10 SONGS: 7/20/2024

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 # 1242.

THE GRIP WEEDS: All Tomorrow's Parties

1.4.5.: Let's Groove

PERILOUS: Rock 'n' Roll Kiss

THE GRIP WEEDS: We Love You

THE VA VA VOODOOS: She's Got A Mustang

THE GRIP WEEDS: DiG Theme

All tomorrow's parties TODAY. 

These are the four irresistible acts on the bill for an epic evening of live rock 'n' roll TONIGHT--Saturday night, July 20th--at Syracuse's legendary venue The Lost Horizon. That's as super-colossal as a rockin' pop evening gets, and if you're among the TIRnRR faithful within boppin' distance of the 315, you should be at the Lost tonight.

We opened this week's radio rampage with the Grip Weeds' ace cover of the Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties," from the group's superb covers album DiG. Later in the show, we circled back for the Grip Weeds' cover of the Rolling Stones' "We Love You" (from the current various-artists tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards) and the Grip Weeds original "DiG Theme." Speaking of Grip Weeds originals, the group is working on a new album, and we can't wait. Tonight will be my third Grip Weeds live show, and I already know that the Grip Weeds never disappoint.

I've seen 1.4.5. more times than I can count, and I hope to see 'em still another set of more-times-than-I-can-count. My 1.4.5. concert résumé began in 1980 (at The Poor House North in Liverpool, NY) and has continued over a span of decades, with individual flashpoints at the Jab, Squires East, the Lost, some dive on West Genesee Street, some dive on Teal Avenue, Funk 'N Waffles, and other venues obscured in memory by beer and volume. I saw them three times in 2023, at my Ramones book release party at The 443, at the Grip Weeds' last Lost Horizon appearance, and opening for New Math at Abilene in Rochester. The band's line-up varies, always centered on the rock-solid efforts of Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong. PA's work has had an enormous impact on me. Let's GROOVE!

(UPDATE: I’m hearing now that 1.4.5. will not be playing tonight. Guess my more-times-than-I-can-count will continue some other evening,)

Perilous was also on the bill for my Ramones book party and the Grip Weeds' 2023 Lost Horizon gig. They are fabulous, and they let us use their absolute gem "Rock 'n' Roll Kiss" on our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. The track is also on their album YEAH!!, and if you don't own that one, man, I question your mojo. 

This will be my first time seeing the Va Va Voodoos, but I've known the group's guitarist Jo Agopovich for more than a minute (or many minutes). I was at the debut performance of her old band Distortion more'n forty years ago at The Firebarn, and the group reformed for a performance hosted by Dana and me precisely one decade and one day ago at the Lost. Homecoming. Mustang VOODOO! This oughta be good.

The Grip Weeds. 1.4.5. Perilous. The Va Va Voodoos. The Lost Horizon. TONIGHT!! Get your tickets here. 

DiG?

sparkle*jets u.k.: Ludlow 6:18

sparkle*jets u.k.: Box Of Letters

The new sparkle*jets u.k. album Box Of Letters is already one of my top favorite 2024 releases, and I went into this week's exercise in playlist-buildin' intent on including another spin of that album's fine title tune. Independently, Dana wanted to play a track from the group's previous album, the 2023 all-covers triumph Best Of Friends. When Dana programmed the Best Of Friends cover of Cockeyed Ghost's "Ludlow 6:18," it was instantly clear that the world needed--needed!--to hear two in a row by sparkle*jets u.k. Obviously.

That's how ya achieve better radio through better radio. And we'll have another track from Box Of Letters on the radio Sunday night. Never be afraid to sparkle, my friends. Never be afraid to sparkle.

THE DANDY WARHOLS: We Used To Be Friends

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

(Dedicated to all of our friends in Neptune, California. Except Patton Oswalt. I'm mad at him.)

THE KENNEDYS: Walking Through The Park

Ah, so cool! Here we have the magnificent coffee-house pop combo the Kennedys executing a sublime cover of...

...oops.

We're not supposed to talk about this yet. But we will, when the time is right. When the trime comes, rest assured: We will indeed make something happen.

Well, new things coming from D & C editorial offices.....

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 for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. 

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

POP-A-LOOZA: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Dandy Warhols, "We Used To Be Friends"

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is another chapter in the ongoing saga of The Greatest Record Ever Made!, this time fixing its gaze upon "We Used To Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. This piece--about the Dandy Warhols, Veronica Mars, and people who used to be friends a long time ago--has careened in and out of the blueprint for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The song's not mentioned in the GREM! project's most recent proposed Table of Contents, but it will be included in the next update of my plans for the book. I confess that my emotional tether to the chapter's real-life memories of discarded and/or expired friendships has made me flip-flop again 'n' again about putting it in the book.

But our emotions are a huge part of our connection to the music we love. Our favorite records don't live in isolation. Each one has a story to tell. Those stories are not just the accounts of who made the record; they're also the tales of our reactions to what we think we hear, and what we think it means to us. 

This particular story still makes me sad, decades after the fact. Which means I have to include it in this book I've written. Meanwhile, the story serves as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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.

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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: We Used To Be Friends

This expansion of an earlier, unrelated piece was prepared for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). It remains in two of the book's six current potential drafts.

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

THE DANDY WARHOLS: We Used To Be Friends

Written by Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Grant Nicholas, and Bjorn Thorsrud

Produced by Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Nick Rhodes

Single from the album Welcome To The Monkey House, Capitol Records, 2003

A long time ago
We used to be friends
But I haven't thought of you lately at all

My awareness of the Dandy Warhols has always been peripheral at best. I have to admit my main interest in the group's work comes through "We Used To Be Friends," a Dandy Warhols track used as the theme song for the television series Veronica Mars.

I came to Veronica Mars years after its network TV run, binge-watching it obsessively on-line. It became one of my all-time favorite shows, its potent stew of teen alienation, betrayal, and pulp noir annexing my rapt attention and devotion. And its theme song cast me back to memories of bonds severed, trusts discarded, bridges burned, a long time ago.

Many years ago, I had a friend whom I'll refer to here as Julie. If you've known me for a very long time, and you think you know who Julie really is, you're probably wrong, unless you happen to be right. Julie's true identity isn't the point. 

Julie was one of my best friends. We had similar tastes in music, and generally had a good time around each other, times of camaraderie and youthful exuberance. Julie could be moody at times, subject to the familiar, warring emotions of depression and delight. In spite of that, I don't recall Julie and I ever really having an argument or a fight, none that my consciousness can call forth all these decades later.

Until we did have a fight. And we came to a definite parting of the ways.

It happens, even among friends, even among best friends. Look at Lennon and McCartney. Hell, look at Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. There was regret on both sides, I think, but there was no chance of reconciliation. We said goodbye. There may have been tears--there were tears--and we have not seen each other since. Decades have passed. We will likely never see each other again, and likely never have any further communication. I don't wish to discuss the details. Like the song says: we used to be friends, a long time ago.

We did speak one time after that. For the sake of closure, I called Julie on the phone one night. Julie had been drinking, and Julie was surprised to hear from me. It was a pleasant call nonetheless, or at least it was as pleasant as a farewell phone call can be. Closure. One side can't undo, one side can't forgive, and neither side can forget. We will never speak again. At this point, I don't want to anymore.

I remember better times. I wrote this passage a long time ago, well before I'd heard or heard of the Dandy Warhols, inspired by my memories of Julie, and of a few other close friends who used to be integral parts of my life; I lost all of them along the way. It happens. It hurts, but it happens. These words I wrote linger in my memory: 

Sometimes in my dreams, we still talk to each other
Although in real life I know we're done with one another
I don't think I'd want you to return
I'd just feel better if I could learn
What became of you
Because I remember you

Maybe we're not meant to get over the things that still haunt us, decades after it was too late to do anything about them. We bleed, we mend, we move on; the scar lingers. Guilt lingers. Regret lingers. But sometimes the glow of better times can linger, too.

Godspeed, Julie. I don't think I'd want you to return. I wish you well, wherever you are. But I haven't thought of you lately at all. That line's a lie. One thing remains true, and the Dandy Warhols wrote a song about their version of it. Bring it on now sugar. Just remember me when. A long time ago, we used to be...

...you know.

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.

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