10 SONGS: 5/3/2025

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.

Awww, look at me trying to make something happen!

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1283

THE FLASHCUBES: If These Hands

Around the office here, it's full-speed-ahead toward the September release of Big Stir Records' various-artists compilation Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. The Flashcubes have always been my favorite power pop group, and I've long wished for wider appreciation of the group's own original songbook. A tribute album gathering fab pop performers to cover some Flashcubes tunes felt like it could be the best Cubic celebration ever. Make something happen, already!

We've been rolling out teases and previews of Make Something Happen!, and we'll debut Flashcubes tribute stunners by Chris von Sneidern and Callan Foster on our next show. We were also determined to include at least one new original Flashcubes track on the tribute; we lucked out and secured THREE new 'Cubes treats, one apiece from each of the band's songwriters, Gary Frenay, Paul Armstrong, and Arty Lenin. (We figure all of Gary, PA, and Arty's songs inherently honor the propulsive poundin' prowess of 'Cubes drummer Tommy Allen.)

Paul's righteous, rockin' statement of intent "Reminisce" has been invigmoratin' our TIRnRR  playlists for months. Gary's irresistible seizing of the day "The Sweet Spot" (co-written by the late B.D. Love) debuted on last week's playlist, played again this week, and returns to our sovereign airwaves this coming Sunday night. And now, Arty completes the hat trick with "If These Hands," a yearning bit of folk rock that would have sounded right at home on one of the Searchers' late '70s/early '80s albums. 

That is not faint praise. And it's still more evidence that Make Something Happen! seems certain to be one of 2025's very best new releases.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Birdland

On Sunday's show, we back-announced "Birdland" as a track by Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Chubby Checker. Our shows are prerecorded, and although we knew the Hall's 2025 inductees would be announced that night, we didn't know whether or not the often-myopic RnRHOF would deign to give Checker his long-overdue propers. I hedged my on-air statement by adding that, regardless of what happened with this year's (nor any future year's) voting, Checker is and will always a Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer.

Turns out the Hall did get it right this year. In fact as well as act: Welcome to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Mr. Checker.

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Gone Too Far

Another track from Make Something Happen! "Gone Too Far" was among my many top picks in the Flashcubes' live sets in the '70s. I'm in awe of how Librarians With Hickeys took this already-great Arty Lenin tune and transformed it from its original hybrid vibe of '70s power pop meets the Monkees into something that sounds instead like a mythical '60s side that only existed in dreams that were too much to dream last night. 

The transcendent result conjures an imaginary lost garage pop 45 that could have made its way to a Pebbles compilation. In my mind, it creates an image of a forgotten sidebar in pop history, where an unknown Midwest combo played local sock hops and teen scenes, and stayed together just long enough to cut this one killer single. The B-side was either an inept frat-rock cover or an undistinguished beatless beat ballad. 

The A-side was "Gone Too Far." 

Then this hapless group's lead singer was drafted, and most of the rest of the group left music behind. Maybe the guitarist went on to be a cult figure in subsequent pop, rock, and indie work, maybe he remained as obscure as his erstwhile bandmates. Either way, this band that never was left us this one enduring example of tattered, battered brilliance.

I made that all up, and I don't have any specific real-world counterpart to any of the above fancifying. But this reaction was immediate for me when I first heard Librarians With Hickeys' cover of "Gone Too Far." They did a fantastic job of making this their own.

THE TREMBLERS: Maybe I'll Stay

In the early '80s, (then-) former Herman's Hermits lead singer Peter Noone had a brief goal of separating himself from his hit fling with Mrs. Brown's lovely daughter and establish himself as a straight-up rock 'n' roll singer. Twice Nightly, the sole album credited to Noone's short-lived combo the Tremblers, remains a stirring, no-nonsense realization of this goal. I've referred to the Tremblers as "New Wave Herman," but that may imply an element of gimmicky fad-following that is not at all in evidence on this fine record. I wish the Tremblers had decided to stay.

