Podcast appearances and mentions of Sunny Afternoon

In the new bonus episode of the Behind The Song podcast, Janda chats with the lead actors in the cast of Sunny Afternoon, based on the music of The Kinks. This jukebox musical first was seen on London's West End, and is premiering in North America in Chicago through April 27, 2025 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Listen in on the conversation with Danny Horn (Ray Davies) and Oliver Hoare (Dave Davies) about the music of The Kinks and why this must-see production is so special and authentic. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Following on the heels of the success of The Beatles and Rolling Stones, another group of four working-class lads from the outskirts of London called The Kinks made their mark on the history of Rock and Roll. Their first big splash on both sides of the pond was “You Really Got Me” featuring an iconic, fuzzy, five chord guitar riff. This energetic jukebox musical, “Sunny Afternoon,” enjoying its North American premiere here in Chicago, is based on the story of the Kinks as told by lead singer and songster Ray Davies, filtered through the adept hand of playwright Joe Penhall. Theater review by Reno Lovison.

Did you soak up the sun? Did you tell everyone to lighten up? Well Sunny, it may not be a lazy Sunny Afternoon, but winter can still be a time to stand up, stretch the Kinks out, and say "Good Day, Sunshine!"

A Dramatic WednesdayFirst a look at this day in History.Then Let George Do It starring Bob Bailey and Virginia Gregg,originally broadcast December 4, 1950, 74 years ago, And Hope To Die. Flora Stewart, the famous scatterbrained accent is being blackmailed...and her precious phonograph records. Who is trying to frighten Flora out of $10,000, and then kills her?Followed by The Adventures of Frank Merriwell starring Lawson Zerbe, originally broadcast December 4, 1948, 76 years ago, The Duplicate Dean. Frank and his friends get into trouble when they impersonate the dean while practicing for a dramatic skit. Then Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast December 4, 1955, 69 years ago, A Sunny Afternoon.  It's been a cold winter in Dodge, and only the town miser has enough hay for the cattle. Followed by Fibber McGee and Molly, originally broadcast December 4, 1953, 71 years ago, The Prize Photograph. Fibber has taken a prize photograph, it's worth $75, but Fibber doesn't find out until it's too late. Then Jonathan Thomas and His Christmas On The Moon, originally broadcast December 4, 1938, 86 years ago, The Fairy Queen.  After crossing the Merry-Go-Round River, Teenya ("The Fairy Queen") gives Jonathan a magic acorn, which will be needed to get through "The Forest Of Nightmares."Finally Lum and Abner, originally broadcast December 4, 1941, 83 years ago, Cedric Brings Stove to Use.  While Grandpa is still spouting facts from the almanac, Cedric delivers Lum's stove to start the bakery.Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.htmlAnd more about the Survive-all Fallout Sheltershttps://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/mad-men-meet-mad-survive-all-shelter.html

The Kinks -Face to Face Released October 28, 1966.Recorded mainly from mid-April to June 1966, except “I'll Remember” (October 1965).  (Pye Records in the UK and Reprise in the US) Face to Face (1966) by The Kinks marked a major shift in the band's style, moving from their earlier harder-driven sound to a more nuanced blend of baroque and pop music hall influences. This was the first album to feature only Ray Davies' compositions, showcasing his observational and satirical songwriting, which explored themes of English culture, social class, and personal struggles. Despite containing the hit single "Sunny Afternoon," the album initially received a lukewarm reception, particularly in the U.S. However, it has since gained critical acclaim and is now seen as pivotal in The Kinks' evolution. Notable tracks include "Party Line," "Dandy," “Little Miss Queen of Darkness,” and "Too Much on My Mind," with the album reflecting the band's growing maturity and experimentation. Face to Face is considered a milestone in 1960s rock, setting the stage for The Kinks' future successes. Spotify Link To Album https://open.spotify.com/album/1SbqioSVe6TgXudiKMKEaB?si=svhTQE_sSbSRoeUWb2Y7og YouTube Link to Album https://youtu.be/AhblfjqfF4c?si=1jo85drAPxAj80n4 Curated Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7I6dzYc5UJfko8unziRMWf?si=3ca8897e2d7a43ff

We are so stoked this week to have Mark Karan, a living legend, on No Simple Road this week! Mark Karan is best known for performing with the extended Grateful Dead family. He has anchored the lead guitar slot in Bob Weir & RatDog, playing hundreds of shows to thousands of fans year-round. Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar and vocal voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Paul Carrack, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young and Sophie B. Hawkins. Mark also tours with an array of amazing musicians in his own “Mark Karan's Buds”, where his soulful blues-based vocal stylings and inspired guitar work meld with the remarkably creative and responsive playing of his friends in a passionate delivery of the psychedelicized sounds of Americana. This is where rock meets R&B and country and mixes with the soul of New Orleans… with healthy portions of reggae, folk, funk and whatever else the muse might bring. In addition to his originals, as well as those of songwriter friends, Mark covers a range of eclectic songs from Johnny “Guitar” Watson's “You Can Stay (But the Noize Must Go)” and Peter Tosh's “Don't Look Back”, to the Kinks' “Lazin' on a Sunny Afternoon” or Joe Jackson's “Fools in Love” — his unique musical taste and song choices are the hallmark of these shows, and always crowd pleasers for his nationwide, loyal fanbase. Head over to www.markkaran.com for all his tour info, videos, booking, and more! -For THE BEST MUSHROOM CHOCOLATES EVER go over to @MELTMUSHROOMS ON INSTAGRAM and shoot them a DM for a menu of all the amazing flavors of MUSHROOM CHOCOLATE BARS and MAKE SURE TO TELL THEM NSR SENT YOU FOR $20 OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER! -FREE SHIPPING from Shop Tour Bus Use The PROMO CODE: nosimpleroad -venuellama.com is back! Head over and sign up for your free Llama Account now and start rating venues! INTRO MUSIC PROVIDED BY - Young & Sick MUSIC IN THE COMMERCIALS BY AND USED WITH PERMISSION OF: CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN OUTRO MUSIC BY AND USED WITH PERMISSION OF: CHILLDREN OF INDIGO No Simple Road is part of OSIRIS MEDIA. Osiris Media is the leading storyteller in music, combining the intimacy of podcasts with the power of music.

Carly Anderson most recently starred as Polly in Susan Stroman's revival of Crazy For You. The production opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre before transferring to the Gillian Lynne Theatre for an acclaimed West End run. Some of Carly's early theatre credits include The Sound of Music (UK Tour), South Pacific (Barbican Centre & National Tour), My Fair Lady (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), Avenue Q (Seoul), Candide (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Sunset Boulevard (ENO London Coliseum). Carly originated the role of Gwen in the premiere of Sunny Afternoon at the Hampstead Theatre which subsequently transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End, winning the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Carly starred as Clio/Kira in the UK premiere of Xandu at the Southwark Playhouse and as Glinda in the 2016-17 international tour of Wicked. Some of Carly's screen credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). Follow Carly on Instagram: @anderson_carly Hosted by Andrew Tomlins  @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  

Face to Face was the Kinks' fourth studio album, released by Pye Records on the 28th October 1966. It features the UK number one hit Sunny Afternoon, and its release marks the start of a fruitful collaboration with "session man", Nicky Hopkins. It is Adam's favourite album ever, but Liam has never heard it before. Listen to us as they go through it track by track. Thoroughly Kinky is on social media: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@ThoroughlyKinky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/ThoroughlyKinky/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/KinksPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/KinksPodcast⁠

Ça y est, il est enfin l'heure de débuter l'année 2024 dans 24FPS, le podcast ciné avec ou sans spoiler ! Jérôme et Julien débutent directement l'année avec 2 mois de cinéma, et une salve de critiques intégralement sans spoiler : Godzilla Minus One de Takashi Yamazaki (à partir de 0:02:05) American Fiction de Cord Jefferson (à partir de 0:13:18) Dream Scenario de Kristoffer Borgli (à partir de 0:19:18) Memory de Michel Franco (à partir de 0:26:19) L'Affaire De La Mutinerie Du Caine de William Friedkin (à partir de 0:31:24) The Beekeeper de David Ayer (à partir de 0:40:36) Le Cercle Des Neiges (Society Of The Snow) de J.A. Bayona (à partir de 0:51:39) Un Coup De Dés de Yvan Attal (à partir de 1:13:18) Amelia's Children de Gabriel Abrantes (à partir de 1:19:36) Un Silence de Joachim Lafosse (à partir de 1:25:02) Sleep de Jason Yu (à partir de 1:34:49) Out Of Darkness de Andrew Cumming (à partir de 1:38:59) The Iron Claw de Sean Durkin (à partir de 1:43:52) Land Of Bad de Willam Eubank (à partir de 1:54:38) Argylle de Matthew Vaughn (à partir de 1:59:18) Perfect Days de Wim Wenders (à partir de 2:16:42) Madame Web de S. J. Clarkson (à partir de 2:27:00) Occupied City de Steve McQueen (à partir de 2:42:23) Bob Marley - One Love de Reinaldo Marcus Green (à partir de 2:53:48) Pauvres Créatures de Yorgos Lanthimos (à partir de 3:08:23) Bonne écoute, et n'hésitez pas à partager votre avis sur la seconde moitié des films de Yorgos Lanthimos ! Crédits musicaux : Now And Then des Beatles, et Sunny Afternoon des Kinks, issu de l'album Face To Face (1966) 24FPS est un podcast du label PodShows

Carly Anderson / @anderson_carly recently starred as Polly in Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Carly's stage credits include playing Polly in Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre; Glinda in Wicked in the international tour; Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum / ENO; Kira/Clio in Xanadu at Southwark Playhouse; Gwen in Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre; Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Avenue Q in Seoul; My Fair Lady at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre; South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre and on National tour; and The Sound of Music. Carly's TV credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). *2 week Broadway Fitness Program - No Cost/Commitment  www.builtforthestage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carly Anderson / @anderson_carly recently starred as Polly in Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Carly's stage credits include playing Polly in Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre; Glinda in Wicked in the international tour; Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum / ENO; Kira/Clio in Xanadu at Southwark Playhouse; Gwen in Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre; Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Avenue Q in Seoul; My Fair Lady at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre; South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre and on National tour; and The Sound of Music. Carly's TV credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). *2 week Broadway Fitness Program - No Cost/Commitment  www.builtforthestage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Y ya es jueves y, con Pancho Varona, escuchamos más "Música para los pájaros". Esta semana: Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks), Los dineros (Carlangas), Amazing Man (The Boy From The South), Street Life (The Crusaders), O Marie (Daniel Lanois) y Layla (Derek And The Dominos).Escuchar audio

Abrimos "La maleta" de Rosa María Calaf para charlar con el profesor de Literatura Pepe Pérez-Muelas, que acaba de publicar el libro Homo Viator. El descubrimiento del mundo a través de los viajeros (Ed. Siruela). En el espacio de Paula Ginés, "Antropoturismo", nos aproximamos a Santa Teresa de Jesús. ¿Tendrá algo que ver con Samantha Hudson? Y ya es jueves y, con Pancho Varona, escuchamos más "Música para los pájaros". Esta semana: Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks), Los dineros (Carlangas), Amazing Man (The Boy From The South), Street Life (The Crusaders), O Marie (Daniel Lanois) y Layla (Derek And The Dominos).Escuchar audio

It was the worst winter in Dodge City that Matt could remember, and it kept getting colder. Inside the Long Branch saloon things are hopping, and Matt is confronted by…

Im Erscheinungsjahr 1968 war das Album ein echter Flop — mittlerweile ist es das meistverkaufte Kinks-Album überhaupt. Bekannt wurden sie durch Single-Hits wie "You Really Got Me" oder "Sunny Afternoon". Auf ihrem Album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" sind zwar keine großen Hits, dafür umso mehr spannende Kompositionen. Die Kinks gehen deutlich weg von ihrem Image als Single-Hit Komponisten hin zu dramaturgisch denkenden Songstrukturen. Im Erscheinungsjahr selbst war das Album ein echter Flop — mittlerweile ist es das meistverkaufte Kinks-Album überhaupt. Ray Davies hat das in seinem britischen Humor schön auf den Punkt gebracht: "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" is the most successful flop of all time." Zeitreise zurück in die wilden 60er Uns erwartet eine kleine Zeitreise zurück in die wilden Sixties. Für die Welt war 1968 ein Jahr des Umbruchs und des Aufbruchs durch die Revolution. Der 68er Soundtrack kommt beispielsweise von Jimi Hendrix "Electric Ladyland", dem weißen Album der Beatles, "Beggars Banquet" von den Rolling Stones oder "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" von Iron Butterfly. Bei den Kinks geht es — ganz anders als zu der Zeit üblich — um das einfache Leben auf dem Land im Norden von London und die britische Kultur. Es geht zurück aufs Dorf in "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society". Die Kinks selbst nehmen dabei die Rolle des Vereins zur Erhaltung des Dorfplatzes ein. Von dem Album selbst gibt es mehrere Ausgaben, wir beziehen uns auf die britische Variante mit 15 Songtiteln. Ursprünglich gab es noch weitere Songs für das Album, da es zunächst als Doppelalbum geplant war. Einige davon finden sich auf dem 1973 erschienenen Folgealbum "The Great Lost Kinks". Auftrittsverbot in den USA Die Kinks haben versucht, in den USA Fuß zu fassen, bis sie einen offiziellen Auftrittsberbot von der Musikergewerkschaft in den USA erhielten. Es soll Schlägereien auf der Bühne gegeben haben und sie sollen sich insgesamt danebenbenommen haben. Die Kinks waren jung und wild. Durch das erlangte Konzertverbot von 1965 bis 1969 entging ihnen die Chance, die Bands wie beispielsweise The Who bekommen haben, auf Woodstock 69 zu spielen und somit auch ein großes Karriere-Sprungbrett. Durch dieses "Verbannen" wurden sie ein Stück weit vom amerikanischen Musikmarkt abgeschnitten. Produktion von "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" Ray Davies fing infolgedessen an, sich auf England konzentrieren und Songs mit Blick auf die englische Kultur und Gesellschaft zu schreiben. In dieser Zeit entstand auch der Song "Village Green", der später auf dem Album einen Platz findet. 1967/68 beginnen dann die Aufnahmen zum Album selbst, immer mal wieder unterbrochen durch kleine Tourneen innerhalb Europas. Letztlich haben sie zwei Jahre gebraucht, um das Album aufzunehmen. "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" ist ein Konzeptalbum und dieses Konzept stammt von Ray Davies. Es geht um das Leben auf dem Land, es geht um Heimat und um Freundschaft. "Das Album zeigt einfach sehr gut, was für ein hervorragender Songschreiber Ray Davies ist. Diese Texte, die sind britisch, die sind witzig, die sind bissig, das ist einfach ziemlich gut." (SWR1 Musikredakteur Benjamin Brendebach) Ein Meilenstein der Musikgeschichte In diesem Meilenstein wird darüber gesprochen, was es mit Walter auf sich hat, dem Schulfreund von Ray Davies, wie verrückt Annabella wirklich ist und wie wichtig so eine Dorfgemeinschaft sein kann. Außerdem geht es darum, warum das Album 1968 ein totaler Flop war und wie es im Rahmen von Popmusik und Bands wie Blair und Oasis ein echtes Revival erleben durfte, mehr noch — wie es jetzt über 50 Jahre nach Erscheinen des Albums zu dem meistverkauften Kinks-Album überhaupt geworden ist. __________ Über diese Songs vom Album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" wird im Podcast gesprochen (03:52) – "Animal Farm"(04:29) – "Sitting by the Riverside"(20:30) – "Village Green"(26:40) – "The Village Green Preservation Society"(30:27) – "Monica"(34:21) – "Wicked Annabella"(37:34) – "Walter"(42:43) – "Picture Book" __________ Über diese Songs wird außerdem im Podcast gesprochen (01:32) – "You Really Got Me" von The Kinks(01:39) – "Sunny Afternoon" von The Kinks(18:50) – "Penny Lane" von The Beatles(45:23) – "Warning" von Green Day(45:55) – "Don't Look Back in Anger" von Oasis __________ Shownotes Doku zu The Kinks – "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ragx6CtTI Auftrittsverbot in den USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oup7NCcfb10 YouTube-Channel von The Kinks: https://www.youtube.com/@TheKinksMusic __________ Ihr wollt mehr Podcasts wie diesen? Abonniert die SWR1 Meilensteine! Fragen, Kritik, Anregungen? Schreibt uns an: meilensteine@swr.de

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The Bums “rise again”, two weeks in a row, with S3:E0090!  Part 1 pops off with NFL Week 1 predictions, with some live TNF commentary; the Bums are planning a Chicago bar gauntlet featuring three non-Bear NFL bars (Toons, Delilah's and Lions bar TBC); Joe “Cool” Burrow gets a mega-deal - a quarter billion over cinco; Travis Kelce on the shelf with a hyperextended knee; Nick Bosa rings the bell on big deal of his own in SFO; fantasy football is rusty, so what's next; TCU, LSU and Clemson are kaboomed, and Neon Deion Sanders (aka Coach Prime) gets it fucking done, and who knew he had his own song; the post-season Cubs watch continue, alongside other MLB notables including why Julio Arias got “cuffed-and-stuffed” (again); and close the first half with Danny Wirtz' anointment. Part two features yet another intergalactically famous beer review, with “Sunny Afternoon” from Begyle Brewing, an American Pale Ale with a nose of tropical fruits, lemon, and grass give way to a juicy, smooth beer; RIP respect went out to Bob Barker and Jimmy Buffett; Rocky comes down with a case of Traeger fever; airline hijinks are running, rampantly; Burning Man puts it's money where its mouth is; Lucy and company drag Eddie onto the dreaded pickleball bandwagon; and Paddy's lovely wife has a rough day.   Get all of this grandeur before the Bears are no longer going to the Super Bowl this year.Recorded on September 7th, 2023 at B.O.M.'s global headquarters, Paddy's Southside Cave, in Chicago, IL USA.

Best Old Time Radio Podcast with Bob Bro Show #346: September 10, 2023 -- Archive show from 01-10-2019 Welcome to the Best Old Time Radio Podcast where everyone is welcome! Here is our line-up of programs this week: 1. Mutual Radio Theater...05-07-80..."Vicious Circle" 2. Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet...03-27-49..."Compliment" 3. Gunsmoke...12-04-55..."Sunny Afternoon" To listen to more of the best old time radio programs, visit our website: https://bestoldtimeradio.com Contact: Bob@bestoldtimeradio.com

Relax and unwind as you grab a delicious drink and settle in for some time at this lovely Boba Shop with your Comfort Character! Intended as a generic study/work ambience, this soundscape includes some soft, upbeat pop songs and some lo-fi as well as the chatter of other people in the store! It also includes sounds of various drinks being made and the occasional clack of keys against a keyboard and the odd page turn from you and your Character working away! What are you working on throughout this bright and cheerful study session? ✨ My Other Comfort Character Uploads: ✨ Listen to the full playlist here on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ7NPBlCjEPpgDbJJXg1KFzF7aLMML_GQ Or here, on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1AY5Q5qHiKKLrdjFHahHWs?si=efbd5b2cce4a4cc9 ✨ Some Credits ✨ Thumbnail Image from Brett Wharton on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/5bi-2bBZ8Cc Lo-Fi Mix from Stomp's Playlist: https://youtu.be/rRVOEuCz4Xg

Hello to you listening in Camrose, Alberta, Canada!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Thoughts on Thursday and your host, Diane Wyzga.He's making himself known calling from across the house, standing and staring in my office doorway until I notice.My kitty is a senior fellow. Been with me some 17 years or so since I brought him home from the shelter. Someone had dumped the litter in a bin outside a convenience store. He's weathered many changes: losing his sister, moving from household to household, now age and kidney disease.    The thing about him is that he asks for what he wants when he wants it. He doesn't waste a sunny afternoon wondering what I think. He snoozes in a warm space. He's figured out how to claim his spot on the bed and the pillow so I adjust to him. No matter my mood or attitude he's there ready to hand out his personal brand of affection.Question: What if we could live as well? Would we take the chance? Would we risk it all to be so free?  You're invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, I hope you'll subscribe, share a nice shout out on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time! Remember to stop by the website, check out the Services, arrange a Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with Diane and Quarter Moon Story Arts and on Linked In.  Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present: for credit & attribution Quarter Moon Story Arts

Cowboy Classics Podcast Old Time RadioTwo Episodes:Laurie's SuitorSunny AfternoonJoin our Member's Exclusive Content - Commercial Freehttps://redcircle.com/shows/cowboy-classics-old-time-radio-westerns-podcastOur Affiliate Partners*Click the link to receive two free audiobooks from Audible*Click here to connect and follow Battle Armor Apologetics*(NEW BOOK) Finding Freedom: Overcoming Addiction - A Bible-Centered Recovery*Understanding the Bible Made Easy: Bible Study Guide for Beginners*Christian Devotional and Prayer Journal for WomenSave BIG with our Affiliates*Save Up to 25% Off Columbia For 4th of July at Bass Pro Shops!*Free Shipping on 1,000s of essential household itemsConnect and Follow: https://linktr.ee/shelbygreenmedia Cowboy Classics Podcast Old Time Radio Shows Westerns - GunsmokeWelcome to Cowboy Classics, your ultimate destination for the best Old Time Radio Shows featuring classic Westerns. Our podcast takes you back to the Golden Age of Radio when the American frontier was the Wild West, and adventures were the norm. Join us as we saddle up and ride off into the sunset with vintage radio shows that feature the rugged and daring heroes of the West. Immerse yourself in the nostalgic entertainment of Retro Audio and Vintage Drama that has captivated audiences for generations. Relive the glory days of OTR Podcasts and the iconic characters of cowboy fiction, such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and the Lone Ranger. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the wild ride with Cowboy Classics - the home of the greatest Westerns on Old Time Radio. Gunsmoke, Cowboy Classics, Old Time Radio, Westerns, Best Radio Shows, Golden Age of Radio, Classic Westerns, Western Adventures, American Frontier, Wild West, Vintage Radio Shows, Nostalgic Entertainment, Retro Audio, Vintage Drama, OTR Podcast, Western Heroes, Cowboy Fiction, Ranchers and Outlaws, Trail Drive, Gunslingers, John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lone Ranger Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/cowboy-classics-old-time-radio-westerns-podcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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We're kicking off the week with a bonus episode, featuring Jo Servi (Dreamgirls / The Colour Purple) and Dominic Anderson (Mrs Doubtfire / Heathers). Jo Servi is currently playing Wyatt and Carter in Agatha Christie's Witness For The Prosecution at London County Hall. Witness For The Prosecution is in its seventh year and Jo recently joined as part of the show's ninth cast, making Witness For The Prosecution London's longest running site specific theatre production. Jo most recently played Marty in the first UK & Ireland tour of Dreamgirls. Just a few of his theatre credits include The Color Purple (UK Tour), Barber Shop Chronicles (US & UK Tours), Chess (Colesium), Sunny Afternoon, Jersey Boys, Guys & Dolls and Ragtime (West End) as well as the original London company of The Lion King (Lyceum).Witness for the Proseccution is booking at London County Hall until Sunday 28th April 2024. Visit www.witnesscountyhall.com for info and tickets.Dominic Anderson is currently playing Tough Man and various other roles in the London revival of Eugenius! at the Turbine Theatre. The show is described as a love letter to the iconic movies, comic books and nostalgia of the 80s. Some of Dominic's theatre credits include the title role in The Rocky Horror Show (West End & Tour), Ram in the original London cast of Heathers (The Other Palace / West End), Tom Jones in What's New Pussycat (Birmingham Rep) and most recently Stuart Dunmire in the UK premiere of Mrs Doubtfire (Manchester Opera House). Eugenius! runs at the Turbine Theatre until 28th May 2023. Visit www.theturbinetheatre.com for info and tickets. Hosted by Andrew Tomlins. @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  

Episode 588 Hour 1: The program that broadcasts the show somehow had all the information on it cleared out. New Facebook like, Stewie picks on the host for making a ridiculous connection, he then reminds the host he did the same thing earlier this year, a clip is then played. A plug for the contest the host is running. Stewie continues to pick on the host for something on Facebook. Peter's phone goes off during the show, he falls down the stairs to get it. The host talks about doing the show for 10 years on the internet, plays a clip of the late Scott Legere talking about the owner of the station. Tampa Bay Lightning update. Find out why the host has no sympathy for Brittney Griner. The sinking of the Titanic as described by Weird History. The first hour closes out with two comedy sketches relatd to calling the IRS. Hour 2: The leaked documents. "Vladimir Putin's Olympic Letter" from "The Starving Artist", track 21. Student commits credit card fraud. Big Cat rescue in Tampa closes. Update on a story concerning a man who was thought to be dead by EMTs. A clip about taxes cuts off early. "We Can Relate - Taxes". New recordings added to the natinal archives. The host briefly talks about Sam Kinison, then closes out the show with a scene from "Back To School" and Sam's bit about world hunger. Break music - "Sunny Afternoon" by Jimmy Buffett Rejoiner music - "Money" by Pink Floyd --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lawrence-ross9/message

Original Air Date: December 04, 1955Host: Andrew RhynesShow: GunsmokePhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• William Conrad (Matt Dillion)• Parley Baer (Chester)• Georgia Ellis (Kitty)• Howard McNear (Doc) Special Guests:• Ralph Moody• John Dehner• Virginia Christine Producer:• Norman Macdonnell Music:• Rex Koury Sound Patterns:• Tom Hanley• Bill James Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by […]

Original Air Date: December 04, 1955Host: Andrew RhynesShow: GunsmokePhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• William Conrad (Matt Dillion)• Parley Baer (Chester)• Georgia Ellis (Kitty)• Howard McNear (Doc) Special Guests:• Ralph Moody• John Dehner• Virginia Christine Producer:• Norman Macdonnell Music:• Rex Koury Sound Patterns:• Tom Hanley• Bill James Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by […]

Original Air Date: December 04, 1955Host: Andrew RhynesShow: GunsmokePhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• William Conrad (Matt Dillion)• Parley Baer (Chester)• Georgia Ellis (Kitty)• Howard McNear (Doc) Special Guests:• Ralph Moody• John Dehner• Virginia Christine Producer:• Norman Macdonnell Music:• Rex Koury Sound Patterns:• Tom Hanley• Bill James Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by...

