10 SONGS: 3/14/2026

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 # 1327

THE SURFRAJETTES: Easy As Pie

I swear to Joey Ramone that I chose this as the opening track for this week's 10 Songs before realizing today is Pi Day. It's not that I wouldn't sink to the level of making that joke; it's just that I didn't think of it.

No, this week's radio show and today's blog post start with the Surfrajettes because that incredible rockin' instrumental combo is coming to Syracuse next week for a show at Middle Ages Brewing. HuzZAH! That will be Thursday March 19th, a splendid time will be forcibly mandated for all, and you can get your tickets here. Do so! NOW...!!

Given all that, it was a no-brainer that we were gonna program some Surfrajettes music. And speaking of no-brainers, I was mortified to discover that this is the Surfrajettes' TIRnRR debut. Man, what the hell's wrong with us? But we're gonna make up for our lapse, starting now with the title tune from the Surfragettes' 2024 album Easy As Pie. We'll hear another fine Surfrajettes selection on Sunday night, and we promise more Surfrajettes to come.

Who wants pie? 

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

On the air this week and in the commentary accompanying the posted playlist, I mentioned that Paul Armstrong--really loud guitarist for Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes--was once cited by a local journalist (probably Russ Donahue) as the one person most responsible for bringing punk and new wave to Syracuse in the '70s. In my (eventually) forthcoming book Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, PA is referred to as the Godfather of Punk in Central New York. Ain't no one more deserving of that billing.

"Reminisce' was the first of three new original Flashcubes recordings I solicited to enhance Big Stir Records' 2025 various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. It's a testimony to the group's ongoing Cubic mojo that the three new songs--PA's "Reminisce," bassist Gary Frenay's "The Sweet Spot" (written with the late B.D. Love), and guitarist Arty Lenin's "If These Hands"--can stand with pride alongside other great songs the lads have written from 1977 to date. As I've said elsewhere:

The Ramones remembered rock 'n' roll radio. KISS vowed to rock and roll all night. The Bay City Rollers promised a rock 'n' roll love letter. Power Pop Hall of Famers THE FLASHCUBES were there, and they saw it all. And now? They wanna reminisce.

ORBIS MAX: Don't Lose Me Now

Pop music can swing, pop music can punch, and pop music can ache with loss and longing, fueled by its own regret and desire. The latest Orbis Max single "Don't Lose Me Now" aces the trifecta, built by guitars standing on the shoulders of guitars and driven by the desperation to make things right, or at least make one last stand in the effort. Heart on sleeve. Let the teardops fire at will.

THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely

An absolutely dynamic cover of Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me" is the current single off Confess, the dynamic new album from the Cynz. We played "You Wreck Me" on last week's show, but this week and next we're returning to one of the album's previous singles, the irresistible original song "Love's So Lovely." Yes! ORIGINAL Cynz! I slay me. But I confess that we can't go wrong either way.

TAVARES: It Only Takes A Minute

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SPONGETONES: So Long

Like the Flashcubes, North Carolina stalwarts the Spongetones are for damned sure also in The Power Pop Hall Of Fame. And whenever the Spongetones release something new, TIRnRR is for damned sure going to play it. An advance copy of their latest fab single "So Long" reached us after this week's show was already programmed, but just in time for us to make a quick substitution and squeeze it in. (Our apologies to the Dave Clark Five, but you'll be back.) "So Long?" Hello!

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

As the country and the world seem increasingly eager to leap into the abyss and take us all with it, I've been trying to draw strength from my current favorite phrase: The audacity of joy. It takes a lot--a lot--to even attempt any kind of positive outlook. But we can't give up on hope. That would mean giving in, and that's what the bad guys want us to do. I refuse. We need to do much more than just hold hands and sing "Kumbaya"...but we DO also need to hold hands and sing "Kumbaya." If we lose joy, we lose everything.

Slyboots' sublime 2024 single "If We Could Let Go" has become my top song choice to accompany the audacious pursuit of delight when delight feels elusive. Join hands. Let go of everything else.

DAVE EDMUNDS: Get Out Of Denver

CHUCK BERRY: Johnny B. Goode

Dave Edmunds covering Bob Seger, and Chuck Berry inspiring the Seger tune that Mr. Edmunds is covering. In or out of Denver, they play that guitar like a-ringin' a bell. Go GO!!

THE RAMONES: Do You Wanna Dance?

Yep. Always. In times of trouble, we maintain a steadfast embrace of the audacity of joy.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. 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. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 2/28/2026

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 # 1325, celebrating Black History Month

RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive

Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" is a stupid song about sex. But it's a great stupid song about sex, probably the best-ever stupid song about sex, and a legit contender for my all-time Hot 200. Yeah, even among songs that may or may not be stupid and may or may not be about sex.

"Shut Up And Drive" strikes me as a sort-of equivalent to "Heavy Music" by Bob Seger and the Last Heard, a track I initially dismissed as a stupid song about sex before realizing it was--you guessed it!--a great stupid song about sex. Rihanna's song is greater. We'll hear it again on the radio in Syracuse this Sunday night. Drive, baby. Drive.

CHUCK BERRY: Come On

Chuck Berry's 1961 single "Come On" was not a hit in the USA, but it did make the British Top 40 (# 38). One presumes that's where the boys who would soon become the Rolling Stones heard it, and their subsequent cover of "Come On" served as the A-side of the debut Stones single in 1963. Chuck Berry led the way.

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

Pop perfection, with an aching plea for harmony that resonates and reinforces our hopes for something better than the hateful tsuris surrounding us. Slyboots' 2024 single "If We Could Let Go" is just unforgettable, endlessly enriching, and for damned certain on the best new tracks of the decade to date.

LEMOYNE ALEXANDER: Insecurity

From a previous 10 Songs:

I often mention that there is so much more great music out there that most of us don't get around to hearing. Credit our friends Brett Vargo and Uncle Gregg at the essential weekly podcast Only Three Lads for my recent belated discovery of LeMoyne Alexander. Mr. Alexander is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer with a long list of credits in hip-hop and R & B, and his recent guest appearance on O3L not only introduced me to LeMoyne Alexander, but specifically to his extraordinary 2024 single "Insecurity." Whoa! I'm retroactively declaring "Insecurity" to be one of my top tracks of '24. 

There's so much out there that we don't know, that we don't get an opportunity to know. With LeMoyne Alexander's superb rockin' pop track "Insecurity," we'll try to make up a little bit of lost time.

DONNA SUMMER: I Feel Love

From 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.

Donna Summers's first hit, "Love To Love You Baby," was basically an extended orgasm set to a disco beat (which is not necessarily a bad thing).  But "I Feel Love" is more interesting; still shimmering and sexy--Donna Summer at that time could have covered the Singing Nun, and still been shimmering and sexy--but its European syncopation makes it even sexier, if not quite as sweaty. Or perhaps not as obviously sweaty....

WILSON PICKETT: Land Of 1000 Dances

"Land Of 1000 Dance." Our National Anthem. Well, it should be our National Anthem. And with no disrespect intended toward the 1962 original by Chris Kenner nor the hit 1965 remake by Cannibal and the Headhunters (whose fine version was the first to add the familiar na nana na na, nana na na na na na na na na, nana na naaaaaaa), I say folks attending baseball games across this occasionally (if not lately)-great land of ours should all rise for the wicked Wilson Pickett's evocation of doin' the Pony like Bony Maronie. Na nana na na, nana na na na na na na na na, nana na naaaaaaa. Batter up!

LL COOL J: Mama Said Knock You Out

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BELLRAYS: One More Night

Like LeMoyne Alexander, the BellRays are another supercool act introduced to my eager ears via the Only Three Lads podcast. See? Ya learn stuff listening to O3L! You can catch up with your BellRays acclimation via their two-part O3L appearance in 2024: Part 1 and Part 2. To supplement your essential BellRays 101, let's review how the mighty Brett Vargo hyped their O3L spot:

"We're havin' a party this week! Joining us for a lively, laugh-filled exploration of 1973 albums is the heart and soul of the BellRays, singer Lisa Kekaula and guitarist Bob Vennum, who have been gloriously blending high octane punk, powerful soul music, deep blues, gritty garage rock, and whatever else they want to throw into the stew, since 1990. This is a band that defies expectations or pre-conceived notions and transcends any one genre or scene. Their music is all about energy and feel, and that makes them authentic no matter what the style is. To quote their 2020 compilation, It’s Never To Late To Fall In Love With...The BellRays."

NEVER too late! I can't explain why it took me so long to purchase some BellRays music and get it on the radio where it belongs. In that never-too-late spirit, the BellRays finally make their long-overdue TIRnRR debut with this killer track from their 2024 album Heavy Steady Go! They'll be back. We have a lot of time to overcompensate for, one more night at a time.

BOOKER T AND THE MG'S: Green Onions

Dana's pick for what oughta be our National Anthem. Booker T and the MG's with "Green Onions' or Wilson Pickett with "Land Of 1000 Dances?" Can't go wrong either way.

THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There

Reach out. The bad guys have the power. We have the numbers. Reach out, my friends. Reach out.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. 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. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 8/2/2025

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 # 1296.

AL JARDINE: Islands In The Sun

Al Jardine is the only member of the Beach Boys whom I've seen more than, y'know, once. All three of my Al Jardine concert moments came at The New York State Fair. I saw Jardine with Hawthorne's Phenomenal Pop Combo in the late '80s (our Al performing alongside Carl Wilson and Mike Love), fronting his own band in the aughts, and again with Brian Wilson's group in 2016. Given a chance to play a brand-new track by Jardine, we figured it was our time in the sun to open this week's show with that brand-new track, "Islands In The Sun." 

The California-meets-the-Caribbean vibe of "Islands In The Sun" strikes me as a better version of "Kokomo." Don't turn away! I know that comparison risks damning the song with faint praise, but "Islands In The Sun" is actually pretty good, and I hereby declare it agreeably radio-ready. I would be delighted to add a fourth in-concert Al Jardine experience should the opportunity arise. Let the sun shine down on our Beach Boys island home.

BLACK SABBATH: Am I Going Insane

All of us are sick of having to bid farewell to so many of our idols. The late Ozzy Osbourne wasn't necessarily one of my idols, but I feel the loss just the same, and I feel the driving inner need to pay some sort of respect to one of the giants of rock 'n' roll. We did have Ozzy's "Crazy Train" perched in the playlist's staging area, but it never found its spot in the show. 

My own interest in the Prince of Darkness tends to center on a couple of specific and unapologetically obvious Black Sabbath favorites, "Iron Man" and "Paranoid." I loved "Iron Man" when I was a teen, and I considered playing all of its six bludgeoning minutes here (and it would not have been its TIRnRR debut). I knew I wanted to circle back to "Paranoid" near the end of the show, and I wanted our first set to include a Sabbath cut we'd never played before. 

"Am I Going Insane" fit the moment like a custom-made straitjacket. The song carries an inherent pop core amidst its prerequisite crunch, and it asks the same eternal rhetorical question burning in everyone's achin' craniums in these troubled times. Going? Gone, off the rails on a crazy train. Ozzy saw it coming.

THE CYNZ: Can't Help Thinking About Me

The second week in a row for well-deserved airplay of this ace track from the forthcoming various-artists tribute album Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie, as the Cynz turn in their epic rendition of Bowie's "Can't Help Thinking About Me." SPOILER ALERT! The track establishes its third week in a row this Sunday. We play the hits! Sunday will also see the debut of a Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie treat by power pop king Paul Collins, with more to come in future weeks. Can't help thinking about Jem's great new salute to Bowie.

THE TWEEDS: I Need That Record

Don't we all, brothers and sisters. Don't we all.

SHAUN CASSIDY: Hey Deanie

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

Back during the Flashcubes' original late '70s run, they used to include "Hey Deanie" in their set lists, though they credited the song to its author Eric Carmen rather than its hitmaker Shaun Cassidy. No matter! Opening a set with a Greatest Record Ever Made! spin of Cassidy's "Hey Deanie" was a swell set-up to include the Flashcubes' own current dancin'-like-diamonds-in-the-moonlight single "The Sweet Spot" in that very same sweet set. Hey Deanie! Meet us at the sweet spot!

CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land

From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"...Chuck Berry knew well the travails of the downtrodden. Dark skin, humble origin, destined to transcend all and everything to become the single most important performer 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 quietly seething behind his flamboyant mask. A nice man? Tough to say, but beside the point. An important man? If you've ever loved rock 'n' roll, you should be ashamed to even ask that question.

"Berry built the foundation (and much of the walls) of his legacy in the '50s, when segregation was commonplace throughout much of this Land of the Free, when failure to mind one's place wasn't just a breach of protocol; it was a de facto criminal act. 

"Into this tinderbox, Chuck Berry brought black music that made white kids dance. He wrote in code--most famously, the irresistibly potent brown-skinned handsome man became (wink) a brown-eyed handsome man, man--but he crafted and chronicled the American teen-age dream with greater eloquence than anyone, black or white. It was inevitable that he would be slapped down.

"Some say that he mighta had it coming. Maybe. Others say the rap was racially-motivated, pure and simple. Berry was busted for a violation of the Mann Act, transporting a minor across a state line for immoral purpose. It's plausible to suggest that Berry may have been guilty, but it's also plausible that he wasn't. Guilty or not, Berry spent a year and a half behind bars. While still a guest of the state, Berry wrote 'Promised Land.' 

"Fitting...."

CHRIS VON SNEIDERN: No Promise

Since I haven't yet completed the writing process for any new books in 2025, my biggest project this year has been Big Stir Records' September 12th compilation Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. It's been a lot of work, absolutely worth it, and I do believe you're gonna love it. Here's evidence on my behalf: Pop Gem Factory foreman and expatriate Central New Yorker Chris von Sneidern paying homage to the shared sound of the 315 by taking on "No Promise," my # 1 favorite Flashcubes song.

And nailing it. Plenty of promise to go around!

BLACK SABBATH: Paranoid

THE BEATLES: Polythene Pam

My favorite Ozzy track, segued into Ozzy's all-time favorite band. Ozzy and I for damned sure had that in common.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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. You can read about our history here

10 SONGS: 4/12/2025

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 # 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

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.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Conquer And Divide

THE BYRDS: Lady Friend

THE GREEK THEATRE: Byrd Of Prey

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.

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.