SHOW #128 THE 2014 YEAR-END DEDICATION SPECIAL January 10, 2015

As always the YEAR-END DEDICATION SPECIAL is itself dedicated to ALL KINDSA GIRLS!

All Kindsa Girls- The Real Kids Real Kids
Rosemarie- Superchunk Majesty Shredding
We Only Come Out At Night- Sugar Stems Only Come Out At Night
Carol- Hello Keeps Us Off The Streets
Judy- The Late Show Portable Pop
I've Had It Up To Here- Weezer Everything Will Be Alright In The End
Raylene- Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo Good Clean Fun
Only Girl- Paul Collins Feel The Noise
^Black Betty- Ramjam Ramjam
Desiree- Hoodoo Gurus Kinky
Waterfall- Ex Hex Rips
*13 (Under A Bad Sign- Sloan Commonwealth
*Discotheque- The CRY! Dangerous Game
*Party Insurance- The Rubinoos 45
*Brill Bruisers- The New Pornographers Brill Bruisers
*Bottom Of The Class- Silver Sun A Lick And A Promise
Jennette- Darlington Classics 2
Her Name Was Audre- Maxïmo Park Too Much Information
Lookin' For Clues- Jenny Dee and The Deelinquents Electric Candyland
On With The Business- The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams
Lucy- The Boys The Complete Boys Punk Singles Collection
Paint By Numbers- The Muffs Whoop Dee Doo
#My Dark Places- Stiff Little Fingers No Going Back
#My Phantom Limb- Bracket Hold Your Applause
#People are Strange Machines- Buzzcocks The Way
#Nemeses Are Laughing- Bob Mould Beauty and Ruin
>Rainy Jane- Davy Jones Rainy Jane
Melinda- The Connection Let It Rock
Jill- Mod Lang Yellow Pills Vol 4 The Best of American Pop!
She Don't Take It- The Real Kids Shake...Outta Control

^Power Pop Peak:  #18 Billboard Hot 100 6/11/77

*SacroSet#1:  Top 5 Records of 2014
#SacroSet#2:  2014 Punk Rock Veteran Releases

>Power Pop Prototype:  1971

Wow, another year has passed- let me wish you a belated but heartfelt HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I can't say I'm sorry to see 2014 go, it was a challenging year.  That said, I was lucky to be cast in two musicals, The Full Monty and The Who's Tommy- both amazing experiences.  My radio show ALL KINDSA GIRLS is going strong into its seventh year.  Most importantly, Jaime and the kids are doing great and we are happily greeting 2015.  Challenging or not, every year of my life has been enriched by the movies, TV shows, music and books I saw, heard and read.  In an effort to share this wealth with all of you, a tradition started in 1999 (16 years ago!), I humbly submit my 2014 Top 5's:
 
TOP 5 MOVIES  
Whiplash (what price perfection?)  
Boyhood (this boy's life)  
Snowpiercer (all aboard!)
The Babadook (you can't get rid of him)  
Birdman (metatastic!)
 
TOP 5 DVD'S/WEB STREAMS  
We Are The Best! (punk rock lives!)
Short Term 12 (fostering care)  
Oculus (mirror mirror)  
Alan Partridge (radio gravy)   
Fill The Void (sisters lover)
 
TOP 5 ALBUMS
Sloan- Commonwealth (the pride of Halifax, NS)
The Cry!- Dangerous Game (Rose City rock and roll)  
The Rubinoos- 45 (proud power pop purveyors)  
The New Pornographers- Brill Bruisers (more catchy Canadians)  
Silver Sun- A Lick And A Promise (harmony heaven)
 
TOP 5 BOOKS  
Skippy Dies- Paul Murray (spoiler alert!)  
The Shipping News- Annie Proulx (long live the Quoyles)  
The Dinner- Herman Koch (NOT a foodie book) Swamplandia!- Karen Russell (what happens in the swamp...)
Painted Ladies- Robert B. Parker (the penultimate Spenser)
 
TOP 5 TV/CABLE/WEB SHOWS  
True Detective Season 1 (antinatal noir) 
Broadchurch Season 1 (subtitled for the non-Scottish) 
Game Of Thrones Seasons 3 and 4 (winter came)  
The Walking Dead Season 4 (most hardcore TV show ever)
Orphan Black Season 2 (a performance(s) for the ages)
 
Please feel free to respond with your own favorites from 2014 and maybe you'll see them on next year's list.  I can never get enough quality viewing, listening and reading material.  If you're curious about my past lists, you can find them all at the blog Rick's Top 5 Lists.  Here's hoping we all enjoy a happy and prosperous 2015!!!

Links for the YEAR-END DEDICATION SPECIAL are below (to download, right click and "Save Link As")
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #127 THE SANTA CELEBRATION December 6, 2014

The Santa Celebration is dedicated to Gloria!

Gloria (in Excelsis Deo)- The Tryfles A Midnight Christmas Mess
Christmas Time Is Here- Jeffrey Foskett Christmas At The Beach
It's Christmas Time Again- Chris Klondike Masuak Rockin' Bethlehem
Merry Christmas All- The Grip Weeds Under The Influence Of Christmas
A Christmas Toast- The Wellingtons Wellingtons Christmas Cheer
I Must Have Been So Good- Vibeke Saugestad ...From All Of Me
It's That Time of Year- Jeremy Hi-Fi Christmas Party Vol. 2
All These Winter Nights- The Higher Elevations Swedesplease Christmas Mix
Merry Christmas- XTC Holiday Greetings From Geffen Records
^Santa Claus Is Coming To Town- The Revillos Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Teenage Christmas- Eux Autres Another Christmas At Home
Here Come the Good Times- A House Wide Eyed And Ignorant
 I Want An Alien For Christmas- Fountains Of Wayne I Want An Alien For Christmas
The Twelve Days Of Christmas- Bill Lloyd The Day After Christmas
All Winter Long- The Doleful Lions Motel Swim
*Santa Claus- Chris Von Sneidern Santa Claus
*Santa's On His Way- The New Royalty Spend Christmas With Me
*Santa Don't Go- Farrah Christmas Present
*Santa Came In Stripes- The Finkers Planet of the Popboomerang
*Santa Needs A Holiday- Strawberry Whiplash The Matinée Holiday Soirée
California Christmas- Sketch Middle California Christmas
Christmas Time- The Boss Martians Santa's Got A GTO Rodney On The Roq's Fav X-Mas Songs
Maybe This Christmas- Ron Sexsmith Music From The OC: Mix 3 - Have A Very Merry Chrismukkah
Christmas Bells Are Ringing- The Connection A Christmas Gift For 
Son, You Should Come Home For Christmas- Ben Smith WXPN Local 12 Days of Christmas 2012
Tiny Tree Christmas- Guster The Christmas Gig
>Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy- Buck Owens Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
Christmas Countdown- Broken Promise Keeper Christmas Countdown
Christmasonic- Dom Mariani Hi-Fi Christmas Party
Christmas Lights- The Hi-Risers Christmas Lights 7"
Christmastime With You- The Cheepskates A Midnight Christmas Mess
Snowman Song- The Icicles Cwistmas Twee
The Christmas Wish- Kermit The Frog A Christmas Together
Faster Santa Claus Ho! Ho! Ho!- Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet It Came From Canada Vol. 4

^Power Pop Peak:  Original version from 1934

*SacroSet: Santa Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1965

Every year my wife Jaime writes the Love Family Christmas Letter (now an e-mail) and she always does a fantastic job.  So fantastic in fact that I want to share it with all of you.  I asked her if it was okay and she said yes, so take it away Jaime!

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What’s YOUR favorite holiday memory??  The one where you got everything you wanted, all your relatives refrained from passive aggression and you didn’t gain five pounds? My guess is NO. 
 
Ever notice how some of your fondest memories didn’t start out that way?  Time has a way of improving the past.  Like the year we discovered Santa’s hiding spot:  the spooky unused laundry chute off the powder room.  Or the Christmas my Mom must have thought I was too old for toys and I found an itchy maroon dickie and a SLIP under the  tree, instead of more clothes for my dolls Skipper and Midge.  These memories make me chuckle now, but I remember a few tears back then.
 
