10 SONGS: 3/27/2026

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 # 1329

THE ANDERSONS!: From The Get-Go

SPECTRAFLAME: I Always Wanted You To Stay

We play the hits. Our little mutant radio show first invaded the airwaves at the very end of 1998, a few months after power pop force of nature the Andersons! released their debut album Separated At Birth. From that album, an insanely infectious track called "From The Get-Go" was a huge, huge favorite during TIRnRR Year One, and it still occasionally makes its winning way to our playlists even now. Our old pal Robbie Rist was a proud member of the Andersons!; the first time Dana and I appeared as guests on The Spoon (Robbie's podcast with co-hosts Chris Jackson and Thom Bowers), Robbie figured that your Dana and your Carl had probably played the Andersons! on the radio, but he wasn't for-sure certain. "Robbie," I assured him, "We were playing the Andersons! from the get-go."

HA! I slay me.

Robbie's worked with tons of artists. One of his current collaborations is with Florida's phenomenal pop combo Spectraflame, whose recent single "I Always Wanted You To Stay" has already just about locked up a berth on our year-end countdown show. Central 'Flame Steve Burgess knows how to craft and execute a pop tune, and our Robbie knows how to help him deliver it. A hit record. It stays on the playlist for our next show.

ANY TROUBLE: Playing Bogart

THE HOLLIES: Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress

Listen: If you're gonna try your hand at playing Bogart, you're gonna wind up sitting in a nest of bad men, whiskey bottles piling high. Any Trouble's "Playing Bogart" into the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" may be the most impeccable segue in TIRnRR's long history of impeccable segues. Pop noir!

DEVIL LOVE: Tell Me You Love Me

Devil Love's wonderful current single "Tell Me You Love Me" has become a welcome earworm, playing inside my delighted li'l cranium with remarkable frequency. TIRnRR airplay has not yet mirrored my love for this track, though that's just a byproduct of programming logistics; for example, I planned to play "Tell Me You Love Me" again on our next show, but it was among several selections bumped aside when the passing of Chip Taylor prompted me to wedge in five songs from the Chip Taylor songbook. Devil Love's fantastic single will be back. I tell you: I love it.

(Incidentally: The Chip Taylor tribute will include two obvious hits, one [in some circles] lesser-known album track, and two covers, one of which I mistakenly refer to on-air as the original version. Oops.)

THE SMITHEREENS: House We Used To Live In

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SHIRTS: Starts With A Handshake

In 2025, the visionary Think Like A Key Music label released Live Featuring Annie Golden, a previously-unissued 1981 live-in-the-studio exhibition by CBGB vet'rans the Shirts. It's invigmoratin', like getting a brand-new classic Shirts record, and its track "Tears Comin' Down" made our year-end countdown show of TIRnRR's most-played tracks in 2025.

Now, Think Like A Key once again emerges from the archives with more new old Shirts. Live At Paradise 1979 preserves a Boston gig broadcast on WBCN, and it friggin' kicks, man. The album includes bravura performances of long-time TIRnRR Shirts favorites like "Tell Me Your Plans" and "Reduced To A Whisper," plus a lotta fab shots we ain't played yet. If there are still more vintage Shirts hangin' in the closet, here's hoping Think Like A Key Music can dig them out as well. And if the label could clear rights to reissue the group's two long-outta-print Capitol Records long-players (and the rest of the group's albums to boot), well, those Shirts would provide the best fit ever.

THE HALF/CUBES: Something's Gonna Happen

We have--of course!--been playing selections from the Half/Cubes' superb current album Found Pearls, as any decent rockin' pop radio outlet should. BUT! We now have a brand-new non-album Half/Cubes single, with Special Guest Bat Villain Glen Burtnik of the Weeklings taking on lead vocals for a cover of the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me." That will open our next show this Sunday night.

SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind

From a previous 10 Songs:

"Our little mutant radio show has a long and rewarding history with the mighty Kool Kat Muzik label. Even before Ray Gianchetti (Mr. Kool Kat hisself) made his superfine rockin' pop imprint the home of our TIRnRR compilation albums, we've been programming Kool Kat cuts since the dawn of ever. Every new Kool Kat release is automatically under consideration for TIRnRR airplay, and almost all of them result in at least one track getting a spin on one (or more!) of our playlists. We're FANS!

