September 27, 2010 - A Toast To The Ladies

John decided to make September "Women In Music" month. I was a little late to the party because I had other music backed up from previous shows that were postponed. I didn't get around to my week of music featuring some of the best female voices in the biz until the final week of the month. But at least I got to it, right?


When putting my music list together, I thought about what my criteria would be. Do I go with all girl bands like The Bangles, The Donnas, Bloodsugar, etc. Do I go with bands with prominent female members who aren't necessarily singers like Let's Active, Guadalcanal Diary, The Baseball Project or even Black Flag? How about incredible musicians that don't sing, like Julie Slick? In the end, I decided to stick to songs with female lead vocals because that is what John was expecting from me.


I grew up with five older sisters (and one brother) and they were all instrumental in developing my musical tastes. I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't been listening to Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Renaissance, Steeleye Span, Linda Ronstadt, Karla Bonoff, Heart and many other female artists and female fronted bands before the age of 10. Thanks to all of you for being great siblings and exposing me to such wonderful music at such a young age!


John had no guest scheduled for the show so I got to play more than my usual share of music. Instead of my normal 45-60 minutes, I was on for more than an hour and a half. I got to play 18 songs and here they are:


Continental Drifters (Vicky Peterson & Susan Cowsil) - Na Na
Game Theory (Donnette Thayer) - Mammoth Gardens
Sass Jordan - Sun's Gonna Rise
Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny) - Genesis Hall
Steeleye Span (Maddy Prior) - Cam Ye O'er Frae France
Renaissance (Annie Haslam) - I Think Of You
Marti Jones - One Shade Darker
Sam Phillips - Standing Still
The Reivers (Kim Longacre) - In Your Eyes

Syd Straw - Think Too Hard
Jennifer Trynin - All This Could Be Yours
Bettie Serveert (Carol Van Dijk) - Story In A Nutshell
Bettie Serveert (Carol Van Dijk) - Story In A Nutshell
The Bangles - Stealing Rosemary
Jennifer Foster - Charlie
Universal Honey (Leslie Stanwick) - Just Before Mary Goes
The Motels (Martha Davis) - Change My Mind
Holly & The Italians (Holly Beth Vincent) - Tell That Girl To Shut Up
Martha & The Muffins (Martha Johnson) - Echo Beach


No, that was not a type. The Bettie Serveert song was played twice. At least it was only 1:10 so it shouldn't have annoyed anyone to hear it twice. I sent John enough music for two weeks so we'll do this again next week. I've definitely got some good stuff left.


One last thing. I need to thank Lou Luca for providing me with the title of this week's blog, since that was the name of an album he did in the 80's. Thanks Lou. See everyone next week!

September 20, 2010 - What Are Friends For?

I was really looking forward to last week's show but alas, it didn't happen. John was stuck at work and couldn't make it to the studio, so about an hour before it was scheduled to begin, we had to cancel. The main reason why I was excited was that I was playing some music from some of my good friends and we were going to have a pretty sizable listening audience. The cancellation pushed everything back to this week, which made this week a good show.

Al Knight and Carl Gabel are two thirds of the cover band Frantic! I have seen Frantic! well over one hundred times and Al & Carl, along with drummer Bob Landry and soundgirl Mary Knight are good friends of mine. When I heard that Al & Carl had recorded one of their originals under one of their alternate band names (Yes Mistress), I couldn't wait to hear it. Judy Of The Angels is the song and it did not disappoint. I loved it! Definitely my kind of thing.


Johnny B. Irizarry is one of Lou Luca's closest friends and I met John thru Lou and boy am I glad I met him. He is immensely talented and has a new band called Small Town Sheiks along with his friend Mike Smith. They have a new cd coming out called
Songs For Parker and I couldn't be happier that I was able to play one of their songs before the release of the cd. Can't wait to hear the whole thing!


As long as I was playing music from two of my friends, I might as well go back to my go-to guy, Lou Luca. Lou didn't have anything new for me yet, so I went back to one of my favorites, The BB's song I See Your Love Is There.


These three songs were the centerpiece of this week's show, but the rest of the music was pretty good too. I had brand new songs from The Graveblankets, The Baseball Project, Richard Thompson and a new project called Angelfire, which is Steve Morse along with singer Sarah Spencer. I went back to the 60's for forgotten gems from The Zombies, The Hollies and Terry Reid and I even got to play a song from forgotten 90's Surf band, Spies Who Surf (which also involved me having to explain the meaning of the song title, which led to much awkwardness!). Anyway, here's the complete song list for this week:


The Virtues - Idiot Box
The Red Button - Ooh Girl
The Baseball Project - DL Blues
The BB's - I See Your Love Is There
Small Town Sheiks - Can You Feel It
Yes Mistress - Judy Of The Angels
Terry Reid - Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace
The Hollies - Heading For A Fall
The Zombies - Leave Me Be
The Graveblankets - Sloganeering
Richard Thompson - The Money Shuffle (demo)
Steve Morse & Sarah Spencer (Angelfire) - Terrible Things To Lose
Spies Who Surf - Necrophiliac


John had originally planned for the month of September to be "Women In Music" month, but this was our first show for September. Next week I will jump on that "Women In Music" bandwagon and scour my collection for some great music from some wonderful ladies. If you want to see what I choose, you'll have to listen in next Monday!

August 30, 2010 - Ready For Labor Day

The music for this show was originally supposed to be played on August 23rd. But unfortunately, John had to cancel that show. That gave me a week where I didn't have to worry about what I was going to play. By the time the show came around, I had forgotten what I had sent so it was all new to me too!


This week, John strayed from the normal show format. He started with last years show starter, Radio Song from Des Coffield and then jumped right into an hour of music from Scotland. He Had no guests scheduled, so after the Scotland hour was over, I was on for the rest of the show. Another twist was that my segment started before I had even called in, so John played the 1st song while he got me on the phone.


I wasn't prepared for almost 90 minutes of music so after we played everything I had sent for the week, we had to dig in to some unused music from previous shows. Late in the show John Irizarry requested a song from Lou Luca. Lou was not listening this week but I covered all the bases by playing a song by WAJOLO, the band that they are both in. By the end of the night, We got in 20 songs during my segment. Here they are:


Utopia - My Angel
The O'Neders - The Kids Are Alright
The Left Banke - She May Call You Up Tonight
Jamie Hoover & Bill Lloyd - Screen Time
Sloan - The Rest Of My Life
She Swings, She Sways - You Stole My Heart
Doug Gillard - Gibraltar
Jim Bob - When You Were My Woman
Bourgeois Tagg - I Don't Mind At All
Doug Powell - Dinah Might
Radio City - It's Ok
Buzz Of Delight - The Story Of Love
The Marigolds - Shame On You
The Breakdowns - Walk Around With You Tonight
She Swings, She Sways - He Loves Me
Moe Berg - How Will I Find You In Heaven
Radio City - Don't Mistake Love
WAJOLO - Down This Road
Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation
Husker Du - No Promise Have I Made


It has taken me a week and a half to write this thing. Mostly because I forgot about it. I was planning on writing it immediately after the show but didn't. Then I forgot about it for 10 days. I'm sure no one was missing it because no one reads it besides me anyway. We're off for Labor Day and will be back in business on Monday, September 13th. On the 13th I'll have some brand new music as well as some music from a few of my friends. See you then!