BARON DAEMON! My annual Halloween salute to Syracuse's favorite vampire (and all-time best-selling local rock 'n' roll single)

At the end of each month, I've generally been hitting pause on this blog's certifiably dumb commitment to daily public posting, and instead prepping a private post for just my paid supporters. Now that I've scuttled my Patreon platform, the private posts will no longer be a thing. BUT! Because today is Halloween, I still wanna pause the usual daily shenanigans and look back at an appropriate post from 2017: a Greatest Record Ever Made! celebration of "The Transylvania Twist" by Baron Daemon and the Vampires.

(That was Boppin' [LIke The Hip Folks Do] # 700; today's post is, by official count, Boppin' # 2968. That reflects a lot of certifiably dumb commitment. But I digress.)

When I wrote this piece six years ago, I believe I had already started thinking about the possibility of doing a Greatest Record Ever Made! book, dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. If I did have the book idea in mind, I didn't really start pursuing it until around 2019. That book, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), is now finished and awaiting approval from a publisher. If it becomes a book, the Baron Daemon chapter will be a part of it.

There's no shame in being a fan of your own stuff; a writer should be able to take pride in the work, and no creative effort can be accomplished without at least a little bit o' hubris. My GREM! bit on Baron Daemon is among my favorite pieces, and I'm delighted to share it with any interested parties. Especially Halloween parties.

For those who don't have the fond familiarity with the Baron that we Central New York baby boomers enjoy, here's an intro to the subject, as it will appear in the GREM! book:

VOICE-OVER: My home town of Syracuse, NY is best known for its snowfall, its college basketball, and its foolproof plan to turn the area into a tourist Mecca by building a really big shopping mall where a bunch of oil tanks used to squat. What could possibly go wrong?

But in the early 1960s, Syracuse gave the world Baron Daemon, the goofy TV vampire host of Baron Daemon's Buddies on Channel 9. Believe me, if you were a kid around here at that time, Baron Daemon was big as the Beatles to you. 

In the fifties and sixties, many local markets had their own flamboyant vampire kiddie TV host. Only Syracuse had Baron Daemon. From 1962 to 1967, the Baron and his cohorts cavorted in televised escapades and performed schtick between cartoons and Flash Gordon serial adventures, live (or undead) from the Channel 9 studio in the basement of the Shoppingtown shopping center. Every kid in Syracuse was a fan of Baron Daemon.

And in 1963, Baron Daemon made a record. Now, decades later, that record's supernatural allure has drawn a unique visitor to Syracuse....

I also did a video version of my Baron Daemon rant, as seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! # 3: Baron Daemon, "The Transylvania Twist"

As I've said before, I could pass for a vampire if I could just get a little tan first.

This video was done in one take, but enthusiasm carries the day more often than mistakes ruin it. That enthusiasm is immortal, just like vampires ought to be. Especially campy, corny, schtick-loving bloodsuckers like Baron Daemon, who preyed on unsuspecting scenery with the undead passion of the broadest of broad comic performers. We loved him for it.

Mike Price, aka Baron Daemon

Grab ahold of your baby and hold her tight! Here's to Baron Daemon, from one of his bloody buddies. Happy Halloween from Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1205

This week, we bid farewell to an icon of our chosen music.

Icons. The word icon is overused. It absolutely applies to Dwight Twilley in this context. A power pop icon. A legend of pop with power. We join out friends in the rockin' pop community as we mourn the loss of one of our heroes.

And as our friends and fans mourn Twilley's passing, it occurs to me that I was a relative latecomer to his work. The Dwight Twilley Band's one big hit record--the power pop classic "I'm On Fire"--was a hit in 1975, a time when I was still listening to a lot of AM Top 40. I must have heard it on Syracuse's WOLF-AM, but I have no recollection of it.

But I caught up, and I caught on. I read about the Dwight Twilley Band in Bomp! magazine's power pop issue in 1978, I heard the Flashcubes cover "I'm On Fire" in their live set, and I snagged my own copy of the track on a various-artists compilation called Geef Voor New Wave. A belated fan. A fan nonetheless. Many, many more Twilley purchases would follow.

In the lengthy power pop history I wrote for John M. Borack's 2005 book Shake Some Action, I said of the Dwight Twilley Band:

"Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Dwight Twilley Band did find commercial success with 'I’m On Fire,' a terrific single that became a # 16 hit in 1975. The Dwight Twilley Band was actually a duo, comprised of Twilley and partner Phil Seymour, usually accompanied by ace guitarist Bill Pitcock IV. Fittingly, Twilley and Seymour first met while waiting on line at a local theater to see a revival screening of A Hard Day’s Night. The group’s follow-up single, 'You Were So Warm,' was perhaps even better than 'I'm On Fire,' but it was a commercial stiff, and an equally-strong, shoulda-been-a-goddamn-hit track called 'Shark' went paradoxically unreleased at the time. By the time the group’s first album, Sincerely, was released in 1976, the Dwight Twilley Band had lost the momentum of 'I’m On Fire.'

"Seymour split from Twilley after 1977’s Twilley Don't Mind album. Twilley went on to record several fine pop albums in the ‘80s, and returned in 1999 with a splendid record called Tulsa. Seymour cut some demos with 20/20 (more about whom later) before embarking on a promising but brief solo career. Seymour passed away from lymphoma in 1993.

"(Twilley, eulogizing his former partner in the pages of Yellow Pills fanzine, simultaneously summed up some of the timeless appeal of the pop experience itself: 'I’ll never forget the cold November night at the Church Studios in Tulsa. Phil and I had just signed our first recording contract. We had been instructed by the record company to get acquainted with working in a ‘real’ 16-track studio and not attempt to record a ‘real’ record. In the confusion of a pivotal moment, it was Phil who pulled me into a secluded hallway and said, "Dwight, let’s make a hit record right now." That night we recorded ‘I’m On Fire.’

“'For me, the true magic was when we sang together. It felt like it was, somehow, more than just two voices. It was the kind of luxury I know I’ll never recapture.')"

Nor will we be able to recapture it. Still, we'll play it on the radio. In that way, our icons live on.

Sincerely.

This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another 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, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio

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
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Volume 5: CD or download

HEY! Looking for something to read? Check out Carl's Ramones book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones You can also follow Carl's daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) at https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/ If you would like to receive links to each day's blog, please reply to this email.

TIRnRR # 1205: 10/29/2023

TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain't played before are listed in bold

DWIGHT TWILLEY: The Luck (Copper, Tulsa)

THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: Please Say Please (DCC, The Great Lost Twilley Album)

THE FLASHCUBES: Alone In My Room (Big Stir, Pop Masters)

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Walk On The Water (Fantasy, Chronicle, Vol. 2)

BEN VAUGHN: Sundown Sundown (Bar/None, Mono USA)

WRECKLESS ERIC & AMY RIGBY: Do You Remember That (Southern Domestic, A Working Museum)

--

JUNIPER: I Was Thinking About You (Confidential Sounds, single)

SUGAR HIGH: Flirting With Madness (n/a, Spuds)

DWIGHT TWILLEY: 10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin' (The Right Stuff, XXI)

KLAATU: True Life Hero (Klaatunes, 3:47 E.S.T.)

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Got To Have You Back (Motown, Greatest Hits And Rare Classics)

LITTLE BOB STORY: I'm Crying (Ace, VA: The Chiswick Story)

--

TIA CARRERE: Why You Wanna Break My Heart (Reprise, VA: Wayne's World OST)

THE CYNICS: Girl, You're On My Mind (Get Hip, Rock 'N' Roll)

THE GRIP WEEDS: Where Have All The Good Times Gone (Jem, VA: Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies)

THE EXPLODING HEARTS: I'm A Pretender [King Louie mix] (Dirtnap, Guitar Romantic)

THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: Shark (In The Dark) (DCC, The Great Lost Twilley Album)

QUINT: Ballad Of Sharknado Rhapsody (BMG, VA: Sharknado 5  OST)
--

THE MOPTOPS: When I Was Young (Kool Kat Musik, Running Out Of Time)

SHOES: The Things You Do (Elektra, Tongue Twister)

RON FLYNT & THE BLUEHEARTS: I See Blue (YaYa, Big Blue Heart)

THE DONNAS: I Don't Wanna Rock 'n' Roll Tonight (Real Gone Music, Early Singles 1995-1999)

CARLA OLSON: Street Fighting Man (BFD, single)

THE SOFT BOYS: Mystery Train (Rykodisc, 1976-81)

--

OiSTER: You Were So Warm (HoZac Archival, Pre-Dwight Twilley Band 1973-1974 Teac Tapes))

TRANSVISION VAMP: Tell That Girl To Shut Up (UNI, Pop Art)

DOLPH CHANEY: Nice (Big Stir, Mug)

WILLIAM PEARS: Big Bang (Permanent Press, Big Bang!)

P. HUX: Til The World Looks Right (n/a, As Good As Advertised)

THE BEAT: There She Goes (Wagon Wheel, The Beat)

--

THE GOLD NEEDLES: Hit The Main Drag (Jem, single)

THE NASHVILLE RAMBLERS: The Trains (Big Beat, VA: Come On Let's Go!)

MR. BRUCE GORDON: Genie In A Bottle (Futureman, One Tall Order)

THE POSIES: I May Hate You Sometimes (Rhino, VA: Children Of Nuggets)

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Strangered In The Night (MCA, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

THAT PETROL EMOTION: It's A Good Thing (Rhino, VA: Children Of Nuggets)

--

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl (MCA, Anthology: Through The Years)

THE ENGLISH BEAT: Save It For Later (Shout Factory, Keep The Beat)

THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: That I Remember (DCC, Twilley Don't Mind)

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: Mary-Ann (Vinyl Japan, Laugh It All Up!)

MIKE BROWNING: Moments Fly (single)

ORANGE: Judy Over The Rainbow (Zonophone, VA: Burning Sounds! 20 Killer Power Pop Cuts!)

--

PERILOUS: Name In The Paper (n/a, YEAH!!!)

THE LEN PRICE 3: Chinese Burn (Wicked Cool, Chinese Burn)

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You (Kool Kat Musik, Love + Glory)

THE MnM'S: I'm Tired (Burger (Melts In Your Ears 1980-1981)

PHIL SEYMOUR: Trying To Find My Baby (The Right Stuff, Precious To Me)

THE SUMMER SUNS: Run Like Hell (Bomp!, VA: Pop On Top!)

--

DWIGHT TWILLEY: Girls (The Right Stuff, XXI)

ROBERT ELLIS ORRALL: Something To Tell You (RCA, Fixation)

THE RAMONES: Swallow My Pride (Rhino, Leave Home)

THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHERE: My Love Explodes (Geffen, Chips From The Chocolate Fireball)

THE RASPBERRIES: I Wanna Be With You (Big Beat, VA: Come On Let's Go!)

sparkle*jets u.k.: You And Your Sister (Big Stir, single)

THE BEATLES: Please Please Me (Apple, 1962-1966)

THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: I'm On Fire (DCC, Sincerely)

--

DWIGHT TWILLEY: Goodbye (Copper, Tulsa)

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Airport (MCA, She's The One)

Tonight On THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

We remember DWIGHT TWILLEY. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. The weekend stops HERE!

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! A weekly feature on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO [updated list]

It's been a few months since the last time I updated this list, so...we're due! Here's the weekly GREM! story so far:

The pop noir genius of Todd Alcott

In 2022, we started doing The Greatest Record Ever Made! as a (nearly) weekly feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Here's an updated list of the weekly GREM!s so far. More to come. Some of these will (I hope) appear someday in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), some will not, and one--the Ramones' "I Don't Want To Grow Up"--appears RIGHT NOW in my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.

Updating the list gives me an excuse to share a couple more of artist Todd Alcott's brilliant images of classic rock 'n' roll songs reimagined as pulp paperbacks. I need to devote a full post to Alcott's work one of these days (or nights). Meanwhile, you can visit his site and buy some stuff. 

And here's a reprise of what I wrote about TIRnRR's weekly GREM! series last year:

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.

In 2022, with an eye toward mining the vast resource of material prepared for my ongoing concept The Greatest Record Ever Made!, we started doing a weekly GREM! feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.

Part of the motivation here was, frankly, an effort to cut a tiny little corner in writing my weekly 10 Songs column. See, laziness is the mother of invention. Deciding that one 10 Songs entry each week could be a link to a previously-written Greatest Record Ever Made! piece meant that I only hadda write about nine songs. FREEDOM!

But a weekly feature also enhances the show itself. Prior to this, it had been a very long time since we had any specific weekly feature on TIRnRR. There used to be a weekly Forgotten Original!, there was a weekly Mystery 45! (where Dana grabbed a single from his collection and played it without previewing it), there was a very brief flirtation with Unsafe At Any Speed! (playing a record back at something other than its intended rpm), and I think we even may have had a weekly GREM! feature at some point. Maybe not. Maybe.

But these were all many years ago. The tentative beginning of our current weekly GREM! feature was in February of 2022, when we played Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" on our February 6th show, and then followed with "Thank You, Girl" by the Beatles the next week. Then, in typical fashion, I completely forgot about the idea for a few weeks.

Pretty quick work, right?

GREM! resumed as a weekly thingie at the end of March in 2022, and continued thereafter. It skips a week every so often...but not very often. Anyway, here's a list of all of 'em so far. I think the only one we repeated was "That Thing You Do!" by teen sensations the Wonders. Please be aware that I am not under oath. 

But we played them all on the radio. It's our own ongoing contribution to the infinite.

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, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Weekly TIRnRR Featured Songs [updated list]

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: I Only Want To Be With You

THE BEATLES: Thank You, Girl

THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: Any Way You Want It

THE JAYHAWKS: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me

THE WONDERS: That Thing You Do!

FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie

GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Midnight Train To Georgia

THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

THE WHO: I Can't Explain

THE BUZZCOCKS: Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)

THE RARE BREED: Beg, Borrow And Steal

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset

MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress

THE SMITHEREENS: Behind The Wall Of Sleep

TRACEY ULLMAN: They Don't Know

STEVIE WONDER: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

LITTLE RICHARD: The Girl Can't Help It

CRAZY ELEPHANT: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'

KISS: Shout It Out Loud

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

SQUEEZE: Tempted

NELSON RIDDLE: The Batman Theme

ELTON JOHN: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

T. REX: 20th Century Boy

THE RASPBERRIES: I Wanna Be With You

SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES: The Tears Of A Clown

BARON DAEMON AND THE VAMPIRES: The Transylvania Twist

THE NEW YORK DOLLS: Personality Crisis

THE CAST OF WEST SIDE STORY: America

THE MONKEES: Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)

THE KINKS: You Really Got Me

THE MUFFS: Saying Goodbye

VERDELLE SMITH: Life Goes On

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

THE MONKEES: Riu Chiu

MELANIE WITH THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

LOVE: 7 And 7 Is
HEART: Kick It Out

THE DIXIE CUPS: Iko Iko

THE YARDBIRDS: Heart Full Of Soul

THE BYRDS: Eight Miles High

RONNIE SPECTOR AND THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

GENE PITNEY: Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

THE CLASH: Train In Vain

THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne

AMY RIGBY: Dancing With Joey Ramone

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Rock And Roll Love Letter

THE BREAKWAYS/PAUL COLLINS: Walking Out On Love

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action

THE RAMONES: I Believe In Miracles

THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere

ALICE COOPER: School's Out

THE MYNAH BIRDS: I Got You (In My Soul)

