Show #37 July 24, 2010

For Lisa and the Fenway Faithful...

Lisa- The Golden Horde The Golden Horde
The Girl I Can't Forget- Fountains Of Wayne Out-Of-State Plates
Cosmos- Jr. Gone Wild Less Art, More Pop
Shipwreck- The Donkeys Television Anarchy
Find Yourself A Way- The Cardiac Kidz Get Out 7"
Hard Habit- Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents Keeping Time
Rosebud- The Stems At First Sight
Keys To Your Heart- The 101'ers Keys To Your Heart
^Ways To Be Wicked- Lone Justice Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground
Annoying All The Neighbours- The Lonely Boys The Lonely Boys
Break Your Heart- Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers Falling Into Place
Who's Your Boyfriend?- Piper Piper
What's In a Name- The Crowd A World Apart
I Want The Angel- The Jim Carroll Band Catholic Boy
*Tonight- The Boys The Boys
*Tonight- Gary Charlson Real Live Gary
*Tonight- Nick Lowe Jesus Of Cool
*Tonight- MC5 Back In The U.S.A.
Smart Accessories- The Cute Lepers Smart Accessories
Get Off My Bike- Dipsomaniacs Undertow
Funnier Than Love- The Mundanes Make It The Same 7"
Feel Like Dirt- Kevin K Band Rule The Heart
Gonna Be Strong- Rubber City Rebels Rubber City Rebels
It's Hot Outside- Jack Lee Jack Lee's Greatest Hits Vol. 1
>Slow Death- The Flamin' Groovies Groovies Greatest Grooves
Yes or No- Nits Shake Some Action Vol. 6
Listenning In- The Keys The Keys Album
Queen Of Eyes- The Soft Boys 1976-1981
Man Of The Crowd- Pointed Sticks Part Of The Noise
Space-Age Rock Queen- Permanent Wave Radar EP
It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This- Eugene Edwards My Favorite Revolution

^Power Pop Peak: #71 Billboard Hot 100 5/11/85

*SacroSet: "Tonight" Songs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1972

Jack, Me, Nica at "Church"

Earlier this summer my daughter Veronica got to participate in a Love family ritual that goes back decades- she went to her first Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston. The Sox have been struggling in third place most of the year (though even with their record they'd be first in most other lame divisions, but that's life in the AL East). The good news is this means you can actually get tickets without taking out a second mortgage. So with my sister's help, my Mom bought tickets for all of us through Stub Hub. The Sox were playing division rivals the Tampa Bay Rays and Rays pitcher Matt Garza had their number that night but Papi almost put one

out and we had a great time anyway. The Sox bullpen blew it leaving them down 9-1 in the 8th inning. The fairweather fans started leaving so we upgraded from the bleachers to box seats about six rows behind the Sox' dugout. The team had a little more life in them and the final was 9-4. Nica loved it and is now part of the Fenway Faithful (Jack had already been indoctrinated in the early 2000's).

See Nica's T-shirt above

The Sox were always big when I was growing up but nowhere near as popular as they've become since John Henry bought the team in 2002. The World Series Wins in '04 and '07 have elevated the team to the point where it is now the common language of New Englanders. Starting the moment I got off the plane I noticed that about every 20th person I saw was wearing some kind of Red Sox gear- that includes men, women, boys and girls of every ethnicity. At the game we saw everyone from indie hipster kids to elderly grandmothers cheering on the team and wherever we went during the week we were back people were talking Red Sox: Pedroia and Ellsbury's rehab, DelCarmen's sore shoulder, whether or not Francona made the right decision the last game and so on.

Never Forget Darryl Stingley

There's nothing like it here in Northern California where the Giants and A's are perennial also-rans, the Warriors and 49'ers suck outright and The Raiders players are more concerned about being straight up gangsta than playing football while their "fans" are just waiting around for a chance to start looting again. (That may sound harsh but I'm still pissed about Jack Tatum- his death doesn't change a thing.)

Jack bought a Youkilis jersey and two cool Red Sox hats while we were in Massachusetts but after we got home told me he was getting funny looks while wearing the hats in the Springs, where a lot of Sonoma's Latino population lives. Turns out gangbangers have appropriated the Red Sox "B" because they say it looks like a "13." Here's what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"Trece is the Spanish word for thirteen; the number 13 is used to identify members of 13th Sureños – chicano gang members in the U.S. that identify themselves with la Eme – the Mexican Mafia."

Because there has been some gang related crime in Sonoma, even though nothing has happened on school grounds, the high school had to adopt a special "Gang Related Dress Code" which reads:

Clothing and accessories of any kind that are deemed by the Principal and/or law enforcement to have any unauthorized group affiliation are not allowed; clothing and accessories of any kind worn in a particular fashion that indicates an unauthorized group affiliation are not allowed.

Examples of prohibited clothing and accessories include but are not limited to:

1.Solid Red and/or Blue Clothing (includes solid shirts worn underneath other clothing, sweatshirts, and hats [even if brim and / or insignia are a different color]).
 
2.All clothing brands and designs with any unauthorized group symbols or signs on it, including but not limited to: "13" "14" "XIII" "XIV" all area codes, etc.

So, thanks to this gang my son can't show his support for the team his family has loved for five generations! I double-checked with high school principal when I saw him this week and he confirmed that unfortunately this was the case- no clothes with the Red Sox "B." I don't blame the guy; even though it's a useless bit of show business, he's got to look pro-active on the anti-gang front. Kids can't wear 49'ers jerseys either, so it's not like the Red Sox are being singled out. Still, it sucks and I feel bad that these are some of the "rules" in the world we're leaving our kids.

Luckily they said nothing about the Patriots!

Jack at Patriot Place

You can download this week's show here (Right click and "Save Target As"): 
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #37

Show #36 July 10, 2010

Dedicated to Renee...
and for Tommy, and Pete and Andy


Renee- Hoehn & Duren Blue Orange
I Will Dare- The Replacements Let It Be
Come And Take Me Tonight- Loaded Dice No Sweat
Call My Name- Dirty Angels Dirty Angels
Faded Portraits- Critical Mass It's What's Inside That Counts
Baby Baby- The Vibrators Pure Mania
You're What I'm Looking For- Rooney Eureka
All I Can Do- The Jolt You're Cold 7"
^I Think We're Alone Now- The Rubinoos Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
Rock Problems- The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever
Hello Mr. Johnson- The Shades Shake Some Action Vol. 4
Every Minute- The Grip Weeds Infinite Soul: The Best of
My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms- Tuff Darts! Tuff Darts!
Baby Please Believe Me- Pete Holly & The Looks Baby Please... 45
*American Beat '84- The Fleshtones It's Super Rock Time!
*American Fun- The Stompers The Stompers
*American Kix- Candy Whatever Happened To Fun
*So American- The Mutants So American 45
Hideaway- The Finders Calling Dr. Powerpop
I Wanted To Tell You- Matthew Sweet Girlfriend
Well You Never...- Sex Beatles Well You Never 45
Hush Hush- The Plimsouls Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal
Grown Up Age- The Bureaucrats Feel The Pain 7"
The Coast Is Always Changing- Maximo Park A Certain Trigger
>All Of My Friends Were There- The Kinks The Village Green Preservation Society
Dream Girls- Modulators She's So Cynical 7"
Windy Beach- Battered Wives Cigarettes
Bechamel- Pernice Brothers Goodbye, Killer
Mustard Sally- Chino Mala Leche

^Power Pop Peak: #45 Billboard Hot 100 3/5/77

*SacroSet: America Songs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1968

For the most part I'm okay with growing older. It sucks having to get up during the night to go the bathroom and I'm no longer able to ride centrifugal force carnival rides like Tilt-O-Whirl and The Sizzler but generally I'm doing okay and as the punchline from the old joke about aging goes: "it's better than the alternative." Thanks to running and cycling I don't feel much different than I did fifteen or twenty years ago. I also still have most of my hair, so I've got that going for me.

At the same time, it's impossible not to feel old when so many of the singers and musicians you grew up with are dying. Drug and alcohol related deaths like Dee Dee Ramone's and Johnny Thunders' have been part of rock & roll from the beginning. But for me, things started changing with Joey Ramone's death in 2001. Even so, he'd been fighting cancer for seven years so it wasn't a shock. Joe Strummer's death the following year, however, was like a kick in the stomach- he is a hero of mine and, what made it even worse, was in the midst of a musical renaissance with his band the Mescaleros.

