September 2014

One small step for Word In Your Ear, one giant stride for Monday nights in the pub

September 23, 2014 David Hepworth 0

Last night’s show was our best yet. Thanks to the people at the Islington we managed to get the visuals working and so we we could put on […]

Stevie Nicks biographer Zoe Howe added to our Ben Watt live podcast recording

September 13, 2014 David Hepworth 0

We’re delighted to say that Zoe Howe‘s joining us at our next Word In Your Ear Podcast recording at the Islington on September 22nd. She’ll be […]

A Quiet Word with Ben Watt at the Islington

September 8, 2014 David Hepworth 0

Ben Watt’s worn a variety of hats in the last thirty years: half of Everything But The Girl, solo artist, deejay, producer, club owner and […]

Word In Your Ear

David Hepworth, Mark Ellen and chums cast an occasionally jaundiced eye over the goings-on in the worlds of music and entertainment.

Pauline Black was seen singing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs in Coventry folk clubs and recruited by a local reggae band. Then converted to ska and joined the Selecter – back on tour this summer and with a box-set of live recordings, ‘The Selecter at the BBC’. She looks back here at …

… their first gig with Madness for 47 years in Brighton – “very red fezzy!”

… her Sliding Doors moment supporting Bert Jansch

… discovering the Pioneers, Prince Buster and the Skatalites through white skinheads in Coventry

… the famous 2-Tone Brighton Beach photo of 1979 with the Specials and Madness

… “there were three looks for a black girl singer back then – Tina Turner, the I-Threes Earth Mother … or invent something new. So I invented the Rude Girl”

… seeing Pentangle playing the theme from ‘Take Three Girls’ in 1971 and then the MC5 and Arthur Brown with his “papier-mâché brain”

… training as a bio-chemist and radiographer – “there isn’t an orifice I haven’t inspected”

… the first Selecter gig – “flares, safari suits and me in pink spandex trousers like the girls from Chic”

.. how Jerry Dammers created the cartoon 2-Tone look and the night radio played the first single

… and “a black man with a gun and a stage invasion” on the BBC’s Pebble Mill.

Order copies of ‘The Selecter At The BBC: The Complete Recordings 1979-1981’ here: https://theselecter.lnk.to/AtTheBBC

Tickets here: https://theselecter.net/live-dates/

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock’n’Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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