Canto 1 The first episode in a series of talks bringing to life Dante’s Inferno, that great journey through Hell and all he sees there. We begin with Dante lost in a dark wood, and explore what it means to be lost, to lose control, to be stuck in the middle of things, and we get introduced to Virgil, who will guide Dante (and us) down through the nine circles of Hell.
Canto 2 Dante pulls back from the journey into Hell, thinking he’s not qualified to survive such an enterprise, but Virgil tells him of the three saintly ladies whose concern for him provides all the qualifications he needs. And we examine the way we can shift from cowardice to courage.
Canto 3.1 In Canto 3 we encounter the hard words written over the Gate of Hell, and then enter into the Infernal Regions. First Dante encounters those souls who never made any choices in life, just following what drew them along, and now we see them doing this in an exaggerated and gruesome way. And we come to the River Acheron, where the newly dead souls wait to be transported over the river where they will then fall down through the levels of Hell into their final place of torment. The discussion of this canto is continued in the second part of this episode.
Canto 3.2 We continue the discussion of Dante’s first encounters in Hell: the puny souls blindly rushing behind a nameless flag, representing most of the people who have ever lived, who have done nothing with their lives; and the fearful souls waiting to be ferried across the river. And why does Dante faint at the end of the canto?
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Vintage Neil Henry interview, performance galore. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio0
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We attend to different aspects of performing. Is it hiding your true self, or revealing something deeper in you? A disguise or an expression? You are invited to attend. [First performed on Cambridge 105 Radio]
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After a tribute to the late Geater with the Heater, we offer a Smokey Valentine, with a selection of love songs from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.
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We attend to the story of Rumpelstiltskin, which, like many other fairy tales, depicts a young woman coming of age. Here she discovers her inner gold, and the power of a name. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
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We attend to the theme of “Erotic Gifts”, defining “erotic” in the words of Lewis Hyde as “the principle of attraction, union, involvement which binds together”. Words and music, as usual, from a variety of sources. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
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We go into the new year with one of the most requested shows from the archives, when Neil Henry and Andrew Ab came into the Cambridge 105 Radio studios for a back-and-forth play of music and discussion/reminiscence/jokes, featuring music from Professor Longhair, The Youngbloods, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Afroman, Junior Gorg, Ricky Ranking, The Pincus Sisters, The Who, Danny Kaye, Dr Hook, The Kinks – and Robert Burns to end with. You are invited to attend this hodge-podge of items.
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We attend to different kinds of gifts and giving, in the spirit of what Lewis Hyde calls “the erotic life of property”. You are invited to attend.
[First heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi, an engagement with the weather-beaten, unadorned, melancholy, deeply satisfying aspects of life and art. You are invited to attend.
[An uncut version of the show heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
We attend to dreams – daydreams, and the “dream landscape of curiously fluid and ambiguous forms”, drug-induced, or as inspiration, or as alienation and absurdity. Kinks, Robyn Hitchcock, Solomon Burke, De Quincey, RLS, Dylan. You are invited to attend.
[As heard on Cambridge 105 Radio]
