Wait--a new single by THE HALF/CUBES covering SLADE? Yeah, that's a good way to kick off a rock 'n' roll radio show. We also have new and recent winners from THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING TOM KENNY, THE AMPLIFIER HEADS, PLASTICSOUL, COCKTAIL SLIPPERS, WILDERSPOOL, THE POZERS [FEATURING ROGER JOSEPH MANNING], BRIJITTE WEST AND THE GREENOWSKIS, PERILOUS, TOMAS NILSSON, DEAN LANDEW, RADIO KARMA, THE KENNEDYS, and THE GRIP WEEDS, all supported 'n' supplemented by the across-the-decades delights of ETTA JAMES, THE RAMONES, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, THE YARDBIRDS, RUSH, TAVARES, TREVOR BLENDOUR, 1.4.5., AMOEBA TEEN, NIKKI AND THE CORVETTES, THE MONKEES, THE DEAD BOYS, SYLVAIN SYLVAIN, THE DIXIE CUPS, THE TRAVELING WILBURYS, WARREN ZEVON, ABBA, THE UNDERTONES, THE ISLEY BROTHERS, THE TREMELOES, T. REX, WEIRD AL YANKOVIC, TODD RUNDGREN, TALKING HEADS, THE SUPREMES, ELVIS COSTELLO, ALEX CHILTON, THE DONNAS, and more. The whole thing starts with THE HALF/CUBES dimming the lights. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming via sparksyracuse.org, and as WESTCOTT RADIO on the Radio Garden app. The weekend stops HERE!
My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Saturday, September 26, 2026
10 SONGS: 9/26/2026
10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1354
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING TOM KENNY: Got No Mind
Revealed at last! Got, got, got no mind/Got no mind, but I don't mind!
We've been playing this fantastic forthcoming new single for weeks, all the while coyly refusing to, y'know, say what it is. That ends now, as this week's radio show began proudly and loudly with "Got No Mind" by the Flashcubes featuring Tom Kenny. The song was written by Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong, and a basement recording of "Got No Mind" served as one of two tracks ("Guernica" was the other) on the B-side of the Flashcubes' 1978 debut single "Christi Girl." As our local Syracuse music community and the larger international power pop community continue to mourn PA's passing earlier this year, his friends are assembling a proper tribute to his impact and legacy.
The tribute starts with this brand new version of Paul Armstrong's Cubic classic "Got No Mind." Recorded in 2026 by the surviving members of the Flashcubes--guitarist Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay, and drummer/producer Tommy Allen--aided 'n' abetted by guitarists Chris Armstrong (PA's son) and Mark Doyle, with gang vocals by Paul's Boston-area buds Mike Gent, Sal Baglio, and Barrence Whitfield, the track is propelled into the motherlovin' stratosphere with vocals by Syracuse's favorite son, famed voice actor, performer, singer, and all-around best guy ever Tom Kenny.
The new "Got No Mind," backed with Paul and his fellow Flashcubes' previously-released (and KICKASS!) track "Reminisce," will be released in November by the visionary Big Stir Records label, and it will be available as a digital single and as a 7" 45 RPM rekkid. The physical single will also be sold at the sure-to-be seismic event A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO PAUL ARMSTRONG, which is set to peel the paint off the walls at Syracuse's legendary home of rock 'n' roll The Lost Horizon on Saturday, November 7th.
The Lost Horizon show will feature live performances by Amerikan Primitive, Perilous, 1.4.5. (with The Wax Museum host Ronnie Dark), Boston's Drivin' Sisters, and Tom Kenny, culminating in the Flashcubes' farewell to their brother Paul Armstrong. Dana and I will be your hosts, but don't let that stop you. BE THERE!!
Meanwhile, TIRnRR will keep on programming "Got No Mind" by the Flashcubes featuring Tom Kenny. I also played the track this week during my guest appearance on The Spoon podcast alongside The Men Of The Spoon Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers. True believers. And friends. If there's ever a chance to celebrate the power of friendship and the magic of music...
...I don't mind.
