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| Would you buy a new (or used) CD from these men? |
And though our signal
may be weak and thin
You pick it up and we
can bring you in
Home on the radio
There’s always one
place you can go
Home on the radio
And there is just no
place like home!
--“Home On The Radio” by Bruce Gordon
Me? Badfinger,
man. I owe it all to Badfinger.
Oh sure, there were others, before and after. My love of
songs on the radio goes back at least as far as hearing Chubby Checker and The Four
Seasons when I was three years old, and then exploding with the giddy
euphoria of The Beatles when I was
four. It continues from “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and The Bobby Fuller Four and The
Monkees, right through Badfinger into Slade
and The Isley Brothers, college
radio and satellite radio, oldies shows and local spotlights, AM and FM, internet
streaming and podcasts.
But nothing epitomizes the rush of pure pop radio, rock ‘n’
roll radio, more than Badfinger. “No Matter What.” “Day After Day.” “Baby
Blue.” And, just as importantly, hearing the DJ on WOLF-AM in Syracuse saying These
guys sound like The Beatles! as the latest Badfinger triumph filled the
airwaves. With that, I understood the magic of radio. Guess I got what I deserved. And I’m grateful for that.
Love of radio is what continues to inspire This
Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. When Dana came up with the
idea of teaming up for a weekly radio show, the offer was too enticing to
resist. Who can resist magic? I remember the thrill of listening to Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and The Raspberries and The Bay City Rollers and The Flirtations on my AM radio; from a
bit later on, I remember yearning to also hear The Ramones and Generation X
on my AM radio. I remember learning about The
Kinks and Chuck Berry on AM
radio. AM radio was one of the best parts of making me who I am today. Free-form
FM offered even more possibilities. Hey, why not combine the two? Dana and I
wanted to do that. On Sunday nights,
we try to pay it back. If you were ever a kid, ear pressed to the radio,
breathlessly waiting for the DJ to play The
Grass Roots or The Hollies, or Bowie, or The Sex Pistols, or Prince,
or R.E.M., then do we ever have a
show for you. This latest This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio compilation
continues our dedication to the joy of radio. The joy of radio! Dana coined the phrase years ago, and I can’t sum
up our goals any better’n that.
We’ve always been buoyed by the support of our listeners,
and by our belief in the artists we love. Pop
Co-Op formed through TIRnRR, the members originally
connecting through our show’s online community, and “You Don’t Love Me Anymore”
was one of the first tracks we solicited for this set. Our friend Ray Paul got together with his pal Terry Draper of Klaatu to craft an irresistible new track called “I Need Your Love
Tonight.” New friends Circe Link &
Christian Nesmith agreed to let us use a track from their limited-edition
release The Pop EP, and our buds in Vegas With Randolph surprised us by joining forces with our other
bud Lannie Flowers on a brand-new
rockin’ confection called “The Weekend’s Coming.” We somehow hoodwink…er, interested
Keith Klingensmith--one of my
longest-standing online amigos—in the idea of covering a sublime Gary Frenay song called “Make Something
Happen.” Gary previously recorded the tune with both Screen Test and The
Flashcubes, and it’s just cried out for someone--Marshall Crenshaw! The
Monkees!--to cover it to greater notoriety. Pop stalwart P. Hux and new pop fave Irene Peña gave
us tracks from their respective catalogs, and Michael Oliver blew us away with a new song that should be playing
on every radio station in the country right now.
I’ve been a fan of The
Rubinoos since my senior year in high school, and their presence on this
set thrills me beyond my ability to articulate. Once and future Spongetone Jamie Hoover’s combo Stepford Knives makes its CD debut
here, alongside a stunning new remix of a German B-side by New Jersey’s
Phenomenal Pop Combo The Grip Weeds.
My former Goldmine magazine colleague John Borack is represented with his group Popdudes, performing Torbjörn
Petersson’s lovely “She Is Funny (In That Way). Ronnie Dark (host of The Wax Museum with Ronnie Dark over
on WVOA-FM) offered a track from his
OOP album Irkville Road. The
Flashcubes, my all-time favorite power pop group, gave us the long-lost
4-track recording of their greatest song, “No Promise.” Chris von Sneidern provides an incredible tribute to the halcyon
days of the Syracuse new scene that forged us, and The Bottle Kids bring a swell unreleased track that was the first
thing we wanted for This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio, Volume 4, even before we had any
specific plan to do This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio, Volume 4. “Your Own World” by 1.4.5. was TIRnRR’s # 1 most-played
track in 2016. The Smithereens and Paul Collins’ Beat have been on our
wish list for years, as has the unreleased, irresistible “Best Of Me” by The Hit Squad.
I first heard The
Rulers’ ace tribute song “I Want My Ramones Records Back” on…really? On MySpace?! Well...! It took us this long
to track it down. The Legal Matters’
stunning take on Teenage Fanclub’s
“Don’t Look Back” makes its CD debut here, and Maura & the Bright Lights—the Syracuse superstar mash-up of The Kennedys and Screen Test—make their CD
debut here, with a song co-written by Maura
Kennedy and local legend B. D. Love (who
also harmonizes with John Wicks of The Records on this one). And then
there’s Lisa Mychols! Brothers and
sisters, we adore Lisa Mychols more than mere words could ever convey.
TIRnRR # 4 concludes with “Home On The Radio” by Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers, a call
to arms for anyone and everyone who has ever believed in the magic—the joy—of
radio. Do you believe? We do. Something
much too good to be untrue. We offer you this set of tunes as illustration
and celebration of that belief, that faith in the redemptive power of song, and
the communal transcendence of listening to that music together. Welcome home. There
is just no place like home. This is what rock ‘n’ roll sounds like on Sunday
nights in Syracuse each week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl streams Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern at www.westcottradio.org
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
Carl Cafarelli, Syracuse NY
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