10 SONGS (plus one bonus): 9/5/2026

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 # 1351

[REDACTED] FEATURING [REDACTED]: [REDACTED]

Mystery track! We debuted this on last week's blowout celebration of TIRnRR # 1350, and it opens this week's show. Still can't tell you about it just yet. If you happen to be at The Lost Horizon in Syracuse on Saturday, November 7th, rumor has it that the physical 7" 45 RPM of this mystery track will be available for purchase at the merch table, courtesy of our friends at Big Stir Records. As stated previously: Grab your bright lights and bikini bottoms--bikini tops are optional.

I don't mind.

DOLLY PARTON: Release Me
DOLLY PARTON: Don't Drop Out

DOLLY PARTON: Jolene

TIRnRR's unique mojo may or may not be equal to the task of presenting a proper tribute to the late Dolly Parton, but there was no power in this mortal sphere that could prevent us from at least offering some humble tribute to her legend and legacy. Over the course of our first 1,350 shows, we've only played a grand total of three different Dolly Parton tracks, "9 To 5," "Don't Drop Out," and "Jolene," and I'm pretty sure the spin of "9 To 5" was the work of a guest programmer. 

But if Ms. Parton wasn't a TIRnRR perennial like the Ramones, both Dana and I had enormous respect for her. I remember one time when a listener asked why a show like ours would program "Jolene," and I answered: Because it's a great track. Great tracks are welcome around these parts. (And I will eventually repurpose the commentary for this week's posted playlist as part of a Greatest Record Ever Made! piece about "Jolene.")

For this week's show, "Jolene" was an absolute must, and so was "Don't Drop Out," Dolly's astounding girl-group sound single from 1966. I had something specific in mind to serve as coda (see below), and we included her lovely version of the country classic "Release Me" in our opening set.

DAVID RUFFIN: Let Somebody Love Me

This coming Sunday night's TIRnRR serves up the long-awaited return of Dana's Funky Soul Pit. Dana's annual soul/R 'n' B/funk extravaganza is one of our most popular presentations, and Dana has outdone himself once again with this year's fabulous edition. This is can't-miss entertainment, and we hope you'll tune in Sunday night, September 6th, from 9 to Midnight Eastern. Get set to sweat.

And this year's Soul Pit will include a few tracks by David Ruffin. Best known as one of the lead singers in the Temptations, Ruffin's subsequent solo career offered a lot of extraordinary work that didn't always find the large audience it deserved. A 2004 release called David (aka David Ruffin--The Unreleased Album) collected a number of (mostly) previously-unissued sides Ruffin recorded from 1969-1971, and it's an amazing record. This week, I pulled out a sublime David track called "Let Somebody Love Me." For the Soul Pit, Dana has a different track from the same collection. Irresistible stuff.

MARY KARLZEN: Mr. Typewriter

Oooo--speaking of irresistible stuff! Our pal Robbie Rist is a big fan of Mary Karlzen, a singin' songwriter who appeared as a guest on a recent episode of The Spoon podcast. Robbie also played on some of Mary's fab new album For All That We Dreamed Of (as does the incredible Fernando Perdomo), and a Spoon spin of the For All That We Dreamed Of delight "Blindsided" served up sufficient spark to get me to buy the album--a podcast's job is to sell records--with the intention of inserting "Blindsided" into this week's TIRnRR.

BUT! Robbie suggested we should oughta play another track from the album instead, and we have been known upon occasion to just do as we're told awready. So Robbie's fave rave "Mr. Typewriter" (also a great choice) stands as Mary Karlzen's TIRnRR debut, with "Blindsided" likely for a near-future show. Hail, Mary!

EARTH, WIND & FIRE: September

THE DONNAS: I Don't Want To Go To School

Wait--SEPTEMBER...?! Didn't summer just start? I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!

THE TEARJERKERS: Syracuse Summer

The Greatest Record Ever Made! 

TIM CURRY: I Do The Rock

News that actor Tim Curry had passed reached us just as we were about to record this week's show. We had to tweak the playlist a bit--apologies to Judas Priest (whose "Living After Midnight" was bumped to accommodate the change), and also to Rush (whose "Circumstances" fell victim to time constraints resulting from the switch)--but it felt imperative to represent Curry in this spot.

