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 # 1230. This show is available as a podcast.
THE FLASHCUBES: Make Something Happen
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"Make something happen?" Okeydokey! I'm in the very early stages of writing a new book about Power Pop Hall of Famers the Flashcubes. The book's working (and probable official) title is Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, and the project was initiated by the Flashcubes themselves. Well, I'M in!
And when I say "early stages," I mean it, man. I've had a couple of planning meetings with members of the 'Cubes, and I've begun trying to find and learn appropriate tech to record and transcribe interviews. My next task is to write a one-sheet on the book's behalf, and then to start talking to the Flashcubes and their entourage. It's all very exciting, and we hope to bring the book to retail by the Summer of 2025. From the book's first public announcement last week:
"This will be an oral history of the band, with personal stories related by the 'Cubes themselves--Tommy Allen, Paul Armstrong, Gary Frenay, and Arty Lenin--discussing their roots as rockin' pop fans in the '60s and '70s, their formation in the punk rock crucible of 1977, their frenzied live shows with the Ramones, the Runaways, the Police, the Jam, David Johansen, Joe Jackson, the Scruffs, the Romantics, Artful Dodger, 999, and more, their irresistible original songs, their indie 45s, their demo tapes, their breakup at the end of the '70s, and the subsequent recognition that the Flashcubes were a legit power pop legend. This growing awareness and celebration reunited the Flashcubes in the '90s, culminating in their award-winning 2023 album Pop Masters.
"In Make Something Happen!, the Flashcubes story will also be told by eyewitnesses: Fans, fellow musicians, industry insiders, and maybe the occasional drunken pogo dancer yelling out GOT NO MIND!, or swooning to 'Christi Girl,' vowing to wait till next week, it'll be all right. This is the first-hand story of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse, a band that thrived under bright lights of their own invention."
More details to come. Oh, rest assured there will be more details to come. As I've written elsewhere: I think everyone knows that I'm possibly the world's most insistent Flashcubes fan. The Flashcubes are my favorite power pop band, they rank with the Beatles and the Ramones in the troika of my top rock 'n' roll groups, and I've long wished they enjoyed the sort of mass notoriety and adulation I think they deserve. "Make Something Happen" was first recorded by Gary Frenay's post-Flashcubes band Screen Test in the '80s, then recorded again by the reunited 'Cubes for their 2003 album Brilliant. It's a hit record, no matter how few the number of people who've heard it.
And it makes a dandy title for a book about the Flashcubes. We played it this week, and we're playing it again on our next show.
Make something happen.
Good advice.
THE ARMOIRES: We Absolutely Mean It
Another song that Gary Frenay wrote and recorded with Screen Test was called "I Am Sincere." And while that song has nothing to do with the Armoires' new single "We Absolutely Mean It," I dig the shared lyrical celebration of authenticity. Sincerity has great intrinsic value. Its value is embodied in the work of the Armoires.
That's not just true of the band's music. It's a defining quality of Armoires mainstays Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko, who are also the proprietors, CEOs, primary enforcers, benevolent despots, intimidating muscle, and photogenic poster kids for the mighty Big Stir Records label. Other than the annual edition of Dana's Funky Soul Pit and the occasional special program, a TIRnRR playlist without at least one Big Stir track is rarer'n rare. We like Big Stir. We like Rex and Christina. And, obviously, we like the Armoires.
And also obviously: We absolutely mean it.
THE CYNZ: Just A Boy
I think I've settled on my designated Pick T' Click from Little Miss Lost, the superswell new album from the Cynz. We've been playing a number of its individual treats, and this is our third consecutive playlist to spin the album's treat-of-treats "Just A Boy." It's a hit! And it will rack up TIRnRR airplay for its fourth week in a row this coming Sunday night.
SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET: Tired Of Waking Up Tired
Too good for words. And I don't even mean that as a reference to the fact that it's an instrumental. I've always loved the Diodes' 1979 power pop classic "Tired Of Waking Up Tired." Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet re-worked the song into a surf instrumental, and--much like the Nutley Brass' transcendent easy-listening cover of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated"--the resulting triumph illustrates how a great song can be adapted into different styles and still retain its essential mojo. I will not be tiring of this any time soon.
THE FOUR TOPS: Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)
In building a better playlist, there is no such thing as a song-to-song segue so obvious we wouldn't deign to do it anyway. Case in point: Dana played Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet's "Tired Of Waking Up Tired," and I turned immediately to "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by Motown's phenomenal pop combo the Four Tops. It's not rocket surgery, folks--IT'S POP MUSIC! Sometimes the obvious thing is the right thing. We'll return to this subject of playlist building in just a moment.
But first, this word:
THE BARBARIANS: Take It Or Leave It
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
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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 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is 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.
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