What's the purpose of education? If you were to ask 10 different people this question, you may get 10 different answers. Education shouldn't be this complex, but getting people to come to a consensus on anything right now is a challenge. This can be a problem. If teachers are expected to meet ambiguous goals, it can lead to burnout and frustration.  In this episode, we hear how conflicting values in education may be contributing to teachers' decisions to leave.   Music:  Theme Song By Julian Saporiti  “Your Paradigm Dial” by Origami Repetika is licensed under a CC  BY license.   “Room With a View” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license.  “Business Getaway  ” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a  CC BY-NC license. “I Was Different” by Ov Moi Omm is licensed under a CC  BY license.   “Sunny Afternoon” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain. Transcript: In the spring of 2016, Julian Saporiti, the guy that made the theme song for this podcast, asked me if I wanted to help him teach a summer road trip class for the University of Wyoming. It was easy to say yes, and this class ended up being one of the most influential educational experiences that I've ever had.  Many of our students felt the same way. One of them, Sam Mallory, even talked about it in his graduation speech.  Sam Mallory: Two years ago about this time of year, I was officially enrolled in the most influential course in my college experience And what made this class so significant likely had to do with the fact that we valued experience over product, which is a pretty non-traditional approach to a college course.. Our Syllabus included the following:  Introductions: Julian Saporiti -  Instructor /Guitarist. Charles Fournier Advisor/ Contemplation Mentor Books: Jack Kerouak's On The Road and John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie Music: Songs and lyrics for sing-alongs Assignments: This list included items like helping a stranger, keeping a journal, and dancing in the moonlight Safety Measures: Information about bear country, how to react if lost, and how to create a cross-draft in your vehicle to fart rather than holding it in and risking feeling sick  Traveling Recommendations for Women: A list focused on hygiene and affirmations created by wife, Jennie, who is a brilliant traveler but opted to stay home to plan for classes and manage our new ornery dog Lastly: “Be Amazed. Be Present.” We set out for two weeks across Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. We danced to music by firelight in the Tetons under the Milky Way. I taught a pair of girls how to build a fire and when they asked what I thought about feminism, we read parts of The Vagina Monologues while lighting things on fire- one of those girls just wrote an award-winning screenplay. We observed the wildlife of national parks and saw some animals as well.  I love this model for education. A kind of structure of non-structure that gives students a chance to grow autonomy and learn on the go. It was an experience, and the students were, if not changed, greatly impacted by that course. Julian and I were too.  I tried to apply some of the elements of this course to my high school classes the next school year. I wanted kids to sit around a fire and have conversations, to worry less about grades or tests, and to focus on collaborative experiences that result in knowledge acquisition.  Then the school year started. My fire pit idea was struck down, and the weight of standardized assessments, and everything else settled into place. My idealism was smothered by bureaucratic reality. There's nothing quite like having your grand plan for the new school year get deflated by October. And this brings me to a question that I have continuously returned to as a teacher when this happens - What's the point of education? Why are we here? The answer is ambiguous, and that uncertainty has led to conflict and confusion in education. So on the show today, we will ask “What's the purpose of education?” Because if we can't come to a consensus, teachers will continue to be expected to meet all of the competing thoughts about for what education is for. This is frustrating and adds to the stress and burnout that is leading teachers to find careers that might have more clearly defined parameters.  This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 4: “Why Are We Here?” Why we educate kids seems like it should be an easily answered question. But in my conversations with all levels of people involved in and around education, there wasn't a clear consistent answer:  Gary Martin:We have to work on their cognitive skills, you know, the critical thinking. Christy Chadwick: I think we have this idea that the purpose of education is to raise the next generation. But now, it sort of feels like a control factor. It feels like we're just controlling society through education.   Caskey Russell: Fostering creativity in the students, critical thinking, removing kind of cultural blind spots, providing kind of an equal access all across the board, regardless of class race, getting an idea of community, American community as the kind of multicultural tapestry. Lindsey Freeman: I mean, that's a big part of it is workforce development. But just citizens, I mean, our government or politicians, like everything that our world needs to continue starts in the classroom.  Jaye Wacker: Oh, my gosh, to protect a democratic republic. You know, pure and simple. We have to be educated, we have to be able to see through the bullshit, you know.  Jennica Fournier: I thought my role was to teach students about chemistry and biology. But I think sometimes there's the expectation that you're babysitting them. or that you're keeping them safe.  Shane Atkinson: I really tried to make it about the human connection.  Elizabeth Smith: The purpose of education is to train our people to be worker bees, and to have the skills necessary to devote their entire lives towards the betterment of a few elite versus the greater good of all.  It's a lot, and that can be a problem. And there is a split between the ideal for what education is for and the reality that often stifles idealism. What we do know is that an educational system is inherently political because it reflects a country's values. But what is valued in the US is continuously evolving and hard to pin down.  Education started in the Americas as a way to teach kids how to be a part of their community. Then it started to shift with colonization. Education went from being morality focused - teaching literacy so that people could read the Bible. To Democracy and assimilation focused - forcing people to fit a standard ideal while emphasizing being an active citizen. To worker focused - creating industrialized systems to set people up to enter the workforce. To academic and standards focused - standardizing curriculum with the intent to compete on the global scale.  But now, as demonstrated by the crazy political climate, what we value as a country is unclear, so what education should look like is also unclear.   This lack of clarity is landing at the feet of teachers. And having a job with no clear and agreed upon objective is frustrating. Should teachers be focused on standardized tests, on learning, on mental health, on social health, on morality, on graduation rates? It's not clear. But what is clear, is that having more of a shared value system would be valuable. A shared vision of what education is for. This would give teachers a clear objective that does not leave room for the petty arguments that are at the heart of so many educational dilemmas that are driving teachers out.  I think we can get there. I spoke with people from all over the political spectrum for this podcast, and I am certain that we can get to a shared set of values.   Juan Laden: Fundamentally, we need to make available within our teaching environment the understanding of other people and the possibilities for children to do so many things. Juan Laden sat down with me at the Lander Bake Shop. I had set up a microphone and taped up a sign with two questions: Why are teachers leaving Education? And What is the Purpose of Education? Because I don't want to hassle folks, I sat quietly with my dirty chai and waited for people to come to me. Juan sidled over in a dutch cap, still chewing on a pastry, and starting answering questions before he even sat down.  Juan Laden: I think they're good teachers, and that's why they're leaving. And so that's, are you recording this? Good, good? Juan is a lot of things. He has never been a public school teacher, but he was an experiential climbing instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School or NOLS, he has traveled around and lived in Europe, he is knowledgeable in many things including plumbing and photography, and he knows a lot about pedagogy, this is a word educators use to talk about the method or practice of teaching: Juan Laden: And basically, I think the concept in America of education is filling a receptacle, and that is not what it's about.  What Juan is referring to is also called the banking method - the idea is that a student's educational experience is to get packed full of information, and that's it. The banking method is not a popular pedagogy because it lacks a need for critical thinking and creativity and disregards the fact that students come to school already possessing knowledge. Many folks I spoke with push against this focus of education - to pack kids full of information. Juan agrees, and he explained that he thinks education should feel more like caving.  Juan Laden:  I'm a caver and talk about exploration. Most people don't like the idea of caving. I tell them they just had a difficult birth and never got over it. But you know, it's like, what a trip. You're exploring to the max. When you find a new cave…the dream of all cavers is to find the big, going cave, like, “Wow, there's a hole and you go in there, and it goes, and it goes, and there's more.” The idea that you're actually going where no one's been before, and that's what exploration is. It is a very deep drive in all humans to start out with - that curiosity, that emotional need to explore is driven by curiosity. Exploration was a tenet of that Road Trip class, and something I wish my high school classroom had more of now. We gave the students the freedom to choose where they wanted to go and how they wanted to get there. This is how we ended up at a hot spring called Chicken Soup in Idaho. Idaho wasn't even in our original plan.  The desire to explore was also an ideal across many of my conversations with teachers about what education is for - to help students jump into a metaphorical or literal cave. But the reality of teaching in a public school setting is that this ability to delve into curiosity is often devalued by what is required in the curriculum, community pressures, or a lack of resources. And the breadth of information that needs to be covered in a curriculum sometimes does not allow for depth or the chance for student exploration.  I know of several projects that students would learn from and enjoy that were dead on arrival because they did not meet a curricular requirement or wouldn't work for a specific standardized assessment. Such limits can take away from the joy of teaching and we've already seen that it can lead to teachers quitting.  Exploration is something worth valuing, but based on how our system is currently structured, it isn't valued enough.  To get another idea about this question, we're going to take a step back and start with what an educational jack-of-all-trades says about the purpose of education. I met up with Colby Gull at his office. Colby is the Managing Director for the trustees education initiative in the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. I asked him what the purpose of education is: Colby Gull: That is too complex of a question for your podcast, probably.  This shouldn't be the case. To me, this is part of the problem. I wish education could be simpler. For instance, for their final project during the road trip class, a pair of students designed and printed a t-shirt for the class. And they created a slogan for each person in the course. Mine read “Just trying to teach people not to be assholes.” And you know, that sums up my pedagogy pretty well.  But Colby's right. Our country's current view of education is very complex. We can't easily say that education should be for exploration like Juan says, or that education is trying to teach people not to be assholes like my t-shirt motto says. And our system might be too complex. We might be trying to layer in too much.  And Colby, who was a teacher, principal, and superintendent, is aware of that. Here he is again with another answer that tries to better address the complexities for what he sees as the purpose of education: Colby Gull: I think we have to help our students to gain some basic knowledge, some basic skills around academic areas. We want them to understand how to read and to ask good questions. And we want them to understand some mathematical things and solve problems. But we also want to give them opportunities to explore new ideas and new ways of thinking about things and to analyze their own thinking, and , ”Why is my opinion that? Maybe it should be something else?” But I think the purpose of all of that is to help students to be prepared to go out and reach their potential, and to do great things and challenge thinking and make things better for themselves and for the people around them. Colby's answers show his expertise. He is a guy that spends his life thinking about education and helping to train and retain teachers, and through all of his roles, he has had to deal with the bureaucracy and politics of education more intimately than most teachers ever do. What a teacher might value does not include the political nature of education And this is where the conflict comes in. Something like the Road Trip Class, is my ideal education structure because it also reflects my values. But that does not work in public education. Teacher values and idealism often collapse against the layers of the education system's bureaucracy. And it's disheartening. So we end up with statements like Colby's second answer.  It covers a lot but it is also pretty generalized. It sounds like an institutional response to the question, or a mission statement - their purpose of education proclamation. To compare, here is the mission statement from the United States Department of education:  “The United States Department of Education's  mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” And here are a few more mission statements to compare to from districts across the country. Try to guess where they're from: “We ensure equitable access to a transformative educational experience grounded in the assets of our students, staff, and community.” Here's Another: “To ensure high levels of learning for all students. To continuously develop our capacity to function as a collaborative culture.”  One more: “Our commitment is to prepare each student to become a career and college ready citizen. We will partner with families and the community to provide an engaging and challenging education in a safe and positive environment.” Each of these mission statements, from the US Department of Education to districts from three different time zones across the US have similar and vague declarations. They feel like a fortune - “You are about to rediscover a lost connection to your past.”  I get why the mission statements are vague. They are meant for a diverse population, and each family within that population should be able to see some value in these mission statements because public education is for everyone.  But this is also where we can run into problems. The way I read “preparing each student to become a career and college ready citizen” is unique from what the administration, or students, or parents, or even other teachers may think. Do I think a person needs to avoid spaghetti straps to be a productive citizen? Not really, but I do think knowing how to work towards and meet a deadline would help. So why does a vague purpose of education lead to teachers leaving the profession? Because many educators are finding that their interpretation of these missions and goals are in conflict with those of the administration, school board, or community. Values are not aligning. Which creates stress and sometimes forces a choice, do what they believe in and create conflict, or compromise their values and feel miserable.   Every now and then there are times when idealism aligns within the classroom, which can create amazing moments.  For Allison Lash, who was an art teacher in New York City that we heard from last episode, building community and learning in her mind require providing students with new experiences and opportunities. Allison Lash: That's the kind of thing that I love bringing to kids like these little snippets and experiences that they might not get in the classroom.  When her second graders were learning about rocks and gemstones from books, Allison organized a field trip to the Museum of Natural History because she knew they had an amazing collection. Allison Lash: And I took all the kids out of the Bronx and into Manhattan. And as we're and I rev them up, like for the field trip, and I told them we're leaving the Bronx, we're leaving the Bronx because so many of them have never left the Bronx are there. So many of them never left like many of them lived in the projects, the building. And so they only traveled from the building to school a block away in the supermarket like this. These like four streets, basically. And the kids when we were driving over the water and on the bridge to get to Manhattan, they were all screaming when they said we're leaving the Bronx. So I love, I love being able to do that. The ability to leave the space of the school often creates authentic learning experiences for students. These are experiences that connect students to their communities, which is a common value presented in school district mission statements. But there are limiting factors to leaving the space of the school. This is where idealism can be deflated because much of the modern purpose of education is now tied to keeping kids safe. This is why we practice having lockdowns.  Lauren Schumacher spoke to me about how fear and wanting to keep kids safe impacts how we view the purpose of education. Lauren Schumacher: And I think, sadly, with all the violence, you know, the school shootings situations, continue to make our country want to fence our buildings in and put doorbells on and all that which I understand. But in the same breath, we need to be removing them from the fences and getting them out into communities. I think that is more of the direction we need to move education. I was really excited to talk to Lauren. I set up an interview station outside next to the Valley Bookstore in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I didn't meet Lauren first, I met her whole family. Her daughter saw my signs about teachers leaving and said, “My mom is going to want to talk to you” before she ran back from the direction she came to get her mom.  Lauren was on vacation with her family. She is an administrator in Florida, and she had previously taught in both Missouri and Florida, but everything she talked about matched what teachers in my home state brought up. In terms of the purpose of education, Lauren echoes the idea of wanting more experiential learning that gets kids into their communities. Lauren Schumacher: I think we need to step away from the traditional brick and mortar, and get our kids out and learning.  But, as Lauren pointed out earlier, with threats of violence in schools, education might be moving the other direction. I hate this. We desperately need to be moving towards mobility and freedom and exploration - not away from it. When I reflect on that road trip class, there were elements of risk - absolutely - but we didn't structure our educational experience around fear. Nor did threats feel looming like they do in modern education.  When I answer my classroom door, I always have a pen in hand - it's the sharpest object in my room, and I look through the window to check who is at my door, and what is in their hands before I let them in. Every time I answer the door, I play through a scenario of an active shooter. Our doors stay locked and shut because the statistics show that locked and shut doors save lives, and we value student lives. But this is the setting in which we are trying to teach exploration and wonder. It's hard to have idealistic values and believe the purpose of education is for exploration in a locked room. So I have to return to the question, “What is the purpose of education?” Because if it's to protect kids from violence and shootings, this is a heavy burden to ask teachers to carry. And the weight of it is becoming too much for many educators. Such expectations make teachers feel like their job descriptions have shifted. And this is where more complexity comes in. Rather than being facilitators of learning, critical thinking, and exploration, teachers are having to do any number of things. Ron Ruckman: I think that's the awesome part of teaching is that you get to be all those things, you know, but it puts a huge mental drain on teachers.  This is Ron Ruckman, we heard a little bit from him in the second episode. Ron taught for 23 years and quit to run his construction business that he has with a friend. A business that does not require Ron to have to engage with much other than completing projects. Part of why Ron left had to do with a purpose of education that required too much from him. Ron Ruckman:That's the problem. I think that for me that that has finally just kind of wore me out. The needs of kids beyond way beyond science, just the stuff I teach my subject matter. I do so much more. I spend so much time and it seems like I've spent more and more time as my teaching career has gone on. Kids seem to be a lot more needy of that kind of attention, and then we have one counselor. She can only do so much. She's got a line at her office most days, and it's like, you just have to wear all those hats to be the teacher, be the counselor, be the be mom and dad. That's the reality for some kids. Ron recognizes that these kids need more than content. Mental health matters, even more so with the pandemic. In 2021, the CDC reported that nearly half of teenagers reported feeling sad or hopeless over the last year, and schools are a great resource for students who are struggling, but most school counselors are constantly busy because they have so many students needing help. Some of that overflow lands on teachers. For some teachers, who are not qualified or professional counselors, this is too emotionally taxing. So is this the purpose of education? To support the mental health of students? If it is, how does this match the structure of our education system?  For Ron, he knows students need support, and he also believes that education needs to focus on things that are relevant to his content.   Ron Ruckman: It's important that we keep teaching critical thinking. My district recently held a professional development day where local business people explained what they want our schools to prepare students for. One of the things they pointed to was the ability to think critically and problem solve. Another was the ability to value and communicate with other people. To actively engage in a civilized manner and recognize not everyone shares the same perspective.  Ron Ruckman: If you're not willing to feel cognitive dissonance, if you're not willing to feel that uncomfortable feeling of what you thought, and then realizing that maybe that wasn't the truth. I had an uncle that always taught me you can learn something from everybody. And that includes every little fifth grader that I've ever had come through my room. Every single person I meet, I learned something from. That's what a teacher should be doing is teaching kids that you need to make your own opinion, but you need to consider all the data and all the opinions of others and put it all together and then make your own educated opinion. Ron values critical thinkers that have a growth mindset. He does not want learning to stop for people once they graduate. For Ron, if the purpose of education is to grow an active and informed citizenry, which harkens back to what the founding fathers wanted of education, then learning should be lifelong.  Ron Ruckman: It's okay to change what you believe in. When you consider more evidence, you know, and as you go through life, you learn more things and you see more things and, you know, and that I think a lot of people don't like that. We can't just be stuck in one way of thinking all of our life, otherwise, you're just gonna be very unhappy. So through science, Ron was helping students think critically and communicate with one another and form opinions all while addressing students' other needs - which ended up wearing him out by the time he left his job. For Ron, the purpose of education isn't finite,  and it became too much for him to continue.  One last thing about Ron. When considering the purpose of education, there is some speculation that teachers are using education as a place to spew a political agenda. Ron is adamant that this is incorrect. Ron Ruckman: Well, and that's part of the part of my, just kind of my disgust with the public right now is the image of teachers being, you know, we're out there to indoctrinate kids or whatever that bullshit is. And I'm sorry to use that word, but that it is, it's bullshit. That one will get me fired up more than anything else, you know, we're there to just teach them about the subjects that, you know, that we're in, you know, and we're not out there to indoctrinate. No teacher that I spoke with or know of is actively trying to indoctrinate students. That is not the purpose of education in their minds. Some teachers even joked that they wished they could indoctrinate students - then maybe students would do their homework and turn things in on time. But this fear of indoctrination from non-educators is a problem, making it more difficult to define the purpose of education simply. In my ideal for education, I get to act as a facilitator of curiosity. I help students explore their interests by guiding them towards relevant resources, and I feel like it's my job to not be offended. I want students to be able to ask honest questions about whatever they're interested in. And at no point will I stop a curious student and say, “I'm sorry, you cannot address that in this room. This room is for English content only.” or “That does not fit within our mission statement.”  I want to be able to stray from content in my classroom, but it does not match a view of education that is content specific and easily measured. There seems to be a fear that anything outside of a content area is indoctrination or a deviant plot to warp the minds of children - muwahahaha. It's asinine and disregards the fact that expecting teachers to only teach content and nothing more is missing a big part of what education is. Ron Ruckman: I think the expectation, honestly, is that that's all you do is teach your subject, and that's all you should ever, you know, and what they don't realize is, these kids need so much more. And I think there's so much more on our plate as a teacher than what the public thinks is there or even expects us to do, but we don't have a choice. We, you know, we would have, you know, we'd have no, we'd have utter chaos. You know, if we didn't wear all those hats Going into a classroom and only trying to teach content, while addressing nothing else, rarely works. This is why guest speakers sometimes flounder - they assume their expertise is enough to engage students - and they get eaten alive. But the focus on content can't be dismissed. Standards and standardized assessments are a constant quality of modern education. Is this what we value? Content that will be assessed on a standardized assessment? In reality, assessments are the main measurable expectations that are placed onto schools. And for many teachers, if the purpose of education is to only have students do well on a test, then that is enough of a reason to quit teaching. Teachers are having to balance teaching content that students will be tested on with their values and ideas about the social, emotional or cultural things that are harder to measure but necessary for a well-functioning classroom. And having to be responsible for a list of ambiguous immeasurables is draining and pushing teachers out. Ron Ruckman: I mean, now we are basically caretakers of those kids.  We met Rachael Esh last episode, she left teaching to write children's books, and she felt like the foundation of her teaching experience was based on relationships:  Rachaeel Esh: And even when you learn when you go into teaching, you know this. The number one thing they teach you is relationships, build relationships, don't worry about the content until you have the relationships because we know they're not going to listen to you if they don't respect you or care about you to get that other information. So you've got to build that. You've got to have your expectations.The purpose of education, I mean, it's just, it's all encompassing. Raising a kid takes a community and I feel like teachers are a big part of that community. Rachael wants to foster kindness and curiosity and empathy. This sounds like it would fit the tenets from the mission statements from earlier, but what stands out to me is her point that content is secondary. Many teachers recognize that without a relationship, it's very difficult to teach any sort of content. Relationships are part of what made that road trip class so successful. Relationships are what those guest speakers are lacking. I've even heard kids specifically say, they will refuse to do work or try to learn from a teacher they don't like. So to get to content, some of these other things are having to be addressed, which adds to what teachers are already doing and are hard to measure or track. There are also a few differing views on what makes up content. Several teachers drew a line between content tied to learning and exploration and content for standardized assessments.  Rachael Esh: So just being like, hey, good job on all your hard work. We're number one for our scores again, and it's like, I don't care. And so if that's what we're celebrating, I don't really want to work here. Because that's not what's important to me. And so like, how about we celebrate this the teacher that tried a new lesson and fell on their face? Like Good job family? Because that's what we teach our kids. But do we let our teachers fail? No. So I just don't agree with it. Rachael wanted to teach in a space that allowed for teachers to experiment in their classrooms. To try things and fail, but she felt like the test scores were what her district valued. They prioritized high scores over experiences and what Rachael thought of as authentic learning.  I understand this. Getting a taste of a structure like the road trip class that allowed for authentic learning because it was exploration based makes it really hard to go back to prioritizing high scores. Rachael Esh:  I cannot stand another freakin meeting talking about. But does the standard say that? What does modeling mean? What does this mean? I don't care. I'm sorry, I don't need to break down the exact definition of a word in order to teach the general concept. And I am going to make time to teach what these kids really need to know in life, which is not that. The focus on standards hasn't always been the norm. As I said earlier, education has shifted its focus as our country's values have shifted.  And part of the confusion could have to do with modern education holding onto outdated values for   public education. Values that don't match a modern world or modern ideals. Though that may be true, teachers are still having to work in this environment that lacks clear objectives. This is stressful.  We often hear, just do what's best for kids when it feels like bureaucracy is getting heavy. But what I think is best for kids might include calling them by their chosen name, holding them accountable for their actions, pushing them to reach high expectations, or providing them with various pieces of text that give unique perspectives.  These might sound great, but for each of the examples I just listed, I have had a situation where a parent, student, administrator, or fellow teacher disagreed with me to the point that we needed to have a meeting about our perspectives. And the reality is, I can't say who is right or wrong based on our educational system, there's no clear answer. For many teachers, having to defend why, in their professional opinion, their view of education is valid, is just not worth it. And being accosted by parents or administrators or school boards gets old really quickly. Ron  talked about the lasting impact of these conflicts: Ron Ruckman: Yeah, it's scary to me still, I mean, parents, parents, I, when I have parents get in my face, I hate it even now. And most of the time, and well, like, I would say, 99% of the time parent goes away happy. And I sit there and dwell on it for the next five days, you know, and it totally wrecks my whole mental state for a long time. You know, and I just don't think parents realize, you know, they come in, and they're fired up, because they hear one story from their kid, and then they come in, and they're all fired up, and they leave and they're, they're fine. But I've, you know, it's, it's almost like, you know, you're almost traumatized by it for a little bit, you know, and that I know, that sounds dumb, but that, that is something that just kind of happens, you know, and I feel like because I like to make everybody I'm kind of a people pleaser, you know, I like everybody to be happy with me all the time.   Every teacher I know has a getting chewed out story - when a parent cornered and then screamed at them in their own classroom or demanded retribution because they refused to believe their child would ever lie to them so the teacher must be lying. These moments leave scars And this shows that even if there isn't a shared view for the purpose of education, there might be a consensus that devalues teachers making it acceptable to treat them this way.  And when it comes to making changes to keep teachers, I don't know what the answer is. But I know that valuing teachers and education would help. Because I do know that a lot of teachers that left education love teaching, but many of them didn't feel like they or their work were valued.  I also know that education is for students. So to identify what the purpose of education should be, it might be worth asking  students what they need? What do they value? Jonah Zeimens: I feel like education has lost real world application in a lot of things.  This is Jonah Zeimans. Jonah was a student of mine a few years ago. He took my college level English course, and we've stayed in contact since. Jonah is currently going to college to become an Ag teacher. He was a high achieving student. He was involved with FFA at a national level. He even spoke at graduation. And with all of these accolades, he still wishes his high school experience could have been a little different.  Jonah Zeimens: I wish it was a lot more individualized. What I don't love about our school system right now is that we're so standardized and trying to get everyone to meet the same requirements every step of the way. And I can understand maybe while students are younger, the importance of that, but once folks start figuring out what they want to do with their life a little bit more, it'd be nice to have a little bit more experimentation there. I think about this a lot going, the ag education, I would have loved to have taken more ag classes while in high school.  Jonah hit on an issue many teachers talked about in frustration with standards and standardized tests. Students value individualization. With individualization comes exploration and the ability to get excited about their futures.  Teachers love fostering this work, and if we look back to the mission statements from earlier, individualized instruction meets several of their requirements. But this is not  feasible in our current approach to education. Even if teachers want to create individualized instruction, they often run into the issue of navigating standards, or having time, or managing huge classes. But what Jonah is saying is an ideal. I would get behind a purpose of education that focused on students' individual goals, and I know of a lot of teachers that would do the same.. But a few things would have to change to make this approach feasible and not burn teachers out.  Teachers would need smaller class sizes. Building in-depth individualized learning plans for 150 students isn't practical or healthy. So if we value teacher well-being and individualized learning, education needs funding for more teachers and more facilities so classes can be smaller. That would be a start to reaching a consensus on what education  is for.  I spoke with another recent graduate about the same issues. Landon Trujillo was a wrestler of mine. I coached with his dad for several years, and when Landon graduated he gave me a picture from state wrestling. Someone caught the moment when Landon melted into my chest right after he won the state championship. The picture frame says family on it. It's on my desk as I work on this podcast. Landon didn't love the structure of school.  Landon Trujillo: Um, I'm a pretty social person. So I really liked the social aspect. And just a bunch of friends there people to talk to all the time. Some things I didn't like is like, how, by the book, everything is. 90% of teachers teach the same, in my opinion. It's just work for a grade, and then get your grades and that's pretty much it. I can see why Landon thinks education is about getting a good grade. As a teacher, this is disheartening. When working towards standards is the priority, the things that foster the joy of learning feel like they get pushed aside. Grades become more valuable than experiences or individualized instruction. These are the times when I look back to that road trip class I told you about and think about how far away I am from that wonderfully structured course. From the things I value as a teacher. From being in a setting with a shared purpose - to explore and not be assholes.  If teachers do not think what they do has purpose, it will be hard to keep them in a job. Part of what gives teachers purpose is autonomy and trust and an ability to explore authentic learning experiences. Things that everyone I spoke with values. But teachers are having to prioritize things that are considered measurable. Assessments and standards are used as tools of measurement, but the things I and many teachers value are hard to measure. I could not measure the impact that roadtrip class had on students in any tangible way, but I know it had an impact. I can't measure my relationships, and if I tried, they would feel superficial. This is why some education feels superficial, because it values measurement over authenticity. And teachers are leaving this system, but our country can keep teachers if we shift our values to what teachers and students already value, which does not include high stakes testing or standardization. Next time, we will take a look at the impact standardization and high stakes testing have on the classroom, and how this impact plays a role in teachers' decisions to leave education. Chris Rothfuss: They switched to a standards oriented approach where they were targeting competency and individual standards as their evaluative structure for student success, as opposed to a grading format. And I think that's a more sophisticated and more thoughtful approach to evaluating educational needs and educational accomplishment.   That will be next time on Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Jennica Fournier. Voice Acting by Chris and Haylee Brayton, Britni Shipman, and Ben Zoller. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. Road Trip songs were performed  by the Great American Roadtrip class of 2016. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Elizabeth Smith, Juan Laden, Colby Gull, Allison Lash, Lauren Schumacker, Ron Ruckman, Jonah Zeimans, Landon Trujillo, Gary Martin, Caskey Russell, Jaye Wacker, Jennica Fournier, Shane Atkinson, Lindsey Freeman, Christy Chadwick, and Rachael Esh for taking time to sit down and chat with me. If you are interested in hearing more about Rachel Esh and her books, check out our instagram page @thosewhocantteachanymore to see a video of her.  This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship.

1966 es uno de los años más fascinantes de la música. El año del Revolver, del Blonde on Blonde, del Pet Sounds o de los primeros pasos en la música de Frank Zappa, Cream o Nancy Sinatra. Aquel año los Stones lograron su primer número 1 en EEUU con Paint It Black, a Dylan le gritaron "Judas" en Manchester. En noviembre, John Lennon conoció a Yoko Ono en una exposición en Londres.  1966 fue un año de canciones eternas con The Sound of Silent de Simon and Garfunkel, el I Feel Good de James Brown, el Sunny Afternoon de los Kinks o el Good Vibrations, pero 1966 en contra de lo que podía parecer fue el año de Frank Sinatra que se llevó un Grammy y grabó uno de sus mejores conciertos en el salón de su casa: en el Hotel Sands de Las Vegas.  En 1966 Frank Sinatra tenía 50 años, un dinosaurio en aquellos años sesenta en los que la juventud desconfiaba de cualquiera que tuviese más de 30 años. Los jóvenes se habían adueñado de las radios musicales y eran el principal comprador de discos. Poco a poco el mundo que Frank Sinatra había gobernado iba a desaparecer si no lo había hecho ya, pero Sinatra volvió a demostrar que seguía teniendo cosas que decir. El resurgir de Sinatra se plasmó en aquella velada en Las Vegas en las que volvió a formar equipo con Count Basie y su poderosa orquesta y junto a Quincy Jones, conductor de la orquesta y artífice de los arreglos.  Aquella noche en el Sands, Sinatra brilló como siempre y como casi nunca. Estuvo inmenso, suelto, juguetón, seductor, seguro de sí mismo. Con una compañía inmejorable y un repertorio imbatible, Frank fue saltando de tema en tema y ganándose la eternidad. Para recorrer esta maravillosa etapa de Sinatra y esta joya –su primer disco en directo- nos acompaña en el Sofá Sonoro nuestro experto en Sinatra, Javier Márquez, periodista y autor de Rat Pack y Uno de los vuestros. 

The most easily recognized teachers in our culture are on the big screen. So when we think about good teaching, it's almost impossible not to think of Robin William's character in Dead Poets Society standing on a desk and inspiring his students. This might be part of the problem. When teaching is associated with unrealistic Hollywood characters, it can create impractical or ridiculous assumptions about what teachers do. In this episode, we hear how the stereotypes of teachers may be contributing to teachers' decisions to leave education. Music: Theme Song By Julian Saporiti “NPC Theme” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain. “Sunny Afternoon” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain.  “Infrastructure” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a  CC BY-NC license. “Just a Blip” by Andy G. Cohen is licensed under a CC  BY license. “Room With a View” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. Movie Clips: Freedom Writers (Paramount Pictures) Dead Poets Society (Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) School of Rock (Paramount Pictures) Ferris Bueller (Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures) Transcript:  Episode 3: “What Would Robin Williams Do?” There is a picture-day-esqu photo on my parents' fridge of me sitting on my dad's lap. I am wearing a tie-dye shirt and my orange hair is in its natural state of an Eddie Munster widows peak. My dad is in a blue button down and has on a tie. My cheeks crowd my eyes, my smile is so big. My dad, who doesn't always smile for pictures, has a cheeky grin.    This picture was taken around the same time that my dad squatted down to eye-level with me and said: “When people ask you where you got your red hair, you tell them the milkman. Okay?”   He didn't make a big deal about telling me this. It was just a directive, and I said okay. I figured, yeah, that makes sense.    So as adults would come by, ruffle my hair and say things like, “Oh my, what pretty red hair. Where did you get hair like that?”   I'd look up at them, smile, and tell them, “The Milkman.”    They would guffaw, cough down a drink, blush, and I'd try to explain, “You know, because he delivers things.”    And they'd laugh out an “I'm sure he does!” and find my dad who would have a grin settled between his bouncing shoulders as he muffled a laugh, and my mom would say something like “G-uh, Darcy Joe”   Not to be heavy handed, but the stereotypes of what a milkman may or may not do when visiting people's homes is what makes the joke land. This joke was lost on me until high school. I didn't understand the baggage associated with being a milkman.   Language matters. Words like milkman have connotations - they carry weight or have stereotypes attached to them. That's why I can't flip someone off and say, “Why are you upset,this means joy to me.” There are too many representations of middle-fingers that situate the digit as a symbol of the obscene. Repetition and representation give meaning.    The middle finger or terms like milkman or teacher, carry a history of expectations and stereotypes. Last episode we heard about the historical inheritance of teachers, which is significant in how we view modern teachers. But history isn't the only thing that impacts how we view teachers. Today, we're going to look at the teacher stereotypes in pop-culture and how these stereotypes can be contributing to teacher attrition. This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 3: “What Would Robin Williams Do?” Molly Waterworth: I've gotten to the point where I see any TV show or movie where some sort of plot device hinges on the inspirational teacher. And I just roll my eyes.   This is Molly Waterworth. We heard from her last episode, and she just left education after teaching English for 8 years. She points out a stereotype of inspiring teachers in media: Molly Waterworth:I just can't.  I can't stomach it because it's so saccharin. It completely obscures the fact that these inspiring teachers that are either drawn from real life or the product of someone or someone's imagination, it completely obscures the fact that their inspirational teaching is very likely the outgrowth of massive mental health deficiencies. And like a complete imbalance of where they spend their time and where they're getting like their soul fed. Inspiring teacher stories make me feel awful.    That shouldn't be the case, right? Inspirational teacher movies should INSPIRE. And they can and they do - they inspired me - but what Molly points to is a nagging reality in many inspirational teacher stories.    Dead Poets Society Clip   As you can hear in this scene from Dead Poets Society, Mr Keeting, played by Robin Williams, pushes his student, Todd Anderson.. And in this unconventional way Mr. Keeting helps Todd start to gain some confidence and see his potential. Similar scenes occur in other famous teacher movies, like Mr Holland's Opus, or Freedom Writers.    These movies project a fantasy of heroism onto education, and people love it. Inspirational teacher movies are usually underdog stories: A  teacher rails against convention and inspires and does amazing things for others no matter the personal cost. We are attracted to this as a culture. We want heroes that are selfless. We want to see ourselves as capable of being like Robin Williams' character in Dead Poets Society.  And the way these movie teachers influence kids…man, that's the dream.  But, several if not most of the teachers in those stories that inspire don't have the healthiest work-life balance. They give everything to their students - time, energy, love, inspiration. And these movie teachers inspire in the public comments like, “We need more teachers like this” or “I wish teachers would be more like (whatever movie teacher).” But we need to ask, what is expecting teachers to fit a stereotype asking of real teachers?   Think of Freedom Writers, a movie based on the real-life Erin Gruwell, who is played by Hillary Swank. She is the epitome of the inspirational teacher stereotype. Halfway through the movie, her husband leaves her because she is spending so much time focused on her students,  Freedom Writers Clip  The film creates a feeling that the husband might be unrealistic. As an audience, we're rooting for Erin Gruwell because she does amazing things - her husband points this out. And don't get me wrong, Ms.Gruwell is phenomenal and her story is amazing, but there might be danger in presenting this story as a precedent for what good teaching looks like. Yes, she is a good teacher, but at what cost? In most other films about different careers, it's likely the main character would realize that work is taking too much and family is more important, but not in inspirational teacher movies. Expecting teachers to do what Gruwell does is expecting teachers to forfeit their own lives for students. It's expecting martyrdom. This is a stereotype.   And the reality is different. Molly Waterworth: We're not martyrs, and we're not perfect. And there are things that can be said about the profession as a whole and certainly about individual teachers that needs improvement, absolutely. But I think a lot of it maybe stems from just this sense that teachers aren't entirely human - that we are saints. And so therefore, we shouldn't worry about all of these factors that are making our jobs harder, because we have this big calling on our lives that turn us somehow into people that don't have needs. This language that surrounds teaching is significant. It feeds the stereotype of selflessness, which in turn has an impact on how teachers are treated. Right now teachers are feeling burned out because this stereotype is unrealistic - it's creating an expectation that makes teachers want to leave education.  I met up with Rachael Esh at Welcome Market Hall in Sheridan, Wyoming on the eve of her very last day as a teacher. Rachael Esh:  It's a bit of a stereotype with teachers. It's like, Oh, this has been your calling since you were this age, or since this teacher impacted you. This idea of a calling is that you don't teach for the money, you do it for the kids because it is what you were meant to do. It is your destiny or purpose. A quote unquote “calling” can create a sense of guilt in teachers when they realize, crap, I'm not getting paid enough for this, which is in contrast to the narrative surrounding  teaching like Molly points out: Molly Waterworth: People don't get into this for the money, why would they? But they're in it for the kids, and they're in it for that sense of purpose and mission. That's like, “Yeah, but I also would like to be paid.” So to have a calling is to feel like teaching is more than a job, more than a paycheck, it is a clear directive from some higher power for the direction your life should take in service of others. Rachael didn't feel like that stereotype matched her experience. Rachael Esh: And I don't feel like that's usually the case. It's more of a roundabout zigzag pattern. This surprised me. I grew up wanting to be a teacher because, as Rachael said, I had some amazing teachers leave an impact on me, but I never thought teaching was my calling. It was something that sounded cool, and it was made cooler by movies like Dead Poets Society. I wrote the movie's motto, “Carpe Diem” on all of my notebooks. And I liked reading and writing and teaching people, and teaching would give me a chance to coach. Not once did I get the sky part and shine a light on my career path. It wasn't a calling, and of the 30 teachers that I interviewed, hardly any of them felt like teaching was their calling either. For Rachael and Molly, they had different plans with where their lives were going to go. Rachael Esh: So my undergrad I actually got at Ohio University in environmental biology, and so I thought I was gonna maybe do field work or something like that. Molly Waterworth: I declared my major as geography, but I did it with the intent of being able to go into the forest service. But I found out pretty quickly that I really didn't care about any of my classes. And I found out that I was going to have to take calculus and I wasn't interested in doing that. So I kind of bounced around into various humanities areas. And both Rachael and Molly landed in education because they each had a summer experience in college that put them in front of kids. Rachael took an internship teaching environmental education and Molly went to China with a group from college and got to help kids with their conversational English. They both found their way to being educators because of positive experiences teaching kids. Rachael Esh: So I knew I either wanted to go on to park service or education after working with kids then. And so it kind of just worked out that getting my degree in education was just more accessible, and I kind of wanted to separate my fun time, which was like outdoors, from my work. So I decided to kind of go into education. And I mean, the kids are never boring. So you're like, well, heck this. This beats an office job any day of the week. And when Molly returned from China, she declared first as an elementary teacher.  Molly Waterworth: I think that when I envision myself being a teacher, I thought of myself reading with kids, and talking about literature and talking about books and big ideas and stuff like that. And so at that point, I had the very obvious revelation that I should be a secondary English teacher because that would afford me that opportunity most often. So that was kind of my meandering path into into There was no bright light for either of these teachers, no calling. Nothing so profound. Like most people, they stumbled onto their desire to do a job because they took advantage of an opportunity and realized, “Hey, this isn't bad.” And Teaching wasn't a last option for either of them. They weren't failing at other things in life, which is tied to another stereotype of teaching. If teachers aren't depicted as martyrs, they're often seen as selfish or deviant or lazy or dumb or boring, like in Ferris Bueler's Day Off. Ferris Bueller Clip And this image of teachers perpetuates the idea that teaching is a last ditch option for people that can't do anything else. This stereotype often leads to a willingness to discredit teachers as experts in their field. Not being seen as experts in their field is a major reason teachers gave for leaving teaching.  For Molly or Rachael, they became teachers by choice. They didn't need to fall back to something easier. It wasn't a School of Rock scenario, where Jack Black's character, Dewey Finn, hits rock bottom before becoming a long term sub proving that someone with no qualifications can be a better teacher than trained and dedicated teachers - a trope that we see over and over again.  In the film, Jack Black's character even draws attention to a common saying that is tied to education.  School of Rock Clip Dylan Bear is a PE teacher in Pinedale, WY. We sat at a picnic table in front of his house with a view of the Wind River Mountain Range, while we drank coffee, snacked on a loaf of banana bread he was gifted from a student, and talked about these sayings and images surrounding education.  Dylan Bear: I think another thing, we've gotten a lot of quotes, like funny quotes in the society, like, oh, teachers, they take these jobs for June, July and August. I think that's something that needs to stop.  What Dylan has noticed is the negative lens with which culture and Hollywood has viewed teachers. Like I mentioned earlier, we stereotype teachers as good or bad, the marty/savior type that saw teaching as a calling or the boring/lazy person who saw teaching as a backup plan.  But, Dylan, like Molly and Rachael, didn't see teaching as a calling. He didn't see teaching as a fall back career either. Dylan Bear: So I started off as an engineer, and those were just not my people. And I was looking more for a little more social environment, a little more high energy versus analytical, consistently, day in and day out. And so I went from engineering to math in secondary math education because I liked working with kids. And then after a few years of that three years deep, looking at all the papers all the time, I just couldn't do it, so I switched from math. I was actually sitting in Prexy's Pasture and Laramie. And the special ed teacher came and sat down next to me and she said, What are you thinking about? Instead, there was my longboard. I said, I don't know if I can do math the rest of my life. Would you rather be teaching math or out playing a field, you know, and I thought like instantly. Dylan would rather be out in a field. Teaching was a good path for Dylan - not a calling and not a last ditch option. He takes his job seriously, and he is someone that plans on teaching for some time. And when Dylan started feeling a little burned out, he moved towns and got a change of scenery, so that he could keep teaching. He isn't naive to the reality of burning out or how difficult the job is, nor is he jaded in thinking that anyone could do this job. The key word here is reality. The reality of a teacher is that teachers are human, not a stereotype. We make mistakes and we have successes and we make some profound impacts on kids and we make some mediocre impacts on kids.  Dylan Bear: Some teachers are really good, and some are really lazy. And some kids are really good, and some are really lazy. So it's like, we don't want to paint a broad brush over everybody. And I think sometimes we do an education because there's so many people in education. It's like one of the leading job forces out there. So you hear these stories that are negative about one or two teachers, and then you say all I'm doing the same with kids. I hate when people say, kids are always on their phone. It's like, no, no, some kids are on their phones. Some of them are waiting for you to talk and give them a good lesson. I think education gets those broad brushes which devalue people. And that's a dangerous world.  Dylan recognizes the need for grace and the danger of broad generalizations of any groups. He recognizes the fact that people are human, but sometimes we only get a snapshot of education, which creates these generalizations that feed into the stereotype of teachers as either good or bad. Dylan experienced this first hand when he had a student continuously refuse to take off his hat.  Dylan Bear: I was like, This is absurd. So I'm a climber, and so he was playing badminton, and I popped his hat off and ran up and jumped up the basketball hoop and climbed in the rafters and hung it from like, the highest point in the gym, like, 50 foot up. And yeah, not very smart, but it was like, I didn't think about it, but kids Snapchatted it. And all the kids came like, “Oh, we saw you but it was out that was so funny. That it's like you have to be aware of that.”  The snapchat of Dylan only includes his climb. It doesn't include the warnings he gave the student from that day and previous days. It doesn't include Dylan's positive relationship with the student and the students' family, or all of the normal/positive interactions Dylan has with his other students, or the mundane aspects of his job that he does everyday. The Snapchat lacks context, and this is how stereotypes begin and are fed. A single image becomes the representation of the whole - even if it is a fragment of the reality.   This is the kind of thing that becomes an overgeneralization - a stereotype of teachers. These stereotypes are on social media and in movies and they contribute to cultural narratives about education that are unrealistic. Some of these glimpses and snapshots might be part of what teachers expected education to be, which is misleading and could be contributing to the disillusionment leading to teachers quitting. Here's Molly again. Molly Waterworth:  I think that the image probably came from a couple of places, a selective memory of my high school and middle school classrooms. So thinking back to those good experiences that I had as a student, I was like, “Okay, I want to create that for other people.” But I also had it in my head, the the image of the cool, thoughtful, worldly literary teacher that you see in like Dead Poets Society or any number of  other movies like that - opening up doors and exploring identity and figuring out who we are all along the way.  Dead Poets Society Clip I love Dead Poets Society, and Freedom Writers, but I remember telling my wife, after our first week in real teaching jobs: “This sure as hell isn't Dead Poets Society.” I had been fooled with what teaching would actually be, and this is also an image of what the public seems to see of educators. They want the engaging classroom, the teacher that inspires, and don't we all. Or they expect the lazy, boring, slacker who got into teaching because their real goals didn't pan out. But education is more complex than a movie.  Molly Waterworth:  The crushing reality of grading was something that I hadn't quite prepared myself for. I think that I knew going into teaching, because obviously, you know, that you're going to have to grade and that's part of the job. So the grading part was overwhelming. You never see in movies, like staff meetings, or having to figure out the copier or the deeply existentially difficult process of figuring out the culture of the building in your first year. Just the kind of mundane but deeply tangible on a daily basis struggle of making sure that everything fits in your lesson plan. Like that's not glamorous. But it's, it's the part that makes or breaks you as a teacher of just balancing the day to day and making sure that you're hitting your standards and teaching the stuff that you don't care about, but you have to do anyway. Like, Robin Williams isn't gonna do that. I would love to have a b-roll version of Dead Poets Society where Robin WIlliams' character, John Keating, sits for 4 hours grading papers, intermittently standing up to stretch, get a coffee, shake his head and mumble things like, “I swear we went over that.” Molly Waterworth: You never see an inspiring teacher movie where they are tracking missing assignments. You never see them answering the onslaught of emails at the end of the semester, asking how to get my grade up. You never see that. You see the inspiring parts and that's it. Never the work that it takes to get there. So we see teachers that either act as martyrs like Keating who, don't forget, gets fired at the end of the film after a student kills himself, or we see teachers that make real teachers cringe. Molly Waterworth:  I remember watching Glee when that was out.  And it was not just unrealistic, but it was just so I thought it was insulting the way that the teachers were showing their like, as just unserious. Too involved in teenagers' lives. And, like, really, really concerned about both of those things. That I was just I couldn't do it. I couldn't put up with it.  And again, why does this matter? Why does it matter that depictions of teachers are unrealistic? It honestly wouldn't matter if these depictions didn't seep into how teachers are currently being treated. If the cultural view of education remained realistic. But this is how stereotypes work. We may recognize a stereotype as wrong or dangerous, but they can still seep into our behavior.  And they influence what parents expect from teachers, what students expect from teachers, and even what teachers expect from themselves. If teachers buy into the stereotypes, they may be striving for a sense of perfection and martyrdom that is unhealthy and unrealistic. So it's up to us, all of us, to push against these stereotypes. Like any other cultural stereotype, we need a massive cultural shift in how we think about teachers, which often starts with how we represent and talk about teachers.  Unless we become conscious of our biases or of these stereotypes, things won't change, and in the context of teaching, teachers will continue to quit.  The misconceptions surrounding teachers and education are very much influenced by what folks see on a consistent basis. This isn't to say that there haven't been realistic depictions of teachers. I love Tina Fey's character in Mean Girls. She was quirky and smart and imperfect. Her character felt more real to me, but this is an outlier in teacher representations.  Stephanie Reese: Culturally, I think the media shows teachers as “Man, they just work tirelessly.” You might recognize Stephanie's voice from last episode. I met up with her at Blacktooth Brewery in Cheyenne, she's the general manager there. Stephanie taught PE from kindergarten to college, and she left education after 8 years. She points out how some of the perceptions of education bleed into the expectations placed on teachers.  Stephanie Reese: They just love what they do so much. They love kids. They're willing to put in all these extra hours, because they just love what they do. And they're okay with that. And, and that doesn't actually give teachers a voice. And that, to me is bullshit because teachers are tired, they're exhausted, they're stressed to the max there. Some may love it. And fine. If you have that intrinsic motivation to love something without getting anything back. That's amazing. You are a superhero.  When being a teacher is associated with loving kids as Stephanie points out, does that mean that leaving education means a loss of love for the kids? Or that not wanting to put in the extra hours is because teachers don't love the kids? This rhetoric is dangerous and it isn't helpful when thinking about why teachers are leaving. When teachers decide to leave education, they often hear, “You can't, you're so good for the kids” or something to that effect. This is said in praise, but it actually ignores what teachers are dealing with and it pushes this cultural stereotype that teachers ought to be willing to give everything for the kids. The reality is, the list of what teachers do, the extra work teachers have, is tremendous and all of that work rarely makes it into films. Here's Dylan. Dylan Bear: It's funny when you asked me to do this, I looked up, like, what are the job requirements for teachers and there was like, on the, on the description, it was, like 30 bullet points. It was incredible, like, lift 50 pounds, walk 100 yards. When Does anyone do that? We think teachers are just this, like square. But it's not, it's this open ended job that you can work your tail off forever, you know, or you can do the minimum and you still get paid the same. So it's like, I think a lot of people want to know, like, here's your job, and here's what you're gonna get for it. And that's not the case in teaching.  And that list of job requirements is long and ambiguous and continuously added to. A big portion of what it means to be a teacher isn't simply “to teach” or “to inspire.” It's to manage a huge amount of expectations, which doesn't often get included into the stereotype of teachers, and if it does, it's only for a moment.  Stephanie had strong thoughts about what teachers are expected to do.  Stephanie Reese: This isn't going to be a positive one, Charles, I hope that you're not like, brace yourself, right? I'm not gonna sit here and say, oh, yeah, teachers are here to inspire teachers are here to you know, try to spark some sort of love or interest in something and help every single kid and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like all that sugar coated shit. Fine. That might be the case. But to me, and I know a lot of teachers who agree, it's babysitting. So our roles are just sit tight, do your best, try to get in something that's worth value. Or maybe try to teach his kids to be decent human beings.    The stereotype often clashes with the reality of teaching. Still many teachers try to live up to the inspiring teacher stereotype, which can be contributing to the sense of burnout lots of teachers are experiencing.  Many teachers, whether they intended to or not, have wrapped their identity around education, which is kind of a cultural expectation - they are one with the school. This can make being in public and trying to have a personal life kind of awkward especially in small towns.  Rachael Esh:Anywhere we would go. I'd be like, I can't go there. All my kids are gonna be there, you know? Or like, do you want to go bowling? No, I don't want to go bowling. So I have to talk to seven of my students online, like no, like, you know, so there's just places that I don't even want to go because I just get bombarded with children. Which is, I love them. But you know, you want to like, be away from work for a while and you're like, I've done this all day. I want adult time. It's adult time now. they'll walk by when I'm having a beer. I'm like, don't, don't you look at me.  The teacher advocating for healthy boundaries or focusing on mental health in a genuine way is not a common teacher stereotype in pop-culture. This has only started bubbling up more recently on social media with teachers and former teachers drawing attention to their struggles in the classroom. There have even been some new television shows that have started to address what teachers are struggling with. They are pushing against the stereotypes. This kind of representation can help restructure how we think about and discuss teachers.  Seeing teachers as stereotypes either creates standards so high it is absolutely unrealistic or we are creating a villain to be a scape-goat for all of our worldly problems. Both of these images are contributing to teachers leaving the profession, and both of these images are very common cultural tropes. To break free from stereotypes, we need to first recognize they are there and how they are working.  I teach about stereotypes when I teach rhetoric. One of my favorite lessons to teach is about binary opposition. We get to address stereotypes and how we, as humans, often categorize ideas and language into this or that, and how such categorization is often a logical fallacy.  Here's a quick look at how the lesson goes.  I start by asking students what a binary star system is, then draw it on the board. Binary stars are two stars that orbit each other. They rely on each other for survival. If one dies, the other dies. In this binary, one star is larger than the other, it carries more weight. Even so, if the other star dies, the larger star will also die.  How we categorize language and ideas is similar. Things are good or bad, and we often privilege one side of that opposition. And we wouldn't know good without bad. The poet Wallace Stevens wrote, “Death is the mother of Beauty,” which means, without death, we wouldn't know beauty.  At this point, a few of the students are nodding, others are usually staring, but as I move around the room, their eyes all follow me. This is when you know that you've got ‘em. Now, I move to the board again and ask the students to picture the perfect and stereotypical 1950s couple. I give a few seconds - they don't need long. Then I ask, “So, who are they?” Right away, students establish a white, able-bodied couple, made up of a man and woman. This is when I turn my back, marker ready, and say, “Okay, tell me about the woman.” They yell over each other rattling off the same image of a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman with a light color poodle skirt, wearing minimal makeup. She cooks, cleans, and takes care of children. Her only vices are gossip and the occasional cigarette. I then have the students describe the man. He's tall, has dark hair, wears a dark suit, and works in an office. His vices include drinking, smoking, fighting, and adultery.  In less than two minutes, my students always describe Don and Betty Draper perfectly. Then we continue with other opposing stereotypes under men and women. We agree that these are stereotypes as a class, but I point out that they came up with these opposing lists in about 5 minutes total. It takes that long because I can't write as fast as they yell out ideas. I tell them, even if they don't believe in these stereotypes, they are ingrained in their brains because of the culture in which we live, and if they're not careful, they might unconsciously let them dictate their behavior At this point, I pause the class and take a different colored marker and circled  qualities on both sides of the list. Then I tell the students, these are things that make up who I am. I have a lot of qualities under both men and women circled: I cry more than my wife, I am emotional, I like to cook, I'm terrible with vehicle maintenance, but I am also a woodworker, I was an industrial ironworker,  I've been in fights, I was a college wrestler. We talk about monoliths, and the reality that in a binary, most people live in the gray. We're not one or the other, and that doesn't make us less-than.  Even so, we tend to categorize ideas based on binary opposition.  Thinking back to the binary of men and women, I ask the students who is good and who is bad. Kids argue and defend, but we don't have a consensus. Then I ask who wears what on a stereotypical wedding day. Men wear black, black is associated with bad. Women wear white, which is associated with good, (which is problematic in its own right).  Inevitably one of the students says this isn't fair.  They're right - it isn't. That's the danger of binary logic, of assuming things are either good or bad. It creates an all or nothing scenario and double-standards.Binary logic is a fallacy.  Now, if we only think of teachers as either good or bad, we are forcing them into unrealistic stereotypes.  When teachers are associated with being martyrs, saints, nurturers, or people following a calling, and if all of this is seen and represented as good, then as soon as a teacher doesn't want to give their life to education or be like the teachers in the inspirational movies, then there is a cultural damnation that they must be bad or selfish or deviant or lazy or mean. It sounds ridiculous, but teachers are either leaving because the expectations for being a teacher are more than what they're willing to give, or they are seen as lazy and unintelligent. Either way, teachers are leaving as a result. As my students point out every single year, binary logic is simplistic and unfair and most things aren't simple enough to be one or the other. But, this is often how we interpret the world, it's good or bad, Democrat or Republican, wrestling or basketball. You get the idea.  So what can be done? As I said earlier, we need to first recognize that there is a stereotype and why that stereotype might be dangerous. Then, the next step would be to listen to real teachers and be able to differentiate stereotypes from reality.  The way teachers are talking about leaving education is not cinematic, it's real, and it's happening.  Unlike the stereotype, real teachers are listening to their friends and family.  Molly Waterworth: And I was talking about it with Ryan, and he was like,” Molly, you cannot keep teaching. You just can't because it ruins it ruins you emotionally.” And I'm like, Yeah, you're really right because I live for months with just dread, dread, and exhaustion. And you don't want to see anybody that you love feel that way. And it sometimes it takes that external viewpoint of like, No, this is wrecking you to to actually recognize that like, Oh, this isn't just something that I feel internally terrible about. It's obvious to other people. So this is a problem. They realize that education doesn't have to be a life sentence of martyrdom.  Rachael Esh:  I've given this job and these kids everything that I have, and I don't have anything left. And that's just the reality. And it's like, I had to pick myself over them. And it's, it's like, I love them dearly, and I care about them. But I can't put my mental health on the backburner for the rest of my life.  When people decide to become a teacher, I think everyone thinks like, oh, my gosh, you're a teacher, and you're going to be my kids teacher. And you're going to be a teacher forever. And like, that's your, that's your identity.  I've always felt like  this wasn't necessarily my forever career, like some people have. I was like, I'm gonna do this and I want to see how it goes. And the first few years, I was like, yes, like this is, this is my jam. I'm learning so much. I just started thinking I was like every year is just the same. I'm like  a permanent sixth grader, and I was like, I am not the kind of person that can stay in a job for 30 years if I don't have any room to grow in it. I just started seeing that cycle. And, when summer comes, it's like, such a huge relief. And then when you start going back to school, just the anxiety about thinking about that already. I was like, no, I would rather have a job all year that I am not going to be completely stressed out about.  What I heard teachers tell me is that they are dynamic humans, not cultural stereotypes. I feel that too. Teachers live in that liminal gray space in-between, just like everyone else. They are neither wholly good nor bad. So it would be great to see a cultural shift, teachers included,  in how we discuss teachers - it can start by framing them as complex humans rather than cultural tropes. This will include allowing teachers to voice concerns they have about the profession, so that things can be addressed and we can keep great teachers.  Now, a common cultural reaction to this last statement and to teachers airing their grievances in general, is to say that, “Well, they're just whiners.” So, if this was your reaction, it is a good time to review that lesson on binaries. If you thought the teacher sharing a concern was a whiner, then it seems like  you would prefer that teacher to remain silent. To, in essence, be a martyr. But just like binary logic, expecting teachers to be martyrs is not helpful and is based in stereotypes.  So it would be worth reflecting on our own stereotypes about teachers, and try to humanize them. They really are just humans. But if folks continue to struggle to separate real-life teachers from the stereotypical, dramatized, fictionalized, news-worthy, or social-media teachers, we'll continue to struggle with holding onto brilliant teachers who won't fit into the restrictive categorization.    Next time, we will talk about the purpose of public education. Many teachers are leaving because our country cannot reach a consensus on what public education is for and who it's for.  That will be next time on Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Tennesee Watson. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Rachael Esh, Molly Waterworth, Dylan Bear, and Stephanie Reese for taking time to sit down and chat with. This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship. With movie clips from Freedom Writers (Paramount Pictures), Dead Poets Society (Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), School of Rock (Paramount Pictures), Ferri Bueller (Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures)  