Like many of us, my introduction to Tim Curry was his bravura performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I thought the film was a hoot, and I'm glad the first time I got to see it was in a matinee screening, unaccompanied by costumed moviegoers, practiced audience participation, and props ranging from airborne hot dogs and rolls of toilet paper to copies of The Cleveland Plain Dealer folded over one's head. I got to experience the movie as a movie, and I found it hilarious. The experience was then enhanced and writ larger over subsequent screenings and the now-familiar attendant hoopla. Lips, baby. LIPS!

One of my favorite Curry performances was his role on several episodes of the Wiseguy TV series. Curry played Winston Newquay, an evil record label executive (which isn't necessarily a redundant phrase), and he was so riveting and deliciously malevolent that I really wish he'd been cast as the Joker in the 1989 Batman film. Curry was an artist, and an unforgettable presence in everything he did. 

From Rocky Horror, we could have played Frank-N-Furter's signature song "Sweet Transvestite" as our Curry selection, but really, Curry's 1979 radio hit "I Do The Rock" felt like an undeniable choice. I do the Rock myself! Maybe not as well as Tim Curry did the Rock--I could never whack a ball with such velocity--but y'know...don't dream it. Be it. It's a lesson worth learning, remembering, and embracing. All the world's a stage. And a stage was what Tim Curry was born to inhabit.

DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT AND EMMYLOU HARRIS: After The Gold Rush

All in a dream, all in a dream: A dream of the sound of Heaven, brought to Earth with the angelic voices of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. Godspeed, Dolly Parton.

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My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous 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.

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. 

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: 7/28/2023

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 # 1191. This show is available as a podcast.

JOHNATHAN PUSHKAR: I Gotta Move

Johnathan Pushkar's cover of the Kinks' "I Gotta Move" is the first advance track from the forthcoming tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies, and it's a good one. The original was on the American Kinks-Size LP, which was the first Kinks album I ever owned (part of my indoctrination into Kinks fandom during my senior year in high school). It's a pretty basic tune, sure, but Johnathan conveys the necessary dedicated-follower bounce to retain its bop in our newfangled 21st century. We'll play it again next week, and we'll also play another Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies track, courtesy of the Cynz. We need to! We don't wanna get left behind.

THE SUPREMES: Love Train

Man alive, I've been knocked out by the '70s stuff Dana's been playing by the Supremes. I talked about it a bit in the July 14th 10 Songs, and this material just seems so ripe for rediscovery...or, really, discovery, for the first time. Why weren't these records huge? And why is the two-CD collection The '70s Anthology a high-priced collectible rather than the readily-available essential it oughtta be? I don't why, I don't know how, but I blame Diana Ross.

As I groove vicariously through Dana's spins of '70s Supremes, the group's sublime cover of the O'Jays' "Love Train" satisfies the ol' (Nathan) jones for this week. 

THE WAITRESSES: Square Pegs

It's not punk. It's new wave. Totally different head. Totally.

IYKYK.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Awright. As the rockin' pop world prepares its eager self for the release of the Flashcubes' incomparable new album Pop Masters, Big Stir Records' Chief Boppin' Officers Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko recently had this to say about our own little mutant radio show, the 'Cubes, and Pop Masters:

Rarely have a show, a band, and an album gone so hand-in-hand as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, the Flashcubes, and the new record Pop Masters.

We accept that with honor, pride, and humili...okay, scratch the humility part. Let's not get crazy.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of the Flashcubes in my life and in the development of TIRnRR. I ain't kidding: The Beatles. The Ramones. The Flashcubes. For me, all my other favorites come after that Trinity. Pop Masters. Truth in advertising. Album of the year, mate. Album of the year.

THE DONNAS: Wig Wam Bam

My TIRnRR history Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet reveals that we've been playing the Donnas since our very first show, December 27, 1998. Lately, we've been dipping back more and more into the Donnas' earliest releases, a period that commenced even before there was any such thing as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. 

Our archival source for such grungy transcendence is a Real Gone Music Donnas collection called Early Singles 1995-1999. When Dana programmed the Donnas' cover of Sweet's "Wig Wam Bam" for this week's show, I joked about how the Donnas do, in fact, get a few of Sweet's original lyrics right in their rockin' rendition. Otherwise, they just make it up as they go: Sweet's opening prose Hiawatha never bothered too much/About Minnihaha and her tender touch/'Til she took him to the silver stream is altered by the Donnas into the way more salacious I don't wanna be a bother too much/I just wanna be the girl you wanna touch/You make me cream in my jeans.... And so on.

Dana dismissed the wisecrack. "Girls with guitars," he said. 

