January 26th - John Interviews Scott Miller

On this show, John interviewed Scott Miller (the REAL Scott Miller, not the other guy from Virginia).

Scott is a brilliant songwriter and a genuinely nice guy. He led Game Theory in the 80's and The Loud Family in the 90's. His most recent album was a 2006 collaboration with Anton Barbeau called What If It Works? John did not know much about Scott before I educated him. Fortunately John decided to contact Scott and he agreed to be on the show. I thought the interview was great! Scott was very interesting and I didn't want it to end. He has agreed to come back on the show at some point in the future and I hope they can work it out because I'm looking forward to see what else he has to say.

John started the interview by playing the first two tracks off 1987's Lolita Nation, which was one of the best albums released in the 80's. He played Kenneth, What's The Frequency and Not Because You Can. During the interview he played Take Me Down (Too Halloo) from the 1993 debut Loud Family Album Plants And Birds And Rocks And Things (yes, the album was named after a line in the America song A Horse With No Name). He also played two songs from What If It Works? - Anton Barbeau's Pop Song 99 and Scott's Total Mass Destruction.

I thought it was one of the best interviews John has done and hopefully they keep getting better from here.

Right before my segment started, John played Astral Man, by the Grip Weeds. Kurt Reil of the Grip Weeds will be the guest on next week's show. During my segments (40 minutes this week, which was much better than last week's 10 minutes), I played:

Mitch Easter - 1 1/2 Way Street from Dynamico

Anton Barbeau - King Of Missouri from King Of Missouri

Gil Ray - To The Stars from I Am Atomic Man!

The Grip Weeds - Ain't No Big Thing, Babe from Infinite Soul

Alison Faith Levy - The Apprentice from My World View

Shalini - The Surface And The Shine from The Surface And The Shine

Next week I will have to find some sort of complimentary music to The Grip Weeds. I will probably play one or two versions of I Can Hear The Grass Grow, but other than that you'll have to tune in to find out what I pick. Till then.....

January 19th-125 Records

John had Joe Mallon from 125 records on the show tonight. Due to technical difficulties, the interview started later than usual, which meant that the interview ended later than usual, which meant that I only got TEN MINUTES on the air. I know it happens, but I hate it when I get shortchanged. I got 2 hours and 22 songs last week so I shouldn't complain about 2 songs and ten minutes this week. John wanted to run late, but the annoying brats from Syracuse took over the station at 10:04, cutting off my second and final song. So, what did I get to play this week? I played:

Don Dixon : In A Politician's Bed from The Entire Combustible World In One Small Room

Anton Barbeau: Octagon from The Golden Boot

Had I gotten more time, I might have played Mitch Easter, Statuesque, Alison Faith Levy, Econoghost, The Loud Family, Belle De Gama, Shalini and Gil Ray.

Earlier in the show, John played Astral Man by the Grip Weeds and Thrill Me by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, so all wasn't lost.

The Donohue Theme Song, which is performed by Joe Marra, Lou Luca and Ron Cianciaruso was played tonight for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. Liz Bratko suggested that I keep track of how many times it gets played this year, so I will start listing whether or not it is played.

January 19th is also the birthday of both Liz Bratko and Mike Stier. Mike missed his birthday wish because he's getting ready to fly to CA but Lizzie was listening and heard her birthday wish. Happy Birthday to both of you!

Next week John will be interviewing Scott Miller. That is an interview that I'm definitely looking forward to. I wouldn't even mind getting bumped for him. I still have no idea what I will be playing next week. I guess you'll have to tune in to find out.

January 12th- Donohue takes over the show!

For this week's show, I drove down to Fairfax and did the show live with John. The cd's in the player for the drive down were:

1 - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives- Communion
2 - A cd-r containing about 60 minutes of songs by Lou Luca from various years
3 - The Bears - Eureka!
4 - The Beat Farmers - The Pursuit Of Happiness
5 - Mike Keneally And Beer For Dolphins - Dancing
(Onoffon by Mission Of Burma was in the player but didn't get played)

I met up with John about 3:30pm on Monday. We had a couple beers then went to dinner before the show. The restaurant had Pyramid Hefeweizen, which I hadn't had in about 10 years. Still a tasty beer! Then we headed to the studio to start the show. We had several technical problems, the biggest of which was a lack of headphones, so we couldn't hear what was actually going on. This made the interview segment with The BB's (Lou Luca & Ron Cianciaruso) very difficult. I was in one room on the cellphone with them conducting the interview while John was in the booth controlling everything and chiming in when necessary (but the 3 of us couldn't hear what John was saying). Even with the problems, it was a decent show. I had a lot of fun and it went by way too quickly. I got to play 22 songs, which was about half of what I brought. John opened the show with his standard opener, Radio Song by Des Coffield and his daughter Nicola. After that I took over and here is what I played.

1 - The Rave-Ups: Hallelujah (For The Loser) from the album Chance
2 - Paul Weller: From The Floorboards Up from the album As Is Now
3 - Springhouse: Eskimo from the album Land Falls
4 - dada: 7 dot 1 from the ep A Friend Of Pat Robertson
5 - Michael Carpenter & The Cuban Heels: I Love You Period from the ep Give The Bone A Dog
6 - Georgie James: More Lights from the album Places
7 - The New Pornographers: Twin Cinemas from the album Twin Cinema
8 - Beat Farmers: Hollywood Hills from the album The Pursuit Of Happiness
9 - The Bears: On from the album Eureka!

Interview with Lou Luca & Ron Cianciaruso of The BB's
10 - The BB's: A Chance
11 - The BB's with Wayne & Johnny B: Long Hard Day
12 - Johnny B Irizarry & Big Dogs That Talk: The Girl From Agua Caliente

13 - Hindu Rodeo: Band With My Dad from the album Nalladaloobr
14 - Continental Drifters: I Can't Make It Alone from the album Continental Drifters
15 - Psychodots: Hell from the album Awkwardsville
16 - The Residents: Easter Woman from The Commercial Album
17 - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives: Second Half Replay from the album Communion
18 - Firewater: Six Forty Five from the album The Golden Hour
19 - Jordan Zevon: Studebaker from the album Insides Out
20 - Fatima Mansions: Chemical Cosh from the album Viva Dead Ponies
21 - Mercury Rev: Secret For A Song from the album The Secret Migration
22 - Morphine: Buena from the album Cure For Pain

This was probably the quickest John ever got out of the studio because he had nothing to clean up and I had all my stuff packed and ready to go by the time the last song ended. On Tuesday night we went to Iota's in Arlington to see James Intveld, who is a rockabilly guy. Very good show. The guitar player was very talented. On Wednesday morning I got back in the car and drove back to Jersey. The cd's for the drive back were:

1 - Poundcake - Aloha Via Satellite
2 - Psychodots - Awkwardsville
3 - Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
4 - Paul Weller - As Is Now
5 - The Rudds - Get The Femuline Hang On
(Wood by Moxy Fruvous is still waiting to be heard)

Now I have to get ready for next week's show. John's guest next week is Joe Mallon from 125 Records. Because of that, I'm thinking I will put together some songs from 125 artists and friends. The show is back to its regular 8-10pm slot which means it's back to 9:15pm for me. For the next several months I will be competing with 24 and will lose some of the listeners. Oh well. I'll keep plugging anyway. Here are some relevant links to plug my friends:

Johnny B Irizarry: www.myspace.com/johnnybigdog
Johnny's band Jerry Hat Trick & The Flatliners: http://www.jhtmusic.com/
The BB's webpage: http://www.thebbsmusic.com/
The BB's IAC page: http://independentartistscompany.com/artist.aspx?ID=29161

1st Show of 2009: The Letter "A"

I've decided to do a blog for Donohue's Music Den. In this I will list the songs that I played each week along with whatever else I feel like adding. Donohue's Music Den is part of the Independents Uncovered Radio show that airs on http://www.wgmuradio.com/ every Monday night from 8-10pm. The show has been on since March 2008. My segment started in May 2008. Why did I wait until now to start this? Mostly laziness on my part. So here goes.....The first show of 2009.

The first show of 2009 aired on January 5th from 7-9:30pm. John was generous and let me play NINE songs. The songs were:

Ass Ponys: Not Since Superman Died - from the album Grim
Australian Blonde with Steve Wynn: The Last One Standing - from the album Momento
Australian Blonde with Steve Wynn: Suddenly - from the album Momento
Murray Attaway: No Tears Tonight - from the album In Thrall
Jon Auer: Beautiful Stranger - from the album "6 1/2"
Arrogance: Nothing To Fear - from the album The 5' 11" Record
Chris Arduser: She Might Try - from the album The Celebrity Motorcade
The Argument: Speak My Mind - from the album Recess Serendade
Murray Attaway: Fall So Far - from the album In Thrall

The show was supposed to end at 8:45 because the building was closing at 9om, but John went until almost 9:30 and still managed to not get locked in. Oh well. Better luck next time.

I'm really looking forward to the next show, January 12th. That show will also begin at 7pm but this time I will be in the studio and taking everything over. I will be picking all the music. Aside from premiering A Chance, the latest song by The BB's, I have no idea what I will play. But whatever I do play will end up here after the show.