Thursday, March 29, 2007

Tonight's show: "How gay is the screen?" part 1

To coincide with this year's London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Alex Fitch interviews BFI librarian Emma Smart about whether there have been any significant developments in gay film-making and TV programme making since last year's LLGFF. Also included in the show is an interview Alex recorded last year with sci-fi writer and critic Kim Newman about the gay following that genre shows like Doctor Who and The Avengers generate...

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: The London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Last year's I'm ready for my close-up on the LLGFF
Listen to the complete one hour interview Alex recorded with Kim
The official BBC Doctor Who website

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Podcast: Black Musicians on Film

Tonight's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.3mb)

For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

Tonight's show: Black Musicians on Film

As a belated follow up to his article on the subject, Alex Fitch talks to Times journalist John Clarke about the history of Black musicians on film from 1929's Hallelujah to this year's Dreamgirls. The show also features clips from Stormy Weather (1943), Shaft (1971) and The Blues Brothers (1980)...

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: BBC article on the Dreamgirls controversy
TimesOnline articles by John on The Gospel according to Al Green and the rebirth of soul label Stax
Indiana University's Black Film Archive
UCLA article on Soundies
Optronica at the BFI

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tonight's show: Disseminating movies - "Your local video shop"

Photo of Homeview Entertainment, Brockley

On the 11th February, a large group of people gathered outside a video shop in South East London to protest about its closure and replacement by a proposed betting shop.


Alex Fitch was there to interview locals and their representatives about why the demise aroused such passion.


Interior photo of Close-up video, Brick LaneIn contrast, this is followed by an interview with both the owner and the manager of a relatively new rental place in East London that looks potentially successful in this digital age and is intended to be more than just a video shop…

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com


Links: Sue Luxton's blog about the closure of Homeview
Brockley entries at 'Transpontine' blog
List of archived versions of 'homeviewvideo.co.uk'
Close-up Film Library, Brick Lane
The economic theory of The Long Tail

Friday, March 02, 2007

Podcast: 2000AD - ...and now

Last night's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 27.2mb)

For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

In comics related news: Sparks are sure to fly when two divas of the US underground scene finally meet: Aline Kominsky Crumb will be talking about her dazzling, massive graphic memoir Need More Love with Melinda Gebbie, co-creator of Lost Girls, at the ICA on Sunday March 11th from 4pm, followed by a screening of the classic 1987 BBC Arena documentary The Confessions of Robert Crumb. An unmissable countercultural encounter! Book here...
The same day, previous I'm ready... guest, Paul Gravett's profile/interview with Aline will appear in the Sunday Review Magazine of the Independent... Find more info at www.paulgravett.com

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Tonight's show: 2000AD: ...and now

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the venerable British periodical 2000AD, Duncan Nott and Alex Fitch present the second of two programmes about the popular comic book anthology. Tonight's guest is Matt Smith, the current editor who talks about the present and future of the comic...

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: 2000AD Online
Wikipedia pages on 2000AD and Matt Smith
Stream audio adventures of Strontium Dog and Judge Dredd from bbc.co.uk
Buy Strontium Dog: Down to Earth from Big Finish Productions