Monday, January 17, 2022

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1112: WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS FOR NOW! 30 Years Of Dana & Carl

For thirty years and counting, I have enjoyed an amazing opportunity to co-host a radio show with my friend Dana. That is the best gig ever: playing rock 'n' roll, pop music, soul, punk, girl groups, R & B, power pop, bubblegum, ska, even country, reggae, and jump blues when we feel like it, and playing it all for listeners eager to embrace our giddy concept of The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. It's not anything I intend to give up at any point in the near future. This is fun. This is Dana & Carl. This is rock 'n' roll radio.

And it all started three decades ago. On January 15th, 1992, we recorded a 90-minute pilot episode of our first radio series We're Your Friends For Now, and that audition tape went on the air the same night. Weekly three-hour shows commenced just four days later, and continued until the station itself collapsed in June of '92. Even without a radio station, Dana and I kept on going through the '90s anyway, with a homemade series (Radio Peace) that played at local businesses (and somehow on Radio Vox in Russia), plus We're Your Mates For Now! (played between races at a Guinness round-the-clock marathon in England) and a cable TV special called Radiovision. With a new radio station, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio itself began on December 27th, 1998. All of its predecessors are part of the 30-year history of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio.

30 years! We celebrate that milestone with this week's show. Dana came up with the idea of playing tracks by some of the artists with whom we've had the pleasure of speaking during these last three decades. Some appeared with us on our show, or with us on stage; some did telephone interviews, some did Zooms, and some we met at their own shows. One of them was a Beatle. Top that. It all comes together for a very cool victory lap on behalf of whatever the hell it is that we do.

The 30th anniversary playlist was inspired by chats (however involved or brief) Dana and/or I have had with RINGO STARR, THE COWSILLS, PAUL COLLINS of THE BEAT, JOHN WICKS of THE RECORDS, THE FLASHCUBES, THE GRIP WEEDS, MARY LOU LORD, THE BEVIS FROND, POP CO-OPRONNIE LANE and IAN McLAGAN of THE SMALL FACESAIMEE BOBRUK and JON NOTARTHOMAS, ELLIE VEE of THE CHARMS, EYTAN MIRSKY, FRISBIE, ADAM MARSLAND and ROBERT RAMOS of COCKEYED GHOST, TERESA COWLES of PACIFIC SOUL LTD., EVIE SANDS, THE KENNEDYSCHRIS JACKSON of NICE GUY EDDIE, THE POPTARTS, WRECKLESS ERIC and AMY RIGBY, ROBBIE RIST and JOHN BORACK of POPDUDES, FRITZ VAN LEAVEN of MINISTERS OF LOVE, JACK LIPTON of THE PENETRATORS, MARK DOYLE AND THE MANIACS, KENNY HOWES, DIGBY, KYLE VINCENT, DANNY WILKERSON, LANNIE FLOWERS, ERIC BARAO, CHICKLET, RONNIE DARK, BEAUTY SCENE OUTLAWS, MR. ENCRYPTO, CHRIS VON SNEIDERN, THE TREND, TOMMY STINSON of THE REPLACEMENTS and BASH AND POP, CRAIG MARSHALL, ADAM MARSHALL of THE HUMBUGS, TIM ANTHONY, DAVE EGAN of THREE DAYS AWAKE, RICH FIRESTONE of Radio Deer Camp, GREGG YETI, DAVID SOULE and CHARLIE ROBBINS of THE TEARJERKERS, HARMONIC DIRT, JOE MANNIX, KEN SHARP, RAY PAUL, MICHAEL MITSCH, JOHNATHAN PUSHKAR, TIRnRR ALLSTARS, and DAVE MURRAY, plus Guest Programmers DAN PAVELICH of THE CLICK BEETLES and LISA MYCHOLS of THE MASTICATORS

(And if this had been The Best SIX Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet instead of a mere three, we could have added THE RAMONES, KELLEY RYAN, THE BURNS SISTERS, JOEY MOLLAND of BADFINGER, JOAN JETT, CYRIL JORDAN of THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES, LOU WHITNEY of THE SKELETONS, MARK LINDSAY of PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS, RON DANTE of THE ARCHIES, PETE BEST, GREG KIHN, BEN VAUGHN, BLOTTO, MARK BACINO, TONI WINE, SAL VALENTINO of THE BEAU BRUMMELS, TERRY SYLVESTER of THE HOLLIES, JILL RICHMOND of THE AQUANETTAS, BARRY TASHIAN of THE REMAINS, KATE JACOBS, JOEY LEVINE of THE OHIO EXPRESS, DICK DODD of THE STANDELLS, TONY LEVANTHAL of THE MOCKERS, LENNY KAYE, ALEX CHILTON, SHEILA E, COLIN HAY of MEN AT WORK, PAUL CARRACK, JOHN WAITE, ANDREA OGARRIO of THE BUNNY RABBITS, THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS, and a bunch of others the ol' memory banks won't let us withdraw at the moment. It's okay. There's always next week. And the week after that. We have no intention of stopping any time soon.)

We're Your Friends For Now was our launchpad. As I wrote recently of our origins: like the Golliwogs before Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Dana & Carl radio partnership began well before its current mutant incarnation. We're Your Friends For Now was an embryonic version of TIRnRR, with time, title, location, and experience the only real differences between our Golliwogs then and our CCR now. 30 years of Dana & Carl. We're still here.

If you wanna dive into a more detailed account of our story so far, I direct you to Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio). Now, we're set to prove that, no matter what you've heard, you CAN trust a radio show over 30. And you can trust us. We're DJs. We've got your soundtrack lined up. 30 years on, this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounds like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.

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.

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

PS: SEND MONEY!!!! We need tech upgrades like Elvis needs boats. Spark Syracuse is supported by listeners like you. Tax-deductible donations are welcome at
http://sparksyracuse.org/support/

You can follow Carl's daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) at 
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/

TIRnRR # 1112: 1/16/2022 WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS FOR NOW! 30 Years Of Dana & Carl

THE FLASHCUBES: Flavor Of The Month (unreleased)
DIGBY: Spirit (Label X, Go Digby)
THE CHARMS: Top Down (Red Car, Charmed, I'm Sure)
THE BEAT: Rock N Roll Girl (Wagon Wheel, The Beat)
KENNY HOWES AND THE YEAH!: Sheila, She (TallBoy, Until Dawn)
--
DANNY WILKERSON & LANNIE FLOWERS WITH ORBIS MAX: One Of A Kind (single)
MARY LOU LORD: Aim Low (Kill Rock Stars, MARY LOU LORD/SEAN NA NA: Split)
MARK DOYLE & THE MANIACS: Trials And Tribulations (Free Will, Pushin')
THE BEVIS FROND: He'd Be A Diamond (Rubric, New River Head)
MICHAEL MITSCH & LAGANSLOVE: Bogs Of Mayo (n/a, Back To The Bog)
WRECKLESS ERIC & AMY RIGBY: Do You Remember That? (Southern Domestic, A Working Museum)
--
THE POPTARTS: I Won't Let You Let Me Go (PlumTone, Fresh...Out Of The Toaster)
CHICKLET: Out Of Sight (Satellite, Wanderlust)
ERIC BARAO: On Holiday (n/a, Eric Barao)
EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year (M-Squared, Year Of The Mouse)
GREGG YETI & THE BEST LIGHTS: My Narcoleptic Sara (Eskimo Kiss, Heart Palpitations Of The Rich And Famous)
THE RECORDS: Paint Her Face (Virgin, Crashes, Smashes And Near Misses)
--
FRISBIE: Comes N Goes (Hear Diagonally, Period.)
THE HUMBUGS: She's Not Sad (Oddvious, Twist The Truth)
PACIFIC SOUL LTD.: We Go High (Karma Frog, The Dance Divine)
THE KENNEDYS: Half Of Us (Jiffyjam, Get It Right)
POP CO-OP: Feint Of Heart (Silent Bugler, Four State Solution)
COCKEYED GHOST: I Hate Rock And Roll (Big Deal, The Scapegoat Factory)
--
RINGO STARR: It Don't Come Easy (Capitol, Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr)
KYLE VINCENT: It Wasn't Supposed To Happen (Hollywood, Kyle Vincent)
RICH FIRESTONE: If The Sun Doesn't Shine (The TM Collective, VA: Green Thoughts)
RAY PAUL [with EMITT RHODES]: Some Sing, Some Dance (Permanent Press, The Charles Beat)
THE PENETRATORS: Teenage Lifestyle (Slovenly, Kings Of Basement Rock)
--
MINISTERS OF LOVE: Times Like This (n/a, Confessions)
THE TREND: Peer Pressure (Hate, Batman Live At Budokan)
THE CLICK BEETLES: If Not Now, Then When (Futureman, Pop Fossil)
THE GRIP WEEDS: Rainbow Quartz (Jem, How I Won The War)
HARMONIC DIRT: Maybe (n/a, Anthracite)
--
CHRIS VON SNEIDERN: Annalisa (Heyday, Sight & Sound)
JOHNATHAN PUSHKAR: Any Second Now (Jem, Compositions)
CRAIG MARSHALL: Radio Girl (Big Ticket, Point Of View)
THREE DAYS AWAKE: Chills (21 Centimeter Line, Thursday Weld)
--
AIMEE BOBRUK: Puppets At Play (Hungry Ghost Music, The Safety Match Journal)
BASH & POP: Anything Could Happen (Fat Possum, Anything Could Happen)
KEN SHARP: Something's Happening (n/a, Miniatures)
THE MASTICATORS: He's The One [Unsound version] (Futureman, Complete Masticators!)
NICE GUY EDDIE: Never Saw The Sun (n/a, Snipe Hunt!)
DANA & CARL [with DAVE MURRAY]: The Ballad Of Jah Clampett (Futureman, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1)
--
BEAUTY SCENE OUTLAWS: Carl Cafarelli (Futureman, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2)
THE SMALL FACES: Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire (Snapper, The Definitive Collection)
MR. ENCRYPTO: The Last Time [a cappella--expanded mix] (unreleased)
EVIE SANDS: Another Night (R-Spot, Get Out Of Your Own Way)
THE TEARJERKERS: Syracuse Summer (Futureman, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3)

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