And he is correct. Girls, meet the boys. Boys, the girls. Wig-wam, bam sham-a-lam. Or words to that effect.

DAISY JONES AND THE SIX: Regret Me

A band doesn't have to be real to make a radio-ready record. Here on TIRnRR, we offer equal time for fiction and fact. When we feel like it, anyway. SO! The made-for-streaming Daisy Jones and the Six on this week's program, Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac next week. There's no such thing as a guilty pleasure in pop music. We remain regret-free.

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: I Fought The Law

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

HAYLEY AND THE CRUSHERS: Jacaranda

We pre-record our shows. It's a coincidence when one of our selections carries a connection to some news headline that splatters forth in between recording the show on Wednesday and airing it on Sunday night. We played Hayley and the Crushers' fantastic "Jacaranda" this week because it's, y'know, fantastic. Its lyrics about ditching tinyville livin' in favor of tropical summer fun in the sun were chosen for turn-it-up status without any real-world context in mind.

But yeah, like Hayley sings: screw the small town.

THE MUFFS: On My Own

THE PANDORAS: I'll Walk Away

Ex post facto programming. We didn't initially intend to make the late Kim Shattuck our featured performer this week. In fact, we were nearly done nailing down this week's song selections when I realized that Dana had included a number of songs in quiet tribute to Kim, recognizing what would have been her 60th birthday on July 17th. These were performances Kim did with the Coolies, the Beards, and three tracks by the Muffs. Dana picked the Muffs' TIRnRR Fave Rave "On My Own" to close the pre-encore portion of the show.

I thought Dana's idea of a tribute To Kim Shattuck was compelling and important, and I wanted to participate. I swapped out several of my song picks in favor of tracks that included Kim, records by Derrick Anderson, Bowling For Soup, one more by the Muffs ("Nothing") to play at the very, very end, and four Shattuck-equipped tracks by the Pandoras. 

"On My Own" comes from the Muffs' farewell album No Holiday. It was released just after Kim passed in October of 2019, and it was TIRnRR's single most-played track in 2020. It's still a frequent treat on our playlists, and probably always will be. 

The Pandoras' "I'll Walk Away" has never been given an official release. It appeared on a collection called Psychedelic Sluts!, a CD of questionable legitimacy and disappointing fidelity. The track was originally intended for Come Inside, a proposed (and completed) 1987 album which would have been the Pandoras' first release for Elektra Records. Come Inside got as far as a test pressing and a listing in the Schwann catalog, but Elektra dropped the Pandoras and scuttled the release. The album has yet to see the light of day.

That's a shame. Come Inside leans hard (HAR!) into single-entendre innuendo and arena rock moves; even its title is a sex joke (come inside the Pandoras--GET IT?). Subtlety wasn't a big thing in the '80s. But the album has its moments, particularly the fascinating power ballad "I'll Walk Away." I'm generally not one for power ballads, unless they're power ballads by the Ramones. I make an exception for the Pandoras' "I'll Walk Away."

In a just world, Come Inside would have been released and hit big. John Hughes would have used "I'll Walk Away" in the climactic scene of one of his teen movies. Missed opportunity. The Pandoras would have made it. Their leader Paula Pierce would have lived longer. Kim Shattuck would have lived longer. But now...

...we walk away.

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 9/22/2022

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 # 1147.

THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING THE PALEY BROTHERS: Come Out And Play

Aw, MAN! Given my ongoing status as the Flashcubes' most insistent fan, it's no surprise how much I adore this series of new digital Flashcubes singles from our friends at Big Stir Records. Each one has been nothing short of fantastic, and it's been a righteous kick to hear the 'Cubes join forces with the Spongetones, Shoes, Mimi Betinis, David Paton, Steve Conte, and now, the Paley Brothers. Add in the lads' solo cover of the Dwight Twilley Band's "Alone In My Room" (and the vintage 1979 live take on their own "Christi Girl"), and you've got the building blocks for a modern power pop classic that salutes classic power pop.

"Come Out And Play" may be the best one yet, and that's sayin' a fab bit. CUBICMANIA! As a li'l bonus point, Come Out And Play was also the title of an early '90s Rhino Records power pop compilation that included both the Paley Brothers' original "Come Out And Play" AND the Flashcubes' original "Christi Girl," presenting the Flashcubes' first-ever appearance on CD. It wasn't the last. And here's hopin' all of the 'Cubes' Big Stir singles get collected on their own CD eventually. Come out and PLAY!

THE CLICK BEETLES: With Tears

It's OUT! The Click Beetles' new album Emerald Green is available right this very minute, and you should oughtta get yourself a copy. We've been playing its leadoff track "Modern Girl," and we figured it was time to spread the TIRnRR love to another ace Emerald Green gem. Hey, howzabout a spin of "With Tears?" Yeah...SCORE!! That's how ya build a rockin' pop radio playlist. And we'll hear another track from Emerald Green on next week's show.

ELTON JOHN: Saturday Night's Alright (For Fightin')

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Ghost Singer

Whaddaya get when you combine Shirley Jones' character Marian from The Music Man with Bela Lugosi's title character in Dracula? LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS! Ha! HA! I slay me....

In less goofy terms, it's time for the rockin' pop world to celebrate the forthcoming release of Handclaps & Tambourines, the second album from Akron's phenomenal pop combo Librarians With Hickeys. "I Can't Stop Thinking About You" was already a TIRnRR Pick Hit as a single, and new single "Ghost Singer" continues the group's parade of eager, neck-barin' winners. It's the Dewey Decimal System with teeth. And guitars! 

THE DONNAS: Take Me To The Back Seat

Ah, the back seat: a hickey's happiest place on Earth! The Donnas tell the tale of the back seat as well as anyone could. This could have been a perfect track for the Pandoras. It's already perfect in the hands of the Donnas. 

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5!

PERILOUS: Rock & Roll Kiss

From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5!

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

ALSO The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE MYNAH BIRDS: It's My Time

Even though I know it's just a minor footnote in the sprawling history of the rock and the roll, I remain knocked out by the fact that a then-unknown Rick James was in a '60s group with the likewise then-unknown Neil Young. The Mynah Birds were on the verge of releasing their first Motown single in 1966 when James was arrested as a deserter from the Navy, and the group's story effectively ended there. 

Maybe the Mynah Birds wouldn't have eclipsed the real-world accomplishments of Rick James as a solo artist, nor Young's subsequent acclaim with Buffalo Springfield, alongside your Crosby, your Stills, and your Nash, and as a curmudgeonly individual cuss. But they coulda been something. The few Mynah Birds tracks that Motown has allowed to slip outta the vault have been fascinating. If there's still more we ain't heard yet, well...I wanna hear it! It's OUR time!

HOOVER AND MARTINEZ: What The Heart Wants

Like the Kid Gulliver and Perilous tracks heard earlier in the show, Hoover and Martinez's "What The Heart Wants" is included on our brand-new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. The CD is due out on October 6th, and available to order RIGHT NOW! I see no reason for subtlety or restraint in this matter: GO BUY OUR CD! Now. The Joy Of Radio doesn't pay for itself, man.

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

10 SONGS: 9/15/2022

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 # 1146.

KELLEY RYAN: The Church Of Laundry

Ahem. From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. Coming very soon!

MICHAEL SIMMONS: All By Myself

The music of Michael Simmons has been part et parcel (or party parcel) of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio for almost as long as there has been a This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. I think we started our Simmonsmania with sparkle*jets U.K., and subsequently programmed some of Michael's stellar work as a solo artist, and his work with Popdudes. I believe Michael was also a founding member of the original Teen Titans, a Howlin' Commando, the finest swordsman in all of France, and the quicker picker-upper. And a Beatles fan. He gets around, he does. And his music is just, well, his music. Ours, too.

And now Michael's back with more of his/our music, courtesy of Big Stir Records' release of the new Michael Simmons release Happy Traum EP. His? Ours? Doesn't matter. It's good. We're playin' it.

THE FOUR TOPS: Standing In The Shadows Of Love

The Four Tops are probably my # 1 favorite Motown group, thanks in large part to the unstoppable juggernaut that was lead singer Levi Stubbs. I started late, with "Are You Man Enough" on AM Top 40 in 1973, but by the end of the '70s I'd discovered and embraced the motherlode of the Four Tops' '60s hits. "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." "It's The Same Old Song." "Reach Out I'll Be There." "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." 

So, by the time I was a college senior in 1979, I had no friggin' patience for the stupid idea of Rod Stewart covering "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." And covering it badly.

This particular crime against music actually came out in 1978, on the Rodster's mega-belchin' hit album Blondes Have More Fun. Yeah, the same record that infected radio with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Even when I was in my late teens, and nowhere near as enlightened as I wish I coulda been, the album as a whole struck me as tawdry and sexist. Inserting [ugh] the line Didn't I screw you right now baby, didn't I? into the Four Tops' classic "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" is a minor example of the album's overall yechh. 

