Show #121 July 19, 2014

For Judy and the people of Napa, CA

Judy- The Late Show Portable Pop 
Get To You- Sugar Stems Can't Wait 
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow- The Ramones Rocket To Russia 
I Could Tell- Fools Face Bubble Records Single 
They Don't Care- Fastbacks Zucker 
Lydia, The Ink Will Never Dry- Maxïmo Park Too Much Information 
(He's) Burnin the Dynamite At Both Ends- Breakup Society James At 35 
Gay Mad Whirl- Senator Flux Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch
^Downtown Train- Tom Waits Rain Dogs
Hearts Beat In Stereo- Lisa Mychols Above, Beyond and In Between
Possession- Public Enemy Possession 
*Subway Train- New York Dolls Rock 'N Roll 
*Subway- Steve Blimkie and The Reason Steve Blimkie and The Reason
*Subway Song- The Last Fade To Black 
*Subway Terror- Starz Violation
*Subway Song- The Cure Boys Don't Cry
*Down In The Tube Station At Midnight- The Jam Direction, Reaction, Creation
*My My Metrocard- Le Tigre Le Tigre
*Boston Subway- The Pubcrawlers Another Night On The Floor 
*Metro C'est Trop- Telephone Metro C'est Trop 
All I Wanna Do- The Yum Yums ...Play Good Music 
Neon Heart- The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats 
Take You Home- The Richmond Sluts The Richmond Sluts 
Will to Go On- Richard X. Heyman X 
Starry Nights- The Brat Attitudes EP 
>M.T.A.- Kingston Trio M.T.A. 
Written On The Subway Wall/Little Star- Dion Yo Frankie 
Subway- Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito 

^Power Pop Peak:  #3 Billboard Hot 100 11/25/89 (Rod Stewart Version)

*SacroSet:  Subway Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1959

I've had trouble choosing a subject for this blog post for Show #121 from mid-July.  I'd decided since the show features Subway Songs that I'd talk about all the cool subways I've ridden in cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, etc.  But then at 3:20AM on Saturday night the freaking earth shook and scared the crap out of me so I think I'll go with that instead.  I've lived in California for 22 years so I've felt a few earthquakes but nothing like what happened Saturday.  Let me see if I can describe it for you....  Start by picturing a huge version of one of these roller board thingies (say forty feet long with the roller the size of a school bus) and align it north-south.  Next, put your house on it.  Then, roll it back and forth for about thirty of the longest seconds of your life.  I'm talking last class/last day of school before summer vacation long.... waiting in line at the DMV long.... rectal exam long.  

I had time to wake up, make sure Jaime was okay, get out of bed, walk to the bottom of the stairs, call the kids to come

down and stop the light mounted over the dining room table

from smashing to bits.  The image of that demented pendulum light swinging back and forth will be with me the rest of my life (it's also how I know the rolling was north-south).  A freaked out Nica was first down the stairs followed by Jack a few seconds later.  Seeing that the house wasn't breaking into pieces, I took the kids to Jaime in our bedroom which has a high ceiling and no room over it.  I don't know if it was during or afterward but at some point I envisioned a checklist:  family safe (check), house standing (check), pets okay (check- dog freaked out, cat nonplussed), flat screen okay (check- and I want credit for putting the pets before the TV) and so on.  

Downstairs plenty of things were knocked over but the only

thing broken was a picture frame in the front hallway.  Upstairs was a different story.  The kids rooms were a disaster- but that's always the case so we can't blame the earthquake for that.  The first thing I noticed in the Rock Room, where I keep my records, was Hugo splayed out on the floor, seemingly in distress yet his expression as inscrutable as ever.  I was afraid to look at my record cases but quickly saw that everything 12" and 7" was where it should be.  I then saw my

glass display case had been knocked over, its contents strewn across the floor.  I noticed the next morning that while his Kiss band mates were laid out flat, Ace Frehley managed to keep his feet- way to go Spaceman! 

It looks like Paul is reaching to Ace for help...

 

Victim is a white male, 18 inches tall...

On the other side of the room, a tall thin CD case (that I always meant to anchor) had toppled over spilling CD's everywhere (it is now anchored).  On the plus side, the glass case was intact and none of the CD's were damaged.  Interestingly, my childhood friend the Cat In The Hat maintained his perch but my pal (don't call him a dummy!) Willie Talk looked as if he was part of a crime scene.  

I'm happy to report the two friends are now reunited.

(I fully realize this makes me look like a grown man who has WAY too many dolls and I guess I just have to own that...)

With the power out, our street was quiet but I was able to check in with all my neighbors and insure everyone was fine.  I don't know why but I was comforted by the fact that Tim and Deana across the street said this quake was much worse than Loma Prieta in 1989.  Perhaps I needed confirmation that the sucky experience we had just shared also sucked from a historical perspective.  In any case, back in the house, my 18 year old son Jack had already fallen asleep in my bed so Nica and I slept on couches in the living room (I wasn't ready to go back upstairs yet).

Text messages from back east woke me up around 8:30 the next morning by which time the power had already been restored.  I made another circuit of the house in daylight and thankfully there is no major damage.  Our house was built in 1999 and as the pictures from Napa show, earthquakes take the oldest buildings first.  Thank God no one was killed. I know earthquakes have been a part of nature since the world began but in all my years I have never felt anything so unnatural.  

Download this week's show below (click to stream or right click and "Save Link As" to download):
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #120 July 5, 2014

This one's for Melinda... and the cast of The Full Monty!

Melinda- The Connection Let It Rock 
I Want You Back- The Plimsouls The Plimsouls... Plus 
Out of the Blue- Buzzcocks The Way 
Little Runaway- Radio City Class of '77 
Motel Girl- The Greatest Liar The Girl With The Chestnut Eyes 
I Don't Know You Anymore- Bob Mould Beauty and Ruin 
Hold On To The Night- Starz Attention Shoppers! 
Make It Happen- The Chevelles Girl God 
^I Want You Back- Hoodoo Gurus Stoneage Romeos 
The Joke's On You- Shoes Ignition 
Wait A While- The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams 
When Your Eyes Meet Mine- Warm Soda Young Reckless Hearts 
We Vibrate- The Vibrators Pure Mania 
Don't You Want It- The Quick Mondo Deco 
*I Want You Back- The Leftovers Eager to Please 
*I Want You Back- The School Let It Slip EP 
*I Want You Back- The Shivers More 
*I Want You Back- The Hot Rocks The Hot Rocks 
*I Want You Back- City Thrills City Thrills EP 
*I Want You Back- Chad VanGaalen and Xiu Xiu The Green Corridor II 
Smirk- The CRY! Dangerous Game 
Animal Instinct- The Twisteroos Twisted! 
If Only Alan Won The Pools/Seven Years In These Boots- Denzil Pub 
>I Want You Back- Graham Parker Local Girls 45 
Take a Chance- The Late Show Portable Pop 
Crime Scene- Kevin K Band Rule The Heart 
Get It Moving- Raspberries Raspberries 
Open Wide- Chris Von Sneidern Sight and Sound 
Ain't That Beat- The Nice Boys The Nice Boys 
I Want You Back- The Kooks Inside In Inside Out

^Power Pop Peak:  #3 College Radio Charts 7/15/84

*SacroSet:  Songs Called "I Want You Back"

>Power Pop Prototype:  1979

If you've been following along on facebook, you know that the main reason for the dearth of new ALL KINDSA GIRLS episodes in the last month or so is that I was cast as Harold Nichols in eTc!'s production of The Full Monty in this year's Sonoma Theatre Alliance Festival.  One of the things that made this show different is that Cat the director and James the producer decided to cast a wide net for actors, hiring several professionals.  I got to work with people from across the country (New York, Connecticut, Virginia) and the Bay Area (Sacramento, Oakland, Santa Rosa, Napa) along with some local Sonoma actors and crew I've known for years.   