PERILOUS: Overwhelmed By Reality
One of my favorite current bands, I'm looking forward to seeing Perilous again at the Lost in November. Mind you, I did just see them last week at a benefit show for Spark Syracuse, but who sez I can't already be looking forward to seeing 'em again? Man, when I was a club-legal teen in the late '70s, I saw the Flashcubes as often as I could, and the buzz of a Perilous show calls to mind (as in got-got-got no mind!) the buzz of a Flashcubes show. The current Perilous single "Overwhelmed By Reality" spins again on our next show. I'm looking forward to that, too.
BALLZY TOMORROW: Five Personalities
My above-crowed guest appearance on The Spoon began with our Robbie Rist hisself, operating under his rockin' pop dba Ballzy Tomorrow for an invigmoratin' take on the Flashcubes' "Five Personalities." Robbie's rendition comes to us from Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, a 2025 passion project I spearheaded with the good folks at Big Stir. Robbie does an amazing job with this song I've loved for so long, and I believe some members of the Flashcubes regarded Robbie's take as the definitive "Five Personalities." And looking back on the album, I take some satisfaction in knowing Paul Armstrong lived to hear artists like Ballzy Tomorrow, Sorrows, Hamell On Trial, the Verbs with Meegan Voss and Steve Jordan, the Peppermint Kicks, Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, and Graham Parker and Mike Gent cover songs written or co-written by PA.
THE HALF/CUBES: The Mighty Quinn
The Half/Cubes are of course half of the Flashcubes, Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen, working with Randy Klawon and Fernando Perdomo, plus occasional extra special guests. From Jem Records' all-star various-artists tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Bob Dylan, we've been playing the Half/Cubes' ace take on Bashful Bobby's "The Mighty Quinn" because--let's face it!--you've not seen nothing like the Mighty Quinn.
On our next show, we'll move our intrepid Dylanmania to a another winner from Jem Records Celebrates Bob Dylan, this time courtesy of the Grip Weeds. And we will open the show with a new single by the Half/Cubes, covering the mighty Slade. Lights out, lads.
THE RAMONES: Teenage Lobotomy
"Teenage Lobotomy?" May haveta amend that to "Senior Citizen Lobotomy," but otherwise? Some things don't change. Guess I'll have to break the news that I GOT NO MIND to lose....
GREAT BUILDINGS: Hold On To Something
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
HOLLY AND THE ITALIANS: Rock Against Romance
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's willful short-attention-span format discourages longer tracks. When it comes to TIRnRR airplay, a great under-two-minute track is in far better position than a great four-minute song to snag a berth on our playlist. And a five-minute song? This generally isn't the right show for that.
So I concede the fact that a track that's more than five and a half minutes long seems an unlikely component of any given episode of TIRnRR. It's not unprecedented, nor even sufficient cause to stop the presses, but it is something that doesn't happen very often. It happened this week with our first ever spin of "Rock Against Romance" by Holly and the Italians.
Holly and the Italians' 1981 debut (and, really, only) album The Right To Be Italian was a love at first spin, a perfect record that I've always loved without reservation or qualifying clause. Like, all-time Top 20 album at the very least. Its 5:39 closing track "Rock Against Romance" is, I think, the only one of the original LP's ten tracks that we've never played on the show, and hearing it again during a recent commute convinced me that I needed to take a stab at squeezing it in somewhere.
"Rock Against Romance" is nothing short of epic, a full body-and-soul immersion in love's promise and pitfalls, equal parts waifish and steely-eyed, dizzying in its giddiness, grounded in its world weariness, and stubborn enough to dig in its high heels and take arms against a sea of troubles. I would not be shocked to learn that the singer's packin' heat and has the will to use it.
It's also versed in every lesson it learned from listening to pop radio and teen bistro jukeboxes, reading rock mags, pulp paperbacks, and romance comic books alike, and boppin' to the beat in any dive bar that would allow it (or at least not care enough to ban it). Like CREEM magazine said, The Right To Be Italian sounds like Lesley Gore backed by Leave Home-era Ramones. "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" is its most authoritative statement. "Youth Coup" is its manifesto.
"Rock Against Romance" is its mic drop. Gotta find time for a mic drop.
THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere
September 12th marked the 60th anniversary of the debut of The Monkees TV series. For their first two albums, the individual members of the Monkees--Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork--were restricted to vocals-only duties on the records bearing their brand name, and strictly forbidden from playing instruments on the tracks. Nesmith was somehow able to insist on producing the studio sessions for Monkees songs he wrote, but he was not allowed to play even on those sessions. Yeah, the song's author and producer was barred from picking up a friggin' guitar ON HIS OWN MATERIAL. Madness!
