10 SONGS: 11/29/2025

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 # 1312

THE RAMONES: Punishment Fits The Crime

Each week, when getting ready to plan the show's playlist with Dana, I keep a list of potential track choices to consider. The list includes new stuff, recent faves, old faves, old tracks we've never played before, and assorted items of varying vintage and familiarity that might fit into the presumed master plan of whatever it is we do on TIRnRR. The list carries through from week to week, its contents adjusted as we go.

The Ramones' "Punishment Fits The Crime" has been on that list for many weeks. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone and Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts, sung by Dee Dee, and included on the group's 1989 album Brain Drain (the last Ramones studio album to include Dee Dee as anything other than just songwriter). Frankly, Brain Drain is a contender for my least favorite Ramones album, but it does give us the fantastic "I Believe In Miracles," plus "Pet Sematary" and "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)," proving that even the merest Ramones album is still A RAMONES ALBUM!! Anyway, "Punishment Fits The Crime" fits in the category of "old tracks we've never played before," and that status is what placed it in my week-to-week list of playlist possibilities.

Prior to this week's programming session, I realized it had been a little while since we'd opened a show with the Ramones. I considered programming one of my many, many Ramones Picks T' Click in that leadoff spot, but opted to finally give "Punishment Fits The Crime" its long-overdue TIRnRR debut.

Throughout the process, it didn't even occur to me that the song's title could apply to...you know who. Let's hope we find a legal punishment to fit that guy in the very near future. As another punk band said: All crimes are paid.

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Everybody Knows

The minute I found out that the Legal Matters were doing a new album for Big Stir Records, I immediately petitioned the band and label for permission and access to play the then-forthcoming advance single. The album, Lost At Sea, is due in 2026, and the single "Everybody Knows" was released to radio just after this week's show was recorded. But we got it! Everybody knows we would be playing it; we knew we could not wait another week to do so. And everybody should know now: We're playing it again this Sunday. 

SHOES: Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

We don't get many opportunities to program new music by power pop legends Shoes, and we've never before had an opportunity to play Shows covering power pop's Ur group Raspberries. Opportunity SEIZED! Shoes' rendition of the Raspberries hit "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" comes to us from the superb various-artists 'Berries salute Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, a tribute curated by our friend Ken Sharp. Want a hit record? Look no further.

(Raspberries' original version of "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" ands Shoes' own incredible 1978 single "Tomorrow Night" are among the 145 tracks--one 45 at a time!--I discuss in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]. SPOILER ALERT: I like both of those records a lot. You can read all about them and their 143 GREM! brethren and sistren by ordering your own copy of the book. I'm Carl Cafarelli, and I approve this message.  The Greatest Record Ever Made [Volume 2] is [very] tentatively planned for 2027.)

THE BUSBOYS: The Boys Are Back In Town

When Robbie Rist saw in this week's show hype that we were playing the BusBoys, he immediately wanted to know if we were playing new music by this great group. Alas, although we did program the BusBoys' then-recent single "In My Heart" back in 2024 (and likewise with "Love On My Mind" in 2022), we weren't even aware that there was new BusBoys music available. Honestly, I'd fire the TIRnRR research department, but that department is, y'know, me, and I've got tenure.

Robbie's (presumably) figurative headslap to our collective noggin prompted a fresh search for new BusBoys tuneage, resulting in a purchase of the 2025 digital-only album In My Heart. Target acquired! The album includes both of the 2020s singles mentioned above, and we'll debut another track from In My Heart on Sunday. Thanks for the nudzh, Robbie! Meanwhile, here's another spin of the BusBoys' best-known track "The Boys Are Back In Town," as heard when the BusBoys appeared in the 1982 Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte flick 48 Hours. 'Cuz when the boys are back, there ain't no foolin' around.

THE MONKEES: Papa Gene's Blues

PLAY, magic fingers!

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

KEN SHARP: I'm A Rocker

One more from Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, "I'm A Rocker" as performed by the set's auteur Ken Sharp. I owned the original Raspberries 45 of "I'm A Rocker" when I was a teen in the '70s, and I was puzzled that it wasn't on the Raspberries' Best Featuring Eric Carmen compilation LP. Our Ken knows Raspberries' best better'n anybody, and he honors that legacy here.

DIRTY LOOKS: Let Go

Staten Island's phenomenal pop combo Dirty Looks with their signature tune. From a previous 10 Songs:

Statement of intent. This Staten Island trio's eponymous debut LP was released on the Stiff America label in 1980, and "Let Go" was an immediate fave rave on 97 Power Rock, a Sunday night alternative-rock showcase aired on Buffalo's 97 Rock FM. Hmmm. A Sunday night rock 'n' roll radio show? I may have made note of that particular notion for possible future use. 

"Let Go" is a perfect post-punk radio pop song, fueled by new wave rock energy, rooted in catchy 1960s radio fare, and dead certain that the Ramones, the Who, Joe Jackson, and Paul Revere and the Raiders are Heaven-sent inspirations.

It's not easy to write a song about rock 'n' roll. It's not. Too many attempts at rock anthems feel forced, or overly earnest, pompous, clueless, heavy-handed, and...blechh. With "Let Go," Dirty Looks pull it off with style, and they make it seem like a cinch. Don't you know that rock 'n' roll is still the best drug? The drumming is hyperactive, the bass pushy (in a good way), the guitar simple and authoritative, the vocals and harmonies steadfast, reflecting the confidence of a group secure in the knowledge that it has God on its side. All you gotta do, let go, let go, let GO! GO! GO! GO! Belief is infectious. And godDAMN, this sounds so exhilarating on the radio. 

It always has.

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: Clowntime Is Over

Is clowntime over? All respect to Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but clowntime ain't really over until we heed the words of the Ramones:

Let the punishment fit the crime.

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

And if there is any justice, clowntime will give way to cleanup time. "Cleanup Time" is my favorite track on the High Frequencies' super groovy new album Get High, and like our opening track by the Ramones, the title's topically apt nature didn't strike me until after the fact. Nonetheless: CLEANUP ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE! Mops at the ready. Let's go.

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: 10/29/2025

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 # 1308

KISS: Talk To Me

Of the four founding members of KISS, late guitarist Ace Frehley would seem the least pop of the bunch. Guitarist Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons were big fans of the Beatles, and also fans of power pop stalwarts the Raspberries, and those interests are evident within the flash and thunder of some of KISS's work. Drummer Peter Criss crooned the hit KISS ballad "Beth" and the Rod Stewart homage "Hard Luck Woman." Ace's style was emphatically that of a Big Rock guitarist, and maybe hooks and 45 rpm aspirations might not be the first things one would look for within the Space Ace's ouvre.

But the pop element is there, at least sometimes, and not just in his pop guitar power embellishing Simmons and Stanley on "Strutter," "Shout It Out Loud," "Rock And Roll All Nite," et al. It's certainly in evidence on the effervescent "Talk To Me," a Frehley-written and Frehley-sung track from KISS's 1980 album Unmasked. 

ACE FREHLEY: Hide Your Heart

When we decided to play several tracks in memory of Ace Frehley, this track from his 1989 album Trouble Walkin' was one of the first possibilities that came to mind. Frehley was looooong outta KISS by '89, but the song was written by his former bandmate Paul Stanley (with Desmond Child and Holly Knight), and the Ace-free KISS included it on their album Hot In The Shade, also in '89. It's said that Stanley and Simmons adamantly did not want Frehley to record and release a competing version of "Hide Your Heart"--hey, dueling KISSes!--and if that's true, Frehley was equally adamant that he was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to do. I like the KISS version just fine, and I saw Gene and Paul perform it in concert (in the Hot In The Shade KISS line-up with drummer Eric Carr and guitarist Bruce Kulick), but I do like Ace's version even more.

KISS: Rock And Roll All Nite [live]

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

BALLZY TOMORROW: Five Personalities

My big project this year was Big Stir Records' various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. As I began the process of recruiting acts and matching them with appropriate songs written by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, I was immediately certain that I wanted rockin' pop wunderkind (und wonderboy) Robbie Rist specifically to sing one of my many favorite 'Cubes songs, "Five Personalities." Under his nom de bop Ballzy Tomorrow, our Robbie rose to that task. The members of the Flashcubes now prefer his version over their own!

Robbie's also a KISS fan, so it was a deliberate choice to include his "Five Personalities" in the same set as our Greatest Record Ever Made! spin of the live "Rock And Roll All Nite." You wanted the best. You GOT the best! And as Robbie's podcast The Spoon approaches its 600th episode, the GREM! spot in our next show will be a li'l something by another '70s rock act Robbie's mentioned on The Spoon a time or several. All right, all right, all right, all right....

KEN SHARP: Rock Show

Our long-time pal Ken Sharp is a writer and musician, the driving force behind Think Like A Key Music's superb new compilation Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, and quite possibly the biggest KISS fan I know. For his 2018 album Beauty In The Backseat, Ken enlisted none other than Ace Frehley hisself as guest guitarist on opening track "Rock Show." Impressive! And I tell ya, it was a match made in Cobo Hall. We know some people who know some people, man. Well done, Ken!

ACE FREHLEY: New York Groove

In 1978, the business of KISS was sufficiently huge to hatch an audacious plan for a simultaneous release of a quartet of solo albums. It probably wasn't a good idea at all, but it sure seemed impressive, right? I can't remember anything at all about the Peter Criss album (beyond thinking that I would never remember anything about it, and thinking that even when I was listening to it). Paul Stanley included the absolutely dynamic, Raspberries-influenced "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me," and Gene Simmons gave us a simply wonderful gem called "See You Tonite," which would have been worthy of Big Star. Gene also had a minor hit (# 47) with a song called "Radioactive."

But of the four, only Ace Frehley produced a genuine hit single, a cover of the British group Hello's 1975 UK hit "New York Groove." Ace's version said hello to the # 13 spot on Billboard's Hot 100, making it the fifth highest-charting single in the KISS canon (behind "Beth" [# 7], "Forever" [# 8 in 1989], "I Was Made For Loving You" [# 11], and the live "Rock And Roll All Nite" [# 12]). Guess whoever called him "Ace" was onto something.

sparkle*jets u.k.: Eyeball Eater (From Outer Space)

DOLPH CHANEY FEATURING THE SPEED OF SOUND: Zombie Century

We've been serving up tricky treats from Big Stir Records' epic Halloween compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies for as long as Rutles guitarist Stig O'Hara has been dead--for ages, honestly--and there's for damned sure no need to stop as All Hallows Eve approaches. This week's show included two more debut spins from this horrific-in-a-GOOD-way set, with sparkle*jets u.k.'s righteously boppin' novelty tune "Eyeball Eater (From Outer Space)" and Dolph Chaney Featuring The Speed Of Sound's atmospheric "Zombie Century." And even as we chill, thrill, and haunt our way past October 31st, we'll have another track from Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies on our next show.

BARON DAEMON AND THE VAMPIRES: The Transylvania Twist

Syracuse's gift to Halloween, and to all seasons, courtesy of the best vampire ever. And like "Rock And Roll All Nite," it's also The Greatest Record Ever Made! Happy Halloween from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.

KISS: Shout It Out Loud [live]

And it wouldn't be Halloween without KISS. Godspeed, Ace

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: 10/25/2025

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 # 1307

THE HALF/CUBES: Hard To Get

Ever since we first heard the entirety of the Half/Cubes' then-unreleased new album Found Pearls this summer, we've been jonesin' for an opportunity to share it with listeners. We started programming its advance single "I'll Be Taking Her Out Tonight" (with Peter Noone hisself helping the Half/Cubes remake this fab tune Noone first did with the Tremblers) as soon as it was cleared for airplay, and the release of the album prompts us to proclaim the Half/Cubes as this week's Featured Performers. No half measures for us!

We gathered tracks from both of the Half/Cubes' albums (Found Pearls and debut long-player Pop Treasures), added a few single releases, and a full-on Half/Cubes feature was achieved. We even threw in their unreleased cover of the Guess Who's "Hand Me Down World" as a bonus track at show's end. 

Our first Half/Cubes track this week was the Found Pearls gem "Hard To Get," a sublime cover of Starclub's epic 'n' atmospheric  MTV classic. I have worshiped this song for decades, and it is so fulfilling to hear the Half/Cubes deliver the oomph the track requires.

THE COWSILLS: The Next In Line

The general record-buying public has no freakin' clue about the sheer wonder of the Cowsills. Some folks remember the group's big 1960s hits, "The Rain, The Park & Other Things," "Indian Lake," and "Hair," some may recall their non-hit but definitive cover of the theme from TV's Love American Style, and some will think of the Cowsills' real-life status as the inspiration for the fictional Partridge Family. A few will be aware of the heartbreak revealed in the sobering documentary Family Band: The Cowsills Story.

But all of the above merely scratches the surface of how much greatness can be found in the Cowsills' catalog. I'm not kidding when I say the Cowsills' 1998 record Global is my favorite album of the '90s. All phases of the Cowsills' long recording career have produced many, many moments of absolute pop magic, from the boppin' garage-folk splendor of 1965 debut single "All I Really Want To Be Is Me" through their 2022 album Rhythm Of The World. 

The visionary Omnivore Recordings label's recent release of the 1978 Cowsills sessions known as The "Cocaine Drain" Album offers another clear glimpse of the durable through-line of the Cowsills' brilliance. I wish I could have heard this in the '70s; I'm grateful and gratified to hear it now. 

RICK SPRINGFIELD: Go All The Way

Rick Springfield's girlfriend tells him to go all the way. I don't know if this was before or after she was Jessie's girl. I feel so dirty when they start talkin' cute.

Our friend Ken Sharp is the primary director of Think Like A Key Music's outstanding new collection Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, and I tell ya, the boy done good. Ken is one of the biggest Raspberries fans I know, and he did his idols justice with this compilation. Rick Springfield's cover of "Go All The Way" opens Play On with nearly nonpareil rockin' pop panache, and the earnest urgency never lets up from that point forward. Great, great tribute to one of power pop's defining groups, and the material Ken has assembled lives up to that legacy. We'll hear another fine example of Play On's exuberant accomplishment on our next show. You need this. You'll love this. You want this.

(In addition to his above-mentioned status as a Raspberries fan, Ken Sharp is also one of the biggest KISS fans I know, maybe THE biggest. Sunday night's TIRnRR will spotlight the late Ace Frehley as our Featured Performer, and that feature will include a track from Ken's 2018 album Beauty In The Backseat, a nugget Ken recorded with Half/Cubes stalwart Fernando Perdomo AND special guest guitarist Ace Frehley. We know some people who know some people.)

CROSSWORD SMILES: Black Cats & Broken Mirrors

It has been our great pleasure to debut a track from Big Stir Records' amazing compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies in each of our last six shows. This week's spin of Crossword Smiles' Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies track "Black Cats & Broken Mirrors" makes seven weeks in a row to serve up at least one previously-unplayed cut from this spookeriffic collection, and we're gonna add two more on our next show. Even as Halloween 2025 folds its candy bags, stashes its costumes, and smashes its pumpkins, don't be surprised if additional Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies treats still turn up on future shows. Seasons change, sure. But candy is perennial!

THE TAMS: I've Been Hurt

I don't have any recollection of any version of the song "I've Been Hurt" from when I was a kid in the '60s. I discovered Bill Deal and the Rhondells' 1969 hit (# 35) rendition waaaay after the fact, when the early '80s merging of my record collection with my then-girlfriend (and eventual wife)'s record collection brought that Rhondells 45 into our community property. 

Bill Deal's "I've Been Hurt" was resolutely adequate, but belated exposure to the 1965 original by Southern soul combo the Tams rendered all subsequent cover versions irrelevant. I insist that 1965 was pop music's best year ever. The Tams' "I've Been Hurt" is yet another piece of compelling evidence on behalf of that belief.

MONOGROOVE: Take You Anywhere

Our go-to selection from Monogroove's current album Popsicle Drivethru has been "That Girl," an amiably radio-ready that seems pretty damned likely to score a berth on our 2025 year-end countdown show. Diversifying our good-natured sense of manic obsession, the same album also gives us the equally nifty "Take You Anywhere," so...let's play that one, too! See? It turns out you CAN take us anywhere.

THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise [4-track]

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

TODD RUNDGREN: Couldn't I Just Tell You

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

"This is an example of the latest musical trend. It's called power pop.

It was 1978. The band Utopia was appearing on The Mike Douglas Show. The song that Utopia's front man Todd Rundgren introduced as 'the latest musical trend' was practically a golden oldie, a track Rundgren had recorded and released much earlier in the decade, on his 1972 album Something/Anything? The song 'Couldn't I Just Tell You' had not been a hit, its 1972 single release barely making it into the Hot 100, peaking at # 93 with an anchor. For Rundgren to refer to this six-year-old song as the latest...anything could have only been an example of the prickly performer sneering haughtily at trendy hipsters, hip trendsters, and, one supposes, anyone who liked pop music. Yeah, screw them.

Wait, wait! 'Anyone who liked pop music?' That's me he was sneering at, damn it! Oh, the humanity...!

But I didn't care. God, it was such a great song. Seeing it performed on TV asserted the song's hold on me, a hold that was already there, but which tightened its grip securely and permanently with this televised faux embrace of the latest musical trend. Power pop. Suits me just fine...."

THE VERBS: I Need Glue

YEAH! Big thanks to fabulous Underground Garage DJ Palmyra Delran for spinning "I Need Glue," the Verbs' essential contribution to the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. And not only did Palmyra afford spinnage to "I Need Glue" on her superlative satellite radio show Palmyra's Trash Pop Shindig, she named it as her pick for the week's official Tomorrow's Treasure Today. HuzZAH! 

THE HALF/CUBES FEATURING PETER NOONE: I'll Be Taking Her Out Tonight

The first single from Found Pearls. The second single is their ace cover of Crabby Appleton's "Go Back." We also played that one this week, and we'll play it again on Sunday night. A true pearl. It's well worth going back to that.

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: 10/19/2021

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous 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 # 1099.

THE BROTHERS STEVE: Better Get Ready

Yeah, you better get ready! The Brothers Steve have become consistent TIRnRR Fave Raves, so of course we're goin' full-throttle with their latest Big Stir Records release Dose. (To review: second album Dose follows the Brothers Steve's debut album # 1, and we repeat our earlier urgent note that the next one's gotta be called Dry.) We've been playing the new single "Next Aquarius," and figured it was time to dig into an album track. Our big 1100th show is coming up next week, so what could be a more appropriate track to play this week than "Better Get Ready?" NONE! None more appropriate! And I think we're gonna hear the Brothers Steve again next week on TIRnRR # 1100.

FANNY: Let's Spend The Night Together

Even into the mid '70s, it was still a little bit uncommon for a Top 40 pop song sung by a woman to directly suggest spending the night together. Hell, a decade before that, the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend The Night Together" were deemed sufficiently scandalous that ol' Stoneface Ed Sullivan insisted that noted male singer Mick Jagger oughtta warble Let's spend some time together! while rolling his eyes as the Stones performed on Sullivan's really big shoe. Um, show. I recall seeing the all-female combo Fanny lip-sync this (as well as their ace cover of the Bell Notes' "I've Had It") on American Bandstand while I was vacationing in Missouri in 1974. I don't think I'd heard Fanny prior to that. I recall members of the band telling Dick Clark that they'd put a female POV on "Let's Spend The Night Together," though it really seemed then (as now) as just a matter of fact. If you wanna spend the time.

THE  FLIRTATIONS: Nothing But A Heartache

Unrequited love. It hurts like nobody's business. But it sure does sound terrific on the radio. The Flirtations tell the story like no other can.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Shape Of Things To Come

A teaser single covering Max Frost and the Troopers' "Shape Of Things To Come" heralds the not-soon-enough release of DiG, a covers collection from the rockin' pop force of nature that is the Grip Weeds. The shape of things to come? Sign us up!

THE JAM: Start!

My silly notion to start TIRnRR # 1099 with "Taxman" by the Beatles inspired Dana to follow with the Jam's "Start!," a 1980 track very obviously influenced by George Harrison's Revolver opener from '66. I was at first going to follow "Start!" with Prince's "Hot Summer," but realized while recording the show that we had to put the Bangles' "Start!"-influenced "I'm In Line" in that spot instead. Just had to. There was time to move Prince down a couple places in the same set--our apologies to the Pleasers, who wound up getting unceremoniously bumped--and still revel in the pop-fueled oomph of a radio show opening with the groovy triumvirate of "Taxman"-"Start!"-"I'm In Line." I only regret I couldn't squeeze "The Batman Theme" in before "Taxman." 

But it was, y'know...a start.

MAURA AND THE BRIGHT LIGHTS: Perfect Girl

The Maura of Maura and the Bright Lights is Maura Kennedy, one-half (with husband Pete Kennedy) of the world-renowned coffeehouse pop duo the Kennedys. Maura and the Bright Lights initially willed themselves into being in 2014 for the first-ever Bright Lights! Syracuse new wave rock 'n' roll reunion show. We have a handy-dandy history of Maura and the Bright Lights available for your reference right here. 

Gary Frenay of the Flashcubes is also a charter member of Maura and the Bright Lights. Recently, Gary was tasked with the challenge of creating an original song in the style of late '50s/early '60s girl-singer pop like Marcie Blaine's "Bobby's Girl" and Shelley Fabares' "Johnny Angel." The result was the dreamy "Perfect Girl," a swoon-worthy little number for Maura to sing. It's intended for a forthcoming film project, but we're thrilled to offer you this perfect little preview of coming attractions. (Today's Bright Lights are Maura on vocals, Pete on guitar, Gary on bass and guitar, Mike Kallet on piano, and the track's producer Tommy Allen on drums, percussion, and synth strings.) Let swooning commence.

SUZI QUATRO: There She Goes

This tune by my # 1 teen rock 'n' roll crush Suzi Quatro was recorded in 1982 for an album, but the album was shelved. The project eventually saw the light of day as a limited issue called Unreleased Emotion, which was much later exhumed for more general availability by the public servants at the Cherry Red label. There ya go!

KEN SHARP: Hellcat

Hey, speakin' of the Supersonic Suzi Quatro, here's another track infused with glam and glitter, this one courtesy of pop music's best friend, Ken Sharp.  We debuted Ken Sharp's new single "Hellcat" on last week's program. An immediate positive response to that (with a listener in Pennsylvania expressing specific delight) prompted a repeat spin this week. Plus, y'know, I like it. That usually helps.

TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)

Hey, it's a supergroup! Paul Kopf and Jonathan Lea (both of Stranger In A Strange Land, the former also of the Seeds, the latter also of the Jigsaw Scene)! Vince Melouney, from the original '60s lineup of the Bee Gees! Clem Burke of Blondie! Cream Puff War scribe Alec Palao of...we don't have space to list all of Alex's credits! I gotta start paying myself by the word. With all that firepower in its arsenal, it's no surprise Tall Poppy Syndrome's debut single "Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)" hits what needs hittin', and merits airplay by divine right. 

THE KINKS: You Really Got Me

Did we mention that next week's show is This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1100? Well, we just mentioned it again. You should oughtta join us for that. In the mean time, here's our house band the Kinks with the greatest record ever made.

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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.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.