"I know a girl named Denise, she makes me weak at the knees...."
Denise- Fountains Of Wayne Utopia Parkway
Rev Up- The Revillos Rev Up
Everything You've Done Wrong- Sloan A Sides Win Singles 1992-2005
Does It Show- The Proof It's Safe
All The Sounds Of Fear- Strangeways! Powerpop!
Jetfighter- The Three O'Clock Sixteen Tambourines
Wait For Me- The Runaways Waiting For The Best of the Runaways
Don't Dance- Ian North Neo
^867-5309/Jenny- Tommy Tutone Tommy Tutone-2
Performance- L.A. Burgers L.A. Burgers
Naive- Public Zone Naive 7"
She's Got the Look- Kevin K And The Hollywood Stars Cool Ways
Lonelyhearts- The Atlantics DIY: Mass. Ave. - The Boston Scene (1975-83)
Renee Remains The Same- Material Issue International Pop Overthrow
*Live In The Sun- The Moberlys Sexteen
*K Street- The Fastbacks ...And His Orchestra
*Rivals- The Heats Rivals 45
*TV Dream- The Young Fresh Fellows The Men Who Loved Music
I Don't Wanna Hear It- Shoes Shoe's Best
Look What You've Done- Hi-Fi's I Don't Know Why 7"
What For- Rooney Calling the World
Play the Breaks- The Plimsouls Everywhere At Once
Long Cigarette- Hubble Bubble Faking
C.I.A.- The A's The A's
>Little Girl- Syndicate Of Sound Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
Don't Let Him Come Back- Jay Reatard Singles 06-07
So Juvenile- Flyboys Flyboys
Anchorless- The Weakerthans Fallow
I Just Can't Stand Cars- The Screen Gemz Teenage Teenage 7"
Mourning Star- Zones DIY Starry Eyes: UK Pop II (1978-79)
You're The One- Boyfriends I Don't Want Nobody(I Want You) 7"
Doncha Wanna- Tinted Windows Tinted Windows
^Power Pop Peak: #4 Billboard Hot 100 1/23/82
*SacroSet: Emerald City Power Pop
>Power Pop Prototype: 1966
Recorded this week in advance because on show night I was on a field trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland with Jack's 8th Grade class. We saw five plays in five days; The Music Man, Macbeth, Don Quixote, Much Ado About Nothing and The Servant of Two Masters. I helped the teacher, Mr. Harrington, put the schedule together and his only request was "NOT Macbeth on the first night." So, I figured I would play it safe and put The Music Man first. It poured rain that night and my heart went out to the huddled, shivering masses lined up for Much Ado at the outdoor Elizabethan Theater as we entered the warm confines of the adjacent Bowmer Theater for The Music Man. Unfortunately, the fact that it was indoors on a rainy night is one of the few good things I can say about the production. At some point in the development of the show, the director decided to forego entertainment in favor of a heavy handed lesson on political correctness that included:
- A white Henry Hill and black Marian that had zero chemistry (he was great but she had a high, warbly church lady voice that didn't help any);
- A deaf Marcellus who signed all his dialog, including the song "Shipoopi;"
and worst of all
- A teleprompter right in my line of sight translating all the dialog into Spanish.
It was painful to sit through. There were some fine performances and great ideas (like the costumes and sets transitioning from black & white to color as the town embraces music), but I felt like the production was trying to make a point rather than tell a story. In retrospect, I'm surprised they didn't have the mayor in a wheelchair and a blind school board. I kept thinking, "would I go to an Italian or German opera and demand subtitles?" The answer is, "I probably wouldn't go to an opera period," but if I did, I'd certainly read up on it ahead of time, meeting the show in the middle rather than making it kowtow to my ignorance.
I'm all for diversity in casting and new production ideas, but it means nothing if the show isn't compelling. The director of The Music Man seems to have forgotten this and gave us a watered down, mediocre show. In contrast, the director of Macbeth, which we saw the next night, also made changes to the show, but these worked. First, they started with a beheading that is only refered to in the text, grabbing the kids right away. There were also these "shadow witches" that appeared in some scenes helping boost the creepiness. What's more, unlike their Music Man counterparts, the black Macbeth and white Lady Macbeth were fantastic together, each feeding off the other's paranoia and growing insanity. All of the other shows we saw also featured choices that helped tell their stories; Don Quixote used puppets and Much Ado had a fountain gag that killed. The Servant of Two Masters is a Commedia play within a play about a struggling lesser troupe using cast-off costumes and props from Macbeth and Henry VIII while heartily mocking Ashland, OSF, other shows we had seen that week and our culture in general. Servant was the perfect ending to our week and the consensus favorite of Mr. Harrington's 8th Grade Class.
While I was in Ashland I got an e-mail from KSVY Program Director Bob Taylor saying Show #19 would be pre-empted for a Sonoma Dragons football game. So, the show ended up running on October 18th instead and I got to listen to it, which was cool. Finally got to Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny;" fantastic song and perfect for All Kindsa Girls. Maybe heading to Ashland, which is about halfway to Seattle, got me thinking of the Emerald City (or Queen City or Gateway to Alaska, Rain City, Jet City). In any case, this SacroSet highlights the Power Pop greats of this fine metropolis, former home to my sister Sarah and her husband Mike. I loved visiting them in Seattle, it is a VERY cool place.
Next show is on Halloween! Get ready for some Petrifying Power Pop!
You can download the first hour of tonight's show here (righ click and "Save Target As"): http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-10-17__20_59_57.mp3
And here is hour two:
http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-10-17__21_59_57.mp3