That changed in 1967. The Monkees were playing concerts as a live band, and both Nesmith and Tork chafed at Musical Supervisor Don Kirshner's insistence that the Monkees could not--could NOT!--play on their own damned records. The Monkees revolted. Kirshner resisted. Management ruled that the Monkees could be the studio band for their next single, "All Of Your Toys." Kirshner blocked its release (and it remained in the vault until the '80s). The Monkees cried foul. Kirshner was fired. The Monkees prevailed.
And the Monkees played. From a previous post detailing my 25 favorite Monkees tracks:
"Nesmith's 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' was originally planned to share a single with the shelved 'All Of Your Toys.' As the B-side of 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,' it became the first public document of the Monkees themselves playing on record (with bassist John London). Nice introduction, even if too few acknowledged it. Nesmith occasionally expressed disinterest in writing pop songs, claiming weightier songwriting goals, but he was damned good at writing pop songs. While an alternate version of 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' features a Nesmith lead vocal, the familiar Dolenz lead is unbeatable, propelled by Tork's harpsichord, Nesmith's guitar, Jones's tambourine, and London's bass. In the early '90s, I knew a college-age Monkees fan named Jennifer Skaja, and she became a fan in part because songs like 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' sounded a bit like R.E.M. I agree with Jen on that point, and I would further state that a segue of R.E.M.'s '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville' into the Monkees' 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' would be a just killer 1-2 punch.
RADIO KARMA: Sweetheart Deal
Radio Karma is the dynamic duo of long-time friend of this show Richard Rossi and supercool pop musician Joe Giddings. Rich is also a Flashcubes fan of several decades' standing, while Joe was inducted into 'Cubedom when we recruited him to cover "You're Not Grounded" for the Flashcubes tribute album. Together, they're detectives! Wait...that ain't right. No, together they're deities, at least according to the title of their debut three-song collection We Were Gods. Leadoff track "Sweetheart Deal" is resolutely radio-ready, which is why we've already put it on the radio two weeks in a row. It racks up week # 3 this Sunday. Bless us, Radio Karma!
THE KINKS: You Really Got Me
For Peggy Olson, wherever she is.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.
My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book, its six-chapter novelette digest A Band Called GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS!, and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here.
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 about our history here
Friday, September 25, 2026
My guest appearance on this week's episode of THE SPOON podcast
As we all know, I never miss an episode of The Spoon podcast. It's HIP! It's WHAT'S HAPPENING! Hosts Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers always present an entertaining and freewheeling conversation covering music, the arts, TV, movies, pop culture, radio, show biz, the ever-miserable world in which we're living, and whatever other topic teleports its ornery way into their well-informed noggins.
And HEY! They even manage all of the above when I'M their guest. Impossible...but TRUE! You can examine evidence of that in the two previous Dana and Carl Spoon appearances (We Cook Our Hot Dogs and Still In The Garage [The Dana & Carl Story]), and it's still the case with this week's episode, Haha, I'm On The Radio! [The Carl Cafarelli Story].
What do Robbie, Chris, Thom, and I rant about? Well, we talk about my books, of course--a podcast's job is to sell stuff--and we ramble our way through topics including the Flashcubes, doing a radio show, AI, the process of creative work, how writing is like improv, the importance of friends who recommend potential new fave raves (like my sister getting me to watch The Monkees in 1966), the value of passion in things we dig, trying and failing to write comic books, learning from mistakes, the need for local points of view in a homogenized society, appreciating people who support us (and supporting them in turn), promoting our own projects, classic AM Top 40 radio, Buffalo college radio in the 1980s, doing things we love even though we don't make any money off it, plus Elvis Presley, the Beastie Boys, CREEM magazine, Slade, Joan Jett, Ray Davies, Styx, and more. There's even a big surprise-to-me twist at the very end--a reveal which I nearly ruin because I'm too freakin' inept to properly read subtle cues--but it still works in spite of me. Oh, and SPOONFEEDING, where we talk about things we like. Yes, a splendid time is bait-and-switched for all! Here's their official description of this week's Spoon:Show Notes
This is The Spoon, where Carl Cafarelli is our guest, and we have good taste in lamps.
