Show #63 August 6, 2011

Here's to Glendora.... and ALL the boys!

Glendora- The Slickee Boys Gotta Tell Me Why 7"
Tonight The Sky Will Be Ours- The Vertex Tonight The Sky Will Be Ours EP
Bittersweet- Hoodoo Gurus Mars Needs Guitars!
I Don't Like It Like That- Sorrows Teenage Heartbreak
T.V. Woman- The Citizens Satisfy The Citizens 7"
Love Is A Dangerous Thing- Tommy Keene Driving Into The Sun
Wake Up- The Cold Mesmerized/Wake Up 7"
Tears Little Darlin'- Ray Paul & RPM Go Time
^I Wanna Be A Cowboy- Boys Don't Cry Boys Don't Cry
Call Me If There's Any Change- Pills Wide Awake With The Pills
All Of A Sudden- B.T.P. Folders All Of A Sudden 7"
Shakin' It- Face Dancer About Face
Imagine Me Without You- Screams Screams
Popgun- The Bats Popgun 7"
*Weoh, Weoh, Weoh- Boys Boys
*Let It Rain- The Boys Boys Only
*Shady Lady- The Boyzz Too Wild To Tame
*You Make Me Shake- The Boys You Make Me Shake 7"
*Easy To Fall In Love- The Boize Live At The Rat
Poison Flower- Urge Overkill Rock & Roll Submarine
Rock 'N Roller- Bay City Rollers The Definitive Collection
Everyday, Everyway- The Really 3rds The Really 3rds 7"
The Big Hook Up- The Modern Pioneers The Big Hookup EP
Reverberate- The Cassettes Reverberate 7"
Here Comes Another Lonely Night- The Sweat No More Running
>Laughs On Me- The Boyz Shake Some Action Vol 7 (USA)
Spinning My Mind Away- The Merrymakers No Sleep 'til Famous
Ever Any Reason- Manual Scan Manual Scan 1
No Russians In Russia- Radio Stars Songs For Swinging Lovers
Only In Dreams- The Nice Boys The Nice Boys
I Found Her- Boy's Life Two Doors Down 45

^Power Pop Peak: #12 Billboard Hot 100 4/5/86

*SacroSet: Boys/Boyzz/Boize Bands

>Power Pop Prototype: 1968

One of the countless ways the Internet has changed music is that bands now have to think about search engines when choosing a name. Case in point, a few months back I had the idea to do a show featuring all the bands I knew called "The Boys" or using some derivation this name. Easy right? Not so much. First off, while this is a VERY different than "boy bands" (shudder) I still had to wade through tons of sites about The Backstreet Boys, N' Sync, etc. (Interesting fact: the 90's boy band craze was a world wide phenomenon- every country seemed to have their version. I probably shouldn't be surprised since the US stole the idea from Puerto Rican group Menudo, who stole the idea from The Osmonds and Jackson 5.)

Anyway, after several attempts I think I ended up googling something like "bands with the word boys in their name-" the Interweb demands specificity. Here's what I found:

• Australian band Boys are from Perth and put out two great records as well as several singles in the early 80's.

  

• The Boys from London are probably the best known of this evening's "Boys bands;" formed in 1976, they are lumped in with the British punk scene but were MUCH more accomplished musicians, as their later records proved.

• Fox Lake, Illinois' The Boyzz were a hard rocking bar band with a strong biker following- not your standard All Kindsa Girls fare but I think "Shady Lady" from their first and only LP Too Wild To Tame is a great song.

• The Boys from Lincoln, NE built up a decent following in the midwest circa 1978, releasing a couple of great singles and compilation tracks on the legendary Kansas City label Titan! records.

• Boston band The Boize didn't achieve the regional success of contemporaries The Real Kids, Willie "Loco" Alexander or DMZ but their place in Boston Rock history is cemented with their two tracks on Live At The Rat recorded at the legendary club The Rathskellar in Kenmore Square. 

• "Laughs On Me" by The Boyz is probably the most obscure "boys" record in tonight's show. I'd never heard of the group and only saw the record when I sorted iTunes on group names and they came up. The song was recorded in 1968 but due to its re-release in 1975 is associated with a lot of

  

  Young Rick Neilsen

  mid-70's Power Pop. It's a great song, but whatmakes it even cooler is that it features early guitar work of a certified Power Pop Genius...Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick! 

 I realize "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" is not Power Pop, but it did Peak and since the group, Boys Don't Cry, fit tonight's theme I just went with it.



These days unfortunately even the coolest band name is a liability if it comes up on page three of a web search. Now when I see a group like Baltimore's Myracle Brah, Lake Charles, LA's Research Turtles or Boston's Oranjuly I no longer think "wow! what a stupid name." I have come to realize it's savvy marketing for bands to have incredibly random yet easily searchable names.

Download this week's show below (Right click and "Save Target As")
ALL KINDSA GIRLS SHOW #63

Show #62 July 23, 2011

For Jesamine and the people of Norway


Jesamine- Squire Big Smashes
Kings Cross Ladies- Loaded Dice No Sweat
Prisoners- The Vapors Anthology
Love Said to Me- The Rooks Encore Echoes
It's Safe- The Proof It's Safe
Mason Dixon- Urge Overkill Rock & Roll Submarine
She's Fetching- Big Dipper Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology
Extraordinary Sensations- Purple Hearts Frustration 7"
^Take On Me- A-Ha Hunting High And Low
Get Away- Numbers Add Up
I've Gotta Know- Sloan The Double Cross
Dot Dash- Wire Dot Dash Single
Shattered Flower- Eugene Edwards My Favorite Revolution
A Place In The Heart- Protex A Place In The Heart 7"
*Come On Come On- The Yum Yums Blame It On The Boogie
*Ooh, I Love You- The Kwyet Kings Been Where? Done What?
*I'm Coming Home- The Terrifieds Terrifieds EP
*Driving Song- The Jessica Fletchers Less Sophistication
Neverland- The dB's Repercussion
Sweet Sweet Heart- The Vibrators Pure Mania
Got To Get Control Of My Life- The Sighs The Sighs
I'm A Pretender- The Exploding Hearts Guitar Romantic
The Last Letter- Milk 'N' Cookies Milk 'N' Cookies
Commercial Alternative- Teenage Fanclub Thirteen
>Boom Boom- DumDum Boys Splitter Pine
Who's Got My Baby- The Shake Shakes You Can Run Single
You'd Rather See Me Lonely- Cherry Twister Cherry Twister
Massive Nights- The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America
I Want You To Stay- Maximo Park A Certain Trigger
Animal Grey- Band 19 Dictate
Day Of The First Snow- Jr. Gone Wild Less Art, More Pop
Audio, Audio- Classics Shake Some Action Vol 5
Can't Get You Outta My Mind- Cosmic Dropouts Sonic Circus

^Power Pop Peak: #1 Billboard Hot 100 7/13/85

*SacroSet: Norwegian Power Pop

>Power Pop Prototype: 1989

For the second time this year, world events have placed a feature on a pre-recorded ALL KINDSA GIRLS show in a different context. Back in March I dedicated a show to "Enola Gay" (the movie/album Urgh! A Music War was being featured and it's the only song on the record that has a woman's name in the title) about three days before the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown. Needless to say, this tragedy turned the dedication to "Enola Gay" (the name of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb in WWII) into a cruel, disrespectful joke requiring a hastily recorded disclaimer added a few hours before the show aired.

Outside of Nobel prize time, Norway isn't in the news much. So, it was a little surreal that while I was in South Lake Tahoe this week, having already recorded Show #62 featuring Norwegian Power Pop, I read about the bombing in Oslo and multiple murder in Utoya. What a shockingly senseless act- my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Norway. Another country gets its own "9/11-" it's a sad time for all of us.

Last year I was researching Scandinavian Power Pop but found so much outstanding music from Sweden (Merrymakers, Genuine Fakes, Beagle, ABBA, etc.) that I ended up going with that country alone, making a mental note to go back for Denmark, Norway and Finland (this was before I found out that there is considerable debate on the web over whether Finland is a Scandinavian country, which I find fascinating).

Growing up in New England we used to say that neighboring states New Hampshire (blue collar, conservative) and Vermont (white collar, liberal) were exact opposites of each other. It appears the same can be said of Sweden, whose biggest musical export is ABBA, and Norway, birthplace of satan worshiping black metal (though to be fair also A-Ha whose "Take On Me," is tonight's Power Pop Peak). I've loved Moss, Norway's non-satan worshiping group The Yum Yums for years, so they were my starting point for Norwegian Power Pop. Yum Yums leader and Power Pop genius Morten Henriksen had already been in Norwegian language punk (Stroyers) and hardcore bands (Siste Dagers Helvete) before switching to English in The Joyful Tears (a band he describes as "gloomy post punk") where he met Arne Thelin. In the late 80's Henriksen and Thelin's shared love of garage rock birthed The Cosmic Dropouts, whom Thelin left after one record to form Lust-O-Rama before moving in a Power Pop direction with his band The Kwyet Kings (also featured in tonight's SacroSet). Henriksen went on to form The Vikings with a member of American punk band The Devil Dogs before putting the The Yum Yums together in 1994.

I identify with Morten Henriksen's musical evolution, from punk youth to Power Pop middle age. Need further proof of our shared sensibilities? Check this out:

In fact I wasn't even that surprised to find this video of Morten leading the Yum Yums in a rousing version of "All Kindsa Girls" at a show in Tokyo last year. The club seems to have conserved space by putting the dancefloor on stage with the band; it's a very crowded city, I guess. (Actually the band brings all the girls in the audience up on stage for the song-I especially love how some in the crowd cheer the opening notes.)

