The year could have gone better.
But this isn't going to be a time for me to mark the disappointments and defeats, the frustrations, the mistakes made, the opportunities lost. We all have those, each and every year. Sure, some years seem more vicious in their assaults, and even if we survive these attacks, we don't escape unscathed. The scars we bear aren't badges of honor; they're the price we pay to advance to another hour, another day. Another year. And so our stories go.
We don't really get to write our own stories; if we could do that, I'd have more hair and I'd be able to play guitar. Or sing. Or something. The stories are just the chronicles of what happens to us, what we do about it, and how we spend the time in between events. Our love. Our distaste. Our pastimes. Our actions and inactions. Our pleasures and pains, our passion and our indifference, our ambitions and our occasional wish to be left the hell alone. Our art. Stories are not defined solely by our troubles. Each story is an attempt to convey what Irwin Shaw said was the writer's job: to provide an account of where we think we are, and what this place looks like today.
If the above seems a bit too high-falutin' to appear in connection with a willfully giddy little mutant radio show, well, that's our story. And we're sticking to it.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's year-end countdown show provides a chance to revel in the songs that served as our stories' soundtrack over the past twelve months. Music heals. Music incites. Music can help us get through our more difficult passages, our more challenging chapters. I don't think I could turn my story's pages without music. I wouldn't want to try.
The playlist below shows you what TIRnRR played a lot in 2021. Thanks again to the mighty Fritz Van Leaven for keeping track of these things, and congratulations to Kelley Ryan, who snags our year-end # 1 spot with her ace track "The Church Of Laundry." Congratulations as well to all of the other fine artists whose work built our countdown, and also to all of the acts we played in 2021. Whether we played you once or played you again and again and again, you were an essential part of our story this year. We thank you for that. Let's line up some more songs; 2022 is waiting for us, and I say we hit it before it hits us. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on Sunday nights in Syracuse this year.
NEXT WEEK: our return to regular programming will include a salute to the late, great Michael Nesmith.
IN THREE WEEKS: On January 16th, we celebrate the unlikely milestone of 30 YEARS OF DANA & CARL. Say, that's not a bad story at all. Happy New Year from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.
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, 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.
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
http://sparksyracuse.org/support/
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment