Big Stir Records

I found this in my draft files. Evidence indicates I wrote it in 2021, and I know it repurposes some parts from previous posts (including an essay I wrote for the first issue of Big Stir magazine, and a 10 Songs entry about Sorrows). But I don't recall this appearing anywhere, and I don't have any firm recollection of my intentions (other than the righteous intention of celebrating the mighty Big Stir Records). 

I wonder if Big Stir's Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko asked me (and other rockin' pop pundits) for promo blurbs, and I responded with this. Whatever its genesis, it seems like I should share it here. Go, Big Stir!

Artists create the music. DJs and pundits proclaim the music, so that fans can embrace the music. And, for your dancing pleasure, the record labels bring the music to us.

In the history of your ongoing hit parade and the hit machine behind it, there have been good guys and bad guys (and in-between guys). Among the good guys are Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko, curators and commandants of the fab SoCal imprint Big Stir Records. With Irene Peña overseeing the Big Stir Singles series, these combined forces provide superpure pop for right-now people. Big Stir is but one of a whole bunch of good-guy labels performing this service for us, alongside names (and friends) like Kool Kat Musik, Futureman, Rum Bar, Red On Red, Jem, JAM, SpyderPop, and other worthies too numerous to mention, but each doing laudable work and each deserving of our appreciation and support. Music is pretty near THE most fun thing to spend money on, and I'm happy to spend my money with the good guys.

Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it.

It's not the only thing, and possibly--probably--not the most important thing. It's not a substitute for inspiration, for execution, for creativity, talent, pure mojo. It doesn't magically make you able to play guitar, or compose sonnets, or paint your masterpiece. It doesn't really make you more attractive to persons of potential prurient interest. Nonetheless, it feeds all of the above. It can drive the creator. It can engage the creator's fans. Enthusiasm is its own reward.

If you're a fan of anything--any damned thing--you understand. And you appreciate opportunities to revel in your enthusiasm. Let your freak flag fly!

Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko deserve all the accolades our pop world can offer for the Big Stir Digital Singles Series, an essential weekly barrage of virtual 45s, A-side and B-side. And they merit something unto Sainthood for gathering all of those digital sides as Big Stir Singles collections. For curmudgeons like me, each wave of the Big Stir Singles CDs is a Godsend, preserving ephemeral mp3 files in physical form. As a DJ, I get the digital singles for airplay; but I buy the Big Stir Singles CDs for myself.

And they're good! That conclusion is not as obvious as it may seem. Rex and Christina know their stuff, and their level of quality control is astounding. Each Big Stir single is worth having, and what started out as disparate, unrelated tracks become something amazing in collected form. 

This may come as a shock to some of you, but the history of the record industry is littered with examples of avarice, treachery, betrayal, and heartbreak. Yeah, I was surprised to learn that, too. In the late '70s, a New York City-based group called the Poppees plied their British Invasion-influenced popcraft on stage and on vinyl. I recall buying their Bomp! Records 45 "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" on a 1979 trip downstate; I saw the Flashcubes at a Bowery club called Gildersleeves (where I bought the 'Cubes' then-new single "Wait Till Next Week" directly from the song's author Gary Frenay), and visited my friend Jay at Stony Brook (where a jaunt to Smithtown Mall included snagging Poppees and Siouxsie and the Banshees 45s at Sam Goody). I hadn't heard either the Poppees or Siouxsie singles prior to purchase, but I dug 'em both.

By 1980, the Poppees had evolved into Sorrows, who were less overtly Beatley, with a goal of competing with the Knack or the Romantics rather than with, I dunno, the Rutles. Sorrows signed to the CBS-associated label Pavillion. The group's debut LP Teenage Heartbreak featured a killer title tune, and if the record didn't set any new sales landmarks, it served notice that Sorrows could be prime power pop contenders.

So: second album! Great! The suits at Pavillion call in legendary producer Shel Talmy, veteran overseer of certified '60s classics by the Who, the Kinks, the Easybeats, and the Creation, and that shoulda been a match made at the Marquee or Radio Caroline.

Didn't quite work out that way.

The resulting album, 1981's Love Too Late, was not at all the record Sorrows wanted to make. Label interference, significant creative differences, the copious use of session players (against the actual band's will)...let's let it go at that. Success did not follow. Whether a consequence of evil intent or inept execution, nothing screws up the best interests of music and artists with greater overall mishegas than a lousy record label.

