Show #61 July 9, 2011

For Red... white and blue!!

Red- Hoehn & Duren Blue Orange

4th Of July- X See How We Are
Where The Sun Always Shines- Runarounds Waiting For The Hurricane
Summertime (Is Calling)- Motors 1
Rock And Roll Tonight- The Innocents No Hit Wonders From Down-Under
Little Razorblade- Pink Spiders Teenage Graffitti
Move It- Sacre Bleu Move It 7"
Drag On Forever- The Cars Move Like This
^R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.- John Cougar Mellencamp Scarecrow
Saturday's Kids- The Jam Direction, Reaction, Creation
Breakaway- The Producers You Make The Heat
Dyna-Mite- The Blondes The Blondes
Bad Boy- Suzanne Fellini Love On The Phone 7"
I Want You To Dance With Me- Jeff Hill I Want You To Dance With Me 7"
*Rockin' In The USA- Sass Live At The Rat
*U.S.A.- The Beat The Beat
*WUSA- The Neighborhoods ...The High Hard One
*Rockin' In The USA- Kiss Alive II
Life of the Party- The Slickee Boys Cybernetic Dreams of Pi
I'm In Love With You (Again)- Slugs Problem Child 7"
All I Know Is Right Now- Marshall Crenshaw Field Day
Stranger On The Town- The Damned Strawberries
Freedom (Is A Heady Wine)- Yachts S.O.S Singles 1977-1981
Now That I've Lost My Baby- 2 Timers Shake Some Action Vol 7
>In The U.S.A.- The Flamin' Groovies Groovies Greatest Grooves
What Faces- Roky Erickson and the Aliens The Evil One
If Stuart Could Talk- The Dickies Stukas Over Disneyland
Glasshouse- Shake Culture Shock 10" EP
Nobody's Fool- Alex Chilton Top 30
Rock N Roll Toilet- The Soft Boys 1976-1981
Lady From the USA- Bram Tchaikovsky Strange Man/Changed Man

^Power Pop Peak: #2 Billboard Hot 100 2/1/86

*SacroSet: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

>Power Pop Prototype: 1979

This week's show celebrates America's 235th birthday this past Monday. I love 4th of July in Sonoma. Our parade starts at 10am but by about 10pm the night before the sidewalk along the route is completely covered in chairs. The unspoken rule the morning of the parade is that chairs are allowed on the street only as far as the slanted white parking lines. My strategy has always been to go down about 8:30am and put our chairs down in the empty parking places on the shady side of 1st Street East but this year I almost didn't get a spot. Fortunately we have low chairs because I believe another element of proper parade chair placement etiquette is that the top of your chair cannot be higher than the armrest of any chair behind you. We're not savages.

I bought our backpack chairs specifically for 4th of July, but not just the parade. The slanting back and pillow makes it ideal for fireworks viewing as well. The parade is great and so is the festival in the plaza, but the best thing about 4th of July in Sonoma is the fireworks. For a town this size, the fireworks show our fire department puts on every year is truly amazing. They are launched right in the middle of our valley with great views from all sides. The program lasts about 40 minutes and the "Grand Finale" seems to go on for two full minutes- with everyone, myself included, screaming at the top of their lungs. When it's over you I bet you can hear the roar of applause from miles away. Some prefer to watch the fireworks from the comfort of their backyard but Jaime and I always ride our bikes down to the field so we can be as close as possible. When those low bombs of spectacular white light go off I can feel it in my chest. One year, because of the wind I guess, we were pelted with soot from the explosions- it was awesome! Immediately following the fireworks is the worst traffic jam of the year in Sonoma. The one time we drove it took us an hour to drive the mile and half back to our home. Never again.

One of the things that makes 4th of July great is that it transcends politics, cutting right to the core of what makes America great- the ideals upon which our nation is founded. I am still awed by the genius of our founding fathers and no amount of cynical partisan politics can take that away. As a lifelong Massachusetts liberal, and unlike many California liberals I know, I've never let anyone take patriotism or the flag away from me. I've always felt that if we cede these to the conservatives and religious right, what do we have left? Just a bunch of theories that can be endlessly debated because none have ever been put to the test. And the anger; that continuous seething rage many progressives I know seem to feel about our country.

Jaime and I took the kids to Washington, D.C. in 2008 and I could see they were as impressed as I was when visiting at their age. We got a tour of Capitol Hill from an aid to our Congressman Mike Thompson, visited the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt monuments as well as those for World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans. If you've never been, I'd really recommend the trip- there's nothing like visiting the National Archives and standing in front of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. I'm not saying America is perfect, but I do believe that the ideals our nation is founded on are still the best that man on earth has yet produced.

Here are the download links for this week's show:
Hour 1
Hour 2