The cast also included a young woman named Brooke who appeared on Broadway in both Hairspray and Beauty and The Beast.  My daughter Nica is a huge Hairspray fan and was quite impressed when I told her I was in a show with the girl who played Penny, as in "Penny Pingleton is positively, permanently, punished!"  Even more impressive Brooke played the lead role Belle in Beauty and The Beast.  Not only talented, she is a genuinely nice person- during a six hour rehearsal one night she bought pizza for the cast and crew.  And I'll never forget the cast party at our house a few weeks later watching Nica and her friends beam with joy as Brooke and Jim (who was Ethan in Monty and had auditioned for the Hairspray touring company) performed the dance from "The Nicest Kids In Town" in our living room.

eTc!'s Rocky Horror Show 2011

I'm used to a pretty grueling eight week rehearsal schedule for musicals and during tech week (the last week before opening night) you pretty much put the rest of your life on hold.  Before Rocky Horror Show went up, we had rehearsed twenty days straight, with one mammoth twelve hour rehearsal the Sunday before we opened!   

etc!'s The Full Monty 2014 song "Scrap"

The Full Monty was a completely different experience.  Needless to say, assembling such a geographically diverse group of actors made for a very chaotic rehearsal schedule. The locals started work in mid-April but the full cast wasn't assembled until May 18th, less than two weeks before our May 31st opening!  Moira the stage manager's calendar must have looked like a quantum physicist's blackboard trying to schedule those rehearsals.   
For more than a month we had stand-ins for the out of town

actors but as each of them arrived, within a day or so they had seam- lessly melded into the production.  (Four of the six Monty men had played their roles before, so that certainly helped.) Even after three times as many rehearsals, I was struggling to keep up with them- the way they were able to instantly memorize difficult vocal harmonies and complex choreography was awesome to behold.  Myself, I'm in more of the "grind it out" school.  Kevin the music director had me record all my vocal parts on my iPhone and I went over them about a thousand times before getting them down.  

"Michael Jordan's Ball"

The dancing is even tougher for me.  Again I used my iPhone, this time to make videos of Amy the Choreographer, Jim the Dance Captain and James, another pro who had done the show before, recording them from behind so I could break down all the steps.  Unfortunately, the videos take up so much space on the phone I can only record about a minute at a time.  Between the songs "Michael Jordan's Ball" and "Let It Go" I must have ten choreo videos on the phone (Jaime made fun of me every time I used the abbreviation "choreo" but that's what

"You Rule My World"

everyone else called it).  The good news is that my big Act One number- "You Rule My World," Harold's duet with Dave- is a ballad so I didn't have any steps to learn.  One of the things I love about this song is that Harold is singing to his wife and Dave is singing to.... his stomach!

While The Full Monty is a musical comedy, Cat the Director had us play the dramatic scenes straight.  Initially this felt like a bizarre mash-up of Chekhov and Sondheim but she was absolutely right.  The drama helped keep the show anchored and relatable, making the lighter moments that much more fun.  Of course the only question folks in town had when I told them I was in show was "well, are you going to go the Full Monty?"  People know the movie much more than the musical so at the outset their questions are all about the wangs.  The standard answer was "buy a ticket and find out" but inside the production I don't think it was clear until tech week.

Vicki and Harold in his Funeral Suit

I couldn't even think about the naked stuff until I'd figured out how to do my quick costume change before the final number.  Playwright Terrence McNally really shafted me on that one- giving me a page and a half of dialog and one verse of the "You Rule My World" Reprise to change from my funeral suit into my security guard uniform for "Let It Go."  That's taking off shoes, pants, plaid boxers, shirt, tie, jacket and a microphone that is taped to my face/body in four places (since you're stripping, someone backstage has to re-set the microphone in your hat for the final number).  I had to put on shoes, belt, white boxers, tearaway pants/shirt/tie and blue windbreaker. 

