February 23rd - The music of The Church

This week John interviewed Amy Petty and I played music from The Church. The show had its usual technical problems. While Amy Petty eventually sounded pretty good, John sounded like he was on AM radio or in a bathroom(or both). During my segment, I was told that I wasn't loud enough, which is what happens when the phone is held directly up to the microphone, because hardly anything works in the studio. So, anyway...

Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper of The Church each released solo albums last week, so I figured it was the best way to play new music from each of them along with new and old music from their band.

We started with an acoustic version of Under The Milky Way, from their 2005 release El Momento Descuidado. After that, I tried to play The Unguarded Moment from the 1981 Church album Of Skins And Heart, but John had forgotten to bring that song with him. So instead, we followed it up was Celestial, from Steve Kilbey's new album Painkiller and High Down Below from Nightjar, the new album from Marty Willson-Piper. We then finished up with two more Church songs. The first one was a cover of the Television song Friction, from The Church's 1999 covers album, A Box Of birds and finally, Unified Field, from the 2006 album Uninvited, Like The Clouds. They have a new album schduled for release in April and I'm looking forward to hearing what it sounds like.

Next week marks the first anniversary of the show. John will be interviewing Lori Diamond and has plenty of surprises in store to celebrate the 1st anniversary.

February 16th - FINALLY back on the air!

After two weeks of problems, the show was finally back on the air. Two weeks ago, John's car broke down and he had to cancel the show and the Grip Weeds interview. Last week we were all set to go, but the station wasn't streaming so if we did a show, no one would be able to hear it. This week, we finally got back to it. We were a little rusty and it showed. For the first 10 minutes, we were both kind of out of sync and it showed. Long pauses, awkward silences, John losing the cd he was about to play and replaying the song he had just played. Things like that.

Fortunately it got better as it went along. I played five songs that would have been played the week before and they were all brand new releases. Here is what I played:

A.C. Newman - There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve...
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Hurry For The Sky
Cut Of Your Hands - Turn Cold
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You
Letters Lost - I Melt With You (Modern English cover)

We ran out of time and I didn't get to play a song from the new Mark Olson & Gary Louris album. Hopefully I'll get to that one soon.


John's interview tonight was with George Mason University student Alex Rhoads. She is a VERY talented singer/songwriter who play all the instruments herself (except drums). She brought her acoustic guitar with her to the studio and played two songs plus two studio recording from her cd. I was very impressed with her and you should check her out at http://www.alexrhoads.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/alexrhoads
Check out Alex Rhoads. You won't be sorry!

February 9th - Cancelled AGAIN!

I tuned in to Independents Uncovered tonight at 7:30 and got nothing but silence. After re-booting to make sure it wasn't just my problem, I let John know he wasn't broadcasting. After finding out that "technical support" was aware of the problem, he decided to pack it in and go home. Before John left, he found out that the station wasn't broadcasting last Monday either, so even if he had made it to the studio, there wouldn't have been a show then either (so I guess it is a good thing John never made it to the studio).

Had there been a show tonight, I would have played brand new music from A.C. Newman, Mark Olson & Gary Louris, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, Letters Lost, The Pain Of Being Pure At Heart and Cut Off Your Hands. I guess I'll save them for next week, if there IS a next week!

February 2nd - Show Cancelled!

John was supposed to be interviewing The Grip Weeds on the show, but his car broke down and he wasn't able to get to the studio. With John unable to get to the studio, that meant the show was cancelled. Hopefully The Grip Weeds will be rescheduled soon because I was looking forward to that interview.

I was planning to play some Grip Weeds plus songs by The Rooks, The Prisoners and The Move. I may play them next week, or I may decide to go in a different direction. I guess it depends on my mood as we get closer to next week's show. My biggest thought right now is.......Is anyone reading this thing or am I just doing it for my own sanity. Hmmm........