Have you ever seen a robin weep?
For all the sad sacks in Cape Town, I’ll be a guest on The Unhappy Hour this Sunday, 22 February (6-8 pm SA), playing some sad songs with host, Danie Marais, a poet not unknown to melancholia.
My contribution to the playlist will be an eclectic mix, including music from ‘eggs, roll ‘em over and a packet of Kents’ Tom Waits, a very young but drinking again Aretha Franklin, predictably some Morrissey, sixteen, clumsy and shy, the misunderstood Chumbawamba, as well as the misunderstood Sade, a melancholic moment from Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, some misnamed world music, including Susana Baca’s rendition of a sad Vallejo poem, and the blue but golden voices of ‘so lonesome all the time’ Linda Ronstadt and Margo Timmins, yearning for that old, familiar whistle of the 8.15. I will also read two or three sad poems.
So, gear up for blue Monday and tune in: Bushradio, 89.5 FM. For those in Amsterdam, Kalkbaai and other sad towns of the world, Bushradio provides a two-hour internet stream, perfect for this most sad, somewhat literary show.
(flyer by Clive E. Smith, co-host of the Unhappy Hour, now on sabbatical)
