We're back-with more power
pop! THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL
RADIO with Dana & Carl!
All across the four corners of the
globe, avid fans of rockin' pop music agree on just one thing: that globes don't have corners. A fair amount of 'em also agree that
the sole source of The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin'
Planet remains our little mutant dog 'n'
pony show, THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO
with Dana & Carl. Are we deluded? YES! Have we succumbed to our own clueless hype? HELL, yes! But we continue to sprawl across the airwaves every Sunday
night from 9 to Midnight Eastern, exclusively at www.westcottradio.org.
Dana and I have been doing this
show for nearly eight years now.
Before that, we'd done various similar projects together, beginning with
a short-lived radio show called We're Your Friends For Now in 1992, and even including a one-off cable TV show called
Radiovision. We always wanted to do a show that
would play some of the many, many great records that weren't getting
airplay. After all this time, not
much has changed (well, other than the fact that station management originally
thought I was too quiet and should speak more, which turned out to be kinda
like telling Bill Clinton that he shouldn't be so shy around girls). But an unbelievable amount of
incredible, often transcendent, seemingly radio-ready fare continues to be
resolutely ignored by mainstream radio.
And that just drives us
razzafrazzin' nuts.
Why is so much awesome music
falling between the cracks? Maybe
it's an inevitable consequence of commercial radio's bottom-line-driven
mentality. Music isn't even a
secondary concern for big radio behemoths; it's only about advertising dollars,
and nothing else. I'm not opposed
to commercial radio--the radio I grew up listening to, the great AM radio
stations of the '60s and '70s, were certainly commercial entities. But love of the music, even just a
casual interest in the music, doesn't even enter into the equation now. No one wants to dig deep into the
vaults for something you've never heard before, new or old; radio stations want
to give you the familiar, and sell you beer, or whatever. I have no quibble with radio stations
making a buck, nor with advertisers pushing their wares; I just wish they could
give me more compelling music to listen to between ads.
(And, even getting heavily into
the commercial area: how come no
one plays The Ramones on the
radio? My daughter's middle-school
gym class plays "Blitzkrieg Bop" when the kids are running laps; the
same song can be heard in TV commercials for telephone plans and diet soda, and
on the PA system at Syracuse SkyChiefs baseball games. About the only place you don't hear it
is on the radio. And that just
doesn't seem right.)
Consider The Cowsills, and their flat-out amazing “She Said To Me,” included in
this collection. If you don't
already know this wonderful tune from the group's Global album back in the '90s, well, it's not your fault. Because where could you have heard
it? Every big-name record label in
the business passed on the chance to release it, so The Cowsills released it themselves. It's one of the very best records of that whole blamed
decade, and it shoulda been an inescapable, # 1 hit; relatively few folks have
even heard it. And virtually no
one's heard it on the radio. That
ain't right.
Or how about Screen Test, perhaps the greatest pop band you've never heard? Formed by three members of The
Flashcubes (THE great lost power pop band
of the '70s), Screen Test has a cache
of roughly, I dunno, a zillion nonpareil
original pop tunes, which were likewise met with massive record-biz
indifference. Screen Test used to introduce “Sound Of The Radio” as “a song about
how great it was to listen to the radio, back when radio still played The
Kinks.” The visionary Japanese label Air Mail Recordings is
releasing a long-overdue CD collection of the best of Screen Test, but you still don't hear enough of The Kinks-or ANY Screen Test--on
the radio. That ain't right.
Little Steven, bless 'im, does play The Charms, The Grip Weeds and The Dipsomaniacs
on his swell Underground Garage
radio show (though [ahem] WE played 'em all first…!). But why does it sometimes seem like it's just us, Little
Steven and a few other isolated true
believers playing this stuff on terrestrial radio? That ain't right.
The Cowsills, Screen Test, The Charms, The
Grip Weeds, The Dipsomaniacs, this terrific new track by John Wicks & the
Records, the randy splendor of astroPuppees, that irresistible a cappella track by Mr. Encrypto, The Blondes singin'
an ode to my favorite '70s poster queen, Suzi Quatro, and all these other superb efforts by Richard Barone, The BAR, The
Fire Apes, The Condors, Tim Anthony, Eytan
Mirsky, The Shamus Twins, Cloud Eleven, Jim
Basnight, Raquel's Boys, Beauty Scene Outlaws, Pop Is Art, The Ringles, Lo and the Magnetics, The Spongetones, The Lemon
Clocks--all of these great records should
be played on the radio everywhere. And yet the task falls to the sorry
likes of US?! No, no, no-that ain't right.
We don't have any illusions about
starting a radio revolution (well, maybe Dana does, but he's funny that
way). But we're gonna keep on
doing whatever it is we've been doing, sort of the radio equivalent of Helen
Keller playing a Rickenbacker 12-string alone in a forest with no one else
around--maybe you can't quite hear us, but we do make a sound--a mighty, mighty
sound. If you listen, you'll get
it; it ain't much, but it's what's right.
And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounds like on Sunday nights in
Syracuse each week.
Carl Cafarelli, May 2006
DANA & CARL wanna thank Jeremy
Morris and all of the fine acts who contributed to this CD and/or to Volume 1,
too. We also need to thank Fritz
Van Leaven, Dave Murray, Liz Belmont, Mark Bialczak, John M. Borack, Bruce Brodeen
at Not Lame, Ray Gianchetti at Kool Kat Musik, Gary Pig Gold, Mark Hughson,
Beverly Paterson, Ray Paul, Dan Pavelich, Harper Payne, Pat Pierson, Rich
Rossi, Chris von Sneidern, Beth Woodell and the whole Hee-Haw gang at Syracuse Community Radio. If we forgot you this time, we're just
saving you for Volume 3.
To receive weekly e-mail playlists
from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO,
contact Carl at ccdatsme@aol.com
TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome at Syracuse Community Radio, 826 Euclid
Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210.
1. MEGHAN JEAN CAFARELLI: We're Back!
2. CHRIS VON SNEIDERN: An Early Clue To The New Direction [TIRnRR ID]
3. SCREEN TEST: Sound Of The Radio
(Gary
Frenay) Cubic Music BMI
www.frenayandlenin.8k.com, www.theflashcubes.com
4. JOHN WICKS & THE RECORDS: Edges Of A
Dream
(John
Wicks) Bridge and Tunnel Music ASCAP
www.johnwicksandtherecords.com
5. THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me
(Bob
and Mary Jo Cowsill) Bort-Bop-Baby Music BMI www.cowsill.com
6. RICHARD BARONE: 123...Infinity
(Richard
Barone & Tony Visconti) Richard Barone Music/Pneumatic Music BMI www.richardbarone.com
7. THE BAR [Babjak, Adlerman, Reil]: Katie's Shoes
(Jim
Babjak-Danny Adlerman) BMI
www.jimbabjak.com
www.bookkids.com
8. THE FIRE APES: Hey Kate
(John
Seymour) John Seymour Music www.TheFireApes.com
9. ASTROPUPPEES: Ride The Cowboy
(Kelley
Ryan) Meatpie Music BMI
www.astropuppees.com
10. THE CONDORS: Don't Want A
Girl Who's Been With Jack
(P.
DiPuccio) Condorosa Music ASCAP www.TheCondors.com
11. THE CHARMS: Talk Is
Cheap
(Vee
and Wizda) www.thecharms.net
12. TIM ANTHONY: Maryellen
(Tim
Anthony) Speedpop Music BMI
www,jealousy-records.com
13. EYTAN MIRSKY: I'm Losing
You
(Eytan
Mirsky) Mirsky Mouse Music BMI http://eytanmirsky.home.att.net
14. THE SHAMUS TWINS: Beyond You
(Jerry
Juden) Shamusongs, Inc. www.shamustwins.com
15. CLOUD ELEVEN: Tokyo
Aquarium
(Rick
Gallego) Mood Ring Music BMI
www.cloudeleven.com
16. JIM BASNIGHT: Look Inside
(Basnight/Hanan)
Monitor and Merrimac Music BMI
www.jimbasnight.com
17. RAQUEL'S BOYS: Orange Soda
(Sean
Hutton) BMI www.raquelsboys.com
18. POP IS ART: Are You
Listening? [TIRnRR ID]
19. BEAUTY SCENE OUTLAWS: Carl
Cafarelli
(Beauty
Scene Outlaws) www.beautysceneoutlaws.com
20. THE BLONDES: Suzi Quatro
(Dusha-Siegel)
BMI www.teenaciderecords.com
21. THE RINGLES: Tiffany's
Dimension
(Todd
Borsch and Tom Rose) Penguin People Music BMI http://www.myspace.com/theringlespop
22. LO & THE MAGNETICS: Sooner Or
Later
(M.
Girio and Lo and the Magnetics) Bloc-Notes Publishing Inc. SOCAN www.loandthemagnetics.com
23. THE SPONGETONES: Anyway Town
(Steve
Stoeckel-Patrick Walters) Pinkfoot Music-Spongetunes BMI www.spongetones.com
24. POP IS ART: Baby He Loves
You
(Scott
McGinley) PoP is arT Music www.popisart.com
25. MR. ENCRYPTO: The Last
Time (a cappella)
(Gordon)
Silent Bugler Music BMI
www.silentbugler.com
26. THE LEMON CLOCKS: Brand New
Day
27. THE GRIP WEEDS: Out Of Today
(R.
Reil) BMI www.gripweeds.com
28. THE DIPSOMANIACS: Syd Barrett
(Mick
Chorba) Dinnertime Music ASCAP
www.dipsomaniacs.net
BACK COVER:
THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO,
VOLUME 2
Another exciting CD companion
to The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet!
Produced by Dana Bonn and Carl
Cafarelli
Executive Producer: Jeremy Morris
1. MEGHAN JEAN CAFARELLI: We're Back!
2. CHRIS VON SNEIDERN: An Early Clue To The New Direction [TIRnRR ID]
3. SCREEN TEST: Sound Of The Radio
4. JOHN WICKS & THE RECORDS: Edges Of A
Dream
5. THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me
6. RICHARD BARONE: 123...Infinity
7. THE BAR [Babjak, Adlerman, Reil]: Katie's Shoes
8. THE FIRE APES: Hey Kate
9. ASTROPUPPEES: Ride The Cowboy
10. THE CONDORS: Don't Want A
Girl Who's Been With Jack
11. THE CHARMS: Talk Is
Cheap
12. TIM ANTHONY: Maryellen
13. EYTAN MIRSKY: I'm Losing
You
14. THE SHAMUS TWINS: Beyond You
15. CLOUD ELEVEN: Tokyo
Aquarium
16. JIM BASNIGHT: Look Inside
17. RAQUEL'S BOYS: Orange Soda
18. POP IS ART: Are You
Listening? [TIRnRR ID]
19. BEAUTY SCENE OUTLAWS: Carl
Cafarelli
20. THE BLONDES: Suzi Quatro
21. THE RINGLES: Tiffany's
Dimension
22. LO & THE
MAGNETICS: Sooner Or Later
23. THE SPONGETONES: Anyway Town
24. POP IS ART: Baby He
Loves You
25. MR. ENCRYPTO: The Last
Time (a cappella)
26. THE LEMON CLOCKS: Brand New
Day
27. THE GRIP WEEDS: Out Of Today
28. THE DIPSOMANIACS: Syd Barrett
Liner notes by CARL CAFARELLI
Design by DANA BONN
This product may contain
cyclamates. Mmmm-cyclamates…!
Note: Our promise
of “THE BEST THREE HOURS OF RADIO ON THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' PLANET!” is intended as
hyperbole, and does not imply any guarantee. Though, to be fair, we don't actually specify which friggin' planet, anyway.
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