We attend to a long, exciting, comic, nasty episode in the Inferno, the place where Dante finds himself in greatest danger. He is in the area of public corruption, where both the damned souls and the demons tormenting them are out only for themselves, and their own cruel satisfactions. And we have some good commentary and good music to go along with this. You are invited to attend and see how Dante’s depiction might shed light on the public corruption around us. [First heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
Continuing with Dante, and the twisted, thrawn magicians, sorcerers, soothsayers in Hell. What’s wrong with them? Where do we find them in our world today? You are invited to attend. [First heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to Dante and Virgil denied entrance to the Gate of Inner Hell, and to what then ensures. You are invited to attend.
[As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to Canto 7 of Dante’s Inferno, featuring a variety of topics, all related to each other, and to us and our lives, if we’re alert. You are invited to attend. [First heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We revisit Dante’s Inferno, looking at Canto 3, which features the forbidding words at the Entrance, and the mass of unlived lives just following what they’re told to follow, and the chattering crowd waiting to cross over into Hell itself. Come along; it’s not quite as dreadful as you might think – not for us, at least. [As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to Ehud, whose story is tucked away in a few verses in the Book of Judges – a trickster hero. And a modern fairy tale where the nasty pseudo-trickster gets his come-uppance. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to a fable about a distinguished stranger visiting from a neighbouring planet, then move to Mose Allison, and Whitman, and Bernstein, and Alexander Pope, then the Kinks, and the late Bobby Rydell, Chuck Berry, Al Green, Leonard Cohen. With lots in between, including three appearances from Neil Henry. You are invited to attend. [A slightly longer version than was first heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to crabby old people criticising the young, the young rebelling against crabbed age, age not crabby reaching out to youth in one way or another, being rejected, accepted and, in the end “because of a few songs, wherein I spoke of their mystery, women have been exceptionally kind to my old agee”. You are invited to attend.
[As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
Light verse and wry fable by Robert Louis Stevenson, from the newly published book Aesop in the Fog (see https://www.thelamplightpress.com/aesop), and assorted songs on yellow and various true and false healings. [First heard (a little abridged) on Cambridge 105 Radio]
Attending to John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman. Some fine, and pertinent writing to discuss here. You are invited to attend.