"And right now, I'm a big fan of Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind, the new Kool Kat Musik release by Sergio Ceccanti. The title track is just perfect--perfect!--for the radio-ready vibe we crave, channeling a '60s garage-pop atmosphere in service of a steely-eyed determination to seek a sure-footed next step forward...."

Like Devil Love's "Tell Me You Love Me," Mr. Ceccanti's "Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind" hasn't yet received the TIRnRR exposure it deserves. But it will spin again this Sunday, and on some future Sundays thereafter. Leave the past. We'll barrel ahead from here.

THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely

Awright, this one we HAVE been playing, and we're not stopping now. So lovely. So right. From their current album Confess, the Cynz supply the love we all need.

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: 2/18/2026

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 # 1324

MIKE BROWNING FEATURING ELENA ROGERS: Over And Under And All Around

THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO TEAM-UP! Like the first time Marvel Comics bowslinger Hawkeye joined forces with Marvel Comics bowslinger other Hawkeye, TIRnRR Fave Raves Mike Browning and Elena Rogers pool their mighty talents for the amazing, fantastic, and incredible new single "Over And Under And All Around." I can do this all day, and I can play this all day. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

DAVID RUFFIN: I've Got A Need For You

From a previous 10 Songs: 

"I continue to be mystified about why Motown Records didn't release David Ruffin's proposed album David in the early '70s. It's such a fantastic record, and I wish we'd been able to experience it fifty years ago...

"...Sublime stuff. It borders on heresy, but I may even prefer the tracks on David to Ruffin's classic work with the Temptations."

From the originally-unreleased David, Ruffin's exquisite take on the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" earned a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and we've programmed a number of the album's other tracks at various times here on TIRnRR. Stellar, stellar album. I can't fathom what Motown execs were thinking when they shelved it. 

MICHAEL SIMMONS: America

America feels like a dream to me now.

As duly ranted here, I'm in absolute thrall to Fun Where You Can Find It, the recent all-covers album by Michael Simmons. Among its garden of earthly sweets 'n' treats, my go-to selection has become Michael's lovely and moving version of Simon and Garfunkel's "America." Much of this interest is driven by the need for comfort in the midst of the country's spiraling miasma. The song provides some of that comfort, at least to the extent that a record can provide comfort. 

GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Most music-lovers likely consider Marvin Gaye's performance of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" definitive, and I would agree. If I understand the story right, Gaye recorded the song before Gladys Knight and the Pips did, but Gladys's "Grapevine" reached retail well before Marvin's, and it became a hit. Years ago, and for many years thereafter, I dismissed the Pips' take as too...show biz? Vegas, even? That was nonsense--nonsense!!--and I disavow my former POV as the hopelessly chuckleheaded take it was. Stupid young punk! 

WORMSTEW: Spinning

SUPERgroup! SoCal pop combo Wormstew has been around for ages honestly, originally as a solo DIY recording project for songwriter Mike Schnee. Now a trio, with the right honorable Mr. Schnee joining forces with longtime TIRnRR stalwarts Teresa Cowles and the above-mentioned Michael Simmons, Wormstew's new digital single "Spinning" heralds the release of their forthcoming album Last Days Of Loma. We're spinning! It's what good DJs do.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HALF/CUBES: Whenever You're On My Mind

As we continue to bliss out with the pristine perfection of the Half/Cubes' current album Found Pearls, a long-player filled t'burstin' with nonpareil covers of underappreciated  pop pearls, my mind wanders to prolonged consideration of what other worthy source material our Half/Cubes could unearth for a hypothetical third album. It's...a long list, and I'm still adding to it as an idle exercise in delighted daydreaming. In the here and now, we're enthusiastically digging the latest single from Found Pearls, a go'geous cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "Whenever You're On My Mind," which the Half/Cubes accomplish with able assistance from Tom Teeley and Robert Crenshaw. Whenever pop music's on my mind, the Half/Cubes are THERE!

PARTHENON HUXLEY: Double Our Numbers

ALSO The Greatest Record Ever Made! We played Ballzy Tomorrow's ace cover of "Double Our Numbers" on last week's epic tribute to Parthenon Huxley. We program the original version this week. Once again: Godspeed, Parthenon.

TELEVISION: Elevation

Yet another hero passes, as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio remembers Television bassist Fred Smith. Television's 1977 debut album Marquee Moon is rightly recognized as classic, and I've always been particularly drawn to its Side Two opener "Elevation." From its chapter in my GREM! book:

"Vertigo.

"For the disaffected and dissatisfied in 1977, no track expressed the feeling of rock music in dizzying free fall with greater menace and implied ennui as 'Elevation' by Television...

"...From Television's debut album Marquee Moon, the track 'Elevation' just fascinated me when I was 17. Fall of 1977, freshman in college, trying to finally hear all these punk or new wave or whaddayacallit bands I'd read so much about in the pages of Phonograph Record Magazine. I asked the campus radio station for help, and was rewarded with the sounds of the Ramones, Blondie, the Dictators, the Adverts, the Jam, Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band, the Runaways, and oh yeah!, Television. I could never get enough of this jagged, loping, serpentine noise, so mesmerizing, so different, so gratifyingly dizzying in its willful application of elevation going to my head. And staying there. Marquee Moon was among my earliest LP purchases in this broad category of NEW MUSIC circa '77 and '78. It would not be the last...."

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

The only thing more powerful than hate is love. And yes, Slyboots' "If We Could Let Go" is indeed another sterling example of The Greatest Record Ever Made! My favorite individual track of 2024 and one of my favorite tracks of the decade, we'll hear this wonderous gem again on our next show. 

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: 1/31/2026

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 # 1321

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me

I've been corresponding with Keith Klingensmith of the Legal Matters since well before This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio went on the air in December of 1998. Let's go back to my supplemental liner notes for 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 for an edited recap:

"...Keith's name comes up a lot in the discussion of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Keith is one of TIRnRR's best friends; as a fan, as a listener, as a supporter, as a facilitator (Keith's on-line label Futureman Records curates the digital release of our TIRnRR compilations), and as a performer, Keith has been one of us from the get-go...

"...My first contact with Keith was in the '90s, via some online pop music connection--probably AOL, I guess. At the time, I was among several pop fans who participated in a weekly Monday night power pop chat group. I don't remember whether or not I specifically met Keith through that chat; I suspect it was more a matter (if not quite a Legal Matter) of Keith noticing a comment I made somewhere, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find the Spongetones' Where-Ever-Land CD. Keith to the rescue! Some time later, Keith also provided me with a copy of Here To Observe, the truly hard-to-find debut LP by Springfield, Missouri's phenomenal pop combo Fools Face (Keith wisely kept a copy of the group's incredible third album Public Places for himself), and I'm pretty sure my copy of Artful Dodger's classic debut album came from our Keef...

"...Through Keith, I also met his partner in the Phenomenal Cats, Chris Richards. There's a wealth of cool music for ya. I mean, the Phenomenal Cats' cover of the Left Banke's 'I've Got Something On My Mind' made me appreciate a simply sublime pop song I'd somehow managed to mostly ignore up to that point. The combined and separate threads of Chris 'n' Keith wove through solo tracks by each, plus Hippodrome, the Pantookas, Chris Richards and the Subtractions, Keith Klingensmith and the TM Collective, and the Legal Matters, the latter a trio with Keith, Chris, and Andy Reed. The Legal Matters' eponymous debut was one of 2014's best albums, and follow-ups Conrad and Chapter Three rightly became the toast of the pop world...

"...Keith Klingensmith is an integral part of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's story. Our online comradeship predates the show, and has continued unabated throughout the passing three decades. He's been one of our biggest supporters, helping to spread the good word of TIRnRR, sending fans and artists alike our way, contributing to our quixotic cause, and keeping previous TIRnRR compilations available as downloads via Futureman Records...."

So! Back in the present day: A forthcoming new Legal Matters album, Lost At Sea? Yes, of course we're playing it. To paraphrase Lenny Haise, guitarist for teen sensations the Wonders: We're playin' it, you're playin' it, we're ALL playin' it. And we move on to the album's latest single "The Message" on our next show. After all these years, Keith and his pals are stuck with us. It's a legal matter.