Good news! You'll have to listen to find out though. Enjoy.

Die Kinks waren immer die Band an der Seite, neben den Beatles, Stones und The Who. Geprägt durch die beiden Brüder Dave und Ray Davies, der eine als Gitarrist, der andere als Songschreiber und Texter der Band. Peter Urban analysiert im Gespräch mit Ocke Bandixen, dass die Lieder der Kinks oft raffinierter waren als die der anderen Bands, manche voller ironischer Spitzen gegen das britische Establishment, aber auch voller nostalgischer Anklänge an das Vergnügen der sogenannten einfachen Leute in vergangenen Zeiten. Eine Band, die bis heute nicht nur von Fans, sondern auch von vielen Kritikern und anderen Musikerinnen und Musikern verehrt wird. Ray Davies und sein jüngerer Bruder Dave wurden als siebtes und achtes Kind einer Arbeiterfamilie in einem Londoner Vorort groß, geprägt durch die Härte der Arbeit, aber auch den Zusammenhalt der Familie und der Liebe zur Musik, von Trinkliedern bis zum Blues, von Musicalhits bis zu Noel-Coward-Songs. Mit dem Gitarrenriff aus „You really got me“ schufen die Kinks 1965 voller Wucht die Blaupause für harte Rockmusik, später beriefen sich Heavy Metal-Bands und Punks auf diesen Song, ebenso auf den Nachfolger „All Day and all of the night“. Die Kinks lieferten ab Mitte der 60er Jahre Hits, die bis heute unvergessen sind: „Dandy“, „Dedicated Follower of Fashion“, „Sunny Afternoon“, „Days“ – überraschend, nie vorhersehbar, brillant. Zunächst sah es so aus, als würden die Kinks als Teil der sogenannten „British Invasion“ als Band auch die USA erobern. Eine unter nicht ganz geklärten Umständen zustande gekommene Sperre der US-amerikanischen Musikergewerkschaft verhinderte dies jedoch für mehrere Jahre. Erst Ende der 69er konnten die Kinks auch in Übersee auftreten. „Waterloo Sunset“ und „Lola“ wurden zu weiteren Welthits. Die zweite Folge: Ray Davies und die Kinks – Rebellen und Träumer (II), in der es u. a. um den Auftritt von Ray Davies beim Glastonbury Festival 2010 und um seinen „Waterloo Sunset“-Beitrag zur Olympia–Schlusszeremonie in London 2012 geht, findet Ihr hier ab dem 17. November Und noch ein Hinweis: Es gibt demnächst eine Sonderfolge mit Euren Fragen an Peter Urban. Schreibt gerne an urbanpop@ndr.de. Auch, wenn ihr mögt, als Audiobotschaft. Wir freuen uns auf Eure Fragen! Peters Playlist für The Kinks und Ray Davies: THE KINKS: Viele der besten frühen Kinks-Songs waren Singles, die nicht auf Alben erschienen, daher empfehlen sich diese Best-of-Compilations: The Ultimate Collection (2002) Picture Book (2008) The Essential Kinks (2014) 1964: You really got me, All day and all oft he night, Stop your sobbing 1965: Tired of waiting for you, Set me free, See my friends, A well respected man, Till the end oft he day, I go to sleep (demo) 1966: Dedicated follower of fashion, Sunny afternoon, Dandy, Dead end street 1967: Mister Pleasant, Waterloo sunset, Death of a clown (Dave Davies), Autumn almanac 1968: Days ALBEN: Face To Face (1966): Party line, Rosie won't you please come home, Session Man, Holiday in Waikiki, Most exclusive residence for sale Something Else (1967): Davis Watts, Two sisters, No return, End of the season The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968) – das gesamte Album Arthur (Ort he Decline and Fall oft he British Empire) (1969): Victoria, Yes Sir, no Sir, Shangri-La, Young and innocent days, Arthur Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) – das gesamte Album Percy (Soundtrack, 1971): God's children, The way love used tob e, Moments Muswell Hillbillies (1971) – das gesamte Album Everybody‘ in Show-Biz (1972): Sitting in my hotel, Supersonic Rocket Ship, Look al little on the sunny side, Celluloid heroes Preservation Act 1 (1973): Sweet Lady Genevieve A Soap Opera (1975): Holiday romance, Face in the crowd Sleepwalker (1977): Life on the road, Sleepwalker, Full moon Misfits (1978): Misfits, Rock'n'Roll fantasy Low Budget (1979): Low budget Give The People What They Want (1981): Destroyer, Better things State of Confusion (1983). Come dancing, Young Conservatives Word of Mouth (1984): Do it again, Good day, Living on a thin line Did Ya (EP, 1991): Did Ya Phobia (1993): Only a dream, Hatred (A Duet), Close to the wire RAY DAVIES: The Storyteller (1998) Other People‘s Life (2006): All she wrote, Is there life after breakfast?, Over my head Working Man's Café (2007): Vietnam cowboys, Working man's café See My Friends (2010): Better things (feat. B.Springsteen), Waterloo Sunset (feat. J.Browne), Tired of waiting for you (feat. Gary Lightbody) Americana (2017): Americana, Rock'n‘Roll cowboys, The great highway Our Country: Americana Act 2 (2018): Oklahoma U.S.A. (Original auf Muswell Hillbillies)

