Bad Muse

"How I long to see your face photographed in 15-second intervals..."

2010-07-16T09:46:00.000-04:00

David Lowery has begun telling the stories behind the songs of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven on his new blog, 300 Songs.

Much like his lyrics, the blog is insightful, inspiring, cryptic and occasionally cantankerous. From the introductory post:

"Over the course of my career as a singer/songwriter/musician/producer I estimate i’ve written recorded and produced three hundreds plus songs. I often get asked questions about different songs. I sometimes enjoy answering them but most of the time i don’t do a very good job of answering. i’m really pretty anti-social. I can’t really help it. I think I was just born this way. So i came up with this idea to randomly select a hundred or so songs and write a few comments about each of the songs. like: with whom i recorded, what the song is about, Or simply something funny or interesting that happened in the session. Nothing too in depth. Sometimes i’ll also provide the lyrics and basic guitar chords for the fans who like that sort of thing."

"I've got the big beat, I hear the sound..."

2010-06-23T16:35:00.002-04:00

Adding yet another to the blog roll - this one from an old friend who recently found himself jobless after WOXY.com went silent.

Check out Mike Taylor's Big Beat for a well written, informed and entertaining musical viewpoint.

"Went around all day with the moon sticking in my eye"

2010-04-01T09:41:00.003-04:00

I've added Magic Alex DJs to my blogroll. Check it out!

"I may not offer anything but a few uneven rhymes..."

2010-03-11T08:34:00.009-05:00

Even though I did not know him, I miss Joseph Marques a little bit more each day. Marques, the vocalist/lyricist for one of my favorite college-era bands, Winter Hours, died of an overdose seven years ago. Oftentimes compared to Jim Morrison due to his rich, velvety voice, Marques and his band never reached the acclaim of The Doors, but they certainly had the potential. Maybe if they'd come along just a little bit later, when record labels figured out that there was a market for "college rock," they would have reached the heights of peers REM and U2.

I recently learned that a Winter Hours tribute album had been quietly released two years ago, a labor of love put out on a small label to commemorate the band's 25th anniversary. I could not order it fast enough!

While there are some bright spots on the double length CD, what struck me most about the album was how insubstantial the songs sounded without Marques' trademark vocals. Each track made me want to submerge myself in the original again; to rinse away the shallow pretenders and ride once more in his ocean's storm.

Why has no one snapped up the rights to release the band's back catelogue? Does Link Records own the rights and some sort of acrimony keeps them from resurfacing? Have the masters gone walkabout? I don't have the answers - all I know is that it's a shame that this worthy cache of songs isn't readily available.

I'm one of the lucky ones - I own all their output on vinyl and an analog-to-digital mixing deck. I've spent countless hours transferring everything over to MP3 so that I can take Winter Hours with me where ever I go, yet I'd still snap up the music again if it was officially released.

We can only win.

"Things are never quite the way they seem..."

2008-12-04T07:28:00.001-05:00

WOXY
Back to the Future Playlist
Saturday, 11 October, 2003

8 a.m.
Thompson Twins – “Lies”
The Go Betweens – “Karen”
The Connells – “Fun & Games”
Poi Dog Pondering – “Jackass Ginger”
Hot House Flowers – “Don’t Go”
Tom Robinson Band – “2-4-6-8 Motorway”
Happy Mondays – “Kinky Afro”
The Cure – “Jumping Someone Else’s Train”
Gary Clail – “Human Nature”
Felt w/ Liz Frasier – “Primitive Painters”
Dumptruck – “Back Where I Belong”
Matthew Sweet – “We’re the Same”
Deee-Lite – “Groove is in the Heart”
David Sylvian – “Red Guitar”
The Pogues – “Dirty Old Town”

9 a.m.
John Hiatt – “Thing Called Love”
Royal Crescent Mob – “Love Rollercoaster”
The Cramps – “Surfin’ Dead”
Television – “Friction”
Pete Shelley – “Homosapien”
Nick Cave – “Deanna”
Love & Rockets – “Haunted When the Minutes Drag”
Gang of Four – “I Love a Man in a Uniform”
Falco – “Rock Me Amadeus”
Edie Brickell – “What I Am”
Circle Jerks – “American Heavy Metal Weekend”
Duran Duran – “Planet Earth”
808 State – “Moses”

10 a.m.
Squeeze – “Take Me I’m Yours”
Talking Heads – “Cities”
Terence Trent D’arby – “She Kissed Me”
Pet Shop Boys – “Suburbia”
Golden Palominos – “Clustering Train”
Flesh for Lulu – “Postcards from Paradise”
Enigma – “Sadeness”
Soho – “Hippie Chick”
(open for request)
The Police – “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”
Stray Cats – “Rock this Town”
The Cucumbers – “My Boyfriend”
Us 3 – “Cantaloop”
(open for request)

Although The Record Store was primarily known first and foremost as a place to buy music and music-related ephemera, we also did a brisk side business selling jewelry and smoking paraphernalia. There were plenty of regulars who never bought music from us at all, but were there each week to buy pipe screens, rolling papers, or one-hitters. Because of the quasi-illegal nature of the paraphernalia side of the business, we were forced to stop selling the harder-core head items like bongs, but we sold whatever we could while still staying on the right side of the law. This included cleanse kits.

The first cleanse kits we carried were “Quick Flush” herbal teas. Even though kits cost nearly $20 a box and users had to drink a couple of quarts of the stuff for it to work, we sold out each and every weekend. In a blue collar steel-and-auto manufacturing city where alcohol and recreational drug use was about the only fun to be had, I guess selling out of piss-test helpers wasn’t all that surprising.

While the herbal teas remained popular, we soon expanded our trade to include vials of a synthetic compound that could be mixed with urine to mask THC, and shampoo kits that stripped the THC out of hair. The teas were most popular with those who knew they were going to have to take a drug test – usually those in the process of job hunting. The chemical vials were most popular with assembly-line workers, who could be pulled from the line for a test at a moments notice. Users were instructed to keep the vials with them at all times – preferably someplace warm, like the front pocket of jeans or inside a bra. This is because the synthetic compound needed to be the same body temperature as urine in order to work.

You are probably wondering by this time why I’m banging on at such length about drug test kits when this post is supposed to be about my old WOXY play lists, and I can only say that the first thing that leapt out at me about this play list was Gang of Four’s “I Love a Man in a Uniform” which reminded me of the inordinate number of military personnel who came into the store in search of those cleanse kits. By far the most requested items for the soldiers and flyboys were the shampoo cleanse-kits. One of them once told me that it was because the government rarely bothered with piss-tests for personnel who had already completed basic training – instead, the U.S. military preferred the hair-strand test for our boys in uniform. I do not know how things are in today’s military, but back then soldiers were tested each time they had been away on leave.

And since most soldiers had their heads shaved during basic and kept it close cropped throughout their tenure in the armed forces, the shampoos we sold were rarely ever used above the shoulders. Mostly, as I was nervously informed by a worried flyboy, hair would be plucked from the legs, arms or – wait for it – the groin area. Ouch. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the chemicals in the shampoo kits tended to burn the, erm, more “sensitive areas” upon which they were applied. Such were the lengths our boys went through in order to serve their country.

Anyway, I couldn’t find a decent video of Gang of Four, so instead I give you another military-inspired song from the 80’s:

Stan Ridgway’s “Camouflage”

"An ocean storm can be still risen by a woman's lips..."

2008-11-26T17:30:00.010-05:00

WOXY
Back to the Future Playlist
Saturday, 4 October, 2003

8 a.m.
David Bowie – “DJ”
Fred Schneider – “Monster”
Guadalcanal Diary – “Always Saturday”
Kate Bush – “Babooshka”
Peter Murphy – “Line Between the Devil’s Teeth”
Camper Van Beethoven – “The History of Utah”
X-Ray Spex – “Oh Bondage Up Yours”
Was (Not Was) – “I Feel Better Than James Brown”
Urban Dance Squad – “Deeper Shade of Soul”
PiL – “The Body”
M – “Pop Muzik”
Depeche Mode – “Shake the Disease”
Jerry Harrison – “Rev It Up”
The Ramones – “We’re a Happy Family”
(left blank for request)

9 a.m.
Elvis Costello – “Everyday I Write the Book”
Laurie Anderson – “Language is a Virus”
Let’s Active – “Fell”
Talking Heads – “Television Man”
Young Fresh Fellows – “Amy Grant”
The Pretenders – “Precious”
Charlatans – “White Shirt”
Soul Asylum – “Cartoon”
Firehose – “Sometimes”
Wolfgang Press – “A Girl Like You”
Jesus Jones – “Move Mountains”
The Fall – “Cruiser’s Creek”
The Police – “Driven to Tears”
The Buzzcocks – “Ever Fallen In Love?”

10 a.m.
Sinead O’Connor – “Jerusalem”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Cutter”
The Cult – “Revolution”
Ministry – “Work for Love”
XTC – “No Thugs in Our House”
Winter Hours – “Roadside Flowers”
U2 – “Gloria”
Tom Tom Club – “The Man With the 4-way Hips”
Special AKA – “Free Nelson Mandela”
The Clash – “White Riot”
The Replacements – “Here Comes a Regular”

No other band deserved to make the “big time” more than Winter Hours, but like so many others during the heyday of college radio, they got gobbled up and spit out by one of the majors.

Winter Hours originally formed in the early 1980’s and paid their dues playing in clubs up and down the east coast while trying to scrape together the money for demos. They first came across my radar sometime around ’85-‘86 when I stumbled across the Churches EP while flipping through the racks at Renaissance Music. I knew nothing about the band but was willing to take a chance on them based on their song titles and album sleeve artwork. I was blown away from the first listen, and actively sought out everything that came out afterwards.

The band released a couple of EPs and one LP for Link Records – not the U.K. punk label but the American one, which also released albums by The Godfathers, Full Fathom Five and O Positive. When I began working at WWSU I remember how excited I was the day the Wait Til the Morning EP landed on our doorstep. With the sublime “Hyacinth Girl,” I just knew the band would be huge. How could they not, with a song like that?

Their first full-length LP (released on Link), Leaving Time, remains one of my all-time favorites, and that is really saying something – coming from someone who has quite an extensive collection. With each listen I fall in love all over again.

The band signed with Chrysalis and released the self-titled Winter Hours, an album I felt wasn’t a patch on Leaving Time but was still very good. The single “Roadside Flowers” carried the album and could have taken the band to the next level, but Chrysalis had recently been made a public company and was still trying to adjust to a new playing field – they just didn’t have a clue. The label had no idea of how to market the band, they didn’t they recognize the band’s potential, and they looked upon college radio as a “fad” rather than a viable way to get the band’s music heard. Link had done what they could and knew college radio, but they didn’t have the money to really push the band. Chrysalis had the money but disdained college radio and the entire “alternative/modern rock” phenomenon. They were too busy pushing the likes of Pat Benetar, Slaughter and Huey Lewis & the News. That same mindset hurt them when Geffen unleashed Nirvana on the unsuspecting public a few years later and Chrysalis, like most of the majors, scrambled to play catch-up.

If there is one event that I look back on with abject regret, it is that I had the chance to see Winter Hours live at Bogarts (playing with Christmas) and I didn’t go. I had tickets but the weather was really bad and I figured that the show would be cancelled so I didn’t attempt the long drive in the snow and ice. I cannot count the number of times I have looked back on that decision and kicked myself for not going. I thought there would be other chances. How wrong could I have been?

This video of Winter Hours performing "Wait til the Morning" isn't the best of quality, but the song is stellar. Check it out. Likewise for more information on the band visit their tribute page.

Lead singer Joseph Marques died 28 June, 2003 at the age of 40. The beauty of his voice and lyrics will never be forgotten by those of us who loved the band.

"Our nations need new heroes, time to sing a new war song..."

2008-11-25T18:04:00.001-05:00

WOXY
Back to the Future playlist
Saturday, 27 September 2003

8 a.m.
Fishbone – “Party at Ground Zero”
Concrete Blonde – “Still in Hollywood”
Graham Parker – “Temporary Beauty”
E.M.F. – “Unbelievable”
John Wesley Harding – “The Devil in Me”
The Replacements – “Waitress in the Sky”
Hindu Love Gods – “Raspberry Beret”
Lightning Seeds – “Pure”
Nick Lowe – “Cruel to be Kind”
Patti Smith – “Because the Night”
Beastie Boys – “Fight for Your Right”
The Church – “Reptile”
Wire – “Eardrum Buzz”
Jimmy Cliff – “The Harder They Come”
Lou Reed – “Sally Can’t Dance”

9 a.m.
Michael Penn – “No Myth”
Peter Gabriel – “Biko”
Stan Ridgway & Stewart Copeland – “Don’t Box Me In”
Material Issue – “Diane”
The Damned – “Alone Again Or”
Sam Phillips – “Standing Still”
The Waterboys – “This is the Sea”
The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dog”
REM – “Don’t Go Back to Rockville”
Midnight Oil – “Best of Both Worlds”
The Godfathers – “Cold Turkey”
Stone Roses – “Elephant Stone”
Tom Waits – “16 Shells from a 30-6”
Kirsty MacColl – “Caroline”

10 a.m.
Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Fight Like a Brave”
Morrissey – “Everyday is like Sunday”
Art of Noise – “Close to the Edit”
The Stranglers – “Always the Sun”
The Sisters of Mercy – “This Corrosion”
Throwing Muses – “Dizzy”
A House – “Call Me Blue”
Brian Ritchie – “Sun Ra – Man From Outer Space”
Martha & the Muffins – “Echo Beach”
Bauhaus – “She’s in Parties”
Buzzcocks – “Orgasm Addict”
Josie Cotton – “Johnny Are You Queer?”
Joe Jackson – “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”
They Might be Giants – “Particle Man”

After 9/11 happened I worried that I’d never hear Fishbone’s wonderful “Party at Ground Zero” on the radio again, especially when the knee-jerk reaction of the corporate bullyboys at Clear Channel was to ban a bunch of songs with “questionable” lyrics and other non-CC stations followed their lead. Not that anyone at Clear Channel had a clue about Fishbone, evidenced by it’s omission in the “questionable” list, but I thought that certainly a title like “Party at Ground Zero” would find it’s way to the chopping block.

So imagine my elation when, a few months after those planes hit the World Trade Center, I heard Barb spin the tune while I was driving in my car on a cold, grey November day. WOXY had always had a healthy rebellious streak, and although they always adhered to FCC law they weren’t afraid to do their own thing, and playing “Party at Ground Zero” was testament to that. It’s difficult to describe just how much of a weight I felt had lifted when I heard that song on the radio. The U.S. government was in full war-mode paranoia with civil liberties being snatched away with each passing day, and in cities and towns across the country our newspapers, TV programs and radio stations were jumping on the censorship bandwagon before the white soot in New York had even settled. I thanked my lucky stars that there were still independent stations out there willing to take risks, and that one of them was the little station out of Oxford known as WOXY.

for your listening and viewing pleasure, I give you Fishbone:

I’m so proud to have worked at WOXY, even though my stint was merely a blink in time. This year marks their 25th anniversary; they no longer broadcast over the air but are still flyin’ the flannel via the magic of internet radio. And they still play "Party at Ground Zero!"

Tune in!

"I belong to the Blank Generation and I can take it or leave it each time..."

2008-11-24T08:56:00.006-05:00

WOXY
Back to the Future playlist
Saturday, 20 September 2003

8 a.m.
Madness – “One Step Beyond”
Julian Cope – “Charlotte Anne”
Love & Rockets – “It Could Be Sunshine”
Neds Atomic Dustbin – “Grey Cell Green”
The Buck Pets – “A Little Murder”
Toad the Wet Sprocket – “Walk On the Ocean”
Wire Train – “Chamber of Hellos”
B-52s – “Private Idaho”
Tracey Chapman – “For My Lover”
Dukes of Stratosphear – “25 O’Clock”
Eurythmics – “When Tomorrow Comes”
Gene Loves Jezebel – “Desire”
Big Star – “September Gurls”
Adrian Belew – “Big Electric Cat”

9 a.m.
The Modern Lovers – “Roadrunner”
Klark Kent – “Don’t Care”
Golden Palominos – “Boy (Go)”
Husker Du – “Sorry Somehow”
10,000 Maniacs – “Like the Weather”
Living Colour – “Glamour Boys”
Richard Hell & the Voidoids – “Blank Generation”
Stereo MC’s – “Connected”
The Cure – “Killing an Arab”
The Chameleons – “Tears”
A Split Second – “Parallax View”
The Jam – “Start”
Holly & the Italians – “Tell that Girl to Shut Up”
The Nails – “88 Lines About 44 Women”
Beat Farmers – “Happy Boy”
Translator – “Everywhere That I’m Not”

10 a.m.
Grandmaster Flash – “White Lines”
Madder Rose – “Swim”
Michelle Shocked – “Anchorage”
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – “Jesus at McDonalds”
New York Dolls – “Personality Crisis”
Rockpile – “Teacher Teacher”
Pere Ubu – “Final Solution”
The Jazz Butcher – “The Devil is My Friend”
The The – “Infected”
Jesus & Mary Chain – “April Skies”
The Smiths – “Headmaster Ritual”
The Dead Milkmen – “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything)”
The Connells – “Fun & Games”
The Call – “I Don’t Wanna”
Killing Jokes – “Eighties”

One of the greatest things about creating my own show was the ability to put songs on the air that would normally never get heard. I tried to intersperse the lesser-known songs with those that listeners would recognize, and it was always a thrill for me whenever someone rang me up at the station with a fun request or a compliment on how they were digging the tunes.

The listeners who took the time to phone in were a welcome distraction and usually had some awesome musical suggestions. They made my time on-air seem less like a job and more like a party. Knowing that folks were tuning in – even at the ungodly hour of 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning - kept me on my toes to make my breaks as interesting as possible and I tried to give callers shout-outs on the air because for whatever reason, people like to hear their names on the radio. As more listeners learned about the show and tuned in, I began to leave gaps open in the playlist for their requests. Those will be evident in later posts.

This playlist is full of favorites for me: “Big Electric Cat,” “Roadrunner,” “Blank Generation” and “The Devil is My Friend” are just a few that I could probably put on an endless loop and never get tired of hearing.

Check out Richard Hell & the Voidoids:

"Things are going great, and they're only getting better..."

2008-11-21T11:23:00.002-05:00

In May 2003 I got an email from old college buddy and current WOXY program director Mike Taylor, asking me if I would be interested in creating a Saturday morning program on WOXY to showcase the music we played as students during those halcyon days at WWSU.

“Hey -if you are interested in an air shift on 97X, and you think you will indeed still be living in the area for a while - let me know. there is a show i've been considering trying to get off the ground here, but needs to have a host with a serious knowledge of modern rock, particularly pre-Nirvana, whom I haven't run across with the desire to take it on. hope things are well -mike”

Of course I was interested! Several emails and phone calls later I was training in the studio with Mike, Sledge, Barb and Shiv, and then boom, I was on the air. I kept copies of all my Back to the Future programs and will be posting them as time allows.

My shift began at 6 a.m. with two hours of regular programming, and Back to the Future ran from 8 a.m. - 11 a.m.

WOXY
Back to the Future
6 September, 2003

8 a.m.
XTC – “Senses Working Overtime”
Berlin – “The Metro”
The Dbs – “Spy in the House of Love”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “Relax”
This Picture – “Naked Rain”
Yaz – “Don’t Go”
Richard Thompson – “Valerie”
The Clash – “Ivan Meets GI Joe”
Stan Ridgway – “I Wanna Be a Boss”
The Beautiful South – “Rotterdam”
The Pursuit of Happiness – “I’m an Adult Now”
Thomas Dolby – “She Blinded Me with Science”
Blondie – “Denis”
Suzanne Vega – “Left of Center”
Too Much Joy – “Long Haired Guys From England”

9 a.m.
Timbuk 3 – “The Future’s So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)”
Meat Puppets – “Sam”
Don Dixon – “Praying Mantis”
Pop Will Eat Itself – “Can U Dig It?”Big Audio Dynamite – “The Bottom Line”
BoDeans – “Angels”
Lloyd Cole – “Lost Weekend”
Tones on Tail – “Go!”
Yello – “O Yeah”
Time Zone – “World Destruction”
Guadalcanal Diary – “Watusi Rodeo”
Ian Dury – “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”
The Pretenders – “Stop Your Sobbing”
Let’s Active – “Every Word Means No”
Black Flag – “TV Party”
De La Soul – “Me, Myself & I”
Hoodoo Gurus – “I Want You Back”

10 a.m.
The Vapors – “Turning Japanese”
Soup Dragons – “I’m Free”
Adam & the Ants – “Antmusic”
Belle Stars – “Sign of the Times”
English Beat – “Mirror in the Bathroom”
Fine Young Cannibals – “Suspicious Minds”
INXS – “I Send a Message”
The Kings – “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide”
Depeche Mode – “Flexible”
Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party”
Plimsouls – “A Million Miles Away”
Shriekback – “Nemesis”
Elvis Hitler – “Green Haze”
The Housemartins – “Happy Hour”
The Shamen – “Ebeneezer Goode”

"Hang your holiday rainbow lights in the garden..."

2008-09-23T10:43:00.001-04:00

Why is it that I always seem to be out of town when my favorite bands come to town?

Next month while I am away on vacation The National are playing a free concert on Fountain Square as part of a Barack Obama rally. The Breeders will be there too.

I'm gutted to be missing this one, for sure.

"I've been on the other side..."

2008-09-11T23:13:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
Wednesday, 12 April, 1989
9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K David Bowie – “DJ”
H Ultra Vivid Scene – “She Screamed”
TOTW Love & Rockets – “So Alive”
H African Head Charge – “Thrown It Away”
DC NoMeansNo – “Dead Souls”
H Royal Court of China – “Half the Truth”
H Buck Pets – “A Little Murder”
PMLS Clock DVA – “The Hacker”
H No Name Bertha – “Mr. Raccoon”
PM REC Beatnigs – “Television”
H Dessau – “Isolation”
H The Brood – “Satisfied”

SECOND HOUR
K Nina Hagen – “Universal Radio”
H Arsenal – “Half Control”
TOTW Robyn Hitchcock – “More Than This”
H Keith LeBlanc – “Men in Capsules”
DC Capt. Sensible – “Glad It’s All Over”
H Mudhoney – “No One Has”
H Girl Trouble – “Wreckin’ Ball”
PMLS Darks Pandemonium – “Always Comes Evening”
H Pussy Galore – “Yu Gung”
Xxx Danielle Dax – “Pariah”
Xxx Danielle Dax – “Evil Honky Stomp”
Xxx Danielle Dax – “Hammerheads”
Xxx Danielle Dax – “Ostrich”
Xxx Danielle Dax – “Where the Flies Are”

THIRD HOUR
K The Smiths – “Girlfriend in a Coma”
H Batfish – “Another One Bites the Dust”
TOTW The Cure – “Fascination Street”
H Masters of Reality – “Kill the King”
DC Husker Du – “Hardly Getting Over It”
H The Cult – “Fire Woman”
H Meat Beat Manifesto – “God O.D.”
PMLS Band of Susans – “Hard Light”
H Dinosaur Jr. – “Poledo”
PMREC Flesh For Lulu – “Spaceball Ricochet”

Right. So I went a bit nuts with the Danielle Dax stuff in my second hour. It is only because I adored her work and bought everything she released.

Dax (born Danielle Gardner) began her musical career as a member of the avant-garde punk band The Lemon Kittens but soon went her own way with 1982’s Pop-Eyes, released independently on her own label, Awesome Records.

The original cover art for Pop-Eyes, which Dax created herself, was considered too “grotesque” for the delicate sensibilities of mainstream record shops and was discontinued after the first run, being replaced by the enchanting multi-layered photo/paintings of artist Holly Warburton, who went on to create covers for Dax’s subsequent releases Jesus Egg That Wept (1984), Inky Bloaters (1987) and Dark Adapted Eye (1989), as well as several 12” singles.

I first discovered Dax with 1984’s Jesus Egg That Wept and it remains my favorite of her releases. As you can see from the playlist above, four of the five songs I chose to spin were from that album: “Pariah,” “Evil Honky Stomp,” “Hammerheads” and “Ostrich.” It’s difficult to describe her earlier music, but the words experimental, minimal and innovative come to mind. An incredibly talented musician, she plays nearly every instrument on her albums, including drums, bass, flute, keyboards, tenor sax, synths, honky-tonk piano and even the kalimba!

By 1987’s Inky Bloaters, Dax had eschewed the 4-track recording and brought in a full band. She was still pushing the boundaries of surrealism with songs like “Fizzing Human Bomb” and “Sleep Has No Property,” but it also seemed there was a conscious effort on her part to make music a little more accessible to the mainstream – songs like “Big Hollow Man” and “Where the Flies Are” had already been released as 12” dance singles in her native England, a trend that continued when she signed to Sire Records in the U.S. and released 1988’s “Whistling For His Love” and “Cat-House.”

I’m not sure Sire quite knew what to make of Ms. D – they tried to sell her as a dance club artist, but her music had too much depth and complexity to be pigeon-holed so easily, and I think it hurt her. Sire released Dark Adapted Eye, which was basically a reissue of Inky Bloaters with the best tracks from the earlier albums tacked on. Ironically, Sire didn’t include the boogie-woogie gospel dirge masterpiece “Evil Honky Stomp” in this collection, probably because they were afraid of offending someone. The song itself is about racial bigotry and Danielle uses a variety of voices and tape loops to convey the absurdity and stupidity of hatred, and it’s omission from the album is a glaring example of how major labels simply “don’t get” true artistry.

Once Sire got hold of her it was the beginning of the end. She released her lone studio album, Blast the Human Flower, in 1990, with downplayed eastern instrumentation and simplified lyrics. I do not know if she did this because of label pressure to achieve some chart success, or if she had simply ran out of good ideas, but the album seems shallow and hasn’t stood the test of time.

Blast the Human Flower was also Dax’s last full album. After that there was a Janice Long Sessions E.P., a collaboration with Shock Headed Peters on a couple of songs, a track or two released on Sire compilations, and in 1995 she returned to a more experimental sound with the instrumental E.P. Timber Tongue. Her final release was a collection of hits and rarities aptly titled Comatose Non-Reaction: The Thwarted Pop Career of Danielle Dax.

Since 1996 Dax has worked in interior design and has appeared several times on the BBC interior design show Homefront.

"Too little passion in your style, a little murder in your smile..."

2008-08-05T09:13:00.002-04:00

WWSU Playlist
5 April, 1988
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Billy Bragg – “Greetings to the New Brunette”
H Dead Can Dance – “Ulysses”
TOTW Xymox – “Obsession”
H Shades Apart – “On the Inside”
DC Captain Beefheart – “Moonchild”
H Full Fathom 5 – “Firing Line”
H Glass Eye – “Christine”
PMLS Grave Goods – “Narrow House”
H African Head Charge – “Throw It Away”
PM REC Flour – “Accordion”
H Girl Trouble – “Old Time Religion”
H Ultra Vivid Scene – “Lynn Marie #2”
DC Tones on Tail – “Real Life”
REC Royal Court of China – “Half the Truth”

SECOND HOUR
K Front 242 – “Headhunter”
H Ungh! – “Josh Edit”
TOTW Erasure – “Stop”
H NoMeansNo – “Teresa, Give Me the Knife”
DC Bongwater – “Rock & Roll, Pt. 2”
H Live Skull – “Safe for Me”
H Mudhoney – “No One Has”
PMLS Laibach – “Symphony For the Devil”
H UK Subs – “Sabre Dance”
PM REC Sonic Youth – “Candle/Rain King”
H Buck Pets – “A Little Murder”
H Field Trip – “Where’s the Fire”
REQ Legendary Pink Dots – “Waiting for the Cloud”

THIRD HOUR
K Camper Van Beethoven – “She Divines Water”
H Mark Zero – “White Trash”
TOTW Happy Mondays – “Wrote For Luck”
H Skinner Box – “Field of Holes”
DC Tater Totz – “Bharthas Boogie”
H Pussy Galore – “Yu Gung”
H Lard – “The Power of Lard”
PM LS Young Gods – “Face a Face”
H Voice of the Beehive – “D’yer Maker”
H Shock Headed Peters – “Son of Thumb & a Murderer”

"It ain't whatcha do it's the way thatcha do it..."