"You Rule My World" Reprise and Wardrobe Malfunction(s)

I love this photo from our final dress rehearsal:  my glasses are crooked, my tearaway tie is in my pocket, my shirt and jacket collar are a mess, my belt is undone, my pants are unsnapping and though you can't see it, I only have on one shoe.  On top of that I almost made Susan miss her first line in the song.  Nonetheless, this was an improvement over the previous rehearsal where I never made it on stage at all and she had to sing to a mythical Harold.  What a nightmare!  Thank God Kerry, Amber and Connor came to my rescue after that night- they were an amazing team.  Picture me in a NASCAR pit, not as the driver but as the car, and you'll get an idea of what it was like.  By the end of the run Susan and I were getting back on stage before the song even started.

The Costumers Amanda and Deb gave us our red g-strings a few days

Imagine this with LESS fabric!

before opening night.  I tried not to get to upset when they gave me a "small."  When I asked about it Amanda said the size was based on the waist measurement... sure it is (sigh).  Anyway, there was nothing to these g-strings.  It took me ten minutes to get mine on the first time and even when I could get it to stay in place, as soon as I moved- boing! genital slingshot.  Amanda ended up having to add about 100% more red fabric to each g-string which made us all feel much better.  (I still don't know why anyone would wear such a thing.  Several years ago Vice magazine forever ruined g-strings/thongs for me when they pointed out: "men who love girls in thongs think women don't poop."  Nasty but true.)

"Let It Go"

Now that we had our man parts covered, the last thing to figure out was how to get naked without everyone seeing said parts.  On youtube you'll find Full Monty videos where they strip down to black lit thongs or flashlights covering their junk but to the best of my knowledge in our production there was never a conversation about whether we would get naked. Just like our characters in the show, we were fully committed and for me anything less would have been a lame cop out.  That said, outside of drunken 23 year old bachelorette parties and gay nude beaches, most people don't want to see the penis.  Jaime told me a few people said to her "I want to see Full Monty, but I really DON'T want to see Rick's... (uncomfortable pause)."  Understandable- I take no offense.  

So, the question is how do you honor the production without searing the image of six wieners onto your audience's retinas?  The answer, as it so often is in theater, is lighting.  It comes down to brightness and timing.  Like most productions, we had a lit Full Monty sign behind us for the finale but it wasn't going to throw the kind of blinding brightness we needed for proper coverage.  So, the experimentation began.  The final week we probably spent five hours on the half-second light cue that closes the show.  Connor the lighting designer eventually decided to go with less rather than more light and we locked the cue in with our choreography.  

I'd like to say it was smooth sailing from there but at the opening night gala benefit at the 323 seat Sebastiani Theatre... well let's say if people are looking at me funny at the bank or Sonoma Market these days at least I know why.  I'll never forget hearing RJ, who played Dave, yell "NO!" when we turned for the final reveal.  Yet like good soldiers we went for it anyway, despite what was clearly the wrong light cue.  That's live theater for you.  On the plus side, everyone LOVED the show and a lot of people said they didn't see anything.  I figure that if only half the sell-out crowd was close enough to see, that's 161 people and dividing their attention between the six Monty Men means only about 27 people potentially saw my naughty bits that night.  I like those odds!

I'm happy to say the light cue was perfect the remainder of the run at Andrews Hall.  Even the women in the cast, who are right up at the front of the stage, said they couldn't see anything but silhouettes.  Perhaps they're just being polite- but after all we've been through together I believe them.

I'm last guy on the left.

Jaime and the kids came to the third performance and they loved it.  Nica ended up seeing the show a total of five times and has been listening to the cast album ever since. Scott, who played Jerry, had a line in the script he would change every night.  The third or fourth time Nica came to show he went with "Holy Mary Mother of  Nica Love" and she just about died.  The lead actor called her name out on stage!

I am so thankful to have worked with such an amazing cast and crew.  The Full Monty is an experience I will never forget.

(BIG thanks to Peter for taking the pictures for this post and to Susan for burning them all on a disc for the cast and crew-you guys rock!) 

Streaming/download links for this week's All Kindsa Girls are below (to download right click and "Save Link As")
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #119 SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL May 3, 2014

Dedicated to Raylene!

Raylene- Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo Good Clean Fun 
Saturday Nite Riot- Pink Spiders Teenage Graffitti 
On With The Business- The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams 
Salad Days- The Grip Weeds House Of Vibes
We Must Pay- De Cylinders We Must Pay 7''
Crawling From The Wreckage (Of A Saturday Night)- The Connection Let It Rock
Purely Automatic- Brendan Benson You Were Right 
Secretary- Nightman Don't You Know
^Saturday Night- Bay City Rollers The Definitive Collection 
Miles Away- The Nomads Solna 
Breakaway- Dead End Kids Breakout 
Every Light On- Nick Piunti 13 In My Head
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down- Elvis Costello The Very Best Of Elvis Costello 
Hanging Me Up- The CRY! Dangerous Game 
*Saturday Night- Tweezers Already!
*Saturday Night- The Adicts Smart Alex 
*Saturday Night- Herman Brood and His Wild Romance Saturday Night 
*Saturday Night- Ram Jam Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Ram
*Saturday Night- Misfits Famous Monsters 
The Wait- The Pretenders Pretenders 
What Is- Wipers Over the Edge
Hey, Little Child- Tommy Keene The Real Underground 
Geez Louise- Corin Ashley New Lion Terraces 
Land Of The Free- Curtiss A I Don't Wanna Be President 7"
Hey Little Girl- The Kids Yellow Pills Prefill 
>Saturday Night- The Easybeats The Definitive Anthology 
Go Steady- The Lambrettas Beat Boys In The Jet Age
The Body Says No- The New Pornographers Mass Romantic 
Saturday Nite Is Dead- Graham Parker Squeezing Out Sparks 
Saturday Night- Suede Saturday Night 

^Power Pop Peak:  #1 Billboard Hot 100 10/11/75

*SacroSet:  "Saturday Night" Songs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1967

You can run an on-line radio station from your laptop but an actual radio station is a lot more complicated, with studios, offices, audio chain, transmitter site, antenna, etc.  So KSVY's

recent move, while only six blocks (from 164 to 680 West Napa Street) has been an enormous undertaking.  Technical Director Bob Taylor and his team have been killing themselves getting the station up and running.  To get back on the air as quickly as possible they focused their initial efforts on the main broadcast studio and will now go back to work on the rest of the station, including the production studio where I usually record ALL KINDSA GIRLS.  What this means is that tonight's show was LIVE for the first time in years.  I probably should have told Bill, host of Rox Files, the show before mine, that I was coming in because I think I really threw off his last two breaks.  On the other hand, his dog Taxi seemed happy to see me.

It was a rough start- the first half hour took me right back to my early years (ineptly) doing college radio in Boston.  Yet, necessity is the mother of invention and after about 45 minutes I solved a conundrum that has plagued me for years- the live segue.  You can set iTunes to crossfade one song into another, but it sounds clunky as hell sometimes.  I thought I could go back and forth between my iPhone and my laptop, but the station only had one external input that night.  My CD burner in iTunes wasn't working either so I was SOL until I figured out how to bring up Windows Media Player and go back and forth between it an iTunes.  To the tech-savvy this is probably "uhhh...DUH!" but for me, well I felt like Steve freakin' Jobs.  I have always appreciated a well run radio show with tight segues so this is a big deal for ALL KINDSA GIRLS.  (That's it for the geek talk- I promise!)


As I often say on the air, "Saturday Night is the most rock and roll time of the week" which means it has inspired tons of songwriters over the years.  My first favorite Saturday night song was Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting."  It straight up rocks and I guess since Elton John was an established pop star at the time you'd hear the song on the AM

pop stations my parents listened to.  Yet "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" is a far cry from the standard Neil Diamond and Carpenters AM radio fare with lyrics that appealed to my burgeoning rock and roll tastes:

Don't give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline
Saturday night's alright for fighting
Get a little action in

I was also intrigued by the narrator's sister who:
Looks cute in her braces and boots
A handful of grease in her hair

I heard the song on SF radio station 107.7 The Bone the other day and it stands up- that opening Davey Johnstone riff is still a killer!  As much as I loved Elton John back then I remember wishing he had more songs like "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." 

Saturday night is a magical time.  It is the midpoint of the weekend- you're as far away as you can get from work, both the end of the Friday workday and the start of the Monday work week.  It's a time to banish responsibility and deep thought, a time for mindless rock and roll fun.  This is why I

kick off every episode of ALL KINDSA GIRLS with the intro from The Bay City Rollers "Saturday Night."     You can't get any more mindless than the lads from Glasgow and I mean that as a high compliment!  I mean check out these lyrics: 

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night! 

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

Gonna keep on dancin' to the rock and roll
On Saturday night, Saturday night
Dancin' to the rhythm in our heart and soul
On Saturday night, Saturday night
 I, I, I, I, I just can't wait, I, I, I, I got a date

At the good ole rock and roll road show, I gotta go
Saturday night, Saturday night
Gonna rock it up, roll it up, do it all, have a ball
Saturday night, Saturday night

It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night! 

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

Gonna dance with my baby till the night is through
On Saturday night, Saturday night
Tell her all the little things I'm gonna do
On Saturday night, Saturday night
I, I, I, I love her so, I, I, I, I'm gonna let her know

At the good ole rock and roll road show, I gotta go
Saturday night, Saturday night
Gonna rock it up, roll it up, do it all, have a ball
Saturday night, Saturday night

It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night! 

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night
It's just a Saturday night

There are 226 words in this song and 78 of them are "Saturday" or "night."  That said, I just realized that for nearly 40 years I've been singing the wrong words!  The lyrics above clearly say "It's just a Saturday night" but I have always thought it was a stutter "S-S-S-Saturday night."  I'm sorry, but at this point I'm not changing- plus I think my stutter lyrics are cooler.  Anyway, back in the post for Show #51 (the Scottish Show) I talk about hearing the Bay City Rollers perform "Saturday Night" on the short lived TV show "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" in 1975.  The next day my sister Sarah and I went out and bought the 45.  Forty year's later I'm still not sick of "Saturday Night"- that's the power of a simple song and a special time of the week.

(Took WAY too long on this post so the download links are no longer available.  Check out the show facebook page to stay informed.  Or , if you leave a comment with your e-mail address I can put you on the twice monthly distribution list.)

The POWER POP COVER-UP Show #118 March 15, 2014

The Power Pop Cover Up is dedicated to Carol!

Carol (original version by Chuck Berry)- Hello Keeps Us Off The Streets
September Gurls (Big Star)- The Bangles Different Light
Closer To The Stars (Soul Asylum)- The Hold Steady Rags
Rock and Roll Love Letter (Bay City Rollers)- The Records Rock and Roll Love Letter
Sorry (The Easybeats)- The Three O'Clock Baroque Hoedown
Jetfighter (The Three O'Clock)- Spinning Jennies Stratosphere
Shake Some Action (The Flamin' Groovies)- Jenny Dee and The Deelinquents Keeping Time
With A Girl Like You (The Troggs)- Alex Chilton Top 30
^The Letter (The Box Tops)- Paul Collins King Of Power Pop
Dyna-Mite (Mud)- The Blondes The Blondes
Androgynous (The Replacements)- Joan Jett and The Blackhearts Greatest Hits
Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones)- The Replacements All For Nothing
No Matter What (Badfinger)- Gary Charlson Real Live Gary
I Can't Turn You Loose (Otis Redding)- The Plimsouls The Plimsouls... Plus
*Hanging on the Telephone (The Nerves)- Blondie Parallel Lines
*When You Find Out (The Nerves/The Plimsouls)- Joe Algeri Faux Pas
*Walking Out On Love (The Nerves/The Beat)- The Yum Yums Singles 'n' Stuff 
*Paper Dolls (The Nerves/Jack Lee)- Rubber City Rebels Rubber City Rebels
*Zero Hour (The Plimsouls)- DM3 Garage Sale
*Million Miles Away (The Plimsouls)- Goo Goo Dolls Hold Me Up
All Kinds Of Girls (The Real Kids)- The Shods Thanks For Nuthin' 
Pretty Please Me (The Quick)- The Dickies Stukas Over Disneyland 
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (The Rubinoos)- Farrah Moustache 
Cruisin' Music (Raspberries)- The Rubinoos Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
Misadventure (Squeeze)- Queued Up S/T EP 
He's A Whore (Cheap Trick)- The Biters He's A Whore 
That 70's Song (Big Star's "In The Street")- Cheap Trick That' 70's Show Presents That 70's Album: Rockin' 
Wake Up Little Susie (Everly Brothers)- Suzi Quatro The Wild One - The Greatest Hits 
Somebody Made For Me (Emitt Rhodes)- The Merrymakers Bubblegun 
>I Can't Let Go (The Hollies)- Sloan Recorded Live At A Sloan Party! 
Cycles Per Second (The dB's)- Lisa Mychols Sweet Sinsations 
Green Shirt (Elvis Costello)- The Tremblers Twice Nightly 
It's Easy (The Barracudas)- The Kwyet Kings Been Where? Done What? 
Ballad Of El Goodo (Big Star)- Matthew Sweet Big Star Small World 

^Power Pop Prototype:  The Letter by The Box Tops #1 Billboard Hot 100 8/12/67

*SacroSet:  The Nerves Cover Up

>Power Pop Prototype:  I Can't Let Go (The Hollies) 1966 

Cover songs are a double edged sword- with one or two

Scott Asheton 1949-2014

choice selections a band can share its musical influences, creating an even deeper relationship with fans.  I'd put The Dictators cover of The Stooges "Search and Destroy" in this category.  At the time I had a vague idea who Iggy Pop was, but The Dictators got me digging deeper for The Stooges and for that I will always be grateful (RIP Scott Asheton, the Stooges and Sonic's Rendevous Band drummer- he was a true original).

On the other hand, if a band chooses cover songs poorly it can be viewed as pandering or even worse, the dreaded "sell out."  In August 1968 The MC5 established themselves on the cutting edge of the counterculture as the only band that didn't puss out on playing at the Democratic Convention/Police Brutality Exhibition in Chicago.  Their reputation was further cemented with the release of the blistering live album Kick Out The Jams in February 1969.  Midwest department store chain Hudson's refused to stock the record due to the infamous "Kick Out The Jams motherf***er!" intro and more f-words in the liner notes.  The MC5 responded with this ad in alternative paper Fifth Estate (click to enlarge), thoughtfully including the Elektra logo despite the fact that no one at the company had approved it. Hudson's then pulled ALL Elektra product from its shelves and the band was thrown off the label.  

Their outlaw status confirmed, The MC5 signed with

Atlantic Records.  They went into the studio with future Bruce Spring -steen producer Jon Landau and made Back In The USA, a record of short, super tight R and B/early rock and roll influenced music that harkens back to the stuff the band was playing in 1965-66.  I LOVE the album; songs like "American Ruse" and "Looking At You" are the very definition of proto-punk, but the hippies and freaks who dug the free-form sonic onslaught of Kick Out The Jams were not amused.  It wasn't bad enough the record was named for a patriotic Chuck Berry song (they do a straight-up unironic version), Side 1 Track 1 of  Back In The USA is a cover of Little Richard's "Tutti-Frutti."  In 1970 that was probably about as reactionary as you could get and The MC5 never seemed to recover their fan base, even with third album High Time which was a return to the Kick Out The Jams sound.

So, choose the wrong cover songs and its curtains for your band.  Or it makes you a one-hit footnote/joke (see The Lemonheads' version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson," or Alien Ant Farm's take on Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal").  Of course, go all the way and you become the much derided "Cover Band," scorned by musicians, critics and "serious" fans alike.  Check out these lyrics to Red Cross' "Cover Band" if you don't know what I'm talking about:

We're a cover band
We like boring songs
Solos that are long
We listen to KIIS
Top 40 hits
We're a cover band
We're a cover band

We can't write worth sh*t
'Cause we're illiterate
We listen to The Knack
We have Marshall stacks
We can't write worth sh*t

(short solo)  


We can't write worth sh*t
'Cause we're illiterate
We listen to The Knack
We have Marshall stacks
We can't write worth sh*t

Red Cross 1980: Ron Reyes (later of Black Flag),
Greg Hetson, Jeff and Steven McDonald

I've never been sure about all the words to this song, especially "we like boring songs, solos that are long" and "cause we're illiterate."  I also thought they were talking about the group Kiss and not the Los Angeles Top 40 radio

Steven McDonald Today

station KIIS-FM.  So, for this post I decided to go to the source and e-mailed the band on their website.  Within an hour webmaster Jon got back to me with the full lyrics.  Then the next day Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald (who I believe is 11 in the photo above and doesn't look a day older) e-mailed me the lyrics from his iPhone.  How cool is that?

Ironically when original guitarist Greg Hetson left he brought "Cover Band" to his new group Circle Jerks, who "covered" it with new lyrics, changing the title to "Live Fast, Die Young."  (I like both takes on the song, yet for sheer snottiness nothing beats the version by "Red Cross," as they were known before a lawsuit forced them to change the spelling of their name.)  If that isn't enough irony for you, in

Teen Babes From Monsanto, 1984

1984 Redd Kross put out an all-covers album called Teen Babes From Monsanto with songs by Kiss (a killer version of "Duece"), The Shagri-La's, The Rolling Stones, The Stooges and David Bowie.  Proving they were in on the joke, the group also "covered" their own song "Linda Blair" from first album Born Innocent.

Like many of my strongly held opinions about music that "sucks," my attitude toward cover bands has changed over the years, largely due to the following factors:

• For my 40th Birthday my wife Jaime threw me a party that included the debut of my cover band The Dadz.  I tell you, as much as I liked playing original music back in the day, there's a lot to be said for whipping up a dance floor of drunk 40 year olds with The Ramones' "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," The Monkees "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," and "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" by Dramarama.  How great was that night?  I still use a cut from the photo below as my profile picture.

Rick, Joe and James

• The other reason I'm much more forgiving about cover bands is that live music is rare these days and outside of major cities there aren't too many places booking bands that play original music.  So, on a Saturday night in Sonoma you're probably not going to pass up a chance to see Misfit's cover band Braineater, while over at The Mystic Theater in Petaluma they are packing them in for House of Floyd, Zepparella, and AC/DShe (the latter two all-female tributes).

• Finally, the DJ thing is out of control.  Neither of my kids has EVER been to a school dance with a live band.  They will never know the mounting anguish as the tempo picks up in "Stairway to Heaven" or "Freebird" followed by the rapture of realizing you are going to stay in a slow dance clench all the way through to the end.  Depending on the band, each of those songs could be 15 minutes long!  At the time I had never held a sweet-smelling pretty girl in my arms for that long.  What a rush!  My friends and I would mock the bands that played our school dances, usually made up of guys only few years older than us.  At the same time we couldn't help noticing how the attitude of girls in the audience changed after the band got offstage.  Once they'd seen him tear though "Barracuda" and " Smoke On The Water" on his Stratocaster, they never looked at the grease monkey from the Hall's Corner Exxon the same way again.  In any case, when live music is plentiful, hating on cover bands is to be expected yet I'll still take well played live music over a DJ any day of the week.

In closing, I'm going to share some photos of three new favorite cover/tribute bands that I've never heard but turned up in my Interweb research for this post:

The Misfats

I wonder if they hid the guy in back because he's too skinny and they didn't want to blow the concept.

Mini-Kiss

Remember these guys from from the Super Bowl commercial they did with Full-Sized Kiss? (Maxi-Kiss?)

Gabba

This London band plays Abba songs in the style of The Ramones.  Are you mad you didn't think of it first?  I know I am.


Finally, as a public service I present the following, in case you are considering a career in the cover band arts:

Who knows, this may be where The Misfats got their start....

Download link for the POWER POP COVER UP is below (Click to stream or to download, right click and "Save Link As")
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #118