Show #121 July 19, 2014

For Judy and the people of Napa, CA

Judy- The Late Show Portable Pop 
Get To You- Sugar Stems Can't Wait 
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow- The Ramones Rocket To Russia 
I Could Tell- Fools Face Bubble Records Single 
They Don't Care- Fastbacks Zucker 
Lydia, The Ink Will Never Dry- Maxïmo Park Too Much Information 
(He's) Burnin the Dynamite At Both Ends- Breakup Society James At 35 
Gay Mad Whirl- Senator Flux Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch
^Downtown Train- Tom Waits Rain Dogs
Hearts Beat In Stereo- Lisa Mychols Above, Beyond and In Between
Possession- Public Enemy Possession 
*Subway Train- New York Dolls Rock 'N Roll 
*Subway- Steve Blimkie and The Reason Steve Blimkie and The Reason
*Subway Song- The Last Fade To Black 
*Subway Terror- Starz Violation
*Subway Song- The Cure Boys Don't Cry
*Down In The Tube Station At Midnight- The Jam Direction, Reaction, Creation
*My My Metrocard- Le Tigre Le Tigre
*Boston Subway- The Pubcrawlers Another Night On The Floor 
*Metro C'est Trop- Telephone Metro C'est Trop 
All I Wanna Do- The Yum Yums ...Play Good Music 
Neon Heart- The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats 
Take You Home- The Richmond Sluts The Richmond Sluts 
Will to Go On- Richard X. Heyman X 
Starry Nights- The Brat Attitudes EP 
>M.T.A.- Kingston Trio M.T.A. 
Written On The Subway Wall/Little Star- Dion Yo Frankie 
Subway- Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito 

^Power Pop Peak:  #3 Billboard Hot 100 11/25/89 (Rod Stewart Version)

*SacroSet:  Subway Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1959

I've had trouble choosing a subject for this blog post for Show #121 from mid-July.  I'd decided since the show features Subway Songs that I'd talk about all the cool subways I've ridden in cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, etc.  But then at 3:20AM on Saturday night the freaking earth shook and scared the crap out of me so I think I'll go with that instead.  I've lived in California for 22 years so I've felt a few earthquakes but nothing like what happened Saturday.  Let me see if I can describe it for you....  Start by picturing a huge version of one of these roller board thingies (say forty feet long with the roller the size of a school bus) and align it north-south.  Next, put your house on it.  Then, roll it back and forth for about thirty of the longest seconds of your life.  I'm talking last class/last day of school before summer vacation long.... waiting in line at the DMV long.... rectal exam long.  

I had time to wake up, make sure Jaime was okay, get out of bed, walk to the bottom of the stairs, call the kids to come

down and stop the light mounted over the dining room table

from smashing to bits.  The image of that demented pendulum light swinging back and forth will be with me the rest of my life (it's also how I know the rolling was north-south).  A freaked out Nica was first down the stairs followed by Jack a few seconds later.  Seeing that the house wasn't breaking into pieces, I took the kids to Jaime in our bedroom which has a high ceiling and no room over it.  I don't know if it was during or afterward but at some point I envisioned a checklist:  family safe (check), house standing (check), pets okay (check- dog freaked out, cat nonplussed), flat screen okay (check- and I want credit for putting the pets before the TV) and so on.  

Downstairs plenty of things were knocked over but the only

thing broken was a picture frame in the front hallway.  Upstairs was a different story.  The kids rooms were a disaster- but that's always the case so we can't blame the earthquake for that.  The first thing I noticed in the Rock Room, where I keep my records, was Hugo splayed out on the floor, seemingly in distress yet his expression as inscrutable as ever.  I was afraid to look at my record cases but quickly saw that everything 12" and 7" was where it should be.  I then saw my

glass display case had been knocked over, its contents strewn across the floor.  I noticed the next morning that while his Kiss band mates were laid out flat, Ace Frehley managed to keep his feet- way to go Spaceman! 

It looks like Paul is reaching to Ace for help...

 

Victim is a white male, 18 inches tall...

On the other side of the room, a tall thin CD case (that I always meant to anchor) had toppled over spilling CD's everywhere (it is now anchored).  On the plus side, the glass case was intact and none of the CD's were damaged.  Interestingly, my childhood friend the Cat In The Hat maintained his perch but my pal (don't call him a dummy!) Willie Talk looked as if he was part of a crime scene.  

I'm happy to report the two friends are now reunited.

(I fully realize this makes me look like a grown man who has WAY too many dolls and I guess I just have to own that...)

With the power out, our street was quiet but I was able to check in with all my neighbors and insure everyone was fine.  I don't know why but I was comforted by the fact that Tim and Deana across the street said this quake was much worse than Loma Prieta in 1989.  Perhaps I needed confirmation that the sucky experience we had just shared also sucked from a historical perspective.  In any case, back in the house, my 18 year old son Jack had already fallen asleep in my bed so Nica and I slept on couches in the living room (I wasn't ready to go back upstairs yet).

Text messages from back east woke me up around 8:30 the next morning by which time the power had already been restored.  I made another circuit of the house in daylight and thankfully there is no major damage.  Our house was built in 1999 and as the pictures from Napa show, earthquakes take the oldest buildings first.  Thank God no one was killed. I know earthquakes have been a part of nature since the world began but in all my years I have never felt anything so unnatural.  

Download this week's show below (click to stream or right click and "Save Link As" to download):
Hour 1
Hour 2