FROM THE ARCHIVES: 'Croaking' Chris Armstrong (11/10/08)

Here we are at last, the inaugural instalment of From The Archives and the first ever episode of The Yesterday Show!
I mentioned in my last video blog about giving you a video introduction to each episode, but this has proved difficult due to the quality of my webcam and editing software. So instead I'll do things by the book and give you a written introduction before you watch the episode. Sorry to disappoint.

The first episode of The Yesterday Show aired as part of Mumbling On (poster above) on Radio Warwick on October 11th 2008, and centred around the character of 'Croaking' Chris Armstrong. Croaking Chris was an 80-year-old crooner, forced to tour non-stop for 20 years because his pension fell through. As a result of this his voice is completely shot and he struggles to speak, let alone sing.
'Croaking' Chris has his origins in Roger Waters, former bassist and lead singer for Pink Floyd. Following the Floyd's reunion at Live 8 in 2005, Waters had embarked on an enormous world tour on which he performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. There were several reports of Waters lipsyncing on the tour to cover up the wear and tear of his signature voice, which got me thinking about how well classic crooners like Frank Sinatra must have maintained their voice well into their seventies (though in fairness, Sinatra didn't have to perform blood-curdling screams every night for 20 years). I played around with the level of hoarseness, made up the backstory and the character was born.

'Croaking' Chris turns up in a number of future episodes, all of which involve him singing (or something of that variety). But for now, sit back and enjoy his first appearance - or at least have a good laugh at a 20-year-old student trying to sound like an 80-year-old man:
Daniel

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