July 27, 2009 - Back to the 60's....sort of!

John was on vacation last week so there was no show. However, I did meet up with him while he was in New Jersey. He and his daughter Mary along with his sister in-law Kara and her children Joseph & Olivia went to the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. I decided to tag along. It was a very nice day. After the aquarium we went back to NJ and met up with John's brother Chuck and the seven of us had a nice dinner. But enough of that. What happened on the show this week?


John interviewed Luka Bloom. It was a pre-recorded interview taped before his gig in Va a couple months ago. Before the interview, John played some very questionable songs, but he also managed to throw in Time Is On My Hands by The BB's and Victim by The Graveblankets. I guess those two made up for some of the techno-ish garbage he was also playing.


During the last show, I had played two cover songs by the band Chariot, Black Is Black (originally done by Los Bravos) and Him Or Me (Paul Revere And The Raiders). Playing those two songs got me thinking about some of the great songs from the 60's and how many really good cover songs I have by contemporary acts. That was all I needed for inspiration. The hard part was narrowing it down to the thirteen songs that were played (one of which, Norwegian Wood, was added by John, replacing the cover of Something Stupid by the Smithereens and Marti Jones). Here is what I decided on (with the original artist in parentheses):

Robert Crenshaw - This Guy's In Love With You (Burt Bacharach)
The Cavedogs - What's New Pussycat (Tom Jones)
Jamie Hoover - Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind)
Too Many Drivers - Norwegian Wood (The Beatles)
Michael Carpenter - Rain (The Beatles)
Michael Carpenter - Our Prayer (The Beach Boys)
The Raconteurs - Rich Kid Blues (Terry Reid)
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - I See The Rain (Marmalade)
The Grip Weeds - I Can Hear The Grass Grow (The Move)
Joe Jackson - Summer In The City (The Lovin' Spoonful)
The Posies - Leave Me Be (The Zombies)
Psychodots - Tired Of Waiting (The Kinks)
Continental Drifters - Meet On The Ledge (Fairport Convention)


I was waiting for John to tell me to call in and he started playing the Donohue Theme song. I guess that was my cue, so I called in and we started. I received positive comments about several of the selections. It seemed that several people who were listening really liked The Cavedogs and wanted to know more about them. There was also some positive feedback about the song Rich Kid Blues. A couple Raconteurs fans out there had no idea it was a cover. There was also praise for Meet on The Ledge, which is definitely as good as the Fairport Convention original which was sung by Sandy Denny.


If you listened to the show and liked anything that I played, please go search it out. If you don't know the original version of the songs I played, go check them out too. Originals, remakes, whatever! Check 'em all out. You won't be disappointed.


I'm sure I will definitely revisit this theme again in the future because there are so many great songs that need to be played. Next week, John will once again have Richard X. Heyman on the show and then on August 10th, John's guest will be Jamie Hoover. I haven't decided what I will be playing yet but that's the fun of this for me. I usually don't know what I'm going to play until a couple days before the show. See you next week!

July 13, 2009 - Nothing but Ken Stringfellow!

Several weeks ago (actually it was right before I got to his apartment the last time I was down there) John conducted a phone interview with Ken Stringfellow. For those who don't know who Ken Stringfellow is, he was a founding member of The Posies and is currently the leader of The Disciplines. He has also been a member of Big Star for the past 15 years, is one of the many adjunct members of The Minus 5 and was one of the R.E.M. sidemen for several years. He's probably the busiest musician that John has ever interviewed.


John chose last night to air the pre-recorded interview, so I chose last night to play nothing but songs that Ken Stringfellow has appeared on. To give John enough material to cover his part of the show AND my part of the show, I sent him 35 songs for him to choose from. We ended up playing 20 of those 35, which was a lot more than I ever expected to be used. But then again, the show ran until 10:45pm instead of ending at 10pm, so that is part of the reason. To accompany the interview, John played these songs:


The Disciplines - Get It Right
The Posies - Flavor Of The Month (acoustic)
The Disciplines - Oslo
The Disciplines - Yours For The Taking
The Disciplines - Best Mistake
Ken Stringfellow - One Morning
The Minus 5 - Emperor Of The Bathroom


At this point John played the "Donohue Theme" which began my segment. John had been on a conference call since the show began and he hung up on the call because he couldn't hear me. The real reason why he couldn't hear me was because his headphones were plugged into his laptop instead of the board at the station. Classic John Campbell!!! Anyway, here is what I played:


Ken Stringfellow - Ask Me No Questions
Big Star - Best Chance
The Posies - I May Hate You SOmetimes
Chariot - Black Is Black
Chariot - Him Or Me
Saltine - Find Yourself Alone
The Loud Family - Still Its Own Reward
The Minus 5 - A Thousand Years Away
The Minus 5 - What I Don't Believe
The Posies - Solar Sister (demo)
The Posies - Daily Mutilation (demo)
Big Star - Hung Up With Summer
The Disciplines - Wrong Lane

I've never seen The Posies play live. I did see Ken once at The Mercury Lounge. He was the opener and did a solo set then played keyboards with the Minus 5 (who were augmented by Dennis Diken on percussion that night) While I was away last month, Ken Stringfellow opened for Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 and then the following night, The Posies played the same venue. Had I been home, I probably would have been at both shows. Oh well!


John is on vacation next week so there will be no show. We'll be back on July 27th, which gives me two weeks to figure out what I am playing. I'm sure I'll still wait until the last minute. It's more fun that way!

July 6, 2009 - More Girls

Last week's show was cancelled because John was "quarantined". Right as I was finishing up sending the songs for the week, John told me he was cancelling the show. That meant that I didn't have to put anything together for this week. I would just use what I had sent for last week. That made my 4th of July weekend that much more enjoyable, because I didn't have to spend several hours putting music together.


John's guest was Sara Taney Humphreys who has a novel out called The Amoveo Legacy, which is a romance novel about shapeshifters. It was a good interview. I found her very interesting. Her second book, An Amoveo Heart is due out later in the year. I'm sure my sister Debbie would probably love the books.


For my segment, I decided to revisit the "girl song" theme that I started in May. John decided to run late again, so Donohue's Music Den went from 9:30-10:30. I played some brand new stuff and a few older things. I played all but two of the songs that were sent. I guess I'll hold those two for the next "girl" show. Here is what was played this week:



Young Fresh Fellows - Betty, Let The Good Times Crawl
The Minus 5 - Vintage Violet
The Shut-Ups - Becky B. (It's Summer)
Jellyfish - Calling Sarah
Poundcake - Marian P. Hammer Day
Valentine Smith - Disappointing Mary
Lemonheads - Layin' Up With Linda
Kevn Kinney - The House Above Tina's Grocery
Gear Daddies - Goodbye Marie
Trusty - There Goes Sally




The last time I did this, I started the show with Here Comes Sally, so I thought it was very appropriate to end this one with There Goes Sally. I have no idea what next week's show will be yet, but I'm sure it will be something interesting. I also wanted to thank my lovely lady friends for allowing me to post their pictures again.