Sunday Xpress: In Isolation Mode 2
Live in Youtube Sunday, August 2nd, 5pm. Then streaming thereafter.
This Sunday sees the return of Sunday Xpress in Isolation Mode on a screen near you. A prerecorded compendium of the types of artists normally gracing the stage of the Sunday Xpress live shows which until the lockdown were hosted at Centrala in Birmingham and compered by the incredible poet, Brendan Higgins.
Brendan is still your compere. And surely a shoe in for the Midlands Today anchor spot when Nick Owen steps aside.
Sunday Xpress in Isolation Mode is an imposition of course, Sunday afternoon was always and always should be reserved for Star Soccer and Bullseye. Two of the greatest game shows ever seen. I'm waiting, ITV. But failing that and what with the liberalization of shops opening for a while an all, Sunday pretty much has become a free for all. And now you can even get a drink in Wales. Boris Johnson shut down the churches and other live shows. But couldn't powerless to do anything about Tesco. Tesco, you know that company that has possibly contributed more than any in the last 30 years to the death of the High street, now actively campaigning to add an internet sales tax as a means of saving the High Street. Go figure. Every little bit helps Tesco. And the rest.
But if you can get over your natural resistance to doing anything at all on a Sunday afternoon. Switch on Youtube on your TV to the Centrala channel and this weekend James Kennedy delivers Sunday Xpress in Isolation Mode on film, the second instalment. There are antecedents, think say, the Rolling Stones' Rock'n' Roll Circus, in Paradise Circus. James' show is powered by submissions of short film, opera, poetry and double A sides from the best of the West Midlands underground.
Confident of the success of Isolation Mode 2, as are we, James has already put the call out for Isolation Mode 3. Performances from bedrooms, sheds, gardens, front and back rooms, wherever as long as you’re social-isolating – sticking to that Sunday Xpress freedom of expression and diverse programming ethos that we’ve all grown to love over the years. "And it doesn’t have to be something new," James says, "you can send existing material, promo videos, short films, anything. They will be compiled into a suitable running order, and compered by the wonderful Brendan Higgins, pre-recorded from his sitting room in Yardley."
Sunday Xpress: In Isolation Mode 2
Live in Youtube Sunday, August 2nd, 5pm. Then streaming thereafter.
Running order:
Balaban and the Bald Illegals - Pathological
Grand Valise – Glisk
Napier Passey – If
Ben Love – Human Nature
Sleuth – We Are Books
Sarbjit Cheema – Yaari (produced and directed by Stickleback Productions)
Richard Bruce Clay - from his forthcoming novel 'The Croviss Girls.’
Alisha Kadir - live set
David Brinkworth and the Pit - A Bit of Tweed
Al Hutchins - Full-Grown
Mike Bethel – Power
Rainbow Skull – Sons and Daughters
Karen Swan - live set
The Psychotic Male Voice Choir – Profanitor’s Delight
Steve Ison – The Wheels of Her
Matthew Philip Hale – Let’s Move On (from ‘Thematic Roundabout’)
Ancient Champion – Sunset Conversation: Early in the AM.
Jack Arkell – Poetry (live from South Korea)
Chain of Dissent – live in Bristol
Lizzy Piffany – First Aid Kit cover
Graziani and de Visser (UK Soprano) – Ave Maria
Robert Horrocks – Double A’Side – For Fans of MC5
Sad Man – Daddy Biscuits
Kate Arnold – For Barely One in a Thousand (The Practice of Lights)
The Courtesy Group – When Closed (lockdown mix)
Tim Holehouse - Friends
Giant Elf Fist – The Time of Old
Lost Wave Music – Listening to Balaban