Music By
Spoon Feeding
- Carl Cafarelli ~ Guitars vs Rayguns: Short Stories And Other White Lies
- Simon Whistler
- The Ricky Gervais Show (Animated)
- Spider-Noir
- Sons Of Nothing LIVE in SLC 10/10/26
- Dave Murray ~ A Breath Of Fresh Air (A Transplant Tale)
- Tony Dees ~ Shy
The Men Of The Spoon
The Spoon Facebook Group
Email: the_spoon_radio@yahoo.com
And although humility is not what I do, I have to thank Robbie, Chris, and Thom for inviting me, for putting up with me, and for making me seem waaaay more interesting than I am. Thank you, Men of The Spoon!
Now. GO LISTEN! And The Spoon says goodnight.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.
My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book, its six-chapter novelette digest A Band Called GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS!, and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here.
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 about our history here
Sunday, September 20, 2026
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1354
On Friday night, I had the pleasure of attending a benefit for Spark Syracuse WSPJ, with live sets by Know Nothing, Perilous, and the Flashing Astonishers. Great night, great music, and great community, all in service of a cause that's certainly near and dear to my heart. Amidst the sheer buzz of the evening, conversation often turned to Paul Armstrong.
Paul Armstrong was a guitarist and songwriter, a founding member of the Flashcubes, and perhaps the single most rock 'n' roll person I ever knew. Cancer claimed PA earlier this year, and there will be a loud memorial show in his honor at Syracuse's legendary home of rock 'n' roll The Lost Horizon on November 7th. I don't think I'm at liberty to say much about the show at this time, but Perilous is on the bill, as are the surviving members of the Flashcubes, Gary Frenay, Arty Lenin, and Tommy Allen. More details will be available soon.
And at the merch table there on November 7th, you'll be able to buy a new 45, courtesy of the visionary Big Stir Records label. The B-side is previously-released, and it happens to be my all-time favorite Paul Armstrong song (as heard here). The A-side is a brand new recording of PA's Cubic calling card "Got No Mind," credited to THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING TOM KENNY.
We've been playing the track for several weeks, coyly referring to it as "[Redacted]" by [Redacted] featuring [Redacted]. The redaction ends now, as "Got No Mind" by the Flashcubes featuring Tom Kenny claims its name and its billing and opens this week's show. We'll be talking more about the song, the memorial, and Paul Armstrong's legacy in the weeks to come. This Friday, September 25th, you can hear me talk about all of that when I guest on The Spoon podcast with Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers. And on The Spoon, I repeat the oft-cited novena of my rockin' pop Trinity:
The Beatles. The Ramones. The Flashcubes.
At the SPARK benefit on Friday, many who said they were looking forward to the November 7th memorial show at the Lost also expressed their sadness regarding its circumstances. That is fair, and that is appropriate. But here's the thing: I choose to fully embrace the giddy thrill of this opportunity to honor Paul mother[redacted]ing Armstrong. PA's impact on my life is beyond measure. We will salute and celebrate that impact at the Lost, and we will do so with all the defiant joy and stubborn resilience Paul Armstrong would have expected from us.
And we will do it at high volume. That's also what Paul Armstrong would have expected from us.
Sing it, Tomcat. Play it, you Flashcubes, and your assembled special guests as well. Feel free to abdicate your mind at will. I won't mind if you don't mind. And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
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. If you miss the show, it repeats immediately from Midnight to 3 AM on Monday, Thursday from 9 AM to Noon, Friday from 5 PM to 8 PM, and finally Sunday from Noon to 3 PM before a new show takes over that evening. All times are Eastern.
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).
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
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.
