While looking for something else, I stumbled across this playlist commentary from last November. With a minor tweak, it still fits, and it serves again as this week's check-in of where we think we are and what this place looks like today.
It's very difficult to dance on a tightrope, especially upon such a slender thread stretched taut above an emotional abyss. It's been more than a year and a half since America broke my heart. That wound has not healed, and I suspect it never will.
But the tightrope says DANCE! We lack footing, we lack style, and I for damned sure lack motivation. Every day is a struggle to address the need to engage in things that are light and sustaining--the need to dance, the need to breathe, the need to love, the need to dream, the need to create, the need to live--and reconcile those needs with the darkness casting its toxic shadow over all efforts in all directions. Things are not as they should be.
But the tightrope says we should dance, and maybe the tightrope ain't wrong about that. There are things we can't control; conceding that point is not the same as conceding defeat. And yeah, it's a challenge to even feign the merest interest in enjoying...anything.
We dance anyway. Dancing with heavy heart is better than allowing the beat to cease altogether. We can't dance blithely, unaware or uncaring, and dancing itself doesn't quite qualify as an act of resistance. It's still something, still better than nothing, if “nothing” means that damned abyss from which we're trying so desperately to escape.
And if we're still dancing, we still have a chance to reclaim the delight that has been stolen from us. The odds...aren't great. However, if my understanding of the relevant math is correct, a chance is at least a smidge greater than no chance.
The tightrope says dance. Okeydokey, tightrope. I pray for a time when we can all dance together again. I'm a ray of motherlovin' sunshine, I am. But I'm looking to the skies. I'm looking for light. And I'm looking to dance.
Join hands. Believe. Dance. It won't solve any of the problems. But we can't solve a damned thing if we give up our right to what's light.
This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week. Seeking light. It's out there somewhere.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO.
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).
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Carl's new book Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is available! Read about it here. Autographed copies of Carl's previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) are available here, and you can still get Carl's previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
TIRnRR # 1344: 7/5/2026
TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Songs we think we ain’t played before are listed in bold
THE BLUE SHADOWS: The Trouble With Trouble (Columbia, Lucky To Me)
ACTION SKULLS: Waiting For Day (n/a, From A Running Horse)
THE BEACH BOYS: That's Why God Made The Radio (Capitol, That's Why God Made The Radio)
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BEN VAUGHN: Don't Say You Don't Wanna (Enigma, Dressed In Black)
BANDA AL9: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Wicked Cool, single)
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: Let's Get Together (RCA, 2400 Fulton Street)
PRINCE: I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Warner Brothers, The Hits/The B-Sides)
TALKING HEADS: I Wish You Wouldn't Say That [demo] (Rhino, Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live)
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SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go (single) BETH PEABODY: Out And About (single) ANGINE DE POITRINE: Sherpa (n/a, Vol. 1)
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BETH PEABODY: Get It Out (single) HERMAN'S HERMITS: A Must To Avoid (MGM, Hold On!)
THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: Please Say Please (DCC, The Great Lost Twilley Album)
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COCKEYED GHOST: I Hate Rock n' Roll (Big Deal, The Scapegoat Factory)
HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: It's All Me (Damaged Goods, Truly She Is None Other)
THE FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache (RPM, Sounds Like The Flirtations)
BLONDIE: One Way Or Another Way (Chrysalis, The Platinum Collection)
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TOM ROBINSON BAND: Up Against The Wall (Demon, VA: 100 Hits Punk & New Wave)
PATTI ROTHBERG: Double Standards (Double On Tundra, Double Standards)
ELVIS COSTELLO: I'm Not Angry (Rykodisc, My Aim Is True)
THE YACHTS: Look Back In Love (Not In Anger) [single version] (Cherry Red, VA: Suffice To Say--The Complete Yachts Collection)
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The Greatest Record Ever Made!
ANNETTE FUNICELLO [with THE BEACH BOYS]: The Monkey's Uncle (Rhino, The Best Of Annette)
OWSLEY: Uncle John's Farm (Giant, Oswley)
MARVIN GAYE: I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Motown, VA: Hitsville USA)
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SPECTRAFLAME: Life Is Fine (single) THE MnM'S: I'm Tired (Burger, Melts In Your Ears 1980-81)
THE MILKSHAKES: Love You Through The Whole Night (Damaged Goods, Talkin' Bout...Milkshakes!/After School Special)
THE MONKEES: For Pete's Sake [TV edit] (Rhino, Headquarters & More)
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THE RAMONES: Touring (Radioactive, Mondo Bizarro)
THE SAINTS: (I'm) Stranded (Amsterdamned, [I'm] Stranded)
THE HOLLIES: King Midas In Reverse (EMI, All The Hits And More: The Definitive Collection)
FREDA PAYNE: Band Of Gold (Rhino, VA: Can You Dig It? The '70s Soul Experience)
THE BEATLES: You Won't See Me (Capitol, Rubber Soul)
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