And then there are the memories that are great from the get go:  Jackson smiling his first official smile at 5 weeks.  I was decorating the tree and he was just to the left of me, in his “blue thing” (bouncy seat), arms and legs going like a wind up doll. He made a loud cooing sound and I looked down, ornament in hand, just in time to see the corners of his mouth turn upward.  That moment is locked in my memory, twinkling ornament, twinkling lights, twinkling smile.  Or the year we saved their biggest gift for last….they had wanted a Wii so bad and, in the throes of Waldorf inspired parental restraint, we were the only house on the block without a video game system.  Our poor deprived children!  Just when they thought Christmas was over, we nonchalantly said “oh you missed one” and pulled out a nondescript package from Gramma Gigi in back of the tree.  The look of incredulity on their faces was priceless.  To this day, they say it was their biggest Christmas surprise.
 
How could I ever forget Nica’s joy over her least expensive gift- a cash register with paper money and “groceries”-she must have played “store” with Gigi all day that year.  Or seeing her one Christmas morning, in a hat from the costume box, arm around dear pal Anne, cruising down the street in her motorized pink Corvette at seven years old.  Rick was right; we did NEED to buy her that.  You should have seen him in Toys ‘R Us, grilling the pimply teen sales clerk about which car was the best, which got the best battery mileage….  Then there was the year all the boys on the street got Green Machines (think fancy big wheels) and we parents met on the street in our bathrobes and coffee watching the guys race down Cooper Street.   One year my parents were on hand to witness the joy over their gift for the kids, tucked inside mouse ears were keys to  Disneyland.  Thank you Grinna and Papadaddy!
 
This year we got them good.  As the kids have gotten older, we like to give experiences instead of more “crap” for their bedroom floors.  Weeks ahead of time they were told “we’re all flying to Boston, dropping you off with Gigi, then mom and dad are going to NYC for three days.”  They were not pleased as they love NYC almost as much as we do.  The night before our trip we had an early Christmas dinner, Jack’s girlfriend Genesis joining us, and presented a few gifts that were “too big to take to Boston.”  We got to talking about Christmas memories, and Jackson told his girlfriend: “the sound of the electric train always means Christmas to me and Nica.”  Rick and I shared a look and a laugh over that one.  I brought this cheap little electric train at Rite Aid eons ago and each year we debate whether to drag it out and set it up around the base of the tree, the train sound summoning them to open presents Christmas morning.  It’s a pain to put together but usually I win… and Rick gets down the box!  So, anyway after dinner this year we asked them to look under the tree.  They found three big gift bags:  one with a card showing the letter “I,” another with a heart symbol and a third with the letters “N,” “Y, “ and “C.”  Nica said “Jack, l think we’re going somewhere, last time they made us spell it turned out to be a CRUISE!!”  Watching them get the letters into the right order and realizing they were going to New York was priceless!
 
DECEMBER 22:  After a full year of tennis and softball (sophomore Nica), baseball (senior Jack) and theater (The Who’s Tommy, The Full Monty- Rick; Rent- Nica; the original musical revue Defying Gravity Gals in We Can Do It!- Jaime) we are currently pretending to be New Yorkers!  In the last three days we’ve lugged five suitcases up to my nephew’s four flight walk-up in Chelsea (built in 1840- thanks Garth and Francesca!), seen Broadway shows Sideshow and Constellations (where Jack met star Jake Gyllenhaal!) walked a gazillion miles, tried to bribe Nica to sing at Restaurant Row piano bar Don’t Tell Mama and nearly missed our train to Boston because Rick HAD to visit Dylan’s Candy Bar.  You should have seen him, flagging a taxi like a pro, whisking us up to 59th and 3rd to rub elbows with the upper east side crowd buying $30 artisanal
chocolate covered pretzels.  After we left I found out I could have been UPSTAIRS at Dylan’s with the moms and nannies drinking chocolate martinis- now THAT’S my kind of candy store!  It would have fortified me as we endured the slowest cab driver in NYC to get us back to Chelsea to grab our luggage and then to Penn Station within minutes of our train’s departure.  It felt like an adventure on one of those reality shows.
 
When we find ourselves in crappy situations, Rick loves to rub it in, sarcastically singing the old Carly Simon song “it’s the stuff that dreams are made of ….it’s the reason we are alive.”  And ya know, he’s right.  As I sit on the train to Boston, I’m already turning the white knuckle afternoon fiasco to make our train on time into an anecdote.  AND we’re going to make him walk the length of the train to the dining car to buy us food, so it all works out.
 
DECEMBER 30:  Sitting in Chicago, waiting for our flight to SF, delayed, delayed, delayed due to high winds. Nica and Rick watching Netflix, Jackson reading a COOKBOOK (whoever would guess my son wants to be a CHEF) and I’m finishing up this letter to you. Great Christmas with our East Coast family firmly tucked away in our minds, we even managed to call the kids down to the presents with electric train sounds, albeit emanating from a youtube video on Rick’s computer!
 
Christmas isn’t always perfect, but it’s usually memorable! We hope YOU made some memories this season. 
 
Love the Loves, Rick, Jaime, Jackson and Veronica …and Sheena and Lacey too
 
PS:  They just bumped us up to first class!  It’s gonna be a good year….

Jack and Nica in Times Square

Jaime and Jack at Orsi in NYC

Washington Square Park

Jaime and Jack return to her Alma Mater

Jack and his buddy Jake

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See, I told you she did a good job.  Links for the Santa Celebration are below (to download right click and "Save Link As"):
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #126 November 8, 2014

 
Tonight we rock for fair Kate!

Kate- Slaters The Big Black Bug Bled Black Blood 
Lets Go To The Pictures- Wreckless Eric Big Smash 
Sun Rise, Sea Change- Sugar Stems Only Come Out At Night 
From A to Z- Boys Life Boys Life 
The Only Thing- The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams 
Dangerous Game- The CRY! Dangerous Game 
Tell Me More- Tenpole Tudor Wunderbar - The Best Of Tenpole Tudor 
Coming Up Roses- Owsley Owsley 
^Horror Movie- Skyhooks Horror Movie 
Girls Who Play Tricks On You- Cinecyde I Left My Heart in Detroit City 
The Ballad- The Nads Unreleased Tracks And Demos 
She's Got Everything- The Real Kids Shake...Outta Control 
You- Swag Catchall 
Young Reckless Hearts- Warm Soda Young Reckless Hearts 
*Movies- Swingers Resort Rockets And Rose 7"
*At The Movies- The Scruffs Teenage Gurls 
*White Screen Movies- Bizarros Bizarros 
*Life's A Movie Too- Secret Affair Glory Boys/Behind Closed Doors 
*TV Movie- Slowguns Shake Some Action Vol 1 (UK) 
Lay Down- The Muffs Whoop Dee Doo 
Time in a Day- Big Kid You Must Be Kidding 
My Bloody Mind- Maxïmo Park Too Much Information 
Keep on Believing- Buzzcocks The Way 
Definitive Gaze- Magazine Real Life 
Awkward Situation- Farrah Cut Out And Keep 
>Groovy Movies- The Kinks The Great Lost Kinks Album
Science Fiction Double Feature- The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Rocky Horror Picture Show

^Power Pop Peak:

*SacroSet:  Movie Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1973

When I was a kid I didn't think there would ever be anything I loved as much as music.  I liked movies, but aside from my aforementioned affinity for James Bond, they didn't inspire nearly as much passion.  Nowadays movies and music are about even and I have my father to thank for nurturing my love of film.  Along with James Bond, he showed me my first kaiju movie:  1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla.  

"Come over here and say that!"

It wasn't an easy sell either.  First, Dad was watching the movie on our portable 12" black and white TV.  A 12" screen!  That's five inches smaller than the laptop I'm using to write this post.  Another issue is that like a lot of those old Toho Studios films, the first 45 minutes is mostly talk.  I gave it about 15 minutes and bailed but my dad stuck with it.  Sometime later I walked back into the room and saw something I would never forget- a giant lizard fighting a giant ape! Godzilla looks awesome as usual though I'll grant this King Kong leaves something to be desired.  Then again, this particular King Kong can eat electricity and shoot it through his fingers!  How awesome is that!!

A few months later I saw the original "classic" 1933 King Kong on TV and pronounced it inferior.  Swatting at planes from the top of the Empire State Building?  Why not just eat some electricity and shock them out of the sky!  As for Godzilla, he may have become a "good guy" in subsequent Toho films but I will always see him as a bad ass because of King Kong vs. Godzilla.  (Thinking about it now, I bet Godzilla fired his agent after losing top billing to a giant saggy ape.)  Also, I have to say I don't recall this obviously passionate kiss between the film's stars- you'd think I would remember something like that.  I'm sure I would have found it pretty confusing (as I do now).

WTF!?!

Needless to say, King Kong vs. Godzilla blew my young mind- my dad said "I told you!"  After that I ALWAYS listened when he recommended a movie. For my birthday that year, he took Timmy Kelleher and I to the Westgate Mall Cinema in Brockton, Mass to see Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (in Japan it's called Godzilla vs. Hedorah).  Man- what a difference from that 12" black and white TV!!!  GvSM is the "psychedelic" Godzilla movie with the strong message about pollution.  An Indian shedding a lone tear by the side of the highway has got nothing on Godzilla fighting a gigantic heap of toxic waste!  The steaming runny pile of goo even had the height and reach advantage!

What is it?  It's what you have done to our planet!

The movie even has a chase scene, where Godzilla flies using his patented "tuck" move (this is not to be confused with the far more disturbing "tuck" move in Silence Of The Lambs.)  

"Hey cesspool- just where do you think you're going!?!"

According to Wikipedia this is "the only occurrence of Godzilla flying under his own power. He uses his atomic ray as jet propulsion."  So, it is historic as well as awesome!

A few years later, I saw the film again on Boston TV Channel 56's legendary Creature Double Feature and I have to say it really held up.  (The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant?  Not so much.)  In fact when the station re-launched this beloved program in June 2006 after a 23 year hiatus, guess what they started with?  You guessed it- local car dealer Ernie Boch, Jr. was on-camera host "The Ghoul" presenting Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster and The Giant Gila Monster.

While several other movies are signposts on my lifelong journey of film appreciation, few had the mind blowing impact of Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster and King Kong vs. Godzilla.  Thanks Dad!
 
I'll conclude this post with a favorite photo I turned up in my research.  It shows a Shinto priest purifying the set of King Kong vs. Godzilla prior to filming.  Don't laugh- it went on to be the most profitable film in the early series!

Godzilla (2nd from left), King Kong (3rd from right)

Click the link below to stream this show or to download, right click and "Save Link As"
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #126

Show #125 October 11, 2014

YEAH- this one's dedicated to Jill!

Jill- Mod Lang Yellow Pills Vol 4 The Best of American Pop! 
It's All Yeah!- Hundred Million Martians Solid Rock Planet 
Yeah- Queen Made In Heaven
Yeah- The Wannadies Yeah
Yeh Yeh- Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames Yeh Yeh
Yea, Yea- Ramones Road To Ruin
Yeah Yeah- The Revillos Rev Up 
Yeah Yeah- The Reducers Guitars, Bass and Drums
Yeah Yeah- Cheap Trick Cheap Trick [1997]
Yeah Yeah- Salad Yeah Yeah
Yeah Yeah Yeah- The Vibrators Pure Mania
Yeah Yeah Yeah- The Outlets I Remember 
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah- Alice Cooper Killer 
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah- Kix Kix 
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- The Wellingtons Keeping Up With The Wellingtons 
Yeah (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)- The Greenberry Woods Big Money Item 
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- Travis Writing To Reach You 
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah- The Pogues Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 
You've Got A Lot On Your Mind- Sloan Commonwealth
Champions of Red Wine- The New Pornographers Brill Bruisers 
The Light- Bracket Hold Your Applause 
Let The Beauty Be- Bob Mould Beauty and Ruin 
Thinking About Leaving- The Connection Let It Rock 
And A Whole Lotta You- The Yum Yums ...Play Good Music 
Reasons- Nick Piunti 13 In My Head 
Hey Tonight- Free Energy Love Sign 
Say Yeah- Utopia Utopia
Yeah You- The Neighborhoods ...The High Hard One... 
You, Yeah You- The Quick Untold Rock Stories
Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)- Joan Jett and The Blackhearts Greatest Hits
Yeah My Baby- The Flamin' Groovies Groovies Greatest Grooves
Yeah Sapphire- The Hold Steady Stay Positive

