A web log, an æthereal scrap-book if you will, with a somewhat vintage flavour. News items, occurrences, experiences, thoughts and opinions related to Victoriana through to Fifties Americana can all be found here.
Another good news lock-down story now, featuring an A-level Electronics student with an obvious enthusiasm for vintage radios. Although the article makes much of young Mr Martins' use of lock-down time to maximise his restoration work, clearly this has been a long-term hobby for him and certainly something that he seems intent to continue - and more power to him!
It is splendid also to encounter such a welcome attitude towards old technology as that displayed by this 19-year-old chap - quite a rare thing amongst his generation in fact, I would venture to suggest. Where most teenagers would be gushing over the latest piece of black or white "smart" tech this lad is [rightly] lamenting about their "sterile" and overly slick design and enthusing about the "endearing charm" of vintage radios and the style they represent. It is a view that has long been championed both here on Eclectic Ephemera (and again recently) and elsewhere in the blogosphere and I find myself nodding in agreement with everything young Diogo says. It's equally wonderful to see him talk with obvious appreciation about the social history and "ritual" of listening to the radio and encouraging to note that he sees the legacy in it all as something to be preserved for future generations.
With traditional analogue radios under threat from the more modern digital platforms (which do have their place, don't get me wrong, but not at the expense of AM and FM) it is good to know that there are young people out there still demonstrably interested in conserving this tried-and-tested technology and ensuring that classic radios from the past are given a new lease of life. Well done to Diogo, I say, and long may he continue to follow his passion providing sanctuary for discarded wirelesses.
Period sleuthing (and bow ties) are the order of the day!
TV schedulers have a somewhat macabre sense of humour, I've decided. In the last week I couldn't help but notice on several different channels such unnecessarily topical films as The Andromeda Strain, The Host, War for the Planet of the Apes and Groundhog Day(!), sometimes making multiple appearances. It honestly makes me grateful for my extensive DVD collection (currently rotating between my Harold Lloyd and Thunderbirds box sets and Agatha Christie's Partners In Crime, as the mood takes me) and personal library. How people without access to such things are coping I don't know (but I sincerely hope everyone is keeping as happy and occupied as possible)! Don't watch too much news seems to be the consensus - and I agree (I tend to get mine through the [online] papers, that way I can filter things out more easily).
Since we are all trying to find other things to keep us entertained at the moment, and with the television here in the UK not really stepping up to the crease inasmuch as offering much in the way of escapism (or even erudition), I thought now would be a good time to do a post on another form of media that has been keeping me sane for a while - podcasts. Specifically, podcasts featuring popular music from our favourite era - the 1920s and 1930s!
Vintage music podcasts are something I've been supplementing my own record collection with for some time now and by and large I've found them to be a jolly little fillip to my enjoyment of '20s and '30s jazz. As well as providing an introduction to hitherto unheard-of bands and their music (rather like the equivalent of hearing a new pop group's song on the radio) it's just nice sometimes to hear a friendly voice sharing their enthusiasm for an otherwise sadly overlooked genre and reminding you that you're not the only one out there who likes listening to it! So without further ado I present you with my current list of podcasts and internet radio stations that showcase those toe-tapping tunes from the Jazz Age. Some of them are fairly recent discoveries, others I've been listening to for years, but all are great things to have on in the background while you're busying about the house.
One of my more recent discoveries, 78Man Presents plays a varied selection of music taken - as the name suggests - from his own collection of 78rpm records dating from the 1900s right through to the 1950s. Featuring mainly British dance bands, as is to be expected from a British production; although the focus is sometimes too much on novelty songs for my liking it still features a good selection of tunes from across the first fifty years of the 20th century.
A slightly different format this one, Angel FM is a community radio station based in Havant, Hampshire, broadcasting to the local area on FM & DAB radio but also available worldwide via its website. I featured it in a post back in 2011 when it was still only a "pop-up" station and it is wonderful to see how it has evolved since then, its aims eminently laudable and well worth supporting. Although it claims to focus on providing music for the older generation, we know that this means music that we "old souls" can enjoy as well (nothing from after 1959 - sounds good!) and lo and behold there are a number of shows on throughout the week that play popular standards from the Forties back.
Not available as a podcast per se; you can only listen to or download individual mp3 files from the website from what I can gather. John wright is another British dance band aficionado with an extensive 78rpm record collection that again forms the backbone of these broadcasts, which are nevertheless as enjoyable and informative as any other.
Another internet radio station this one, devoted to dance band music from 1925 to 1945 according to its "About" page. As befits a world wide web wireless it's not just British dance bands either but artists from the USA and even Germany among others. It's also splendid to see the younger generation involved in this enterprise; Jonathan Holmes, presenter of the "British Dance Band Programme", is a particularly welcome ambassador for the genre among young people, coming across as relaxed, well-informed and enthusiastic about his subject. He also has a decent YouTube channel, which I can heartily recommend as well (in fact a separate post for similar channels may well be forthcoming in the future!).
This is yet another internet radio site that I believe you can only listen to online, but one that has been on my radar - and that of some of my followers I think - for some time now. Being Texas-based it focuses largely on dance and swing bands from the United States, however bands from Britain and Germany are also well-represented. While it is generally non-stop music there are also occasional live "Special Broadcasts" from the owner of a local record store, who presents his programme every month or so.
This is the vintage music podcast that started it all for me and the one I have been listening to and enjoying the longest. Presented by Bryan S. Wright, who is an accomplished jazz pianist and music historian, and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (my aunt's home town - hello Pittsburgh; go Steelers!) these hour-long broadcasts feature a nicely-judged mix of tunes from the 1910s-1950s . While again naturally leaning towards American groups there's a good smattering of British and other bands and just the right number of novelty songs, all introduced by Bryan with friendly, easy-going style and obvious passion and knowledge. It's great to hear the enthusiasm for these songs from a younger person again as well and I tip my hat to Mr Wright for helping to keep the torch alight. Able to be listened to on site or downloaded as an mp3, Shellac Stack is also available on iTunes (although I note there hasn't been a new episode since September, so I hope all is well with him - still definitely worth a listen, anyway!).
A further new find and one that is fast becoming a favourite (albeit again it hasn't been updated since November, so we can only hope that it is not short-lived!). Presenter Neil Starr again delves into his personal collection of 78rpm records and, although being a British production, bands from both sides of the Atlantic are featured in good balance. It's nice to hear some informative speech in between records as well and the mix is precisely right to make the hour pass enjoyably and just briskly enough. This podcast is also available on iTunes (as well as other podcast programs).
That, then, is one type of [vintage] media that has been keeping me entertained these last few weeks (and beyond) and it is my hope that you find something among them all to divert you if only for a time. Enjoy the music and let me know in the comments what you've been up to - and if there are any stations or podcasts I've missed from this list!
First a latter-day telegraph ticker and now antique iPod docking stations - what better examples of the ethos I was expounding a month ago; modern technology meets vintage style and classic ideas.
I'm sure many of my readers would love to have just a working vintage wireless, and perhaps some of you do. It would be great to have an aesthetically pleasing 1930s-, '40s- or '50s-style radio to on which to listen to all your favourite FM/AM stations. I want one myself!
Ooho, yes please!
Now that'll be all very fine and large for the time being, but there will come a time (confound it) when the analogue AM/FM signal will be switched off (current estimates put this at somewhere between 2015 and 2020 in the UK). What then will become of our beloved vintage radios - will they all suddenly end up as museum pieces or silent ornaments? OR they can be converted, as this American company proves is possible, into iPod docking stations! Not only does this give them a new lease of life but, if it is to be believed, the update is done in such a way as to convert the digital signal of the mp3 format back into the warm sound of analogue - and particularly vintage analogue at that. Who knows, it could mean that it may even be possible to convert them in such a way that they can pick up and decode the digital signal of DAB radio.
Either way, it proves that tube radios can still have a place in the modern world and that they have very much left to give. It sounds like an absolutely topping concern, and just the thing for my iPod!
This Sunday, the 17th of April, will mark the 70th anniversary of the untimely death of one of the greatest jazz singers of all time and certainly one of my favourite crooners of the 1930s - Al Bowlly. His classic rendition of The Very Thought of You (above) remains for me one of the great love songs and his voice and style is incredibly redolent of the period.
By way of a commemoration Hampshire-based community radio station Angel Radio, some of whose output includes 1920s, '30s and '40s music, has gone semi-nationwide on the DAB network with a series of programmes showcasing the songs of the period and particularly those of Al Bowlly and the various bandleaders he worked with.
Ever since the advent of digital radio I have been longing for someone to set up a station devoted to early dance band and big band music (plus other related genres), and I'm sure I've not been alone in that wish. Since the shameful treatment of the late Malcolm Laycock, who used to present Sunday Night at 10 on B.B.C. Radio 2, and the B.B.C. later dropping British dance bands from the programme completely, there hasn't been a single exponent on the national DAB network so far as I could see. While I will continue to get my dance band fixes from Internet radio stations Soundstage and Radio Dismuke, this new addition to the DAB ranks is a long overdue one.
It's not clear to me whether this is a temporary arrangement to coincide with the anniversary or something more permanent (I hope the latter!) but either way I welcome this new station and look forward to hearing what it has to offer. If you're in any of the areas mentioned in the article and own a digital radio, my advice is to do a quick re-tune and look for a the station called "Pop Up". For those of you outside the UK or in areas not covered the programmes are available online at www.popupradio.co.uk. Happy listening!
******STOP PRESS******
I have just heard that this station is temporary and will cease broadcasting on the 28th April. However if you like 70 Years Without Al Bowlly (and I suspect that if you're reading this, you do!) Angel Radio urge you write to them to show your support so that they might "do it again". Who knows, maybe they'll even be able to make it permanent. "Every letter counts", they say, so I will be taking up my pen and paper and if you wish to do the same the address to write to is:
Things have been quiet again lately in my world of vintage; news seems to be dominated by unfortunate world events, which is not what this blog is about, and the last few days have been uneventful for me personally. However I've got a few posts lined up for the next week or so, more on that later.
This hasn't stopped The Vintage Knitter from bestowing upon this blog a little award - The Liebster Blog Award (The Lovely Blog Award, if my A-level German hasn't failed me!), which is especially for blogs with fewer than 300 followers. My thanks to VK for the thought, and off my own bat I choose to pass on the award to the following 10 fellow bloggers:
Speaking of followers, a hearty welcome to the latest batch who have stumbled across my corner of the Interweb and decided to stay. It seems like only yesterday that there were 70 of you - now I'm up to 93! Nearly at the ton, what? A giveaway! I promised a giveaway at some point, and by Jove I'll have one when I reach 100 followers!
I leave you with this infamous and hilarious recording from the early years of B.B.C. radio. The "Woodrooffe Incident" or "The Fleet's Lit Up" occurred during the 1937 Spithead Review (where H.M. The King inspected the Royal Navy fleet at Spithead, off the Hampshire coast). Lt. Commander Thomas Woodrooffe was an ex-RN man employed by the B.B.C. to present the review on the wireless. It just so happened that HMS Nelson, the flagship from which he was broadcasting, was his old ship and he knew many of the crew. He made the mistake of engaging in a bit of a knees-up with them prior to going on the air and subsequently, as you can hear, was three sheets to the wind when it came time to tell what was going on! It is said that the repeated phrase "lit up" later became a synonym for "drunk"; Woodrooffe actually denied he was plastered, claiming instead that he was "tired and emotional" (another synonym, perhaps?!) being the only B.B.C. man covering the event. He was suspended for a week but kept his job, later commentating on the 1938 FA Cup final where he stated - 1 minute from full time - that "if there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat". You can probably guess what happened next..
A delightful article here, proving that there truly is "nothing new under the sun". Although I really dislike the pervasiveness and myriad unpleasant aspects of the modern mobile telephone, this historic precedent is wonderful in so many ways that I can't help but admire it. How better things might be today if people had to wrap a wire around a fire hydrant and carry an umbrella as an aerial before they could use their mobiles!
To those of a physics or engineering bent, the name Nikola Tesla is a well-known and illustrious one. To even attempt to provide a biography of the man within the confines of this humble blog would be to do him an injustice, so I will leave it to you, dear reader, to find out more about him should you so wish.
Suffice to say that, as this story proves, he was a man ahead of his time. Like so many scientists and writers of the period, such as Thomas Edison, H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, they postulated machines and ideas that were totally beyond the technology that was only just becoming available then. This is the mark of a true inventor - the ability to see beyond what is currently possible and to create new technologies that move things on to the next level.
At a time when wireless telegraphy was at its height, and the telephone a relatively new invention, Tesla was already looking ahead to the next stage. Whether he could have foreseen the debilitating dependency many people have nowadays on these Blackberrys and similar devices, or the other adverse effects on society that these machines often engender, is another matter. From a scientific point of view, however, Mr Tesla's prediction is worthy of high comment.