SAM PHILLIPS: Faster Pussycat To The Library!

If someone ever pulls off a B-movie called Faster Pussycat To The Library!, I would totally go see it, especially if it were to play at the drive-in on a double bill with another make-believe grindhouse flick:

THE PLIMSOULS: Dangerous Book

Faster Pussycat To The Library! and Dangerous Book. Man, someone get a call into Tarantino. We'll bring the popcorn. Maybe Librarians With Hickeys can make an on-screen cameo, like the Strawberry Alarm Clock in Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls?

THE SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BONGOS: Come Back To Me

Later this month, Jem Records will be releasing The Shroud Of Touring, a fabulous archival document of a 1985 live set by the Bongos. I've been a Bongos fan for decades, my own earnest Bongomania commencing with live versions of "Telephoto Lens" and "In The Congo," as heard on Start Swimming, a 1981 compilation that presented two in-concert tracks apiece from the Bongos, the Raybeats, the dB's, the Bush Tetras, and the Fleshtones. This introduction compelled me to pick up the Bongos' full-length debut album Drums Along The Hudson at my earliest opportunity. Hooked by the live cuts on Start Swimming, the studio versions of "Telephoto Lens" and "In The Congo" became my Fave Raves in the Bongos' hit parade, and they have retained that status nearly 45 years later. I also adored their Numbers With Wings EP and Beat Hotel album, and the latter was a go-to for in-store play when I worked at a record store in 1985. (Until this moment, I was not even aware of a 2013 Bongos release called Phantom Train. I will be acquiring that target shortly.)

As we await the release of The Shroud Of Touring, which will itself be celebrated on May 30th with a Bongos live reunion show in Asbury Park (on a bill with TIRnRR superstars the Cynz and the Grip Weeds), we're gonna spin a few tracks from the Bongos' studio catalog. That campaign begins with "Come Back To Me," a superb Beat Hotel number that I'm surprised to say we ain't played before. We'll hear an earlier Bongos cut on our next show, and material from The Shroud Of Touring will start swimming in our stream on May 11th.

THE RAMONES: I Wanna Be Sedated [Ramones-On-45 Mega-Mix!]

From a previous post:

One doesn't normally associate the Ramones with extended dance mixes. That seeming dichotomy works to perfection in "I Wanna Be Sedated [Ramones-On-45 Mega-Mix!]."

It's loud. It's danceable. It's the bubblepunk of the Ramones caught makin' out with club chicks. It's "I Wanna Be Sedated" set to a heavier beat, with bits of "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Teenage Lobotomy," and "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" edited in, peppered with prerequisite dance-mix Sensurround moves, but retaining a far-from-sedate line-of-sight with the purity of the Ramones.

I should hate this. I freakin' love it. Awright, all you punks 'n' bumpin' bunnies alike: we can't control our fingers, we can't control our brains. Can't control our feets, either. BAMbambumpbam, ba-BAMbambumpbam. We know what we want.

THE BEATLES: I'm Only Sleeping

And we'll leave the light on for you.

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 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame gets it...RIGHT?!

As much as I've complained about The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and its stubborn refusal to recognize so, so many worthy artists (like, say, for example, THE MONKEES!!!), it's only fair to acknowledge when the Hall gets something right.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame got this year's class of inductees right. Or at least close enough to right.

Granted, still no Monkees, no Paul Revere and the Raiders, no Bangles, Rick James, Shangri-Las, New York Dolls, Arthur Alexander, Badfinger, Lesley Gore, Tommy James and the Shondells, Love, the Searchers, et al. None of these were on the ballot this year, so let's not get crazy.

But nor was Warren Zevon on the ballot, and the Hall bypassed the Bermuda Triangle of its often chuckleheaded voting bloc to put him in anyway. Similar executive orders installed influential hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa, plus accomplished (and damned near iconic) studio bassist Carol Kaye, essential Philadelphia Soul producer and songwriter Thom Bell, classic rock session pianist Nicky Hopkins, and record company executive Lenny Waronker. Ain't a one of these fresh inductees who don't deserve the honor.