STYX: Everybody Raise A Glass

As an exercise in blogging, I often slap together fake TIRnRR playlists, imagining song selections for themed shows we're probably never going to do, but could. I'm considering the idea of constructing a pretend playlist comprised of sets by acts I didn't appreciate immediately, and in some cases still don't really like.

One such act would be Styx. My God, when I was in my teens and twenties, I absolutely loathed Styx, and time hasn't really mellowed my antipathy for the Styx stuff I hated the most. Mind you, even at the time of my determined loathing--unadulterated loathing--I made an exception for the pop bliss of "Lorelei," which I often cited as proof of my belief that even an artist whose work you generally despise might be capable of creating one track you love. And I kinda liked "Too Much Time On My Hands," as well. Overall, though, my distaste for Styx was greater than my disdain for the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Southern Rock, prog, or disco, and possibly greater than all of those undesirables combined. The upshot of our story: I was not and am not a Styx fan.

That said, the phenomenal latter-day Styx track "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" is an all-time TIRnRR Fave Rave, and there are a handful of vintage Styx tracks that I don't mind. I don't think the day will come when I have any use whatsoever for "Babe" or "Renegade" or goddamned "Mr. Roboto," but I concede that the Styx brand name doesn't necessarily have to prompt an immediate revulsion.

Yeah, y'know...not necessarily.

"Everybody Raise A Glass" is from the 2025 Styx album Circling From Above, and I heard it a couple of weeks ago on another can't-miss episode of The Spoon podcast (specifically on this episode). The men of The Spoon--Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers--are Styx fans, but I love 'em anyway. And the track's winning and accomplished channeling of all things Queen makes it an irresistible addition to our own show's playlist. 

Even with the bands we don't like as much as some of our friends do, an open mind can unlock the doors of discovery. Raise a glass! Here's to the Men of The Spoon, and also to our old correspondent Kathryn Francis, wherever she is. Thank you, friends. Domo arigato. It's Styx, babe.

TALKING HEADS: Burning Down The House

Believe it or not, if I were to compile the above-mentioned playlist of acts that didn't appeal to me on first exposure, Talking Heads would be a contender. I revised my initially dismissive opinion of the group in relatively short order, and I remain grateful that I was able to witness a great Talking Heads live performance in the '80s. But in 1977, the first Talking Heads song I heard was their single of "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town," and I hated it. I trashed it in an emeritus contribution to my high school newspaper (a piece carrying the sorta-familiar title "Groovin' [Like The Hip Folks Do]"); in retrospect, I realize I didn't like "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" because it didn't sound at all punk, which was what I expected and craved. I liked "Psycho Killer" better, and became a fan thereafter. I don't even mind "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" any more.

See? I can mature! Just...not usually.

THE HALF/CUBES: Whenever You're On My Mind

For the latest single from the Half/Cubes' fine current album Found Pearls, the lads enlist the aid of Robert Crenshaw and Tom Teeley to accomplish an exquisite rendition of Marshall Crenshaw's already-sublime "Whenever You're On My Mind." This little mutant radio show first played it as a then-unreleased teaser track last February, and I'm starting to believe the Half/Cubes' take edges out both our Marshall and the great Ronnie Spector as the definitive "Whenever You're On My Mind." They're all winners in my mind.

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

And they say ya can't learn stuff listening to the radio.

SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More

Spectraflame's "Love Don't Live Here No More" makes its fourth consecutive appearance on the TIRnRR playlist. As it oughta! The single is now part of the group's new eponymous five-song digital EP, and it will rack up TIRnRR Spin # 5 this coming Sunday.

As it oughta. Love still has a home right here.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

From a previously-posted celebration of my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

The 1-2-3-4! rules of our ABC format dictate that a list of my favorite Ramones tracks starts with its quirkiest selection. "All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" appeared on the Ramones' 1981 LP Pleasant Dreams, an album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Pleasant Dreams was produced by Graham Gouldman, who achieved great success in the '60s as a songwriter for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, and subsequently as a performer with 10cc. And, as Johnny Ramone said in our interview, "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones."

On Pleasant Dreams, Gouldman's production made the Ramones sound...I dunno, smoother than expected? Phil Spector had done something similar with 1980's End Of The Century, another album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. In Spector's hands, the bubblepunk purity of the Ramones got lost in his Wall of Sound; Gouldman turned the Ramones into a new wave pop band. Neither End Of The Century nor Pleasant Dreams is at the same transcendent level as the classic fist four Ramones albums that preceded them.

Ignoring the anomaly of this album's place in the larger Carbona-huffin' picture, though, I need to risk contradicting myself: Pleasant Dreams is a fantastic record. Fantastic. I know Marky Ramone liked it, and we've established that Johnny hated it, but the fact that it wasn't Rocket To Russia doesn't prevent it from being compelling in its own right.

Pleasant Dreams is loaded with great Ramones songs, from "We Want The Airwaves" to "It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World)" to "She's A Sensation" to the superb album closer "Sitting In My Room." "The KKK Took My Baby Away" is the best-known of the bunch. Would the tracks sound better if Ed Stasium or Tommy Ramone had produced them? Possibly. They sound pretty good as-is.

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was my immediate pick when I bought the album in '81, and it has remained so. It's the sprightliest song ever done about a serial killer, stalking the street 'til the break of day, a track delivered with decidedly un-Ramoneslike percussion, and with backing vocals from Dee Dee Ramone asking that musical question, Can't you think my movements talk? Hey, you unsuspecting soon-to-be victims: Pleasant dreams!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

From the High Frequencies' current album Get High, "Cleanup Time" has become one of my top go-to tracks of late. Invigmoratin'! And it plays here again on Sunday, within an added political context. In this country, it is long, long past cleanup time.

SORROWS: Cricket Man

Epic. Power pop greats Sorrows recorded their originally-unreleased farewell album Parting Such Sweet Sorrow in one single night's session in 1981. Decades later, this eminently satisfying record was rescued from the archives and at long last issued by the visionary Big Stir Records label in 2025. It was one of the best albums of the year.

"Never Mind" became our show's pick hit from the record--it was our # 15 most-played track in 2025--but the mic-drop moment is "Cricket Man," Sorrows' immense and heartfelt tribute to the recently-slain John Lennon. It takes TIRnRR a while to find sufficient airspace to accommodate a five-and-a-half-minute track in our short-attention-span format, no matter how utterly wonderful the track is. "Cricket Man" was worth waiting for. Nothing is Sorrow-proof, and "Cricket Man" provides a stunning salute to one of the prime architects of the music we love, and a stirring farewell from a great band deeply affected by the pop world the Beatles helped build.

Fab. Sweet. Unforgettable.

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: 12/13/2025

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 # 1314

MICHAEL SIMMONS: Switchboard Susan

The rant accompanying this week's posted playlist waxed rhapsodically anna half about Fun Where You Can Find It, the splendid new covers album by rockin' pop whirlwind Michael Simmons. To wit:

"...On Fun Where You Can Find It, the original source material saluted by Simmons is varied and delightful, as our Michael meets 'n' greets the diverse likes of the Grass Roots, the Beach Boys, Squeeze. Steely Dan, World Party, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Lowe, Fountains of Wayne, Genesis, Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey, and Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, looks 'em each in the eye without flinching, smiles, and buys 'em all the drinks of their choice. Whether we're imbibing bourbon or Yoo-hoo, we're havin' a party.

"And here's the party's soundtrack: A Top Ten plus one, going up to eleven with taste, accomplishment, and an overriding belief that the song's the thing, the music matters, and love of music can help turn doldrums into gold. Like Midas. Like Brian Wilson. Like this. True treasure. Anyone who loves pop music should treasure Michael Simmons. 

"We sure do...."

We opened this week's irresistible extravaganza with Michael's ace take on "Switchboard Susan," a Mickey Jupp tune made essential by Nick Lowe. The Searchers also cut of very nice version, and Michael does not disappoint in his own effort to bring a smile to your dial. We'll hear Michael's take on a Steely Dan in our next show.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Accept no substitutes: The Flashcubes' "Reminisce" is my favorite new track of 2025. And (with apologies to the Velvelettes), that is really sayin' somethin'. Amidst this year's considerable real-world faults, we have seen a veritable treasure trove of utterly fantastic new music. There has been music to inspire us, music to comfort us, music to challenge us, music to nurture us, music to cheer us, music to marshal the power of righteous anger, music to transcend, music to look ahead...

...and music to reminisce.

I'm biased--proudly so--but I do believe that a project I curated--the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes--can stand among the year's best. Each of the album's 24 tracks is compelling in its own right, and damned near nonpareil in context, gathering 21 great acts executing great covers of great songs written by members of the Flashcubes, and we set the ol' needle firmly into ragin', ravin' red by inviting the Flashcubes to contribute three new original recordings as well. 

The Flashcubes rise to the occasion of enhancing their own tribute album, and all three of the new 'Cubes classics--"Reminisce," "In These Hands," and "The Sweet Spot"--are bright-lights brilliant, all worthy contenders for anyone's Tops of '25 list. 

"Reminisce" was Make Something Happen!'s first advance single. It's the album's lead-off track. Rumor suggests it may soon be getting another renewed push as a single. And each and every spin of "Reminisce" compels me to raise my friggin' fist in accord and sheer exultation. The buzz is eternal, self-renewing, and endlessly invigorating. The path forward is built from the experiences that brought us this far. The mantra supplied by the Ramones and reaffirmed by the Flashcubes remains steadfast and true:

Hey-ho. Let's go.

SWEET: The Ballroom Blitz

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

PERILOUS: Glass Of Something

The mighty Perilous have a new EP called SOS, which collects all of their previous 2025 digital singles plus a remix of their remake of "Band Aid," a song originally done by drummer Paul Doherty's former group the Trend. Perilous have been TIRnRR Fave Raves from the get-go, they allowed us to use their incredible "Rock 'n' Roll Kiss" on our 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, AND they played at the release party for my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. Say it with me: WE'RE FANS!! And that's worth a toast with a glass of something. We'll have a brand-new Perilous holiday track on our next program.

GAME THEORY: Linus And Lucy

Sure, it's Game Theory covering a much-loved perennial first heard 60 years on the inaugural broadcast of the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. But it's NOT a Christmas tune! Not really! It's too soon for Christmas music! It's not time yet! It's...we...but...

...damn.

THE JAC: Summer Forever

THE HALF/CUBES: Feels Like Summer

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach

Willful denial. Technically, we're not even up to winter yet, but who are we kidding? This is Syracuse! OF COURSE it's been snowing! I say thee Duh! The release of the superswell new single "Summer Forever" by the JAC provided sufficient excuse for me to slip a frolicsome foursome of fun-in-the-sun frivolity into this week's closing set (mingling with abandon alongside Dana's spins of Amy Rigby, XTC, the Pretenders, and Her Majesty's Ramones the Beatles).

I was not at all familiar with Tim Wheeler's "Feels Like Summer"--I'm listening to it for the very first time as I write this--but I was immediately in favor of programming  the Half/Cubes' exuberant cover, as heard on their current album Found Pearls. Wheeler's original is likewise pretty cool (even in summer), and it feels like ya can't go wrong either way.

I have previously written that Sly and the Family Stone's "Hot Fun In The Summertime" is "as inviting and idyllic as any June-July-August embrace ever committed to wax, a comforting groove that shines in the daytime and sways with the shadows of twilight." I later added, "If memory serves, a poll of Trouser Press magazine readers in the early '80s named 'Hot Fun In The Summertime' as the # 1 choice for the title of all-time top summer song. Surpassing the Beach Boys in that category would seem a daunting task. But if anyone could do it, it would have to be Sly."

And the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" speaks for itself. Even though the Beatles will always be my all-time favorite group, the Ramones inspire a specific resonance and reverence within me. No other band's music can match the Ramones' ability to improve my moods at their darkest moments. Church of Ramones. Testify, brudders. The summer promised in "Rockaway Beach" currently is far and hard to reach...but we'll hitch a ride and get there when we get there.

THE SPONGETONES: Carol Of The Guitars

And so the calendar grows thin. The Spongetones herald (as in "Hark...!") the tentative beginning of TIRnRR's short Christmas season. We rarely play Yuletunes before mid-December, but we've gotta admit it's about that time. We'll dip a stocking into that pool on our next show, with new seasonal sides from Perilous, Jamie Hoover, and the Krayolas, plus two Christmas Stax classics in memory of our Featured Performer Steve Cropper. We'll follow up the following week, December 21st, with The 27th Annual THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Christmas Show.

Eggnog all around!! I'll join you as soon as I've cleared my driveway.

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.