Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do)

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

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

THE SHOW MUST GO ON! (Oh, The Plays I've Seen--updated list)

Those of us who live in Central New York are blessed with so many lovely opportunities to experience live theater. Between student productions and local organizations, there is an amazing amount of talent in this area; add the touring companies (plus local collaborations with theaters in other parts of the country), and we wind up with ready access to brilliant and rewarding productions. Within the past month alone, it was my great pleasure to witness an accomplished high school production of Les Misérables, and professional presentations of Joe Turner's Come And Gone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Da' courtesy of the respective reliable resources of Syracuse Stage, The Covey Theater Company, and Redhouse Arts Center. You can't go wrong seeing any play put on by these three companies. I'll be returning to both Covey and Redhouse in the very near future, I already have my season tickets for Syracuse Stage's 2026-2027 season, and I'm also looking forward to early May productions from Great Northern Artists Collaborative and Baldwinsville Theatre Guild.

So following another--yes, ANOTHER!--wonderfully busy run of recent plays, it's time again to update my attempt to list every theatrical production I've ever seen.

Author! AUTHOR!

As I wrote in a separate post in 2020: "After finally experiencing my first-ever play on Broadway in 2019, I hoped to make that an annual event. The pandemic deferred that plan, but Broadway will return, and I will return to it." I look forward to adding more plays to this list...someday."

From previous updates:

"As a companion to my ongoing Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery of pop performers I've seen in live concerts, and a follow-up to my love letter to theater, this list will attempt to make note of every live play I've ever seen. The limits of memory place an even greater restriction on this than on my concert-goin' resumé recreation, but I'll continue to update this list as both sudden recollection and (I hope) new live theater experiences dictate.

"This list does not differentiate between musicals and dramatic plays, nor does it care if the setting was Broadway, off-Broadway, the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London, Syracuse Stage, community theater, college campuses, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, or Shakespeare in the park. As always: the play's the thing."

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
35mm: A Musical Celebration
The 39 Steps
Amahl And The Night Visitors
Anything Goes
Beatlemania!
Brigadoon
Bye Bye Birdie
Carnival
Carousel
A Christmas Carol
Clue
Co-Op (eration)
Come From Away
The Comedy Of Errors
Company
Da’
Dames At Sea
Damn Yankees
Die Fledermaus
Fiddler On The Roof
Freaky Friday
Fun Home
Godspell
The Grapes Of Wrath
Grease
Guys And Dolls
Hadestown
Hair
Hamilton
A Hauntingly Whimsical Victorian Christmas
The Hello Girls
Hello, Dolly!
High School Musical
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
Into The Woods
It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman
Jerry's Girls
Jesus Christ Superstar
Joe Turner's Come And Gone
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
La Cage Aux Folles
The Last Five Years
Les Misérables School Edition
Mean Girls
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
The Music Man
Oklahoma!
Oliver!
Once
The Pajama Game
Pippin
Plaza Suite
Rent
Rise: The Rock Musical
The Rocky Horror Show
School Of Rock
The Second City--65th Anniversary Show
Six
Tales By Candlelight
The Tempest
Thoughts Of A Colored Man
Three Men On A Horse
Twelfth Night
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
West Side Story
Wicked
The Wizard Of Oz
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
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, March 29, 2026

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1330

A new single by the Half/Cubes brings us back to the reason This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio exists in the first place.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, the sound of everything everywhere all at once was defined by AM radio, specifically AM Top 40 radio. There were other factors in play--friends, family, jukeboxes, movies, TV, and the girl a few houses over with her own box of 45s--but radio was what mattered. We all knew that truth as self-evident. The now sound. What's happening! The sound of the world at large was established, policed, and maintained by the sound of the radio.

Released at the end of 1967 and occupying car radios and transistor radios across the land in '68, the American Breed's # 5 hit "Bend Me, Shape Me" is AM radio's WOW! incarnate: Unashamedly pop, willfully starry-eyed, a deliberate swoon aiming to fall into the arms of an everlasting love by whatever contortion necessary. It's all accomplished with a hearty YEA-AHH!! that could rival the freakin' Beatles. Unabashed joy, demanding more volume than those tiny little AM speakers could even hope to accommodate. That's okay; the crackle in the transmission enhances the experience. 50,000 watts of power. Radio's power. I was eight years old. The sound of the American Breed annexed the atmosphere, bending and shaping it into something greater still.

In this far future world of 2026, even if AM radio ain't the force it used to be, we still believe in pop's power to lift the air around us. You know who else believes? The Half/Cubes believe. And they're putting that belief into their latest single, a bravura rendition of the American Breed smash that was the irresistible sound of everything everywhere all at once in 1967-68. Our mighty Half/Cubes recruit Glenn Burtnick (aka Glen Burtnik of the Weeklings) to help 'em out at the lead microphone, and the result provides stunning proof that "Bend Me, Shape Me" remains as vital now as it was then. I feel like a little kid again.

Bend it. Shape it. Any way you want it. As long as you love it, it's all right. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.

YEA-AHH!!

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.

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:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download

Volume 5: CD or download

TIRnRR # 1330: 3/29/2026

TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain’t played before are listed in bold

THE HALF/CUBES FEATURING GLENN BURTNICK: Bend Me, Shape Me (Jem, single)

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: Time (Damaged Goods, Look Like Trouble)

THE MYNAH BIRDS: It's My Time (Ace, VA: You Heard Them Here First! Rock's Icons Before They Were Famous)

THE STUDIO 68! WITH DANI TURNER: Funky People (Detour, Rollin')

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Gone Too Far (Big Stir, VA: Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes)

PAUL AND LINDA McCARTNEY: Too Many People (Capitol, Man On The Run OST)

THE RALLIES: Notice Me (n/a, No Better Time)

PHIL SEYMOUR: I Found A Love (Big Beat, Prince Of Power Pop)

THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely (Jem, Confess)

THE SMALL FACES: Things Are Going To Get Better [stripped-down acoustic mix] (Immediate, The Autumn Stone)

GENERATION X: Untouchables (Chrysalis, Perfect Hits 1975-1981)

PEARL HARBOR AND THE EXPLOSIONS: Release It [415 single version] (Blixa Sounds, Pearl Harbor & the Explosions)

THE KINKS: Lola (Sanctuary, The Anthology 1964-1971)

PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT: (You And I Are The) Summertime [4-track demo] (Omnivore, Hallucinations)

SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind (Kool Kat Musik, Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind)

TALKING HEADS: New Feeling [live at the Jabberwocky] (Rhino, Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live)

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everyday People (Epic, Greatest Hits)

TUNE BUREAU: Cheap Thrills (Bomp!, VA: Pop On Top! The Cream Of Australia's Power Pop Crop)

THE SURFRAJETTES: Sugar Town (Hi-Tide, Easy As Pie)

THE 101'ERS: Keys To Your Heart (Soul Jazz, VA: Punk 45: Sick On You!)

THE MONKEES: You Bring The Summer (Rhino, Good Times!)

THE SPADES: You're Gonna Miss Me (Strawberry, VA: Pushin' Too Hard [American Garage Punk 1964-67])

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go (single)

THE NORMALS: Almost Ready (Soul Jazz, Punk 45: Kill The Hippies! Kill Yourself!)

THE SHIRTS: I Wanna Be A Rocker (Think Like A Key Music, Live At Paradise 1979)

THE DENIMS: I'm Your Man (Strawberry, VA: Pushin' Too Hard [American Garage Punk 1964-67])

THE HIVES: Tick Tick Boom (A & M Octome, The Black And White Album)

ACE: I'm A Man (Beloved Recordings, VA: Pub Rock: Paving The Way For Punk)

THE O'JAYS: Love Train (Epic, Love Train: The Best Of The O'Jays)

THE CLASH: Train In Vain (Epic, Clash On Broadway)

WORMSTEW: Last Days Of Loma (Big Stir, Last Days Of Loma)

FOOLS FACE: Always The Last To Know (n/a, Fools Face)

SPECTRAFLAME: I Always Wanted You To Stay (single)

LET'S ACTIVE: Last Chance Down (Collectors' Choice Music, Big Plans For Everybody)

THE ROLLING STONES: The Last Time (Abkco, Singles Collection: The London Years)

THE RASPBERRIES: Last Dance (RPM, Power Pop, Volume Two)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BARRACUDAS: I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again (Voxx, Drop Out With The Barracudas)

THE STOOGES: 1969 (Virgin, IGGY POP: A Million In Prizes: The Anthology)

THE SPONGETONES: So Long (Big Stir, single)

THE ZOMBIES: Woman (Big Beat, The Singles Collection: A's & B's 1964-1969)

HONEY CONE: One Monkey Don't Stop No Show [Part 1] (Varese Sarabande, VSA: Soulful Pop)

RAY PAUL: Pretty Flamingo (Permanent Press, Whimsicality)

P. P. ARNOLD: Angel Of The Morning (Sequel, The First Cut)

EVIE SANDS: Any Way That You Want Me (n/a, Northern Soul)

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: Julie (Del-Fi, Never To Be Forgotten: The Mustang Years)

TERRY MANNING: Rocks (Big Beat, VA: Thank You Friends: The Ardent Story)

THE YARDBIRDS: Psycho Daisies (Rhino, Ultimate!)

THE COUNT BISHOPS: I Ain't Got You (Soul Jazz, VA: Punk 45: Sick On You!)

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Rhino, Rocket To Russia)

THE REDUCERS: Let's Go (Rev-Ola, Redux)

THE DOLLYROTS: Attention Span (Wicked Cool, single)

THE REPLACEMENTS: I Will Dare (Sire, For Sale: Live At Maxwell's 1986)

THE FOUR TOPS: If I Were A Carpenter (Motown, 50th Anniversary--The Singles Collection 1964-1972)

RICHARD HELL AND THE VOIDOIDS: The Kid With The Replaceable Head (Rhino, Spurts: The Richard Hell Story)

THE TROGGS: Wild Thing (Fontana, Archeology [1966-1976])

THE BEATLES: I Saw Her Standing There [Take 2] (Apple, Anthology 4)

THE HOLLIES: I Can't Let Go (EMI, All The Hits And More: The Definitive Collection)

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: This Year's Girl [alternative Eden Studios version] (Universal, This Year's Model [Deluxe Edition])

Tonight on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

We will open the proceedings with an absolutely kickass new cover of "Bend Me, Shape Me," delivered with oomph to spare by THE HALF/CUBES with their special guest secret weapon GLEN BURTNIK of THE WEEKLINGS. We could drop the mic right then and there, but we're also gonna exult in more new music courtesy of THE RALLIES and WORMSTEW, recent delectables from THE CYNZ, SERGIO CECCANTI, THE SPONGETONES, SPECTRAFLAME, and THE DOLLYROTS, another track apiece from ace new archival live releases by THE SHIRTS and TALKING HEADS, another example of PAUL AND LINDA McCARTNEY on the run, and we'll further compel your attention with various other winners by THE O'JAYS, THE SMALL FACES, THE KINKS, THE SURFRAJETTES, HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, THE MONKEES, LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS, SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE, PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT, THE HIVES, THE CLASH, THE RAMONES, FOOLS FACE, THE BARRACUDAS, THE STOOGES, THE FOUR TOPS, THE REPLACEMENTS, LET'S ACTIVE, THE ROLLING STONES, and more. All this, and a handful of selections from the songbook of the late, great CHIP TAYLOR. Bend us? Shape us? Any way: YOU WANT US! 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, March 28, 2026

Boppin's Monthly Day Off (and more about my forthcoming short story anthology)

Once a month, this blog pauses its commitment to daily public posting, and instead preps a private entry shared only with its beloved paid supporters. Yes, both of them.

This month's private post is another sneak peek at my short story anthology Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies. That book is nearing completion, though my wish to still write a few more new stories may or may not delay its tentative May 30th publication date. But it's getting closer; a dream I've had since I was fifteen will finally come true, and it will come true very soon.

The dream of writing and publishing my own collection of short stories began when I read Harlan Ellison's short story anthology Paingod And Other Delusions in 1975. Subsequent dives into more Ellison collections deepened this desire, and what the hell, it only took me 51 years to fulfill it.

In Paingod And Other Delusions and similar collections, Ellison wrote individual introductions for each of his stories, open letters from writer to readers about how or why the tale at hand willed itself into becoming the tale at hand. In that spirit, I've also written short introductions to each of the stories in Guitars Vs. Rayguns!!, and while I don't pretend to match the verbosity or the authority of the ticktockin' Harlequin himself, I very much dig the opportunity to introduce the reader to whatever the hell it is I think I'm doing.

From Guitars Vs. Rayguns!!, this month's private post for patrons will collect all of those introductions, or at least the ones for all of the stories that have been completed. Patrons will receive their private post on Wednesday--the April 1st date seems appropriate--and daily public posting resumes tomorrow.

And if YOU wanna read what I have to say about my short stories, well, I'm sure both of my supporters would love to have you join their ranks, and you can do so for just $3 a month: Fund me, baby!

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, March 27, 2026

10 SONGS: 3/27/2026

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 # 1329

THE ANDERSONS!: From The Get-Go

SPECTRAFLAME: I Always Wanted You To Stay

We play the hits. Our little mutant radio show first invaded the airwaves at the very end of 1998, a few months after power pop force of nature the Andersons! released their debut album Separated At Birth. From that album, an insanely infectious track called "From The Get-Go" was a huge, huge favorite during TIRnRR Year One, and it still occasionally makes its winning way to our playlists even now. Our old pal Robbie Rist was a proud member of the Andersons!; the first time Dana and I appeared as guests on The Spoon (Robbie's podcast with co-hosts Chris Jackson and Thom Bowers), Robbie figured that your Dana and your Carl had probably played the Andersons! on the radio, but he wasn't for-sure certain. "Robbie," I assured him, "We were playing the Andersons! from the get-go."

HA! I slay me.

Robbie's worked with tons of artists. One of his current collaborations is with Florida's phenomenal pop combo Spectraflame, whose recent single "I Always Wanted You To Stay" has already just about locked up a berth on our year-end countdown show. Central 'Flame Steve Burgess knows how to craft and execute a pop tune, and our Robbie knows how to help him deliver it. A hit record. It stays on the playlist for our next show.

ANY TROUBLE: Playing Bogart

THE HOLLIES: Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress

Listen: If you're gonna try your hand at playing Bogart, you're gonna wind up sitting in a nest of bad men, whiskey bottles piling high. Any Trouble's "Playing Bogart" into the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" may be the most impeccable segue in TIRnRR's long history of impeccable segues. Pop noir!

DEVIL LOVE: Tell Me You Love Me

Devil Love's wonderful current single "Tell Me You Love Me" has become a welcome earworm, playing inside my delighted li'l cranium with remarkable frequency. TIRnRR airplay has not yet mirrored my love for this track, though that's just a byproduct of programming logistics; for example, I planned to play "Tell Me You Love Me" again on our next show, but it was among several selections bumped aside when the passing of Chip Taylor prompted me to wedge in five songs from the Chip Taylor songbook. Devil Love's fantastic single will be back. I tell you: I love it.

(Incidentally: The Chip Taylor tribute will include two obvious hits, one [in some circles] lesser-known album track, and two covers, one of which I mistakenly refer to on-air as the original version. Oops.)

THE SMITHEREENS: House We Used To Live In

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SHIRTS: Starts With A Handshake

In 2025, the visionary Think Like A Key Music label released Live Featuring Annie Golden, a previously-unissued 1981 live-in-the-studio exhibition by CBGB vet'rans the Shirts. It's invigmoratin', like getting a brand-new classic Shirts record, and its track "Tears Comin' Down" made our year-end countdown show of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2025.