(People may think I object to "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" because I hated disco, and I'll cop to that, at least at the time of the offense. But I came to terms with disco, and I even came to like some disco; that evolution of opinion does not apply to Blondes Have More Fun.

And nor is this just a diatribe against Rod Stewart. Stewart did some stuff I like [especially with Faces], and Stewart did a whole lot of stuff I detest. It's worth noting that, as much as people mistakenly think my cherished '70s punk was a reaction against disco, it was really a reaction against bloated dinosaur rock. Gimme the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, and throw in some Trammps and Donna Summer. You can keep Blondes Have More Fun.)

I bring all of this up again now because that memory of Stewart's mishandling of the song lingers; its oily specter haunts even fresh spins of the real version, the Four Tops' version. 

But only for a moment. Levi Stubbs, man. That juggernaut will send smarmy pretenders back to the shadows.

CIRCE LINK: Yellow Dress

Oh God, this is such a gorgeous track. Circe Link is a force of pop nature, and her superfab track "I'm On Your Side" (recorded with partner Christian Nesmith) was a highlight of This Is Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 4 and our #1 most-played track in 2017. We dig "I'm On Your Side" with unfettered glee.

The just-as-sublime "Yellow Dress" comes from Circe's 2017 album Enchanted Objects & Ordinary Things, and it also made our 2017 year-end countdown (tied with TIRnRR Vol. 4 track "Maybe Someday" by Maura and the Bright Lights at # 23). While working at home on another project last week, "Yellow Dress" popped up on shuffle play, and I heard it again for the first time in waaaay too long. Its sheer magnificence remains intact. Chew me up and spit me out, but don't have a lick of doubt that I can fly. Up, up and away, Circe and Christian. Up, up and away.

THE BANDWAGON: On The Day We Fall In Love

THE MONKEES: Sunny Girlfriend [acoustic remix of master vocal]

Underrated '60s and '70s soul group the Bandwagon--aka Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon and Johnny Johnson and HIS Bandwagon--are no strangers to this show, and we've played their cover of the Monkees' "The Day We Fall In Love" (which the Monkees listed without the "On") a time or several. I'm a huge fan of the Monkees, but I regard "The Day We Fall In Love" as one of the very worst tracks ever released under the Monkees brand name. The Bandwagon rescue the song, and they make it work.

"On The Day We Fall In Love" happened to be the second of three Monkees covers we played this week, immediately following the Flies' "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" and preceding a set that included Gary Owen's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere." It seemed imperative to play something by the actual Monkees, and we went as actual as actual gets: an acoustic remix of master vocal of Michael Nesmith's "Sunny Girlfriend," recorded in 1967 by the hey-hey-we're-a-real band Monkees and heard in this form on the deluxe Headquarters Sessions set. Come and hear 'em sing and play. This is my preferred take of "Sunny Girlfriend," and one of my 25 favorite Monkees tracks.

THE DONNAS: Dancing With Myself

Yep, another great cover by the Donnas makes its rockin' way back to the TIRnRR playlist. The Donnas are really, really good at pulling these things off--hell, we play their Billy Idol and Judas Priest covers way more often than we play the familiar hit versions--but it's been a while since we've played any of the Donnas' original tunes. We'll program something from the Donnas' own catalog o' gems on next week's show. 

NELSON RIDDLE: The Batman Theme

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

sparkle*jets U.K.: Sunshine

Hey, it's that Michael Simmons guy again. Michael's Popdudes pal (and my former Goldmine colleague) John M. Borack is the auteur at the helm of We All Shine On: Celebrating The Music Of 1970, an irresistible confection/collection that we've been programming with the restraint and subtlety of carpet bombing. I'm surprised it took us this long to get around to sparkle*jets U.K.'s contribution to We All Shine On, but let the sun shine at its due time: Simmons and company (including Mr. Borack hisself on drums) do an absolutely ace rendition of "Sunshine," the title tune from an underrated album by the Archies. I know that John Borack has great affection for the Archies' original, and I'm furthermore confident that John is pleased with this new sparkle*jets U.K. version. 

And John is justified on both counts.

POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart

Ahem. FROM THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO, VOLUME 5. Coming very soon!

Don't worry, citizen! THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO, VOLUME 5 is on its way!

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