Podcasts about broomsticks

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha

Hey there, and a very happy Wednesday! This is your Disney News for Wednesday, June 18th, 2025. I'm thrilled to bring a bit of magic to your day, so let's dive in! - Disneyland Tokyo to unveil a new "Frozen" attraction, inviting visitors to Arendelle for an icy adventure with Elsa and Anna. - Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival announced for March 1st to April 23rd next year, featuring California-inspired culinary delights. - Disney+ to remake classic "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" with a modern magical twist, promising cozy family viewing. - Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom to open a Disney villains-themed resort in 2026, offering a unique stay with Maleficent and Ursula. That's all the pixie dust I have for you today! Thanks for tuning in, and I hope this bit of Disney magic brightens your day. Remember to check in tomorrow for more updates. See you tomorrow!

This week we have a special release of a previously only for Patreons episode - a commentary for the classic magic fantasy from Disney, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), featuring witchcraft vs nazis - what more do you want?

The Hormone Goddess — Sacred Cycles, Nervous System Healing & Returning to the Red Tent In this episode, I'm joined by The Hormone Goddess for a powerful, heart-led conversation on the magic of menstruation, the wisdom of the womb, and how supporting your hormones is one of the most sacred things you can do as a witch. We explore: •The Red Tent & reclaiming rites of passage • Nervous system regulation + why minerals matter •How cyclical living is a magical act of self-devotion •The bridge between science, spirituality & hormones •Cacao ceremonies, rest rituals, and healing your inner seasons This is for the witch who's ready to reconnect with her body, deepen her healing, and reclaim her cyclical power as divine — not inconvenient. Find The Hormone Goddess on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_hormone_goddess/?hl=en The Hedge Witch's Broomstick zines are now available for a limited time before the next seasonal set launches — grab yours while they're still in the cottage! Just £5.50 and I ship across the world  https://thewhitewitchcompany.etsy.com/uk/listing/1557941841/the-hedge-witchs-broomstick Come walk the strange path with us. The Hedge & Hollow has arrived… My Patreon has been fully re-enchanted into a seasonal home for witches and seekers — with monthly rituals, soul-led book circles, folklore magic, and more This month - We are Crowned in Serpents this month as we work with Medusa — exploring sacred rage, serpent magick, and mythic reclamation And we dive into shadow and protection magic with Of Blood and Bones in Witches Who Run With the Wolves Join the coven at Patreon - https://patreon.com/TheHedgeandHollow?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink The kettle's on. The fire's warm. You belong here. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1557941841/the-hedge-witchs-broomstick?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1&logging_key=eba312bf8eaa0b8170c6eb1f8cec92c8aa6fbfdb%3A1557941841 Connect with Me Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thewhitewitchpodcast?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== Patreon - https://patreon.com/TheHedgeandHollow?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink Website - https://thewhitewitchpodcast.co.uk/ Support the Podcast Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps other witches find the show! Share this episode with a kindred spirit Join our magical Patreon community to dive deeper

Tonight, we're joining Koko the koala on a magical broomstick ride through the star-studded sky. With soothing rhymes, soft sounds and repetitions, your tots will sleep soundly through the night. Upgrade to Koala Tots Plus for uninterrupted ad-free listening, and access to bonus compilation episodes that will keep your little one sleeping all night long. It takes two taps ⭐️https://koalatots.supercast.com Please hit follow and leave us a review.

Cameron, Dave, and Leonard, discuss generational trauma, and bargains with the Fair Folk of Ireland, in the 2024 film, Fréwaka. Music by Jake Lionheart Contact: www.monsterdear.monster @senplus.bsky.social @drfaustisdead.bsky.social @theuglymachine.bsky.social @swarbie.bsky.social

In this episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle welcome back Lalania Simone to talk about her brand new deck, Wise Earth Medicine Tarot. Blending traditional tarot structure with the healing wisdom of the natural world, this deck brings together animals and plants to offer grounded, earth-based insight for personal reflection, growth, and divination.The witches and Lalania explore how this deck goes beyond the typical human-centered imagery of tarot, tapping into the primal intelligence of animals, plants, and the land itself. Each card offers not just traditional tarot meaning, but also the unique medicine of the featured creature or plant, allowing readers to connect with nature's wisdom in a deeply personal way. From the insights of the poppy to the soaring message of a hummingbird, the deck opens up new pathways of intuitive understanding.They also chat about how Wise Earth Medicine Tarot can support personal growth, magickal practice, meditation, and spellwork, as well as how nature-based tarot decks can sometimes help us reach more authentic messages from within. https://redwheelweiser.com/book/wise-earth-medicine-tarot-9781578638635/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lalaniasimone/the-myth-weaver-tarothttps://cosmicseedstudio.com/Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Book 6, Chapter 26: The Cave

Pictures Powwow is the show in which we discuss a film that has been recommended whether it by us or you the listening people! In this episode, we covered "The Girl on a Broomstick" (1972) which came highly recommended from The Listening People.  Bartek's recommendation for next episode is “To Be Or Not To Be” (1983), so make sure to check that out. If you have any feedback, questions, comments, recommendations or interested in having your podcast promoted on the show make sure to email us at spitandpolished@gmail.com  FOLLOW US: Twitter: @SpitPolishPre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spitandpolishpresents/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/spit-polish-presents/id1059224536 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ycjMXxAbhlcSEEpihSax0 Podbean: http://spitandpolish.podbean.com/ RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/spit-polish-presents-6VQzVW TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Comedy-Podcasts/Spit--Polish-Presents-p1087434/ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-spit-polish-presen-29693268/ Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/spit-polish-presents

Book 6, Chapter 25: The Seer Overheard

Pictures Powwow is the show in which we discuss a film that has been recommended whether it by us or you the listening people! In this episode, we covered "The Man Who Laughs" (1928) which came highly recommended from Ryan.  The Listening People's recommendation for next episode is “The Girl on a Broomstick” (1972), so make sure to check that out. If you have any feedback, questions, comments, recommendations or interested in having your podcast promoted on the show make sure to email us at spitandpolished@gmail.com  FOLLOW US: Twitter: @SpitPolishPre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spitandpolishpresents/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/spit-polish-presents/id1059224536 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ycjMXxAbhlcSEEpihSax0 Podbean: http://spitandpolish.podbean.com/ RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/spit-polish-presents-6VQzVW TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Comedy-Podcasts/Spit--Polish-Presents-p1087434/ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-spit-polish-presen-29693268/ Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/spit-polish-presents

First we chat about a weird little chupacabra play Ben saw, then discuss the conspiracies that have metastasized from Joe Biden's prostate cancer and the resurgence of our old nemesis the Food Babe. For our main topic, we have esteemed historian of magic Owen Davies, who wrote the book (two, actually) on grimoires. In pop culture we see them in horror movies, comic books and even old children's movies like "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," but real (or "real") grimoires have been an ever-present relic for thousands of years. Grimoires are a mix of magic, marketing, fraud -- and sometimes blood -- and they have evolved along with the changes in ancient information technology, i.e., parchment and the printing press. From the Grand Grimoire of the early 18th century to Lovecraft to the pulp grimoires of the 1960s, magical words and demonic conjurations have gotten around one way or another.

In this episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle mark World Tarot Day, celebrated each year on May 25th, a magical holiday dreamed into being by Den Elder back in 2003. The witches also discuss Chelle's birthday! A witchy holiday dreamed into being by her parents back in the late 1900's! The witches take this special day as an opportunity to reflect on their own long-standing relationships with the cards, sharing how Tarot has shaped their practices, their insights, and their spiritual growth.They explore the many uses of Tarot beyond readings; a tool for spellwork, meditation, dreamwork, altar magic, and connecting with guides or ancestors. Chelle introduces a brand-new Tarot spread, Flowers of May - Where Will I Bloom, crafted to find insights on what you need and where you're going; while Laylla dives into why card positions matter, how symbolic placement can shape meaning, and how to start crafting your own spreads with confidence and creativity.And in a perfect bit of cosmic timing, the witches note that Chelle's birthday is just a few days later, on May 31st! Proof that Tarot and Chelle were meant to walk the same path. Call it synchronicity, fate, or just good astrology, even the stars knew that Chelle and Tarot would be close!Join them in honoring the cards as sacred mirrors, wise companions, and magical tools that keep showing up right when we need them. Happy World Tarot Day! And happy early birthday to Chelle!Interview with Den ElderGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Let's Chat!!Boo, Bitches! This week on C3: Crystals, Cauldrons & Cocktails, River and Glim dive broom-first into the world of witchy urban legends. Ever heard that blowing cinnamon on your door brings abundance? Or that you can freeze someone's gossip in a jar? We're sorting the magickal truth from the broomstick bullshit—one wild rumor at a time. So grab your cocktail, clutch your crystals, and join us as we explore the spooky, the sassy, and the downright suspicious tales that float around the witchy world.Spoiler: not every spell belongs in your grimoire... some belong in the trash.Halfway To Dead, A Midlife Spiritual JourneyMidlife is freaking hard. Let's flip the script. Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showUntil then, Stay Witchy!!River's Etsy Store: www.batsandbaublesinc.etsy.comWebsite: www.c3witchypodcast.comMerch: www.c3witchypodcastmerch.comOur wonderful logo is done by: www.nellamarinadraws.etsy.comIntro and Outro Audio:podcast intro & outro music:Góða Nótt by Alexander NakaradaLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/4754-g-a-n-ttLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-liceSound from Zapsplat.com – Witches Cauldrons bubbling

In this special bonus episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle share the deity invocations and full guided meditation from their ritual workshop, The Fool's Path: Unlocking Potential and Possibility. This transformative journey invites you to walk the spiral, breathe into the liminal, and meet your personal Fool archetype, the Tarot's sacred symbol of wild beginnings and untapped potential.This recording is crafted to be a complete ritual experience. You'll begin with calls to deities who watch over thresholds, transformation, and the wisdom of uncertainty. Then, through guided meditation, you'll enter the spiral path and meet The Fool, a figure who carries no map but trusts the path anyway. The Fool reflects the part of you that knows how to begin again, to risk vulnerability, and to find magic in the unknown. This is a ritual for anyone standing at the edge of something new, whether by choice or by fate, and looking for clarity, courage, or just a moment of sacred reflection.Deity calls begin at 8 minutesGuided meditation begins at 11:16 Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

In this sun-soaked episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle throw open the doors to the Solarium and invite you into the green-growing magic of their top 5 favorite herbs for a spellcraft summer. These aren't your average tea herbs; these are radiant, protective, visionary, and sensual allies, ready to be sipped, smoked, or burned in your spellwork. Whether you're brewing a potion, crafting a charm, or just need something smokable to stir your senses,the witches have got you covered!We're talking Calendula for joy and radiant abundance, mugwort for dreams and divination, damiana for sensual fire and confidence, peppermint for purification and momentum, nettles, catnip, garden sage, and more! Expect practical tips, lore-rich insights, and a little irreverent laughter as the witches stir together kitchen magic, smoke blend suggestions, and spellwork ideas to carry you through the season.So grab your mortar and pestle, your favorite smoking vessel, and a mug of something enchanted, and join us in the Solarium for an episode packed with herbalicious summer witchery. This is the start of your season of spellcraft and these plant allies are ready to rise with you. Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

In this episode of the Crack House Chronicles Donnie and Dale discuss the horrific serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff. McDuff killed three high school students the night of August 6th, 1966, repeatedly raping and sexually torturing one of them first. He'd be sent to death row for those crimes. But then, he'd have his sentence reduced to life in prison. And then, he'd get released on parole at the age of 43 and start killing again within 72 hours of leaving prison. Find out what legal changes made his release possible, and how his case drastically changed Texas's criminal justice system once he was caught and put back on death row. https://www.crackhousechronicles.com/ https://linktr.ee/crackhousechronicles https://www.tiktok.com/@crackhousechronicles https://www.facebook.com/crackhousechronicles Check out our MERCH! https://www.teepublic.com/user/crackhousechronicles SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_McDuff https://txtruecrimeblog.squarespace.com/blog-archive/kenneth-mcduff https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/free-to-kill-2/  

Many celebrate April 30 as “Halfway to Halloween,” but Walpurgis Night is more than just spooky fun — it's a night when witches rise, saints blur into goddesses, and ancient fires still burn.Download The FREE PDF For This Episode's WORD SEARCH Puzzle: https://weirddarkness.com/WalpurgisNight Get the Darkness Syndicate version of #WeirdDarkness: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateDISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.IN THIS EPISODE: “Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad—when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.” – Bram Stoker, from “Dracula's Guest”. Walpurgis Night is something most English-speaking listeners won't know about – but it's being celebrated at this precise moment. While others are currently celebrating “Halfway to Halloween” or “Half-o-ween” for short… in Germany, they're celebrating a second Halloween which they call Walpurgisnacht – or “Walpurgis Night.” Plus, later in the show I'll share a story that was intended specifically to be read on Walpurgis Night – it's called “The Black Bargain” from PJ Hodge!CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate and Only Accurate For the Commercial Version)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:01:37.995 = Happy Walpurgisnacht, Everyone00:34:34.458 = The Black Bargain (a Fictional Story To Be Told on Walpurgis Night)00:48:10.168 = Show CloseSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…“Happy Walpurgisnacht, Everyone!” by Todd at GothicHorrorStories.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/a8svp23c“The Black Bargain” by PJ Hodge, posted at FreakyFolkTales.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/j49bd4=====(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: April 30, 2021EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/WalpurgisNightTAGS: Walpurgis Night, Walpurgisnacht, Hexennacht, Halfway to Halloween, pagan holidays, witchcraft history, Beltane, spring festivals, Saint Walburga, Brocken Mountain, German folklore, witches Sabbath, European paganism, Celtic traditions, May Day, Beltane vs Walpurgis, Valborg Sweden, Vappu Finland, Volbriöö Estonia, burning of the witches, Walpurgis bonfires, supernatural festivals, ancient rituals, spooky folklore, Weird Darkness, pagan saints, fertility festivals, Gothic folklore, Blocksberg witches, eerie European traditions, Walpurgis legends

Morning! We're back after an unexpected break from recording due to Evie ending up in hospital... But this week, we recount our experiences at this years NAF 5 star winter national dressage championships and answer a listener question about which type of broomstick is our favourite (spoiler, its not a Nimbus 2000...)We hope you enjoy!Lots of love, Joanna & Evie x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Beltane 2025 episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle light the fires of the season with a warm and witchy exploration of all things Beltane; from ancient rites to modern magic. They begin with a look at the history of the May Queen, a surprisingly short but deeply symbolic tradition that still holds power in today's rituals. Whether you're dancing around a maypole or honoring the turning of the Wheel quietly at home, this episode is full of inspiration for how to celebrate Beltane as a solitary witch, including ribbon magic, sacred fire ideas, and simple ways to connect with the rising energy of the land.The witches share a spell to honor the May Queen or May King within yourself, tapping into your own sacred vitality, creativity, and wild joy. They also talk about the community from their old Beltane festivals and how excited they are to share another Beltane with that same group! The witches are more than ready for open fields, bonfires, ecstatic dance, and the deep magic of shared seasonal celebration!They touch on a bit of current controversy too; specifically some recent conversation around the Beltane Fire Society in Edinburgh, where a new tax may be causing issues with this years celebration. No, it's not about how they pronounce Edinburgh wrong (though, yes, they have in the past), but rather a conversation around public paganism and potential targeted harassment in the form of administrative paperwork and fees.Whether you're rekindling old traditions or crafting new ones, this episode invites you to stand in your own sacred spark, celebrate the beauty of Beltane, and remember that the fire lives in you, too.Fire Festival 2025Fire Festival ControversyGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Book 6, Chapter 24: Sectumsempra

​In this episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle are joined by astrologer Laurie Farrington to discuss her latest book, How to Read and Interpret a Birth Chart: Guideposts for Understanding Natal Astrology.  Laurie brings decades of experience interpreting the stars through a deeply intuitive and grounded lens, and this book reflects her commitment to helping others align with their soul path through astrology.During their conversation, Chelle confesses her long-standing fear of astrology (mostly due to the math) and Laylla drops an astrology secret of her own. Together, they dig into what sun, moon, and rising signs really say about us, why Laylla thinks astrology charts are basically a celestial Tarot spread, and whether Mercury retrograde is truly something to fear or just misunderstood cosmic drama. Whether you're fluent in your birth chart or still wondering what a rising sign actually does, this episode offers an open-hearted, witchy look at the skies above and the wisdom they hold.Laurie's WebsiteLaurie's SubstackGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Send us a textspirituality, self-concept, healing, authenticity, self-acceptance, relationships, personal growth, self-esteem, emotional wounds, unhealed healersSummaryIn this episode of Beyond the Broomstick, Matilda explores the significance of self-concept in spirituality and personal growth. She discusses the importance of healing past wounds, embracing authenticity, and the role of self-acceptance in building a strong sense of self. Matilda emphasizes the need for boundaries and kindness towards oneself, while also addressing the impact of unhealed healers in the spiritual community. The conversation provides insights into how our self-perception shapes our relationships and overall well-being, encouraging listeners to reflect on their own self-concept and take actionable steps towards improvement.TakeawaysAuthenticity and a strong sense of self go hand in hand.Healing past wounds is essential for personal growth.Self-acceptance is the foundation of a strong self-concept.Boundaries are crucial for self-care and self-respect.Your self-concept influences your relationships and decisions.Negative self-talk can hinder your self-esteem.It's important to be gentle with yourself during healing.Unhealed healers can negatively impact others' spiritual journeys.Recognizing your worth is key to building confidence.Taking responsibility for your actions boosts self-concept.Chapters00:00Introduction to Beyond the Broomstick02:27The Importance of Self-Concept12:30Understanding Self-Concept and Its Impact18:52The Essence of Authenticity21:03Building a Strong Sense of Self22:28The Impact of Self-Perception24:04Healing Past Wounds and Self-Concept28:02The Importance of Self-Acceptance30:38Visualizing Your Ideal Self32:12Setting Boundaries for Self-Care33:05Building Emotional Safety Through Affirmations35:47The Dangers of Unhealed Healers40:59Self-Reflection and Personal Growth41:31Predictions for the FutureYou Tube Music Licence SACOCXQXVPNMZBNXMatilda's LinksPatreon PageMatilda's Website Book Matilda's Mediumship Event

​​Welcome to You Haven't Blanked That! It's Disney Month and we watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks. We talk about Robert Stevenson, B-Tier Disney, Disney channel, the soccer scene, killing Nazis with magic, Books of Magic, the sadness of Mary Poppins, David Tomlinson, Emperor's New Groove, Shrek, McGonagall, taking care of Nazis not orphans, New Harry Potter, Corey Feldman. What We Are Blanking: Fellow Traveler, Burning Hills, Veep, Dead Souls, Fall, Late Night With The Devil, Cuckoo, Long Legs, Grosse Pointe Blank. ​​Opening theme by the Assassins ​​Closing theme by Lucas Perea ​​ For more info, click the link bio or below. https://linktr.ee/yhblankthat Email: Yhblankthat@gmail.com

We've had plenty of feedback and questions coming in for Nick and Mark, so today a feedback pod. On the show we discuss:Broomstick putters following a question from James;Gibbo has some comments on the potential PGA/LIV merger and asks for thoughts;We spoke to David from Brisbane last week who went to the Barossa on a golf trip with a bunch of mates, how did it go, and did the advice help? We get an update;Ashley has a ripping question about the 'grand slam of club golf';John has a red-hot crack at Mark and he doesn't miss him! Does Mark take it on board or push back?Nick was pleased to see the Karl Vilips pairing a couple of weekends ago and wrote in. We discuss pairings, Mark tells us about the best pairing he ever got, on nearly getting paired with Tiger twice, and on Tiger nearly decapitating him!And after the turn, Wolfpack member Daniel has sent us in a video of his, and his daughters, swings, and asked for some feedback from Nick and Mark on what they see, and any improvements that they could each suggest. If you want us to review your swing, or putting, or anything else - send us a video here or on socials and Nick and Mark will have a look at it on the pod.We do the show from Titleist and FootJoy HQ, thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store, they're all over the country;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And the watchMynumbers app: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room, including Trackman.Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, send a voicemail here, and see us on YouTube here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 6, Chapter 23: Horcruxes

In 1966, a brutal, disturbing crime rocked the state of Texas and sent shockwaves through the nation. Three local teenagers had been slaughtered in a small Texan town, in an unfathomably brutal manner. But what would end up happening AFTER the killer was caught, and the revelations that came with his capture, would captivate and shock the globe. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle are looking ahead to 2025's pagan festivals and magical conferences! Wonderfully witchy gatherings that stir the cauldron and bring the community together! From long-time favorites they're planning to attend, to dreamy “someday” events, and even a few they just discovered, this is your sneak peek into the witchy calendar. They look forward to drumming under the stars, workshops on herbalism, or a chance to finally meet your favorite witch authors, they've got some exciting events to share.Our witches also take on some thoughtful listener questions in this episode. How do witches cope with PTSD while doing deep magical work? What if you don't vibe with either air or fire for the suit of Swords? And do all witches really visualize with crystal clarity during meditations? (Spoiler alert: nope, and that's okay!) Laylla and Chelle talk about aphantasia and face blindness in magical practice, how to build a system that feels right for you, and why you don't have to “see” to be deeply intuitive and connected.Tune in for an episode full of inspiration, honesty, and a healthy dose of witchy wanderlust. Whether you're planning your festival road trip or just trying to figure out what to do when the elements don't line up with your feelings, this one's for you.Mandragora Magika list of festivalsOur list of festivalsGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

LET'S PLAYS: https://www.youtube.com/@spiritualsuccessorDISCORD: https://www.patreon.com/Spiritualsuccessorpodcast?fan_landing=trueFACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565635050782 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The witches are calling upon the divine in this episode of Back on the Broomstick as Laylla and Chelle share ten (give or take) of the gods and goddesses they work with in their magical practice. From the cauldron-stirring wisdom of Ceridwen to the hearty laughter and boundless generosity of The Dagda, they discuss the deities that have shaped their paths, guided their spells, and occasionally smacked them upside the head with a life lesson or two. And in a shocking twist that will surprise absolutely no one, Chelle will, of course, have Hecate on the list.The witches also take a moment to talk about the Blood Moon that graced the skies on March 14th, bringing with it a transformative energy perfect for removing obstacles from your path and maybe a little bit of bringing justice to light. What did this lunar powerhouse mean for the witches, and can you still tap into the full moon energy even after it's passed?Whether you already have deities you work with or are just starting to feel the pull of divine magic, this episode is a mix of history, personal stories, and a whole lot of witchy laughter. Grab your grimoire, pour one out for the gods, and join Laylla and Chelle for a divine discussion filled with magic, mischief, and a little moonlit madness.Song: Ceridwen and Taliesin by Damh the BardCerridwen by Kristopher HughesThe Horned God of the Witches by MankeyGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Book 6, Chapter 22: After The Burial

Send us a textIn this episode of Beyond the The Broomstick, Matilda explores the importance of mindfulness and grounding techniques in navigating the chaos of everyday life. She emphasizes the need for self-awareness and personal growth, providing practical exercises to help listeners manage anxiety and overwhelm. The conversation also touches on predictions for the future and the significance of being prepared for upcoming challenges.Chapters00:00Introduction to Spirituality Beyond the Woo-Woo00:00Exploring Everyday Spiritual Practices00:24Grounding and Mindfulness for Upcoming Challenges07:19Personal Struggles and the Importance of Self-Awareness08:58Embracing Chaos in Life12:03The Art of Grounding15:02Personalizing Your Grounding Practices18:07Finding Calm in Overstimulation20:16Introduction and Patreon Support22:36Community Engagement and Upcoming Events23:40The Importance of Mindfulness26:01Mindfulness Exercises for Beginners28:13Bringing Mindfulness into Daily Life29:38Global Weather and Natural Disasters32:40Political Tensions and Global Conflicts35:35Social and Economic Predictions38:39Upcoming Events and Community EngagementWhere can you find MatildaPatreonTikTokWebsite10 Person Evidential Mediumship Event March 22nd (AEDT)YOUTUBE MUSIC LICENSE CODE 8XUW91YSTV9SIZH5

In this episode of Inside the LPGA, Hope Barnett and Emma Talley interview LPGA Tour Champion Yealimi Noh, who reflects on her recent victory, the journey to regaining confidence, the impact of switching to a broomstick putter, and the vital support from her family throughout her career. Yealimi shares insights on the mental challenges of professional golf and the importance of celebrating small victories along the way. In this engaging conversation, the most recent champion shares her passion for empowering young girls in sports. She discusses her love for food while traveling on Tour and reflects on her goals and aspirations following her first LPGA win. The conversation highlights the significance of community and personal growth in the world of sports.

Get ready for a spellbinding mix of history, magic, and just the right amount of witchy mischief! In this episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle unravel the tangled web of Valentine's Day. Is it related to ancient Roman fertility festivals? What made it the Hallmark holiday it is today? But what's love without a little magick? After digging into history, our witches shift gears into the art of sex magick; one of the most potent, transformative, and (let's be real) misunderstood forms of witchcraft. They break down the basics, from using pleasure as an energy-raising tool to casting spells with intention and desire. Whether you're flying solo or weaving magic with a partner, Laylla and Chelle share tips on how to bring enchantment into your intimate rituals; safely, ethically, and with a whole lot of witchy confidence.So light a candle, grab some chocolate (or something stronger), and tune in for an episode filled with history, humor, and the kind of magic that makes the heart (and other things) race.Sex, Sorcery, and Spirit by Jason MillerSexual Occultism by John MumfordSacred Sex by Gabriela HerstikThe Ethical Slut, Third Edition: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love By Janet W. Hardy and Dossie EastonThe Satyr's Kiss by Storm FaerywolfSacred Power, Holy Surrender Lee Harrington Radical Ecstasy Hardy & EastonUrban Tantra Barbara Carrellas Queer Magic anthology edited by Tai Kulystin & Lee Harrington The Kama SutraModern Sex Magic by Donald Michael CraigQueer Rites: A Magickal Grimoire to Honor Your Milestones with Pride by Enfys J. Book Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Send us a textIn this episode of Beyond the Broomstick, Matilda discusses the impact of spirituality on everyday life and the pervasive issue of self-sabotage. She explores how current affairs and social media can contribute to feelings of overwhelm and anxiety, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and mindfulness in overcoming these challenges. Matilda provides insights into identifying self-sabotaging behaviors and offers practical strategies for breaking these patterns. The conversation highlights the significance of communication and community support in the journey towards personal growth and emotional healing.Chapters00:00Introduction to Self-Sabotage05:04Understanding Self-Sabotage12:19Identifying Self-Sabotaging Behaviors17:38Overcoming Self-Sabotage23:57Practical Strategies to Stop Self-Sabotage31:00Navigating Propaganda and Panic33:44Predictions for the US Political Landscape36:51Global Events and Personal ResponsibilityMatilda's Mediumship Event https://mediummatilda.as.me/?appointmentType=68894748Matilda's Patreon

Episode #227 hosts Dave Bossert and Aljon Go remember the career of Joe Hale (June 4, 1925 – January 29, 2025) with an interview they had with him from November 2020. Joe Hale, who spent 35 years as an animator, layout artist, and producer at Disney and received an Oscar nomination for his effects work on the 1979 film The Black Hole. Hale started as an inbetweener on Alice in Wonderland (1951) and worked on such other classics as Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Pete's Dragon (1977).*Source The Hollywood Reporter. The duo also chat up the latest entertainment news, streaming content reviews, Disney news, and the latest travel deal.We are now on Patreon! Click this link to support the show -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Skull Rock Podcast | Join our crew! | Patreon. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exciting news, listeners! Skull Rock Podcast is thrilled to announce that we are now on Patreon. Dive deeper into the world of animation, films, and behind-the-scenes stories with your favorite hosts. By supporting us on Patreon, you help keep the magic alive and will be part of our special community. We are developing perks in the days to come! Let's make this journey even more extraordinary with your support!

Send us a textIn this episode of Beyond the Broomstick, Matilda delves into the concept of spiritual psychosis, contrasting it with spiritual awakening. She discusses the implications of intense spiritual experiences on mental health, the symptoms and causes of spiritual psychosis, and emphasizes the importance of community support and mindfulness practices. Matilda encourages listeners to take responsibility for their happiness and to seek help if they or someone they know is struggling with their spiritual journey.Chapters00:00Introduction to Spirituality and Everyday Life00:01Exploring Psychic Mediumship00:30Understanding Spiritual Psychosis07:24Symptoms and Signs of Spiritual Psychosis14:23Causes of Spiritual Psychosis19:51Navigating Spiritual Experiences and Seeking Help21:13Introduction to Patreon and Community Building24:03The Value of Community Engagement24:05Understanding Predictions and Their Implications26:47Global Events and Safety Concerns29:54Civil Unrest and Travel Warnings32:11Personal Safety and Decision Making32:22Navigating the Current US Situation39:24Finding Joy Amidst Chaos40:31Preparing for Intense Times Ahead40:57Media Propaganda and Political Climate41:48Astrology and Predictions for the FutureTo Book the event with Laurie and Matilda go herehttps://SASSYSEERS.as.me/Matilda's Patreon for extra content, discounts, chats, videos and much much more

For our 100th episode, we're getting nostalgic and stirring up a little bit of chaos! This week, we're blending the best of Back on the Broomstick with our old podcast The Stoned Witches Hour, bringing you stories of Tarot curses, cryptids, and dropping a bit of cannabis knowledge along the way.Laylla kicks things off with a tale about a tarot reader who threw a curse at a party girl during the summer of love in San Francisco. Chelle stays true to her paranormal-loving roots with a dive into an Ohio frog cryptid (because why wouldn't there be a frog man haunting the Midwest?). And in true Stoned Witches fashion, we talk about what we're smoking while Laylla answers Chelle's cannabis questions, including what the heck THCA is and whether “bellacarphan” is a real thing or just another classic Chelle mispronunciation.To wrap up the episode, we're giving you some witchy wisdom on how to tell if you or your home are cursed, and more importantly, what to do about it! Whether you've got a suspicious string of bad luck or just love a good magical defense strategy, we've got you covered!It's been an incredible 100 episodes, witches! Thank you for being part of this journey with us! Now grab your favorite herbal offering (whatever that may be!), settle in, and celebrate in spooky, witchy, style!Since this episode is so long, here is a chapter guide:00 intro4 00 Groundhog's Day Lessons8 08 Weed facts16 34 The Curse of 1000 Lombard St 40 46 Frog Man Cryptid of Loveland Ohio56 25 Let's Talk About CursesZillow Listing of 1000 Lombard StGot a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Hour 3 Audio from WGIG-AM and FM in Brunswick, GA

Best friends Jac and Amy conduct a literary analysis of Sarah J. Maas's debut novel, Throne of Glass. In this episode, they discuss chapters 1-6. Each episode is broken into 2 parts. This is part 2 of this week's episode. Come back on Tuesday where they will explore chapters 7 - 10. (Spoilers for Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire will be discussed. Any larger series or other SJM spoilers will be reserved for the end of the episode in the Breadcrumbs and Broomsticks section.) Every episode, Jac and Amy use their combined 13 years of literary academic training to analyze and give voice to reasons why you may love or hate today's popular books. They embrace and respect modern fantasy, romance, and romantasy books written by women. And so, it is in their nature to analyze these books as you would any other novel you might have discussed in school. Chapter summary for this week's episodes: After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien is given the chance of a lifetime: to compete for the role of the King's Champion and earn back her freedom. Despite the lack of respect she receives from the Crown Prince of Adarlan and the Captain of the Guard, Celaena agrees to their terms of engagement to enter the competition as Dorian's candidate for Champion. Over the following weeks, Celaena – formerly Adarlan's greatest assassin – travels in chains with the Prince's retinue back to the capital city, while the past and many secrets that haunt her lurk around every corner. Let's keep the conversation going! Submit your thoughts to our form on our website (https://booktalkforbooktok.com/) for a chance to have your thoughts discussed during a future mini-episode, or on a Patreon-exclusive episode. Want to support the show? Follow us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok Or check out our merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/booktalkforbooktok Follow us! Instagram: @BookTalkForBookTok TikTok: @BookTalkForBookTok YouTube: @BookTalkForBookTok For all other information, visit our website https://booktalkforbooktok.com/ Thank you to all our Patreon supporters, with a special shout out to our August 2024 Tropey Wives! Thank you, Olivia, Anja, FictionFan, Shelby, Liv, Amber, Veronica, Anne, Jackie, Nicole, Amelade, Jessica, Helen, Danika, Careesa, Collen, Alexa, Sam, and Allison! To learn more about how to become a Tropey Wife, https://www.patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Book 6, Chapter 21: The Unknowable Room

Send us a textIn this episode of Beyond the Broomstick, Matilda discusses the importance of understanding spirituality without fear, debunks myths surrounding the 5D and new earth concepts, and emphasizes the role of psychic mediums in providing evidence of the afterlife. She also shares her predictions on current events and weather patterns, urging listeners to focus on their personal spiritual journeys rather than fear-based narratives.Matilda also talks about the upcoming "inauguration" and her thoughts as well as her predictions for the coming months and weeks.Matilda's LinksMatilda's WebsitePatreonTikTOk @Therealmediummatilda

In this luminous episode of Back on the Broomstick, the witches explore the mysteries and magick of the full moon, sharing rituals and spells perfect for new and solitary practitioners. Laylla and Chelle break down what to do during a full moon, why these practices are so powerful, and how you can create a meaningful connection with its energy.From teas and smokable spells to simple yet potent rituals and ways to honor the moon, this episode is packed with inspiration to help you harness the full moon's magick, no matter where you are in your practice. Whether you're just starting out or walking your path solo, grab your favorite mug, light a candle, and join us as we bask in the glow of lunar wisdom.Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Book 6, Chapter 20: Lord Voldemort's Request

THE GAUNTLET MOVIE MIXTAPE – VOLUME 7 A SONIC JOURNEY through THE GAUNTLET From Borderlands to Witchcraft Music and Sounds from Episodes 61-70 Gentleman Jim (1942) | The Passionate Friends (1949) | Kid Galahad (1962) | A Very Curious Girl (1969) | The Unfaithful Wife (1969) | Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) | The Private Eyes (1976) | Southern Comfort (1981) They All Laughed (1981) | 2010 (1984) | The Witches of Eastwick (1987) The Great Outdoors (1988) | Videograms of a Revolution (1992) | New Jersey Drive (1995) Night and Day (2008) | In the Electric Mist (2009) | Snow on tha Bluff (2011) | Ta'ang (2016) | Moffie (2019) | Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

It's the first night of Yule, and what better way to celebrate Mother's Night than with some witchy wisdom and warm guidance from your favorite magickal aunties, Laylla and Chelle? In this cozy, fireside-style episode of Back on the Broomstick, the witches answer questions sent in by listeners, getting into the nuances, ethics, and practicalities of the craft.From heartfelt questions like spellcasting for your child, to the mystical, like hedge riding tips and tools. Ever wondered what to do with your old spell jars? Laylla and Chelle discuss the dos and don'ts of reusing spell components, giving a fresh take on magical sustainability. They also explore the possibility of taking on students, whether its advised to use a pendulum with a Ouija board, and so many more.Pour yourself a cup of spiced cider, light a candle, and join us for an enchanting start to the 12 Nights of Yule as Laylla and Chelle share their insights, stories, and magical know-how.    Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Living Limitless PodcastBreak free from the ordinary - explore bold ideas, big dreams, and the path to Limitless!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