(And before you even think of bitching about hip-hop acts not being part of rock 'n' roll, I'll say I think you're wrong. Rock 'n' roll is a huge, huge umbrella, and it encompasses a lot of different styles and genres. If you believe rap is too far removed from rock 'n' roll to be rock 'n' roll, I could say the same of most progressive rock. Hell, some rap is closer in spirit to Chuck Berry than, say, Yes ever got. But prog does indeed belong in the discussion. So does hip-hop.)

I'm not a Zevon fan to the extent that so many of my peers are Zevon fans, but I respect the talent and absolutely agree that his induction is very much overdue. I said a big ol' YES!! out loud when I saw Zevon's name among the 2025 honorees. It was a such a pleasant surprise, but my biggest huzzah of the night was on behalf of one fresh Hall of Famer above all others:

CHUBBY CHECKER!

After the Monkees, Chubby Checker has been my pick for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's second-most egregious snub to date. I've written a bit about Mr. Checker and his impact here, and I'll be circling back to the subject in a near-future Greatest Record Ever Made! piece about "The Twist." I'm aware of the brain-dead stupid reasons that kept Chubby Checker off the ballot until now. I'm delighted that the Hall's voters have ignored that nonsense and finally--finally--given ol' Chubby his propers.

I don't see any true head-scratchin' results among the rest of this year's class. The fact that I don't listen to Bad Company or Joe Cocker doesn't dilute my conviction that they're also overdue in getting in here. I'm more likely to spin Cyndi Lauper or OutKast, and while I'd concede that Bad Company and Cocker are more imperative because they've already waited too damned long for their official nods, I'm pleased Lauper and OutKast are being recognized.

That leaves Soundgarden and the White Stripes filling the final two spots in the Class of 2025. Could just as easily have been Oasis or Joy Division/New Order, or Billy Idol, or (I guess) the Black Crowes, each of whom were on the ballot but received fewer votes than Soundgarden or the White Stripes. I don't have a dog in this part of the hunt. Phish won the fan ballot, but I'm not bothered by their failure to qualify. I don't know Mexican group Maná at all, so I can't comment on how fair or unfair it is that they missed the cut. And unlike my view of hip-hop as part of this vast tapestry of the rock and the roll, Mariah Carey strikes me as an artist whose work is not part of that tapestry.

If I'd had a ballot--and I'm nowhere near a big enough pundit to get such a thing--my seven picks would have been Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper, probably OutKast, possibly Billy Idol (if only for how much his former group Generation X meant to me) and a coin toss for the last one in. That's fairly close to the actual results, so yeah, I say this year The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame got it right.

And next year, for the luvva freakin' Frodis, INDUCT THE MONKEES AWREADY!

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.

10 SONGS: 4/26/2025

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 # 1282

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

Work continues with blinding bright-lights speed on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. There's a lot of stuff that still needs doin', mind you, but we're on track for the album's planned September release from the good folks at Big Stir Records. We've already played Make Something Happen! contributions from sparkle*jets u.k., Joe Giddings, the Kennedys, Pop Co-Op, the Spongetones, and Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols, we've revealed that the album will also include 'Cubes covers by Chris von Sneidern, Callan Foster, and Hamell On Trial, and we have two more tracks to debut on our next show. 

We have three Make Something Happen! debuts this week.

In planning a Flashcubes tribute album, I was determined to include at least one new track by the Flashcubes themselves. In fact, we will have a 'Cubic trinity of fresh Flashcubes offerings, one apiece written or co-written by Paul Armstrong, Arty Lenin, and Gary Frenay. This show's already been pummelin' the airwaves with Paul's irresistible new tune "Reminisce," and we'll hear Arty's "If These Hands" on this coming Sunday night's broadcast.

This week's show opens with a sublime new Flashcubes track called "The Sweet Spot." Gary co-wrote "The Sweet Spot" with the late B.D. Love, who was also known to long-time Syracuse music fans as Buddy Love. That's not the NYC pop performer of the same dba, nor is it Jerry Lewis for that matter. Our Buddy/B.D. fronted Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers and My Sin, and he was an integral part of our local scene in the new wave era.  

Other than times 'Cubes guitarist Arty Lenin sat in on drums for Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers, I believe "The Sweet Spot" is the first Flashcubes-B.D. Love collaboration. And oh, it's magnificent. We are honored to be able to honor B.D. Love's memory by including this track on Make Something Happen! And we'll hear "The Sweet Spot" again on our next show.

Sweet.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Slow Twistin'

The many, many flaws of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame notwithstanding, I remain adamant in my view that rock 'n' roll should honor its own. So I keep preaching that the Hall should finally correct its biggest snub to date (INDUCT THE MONKEES!!!), and that such honors should likewise be awarded to the New York Dolls, the Bangles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Rick James, the Shangri Las, and a long list of other worthies.

NOW, dammit!

After the Monkees, my pick for the Hall's second-most egregious omission to date is Chubby Checker. Unlike these others, Chubby is at least on the ballot this year, so here's hopin'. We'll find out Sunday night. 

THE CHOOSERS: Christi Girl

In the summer of 1978, I haunted Gerber Music's Penn Can Mall location, badgering the (remarkably patient) staff about when the Flashcubes' debut single "Christi Girl" would be available for purchase. I was 18 years old, in between my freshman and second years at college, with a part-time job at another Penn Can store (which made it even easier for me to haunt Gerber Music at will). 

Anyway. Gerber had a promo copy of the 45 on hand, so even though they couldn't sell it to me just yet, they did let me hear the record play through the store's sound system. And I was fully stoked when it finally became time to trade cash for 'Cubes.

We should have a special place nobody else can go

We should know the things nobody else can know

When I was a teenaged Flashcubes fan, a newly-minted owner of my very own "Christi Girl" 45, could I have imagined that 47 years later I would be involved in getting a bunch of fab rockin' pop bands to record a bunch of Flashcubes songs for a Flashcubes tribute? Would I even conceive the possibility of a Japanese band doing "Christi Girl?" 

Whatever I coulda/couldn'ta at the time, these fanciful notions are coming true now. A few years ago, the Choosers offered a live video of their rendition of "Christi Girl," it for damned sure passed the audition, so Gary Frenay reached out to recruit the Choosers for this project. And the Choosers' finished version of "Christi Girl" will indeed help take Make Something Happen! to that special place nobody else can go.

THE POPPEES: She's Got It

The Poppees were an avowedly fab, Beatles-influenced NYC combo machin' schau in the late '70s. The group included Arthur Alexander, who went on to noted TIRnRR Fave Raves Sorrows, and we're fans. An ace 1978 single by the Poppees sported an effervescent beat original called "Jealousy" backed with this boppin' cover of Little Richard's "She's Got It" on the flip.

Remember this 45. We'll be mentioning it again before this week's edition of 10 Songs is done. Got it?

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE KINKS: Add It Up

As noted here, our pal and stats man Fritz Van Leaven informed us that this week's show would include TIRnRR's 70,000th spin, and that the milestone would be achieved with whatever track wound up being our 44th song of the night. We teased the event a few times throughout the show--Are we up to our 70,000th spin yet, Dana? How about now? Must be there by now, right?--until we were set to begin our next-to-last set with Spin # 69,999.

We called in the house band to help us tabulate. And the Kinks led us into...

BIG STAR: September Gurls

Our 70,000th spin, and it had to be "September Gurls" by Big Star. Had to be! Our all-time most-played individual track, the first song we ever proclaimed on-air to be The greatest record ever made! (way, waaaaay before it even occurred to me to write a Greatest Record Ever Made book), and a song that's emblematic of this little mutant radio show. Great pick, Dana.

