Season 425: The Idiot Box

I seem to remember that game show CJ. 3 2 1 was that the one with Dusty Bin as a charecter ? Saturday or Sunday evening viewing. Great to see a banjo uke out to play !!

Yes it was. A truly astonishing piece of televisual nonsense...Dusty Bin was the booby prize . It only popped into my head when I did the hand gesture in an impromptu way of opening this season vid.Now I'm stuck with 3-2-1 in my brain..:mad::mad::nana::smileybounce:
 
Between The Lines was a very popular BBC series from the early 90s about the police’s Complaints Investigation Bureau - a police department investigating corruption within its own ranks. One of my favourite ever TV series, with a brilliant cast and storylines. One of my few (pretty tenuous) claims to fame is that my Mum knew the mother of one of its writers (Rob Heyland).

The intro music was fab too - hope I’ve done it justice here. I’ve been a little adventurous and actually picked the main melody on my electric Stagg uke - I’ve never been so high up the fretboard! :)

 
A favourite of both myself and Alan Partridge, here's Denis King's (no relation...) iconic, Ivor Novello Award winning theme tune from the TV show Black Beauty (1973).
This features my first and, judging by the result, last foray into the world of 'mouth trumpet'!
Sorry, Denis...at least it's mercifully short.

 
Oh...here he goes. When we saw that they were singing to each other in Italy, Mel and I started playing songs for folks on Instagram. Seemed to make people smile so we put them on Facebook as well, and when we did “I Spite Of Ourselves” well...it kinda blew up.
The day John Prine passed away, we also lost a dear friend, whose family is like a second to us. Last night we all convened in the street in front of his house to honor his memory in what is surely
going to be the new normal. We broke the law but remained socially distant...and raised a few for
The man.
When we got home, we realized we had not played an aria from the balcony in a few days (just sad and uninspired), but also that we had some unfinished business. It was time to get back in the game, and start playing again.
This is us, exhausted, learning this song for the first time...no practice, just play. JP did not write this, but if Prine is playing a cover- it’s a hell of a song right? I think we did all right with it.
 
Right then - throwing ourselves on the merciful kindness and tolerance of our honourable hostliness Andy with this one. Allow me to explain:

Last week I wrote an instrumental piece on keyboards using mainly orchestral sounds and posted it on the ‘other instruments’ sub-forum. One of the comments it received suggested that it sounded like the theme tune for a spy film. So when I saw the theme for this week I asked Kev (Mezcalero) if he might add some of his uke magic, which he did (thanks again Kev!). So here we have a ready-made theme tune for the next TV spy series to be made - whenever and whatever that may be!

Obviously entirely up to Andy whether this can be included as a valid entry and happy to accept his judgement without question. :)



Super Duper Lads !!
 
Detectorists was a word of mouth success for the BBC. I loved it. Hard to describe why it was so wonderful, it just was :)
Sorry it’s a bit dark, I meant to do it in a subdued light but.....
 
Quick one from the host. There were also a couple of contributions over on Discord that weren’t put here. I’ve added those to the playlist too.

 
I had to think a while, but I thought I remembered “Greensleeves” at the end of “Lassie” episodes. Turns out it was only for about three seasons of the show, but it seems like that qualifies!

 
Some great covers of John Prine’s songs earlier this week, but they seem to have shaded to the serious side. Here’s one that highlights what I think was a wicked sense of humor. Thanks for all the music Mr. Prine.

 
Now the Sesame Street theme. But surprise, not as you may expect: The German theme is totally different.

Sesame Street came in 1969 from the USA. Public German TV did send first test clips (originals) from 1971 on. From Jan 1973 on they adapted for Germany, e.g. synchronization. Also an own theme was created, here from the first clip Jan, 08. 1973: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wk2Q3emUq8&t=0m19s
Over the decades more and more adaptions have been done.

 
It is past midnight Hawaii time, but I thought I would slip this unofficial one in here for anyone interested in this song, TVC-15 by David Bowie. I did it four years ago, long before I was a Seasonista. It is a pretty funny song about Iggy Pop's girlfriend getting swallowed up by a demonic television set. Don't sit too close to the screen, folks!

 
The 425th Season of the Ukulele is officially in the books. Thanks everyone for a wonderful week filled with new versions of familiar little ear worms. And thanks to everyone who also found time to squeeze in a John Prine song in tribute. I'll be back later in the week with some sort of wrap up.
 
It’s been a great week Andy - I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks so much! :)
 
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