Man, I am WAY behind on blog posts but I vowed to try and catch up during the holidays.  My goal for this show was to do nothing but songs with "YEAH" in the title, similar to the "WANNA" show I did a few months back.  I started building music sets based on the number of times "yeah" appeared.  I start with Queen's "Yeah," which is four seconds long, solely consisting of Freddy Mercury singing "yeah."  



Mercury recorded the song a few months before he died in 1991 and it wasn't released until four years later on 1995's Made In Heaven.  Knowing this I find the song pretty moving- Freddy sending us a positive message from beyond the grave.

As you can see, at the height of the yeah song bell curve are those in which the word appears twice (I didn't discriminate by spelling or punctuation so this includes "Yeh Yeh," "Yea, Yea," "Yeah Yeah," etc.)  I'm still kicking myself for missing Matt and Kim's "Yea Yeah" but I'll make up for that by including it here:



Could they be any more adorable?  Something about the concept of "yeah" makes for positive, upbeat and amazingly catchy songwriting.  Whether it's just one "yeah" or five, there is not a downer dirge in the bunch.  Credit where credit is due, I owe the whole "yeah song" concept to The Revillos "Yeah Yeah" which has always been a favorite of mine.  Check out these lyrics:

Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, yeah.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- Yeah!
(drum solo)
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, yeah.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- Yeah!
(guitar solo)
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, yeah.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- Yeah! 
(bass solo)
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah Yeah Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, yeah.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah- Yeah!(everything solo)
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah! (repeat infinity times)

Five Yeah's!

Now that is the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance!  Here's the thing though, after two "yeah" songs, six "yeah yeah," four "yeah yeah yeah," three "yeah yeah yeah yeah" and one "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" I was about to drive a pencil into my brain.  I've done shows of all dog songs, and the aforementioned evening of "wanna" but they didn't affect me this way.  As positive as they are, after sixteen "yeah" songs I was climbing the walls.  Something about the repetition of that single syllable really put me on edge.  Not in a "death metal interrogation in Guantanamo" way exactly, but not something pleasant either.  

Why Joan,  Why?

Yuck!

For some "yeah" relief I called an audible and threw together a set of four songs from records released in 2014.  This didn't seem like enough of a "palate cleanser," so I followed it with a set of four 2013 records.  Only then was I able to finish up with a few more "yeah" songs.  I really debated playing Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" because I find listening to that song difficult, and not just because of the numerous bikini shots in the video.  (Seriously-- a bikini!?!  Is there any apparel less suited to her exquisite Joan Jettness?  What genius thought that up and why would she ever agree to do it!?!)  No, the reason I have a problem with "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" is that it was written by Gary Glitter, the British singer who made it a hit before racking up numerous criminal convictions for possession of child pornography, child sexual abuse, sex tourism and the like.  I decided to put my love and respect for Joan Jett first and play the song but it still didn't sound right to me.  In fact, just writing "Do You Wanna Touch Me" so many times in this post is making my mouth fill with bile...


Anyway, I have eight or nine non-pedophile penned songs called "Oh Yeah" that I'll use as a SacroSet in an upcoming show.  Somehow adding the "oh" to "yeah" makes it okay to my ears and I certainly won't be playing 16 of them in a row!

Sorry to say it took to long to put this post together so the download links have been taken down.  I'll re-post if they become available! 

Show #124 September 20, 2014

Dedicated to Lucy!

Lucy- The Boys The Complete Boys Punk Singles Collection 
The Ballad- Chris Von Sneidern Sight and Sound 
Can't Shake That Girl- The Real Kids Shake...Outta Control 
Fanzine- Holly and the Italians The Right to Be Italian 
Break Down The Walls- Ken Sharp Yellow Pills Vol 1 The Best of American Pop! 
You Don't Need Excuses To Be Good- Sloan Commonwealth 
Carnival of Souls- Wondermints The Wondermints
All I Need Is You- The Click Five Modern Minds And Pastimes 
^The Ballad of Mona Lisa- Panic! At The Disco The Ballad Of Mona Lisa 
Sweety Of The St. Moritz- The 101'ers Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited 
Blinded By The Light- This Perfect Day Don't Smile 
*Ballad Of A Love Doll- Redd Kross Neurotica
*The Ballad of Bjorn Borg- Pernice Brothers The World Won't End 
*The Ballad Of Dwight Fry- Alice Cooper Love It To Death
*The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead- XTC Fossil Fuel The XTC Singles 1977-92 
*The Ballad Of El Goodo- Big Star #1 Record 
*Ballad Of A Comeback Kid- The New Pornographers Electric Version 
*Ballad Of Cowboy Mouth- Cowboy Mouth All You Need Is Live 
*The Ballad of the Gravel Pit- The Gravel Pit Mass Avenue Freeze-Out 
*The Ballad of TV Violence (I'm Not the Only Boy)- Cheap Trick Cheap Trick 
*Ballad Of A Lonely Man- Material Issue Destination Universe 
*The Ballad of Ranch Hand Rivera- The Soda Pop Kids Teen Bop Dream 
*Ballad Of The Lower East Side- Michael Monroe Horns And Halos 
*Ballad of Don Crawford- Pills A Fistful of Pills 
>Ballad Of A Useless Man- Paul Revere and The Raiders Midnight Ride 
The Ballad of Harry Noryb- The Verlaines Hallelujah All The Way Home 

^Power Pop Peak:  #89 Billboard Hot 100 2/1/11

*SacroSet:  The Ballad Of....

>Power Pop Prototype:  1966

I'm guessing many of you are surprised to see Marshall and RiRi at the top of an ALL KINDSA GIRLS blog post.  Rest assured I have never played either on the show, nor do I ever intend to.  No, the pictures are here because of a road trip I took my son and his friends on in August.  As soon as they announced the three city/six date Eminem/Rihanna Monster Tour last March Jack started bugging his mom and I to go to one of the Rose Bowl shows.  I didn't say "no" because it was so far in the future I figured he'd never get it together to go.  That was my first mistake.  He got his friend Aidan (and more importantly, Aidan's mom) involved and sure enough they managed to get tickets to the August 8 show.  At that point Jack's other friend named Aydan (I know, it's confusing) said he would drive.  None of the moms liked the idea of three boys who've never driven farther than San Francisco trekking down to Pasadena so they roped me into going for the price of a ticket.  As long as I didn't have to drive, I figured what the hell.


All this Monster business was put in place before we planned

our trip to Michigan and right before we left Aydan tells us he crashed his car and can't drive.  I'm more than ready to throw in the towel but Aidan's mom comes to the rescue and offers her Suburban.  I had one day between Michigan and Monster so of course we just had to get screwed on our return flights:  cancelled out of Grand Rapids, five hour wait for re-routed flight to DFW, two hour delay in Dallas.  I'm committed at this point (or I should have been) so 36 hours later I'm driving a monster Suburban down godforsaken I-5 to the Monster Tour in Pasadena. 