In 2021, Sorrows have aligned with a good record label--a great record label--in Big Stir. Under Big Stir's aegis, Sorrows have gone back to the original blueprint and remade Love Too Late as it should have been: as an actual Sorrows album. I'm generally not a fan of a band remaking its old material, but Love Too Late--The Real Album is a stellar exception to that. 

The history of the record industry is littered with examples of injustice. Every once in a while, there's an example of justice served. It's never too late for love.

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: 6/23/2023

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 # 1186. This show is available as a podcast.

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Be Your Own Reason

This week's show is dedicated to the memory of Justine Covault, whose label Red On Red Records has been a reliable resource for great new tracks we wanna play, and whose own group Justine and the Unclean is a certifiable TIRnRR Fave Rave. 

Justine was an active and enthusiastic supporter of independent musicians, particularly of those artists performing in or near the Boston area. From Justine and the Unclean's 2018 album Heartaches And Hot Problems, "Be Your Own Reason" expresses that DIY spirit with eloquence and fervor. 

The first two Justine and the Unclean albums were released by the great Rum Bar Records. Justine specifically credited Rum Bar's rockin' pop visionary Lou Mansdorf as a mentor, which means we all owe Lou a debt of gratitude for helping Justine Covault's music find an eager audience. That's reason enough.

THE WEEKLINGS: I'm On Fire

The Weeklings return with a new single covering some singer-songwriter from Jersey, a guy referred to as...wait, "the Boss?" Really? Well, that's a bit presumptuous.

NO! I KID! I'm a kidder. I do like some of Bruce Springsteen's stuff, particularly "Girls In Their Summer Clothes." I've never been much into "I'm On Fire;" when I worked at a record store in the '80s, we useta play the LP track in-store at 45 rpm, so our Bruce sounded like Dolly Parton. 

But damned if the Weeklings don't manage to tackle "I'm On Fire" and make it their own. Boss move, my friends! Boss move indeed.

WHISTLESTOP ROCK: Queen Of The Drive-In

Justine Covault started her Red On Red Records label in 2020--kind of a pandemic baby, if you will. "Queen Of The Drive-In" was released earlier in that same misbegotten year, credited to an all-star New England pop collective billed as WhistleStop Rock. The single predates Red On Red, but I look back on it as part of Red On Red's secret origin. In the words of noted Clark Kent lookalike Steve Allen: this could be the start of something big.

And it was. WhistleStop Rock was Justin Covault, Linnea Herzog (of Linnea's Garden), Linda Bean Pardee (of the Chelsea Curve), Heather Rose (of Heather Rose In Clover), and Sandy Summers (of Kid Gulliver), with additional backing vocals by Lynda Mandolin and JoEllen Saunders Yannis, all in support of lead singer Simone Berk (of Sugar Snow and Kid Gulliver).

In addition to setting the stage for Red On Red Records, "Queen Of The Drive-In" was our introduction to Simone Berk. The start of something big? Subsequent play of both Sugar Snow and Kid Gulliver proved that to be the case.

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Woman

I dig what intrepid TIRnRR listener Joel Tinnel said when he heard us play Arthur Alexander's new single "Woman" on this week's show: "This is nice in a snarly, aggressive guitar-driven kinda way." See, he knows his stuff, that Joel does.

I've been an Arthur Alexander fan ever since I picked up a copy of "Jealousy," a 45 by his old band the Poppees in the late '70s. His subsequent coolness with Sorrows (especially the incredible title track from their 1980 album Teenage Heartbreak) carried the Arthur Alexander story forward, and I'm thrilled that he has a new solo album, ...Steppin' Out!, due soon from the ever-fab Big Stir Records. We debut its advance single "Woman" this week, and it returns to the TIRnRR playlist next week. Arthur Alexander is your source for snarly, aggressive guitar-driven kinda nice. Joel says so. Don't argue with Joel.

ROSE GUERIN: Red

In addition to programming some of Justine's own irresistible work, it felt important for our Justine Covault tribute to include a number of tracks from the Red On Red Records galaxy o' stars. That goal manifests in spins of Linnea's Garden, Kid Gulliver, Robin Lane, Lee Harrington and Lynda Mandolin, Stupidity Featuring Keith Streng, Devil Love, Speedfossil, Andrea Gillis, and two tracks by the Chelsea Curve, one recent and one, y'know, less recent.

Speaking of recent Red On Red, Rose Guerin's beguilingly rootsy single "Red" finally makes its TIRnRR debut on this playlist. It's been an almost for weeks, nearly making it into several previous shows before being cut for time. People sometimes ask us how we can come up with enough music to fill a three hour slot every week. That's never a challenge; the trick is trying to limit our choices to just three hours. There's a lot of great music out there. 

Still, I regret we didn't get to "Red" sooner. Its bounce is so inviting, so agreeable, so perfect for airplay. Rose's vocal reminds me a little of Ronnie Spector. We need to play it again. "Red" will return.

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Vengeance

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE DIRTY TRUCKERS: All Down The Line

Attempts to pay proper tribute to a specific performer can be hampered by rules restricting how many times an act can be played within a three-hour span of airtime. Given my druthers, we would certainly have played more than just four Justine and the Unclean tracks this week. Given the rules as they are, we chose "Be Your Own Reason," "Can't Pretend I Don't Know," "Vengeance," and "The Signal Light."

Justine's work under the rockin' pop dba Justine's Black Threads gave us four more ace tracks to play with--"You And Me Against You And Me," "Needles And Pins," "He Stopped Laughing At My Jokes," and "No Tell Motel"--and we knew we were gonna program WhistleStop Rock's "Queen Of The Drive-In" and "Red On Red Theme" by Red On Red Rockers. That's a total of ten tracks featuring Justine Covault, broadening the tribute while still playing by the rules. 

I wanted one more.

The Dirty Truckers' cover of the Rolling Stones' "All Down The Line" filled the bill. This track from the group's 2022 album The Tilsbury Joneser features sublime backing vocals by Justine along with Andrea Gillis, and it rocks with absolute motherlovin' authority.

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

ANDREA GILLIS: Leave The Light On

Our final set this week needed to end with a three-in-a-row flourish of tracks from the Red On Red catalog. That hat-trick began with "Forget About Him" by Kid Gulliver.

I don't recall whether or not "Forget About Him" was this radio show's first-ever Red On Red record. It was the one that had the most immediate and prevailing impact, rivaled only by Justine and the Unclean's "Vengeance" (which was a Rum Bar release when we started playing it). It's accrued an awful lot of delighted airplay here over the past few years, and we were proud to include "Forget About Him" (and "Vengeance") on our 2022 compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5.

And Justine herself really liked "Forget About Him." I don't remember her exact words, but Justine said something to the effect that "Forget About Him" is just a killer, killer pop track; I think she may have called it one of the best power pop songs ever. Hard to disagree. We spin it this week in memory of Justine, of course, but also as a well wish to Simone Berk as she mourns the loss of her friend. "Forgetting" is not part of our plan.

Andrea Gillis' "Leave The Light On" has also been among the key Red On Red tracks on our little mutant radio show, and there was no plausible set of circumstances where that did not appear as part of our tribute to Justine Covault and Red On Red Records.

And then we needed to play one more Red On Red track by Justine and the Unclean.

JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: The Signal Light

Last week's show opened with the TIRnRR debut of the title tune from the new Justine and the Unclean album The Signal Light. At the time, we didn't know it would be the final Justine and the Unclean album, nor that we would soon be bidding farewell to Justine. It closes the main portion of this week's show, with "Red On Red Theme" and the Beach Boys' "Our Prayer" serving as coda. We'll hear "The Signal Light" again next week.

Justine: we didn't really know you. But we miss you. Wherever you are, I hope there's a light for you now.

IN-PERSON EVENT! On June 29 at 6:30 pm, I will be making an in-store appearance at GENERATION RECORDS, 210 Thompson Street in NYC on behalf of my  new book GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES. The book contains my 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J., which were cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as essential reading. I'll be at Generation to chat with fellow Ramones fans, talk about the book, the interviews, and how the music of the Ramones impacted my life. If you are in the New York area on June 29th, I would love to see you at Generation Records. Hey-ho, let's GO!  

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here. 

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/

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl