Show #117 February 22, 2014

 This one's dedicated to an anthro- pomor- phised musket! (it's true, just check Wiki- pedia)

Black Betty- Ramjam Ramjam 
Black Cloud- Dipsomaniacs Freakin Eureka 
He Said She Said- The CRY! Dangerous Game 
Everything Keeps Coming Up You- The Tories The Upside of Down  
Secretary- Nightman Don't You Know  
Sgt. Sunshine- Corin Ashley New Lion Terraces 
A And R Man- Paul Warren and Explorer One Of The Kids  
Baby for the Day- Happiness Factor Self Improvement?  
^Black Coffee In Bed- Squeeze Singles: 45's and Under  
When We Were Kids- The Slickee Boys Uh Oh… No Breaks! 
So Much- Jack Green Humanesque 
Side Of Time- Lisa Mychols Above, Beyond and In Between
Lost Horizons- Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience  
Maybe I'll Stay- The Tremblers Twice Nightly  
*Black and Blue- The Exploding Hearts Shattered  
*Black And Blue- The Semantics Powerbill 
*Black and Blue- The Tearaways Ground's the Limit 
*Black and Blue- The Sugar Stems Sweet Sounds of the..... Weekend Boy- Candy Whatever Happened To Fun
Out In The Dark- The Lurkers Greatest Hit: Last Will And Testament... 
C'mon Linda- The Genuine Fakes The Striped Album 
No Money- The Freshies The Very Best Of 
I Gotta Getta- The Undertones The Undertones 
Feel Like I'm Crazy- The Blend Anytime Delight 
>Black Diamond- Kiss Kiss 
I Won't Regret- Fastbacks Very, Very Powerful Motor 
When The Music Starts- Greg Kihn Greg Kihn Band "Best Of Beserkley" '75-'84 
Living Legends- The Donkeys Television Anarchy 
Blackjack- Barrence Whitfield And The Savages Dig Thy Savage Soul 
Blackout- The Pods It's A Bummer About Bourbie EP

^Power Pop Peak: #26 US Mainstream Rock Tracks 4/9/82

*SacroSet:  Black and Blue Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1974 

Like a lot of you I'm sure, I was a food tourist long before Anthony Bourdain made it trendy.  I love California but the food is just too healthy here- to really reconnect with the two basic food groups, sugar and salt, you've got to come back east.  At the top of this post I'm photographed with a delicacy my father-in-law Doug, a notorious sugar fiend, introduced me to in Hickory Corners, Michigan where it is called a "Kreme Horn." In Massachusetts it goes by the far more exotic moniker "French Twirl" (ooh la la!)  Before we go any further I need to differentiate between "cream" and "Kreme;" one is organic and the other delicious but outside of their color they have nothing in common. 

It's a good thing I discovered the French Twirl because I likes my Kreme and my former favored Kreme delivery vehicle from Dunkin' Donuts has been hard to come by on recent trips back east.  You can't drive a mile in eastern Mass

Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla Kreme Filled- YAY!!!

without passing a Dunkin' Donuts, yet they are so focused on "healthier" fare these days, (bagels and muffins pass for "healthy" I guess) there's hardly any room left for my Vanilla Kreme-filleds (They call it "Vanilla Kreme" to distinguish it from other more noxious "Kreme" products on their menu- more on this in a moment.)  What's more, it's been 20 years since I've sunk my teeth into an "extreme donut" like the Bismarck- a six inch jelly filled crueller topped with a wide swath of Kreme topped with a narrow stripe of jelly!  YEAH!  Even back in the day they rarely had The Bismarck and no I don't know why it was named after the Prussian statesman (or German battleship).  

My dad worked at the Downey School in Brockton, Mass and on Friday evening he would often bring home a dozen Honey Dew donuts- a Massachusetts based chain. I liked Honey

Dew's Kreme filled donuts even more than Dunkin's.  As I delivered the Boston Globe on Saturday morning I'd dream about the Kreme filled treat back home only to return and find that my sister Sarah had eaten my donut!  It wasn't even her favorite kind!  Oh the injustice of it!  I think she did it just to spite me.  I'd raise hell and Dad would threaten to stop bringing home ANY donuts but he eventually started buying four Kreme-filleds and peace was restored (eating more than two would put you in the hospital).  Coming home from Cape Cod once in the late '90's I stopped at a Honey Dew shop right off the Sagamore bridge and had what is likely the single greatest donut I have or ever will eat:  a Kreme-filled infused with jelly.  I'm haunted by the memory as I have never been able to find another donut like it.  Man, what a treat!

As my donut love is widely known, over the years family members coming to visit have smuggled some Dunkin' Donuts in their carry on luggage.  Needless to say this is greatly appreciated in California where I believe Kreme is constitutionally prohibited.  On a couple of occasions, however, this has led to crushing disappointment.  I remember the time my sister-in-law Christy brought a full DOZEN from Phoenix and as I delightedly opened that

Dunkin' Donuts Bavarian Kreme Filled- BOO!

beautiful orange and pink box I saw to my horror that they were BAVARIAN Kreme.  As luscious as I find Vanilla Kreme, I find Bavarian Kreme equally repugnant- it's like a donut stuffed with tapioca and each one weighs about a pound.  Who would ever eat such a thing?  Anyway, Christy went to all that effort and she was so excited to see my reaction that I choked down two of those Bavarian monstrosities right there in the airport!  I tell you, that was rough.

Jenny, another sister in law, gave me a Dunkin' Donuts gift card for Christmas this year (these ladies know me well).  Jaime and I took the train down to New York City over the holidays and I'm happy to say I was able to find two Kreme-filleds at the store on 48th street in midtown Manhattan- they were every bit as good as I remembered.

Now, don't get me started on Whoopie Pies...

It's a good thing I live in California, because if I'd stayed back east I'd probably weigh 400 pounds!


Click the links below to stream/download this week's show (pause and un-pause if the download gets stuck)
Hour 1
Hour 2