Today in our Featured Music we look at the progression from folk into rock in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, at 12 noon and 4pm Pacific/SLT, we present another edition of “Where Have You” Been?, where we discover things to do and places to see around the Second Life Grid. Plus “Engines of Our Ingenuity” every four hours from 4am Pacific.
Category Archives: Programming
Tarot @ Teatime: The Rider Waite-Smith Deck
We’re pleased to introduce the new season of our original series, Tarot @ Teatime, which airs every Sunday and Thursday at 12 noon and 4pm SLT/Pacific.
In this new season, your host Honey Heart, PhD* progresses through the Waite-Smith deck — the most popular of all Tarot decks — one card at a time.
For each, she discusses a number of features of the card: the Cardinal Direction associated with the card, its Numerological symbolism, the Astrological influences, the Elemental connections, and the relationship with Jungian archetypes. She even relates the card to Shakespearian characters. Heart then casts and interprets a demonstration 3‑card reading featuring the card and provides hints and tips to help you gain your own understanding of the cards.
The Waite-Smith deck is the most popular Tarot deck available, and features the artwork of Pamela Colman Smith (illustrated, from an image in The Craftsman magazine). Honey Heart’s commentary includes a discussion of the features of the card illustrations, and it may assist you in catching the subtle nuances of these classic illustrations to have today’s card in front of you. If you don’t own a RWS Tarot deck, you can find the card illustrations here.
Smith’s illustrations were influenced by many sources, notably the Sola Busca tarot, the earliest known complete Tarot deck.
In 1907, the Busca-Serbelloni family donated black-and-white photographs of all 78 cards to the British Museum (see Queen of Batons, right), where they were likely seen by A. E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith, inspiring their own tarot deck (1909 example Temperance, left).
The similarities between the artwork of the Minor Arcana of the Waite-Smith deck and Sola-Busca’s plain suits has led some scholars to suggest that Colman Smith drew inspiration from the earlier work. Smith created the art for her deck two years after the acquisition of photographs of the Sola-Busca deck by the British Museum, and likely saw the cards on display there. Notable similarities include the Three of Swords card and the Ten of Wands card in the Rider deck, which is very similar to the Ten of Swords card in the Sola-Busca deck.
*Honey Heart in first life has a doctorate in transpersonal counseling, with her dissertation written on a phenomenon observed in Tarot.
60s Hits — and The History of Offshore Radio
60 years ago, on Easter Saturday 1964, Radio Caroline began regular broadcasts at noon on 1520kHz, “199 metres”, from the MV Caroline (formerly the Fredericia), anchored off Felixstowe, Suffolk, from where it had begun test transmissions the previous day. The first programme was hosted by Chris Moore. Radio Caroline’s first musical theme was Jimmy McGriff’s “Round Midnight”, a jazz standard co-composed by Thelonious Monk. In March 1964, The Fortunes recorded Caroline, which became the station’s theme. The station’s slogan was “Your all-day music station”. It was the start of a three and a half years that changed the face of British broadcasting.
In memory of the immense changes and benefits the offshore stations brought to music radio and to listeners in search of popular music on the air around the coasts of Britain and Europe, we are commemorating the event today with a special programme of music from the 1960s, as you might have heard on the offshore stations, plus a special broadcast of a 1970 radio documentary by Paul Harris, “The History of Offshore Radio”. The documentary covers the period 1958 to 1970 and includes the earliest Scandinavian stations such as Radio Mercur and Radio Nord, as well as more familiar stations like Radio London, Radio Caroline* and Radio Veronica. The period is illustrated by many airchecks from the majority of the stations operating in this period in addition to a commentary which tells the story, from early beginnings, to years of success and sometimes dark deeds. The programme is particularly notable in that it was made in 1970 — soon after the events it depicts occurred,
Tune in for this special programme at 2pm Pacific/SLT.
We’ll also be broadcasting episodes of “Where Have You Been?” at the usual time of 12 noon and 4pm Pacific/SLT, and “Engines of Our Ingenuity” from the University of Houston, every 240 minutes from 4am Pacific.
*Radio Caroline is now a licensed community radio station based in SE England. You can visit them here.
Woodwinds
Today’s programme features members of the woodwind family — oboe, clarinet, flute, bassoon, recorder and more, including the gamut of Early Music woodwinds like the shawn (the predecessor of the oboe), curtal (a proto-bassoon) and crumhorn.