While many Cali- fornians crap on the Central Valley, I've only seen it at 75mph from I-5.  I can attest to the fact that it is an incredibly boring ride.  I've done it so many times that to amuse myself I mark the distance with a couple of jokes.  The first is "Ladies Love.... Coalinga!"  (I didn't say it was "A" material, it is brain dead car ride material.)  Further south you come to the town of Shafter, CA:  "Shafter... I hardly even KNOW her! (rimshot!) I'll be here all week!"  While both are clearly off-color, neither of these jokes comes close to the level of offensiveness of a third I-5 joke that my wife of all people once tossed out.  To set the stage, depending on which way the wind is blowing, you start to smell Harris Ranch a few miles before you see it.  Just when you think the stink can't get any worse this is what you come upon:

Harris Ranch

I'm a lifelong meat-eater, but this place makes you think.  Anyway, driving by one time when it was 100 degrees outside and we could see the waves of rising stank trying to permeate our sealed car Jaime called the place "Cowschwitz."  Offensive, no doubt but looking at the picture above... like I said it makes you think.  After Harris you hit the engine-punishing Grapevine Highway before dropping down into Magic Mountain territory.  Whenever I see Magic Mountain I always think "What- were you too tired to drive to Disney?" but I'm sure it's a lovely place.

We got into Pasadena about 2:30- just in time for some record shopping!  I'm happy to report that there are a few fine record stores in Pasadena.  The first one the boys and I went to was Canterbury Records.  The store looks like it has been

there forever, which it pretty much has since I later learned it opened in 1956.  I could easily picture a Don Draper type going in and buying an Esquivel record a few years later.   Heading out of

Old Town Pasadena on East Colorado you come to Poo Bah records.  This store is more what I'm used to- loud, chaotic sensory overload with music blaring, records and posters covering every inch of wall space- yep, I was home.  I could have spent a couple of hours in Poo Bah but unfortunately we had to get to the Rose Bowl.

I'm not an arena concert guy, my favorite shows are usually me and 199 other people packed into a sweaty basement club.  I wasn't dreading the Monster show but even as an Eminem fan I was dreading the hassle.  We took a ride share van to skip the parking nightmare.  It was pretty cool to come around the corner and see the iconic Rose Bowl sign.

Aydan, Jack, Aidan, me

We got there early and had a long wait for the show to start so it was mostly people watching, which got boring pretty quickly because 99% of the crowd was just like us- white people from the suburbs.

Our seats were pretty high up but the sound was fantastic.  The challenge for me with a show like this is to focus on the performers themselves and not their images up on the video screens.  I always feel like I'm not getting my money's worth if I'm just watching screens the whole time.  BTW- the huge half circle in the image above is the head of the dude in front of us.

Eminem and Rihanna started the show together and the first

Rose Bowl, August 8

thing I noticed is that she's wearing a Judas Priest shirt (admittedly I was only able to see this on the video screens).  It's hard for me to imagine that RiRi has EVER listened to Rob Halford and company so I figured her stylist put it together as some kind of homage to arena rock shows.  The rest of her outfits that night were standard pop fashion fare but that Judas Priest shirt really stuck in my mind.  When I Googled the Monster Tour I saw that the previous night she had chosen to honor:  

Rose Bowl, August 7

Krokus!  If you thought her being a Judas Priest fan was a stretch, how about the Swiss hair metal douche bags named after a flower that gave us "Midnight Maniac," a song I had to look up on youtube and don't remember ever hearing before.  Did Rihanna's stylist think the blue in the shirt made her eyes "pop" or something?  Further research shows that Rihanna kicked off each Monster tour show in a rock t-shirt:

New Jersey, August 16 Motley Crue

New Jersey, August 17 Jim Morrison

Detroit, August 22 Alice Cooper

 (Nice touch paying tribute to Alice in his home town.)

Detroit, August 23 Bon Jovi

I have to admit the red leather bondage pants are quite fetching- no doubt Rihanna is a beautiful woman.  Yet, with rock and roll in its current doldrums I find her (or more likely, her stylist's) appropriation of rock inconography deeply troubling.  Or maybe I have my head up my butt and like me she is a huge rock and roll fan, because in my search I also found this picture of her just walking down the street:

Sex Pistols!?!

You decide- my head hurts.  As for the rest of the Eminem/Rihanna show, there's not much to say.  She did her thing, he did his (including a Slim Shady medley... no lie, a medley) and they both hit all their marks.  My son and his friends loved it, especially the Slim Shady medley, though none of them blinked an eye at the Judas Priest t-shirt (sigh).

Download links for this show have expired- I'll be sure to re-post if they become available.