Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Fake THIS IS ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RADIO Playlist: Acts I Never Saw In Concert (but my friends did)

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl is simply too large a concept to be neatly contained within a mere three-hour weekly time slot. Hence these occasional fake TIRnRR playlists, detailing shows we're never really going to do...but could.

I've been fortunate enough to witness live performances by a lot of great rockin' pop acts. Today's exercise in imaginary playlists doesn't list any of those great acts; instead, we have a program of artists I didn't see, but whom one or another of my friends did.

To retain some focus here, I'm only counting acts I believe were witnessed in live concert by someone I've known--or at least met--in person. If I added the scope to include online friends and e-buddies, we'd be here all week. The concert attendees include family members, pals, former pals, coworkers, casual acquaintances, and working musicians who may have played on the same bill with the artist in question. 

The latter category includes the Flashcubes, whom I've seen dozens of times, including slots on bills with the Runaways, the Ramones, Joe Jackson, 999, Artful Dodger, David Johansen, and the Fast. The 'Cubes also played with a bunch of acts I never got to see: the Police, U2, the Jam, Fotomaker, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Pat Benatarthe Star Spangles, and more. I'm gonna presume that when the 'Cubes weren't on stage themselves, they likely had a chance to see these other acts play.

And yeah, I know two people (my friend Pete and my brother-in-law Tony) who saw the Beatles. My friend Dawn saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience open for the Monkees. My lovely wife Brenda's first concert was Yes, and she also saw Cyndi Lauper (but left the show after Cyndi's set, skipping out on Stevie Ray Vaughan). A high school friend saw Suzi Quatro open for Alice Cooper. My sister Denise saw Led Zeppelin and the Beau Brummels (on separate bills). My friend Dave saw Blue Öyster Cult, and Dave's forthcoming novel will include his real-life reminiscence of that show's anticlimactic encore. My boss saw the Yardbirds and Fairport Convention. My friend Greg saw the Sex Pistols' final show in '78 (with the Avengers opening), and my friend Fritz caught the original Pistols quartet's reunion tour. TIRnRR's intrepid co-host Dana saw Styx, Rockpile, the Cure, the New Pornographers, and about a zillion other worthies. I'm a single degree of separation from tons of fine shows.

There were a few more acts I almost included. I'm pretty sure I know folks who saw Slade, the New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople, Elvis Presley, and the Knack. C'mon, Robbie Rist must have seen the Knack! I'm sure my friend Lois saw King Elvis I, and probably Devo, too. Plus she was at Woodstock. And I betcha Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong saw Slade, the Dolls, and Mott. But I didn't want to overthink this, nor did I really want to contact anyone to confirm or deny their own Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery. So I stuck with what I felt were certainties.

I was tempted to list the Clash (whom I did see, but in the crappy Cut The Crap line-up without Mick Jones) and Badfinger (which was really Joey Molland with latter-day bandmates). And I almost omitted Blondie, since I saw Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (billed under their names rather than as Blondie). But we shouldn't split hairs here, so I'm going by the billing. I saw the Clash and Badfinger; I didn't see Blondie.

But some of my friends did.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl--y'know, the real one--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
Volume 5: 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/

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!!

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

Fake THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Playlist: Acts I Never Saw Live (but my friends did)

THE BEATLES: I Want To Hold Your Hand
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Cruisin'
SUZI QUATRO: I May Be Too Young
THE SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen
THE YARDBIRDS: Heart Full Of Soul
THE BONGOS: In The Congo
--
THE B-52'S: 52 Girls
STEVE FORBERT: Romeo's Tune
LOS LOBOS: Will The Wolf Survive?
THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: Fire
CYNDI LAUPER: Money Changes Everything
THE POLICE: Roxanne
--
ALICE COOPER: School's Out
THE JAM: The Modern World
U2: I Will Follow
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: The Ties That Bind
YES: 
PAT BENATAR: Heartbreaker
--
SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES: I Don't Wanna Go Home
THE MAVERICKS: Dance The Night Away
ARETHA FRANKLIN: Respect
THE BEAU BRUMMELS: Laugh Laugh
LED ZEPPELIN: Communication Breakdown
FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Time Will Show The Wiser
--
RASPBERRIES: Go All The Way
BLONDIE: One Way Or Another
RICK NELSON: Garden Party
THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action
ELTON JOHN: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS: All For Swinging You Around
--
ROCKPILE: Teacher Teacher
BONEY M: My Friend Jack
THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne
MARTI JONES: Tourist Town
THE RUBINOOS: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
SQUEEZE: Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)
--
THE WHO: I Can't Explain
MARSHALL CRENSHAW: Cynical Girl
STYX: Lorelei
THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL: Summer In The City
THE JAYHAWKS: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
SHOES: Tomorrow Night
--
THE AVENGERS: We Are The One
CARLA OLSON: Remember That Moon
THE ZOMBIES: This Will Be Our Year
THE LAUGHING DOGS: Get 'Im Outa Town
THE SCRUFFS: Revenge
FOTOMAKER: Come Back
KARA'S FLOWERS: Sleepy Windbreaker
MIAMI SOUND MACHINE: Conga
--
THE STAR SPANGLES: I Live For Speed
THE FABULOUS POODLES: Mirror Star
THE CURE: Friday I'm In Love
HEART: Kick It Out
THE DICTATORS: (I Live For) Cars And Girls
YES: Roundabout
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT: This Ain't The Summer Of Love
THE MC5: Kick Out The Jams
--
SLOAN: The Good In Everyone
EDDIE AND THE HOT RODS: Do Anything You Wanna Do

No comments:

Post a Comment