Episode one hundred and fifty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks, and the self-inflicted damage the group did to their career between 1965 and 1967. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a nineteen-minute bonus episode available, on "Excerpt From a Teenage Opera" by Keith West. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, 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/ Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many Kinks songs. I've used several resources for this and future episodes on the Kinks, most notably Ray Davies: A Complicated Life by Johnny Rogan and You Really Got Me by Nick Hasted. X-Ray by Ray Davies is a remarkable autobiography with a framing story set in a dystopian science-fiction future, while Kink by Dave Davies is more revealing but less well-written. The Anthology 1964-1971 is a great box set that covers the Kinks' Pye years, which overlap almost exactly with their period of greatest creativity. For those who don't want a full box set, this two-CD set covers all the big hits. And this is the interview with Rasa I discuss in the episode. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, this episode has some mentions of racism and homophobia, several discussions of physical violence, one mention of domestic violence, and some discussion of mental illness. I've tried to discuss these things with a reasonable amount of sensitivity, but there's a tabloid element to some of my sources which inevitably percolates through, so be warned if you find those things upsetting. One of the promises I made right at the start of this project was that I would not be doing the thing that almost all podcasts do of making huge chunks of the episodes be about myself -- if I've had to update people about something in my life that affects the podcast, I've done it in separate admin episodes, so the episodes themselves will not be taken up with stuff about me. The podcast is not about me. I am making a very slight exception in this episode, for reasons that will become clear -- there's no way for me to tell this particular story the way I need to without bringing myself into it at least a little. So I wanted to state upfront that this is a one-off thing. The podcast is not suddenly going to change. But one question that I get asked a lot -- far more than I'd expect -- is "do the people you talk about in the podcast ever get in touch with you about what you've said?" Now that has actually happened twice, both times involving people leaving comments on relatively early episodes. The first time is probably the single thing I'm proudest of achieving with this series, and it was a comment left on the episode on "Goodnight My Love" a couple of years back: [Excerpt: Jesse Belvin, "Goodnight My Love"] That comment was from Debra Frazier and read “Jesse Belvin is my Beloved Uncle, my mother's brother. I've been waiting all my life for him to be recognized in this manner. I must say the content in this podcast is 100% correct!Joann and Jesse practically raised me. Can't express how grateful I am. Just so glad someone got it right. I still miss them dearly to this day. My world was forever changed Feb. 6th 1960. I can remember him writing most of those songs right there in my grandmother's living room. I think I'm his last living closest relative, that knows everything in this podcast is true." That comment by itself would have justified me doing this whole podcast. The other such comment actually came a couple of weeks ago, and was on the episode on "Only You": [Excerpt: The Platters, "Only You"] That was a longer comment, from Gayle Schrieber, an associate of Buck Ram, and started "Well, you got some of it right. Your smart-assed sarcasm and know-it-all attitude is irritating since I Do know it all from the business side but what the heck. You did better than most people – with the exception of Marv Goldberg." Given that Marv Goldberg is the single biggest expert on 1950s vocal groups in the world, I'll take that as at least a backhanded compliment. So those are the only two people who I've talked about in the podcast who've commented, but before the podcast I had a blog, and at various times people whose work I wrote about would comment -- John Cowsill of the Cowsills still remembers a blog post where I said nice things about him fourteen years ago, for example. And there was one comment on a blog post I made four or five years ago which confirmed something I'd suspected for a while… When we left the Kinks, at the end of 1964, they had just recorded their first album. That album was not very good, but did go to number three in the UK album charts, which is a much better result than it sounds. Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon got to number one in 1960, but otherwise the only rock acts to make number one on the album charts from the start of the sixties through the end of 1967 were Elvis, Cliff Richard, the Shadows, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Monkees. In the first few years of the sixties they were interspersed with the 101 Strings, trad jazz, the soundtrack to West Side Story, and a blackface minstrel group, The George Mitchell Singers. From mid-1963 through to the end of 1967, though, literally the only things to get to number one on the album charts were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Monkees, and the soundtrack to The Sound of Music. That tiny cabal was eventually broken at the end of 1967 by Val Doonican Rocks… But Gently, and from 1968 on the top of the album charts becomes something like what we would expect today, with a whole variety of different acts, I make this point to point out two things The first is that number three on the album charts is an extremely good position for the Kinks to be in -- when they reached that point the Rolling Stones' second album had just entered at number one, and Beatles For Sale had dropped to number two after eight weeks at the top -- and the second is that for most rock artists and record labels, the album market was simply not big enough or competitive enough until 1968 for it to really matter. What did matter was the singles chart. And "You Really Got Me" had been a genuinely revolutionary hit record. According to Ray Davies it had caused particular consternation to both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, both of whom had thought they would be the first to get to number one with a dirty, distorted, R&B-influenced guitar-riff song. And so three weeks after the release of the album came the group's second single. Originally, the plan had been to release a track Ray had been working on called "Tired of Waiting", but that was a slower track, and it was decided that the best thing to do would be to try to replicate the sound of their first hit. So instead, they released "All Day And All Of The Night": [Excerpt: The Kinks, "All Day And All Of The Night"] That track was recorded by the same team as had recorded "You Really Got Me", except with Perry Ford replacing Arthur Greenslade on piano. Once again, Bobby Graham was on drums rather than Mick Avory, and when Ray Davies suggested that he might want to play a different drum pattern, Graham just asked him witheringly "Who do you think you are?" "All Day and All of the Night" went to number two -- a very impressive result for a soundalike follow-up -- and was kept off the number one spot first by "Baby Love" by the Supremes and then by "Little Red Rooster" by the Rolling Stones. The group quickly followed it up with an EP, Kinksize Session, consisting of three mediocre originals plus the group's version of "Louie Louie". By February 1965 that had hit number one on the EP charts, knocking the Rolling Stones off. Things were going as well as possible for the group. Ray and his girlfriend Rasa got married towards the end of 1964 -- they had to, as Rasa was pregnant and from a very religious Catholic family. By contrast, Dave was leading the kind of life that can only really be led by a seventeen-year-old pop star -- he moved out of the family home and in with Mick Avory after his mother caught him in bed with five women, and once out of her watchful gaze he also started having affairs with men, which was still illegal in 1964. (And which indeed would still be illegal for seventeen-year-olds until 2001). In January, they released their third hit single, "Tired of Waiting for You". The track was a ballad rather than a rocker, but still essentially another variant on the theme of "You Really Got Me" -- a song based around a few repeated phrases of lyric, and with a chorus with two major chords a tone apart. "You Really Got Me"'s chorus has the change going up: [Plays "You Really Got Me" chorus chords] While "Tired Of Waiting For You"'s chorus has the change going down: [Plays "Tired of Waiting For You" chorus chords] But it's trivially easy to switch between the two if you play them in the same key: [Demonstrates] Ray has talked about how "Tired of Waiting for You" was partly inspired by how he felt tired of waiting for the fame that the Kinks deserved, and the music was written even before "You Really Got Me". But when they went into the studio to record it, the only lyrics he had were the chorus. Once they'd recorded the backing track, he worked on the lyrics at home, before coming back into the studio to record his vocals, with Rasa adding backing vocals on the softer middle eight: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Tired of Waiting For You"] After that track was recorded, the group went on a tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. The flight out to Australia was thirty-four hours, and also required a number of stops. One stop to refuel in Moscow saw the group forced back onto the plane at gunpoint after Pete Quaife unwisely made a joke about the recently-deposed Russian Premier Nikita Khruschev. They also had a stop of a couple of days in Mumbai, where Ray was woken up by the sounds of fishermen chanting at the riverside, and enchanted by both the sound and the image. In Adelaide, Ray and Dave met up for the first time in years with their sister Rose and her husband Arthur. Ray was impressed by their comparative wealth, but disliked the slick modernity of their new suburban home. Dave became so emotional about seeing his big sister again that he talked about not leaving her house, not going to the show that night, and just staying in Australia so they could all be a family again. Rose sadly told him that he knew he couldn't do that, and he eventually agreed. But the tour wasn't all touching family reunions. They also got into a friendly rivalry with Manfred Mann, who were also on the tour and were competing with the Kinks to be the third-biggest group in the UK behind the Beatles and the Stones, and at one point both bands ended up on the same floor of the same hotel as the Stones, who were on their own Australian tour. The hotel manager came up in the night after a complaint about the noise, saw the damage that the combined partying of the three groups had caused, and barricaded them into that floor, locking the doors and the lift shafts, so that the damage could be contained to one floor. "Tired of Waiting" hit number one in the UK while the group were on tour, and it also became their biggest hit in the US, reaching number six, so on the way home they stopped off in the US for a quick promotional appearance on Hullabaloo. According to Ray's accounts, they were asked to do a dance like Freddie and the Dreamers, he and Mick decided to waltz together instead, and the cameras cut away horrified at the implied homosexuality. In fact, examining the footage shows the cameras staying on the group as Mick approaches Ray, arms extended, apparently offering to waltz, while Ray backs off nervous and confused, unsure what's going on. Meanwhile Dave and Pete on the other side of the stage are being gloriously camp with their arms around each other's shoulders. When they finally got back to the UK, they were shocked to hear this on the radio: [Excerpt: The Who, "I Can't Explain"] Ray was horrified that someone had apparently stolen the group's sound, especially when he found out it was the Who, who as the High Numbers had had a bit of a rivalry with the group. He said later "Dave thought it was us! It was produced by Shel Talmy, like we were. They used the same session singers as us, and Perry Ford played piano, like he did on ‘All Day And All Of The Night'. I felt a bit appalled by that. I think that was worse than stealing a song – they were actually stealing our whole style!” Pete Townshend later admitted as much, saying that he had deliberately demoed "I Can't Explain" to sound as much like the Kinks as possible so that Talmy would see its potential. But the Kinks were still, for the moment, doing far better than the Who. In March, shortly after returning from their foreign tour, they released their second album, Kinda Kinks. Like their first album, it was a very patchy effort, but it made number two on the charts, behind the Rolling Stones. But Ray Davies was starting to get unhappy. He was dissatisfied with everything about his life. He would talk later about looking at his wife lying in bed sleeping and thinking "What's she doing here?", and he was increasingly wondering if the celebrity pop star life was right for him, simultaneously resenting and craving the limelight, and doing things like phoning the music papers to deny rumours that he was leaving the Kinks -- rumours which didn't exist until he made those phone calls. As he thought the Who had stolen the Kinks' style, Ray decided to go in a different direction for the next Kinks single, and recorded "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy", which was apparently intended to sound like Motown, though to my ears it bears no resemblance: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy"] That only went to number nineteen -- still a hit, but a worry for a band who had had three massive hits in a row. Several of the band started to worry seriously that they were going to end up with no career at all. It didn't help that on the tour after recording that, Ray came down with pneumonia. Then Dave came down with bronchitis. Then Pete Quaife hit his head and had to be hospitalised with severe bleeding and concussion. According to Quaife, he fainted in a public toilet and hit his head on the bowl on the way down, but other band members have suggested that Quaife -- who had a reputation for telling tall stories, even in a band whose members are all known for rewriting history -- was ashamed after getting into a fight. In April they played the NME Poll-Winners' Party, on the same bill as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Moody Blues, the Searchers, Freddie And The Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, the Rockin' Berries, the Seekers, the Ivy League, Them, the Bachelors, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Twinkle, Tom Jones, Donovan, and Sounds Incorporated. Because they got there late they ended up headlining, going on after the Beatles, even though they hadn't won an award, only come second in best new group, coming far behind the Stones but just ahead of Manfred Mann and the Animals. The next single, "Set Me Free", was a conscious attempt to correct course after "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" had been less successful: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Set Me Free"] The song is once again repetitive, and once again based on a riff, structured similarly to "Tired of Waiting" but faster and more upbeat, and with a Beatles-style falsetto in the chorus. It worked -- it returned the group to the top ten -- but Ray wasn't happy at writing to order. He said in August of that year “I'm ashamed of that song. I can stand to hear and even sing most of the songs I've written, but not that one. It's built around pure idiot harmonies that have been used in a thousand songs.” More recently he's talked about how the lyric was an expression of him wanting to be set free from the constraint of having to write a hit song in the style he felt he was outgrowing. By the time the single was released, though, it looked like the group might not even be together any longer. There had always been tensions in the band. Ray and Dave had a relationship that made the Everly Brothers look like the model of family amity, and while Pete Quaife stayed out of the arguments for the most part, Mick Avory couldn't. The core of the group had always been the Davies brothers, and Quaife had known them for years, but Avory was a relative newcomer and hadn't grown up with them, and they also regarded him as a bit less intelligent than the rest of the group. He became the butt of jokes on a fairly constant basis. That would have been OK, except that Avory was also an essentially passive person, who didn't want to take sides in conflicts, while Dave Davies thought that as he and Avory were flatmates they should be on the same side, and resented when Avory didn't take his side in arguments with Ray. As Dave remembered it, the trigger came when he wanted to change the setlist and Mick didn't support him against Ray. In others' recollection, it came when the rest of the band tried to get Dave away from a party and he got violent with them. Both may be true. Either way, Dave got drunk and threw a suitcase at the back of a departing Mick, who was normally a fairly placid person but had had enough, and so he turned round, furious, grabbed Dave, got him in a headlock and just started punching, blackening both his eyes. According to some reports, Avory was so infuriated with Dave that he knocked him out, and Dave was so drunk and angry that when he came to he went for Avory again, and got knocked out again. The next day, the group were driven to their show in separate cars -- the Davies brothers in one, the rhythm section in the other -- they had separate dressing rooms, and made their entrance from separate directions. They got through the first song OK, and then Dave Davies insulted Avory's drumming, spat at him, and kicked his drums so they scattered all over the stage. At this point, a lot of the audience were still thinking this was part of the act, but Avory saw red again and picked up his hi-hat cymbal and smashed it down edge-first onto Dave's head. Everyone involved says that if his aim had been very slightly different he would have actually killed Dave. As it is, Dave collapsed, unconscious, bleeding everywhere. Ray screamed "My brother! He's killed my little brother!" and Mick, convinced he was a murderer, ran out of the theatre, still wearing his stage outfit of a hunting jacket and frilly shirt. He was running away for his life -- and that was literal, as Britain still technically had the death penalty at this point; while the last executions in Britain took place in 1964, capital punishment for murder wasn't abolished until late 1965 -- but at the same time a gang of screaming girls outside who didn't know what was going on were chasing him because he was a pop star. He managed to get back to London, where he found that the police had been looking for him but that Dave was alive and didn't want to press charges. However, he obviously couldn't go back to their shared home, and they had to cancel gigs because Dave had been hospitalised. It looked like the group were finished for good. Four days after that, Ray and Rasa's daughter Louisa was born, and shortly after that Ray was in the studio again, recording demos: [Excerpt: Ray Davies, "I Go to Sleep (demo)"] That song was part of a project that Larry Page, the group's co-manager, and Eddie Kassner, their publisher, had of making Ray's songwriting a bigger income source, and getting his songs recorded by other artists. Ray had been asked to write it for Peggy Lee, who soon recorded her own version: [Excerpt: Peggy Lee, "I Go to Sleep"] Several of the other tracks on that demo session featured Mitch Mitchell on drums. At the time, Mitchell was playing with another band that Page managed, and there seems to have been some thought of him possibly replacing Avory in the group. But instead, Larry Page cut the Gordian knot. He invited each band member to a meeting, just the two of them -- and didn't tell them that he'd scheduled all these meetings at the same time. When they got there, they found that they'd been tricked into having a full band meeting, at which point Page just talked to them about arrangements for their forthcoming American tour, and didn't let them get a word in until he'd finished. At the end he asked if they had any questions, and Mick Avory said he'd need some new cymbals because he'd broken his old ones on Dave's head. Before going on tour, the group recorded a song that Ray had written inspired by that droning chanting he'd heard in Mumbai. The song was variously titled "See My Friend" and "See My Friends" -- it has been released under both titles, and Ray seems to sing both words at different times -- and Ray told Maureen Cleave "The song is about homosexuality… It's like a football team and the way they're always kissing each other.” (We will be talking about Ray Davies' attitudes towards sexuality and gender in a future episode, but suffice to say that like much of Davies' worldview, he has a weird mixture of very progressive and very reactionary views, and he is also prone to observe behaviours in other people's private lives and make them part of his own public persona). The guitar part was recorded on a bad twelve-string guitar that fed back in the studio, creating a drone sound, which Shel Talmy picked up on and heavily compressed, creating a sound that bore more than a little resemblance to a sitar: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "See My Friend"] If that had been released at the time, it would have made the Kinks into trend-setters. Instead it was left in the can for nearly three months, and in the meantime the Yardbirds released the similar-sounding "Heart Full of Soul", making the Kinks look like bandwagon-jumpers when their own record came out, and reinforcing a paranoid belief that Ray had started to develop that his competitors were stealing his ideas. The track taking so long to come out was down to repercussions from the group's American tour, which changed the course of their whole career in ways they could not possibly have predicted. This was still the era when the musicians' unions of the US and UK had a restrictive one-in, one-out policy for musicians, and you couldn't get a visa to play in the US without the musicians' union's agreement -- and the AFM were not very keen on the British invasion, which they saw as taking jobs away from their members. There are countless stories from this period of bands like the Moody Blues getting to the US only to find that the arrangements have fallen through and they can't perform. Around this time, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders were told they weren't notable enough to get permission to play more than one gig, even though they were at number one on the charts in the US at the time. So it took a great deal of effort to get the Kinks' first US tour arranged, and they had to make a good impression. Unfortunately, while the Beatles and Stones knew how to play the game and give irreverent, cheeky answers that still left the interviewers amused and satisfied, the Kinks were just flat-out confusing and rude: [Excerpt: The Kinks Interview with Clay Cole] The whole tour went badly. They were booked into unsuitable venues, and there were a series of events like the group being booked on the same bill as the Dave Clark Five, and both groups having in their contract that they would be the headliner. Promoters started to complain about them to their management and the unions, and Ray was behaving worse and worse. By the time the tour hit LA, Ray was being truly obnoxious. According to Larry Page he refused to play one TV show because there was a Black drummer on the same show. Page said that it was not about personal prejudice -- though it's hard to see how it could not be, at least in part -- but just picking something arbitrary to complain about to show he had the power to mess things up. While shooting a spot for the show Where The Action Is, Ray got into a physical fight with one of the other cast members over nothing. What Ray didn't realise was that the person in question was a representative for AFTRA, the screen performers' union, and was already unhappy because Dave had earlier refused to join the union. Their behaviour got reported up the chain. The day after the fight was supposed to be the highlight of the tour, but Ray was missing his wife. In the mid-sixties, the Beach Boys would put on a big Summer Spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl every year, and the Kinks were due to play it, on a bill which as well as the Beach Boys also featured the Byrds, the Righteous Brothers, Dino, Desi & Billy, and Sonny and Cher. But Ray said he wasn't going on unless Rasa was there. And he didn't tell Larry Page, who was there, that. Instead, he told a journalist at the Daily Mirror in London, and the first Page heard about it was when the journalist phoned him to confirm that Ray wouldn't be playing. Now, they had already been working to try to get Rasa there for the show, because Ray had been complaining for a while. But Rasa didn't have a passport. Not only that, but she was an immigrant and her family were from Lithuania, and the US State Department weren't exactly keen on people from the Eastern Bloc flying to the US. And it was a long flight. I don't know exactly how long a flight from London to LA took then, but it takes eleven and a half hours now, and it will have been around that length. Somehow, working a miracle, Larry Page co-ordinated with his co-managers Robert Wace and Grenville Collins back in London -- difficult in itself as Wace and Collins and Page and his business partner Eddie Kassner were by now in two different factions, because Ray had been manipulating them and playing them off against each other for months. But the three of them worked together and somehow got Rasa to LA in time for Ray to go on stage. Page waited around long enough to see that Ray had got on stage at the Hollywood Bowl, then flew back to London. He had had enough of Ray's nonsense, and didn't really see any need to be there anyway, because they had a road manager, their publisher, their agent, and plenty of support staff. He felt that he was only there to be someone for Ray Davies to annoy and take his frustrations out on. And indeed, once Page flew back to the UK, Ray calmed down, though how much of that was the presence of Rasa it's hard to say. Their road manager at the time though said "If Larry wasn't there, Ray couldn't make problems because there was nobody there to make them to. He couldn't make problems for me because I just ignored them. For example, in Hawaii, the shirts got stolen. Ray said, ‘No way am I going onstage without my shirt.' So I turned around and said to him, ‘Great, don't go on!' Of course, they went on.” They did miss the gig the next night in San Francisco, with more or less the same lineup as the Hollywood Bowl show -- they'd had problems with the promoter of that show at an earlier gig in Reno, and so Ray said they weren't going to play unless they got paid in cash upfront. When the promoter refused, the group just walked on stage, waved, and walked off. But other than that, the rest of the tour went OK. What they didn't realise until later was that they had made so many enemies on that tour that it would be impossible for them to return to the US for another four years. They weren't blacklisted, as such, they just didn't get the special treatment that was necessary to make it possible for them to visit there. From that point on they would still have a few hits in the US, but nothing like the sustained massive success they had in the UK in the same period. Ray felt abandoned by Page, and started to side more and more with Wace and Collins. Page though was still trying to promote Ray's songwriting. Some of this, like the album "Kinky Music" by the Larry Page Orchestra, released during the tour, was possibly not the kind of promotion that anyone wanted, though some of it has a certain kitsch charm: [Excerpt: The Larry Page Orchestra, "All Day And All Of The Night"] Incidentally, the guitarist on that album was Jimmy Page, who had previously played rhythm guitar on a few Kinks album tracks. But other stuff that Larry Page was doing would be genuinely helpful. For example, on the tour he had become friendly with Stone and Greene, the managers who we heard about in the Buffalo Springfield episode. At this point they were managing Sonny and Cher, and when they came over to the UK, Page took the opportunity to get Cher into the studio to cut a version of Ray's "I Go to Sleep": [Excerpt: Cher, "I Go to Sleep"] Most songwriters, when told that the biggest new star of the year was cutting a cover version of one of their tracks for her next album, would be delighted. Ray Davies, on the other hand, went to the session and confronted Page, screaming about how Page was stealing his ideas. And it was Page being marginalised that caused "See My Friend" to be delayed, because while they were in the US, Page had produced the group in Gold Star Studios, recording a version of Ray's song "Ring the Bells", and Page wanted that as the next single, but the group had a contract with Shel Talmy which said he would be their producer. They couldn't release anything Talmy hadn't produced, but Page, who had control over the group's publishing with his business partner Kassner, wouldn't let them release "See My Friend". Eventually, Talmy won out, and "See My Friend" became the group's next single. It made the top ten on the Record Retailer chart, the one that's now the official UK chart cited in most sources, but only number fifteen on the NME chart which more people paid attention to at the time, and only spent a few weeks on the charts. Ray spent the summer complaining in the music papers about how the track -- "the only one I've really liked", as he said at the time -- wasn't selling as much as it deserved, and also insulting Larry Page and boasting about his own abilities, saying he was a better singer than Andy Williams and Tony Bennett. The group sacked Larry Page as their co-manager, and legal battles between Page and Kassner on one side and Collins and Wace on the other would continue for years, tying up much of the group's money. Page went on to produce a new band he was managing, making records that sounded very like the Kinks' early hits: [Excerpt: The Troggs, "Wild Thing"] The Kinks, meanwhile, decided to go in a different direction for their new EP, Kwyet Kinks, an EP of mostly softer, folk- and country-inspired songs. The most interesting thing on Kwyet Kinks was "Well-Respected Man", which saw Ray's songwriting go in a completely different direction as he started to write gentle social satires with more complex lyrics, rather than the repetitive riff-based songs he'd been doing before. That track was released as a single in the US, which didn't have much of an EP market, and made the top twenty there, despite its use of a word that in England at the time had a double meaning -- either a cigarette or a younger boy at a public school who has to be the servant of an older boy -- but in America was only used as a slur for gay people: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Well Respected Man"] The group's next album, The Kink Kontroversy, was mostly written in a single week, and is another quickie knockoff album. It had the hit single "Til the End of the Day", another attempt at getting back to their old style of riffy rockers, and one which made the top ten. It also had a rerecorded version of "Ring the Bells", the song Larry Page had wanted to release as a single: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Ring the Bells"] I'm sure that when Ray Davies heard "Ruby Tuesday" a little over a year later he didn't feel any better about the possibility that people were stealing his ideas. The Kink Kontroversy was a transitional album for the group in many ways. It was the first album to prominently feature Nicky Hopkins, who would be an integral part of the band's sound for the next three years, and the last one to feature a session drummer (Clem Cattini, rather than Avory, played on most of the tracks). From this point on there would essentially be a six-person group of studio Kinks who would make the records -- the four Kinks themselves, Rasa Davies on backing vocals, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. At the end of 1965 the group were flailing, mired in lawsuits, and had gone from being the third biggest group in the country at the start of the year to maybe the tenth or twentieth by the end of it. Something had to change. And it did with the group's next single, which in both its sound and its satirical subject matter was very much a return to the style of "Well Respected Man". "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" was inspired by anger. Ray was never a particularly sociable person, and he was not the kind to do the rounds of all the fashionable clubs like the other pop stars, including his brother, would. But he did feel a need to make some kind of effort and would occasionally host parties at his home for members of the fashionable set. But Davies didn't keep up with fashion the way they did, and some of them would mock him for the way he dressed. At one such party he got into a fistfight with someone who was making fun of his slightly flared trousers, kicked all the guests out, and then went to a typewriter and banged out a lyric mocking the guest and everyone like him: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion"] The song wasn't popular with Ray's bandmates -- Dave thought it was too soft and wimpy, while Quaife got annoyed at the time Ray spent in the studio trying to make the opening guitar part sound a bit like a ukulele. But they couldn't argue with the results -- it went to number five on the charts, their biggest success since "Tired of Waiting for You" more than a year earlier, and more importantly in some ways it became part of the culture in a way their more recent singles hadn't. "Til The End of the Day" had made the top ten, but it wasn't a record that stuck in people's minds. But "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" was so popular that Ray soon got sick of people coming up to him in the street and singing "Oh yes he is!" at him. But then, Ray was getting sick of everything. In early 1966 he had a full-scale breakdown, brought on by the flu but really just down to pure exhaustion. Friends from this time say that Ray was an introverted control freak, always neurotic and trying to get control and success, but sabotaging it as soon as he attained it so that he didn't have to deal with the public. Just before a tour of Belgium, Rasa gave him an ultimatum -- either he sought medical help or she would leave him. He picked up their phone and slammed it into her face, blacking her eye -- the only time he was ever physically violent to her, she would later emphasise -- at which point it became imperative to get medical help for his mental condition. Ray stayed at home while the rest of the band went to Belgium -- they got in a substitute rhythm player, and Dave took the lead vocals -- though the tour didn't make them any new friends. Their co-manager Grenville Collins went along and with the tact and diplomacy for which the British upper classes are renowned the world over, would say things like “I understand every bloody word you're saying but I won't speak your filthy language. De Gaulle won't speak English, why should I speak French?” At home, Ray was doing worse and worse. When some pre-recorded footage of the Kinks singing "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" came on the TV, he unplugged it and stuck it in the oven. He said later "I was completely out of my mind. I went to sleep and I woke up a week later with a beard. I don't know what happened to me. I'd run into the West End with my money stuffed in my socks, I'd tried to punch my press agent, I was chased down Denmark Street by the police, hustled into a taxi by a psychiatrist and driven off somewhere. And I didn't know. I woke up and I said, ‘What's happening? When do we leave for Belgium?' And they said, ‘Ray it's all right. You had a collapse. Don't worry. You'll get better.'” He did get better, though for a long time he found himself unable to listen to any contemporary rock music other than Bob Dylan -- electric guitars made him think of the pop world that had made him ill -- and so he spent his time listening to classical and jazz records. He didn't want to be a pop star any more, and convinced himself he could quit the band if he went out on top by writing a number one single. And so he did: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Sunny Afternoon"] Or at least, I say it's a single he wrote, but it's here that I finally get to a point I've been dancing round since the beginning of the episode. The chorus line, "In the summertime", was Rasa's suggestion, and in one of the only two interviews I've ever come across with her, for Johnny Rogan's biography of Ray, she calls the song "the only one where I wrote some words". But there's evidence, including another interview with her I'll talk about in a bit, that suggests that's not quite the case. For years, I thought it was an interesting coincidence that Ray Davies' songwriting ability follows a curve that almost precisely matches that of his relationship with Rasa. At the start, he's clearly talented -- "You Really Got Me" is a great track -- but he's an unformed writer and most of his work is pretty poor stuff. Then he marries Rasa, and his writing starts to become more interesting. Rasa starts to regularly contribute in the studio, and he becomes one of the great songwriters of his generation. For a five-year period in the mid-to-late-sixties, the period when their marriage is at its strongest, Ray writes a string of classic songs that are the equal of any catalogue in popular music. Then around 1970 Rasa stops coming to the studio, and their marriage is under strain. The records become patchier -- still plenty of classic tracks, but a lot more misses. And then in 1973, she left him, and his songwriting fell off a cliff. If you look at a typical Ray Davies concert setlist from 2017, the last time he toured, he did twenty songs, of which two were from his new album, one was the Kinks' one-off hit "Come Dancing" from 1983, and every other song was from the period when he and Rasa were married. Now, for a long time I just thought that was interesting, but likely a coincidence. After all, most rock songwriters do their most important work in their twenties, divorces have a way of messing people's mental health up, musical fashions change… there are a myriad reasons why these things could be like that. But… the circumstantial evidence just kept piling up. Ray's paranoia about people stealing his ideas meant that he became a lot more paranoid and secretive in his songwriting process, and would often not tell his bandmates the titles of the songs, the lyrics, or the vocal melody, until after they'd recorded the backing tracks -- they would record the tracks knowing the chord changes and tempo, but not what the actual song was. Increasingly he would be dictating parts to Quaife and Nicky Hopkins in the studio from the piano, telling them exactly what to play. But while Pete Quaife thought that Ray was being dictatorial in the studio and resented it, he resented something else more. As late as 1999 he was complaining about, in his words, "the silly little bint from Bradford virtually running the damn studio", telling him what to do, and feeling unable to argue back even though he regarded her as "a jumped-up groupie". Dave, on the other hand, valued Rasa's musical intuition and felt that Ray was the same. And she was apparently actually more up-to-date with the music in the charts than any of the band -- while they were out on the road, she would stay at home and listen to the radio and make note of what was charting and why. All this started to seem like a lot of circumstantial evidence that Rasa was possibly far more involved in the creation of the music than she gets credit for -- and given that she was never credited for her vocal parts on any Kinks records, was it too unbelievable that she might have contributed to the songwriting without credit? But then I found the other interview with Rasa I'm aware of, a short sidebar piece I'll link in the liner notes, and I'm going to quote that here: "Rasa, however, would sometimes take a very active role during the writing of the songs, many of which were written in the family home, even on occasion adding to the lyrics. She suggested the words “In the summertime” to ‘Sunny Afternoon', it is claimed. She now says, “I would make suggestions for a backing melody, sing along while Ray was playing the song(s) on the piano; at times I would add a lyric line or word(s). It was rewarding for me and was a major part of our life.” That was enough for me to become convinced that Rasa was a proper collaborator with Ray. I laid all this out in a blog post, being very careful how I phrased what I thought -- that while Ray Davies was probably the principal author of the songs credited to him (and to be clear, that is definitely what I think -- there's a stylistic continuity throughout his work that makes it very clear that the same man did the bulk of the work on all of it), the songs were the work of a writing partnership. As I said in that post "But even if Rasa only contributed ten percent, that seems likely to me to have been the ten percent that pulled those songs up to greatness. Even if all she did was pull Ray back from his more excessive instincts, perhaps cause him to show a little more compassion in his more satirical works (and the thing that's most notable about his post-Rasa songwriting is how much less compassionate it is), suggest a melodic line should go up instead of down at the end of a verse, that kind of thing… the cumulative effect of those sorts of suggestions can be enormous." I was just laying out my opinion, not stating anything as a certainty, though I was morally sure that Rasa deserved at least that much credit. And then Rasa commented on the post, saying "Dear Andrew. Your article was so informative and certainly not mischaracterised. Thank you for the 'history' of my input working with Ray. As I said previously, that time was magical and joyous." I think that's as close a statement as we're likely to get that the Kinks' biggest hits were actually the result of the songwriting team of Davies and Davies, and not of Ray alone, since nobody seems interested at all in a woman who sang on -- and likely co-wrote -- some of the biggest hit records of the sixties. Rasa gets mentioned in two sentences in the band's Wikipedia page, and as far as I can tell has only been interviewed twice -- an extensive interview by Johnny Rogan for his biography of Ray, in which he sadly doesn't seem to have pressed her on her songwriting contributions, and the sidebar above. I will probably continue to refer to Ray writing songs in this and the next episode on the Kinks, because I don't know for sure who wrote what, and he is the one who is legally credited as the sole writer. But… just bear that in mind. And bear it in mind whenever I or anyone else talk about the wives and girlfriends of other rock stars, because I'm sure she's not the only one. "Sunny Afternoon" knocked "Paperback Writer" off the number one spot, but by the time it did, Pete Quaife was out of the band. He'd fallen out with the Davies brothers so badly that he'd insisted on travelling separately from them, and he'd been in a car crash that had hospitalised him for six weeks. They'd quickly hired a temporary replacement, John Dalton, who had previously played with The Mark Four, the group that had evolved into The Creation. They needed him to mime for a TV appearance pretty much straight away, so they asked him "can you play a descending D minor scale?" and when he said yes he was hired -- because the opening of "Sunny Afternoon" used a trick Ray was very fond of, of holding a chord in the guitars while the bass descends in a scale, only changing chord when the notes would clash too badly, and then changing to the closest possible chord: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Sunny Afternoon"] Around this time, the group also successfully renegotiated their contract with Pye Records, with the help of a new lawyer they had been advised to get in touch with -- Allen Klein. As well as helping renegotiate their contracts, Klein also passed on a demo of one of Ray's new songs to Herman's Hermits. “Dandy” was going to be on the Kinks' next album, but the Hermits released it as a single in the US and took it into the top ten: [Excerpt: Herman's Hermits, “Dandy”] In September, Pete Quaife formally quit the band -- he hadn't played with them in months after his accident -- and the next month the album Face To Face, recorded while Quaife was still in the group, was released. Face to Face was the group's first really solid album, and much of the album was in the same vein as "Sunny Afternoon" -- satirical songs that turned on the songwriter as much as on the people they were ostensibly about. It didn't do as well as the previous albums, but did still make the top twenty on the album chart. The group continued work, recording a new single, "Dead End Street", a song which is musically very similar to "Sunny Afternoon", but is lyrically astonishingly bleak, dealing with poverty and depression rather than more normal topics for a pop song. The group produced a promotional film for it, but the film was banned by the BBC as being in bad taste, as it showed the group as undertakers. But the single happened to be released two days after the broadcast of "Cathy Come Home", the seminal drama about homelessness, which suddenly brought homelessness onto the political agenda. While "Dead End Street" wasn't technically about homelessness, it was close enough that when the TV programme Panorama did a piece on the subject, they used "Dead End Street" to soundtrack it. The song made the top five, an astonishing achievement for something so dark: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Dead End Street"] But the track also showed the next possible breach in the Kinks' hitmaking team -- when it was originally recorded, Shel Talmy had produced it, and had a French horn playing, but after he left the session, the band brought in a trombone player to replace the French horn, and rerecorded it without him. They would continue working with him for a little while, recording some of the tracks for their next album, but by the time the next single came out, Talmy would be out of the picture for good. But Pete Quaife, on the other hand, was nowhere near as out of the group as he had seemed. While he'd quit the band in September, Ray persuaded him to rejoin the band four days before "Dead End Street" came out, and John Dalton was back to working in his day job as a builder, though we'll be hearing more from him. The group put out a single in Europe, "Mr. Pleasant", a return to the style of "Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion": [Excerpt: The Kinks, “Mr. Pleasant”] That was a big hit in the Netherlands, but it wasn't released in the UK. They were working on something rather different. Ray had had the idea of writing a song called "Liverpool Sunset", about Liverpool, and about the decline of the Merseybeat bands who had been at the top of the profession when the Kinks had been starting out. But then the Beatles had released "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", and Ray hadn't wanted to release anything about Liverpool's geography and look like he had stolen from them, given his attitudes to plagiarism. He said later "I sensed that the Beatles weren't going to be around long. When they moved to London, and ended up in Knightsbridge or wherever, I was still in Muswell Hill. I was loyal to my origins. Maybe I felt when they left it was all over for Merseybeat.” So instead, he -- or he and Rasa -- came up with a song about London, and about loneliness, and about a couple, Terry and Julie -- Terry was named after his nephew Terry who lived in Australia, while Julie's name came from Julie Christie, as she was then starring in a film with a Terry, Terrence Stamp: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"] It's interesting to look at the musical inspirations for the song. Many people at the time pointed out the song's similarity to "Winchester Cathedral" by the New Vaudeville Band, which had come out six months earlier with a similar melody and was also named after a place: [Excerpt: The New Vaudeville Band, "Winchester Cathedral"] And indeed Spike Milligan had parodied that song and replaced the lyrics with something more London-centric: [Excerpt: Spike Milligan, "Tower Bridge"] But it seems likely that Ray had taken inspiration from an older piece of music. We've talked before about Ferd Grofe in several episodes -- he was the one who orchestrated the original version of "Rhapsody in Blue", who wrote the piece of music that inspired Don Everly to write "Cathy's Clown", and who wrote the first music for the Novachord, the prototype synthesiser from the 1930s. As we saw earlier, Ray was listening to a lot of classical and jazz music rather than rock at this point, and one has to wonder if, at some point during his illness the previous year, he had come across Metropolis: A Blue Fantasy, which Grofe had written for Paul Whiteman's band in 1928, very much in the style of "Rhapsody in Blue", and this section, eight and a half minutes in, in particular: [Excerpt: Paul Whiteman, "Metropolis: A Blue Fantasy" ] "Waterloo Sunset" took three weeks to record. They started out, as usual, with a backing track recorded without the rest of the group knowing anything about the song they were recording -- though the group members did contribute some ideas to the arrangement, which was unusual by this point. Pete Quaife contributed to the bass part, while Dave Davies suggested the slapback echo on the guitar: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset, Instrumental Take 2"] Only weeks later did they add the vocals. Ray had an ear infection, so rather than use headphones he sang to a playback through a speaker, which meant he had to sing more gently, giving the vocal a different tone from his normal singing style: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"] And in one of the few contributions Rasa made that has been generally acknowledged, she came up with the "Sha la la" vocals in the middle eight: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"] And the idea of having the track fade out on cascading, round-like vocals: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"] Once again the Kinks were at a turning point. A few weeks after "Waterloo Sunset" came out, the Monterey Pop Festival finally broke the Who in America -- a festival the Kinks were invited to play, but had to turn down because of their visa problems. It felt like the group were being passed by -- Ray has talked about how "Waterloo Sunset" would have been another good point for him to quit the group as he kept threatening to, or at least to stay home and just make the records, like Brian Wilson, while letting the band tour with Dave on lead vocals. He decided against it, though, as he would for decades to come. That attitude, of simultaneously wanting to be part of something and be a distanced, dispassionate observer of it, is what made "Waterloo Sunset" so special. As Ray has said, in words that seem almost to invoke the story of Moses: "it's a culmination of all my desires and hopes – it's a song about people going to a better world, but somehow I stayed where I was and became the observer in the song rather than the person who is proactive . . . I did not cross the river. They did and had a good life apparently." Ray stayed with the group, and we'll be picking up on what he and they did next in about a year's time. "Waterloo Sunset" went to number two on the charts, and has since become the most beloved song in the Kinks' whole catalogue. It's been called "the most beautiful song in the English language", and "the most beautiful song of the rock 'n' roll era", though Ray Davies, ever self-critical when he's not being self-aggrandising, thinks it could be improved upon. But most of the rest of us disagree. As the song itself says, "Waterloo Sunset's fine".

Chaque matin, toute la bande de Charles Matin vous partage ses coups de cœur et son humeur en musique. De l'info, de l'humour et de la bonne humeur… Cette année, Charles Magnien gagne une demi-heure. Avec Anaïs Castagna, ils accompagnent jusqu'à 6h30 les Français qui se lèvent tôt. Nouveautés cette saison : Arthur Asquin rejoint l'équipe de Charles Matin avec une nouvelle chronique : l'info marquante du jour à ne pas manquer ; et pour ne rien louper de l'actualité sportive, Thibaud Texeire incarnera tous les matins la Story Sport.

The post Beat Club: Sunny Afternoon appeared first on NiTfm.

Words & music by Ray Davies Scott Kuchler - vocals, guitar

This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig to reveal what's hot in summer reading, with recommendations from TLS contributors; and Henry Hitchings takes a stroll through the complex world of cryptocurrency and one of its most charismatic characters.‘The Missing Cryptoqueen' by Jamie Bartlett. Produced by Charlotte Pardy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hello to you listening in Camrose, Alberta, Canada!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Thoughts on Thursday and your host, Diane Wyzga.He's making himself known calling from across the house, standing and staring in my office doorway until I notice.My kitty is a senior fellow. Been with me some 17 years or so since I brought him home from the shelter. Someone had dumped the litter in a bin outside a convenience store. He's weathered many changes: losing his sister, moving from household to household, now age and kidney disease.    The thing about him is that he asks for what he wants when he wants it. He doesn't waste a sunny afternoon wondering what I think. He snoozes in a warm space. He's figured out how to claim his spot on the bed and the pillow so I adjust to him. No matter my mood or attitude he's there ready to hand out his personal brand of affection.Question: What if we could live as well? Would we take the chance? Would we risk it all to be so free?  You're invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, I hope you'll subscribe, share a nice shout out on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time! Remember to stop by the website, check out the Services, arrange a Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with Diane and Quarter Moon Story Arts and on Linked In.  Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present: for credit & attribution Quarter Moon Story Arts

Vicki is back for a second episode of In The Frame! Vicki is currently starring as Regina in the touring production of Rock Of Ages. Vicki's early theatre credits include the West End productions of Sunny Afternoon, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Bat Out Of Hell. She joined the West End production of SIX at the start of 2019 as an alternate, taking over as Katherine Howard nine months later. She then returned to Beautiful, this time on tour, as the alternate Carole. Vicki returned to SIX last year, reprising her performance as Katherine Howard in the musical's tour. During the 2020 lockdown, Vicki focused on her songwriting and music. She has released five singles since, all of which have dominated the Country Charts, gaining four number 1's and a number 2 as well as an EP that was number 1 in the Album Charts.  You can find Vicki's music on all major platforms and her new song FLY is released on 27th May 2022. Alongside her performing and music careers, Vicki is Artistic Director of Sharpe Academy. Rock Of Ages is booking through to May 2023. Visit www.www.rockofagesmusical.co.uk for info, tour dates and tickets. Hosted by Andrew Tomlins. @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts. Nick and June, After the Fact. A Handmaid's Tale Podcast Are you a fan of the hit HULU series, The Handmaid's Tale, who ships Nick and June? Are...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

In the wake of Storm Eunice a special fun-filled BONUS episode to listen along to as you pick up your roof slates off the lawn and extract next door's cat from the trellis! Tyler talks with actor John Dagleish, who is currently wowing audiences as the eponymous Spike in Ian Hislop & Nick Newman's new play which is enjoying packed houses at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury (on until 5th March so book soon!) As listeners to last month's Nick Newman episode will know, ‘Spike' explores Spike Milligan's often fractious relationship with the BBC during the height of his Goon Show fame. John talks about the challenge of bringing such a complex and multifaceted character to life on the stage, discovering the Goon Show as a child, learning to master a tricky musical instrument for the role, the joy of working alongside such talented fellow performers as Jeremy Lloyd, George Kemp and Margaret Cabourn-Smith, and even throws in a funny voice or two. We also discuss his Olivier Award-winning role as Kinks frontman Ray Davies in the hit show Sunny Afternoon and John draws some comparisons between playing Ray & Spike. Normal service (no pun intended) will be resumed on Wednesday with special guest Henry Normal talking about his love of the Goons, Spike and in particular Spike's poetry. Details about ‘Spike' here: https://www.watermill.org.uk/spike

Comic Brendan Cooney is cracking Sally up and she announces a new consumer advocacy adventure for which she needs a PIC. Follow sallymullins818 on IG and come see one of her gigs this week before she leaves LA.

Starting our season off strong! New segment called Mozzarella Sticks where we share something on our mind to each other.  This week Alexis talks about the housing market and Luis goes down the rabbit hole on bubbles.  Thanks for listening!Song - Benny Sings "Sunny Afternoon"

We talked so much that night we had an extra 30 mins of talking about social media bubbles and how we handle our news consumption.  Definitely worth the listen!David Pakman video we talk about - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSh6Ijx5nZA&t=254s&ab_channel=DavidPakmanShow

This week Folks, Joining @paulbutlerlennox onFni Wrapchat is a multifaceted and exciting talent Rickie O'Neill. @rickieoneill During the first months of the Pandemic, Fni established a 5 page screenwriting competition "Gimme 5". Rickies script beat dozens of other entries and received a cash prize and a Arri equipment rental package from our Sponsors over at @filmequipmentstore Rickie won Best Short and best First time Director at the Independent Shorts awards for the  Subsequent Film "Sunny Afternoon" in Los Angeles last week and has been selected for seven other international festivals around the World, including Tokyo, Chicago, New York and Toronto. Just today (10th July) his short Sunny Afternoon, was selected for the Irish Film London festival) Watch out world. Rickie O'Neill is a 30 year old musician/actor/writer/director who for the last 10 years has been touring with legendary Irish band The Saw Doctors as their full time drummer.  In 2012 he took up acting and since then has been fortunate enough to travel the world with big productions such as Once The Musical aswell as appear on tv in different shows such as as Red Rock and commercials for well known brands like McDonalds and Rockshore. He was also cast in the staged work in progress adaptation of Breakfast On Pluto which played for 2 nights in the black box theatre during the Galway International Arts Festival 2019. Breakfast On Pluto will soon make it's world premier. He is also the main voice over artist for the Electric Ireland GAA minor championships campaign which has been running since 2017.  Rickie loves to read and is an avid writer of short stories (one of which has been published in The Galway Review, titled 'Liquor, Guns & Ammo') Sunny Afternoon was written by Rickie back in 2015 with a much different ending. A few years later, Rickie revisited the script and changed it drastically. Sunny Afternoon is Rickie's directorial debut.  He is currently working on a series of mini documentaries and is hoping to release the first edition of this series (Jimmy Bricks) in the autumn of 2021. Check out our brilliant new Membership and mentor scheme on WeAreFni.com/mentors Why not join us on the 27th of August for our membership forum. We will be joined by some of the wonderful cast of Love/Hate for a retrospective chat on their experiences working on the show. (on what would have been just after what would it have been it's 10th Anniversary in 2020) Round table chats, one on one networking and YOUR Irish Film community in one spot. Reserve   https://hopin.com/events/fni-members-forum  #WeAreBuilding #WeAreEncouraging #WeAreSupporting #YouAreFni  #WeAreFni Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Jim's turn this week to add a song to the Desert Island Jukebox. If you have The Kinks original "Sunny Afternoon" single, the original release of this song is the B-side. Become a member on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/soundopinionsMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/36zIhZK Record a Voice Memo and email it to interact@soundopinions.org

Shinzo Abe, forsætisráðherra Japans, hefur sagt af sér vegna heilsubrests og arftaki hans var valinn í dag, en það er Yishihide Suga. Abe hefur setið á stól forsætisráðherra lengst allra, en hver verður arfleið hans og hvernig lítur framtíðin út? Kristín Ingvarsdóttir, lektor í japönskum fræðum við Háskóla Íslands, kom á Morgunvaktina til að ræða japönsk málefni. Enn er allt í loft upp í pólitíkinni í Bretlandi vegna áforma Johnsons forsætisráðherra og stjórnar hans um að koma í gegn lögum er varða Brexit sem stangast á við alþjóðalög. Um leið gengur hvorki né rekur í baráttunni gegn Kórónuveirunni. Sigrún Davíðsdóttir fór yfir þessi mál í Lundúnaspjalli. Hún talaði líka um bóksölu í Bretlandi og enska boltann sem tók að rúlla á ný um helgina eftir stutt hlé. Útlit Jesú Krists er umdeilt um þessar mundir. Öldum saman hefur Jesú jafnan verið sýndur á svipaðan hátt: kuflklæddur með sítt hár og skegg. Þó eru engar lýsingar á útliti Jesú að finna í ritningunni. Hvað vitum við um það hvernig Jesú kann að hafa litið út í raun og veru? Vera Illugadóttir fór yfir það. Mjög ólíklegt þykir að hann hafi litið út eins og við ímyndum okkur, hann var væntanlega ekki hávaxinn, ólíklega með skegg og ekki síðhærður. Tónlist: Waterloo sunset - the Kinks, Sunny Afternoon - the Kinks

Actor/musician Danny Horn, 31, played The Kinks' frontman Ray Davies in the West End; but it was listening to Dylan at age 14 that changed his life. Do Dylan and Davies have anything in common? Danny tells us that - in 1967/68 - “they both made love letters to versions of their own countries that never existed. And they share a mercurial way of thinking”.Despite hanging out with Ray D, Danny knows his Bobby D. The conversation ranges from analysis of songs like Abandoned Love (“he's both wounded puppy and venomous snake”) to the film I'm Not There (yes to Charlotte Gainsbourg, no to Christian Bale). All topped off with a hilarious near-death experience at The Royal Albert Hall. Join us for a funny, socially-distanced but intimate take on “the clown inside” of Bob Dylan.Danny Horn is an actor and musician, born in London in 1989. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked frequently on stage and screen since graduating in 2010. He won acclaim for his performance in the hit West End musical Sunny Afternoon, which charted the early years of The Kinks. Other stage acting work includes The Dead Dogs and The Revenger's Tragedy. Film and television work includes Emmerdale, Vera, Hetty Feather, Scar Tissue, M.I. High, Legend of the Bogeyman and Doctor Who. With his group the Shared Myths, Danny has just released his first album: Quitting Smoking.IMDbWebsiteAlbumBandcampBoy AwakeTrailerTwitterSpotify playlistListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 4th May 2020This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Actor/musician Danny Horn, 31, played The Kinks' frontman Ray Davies in the West End; but it was listening to Dylan at age 14 that changed his life. Do Dylan and Davies have anything in common? Danny tells us that - in 1967/68 - “they both made love letters to versions of their own countries that never existed. And they share a mercurial way of thinking”.Despite hanging out with Ray D, Danny knows his Bobby D. The conversation ranges from analysis of songs like Abandoned Love (“he's both wounded puppy and venomous snake”) to the film I'm Not There (yes to Charlotte Gainsbourg, no to Christian Bale). All topped off with a hilarious near-death experience at The Royal Albert Hall. Join us for a funny, socially-distanced but intimate take on “the clown inside” of Bob Dylan.Danny Horn is an actor and musician, born in London in 1989. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked frequently on stage and screen since graduating in 2010. He won acclaim for his performance in the hit West End musical Sunny Afternoon, which charted the early years of The Kinks. Other stage acting work includes The Dead Dogs and The Revenger's Tragedy. Film and television work includes Emmerdale, Vera, Hetty Feather, Scar Tissue, M.I. High, Legend of the Bogeyman and Doctor Who. With his group the Shared Myths, Danny has just released his first album: Quitting Smoking.IMDbWebsiteAlbumBandcampBoy AwakeTrailerTwitterEpisode playlist on AppleEpisode playlist on SpotifyListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 4th May 2020This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Today the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square in London was unveiled. Millicent Fawcett, the suffragist who fought for women's right to vote in the early 20th century, joins 11 male figures including Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandi. Art critic Estelle Lovatt gives her verdict on the artwork.We talk to dramatist Joe Penhall, writer of the award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon and hit play Blue/Orange, about his new work Mood Music, about a feuding singer and music producer.Theatre and show effect lighting could be seriously affected by new EU regulations intending to make lighting and other electrical goods more energy efficient. Lighting designers Paule Constable and Patrick Woodroffe explain how the entertainment industry would be affected if the new proposals, which are currently in consultation, were to be implemented. This year marks the 300 anniversary of Thomas Chippendale, arguably the greatest and certainly the most well-known furniture maker in the world. Front Row reports from the small town of Otley in Yorkshire, where Chippendale was born and started out in his trade as a cabinet maker and where celebrations are in full swing. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Edwina Pitman.