that I kept you from your adoring public! Little do these people know how you spent your wild New Year's Eve.... would they think the great man of pop capable of such hedonistic activity??

Thanks for having me to stay!

T

Anonymous said...

Hey Fil, let us know you're well, what with all the news of MORE horrible storms in Vancouver.

Don't feel too bad about the crap luck with the weather this year. Extreme weather events are going on all over. In Saskatoon, they had a blizzard so bad that people were getting lost crossing the street.