In this festive and thought-provoking episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle unwrap "The Good, the Bad, and a Yule Ghost Story" to bring a mix of holiday cheer, real-world reflections, and spooky seasonal vibes to your listening ears.First, the good! The witches are over the moon to share their delight at receiving heartfelt Yule cards from listeners at their new post office box. Your warm words and magical blessings have filled them with seasonal gratitude and the joy of connection. Then, the bad: they dive into two troubling stories of religious discrimination involving witches, sparking a candid discussion about the challenges faced by modern practitioners and the resilience of the magical community in the face of prejudice.Finally, we end with a hauntingly beautiful Yule ghost story straight from Massachusetts. A chilling Lady in White legend, who wanders the Winter Solstice night with an air of mystery and a connection to the season's darker, quieter magic.So grab a warm drink, light the Yule log, and settle in as Laylla and Chelle take you through an episode filled with joy, justice, and just the right amount of ghostly wonder. Blessed Winter Solstice and happy Yule!The invocation from HP Amy Hardy-McAdams at the city council meeting:As a Priestess of the Goddess, I invoke the Gorgonaea, champions of equality and sacred rage. I call to Medusa, monstrous hero of the oppressed and abused. I open the Eye of Medusa, the stare that petrifies injustice.I call upon the serpent that rises from this land to face the Stars, the movement of wisdom unbound.May these leaders find within themselves the Embodied Divine, the sacred essence of the spark of the Universe and the breath of the Awen.Place in the hands of these leaders the sacred work of protecting the sovereignty and autonomy of all our people.Gorgon Goddess, make them ready and willing to be champions for all in this city, not just those in power.Shine a light for them, that they may walk the path of justice, protected and prepared, illuminating the darkness.Endow them with the fire of courage, the waters of compassion, the air of truth, and the strength of the earth itself.As Above, so below.As within, so without.As the universe, so the soul.May there be peace among you all.And so it is.Got a question? Send the witches a message here!Support the showWant to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?We have a mailing address!Back on the BroomstickPO Box 106Salem MA 01970Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comYoutube FacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick Website

Head to https://squarespace.com/jonsolo to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code JONSOLO! Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode! ► Follow Messed Up Origins™! » TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@messeduporigins » Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/messeduporigins/ » Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheRealJonSolo » Twitter: https://twitter.com/MessedUpOrigins ▼ Podcast Links! ▼ » Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jon-solos-messed-up-origins-podcast/id1631064271 » Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zC1NxCX576HHQUoYCuGDo » Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e2ab5016-5166-4670-b0a3-7c6ade06947d/jon-solos-messed-up-origins-podcast » Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jon-solos-messed-up-origins-podcast » iHeartRadio: https://iheart.com/podcast/99117988/ ▼ Chapters ▼ » 0:00 - Accident-Prone » 1:28 - Aluminum Lungs » 8:28 - Burn the Witch! » 12:15 - Boom Goes the Broomstick » 15:01 - Honorable Mentions ► Want more? » ALL Messed Up Origins: https://bit.ly/MessedUpOrigins » ALL Disney Explained: https://bit.ly/DisneyExplained » Featured Folklore (the animated series!): https://bit.ly/featuredfolklore » ALL Mythology Explained: https://bit.ly/MythologyExplained » For Urban Legends and Scary Stories: https://bit.ly/scarystoriesexplained » Folklore Explained: https://bit.ly/FablesExplained » Astrology: http://bit.ly/AstrologyExplained » Messed Up Murders: https://bit.ly/MurderPlaylist ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ► Follow Jon Solo: » TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@messeduporigins » Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealJonSolo » Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JonSolo » Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonSolo » Official Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/jonsolo ► Join the Official Channel Discord: » https://www.patreon.com/JonSolo ► Send Fan Mail to: » SoloFamMail@gmail.com ► Business: » biz@MessedUpOrigins.com (Business Inquiries ONLY) ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▼ Credits ▼ » Created by Jon Solo » Character Artist - Markus Stadlober: https://www.instagram.com/markus.stadlober.art/ » Background Artist - Diego Diaz: https://www.instagram.com/diegodpf/ ▼ Resources ▼ » my favorites: https://messeduporigins.com/books » The Making of The Wizard of Oz (by Aljean Harmetz): https://amzn.to/40YYTqm #wizardofoz #wickedmovie #wicked

Bad news first: we discussed Dear David, a horror movie based on a Twitter thread posted by a guy who used to do comics for Buzzfeed, released by "Buzzfeed Studios" -- a sentence that gives us a headache just to type. The good news? We're joined by Star of the Show, Hallie Haglund, whose ever-delightful presence inspires us all into a lot of giggle fits and silly bits!We're in season 2 of FlopTV! Pop in for individual episodes, or get a price break with a season pass! Peruse the full line-up and/or get tickets here! And hey, while you're clicking on stuff, why not subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets?!”Wikipedia page for Dear DavidRecommended in this episode:Flesh Eater (1988)His Three Daughters (2023)The Girl on the Broomstick (1972)Scenes from a Marriage (1947)Head to factormeals.com/flop50 and use code flop50 to get 50% off your first box and 20% off your next month.