No Off Switch by Andy Kershaw

[Hugh Weldon]

For those who are wondering what this is all about...

The divine Ayesha


liftoff by agustin_77_uk, on Flickr

Tried to copy Fred & Ollie for your Californian friends Adam but wouldn't work. Damn. Though if anyone has any pictures of the Sooty bit players (Butch the dog, Kipper the bedraggled cat and Ramsbottom the snake) I'd be very interested. Or the Sooty-Braden showband in action.

Did Ayesha make any more records I wonder. She always used to do a song on the show I recall.

Bizarre thread drift this one. I don't think Kershaw would have got this, he struck me as a bit humourless as well.

[gary booth]

Bizarre thread drift this one. I don't think Kershaw would have got this, he struck me as a bit humourless as well.

Maybe all those years with Christopher Trace & Valerie Singleton finally wore him down?

[judith]

Bizarre thread drift this one. I don't think Kershaw would have got this, he struck me as a bit humourless as well.

If it's a drift, I certainly don't mind. I've found it absolutely fascinating. The different viewpoints, writing styles, comments, introductions. (Being humorless - was that ever considered a tragic flaw (hamartia)? I can't remember. In my mind, it should have been, it often accompanies arrogance, or selective self serving ignorance, for example.)

[Hugh Weldon]

Gary

Maybe all those years with Christopher Trace & Valerie Singleton finally wore him down?

He does admit John Noakes as one of his heroes actually.

Maybe I should push the drift along and tell you my John Noakes story. Nah, save it for the autobiography...

[AndyM]

Tried to copy Fred & Ollie for your Californian friends Adam but wouldn't work. Damn. Though if anyone has any pictures of the Sooty bit players (Butch the dog, Kipper the bedraggled cat and Ramsbottom the snake) I'd be very interested. Or the Sooty-Braden showband in action.

Oh GOD those Sooty support cast were simply epic, especially Ramsbottom - a professional Northener and a snake. What drugs were they all ON ??/

(I am on a very tasty Coteaux de Languedoc blanc and life is good, if woozy.)

[Adam Blake]

Nice to see you having fun, Andy.

Roy Wood people know how brilliant he was, and you'll be pleased to hear that some of them are very young! (Some students and former students of mine - hem-hem)

[AndyM]

Maybe I should push the drift along and tell you my John Noakes story. Nah, save it for the autobiography...

Sneak previews welcome.

[Janet M]

I was given a copy of No Off Switch and saved it for when I was recently stuck in an NHS Minibreak. Yes AK is a phenomenal pain in the fundament, and his constant self-aggrandisement got me grinding my teeth but I am grateful to him on 2 counts:
1. Utru Horas was on his Great Moments of Vinyl History album - I was hooked when a friend played this for me, I made her play it over and over again never before having heard anything quite so arresting. When my husband went to Senegal to work in 1992 I made him scour the shops and markets for anything by Orchestre Baobab - he came home with a pirated tape that essentially was Pirates Choice.
2. Once home from hospital I was motivated to dig out the cassette (remember them) that I made when the Bundu Boys performance at the Mean Fiddler was broadcast on the Beeb - this lovely lively music was a revelation and the track given below was the only way I could get my daughter to sleep when she was a very poorly baby. I would hold her in my arms and sway to this, the world's best lullaby for her improbable though it sounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg-b19S-pUo

I bought a cassette of True Jit and was everso disappointed