YouTube's favorite power pop/rockin' pop video correspondent Matthew Street selected our most recent compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 as one of his ten favorite releases of 2018. Granted, it's actually a 2017 release, but any record you ain't heard is a new record. We come in at # 9, and we are in very good company. Furthermore, our Matthew nails the essence of TIRnRR, and correctly points out that Little Steven at least owes us some beers for inventing The Underground Garage's format back in the '90s, before there was an Underground Garage. We're honored, we're grateful, we're this close to feeling humble (or we would be, if we understood this alien concept of humility). Thanks, Matt! We recommend everyone check out his video--I see at least one CD I need to buy immediately myself--and we further recommend you subscribe to Matthew Street's YouTube channel. He's done some nice stuff on The Flashcubes, and he has just a ton of other cool pop appreciation videos, too. Go! Now! Tell 'im Dana & Carl sent you.
Matt's recognition of TIRnRR # 4 comes just as I was kicking around a blog post about feeling underappreciated. Yeah, yeah, I know--waa waa waa. But I confess that sometimes it feels like everything I've created for public consumption, whether it's my own writing or my work with Dana on TIRnRR, adds up to little more than boats against the current, or maybe like someone playing or painting or crafting something alone in a forest, with no one else to hear, see, or even learn to like. An empty echo.
And again: waa waa waa.
But I suffer from thin skin. Perceived snubs bug me, far more than they should. There was a fairly high-profile power pop project in the recent past, a project I supported with word of mouth, something I bought and paid for well before its release. Fine. But the hype for the project featured a drumbeat of enthusiasm for our shared pop scene--hey, cool!--acknowledging virtually every deserving pop pundit, prophet, and podcast out there. To my sensitive mind, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio was conspicuous in its absence from those acknowledgements.
And frankly, it hurt. I'm positive it wasn't intentional, even though the folks behind the project certainly know me, and they know TIRnRR. It was an oversight. If I applied, y'know, rational thought to all of this, I'd embrace the fact that they have indeed acknowledged and recognized us (and even me) in the past, more than once, and I should quit my damn whinin' awready. Still, I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed to be excluded from recognition this time around. Waa. Waa. Waa.
So I'm grateful to Matthew Street, thankful when anyone acknowledges what we do. My skin will get stronger someday. I'll keep writing. We'll keep playing. This forest can't stay deserted forever.
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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.
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