Of course, the majority of orchestral music includes a woodwind section, so the criterion for inclusion in today’s show was that a member of the woodwind family is the lead instrument — a “wind band” is not sufficient (and they’re generally usually brass-heavy anyway), but a concerto for bassoon (yes there is at least one) counts.
Jack Flanders in Steam Dreamers of Inverness — Series 4
Tune in on Friday for the next episode of another exciting radio serial from our friends at ZBS Foundation: “Steam Dreamers of Inverness — Series Four” - in which Jack Flanders and his friends continue their exciting Steampunk adventure!
The complete adventure consists of 16 half-hour episodes, in four series of four episodes each, broadcast at noon and 4pm Pacific/SLT on Fridays.
Currently we are broadcasting the four episodes of the fourth and final series.
Now read on…
Tarot @ Teatime Episode 39: Tarot Storytelling
Tune in for the final episode of the current season of our original series, “Tarot @ Teatime” as we discuss Tarot Storytelling.
Episode 39: Tarot Storytelling
In this episode we talk about Tarot storytelling, and why this is so important to both developing as a reader as well as to providing querents with a really powerful, compelling narrative.
Narrative – storytelling – is an important part of a Tarot reader’s toolbox, and in fact, Tarot readers have traditionally been storytellers, tellers of tales that they see in their cards.
We talk about how Tarot readers can develop this skill, and how they can use their cards to begin developing a narrative — a story that is unique and germane to their querent.
“Tarot @ Teatime” is broadcast on Thursdays and Sundays at noon and 4pm SLT/Pacific Time.
This is the final episode of the current series of Tarot @ Teatime. You can find the existing shows in the series on Mixcloud.
A new series begins on Sunday, April 14th. In each episode, Honey Heart will discuss one card from the popular Rider Waite Smith deck, covering several different aspects of the card and including a sample 3‑card reading featuring the card in the key position in the layout. Watch this space for more information.
#tarot #tarotcards #tarotreading
March 3: Celebrate the Music of Mardi Gras & Carnivale!
Does the winter lull before the true arrival of spring have you melancholy?
Dress up in something bright and join us in the beautiful, exotic Willow Grove Ballroom — or live on the air — on March 3rd, from 1:30–3:00pm SLT/Pacific as we celebrate… celebrating!
VCRadio DJs Caledonia Skytower and Elrik Merlin will be featuring the music of Mardi Gras and Carnivale from around the world.
Let your spirit rejoice to the sounds of New Orleans Jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Zydeco, and other world music. Dress: Formal or Carnivale.
This is one of a series of formal events VCRadio is presenting monthly during the course of this year. Stay Tuned!
Jack Flanders in Steam Dreamers of Inverness — Series 3
Tune in on Friday for the next episode of another exciting radio serial from our friends at ZBS Foundation: “Steam Dreamers of Inverness — Series Three” - in which Jack Flanders and his friends continue their exciting Steampunk adventure!
The complete adventure consists of 16 half-hour episodes, in four series of four episodes each, broadcast at noon and 4pm Pacific/SLT on Fridays.
Currently we are broadcasting the four episodes of the third series.
Now read on…
Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler! Mardi Gras on VCRadio
It’s Mardi Gras time here on Virtual Community Radio, and our Featured Genre will be the music of Carnival and Mardi Gras, from New Orleans to Latin America and beyond, plus some old-time R&B and Trad Jazz.
In addition, you can hear an episode of our original series, Where Have You Been? where we discuss things to do and places to visit across the SL Grid: 12 noon and 4pm SLT/Pacific.
And don’t miss The Engines of Our Ingenuity from The University of Houston’s College of Engineering — a series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them — every four hours from 4am SLT/Pacific.
Main image: “Mardi Gras on Canal postcard by Hirschwitz” by Infrogmation is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Early Music on Virtual Community Radio
Today, tune in to Virtual Community Radio via the link — or simply “Play Virtual Community Radio” on your Alexa smart speaker — for a programme of Early Music.
We’re featuring music of the High Renaissance, with contributions from France, Spain, England and Germany. There are also some modern interpretations thrown in for good measure.
“Where Have You Been?”, our original series on things to do and places to visit around the Second Life Grid, airs at 12 noon and 4pm SLT/Pacific Time — and don’t miss Engines of Our Ingenuity every 4 hours from 4am Pacific.