Now, Think Like A Key once again emerges from the archives with more new old Shirts. Live At Paradise 1979 preserves a Boston gig broadcast on WBCN, and it friggin' kicks, man. The album includes bravura performances of long-time TIRnRR Shirts favorites like "Tell Me Your Plans" and "Reduced To A Whisper," plus a lotta fab shots we ain't played yet. If there are still more vintage Shirts hangin' in the closet, here's hoping Think Like A Key Music can dig them out as well. And if the label could clear rights to reissue the group's two long-outta-print Capitol Records long-players (and the rest of the group's albums to boot), well, those Shirts would provide the best fit ever.

THE HALF/CUBES: Something's Gonna Happen

We have--of course!--been playing selections from the Half/Cubes' superb current album Found Pearls, as any decent rockin' pop radio outlet should. BUT! We now have a brand-new non-album Half/Cubes single, with Special Guest Bat Villain Glen Burtnik of the Weeklings taking on lead vocals for a cover of the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me." That will open our next show this Sunday night.

SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind

From a previous 10 Songs:

"Our little mutant radio show has a long and rewarding history with the mighty Kool Kat Muzik label. Even before Ray Gianchetti (Mr. Kool Kat hisself) made his superfine rockin' pop imprint the home of our TIRnRR compilation albums, we've been programming Kool Kat cuts since the dawn of ever. Every new Kool Kat release is automatically under consideration for TIRnRR airplay, and almost all of them result in at least one track getting a spin on one (or more!) of our playlists. We're FANS!

"And right now, I'm a big fan of Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind, the new Kool Kat Musik release by Sergio Ceccanti. The title track is just perfect--perfect!--for the radio-ready vibe we crave, channeling a '60s garage-pop atmosphere in service of a steely-eyed determination to seek a sure-footed next step forward...."

Like Devil Love's "Tell Me You Love Me," Mr. Ceccanti's "Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind" hasn't yet received the TIRnRR exposure it deserves. But it will spin again this Sunday, and on some future Sundays thereafter. Leave the past. We'll barrel ahead from here.

THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely

Awright, this one we HAVE been playing, and we're not stopping now. So lovely. So right. From their current album Confess, the Cynz supply the love we all need.

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.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Smithereens, "House We Used To Live In"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE SMITHEREENS: House We Used To Live In

Written by Pat DiNizio

Produced by Don Dixon

Single from the album Green Thoughts, Enigma Records, 1988

In some Greatest Record Ever Made! stories, the artists are front and center, while other such stories blend the facts behind the music with expressions of how the music affected the listener (i.e., me). The Smithereens are one of the all-time great rock 'n' roll groups, and a pair of previous GREM! entries (about "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" and "Face The World With Pride") talked about the band.

This one? This one's purely personal.

This is the house we used to live in, this is the place we used to know.

My childhood home was a place I call 308, a Cape Cod in Syracuse's Northern suburbs. It was built in the early '50s, and its only owners had been members of my family. My aunt and uncle originally secured 308 on behalf of my mom and dad, who purchased it in short order. My sister bought 308 when my dad died in 2012. My sister lives in England, and she kept the house for our mom. Mom continued to live there until it became impossible for her to do so anymore; she moved to a nursing facility in 2017. My daughter and her boyfriend (now husband) lived at 308 for a few years before buying their own house in 2022.

Mom passed at the end of 2021. There was no longer any good reason to hold on to 308.

And so in January of 2023, we emptied 308 of its accumulated artifacts. My siblings and I kept a few scattered mementos; the rest was assigned as either donations or discards, and relocated accordingly. And then a new family--someone I have never met--took our keys and made 308 their home. 308 is still there.

It is no longer ours.

Music and emotion go hand-in-hand. At least that's the way it is for me, and the combination builds essays and radio playlists. In January of 2023, I opened an episode of our radio show with these words:

"I want to start things off with a note of passage, a farewell to a place that meant the world to me. It's a house in North Syracuse, a house I call 308. It was my parents' house, the house where I (in theory) grew up, and it remained a part of my life for all the decades since. I helped look after 308 throughout all the transitions this mortal life brings.

"And now, there's one last transition, as for the first time since it was built more than 70 years ago, 308 will be owned by someone other than my family.

"And that's okay. It's time. And it is finally time for me to say goodbye, and thank you, to 308, the house we used to live in."

And the Smithereens sang their mournful farewell, "House We Used To Live In."

Transitions can sting, even when they're a good thing, even when they're a necessary thing. I'll keep my memories of 308 for as long as I retain memories. It is such a weird, weird feeling to know that I will never again set foot in 308.

On January 24th of 2023, while I was at work, my wife Brenda met my sister Denise at 308 to help with the final ritual of clearing the space, cleaning, packing, shuffling its remaining castoffs to Goodwill. I joined them in the evening to complete the culling. 308 stood empty.

I took a last look in each bare, silent room, from basement to attic. I saw where our little pool table used to be, where Dad had his baseball memorabilia, where Mom had her jazz and Broadway LPs. The driveway where my brother Art's ill-fated Alfa Romeo once sat. The backyard where my brother Rob tried to teach me how to throw a football. The living room where Denise introduced me to a TV show called The Monkees. The kitchen where we ate macaroni and meatballs, and hot dogs, and beef stew, and carrot cake, and breakfast cereal, and Friday night fish fry, and so much more. My old room, where I listened to music, read comic books, tried to write, tried to draw, tried to dream.

I remember. My memories of 308 are a kaleidoscope, a collision of colors that refuse to cede their distinct hues as time forces them--all of them--to turn to gray, no matter what vibrance they wish to retain. The brilliance remains in my mind's eye.

Our work done, our cars packed, Brenda, Denise, and I walked out of 308. We closed the door and it locked behind us. We drove away. We had driven away from 308 so many times before, always knowing we could and would return.

That was no longer true.

I heard that the new owners have a dog, which is cool. A long time ago, we used to have a dog named Bear, and Bear was a part of our family at 308. We wish 308's new family a life of love and happiness in the house we used to live in.

Yeah, it's a weird feeling. My twinge of sadness will pass, has passed. My wealth of recollections remain.

But it's time to let go of the rest of it.

Here's to the house I used to live in. Here's to 308. And here's to whatever comes next.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar.

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, March 25, 2026

DOWNSIZING, Part 1: LPs

I own a lot of stuff. I mean, I own a lot of stuff, much of it pretty cool stuff, at least in my biased opinion. Books. Comic books. LPs. 45s. CDs. Magazines. VHS tapes. DVDs. Blu-Rays. 8-tracks. Flexi-discs. Mini-discs (though none prerecorded). Posters. Tchotches of all size and description.

And as much as I love my stacks and stacks and stacks of stuff, I have too much. Downsizing is imperative. Although I expect to remain in this world for quite some time to come, and I further plan to keep adding new stuff at will, I don't want my daughter to have to clean up my amassed stuff when the time finally comes for me to exit. I'm going to get rid of at least some of my stuff in the here and now.

I've always purged items from my collection. Starting before the pandemic, I began getting a little more ruthless in my culling. I sold a large percentage of my comic books. I sold a lot of my books (which are the most difficult thing for me to let go of). I sold a bunch more books last year and this year, and I also sold roughly two-fifths of my LP and 12" single collection.

This is all that's left:

I no longer buy vinyl, and I very, very rarely play the vinyl I have. It was time. I still have a lot, including cherished keepsakes like a KISS album my sister gave me, another KISS album my parents gave me, an Elvis Costello and the Attractions album my girlfriend (and eventual wife) gave me, a bunch of records that have never been issued on CD, and various I'm hangin' on to THESE works by the Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. And more. There's still a great deal of MORE!! here.

Just a little less MORE!! than there used to be. I'll turn my attention to further downsizing my comic books and CDs in the near future.