Thursday, May 27, 2010

Show #33 May 22, 2010




Alison- my aim is true....


Alison- Elvis Costello My Aim Is True
Imposter- The Moondogs Imposter Single
Benediction- The Weakerthans Live at Burton Cummings Theatre
Crystal Girl- Slaters The Big Black Bug Bled Black Blood
Damn- Research Turtles Research Turtles
Dirty Girl- The Krinkles 3 - The Mordorlorff Collection
Please Believe Me- LMNOP Elemen Opee Elpee
Outta My Mind- Puppet Rulers Shake Some Action Vol. 2
^Everyday I Write The Book- Elvis Costello Punch The Clock
I Forgot Who I Forgot Who I Was- Psycotic Pineapple Where's The Party?
Pirate Love- Heartbreakers L.A.M.F.
Wrap Up The Rockets- The Freshies Wrap Up The Rockets Single
New Teller- Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers 23 Great Recordings
Lips Are Sealed- The Front Lines Where Do We Go From Here? EP
*Big Tears- Elvis Costello & The Attractions Pump It Up 7"
*Crawling To The USA- Elvis Costello & The Attractions Americathon Soundtrack
*From Head To Toe- Elvis Costello & The Attractions From Head To Toe 7"
*Clean Money- Elvis Costello & The Attractions Clubland 7"
No One Else- Weezer Weezer
Soul Redeemer- The Motors Airport - The Motor's Greatest Hits
Let's Away- The Shazam The Shazam
Amsterdam- Stew Passing Strange (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Barely Breathing- The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever
Mystery Date- The Bees Mystery Date EP
>Mystery Dance (Demo)- Elvis Costello Honky Tonk Demos
High School Never Ends- Bowling For Soup The Great Burrito Extortion Case
Teenage Treats- The Wasps Teenage Treats 7"
It Doesn't Matter- Strangeways! Powerpop!
Everywhere That I'm Not- Translator Heartbeats And Triggers
Started- Big Kid All Kidding Aside
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding- Elvis Costello & The Attractions Armed Forces

^Power Pop Peak: #36 Billboard Hot 100 8/20/83

*SacroSet: Elvis Costello & The Attractions B-Sides & Rarities

>Power Pop Prototype: 1976

"BIG NEWS! This weekend some Power Pop Royalty comes to town when Elvis Costello plays the Sonoma Jazz+ Music Festival! (Elvis isn’t really Power Pop and there’s no “jazz” at the festival but why get hung up on labels- for our town this is BIG NEWS!) Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes close out the weekend with a Sunday night show ."

When I wrote this in the bi-weekly All Kindsa Girls e-mail I was fully intending to go and see the show (the picture of Elvis above was taken that night). The (Mighty) Bulldogs, the softball team Nica plays on and I coach, were playing in a tournament that weekend and the field is right beside the Jazz+ tent. During one of our Saturday games we got to hear Earth,Wind & Fire sound check "Boogie Wonderland" which was very cool. Here's the thing though- it was a double elimination tournament and we lost our first game on Saturday. That means on Sunday, the day of Elvis' show, we had to keep winning to keep playing. We won the first game at 10am, ending The Aztecs' season, then we sent The Hurricanes home at Noon. We beat The Cougars at 2pm but since that was their only loss, we had to play them again at 4pm. By that time the girls are completely worn out and despite a late inning rally, we lost the fourth game and took second in the tournament.

So, four softball games followed by the medal ceremony and end of the season party- I was a dead man walking (and I didn't even have to play.) That's not the whole story, though. You see that Sunday night was also the series finale of LOST. It's one of my favorite TV shows and something Jaime and I, with Jack joining in Season 4 or so, have been watching for years. What it comes down to is this: Elvis Costello was playing a mile from my house and I didn't go because I was tired and there was something good on TV. I have no doubt that my 20 year old self would stomp my 45 year old ass at this affront. In my defense though, LOST was awesome that night...

I'm happy to say I did get into The Fillmore to see The Hold Steady earlier this month. It was a great show, but not the life changing experience I had last time I saw them in 2008. Franz was a goofball but he added a lot to the live show and I missed seeing him up there. I also don't like the new record as much as Stay Positive, which has become one of my all-time favorites. Still, seeing The Hold Steady always reinforces my belief in the power of rock & roll and we all need more of that in our lives.

One other thing about this week's show. I downloaded an album by a Lake Charles, LA band called Research Turtles and played a song from it tonight. You may think that "Research Turtles" is a very dumb name for a rock & roll band and you'd be right. Yet, thinking about it more, it's probably pretty important to have the kind of name that is easily searchable on the Internet these days. I was trying to find some information on The Bees, another group I played tonight, and it was tough going. In the future perhaps bands will choose a name by simply picking a few random words that will quickly come up in search engines. You can't get much more random than "Research Turtles." (You can download their debut album for free at: http://researchturtles.com/)

You can download Hour 1 of tonight's show here (Right Click and "Save Target As"): http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-05-22__20_59_57.mp3

And here's Hour 2: http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-05-22__21_59_57.mp3

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Show #32 May 8, 2010



For Leslie and All Kindsa Guys!



Leslie- Robert Johnson Close Personal Friend
We Got Something- Tinted Windows Tinted Windows
Get Over You- The Undertones The Undertones
Anything For My Baby- Kiss Dressed to Kill
Our Whole Lives- The Hold Steady Heaven is Whenever
To Be A King- Any Trouble Wheels In Motion
20th Century Boy- T-Rex The Very Best Of T-Rex
Useless- Denzil Pub
^Joey Concrete Blonde Bloodletting
To The Bone- The Sunnyboys The Sunnyboys
This Modern Love- Bloc Party Silent Alarm
It Hurts- The Zippers A Six Song Mini Album
On My Own- The Three O'Clock Sixteen Tambourines
Always Comes Back- SVT Extended Play
*Frederick- The Patti Smith Group Wave
*Terry- Farrah Moustache
*Denis- Blondie The Complete Picture
*Jerome- Ruth Ruth The Little Death
Modern Kicks- The Exploding Hearts Guitar Romantic
I Don't Want To Live Without You- Tom Dickie & The Desires The Eleventh Hour
Coast To Coast- Ducks Deluxe Glitterbest
Have An Idea- The Heats Have An Idea
Catch Me- The Jetz Catch Me 7"
No Thugs In Our House- XTC Fossil Fuel The XTC Singles 1977-92
>Louie, Louie- The Kingsmen Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
Weekend Love- The Hollywood Stars The Hollywood Stars
Obsession- The Last Fade To Black
Sight & Sound- Chris Von Sneidern Sight & Sound
Red and Grey- Neats 1981-84 The Ace of Hearts Years
We Can Get Together- The Hold Steady Heaven is Whenever

^Power Pop Peak: #19 Billboard Hot 100 8/18/90

*SacroSet: All Kindsa Guys

>Power Pop Prototype: 1963

I'm always on the lookout for songs for All Kindsa Girls' weekly features, so I've been collecting "guy" songs for a while now. The funny thing is, I had already picked Robert Johnson's "Leslie" as this show's dedication and only just now realized that it's a guy's name as well (the actors Leslie Nielsen and Leslie Howard, guitar player Leslie West, etc.) There's no doubt that Robert Johnson is singing about a girl, but I think it's still kind of a cool coincidence.

For the All Kindsa Guys theme, I went with the same "rule" as the girl dedication song for each show- the title must be limited to a male name. I realize I cheated a little bit on "Louie Louie" tonight, since it repeats the name, but how could I not play that record, it's one of the greatest guy songs of all time. The Kingsmen recorded "Louie Louie" in one take; the whole session was only an hour and that included recording the b-side. I especially love how singer Jack Ely comes in early after the guitar solo and they left this mistake in the final mix. Since the slurred lyrics were largely unintelligible, the powers that be decided they must be obscene and the record was banned on many radio stations and in the state of Indiana. The FBI even investigated- how awesome is that!

My daughter Veronica joined me in the studio when I recorded this week's show and that's her you hear helping me sign-off with a "Goodnight Leslie." As we were finishing up in production, Ken Brown was in the main studio doing "Que Pasa Sonoma" with his co-host, who happens to be named Leslie. Now, Leslie is very pretty and her attractiveness is amplified by its contrast to her surroundings. I don't know if you've ever spent much time in sweaty college/public/community radio stations but I can vouch for the fact that they are generally staffed by a bunch of dudes who look like they just came from a comic book convention, though we are a little less likely to wear sci-fi costumes. I pointed Leslie out to my wife Jaime at a Tuesday Night Market a while back and Jaime said "oh yeah, she's hot" while elbowing me in the ribs.

Anyway, before Nica and I left the station that day I stuck my head in the air studio and made a point of telling Leslie that my show this week was dedicated to "Leslie." We joked around a bit and talked about some of the groups I was going to play. Was I flirting? Maybe, but I've been married a long time so I'm really out of practice and no doubt pretty bad at it. In any case, I must have had that big "I just made a pretty girl laugh" smile on my face because when I turned around to leave, Nica has this really funny look on her face. I didn't think anything of it, but as Jaime and I were getting ready for bed that night I mentioned the "Leslie"/Leslie thing and she says "yes, Nica told me ALL about it as soon as you got home." My eleven year old narced on my lame 45-year old married guy flirting! I know- it's pretty funny and I really like the whole "don't mess with the sisterhood" aspect. My little girl is growing up.

You can download Hour 1 of tonight's show here (Right Click and "Save Target As"):http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-05-08__20_59_57.mp3