THE PANDORAS: It's About Time

THE RAMONES: I Wanna Be Sedated [Ramones On 45 Mega Mix]

IKE & TINA TURNER: River Deep--Mountain High

THE DRIFTERS: On Broadway

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Vengeance

SUZI QUATRO: I May Be Too Young

THE RUBINOOS: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

THE MARVELETTES: I'll Keep Holding On

THE RUNAWAYS: Cherry Bomb

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: I Fought The Law

SAM COOKE: Chain Gang

BIG STAR: September Gurls

AL HIRT: The Green Hornet Theme

THE EVERLY BROTHERS: Gone, Gone, Gone

RICK JAMES: Super Freak

THE JAM: That's Entertainment

R. DEAN TAYLOR: Indiana Wants Me

THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM: 2 + 2 = ?

THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL: Summer In The City

JOAN JETT: Bad Reputation

THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'

THE ONLY ONES: Another Girl, Another Planet

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl

An American girl

More GREM!s on their way. Stay tuned.

NOTHING to lose...!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN: A Tribute To THE FLASHCUBES

I've been a proud and enthusiastic fan of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes since I was 18. THAT, my friends, was a very long time ago, but my belief in the group has never wavered. Their current all-covers album Pop Masters on the mighty Big Stir Records label is my top album of 2023 so far. Frankly, there is no plausible set of circumstances likely to change that.

As I've pummeled the console on the Flashcubes' behalf for all these decades, I've long wished some other great rockin' pop recording acts would also recognize the brilliance of the Flashcubes' original material, and attempt their own cool covers of same. I managed to convince the Slapbacks to cut a rendition of Gary Frenay's "Make Something Happen" for our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, but that is the only Cubic cover I've ever encountered.

So! With apologies to Jackie DeShannon, what the world needs now is a Flashcubes tribute album.

I'm not aware of anyone working on such a thing. Hell, I don't even know of any artist contemplating a Flashcubes cover. But I wish they would. In the mean time, I've imagined some possibilities. 

For our make-believe compilation Make Something Happen: A Tribute To The Flashcubes, I've matched a number of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio-approved artists with songs written, recorded, and released (in studio or live versions) by the Flashcubes: eighteen tracks, six songs apiece penned by 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay and guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin. In my mind's ears, I can hear it now...

THE COWSILLS: When We Close Our Eyes

JOAN JETT AND THE CYNZ: A Face In The Crowd

MICKY DOLENZ: Make Something Happen

ROBIN WILSON AND THE SMITHEREENS: You For Me

LISA MYCHOLS: It's You Tonight

THE RUBINOOS: Christi Girl

THE GRIP WEEDS: Wait Till Next Week

EYTAN MIRSKY: Girl From Germany

THE TEST PRESSINGS: Five Personalities

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Taking Inventory

THE CHELSEA CURVE: Pathetic

ERIC CARMEN: No Promise

CARLA OLSON: Gone Too Far

THE BROTHERS STEVE: She's Leaving

GRAHAM PARKER AND THE GOLDTOPS: You're Not The Police

THE MASTER PLAN: Got No Mind

THE SPONGETONES: You Got My Promise

POP CO-OP: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

Trust me: this would be an absolutely kickass record. 

If it existed. 

Record labels! Rockin' pop recording artists! Start your engines. And set your controls for the brightest lights.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 10/26/2023

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1204.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Every Minute

As we prepare to welcome long-time TIRnRR Fave Raves the Grip Weeds for their first-ever Syracuse appearance this Friday, October 27th at The Lost Horizon, there was never any question that we would open this week's radio shindig with Grip Weeds music. It's the very situation for which the word DUH! was invented.

We've been playing the group's cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend" (from the Grip Weeds' 2022 covers album DiG) a lot, and it's a shoo-in for a spot somewhere on the year-end countdown of our most-played tracks in 2023. This week, we saved "Lady Friend" for our post-sayonara WAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT! bonus spot at the very end of the show, and instead got the party started at the top with a spin of "Every Minute," from their 1998 album The Sound Is In You. If I had to pick a single favorite Grip Weeds track, it would be "Every Minute." The sound is in YOU!