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio

Spin # 70,001. As we continue on the road to 100,000 spins, we start the next leg of the journey with a specific salute to the joy of radio. "POP RADIO!" Here's to every AM Top 40 hit and every left-of-the-dial communiqué that built TIRnRR. And we'll hear Trip 'n' Lisa's prototype for what became "Pop Radio" on our next program.

But right now, speakin' of "Radio"....

SORROWS: Radio

"Radio" was the B-side of the Flashcubes' second single "Wait Til Next Week." I bought the 45 directly from Gary Frenay at a show on Bowery in 1979. The song was co-written by Paul Armstrong and Gary Frenay, and although it was a live favorite at the time, it fell into disfavor within the band and was dropped from the set.

Coincidentally, within days of snaggin' my copy of "Wait Til Next Week"/"Radio" from Gary, I also picked up "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" by the Poppees. Yes! The same Poppees 45 referenced a few entries back! I love how this stuff ties together!

Sorrows formed out of the aftermath of the Poppees, and Sorrows' recent album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is guaranteed representation on TIRnRR's 2025 year-end countdown show. Guaranteed. 

And for Make Something Happen!, Sorrows have given us a cover of "Radio" that is nothing short of full-on freakin' phenomenal. 

Listen: You can search the four corners of the globe, and by the time you realize globes don't have corners, you'll already know that I'm the world's most insistent Flashcubes fan. Given that, consider the sheer gravity of me saying that Sorrows have accomplished the definitive version of the Flashcubes' "Radio." Pop music is my religion. Radio is one of my pulpits. With "Radio," Sorrows deliver the sermon we need.

Testify. And put your antenna to the sky.

THE ZOMBIES: What More Can I Do

TIRnRR spin # 70,015. What more can we do? Just keep spinning. Join us again on Sunday night for spin # 70,016 and counting.

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.

#inductchubbychecker

This combines bits from a couple of previous posts. I encourage you to visit Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Fan Vote and cast your ballot for Chubby Checker. You can vote once each day through April 21st.

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame is a nice place to visit. But in terms of its relevance to the story (and history) of rock 'n' roll, people keep telling me it's unimportant, that I should ignore it, that its continuous chuckleheaded snubs of worthy acts are best shrugged off with extreme disdain. These folks are right.

And they're also wrong.

Yes, the Hall is irrelevant, bloated, a joke, a blight, and it probably has bad breath. None of that contradicts my conviction that, in all caps and in bold, ROCK 'N' ROLL SHOULD HONOR ITS OWN. That glorified Hard Rock Cafe on the banks of Lake Erie remains the best, highest-profile means to do that. They keep messing it up. I'm gonna keep on calling for them to get it right.

Right now, the Hall needs to finally get it right with Chubby Checker.

After the Monkees, Chubby Checker is likely my pick for the Hall's second-biggest snub to date. His 1960 hit "The Twist" is one of the most impactful singles of the rock 'n' roll roll era, and while it's good and proper that Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (who recorded the original version of "The Twist") are in the Hall, it was Chubby Checker's mass hit version that made history, broke barriers, changed the course of mighty rivers, bent steel in its bare hands, et cetera. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's wish to punish Chubby Checker for the mortal sin of not being Hank Ballard is brain-dead stupid. At long last, Chubby Checker has been nominated FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME [?!], and I pray he finally gets in this year.

(How seismic was Chubby Checker's "The Twist?" It is easily one of the all-time Top Five most impactful 45s, and you could make a case for it in the Top Three. "Heartbreak Hotel" by King Elvis I is # 1, and I don't consider that point subject to debate. Bill Haley and his Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" has to at least be in the discussion, just by virtue of being rock 'n' roll's first # 1 hit. And Beatlemania, of course, with either "She Loves You" in the UK or "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in America. Elvis, Beatles, Bill Haley, Chubby Checker. I think those are the four, and I don't even have a ready candidate for a fifth 45 (though it would probably be a hip-hop record). Impact. That's all I'm talking about here. There are records I like even more than I like these, but I can't think of any other picks that could rival their importance and effect upon the rock and pop world.)

#inductchubbychecker It's time. Come on baby; let's do this.

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.

10 SONGS: 3/28/2025

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 # 1278

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: When We Close Our Eyes

I'm digging the process of putting together this tribute album celebrating Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES is due in September from the irresistible Big Stir Records label, and we've already previewed a few of its Cubic covers courtesy of sparkle*jets u.k., the Kennedys, the Spongetones, and Pop Co-Op, as well as its opening track "Reminisce" by the Flashcubes themselves. This week's TIRnRR kicks off with the everywhere-wide radio debut of another treat from Make Something Happen!, as the combined rockin' pop forces of Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols turn in their own super-yummy take on the Flashcubes' "When We Close Our Eyes." Brilliant!

A brief bit of behind-the-scenes kudos to Super 8's Trip Ryan and his collaborator Lisa: "When We Close Our Eyes" was written by Flashcubes guitarist Arty Lenin, and it may be my favorite from Arty's songbook, rivaled only by "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" (which the Spongetones have done a superb job of covering for this tribute album). Given my affection for the song, it was important for me to see it included on Make Something Happen! It had been assigned to another artist, but alas, that didn't work out. Trip 'n' Lisa stepped in to save us, and they did so pretty late in the game. YAY, Trip and Lisa! The Cubic legion salutes you!

Next week's show will offer another spin of the great current Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols single "Pop Radio," part of a stealth programming move to play a bunch of unrelated tracks by artists who will be represented on Make Something Happen!, mixing them in alongside a number of other acts, both classic and current (from the Beatles, the Ramones and the Rubinoos to Airport 77's, Amy Rigby, and Chris Church), who won't be on the tribute. We like to keep you guessing. We like to keep us guessing. With open eyes, and radio turned UP. 

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Speaking of that opening track from Make Something Happen!, 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's "Reminisce" is so far my favorite individual track of 2025, and it's gonna be a tough one to challenge. The song was first written in the '90s and (I think) only performed once before being filed away and mostly forgotten. (I remember it, of course, but I'm, y'know...me.)

If I understand the subsequent story correctly, several months back PA reconstructed the song from memory, moving what had been a somewhat perfunctory number into the magic realm of rock 'n' roll transcendence, toasting the past but raising the roof in the here and now, even adding a Ramones quote that nails a demonstration of the essential truth that what's cool once is cool forever. The present is built upon the past. We can still jump up, down, and all around to its sound. 

And we will!

sparkle*jets u.k.: Make Something Happen

On Make Something Happen!, "Reminisce" will segue into sparkle*jets u.k.'s luscious cover of the album's title tune, which was written by 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay. It's a song I wanted the Monkees to record for their 2016 triumph Good Times! (and I'd still like to hear a version with a Micky Dolenz lead vocal), and I'm delighted with how wonderful the song sounds now in the always-capable hands of sparkle*jets u.k.

(On our next show, a track from sparkle*jets u.k.'s most recent album Box Of Letters will play its part in our unspoken salute to the performers on Make Something Happen! Box Of Letters was absolutely one of the best albums of 2024, maybe the single best album in a year of a lot of really, really good albums. I'm so grateful they also agreed to take part in the Flashcubes tribute album.)

THE RUBINOOS: Rock 'n' Roll Is Dead

"Rock 'n' roll is dead?" No. It's. NOT! Come on, Rubinoos! You know better than that! Hell, this very song proves its title was, like, ironic or something. 

My Rubinoos fandom is detailed here. What a great, great band, then and now. Just don't believe them when they kid you about the death of rock 'n' roll. Pranksters. Pranksters, the lot of them.

DONNA SUMMER: I Feel Love

The year of 1977--the same year when I first became a fan of the Rubinoos-- also provided me with the first Donna Summer song I ever loved. "I Feel Love" was the second Donna Summer song I heard, but 1975's "Love To Love You Baby" never meant anything to me (its implied 'n' earthy sense of bouncy-bouncy notwithstanding). By contrast, the new wave cool of "I Feel Love" was so monolithic and precise that even my practiced teen anti-disco stance couldn't hope to resist its sway. I feel it. As I wrote in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"1977 had the potential to be a year of musical revolution. When we say that, most of us are talking about punk, about the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash. Maybe we're not thinking as much about disco, and maybe that's fair. But if we want to consider the potential of pop music's revolution in '77, our discussions of 'God Save The Queen,' 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker,' and 'White Riot' had better allow some room on the dancefloor for 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer.

"In the late '70s, disco and punk were supposed to be at war with each other. As a self-professed punk rocker in that era, I can attest that, yeah, punks didn't like disco, and the bumpin'-n-hustlin' set was appalled by the loud and fast noise my people favored. Hatfields and Capulets, meet McCoys and Montagues. Never mind the fact that the mainstream rock crowd held both punk and disco in nearly equal disdain; this was war!

"Except that it wasn't. I'm skeptical of the notion that many of the Saturday Night Fevered ever took much interest in the Damned or the Dead Boys, but some among the new wave brigade did eventually allow their ears and minds to be a bit more open to non-pogo dance music, to the beat of dat ole debbil disco. Maybe it was just me, but I was a pop fan anyway; my intense dislike of disco music evolved into occasional tolerance, and tolerance evolved into a sporadic realization that some of the records weren't bad. 

"Plus: Donna Summer. Donna Summer was gorgeous. I feel love...."

THE MONKEES: For Pete's Sake

THE MONKEES: You Just May Be The One

Collectively, The Greatest Record Ever Made!

CHUBBY CHECKER: The Twist

I have not been shy in proclaiming that the ongoing failure of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to induct the Monkees is that institution's single most egregious omission among a big ol' stack of egregious omissions. #inductthemonkees awready!

Chubby Checker is likely my pick for the Hall's second-biggest snub to date. His 1960 hit "The Twist" is one of the most impactful singles of the rock 'n' roll roll era, and while it's good and proper that Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (who recorded the original version of "The Twist") are in the Hall, it was Chubby Checker's mass hit version that made history, broke barriers, changed the course of mighty rivers, bent steel in its bare hands, et cetera. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's wish to punish Chubby Checker for the mortal sin of not being Hank Ballard is--how shall I phrase this delicately?--fucking brain-dead stupid. At long last, Chubby Checker has been nominated FOR THE FIRST TIME [?!], and I pray he finally gets in this year.

(How seismic was Chubby Checker's "The Twist?" It is easily one of the all-time Top Five most impactful 45s, and you could make a case for it in the Top Three. "Heartbreak Hotel" by King Elvis I is # 1, and I don't consider that point subject to debate. Bill Haley and his Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" has to at least be in the discussion, just by virtue of being rock 'n' roll's first # 1 hit. And Beatlemania, of course, with either "She Loves You" in the UK or "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in America. I think those are the four, and I don't even have a ready candidate for a fifth 45. Impact. That's all I'm talking about here. There are records I like even more than I like these, but I can't think of any other picks that could rival their importance and effect upon the rock and pop world.)

JOE GIDDINGS: Tonite Tonite

Stories With Guitars is the excellent current album from Joe Giddings, and we've been playing its magnificent radio-ready track "Tonite Tonite" with all of the dizzyingly manic fervor people expect from obsessive pop fans like Dana and Carl. It's what we do!

We're playing our man Joe again on our next show, but we're giving "Tonite Tonite" the week off. What gift from Giddings are we programming in its stead? Joe Giddings IS one of the fine acts on this Flashcubes tribute album. So! Let's open this coming Sunday night's radio record party with Joe Giddings covering the Flashcubes. Set bright lights to stun. You won't want to miss this.

IRENE PEÑA: Come And Get It

Pop music. If you want it, here it is. You know what to do.

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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.