Anyway, let's face it; getting older and having a family just doesn't jibe with the old punk rock anger. I've probably said this before, but as a suburban, 46 year old father of two, listening to a 16 year old scream about hating his parents and/or school and/or Reagan just doesn't do it for me anymore. On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever get tired of the catchy hooks, singalong choruses and girl-centric lyrics in Power Pop and thank God for that. I bet Morten Henriksen would agree and Norway needs him now more than ever.

An interesting postscript- as awesome as The Yum Yums are, they are nowhere nears as well known in Norway as DumDum Boys who perform tonight's Power Pop Prototype. Singing in their native language, DumDum Boys (who took their name from an Iggy Pop song) are rock royalty in Norway.

Click the links below to download tonight's show (Right click and "Save Target As")
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #61 July 9, 2011

For Red... white and blue!!

Red- Hoehn & Duren Blue Orange

4th Of July- X See How We Are
Where The Sun Always Shines- Runarounds Waiting For The Hurricane
Summertime (Is Calling)- Motors 1
Rock And Roll Tonight- The Innocents No Hit Wonders From Down-Under
Little Razorblade- Pink Spiders Teenage Graffitti
Move It- Sacre Bleu Move It 7"
Drag On Forever- The Cars Move Like This
^R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.- John Cougar Mellencamp Scarecrow
Saturday's Kids- The Jam Direction, Reaction, Creation
Breakaway- The Producers You Make The Heat
Dyna-Mite- The Blondes The Blondes
Bad Boy- Suzanne Fellini Love On The Phone 7"
I Want You To Dance With Me- Jeff Hill I Want You To Dance With Me 7"
*Rockin' In The USA- Sass Live At The Rat
*U.S.A.- The Beat The Beat
*WUSA- The Neighborhoods ...The High Hard One
*Rockin' In The USA- Kiss Alive II
Life of the Party- The Slickee Boys Cybernetic Dreams of Pi
I'm In Love With You (Again)- Slugs Problem Child 7"
All I Know Is Right Now- Marshall Crenshaw Field Day
Stranger On The Town- The Damned Strawberries
Freedom (Is A Heady Wine)- Yachts S.O.S Singles 1977-1981
Now That I've Lost My Baby- 2 Timers Shake Some Action Vol 7
>In The U.S.A.- The Flamin' Groovies Groovies Greatest Grooves
What Faces- Roky Erickson and the Aliens The Evil One
If Stuart Could Talk- The Dickies Stukas Over Disneyland
Glasshouse- Shake Culture Shock 10" EP
Nobody's Fool- Alex Chilton Top 30
Rock N Roll Toilet- The Soft Boys 1976-1981
Lady From the USA- Bram Tchaikovsky Strange Man/Changed Man

^Power Pop Peak: #2 Billboard Hot 100 2/1/86

*SacroSet: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

>Power Pop Prototype: 1979

This week's show celebrates America's 235th birthday this past Monday. I love 4th of July in Sonoma. Our parade starts at 10am but by about 10pm the night before the sidewalk along the route is completely covered in chairs. The unspoken rule the morning of the parade is that chairs are allowed on the street only as far as the slanted white parking lines. My strategy has always been to go down about 8:30am and put our chairs down in the empty parking places on the shady side of 1st Street East but this year I almost didn't get a spot. Fortunately we have low chairs because I believe another element of proper parade chair placement etiquette is that the top of your chair cannot be higher than the armrest of any chair behind you. We're not savages.

I bought our backpack chairs specifically for 4th of July, but not just the parade. The slanting back and pillow makes it ideal for fireworks viewing as well. The parade is great and so is the festival in the plaza, but the best thing about 4th of July in Sonoma is the fireworks. For a town this size, the fireworks show our fire department puts on every year is truly amazing. They are launched right in the middle of our valley with great views from all sides. The program lasts about 40 minutes and the "Grand Finale" seems to go on for two full minutes- with everyone, myself included, screaming at the top of their lungs. When it's over you I bet you can hear the roar of applause from miles away. Some prefer to watch the fireworks from the comfort of their backyard but Jaime and I always ride our bikes down to the field so we can be as close as possible. When those low bombs of spectacular white light go off I can feel it in my chest. One year, because of the wind I guess, we were pelted with soot from the explosions- it was awesome! Immediately following the fireworks is the worst traffic jam of the year in Sonoma. The one time we drove it took us an hour to drive the mile and half back to our home. Never again.

One of the things that makes 4th of July great is that it transcends politics, cutting right to the core of what makes America great- the ideals upon which our nation is founded. I am still awed by the genius of our founding fathers and no amount of cynical partisan politics can take that away. As a lifelong Massachusetts liberal, and unlike many California liberals I know, I've never let anyone take patriotism or the flag away from me. I've always felt that if we cede these to the conservatives and religious right, what do we have left? Just a bunch of theories that can be endlessly debated because none have ever been put to the test. And the anger; that continuous seething rage many progressives I know seem to feel about our country.

Jaime and I took the kids to Washington, D.C. in 2008 and I could see they were as impressed as I was when visiting at their age. We got a tour of Capitol Hill from an aid to our Congressman Mike Thompson, visited the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt monuments as well as those for World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans. If you've never been, I'd really recommend the trip- there's nothing like visiting the National Archives and standing in front of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. I'm not saying America is perfect, but I do believe that the ideals our nation is founded on are still the best that man on earth has yet produced.

Here are the download links for this week's show:
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #60 June 25, 2011

This one's for Lolene and the cast of Rocky Horror Show!




Lolene- Mad Turks Cafe Istanbul
Gone Daddy Gone- Violent Femmes Add It Up
Ain't Got No Sense- Teenage Head Teenage Head
Baby Loves to Rock- Cheap Trick All Shook Up
You Rool Me- TPI TPI 7"
Moves- The New Pornographers Together
And Violets Are Blue- The Probers Mat At The World
Poor Girl- X More Fun in the New World
^Father Of Mine- Everclear So Much for the Afterglow
Anywhere Else But Here- The First Steps Anywhere Else But Here E.P.
Gimme Some Time- The Nerves One Way Ticket
Emergency- 999 Emergency 7"
Holiday Fire- Marc Thor Holiday Fire
Tigerland- Rudi Big Time
*Dad Said- The Tremblers Twice Nightly
*Daddy's Girl- The Secrets Titan: It's All Pop!
*Wait Til' Your Father Gets Home- Incredible Kidda Band Too Much, Too Little, Too Late!
*Your Daddy Will Do- Sloan The Double Cross
Opening Up- The Cute Lepers Can't Stand Modern Music
It's Only Love- The Lonely Boys The Lonely Boys
Tonight We Fly- 20/20 20/20
Sticks And Stones-- The Semantics Powerbill
Sticky Sweet Girls- The Zeros 4-3-2-1-The Zeros
Warrior In Woolworths- X-Ray Spex Germfree Adolescents
>Dear Dad- Chuck Berry The Anthology
Stepped On- Shane Champagne Band Stepped On 7"
The Backpack Song- Nerf Herder IV
Neck On Up- Utopia Utopia
(I'm Lookin' For A) Sputnik- Rick Rock Mondo Montage
Too Busy- Wreckless Eric Big Smash
Working Girls (Sunlight Shines)- Pernice Brothers The World Won't End
I Turned Her Away- Game Theory Tinkers To Evers To Chance
Outfit- Drive-By Truckers Decoration Day

^Power Pop Peak: #70 Billboard Hot 100 1998

*SacroSet: Father's Day

>Power Pop Prototype: 1965

As I wrote in the post for Show #22 seeing a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at age 12 was a pivotal moment in my life. I still don't know how my father heard about the film, though I suspect the TV show Sneak Previews had a role. (He always loved watching Siskel & Ebert fight about films.)

Dad, Cousin Rich and I first saw the movie in Brockton, Mass with an audience that made up for its ignorance of the finer points of Rocky Horror participation by going completely mental throughout the film. After that I started going in to Boston to see the Friday midnight show at the amazing Exeter Street Theatre. The theater occupied the former First Spiritualist Temple built in 1885, which is appropriate because, according to Wikipedia, one of the tenets of Spiritualism is: spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. Anyone may receive spirit messages, but formal communication sessions (séances) are held by "mediums," who can then provide information about the afterlife.

The building was converted into a theater in 1914 but (thankfully) never shed its creepy origins as these pictures show. Anyway, by the late 70's The Exeter Street Theatre was struggling and the Friday midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings were the only thing keeping it going. It was an amazing show- live people performing on stage in perfect sync with the film screening behind them. It was here that I learned "proper" Rocky Horror participation etiquette: squirt guns, news paper, toilet paper, toast, etc. Dad took my sister Sarah and I in one night and I remember another where Sarah and I were joined by friends Frank and Jim along with my cousins Adam and Mary Lee from D.C. For suburban high school kids, it didn't get any cooler than Rocky Horror Picture Show at The Exeter Street Theatre.

Needless to say, last January I was very excited to hear Sonoma's Caps Productions had Rocky Horror Show slated to kick off the Sonoma Theater Alliance's Summer Festival of Theater. Another company in town had tried to do the show last year but the school they rent from had issues with the content and put the kibosh on the production. I have always wanted to play "Riff Raff" so I put together a demented version of "The Time Warp" accompanying myself on distorted electric guitar at the audition. The director Cat Austin put me through the paces on audition day and I felt I did pretty well. Almost as an afterthought, she asked me to read a few sides as "Brad" before I left. As soon as we started I saw something click in Cat's mind and I knew "Riff Raff" was off the table. In retrospect, I think she made the right choice. I've really grown to appreciate "Brad" and I love singing "Dammit Janet," "Frankenstein's Place," "Once In A While" (which isn't in the film), and "Super Heroes." The harmony singing and choreography are a challenge but everyone's hard work has paid off- it is an amazing production.

(Interestingly, this audition/casting thing has happened once before, when I was going for Dentist "Orin Scrivello" in Little Shop of Horrors and was cast as "Seymour Krelborn." I guess I have a deep connection with dorky guys who wear glasses.)

Before I got the part, I watched Rocky Horror Picture Show with the kids and I think it freaked them out a little. (I must admit it was very bizarre for me too, watching the film outside the live theater experience- for one thing, it was the first time I was able to hear anything the narrator is saying.) When I told the kids I was cast, Nica yelled upstairs to her brother: "Jack, Dad gets to have sex with a MAN!" My son congratulated me then asked that we keep pictures of me in the corset/fishnet stockings out of the newspaper. (So far I've been able to keep up my side of the deal, although there is a picture in yesterday's Sonoma Index-Tribune of me in undershirt and tightie whities.)

Jack came opening night and seemed to like the show. Nica not so much, but more due to the heckler than anything on stage. She didn't get why this guy was calling her dad "asshole" and the lady beside him "slut." The whole heckling thing made Nica so anxious Jaime drove her home at intermission. The heckler has been to most shows, driving 60 miles from his home in Davis, and, credit where credit is due, he's got the audience participation script and timing down pat. He comes in costume as Joel from 90's cable show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and even brings a small Tom Servo doll with him. I find the heckler annoying; while there is a lot of camp in Rocky Horror I think there are some sincere moments ("I'm Going Home," "Super Heroes"). The heckling makes it all seem like one big ironic joke though, and I HATE irony in performance. Even so, audiences seem to like the heckler so I accept his handshake every night when he says "good job!"

My mother and sister are coming out from Massachusetts next weekend to see the show and Nica's going to join them for the final performance. She'll be ready for the heckler this time. Rocky Horror Show's grueling six day a week rehearsal schedule has been a major imposition on my family so I'll conclude this post by thanking Jaime, Jack and Nica for allowing me to have this experience I'll never forget.

Here are the links to download this week's show:
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #59 June 11, 2011

This one's for Ronnie... and my friend Paul!

Ronnie- The Rubinoos Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
Tell Her I'm Ill- The Freshies The Very Best Of
She's Leaving- The Flashcubes Bright Lights
Color Eyes- L.A. Burgers L.A. Burgers
Reduced- Tot Rocket & the Twins Reduced 45
Out Of Reach (Dreams)- The Know I Like Girls 7"
Frustrated- The Knack Get the Knack
The Law- Art Yard Boston Underground (1979-1982)
^Lies- The Thompson Twins Quick Step And Side Kick
Pain- Durango 95 Lose Control
First In Line- The Romantics Romantics And Friends-Midwest Pop Explosion
Sudden Fun- Sudden Fun Sudden Fun E.P. 7"
The Answer- Was You Sloan The Double Cross
Make You Love Me- The Sugar Stems Sweet Sounds of the.....
*Lies- Silver Sun Disappear Here
*Lies- Neats 1981-84 The Ace of Hearts Years
*Lies- Pointed Sticks Lies 7"
*Lies- Spys Midnight Riders 45
Fall To Sorrow- The Rifles Great Escape
Strange Man, Changed Man- Bram Tchaikovsky Strange Man/Changed Man
I'm The One- Tweezers Already!
Basket Case- The Windbreakers Time Machine (1982-2002)
Hurts Like Love- Helmet Boy Helmet Boy
Yes Or No- The Locals You Never Have Fun Single
>Lies- The Knickerbockers Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
Moonlight- Cherry Vanilla Venus D' Vinyl

^Power Pop Peak: #30 Billboard Hot 100 1/22/83
 
*SacroSet: Songs Called "Lies"

>Power Pop Prototype: 1965

I hadn't seen my friend Paul in about ten years so I was very happy to get a text from him a few weeks back asking if we were free for a visit in June. It worked out that I had already booked studio time

during his stay so, for the first time, this week's show has a co-host. I met Paul in 1986 at WMJX in Boston. It was my first job out of college and Paul had spent the last few years paying his radio dues in Connecticut and New Jersey.

I've written before about WERS, the Emerson radio station I worked at all four years of college, but I don't think I've mentioned WECB, the closed circuit station only heard in the three dorms at the time: 100 Beacon, Fensgate and Charlesgate. I wasn't sure I'd get a spot on broadcast station WERS as a freshman, so I also applied at WECB. I was on the air the second week of school and did my last shift that December when I started hosting Niteklub on WERS. WECB was formatted like a commercial radio station with clocks, record rotations, jock liners, etc. There was only one spot each hour where the DJ could play a song of their own choosing. The funny thing is that many of the DJ's on closed circuit WECB sounded more professional than their counterparts on broadcast station WERS. The difference was that WECB was trying to train students for work in commercial radio while WERS' block programming schedule (folk in the morning, jazz and reggae in the afternoon, R and B and punk/new wave at night, with everything from showtunes to klezmer music on the weekend) required musicologists with presentation a secondary consideration.

The morning folk hosts on WERS aspired to the NPR delivery (think SNL's "Schweddy Balls" sketch) while the R and B DJ's at night strove for a smooth, commercial sound. Hosts in the other dayparts were a toss up. Dead air, stammering, low talking, mispronounced titles/artist names, records played at the wrong speed- every college radio cliche, you'd hear them all. I was not a very good announcer myself back then and tended to get a little monotone. I only

The Master

remember receiving one compliment on my presentation: that I was the "Bob Newhart of college radio." (Thinking back on it, perhaps it wasn't a compliment yet little could they know, I LOVE Bob Newhart.)  On the other hand, I knew the music backwards and forwards and it was great hearing from people who loved my musical choices. In fact, my friend Janet once said she would look for my initials on record cover play sheets when picking songs for her own show.

Every semester there would be a few kids with natural announcing skills (which is a talent, like any other) who would fake their way through an audition to get on WERS. Then they'd find themselves saddled with a three hour weekly jazz show, playing music they knew nothing about for a finicky audience that wasn't shy about sharing their displeasure over the phone. I would often hear older students advise these kids to go upstairs and work at WECB, but few did and after a semester or so they would drift off, perhaps never returning to radio. (It's ironic that as WERS' programming has become more structured over the years, WECB is now Emerson's "underground" student run radio station, having survived several attempts by the administration to pull the plug. In its current incarnation, WECB is an internet only station, which according to Wikipedia is "in a modest studio within the WERS suite." I've listened to this WECB and unfortunately it sounds like a schizophrenic's iPod on "shuffle.")

Anyway, my friend Paul, like those WECB kids back in the day, is one of those people with the voice and skills who grew up wanting to be on the radio. While most children play with toys or sing in the shower, I imagine a young Paul doing weather and traffic breaks- perhaps with an Old Spice microphone shaped soap on a rope. Rather than waiting for college to get on the radio like I did, Paul got his first announcing job at age 15, working for WSUB in Groton, CT where they made submarines for the navy. Aside from taking up smoking to help lower his voice, he had the right idea about starting a career in broadcasting.

Paul and I came to the business from different directions, yet a few years into our careers we both realized what we really wanted was to be program directors. While we had to do on-air shifts as part of our early PD jobs (Paul because he sounded great, me purely for budgetary reasons) it was a huge relief when we finally got off the air and could focus exclusively on programming. Our paths have diverged over the years, but we both continue to work in the industry- Paul as a content/prep provider and myself in research. Like me, Paul is a true believer in the power of local radio.

Here's the link to stream this week's show, to download right click and "Save Target As:"
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #59

Show #58 May 28, 2011

For Melody...and the great Gerry Cheevers!

Melody- Kevin K The Best Of Kevin K - New York, New York
Too Scared To Be True- Denzil Pub
(I Feel Like) (Gerry) Cheevers (Stitch Marks On My Heart)- Chixdiggit Chixdiggit
Dancing Away- Little Murders Stop Plus Singles 1978-1986
The Blame- Tommy Tutone Tommy Tutone
How Come We- Popsicle Laquer
You Don't Know Me- The Nads The Nads 7"
Shadow Of Love- Sloan The Double Cross
^Hey Jealousy- Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience
One More Chance- The V.I.P.'S I Need Somebody To Love/Beat Crazy EP
When Your Mind's Made Up- Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová Once Soundtrack
Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again- The Angels The Angels
I'll Be Waiting- Robert Johnson Close Personal Friend
Book of Love- Will & The Bushmen Will & The Bushmen
*Cinderella- DMZ DMZ
*Gladys Kravitz- The Tories Wonderful Life
*Lois Lane- Farrah Moustache
*Daisy Duke- Rooney Rooney
City Of Fun- The Only Ones Special View
Fanclub Requiem- The Orange Humble Band Assorted Creams
Blue Tip- The Cars Move Like This
Tiger Beat Twist- Simpletones I Have A Date
Into the Valley- Skids DIY: UK Pop I (1976-79) Teenage Kicks
Why Don't I Miss You- Bowling For Soup The Great Burrito Extortion Case
>Backstreet Noise- Nick Gilder You Know Who You Are
Don't Take Her Away- The Go Shake Some Action Vol 7 (USA)
Nobody Hurts You- Graham Parker Squeezing Out Sparks + Live Sparks
Paper Dolls- Screams Screams
Safety In Numbers- The Adverts Crossing The Red Sea
I Thought of You- The Queen Annes I Thought Of You 7"

^Power Pop Peak: #25 Billboard Hot 100 5/15/93

*SacroSet: Female Fictional Character Songs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1977

Watching the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 21 years got me thinking about the awesome Bruins teams of my youth. My dad grew up playing hockey and was on the BU team in college. Needless to say, he was a big Bruins fan and I remember watching the team win the Stanley Cup with him in 1970 when I was six years old and again two years later. Most kids I knew said Number 4 Bobby Orr was their favorite player on that championship team. Orr is a straight up legend that's for sure- if you don't believe me, check out this infamous 1970 photo of "The Goal," which brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston after a 29 year drought: I remember my mother telling me once when I was little that Bobby Orr had hundreds of unpaid parking tickets because he left his car wherever he felt like it. I still think of "parking like Bobby Orr" on those rare occasions I egregiously park myself. Anyway, I had a poster of "The Goal" up in my room, yet Orr wasn't my favorite Bruin. That honor went to goalie Gerry Cheevers. His undefeated streak (33 games in 1972) still stands today and he was one of the first goalies to come out of the crease and challenge shooters, beating the crap out of anyone who skated too near the crease (Cheevers holds the franchise record in penalty minutes for a goalie). To be honest though, it was his mask that first captured my attention. The story goes that Cheevers wasn't much for practicing and after taking a puck in the face one day headed off to the locker room. When the coach found him there, uninjured, having a beer and cigarette he was told to get back on the ice. Before heading out, the trainer drew stitchmarks over the part of the mask that was hit. After that, every puck in the face got a similar mark. Gerry Cheevers' mask became the most well known in all of hockey.

Around this time, my oldest Cousin Debbie Burgess (who was probably 17 or 18 at the time) started making goalie masks as a hobby. I visited her workshop once in the basement of her family's house in Hingham and it was very cool. She painted the masks in wild colors- I remember one with a stars & stripes design and another that was a menacing blood red. Even more impressive was a photo on the wall above the work bench- of her next to Gerry Cheevers! I don't know how she did it, but Cousin Debbie got to meet Cheevers, give him one of her masks and get her picture in the paper doing it. I was completely blown away.

As you can imagine I was very happy to find the song "(I Feel Like) (Gerry) Cheevers (Stitch Marks On My Heart)" by Calgary Alberta's Chixdiggit. Check out the lyrics:

Saw a picture yesterday of a guy who used to play
for the Boston Bruins and in school I always drew him
He had the longest undefeated streak
And every shot that hit his cheek he drew on a stitch mark
and I think he played with Brad Park
I feel like Gerry Cheevers (2x) I got stitch marks on my heart
Just like Gerry Cheevers- oh yeah!

Saw a picture yesterday of a guy who used to play
for the Boston Bruins and in school I always drew him
He wore a mask just like my heart
He had stitch marks on every part
And he wore number 30 that's how old you were when you met me
I feel like Gerry Cheevers (2x) I got stitch marks on my heart
Just like Gerry Cheevers

What's not to love- a punk rock love song about a childhood hero with an audacious use of parentheses!!! Gerry Cheevers Rocks!!! By the way, Cheevers played behind Brad Park (who during his career was second only to Bobby Orr among NHL defenseman) from 1975 to 1980. GO BRUINS!!

Download tonight's show below (Right click and "Save Target As"):
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #57 May 14, 2011

Dedicated to Christabelle...


Christabelle- Sorrows Love Too Late
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend- The Ramones Ramones
Effigy- Urge Overkill Rock & Roll Submarine
Nobody Told Me- The Sweat No More Running
Ward- Visqueen Message To Garcia
Unkind- Sloan The Double Cross
Devotion- Hilly Michaels Calling All Girls
Things You Do- Fast Cars Coming, Ready or Not!
^One Way Or Another- Blondie Parallel Lines
Buried Alive- The Lyres AHS 1005
My Before and After- Cotton Mather Kontiki
Sad Song- The Cars Move Like This
Mad About That Girl- The Infidels Mad About That Girl
It Was Alright- Pezband Pezband
*Personality Crisis- New York Dolls New York Dolls
*Ask The Angels- Patti Smith Radio Ethiopia
*Venus- Television Marquee Moon
*Max's Kansas City 1976- Wayne County & The Back Street Boys Max's Kansas City: New York New Wave
Claire's Ninth- Ben Folds & Nick Hornby Lonely Avenue
She Do Rock- The Wild Giraffes Right Now
New Mistake- Jellyfish Spilt Milk
Quit This Town- Eddie And The Hot Rods The End Of The Beginning
Like A Good Girl Should- Leeson & Vale Shake Some Action 8 (UK & Ireland)
House Of Girls- The Golden Horde The Golden Horde
>Sweet Jane- The Velvet Underground Loaded
I've Got You- The Vipers I've Got You 7"
Weekend- The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!

^Power Pop Peak: #24 Billboard Hot 100 6/2/79

*SacroSet: Mid 70's Downtown NYC Rock & Roll

>Power Pop Prototype: 1970

I suppose each generation of rock & roll fans has its own hallowed ground/era. For Glam Rockers you've got London 1974, for Deadheads it's Haight-Ashbury 1967, for Grunge fans it's Seattle 1991, for Thrash Metal Fans it's Southern California 1981, for nearly everyone else its Liverpool 1963... For me though, it is hard to top downtown New York City in 1976. Check out these lyrics to "Max's Kansas City 1976" and tell me if it doesn't sound like the coolest place on earth:

Take a tip from me and get ready for the big parade
It's the place to be every night's a happy hol-i-day
The kids are jumpin' everybody's doing loop de loop
Just a-makin' the rounds like a speed freak in a telephone booth
The downstairs is packed and the groupies are all dressed up
Upstairs the New York Dolls are kickin' it out, lookin' tough
-you got a personality crisis baby

Down at Max's (Max's Kansas City)
All the boys are (Max's Kansas City)
All the girls are (Max's Kansas City)
All the stars are (Max's Kansas City) Down at Max's

I see Patti Smith she's the Stag-o-lee of rock & roll
She threw a 7 and 11 and she always knows which cards to hold
And I see Lou Reed and Iggy Pop they're just gettin' higher and higher
Give those boys one more drink and they're gonna set the place on fire
-go get 'em boys
The downstairs is packed and the groupies are all dressed up
Upstairs the New York Dolls are kickin' it out, lookin' tough
-bad girl, I'm just looking for a kiss

Down at Max's....

Blondie's all in a buzz she's on the cover of the New York Rocker
Dee Dee Ramone strips his bass to the bone he's a Blitzkreig Bopper
The Heartbreakers are gonna give you a taste of going steady with Pirate Love
And you better watch it because my Backstreet Boys are gonna rip you apart- rip 'em up boys
The downstairs is packed and the groupies are all dressed up
Upstairs the New York Dolls are kickin' it out, lookin' tough
-trash, pick it up, you know where, that's right

Down at Max's....
Now I ain't talkin' about San Francisco
And I ain't talkin' about Los Angeles
And I ain't talkin' about Detroit city
I'm talkin' about New York City, down at Max's Kansas City, baby

(Spoken) Q: Hey man what's happening, uh, where you goin' tonight?
A: Well I think I'm gonna go down to Max's and check out a couple of those rock & roll bands.
Q: Oh yeah? Who's playing there these days?
A: Well, there's, uh, The Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla and Her Staten Island Band, Wayne County & The Backstreet Boys, The Fast, Pere Ubu, John Collins, Harry Toledo, Suicide, The Ramones, Blondie, The Dolls, Television, Talking Heads, August, Fuse, Mong, The Poppees, The Marbles, The Planets, The Miamis, Just Water, Tuff Darts, Day Old Bread, Richard Hell, Lance Loud & The Mumps, Another Pretty Face and Mink Deville and (whew!) and oh yeah, oh yeah they got this new group that everybody's talking about called the Psychotic Frogs. But w-w-w-w-w-wait just a minute- there's just one more thing I forgot to tell you. You better not forget to bring your masquerade mask and your ego trip because you're gonna need it when you go down to Max's Kansas City, baby- that's right!

Max's Kansas City at 217 Park Avenue South was already in its second incarnation when Wayne County wrote the song above. Opening in December of 1965, Max's quickly became a scene hotspot frequented by poets and artists, most notably Andy Warhol and his entourage from The Factory. This included The Velvet Underground who recorded a live album there in 1970 on which writer/singer Jim Carroll, who was holding the microphone for the recording, can be heard ordering drinks and trying to score drugs between songs. Despite becoming a respected live music venue, featuring shows by Aerosmith, Bob Marley & The Wailers and Bruce Springsteen, Max's fell out of favor with the hip crowd and closed in December of 1974.

When the club re-opened in 1975 the new owner planned to make it a disco but music booker Peter Crowley quickly established Max's Kansas City as the rock & roll mecca in New York. One notable exception to the list of bands at the end of Wayne County's "Max's Kansas City 1976" is an all-time favorite of mine- The Dictators. That's because of a legendary feud between Wayne County and Dictators lead singer Handsome Dick Manitoba. The story goes that in March of 1976 a drunken Manitoba was heckling County from the audience at a CBGB's show. According to the Dictators' camp, Manitoba then stepped up onto the corner of the stage on his way to the men's room (which I later verified is down a narrow, easily blocked corridor beside the stage). County, on the other hand, says he was defending himself from Manitoba's drunken bum rushing the stage. What isn't in dispute is that Manitoba called County a "homo" and County hit him with the business end of a microphone stand. Handsome Dick was rushed to the hospital, ending up with sixteen stitches and a broken collar bone. Assault charges were brought but later thrown out of court.

Peter Crowley, who was Wayne County's manager at the time, banned The Dictators from Max's Kansas City and supposedly tried to get other NYC club owners to do the same. The Dictators ended up having a very successful run at CBGB's later that year though, further dividing the scene into Max's and CBGB's factions. Music critic and Dictators fan Lester Bangs stirred the pot even more by ranting about the "faggot mafia" and its attempts to blacklist The Dictators in an article for Punk magazine that fortunately never went to print, but a lot of people seemed to hear about.

The good news is that if you manage to beat the rock & roll odds and stay alive, there is hope for reconciliation. Here's a picture of Handsome Dick Manitoba and Jayne County (with surgery, Wayne became Jayne in 1979 or so) who recorded a duet of The Rivieras "California Sun," which they performed on Jayne's birthday in 2002. Max's is long gone, and so is CBGB's for that matter, but Dick & Jayne are still going strong and for that I am very thankful.

Click the links below to download this week's show (Right click and "Save Target As")

Hour 1

Hour 2