It's the mother of all rockin' pop radio shows, with new music from BANDA AL9, GO TIME!, THE ON AND ONS, ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN, and 7 DOOR SEDAN, plus more by THE CYNZ, THE RAMONES, DAR WILLIAMS, THE JAM, THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT, THE RIFLEBIRDS OF PORTLAND, AMOS MILBURN, NICK LOWE, THE SEVEN AND SIX, THE LEGAL MATTERS, THE POPPY FAMILY, THE SUPREMES, THE KNACK, THE CHELSEA CURVE, SAM AND DAVE, SPARKLE*JETS U.K., THE SHIRTS, THE REPLACEMENTS, THE MONKEES, THE FLASHCUBES, THE ENGLISH BEAT, HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, SERGIO CECCANTI, JIM BASNIGHT, JOSIE COTTON, THE HALF/CUBES FEATURING GLENN BURTNICK, SQUEEZE, THE DAMNED, THE SEARCHERS, and even that ain't all. Listen to your mother of all rockin' pop radio shows: We know what's good for you. Listen and like it! 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, May 10, 2026
Saturday, May 9, 2026
10 SONGS (plus one): 5/9/2026
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 # 1335
THE GREENBERRY WOODS: The One That Makes You Happy
If you thought the release of another new single by long-standing power pop idols the Greenberry Woods would automatically occupy the lead-off slot in this week's show, you were correct in your thinking. You're pretty good at this thinking stuff. "The One That Makes You Happy" lives up to its titular hype, and we're happy to play it. "The One That Makes You Happy" serves as a sneak peek at the new Greenberry Woods album It's All Good, Sugar..., which is due out May 29th.
And that should make everyone happy. That's what we think.
T. REX: Cosmic Dancer
When T. Rex singer Marc Bolan was killed in a car accident in September of 1977, I was a college freshman and I was pissed that no one else in my dorm knew who Marc Bolan was. It's not like I was an expert on all things related to T. Rexstasy--at the time, I only knew "Bang A Gong (Get It On)"--but I did have at least an inkling of Bolan's importance, and I was disappointed to discover how alone I was in that setting. (Later, "20th Century Boy" assumed the permanent role of my favorite T. Rex track, as detailed here). I remain a Marc Bolan dilletante, and I owe myself a deeper Jeepster dive in the near future.
Although I've owned a copy of T. Rex's Electric Warrior album track "Cosmic Dancer" for decades, I didn't notice it until it popped up in an episode of the (now-cancelled) 2025 Amazon Prime TV series Étoile. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (creators of Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Étoile details the dynamics of a pair of interconnected ballet companies, one in New York and one in Paris. Hijinks ensue, as they often do. The series is most definitely not for everyone, but one doesn't need any proper knowledge of ballet to follow what's going on here (nor in the Palladinos' previous ballet-set series Bunheads). For us rockin' pop enthusiasts, David Byrne makes a cameo appearance in one episode, and Sparks perform "I Married Myself" in the series finale.
In one episode, "Cosmic Dancer" plays in the background, the song's ethereal evocation of dance serving as accompaniment to the visuals while bellying up to the barre in its own right. That was sufficient inspiration to place "Cosmic Dancer" on this week's playlist.
SPECTRAFLAME: Yesterday (Jane)
Sometimes it take us time to get around to things. TIRnRR plays the music of Spectraflame with some frequency, as we oughta. We'd planned to program Spectraflame's "Yesterday (Jane)" a while back, but the track got lost in our self-inflicted shuffle. We're inept, but we're adorable. We got to it now! TODAY, Jane! Today!
GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach)
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
Segues are often capable of writing themselves, without much (if any) reliance on prior blueprinting. I had determined ahead of time that I wanted General Johnson and Joey Ramone's sublime beach-soul remake of the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" to occupy this week's Greatest Record Ever Made! slot. This was the sum total of preplanning that went into the forging of what wound up being an entire beach-related set.
Dana followed Johnson 'n' Ramone with First Class and their first-class Beach Boys homage "Beach Boys," a lovely track that earns its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). This prompted me to answer with Kirsty MacColl's "He's On The Beach," a fantastic track that I hadn't had any intention of playing this week. But...it fit! And so it played.
Game on.
Our Kirsty inspired Dana to play "Beatnik Beach," a vibrant li'l number that was the B-side of the Go-Go's' irresistible "Vacation" 45. HuzZAH! I was compelled to follow the Go-Go's with Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, represented by an incendiary 1979 live performance of Paul Armstrong's "Muscle Beach" from the album Flashcubes On Fire. Dana wrote finis in the sand of this beach trip with the 'B' Girls and "Fun At The Beach."
Does big-time TIRnRR DJing seem easy to you? It IS! We always follow the can't-miss two-step formula to programming the best rockin' pop radio. STEP ONE: Know which rockin' pop songs are the best rockin' pop songs. STEP TWO: Play those. Hodads! Honeys! Fall in! The sound of the beach awaits.
THE CHELSEA CURVE: Ride
The same self-inflicted shuffle that delayed us in playing Spectraflame's "Yesterday (Jane)" nearly did similar disservice to the Chelsea Curve's recent single "Ride." But we love the Chelsea Curve, and we made damned sure to navigate that imposing shuffle and guarantee that "Ride" secured its rightful place on this week's playlist. The Chelsea Curve's new album The Rideout is available now. The single rides again on our next show.
THE RONETTES: Be My Baby
Also The Greatest Record Ever Made! Godspeed, Nedra Talley.
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.
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. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my 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.
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, May 8, 2026
My Two Books-In-Progress: A short story collection, and a history of The Flashcubes
As I've mentioned many, many, many times in previous posts, I currently have two books I hope to complete and publish this year: A short story collection called Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies, and an oral history of my favorite power pop group, Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. I have a number of other potential book projects assuming spitball formation after that, but those two are the ones I want to prepare for retail before 2026 clocks out for the year.
The short story collection will be out first. Last week, my paid supporters got a sneak peek at the introductory paragraphs of two more stories written for Guitars Vs. Rayguns!!: "Navigating" and "GUITARS VS RAYGUNS!! Live At BudoKHAAAAAAAANNNNN!!" I've since changed both titles--to "Lone Star Falling" and "GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS! Return To Uranus" respectively--and I finished the GvR! short earlier this week. On Thursday, I completed the first draft of "Lone Star Falling," and I have a current gut feeling that it's the best story I've ever written. I pity the story that has to follow "Lone Star Falling" in the book, but I've started work on that story, too. When that story's done, I think the book as a whole will just need final tweaks before I declare it ready for the world. The previously-announced May 30th publication date is a little unlikely, but not out of the question.
The Flashcubes book was originally planned for publication in 2025, but the amount of time and attention needed to get the Flashcubes tribute album to market just made it impossible for part-time writer me to work on the 'Cubes book at the same time. With the tribute album accomplished, my own pressing personal need to concentrate on a fiction project made Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! the immediate priority. I know I'll be lucky to sell a couple dozen copies of it (if that!), but it's the realization of a dream that dates back more than fifty years. I can't overstate how important the short story collection is to me.
Then, Make Something Happen! can finally take center stage in my schedule. I will always regret the fact that I couldn't complete the Flashcubes book before 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong passed away last month. But nor do I see a set of circumstances where I could have finished it sooner. The book is a lot--a lot--of work, work I delight in doing, but still more work than any other project I've ever attempted. Most of that work is still to be done. But by God, I will make this specific something happen, and it will be something that does the Flashcubes' legacy the justice it deserves.
In the mean time, next week I will be offering the first public look at the Flashcubes book's two introductory sections, the parts that will appear in the book right before we get to the interviews. Here's to bright lights that never fade.
In 2027, as I hit my 67th birthday, I will probably reduce my day-job commitment from full-time to part-time. I have at least three novels I want to write. I have an exciting collaborative project that I pray won't be derailed by my extended delay in getting around to it. I have things to do.
Guess I better do them.
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.
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. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my 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.
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.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Rihanna, "Shut Up And Drive"
Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of track can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" is a stupid song about sex. But it's a great stupid song about sex, probably the best-ever stupid song about sex, and a legit contender for my all-time Hot 200. Yeah, even among songs that may or may not be stupid and may or may not be about sex.
I remember hearing Rihanna's hit "Umbrella" in 2007, and not being especially taken with it. In 2008, the updated version of her Good Girl Gone Bad (Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded) landed into my consciousness via my then-teen daughter, whose interest in "Take A Bow" and "Disturbia" brought those songs to my attention as well. I was a little surprised to discover I liked them (especially "Disturbia"), but I did indeed like them.
I missed out on the track "Shut Up And Drive." I'd heard it, but I never noticed it until a random search for playlist ideas brought me to it again. It was like a brand new song to me, and I loved it.
(How did I know I loved it? The fact that I played it on obsessive repeat would be a pretty clear clue to that.)
Wikipedia describes "Shut Up And Drive" as a new wave song--no, really!--based on "Blue Monday" by New Order. No offense to the mopey British guys, but I prefer it the way Rihanna did it.
"Shut Up And Drive" strikes me as a sort-of equivalent to "Heavy Music" by Bob Seger and the Last Heard, a track I initially dismissed as a stupid song about sex before realizing it was--you guessed it!--a great stupid song about sex.
Rihanna's song is greater. Drive, baby. Drive.
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.
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. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my 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.
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.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Fake THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Playlist: The Best Of The THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Compilation CDs
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl is simply too large a concept to be neatly contained within a mere three-hour weekly time slot. Hence these occasional fake TIRnRR playlists, detailing shows we're never really going to do...but could.
In the time span from around 2004 through 2022, Dana and I had the pleasure of compiling and curating five various-artists This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs. Each of these was released commercially; the first two volumes were issued by JAM Recordings, the final three by Kool Kat Musik, and the first four albums are also available as digital downloads from Futureman Records (Kool Kat handled digital distribution of Volume 5). Details on how you can add 'em to your music library appear below.
I am very proud of these compilations, especially the last two, and most especially This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, which I firmly believe is one of the greatest rockin' pop compilation albums of all time. Modesty? Doesn't apply in this situation. All of the individual tracks shine, and the flow of track to track makes the whole feel like a cohesive artistic work. Think of Volume 5 the way we intended it, as a concept album about listening to a love story play out on the radio.
One should never say never, but it's very likely that Volume 5 will be the last-ever TIRnRR compilation album. We loved doing them, but they're expensive to do properly. I'm satisfied that we ended the series on such a high note.
Today's exercise in imaginary playlisting gathers tracks from the five TIRnRR compilations and plays 'em all together. Could have easily added a fourth hour of drop-dead primo material. As a bonus, we also give you TIR'N'RR Allstars' exquisite cover of the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset," which a bunch of our talented friends put together as a fundraiser for us. We have great friends!
And our friends have made it possible to produce some fantastic compilations. Here's a playlist of some of the best from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio Volumes 1-5. And you know what else these gems have in common?
Volume. Proceed accordingly.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl--y'know, the real one--airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ 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). TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY: Issues # 55 acquired in the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Observing this fifth day of the fifth month sets up the contrived circumstances leading this week's edition of Comic Book Cover Gallery to spotlight the 55th issues of various comic book series. Yeah, like this is the first time you've ever run into something comics-related that was an eensy bit contrived.
The challenge was finding qualifying comic books I acquired within the chosen timeline. By the time I started accumulating comics in the mid 1960s, long-running titles were already waaay beyond their fifty-fifth issues, and a lot of newer titles just didn't reach that number. In later years, it became more and more common for books to restart numbering to create a new hot collectible # 1. See my above comment about contrivances.
As always, we'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s, '70s, and '80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. Today's selections include books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection; most images are courtesy of the Grand Comics Database, which is grand indeed. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.
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| Batman # 208...but also 80-Page Giant 3 G-55 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. 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. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my 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. 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, May 3, 2026
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1335
Hearing the Ramones in TV commercials is never gonna get old for me. I've been hearing "Blitzkrieg Bop" in current commercials for Southwest Airlines, and it makes me smile every damned time. I don't think it's a sell-out. This is pop music, and it has always been pop music. The increasing ubiquity of Ramones music is another sign of the group's further deification within the mainstream. Yeah, I wish Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Marky had lived to see it. But I'm happy to see it and hear it now. As I wrote in my Ramones book:
"...And now? It wouldn’t surprise me if you saw some random kid today, someone far too young to remember the Ramones first-hand, nonetheless sporting a Ramones T-shirt. It doesn’t even matter if such kids really know the Ramones or if they just think the damned shirt looks cool. It’s evidence of the Ramones’ assimilation into the greater pop culture. In the seventies, they were outsiders, square pegs. Today, the Ramones are the Beatles, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, AC/DC, Nirvana, Batman. The Ramones are everywhere...."
As they should be. And in Syracuse, they're on the radio, where they've always belonged. 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.
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 latest book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's 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.