Show #12 June 27, 2009

No, thank YOU Valeri....

Valeri- The Monkees The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees

All Used Up- Sloan A Sides Win Singles 1992-2005

You're Tearin' Me Apart- Teenage Head Teenage Head

Out On The Streets- Speedometors Day In The Lights

I Need A Torch- Suicide Commandos Make A Record

All I Have- Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers Falling Into Place

The Man Who Invented Himself- Robyn Hitchcock The Man Who Invented Himself 45

I Am The Cosmos- Chris Bell I Am The Cosmos

^Love On The Phone- Suzanne Fellini Suzanne Fellini

Chemical Fire- Van Duren Are You Serious?

Don't Mind- Cheese She Said 7''

A Perfect Pop Song- Hundred Million Martians Martian Arts

Remember Me- The Heats Have An Idea

Time- Richard Hell and The Voidoids That's All I Know (Right Now) 7''

*Here Comes the Summer- The Undertones The Undertones

*When I Go To The Beach- The Slickee Boys When I Go To The Beach 45

*The Summer Sun- Chris Stamey DIY Come Out And Play: American Power Pop (1975-78)

*I Wanna Be A Lifeguard- Blotto Hello! My Name Is Blotto What's Yours

Remember The Lightning- 20/20 20/20

Right Way Home- Xdreamysts Right Way Home 45

My Favorite Revolution- Eugene Edwards My Favorite Revolution

>Sugar Baby Love- The Rubettes Very Best of The Rubettes

American Guilt- Fools Face Tell America

Time- The Speedies Speedy Delivery

What Do I Get?- Buzzcocks DIY The Modern World: UK Punk II (1977-78)

Rock & Roll- The Velvet Underground Loaded
Sunday Gurl- Silver Sun Dad's Weird Dream

Got The Time- The Descendents Enjoy!

I'm Tired- MnMs I'm Tired 7"

Any Danger Love- The Starjets God Bless The Starjets

Kamikaze- The Boys To Hell With The Boys

I Won't Go Back To Work- The Explosives Come Clean EP

Baby I'm So Lonely- The Yum Yums Sweet As Candy

^Power Pop Peak: #87 Billboard Hot 100 3/15/80

*SacroSet: Summer Is Here!

>Power Pop Prototype: 1974

When I was a kid my family would spend nearly every summer car camping. This all started before my sister Sarah was even born. When my mother said she wanted her children to visit Europe, my father's response was "let's not go to Europe until we see the United States first." Using Green Stamps to buy a Coleman lantern and stove, they then scrimped to buy the display model of what will I will always think of as the "Taj Mahal of tents" from a Stoughton camping store.

My father was a school teacher who became an elementary school vice-principal. He checked his ambitions there though, because a promotion to school principal would have slashed his summer vacation from six weeks to two and how far can you get from Massachusetts in a measley two weeks? One of the things I loved about camping was how much thought my Dad put into packing. Every pack and piece of gear had its place. Every inch of space in and on top of the car was utilized- he even put chalk outlines in the trunk to show where everything goes. When Sarah and I were old enough to help, we could get an entire campsite set up in about 30 minutes- that's everything, including the boiling water for spaghetti, our traditional first night in camp meal.

Over the years, we visited 46 states (missing only OR, WA, HI & AK) and 8 provinces (all but British Columbia and Newfoundland). While in western Alberta, we did step over the border into British Columbia, but my father said this "didn't count" since we didn't spend the night there. When we did stop, it was always for at least two nights in every campground so we actually got to see where we were. What's more, there was enough flex in the schedule so we could add an extra night if we happened to love where we were. I remember:

• playing cowboys and indians with a bunch of kids in Arizona and afterward my mom telling me that every "cowboy" was an American Indian, while all the "indians," like me in my awesome headress, were white...


• watching a movie screened "drive-in style" on a canyon wall in South Dakota's Badlands National Park...


• seeing wild horses on the beach at Assateague Island and, from the relative safety of the car, watching a hurricane destroy our camp site that same evening...


• riding duck boats in Wisconsin Dells, which I thought was the coolest place on earth...


• Sarah and I begging our parents to go to Jellystone Park and on our first night there she got so caught up in a near-riot of 50+ kids "helping" Ranger Smith chase Yogi Bear that she ran head-on into a post giving herself a bloody nose and two black eyes...


• holding hands with a girl at a campground in Alabama while in the background Robin Zander serenades thousands of screaming Japanese rock fans with "I Want You To Want Me..."

I can only hope my kids will have childhood memories HALF so rich. My father never got to Europe, but we did the United States and Canada up right!

So I had to tape this week's show because Jack, Nica and I were camping at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park this weekend with a group from First Congregational Church (Jaime had to work and camping is not her thing). It was pretty hot but we were right beside the creek and Nica found a small hollow where the water was a little over three feet deep, so everybody got a chance to take a dip. Campfires both nights were really fun and we were visited by several deer and a VERY noisy fox that Nica thought sounded like Kevin the bird from Up! No hurricane, duck boats or dude in a bear costume running for his very life but all in all, we had a great time.

Since summer is officially here, tonight's SacroSet features some of my favorite summer songs. While it's a year-round passion, Power Pop, like barbecue, baseball and bikinis, goes best with Summer. Here's hoping All Kindsa Girls can help provide some of the soundtrack to YOUR summer!

Click this link (or Right Click and "Save Target As") to listen to/download Hour 1 of tonight's show: http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-06-27__20_59_57.mp3
and here is Hour 2: http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-06-27__21_59_56.mp3

Show #11 June 13, 2009

Tonight we treat Diana's right!


Diana Diana- Hubble Bubble Faking
She's So Young- The Pursuit Of Happiness I'm An Adult Now EP
Constructive Summer- The Hold Steady Stay Positive
Someday- The Outlets I Remember
Heart- Ian North Neo
Truth Lies Low- The Drams Jubilee Dive
Every Word Means No- Let's Active Cypress / Afoot
Wicked Little Town (Tommy Gnosis Version) Hedwig And The Angry Inch Soundtrack
^The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)- Greg Kihn Band Rockihnroll
I Couldn't Tell- Flyboys Flyboys
Everyone's A Winner- London Everyone's a Winner 45
My Boyfriend- Suburban Lawns Gidget Goes to Hell 7"
It's Where You Are- The Hitmakers America's Newest Hitmaker 7''
Sheet Music- Static Routines Rock & Roll Clones 45
*So It Goes- Nick Lowe So It Goes 45
*Trouble With Love- Any Trouble Wheels In Motion
*They Got Me Covered- Dirty Looks Dirty Looks
*Hit And Miss Judy- Wreckless Eric Big Smash
7:30- Pernice Brothers The World Won't End
I'm Hanging Around- Leyton Buzzards I'm Hanging Around 45
Last Of The American Girls- Green Day 21st Century Breakdown
>I Can't Let Go- The Hollies Greatest Hits
I'm Talking To You- Maps Boston Underground (1979-1982)
I Don't Fit In- The Beat The Beat
X Offender- Blondie DIY Blank Generation - The New York Scene (1975-78)
Already In Love- The Bees Already In Love 45
1x2x Devastated- DM3 Dig it the Most

^Power Pop Peak: #15 Billboard Hot 100 5/23/81

*SacroSet: London's Stiff Records

>Power Pop Prototype: 1966

So here's my problem with The Beatles- much in the way we violently reject our first overexposure to peach schnapps or blackberry brandy, I had so much Beatles music jammed down my throat at an early age that a lot of their songs are still aural ipecac for me. Starting in elementary school, "hip" teachers would bring in their scratchy records from home to play on crappy AV club mono record players. It reached a peak in the fifth grade at Chandler School in Duxbury, MA when I was forced to participate in a choral concert featuring "Here Comes The Sun" and other Beatles songs.

About this time I started having strong musical opinions of my own, but was often told that Kiss and AC/DC paled in comparison with the genuises that crafted "Octupus' Garden." What's worse is that kids my own age would say this! Steve Manning and Larry French from my neighborhood were huge Beatles fans and had no time for anything recorded after 1970. It got even worse when punk rock happened- there seemed to be clear consensus that there was no room for The Ramones in the same world that produced "Lovely Rita Meter Maid." I had a music teacher in college tell me that The Clash were rubbish but The Beatles were the apex of western culture. The ironic thing is, I bet some teacher of his told him The Beatles were crap next to Mozart- how soon they forget. I promised right then to never denigrate the music my kids listen to (though it's hard sometimes...Lil' Wayne? I mean come on!)

My Beatles issues have only grown over the years. There's a line in a Dictator's song called "Who Will Save Rock & Roll?" that pretty much sums it all up for me:

June 1st '67 somethin' died and went to heaven
I wish Sgt. Pepper never taught the band to play

In my mind "rock & roll" became "rock" with the Sgt. Pepper's album and by morphing into "art" ceased to be a rebellious force in our society. You can draw a straight line from there to Emerson, Lake & Palmer and "institutions" like The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It was ten years until punk rock came on the scene to set things right. I bet John Lennon would agree with me here judging from from some of his early post-Beatles recordings like "Gimme Some Truth," "Cold Turkey," "Working Class Hero," "How Do You Sleep," etc. In all honesty I have to admit that while I don't like a lot of Beatles music, it's really the "Beatles Establishment" of record execs, TV producers, rock writers, and DJ's combined with endless Baby Boomer nostalgia that turns my stomach. The band was simply pushing the boundaries with Sgt. Pepper's and if I'm going to hate them for that I'd have to feel the same way about The Clash and their mind blowing excursions into reggae, jazz, calypso, etc. on Sandanista! The fact is, music is a personal choice- we like what we like and that should be it. Only poseurs and critics look for a larger "artistic" or "cultural" merit. It's taken me years to realize this, but it's not WHAT you love that's important, it's the act of loving it. In other words, rock on L'il Wayne you hip hop Yoda you!

Anyway, the irony in all my Beatles angst is that the unthinkable happened on this week's show....

I was invited to a party at Allyson's this week so I went in to the station and pre-recorded my show on the Friday before. Everything went great- a cool Power Pop Peak from Greg Kihn, awesome SacroSet of Stiff Records! releases and a new feature called the Power Pop Prototype highlighting early examples of the genre starting with the awesome "I Can't Let Go" by The Hollies. So, Jaime, the kids and I leave the party at about five minutes of ten, with me thinking the ride home will be the first time I've ever listened to myself. I tune in during the SacroSet and I'm enjoying Any Trouble when the song fades out and a recorded station ID plays. I realize right then that the Simian broadcast computer HAS HIJACKED THE SECOND HOUR OF MY SHOW!!!! The first song played is "Seasons In The Sun" and I'm thinking "wow, I just lost what few listeners I have." And the next song? You guessed it- one from The Beatles. And not just any song, but all 6+ minutes of "Hey Jude," totally mocking my Beatles ban. I felt so violated! Flooring it to get to the station and stop the madness, I barely register that Simon & Garfunkel's hugely lame "59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) is now playing, yet it is clear to me that this friggin' computer is trying to destroy me. The next song was some accordian heavy Tejano romp, which was a distinct improvement let me tell you. I re-established control over KSVY's version of Hal 9000 and can only hope that I will one day regain the trust of my listeners....

Click this link (or Right Click and "Save Target As") to listen to/download Hour 1 of tonight's show: http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-06-13__20_59_57.mp3

and here is Hour 2: http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-06-13__21_59_57.mp3