Imagination

Tonight on  A Mixed Bag with Chris B our theme was imagination and we heard four tracks off Tim Finn's album "Imaginary Kingdom", as well as the song "Imaginary Kingdom" which is actually off "The Conversation" album!.
Songs with the word imagine, imagination or imaginary included "Imaginary Lover" by Atlanta Rhythm Section, "Just My Imagination" by the Cranberries, "I've Got To Use My Imagination" by Gladys Knight and the Pips", "Imaginary Girl" by Hunters and Collectors, and  "About My Imagination" by Jackson Browne.  Elvis Costello says that "Imagination Is Such A Powerful Deceiver" , and as dreamers are people who live in their own fantasy world, we played Cliff Richard's "Dreaming" after the Elvis Costello tune.
A country music triple-play including "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer" by Kenny Rodgers and Kim Cairnes, "Imagine That" by Don Williams and "Imagine Me" by the fabulous Patsy Cline.  Three different versions of John Lennon's "Imagine" were played this evening, the original of course, then Eva Cassidy's beautiful rendition and then the one from Herbie Hancock's "Imagine Project".
There will be no Mixed Bag with Chris B next week on 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley.

Johnny Cash theme

Tonight on a Mixed Bag with Chris B, we heard the wonderful songs of Johnny Cash, the man in black.

I'm looking forward to the Johnny Cash tribute show coming up on the long weekend at Wolumla Hall on Sunday 6 October.

Four terrific local musicians will pay tribute to the late, great Johnny Cash and perform 22 of Johnny's well known songs.  Ricky Bloomfield, Garry Carson Jones, Steve Clark and John Fraser have all been part of the local music scene in the Bega Valley for many years.  On Saturday, 93.7 Edge FM held it's biennial Radiothon out at the Old Bega Hospital and we were lucky enough to have Ricky Bloomfield and Garry Carson Jones sing live on air to preview a couple of songs from the upcoming Johnny Cash tribute show (see photo below).

I found it difficult to chose songs for tonight's program because Johnny Cash has such a large catalogue of work, and I'm sure I missed out on a few favourites.  Of course, A Boy Named Sue, Folsom Prison Blues, Ring Of Fire, and Jackson were all played, as well as some early tunes like Cry! Cry! Cry! and Hey Porter.

I particularly enjoyed Johnny Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt, and we finished with the song Highway Man by The Highwaymen.

It was great to have a chat with Ricky Bloomfield about the upcoming show, and to find out what he has been doing with his life.  The fact is, he's been doing a lot!!

Here is a link to the interview with Ricky:-

https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/ricky-bloomfield-and-johnny/s-Cjs1s

Here is a photo of Ricky Bloomfield and Garry Carson Jones playing at the 93.7 Edge FM Radiothon fundraiser.

Next Tuesday night on A Mixed Bag with Chris B our theme will be imagination.

Joni Mitchell and Neil Young theme

If you are a female musician you were probably inspired by the music of Joni Mitchell, and if you play guitar, you probably have a whole repertoire of Neil Young songs!
Joni Mitchell has been my favourite musician ever since I discovered my brother's cassette of Joni's album "Hejira" in a tape player at home.  I pressed play and from then on was hooked on the music of Joni Mitchell.  She has a song for every mood that you feel, and her lyrics are woven together through the melody in a very original way.  Remember the movie with Hugh Grant called "Love Actually" where the character played by Emma Thompson says, "Joni Mitchell is the woman who taught your cold English wife how to feel".

Neil Young is also an incredible lyricist and musician.  I think we all had the album, "Harvest" at some stage. Life hasn't been that easy for Neil Young.  He has suffered an aneurysm, he has fathered two children with a rare condition and has lost friends to drug addiction.

Is it really necessary to suffer for your art?  In the case of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, their suffering has certainly brought about some deep-felt emotion through their song writing.  "Little Green" by Joni Mitchell (a personal song about giving her child up for adoption) comes to mind and "The Needle & The Damage Done" by Neil Young is about losing friends to heroine addiction.
I loved playing the music of these two fabulous artists tonight on A Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM.  The only problem was I couldn't fit all their songs into the two hours, but here is the playlist:-

Urge for Going - Joni Mitchell
You Turn Me On (I'm a Radio) - Joni Mitchell
The Needle and The Damage Done - Neil Young
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Out on the Weekend - Neil Young
A Man Needs a Maid - Neil Young
Cool Water - Joni Mitchell & Willy Nelson
Beat of Black Wings - Joni Mitchell
All I Want - Joni Mitchell
My Old Man - Joni Mitchell
A Man Needs a Maid - Neil Young
The Magdalene Laundries - Joni Mitchells song but a cover by Emmylou Harris
Free Man in Paris - Joni Mitchell
Hey, Hey, My, My (Out of the Blue and Into the Black)  - Neil Young's rocky version of that one
Circle Game - Joni Mitchell
Clouds - Joni Mitchell
Coyote - Joni Mitchell

Next week on A Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM our theme will be Johnny Cash.  If you live in the Bega Valley, tune in between 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm on Tuesday night.