The Sunday Afternoon Show

 Talking about Henry James last week, my friend said he accepted that James was a fine prose writer but that he had not been involved enough with the novel he had once read and abandoned it two thrirds of the way through. I had reached a similar assessment with A Portrait of a Lady but then, just in time, Isabel's marriage to Osmond makes for some comparison with Dorothea Brooke's marriage to Casaubon and I persevered, enjoying it well enough.

I'm never quite sure with those rare women that infatuate such legions of men if they are as perfect as they seem, whether their glamour somehow make them the architects of their own unhappiness or if men should beware of becoming quite so cravenly devoted. It seems to me wrong to make it entirely the fault of the woman in the tradition that goes back all the way to Adam and Eve and maybe there are no generalisations to be had.

Henry James wasn't quite what I was expecting. A bit Jane Austen, a bit George Eliot and certainly a pleasure to read simply for the sentences. I won't be rushing to take on the rest of the oeuvre immediately but they'll be there whenever I feel like another one.

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Cheltenham has to be regarded as a success for the Wiseguy but not half as much of one as it looked like it might be building to. From the 7 horses mixed together in all sorts of trebles and combinations, 4 out of the first 5 won but in the end I had no trebles completed, which is unlucky. I was thus glad of the compensation from Billaway's miraculous snatching of victory after an unpromising trip round in the Hunter Chase, which can be seen from 28.30 onwards here,

But however much one knows from experience that ante-post and long term investments aren't a good idea, one still has a go. I'd have been better off waiting until the day of the race. But coming out ahead and extending the year's profit, as well as the thrills that were had, is the point and the bookies, most of them, will still be in business and so not everybody got in and out again intact.

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A Perect Day of Pop Radio continues to be compiled with some debate on Thursday about what constitutes 'rock' music after my opinion that I didn't like much of the loud guitar music marketed to appeal to the emerging sense of machismo in teenage boys and so would include such things as the Mavericks because I don't like Black Sabbath or Metallica. I'm afraid these categories can be more of a hindrance than a help but it's my playlist and I'll do what I like, continuing to wonder if the Buzzcocks, Sugar Ray and Racing Cars are worthy of places of if I can remember things I liked better.

There's no such problem with The Soul Show which I could fill twice over, if only we all agreed some of these were 'soul'.

 

The Soul Show

William Bell & Judy Clay – Private Number

Inez & Charlie Foxx – Mockingbird 

Ike & Tina Turner – I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine

Brenda Holloway – Every Little Bit Hurts 

The Stylistics – Betcha By Golly Wow 

The Chi-Lites – Have You Seen Her? 

Stevie Wonder – Love’s in Need of Love Today

Beyoncé – If I Were a Boy 

Rose Royce – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore 

Odyssey – If You’re Looking for a Way Out 

Otis Redding – You Don’t Miss Your Water 

The Staple Singers – I’ll Take You There 

Gladys Knight & the Pips – Baby Don’t Change Your Mind

Candi Staton – Mr and Mrs Untrue 

The Isley Brothers – This Old Heart of Mine

Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up 

Love Unlimited – Walkin in the Rain with the One I Love

Alexander O’Neal – Criticize 

Amy Winehouse – Love is a Losing Game

Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Broken Hearted 

Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) 

Baby Washington – That’s How Heartbreaks are Made

Marvin Gaye – I Heard it through the Grapevine 

Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters – Cry Baby 

McAlmont & Butler – Yes 

Beverley Knight – Woulda Coulda Shoulda 

Wyclef Jean ft. Mary J. Blige – 911 

Sly & the Family Stone – Family Affair 

Sam Cooke – Bring it on Home 

Fontella Bass – Rescue Me 

Freda Payne – Band of Gold

Jaibi – You Got Me