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 # 1280
THE GO-GO'S: Vacation
On March 22nd of 2020--yeah, THAT year--I posted this announcement:
"The building that houses the palatial SPARK! studios will be closed until further notice, placing This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio on hiatus for the time being...Stay safe, with clean hands and the clean or dirty mind you prefer...."
The next day, I posted an imaginary TIRnRR playlist, an Isolation Edition assembling a sequence of songs to reflect my mood at that troubled time. That Isolation Edition opened with the Go-Go's insisting a vacation was all they wanted, the song's bittersweet ache leading perfectly into the mix of anxiety, hope, loss, and catharsis I was seeking at that precise flashpoint of doubt and dread.
Our vacation from the studio turned out to be permanent. We never returned, and that space is no longer ours.
A couple of weeks later, when we made a last-minute decision to try recording the show from our remote locations at home, Dana took the imaginary playlist and made it so. I added back announcements recorded on my iPhone. This became our method going forward, minus the "last-minute" part. What had been a fake playlist became a real radio show, broadcast on April 5th, 2020. Five years ago this past weekend.
Five years and one day after returning to the airwaves via remote control, we haven't missed a week yet. And we began home-schooled TIRnRR Year Six with another spin of the magnificent Go-Go's pining for the unattainable.
It still suits my mood. But its catharsis remains welcome. All I ever wanted? Not quite. It's gonna have to suffice anyway.
(One member of the Go-Go's--bassist Kathy Valentine--will be back on our next show with a solo track, a track featuring the pounding prowess of one of our favorite drummers, the late Clem Burke. We've threaded an extended tribute to Clem Burke throughout the show this coming Sunday night, with four Blondie tracks plus more Burke-propelled treats by the Plimsouls, the Romantics, the Empty Hearts, Steve Conte, Ray Paul, Chequered Past, Dan Markell, the Tearaways, Joan Jett, John Easdale, and Tall Poppy Syndrome. That's gonna crowd out a lot of our recent Fave Raves, but they'll be back, and I think we managed to pull off an absolutely kickass tribute to Clem Burke. We're opening the show with one of the specific Blondie tracks you would expect to open a tribute to Clem Burke. Man, I bet you can hear his drum intro to that in your head right now.)
TAMAR BERK: Permanent Vacation
Well, yeah, why take just A vacation when you can take a PERMANENT vacation? Tamar Berk has the right idea. "Permanent Vacation" comes to us from Tamar's 2023 album tiny injuries. We've since likewise hit the beach with Tamar Berk's 2024 release Good Times For A Change, and we're eagerly anticipating the chance to catch more rays with her forthcoming new album. We have a permanent fixation on pop music, so we're set to crank up some Tamar Berk and hit the road with righteous aplomb.
CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land
I confess there was originally a different track ("Route 66" by the Rolling Stones) programmed in this spot, but it turned out I didn't have the track on the immediate hand I needed, so Mr. Chuck Berry fit in just fine instead. Permanent vacation route on Route 66 versus vacation destination in the promised land? Can't go wrong either way, and "Promised Land" is my favorite Chuck Berry song. From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):
"...Chuck Berry knew well the travails of the downtrodden. Dark skin, humble origin, and destined to transcend everything to become one of the most significant performers in the history of rock 'n' roll. His mind was quick, his fingers precise, wedding intricate, unforgettable wordplay to a guitar he played like a-ringin' a bell. He struggled. He pushed. He got noticed. He got pushed back. He kept pushing back in turn, smiling and duck-walking, while seething behind his flamboyant mask. A nice man? Possibly not, but beside the point. An important man? If you've ever loved rock 'n' roll, you should be ashamed to even ask that question...
"...Into this tinderbox, Chuck Berry brought an electric match: Black music that made white kids dance. He wrote in code—most famously, the irresistibly potent brown-skinned handsome man who became (wink) a brown-eyed handsome man—but he crafted and chronicled the American teen-age dream with greater eloquence than anyone else, black or white...."
THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce
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I'm dying to tell you more about who's gonna be on Big Stir Records' forthcoming various-artists celebration Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. We've established that the album will open with the Flashcubes' own ace new track "Reminisce" (one of three new 'Cubes songs on Make Something Happen!), this week's show also served up 'Cubes tribute album treats by Pop Co-Op and the Kennedys, we've previously pummeled your grateful senses with Cubic covers by the Spongetones, sparkle*jets u.k., Joe Giddings, and Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols, and we've already revealed that the tribute album will also include contributions from Chris von Sneidern, Hamell On Trial, and Callan Foster.
And there's more. I'm dying to tell you about it, especially about the veteran British rock whose music I loved hearing on the radio when I was in high school, and who just completed his vocal tracks for a cover of the Flashcubes’ "Pathetic." And I just heard a flat-out astonishing ‘Cubes cover by some New York power poppers I’ve been following for nearly as long. Time ain't right for further announcements, at least not quite yet.
Soon. Very soon. We can look forward and still reminisce at the same time.
Sometimes the segues just decide for themselves. We've been playing a different track ("Flowers For Cynthia") from the Grip Weeds' current teaser EP Early Clues. Recognizing that a number of other worthy radio outlets (including our SPARK! Radio colleague Rich Firestone on Radio Deer Camp and Bill Kelly and the other boss jocks at Underground Garage) have been playing the EP's opener "Conquer And Divide," we figured we oughta also get in on that action. Willful square-peg status will only get you so far, man.
Given how much TIRnRR airplay has been annexed by the Grip Weeds' divine cover of "Lady Friend" (from the Grip Weeds' divine cover album DiG), Dana automatically followed my spin of new Grip Weeds with the Byrds' original version. Had to be done.
And given the Byrds taking flyte at that point, I moved the song "Byrd Of Prey" (a jangly number found on the Greek Theatre's new album A Deeper Scar) from its presumed place later in the playlist into, y'know, this spot right here. It's Byrderrific! The science of playlist-building. Don't question science.
STIV BATORS: It's Cold Outside
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: You Don't Know Me
As noted a few column inches north of here, accommodating a proper salute to Clem Burke is going to occupy a lot of the slots on our next playlist. That means the fab Librarians With Hickeys will get a rare week off from TIRnRR, so let's state again that we just plain adore their latest album How To Make Friends By Telephone. And we just plain adore Librarians With Hickeys, so much so, in fact that...that...
...LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS ARE GOING TO BE ON THE FLASHCUBES TRIBUTE ALBUM! I've heard a rough of their track! I can't wait to get hold of the finished version and play it on the radio! And....
You know me. I'm dying to say more. Apologies if I've already gone too far.
SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio
Pop radio, turn it up! We've been programming the current Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols single "Pop Radio" with all of the manic obsession one should expect from a self-respectin' rockin' pop radio show. We're playing it again on our next show, and we're also debuting some new SPARK Radio promos that Trip 'n' Lisa concocted for us, based on the irresistible chorus of "Pop Radio." Thank you, friends!
And yeah: TURN IT UP! Pop radio is its own reward.
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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.
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