Tonight on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO
We've been teasing it for weeks, playing it but not coming out and saying what it is. Tonight, we open the show by playing AND saying it: The forthcoming new single by THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING TOM KENNY, remaking the late PAUL ARMSTRONG's Cubic classic "Got No Mind." And no, I don't mind at all, We also have new music from LINUS OF HOLLYWOOD, TOMAS NILSSON, THE HOVERING SPOOKS, and THE CAMPBELL APARTMENT, sorta-new music by ROB BONFIGLIO (it came out in March, it's great, and it just took us this long to get to it), and our always-invigmoratin' mix of the recent and the less-recent courtesy of PERILOUS, MONDELLO, ETTA JAMES, RADIO DAYS, DEBBIE DUVEEN AND THE MILLBANKS, THE HALF/CUBES, THE MORELLS, SUZI QUATRO, MUCK AND THE MIRES, SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES, THE SOFT BOYS, THE MOVE, THE MUFFS, THE SPONGETONES, THE PANDORAS, BALLZY TOMORROW, PAUL COLLINS, THE PLIMSOULS, SPLITSVILLE, THE GREENBERRY WOODS, COCKTAIL SLIPPERS, TEENAGE HEAD WITH MARKY RAMONE, SKOOSHNY, THE BANGLES, THE MONKEES, THE KINKS, RADIO KARMA, THE MARVELETTES, THE KENNEDYS, THE TUESDAYS, SUGAR, BETH PEABODY, JOHN LARSON, THE ENGLISH BEAT, HOLLY AND THE ITALIANS, AMY RIGBY, and much, much more that you won't mind either. It begins with Syracuse's favorite son TOM KENNY joining the surviving members of THE FLASHCUBES (and their special guests) to pay tribute to the memory of PAUL ARMSTRONG. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming via sparksyracuse.org, and as WESTCOTT RADIO on the Radio Garden app. The weekend stops HERE!
Saturday, September 19, 2026
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! A weekly feature on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO [updated list]
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| The pop noir genius of Todd Alcott |
Time for another update on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! feature.
With the publication of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), some of the GREM! pieces linked below have been removed from this blog for the time being; I'm told it's because of something about free milk and a cow, but I don't understand dairy farming. They'll be back...someday. In the mean time, y'know, BUY THE BOOK!!
Here's the weekly GREM! story so far:
In 2022, we started doing The Greatest Record Ever Made! as a (nearly) weekly feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Here's an updated list of the weekly GREM!s so far. More to come. Some of these appeared in my GREM! book, some may or may not appear in the hypothetical GREM! (Volume 2), and one--the Ramones' "I Don't Want To Grow Up"--appears in my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.
Each update gives me another chance to share some of Todd Alcott's brilliant images of classic rock 'n' roll songs reimagined as pulp paperbacks. I need to devote a full post to Alcott's work one of these days (or nights). Meanwhile, you can visit his site and buy some stuff.
And here's a reprise of what I previously wrote about TIRnRR's weekly GREM! series:
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.
In 2022, with an eye toward mining the vast resource of material prepared for my ongoing concept The Greatest Record Ever Made!, we started doing a weekly GREM! feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.
Part of the motivation here was, frankly, an effort to cut a tiny little corner in writing my weekly 10 Songs column. See, laziness is the mother of invention. Deciding that one 10 Songs entry each week could be a link to a previously-written Greatest Record Ever Made! piece meant that I only hadda write about nine songs. FREEDOM!
But a weekly feature also enhances the show itself. Prior to this, it had been a very long time since we had any specific weekly feature on TIRnRR. There used to be a weekly Forgotten Original!, there was a weekly Mystery 45! (where Dana grabbed a single from his collection and played it without previewing it), there was a very brief flirtation with Unsafe At Any Speed! (playing a record back at something other than its intended rpm), and I think we even may have had a weekly GREM! feature at some point. Maybe not. Maybe.
But these were all many years ago. The tentative beginning of our current weekly GREM! feature was in February of 2022, when we played Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" on our February 6th show, and then followed with "Thank You, Girl" by the Beatles the next week. Then, in typical fashion, I completely forgot about the idea for a few weeks.
Pretty quick work, right?
GREM! resumed as a weekly thingie at the end of March in 2022, and continued thereafter. It skips a week every so often...but not very often. Anyway, here's a list of all of 'em so far. I think the only one we repeated was "That Thing You Do!" by teen sensations the Wonders. Please be aware that I am not under oath.
But we played them all on the radio. It's our own ongoing contribution to the infinite.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at sparksyracuse.org and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. The weekend stops HERE!
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Weekly TIRnRR Featured Songs [updated list]
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.
My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies and its shortened novelette version A Band Called Guitars Vs. Rayguns! are out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new books and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here.
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 about our history here