Maybe because All Kindsa Girls has me paying more attention, but 2010 already seems like a deadly year for musicians I like. The first three months of the year marked the passing of Jay Reatard (1/13/10), Doug Fieger (2/14/10) and Alex Chilton (3/17/10). Six weeks later we lost Will Owsley (4/30/10). When I was preparing this week's show my friend Brian sent an e-mail lamenting the death of original Kinks bass player Pete Quaife (6/23/10), which I noted with this week's Power Pop Prototype "All My Friends Were There" from the The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, his last record with the group. Then a day later I read that Memphis singer-songwriter Tommy Hoehn (6/24/10) is gone (that's his picture above and tonight's dedication song "Renee" is one of my favorites from his time playing with Van Duren). Now, when I finally get to this post I see another member of Big Star, bass player Andy Hummel (7/19/10), has died. That makes four Memphis musicians (Reatard, Chilton, Hoehn, Hummel) dead in 2010 and the year has over four months to go! WTF!!

When my wife Jaime gets into one of her dark moods she'll ask me "is this all there is to the second half of life- your body falls apart and people you love start dying?" Now I'm a "glass is half full" person but I see what she means; I guess death is going to be a much bigger part of our lives from here on out. Since we don't really have a say in the matter we're just going to have to accept it, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. I have to admit it was starting to get to me on this week's show though when after The Kinks I played Chino (featuring Alex Soria who killed himself on 12/13/04) and had Jim Carrol (heart attack, 9/11/09) cued up. I actually said something like "I promise no tributes to dead people next show," but as my friend Jeff once said, that sounds like "throwing a glove down before the Gods," so I take it back.

I loved the TV show Six Feet Under and one of the lines I remember most was Nate Fisher's response to the question "Why do people die?" He said: "To give life meaning." I think he's right- the ticking clock provides a sense of urgency. Otherwise death is just a cruel joke and I can't believe that. So, Rest In Peace Andy, Tommy and Pete- thanks for all the great music guys.

You can download Hour 1 of tonight's show here (Right click and "Save Target As"): http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-07-10__20_59_57.mp3


And here is Hour 2: http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-07-10__21_59_57.mp3

Show #35 June 26, 2010

For Mary Anne and the Woodland Star Class of 2010

Mary Anne- Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Crenshaw
Good Times- The Easybeats The Definitive Anthology
Jacquline Susann- Pernice Brothers Goodbye, Killer
Bish Bash Bosh- Jook Different Class
Back In The Working Class- Panic Squad Panic Squad 12" EP
In The Night- Back Seat Romeos Zero Ambition 7"
If You Tried- The Fastbacks ...And His Orchestra
Teenage Days- Hilly Michaels Calling All Girls
^What Do All The People Know- The Monroes The Monroes
Radio Love- The Breakers Radio Love Single
Evil Change Of Seasons- The Infidels The Infidels x4
All or Nothing- Rooney Eureka
Best Friend- The Gangsters Shake Some Action Vol. 3
Cry A Little- The Chicaynes Further Thoughts Single
*On The Beach- Raspberries Side 3
*On The Beach- The Producers On The Beach 45
*On The Beach- The Revillos Rev Up
*On The Beach- SVT Extended Play
Crackin' Up- Hoodoo Gurus Purity Of Essence
I've Got A Girl (I Can Count On)- Jim Freeman & the Golden Gate Jumpers Romantic
(I Never Loved) Eva Braun- The Boomtown Rats A Tonic For The Troops
Rendezvous- Greg Kihn Most Fun You Can Have with Your Clothes On: Beserkley Story
She Goes To Finos- The Showbiz Kids She Goes To Finos Single
Take It or Leave It- The Runaways The Best of the Runaways
>Romeo & Juliet- Michael & The Messengers Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
Second Floor- DM3 Dig it the Most
December- Teenage Fanclub Bandwagonesque
Keep On Thinkin'- Sloan Navy Blues
We're Too Young- The Boys Titan: It's All Pop!
Don't Moonlight On Me- The Flys See For Miles (1978-1980)
Lie To Me- Dirty Looks Dirty Looks
My Junk- Spring Awakening Spring Awakening: A New Musical
Wont Make It Hard- Fools Face Tell America
We're Going To Be Friends- The White Stripes White Blood Cells

^Power Pop Peak: #59 Billboard Hot 100 5/29/82

*SacroSet: Four Songs "On The Beach"

>Power Pop Prototype: 1967

Earlier this month my son Jack graduated from the 8th Grade at Woodland Star Charter School. Though we had little doubt he would, this was still a momentous occassion in the Love household. The class shared songs and verses they'd learned in each year at the school and sang a beautiful version of The White Stripes "We're Going To Be Friends," which is the sign-off song on tonight's show. Jack's teacher Mr. Harrington asked me to give the Parent Address at graduation- here's what I said:

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I'd like to thank Mr. Harrington and Ms. Reilly for inviting me to speak this evening- it's an honor to be here. Tonight we celebrate the graduation of Woodland Star Charter School’s Class of 2010, which, after two years of kindergarten and eight years through the grades, I consider to be the school’s first fully matriculated class, though Johnny Graham may disagree with me on that one. These young men and women of the Class of 2010 rock, it’s true, but more on them in a moment.

First, I want to acknowledge another important group tonight. For these older men and women, this moment is the culmination of up to ten years’ work. Ten years of building, sanding, painting – landscaping, planting, harvesting – knitting, stitching, crocheting - helping, supporting, encouraging and of course the all-important fundraising. These are just a few of the tasks these people have performed on behalf of the school and the class of 2010. Please stand as I quickly read your names and audience, please hold your applause until I’m finished:

(I read a list of names here)

Ladies & Gentlemen, I present to you the PARENTS of the Woodland Star Class of 2010.

A Graduation ceremony is a time to think big picture. To think about the world we are leaving for those who come after us- our legacy, their future. The challenge is that the “future” isn’t what it used to be. Fifty years ago our future was consumer space travel, housecleaning robots, the end of disease, and flying cars. Now, thanks to our media’s fear-based marketing in the 24-hour news cycle, discussion of our future is likely to include terrorism, deadly viruses, global warming, and if it’s a slow news day, maybe even killer bees. Author Chuck Palanhiuk sums up this shift in perceptions of our future in his book Invisible Monsters, asking the question: “When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?”

Seriously. “When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?” I ask you, as a society, where did our optimism go? And I’m not just whining because I’m still waiting for my rocket car and robot butler.

War, ignorance, poverty, climate change- these global problems are bigger than all of us. And yet, I’m optimistic about our world in large part because of all of you. As a community we’ve come together to find small solutions for these big problems. Small solutions for big problems. In our classrooms, students learn about history, about compassion, about respect for one another and for our planet. For ten years I’ve watched the students in the class of 2010 grow into the fine young men and women seated before you tonight. I consider myself lucky to have been with them:

in Kindergarten during Miss Monnica’s Easter Egg Hunts at what Jack then called the Teepee School;

in the 4th Grade under the bark houses at Indian Grinding Rock State Park, where we went on to see the Locke Lady’s infamous Toilet Bowl Garden;

and in the 8th Grade laughing alongside at Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s unbelievably funny production of The Servant of Two Masters.

In contrast with his downer quote about the future I read earlier, Chuck Palahniuk writes in his novel Choke: "We can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. Sane or insane. Saints or sinners. Heroes or victims. Letting history tell us how good or bad we are. Letting our past decide our future. Or we can decide for ourselves. And maybe it's our job to invent something better."

Shortly after one of Jack’s class field trips, the same year my daughter Veronica started as a Morning Glory kindergartener, I was inspired to write a song about our school community. Don’t worry; my guitar is still safely in its case at home. But I do want to tell you that the chorus of the song included these words: “If we stop history from repeating itself, we’ll save the world one family at a time.”

One family at a time. Small solutions for big problems. Everyone says “the world’s a mess, but its problems are so big what can you do about it?” This community has done something about it. Ladies & Gentlemen from the bottom of my heart I thank you for The Woodland Star Class of 2010.
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You can download Hour 1 of tonight's show here (Right click and "Save Target As"): http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-06-26__20_59_57.mp3

And here is Hour 2: http://sunfmtv.com/fm/showarchive/public/2010-06-26__21_59_57.mp3