Sunday 26 December 2021

OTBT Covers Mix December 2021

A mix of cover versions for my final broadcast of 2021. Listen now on Mixcloud or from Monday 27th at 8pm on Ginger Feather FM

Show of Hands - If I Needed Someone
Richard Thompson - Tempted
Paul McCartney - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
Dodgy - Back To Life
Peter, Paul & Mary - Leaving On A Jet Plane
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Psycho Killer
Bonnie Raitt - Burning Down The House
John Mellencamp - Joliet Bound
Flying Pickets - Only You
Jake Shimabukuro - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Stranglers - Walk On By
Bananrama & FB3 - T'Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)
Cornershop - Norwegian Wood
Manic Street Preachers - Out Of Time
Patti Smith - Midnight Rider
The Dylan Project - Tombstone Blues

*** Wishing you all a Happy New Year! ***


Saturday 18 December 2021

Off The Xmas Tracks 2021

Some Christmas tracks in the last quarter of this show which will be broadcast on Ginger Feather FM the week commencing the 20th of December 2021. Also available to listen to on Mixcloud. Wishing you all a chilled Winter Solstice and a Merry Christmas. 

Frank Turner - Little Changes
Bag of Spanners - Lakeland Waltz
The Rails - Jealous Sailor
The Rising Souls - Fool in Time
The Beatles - I've Just Seen A Face
Kate Rusby - Village Green Preservation Society
Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan - The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
June Tabor - Le Petit Navire
Billy Bragg & Wilco - Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
The Bad Shepherds - Teenage Kicks & Whisky in the Jar
The Pogues - Wild Cats of Kilkenny
Big Country - Harvest Home
Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Solvola - Christmas Carousing & I Won't be a Fisherman
Martin Stephenson - The Old Church (is still standing)
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Jingle Bells
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Emily Smith - Merry Christmas to all and Goodnight

Or tune in at 3pm or 8pm from Monday the 20th 


Monday 13 December 2021

Off The Beaten Tracks 13 December 2021

This week's playlist. 

Lindisfarne - Meet Me On The Corner
Honey and the Bear - 3 Miles Out
Cara - The Windhorse
Kim Edgar - Save Myself (Run Away)
Birds and Beasts - Keep Walking
Katherine Priddy - Eurydice
Simon Mayor & Hilary James - The Buttermere Waltz
Cara Dillon - Hill of Thieves (live)
James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra - A Very Old-Fashioned Blues
King Creosote - So Forlorn
Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat
Fairport Convention - Si Tu Doir Partir
Lindisfarne - Juke Box Gypsy
The Levellers - 15 Years
George Harrison - Run of the Mill (demo)

Or tune in at 3pm or 8pm from Monday the 22nd

Electric car trip

On Friday afternoon we set off from Lancaster in our new Hyundai Ioniq electric car on our way to Glasgow. 

Our first stop was at the Gretna services where we plugged the car in to an Electric Highway (EH) charge point and went in for a coffee. Half an hour later we discovered that it had only charged up just over £1's worth of power despite it saying it was a rapid charge, so it made little difference to our battery. We then continued north and made it to the Abington services though by this time we were getting warning messages as were down to about 7% - ie nearly running on empty.

We found there was no shortage of charge points for Tesla drivers at Abington - about 6 of them - whereas there were only a couple for other types of car. To our dismay it appeared that there was only one connector we could use and helpfully it was offline. Just as we were about to look at the other charge point someone in a SUV drove up and plugged his car in. So it was the best part of an hour later after he had finished that we had a look at this other point only to find that it had different connectors which didn't look compatible with our car. We were right next to a Days Inn so decided to spend the night there as it was getting late. We tried phoning the EH number but found it was only staffed during office hours. Very useful. 

Sam managed to get through to the Hyundai helpline who arranged to get someone from a local garage to come out and help us, with him finally arriving at around 11pm. But he knew little about EVs. Fortunately there was a chap with a Tesla who came over and explained that we could use one of these other connectors on our car so by midnight we were all charged up and ready for bed.

In Glasgow we used two different charge points - one slow and one rapid - so we were all charged up for our return journey on the Sunday afternoon. We just needed one stop at services near Carlisle where we used a rapid charger and were ready to get back on the road after 45 minutes or so.

But over the weekend I had to install about 3 different apps with one not liking our bank details - fortunately we had another bank card we could use. Despite the EH app telling us that we could pay contactless it was only at the Carlisle services that we could pay without using an app and that wasn't an EH one. 

Unlike stopping to fill up with petrol or diesel, you have no real idea what state the charge points will be in until you drive up to them. There are apps like Zap Map which show you the location of them all round the country along with the status of individual points but the information can be days or weeks out of date. 

So our first long distance trip was certainly a baptism of fire. If the government is serious about persuading people to switch to EVs then we really need a lot more charge points and for them to be properly maintained. And for more of them to accept contactless payment.  


Sunday 5 December 2021

Recommended Releases 2021

Another year, another list of favourite albums which I've either bought or been sent over the last 12 months. While the majority of them can be classed as folk or similar, I have included one or two other things like The Stranglers' new release. It is the final album that keyboard player Dave Greenfield played on before his untimely death in 2020. There is also a jazz album by the Brendan Eder Ensemble, a track from which I heard on the rare occasion I tune in to the jazz show on BBC Radio 2. 

As for a favourite, Honey and the Bear would be a contender along with the Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan album and also Rhiannon and Francesco. So there's a Top 3.

It struck me that I haven't included anything from the local Lancaster and Morecambe area so as a bonus album I'll throw in Synthetic Villains' electronica release Obstacle Navigation. 

Thanks to Gordon and and Citizen K for keeping the good ship Ginger Feather FM afloat and to you good people for tuning in to Off The Beaten Tracks on there or on Mixcloud.

Hope you all had a Merry Xmas and wishing you a virus-free New Year!

CB

Mel Biggs - From Darkness Comes Light
Cara - Grounded
Cara Dillon - Live At Cooper Hall
Brendan Eder Ensemble - Cape Cod Cottage
Freedom to Roam - The Rhythms of Migration
Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi - They're Calling Me Home
Tim Grimm - Gone
Holmfirth Festival of Folk 2021 
Honey & The Bear - Journey Through The Roke
Simon Mayor & Hilary James - When Summer Comes Again 
Sarah McQuaid - The St Buryan Sessions 
Tim O'Brien - He Walked On
Oka Vanga - OKA VANGA
Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan - Still As Your Sleeping
Katherine Priddy - The Eternal Rocks Beneath 
The Stranglers - Dark Matter
James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra - The Wide, Wide River