If I had to pick a favourite cartoon character, it would probably be Overconfidenti Vulgaris, aka Famishius Famishus, aka Nemesis Ridiculii, aka Wile E. Coyote.
Not only is he a grandiose metaphor for the futility of existence and a glorious anthropomorphism of the persistence of the human spirit, but he is also the inspiration for one of the best comics I ever read.
I don't know if Wild Billy Childish ever read that comic, but he's definitely a fan of the Coyote. He first recorded a tribute back in the 80s with one of his many bands, Thee Mighty Caesars.
Recently, he revisited the track with his latest band CTMF (I don't know what it stands for, and frankly I'm afraid to ask). It's the perfect encapsulation of the Wile E. Coyote spirit...
Today I'm going to stick to the rules of this new feature - just one song.
Another excuse to play a track from the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, and his mates in LYR. Simon's greatest achievement in poetry is the way he effortlessly weaves the Northern vernacular into his work - like I keep telling the kids, it's poetry that doesn't sound like it was written by the Oxbridge elite, yet it's just as (if not even more) affecting.
Here Simon imagines himself (remembers?) being a young man stranded in a Barnsley nightclub, hoping he might meet a girl. But he was never any good at "hook a duck".
I've no idea why a lad from Marsden would spend his nights out in Barnsley... unless he was too embarrassed to go on the pull in Huddersfield.
When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
I was nine when the BBC's adaptation of Day of the Triffids arrived on TV... the perfect age for watching a scary show about killer plants taking over the world. In later years, I would discover the novel - one of many excellent sci fi / horror novels by the late, great John Wyndham who also wrote The Midwich Cuckoos, The Chrysalids and The Kraken Wakes, among others.
The Triffids were truly terrifying creatures... but will they prove as scary as some of the acts below?
THE TRIFFIDS #1
Made in Great Britain in 1963, and featuring Ernie and Barry
Hilton… that’s about all I can tell you about these Triffids. Poppy beat band
here, but later they went Folk.
Aussie Triffids, though they were more successful in the UK
than in their native land. They germinated in Perth in 1978 and were still kicking
around a decade later. Lead singer David McComb would then transfer his green
fingers to producing Blackeyed Susans instead.
A singular Triffid, although from the image above there were four of them, and just imagine if your daughter brought one of them home. That would be scary. These guys came from Albany, New York in 1984.
Around the same time in New Zealand, these Triffids were invading. You'd have thought being neighbours, they might have heard of their Australian counterparts and chosen a different name. But obviously not...
Those of you who like watching celebrities dance on TV may well be horrified to have learned that the new Strictly host is Josh Widdecombe. Not a patch on the former host, old Wink' (Claudia Winkelman).
