International Coffee Day

Caffeinated songs are sprinkled like coffee granules through the frothy milk of this International Coffee Day programme. This Day also saw the sausagey-sounding Battle of Salamis. Just how do you design an aspect of everyday urban life? Jarvis interviews the audio designers who are creating a new sound for electric cars. We check out the Bright Phoebus Revisited project. Richard Hawley reads a story, The Crimson Kite by Michael Ward, musically accompanied by I Monster. Jarvis shares a devilish recipe for tiramisu. And has this drummer drunk too much coffee? Birthdays: Michelangelo Antonioni, Caravaggio, Brett Anderson (on striving to sing Suede songs), Alan McGee (iPhones are 'technological psychedelia'), Billy Butlin (archive ads and a redcoat in action), Sebastian Coe (running as a vocation), Gilles Peterson yesterday (considering his name), Mike Post, Jean-Luc Ponty, László Bíró, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian McShane (on baddies) and Scout Niblett.

Autumn Equinox

It's the autumnal equinox, and as the nights begin to lengthen, we hear music and facts to do with darkness. Jarvis hopes that on dark Sunday afternoons, we will all stay in and cosy up by the radio — although ideally not playing sudoku... This day in history was significant for the founding of Mormonism; also On This Day, the UK television channel ITV launched. Arthur Lowe narrates another Mr Men story, the tale of trembling Mr Jelly. Jarvis teaches us how to bake scones, in a musical tribute to The Great British Bake-Off. Today is International Car-Free Day; and the listeners are asked which songs make us feel autumnal. Birthdays: Toni Basil, Joan Jett, Nick Cave (with clips from his Sunday Service interview), Tony Drago, Chesney Hawkes, Gideon Coe, Arthur Lowe, Fred and Richard Fairbrass, and Sue Perkins (remembering coming out).

Happy Birthday, Jarvis!

From the JCSS Archive  x

The Maudlin Megamix

With a major birthday approaching, Jarvis muses over the autumnal change in the air. He asks listeners about our must-have music for birthdays. The BBC's Sound of Cinema season gets a mention, and On This Day, Lehman Brothers imploded. We wonder whether the unearthly beauty of the glass harmonica ever really sent anyone mad. Then it's time for a 50th birthday Maudlin Megamix, during which Jarvis reads the story Forever Overhead by David Foster Wallace, about an adolescent boy taking his first tentative dive into the unknown. Today in history, Winston Churchill reminds us, was the climax of the Battle of Britain. And we cheer ourselves up with this video. This week's recipe: pizza. Birthdays: Oliver Stone (arguing that we are addicted to greed), Ben Wallers, Cannonball Adderley, Bruno Hoffmann, Sophie Dahl (on why she loves cooking) and Jimmy Carr (with a quick quip).

BOB LIND

Jarvis returns to Paris and instructs us in the French tradition of 'à la rentrée'. On This Day, Michelangelo's David statue was unveiled, but how did the V&A make their plaster cast decent? Jarvis's guest is folk-rock musician Bob Lind. They debate the differences between poetry and lyrics. Bob remembers his relationship with Charles Bukowski. They discuss songwriting and Bob says he prefers performing live to recording — he explains why he's returned to recording after a break of 40 years. Also On This Day, Star Trek first aired and sticky tape went on sale. This week's recipe is for meatballs. Birthdays: Aimee Mann (on writing sad songs), Peter Sellers (performing a sketch), Harry Secombe (with a classic Goon Show gag), Benjamin Orr, Neko Case, Jimmie Rodgers, Patsy Cline, Asha Bhosle, Alfred Jarry, Siegfried Sassoon (a reading of his poem Attack), Martin Freeman (on his career choice) and Peter Maxwell Davies.

September 1, 2013

Jarvis returns with tales of his summer adventures! Including surviving the absolutely boiling weather; the Venice Biennale; the Big Melt in Sheffield; the End of the Road Festival; a Beck-inspired concert at the Barbican; the Despacio project in Manchester; the Rory McEwen exhibition at Kew; and at a lakeside cocktail bar, an entertainer making a surprising song choice. Today in history, World War II began — Stephen Fry recites WH Auden's poem about that day — Martha the last Passenger Pigeon died, the Cod Wars started, and Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was published. Plus, what could replace The A-Z of Peel: perhaps recipes for Sunday lunch? Birthdays: Edgar Rice Burroughs (we learn Tarzan's language), AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (founder of Krishna Consciousness), Johann Pachelbel, Violet Carson (in character as Ena Sharples), Barry Gibb (recalling the Saturday Night Fever premiere), Bruce Foxton (on lyric-writing), Gloria Estefan and Armi Aavikko (video).