10 SONGS: 1/31/2025

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 # 1270

STEVE CONTE: Shoot Out The Stars

Guitarist Steve Conte first entered TIRnRR's sovereign airspace as a member of the latter-day incarnation of the New York Dolls, and again when he augmented our power pop heroes the Flashcubes on their invigmoratin' 2022 cover of the Slade classic "Gudbuy T' Jane." Rock AND roll!

Now, Steve has a new album called The Concrete Jungle, and of course we're playing it. Hell, we played the advance single "Fourth Of July" in August of 2023, and we played "Motor City Love Machine" on last week's show. When I was previewing the album, "Shoot Out The Stars" struck me as a track constructed from the same essential rockin' pop DNA as this little mutant radio show. We have the stars in our crosshairs. Ready, aim.... 

SORROWS: Out Of My Head

Second week in a row TIRnRR airplay for "Out Of My Head," the teaser single for Sorrows' forthcoming album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow. Recorded in 1981, unreleased until right about NOW!, Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is immediately, jaw-droppingly irresistible. We'll move on to another one of the album's tracks Sunday night, and the damned thing deserves--and gets--our highest recommendation. The single is great; the album as a whole is even greater.

THE WELL WISHERS: All My Friends

The Well Wishers (and Jeff Shelton's other gotta-play-this dbas) are perennial picks t' click on our show. So it was a given that we would immediately start programming tracks from the Well Wishers' new all-covers collection Covered 2. Fortune favors the bold, but fans often favor the familiar, and I confess we were orginally set to play the Covered 2 version of Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News," a song I've loved since I was a senior in high school (contemporary to the reign of Rumours).

Upon further review, I was drawn instead to the Well Wishers' Covered 2 interpretation of "All My Friends," a song previously done by the Primitons. I had no previous awareness of the Primitons' original--nor, in fact, any real previous awareness of the Primitons themselves--but I do know a radio-ready record when I hear it. And we'll hear the Well Wishers' "All My Friends" again next week.

THE FOUR TOPS: If I Were A Carpenter

I consider the Four Tops' interpretation of "If I Were A Carpenter" definitive. Its spin this week gave me an opportunity to re-visit my own alternate-lyrics take. With apologies to the late Tim Hardin, I present "If I Were The Carpenters:"

If I were the Carpenters
And you were Pink Lady
Would Chuck Berry play anyway?
Or would we have the Babys?

If I think of Rain Parade

Would Cowsills find me?

"Carrie Annie," the Hollies brayed

How ELO reminds me

Shave Mike Love for orneriness

Replace Mike Love with Sorrows

Mike gave Beach Boys severance checks

Wondermints, tomorrow!

If I were Steve Miller

With Detroit Wheels grinding

Would you miss the Orgone Box

And Yusef's shrewd whining?

If I were a band, Roy Wood

Would Move still shun me?

If I could join Yes, I would

What would U2 think of me?

If I were the Carpenters

And you were Pink Lady

Would Chuck Berry play anyway?

Or would we have the Babys?

Would Chuck Berry play anyway?

Or would we have the Babys?

The late Tim Hardin looks on in stunned, horrified silence

THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

Well, given that Buffalo Bills fans always play a slight rewrite of the classic "Shout"--The Bills make wanna SHOUT!--whenever the Bills score a touchdown, I was really hoping this week's spin of the Isley Brothers' original would play in a happier context. It was not to be. But let's go, Buffalo--we'll get 'em next year.

(And I say we start by tackling the razzafrazzin' refs.)

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

THE KENNEDYS: Walking Through The Park

POP CO-OP: Wait Til Next Week

sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happening

Four as-yet-unreleased tracks, each a cover of a song written by one or another member of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, and all four of them created for a forthcoming project we've been referring to as [REDACTED].

Yeah, one needn't be a rocket surgeon to figure what the [REDACTED] project has gotta be, especially if it brings together these specific ace recordings by the SpongeTones, the Kennedys, Pop Co-Op, and sparkle*jets u.k. We will remain coy about it for just a few more days.

On this coming Sunday night's show, we will finally reveal the actual title of [REDACTED]. And we'll do so with a spin of a [REDACTED] track we ain't played yet: A brand new original recording by the Flashcubes themselves. Brighter lights await. Stay tuned.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

Comic Books Acquired On Vacations: A Cover Gallery

I was thinking about records that I acquired on various vacations over the years. That process led me to also think about comic books I added to my collection while away from home. So I figured I would assemble a gallery of a few of those vacation comic book covers.

Most of these books were accumulated on summer visits to Missouri, though there were some I snagged in Kansas, California, Vermont, Florida, Ohio, at bus stations betwixt and between, and at locations within the great state of New York, but away from my native Syracuse area. Oh! And also a funnybook or two purchased on a rare winter trip to Missouri. I may go back and write about some of these in future blog posts. For today, let each picture serve as a thousand words. Vacation! All I ever wanted.

This is just a mere sample of my vacation comics reading in the '60s and '70s. More 80-Page Giants! More Marvel Super-Heroes! More JLA/JSA meetings! And that's not even counting the issue of CARtoons I clutched through the course of a drive through ten states in 1968, nor the issue of E-Man I snagged at a pit stop in Arkansas in 1975, nor the comic books my parents bought for me back home for my subsequent road-trip enjoyment. And it doesn't count this unexpected delight I spied while catching lunch at an establishment in Madrid in 2012:

See, I didn't count that one because, y'know, it doesn't count. I didn't buy it during my Spanish vacation; I'd already bought a copy back home in the States.

Good thing, too. That sucker woulda been way too heavy to haul on a Trans-Atlantic flight. Up, up and AWAY!

For a more detailed account of my initial immersion into the pop world of comic books and rock 'n' roll music as a kid, see my 1960s memoir Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio: My Life In Pop Culture, The 1960s.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Plimsouls, "A Million Miles Away"

This is not part of my current book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but would seem a strong contender for an eventual Volume 2.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away

Written by Peter Case, Joey Alkes, and Chris Fradkin

Produced by Jeff Eyrich

Single, Shaky City, 1982

Sometimes distance is the problem. Sometimes distance can seem like salvation. If our troubles are here, in too-damned-close proximity, we may wish we could be a million miles away.

The Plimsouls came with a power-pop pedigree. The pedigree began with the Nerves, an L.A.-based trio who released a four-song EP in 1977 before vanishing. The EP was engaging enough, but the Nerves are best remembered for what its members went on to accomplish. Guitarist Jack Lee never made much of a name for himself as a performer, but he did have some success as a songwriter; Blondie had a # 5 British hit with his “Hanging On The Telephone” (the original version of which appeared on the Nerves’ EP). Both “Hanging On The Telephone” and another Lee composition, “Will Anything Happen,” were included on Blondie’s mega-successful Parallel Lines album, and other Lee-written songs were recorded by Suzi Quatro, Paul Young, and the Rubber City Rebels.

Ah, but the other two ex-Nerves--drummer Paul Collins and bassist Peter Case--subsequently achieved power pop immortality after trading in their original instrumental roles for rhythm guitar/frontman spots with their own respective groups, the Beat and the Plimsouls.

The Beat, later renamed the Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British act of the same name (that's the English Beat to us Yanks), were a solid pop act from the word go, and Collins is rightly considered among power pop's finest. (And the Paul Collins song "Walking Out On Love" earns a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]).

To many fans, the Plimsouls remain the definitive post-punk power pop group. Following the dissolution of the Nerves, Case had originally hung together with Collins in a group called the Breakaways. By 1979, Case had joined forces with bassist Dave Pahoa, drummer Lou Ramirez and (eventually) guitarist Eddie Muñoz to form the Plimsouls.  In 1980, the group made its recording debut with Zero Hour, a five-song EP released on the independent Beat label. Zero Hour helped the group snare the interest of Elektra’s Planet Records subsidiary. Planet released the group’s debut album, The Plimsouls, in 1981.

The Plimsouls was an extraordinary effort. But, in spite of irresistible tracks like “Now,” “Zero Hour,” “Hush, Hush” and covers of the Easybeats (“Woman”) and Wilson Pickett (“Mini-Skirt Minnie”), the album stalled at # 153, and the “Now” single didn’t chart at all. Planet and the Plimsouls soon parted company.

Without a label, the Plimsouls self-released their next single in 1982, and guaranteed the group’s place in power pop history. “A Million Miles Away” was simply one of the greatest power pop singles ever, a succinct blast of chip-on-the-shoulder attitude, fist-in-the-air rocking and swooning, swooping heart-on-the-sleeve hooks.

