Welcome aboard flight GIO9295FM...
Cheesiest song of the whole show last night was the ripe, oozing country Camembert, No Charge.
J.J. Barrie charted with this song in 1976 and implausibly it got to number 1. It was eventually knocked off it's perch by The Wurzels' Combine Harvester which for music lovers must have been a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I also realised last night that I had once interviewed the man who wrote the song. Harlan Howard wrote classics like I Fall To Pieces, Heartaches By The Number and Busted.
Tonight, I'm delighted to say another cheesy number should make it to the playlist. The theme is 'flight' and so Julie in Edinburgh has asked us to include the theme from the cult Scottish comedy, The High Life.
Only one series was made of the wonderfully funny sit-com focused on the antics of Air Scotia stewards Steve and Sebastian. It was described as "a slice of mile high camp" which doesn't go halfway to explaining how over the top it was. I think it's still available on DVD so well worth a viewing if tonight's theme tune whets your appetite. I've spent far too long this afternoon watching clips of Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson prancing around in their slacks and mourning the fact that they didn't carry on together. They could have gone on to be one of Scotland's great comedy partnerships. Maybe they are anyway?
Comment number 1.
At 21st Oct 2008, Adam_from_Rio wrote:"I've spent far too long this afternoon watching clips of Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson prancing around in their slacks..."
Far too much information there BB, far too much. :)
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Comment number 2.
At 21st Oct 2008, Glen Miller wrote:I'm sure we'd all like to see clips of Alan Cumming.
Surely there's a film in this somewhere - Alan and Forbes Carry On Together or What You Will.
Is that you in the picture with the quizzical eyebrow?
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Comment number 3.
At 21st Oct 2008, Adam_from_Rio wrote:Eeeeeeeeeeeee Glen, your sailing close tae a rebuke from the Grumpenfurher there with a comment like that.:)
I presume your question is for BB, but I count three quizzical eyebrows in that picture. A picture I recall was on the blog the last time we had flights as a theme and BB and Julie had their mutual love-in for the show. Do you think they get a cut on the dvd sales?
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Comment number 4.
At 22nd Oct 2008, Glen Miller wrote:It makes Take the High Road look like King Lear.
But Cumming is versatile - they're still talking about his Black Beauty.
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Comment number 5.
At 22nd Oct 2008, JuliefromEdinburgh wrote:Ach, say what you like...I enjoyed it, so there! :-)
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Comment number 6.
At 22nd Oct 2008, Scotch Get wrote:I heard Alan Cumming being interviewed on Radio Scotland a while ago. He said that his U.S. work-permit describes him as an 'Alien of Extraordinary Ability'
He has also given his name to a range of toiletries, including soap called 'Cumming in a Bar'
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Comment number 7.
At 22nd Oct 2008, HarryFaeGatehoose wrote:Julie, moi aussi - like most Scots comedies it initially seemed to be cast from the grown-up left-overs from the Children's Film Foundation, but once you got beyond that, it was a hoot.
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Comment number 8.
At 22nd Oct 2008, norriemaclean wrote:Scotch - it is true! I saw the range in a shop in the Venetian in Vegas and there were some worse innuendos.
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Comment number 9.
At 22nd Oct 2008, JanInGlasgow wrote:Norrie,
Have you picked up the three Justin Currie tracks on his MySpace page that aren't on the album. I discovered them on Sunday and have been listening to "Let It Be Me" virtually on a loop since then.
I got the album after you asked Bryan to play a track from it on Themeless Thursday in July, and really love it.
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Comment number 10.
At 22nd Oct 2008, norriemaclean wrote:Jan - yes I have but really apprecaite the pointer :o)
He played Let It Be Me at Oran Mor and it is on the No Surrender ep it was fantastic. I am sure that ep will still be available.
It truly is a fantastic album!
Cheers
Norrie
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Comment number 11.
At 22nd Oct 2008, JanInGlasgow wrote:Will you post when you hear he's playing again? I bought the album the week after the Oran Mor gigs so I missed out.
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Comment number 12.
At 22nd Oct 2008, norriemaclean wrote:Jan - of course! Glad to hear you like the album too!
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Comment number 13.
At 26th Oct 2008, Wanzebra wrote:you can't mention 'The High Life' without singing along to 'piff, paff,poff' - it might even necessitate a search on youtube.
one heard, never forgotten.......
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