2008-06-27T08:22:00.002-04:00

Had another training session at WOXY yesterday and I think I am finally getting a feel for the equipment and process.

Now if I can just find my voice again...

"There you go, way too fast. If you don't slow down you're gonna crash..."

2008-06-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
15 March 1989
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K The Primitives – “Crash”
H Flouride – “Keep on Walking”
TOTW Morrissey – “Last of the Famous International Playboys”
H Birdhouse – “Brixton’s Burning”
DC The Cure – “Boys Don’t Cry”
H A Split Second – “Bend My Body”
H Lead Into Gold – “Idiot”
PMLS Young Gods – “Face a Face”
H Prince Far I Singers – “Water the Garden”
PMREC Tones on Tail – “War”
H Frank Allison & Odd Sox – “Louder”
H UK Subs – “Motivator”
DC Skinny Puppy – “The Choke”

SECOND HOUR
K Suicidal Tendencies – “I Saw Your Mommy”
H Shades Apart – “Shadow of a Cross”
TOTW Tim Finn – “Crescendo”
H Half Japanese – “Said & Done”
DC The Misfits – “Skulls”
H Ungh – “Skate Afrikana”
H Government Issue – “Strange Wine”
PMLS Karen Findley – “Lick It”
H Elvis Hitler – “10 Wheels for Jesus”
PMREC B.A.L.L. – “If I Break Down”
H Love & Rockets – “Bike”
H Arsenal – “Little Hitlers”
K The Damned – “In Dulce Decorum”
REQ Tuxedomoon – “Atlantis”

THIRD HOUR
K XTC – “Dear God”
H The Splat Cats – “Get Ready”
TOTW House of Freaks – “Sun Gone Down”
H Hector – “Hurts So Bad”
DC Til Tuesday – “Rip In Heaven”
H The Skeletons – “Outta My Way”
H Victims Family – “In a Nutshell”
PMLS Anastasia – “What Kind of Truth is This”
H Monty Cantsin – “Every Six Minutes”
PMREC Killing Joke – “Willful Days”
H The Sandmen – “Hate Your Ways”
H The Specials – “Ghost Town”
K U2 – “Drowning Man”
DC INXS – “Black & White”

Once again I had a trainee in with me for the third hour – someone with an appalling scrawl. It looks more like Sanskrit!

So it is written...

2008-06-19T11:46:00.012-04:00

WWSU Playlist
1 March 1989
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Bauhaus – “She’s in Parties”
H Fini Tribe – “Finis”
TOTW (blank)
H Elvis Hitler – “Green Haze”
DC Batz Without Flesh – “Retention”
H Ultra Vivid Scene – “You Didn’t Say Please”
H Dead Milkmen – “Punk Rock Girl”
PMLS Royal Court of China – “Half the Truth”
H Girl Trouble – “Hurt Yer Heart”

SECOND HOUR
K Hula “Voodoo Chile 1”
H Dharma Bums – “Dropping Out”
TOTW (blank)
H Too Much Joy – “Bad Dog”
DC Zoetrope – “Seeking Asylum”
H Soundgarden – “Circle of Power”
H NoMeansNo – “Theresa, Gimme That Knife”
PMLS Laibach – “Sympathy for the Devil”
H Pussy Galore – “Adolescents Wet Dream”
PMREC Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
H UK Subs – “Sabre Dance”
H Birdhouse – “Devil Looks After His Own”
K Talking Heads – “Stay Up Late”
REQ TRC – “High Speed 1996”
H Red Temple Spirits – “Nile Song”

THIRD HOUR
K Pete Shelley – “Homosapien”
H The Brood – “Cry”
TOTW Pond – “Bullets”
H Ungh – “Boop Boop Bwahh” ??
DC Minimal Compact – “Next to Real”
H My Dad is Dead – “Cut Out”
H Victim’s Family – “Crap”
PMLS Laibach – “Sympathy for the Devil”
H Murphy’s Law – “??”
PMREC Metal First Aid – “Poolside”
H Blacklight 13 – “Graveyard Signal”
H Spongehead – “I am…”
DC Savage Republic – “So It Is Written”

My third hour is written by someone else, so I am assuming that I once again had a trainee sitting in with me. The playsheet doesn’t say who it was, but they had god awful handwriting. They also didn’t look over what I had played previously, because they played Laibach, which I had played during the previous hour.

There are two bands on this playsheet that I couldn’t get enough of back in the day: Red Temple Spirits and Savage Republic. Both band’s albums came through Fundamental Recording Co.’s distribution – RTS on Nate Starkman & Son Records and Savage Republic on IPR (Independent Project Records).

I won’t delve too deeply into Red Temple Spirits because although I loved the music on their luxurious, gatefold debut Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon, which had a post-punk tribal feel similar to Savage Republic, I never really warmed to singer William Faircloth’s nasally voice, which I felt was affected and fake. The band made interesting use of native instruments like flutes and bells, and incorporated natural sounds like birds and water into their music, but they simply haven’t stood the test of time for me.

Savage Republic, on the other hand, were so far ahead of their time that their music still sounds as fresh today as it did twenty five years ago.
The band first popped up on my radar via Camper Van Beethoven. Camper’s first album, the superb Telephone Free Landslide Victory, was released with a gorgeous hand-screened sleeve designed by Bruce Licher of Independent Project Press. When I bought the album (in 1985) I wasn’t familiar with Licher or IPP, but the letterpress graphics drew me in and spoke to me on an organic, primitive level, and while thumbing through some vinyl at Renaissance Music one day I stumbled across a staggeringly beautiful and moving sleeve reminiscent of TFLV. I didn’t know what the album was called because the name was screened in Arabic, and had no idea what the music sounded like, but I bought it nonetheless because I recognized the IPP style.

The sleeve featured a hand silk-screened version of a famous photo by Jahangir Razmi of several Iranian professors being executed by firing squad at the time the fundamentalists took over the country.
It’s a grisly photo, certainly, and recognizable to most who remember the Iranian hostage crisis. That Savage Republic was able to turn this horrific photo into an even more profoundly moving art statement is impressive and very brave. Aptly, the album is titled Tragic Figures.

Even if I hadn’t liked the music Savage Republic released I would have continued to collect their albums because of their uniquely striking sleeves, so it was a real bonus to find that the music was every bit as good as the wrapping. Tribal and evocative, their music seemed to exist outside the space-time continuum, far beyond the normal realm. Their use of metal percussion and Licher’s monotone-tuned guitars created a powerful onslaught with a decidedly eastern flavor. I fell hard for them, and set about collecting everything they released. That I never got a chance to see them live is tragic – for their live performances infused a raw energy unmatched by anything before or since. They were doing shows and blowing up stuff with Mark Pauline out in the desert years before the Burning Man phenomenon, and the full-length concert footage I have on video can only hint at the harnessed chaos they created.

The band never released a bad album and it’s difficult to play favorites, but as far as I am concerned they reached their zenith with 1988’s Jamahiriya Democratique et Populaire de Sauvage. From beginning to end this is the one Savage Republic album that latches on and doesn’t let go. Tightly wound, ethnically flavored sonic expanses ripple and shimmer under a crashing industrial veneer. Surprisingly for the motherlode of power contained within its grooves, the gatefold sleeve for Jamahiriya is something of a letdown in comparison, although Licher’s redesigned CD sleeve packs the punch lacking in the album version.

Savage Republic went on hiatus in early 1989 and briefly came out of "retirement" in 2002 for a whirlwind tour. In 2006 they reformed - minus founder Bruce Licher.

Licher has received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Recording Package: once in 1988 for Echelons by For Against, and in 1989 for Camper's Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart.

He continues to design gorgeous, original art from his studio in Sedona, Arizona.

"Plenty of chances but no one will win, over and over and over again..."

2008-06-13T09:57:00.004-04:00

WWSU Playlist
8 February, 1989
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Visage – “Fade to Grey”
H Ciccone Youth – “MacBeth”
TOTW Tooba Blooze – “Seven Million Miles”
H The Dead Milkmen – “Punk Rock Girl”
DC Camper Van Beethoven – “Good Guys & Bad Guys”
H Trotsky Icepick – “Bury Manilow”
H The Sandmen – “Hate Your Ways”
PMLS 1000 Homo DJs – “Apathy”
H Rapeman – “Trouser Minnow”
PMREC Ministry – “Deity”
H The Damned – “Ballroom Blitz”
H Girl Trouble – “Wreckin’ Ball”
DC Suicidal Tendencies – “Trip at the Brain”
REQ The Cure – “Why Can’t I Be You”
REQ Eclipse – “Slam Dancin’ Dog”
REQ The Replacements – “Cruella DeVille”

SECOND HOUR
K Fishbone – “Party at Ground Zero”
H Hummingbirds – “Hindsight”
TOTW Elvis Costello – “Veronica”
H Dinosaur Jr – “Don’t”DC Bongwater – “Pornography”
H Sharkbait – “Big Rallies”
H Living Colour – “Broken Hearts”
PMLS The Church – “Under the Milky Way”
H Dead Can Dance – “Severance”
PMREC B.A.L.L. – “Shelter/Dylan Side”
H Tater Totz – “Bhartha’s Boogie”

THIRD HOUR (The Twang that Thang Hour)
Golden Palominos – “Boy (Go!)”
Broken Homes – “Seeds I’ve Sown”
True Believers – “Rebel Kind”
Hoodoo Gurus – “Death Defying”
Camper Van Beethoven – “Sad Lover’s Waltz”
Violent Femmes – “Breaking Hearts”
Guadalcanal Diary – “Watusi Rodeo”
Webb Wilder – “Poolside”
Nick Lowe – “The Rose of England”
Let’s Active – “Fell”
Winter Hours – “Hyacinth Girl”
REM – “Pretty Persuasion”
Dave Edmunds – “Almost Saturday Night”
Wire Train – “Take Me Back”
Jason & the Scorchers – “Good Things Come”
The Feelies – “Slipping (into something)”

Well I threw the third hour of the playsheet right out the window and played what I wanted to. The only reason I got away with this was because I was the MD at the time, and hypocritically I frowned on the staff for deviating even a little bit from the playsheets. “Do as I say, not as I do” was obviously my motto at the time.

Gotta say – I LOVE this third hour. Every song played during my self-titled “Twang that Thang Hour” is one that I still love to this very day. If you were to pry my iPod away long enough to scroll through the rotations list, you’d find these tunes still racking up plays.

Where to begin? A quick glance shows my predilection for Stiff Records artists - there’s Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and The Feelies, whose first album Crazy Rhythms was originally released on Stiff in 1980. The song I chose, “Slipping (into something)” was taken from their sublime 1986 Coyote Records release The Good Earth, which after all these years still ranks in my top ten albums of all time.

I sadly never got a chance to see them live, even though they opened some dates for REM on the Pageantry Tour. We in Cincinnati got shafted with opener Fetchin’ Bones by some cruel twist of fate. In fact, let me just say that REM always seemed to have fantastic opening acts (The Feelies, The dbs, Guadalcanal Diary, Camper Van Beethoven, Let’s Active, Robyn Hitchcock – my god, it reads like a MK-wet dream!) but they NEVER brought these fantastic acts to Cincinnati. I saw REM a number of times in the 80’s and the only good opening act I think I saw was when The Minutemen opened for them in Columbus at Vets Memorial on the Reconstruction Tour. I’m sure many would argue that 10,000 Maniacs were a good opener, and I have no doubt that fans were pleased to see The Indigo Girls on the Green tour, but replacing Robyn? Oh please, you guys know me better than that. Of COURSE I was pissed off!

Anyway, The Feelies had a sound similar to REM – in fact, REM regularly cited them as a major influence – but imagine Lou Reed fronting the band instead of Michael Stipe. The band got caught up in the major label feeding frenzy of the late 80’s, signed to indie-friendly A&M Records and released two very good, critically acclaimed albums, Only Life and Time for a Witness. They had mild radio and MTV success with the song “Away,” but big, bad corporate monster Polygram committed possibly the worst crime of their existence when they bought out A&M and left the band to languish in obscurity. I swear I’d like to punch someone at Polygram when I think about how poorly this fabulously creative, hard working band was treated.

Next week: Winter Hours, Camper Van Beethoven, and Hoodoo Gurus.

"The past is your present, the future is mine..."

2008-06-13T08:19:00.002-04:00

Had my first training session at WOXY this week. Boy, production sure has changed since I was last on the air in 2004! Whereas before I had to physically pull CDs from the library to play, cue them up, check the outcue notes (the way the song ends) and do my best to make seamless segues, now it's all done via a computer program.

In some ways it is a lot easier now - I can fiddle around with the intros and outcues and can preview them beforehand - something I certainly couldn't do back in the day, and it's pretty handy. It's also nice that all the music is in one large database, so there's no pulling CDs for the show and no filing them away afterwards. I have only ever known the hands-on method, so this new (to me) software is very nice.

But in other ways it is a little more daunting. I'm something of a perfectionist, and I'll admit that I am more than a tad bit worried that I'll waste scads of time messing around with the song order and segueways ad infinitum. Add to that a library as large as WOXY's and you can maybe see my dilemma.

Holy crap!

"Rode seven million miles in the trunk of a car - don't know where I'm goin', but I'm goin' far..."

2008-06-12T09:43:00.007-04:00

WWSU Playlist
1 February 1989
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dog”
H Eclipse – “Slam Dancing Dog”
TOTW Tooba Blooze – “Seven Million Miles”
H Revolution 409 – “Crazy Horses”
DC Revolting Cocks – “You Often Forget”
H The Damned – “Looking At You”
H Sharkbait – “Big Rallies”
H Front 242 – “Headhunter” (CD!)
PMLS (crossed off)
H Pailhead – “Don’t Stand in Line”
PMREC Webb Wilder – “How Long Can She Last”
H Pussy Galore – “Yu Gung”
H NoMeansNo – “Dark Ages”
DC Public Image Limited – “Rise”

SECOND HOUR
K Nitzer Ebb – “Join in the Chant”
H Volcano Suns – “Nature & Me”
TOTW Elvis Costello – “Veronica”
H Half Japanese – “Said & Done”
DC Velvet Underground – “Foggy Notion”
H Skinny Puppy – “Testure”
H Mission of Burma – “Forget”
PMLS Young Gods – “Face a Face”
H Love & Rockets – “Motorcycle”
PMLS Violent Femmes – “Breaking Hearts”
H Broken Bones – “Seeds I’ve Sown”
H The Waterboys – “We Will Not Be Lovers”
K Robyn Hitchcock – “The Man With the Lightbulb Head”
REQ The Proclaimers – “Make My Heart Fly”
REQ The Pogues – “Sally MacLennane”

THIRD HOUR
Crossed off with note “Signed off at 11 p.m.”

I haven’t explained why I signed off an hour early on this playsheet, but I’m guessing that since it was February, maybe the weather had turned bad – or was slated to turn bad – and I decided to bunk off early for the long drive home, which, on a good day, took around 45 minutes.

Tooba Blooze was a local Dayton band that I really dug. As the name might suggest, they were an R&B inspired foursome with a twist: instead of a bass player, they had Hal Taylor blasting away on a tuba.
I know it sounds odd, but it really worked. I caught them live a number of times, usually at Canal Street Tavern but a few other places around town too, and they never disappointed. I remember hanging out at Renaissance Music one evening shooting the shit with owner Geoff when a customer came into the store. I was busy giving Miss Lucy (the sweet little shop cat) a good head scratching and had my back to the door, so I didn’t notice the guy come in, but when he passed by I think I got a contact high off his hair and clothes. It was, of course, TB lead singer Denny Wilson. We got to chatting and he ended up visiting the station a few days later as a “special guest.” Even though he was a major stoner at the time, I always thought that he was incredibly focused and talented. I know a lot of folks grumbled that he had a massive ego – and maybe he did, but so what? He had the talent to back it up.

When Tooba Blooze split up, Denny formed the short-lived Wizbangs (with Tim Taylor and Juan Monasterio, later of Brainiac) and released an E.P. of groove-funk-rock similar in sound to Columbus’s Royal Crescent Mob. He later moved to New York and is still active in the music business.

I really ought to take this time to mention the fabulous Dayton label I Wanna. Founded by WYSO DJ Jim Carter (aka Rev. Cool), I Wanna had an impressive run, releasing albums by Tooba Blooze, The Highwaymen (whose lead singer Troy Campbell would later move to Austin and form Loose Diamonds), The Obvious and an excellent Dayton compilation called Hard to Be Cool in an Uncool World, which featured The Highwaymen, The Reducers, Mecca Normal, Human Switchboard, and True Believers, among others. In a future post I'll expound further on The Highwaymen, who were by far my favorite local band at the time. Loved. Those. Guys.

Unbeknownst at the time, the label secured a footnote in history with the release of Forever Since Breakfast, the first Guided By Voices album. It would be several years before GbV’s career took off on it’s meteoric rise, and by that time I Wanna was defunct and the band had moved on to Cleveland’s Scat Records (run by Prisonshake guitarist Robert Griffin).

The only other thing that really stands out on this playlist is the notation that the Front 242 song was played on a CD, which at the time was still something of a novelty at the station. A harbinger of things to come...

"If one should have made it, it should have been you..."

2008-06-10T09:44:00.007-04:00

WWSU playlist
25 January 1989
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Wall of Voodoo – “Mexican Radio”
H Skinny Puppy – “Censor”
TOTW The Replacements – “I’ll Be You”
H Tooba Blooz – “Seven Million Miles”
DC Revolting Cocks – “Attack Ships”
H Psychic TV – “Ballet Disco”
H Shaved Pigs – “Feel Free”
PMLS Keith Levene – “If 6 Was 9”
H Lead Into Gold – “Blackened Heart”
PM REC Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”

SECOND HOUR
K Wire Train – “Chamber of Hellos”
H Half Japanese – “I’ll Change My Style”
TOTW The Reivers – “It’s About Time” (formerly Zeitgeist)
H Volcano Suns – “Laff Riot”
DC Monks of Doom – “Save Me From Myself”
H NoMeansNo – “Real Love”
H Big Stick – “Crack Attack”
PMLS The Young Gods – “Face a Face”
H Spongeland – “Mail it off to China”
PMREC Guadalcanal Diary – “Trail of Tears”

THIRD HOUR
K O Positive – “With You”
H The Inbred – “Walk this Way”
TOTW The Pogues – “Yeah Yeah Yeah”
H Feeding Frenzy – “Tug”
DC Joy Division – “Ceremony”
H Rapeman – “Trouser Minnow”
H Soundgarden – “All Your Lies”
PMLS Karen Finley – “Lick It”
H Demented R Go – “Shadow Crypt”
PMREC Ministry – “Deity”
H Zoetrope – “Unbridled Energy”
H Dinosaur Jr. – “Don’t”
K The Jesus & Mary Chain – “April Skies”

Ah, The Reivers. Now there was a band that totally deserved to make it but was sadly overlooked during their brief career. Hailing from Austin, TX, The Reivers began their journey under the name Zeitgeist and built up quite a following with their self-titled E.P. on db Records in 1984. They seemed to have it all: jangly melodies, great hooks, evocative lyrics, beautiful harmonies.
Their first full-length, the magnificent Translate Slowly, built their fan base considerably and attracted the attention of major label Capitol Records, with whom they signed around 1987. On the eve of their major label debut however, Capitol learned that the name Zeitgeist was already copyrighted by a German new age band who were steadfast in their refusal to change their name.

Much to their chagrin and dismay, Austin’s Zeitgeist were forced to scramble and come up with a new name. They chose The Reivers after a William Faulkner novel of the same name, and Capitol sent out info sheets to local media alerting them to the new moniker.
I added the 12" single of "It's About Time" to our playlist as soon as Capitol sent it to the station and put a note on the sleeve to alert staff to be sure to announce their name change. But we were only a small 10-watt college station with a limited audience...

The name change obviously hurt the band – many fans didn’t learn of the name change in a timely fashion, and it has to be said that there was a certain apathy within Capitol’s promotions department regarding the band. Such a shame really, as Zeitgeist/The Reivers were a band who truly deserved to make it on the same level as REM was then doing. Instead, by 1991 they were no more.

This same situation would be replayed with Tucson's The Sidewinders, who after releasing two LPs under the moniker would be forced, via a lawsuit from a North Carolina cover band, to change their name. They chose Sand Rubies. By 1993, they too had disbanded.

"Viva SeaTac, they've got the best computers and coffee and smack..."

2008-06-09T09:42:00.005-04:00

WWSU Playlist
11 January 1989
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Cabaret Voltaire – “I Want You”
H Laibach – “Get Back”
TOTW Easterhouse – “Come Out Fighting”
H Pailhead – “Don’t Stand In Line”
DC The Revolting Cocks – “Attack Ships”
H The Damned – “Fall”
H Sharkbait – “Furry Mounds”
PM LS Young Gods – “Face a Face”
H A.C. Temple – “Weekend”
PM REC Ministry – “Deity”
H Robert Wyatt – “Unmasked”
DC Frank French & Kevin Kinney – “Alice is my Ally”

SECOND HOUR
K The Fall – “Victoria”
H Eclipse – ‘Slam Dancing Dog”
TOTW The Wonder Stuff – “Gimme More x3”
H The Wipers – “Time Marches On”
DC Happy Flowers – “Mom, I Gave the Cat Some Acid”
H Half Japanese – “Face Rake”
H Girl Trouble – “She No Rattle my Cage”
PM LS Karen Finley – “Lick it”
H KMFDM – “No News”
PM REC Time Zone – “World Destruction”
H Front 242 – “Work 01”
H Soundgarden – “Flower”
K Hunters & Collectors – “Throw Your Arms Around Me”
REQ The Jazz Butcher – “Chickentown”
REQ Sinead O’Connor – “Just Like U Said it Would B”

THIRD HOUR
K Les Rita Mitsouko – “Cest Comme Ca”
H Tater Totz – “Give Peace a Chance”
TOTW The Fixx – “Driven Out”
H Demented R Go – “Shadow Crypt”
DC Siouxsie & the Banshees – “Hong Kong Garden” (request)
H Pussy Galore – “Yu Gung”
H Sonic Youth – “Teenage Riot”
PM LS Sigue Sigue Sputnik – “Frankenstein Cha Cha Cha”
H Dinosaur Jr. – “Freak Scene”
PM REC Scott Goddard – “Two Triple Cheese”
H Mudhoney – “No One Has”
DC Reverb Motherfuckers – “Highway to Hojos”
K This Mortal Coil – “Strength of Strings”
H Dead Can Dance – “Song to Sophia”

I’m really liking the second hour of this show – from The Fall’s excellent rendition of The Kinks’ classic “Victoria” to Irish chanteuse Sinead O’Connor, it’s a pretty good hour.

Much like Alice Donut’s “Lisa’s Father,” Karen Finley’s “Lick It” was another song with contentious content that I relished playing, just to see if I could “get away with it.” Finley is an artist who, a year of two after this song came out, was denied National Endowment for the Arts funding because of the controversial nature of her work. She wasn’t so much a musician as a performance artist, and her most successful work (music or otherwise) pushed the boundaries on topics of sexuality, power and abuse in the hopes of stimulating reflection and change. She and several other artists fought the NEA’s decision and won, but as a result the NEA stopped making grants to individual artists afterward to avoid similar messiness. Win one, lose one.

My good friend Rodney – an exceptional artist himself – once attended a dinner party thrown by Finley and was seated next to Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys. He phoned me up afterwards to dish, and what I remember most about the conversation is that Jello apparently didn’t believe in using deodorant and smelled so gamey that it put Rodney off eating. He held Karen personally responsible, since she had placed them next to each other, and I don’t think he ever quite forgave her.

Another great song this hour was Girl Trouble’s “She No Rattle My Cage.”
I LOVED Girl Trouble and championed their work every chance I got. Hailing from Tacoma, Washington and signed at the time to Calvin Johnson’s K Records out of Olympia, Girl Trouble played raw garage rock with blistering surf overtones. I had correspondences going with quite a few indie labels at the time, and of them all I enjoyed the insightful, funny and friendly letters and phone calls from Johnson, who turned me on to the burgeoning SeaTac scene. I was already well into the Sub-Pop phenomenon by 1989 but I felt that K Records artists were just as good and tried to give them as much airtime as I could.

Somewhere along the way I took up a spirited correspondence with Girl Trouble drummer Bon Von Wheelie, whose humorous letters I have kept all these years, stuffed away inside the Hit It Or Quit It LP. A quick Google search shows that she has a MySpace page but it doesn’t look as though there’s been any activity in months. It appears that GT is still slogging away, fighting the good fight. You GO, girl!

"and the radio man says 'it is a beautiful night out there'..."

2008-06-06T10:16:00.002-04:00

I've added Matt Sledge 97 to my blogroll. He's WOXY-licious. Check it out.

"Even though it's complicated, we've got time to start again..."

2008-06-06T08:19:00.003-04:00

It looks like I will be resurrecting "Back to the Future" at WOXY.com sometime this summer! Yippee!

"Why?! Why don't you like me!?"

2008-06-03T09:58:00.003-04:00

WWSU Playlist
27 December, 1988
Tuesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Ministry – “Stigmata”
H Clive Greggson – “Not a Day Passes”
TOTW Marty Willson-Piper – “On the Tip of My Tongue”
H Skinny Puppy – “Human Disease”
DC Neon Judgement – “I Stood In Between”
M Thinking Plague – “Etude 4 Combo”
H Living Colour – “Broken Hearts”
PM REC Violent Femmes – “I Held Her in My Arms”
H Waterboys – “Fisherman’s Blues”
H Dinosaur Jr. – “Don’t”
H Richard Thompson – “Gypsy Songs”

SECOND HOUR
K Hula – “VC1” (Voodoo Chile 1)
H KMFDM – “King Kong Dub Rubber Mix”
TOTW Laibach – “Sympathy For the Devil”
M Contoocook Line – “Goliath”
DC The Residents – “God in 3 Persons”
H Sharkbait – “Car Crash”
K REM – “South Central Rain”
PM REC Scott Goddard – “Two Triple Cheese”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
M Ben Vaughn – “Darlene”
DC Pop Will Eat Itself – “U.B.L.U.D.”
M Billy Bragg – “The Price I Pay”
H Tater Totz – “Bhartha’s Boogie”

THIRD HOUR
K The Ramones – “The KKK Took my Baby Away”
H Soundgarden – “All Your Lies”
TOTW New Order – “Fine Time” (silk mix)
DC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Something’s Wrong”
H Lead Into Gold – “Hatred”
M A Split Second – “Scandinavian Belly Dance”
H Rapeman – “Radar Love Lizard”
PM REC Bongwater – “Dazed & Chinese”
K The Pogues – “Sally MacLennane”
H Diamanda Galas – “The Lord is My Shepherd”
K Laurie Anderson – “O Superman”
H Big Stick – “Crack Attack”
H Front 242 – “Headhunter”

Dinosaur Jr.’s Bug was the crescendo of my love affair with the band. Now the album itself I liked, in particular the raw emotion of “Don’t” which I used to put on loads of mix tapes.
Bug, while not quite as good as You’re Living All Over Me – which I still think is one of the best album titles EVER – had it’s share of would-be hits with “Freak Scene,” “No Bones” and “Budge” and probably would have been massive had it been released a few years later when grunge exploded. And this is the last album with the original line-up, before Lou Barlow left for the greener pastures of Sebadoh.

In 1988 I was the station’s music director and spoke with label folks on a regular basis. Usually it was the bastard offspring of the majors who rang (Warner Brother’s subsidiary Slash Records, for example), as well as indie distributors like Caroline. Dinosaur Jr.’s label at the time, SST, was one of the few indies with the resources to maintain weekly contact with tiny little college radio stations like WWSU, and as such friendships developed over time as they rang to chat about new releases, gossip about the acts, and find out how well the album was being received by staff and listeners.

I’m really not sure anymore how the conversation came about, but somewhere during the course of a chat with one of the peeps at SST, I was offered the opportunity to do a phone interview with J Mascis. Naturally I jumped at the chance. The SST told me to call at 3 p.m. on a certain date and gave me J’s HOME PHONE number! I got a crash course in how to patch the phone to the reel-to-reel so that I could get him to do a couple of station I.D.s, and a few hours before I was scheduled to ring him up the SST rep phoned to make sure I was still raring to go. Of course I was!

J, on the other hand, obviously wasn’t. When I phoned at the allotted time his father Joseph informed me that J had left the house about fifteen minutes previous. He apologized several times during our conversation for his son’s inability to handle the level of fame he had achieved, and he was so sweet about it and such a wonderful character to talk to that I ended up conducting my interview with him instead. He was a dentist with lots of interesting anecdotes about the profession, Amherst, and his family – a real charmer with a great sense of humor.

Naturally I was disappointed that I hadn’t gotten to speak to J, but his dad was so awesome that it made up for it. The SST rep was perplexed and somewhat pissed off when he learned that J had bailed on the interview (it wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last) but there was little he could do about it. When I broached the subject of interviewing one of the other Dino members I was told that it was J’s band, and that he was the official spokesperson. Um…oh-kaaaaaay.

"Rock the records, rock the records, rockin' records..."

2008-05-30T07:50:00.002-04:00

WWSU Playlist
21 December 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Elmo & Patsy – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”
H Wolfgang Press – “King of Soul”
TOTW Heavenly Bodies – “Rains on Me”
H Malarians – “What’s New Pussycat?”
DC Danielle Dax – “Blue Christmas”
M A Picture Made – “Little Boy Wisdom”
H Front 242 – “Headhunter”
PM REC Ganzheit – “Traitor”
H A.C. Temple – “Sheik”
H Ministry – “Flashback”
K The Fall – “New Big Prinz”
DC 54-40 – “2000 Years of Love”
LS Band Aid – “Do They Know it’s Christmas”
M Big Dipper – “Meet the Witch”

SECOND HOUR
K Cocteau Twins – “Pearly Dewdrops Drop”
H 1313 Mockingbird Lane – “Battle Dress”
TOTW Laibach – “Sympathy for the Devil”
M A Split Second – “Scandinavian Belly Dance”
DC The Ghostly Trio – “White Christmas”
H B.A.L.L. – “Just Like The First Time”
H Half Japanese – “Said & Done”
M Billy James – “Withering”
DC The Associates – “Heart of Glass”
M Ofra Haza – “Da ale Da ale”
H Borghesia – “Naked, Uniformed, Dead”
PM REC Dinosaur Jr. – “Don’t”
REQ/K Big Audio Dynamite – “Esquerita”

THIRD HOUR
K Bob & Doug McKenzie – “12 Days of Xmas”
H Tater Totz – “Bhartha’s Boogie”
TOTW New Order – “Fine Time”
DC Biff Bang Pow – “She Paints”
H The Waterboys – “Sweet Thing”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
M Sharkbait – “Big Rallies”
LS R.E.M. – “Deck the Halls”
DC Jane’s Addiction – “Summertime Rolls”
H Living Colour – “Broken Hearts”
K They Might Be Giants – “Ana Ng”

From the playsheet it appears that this shift got cut about 15 minutes short. I’ve scrawled a note across the bottom of the sheet: “Bug fog covering so no “K” or “DC” etc.” I’m assuming that this means the studio was powered down a little early so that the University maintenance crew could put heavy plastic coverings over the equipment before they fogged the station/University Center for bugs. I can’t ever remember seeing bugs at the station, so this may have been a routine thing the campus did every time students were on break.

And Elmo & Patsy?! What was I thinking?!

"Think of salad days, they were folly and fun..."

2008-05-29T15:07:00.003-04:00

WWSU Then...

WWSU Now

"All I got were CLOTHES for Christmas! ARGH!"

2008-05-29T08:58:00.003-04:00

WWSU Playlist
14 December 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

In the weeks leading up to Christmas the music department added a few holiday records to the rotation. The one holiday album from the 80’s that has really stood the test of time for me is “Christmas with the Ghostly Trio” by The Ghostly Trio. Produced by Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo, this has got to be one of the most interesting and bizarre alternative jazz records ever released.
I’m not a musician so it is difficult for me to explain what makes the musicianship on this album so unique, but it sounds as though the trio is consistently playing out of key – on purpose. That’s the best way I can describe it. The songs, all traditional holiday favorites, are recognizable….just. The album came out in late 1987 and became a fast favorite with me, so much so that it has remained a staple in my seasonal collection to this very day.

The album has never made it to CD – which is a real shame – but that didn’t stop me from making a CD copy using an analog-to-digital turntable. Much to my husband’s dismay, I drag out the disc every year when we decorate our tree because it never fails to tickle me.

Another band played on this particular show that never failed to make me laugh was Happy Flowers. Seriously messed up stuff in the same vein as Caroliner Rainbow, Happy Flowers formed in 1983 and had a nice 10-year run of bizarro, heavily improvised weirdness. The band - Mr. Anus and Mr. Horribly Charred Infant - combined wilfully childish lyrics with carefree thrash noise and an intensely disturbing array of bizarre subjects. The thing about HF was that they were incredibly funny, even as they repulsed. Songs like "Mom, I Gave the Cat Some Acid" and "Let's Eat the Baby (Like My Gerbils Did)" give a little insight into their world. The Flowers never received the attention that likeminded Ween did a few years later. I guess they were simply too ahead of their time.

FIRST HOUR
K The Singing Dogs – “Jingle Bells”
H Pailhead – “Don’t Stand in Line”
TOTW Heavenly Bodies – “Rains On Me”
H Fishbone – “Freddie’s Dead”
DC INXS – “Do What You Do”
M Reckless Sleepers – “This Heart”
H B.A.L.L. – “When Is a Man”
PM REC These Immortal Souls – “Hey Little Child”
H Lead Into Gold – “Idiot”
H Soundgarden – “All Your Lies”
H The Ghostly Trio – “God Rest Ye”
DC End Result – “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”
H Happy Flowers – “All I Got Were Clothes for Christmas”
M Teknakuller Raincoat – “Dancing Cadavers”
REQ/K The Cult – “#13”

SECOND HOUR
K Bob Rivers – “A Message From the King”
H Screaming Trees – “Ivy”
TOTW (blank)
M Capping Day – “Brain in the Darkroom”
DC The Smiths – “Please…Let Me Get What I Want”
H Was (Not Was) –“Christmas in Motor City”
K New Order – “Subculture”
LS Christina – (didn’t write down the song)
PM REC Hoodoo Gurus – “Out That Door”
H Wolfgang Press – “Raintime”
M UB40 –“I Would Do it For You”
DC Bob Marley – “Get Up Stand Up”
M Game Theory – “What the Whole World Wants”
H Shaved Pig – “Blonde/Corvette”
PM REC Siglo XX – “Lost in Violence”
REQ/K Gary Myrick – “Message is You”

THIRD HOUR
K Myth – “Benzedrine”
H Angry Samoans – “Death of Beewak”
TOTW New Salem Witch Hunters – “Mighty Quinn”
DC The Jazz Butcher – “Grooving in the Bus Lane”
H Angst – “Time to Understand”
M Social Club – “Left to Understand”
H Rapeman – “Trouser Minnow”
PM REC A Witness – “Loudhailer Song”
LS Count Floyd – “Reggae Xmas in Transylvania”
DC The Ravers – “Punk Rock Xmas”
H Big Stick – “Crack Attack”
K Danielle Dax – “Big Hollow Man”
H Jade 4 U – “Valley of Kings”
H Dead Can Dance – “Song for Sofia/Echolalia”
M The Popes – “Not Beautiful”
PM REC Run Westy Run – “Heck House”
REQ/K Cheech & Chong – “Santa Claus and His Old Lady”

"Oh, really?"

2008-05-28T09:16:00.006-04:00

WWSU Playlist
7 December 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K The Replacements – “Bastards of Young”
H Wipers – “I Want a Way”
TOTW Grant Hart – “2541”
H Wolfgang Press – “Shut That Door”
DC The Pontiac Brothers – “She Knows It”
M Mekons & Michelle Shocked – “Prince of Darkness”
H The Damned – “Fall”
PM REC Agitpop – “Out to Pasture”
H Angst – “Time to Understand”
H Angry Samoans – “Egyptomania”
K Public Image Ltd. – “Seattle”
DC Sex Pistols – “Bodies”
LS Big Audio Dynamite – “Love Sensi”
M Richard X Heyman – “Local Paper”
REQ/K The Waterboys – “We Will Not Be Lovers”

SECOND HOUR
K House of Love – “Christine”
H KMFDM – “King Kong Dub Rubber Mix”
TOTW Christmas – “Ring My Bell”
M Ofra Haza – “Galbi”
DC 1000 Homo DJs – “Apathy”
H Jade 4 U – “Midnight Rider”
K Violent Femmes – “I Held Her in My Arms”
LS (blank)
PM REC Biff Bang Pow – “She Haunts”
H Souls in Isolation – “Poltergeist”
M The VPs – “Ode to the PTL”
DC Velvet Underground – “Train Around the Bend”
M Deception Bay – “Not Far From This”
H Common Ailments of Maturity – “Restless Hunger”
PM REC Meat Beat Manifesto – “Kneel & Buzz”

THIRD HOUR
K Dead Milkmen – “Instant Club Hit”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
TOTW New Salem Witch Hunters – “Quinn the Eskimo”
DC Lead Into Gold – “Idiot”
H Rapeman – “Trouser Minnow”
M Tater Totz – “Give Peace a Chance”
H Coil – “Feeder”
PM REC (scratched out) Cheech & Chong – “Santa Claus & His Old Lady”
LS (scratched out) Fred Lane – “The French Toast Man”
DC Eclipse – “Slam Dancing Dog”
H Front 242 – “Headhunter”
K Ultra Vivid Scene – “You Didn’t Say Please”
H LMNOP – “It’s Your Head – Ignited”

There’s a song that keeps recurring on each playlist during this half of 1988, and that song is “Lisa’s Father” by Alice Donut.
The song was on an Alternative Tentacles compilation album called “Oops! Wrong Stereotype” and if memory serves correctly I – as music director – put a “play only after 9 p.m.!” warning sticker on it because the lyrics really pushed the envelope of bad taste back in the day.

The song is basically a spoken-word story about the singer getting visited by a religious fanatic who gives him a handful of Jack Chick Tracts. JCT’s, for those who may not know, are little pocket-sized comic books of gloom and doom meant to shock the reader away from his bad ways and onto the Path of Righteousness. Personally I thought they were a hoot, and for several years I collected them as one would comic books.

So the song continues along with the singer reading aloud the Jack Chick Tract and other band members helping out with the various voices and characters. It was one of the most requested songs at the station.

Lisa's Father

Hey! I'd like to tell you a story
about something that happened to me.
I was sitting at home just the other day
watching some TV, when there's a knock on my door.
And I went to the door to see who it was,
and it was a woman with no eyes.
And she had a handful of comic books.
And she gave me one and then she said:“Take it and read!”
And I took it, and I did read.
And the story was so moving and compelling
that I had to write a song about it.

It wasn't one of your regular comic books.
Rather, it was one of the publications out of California,
one of those comic books that's meant to convert you to fundamental Christianity.

And it was a story about a family.
And the father's name was ... his name was Lisa's father.
And the mother's name was ... her name was Lisa's mother.
And then there was a child, a five year old child, named Lisa.
Lisa - pure as the driven snow.
But she was driven in other ways as well.
I'll tell you about that later.
Lisa's mother was an alcoholic.
She used to sit and knock back JD from 8 o'clock
in the morning 'til she passed out at midnight.
Lisa's father however, he was a sinner of another sort.
He was a sinner of a different colour, if you know what I'm talking about.
He was a kind of a man,
The kind of a man who didn't keep the sinning to himself.
'Cos he was a child-molester.
This was a man who abused his little daughter Lisa.
Every night.
Every afternoon.
Every morning.
As soon as Lisa's mother was blacked out on JD he'd go up to Lisa's bedroom.
And he'd start waling away on this poor little kid,
making that sound:
“Oh waka waka waka baby baby baby, have me a good time. Yeah - yeah.”

One day he was up there, doing what he did tothat poor little girl,
when there was a knock on his front door.
He tucked in his shirt, and he ran downstairs,
and he pulled up his pants.
And he answered the door as quick as he could,
and he said,“Yo! Who's there?”
“Hey, this is Phil, your neighbor!”
“Oh! Hey, how're you doing?”
“Hi, Lisa's father…”
“How's the weather?”
“Oh, the weather is fine and I know what you've been doing with Lisa.
Well you gotta let me do it too, if you don't want me to turn you in!”
And Lisa's father said,“Whoa, I'm in the soup now! What am I gonna do?"
I gotta let him do it to Lisa or else he'll turn me in to the police!
"Okay! You can do it!You can do it too!”

And upstairs the two of them went.
And from that day on the BOTH of them were doing it to poor little Lisa.

One day the mother dried out just long enough to take that kid to the doctor.
The doctor took one look at this kid, and
do you know what the doctor said?
That doctor said,“Your daughter has a venereal disease!”
And that mother, she put two and two together mighty fast, I'll tell you.
She knew what was going on up there…she knew
What was goin’ on down there.
And she grabbed that kid and she started running home.
She ran home as fast as she could.
And she ran and she pointed a finger at Lisa's father.
And she said, “You repulsive little shit!I hate you! I hate you!”
And Lisa's father said,“Whoa whoa, I'm in the soup now! She knows what I've been doing to Lisa!”
He ran!
He ran out that door as fast as he could!
He started to make his way down to the bridge,
just like James Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life".
He was going to throw himself off that bridge.

But just then…A woman with no eyes and a handful of comic books,
walks up to him in the comic book.
Just like the woman in mine did to me.
And she gave him a comic book and she said,“Just pray!”
Just pray is what she said.

~~~~15 minutes later!~~~
And he said,“Whoa! I feel excellent!! I'm gonna go home and tell Lisa's mother about this prayin’ stuff.”
And he ran home, and he said,“Hey, Lisa's mother. Listen to this!”
And she said:“I hate you! I hate you! You Repulsive little shit!”
And he said,“Oh shut up you old cow! Listen to this! Get up and pray!!”

~~~15 minutes later!~~~
She says, she says,“I feel great!”
And Lisa's father says,“Let's call Lisa in here and tell her what's happening in our house.”
They call in Lisa.
And Lisa is a little scared.
She doesn’t like her parents much, as you can understand.
They say, “Hey Lisa. We've got some good news for you! We're never gonna hurt you,
never gonna hurt you anymore!”
And Lisa says,
Lisa says...
“Oh, really?”

"2541 - big windows to let in the sun..."

2008-05-27T08:44:00.004-04:00

WWSU Playlist
30 November 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Negativland – “Car Bomb”
H Animal Time – “My Car is a Survivor”
TOTW Grant Hart – “2541”
H Malarians – “No”
DC Mad Daddys – “Stoned For the Rest of my Life”
M Billy Bragg – “Life With the Lions”
H Screaming Trees – “Damage Report”
PM REC Hoodoo Gurus – “Party Machine”
H B.A.L.L. – “It Don’t Come Easy”
H Highwaymen – “Shine a Light”
K Highwaymen – “After the Sun”
DC New Salem Witch Hunters – “Quinn the Eskimo”

SECOND HOUR
K Half Japanese – “Colleen”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
TOTW In Tua Nua – “All I Wanted”
M Etude Combo – “Thinking Plague”
DC End Result – “Ward”
H Sharkbait – “End of the World”
K Husker Du – “Could You Be the One”
LS Wolfgang Press – “King of Soul”
PM REC – “Meat Beat Manifesto – “Kneel & Buzz”
H Swans – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
M Dead Can Dance – “Song For Sofia/Echolalia”
DC This Mortal Coil – “Song To the Siren”
M Ofra Haza – “Da Ale Da Ale”
H Danielle Dax – “Where the Flies Are”
PM REC Savage Republic – “Lethal Musk”

THIRD HOUR
K Screaming Blue Messiahs – “I Wanna Be a Flintstone”
H King Missile – “I’m Open”
TOTW The Fall – “New Big Prinz”
DC Phantom Tollbooth – “Barracuda”
H A.C. Temple – “Mince Meat”
H Diamanda Galas – “Let’s Not Chat About Dispair”
H Skinny Puppy – “Who’s Laughing Now”
PM REC Voice Farm – “Johnny Belinda”
LS Nitzer Ebb – “Join in the Chant”
DC Mark Stewart – “Anger/Hell is Empty”

It's been ages since I even thought about End Result, but now that my memory has been jogged with this playsheet I remember that I used to dig the song "Ward" and I'm wishing I could remember who I loaned the album to, because I never saw the LP again. Hmmm...I wonder if I can track it down?

I'm surprised that I played "Join in the Chant" by Nitzer Ebb on my show - not because it isn't a good tune, but because it was probably THE most requested song I spun at The Rathskeller on Tuesday nights. The station hosted "Alternative Tuesdays," a four hour dance club-type party that evolved from extended mixes of Depeche Mode and The Cure to the burgeoning Industrial scene. It seemed that every other person in the Rat would come up and request "Join in the Chant," so I'll admit that I got a little sick of hearing it, which is why I am surprised that I played it voluntarily.

I also remember a few diehard Husker Du fans were upset with me for adding Grant Hart's "2541" to the rotation (especially as a Track of the Week) because they blamed him for breaking up the band. Hart was trying to kick heroin addiction and the band's manager was under so much pressure from the warring factions of Hart and Bob Mould that he took his life on the eve of their tour for "Warehouse Songs and Stories." The fans sided with Bob Mould and looked upon Grant Hart as a pariah.

I thought the song was brilliant (I still do) and wasn't going to blackball it simply because of some disgruntled fans. Hell, I was a huge fan myself, but even I could tell they were imploding long before the split was announced.

"Beware of being the roller, when there's nothing left to roll..."

2008-05-23T08:51:00.010-04:00

WWSU Playlist
23 November 1988

FIRST HOUR
K Peter Schilling – “Major Tom”
H Torn Pockets – “Just the Boys”
TOTW Art of Noise – “Kiss”
H Sharkbait – “Break a Bone”
DC Negativland – “Perfect Scrambled Eggs”
M Corpses as Bed Mates – “Venus Handcuffs”
H Skinny Puppy – “Testure”
PM REC Krackhouse – “Kennelration Generation”
H Rapeman – “Log Bass”
H Diamanda Galas – “Maladiction”
K Dementia Precox – “Maladie D’Esprit”
DC New Salem Witchhunters – “Quinn the Eskimo”
LS Woodpecker – “Bowl of Water”

SECOND HOUR
K Leather Nun – “Gimme Gimme Gimme”
H Borghesia – “Naked, Uniformed, Dead”
TOTW In Tua Nua – “All I Wanted”
M Human Hands – “Lurk”
DC Dole – “A Day”
H Laibach – “One After 909”
K Stan Ridgway – “Camouflage”
LS Timelords – “Doctorin’ the Tardis”
PM REC – “Bongwater – “Pornography”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
M Ben Vaughan – “Darlene”
DC Butthole Surfers – “Boiled Dove”
M Frank Tovey – “New Jerusalem”

THIRD HOUR
K Robyn Hitchcock – “Acid Bird”
H KMFDM – “King Kong Dub Rubber Mix”
TOTW The Fall – “New Big Prinz”
DC The Residents – “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
H AC Temple – “Weekend”
M A Split Second – “Scandinavian Belly Dance”
H Keith Levene – “If 6 Was 9”
PM REC Savage Republic – “Viva Rock & Roll”
LS Circus 13 – “Under the Library”
DC Voice Farm – “Mamma Made Me Do It”
H Ministry – “Deity”
K Treat Her Right – “I Think She Likes Me”
H Shel Silverstein – “The Great Smoke Off”

I’m certain that Shel Silverstein was not on our playlist, but a little deviation from the list isn’t always a bad thing, is it?

I first remember hearing "The Great Smoke Off" in the late 1970’s, probably ’78 or ’79, definitely when I was a geeky junior high kid. I was a big fan of the Dr. Demento show, which was a syndicated program that aired Sunday evenings on a tiny little college radio station in Oxford known as WOXY. Because the signal was weak and difficult to find on the dial (this was before digital tuning) I kept the station permanently tuned in on the radio in my bedroom, and Dad helped me string extra antenna wire around the room for better reception. The station played punk and new wave during the day, opening my world to Talking Heads, The Police, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Blondie, Television, Devo and many more.

Anyway, the Dr. Demento show was designed to fit into a two-hour programming block with ad breaks, but at the time the station didn’t really air commercials – there were public service announcements for the military, and underwriting by SDS Pizza in Oxford, but the station could never fill all the slots. There was usually between 10-15 minutes left at the end of the show that the DJ had to fill, and seven times out of ten he’d play “The Great Smoke Off.”
I’m sure one of the reasons he chose this song was because it was over ten minutes long, and I’m sure another reason was because it fit loosely into the category of “humor.” That the song is a poem about a couple of stoners trying to out smoke each other is perhaps a third reason the student DJ would choose it to fill up the rest of the hour. Whatever the case, this poem is a far cry from the wonderful children's books he's written, like A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree.

See for yourself:

The Great Smoke Off
In the laid back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcake, you prob’ly knew her well.
She’d been stoned fifteen of her eighteen years and the story was widely told
That she could smoke 'em faster than anyone could roll.
Her legend finally reached New York, that Grove Street walk-up flat
Where dwelt The Calistoga Kid, a beatnik from the past
With long browned lightnin’ fingers he takes a cultured toke
And says, “Hell, I can roll ‘em faster, Jim, than any chick can smoke!”

So a note gets sent to San Rafael, “For the Championship of the World
The Kid demands a smoke off!” "Well, bring him on!" says Pearl,
"I'll grind his fingers off his hands, he'll roll until he drops!"
Says Calistog, "I'll smoke that twist till she blows up and pops!”
So they rent out Yankee Stadium and the word is quickly spread
"Come one, come all, who walk or crawl, price – just two lids a head
And from every town and hamlet, over land and sea they speed
The world's greatest dopers, with the Worlds greatest weed
Hashishers from Morocco, hemp smokers from Peru
And the Shamnicks from Bagun who puff the deadly Pugaroo
And those who call it Light of Life and those that call it boo.

See the dealers and their ladies wearing turquoise, lace, and leather
See the narcos and the closet smokers puffin’ all together
From the teenies who smoke legal to the ones who've done some time
To the old man who smoked “reefer” back before it was a crime
And the grand old house that Ruth built is filled with the smoke and cries
Of fifty thousand screaming heads all stoned out of their minds.
And they play the national anthem and the crowd lets out a roar
As the spotlight hits The Kid and Pearl, ready for their smokin' war
At a table piled up high with grass, as high as a mountain peak
Just tops and buds of the rarest flowers, not one stem, branch or seed.

Maui Wowie, Panama Red and Acapulco Gold.
Kif from East Afghanistan and rare Alaskan Cold.
Sticks from Thailand, Ganja from the Islands, and Bangkok's Bloomin' Best.
And some of that wet imported shit that capsized off Key West.
Oaxacan tops and Kenya Bhang and Riviera Fleurs.
And that rare Manhatten Silver that grows down in the New York sewers.
And there's bubblin’ ice cold lemonade and sweet grapes by the bunches.
And there's Hershey’s bars, and Oreos, ‘case anybody gets the munchies.
And the Calistoga Kid, he sneers, and Pearly, she just grins.
And the drums roll low and the crowd yells “GO!” and the world’s first Smoke Off begins.

Kid flicks his magic fingers once and ZAP! that first joint’s rolled.
Pearl takes one drag with her mighty lungs and WOOSH! that roach is cold.
Then The Kid he rolls his Super Bomb that’d paralyze a moose.
And Pearley takes one super hit and SLURP! that bomb’ defused.
Then he rolls three in just ten seconds and she smokes 'em up in nine,
And everybody sits back and says, "This just might take some time."
See the blur of flyin’ fingers, see the red coal burnin’ bright
As the night turns into mornin’ and the mornin’ fades to night
And the autumn turns to summer and a whole damn year is gone
But the two still sit on that roach-filled stage, smokin' and rollin' on
With tremblin’ hands he rolls his jays with fingers blue and stiff
She coughs and stares with bloodshot gaze, and puffs through blistered lips.
And as she reaches out her hand for another stick of gold
The Kid he gasps, "Goddamn it, bitch, there's nothin' left to roll!"
"Nothin’ left to roll?", screams Pearl, "Is this some twisted joke?”
“I didn't come here to fuck around, man, I come here to SMOKE!"
And she reaches 'cross the table And grabs his bony sleeves
And she crumbles his body between her hands like dried and brittle leaves
Flickin' out his teeth and bones like useless stems and seeds
And then she rolls him in a Zig Zag and lights him like a roach.
And the fastest man with the fastest hands goes up in a puff of smoke.

In the laid-back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lives a girl named Pearly Sweetcake, you prob’ly know her well.
She’s been stoned twenty-one of her twenty-four years, and the story’s widely told.
How she still can smoke them faster than anyone can roll
While off in New York City on a street that has no name.
There's the hands of the Calistoga Kid in the Viper Hall of Fame
And underneath his fingers there's a little golden scroll
That says, Beware of Bein’ the Roller
When There's Nothin’ Left to Roll.

"I'm a camera, I'm a clown...and every move you make I write it down..."

2008-05-22T10:15:00.008-04:00

WWSU Playlist
16 November 1998
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K David Sylvian – “Orpheus”
H Head of David – “Ink Vine”
TOTW Art of Noise – “Kiss”
H AC Temple – “Weekend”
DC Infections – “Blue Serene”
M Big Dipper – “Ron Klaus Wrecked His House”
H Rapeman – “Superpussy”
PM REC These Immortal Souls – “Marry Me”
H Animal Time – “It’s Like I’m Being You”
H Laibach – “Get Back”

SECOND HOUR
K Tones on Tail – “Go!”
H Sharkbait – “Furry Mounds”
TOTW A House – “Call Me Blue”
M Lime Spiders – “Other Side of You”
DC The Jazz Butcher – “Human Jungle”
H B.A.L.L. – “Buick McKane”
K Jad Fair & Kramer – “King Kong”
H Half Japanese – “Hall of the Mountain King/Louie Louie”
PM REC Moe Tucker – “Jad is a Fink”
H Skinny Puppy – “Human Disease”
M Billy Bragg – “The Price I Pay”
LS Timelords – “Doctorin’ the Tardis”
M Front 242 – “Headhunter”
H A;Grumph – “Another Brick in the Wall pt2”

THIRD HOUR
K Sugarcubes/The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Birthday” (remix)
H Shaved Pigs – “Substitute”
TOTW The Fall – “New Big Prinz”
DC Minimal Compact – “New Clear Twist”
H Waterboys – “We Will Not Be Lovers”
M Manufacture – “Terror Vision”
H Monte Cazazza – “Future Shock”
DC Legendary Pink Dots – “Waiting For the Cloud”

It’s been so long ago that I’m not entirely sure I’ve got the correct year, but I believe that 1988 was the first time I caught Half Japanese live. I remember that it was around my birthday in November, and it was at some dirty little joint in Kentucky. I’d been a fan since 1984’s Our Solar System, but it was Jad Fair’s collaborations with Kramer at Shimmy-Disc that really wowed me. At the time I thought Kramer was God and that everything he touched was golden. He and Jad had collaborated on 1987’s Roll Out the Barrel (with it’s eye-popping day-glo cover)
and there was generally a lot of cross-pollination of Shimmy-Disc artists going on. I think part of me had hoped Kramer would make a special appearance – although deep down I knew that he was a bit too New York to want to drop in on a gig in the “middle of nowhere.” No matter – seeing HalfJap live was a real treat, as was meeting Jad Fair and having a jolly good chin wag with him.

Since that first show I’ve seen them a number of times in different incarnations – including a stint when Moe Tucker of the Velvet Underground drummed for them – and another time when they shared a bill with band member Don Fleming’s Velvet Monkeys. Gary Spencer (SquirrelyG) and I interviewed Jad for Moo Magazine sometime in the mid-90’s – and he surprised me by saying he recognized me from previous shows. I guess it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise though – his shows were, sadly, sparsely attended much of the time.

This playsheet also lists Infections "Blue Serene," from the album Sub Rosa - which I LOVED. I still have this LP and keep meaning to rip it to MP3...but part of me is afraid it won't sound as good as it did in 1988. Will it stand the test of time, as Savage Republic and The Jazz Butcher have, or will it sound tired and dated like the Legendary Pink Dots does?

"And the whole world dragged us down, not a sonnet, not a sound..."

2008-05-22T08:23:00.003-04:00

WWSU Playlist
9 November 1988
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Robyn Hitchcock – “The Man With the Lightbulb Head”
H Scrawl – “I Feel Your Pain”
TOTW Art of Noise – “Kiss”
H Sonic Youth – “Candle”
DC Easterhouse – “Get Back to Russia”
M Ipso Facto – “”Rockers”
H A;Grumph – “Another Brick in the Wall pt.2”
PM REC Bongwater – “Reaganation”
H Big Stick – “Crack Attack”
H AC Temple – “Armache”
K Blondie – “Accidents Never Happen”
DC The Coolies – “Talkin’ Bout Doug”
LS Timelords – “Doctorin’ the Tardis”

SECOND HOUR
K Elvis Costello – “Watching the Detectives”
H Head of David – “Tequila”
TOTW A House – “Call Me Blue”
M A Split Second – “Scandinavian Belly Dance”
DC Cabaret Voltaire – “I Want You”
H Ministry – “Deity”
K Half Japanese – “Colleen”
LS Circus 13 – “Under the Library”
PM REC Indigos – “Side Effects”
H Nina Hagen – “Universal Radio”
REQ Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”
DC Blackouts – “Everglades”
M Oingo Boingo – “Not My Slave”

THIRD HOUR
K House of Love – “Christine”
H KMFDM – “No Meat, No Man”
TOTW Big Dipper – “Meet the Witch”
DC Butthole Surfers – “Movin’ to Florida”
H Sharkbait – “Big Rallys”
REQ Depeche Mode – “Everything Counts”
REQ Soft Cell – “Tainted Love”
PM REC Front Line Assembly – “Die-Sect”
LS 10-inch Men – “Mellow Yellow”
H Front 242 – “Headhunter”
K Tommy Keene – “Places That Are Gone”
DC Guadalcanal Diary – “Trail of Tears”
H M/A/R/R/S – “Pump Up the Volune”
DC Lou Reed – “Sally Can’t Dance”

I'd almost forgotten how well I liked that first House of Love album, released on Creation Records in 1988. It was a short-lived love affair though because as soon as I began reading interviews with Guy Chadwick in UK music magazines I decided he was a bit full of himself and needed to be taken down a few pegs. By the time Fontana Records won the bidding war for the band, they'd lost my interest. Not that I didn't adore "I Don't Know Why I Love You" when I got the advance single, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more hype than talent in the band.

Fast forward ten years to a journey down the M3 from London toward Winchester late one night. Steve and I had been digging John Peel on Radio1, but the signal was getting dodgy and we had to switch stations. We stumbled upon an interview with Guy Chadwick and I'm sorry to say that time and fading fame had done nothing to his massive ego - and on top of that he was incredibly boorish and condescending to the interviewer.

Had it been me behind the mike, I'd have kicked his pompous arse out the door.

"Nationalities are fighting with each other - why is this? Because the system tells you!"

2008-05-21T08:25:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
2 November 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Cutter”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
TOTW REM – “Orange Crush”
H Screaming Trees – “Build On Ice”
DC Ganzheit – “Traitor!”
M Tekna Kuller Raincoats – “Kaleidoscope”
M AC Temple – “Yield”
PM REC Thomas Dolby – “Airhead”
H Ultrafly – “On the I.R.T.”
H Nice Strong Arm – “Swing Set”
K Wire Train – “Chamber of Hellos”
DC The Stooges – “1969”
LS Francis Xavier – “I’m Bored With Your Face”

SECOND HOUR
K Flesh For Lulu – “Spaceball Richochet”
H Mission of Burma – “Smoldering Fuselage”
TOTW Sonic Youth – “Teenage Riot”
M Tater Totz – “Give Peace a Chance/We Will Rock You”
DC The Jazz Butcher – “The Devil is my Friend”
H Malarians – “No”
K Time Zone – “World Destruction”
LS Woodpecker – “Bowl of Water”
PM REC Front Line Assembly – “Aggression”
H Sharkbait – “Furry Mounds”
M A Split Second – “Scandinavian Belly Dance”
DC XTC – “Wake Up”
M They Might Be Giants – “Ana Ng”
H Ministry – “Stigmata”

THIRD HOUR
K Ultravox – “Thin Wall”
H Demented Are Go – “Shadow Crypt”
TOTW Big Dipper – “Meet the Witch”
DC The Clash – “All the Young Punks”
H B.A.L.L. – “It Don’t Come Easy”
M Chicken Scratch – “Birds”
H Borghesia – “Forget”
PM REC Primary Industry – “Merde Alors”
LS Timelords – “Doctorin’ the Tardis”
DC Frank French and Kevin Kinney – “Alice is my Ally”
H Big Stick – “Friends & Cars”
K Danielle Dax – “Sleep Has No Property”
H Diamanda Galas – “Let’s Not Chat About Dispair”
PM REC Dementia Precox – “Maladie De Spirit”

"I saw Jesus at McDonalds at midnight, said he wasn't doin' alright..."

2008-05-20T09:21:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
26 October, 1988
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Sisters of Mercy – “This Corrosion”
H Inca Babies – “Partisans River”
TOTW The Reckless Sleepers – “This Heart”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father” (request)
DC Hula – VC1
M The VP’s – “Stockbroker on the Line”
H A;Grumph – “Another Brick in the Wall part 2”
PM REC Sinead O’Connor – “Jump in the River”
H Blue Ruin – “The Cure”
H Rose of Avalanche – “Dreamland”
K True Believers – “The Rebel Kind”
DC Dementia Precox – “Mines”
LS Plaid Cow – “Sunshine of your Love”
M Corn Dollies – “Shake”

SECOND HOUR
K The Cramps – “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?”
H Diamanda Galas – “Let’s Not Chat About Dispair”
TOTW OMD – “Brides of Frankenstein”
DC Skinny Puppy – “VX Gas Attack”
K The Clash – “London Calling”
LS Gang Green – “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid”
PM REC Siglo 20 – “The Pain Came”
H Rapeman – “Dutch Courage”
M Last Few Days – “Megaphobia”

THIRD HOUR
K They Might be Giants – “Don’t Let’s Start”
H KMFDM – “King Kong Dub Rubber Mix”
TOTW Annie Lennox & Al Green – “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”
DC Gun Club – “Yellow Eyes” (request)
H A.C. Temple – “Mincemeat”
M Max Able – “They Sounded Like Love Songs”
H B.A.L.L. – “If I Break Down”
PM REC Bongwater – “Number”
LS Jass – “Theme W.R.”
DC Batz Without Flesh – “Retention”
H Ministry – “Stigmata”
K Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – “Jesus at McDonalds”
H Screaming Trees – “Ivy”
H The Shamen – “Passing Away”
M Meat Beat Manifesto – “Mr. President”

"So evacuate your bowels and have a hot lunch, and don't be late for school!"

2008-05-20T08:24:00.004-04:00

WWSU Playlist
19 October, 1988
Wednesday, 9p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Siouxsie & the Banshees – “The Passenger”
H Holy Cow – “God/39 Lashes”
TOTW Ofra Haza – “Im Nin Alu”
H Animal Time – “My Car is a Survivor”
DC Agent Orange – “Fire in the Rain”
M Screaming Tribesmen – “Igloo”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
PM REC Butthole Surfers – “Rabbit Fish”
H B.A.L.L. – “The Dylan Side”
H Bongwater – “Dazed & Chinese”
DC Public Image Ltd. – “Seattle”
K Young Fresh Fellows – “Amy Grant”
LS KMFDM – “Blow Your Top”

SECOND HOUR
K Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer”
H 17 Pygmies – “Crossing the River”
TOTW The Pretenders – “1969”
M A Picture Made – “Little by Wisdom”
DC Waterboys – “Trumpets”
H Savage Republic – “Viva La Rock & Roll”
K Peter Gabriel – “Biko”
LS Head – “Sin Bin”
PM REC A; Grumph – “Kill”
H Nina Hagen – “Punk Wedding”
M Fred Lane – “French Toast Man”
DC Les Rita Mitsouko – “C’est Comme Ca”
M Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – “Nothing’s Wrong”
H blank
PM REC blank
REQ/K The Nails – “The Things You Left Behind”

THIRD HOUR
K REM – “Feeling Gravity’s Pull”
H Rapeman – “Dutch Courage”
TOTW Julian Cope – “Charlotte Anne”
DC Tackhead Sound System – “Wotz my Mission Now?”
H Diamanda Galas – “You Must be Certain of the Devil”
M Human Hands – “I got Mad/New Look”
H Front Line Assembly – “Die-Sect”
PM REC Borghesia – “Naked Uniformed Dead”
LS Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie – “Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie”
DC Front 242 – “Lovely Day”
H Feedtime – “Fun Fun Fun”

I did a station “no-no” by deviating from the set playsheet. I skipped over two items (a heavy cut and a PM recurrent cut) to get to a request, which we were not supposed to do. Shame on me.

This playsheet also has one of my all-time favorite "weird" songs on it: "The French Toast Man" by Fred Lane, from the album Car Radio Jerome on Shimmy-Disc Records.

I loved, loved LOVED the Shimmy-Disc output and bought every album they released - still have them all too, and I still proudly sport my Shimmy-Disc t-shirt. Usually only when mowing the grass though, cuz it's pretty beat up now. Shimmy-Disc was a fabulous independent label, founded by producer/musician/genius Mark Kramer, who sadly lost the label and his Noise recording facility in a lawsuit with The Knitting Factory in 1998.

Here are the lyrics to The French Toast Man

Oh - the French Toast man
The French Toast Man
He rides around the corner
Takes a turn around the block
He's got a lot of french toast in the back
He's got it wrapped up in a sock.
He's timing the engine of his truck
He's got a lot of french toast in the back
The kids come around and ask him if they
Can have a delicious slice of french toast.
"Sure you can! Here it is!"He says as he hands it out to all the boys and girls
And they scream with delight as they run home
And show it to their parents.
Then mom takes the french toast from the kids
To examine it more closely
It has green mould growing right out of the crust
And it smells like something awful.
So she throws it into the garbage can
A rat comes along and eats it up
And falls right over, dead.
And his stomach bursts open
And his liver pops out
Everyone stands around with their hands on their mouths
They really are disgusted.
Then -- The French Toast man comes right around the block
And puts it in his french toast sock.
Oh -- The French Toast Man
He's on his way
He's got a slop-bowl too.
So evacuate your bowels and have a hot lunch
And don't be late for school
And don't be late for school
And don't be late for school!

"You came with the dawn - a soul with no footprints, a rose with no thorn..."

2008-05-19T09:20:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
12 October, 1988
Wednesday 9 p.m.-midnight

FIRST HOUR
K Laurie Anderson – “Sharkey’s Day”
H Cassandra Complex – “Prairie Bitch”
TOTW Richard Thompson – “Turning of the Tide”
H Laughing Soap Dish – “Sunrise”
DC The Cure – “Boys Don’t Cry” (request)
M Big Audio Dynamite – “Funny Names”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
PM REC Throwing Muses – “Colder”
H Holy Cow – “Blue Bottle Boy
H The Fluid – “Lonely One”
K Camper Van Beethoven – “Eye of Fatima” (request)
DC Camper Van Beethoven – “Sad Lover’s Waltz”
LS Ganzheit – “Traitor”

SECOND HOUR
K Sex Pistols – “Anarchy in the UK” (request)
H Diamanda Galas – “Double Barrel Prayer”
TOTW The Pretenders – “1969”
M Let’s Active – “Horizon”
DC Mark Stewart – “Anger/Hell is Empty”
H Bongwater – “Number”
K The Jesus & Mary Chain – “You Trip Me Up”
LS Soundgarden – “FOPP”
PM REC Spot 1019 – “Skies of Blood”
H Green River – “Ozzie”
M Peter Tosh – “Bush Doctor”
DC King Missile – “Wuss”
M Big Barn Burning – “Ploughshare & Snaredrum”

THIRD HOUR
K Beat Farmers – “Happy Boy”
H Anti Group – “Big Sex”
TOTW The Timelords – “Doctorin’ the Tardis”
DC Nick Drake – “Time Has Told Me”
H Borghesia – “In Black”
M Obi Men – “Her Address”
H Feedtime – “The Last Time”
PM REC The Pixies – “Gigantic”
LS Skinny Puppy – “Censor”
DC Laibach – “Life is Life”
H B.A.L.L. – “Bird”
K Concrete Blonde – “Still in Hollywood” (request)
H Ministry – “Stigmata”
H Big Bird – “The Noodle Song”

"And it sticks like a broken record, everything sticks like a broken record..."

2008-05-19T08:41:00.000-04:00

The Playsheet took another turn, this time splitting up morning, afternoon and evening. There was already an unwritten rule in place where the listener-friendly stuff was to be played during the largest segment of the day, and the wilder, more experimental music was relegated to after 9 p.m. I finagled a regular shift on Wednesday evenings, from 9 p.m. to midnight and was set free.

WWSU Playlist
5 October 1988
Wednesday, 9 p.m.-midnight
Evening Playlist

FIRST HOUR
K Robyn Hitchcock – “Listening to the Higsons”
H Dust Devils – “Ordinary Madness”
TOTW Richard Thompson – “Turning of the Tide”
H Laughing Soap Dish – “Acidland”
DC Skinny Puppy – “God’s Gift (Maggot)”
M Screaming Tribesmen – “Igloo”
H Screaming Trees – “Build on Ice”
PM REC Butthole Surfers – “Baseball”
H Feedtime – “Lightning’s Girl”
H Test Dept. – “Current Affairs”
K Love & Rockets – “Kundalini Express” (request)
DC Tones on Tail – “Christian Says”
LS blank
M blank
REQ/K blank

SECOND HOUR
K Negativland – “Car Bombs”
H Antipop – “Back to the Womb”
TOTW They Might be Giants – “Ana Ng”
M Hugo Largo – “Eureka”
DC Minimal Compact – “New Clear Twist”
H Cassandra Complex – “Motherad”
K Bauhaus – “She’s in Parties”
LS Cruise Control – “No Condom, No Sex”
PM REC A Witness – “Loudhailer Song”
H B.A.L.L. – “Drink it on”
M Biff Bang Pow – “She Paints”
DC Legendary Pink Dots – “Casting the Runes”
M Shiva Burlesque – “Indian Summers”
H blank
PM REC blank
REQ/K blank
REQ/DC blank

THIRD HOUR
K Lou Reed – “Sweet Jane”
H Alice Donut – “Lisa’s Father”
TOTW Level 42 – “Heaven in my Hands”
DC Phantom Tollbooth – “Significant in Ten Years”
H The Fluid – “New Questions”
M Billy James – “Blind”
H Green River – “Unwind”
PM REC Dag Nasty – “Under Yer Influence”
LS John Hegley & the Popticians – “I Saw My Dinner on TV”
DC Einsterzende Neubaten – “No Di Mi Do Fr Sa So”
H Bongwater – “Pornography”
K Dead Kennedys – “California Uber Alles”
H Rapeman – “Superpussy”
H Fields of the Nephilim – “Endemoniada”
M John the Postman – “Come to the Sabbat”
PM REC Dredd Foole – “Slack”

"Should we give it up? (I don't know) Or hang around some more? (I don't know)..."

2008-05-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
12 May 1987
Tuesday 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Ultravox – “Reap the Wild Wind”
PL Martin Stephenson & Daintees – “Boat to Bolivia”
TOTW (blank)
PL Catheads – “Golden Gate Park”
DC The Bolshoi – “Happy Boy”
PL Fleshtones – “Another Direction”
PL Rose of Avalanche – “Too Many Castles in the Sky”
REC Uncle Bonsai – “Boys Want Sex in the Morning”
PL The Cult – “Memphis Hip Shake”
LS Age of Chance – “Kiss”
K Joe Jackson – “Happy Loving Couples”
PL True Sons of Liberty (TSOL) – “Weathered Statues”
-------Out of the Box----------
Dash Rip Rock – “Bad Dream”
Turbines – “1969” (from the LP Magic Fingers & Hourly Rates)
The Larries – “I’m so Worried About the Kremlin” (from the LP Down at the Diner)

SECOND HOUR
PL REM – “Crazy”
PL Husker Du – “Could You Be the One”
TOTW (blank)
PL Shonen Knife – “Devil House”
REC The The – “Heartland” (request)
PL The New Christs – “Born out of Time”
DC Tones on Tail – “Go!”
K Bauhaus – “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”
PL The Replacements – “I Don’t Know”
LS Fats Comet – “Rockchester”
PL Wolfgang Press – “The Wedding”
PL The Washington Squares – “You Can’t Kill Me”
DC Boomtown Rats – “Up All Night” (request)

THIRD HOUR
PL Meat Puppets – “Love Our Children Forever”
REC Del Fuegos – “Long Slide”
PL The Godfathers – “Can’t Leave Her Alone”
TOTW (blank)
DC Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party”
PL U2 – “One Tree Hill”
K The Ramones – “I Wanna Be Sedated”
PL Hunters & Collectors – “The Slab”
PL Baby Astronauts – “Just About to Lose It”
LS The Cure – “Why Can’t I Be You?”
PL Henry Rollins – “Crazy Lover”
DC INXS – “Red Red Sun”
PL Swamp Thing – “Waiting for the Messiah”
(REQ/DC) The Shoes – “Get My Message”

This is the last playsheet I can locate from 1987. I continued to work at the station, but I have no idea what happened to the playsheets. It’s a shame that I no longer have them because during the summer I had a Japanese exchange student living with me and she helped out on the show.

"Come On, the last train's almost gone...really gone! Let's enjoy the ride we're on..."

2008-05-15T09:32:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
5 May 1987
Tuesday 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Shriekback – “Nemesis” (remix)
PL The Godfathers – “I Can’t Leave Her Alone”
TOTW (blank)
PL Webb Wilder – “Poolside”
DC Phil ‘N’ The Blanks – “Head Screwed On”
PL Wolfgang Press – “The Wedding”
PL Hoodoo Gurus – “Come On”
REC XTC – “Summer’s Cauldron”
PL David Bowie – “Zeroes”
LS The Dead Boys – “All the Way Down”
K The Bears – “Fear Is Never Boring”
-----Out of the Box----------
Ten Foot Faces – “You’re Blowing My High” (from LP “Daze of Corndogs and Yoyos”) (I’ve made a note that the LP is endorsed by Camper Van Beethoven)
Peter & the Test-Tube Babies – “Louise Wouldn’t Like It”
Fahrenheit 451 – “A World of Ideals”

SECOND HOUR
PL REM – “There She Goes Again”
PL Wire Train – “Too Long Alone”
TOTW (blank)
PL The Fastbacks – “Seven Days”
REC Mission UK – “Sacrilege”
PL The Killjoys – “Vegetable Man”
DC Erasure – “Sometimes” (request)
K Graham Parker – “Local Girls”
PL Tom Verlaine – “Say a Prayer”
LS Rank & File – “Black Book”
PL Danse Positive – “Do it Like a Dog”
PL The Pastels – “Ride”
DC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “You Trip Me Up” (acoustic)
(REQ/K) Split Enz – “I Got You”
(PL) The Smiths – “Golden Lights”

THIRD HOUR
PL U2 – “In God’s Country”
REC Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – “Cut Down”
PL Skinny Puppy – “First Aid”
TOTW (blank)
DC The Ramones – “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”
PL Mekons – “Keep Hoppin’”
K Patti Smith Group – “Because the Night”
PL Descendents – “Clean Sheets”
PL Husker Du – “Charity, Chastity, Prudence & Hope”
LS Age of Chance – “Kiss”
PL Oingo Boingo – “We Close Our Eyes”
DC Love & Rockets – “Lucifer Sam”
PL Xmal Deutschland – “Ozean”
(REQ/DC) The Cure – “Jumping Someone Else’s Train”

"and I'm at the stage, Where I want my words heard and no one wants to listen though..."

2008-05-15T08:54:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
14 April 1987
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K The Pretenders – “Mystery Achievement”
PL The Godfathers – “Can’t Leave Her Alone”
TOTW (blank)
PL Julian Cope – “Trampoline”
DC The Shoes – “Get My Message”
PL Shonen Knife – “Ah Singapore”
PL Furniture – “Brilliant Mind”
REC This Mortal Coil – “Strength of Strings”
PL Snakefinger’s Vestal Virgins – “I Gave Myself To You”
LS Rank & File – “Black Book”
K Shriekback – “Nemesis” (remix)

(no Out of the Box this week)

SECOND HOUR
PL U2 – “Trip Through Your Wires”
PL Danse Positive – “Do It Like a Dog”
TOTW (blank)
PL David Van Tieghem – “Galaxy”
REC Ups & Downs – “Solitary Man”
PL Siouxsie & The Banshees – “This Wheel’s On Fire”
DC OMD – “Enola Gay” (request)
K The Smiths – “How Soon is Now”
PL REM – “Dream”
LS Ofra Haza – “Galbi”
PL Oingo Boingo – “Elevator Man”
PL Longshoremen – “Hot Rod”
DC The Long Ryders – “Lights of Downtown”
(REQ/K) Talk Talk – “It’s My Life” (request)
(PL) Room 9 – “Angels Sing”

THIRD HOUR
PL Redd Kross – “Janus, Jeannie & George Harrison”
REC XTC – “That’s Really Super, Supergirl”
PL The Fleshtones – “Mirror Mirror”
TOTW (blank)
DC The Soft Boys – “Wading Through a Ventilator”
PL Robyn Hitchcock – “Blues In A”
K The Ramones – “I Wanna Be Sedated”
PL The Damned – “In Deluce Decorum”
PL Shop Assistants – “All of the Time”
LS Splatcats – “Sunburn”
PL Throwing Muses – “Cry Baby Cry”
DC Television – “Ain’t That Nothing”
PL Webb Wilder – “Poolside”
(REQ/DC) Richard Thompson – “Valerie”
(PL) Mission UK – “Sacrilege”

2008-05-14T11:24:00.001-04:00

I've added A Pollard A Day to my blogroll. The blogger describes it thus: "A Pollard A Day is a project to review and comment on each and every Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices song in my collection."

Best of luck to him!

"She was always in a hurry, tryin' to pass, pedal to the metal as she gave it the gas. Rock & roll music playin' full blast..."

2008-05-14T08:52:00.002-04:00

WWSU Playlist
7 April 1987
Tuesday 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Dexy’s Midnight Runners – “Come On Eileen”
PL Webb Wilder – “How Long Can She Last (Goin’ that Fast)?”
TOTW (blank)
PL Julian Cope – “Trampoline”
DC The Vibrators – “Whips & Furs”
PL DOA – “Takin’ Care of Business”
PL Circle Confusion – “Survival”
REC Christian Death – “Believers in the Unpure”
PL Peace Corpse – “Identity – the American Commodity”
LS Wiseblood – “Stumbo”
K Fun Boy 3 – “Our Lips Are Sealed”
------Out of the Box----------
Meat Puppets – “Quit It” (from the LP Mirage)
Happy Mondays – “Tart Tart” (single)
Celibate Rifles – “Netherworld” (from LP Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

SECOND HOUR
PL Mission UK – “Wasteland”
PL Glass Eye – “Pender La Querra”
TOTW (blank)
PL Oingo Boingo – “Not My Slave”
REC Yello – “Goldrush”
PL The Squalls – “Elephant Radio”
DC The Jazz Butcher – “DRINK”
K The Jazz Butcher – “Partytime”
PL Shop Assistants – “Fixed Grin”
LS The Fall – “Hey Luciani”
PL Joy Division – “She’s Lost Control”
PL Spot 1019 – “Taste the Feel”
DC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Something’s Wrong”
(REQ/K) The Long Ryders – “Looking for Lewis & Clark”
(PL) Wire Train – “Take Me Back”

THIRD HOUR
PL The Godfathers – “Lonely Man”
REC XTC – “Earn Enough for Us” (request)
PL Dead Kennedys – “Take This Job & Shove It”
TOTW (blank)
DC Guided By Voices – “Let’s Ride”
PL The Creepers – “Baby’s On Fire”
K Fear – “More Beer”
PL Descendents – “Coolidge”
PL Agent Orange – “Shakin’ All Over”
LS The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”
PL Hunters & Collectors – “The Slab”
DC Stan Ridgway – “The Big Heat”
PL The Killjoys – “E For Existential”
(REQ/DC) Echo & the Bunnymen – “Seven Seas”
(PL) Robyn Hitchcock – “Vegetable Friend”

I’ve written at the bottom of this playsheet “This week’s fave rave: Glass Eye – Perder La Querra. Wow!” I liked it, but after 20 years I can’t even remember it.

"What do I get out of this? I always try, I always miss..."

2008-05-13T08:47:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
31 March 1987
Tuesday 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Nick Lowe – “I Knew the Bride”
PL Waxing Poetics – “Hermitage”
TOTW (crossed out) REM – “Shaking Through”
PL Fade to Gray – “Tim”
DC The 77’s – “Frames Without Photographs”
PL The New Christs – “Seen God”
PL Descendents – “Clean Sheets”
REC Jules Shear – “All Through the Night”
PL The Shop Assistants – “Train From Kansas City”
LS The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”
-------Out of the Box-----------
Coil – “Circles of Mania” (from the LP Horse Rotorvator)
Wiseblood – “The Fudge Punch” (from the LP Dirt Dish)
Front 242 – “Slaughter” (12” single)

SECOND HOUR
PL Killing Joke – “Sanity”
PL Cellophane Ceiling – “Happiness”
TOTW (crossed out) New Order – “Sub Culture”
PL Oingo Boingo – “Not My Slave”
REC Shriekback – “Black Light Trap”
PL Joy Division – “Exercise One”
DC Velvet Underground – “There She Goes Again”
K Lou Reed – “My Love is Chemical”
PL Misfits – “Altitude”
LS The Del Fuegos – “Long Slide For an Out”
PL For Against – “Get On With It”
PL Shonen Knife – “Summertime Blues”
DC The Smiths – “Shoplifters of the World Unite”
(REQ/K) Fleshtones – “BYOB”
(PL) The Creepers – “Baby’s On Fire”

THIRD HOUR
PL Flesh For Lulu – “I Go Crazy”
REC Pete Shelley – “On Your Own”
PL U2 – “Red Hill Mining Town”
TOTW (crossed out) Love & Rockets – “Haunted While the Minutes Drag”
DC Bauhaus – “Of Lilies & Remains”
PL Christianhound – “Beast or Beauty”
K The Members – “Working Girl”
PL Hunters & Collectors – “Carry Me”
PL Dead Kennedys – “Lie Detector”
LS XTC – “Extrovert”
PL Thin White Rope – “Moonhead”
DC Naked Prey – “Flesh on the Wall”
PL Wire – “Advantage in Height”

"Baby I fell from the sky yesterday..."

2008-05-13T08:09:00.001-04:00

WWSU Playlist
24 March 1987
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K X – “Burnin’ House of Love”
PL Robyn Hitchcock – “Trash”
TOTW (crossed out) Watermelon Men – “Back in my Diary”
PL Baby Astronauts – “I Hate This Song”
DC Iggy Pop – “Nightclubbing”
PL Caterwaul – “Diminutive Do Se Do”
PL Oingo Boingo – “We Close Our Eyes”
REC Ups & Downs – “Solitary Man”
PL Frank Tovey – “Collapsing New People”
LS Shadow of Fear – “In the Flesh” (7”)
K U2 – “Pride in the Name of Love”
PL Squirrel Bait – “Black Light Poster Child”
DC Jools Holland – “Bumble Boogie”
(PL) Soup Dragons – “Hang 10”

SECOND HOUR
PL Durango 95 – “First Dream in Color”
PL Shallow Reign – “Long Time Ago”
TOTW (crossed out) Soft Cell – “Hendrix Melody”
PL Psychedelic Furs – “Angels Don’t Cry”
REC This Mortal Coil – “Strength of Strings”
PL Uncle Bonsai – “Boys Want Sex in the Mornings”
DC The Stranglers – “Get a Grip on Yourself”
K REM – “Pretty Persuasion”
PL The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”
LS XTC – “Dear God”
PL Splatcats – “Sunburn”
PL Strange Games – “Metamorphosis”
DC Butthole Surfers – “Movin’ to Florida”

THIRD HOUR
PL Wire Train – “She’s Got You”
REC Zeitgeist – “Things Don’t Change”
PL Dreams So Real – “Golden”
TOTW (crossed out) Guadalcanal Diary – “Trail of Tears”
DC Marshall Crenshaw – “Shake Up Their Minds”
PL Dementia Precox – “Everything Is Fine”
K Romeo Void – “Never Say Never”
PL The The – “Infected”
PL Eton Crop – “Poverty Is Not Hip”
LS The Infidels – “Everywhere I Go”
PL DOA – “Takin’ Care of Business”
DC Insect Surfers – “Barricade Beach”
PL Pylon – “Stop It!”
(REQ/DC) Peter Himmelman – “Climb”
(PL) Big Dipper – “Wrong in the Charts”

I’ve made a note at the bottom of this playsheet: “I like The Infidels. Played the flip on accident - this is good stuff!” It appears the light single was supposed to be “I Can’t Make You Mine” by The Infidels, but I accidentally played the flip-side, “Everywhere I Go” instead. I wish I could remember this song.

At the top of the playsheet it says “Out of the Box on back -->”
Here’s what was played that week:
Washington Squares – “You Can’t Kill Me”
Ernest Anyway & the Mighty Squirrels – “Spirit In the Sky”
Webb Wilder – “Keep It On Your Mind”

"I can't give you up til I've got more than enough..."

2008-05-12T09:39:00.002-04:00

WWSU Playlist
10 March, 1987
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Sting – “Mack the Knife”
PL Skinny Puppy – “One Time One Place”
TOTW U2 – “With or Without You”
PL The The – “Infected”
DC Ellen Foley – “What’s a Matter Baby?”
PL Robyn Hitchcock – “Grooving on an Inner Plane”
PL Christianhound – “Queen of the Knight”
REC The Lucy Show – “Land & the Life”
*******OUT OF THE BOX*******
Rude Buddha – “The Ghost You Left Behind”
Big Dipper – “Loch Ness Monster”
Electric Peace – “Cranking into Oblivion”

SECOND HOUR
(basketball game)
THIRD HOUR
(basketball game)

Tuesdays were traditionally the day new record releases hit retail shelves, and it was also the day our music department received shipments of new albums. We took shipments from all the major labels, loads of independent labels, and plenty from middleman distributors like Thirsty Ear and Caroline. And because we subscribed and contributed to Rockpool and College Music Journal (CMJ, which at the time was industry-only) we got shipments of cool stuff from them too. Because we got so much new music in on Tuesdays the station introduced a new feature called “Out of the Box” to highlight a few and I was the lucky DJ who got to air them first.

The playsheet shows that I had a trainee with me during the first hour – although it doesn’t indicate who it was – and they helped run the boards for the basketball game, which took up the last two hours of my shift.

I'm guessing that I probably made my trainee do most of the boardwork during this shift because I always hated running the boards for games. Mainly I didn’t like doing it because I’d rather be playing music, but also because I had to keep on my toes listening for breaks, which came whenever the team called a time out or there was an injury, or any other thing that might briefly stop the game. Since the breaks weren’t set in stone like they were on the hot clock, I had to sit in the studio and wait. I couldn’t study or read because I couldn’t concentrate with one ear to the game, and because I couldn't leave the studio I felt imprisoned. Better to let the trainee be imprisoned whilst I dashed down the hall to the Rathskeller for a beer, or sat in the DJ lounge smoking with staff. Yes, we used to smoke not only inside the building, but inside the station! The only place smoking was prohibited was inside the studio.

Wright State University is also a dry campus these days - but when I was a student we had a great, dingy bar on campus and it was right down the hallway from the station. We could - and did - stagger back and forth between the two all the time. When I became Music Director in 1988 I used to joke that my office was inside The Rat.

"The name of this train is the Nothing Special..."

2008-05-12T09:09:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
24 February, 1987
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K The Members – “Working Girl”
PL the Membranes – “Murder of Sister George”
TOTW (crossed out) Design – “Not Even for a Minute”
PL Colin Newman – “Their Terrain”
DC Drop In the Gray – “All the Same”
PL Beastie Boys – “Girls”
PL Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ – “Stand Up & Fight For It”
REC Ghost Dance – “Radar Love”
PL Mission UK – “Wasteland”
LS Huxton Creepers – “I Will Persuade You” 12” remix
K Rockpile – “Teacher Teacher”
PL blank
DC blank
(PL) blank
(REQ/REC) blank

SECOND HOUR
PL Dementia Precox – “Just For a Little While”
PL Steven Brown – “Coming Back to Me”
TOTW Descendents – “Clean Sheets”
PL Camper Van Beethoven – “Interstellar Overdrive”
REC Laurie Anderson – “Sharkey’s Night”
PL Killing Joke – “Adorations”
DC Crowded House – “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
K David Bowie – “Absolute Beginners”
PL Husker Du – “You Can Have it Home”
LS Wiseblood – “Stumbo” 12” single
PL The Creepers – “Baby’s On Fire”
PL Firetown – “Places to Run”
DC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “The Hardest Walk” remix
(REQ/K) The Producers – “What’s He Got?”

THIRD HOUR
PL The Psychedelic Furs – “Midnight to Midnight”
REC Danielle Dax – “Where the Flies Are”
PL Christianhound – “Queen of the Knight”
TOTW (crossed out) The Boomtown Rats – “Up All Night”
DC Nina Hagen – “Universal Radio”
PL The Jazz Butcher – “Nothing Special”
K Swinging Eurodites – “Yesterday”
PL Julian Cope – “Non Alignment Pact”
PL Dead Kennedys – “Lie Detector”
LS Robyn Hitchcock – “Crawling”
PL Ruins – “White Rabbit”
DC Public Image Ltd. – “Careering”
PL Pylon – “Stop It”
(REQ) X-Teens – “Hostage of My Heart”
(PL) Los Lobos – “My Baby’s Gone”

During the third hour there are two other handwriting styles besides my own on the play sheet. I’m guessing that I had two trainees in the studio helping out.

"I feel a tug on the line, which end will I be on this time?"

2008-05-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

WWSU Playlist
17 February, 1987
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K INXS – “The One Thing” (extended remix)
PL Flesh For Lulu – “Spaceball Ricochet”
TOTW (crossed out) Mi-Sex – “Computer Games”
PL Dreams So Real – “History”
DC REM – “Gardening at Night” (Live in Paris)
PL Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ – “Scarlet Butterfly”
PL Wire – “A Serious of Snakes”
REC Icehouse – “We Can Get Together”
PL Soup Dragons – “Hang 10”
LS Bohemians – “By George”
K Echo & the Bunnymen – “Bring on the Dancing Horses”
PL El Grupo Sexo – “Sexoholic”
DC Jonathan Richman – “She Cracked”
(PL) The Creepers – “The Adventures of Brian Glider”
(REQ/REC) Love Tractor – “Cartoon Kiddies”

SECOND HOUR
PL The Janitors – “Thunderhead Johnny”
PL Big Black – “Jump the Climb”
TOTW (crossed out) Tones on Tail – “Slender Fungus”
PL Billy Bragg – “Greetings to the New Brunette”
REC Peter Murphy – “Final Solution”
PL Sheriff Jack – “I’m Not Listening”
DC Sex Pistols – “No Feelings” (live)
K Bronski Beat – “Hit That Perfect Beat”
PL The The – “Sweet Bird of Truth”
LS Rank & File – “Black Book”
PL The Mighty Lemon Drops – “Pass You By”
PL Skinny Puppy – “3 Blind Mice”
DC Dead Kennedys – “Jockorama”
(REQ/K) Elvis Costello – “Beyond Belief” (request)
(PL) The Godfathers – “I Want Everything”
(PL) Nervous Eaters – “Times They Are a Changin’”

THIRD HOUR
PL Psychedelic Furs – “Heartbreak Beat”
REC Oingo Boingo – “Not My Slave”
PL firehose – “Locked In”
TOTW (crossed out) Guadalcanal Diary – “Trail of Tears”
DC Stewart Copeland & Stan Ridgway – “Don’t Box Me In”
PL Squirrel Bait – “Kid Dynamite”
K The Cult – “Revolution” (request)
PL The Minutemen – “Jesus & Tequila”
PL Always August – “Freedom Flight”
LS The Huxton Creepers – “I Will Persuade You”
PL Sea Monster – “Sex God Chant”
DC Fun Boy Three – “Murder She Said”
PL Camper Van Beethoven – “We Saw Jerry’s Daughter”
(REQ/DC) Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill” (request)

"The secret heart is in command, in Lulu land..."

2008-05-08T09:46:00.002-04:00

WWSU Playlist
Tuesday 6-9 p.m., 10 February 1987

FIRST HOUR
K The Jam – “Batman Theme”
PL Julian Cope – “World Shut Your Mouth”
TOTW (crossed out) The Producers – “What’s He Got?”
PL The Rave-Ups – “These Wishes”
DC Kawata Band – “Ban Ban Ban”
PL 3’O’Clock – “Follow Him Around”
PL Live Skull – “Pusherman”
REC That Hope – “John’s Got the Goods”
PL Soul Asylum – “Closer to the Stars”
LS Kate Bush – “Experiment 4”
K Bronski Beat – “I Feel Love/Love to Love You Baby”
PL blank
DC blank
(PL) blank
(REQ/REC) blank

SECOND HOUR
PL Beastie Boys – “Girls”
PL Robyn Hitchcock – “Give Me a Spanner, Ralph”
TOTW (crossed out) The Modern Lovers – “Roadrunner”
PL The Jazz Butcher – “Nothing Special”
REC The Housemartins – “Happy Hour”
PL Roky Erikson – “I’ve Always Been Here Before”
DC Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – “Lost Weekend Remix”
K Sex Pistols – “Anarchy in the UK” (request)
PL Husker Du – “Charity, Chastity, Prudence & Hope”
LS Yello – “Goldrush”
PL Oingo Boingo – “Not My Slave”
PL Camper Van Beethoven – “Lulu Land”
DC Red Hot Chili Peppers – “True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes”
(REQ) The Raisins – “The Bends”
(PL) Royal Court of China – “The Lottery”

THIRD HOUR
PL The Creepers – “Baby’s On Fire”
REC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking”
PL Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – “Get Outta My Way”
TOTW (crossed out) Joe Strummer – “Dum Dum Club”
DC The Feelies – “Two Rooms”
PL The Stranglers – “Always the Sun” (request – I’ve written in the margin “I’m so sick of this song!!!”)
K The Cure – “10:15 Saturday Night”
PL Jules Shear – “All Through the Night”
PL The The – “Twilight of a Champion”
LS REM – “Toys in the Attic”
PL The Mr.T Experience – “Surfin’ Cows”
DC Tones on Tail – “There’s Only One”
PL XTC – “That’s Really Super, Supergirl”
(REQ) The Vapors – “Turning Japanese”
(PL) Drivin ‘n’ Cryin’ – “Scarred but Smarter”
(K) The Violent Femmes – “Blister in the Sun”

Kawata Band's "Ban Ban Ban" was another record I brought home from Japan.

"Whoops there goes another year, whoops there goes another pint of beer..."

2008-05-08T09:21:00.002-04:00

By the beginning of 1987 I had garnered a coveted evening shift, which is to say there was a little more freedom with the playlist than with the morning and afternoon shifts. Generally the station played the more accessible, listener-friendly stuff during the bulk of the day, relegating the “weirder” music to nights.

The playsheet had changed by this time and the “H” and “M” were dropped in favor of a general “PL” (play list). The numbered singles had also been chucked out in favor of “TOTW” (tracks of the week), which served the same purpose.

The playsheet lists the following abbreviations:
DC = DJ Choice/Non Hit
K = Known Cut/Hit
PL = Play List Cut
LS = Light Single
REC = Recurrent
TOTW = Tracks of the Week
REQ = Requests
( ) = Time Permitting Choice

Tuesday, 20 January, 1987
6-9 p.m.

FIRST HOUR
K Tommy Keene – “When the Whip Comes Down”
PL Beastie Boys – “Fight for Your Right”
TOTW Husker Du – “Could You Be the One”
PL Nervous Eaters – “Nazi Concentration Camp Blues”
DC New Order – “Blue Monday”
PL This Mortal Coil – “Alone”
PL The Jazz Butcher – “Nothing Special”
REC Love & Rockets – “All in My Mind”
PL Lyres – “Stormy”
LS Danielle Dax – “Where the Flies Are” 12” remix
K blank
PL blank
DC blank
(PL) blank
(REQ/REC) blank

SECOND HOUR
PL Shriekback – “Gunning for the Buddha”
PL Died Pretty – “Round & Round”
TOTW REM – “Toys in the Attic”
PL The Fall – “R.O.D.”
REC The Bolshoi – “A Way” (request)
PL The Stranglers – “Always the Sun” (request)
DC The Feelies – “High Road”
K Sex Pistols – “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone”
PL Dead Kennedys – “Chickenshit Conformist”
LS The Smiths – “Ask”
PL Billy Bragg – “Greetings From the New Brunette”
PL Julian Cope – “World Shut Your Mouth”
DC Joan Armatrading – “I Love it When You Call Me Names”
(REQ/K) The Cure – “The Walk”
(PL) Twice a Man – “Girl”

THIRD HOUR
PL Soup Dragons – “Hang Ten”
REC Echo & the Bunnymen – “Way Out and Up We Go”
PL Camper Van Beethoven – “We Saw Jerry’s Daughter”
TOTW China Crisis – “Another Sky”
DC Kino – “Night (I Love the Night)”
PL The Lucy Show – “Shame”
K The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Just Like Honey (1984 demo)”
PL Felt – “Rain of Crystal Spires”
PL Woolfing Cookies – “Girl Next Door”
LS Adult Net – “Waking Up for the Sun”
PL Concrete Blonde – “Yer Haunted Head”
DC Aquarium – “Ashes”
PL Thatcher on Acid – “Daddy”
(REQ/DC) Red Rockers – “China”
(DC) Robyn Hitchcock – “Eaten by her Own Dinner”
(REQ/K) The Blasters – “Bus Station”

"Love energy is giving us a shove, making this the summer of love..."

2008-05-07T09:11:00.003-04:00

Over the summer while I was in Japan the station got a new Music Director (Mike Taylor, who is now program director at WOXY) who made changes to the playsheet. For starters, the numbered cuts were replaced with the notation “TOTW,” which stands for Tracks of the Week. Other new editions to the list were (EX), (REQ) and ( ), which meant “time permitting, optional.” EX stands for “extra” but the list doesn’t make clear what “extra” means, so I’m guessing it was something of a free-for-all. REQ stands for “request” which is where we were to put any requests that callers had made during that hour. At the bottom of the playsheet it says this: “How ( ) works: These are cuts to be played when time permits at the end of a hour. These are NOT mandatory to play – only if you have time. Do not skip regular playlist slots to get to them…if time doesn’t permit, skip em. Always begin the hour with the first slot!”

The reworked play list was also split into hourly segments to make the station hot clock more cohesive. A hot clock is radio jargon for what is basically a pie chart of the programming hour. The chart is broken down into timed segments of music, commercials, news, etc.

I remember one of the projects that students taking COM130/Introduction to Radio had to do was sit and listen to a favorite radio station for an hour, writing down the exact times for everything from music to banter to news to commercials, then we were instructed to build a pie chart from it – effectively creating that station’s hot clock. Good times!

WWSU play list
25 September, 1986

FIRST HOUR
K The Vapors – “Turning Japanese”
PWR The Push Twangers – “Baby Don’t Go”
TOTW The B-52’s – “Summer of Love”
H Leaving Trains – “Vicki”
DC Hound Dog – “Fortissimo”
M Jet Black Berries – “Sweet Revenge”
PWR Three Johns – “Atona Drum Hop”
REC Husker Du – “Hardly Getting Over It”
H Peter Hammill – “Skin”
L Crankcall Love Affair – “Our Demons are Sleeping”
K Adam Ant – “Goody Two Shoes”
PWR The Ramones – “Brain is Hanging Upside Down”
DC Burning Sensations – “Pablo Picasso”
(EX) blank
(REQ/REC) blank

SECOND HOUR
H Smack – “Steppin’ Stone”
M Yo – “I Meant to Tell You”
TOTW The Dead Milkmen – “The Thing That Only Eats Hippies”
PWR Dogmatics – “Drinking by the Pool”
REC The Replacements – “Waitress in the Sky”
H The Nails – “The Things You Left Behind”
DC Devo – “Beautiful World”
K Love & Rockets – “Ball of Confusion”
PWR True Believers – “We’re Wrong”
L The Triffids – “Wide Open Road”
H Nick Cave – “Black Betty”
M Velvet Underground – “Coney Island Steeplechase”
DC REM – “Femme Fatale”
(REQ/K) Hoodoo Gurus – “Death Defying”
(EX) Dead Kennedys – “One Way Ticket to Pluto”
(EX) Crowded House – “World Where You Live”

THIRD HOUR
PWR Guadalcanal Diary – “Please Stop Me”
REC Modern English – “Melt With You”
H Descendents – “Wendy”
TOTW Stewart Copeland & Adam Ant – “Out of Bounds”
DC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Something’s Wrong”
PWR Beat Farmers – “Deceiver”
K Psychedelic Furs – “Pretty in Pink”
H 54-40 – “Baby Ran”
M Public Image Ltd. – “Anna Lisa”
L Midnight Oil – “Hercules”
PWR The Smiths – “Bigmouth Strikes Again”
DC Jon Anderson – “Cage of Freedom”
H The Woodentops – “Steady, Steady”
(EX) Kronos Quartet – “Purple Haze”
(REQ/M) Pete Shelley – “They’re Coming For You”

In my first hour I played an artist called Hound Dog, which was a Japanese band I’d been introduced over the summer. I came home with loads of Japanese pop music because when the Japanese students learned I was a DJ they began plying me with their favorite songs and artists. My host families also gave me tapes and records of traditional Japanese folk songs with kotos and shamisens.

"Gotta keep runnin' gotta be the best, gotta walk tall in the Wild West..."

2008-05-05T08:29:00.003-04:00

4 June 1986

K Blondie – “The Tide is High”
PWR Dumptruck – “Walk Into Mirrors”
#1 Beat Farmers – “Riverside”
H Helios Creed – “Showdown”
DC XTC – “Take This Town”
M Rapture of the Deep – “Watching the Fireworks”
PWR Peter Gabriel – “Don’t Give Up”
REC Stan Ridgway – “Can’t Stop the Show”
H Jonathan Richman – “It’s You”
L Pleasures Pale – “Lovely, Lovely”
K The Raisins – “19th Nervous Breakdown”
PWR Siouxsie & the Banshees – “Cannons”
DC REM – “Feeling Gravity’s Pull”
H Robert Wyatt – “Speechless”
M The Windbreakers – “I’ll Be Back”
#2 Pete Shelley – “On Your Own”
PWR Joe Jackson – “Wild West”
REC Violent Femmes – “I Held Her in My Arms”
H The Pogues – “Body of an American”
DC The Shoes – “Too Late”
K Split Enz – “History Never Repeats”
PWR Blow Monkeys – “Digging Your Scene”
L Bryan Ferry – “Is Your Love Strong Enough”
H The Pandoras – “I Didn’t Cry”
M Zulus – “Back to Sleep”
DC Bram Tchaikovsky – “Shall We Dance”
PWR Art of Noise – “Peter Gunn theme”
REC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Cut Dead”
H Joe Pop-o-Pie – “I Am the Walrus”
#3 Dancing Hoods – “Build a House”
DC The Smiths – “How Soon is Now”
PWR The Jazz Butcher – “D.R.I.N.K.”
K Talking Heads – “Life During Wartime”
H Jane Siberry – “One More Colour”
M Lou Reed – “Original Wrapper”
L Alex Chilton – “No Sex”
PWR The Neighborhoods – “WUSA”
DC The Ramones – “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”
H EIEIO – “White Lines, Blue Skies, Black Top”
REC The Reducers – “Let’s Go”
PWR BoDeans – “Fadeaway”
M Butthole Surfers – “Creep in the Cellar”
K The Alarm – “Walk Forever By My Side”

A few days after finishing this show, I hopped a plane to Japan as a Wright State University "Student Ambassador," which is a glorified name for an exchange student. There were 13 of us who left WSU for the summer to study language and culture at Okayama University of Science. Most of the summer semester was spent living in dorms at Okayama University, but there were also two homestays with Japanese families, each a week long. The Japanese are really big on gift-giving, and we were instructed to bring plenty of gifts for all family members as thank-yous for opening up their homes to us.

One of my host families had three sons, aged 13, 11 and 7. I gave the boys WWSU t-shirts, bumper stickers and the 7" EP the station had put out a few months prior (see photo at left). The EP had the above-mentioned Pleasures Pale "Lovely Lovely" on it, as well as That Hope doing "Spaceboys In Love" and Chain Link Fence doing a promo called "A Sound Alternative," which was our current station catchphrase. (Others included "The Ten Million Microwatt Voice of Wright State University" and "WWSU: Serving the Dayton, Fairborn and Beavercreek Metroplex.")

Anyway, the boys were crazy about the single and played it ALL THE TIME. I wasn't really that keen on the thing in the first place, and after a week of hearing it on repeat I HATED IT. Even after all these years I doubt I'd want to spin it again, even though I've a dozen of them stashed away in the basement. Who knows, I might give them away as door prizes at the reunion...

"If you want me, you can find me left of center, off of the strip..."

2008-05-02T09:32:00.002-04:00

21 May, 1986

K Bow Wow Wow – “I Want Candy”
PWR Camper Van Beethoven – “Sometimes”
#1 Big Country – “Look Away”
H The Bolshoi – “Happy Boy”
DC Wall of Voodoo – “Back in Flesh”
M Book of Love – “I Touch Roses”
PWR Art of Noise – “Paranomia”
REC Armoury Show – “Castles in Spain”
H Robert Wyatt – “The Age of Self”
L The Hit Squad – “Libyan Hit Squad”
K The Members – “Working Girl”
PWR Husker Du – “Hardly Getting Over It”
DC OMD – “Enola Gay”
H Get Smart – “Looking Out for #3”
M Suzanne Vega – “Left of Center”
#2 Pete Shelley – “On Your Own”
PWR Let’s Active – “In Little Ways”
REC The Smiths – “The Boy With the Thorn in his Side”
H Highwaymen – “Highwaymen”
DC Devo – “Uncontrollable Urge”
K Phil Seymour – “Precious To Me”
PWR The BoDeans – “Fadeaway”
L Bryan Ferry – “Is Your Love Strong Enough”
H Jonathan Richman – “Let’s Take a Trip”
M Swimming Pool Q's – “She’s Looking”
DC Oingo Boingo – “Heard Somebody Cry”
PWR Siouxsie & the Banshees – “Candyman”
REC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “The Hardest Walk”
H Richard Lloyd – “Losin’ Anna”
#3 Alex Chilton – “No Sex”
DC Fleshtones – “Shadowline”
PWR The Pandoras – “Stop Pretending”
K INXS – “Listen Like Thieves – live version”
H The Pogues – “London Girl”
M The Style Council – “My Ever Changing Mood”
L The Alarm – “Majority”
PWR Neighborhoods – “Yeah You”
DC Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Puppet”
H Fuzztones – “Cinderella”
REC APB – “Shoot You Down”
PWR Joe Jackson – “It’s a Big World”
M Kommunity FK – “Something Inside Me Has Died”
K Roman Holiday – “Stand By”
PWR The Jazz Butcher – “The Jazz Butcher vs The Prime Minister”
#4 Belinda Carlisle – “Mad About You”

By this time I think I was really starting to hate the Swimming Pool Q's. I know that the album was played so much at the station that I started to feel ill whenever I saw the album cover. Enough time has passed, however, that I think I'd enjoy hearing it again, even if I do still think the sleeve is a bit creepy.

"These rivers of suggestion are driving me away..."

2008-05-02T08:58:00.001-04:00

14 May, 1986

K Beastie Boys – “Fight For Your Right”
PWR The Pandoras – “Stop Pretending”
#1 Big Country – “Look Away”
H The Windbreakers – “I’ll Be Back”
DC Marshall Crenshaw – “Right Now”
M EIEIO – “Hello Heartache”
PWR Depeche Mode – “It Doesn’t Matter Two”
REC The Smiths – “The Boy w/ The Thorn in his Side”
H Roky Erikson – “Don’t Slander Me”
L Cactus World News – “Years Later”
K OMD – “So In Love”
PWR Art of Noise – “Peter Gunn Theme”
DC Rank & File – “Amanda Ruth”
H Richard Lloyd – “Watch Yourself”
M Swimming Pool Q's – “Now I’m Talking ‘bout Now”
#2 That Hope – “Spaceboys In Love”
PWR Elvis Costello – “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”
REC Lou Reed – “My Love is Chemical”
H The Pogues – “London Girl”
DC The Cars – “The Dangerous Type”
K Falco – “Der Kommisar”
PWR Let’s Active – “Last Chance Town”
L Lords of the New Church – “Like a Virgin”
H Great Plains – “Dick Clark”
M Brian Setzer – “Radiation Ranch”
DC The Shoes – “Double Talk”
PWR The Cramps – “Chicken”
REC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Cut Dead”
H Soul Asylum – “Never Really Been”
#3 Alex Chilton – “No Sex”
DC The Ramones – “Rock & Roll High School”
PWR Husker Du – “Sorry Somehow”
K Jim Carroll – “People Who Died”
H Death of Samantha – “Bed of Fire”
M Translator – “Stony Gates of Time”
L Zeit Geist – “Atlantic City”
PWR The BoDeans – “Angels”
DC Violent Femmes – “Please Do Not Go”
H Highwaymen – “Burndown”
REC The Armoury Show – “Castles in Spain”
PWR Dumptruck – “Alone”
M Book of Love – “Boy”
K REM – “So. Central Rain”
PWR Pet Shop Boys – “Two Divided by Zero”
H Get Smart – “See Who’s Laughing”
DC The Psychedelic Furs – “Dumb Waiters”
M Cocteau Twins – “Great Spangled Fritillary”

"I am a DJ, I am what I play..."

2008-05-01T08:21:00.014-04:00

This is Brian, a DJ-in-training at the station. Trainees had to take a course called (I think) COM130 before they could begin working at the station. COM130/Introduction to Radio was a communicaton class that was needed to earn a radio license. The latter part of the quarter included hands-on experience in the air studio. Trainees had to sit in with the "regular" jocks to learn how to work the boards. Brian, the poor bugger, had to sit in on my shifts - it's a wonder he learned anything at all with me as a mentor.

Three WWSU DJ's - Don, Kevin (seated) and Gary - in the "lounge." Lounge is a bit of a grand word really for what was actually just the front corner of the record library - consisting of a couple of desks, chairs, a typewriter, a couple of file cabinets and one smelly old moth-eaten sofa.
Don is Don Thrasher, the guy who turned me onto GBV. Not only did he introduce me to the band, but ended up a member in one of GBV's later incarnations. He's a contributing writer for the Dayton Daily News these days.

(As an aside and to add perspective, the earlier photo of some DJs in the record library with a case of beer was taken standing on the top of the desk Kevin is sitting at to type up the station newsletter.)

"I'm standing in the middle of life with my plans behind me..."

2008-05-01T08:05:00.004-04:00

7 May, 1986

K U2 – “Gloria”
PWR Art of Noise – Camilla
#1 (blank)
H Soul Asylum – “Never Really Been”
DC Joan Armatrading – “I Love it When You Call me Names”
M Translator – “Stony Gates of Time”
PWR Siouxsie & the Banshees – “Cannons”
REC Robyn Hitchcock – “I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl”
H The Pogues – “Body of an American”
L Lords of the New Church – “Like a Virgin”
K Dead Milkmen – “Bitchin’ Camaro”
PWR Elvis Costello – “Eisenhower Blues”
DC INXS – “Dancing on the Jetty”
H The Bolshoi – Fly
M Lou Reed – “No Money Down”
#2 (blank)
PWR Depeche Mode – “Sometimes”
REC Simple Minds – “Kick Inside of Me”
H Violent Femmes – “Breakin’ Hearts”
DC Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – “Cut Me Down”
K Talking Heads – “Stay Up Late”
PWR Camper Van Beethoven – “Don’t You Go to Goleta”
L Zeit Geist – “Atlantic City”
H The Highwaymen – “The Highwaymen”
M EIEIO – “Go West Young Man”
DC Nomen Klature - ?
PWR The Smiths – “Please Please Please”
REC The Jesus & Mary Chain – “The Hardest Walk”
H Tommy Keene – “In Our Lives”
DC The Shoes – “Summer Rain”
PWR The Pandoras – “Stop Pretending”
K The Raisins – “Fear is Never Boring”
H Latin Quarter – “America for Beginners”
M Book of Love – “Boy”
L The Libertines – “Voices From the Past”
PWR Let’s Active – “Writing the Book of Last Pages”
DC The Ramones – “I Wanna Be Sedated”
H Stan Ridgway – “Can’t Stop the Show”
REC Dead Kennedys – “MTV Get Off the Air”
PWR The BoDeans – “Angels”
M Swimming Pool Q's – “She’s Looking”
K The Pretenders – “Middle of the Road”
PWR Pet Shop Boys – “Why Don’t We Live Together?”
#1 (blank)
H Richard Lloyd – “Back Track”
DC Strawberry Switchblade – “Let Her Go”
M Green on Red – “No Free Lunch”
PWR The Neighborhoods – “Real Stories”
REC Cocteau Twins – “Aikea-Guinea”

I managed to fit in quite a few songs during this three-hour shift. It seems we didn't have any big singles to push this week, so they were skipped over on the playsheet.

"I don't wanna work, I want to bang on the drum all day..."

2008-04-30T07:14:00.001-04:00

4/30/1986

K Todd Rundgren – “Bang the Drum All Day”
PWR Camper Van Beethoven – “Down & Out”
#1 The Alarm – “Reason 36”
H Tommy Keene – “Places That Are Gone”
DC Marshall Crenshaw – “Right Now
M Brian Setzer – Blvd of Broken Dreams
PWR The Cramps – “What’s Inside a Girl?”
REC Armoury Show – Castles in Spain
H Latin Quarter – “Modern Times”
L Zeitgeist – “Atlantic City”
K Modern English – “Melt With You”
PWR The BoDeans – “Fadeaway”
DC INXS – “Burn For You”
H Get Smart – “Room with a View”
M Lou Reed – “No Money Down”
#2 Jane Siberry – “One More Colour”
PWR Let’s Active – “Fell”
REC Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – “Lost Weekend”
H The Pogues – “London Girl”
DC Dead Milkmen – “Bitchin’ Camaro”
K Sting – “Fortress Around Your Heart”
PWR Suzanne Vega – “Left of Center”
L The Cure – “Man Inside My Mouth”
H Death of Samantha – “Grapeland”
M Laurie Anderson – “Late Show”
DC Pleasure’s Pale – “Lovely, Lovely”
PWR Pet Shop Boys – “Two Divided by Zero”
REC Fine Young Cannibals – “Suspicious Minds”
H The Highwaymen – “Burn Down”
#3 Cactus World News – “Years Later”
DC Shriekback – “Nemesis”
PWR Joe Jackson – “Survival”
K The Raisins – “Fear Is Never Boring”
H Stan Ridgway – “The Big Heat”
M The Bolshoi – “Happy Boy”
L Falco – “Vienna Calling”
PWR Depeche Mode – “It Doesn’t Matter Two”
DC Alison Moyet – “Invisible”
H Eubie Hayue – “Bad Imitation”
REC Underachievers – “You’re Not for Me”
PWR Elvis Costello – “Lovable”
M Swimming Pool Q's – “Now I’m Talking ‘Bout Now”
K REM – “Pretty Persuasion”
PWR Dumptruck – “Ethics”

"You're a hard act to follow, a hard act to follow..."

2008-04-30T06:46:00.002-04:00

I only did the first hour of this show, which aired Wednesday at 6 a.m. I had an early morning aerobic class M-W-F, so I’m assuming I agreed to do someone’s first hour so that they could sleep in or something. I’ve added the labeling for each cut; hopefully it will make sense to non-radio folk.

2 April 1986

K Nick Lowe – “I Knew the Bride”
PWR 9353 – “Born to be Wild”
#1 Blow Monkeys – “Diggin’ Your Scene”
H Death of Samantha – “Coca-Cola & Licorice”
DC Split Enz – “Hard Act to Follow”
M Swimming Pool Q's – “Now I’m Talking ‘Bout Now”
PWR Moev – “Alibis”
REC Cocteau Twins – “Pearly Dewdrops Drop”
H The Church – “Tantalized”
L Peter Murphy – “Final Solution”
K Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD) – “If You Leave”
PWR Minutemen – “No One”
DC Fear – “More Beer”
H Kommunity FK – “Something Inside Me Has Died”

I’m amused that one of my DJ choices this hour was Fear’s “More Beer,” which followed The Minutemen. I was either trying to wake myself up, or wake up the entire campus.

"I hear the talking of the DJ, can't understand, just what does he say?"

2008-04-29T08:29:00.003-04:00

WWSU playlist 3/27/1986

Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio"
Moev - "Alabis"
Blow Monkeys - "Diggin' Your Scene"
Crazy 85 - "Nervous in Suburbia
The Shoes - "Bound to be a Reason"
The Reducers - "Let's Go"
MicroDisney - "Birthday Girl"
Circle Jerks - "American Heavy Metal Weekend"
Soul Asylum - "Never Really Been"
Blue In Heaven - "I Just Wanna"
The Plimsouls - "A Million Miles Away"
Elvis Costello - "Our Little Angel"
Robyn Hitchcock - "Strawberry Mind"
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - "Lost Weekend"
Naked Prey - "Rawhead"
Sigue Sigue Sputnik - "Love Missle F1-11"
Let's Active - "Last Chance Town"
APB - "Shoot You Down"
John Cale - "When the Dogs Bark"
Dream Academy - "Bound to Be"
Nick Lowe - "I Knew the Bride"
9353 - "Americana Schizo"
Peter Murphy - "Final Solution"
Death of Samantha - "Coca-Cola & Licorice"
Swimming Pool Q's - "Now I'm Talking 'bout Now"
Sex Pistols - "Problems"
Husker Du - "No Promise Have I Made"
Tex & the Horseheads - "Tumbleweed"
The Underachievers - "I'm So Tall"
The Cure - "Man Inside My Mouth"
The March Violets - "Snake Dance"
Tommy Keene - "Places That Are Gone"
Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized"
Kommunity FK - "The Vision & The Voice"
Icicle Works - "Perambulation"
David Bowie - "Absolute Beginners"
Public Image Ltd. - "FFF"
The Alarm - "Spirit of '76"
The Jesus & Mary Chain - "Sowing Seeds"
Cocteau Twins - "Pearly Dewdrops Drop"
Fine Young Cannibals - "Suspicious Minds"

"I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial, doing anything my radio advised..."

2008-04-29T06:57:00.005-04:00

I found a bunch of my old WWSU playlists. Here's one from 3/20/1986.

Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio"
Let's Active - "Fell"
Blow Monkeys - "Diggin' Your Scene"
Stan Ridgway - "Camouflage"
Dead Kennedys - "Halloween"
Flesh For Lulu - "Baby Hurricane"
Echo & the Bunnymen - "Bring on the Dancing Horses"
Golden Palominos - "The Animal Speaks"
Exploding White Mice - "Let the Kids Dance"
Beastie Boys - "She's On It"
Dead Milkmen - "Bitchin' Camaro"
Public Image Ltd. - "FFF"
The Smiths - "How Soon is Now"
Ruefrex - "Flowers for All Occasions"
Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel - "Decendent into the Inferno"
Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities"
The Bangles - "If She Knew What She Wants"
Colour Field - "Pushing Up Daisies"
Mr. Bonus - "Elvis What Happened?"
Dementia Precox - "Teenage TV Jesus"
The March Violets - "Snake Dance"
MicroDisney - "Horse Overboard"
Bryan Ferry - "Is Your Love Strong Enough"
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - "Lost Weekend"
Del Lords - "True Love"
Circle Jerks - "When the Shit Hits the Fan"
Husker Du - "Sorry Somehow"
Hoodoo Gurus - "Like Wow, Wipeout"
Falco - "Rock Me Amadaeus"
A Flock of Seagulls - "Heartbeat Like a Drum"
Nina Hagan - "Prima Nina in Ecstasy"
Fine Young Cannibals - "Johnny Come Home"
REM - "Feeling Gravity's Pull"
The Cult - "Rain"
Erasure - "Who Needs Love Like That?"
Butthole Surfers - "Movin' to Florida"
The Cramps - "How Far Can Too Far Go?"
Split Enz - "History Never Repeats"
APB - "Shoot You Down"

"Hang the DJ, hang the DJ..."

2008-04-26T07:29:00.009-04:00

I will try to post all of the playlists I have on hand. I haven't yet located any from 1985, and all of 1988 seem to be missing as well. Still, the ones I do have are a nice little glimpse at the golden years of College Radio.

From playlist to playlist there will be songs and artists repeated - these were the songs/artists that were in current rotation at the time. Albums in current rotation were labeled as "Light," "Moderate," "Heavy," "Recurrent," "Current Single" and "Power."

1. Light, Moderate, Heavy and Power are pretty self-explanatory. These were albums in light rotation (played a few times a week), Moderate rotation (played every other day) and Heavy rotation (played nearly every day). Power cuts were played every day.

2. Current Singles were those being heavily promoted at that time - usually they were pre-released songs from upcoming albums. These were played once every four or five hours.

3. Recurrent cuts were songs that had been in rotation (usually in heavy or power rotation) previously but had been removed when new stuff was added to the rotation. Recurrents were played every so often.

4. The rest of the shift was made up of "DC's," and "K's." These were songs not in current rotation but filed away in the record library.
* "DC's" were known as "DJ Choice Non-hits." The DJ could choose any track on any album, as long as it wasn't considered a "Known Cut."
* "K's" were "Known Cuts." These were popular songs that could have been considered "hits" if there had been such a thing back then for the type of music we were playing. Remember, back then college radio was one of the few outlets for this type of music, which was usually termed "college rock" or "modern rock." Most of the time known cuts were those played on USA's Night Flight or MTV's 120 Minutes. Of course our neck of the woods was also graced by 97X (WOXY) out of Oxford, Ohio, one of the few commercial stations playing "college/modern rock," so we had them to gauge "hits" by as well, although their signal wasn't strong enough to reach all the way to Wright State.

Each DJ followed a pre-printed playsheet consisting of the above labels. Each album in current rotation had a large rectangular sticker in the upper left-hand corner; each sticker was hand-labelled as L, M, H, REC, # or PWR. The station's Music Director chose the rotation, as well as the order in which the albums would be played.

The playsheet dictated which type of cut should be played. When the form said "M," for example, the DJ went to the album crate marked "Medium" and pulled the front album. Usually there were several tracks on each album that the DJ could choose from. The track to be played would be written down on the playsheet, and after the album had been played it was placed in the back of the crate, so that it would not be played again until such time as it landed in the front of the crate again.

Clear as mud?

"Time for one more vodka & lime to help paralyze that tiny little tick, tick, tick..."

2008-04-23T08:48:00.007-04:00

I’ve been neglecting this blog for awhile but it isn’t for lack of wanting to keep it updated. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things after the radio station ‘80’s reunion at the end of next month. I’m on the planning committee and with only a month to go everything is kicking into high gear. I’m hearing from friends I haven’t heard from in AGES, so much of my time is spent shooting emails back and forth, catching up on each others lives since graduation. CD mixes are being made, incriminating photos are being unearthed, and we are all readying ourselves for the bash of the decade. I can hardly wait to see everyone again – it’s been too long.

The awesome record library from the 80's, which was sold off in the early 1990's in order to purchase CDs for the station when it was remodeled. Thankfully I wasn't there to see my babies sold off, but at the same time tragically never got a chance to buy any of those rare, independent and/or self-released albums from bands now lost to the mists of time.
Mucking about in the station's record library. The ladder wasn't used for getting LPs down from the top shelves, but to gain access to the office of our rivals next door - the campus newspaper. We'd push the ceiling tiles aside and climb over the wall into their offices for friendly hi-jinx. Beer was usually involved.

"Oftentimes I'm reminded of the sweet young days..."

2008-04-08T09:10:00.002-04:00

Graham Lineham has written a lovely little fanpiece about Dayton's Guided by Voices.

I fell in love with GbV early in their career after seeing them live at Canal Street Tavern just after the release of their first album, "Forever Since Breakfast." I probably wouldn't have even gone to the show had it not been for my friend and fellow DJ Don Thrasher, who insisted I go because he knew I'd love them.

And I did. I bought the album from Bob after the show, kicking off a seriously wallet-depleting habit that continues to this day. Thanks a lot, Don. ;)

And I continue to love them, and love everything that Bob Pollard touches, because he's brilliant.

"A little nudge of your nose, and your sandpaper licks..."

2008-03-13T08:56:00.003-04:00

I love Simon Tofield's cat cartoons.

"If I could be a camera..."

2008-02-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

I've added the fun and amusing Faces In Places blog to my blogroll.

It makes me laugh almost as much as Cheezburger.

"Someday soon I'll make him mine, then I'll have candy all the time..."

2008-01-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

I like to believe that I, as a reasoned, mature individual, am immune to advertising. I like to think that there is a plexiglass shell encasing my body which TV commercials can’t penetrate. My protective little bubble deflects banal and inane marketing ploys like a dodge ball bouncing off a nerd. Hell, I don’t even see much advertising these days, thanks to that little electronic lover known as the DVR.

So I’m feeling a little duped right now. Well, maybe “dupe” isn’t quite the right word. How about deceived? Tricked? Hoodwinked? Ah now, hoodwink is a great word, but not exactly befitting my circumstances.

You know the old saying, “A sucker is born every minute”? Well today must be my birthday, because I got suckered into buying something I didn’t need, thanks to seductive advertising.

Now I know what you are thinking and no, I didn’t race out and buy a can of Pedigree dog food, although David Duchovny’s disembodied voice hinted that it was a good idea, and Justin Long hasn’t convinced me to buy a Mac (yet), even though he is hella sexier than poor, stodgy PC touting John Hodgman.

No, I got suckered into – of all things – a candy bar. Let me rephrase that: I got suckered into the IDEA of a candy bar. Specifically the new 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate. Oh yes. I happened to be surfing away in the lounge while keeping one eye on Mmm Mmm Good Joel McHale on The Soup, when my husband decided to wander into the kitchen, leaving the remote out of my reach. Not that I can figure the damned thing out anyway – especially since he went and got an “All-In-One” remote that stores the functions of five remotes in one handy dandy little package. I was just starting to get the hang of the five remotes that this one replaced; now I’m back to square one, frantically pushing buttons that do everything but the stuff I want it to do, such as pause the picture or lower the sound. I’m pretty sure that I’ve rang the neighbor’s wireless doorbell with it a few times, and rumor has it that the remote is a suspect in an ongoing investigation involving flight interference at the airport.

So if I’d have been able to work the remote, I might have been able to fast forward through the commercial, but I couldn’t, so I didn’t, and by the end of the ad I was already daydreaming about biting into fluffy, minty goodness.

In my mind, the 3 Musketeers Mint bar was going to taste just like the Nestle UK Aero bar, only fluffier. It was going to have the fluffy whipped center of a 3 Musketeer, but the mint-chocolaty goodness of the Aero. I could almost taste it.

And today I finally did.

It ain’t all that. In fact, it tastes suspiciously like a bar-shaped York Peppermint Patty.

Not that that’s bad, mind.

"You're in the movies now and I'm in your cartoons..."

2008-01-18T06:40:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the anticipation of Saturday Morning Cartoons was more than my little brother and I could bear. We’d be up before dawn, ensconced a mere six inches from the massive wooden console TV, the snowy white fuzz of an off-the-air station flickering softly in the dark living room. Just before 6 a.m. the three network stations crackled to life with a vibrant test pattern, which morphed into the morning sign-on of a waving flag and arousing version of the National Anthem, followed by commentary from a man in a suit sitting at a desk. His appearance signaled a mad scramble to the kitchen to scarf down a quick bowl of Franken Berry and glass of Tang (the drink of astronauts!) before the fun began.

And what fun it was! We absorbed animated versions of The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds, surreal live action shows from Syd & Marty Krofft’s bizarre world of Lidsville, HR Pufnstuf and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters; motorhead cartoons like Wheelie & the Chopper Bunch and Speed Buggy; and tons of “spooky” shows including The Groovy Ghoulies, Scooby Doo Where Are You?, The Funky Phantom, Goober and the Ghost Chasers and The Addams Family. We got our first glimpses of different cultures with The Amazing Chan & the Chan Clan, Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids, and Johnny Quest, and even endured space-age versions of Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space and The Partridge Family in 2200 A.D.

Of everything we watched on Saturday mornings, however, my favorite was Bugs Bunny. I couldn’t get enough of the wise-cracking rabbit and his motley band of antagonists. Even with the daily dose we got weekdays after school we’d still eschew other Saturday morning cartoons in favor of Bugs & Co.

1. The Rabbit of Seville

As difficult as it was to choose favorite Warner Brothers/Merry Melody cartoons, I narrowed it down to two: both, incidentally, directed by Chuck Jones. The first is The Rabbit of Seville - a break-neck operatic production of the classic hunter vs. hunted set to the music of Rossini’s overture to “The Barber of Seville.” The story begins with bumbling hunter Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs into an opera house, where he is tricked by the rabbit into going onstage. Over the ensuing 6 minutes the pair race through a series of barbershop gags, mostly entailing Bugs giving Elmer brutal shaves and haircuts. It made me laugh as a child of six, and it still makes me laugh thirty some odd years later. The Rabbit of Seville was one of several WB cartoons that introduced me to classical and operatic music, for which I am forever grateful.

2. Feed the Kitty

Many may not be aware of this tender gem, which doesn’t include any of the famous WB clan. “Feed the Kitty” is a simple twist on the ole dog/cat cartoon rivalry: a gruff bulldog named Marc Anthony unexpectedly falls for a fluffy little black and white kitten named Pussyfoot. It’s a simple enough concept, and there is gentle humor in the bulldog’s clumsy attempts to keep the kitten a secret from his owner - pretending the kitten is a wind-up toy, a powder puff and a doll in a toy car - but it is the range of emotion shown by the bulldog that proves what a stunning animator Jones was: he brought the dog to life in such a way that the viewer knows exactly what the dog is feeling, and those feelings reverberate to the viewer, tugging at the heartstrings like no other cartoon can. It is one of the most sublime bits of animation I have ever seen, and I absolutely love it.

3. Schoolhouse Rocks

American kids watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in the 1970’s weren’t just bombarded with commercials for Funny Face Fruit Drink and Evil Knievel action figures, we were also treated to fun, educational cartoons that taught us grammar, math, science, history, and politics in song form.We learned our times tables (“Three is a Magic Number”), how bills are passed into law (“I’m Just a Bill”), that “A Noun is A Person, Place orThing,” how our solar system works (“Interplanet Janet”) and the Preambleto the Constitution. I can distinctly remember my third grade class having to recite The Preamble, and the stunned look on the teacher’s face when we all began singing it instead. After thirty years the fashions and terminology are somewhat dated - kids today probably have little idea what a “record machine” is, for example - but the cartoons and songs are still relevant educational tools that make learning fun.

4. The Beatles - Yellow Submarine

Not every cartoon I watched as a youngster was shown on Saturday mornings, however. The first time I ever saw Yellow Submarine it was shown during prime time on one of the big three networks; in 1971 we only had three networks and channels, unless you counted PBS, which kids generally didn’t. I remember watching it with my older sister and being struck by how different it seemed than the cartoons I was used to. Parts of it didn’t seem like a cartoon at all, appearing more to be cut’n’ paste photos that had been hand-tinted in deliberately bold, strange colors. The feature length cartoon tells the story of how a music-loving paradise called Pepperland falls prey to the music-hating Blue Meanies, and how one escapee in a yellow submarine seeks help and finds The Beatles. The band agrees to help battle the Blue Meanies and travels back to Pepperland via a series of alternate universes. It amazed and scared me at the same time; I loved The Beatles and the whole idea that their music could triumph over evil, but the images in the Sea of Monsters section of the movie frightened me, as did the blue glove that chased and crushed fleeing Pepperland residents. This was the cartoon that expanded the limits of my already overactive imagination.

5. Ren & Stimpy “Space Madness”

Although I never outgrew my love of cartoons, I despised the politically-correct movement of the 1980’s which heavily edited out anything considered taboo, violent or bad for children. I was appalled and shocked at how lame these edited monstrosities were, and how the cartoons of my childhood had been ruined. Which is why, in the early 1990’s, I was completely wowed when I tuned in to watch The Ren & Stimpy Show and got a heady dose of violence, taboo and crazy situations, all in one episode. It was obvious that creator John Kricfalusi had soaked up every Tex Avery directed cartoon ever made. Of all the early Ren & Stimpy episodes, none pay homage to Avery quite like Space Madness, which combines the geekiness of Star Trek with an unparalleled, over-the-top anxiety born of being cooped up with your crew mates too long. It’s got all the hallmark Avery touches -extreme close-ups, oversized facial features, neurotic tics, riotous moodswings, hysterically funny - and like all the best of the golden age cartoons, it doesn’t dumb down while it’s cracking you up.

"It's the little things we do..."

2008-01-14T06:33:00.000-05:00

Another quirk we endured at The Record Store was The Things List. The Sav claimed it was his inherent right to make lists because he was a Virgo, which simply confirmed his ensconcement within the Me Decade’s post-hippie mysticism of horoscopes, garish satin shirts, creepy porn mustaches and white powder-fueled paranoia.

He certainly managed to get his zodiac on every morning writing out the daily Things List for us to follow, putting our initials in a tiny circle next to the chore he wanted us to do. He drew a line next to each “thing,” on which we had to sign upon completion. If by some chance we had indeed done the chore but had failed to sign the line next to the chore, The Sav treated it as an uncompleted chore, and you’d hear about it the next day.

Not that The Sav EVER confronted us to our face. He was too passive-aggressive for that! Instead, he’d scribble a scolding little diatribe on the Things List which we’d all have to initial - to prove that we’d read and understood. It was very bizarre.

Some of the items on the Things List were logical, like straightening the racks, refolding the T-shirts tidily, cleaning the glass showcases and running routine stock checks. Other items were frankly puzzling, especially those that went into great detail on how we needed to accomplish the goal. In particular, he always specified that we were to “use free newspapers to clean showcases & door,” which I suppose is understandable, and perhaps even environmentally commendable, since the shop had racks of alternative newspapers that no one seemed to ever pick up. But then there were gems like “with scotch tape, pick up bits from back of showcases” which just cracked us up.

The Sav was a maniacal penny-pincher and wouldn’t buy paper towels for cleaning the showcases or for stocking the dispenser in the office toilet – apparently the rarely laundered moldy green hand towel was ample - yet he’d instruct us to waste an entire roll of scotch tape pulling up bits of dust and fluff basking in the florescent lights inside the jewelry showcases. It didn’t make sense, and no amount of working the term “mini hand-held vacuum” into conversations made a difference. He could have saved hundreds of dollars per year in scotch tape fees by investing twenty dollars in a mini-vac, but it would have also meant saving the staff some time and effort – picking up bits took a mighty long time, after all – and he couldn’t fathom the idea of us standing around, doing nothing, although nothing is a relative term, because his “nothing” was our elaborate cut’n’paste sessions, overly complicated hacky-sack games, smoke breaks, and general piss-taking and one-upmanship with other local music nerds. Plus it cut into our magazine reading time. Oh, the horror.

Oftentimes he’d try to be sneaky when adding certain items on the Things List, thinking that he could trip us up for not doing what he expected of us. For instance, he’d specify that Reynolds was to go through and re-alphabetize the CDs from A-G, which actually meant “I’ve hidden a stray CD somewhere that needs to be returned to its rightful spot.” Now I’m not saying that things didn’t get mixed up in the racking, because they most certainly did, especially on Saturday nights. But unlike our customers, who hid things they wanted to buy in the hopes that it’d still be there when they got paid, The Sav never wanted to hide anything he thought we might be able to sell. Nine times out of ten we’d find a dusty Nana Mouskouri hiding out somewhere in the racks, usually around Deicide. We can only imagine how relieved she must have been to be rescued and returned to Easy Listening.

Another sneaky Things List nugget was dusting the CD spinners. The store used to sell a multitude of storage units, including four-sided, spinning black CD towers made of wood or (less often) plastic. Because he regularly burned incense right next to them, the towers seemed to be coated with a permanent layer of grime, hence the need for a good scrub every other day. This was habitually one of my duties, since The Sav was sexist enough to deign cleaning a woman’s job - which was fine by me since that meant we girls never had to take out the trash or empty the vile waste barrel outside the front door – and I quickly cottoned onto the fact that hidden somewhere on those dusty spinning shelves would be a small “X” for me to wipe away, proof that the spinners had been cleaned. I never had the balls to go through with it, but I used to fantasize about dusting off the shelf with the “X” but leaving all the others untouched, just to see if it would be noticed.

We could always tell when something we’d done – or more often failed to do – would fire up The Sav, as the number of misspelled or completely omitted words on the Things List would increase tenfold, as did the overabundance of words in all capitals and an exuberant use of exclamation marks. Like the time TC forgot to collapse and recycle the cardboard boxes The Sav had tossed into the back hallway after a stock shipment had been unpacked. The criticism went something like this: “SINCE SOME ONE NOT BRAKE DOWN CARBORD BOX THE BACK HALWAY YESTER AS INTRUCTED, IF FIRE MARSHAL VISIT & SEE BLOCK EXIT WED BE FINE AND FIND WOULD COME OUT YOU’RE PAY CHECK!!!!!” And of course there would be a tiny TC with a circle around it, and a line next to it for TC to sign and admit he’d neglected an important duty.

These diatribes never made us feel hurt or ashamed—which I suspect was the intention— because we were too busy being amused by them. We took great pleasure in fishing a discarded Things List from the waste bin and taking a red pen to it; sometimes correcting the mistakes, sometimes diagramming the sentences to demonstrate the pitiable subject and verb agreement. It wasn’t that he was an uneducated man – he could be quite brilliant at times – but when agitated he morphed into an English teacher’s worst nightmare. Looking back on it now, I suspect that perhaps We were HIS worst nightmare, which makes him all the more commendable for keeping us on the payroll for as long as he did. We couldn’t have been good for his blood pressure.

More books...

2007-12-30T19:06:00.000-05:00

A few more books to round out 2007:

56. The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
57. My Appalachia by Sidney Saylor Farr
58. Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with Artists and Outlaws in New York's Rebel Mecca by Ed Hamilton
59. The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

"You think she's an open book, but you don't know what page to turn to, do you?"

2007-11-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

I met my goal of reading 50 books a year last month. Here are the books I've read since then:

52. Loser by Jerry Spinelli
53. N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto
54. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb
Currently reading:
55. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

"Gonna shake my pie, gonna bake my soul..."

2007-11-09T21:41:00.000-05:00

The man never disappoints. Never.

He opened with “Chinese Bones,” morphed into "Balloon Man," and cherry-picked a wonderful selection of tunes from his vast catalog, including “I Often Dream of Trains” (!), “Queen Elvis,” “Ole! Tarantula,” “English Girl,” and even the Soft Boys classics “Only the Stones Remain” and “The Queen of Eyes.” He deftly threw in a Dylan cover, hit us with some Hendrix, and busted out “Dear Prudence,” much to the chagrin of CR, who associates the song more with the hated Siouxsie than the beloved Beatles.

Robyn still looks amazing. Graying, wizened, and in need of a travel iron, but amazing nonetheless. CR and I have a running joke regarding Robyn’s sense of style, or lack thereof. He’s got a real penchant for bold patterns and colors, and over the years I’ve learned that the only other folks who tend to wear these sorts of shirts are record store owners. I’m not exactly sure why this is, nor am I all too sure it’s still as true today as it was in the past, but a quick look inside CR’s closet proves that he too was once a record store owner. Paul, mate. Stop laughing, lest you think I don't know about your old Lymington shop. It's evident in the clothes you wear. I’m not saying the shirts are bad, I’m just saying that they are a bit much in the pattern department.

My guess is that Robyn buys them because, in the event that some rabid fan managed to get backstage to his dressing room, they would not be tempted to steal one. Even rabid fans have some taste.

Opener Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger, The Long Winters) was self-deprecatingly funny and charming, and was the perfect counter-melody to several of Robyn’s songs. Their voices blended so well that it was hard to believe they have not always sung together. Such sublime magic nearly moved me to tears.

Of course he couldn't play everything we wanted to hear - that'd take DAYS - but he did a nice job of mixing the old with the new. Personally I would have loved to hear "Furry Green Atom Bowl," "Winchester" and "My Favourite Buildings," but I wasn't disappointed in his song selection. I’ve seen Robyn enough to know what to expect – amusing stories and snippets of alternate universes inhabited by land-crabs, can openers, tomatoes, and crustaceans of all sorts, coupled with acoustic numbers and some rocking electric craziness. But even this Hitchcock veteran got a few surprises last night: he requested the hall be non-smoking, which was awesome and unexpected because the show wasn't listed as such on the Southgate House web site; he played “Cynthia Mask,” which I wrongly assumed he’d never play again after the break-up with his Blue Ash muse; and he made himself accessible after the show for autographs and chit-chat with his legions of fans.

Very cool, and utterly brilliant. But then, that’s how Robyn Hitchcock rolls.

"You're everything you're trying to make me believe..."

2007-11-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

Damn.

Aimee Mann is hot.

"Sleeping with your devil mask is all I want to do..."

2007-11-02T08:44:00.000-04:00

I don't attend a lot of concerts/shows anymore. Mainly it is because they run late and at my age I can use all the beauty sleep I can get, but also because I just can't be arsed. I kinda burnt myself out over the past mumblemumble years.

That said, this month is a veritable bonanza and even this jaded old fart is all atwitter.

There's They Might Be Giants on Nov. 6. I haven't totally decided yet if I will go or not, but I probably should because it will be fun.

There's my main man Robyn Hitchcock on Nov. 8. Regardless of the dozens of times I've seen him live (solo, & The Egyptians, The Soft Boys) I will go. He may have become a greying, cantankerous bastard in recent years but all it takes is a spin of his sublime 1984 classic album "I Often Dream of Trains" and all is forgiven.

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (who are neither Scottish, gospel nor a choir) is playing a free show at Southgate House on Sunday, Nov. 11. Free is hard to pass up...

Then comes the grand-daddy of them all: Lisa Lampanelli at the Taft. Lisa fucking Lampanelli! I couldn't believe my good fortune to find out about this show the morning tickets were going on sale. Got EXCELLENT seats - close enough to be harassed by the Queen of Mean. Utterly fab!

Then the very next day finds Bob Pollard (formerly of Dayton's own Guided by Voices) at Southgate House and me with a ticket.

But never mind. I'll sleep sometime in December.

"I've been too long with my nose stuck in a book..."

2007-10-30T18:03:00.000-04:00

Each year I try to read at least 50 books between January 1 and December 31. Last year I got #50 in just under the wire. This year I reached #50 last week, and I've still got two months left.

The list:
1. Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
2. Just In Case by Meg Rosoff
3. 40 Acres and No Mule by Janice Holt Giles
4. Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War by Nicholas Lemann
5. Hannah Fowler by Janice Holt Giles
6. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrill
7. The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby
8. The Kentuckians by Janice Holt Giles
9. Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield
10. Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire by Ron Elliott
11. The Appalachian Photographs of Earl Palmer by Jean Haskell Speer
12. Miss Willie by Janice Holt Giles
13. The Fur Person by May Sarton (a re-read. Probably my favorite book of all time)
14. Beverly Hills: The Anatomy of a Nightclub Fire by Robert Lawson
15. Broken Moon by Kim Antieau
16. The Real Animal House by Chris Miller
17. I Had the Right to Remain Silent....But I Didn't Have the Ability by Ron White
18. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
19. 33 1/3: Exile on Main Street by Bill Janowitz
20. Another River, Another Town: A Teenage Tank Gunner Comes of Age in Combat 1944-45 by John P. Irwin
21. The Luger Handbook by Aaron Davis
22. The Sound and The Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism by Barney Hoskyns
23. Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters
24. Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan by Frank Abagnale
25. Working Stiff by Grant Stoddard
26. Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders by James Scurlock
27. Shanghai Diary by Ursula Bacon
28. Strapped: Why America's 20-30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead by Tamara Draut
29. Eternal Strangers by Ursula Bacon
30. The Keep by Jennifer Egan
31. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
32. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
33. Sala's Gift by Ann Kirschner
34. Rucker Park Set-Up by Paul Volponi
35. Faithfull by Marianne Faithfull
36. The Years of Persecution: 1933-1939 by Saul Friedlander
37. Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
38. Lonely Planet Guide: Czech & Slovak Republics
39. Lonely Planet Guide: Prague City Guide
40. Lonely Planet Guide: Best of Prague
41. DK Eyewitness Travel: Prague
42. Old Timey Recipes compiled by Phyllis Connor
43. Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians by Jean Ritchie
44. Heart In The Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan
45. Crosley: Two Brother and a Business Empire That Transformed the Nation by David Stern, Michael Banks & Rusty McClure
46. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
47. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by David Mendelsohn
48. Pies and Prejudice - In Search of the North by Stuart Maconie
49. That's Me in the Corner by Andrew Collins
50. Agent ZigZag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman by Ben Macintyre
51. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Currently reading:
52. Loser by Jerry Spinelli

"There lies a man who fought for equality..."

2007-10-22T08:33:00.000-04:00

The first time I heard Lucky Dube was as a college student working at the campus radio station. The song was his anti-Apartheid anthem "Together As One."

I liked it enough to seek out more of his stuff, special ordering the albums - and later the CDs - from The Record Store. Me, TC and Aaron were massive Lucky fans and it was a real treat whenever we all worked together because invariably one or more of us would have a few of his CDs on hand to play in store. We turned a lot of folks onto his pure, uplifting, soulful vibes.

Of all of his albums, 1993's Victims is my favorite, the songs indelibly stitched into the fabric of that sunny, tie-dyed summer. It was the summer we did a lot of camping, hiking and Grateful Dead concerts, and Victims was with us always. It was the summer of Bo Derek-stylee cornrowed hair, capped at the ends with tiny skull beads. We wore crystals - huge purple chunks of amethyst wrapped in spiraling copper wire - and bells around our ankles. We stank of patchouli and Nag Champa, and danced around the fires, moving to the rhythm of the drum-circles, laughing delightedly for hours and hours.

And we sang his songs, believing we could change the world.
"Hey you government
Never try to seperate the people
Hey you politician
Never try to seperate the people
They were created in the image of God
And who are you to seperate them
Bible says, he made man in his image
But it didn' t say black or white
Look at me you see BLACK
I look at you I see WHITE
Now is the time to kick that away
And join me in my song..."

But we didn't change the world. Instead, the world changed us. We lost our ideals, and we lost our way. And last Friday, we lost Lucky too.
-------------------------------
From the BBC:

Shock at South African reggae star shooting

Fans across the world are mourning the South African reggae star, Lucky Dube, who has been shot dead.
He was dropping his teenage son and daughter off in a Johannesburg suburb when he was attacked by car thieves.
Local radio stations have been flooded with tearful callers expressing outrage at the murder and renewing demands that the authorities act to curtail crime.
South Africa's leader paid tribute to him and called on people to "confront this terrible scourge of crime".

Alongside Bob Marley, Lucky Dube was thought of as one of the great reggae artists - singing about social problems.
He was also one of the apartheid regime's most outspoken critics.

Correspondents say the killing of the 43-year-old singer has shocked South Africans who are already accustomed to one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Music producer TK of TS records and a friend of Dube's told the BBC the killing was tragically ironic.
"The whole continent has lost a performer, musician, a guy that fought for freedom in his own way, in his own right, was just shot by some guy who wanted to take his car, you know, which is Mickey Mouse really," he said.

Opposition parties and the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress party have called on the government to take drastic measures against crime.
Callers to radio stations have urged the country's rugby team to show some form of respect when they take to the field in Saturday's World Cup final against England in Paris.
President Thabo Mbeki is attending the final and took time to pay tribute to the dreadlocked reggae star before he jetted off to France.

"It's indeed very very sad that this happens to an outstanding South African, an outstanding musician - world renowned," he said.
"We shall continue to act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime, which has taken the lives of too many of our people - and does so every day."
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says police are still hunting for three men thought to be behind the attack.

Police say Dube's son and daughter were already out of the car when three shots were fired through the car window killing their father on Thursday evening in Rosettenville.
Witnesses say the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree.
"He was declared dead on the scene," Police inspector Lorrain Van Immareck told the BBC.

Lucky Dube's Rastas Never Die album was banned under apartheid

"I am a 27-year-old black South African girl. I have dreadlocks and I love reggae music so much and I am proud to be who I am, being black and African. I will miss Lucky Dube, you are an inspiration to many of us," Sbongile Diko in Durban wrote.
But the tributes have been worldwide - especially from Africa.

"Lucky filled up stadiums all over the continent. I would say he was far bigger outside South Africa then he was in South Africa," South African music journalist Peter Makurube told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Dube began his career by singing mbaqanga (traditional Zulu) music and recorded his first album with the Super Soul band in 1982.
He later moved into reggae, producing Rastas Never Die which was banned by the apartheid government.
His albums Slave, Prisoner and Together As One saw him gain first national, and then global, recognition.

Three years ago his 1989 anti-apartheid hit Together as One, which calls for world peace and harmony, was voted one of Africa's top 10 songs by BBC readers and listeners.
Lucky Dube released his most recent album, Respect, in April.

Standard Gargoyle Decisions, decisions...

2007-10-11T09:51:00.000-04:00

Bob Pollard is playing Southgate House on Dec. 1.

It's one of only two shows he's doing this year to promote his two superb new albums, Standard Gargoyle Decisions and Coast to Coast Carpet of Love.

Tickets are an affordable $10.

I've not seen him in a very long time, so it's probably a good time to walk across the burning bridge before it's too late.

"I used to say 'I love you'..."

2007-10-04T11:12:00.000-04:00

Robyn Hitchcock.

Southgate House.

November 8.

Of course. Need you even ask?

"U're just 2 much 2 take - I can't stop I ain't got no brakes..."

2007-10-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

I have never been a fan of Prince, or the Artist Formerly Known As Prince, or Symbol, or whatever he's calling himself these days, but I have to admit that the man puts on a helluva show.

Hubby and I have been on vacation in Europe for the past month, and some friends of ours scored four tickets to see the little purple one on the last of his 21-night stand at London's O2 Arena. Of the four of us, I was the only Prince virgin - hubby, Rockin' and Lou have all seen him a number of times, including Earl's Court, Hammersmith and a couple of times in Paris. I was also the only one who was dubious about going, because he's simply never really appealed to me. I mean, there are a few of his songs that I really like (Delirious, When You Were Mine) but I guess I just got so burned out on the whole Purple Rain phenomena that I kind of wrote him off.

My bad!

He's a superb showman and certainly gave us all our money's worth. On top of that, I was staggered by the number of songs that I knew - me, who doesn't own a single Prince album (unless you count the 12" of Erotic City) - recognized nearly every song he performed that night. And boy did he play a lot of them: nearly 3 hours worth of funkin' us up! Time just flew by too - always the mark of a good performer when you are enjoying yourself so much that you don't realize that three hours have passed.

The arena itself was very clean and nice - perhaps because it is so new (it's the former Millennium Dome) and perhaps it's because the British are more conscientious about trash and litter (no food was allowed inside the arena), but the whole experience was top notch. There was a good variety of food and beverage vendors on hand - everything from the standard burger and chips/fries to pasta and baked spuddies. They also had a good beverage selection (Becks, Boddingtons, alco-pops, wine and spirits) and prices weren't nearly as ghastly as they are at U.S. venues.

Upon entering the O2 everyone was given a free copy of his Musicology CD and a purple glow stick. Most of the crowd milled around the vending areas, eating, drinking and shooting the shit until the announcement came that the show would begin soon. I thought that was pretty cool, having never been to a show where they informed you ahead of time how long you had to finish your food and drink. They made an announcement at 30 minutes, and again at 15, giving us all ample time to find our seats. When the lights went down the sight of 23,000 glow sticks was really magical to see. And everyone went absolutely bonkers the moment His Purpleness hit the stage.

Here's the set list. Feel free to be jealous!

I Feel For You
Controversy/Housequake
Somewhere Here on Earth
Cream
U Got the Look
Musicology
Chelsea Rogers
Sexy Dancer/Le Freak
A Love Bizarre
Pass the Peas

Solo piano set
Diamonds & Pearls
The Beautiful Ones
Little Red Corvette
I Would Die 4 U
Under the Cherry Moon
Sometimes it Snows in April

Purple Rain
Take Me With You
Guitar
Kiss
Let’s Go Crazy

Encore
1999
Nothing Compares 2 U

Solo synth medley
Sign O The Times
When Doves Cry
Darling Nikki
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Erotic City
Alphabet St.
DMSR
Delirious
Gett Off (Housestyle)
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
Irresistible Bitch
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Raspberry Beret

Second encore
When U Were Mine
Girls & Boys

"C'mon and take me to the place where it's alright..."

2007-09-07T08:07:00.000-04:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lab Partners should be HUGE.

I'm not just saying it because I'm friends with them, I'm saying it as a fan and as a music lover. They really are the best kept secret in town. The band is so tight and the songs are stellar. They continually knock me out each and every time I have seen them - and I've been seeing them for close to ten years now!

Arrived at SGH last night and the first person I ran into was TC, holding court at the bar. We hugged for eternities and sat ourselves down for a good chinwag catch-up since we last saw each other a few months ago. Spied Dennis as well (he produced Daystar) and had a natter. He told me he was filling in on guitar and was rather nervous, but he had no reason to be - he was excellent! His lovely wife (and my old WWSU chum) Kattie showed up and there were more hugs for eternities. When we get together there are always so many laughs.

It's times like this that make me really miss the great scene we had in Dayton.

TC introduced me to a mate of his named Eric who was pretty cool and as we talked we realized how many of the same people we knew. But then Dayton's like that - small city with a tight scene. It's always been inclusive rather than exclusive. It's like this: if he is a friend of a friend, then he is my friend too. And so I was pleased to gain a new friend in Eric last night.

And it was good to see so many other friends there last night too - several WOXY folks turned up for the show and there were more hugs and laughter.

High point of the night for me was that Lab Partners closed the show with Magnify! Fucking ACE!

I felt a little sorry for Spectrum though - by the time they came on several folks (who'd come only to see Lab Partners) had bailed and they played to a crowd of around 20. The ballroom seemed a bit cavernous and it had to be disheartening for them to weave their textured grooves to so few. Still, those who were there seemed to enjoy themselves - I know I did - and ultimately that's what matters most.

What I want to know though - how does Pete Kember stay so ageless? That bastard doesn't look any older than he did as a nipper in Spacemen3.

"Radio is a sound salvation..."

2007-09-02T14:23:00.000-04:00

From 1985-1990 I worked at a kick-ass college radio station and this post from an old colleague at the station has really made me nostalgic for those halcyon days.

Those years were some of the best of my life.

Close Your Eyes and You'll See

2007-08-31T09:21:00.000-04:00

Sweet Jeeebus.

Sonic Boom/Spectrum is coming to SGH next week, with my mates Lab Partners opening.

There's my Thursday evening sorted.

"Is this more than some old summer fling?"

2007-07-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

The Old 97's blew me away last night.

Best live show I've seen at the Southgate House. You can tell the guys love what they do, and their enthusiasm is infectious. I could not control my happy feet.

Before the show I chatted with a couple who had driven up from Louisville and as they too were big fans we had a riot of a time bouncing around the crowded ballroom when the band took the stage. Brad informed me that he had proposed to Emily one evening as they were listening to the song "The Question," so when the band hit the opening bars they went a little bit bonkers kissing each other, while friends and strangers alike all bought them drinks.

The band cherry-picked a good mix of songs from all their albums, from 1994's Hitchhike to Rhome through Drag It Up and enjoyed interacting with the audience when fans called out for certain songs. They also promised a new album in April 2008 and everyone went nuts. My only disappointment of the night was that they did not play my favorite Old 97's song: "Melt Show."

But they rolled through nearly everything else from Too Far To Care, including a smokin' version of "Four Leaf Clover," which rounded out their first encore, and "Timebomb," which brought the house down and closed the high-octane, sold-out show.

Uber-hottie and lead singer Rhett Miller also performed acoustic versions of "Help Me, Susanne" and "I'm With Her" from his 2006 solo effort "The Believer" during the first encore before being joined by the rest of the guys for some more energetic stompers. Those boys have that Texas shuffle down pat and the audience ate it up.

Although they hover consistently in my top 5 favorite bands, until last night I'd never had the opportunity to see them live. I caught Rhett Miller's solo tour last autumn at the Tall Stacks Festival and that simply whetted my appetite for the whole enchilada. And they were well worth the wait.

"I'm not immune to getting blown apart..."

2007-06-19T12:04:00.000-04:00

I am over the moon that The Old 97's are coming to Southgate House next month.

I am sooooooooooooooooo there.

Love. Those. Guys.

"And if drinkin' don't kill me, her memory will..."

2007-06-08T09:39:00.000-04:00

The Record Store had its share of wonderfully odd and colorful customers, and we had our share of assholes and shoplifters. We had deadbeats who special ordered hard-to-find imports and ephemera and then failed to pick up said items when they arrived, and we were blessed with some truly awesome music-lovers. Nevertheless, the majority of our customers were average folks who liked a certain song or artist and just randomly stopped in to our store hoping that we had it in stock, after they'd already struck out the Mall. There were a few, however, we couldn't even classify as "customers." Such was Mr. Dougherty.

In all the years he shuffled in, I can't ever remember him buying anything from us. He'd ask to look at cassettes, usually old school country artists like Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb, but he never bought them. He'd hold the cassettes in his quaking hands and scan the track listings, musing out loud about this song or that. Sometimes he'd sing a few lines in a hoarse rasp, asking if we knew what it was, and other times he'd remember a title and ask us to look it up, because he could no longer remember who sang it. He seemed to always inquire about the same songs and artists, forgetting from month to month that he'd already been given the answers to those questions.

I say month-to-month because we only ever saw him at the first of the month. After he'd taken receipt of his disability check, Mr. Dougherty would turn up in a taxi with a wad of green bulging from the pocket of his polyester trousers. Sometimes he arrived so early that The Beer & Wine Emporium next door wasn't even open yet, and so he'd kill time with us, leaning heavily on the glass showcase at the front counter, his long, grizzled fingers flexing to keep the tremors at bay. Every five minutes he'd ask what time it was, and then ask what time they opened next door. All the while the meter was running.

Mr. Dougherty was a drunk, plain and simple. Even if the stale reek of day old booze permeating through his pores hadn't given him away, the watery eyes, bulbous red nose and quaking hands certainly did. And while most of the staff tried to steer clear of him when they saw the taxi pull up outside, I usually stuck around and helped him, even though I knew he was just wasting time until he could get his fix next door. Perhaps it was because he reminded me of my own drunken uncles, rather than altruistic pity or compassion on my part, but I always tried to see him in the way that he wanted to be seen, rather than the way he actually was. And so I saw a young man full of promise and potential, instead of the pathetic, weaving wreck in the wrinkled, western shirt.

There was a time, long ago, when Mr. Dougherty had been somebody, and he loved to bend my ear about his days amongst the Nashville elite. He had played poker with Hank Snow, hauled luggage for Patsy Cline, and chauffeured George Jones in his tricked out Cadillac. For Mr. Dougherty had been The Mechanic to The Stars.

Returning home after the Korean War, he found that small town life no longer appealed, and set off for the bright lights of Nashville to put to use the mechanic skills he'd perfected during the war. To hear him tell it, he was a real wiz-kid, and before too long found himself working for a company that provided exclusive automotive services to the cream of the Nashville crop. Mr. Dougherty might not have been able to remember conversations from one month to the next--possibly even one DAY to the next-- but 40 years later could still recall what the inside of George Jones's stretch Caddie looked like. He could remember, and describe in loving detail, the smell of Tammy Wynette's perfume mingling with the AquaNet she sprayed on her well coiffed hair, as Mr. Dougherty drove her around town. He never tired of retelling the story of eating fried chicken with Chet Adkins and his band at some little dive in the deep south, when he drove their tour bus. He claimed it was the best fried chicken he'd ever eaten, and wished he could taste it just once more.

He'd regale these stories in succession, his watery eyes momentarily coming alive. "I had it all," he'd claim with a wry smile that split his face into a million little creases, "I certainly did." He told of meeting and marrying "the most beautiful girl in the world," and how she took to the road like she'd been born to do so, and how they made a great team. She was his right hand man, so to speak, reading maps and making sure their privileged passengers were well taken care of. He drove the busses, fixed breakdowns, and hauled luggage, while she cooked meals for the bands, did their laundry, and made sure they always looked their best. In his eyes, she was a goddess among goddesses. Throughout the golden age of country music, the duo rubbed elbows with nearly all the big names: Loretta Lynn ("a beautiful lady and a saint, she put up with a lot"), Johnny Cash ("a godly man, but filled with the devil"), Dolly Parton ("sweetest little thing you ever did see") and his favorite, George Jones ("they called him No-Show, but he always got there when I was a'drivin'.")

Somewhere along the way the bottle got to Mr. Dougherty. His stories seemed to end in the mid-70's, so that must have been about the time his goddess took off with another man. Maybe she couldn't take the drinking any longer, or maybe she was the reason he took to drinking, but the two incidents are forever entwined, and with his long thin face in his quivering hands, Mr. Dougherty would openly sob at our front counter, telling me that his life just wasn't worth living without her. I'd seen the vicious circle all too often in my own family: a spiraling descent between the bottle and lost love.

Embarrassed by his open display of raw, drunken grief, I'd try to comfort with a pat on his bony arm and empty words, saying "it'll be all right, it'll be ok," when I knew that it wouldn't. Mr. Dougherty knew it too, and with sad, sunken eyes pleading, he'd ask me to play his special song, the one he'd ordered once upon a time but just couldn't bring himself to buy. I kept the single filed away where no one could buy it, and played it whenever his cloak of heartbreak became too heavy to bear.

"He said I'll love you 'til I die
She told him you'll forget in time
As the years went slowly by
She still preyed upon his mind

He kept her picture on his wall
Went half crazy now and then
He still loved her through it all
Hoping she'd come back again

Kept some letters by his bed
Dated 1962
He had underlined in red
Every single I love you

I went to see him just today
Oh but I didn't see no tears
All dressed up to go away
First time I'd seen him smile in years

He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today…"

As the song neared the end he'd bury himself in an old handkerchief and again ask for the time, misery in his gravely voice. And at the appointed hour, he'd hobble slowly toward the door-- his sad, empty eyes moist with the anticipation of obliterating the present, and erasing the past.

"Just looking back before they take it all away..."

2007-06-04T14:29:00.000-04:00

Henry was our golden oldies customer. He wanted nothing less than to go back to “the good ole days” of his youth, and to his credit, he had a long memory for the songs that were played at his high school sock hops, 50’s AM radio and each week on TV courtesy of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

He wore his high school class ring – Class of 1959 – and while short and stocky always looked neat and tidy in a pressed shirt and trousers. His fair hair, although thinning on top, sported an expensive cut. Only his crumpled and stained baggy blue London Fog coat belied his impeccable appearance.

Every Sunday morning, not long after the store would open for the day, Henry would wander in the door, greet each of us politely and turn his attention to our singles racks.

In the beginning we would give him our usual spiel of asking if he would like some help, but he’d shake his head and continue flipping through the racks. It soon became apparent that he was painfully shy: he rarely made eye contact or uttered anything more than “hello” to us for the first few months.

The Sav, who opened the store on Sunday mornings, took it upon himself to draw Henry from his protective cocoon. He'd stand at the front counter, within Henry's earshot, and talk to himself, hoping that Henry would eventually take the bait and respond.

He didn’t.

When Henry would finally make his selection of 45’s – he always bought three at a time because the store offered a discount, and Henry liked saving money – The Sav would glance at the titles as he punched the cash register and try to elicit small talk about the songs or artists. Henry wouldn’t bite. In fact, for the first few months none of us even knew Henry’s name. We all referred to him as “Shorty’s Dad,” because he reminded us of an older version of another of our beloved regulars.

It took The Sav several months to figure out a way through Henry’s armor of silence: he offered Henry the chance to look through our new oldies catalog for possible special orders. This was big. The Sav NEVER let customers look through our wholesale catalogs, lest they get ideas about circumventing The Record Store by placing an order directly with the wholesaler. Never mind that most wholesalers required a minimum order of several hundred dollars. The Sav was convinced that any person who saw a wholesale catalog would immediately decide to open up their own record shop and put him out of business. I guess it was just a bit of leftover paranoia from his cocaine-fueled 70’s heyday.

The rest of us paid no mind to this obsessive distrust of our customers and pulled out the catalogs for folks all the time—as long as The Sav was unlikely to get wind of it. Of course this only worked with customers we saw on a regular basis- those who hung out in the store enough to know the way things worked and who could therefore be trusted to keep it on the down-low. So for The Sav to pull out the Collectibles Catalog and tell Henry he was welcome to thumb through it, well, that was considered a very big deal amongst the staff.

Once Henry had access to the Collectibles catalog he warmed considerably to us and began to drop little nuggets of information about himself. We learned that he had never owned a driving license and preferred to shop at establishments along the bus routes. It was fortunate that there was a dedicated Metro stop right outside The Record Shop. We also learned that he didn’t own a telephone. For awhile he simply informed us that telephones were more trouble than they were worth, but over the years he got comfortable enough with us to admit that the real reason he didn’t have a telephone was because no one ever rang him when he had one, so he didn’t see the point in wasting the money.

We also learned that he lived by himself in a small efficiency apartment over a salon, which explained his expensive haircuts and well manicured appearance. He got them free in exchange for sweeping up hair from the salon floor during the work week. Henry had no other job. He had spent the majority of his adult life caring for his aging parents, and after they died he was frugal with his small inheritance. His idea of extravagance was in allowing himself one new pair of shoes each year, a nice meal in a restaurant once a month, and three 7” singles each week. He spoke disparagingly about his older brother, a lawyer out in California, who had forced the sale of the family home out from under Henry after his elderly parents had died. According to Henry, his parents had only enough money to send one son to college, so they sent the eldest son, and told Henry that since they couldn't give him a higher education they'd give him the house instead, and he agreed and stayed there, never marrying, to take care of them. After their death, however, Henry bitterly recalled how his brother figured out a loophole and, in Henry's words, "sold my house right out from under me."

Sundays at The Record Store were fairly cake. It was just busy enough to stay entertained, but not so busy that we were headless-chickening between the three cash registers while trying to keep an eye out for shoplifters, as was the case most weekend nights. I enjoyed working Sundays because I could fill up most of my day inventorying the Billboard Hot 200, singles charts and back stock. I could also count on having a nice long chat with Henry about the "good old days." Sometimes, when there was a lull in the action and The Sav had left for the day, Henry would pull out a pile of singles and I'd play them over the vintage Marantz sound system. As the music transported Henry back to a happier time and place, he'd lose himself in the memories, and take me with him through a stream-of-conscience rap about "how it was back then." I learned the names and locations of many a long-gone restaurant and store, could see the ball players in their crew-cuts and the girls in their poodle skirts and pony tails, such were Henry's vivid descriptions. It was a little like hearing someone describe the movie American Graffiti, but with a local flavor. Occasionally Henry would let slip about a girl he had dated, a girl he still pined for some thirty years later. His heart would break anew each time he visited the lonely town of CouldHaveBeen.

I loved hearing Henry's stories and always tried to make time for him each Sunday. I think we all did. He and The Sav were a little closer in age, and The Sav remembered a lot of the same places Henry did, so they'd bounce memories back and forth like verbal table tennis until The Sav was ready to leave for the afternoon. So it went for nearly seven years.

The Sunday that Henry didn't turn up was cause for concern amongst the staff. We worried that he had fallen ill, or that something bad had happened to him. We were unsure as to what to do, since we couldn't call him and had no idea where his apartment was located, and so we did nothing and waited to see if he turned up the following week. When he didn't, we took it upon ourselves to start calling around to all the beauty salons in town, hoping one of them would know him.

There are a lot of beauty salons in a city phonebook, and we called them all. Reynolds took A-K at the front register phone, and I took L-Z at the back phone. An afternoon's worth of phone calls later, no one we rang knew Henry. Puzzled, we abandoned our search and hoped for the best. When a third Sunday passed without Henry making an appearance, Phil went out to the bus stop and spoke to the driver, who, when given a description of Henry, knew where he usually embarked each week. The driver said he hadn't seen him in a few weeks and had wondered about the little man in the blue London Fog coat, but had shrugged it off. Once we learned where Henry got on the bus, we could narrow our search. Since we’d already tried all the salons in the Yellow Pages to no avail, we started calling everything in the Business White Pages that was in the vicinity of Henry's bus stop and sounded vaguely like it might be a beauty parlor. I can't help but look back on this seemingly hopeless venture and think about how much quicker it would have been to pinpoint the salon with the help of the internet, but we didn't have that luxury yet. And so we called dozens of businesses, hoping against hope that one of those numbers would come up trumps.

And it did, but it was too late. In her broad, flat upper Michigan accent, shop owner Shirley recounted that Henry had collapsed and died at home from a brain aneurism just a few days after his last visit to our shop. She told us through tears that his brother, Henry's only known relative, hadn't even bothered to come back to claim the body. He made arrangements over the phone and had Henry laid to rest next to his parents, without fanfare, and had a cleaning company go in to Henry's apartment a few days later to clear it out. Everything had been thrown away: clothing, photo albums, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and of course, his beloved record player and 7" singles.

Much has changed since Henry passed away, and The Record Store no longer exists. But the power of a song can elicit long dormant memories. And sometimes when I am transported back to those halcyon days, I think of Henry.

And I understand.

"The hands of the genius are stone cold..."

2007-05-24T10:07:00.001-04:00

Ten years ago today I got the news that one of my local heroes had died.

At first I didn't believe it-didn't WANT to believe it-but a couple of phone calls confirmed the sad fact that we had lost him.

Tim Taylor was always larger than life, but even though it was obvious to us all that he and his band, Brainiac, were destined for greatness, he never let it get to his head. He was a super special guy with a tremendous amount of positive energy, always friendly with a quick and easy smile, and talented.

Jesus, he was talented. Not everyone "got" their unique brand of music, but for those of us who did, his loss was devastating.

I was not part of his inner circle, but Dayton's a small city with a tight scene, and we ran into each other at a lot of the same functions, shows and parties. It was always a delight to compare record store notes--as Tim worked behind the counter of another local indie shop when he wasn't on tour or creating jawdroppingly amazing music. He was funny, friendly, exceptionally creative, and the gaping hole he left in our hearts and in our scene has never been--and will never be--refilled.

"Hold it! Now Boogie-woogie!"

2007-05-09T08:29:00.000-04:00

Back in my Record Store days, Adam and I used to make regular treks down to Over-the-Rhine to see our legendary blues heroes in action. We caught Pigmeat Jarrett, H-Bomb Ferguson and Big Joe Duskin every chance we could, usually at Jefferson Hall but sometimes at other area bars, and occasionally in someone's living room. Adam had a real nose for sniffing out good gigs where ever they may be, and he'd drive if I paid the cover.

The last of those legendary bluesmen died Sunday, when Big Joe left for that great gig in the sky.

Legendary bluesman dead at 86
By Rick BirdPost staff reporter

Big Joe Duskin, who died Sunday, is being remembered as perhaps the last of Cincinnati's "greatest generation" of blues men.

Big Joe Duskin played the blues, but he did it with a smile, a big heart and a joyful boogie woogie piano sound that influenced countless Cincinnati musicians.

Duskin died Sunday morning at his home in Avondale at the age of 86. Family spokesman Keith Little said Duskin had been in failing health for several months from complications from diabetes. He died a day before he was scheduled for surgery to have both legs amputated.
Duskin, who played with a rugged elegance, is being remembered as perhaps the last of Cincinnati's "greatest generation" of blues men. He was part of the pre-World War II players whose earthy music would become a window to the soul of the African-American experience and lay the groundwork for everything to come - from rock 'n' roll and R&B to hip hop.
Duskin's death comes just six months after the passing of another local blues and R&B legend, piano player H-Bomb Ferguson.

In addition to being a musician, Duskin was a World War II veteran, a postal worker and police officer.

Over the last 35 years he welcomed anyone on stage to perform with him.
"What that meant is a whole lot of people were standing next to Joe and jamming, drinking from that original source. He changed the musical lives for many musicians in this town," said Larry Nager, a musician and former music writer for The Post and the Enquirer. Nager produced Duskin's last recording, "Big Joe Jumps Again," released in 2004.

Harmonica player Steve Tracy, now a professor of African-American studies at the University of Massachusetts and author of "Going to Cincinnati: A History of Blues in the Queen City," said Duskin made other players feel special.
"When you played with him, you became the focus. He was just big-hearted and gregarious and that comes through in his music, too," said Tracy.

Born in Birmingham, Ala., in 1921, the third of 11 children, Duskin told Tracy in his 1993 book that one of his first memories was seeing hooded Ku Klux Klansmen outside his house as they dragged his older cousin out of his bed and hanged him for stealing a sack of potatoes from a white grocer.

By the late 1930s, Duskin had become a teenage piano-playing phenom on the Cincinnati blues scene, performing in venues that ranged from the black clubs of the West End to saloons in Over-the-Rhine where the blues flowed into the streets like the beer.
"Listen, in every beer garden and every home there was a piano," Duskin told The Post in a 2004 interview. "Man, you'd go in there and beat out those blues. I'd go and sit in and get about 15 cents. You thought that was money back in them days. It was great."
Duskin's critics included his father, who called blues "the devil's music" and whipped his son whenever he caught him playing it. Eventually, young Joe made a promise to his dad that he would no longer play boogie woogie music while his dad was alive.
When he made that promise, Duskin's dad was in his 80s. Perry Duskin lived to be 105, dying in 1963.

By all accounts, Duskin kept that promise and moved on to "life's work." He was a Lincoln Heights police officer for 10 years, then had a 20-year career with the U.S. Post Office.
But the early '70s brought a renewed interest in America's indigenous music, spurred by many Baby Boomers discovering it was really the original blues men who wrote the rock 'n' roll book.
It was Tracy - then a recent Walnut Hills High School grad, blues aficionado and a talented harp player - who looked up Duskin in 1971 while he was researching Cincinnati blues players. Tracy encouraged Duskin to play with his band in Mount Adams hangouts, and Duskin became a popular figure in clubs such as Coco's and Corry's. He frequently opened at Bogart's for national blues legends performing there.

By the '80s, Duskin was drawing bigger crowds in Europe than he was in Cincinnati, playing festivals and clubs where fans couldn't get enough of America's original blues artists. In the '90s, he teamed with singer Sweet Alice Hoskins for two tours of Paris and Italy for what was billed "A Night of Cincinnati Blues."

"Oh, they loved him over there, except when he tried to speak French," said Hoskins.
For Hoskins, the beauty of Duskin's sound was that he was the "real deal," something she has tried to copy in her own act.
"He got those low tones and the deepest sound on that piano," Hoskins said. "It was straight down blues. It was from the days when people would dance to the blues. When Joe got those deep down tones you could feel like you wanted to get up. You can't hardly find that sound in people today."

As late as 2000, Duskin was still playing in Germany and Belgium and still trying to speak the language.
"I tell them, 'Ich liebe dich. I love you, I love all of you.' By me speaking a little German, they love that. They just go crazy," Duskin said in a 2002 interview.

Three years ago, Duskin recorded "Big Joe Jumps Again," a live studio set that played as a great slice of his original boogie woogie blues sound, even if his skills were diminished by age 83. Still, it was an album that would get him a W.C. Handy nomination (the blues version of the Grammys) for "comeback of the year." (It also got some attention because blues-rock legend Peter Frampton contributed guitar tracks to a song).
He did not win, but still went to the Memphis awards and was a featured performer hanging out with the elite of the blues world.

"There was Charlie Musslewhite, Shamika Copeland, Guitar Shorty, Pinetop (Perkins). It was good to see Joe where he belonged, which is hanging with these folks," said Nager. Other accolades followed Duskin in 2005 when was presented an Ohio Heritage Award for arts contributions and performed before a 10,000 people at the Dayton Folk Festival.
When asked two years ago about the recognition, Duskin was appreciative, but did express some regrets he abandoned music for so long. Of course, there was also a bit of boogie woogie bravado when he said: "If it hadn't been for my dad, Oscar Peterson couldn't have touched me, no place. I mean that. I was playing jazz, boogie-woogie, blues, classical - you name it. Even opera. I would have been one of the greatest piano players.''

Tracy said what made Duskin truly great was that indefinable element.
"Sometimes people can play the notes," he said. "But there is just that special soul and feel that makes it sound better coming out of those musicians that have it inside of them. Joe had that."

Duskin is survived by his wife, Emma Harris; a daughter, Sharon Parks; a step-daughter, Ernestine Davis; and three sons, Ronald Lee Duskin, Ray Duskin and Yahku, all from Cincinnati.
Services will be at noon Saturday at Hall-Jordan & Thompson Funeral Home at Jordan's Crossing, Seymour Avenue and Reading Road, Bond Hill. A private family burial will be Monday in Dayton. Donations to the family may be made at any US Bank location in care of Joseph L. Duskin or Emma Harris.

"Take me down to the infirmary and lay me down on cotton sheets..."

2007-04-24T15:39:00.000-04:00

One of my best friends died today.

We’d only known each other since November 2004, but as soon as we met we clicked and became inseparable. We very rarely argued, and when we did it was always about music. She had an affinity for techno and dance music, whereas I was always more eager to listen to singer-songwriters.

We used to drive to work together and could talk in nothing but song titles during the hour-long commute. Those were awesome times, and I missed them when I took a job in downtown and my commute got shortened to less than 10 minutes. We still hung out at the gym and on the weekends, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Last year she started feeling under the weather, so run down that she could barely function. She became forgetful, sluggish, had next to no energy, and got easily confused. After a series of tests we were told that she needed surgery, and even then there were no guarantees, but really, the choice was a no-brainer. She had the surgery and amazingly bounced back to her former, fun self for awhile.

It almost seemed as though we both knew she was living on borrowed time, however. I worried about her constantly and could never quite shake my doubt that she would have a relapse. Every time we were together I feared that something would happen to her and I wouldn’t know what to do. I mean, I know basic first aid, but that wasn’t going to be enough to save her if it came right down to it.

My worst fears were realized a few months ago when she began acting tired and run down again. She would be fine for a couple of days, but it was taking longer and longer for her to recharge and recover, which we knew was not a good sign. We danced around the subject, not wanting to admit that she was never 100% better after the operation, but I think deep down we both knew it was simply a matter of time.

She started having mild seizures, which were over almost as soon as they happened. She tried to act like they were nothing, tried to convince me that she would be fine, yet seemed completely unaware that she had developed a very weird stutter. She also began to behave erratically and was certainly not her old self anymore. I know that the worst thing you can do is research symptoms on the internet, but that’s exactly what I did, and the more I looked the grimmer it got.

Naturally.

Wading through the internet gloom and doom, it became clear that anything I tried to do to help her would simply be akin to dressing an amputation with a Band-Aid.

This morning on the bus she totally lost it—her erratic behavior reached a crescendo and she suffered yet another seizure. Frantically, I tried using the pointers I’d gleaned via Google, to no avail. It was obvious that she was sinking fast, and all I could do was hold her as she shuddered and sputtered. She never even gave me the chance to say good-bye.

We’ve been through so much together, and had so much fun, that I’m finding it hard to let her go. But maybe I’ll feel differently when her replacement arrives later this week.

Farewell 40GB iPod. There will always be a place in my heart for you.

"Another fine outing, pointing and shouting, 'Look, it's Baseball!'"

2007-04-23T14:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend I went to my first baseball game of the season, and I’d just like to make one casual observation.

Adam Dunn has the worst musical taste in the majors.

Let me explain.

I have no idea if this is a normal occurrence at baseball games these days, or if the Reds are unusual, but as each player steps up to bat a snippet of player-selected music is played over the loudspeakers. Ryan Freel’s choice is the DNA Remix of “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega. No, I don’t know why. Do I care? No.

So anyway, back to Git-R-Dunn. The first time he stepped up to the plate, it was Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian.” [shudder]

The second time it was slaphead Phil Collins doing “In the Air Tonight.” So Adam, diggin’ those power ballads, are we?

The next time it was Billy bloody Joel’s “Big Shot.” ARGH! If there’s anything I hate more than 80’s power ballads, it’s ANYTHING by Billy Joel. I could happily live the rest of my life without ever hearing anything by that man again.

It’s no wonder the bastard struck out every time he stepped up to the plate Saturday night. I’d suck too if I’d chosen that tripe.

But I reckon I ought to look on the bright side. At least he didn’t pick something by Journey.

"Now I can remember like it was only yesterday..."

2007-04-18T09:51:00.000-04:00

iPod gave me a Back to the Future flashback this morning during my commute:

When I Write the Book – Nick Lowe
Super-Tuff - XTC
Unsatisfied - The Replacements
Deny – The Clash
Chemical Warfare – The Dead Kennedys
Farandole – Love Sculpture
A Question of Time – Depeche Mode

I miss doing Back to the Future on WOXY…

"Magnify my soul for all to see..."

2007-04-05T09:54:00.000-04:00

I hooked up with some old friends last weekend for a laughter-filled evening of booze and music. Barb & Dave have been living abroad for the past few years and only recently moved back to the states, so it was good to catch up with them and compare notes and giggle uncontrollably all night.

We kicked off the evening with Pogo at Hofbrauhaus, then wandered over to the Southgate House to check out the Black Angels/Vietnam/Lab Partners show.

We ran into TC and talked and hugged for eternities. I told him about seeing a dude in the queue wearing a t-shirt for The Record Store. Just as I finished telling him, the cat cruises by and we both called out to him. He turned, grinning, and started over, only to realize he didn’t know who we were, so he turned on his heel and stalked off. We burst out laughing. The poor schmuck had no idea he was in the presence of greatness.

As enjoyable as Lab Partners were (even if they omitted "Magnify" from their set), by the time Vietnam was into their third song it was getting unbearably hot in the ballroom, so we made our way upstairs and hung out in Junie’s Lounge, watching a sweet rockabilly band shake the house. Why there were tables in the lounge is mystifying. Everyone wanted to dance! That thumping stand-up bass and twangy guitar forced feet to move, whether or not the body was willing. It was a completely different crowd up there—dressed as if 1955 never ended—and it was so refreshing that we couldn’t stop laughing and smiling and shaking that thang.

Back down the stairs to the ballroom, we were greeted by a blast furnace when we opened the doors and stepped into the inky darkness. The Black Angels took the stage a few minutes afterward, amazingly cool in the sweltering heat. Their mesmerizing drone captivated and enthralled, and for awhile we all forgot about the heat.

"It's about time we begin it, to turn the world around..."

2007-03-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

WOXY, The Future of Rock & Roll, has entered the blogoshpere today by unveiling The Futurist, a blog that includes indie rock news, recaps of Lounge Act performances, MP3s, giveaways and a whole lot more.

Read the blog, listen to the best damned station on the planet, and fall in love all over again.

"It's more than a feeling when I hear that old song they used to play..."

2007-03-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

I spent the summer of our nation’s bicentennial in the swimming pool. When not floating around on a Styrofoam chair in my own pool, I was over at Alicia’s doing cannonballs off the diving board.

Alicia’s family had an in-ground pool, a much coveted luxury in our neighborhood, plus she had the added bonus of being an only child. Trish and I greatly preferred swimming over there to suffering a swim with our brothers and their noisy, creepy gang of friends. Never mind that Alicia was younger than us. We were all kids. It didn’t matter.

Those endless summer days dawned sunny and bright. I can’t ever remember it raining during the summer of ’76, although surely it must have. Every morning we were up with the sun, antsy to get outside and into the water. I’d shimmy into an eggshell blue bikini with “Shake Your Booty” emblazoned across my rear and dash out the door, wriggling into an Andy Gibb t-shirt as I made my way down the hill and up the street toward Alicia’s. Trish and Alicia lived across the street from one another, their driveways in eternal face-off, and Alicia’s mom counted on me and Trish to keep an eye on Alicia during the day. We weren’t babysitting, as we considered Alicia our peer, and we earned no pay. Being poolside every day was payment enough.

We lived in the water with the radio blasting--the dial permanently set to WEBN. We had swimming races to the sounds of Led Zeppelin and Hall & Oates, played water volleyball to Fleetwood Mac, practiced our backflips to Boston. We dashed around the slippery edges, oblivious to danger, chasing each other with coiled wet towels while CSN&Y’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” blared out across the humid breeze. We’d ricochet off the diving board, our squeals of glee echoing around the block as the water exploded, sizzling, upon the baked concrete.

We tanned brown as biscuits, our hair a sun-bleached glossy white, and our ears gurgled with pool water sounding forever like moths frantically beating their wings against eardrums with each tilt of the head. We paraded across the clover-covered lawn wrapped in tatty Wonder Woman beach towels, laughing long and hard, doubling over, gasping for breath and suddenly needing to pee.

We would race across the street to Trish’s house for a bathroom break, then to mine for orange popsicles, the blacktop hissing hot and bubbly under our bare feet as we ran. Alicia’s mom always locked the house when she went to work, leaving Alicia to the mercy and goodwill of her friends. None of us ever gave it a second thought. That’s just the way it was.

Those scorching poolside days introduced us to bands that shaped our budding youth, and although our interest in them waned with the passing years, we never loved them more than we did in the summer of ’76.

Boston's epic first album was the soundtrack to that halcyon summer of blue, cloudless skies and shimmering heat mirages. Sometimes we caught “More Than a Feeling” on WEBN a dozen times a day, crackling out of the Realistic stereo that Alicia’s dad had installed in their Tiki bar at the side of the pool. We couldn’t get enough of that song and would have happily listened to nothing else given the chance. As each day bloomed brighter and hotter than the one before, so did our love for the band. We knew all the lyrics, and joyfully belted them out whenever the song came on. I got the 8-track through Columbia House Record Club and we played it on repeat so many times that the songs became muddied and warbled, the plastic casing puckering in the sticky heat.

The summer of ’76 was the last one we had as carefree, happy-go-lucky kids. We were invincible, inseparable and believed our heroes immortal. We assumed that life would march merrily along exactly the same as it did that last perfect summer. We had no idea that we were on the cusp of change, with puberty lurking stealthily around the corner, ready to pounce with acne, low self-esteem, heartbreak and loss of innocence.

And the heartbreak continues today for the loss of Brad Delp, lead singer of the band that gave us the soundtrack to our most idyllic, blissful summer.

“I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away…”

Has it really been 31 years since the Summer of '76?

"Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye..."

2007-03-01T18:17:00.000-05:00

Until I heard “Never Gonna Give You Up” playing in the background at a deli today, I’d nearly forgotten all about Shelly, the store’s biggest Rick Astley fan. For several years, coinciding with his ascent and self-imposed exile from popdom, every one of us must have talked to Shelly on the phone at least thrice weekly. She had it bad for Joey Lawrence too, but she could get a heady dose of Joey on TV each week, since he starred in the sitcom Blossom, but honey-voiced Astley was her Number One Heartthrob, and American television simply did not give her the fix she required.

Shelly loved Loved LOVED Rick Astley. Loved him as only the truly obsessive can. It got to be a running joke at the store that every time the phone rang we’d bet nickels on whether or not it was Shelly calling. This was in the days before caller-ID, but it wasn’t like we really needed caller-ID anyway. Usually one out of every ten calls turned up trumps, with Shelly barking out arcane Rick Astley questions at us.

Oh, we didn’t have to answer the usual stuff, like when the new single was being released, or what the next projected single was going to be, or whether or not the label was going to issue an extended dance remix. Nope, we had to answer questions about his house, what sort of dog he might have, what color were his eyes. Luckily for us, Philbert had the presence of mind to pick up a British teeny-bopper magazine he happened across at Books & Co. one day, after noticing that it had a two page q&a with the reluctant star. It was possibly the best three bucks we ever expensed to the store. We kept it filed with the special orders, within arms reach of the phone, should we have the misfortunate to answer her call.

Now as with many of our most memorable customers, there was something not quite right about Shelly, Rick Astley/Joey Lawrence obsession aside. We weren’t quite sure what was up with her, since our only contact with her was via telephone and she never stepped foot in our store in all the years I worked there, but after having dated a guy who had a brother with Downs Syndrome, I noticed a helluva lot of similar characteristics. There wasn’t anything wrong with her dialing finger though, let me tell you. A typical conversation with Shelly went something like this:

“Record Store, may I help you?”

“Ummmmmmmm. WhenisRickAstley’sbirthdaySNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…..”

Shelly always took a deep breath right after the Ummmmmmmm, and whatever air was left over at the end of the sentence was expelled down the line via her nose. She must have kept those nostrils pressed right up against the receiver. It had a fat greasy sound, like sizzling bacon.

“Hi Shelly. Let’s see. Rick Astley’s birthday, huh?” we’d make idle chit-chat, stalling for time while we flipped through the tatty pages of Smash Hits.

Silence. She was holding her breath, waiting to see if we had the correct answer.

“February 6, 1966” we’d proclaim triumphantly, to which she’d exhale a strangled “thankyouSNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn….” and hang up. This sort of thing went on daily, and after awhile we all learned a multitude of esoteric Rick Astley facts. Like how he started out his career by preparing the tea for the British production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and how he was “discovered” at age 19 singing in a band called F.B.I., and how he had two older brothers and one older sister. The magazine was so useful that the store eventually began importing it in via an indie distributor, usually a few weeks out of date but still chock full of enough Britpop nuggets that we developed a waiting list of special orders for it. If there was any Rick Astley trivia within the pages, the magazine was whisked across the street to Kinko’s for photocopying. In the course of several years, we built up a towering pile of Astley-related ephemera, all paid for on the store’s dime.

Reynolds used to really get into talking with Shelly. He could keep her on the phone longer than any of us, not that the rest of us tried very hard. But Reynolds was and is a people person, and if the store wasn’t busy when she rang, he’d lean on the glass showcase up front, thumbing through the pile of Smash Hits clippings, and occasionally making up his own Rick Astley Fun Facts, which he would scribble into the margins for the rest of us to follow in the event that we answered the phone and Shelly blasted the inquisition at us. He made up a Fun Fact about Rick Astley disliking Brussels sprouts, for instance. According to Reynolds lore, Rick Astley had also owned a Jack Russell terrier named “Alouishes” as a child, and his favorite drink was Tang.

He also managed to gain her trust enough to extract little innocent fantasies out of her, like how she wished the album sleeve for the “Hopelessly” single would come to life so she could brush the sand from his arm, and that his beige cardigan sweater looked so soft that she just wanted to touch it. And Reynolds would say something like, “Shelly, is that the only thing you’d like to touch?” and we’d all fall about ourselves in riotous laughter, while Reynolds scurried away toward the ticket booth with his hand cupped over the phone, lest she hear our howling and hang up. The one thing he never managed to wring out of her was her phone number. All of us had tried, unsuccessfully, to finagle her number so we could call her when we took shipment of new import 12” singles or Smash Hits magazines, but apparently Shelly had been warned by her parents not to give out their number, so she’d get angst-y and hang up on us whenever we asked for it. So each time any Astley-related memorabilia arrived, we’d simply slide it into a brown paper album bag with her name scrawled across, and place it with the special orders. I guess her parents used to stop by on their way to work early in the morning, before most of the staff had rolled out of bed, to pick up anything we had put aside for her. The Sav was the only person who ever interacted with them.

Shelly was absolutely shattered when Rick’s third album bombed. At first we tried to hide it from her, knowing what a fragile flower she was, but we couldn’t shield her from the horrible truth of Casey Kasem’s Top 40, when “Hopelessly” peaked at a sorry #31 and then fell away into obscurity. She was truly distraught and agitated, and ceased bellowing out trivia questions at us when she rang. Instead, she wanted to know how come we weren’t pushing the album harder. We were suddenly at fault for not forcing the album on the buying public. “HowcomenobodysbuyingRickAstleySNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.”

Bless her, we didn’t have the answers she needed. What we did have, however, was Reynolds. We’d disclose his hours to her each week, so that she had his virtual shoulder on which to cry. He eased her through those rocky months, giving her encouragement by telling her what a special fan she was, and how it was true-blue fans like her that were the best fans, and how he was certain that Rick appreciated her love and support. He went from poking gentle fun to being dial-a-shrink. All those years of chit-chatting had bonded them, and he knew how real her heartache was, and he took it upon himself to do something about it.

He rounded all of us up and requested that we go on a little treasure hunt. We were to find anything and everything related to Rick Astley that we could. Reynolds rang the record label and import companies, I spoke to our various clothing and memorabilia distributors, and The Murphdiver scoured Goldmine Magazine for collectibles. A few weeks later, we’d managed a promotional t-shirt, some 12” singles, loads of promotional flats and posters, a keyring, a teacup with his face on it, a couple of buttons, and our piece de resistance: an autographed glossy 8x10. We boxed it all up, wrapped it in gaily decorated paper, and typed up a little thank you note on pink treble clef stationary, and forged Rick Astley’s signature on it. Then we clued in The Sav so that he could give the box of goodies to Shelly’s folks the next time one of them stopped in.

Her parents made a special trip to the store one evening a few weeks later to personally thank the staff—and in particular Reynolds—for our kindness. Our offhand gesture had made their daughter the happiest teenager on the planet.

Astley retired from the world of pop music shortly after Shelly took receipt of that package and soon Shelly likewise vanished from our lives, to be glimpsed only as a flashback in a downtown deli on a rainy afternoon.

"And I'll raze your faith until the vein is done and dry..."

2007-02-23T17:27:00.000-05:00

I ventured out into the cold last night to let the exquisite Richard Buckner warm my soul at Southgate House. CR wasn’t interested in seeing him and doesn’t really know his music, so I went by myself. It was a weird experience to sit on my own the entire night with only a bottle of beer for company, but it didn’t make the show any less magical. I once was lost but now am found.

This is the third time I’ve seen him perform live, and each time has been a unique, rewarding experience. The first time I saw him he was still signed to MCA and was touring for Since. I cajoled Gazbot into going to Canal Street Tavern with me—even though he knew nothing about Buckner at the time-- and he was not disappointed. Neither was I, especially when he wandered by before the show and I went up and chatted with him. Now I’ll be the first to admit that he looks a bit intimidating and scary. He has a somewhat haunted look about him much of the time, and photographs only serve to enhance that somber, ominous appearance, but as we chatted his face broke out into a wide, glorious grin that completely brightened his entire being. Richard Buckner may not smile too often, but when he does, it will light up the darkest night; melt the coldest heart.

He had a lot to smile about back then. His album was getting decent airplay; his shows were well attended; he was garnering heaps of critical acclaim and was happily married to wife Penny, who accompanied him on drums.

When I saw him a year or two later, Penny had disappeared--the marriage over--and Buckner was achingly alone and spookily menacing on the Canal Street stage. He opened a suitcase full of noise and proceeded to turn all his beautiful ballads into screeching walls of feedback, and remade his up-tempo, jangly songs into funeral dirges. It felt as though he was exorcizing ghosts, and perhaps he was. I admit that my head hurt upon leaving the club, partly because I wasn’t ready for the noise, and partly because I couldn’t fathom the change.

Last night was the first time I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him with a full band, as opening act Six Parts Seven sat in with him during the first half of the show. Theirs is a languid, shimmery sound, replete with a rippling organ, plucky banjo, bright trumpet (and on one song, a tuba!!), and a bassist who strums the instrument as one would a guitar, which resonated the club with a deep, rich mellowness. While they were on stage I noticed Buckner—a bit heavier, hairier, and grayer,--setting up his musical wares over in the opposite corner of the club. He’s grown a big, bushy beard since the last time I saw him, a cross between Grizzly Adams and an uneasy Jesus. I went over and thanked him for continuing to put out such lovely, sublime work, and the grin he unfurled my way dazzled to such a degree that I was sure the Rapture was at hand. The clarion call of the trumpet on stage only heightened the surreal, holy incident, and I scuttled away, cowering like a devil from the shadow of grace.

Buckner is a true lonesome troubadour. He doesn’t interact with the audience at all once he is on stage. He seems to go into a trancelike state: nothing else exists outside of a resonating voice and a couple of guitars. His eyes burn with a forlorn intensity; sadness and rage an onion skin from the surface. His songs meld seamlessly, a trick he first employed on 2000’s The Hill, with an effects pedal echoing as he tunes and retunes his way around the fret board. Then his whisky-soaked, ragged voice rings out with such heartbreaking clarity that the audience is transfixed, unable to take their eyes from the stage, afraid to move, afraid to applaud, afraid to breathe, lest it break the spell. It is transcendent.

Let the evangelicals have Jesus. I’ve already willingly accepted Richard Buckner as my one true lord and savior. Amen.