The buzz surrounding “A Million Miles Away” landed the Plimsouls a contract with Geffen, leading to 1983’s Everywhere At Once album. Geffen reissued the “A Million Miles Away” single (which peaked at # 82), but the album never got past # 186. The group appeared in the popular film Valley Girl, lip-syncing to “A Million Miles Away,” “Everywhere At Once” and “Oldest Story In The World.” This was as close as the Plimsouls ever got to the mass popular recognition that should have been theirs. Peter Case moved on to a career as a troubadour. Once again, power pop had skipped the "popular" part.

But those two Plimsouls albums, plus the group's underrated, overlooked nineties reunion album Kool Trash? The Plimsouls left a legacy, a magnificent legacy. These records should be considered a prerequisite purchase for anyone claiming an interest in this broad category iof pop with power.

And "A Million Miles Away" absolutely is one of power pop's defining tracks. 

What is it that makes "A Million Miles Away" so unforgettable, so immense, so over-the-top right? There's a feeling of pressure pervading the track, like a soul compressed under the weight of a million broken hearts, the sting of a million broken promises, the spark of a million ideas, everywhere at once, on how to get the hell outta here if that's our best option, or to stand and fight if it that's the better choice. We're damned either way. We may as well go down swingin'. In my ears and in my gut, "A Million Miles Way" channels a flight away from the precipice, even as it leaps so blithely into the unknown. A million miles to cover before dawn? Well! Best be on our way then. Cheers, Luv!

It seems a solo flight. In the end, as much as we wish to share our fortunes with lovers and friends we still can recall, we will at some point walk, run, jump, crawl, and eventually stop in some measure of insistent solitude, whether by intention or just by the cookie's errant method of crumbling.

A million miles away. It fits the times, doesn't it?

Regret or desperation? Are we a million miles away from our goal, or have we finally reached the treasure of an X-marked destination that had been so impossibly distant? When even our sense of everywhere at once brings a curse of bleakness, light itself appears--IS--a million miles away. 

But we'll get to it. It will shine again. We have a song for the journey. And there's nothing left to bring us back. Drifting to a different place. Falling off the edge of one world might mean a chance to build another. One mile down. Less than a million to go.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

The unexpected return of THE NOTEBOOK NOTIONS

 

I’ve written on several previous occasions about my notebook notions, ideas I scrawled in a series of spiral notebooks when I was a teenage wannabe-writer. I’ve shared some of my old notebook entries here, here, here, and here, among a few others.

Nowadays, I do almost all of my writing on my computer, either in Blogger or as a Word document. I’ve begun writing this blog piece in Blogger on my iPhone. I do still keep notebooks handy, and I still use them as a place to jot down notions, as whim dictates.

But it’s very unusual for me to write out, by hand, a complete draft in my notebook. I don’t think I’ve done that much at all since I was in my teens, and I usually typed things out even then. But I did it twice this weekend.

The first of these two pieces was a Greatest Record Ever Made! essay about the Plimsouls’ power pop classic “A Million Miles Away.” That needs some work, but the basics are there and I expect to polish it and post it within a day or two. I originally wanted to include a chapter about this song in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but couldn’t get a handle on what I wanted to say…until I started scribbling in my notebook this weekend. If I do a Volume 2 of the GREM! book, this will likely be included.

The other piece was another entry in my Copperhead Kid series of short stories about a generations-spanning family of adventure heroes. I started this particular story, “Bullets From The Copperhead Detective,” a year or two ago, but set it aside after completing only a few paragraphs. On a sudden flight of fancy Monday morning, without even looking at those initial paragraphs, I picked up the story and finished it in my notebook. It needs, I think, only a minor tweak before I submit it to AHOY Comics for consideration.

I returned very recently to daily blogging to force me to get back into writing more often and more productively. The notebook is an additional means to that end. I have a notion that I’m going to be doing more of that.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1270

 

"It's a sad fact of life that we sometimes pay dearly for mistakes made by other people. It's unfortunate, but true. A lot of people across the country and around the world are feeling that sting right now. It's no secret where Dana and I fall on the political spectrum, but we have friends, family, and loved ones on all sides of this widening chasm, this great divide. I see no immediate hope of reason prevailing. We reserve the right to hope nonetheless.

"Like Nero his own self, we had some music to play this week...The playlist details our ongoing effort to fight the power, and to maybe dance a little bit along the way...."

I wrote the above a little more than eight years ago. Not much has changed, except for the things that have somehow become even worse. But the never-ending battle goes on: For truth. For justice. For the American Way that has to be --has to be--built upon a commitment to truth and justice as its foundation, its bedrock principle.

We're not there yet. I fear we may never get there. Nonetheless: The crusade will continue for as long as we breathe. And as I said at the previous apocalypse in 2017:

"We'll survive. Somehow. Harmony is far away, but still closer than we know. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded 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, 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.

Carl's new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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

TIRnRR # 1270: 1/26/2025

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

KURT BAKER: Warm In The Winter (Wicked Cool, single)

THE EYES: I'm Rowed Out (Rhino, VA: Nuggets II)

GIRLSCHOOL: It Could Be Better (Lemon, The Singles)

THE QUIK: Bert's Apple Crumble (Edsel, VA: British Mod Sounds Of The 1960s)

DONNA SUMMER: MacArthur Park (Casablanca, Summer: The Original Hits)

THE GODS: Garage Man (Edsel, VA: British Mod Sounds Of The 1960s)

--

JOE GIDDINGS: Adrenalin (Kool Kat Musik, Stories With Guitars)

DMZ: Busy Man (Rhino, VA: Children Of Nuggets)

LITTLE RICHARD: Jenny Jenny (Specialty, The Georgia Peach)

THE BANGLES: Jet Fighter (Yep Roc, VA: [3 x 4])

THE ON AND ONS: Roller Coaster (Jem, Come On In)

RAY OWEN'S MOON: Hey Sweety (Cherry Red, VA: All The Young Droogs)

--

THE NON-PROPHETS: Alibi (single)

THE B- GIRLS: Alibi (Other Peoples Music, Who Says Girls Can't Rock?)

THE SMITHEREENS: Pretty Little Lies (Sunset Blvd, The Lost Album)

THE MUFFS: Silly People (Sympathy For The Record Industry, Hamburger)

ARETHA FRANKLIN: Save Me (Atlantic, I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You)

THE DISTRACTIONS: Time Goes By So Slow (Cherry Red, VA: Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81)

--

STEVE CONTE: Shoot Out The Stars (Wicked Cool, The Concrete Jungle)

THE DONKEYS: Strike Talks (Cherry Red, VA: Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81)

SORROWS: Out Of My Head (Big Stir, single)

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: This Happens (Vinyl Japan, Mary-Ann)

THE DENTISTS: One Of My Psychedelic Beakers Is Missing (Rev-Ola, Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now)

RICHARD LLOYD: Should Have Known Better (Cherry Red, VA: Looking For The Magic--American Power Pop In The Seventies)

--

THE PENROSE WEB: Leap Of Faith (Gare du Nord, It's...The Penrose Web EP)

BE-BOP DELUXE: Teenage Archangel (Cherry Red, VA: Oh! You Pretty Things--Glam Queens And Street Urchins 1970-76)

RITCHIE VALENS: Donna (Del-Fi, The Best Of Ritchie Valens)

BLACKFOOT SUE: Glittery Obituary (Cherry Red, VA: Oh! You Pretty Things--Glam Queens And Street Urchins 1970-76)

THE RAMONES: I Wanna Live (Sire, Halfway To Sanity)

TINA HARVEY: I'm Waiting For The Man (Cherry Red, VA: Oh! You Pretty Things--Glam Queens And Street Urchins 1970-76)

--

THE WELL WISHERS: All My Friends (n/a, Covered 2)

THE ZIPPS: Friends (Cherry Red, VA: 1979: Revolt Into Style)

THE FOUR TOPS: If I Were A Carpenter (Motown, 50th Anniversary--The Singles Collection 1964-1972)

SUGAR: In The Eyes Of My Friends (Rykodisc, Besides)

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: You Don't Know Me (Big Stir, How To Make Friends By Telephone)

THE PRETENDERS: You Know Who Your Friends Are (Rhino, Pirate Radio 1979-2005)

--

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE PLIMSOULS: A Million Miles Away (Rhino, VA: Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '80s)

THE WEEKLINGS: I Can See For Miles (Jem, VA: Jem Records Celebrates Pete Townshend)

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1) (MOJO, VA: Songs The Beatles Taught Us)

RICHIE HAVENS: Here Comes The Sun (Stormy Forest, Alarm Clock)

20/20: Lucky Heart (SpyderPop/Big Stir, Back To California)

STONEY: Let Me Come Down Easy (Real Gone Music, STONEY AND MEATLOAF: Everything Under The Sun: The Motown Recordings)

--

JIM BASNIGHT: Gotta Get Straight (single)

THE CRICKLE: Place In My Heart (ROIR, VA: Garage Sale)

THE SHANG HI LOS: Op-Operator (Rum Bar, single)

THE LEMON CLOCKS: Brand New Day (JAM, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2)

SAM AND DAVE: Soul Man (Atlantic, The Best Of Sam & Dave)

CHEAP TRICK: Hello There (Epic, In Color)

DISLEXIA: At Least (Kool Kat Musik, Snowball)

SQUIRE: The Life (Tangerine, Big Smashes)

--

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young [REDACTED]

THE PAUL COLLINS BAND: I'm Getting Married (Wagon Wheel, From Town To Town)

THE KENNEDYS: Walking Through The Park [REDACTED]

PEARL HARBOR AND THE EXPLOSIONS: Black Slacks (Blixa Sounds, Pearl Harbor & the Explosions)

POP CO-OP: Wait Til Next Week [REDACTED]

PHIL SEYMOUR: Let Her Dance [alternative version] (Big Beat, Prince Of Power Pop)

sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happen [REDACTED]

THE BEATLES: Hello Goodbye (Apple, Magical Mystery Tour)

--

THE FLASHCUBES: Five Personalities (Northside, Brilliant)

Tonight on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

Last things first! In our closing set this week, we're going to mix in four tracks from the super-secret forthcoming project we only refer to as [REDACTED], with THE SPONGETONES, THE KENNEDYS, POP CO-OP, and SPARKLE*JETS U.K., followed by a track by THE FLASHCUBES that isn't on [REDACTED] (though someone else's cover version of the song probably will be). Ooooo--mysterious! In non-redacted news, we also have a stunning blend of newski, oldski, and in-betweenski brilliance from KURT BAKER, GIRLSCHOOL, DONNA SUMMER, JOE GIDDINGS, DMZ, LITTLE RICHARD, THE BANGLES, THE ON AND ONS, THE NON-PROPHETS, THE SMITHEREENS, THE MUFFS, ARETHA FRANKLIN, STEVE CONTE, SORROWS, HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, THE PENROSE WEB, BE-BOP DELUXE, THE WELL WISHERS, SUGAR, LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS, THE PRETENDERS, THE WEEKLINGS, 20/20, JIM BASNIGHT, THE CRICKLE, THE SHANG HI LOS, CHEAP TRICK, SAM AND DAVE, THE PAUL COLLINS BAND, a barrage of bright lights, and more unredacted redactables than a redactin' redactor could redact on a razzafrazzin' redactin' spree. Unredacted: The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, https://sparksyracuse.org/, streaming on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. The weekend stops HERE!

President Copperhead [remix]

Slight tweak of the previously-posted start of another chapter in my Copperhead Kid continuity, specifically a sequel to "Flight Of The Copperhead."  I was in a state of nauseous optimism at the time, an optimism dashed by subsequent events. This adjusted piece reflects the real world's effect on fantasy. The battle rages on. And as I said before: We pray that good will vanquish evil in real life, just as it does in our superhero stories.

PRESIDENT COPPERHEAD [remix]

by Carl Cafarelli

She was the President of the United States of America, President Hannah Cooper. There was never any moment in her day-to-day life when she didn't have a Secret Service detail in place to shield her from threats both foreign and domestic. But she had also been a superhero. In every room she entered, she made immediate mental note of any random objects she could use as a weapon if the need arose. Old habits die hard. Once a Copperhead....

It had been nearly twenty years since the POTUS formerly known as Copper Girl had left costumed crusading behind her. She was still fit, still agile, her hair still red albeit lined now with streaks of silver. She was not America's first female Commander-In-Chief; that damned glass ceiling which seemed so impenetrable for so long was finally breached a few years prior, shattered to dust and mist. Yes she can. America's first female President had been something of a superhero herself. And, like many superheroes, she'd had a mantra:

We're not going back.

President Cooper agreed: We're not going back. And now President Cooper still had work to do: To preserve, protect, and defend. Like a good President should. 

Like a superhero.

We're not going back....

Hannah woke up with a start. It was still 2024, her dream of the future notwithstanding. Election night. The bad guys won.

For now.

But the fight ain't over. It's a never-ending battle. Truth and justice will win. That's the American way.

Or at least it should be.

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

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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.