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.

Songs with the word BLUE in the title Tuesday 27/08/2013

Last night on A Mixed Bag with Chris B we heard songs with the word "Blue" in the title, of which there are many.  I sorted through my CD collection, and came up with the following titles below.  I was avoiding playing songs with the word "Blues" in the title, but did sneak a few in, especially if it was a song by a local artist.  We heard a few tracks from The Blue Ruins (local legends) Kate and Alan Watts - Fire Up from their album Tin Pot Alley & Flat Battery Blues & I've Got The Blues from their first album called The Blue Ruins.  Check out their Facebook page (you might be able to help them make their next album!)

 https://www.facebook.com/theblueruins

The Bermagui Blue Balls Swimming Club who were planning a nude swim for fathers day have cancelled the event, so there was no theme related interview on A Mixed Bag with Chris B last night.  Next Tuesday night our theme for the evening will be Joni Mitchell & Neil Young.  So, if you live in the Bega Valley on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, tune into 93.7 Edge FM.

Blue theme playlist:-

• Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt
• Blue Shoes by Katie Melua
• Blue Sky Blue (acoustic version) by Pete Murray
• Out in the Blue by Jimmy Barnes
• Blue Jean by David Bowie
• How Blue Can You Get by Fleetwood Mac
• Feelin' Blue by Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Mr Blue Sky by The Electric Light Orchestra
• Prussian Blue by Richard Clapton
• Baby Blue by Jimmy Little
• Blue Eyes by Elton John
• Deakin Blues by Steely Dan
• California Blue by Roy Orbison
• Losing My Blues Tonight by Cameron Cusack (local legend)
• Blue and Green by Van Morrison
• Suite: Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills & Nash
• Mr Blue by Pat Boone
• Oprah Winfrey Blues by Barb Crowden (local legend) from the album High Heels in the Woodheap (a rare collection of 16 songs from female songwriters of South Eastern Australia)
• Moody Blue & Blue Suede Shoes by the late, great, one and only Elvis Presley

Emmylou Harris last week, and Blue songs next week

Next Tuesday night between 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm on 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley our theme will be songs with the word "Blue" in the title, so if you can think of any let me know.

Last week we chilled out with Emmylou Harris, a popular theme with some of our listeners.

Local Musos and Sarah Campbell live in the Edge FM studio in the Bega Valley

I must confess I am very behind with this blog.  At 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley, we will soon have an updated website, and I've been helping out with the project.

Last month on a Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM, our theme was Aussie songs, and it was great to play mostly Aussie songs from the 1980s (my favourite musical era!).
The following week on a Mixed Bag, our theme was local musos and we had a very special guest - Sarah Campbell,  a very talented, young singer songwriter from the Bega Valley and she and her mum were kind enough to venture out on a cold winter's evening to visit the station.  Sarah talked about her musical experiences, and played three original songs. (Below is a photo of Sarah at the station, the interview, and one of her original songs".  Please excuse the odd knocking of the microphone and squeaky chair sounds!). Other songs from CDs featured on the night were from Daniel Champagne, Pete Wild, Heath Cullen, a locally produced album called High Heels in the Woodheap featuring original songs by local female artists and much more.

Other themes covered on A Mixed Bag were David Bowie, Johnny O'Keefe, including an interview with JOK's original drummer, Catfish Purser(see link below Sarah's photo).  Last night our theme was "Balls" where we heard songs with the word "ball" or "balls" in the title and interviewed Mike Chapman from Blue September and talked about testicular cancer - a bit cheeky I know, but it's an important men's health issue (see link below to go to Blue September website, and to listen to interview with Mike, scroll down further into the blog).
http://www.blueseptember.org.au/

SARAH CAMPBELL - interview on 93.7 Edge FM and original song "Something New"https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/interview-with-sarah-campbell

SARAH CAMPBELL singing "Something New"
https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/sarah-campbell-singing/s-EBq66

SARAH CAMPBELL ON THE EDGE (FM)

"CATFISH" INTERVIEW

https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/interview-with-john-catfish

"MICHAEL from BLUE SEPTEMBER discusses Testicular Cancer

https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/interview-with-michael-from/s-IAc28

Rodriguez

This Tuesday night on a Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley, we will be exploring the theme of Rodriguez.  I recently watched the DVD, "Searching for Sugarman", and really enjoyed the film.
I used to listen to our copy of Rodriguez's second album, Coming from Reality (on cassette actually), which I personally prefer to his album "Cold Fact", but that is probably because I am more familiar with the songs on that album.
On Tuesday we will hear songs from both albums, and we will probably throw in a few protest or political songs by other artists (perhaps Midnight Oil, John Butler, and Bob Dylan for starters).
So, if you live in the Bega Valley, tune in between 6.00pm and 8.00pm on 93.7 Edge FM.