Contributions to Wavelength with William English on Resonance Radio
31/05/2020Programmes that I have made and which have appeared on Wavelength can be listened to by going to williamenglish.com choosing Wavelength then Yearly Archives followed by the particular year, date and title of the programme.
2016 22nd January
Sunday in the Park with George
DJ Hybridist aka Sandra Cross introduces a selection of tracks from Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sunday in the Park with George” featuring the remarkable voice of Mandy Patinkin, (co-star of “Homeland”). The musical is based on the painting by Georges Seurat “Sunday on La Grande Jatte” (1884).
2015 23rd January
Finishing the Hat
DJ Hybridist, aka Sandra Cross presents the first in a series on the lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim. Starting with West Side Story, this week’s programme traces the beginnings of Sondheim’s career, the huge influence of two major figures: his mentor and surrogate father, Oscar Hammerstein 11 and Milton Babbitt, who taught him composition.
2015 6th February
Company
DJ Hybridist aka Sandra Cross presents the second of a series around Stephen Sondheim, this week focussing on the play Company. First seen on TV with the screening of the Donmar’s 1995 production directed by Sam Mendes and starring Adrian Lester as the lead character, Bobby, DJ was captivated by the final scene in which Lester dances like Gene Kelly and sings the life-affirming, ‘Being Alive’. This led back to the original 1970 Broadway cast recording and the film of this by the documentarian D.A. Pennebaker in which the iconic Elaine Stritch sings ‘Ladies who Lunch’ with biting scorn and contempt. This is set against the discovery of Pamela Myers who delivers a coruscating ‘Another 100 People’ a song describing the near impossibility of finding a mate in the metropolis. In his book ‘Finishing the Hat’ Sondheim describes how he came across this quote by Chekhov: ‘If you’re afraid of loneliness, don’t marry.’ ‘Luckily’, says Sondheim, ‘I didn’t come across that quote ’til long after Company had been produced. Chekhov said in seven words what it took George (Furth, the writer of the book Company) and me two years and two and a half hours to say less profoundly. If I’d read that sentence, I’m not sure we would have dared to write the show, and we might have been denied the exhilarating experience of what he said, for ourselves.’
2015 13 February
Love is on the air
Friday 13th, pre-Valentine’s Day, Fund-Raising mix including Gertrude Stein, Boz Scaggs, Gil Scott-Heron and other tracks selected by Sandra Cross and myself. Repeated on Sunday at 9am as usual, the morning after the night before.
2014 14 February
DJ Hybridist…
…plays germane tracks for Valentine’s Day played against a backdrop of rising water and raising funds. Includes Boz Scaggs and Lisa Frazier, Blue Nile, Laura Nyro, The Elgins, June Tabor, Joan Osborne, Paul Buchanan and Chaka Khan.
2014 7th March
Maurice Seddon and Pussy Riot.
Our long time contributor and friend of 30 years; Captain Maurice Seddon (Royal Signals retired) died on Wednesday March 5th. Today’s programme starts with a brief exchange of memories with Sandra Cross followed by the original agenda for today’s programme: International Women’s Day (Saturday 8th March) featuring Pussy Riot and related tracks. A more extended tribute to Maurice will follow. Anyone wishing to attend his funeral (date yet to be decided) can contact me via the email address below.
2014 18th July
Home Care
Sandra Cross aka DJ Hybridist in the studio to present her sound work: Home Care.
2014 19th Stepmber
Laura Nyro 1
DJ Hybridist introduces part one of a series devoted to singer/songwriter Laura Nyro
2014 7th November
Angel in the Dark
Sandra Cross also known as DJ Hybridist concludes her three part eulogy to singer/songwriter Laura Nyro.
2011 24th June
The MMs Bar Recordings.
Artist Sandra Cross in conversation with Jonny Trunk about the MMs Bar Recordings: Making weekly rail trips between London and Leicester, Cross taped hundreds of buffet announcements, editing them into this 30-minute piece. Focusing on the small, usually unvarying list of fare generates a maddeningly mundane musicality. Seven minutes in, the unprecedented unavailability of hot drinks seems catastrophic. Different announcements, with vastly different emphasis and emotional resonances, can sound indefatigably enthusiastic about the Quavers/water combos, or audibly defeated. Marking the announcements as individual tracks might have offered infinite random variations, but it is fitting that we endure this album as the artist intended. (Stewart Lee review; Sunday Times Culture Section 17.07.11).
2008 26 September
26thSEP 2008
Sandra Cross; MM’s Bar
Recordings by Sandra Cross over one year (2006) as part of her ongoing project “What did you eat today?” The recordings were made on the train between Leicester and London, featuring announcements about the MM’s Bar (Midland Mainline refreshments bar).