But no need to pick a single favorite--the Grip Weeds have lots of favorites! And we'll hear a few of 'em Friday at The Lost Horizon, as the Grip Weeds join 1.4.5., Perilous, Preacher, and Kenne Highland Airforce for a transcendent evening of rockin' pop. You should oughta be there. Sound ain't gonna into you on its own, man.

DiG?

SANTANA: Oye Como Va

On last week's show, following my daughter's wedding earlier this month, we played War's "Low Rider," which was the entrance music for the proud fathers of the happy couple.at the reception. This week, we gave equal time to the newlyweds' mothers with a spin of their entrance music, "Oye Como Va" by Santana. For Susan in Florida, and for my dear Brenda in New York. We're ALL family now. Buena pa' gozar.

CARLA OLSON: Street Fighting Man

Another week, another turn for Carla Olson's rock-solid cover of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." This coming Sunday night will present the start of another week, AND another turn for Carla Olson's "Street Fighting Man." See, revolutions thrive on consistency.

DOLPH CHANEY: Nice

We've been programming tracks from Dolph Chaney's current album Mug with Whac-A-Mole frequency. But for some unexplained reason, while other shows 'n' stations have jumped on the irresistible Mug shot "Nice," we...had not. Where the hell have we been all this time?

Oh, right. Playing "Ice Cream Embers" from the same album. We're not oblivious. We're focused.

No matter. We're here now. "Nice" makes its overdue TIRnRR debut on this week's playlist, and returns for an encore appearance next week. Nice. It's important to be nice.

THE FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache

From my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Like Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You,' the Flirtations' 'Nothing But A Heartache' is a noisy explosion of girl-group popcraft, trading the romantic, near-orgasmic bliss of Dusty's record for a lover's lament that is still no less magnetic, no less exuberant, even as the singer pines for an unattainable lover, a clueless cad who, apparently, doesn't want to be with her.

"I say to hell with him."

NEW MATH: They Walk Among You

"Die Trying" has always been my # 1 New Math track, but the highlight for me at their recent farewell show in Rochester was the performance of this monster slice of psychedelic sci-fi paranoia. "They Walk Among You" is The Day Of The Triffids meets Wild In The Streets, but amped up to scary good measure. It's the title track from a 1981 EP, and it isn't on the recent New Math anthology Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds (1979-1983). Given that They Walk Among You was a step away from New Math's original model, I wasn't sure whether or not the group would include "They Walk Among You" in their final live show.

They did. Checking the basement for pods? Too late! They walk among you already. 

And you are lucky that they do.

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You

Man, I dig this track. "In It With You" is from Love + Glory, the new Kool Kat Musik release by former Soul Engines guitarist Dave Kuchler, and something about it reminds me of the Rubinoos. That, my comrades, is a good thing indeed. We played it last week. We played it this week. And yep, we're playin' it again next week. I'm into it. It's the IN sound! Are you with us, or what?

THE ONLY ONES: Another Girl, Another Planet

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

JUNIPER: Ride Between The Cars

Juniper's absolutely ace 2023 album She Steals Candy has been among our top go-tos all year, and her She Steals Candy rendition of Amy Rigby's "Baby Doll" will be heard alongside the Grip Weeds' "Lady Friend" (and many other fine gems) in that year-end TIRnRR countdown show we mentioned a few paragraphs north of here. We have a brand new Juniper single to play next week, but this week was a prime opportunity for another romp through the She Steals Candy original "Ride Between The Cars." 

THE GRIP WEEDS: Rainbow Quartz

You guessed it! ANOTHER of my favorite Grip Weeds tracks, this one radiatin' off their 2015 album How I Won The War. Winners will gather at The Lost Horizon this Friday, October 27th. Be there! Musketeer Gripweed would accept nothing less.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl