10 SONGS: 9/26/2026

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 # 1354

THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING TOM KENNY: Got No Mind

Revealed at last! Got, got, got no mind/Got no mind, but I don't mind!

We've been playing this fantastic forthcoming new single for weeks, all the while coyly refusing to, y'know, say what it is. That ends now, as this week's radio show began proudly and loudly with "Got No Mind" by the Flashcubes featuring Tom Kenny. The song was written by Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong, and a basement recording of "Got No Mind" served as one of two tracks ("Guernica" was the other) on the B-side of the Flashcubes' 1978 debut single "Christi Girl." As our local Syracuse music community and the larger international power pop community continue to mourn PA's passing earlier this year, his friends are assembling a proper tribute to his impact and legacy.

The tribute starts with this brand new version of Paul Armstrong's Cubic classic "Got No Mind." Recorded in 2026 by the surviving members of the Flashcubes--guitarist Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay, and drummer/producer Tommy Allen--aided 'n' abetted by guitarists Chris Armstrong (PA's son) and Mark Doyle, with gang vocals by Paul's Boston-area buds Mike Gent, Sal Baglio, and Barrence Whitfield, the track is propelled into the motherlovin' stratosphere with vocals by Syracuse's favorite son, famed voice actor, performer, singer, and all-around best guy ever Tom Kenny.

The new "Got No Mind," backed with Paul and his fellow Flashcubes' previously-released (and KICKASS!) track "Reminisce," will be released in November by the visionary Big Stir Records label, and it will be available as a digital single and as a 7" 45 RPM rekkid. The physical single will also be sold at the sure-to-be seismic event A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO PAUL ARMSTRONG, which is set to peel the paint off the walls at Syracuse's legendary home of rock 'n' roll The Lost Horizon on Saturday, November 7th.

The Lost Horizon show will feature live performances by Amerikan Primitive, Perilous, 1.4.5. (with The Wax Museum host Ronnie Dark), Boston's Drivin' Sisters, and Tom Kenny, culminating in the Flashcubes' farewell to their brother Paul Armstrong. Dana and I will be your hosts, but don't let that stop you. BE THERE!!

Meanwhile, TIRnRR will keep on programming "Got No Mind" by the Flashcubes featuring Tom Kenny. I also played the track this week during my guest appearance on The Spoon podcast alongside The Men Of The Spoon Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers. True believers. And friends. If there's ever a chance to celebrate the power of friendship and the magic of music...

...I don't mind.

PERILOUS: Overwhelmed By Reality

One of my favorite current bands, I'm looking forward to seeing Perilous again at the Lost in November. Mind you, I did just see them last week at a benefit show for Spark Syracuse, but who sez I can't already be looking forward to seeing 'em again? Man, when I was a club-legal teen in the late '70s, I saw the Flashcubes as often as I could, and the buzz of a Perilous show calls to mind (as in got-got-got no mind!) the buzz of a Flashcubes show. The current Perilous single "Overwhelmed By Reality" spins again on our next show. I'm looking forward to that, too.

BALLZY TOMORROW: Five Personalities

My above-crowed guest appearance on The Spoon began with our Robbie Rist hisself, operating under his rockin' pop dba Ballzy Tomorrow for an invigmoratin' take on the Flashcubes' "Five Personalities." Robbie's rendition comes to us from Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, a 2025 passion project I spearheaded with the good folks at Big Stir. Robbie does an amazing job with this song I've loved for so long, and I believe some members of the Flashcubes regarded Robbie's take as the definitive "Five Personalities." And looking back on the album, I take some satisfaction in knowing Paul Armstrong lived to hear artists like Ballzy Tomorrow, Sorrows, Hamell On Trial, the Verbs with Meegan Voss and Steve Jordan, the Peppermint Kicks, Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, and Graham Parker and Mike Gent cover songs written or co-written by PA. 

THE HALF/CUBES: The Mighty Quinn

The Half/Cubes are of course half of the Flashcubes, Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen, working with Randy Klawon and Fernando Perdomo, plus occasional extra special guests. From Jem Records' all-star various-artists tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Bob Dylan, we've been playing the Half/Cubes' ace take on Bashful Bobby's "The Mighty Quinn" because--let's face it!--you've not seen nothing like the Mighty Quinn.

On our next show, we'll move our intrepid Dylanmania to a another winner from Jem Records Celebrates Bob Dylan, this time courtesy of the Grip Weeds. And we will open the show with a new single by the Half/Cubes, covering the mighty Slade. Lights out, lads.

THE RAMONES: Teenage Lobotomy

"Teenage Lobotomy?" May haveta amend that to "Senior Citizen Lobotomy," but otherwise? Some things don't change. Guess I'll have to break the news that I GOT NO MIND to lose....

GREAT BUILDINGS: Hold On To Something

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

HOLLY AND THE ITALIANS: Rock Against Romance

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's willful short-attention-span format discourages longer tracks. When it comes to TIRnRR airplay, a great under-two-minute track is in far better position than a great four-minute song to snag a berth on our playlist. And a five-minute song? This generally isn't the right show for that.

So I concede the fact that a track that's more than five and a half minutes long seems an unlikely component of any given episode of TIRnRR. It's not unprecedented, nor even sufficient cause to stop the presses, but it is something that doesn't happen very often. It happened this week with our first ever spin of "Rock Against Romance" by Holly and the Italians.

Holly and the Italians' 1981 debut (and, really, only) album The Right To Be Italian was a love at first spin, a perfect record that I've always loved without reservation or qualifying clause. Like, all-time Top 20 album at the very least. Its 5:39 closing track "Rock Against Romance" is, I think, the only one of the original LP's ten tracks that we've never played on the show, and hearing it again during a recent commute convinced me that I needed to take a stab at squeezing it in somewhere.

"Rock Against Romance" is nothing short of epic, a full body-and-soul immersion in love's promise and pitfalls, equal parts waifish and steely-eyed, dizzying in its giddiness, grounded in its world weariness, and stubborn enough to dig in its high heels and take arms against a sea of troubles. I would not be shocked to learn that the singer's packin' heat and has the will to use it.

It's also versed in every lesson it learned from listening to pop radio and teen bistro jukeboxes, reading rock mags, pulp paperbacks, and romance comic books alike, and boppin' to the beat in any dive bar that would allow it (or at least not care enough to ban it). Like CREEM magazine said, The Right To Be Italian sounds like Lesley Gore backed by Leave Home-era Ramones. "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" is its most authoritative statement. "Youth Coup" is its manifesto.

"Rock Against Romance" is its mic drop. Gotta find time for a mic drop.

THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere

September 12th marked the 60th anniversary of the debut of The Monkees TV series. For their first two albums, the individual members of the Monkees--Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork--were restricted to vocals-only duties on the records bearing their brand name, and strictly forbidden from playing instruments on the tracks. Nesmith was somehow able to insist on producing the studio sessions for Monkees songs he wrote, but he was not allowed to play even on those sessions. Yeah, the song's author and producer was barred from picking up a friggin' guitar ON HIS OWN MATERIAL. Madness!

That changed in 1967. The Monkees were playing concerts as a live band, and both Nesmith and Tork chafed at Musical Supervisor Don Kirshner's insistence that the Monkees could not--could NOT!--play on their own damned records. The Monkees revolted. Kirshner resisted. Management ruled that the Monkees could be the studio band for their next single, "All Of Your Toys." Kirshner blocked its release (and it remained in the vault until the '80s). The Monkees cried foul. Kirshner was fired. The Monkees prevailed.

And the Monkees played. From a previous post detailing my 25 favorite Monkees tracks: 

"Nesmith's 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' was originally planned to share a single with the shelved 'All Of Your Toys.' As the B-side of 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,' it became the first public document of the Monkees themselves playing on record (with bassist John London). Nice introduction, even if too few acknowledged it. Nesmith occasionally expressed disinterest in writing pop songs, claiming weightier songwriting goals, but he was damned good at writing pop songs. While an alternate version of 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' features a Nesmith lead vocal, the familiar Dolenz lead is unbeatable, propelled by Tork's harpsichord, Nesmith's guitar, Jones's tambourine, and London's bass. In the early '90s, I knew a college-age Monkees fan named Jennifer Skaja, and she became a fan in part because songs like 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' sounded a bit like R.E.M. I agree with Jen on that point, and I would further state that a segue of R.E.M.'s '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville' into the Monkees' 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' would be a just killer 1-2 punch.

RADIO KARMA: Sweetheart Deal

Radio Karma is the dynamic duo of long-time friend of this show Richard Rossi and supercool pop musician Joe Giddings. Rich is also a Flashcubes fan of several decades' standing, while Joe was inducted into 'Cubedom when we recruited him to cover "You're Not Grounded" for the Flashcubes tribute album. Together, they're detectives! Wait...that ain't right. No, together they're deities, at least according to the title of their debut three-song collection We Were Gods. Leadoff track "Sweetheart Deal" is resolutely radio-ready, which is why we've already put it on the radio two weeks in a row. It racks up week # 3 this Sunday. Bless us, Radio Karma!

THE KINKS: You Really Got Me

For Peggy Olson, wherever she is.

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

My new book 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, its six-chapter novelette digest A Band Called GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS!, 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: 4/4/2026

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 # 1330

THE KINKS: Lola

The Kinks' 1970 hit "Lola" reentered the public discussion in March. Gee...thanks, Moby.

As easy as it would be to rag on Moby for completely misunderstanding "Lola" and misinterpreting the song as some kind of jokey anti-LGBTQ+ embarrassment, I'll give Moby an eensy bit of benefit of doubt. I can see how someone could read the lyrics, reflect on the song's tale of a man besotted by an encounter with Lola, a presumed woman who (it's implied)  turns out to be a male transvestite, but the besotted bloke remains in love with Lola nonetheless. He's glad he's a man, and so is Lola. I suppose one could conceivably hear snark or scorn in the narrative. 

I don't hear it. And I don't think it's there.

Excerpted from a previous post:

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and speculate that AM radio Top 40 playlists in the early '70s didn't generally include an awful lot of songs about transvestites, at least not in regular rotation. There was Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side' in 1972, of course, but beyond that? I can only think of one other example, from a couple of years before Reed's Holly came up from F-L-A. In 1970, she spelled her name L-O-L-A, Lola.

"Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world 
Except for Lola
Lo lo lo lo Lola
Well I left home just the week before
And I'd never ever kissed  a woman before
Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said, "Little boy, I'm gonna make you a man"
Now I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am
And I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola

"The ambiguity is deliberate; in its context, the phrase 'so is Lola' allows the possibility that Lola isn't necessarily a male in female guise, but perhaps is a woman, and she's glad that the singer's a man. No one interprets the song's meaning in that way. The clear consensus is that Lola's a dude.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"I was oblivious to all of this. I was just a clueless li'l adolescent during Nixon's first term, and 'Lola' was a great song I heard on the radio. Its distinctive guitar opening, its lyrical imagery of a Soho nightclub where the champagne tastes just like cherry cola, and its irresistible singalong chorus made my radio yearn for greater volume to accommodate the song's pop power...

"...Within a few days after the Kinks' [1977] Saturday Night Live spot, I was speaking on the phone with my friend Lissa DeAngelo. As grizzled, mature high school students, we now understood the meaning of 'Lola' 's lyrics, and Lissa wondered if that meant Kinks leader Ray Davies was gay. I shrugged--yes, one can shrug over the phone--and said basically, I dunno, don't think so, but whatever. The previous year, a guy in the Class of '76 had brought a male companion to the Senior Ball; attitudes were changing--slowly, incrementally, at a glacier's breakneck pace, but changing nonetheless, and changing for the better. There was still a long way to go, and there's still a long way yet to go. The Kinks don't deserve much credit for that. But 'Lola' was undeniably a factor in my own evolving realization that gay rights were human rights. Years before Seinfeld made it a punch line, 'Lola' demonstrated that yeah, there wasn't anything wrong with that...."

We live in a time when LGBTQ+ rights are in constant peril, under constant attack. That's always been true, but right now feels worse than it's been in decades, and the situation shows no promise of immediate improvement. It's a serious, serious problem, and it must not be taken lightly.

It's ludicrous to think that the Kinks' "Lola" is in any way a part of that problem.

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

For yesterday's imaginary playlist of songs this messed up-world needs right now, I said:

"I will say that my # 1 choice in this subject is most definitely the 2024 clarion call 'If We Could Let Go' by the fab NYC group Slyboots. I wrote about that sublime track here, and you can buy yourself a digital copy of the song here. Given the troubles of our times, there's a decent shot "If We Could Let Go" is gonna rack up additional spins on almost every TIRnRR for the rest of the year. As I've written elsewhere, 'As the country and the world seem increasingly eager to leap into the abyss and take us all with it, I've been trying to draw strength from my current favorite phrase: The audacity of joy. It takes a lot--a lot--to even attempt any kind of positive outlook. But we can't give up on hope. That would mean giving in, and that's what the bad guys want us to do. I refuse. We need to do much more than just hold hands and sing "Kumbaya"...but we DO also need to hold hands and sing "Kumbaya." If we lose joy, we lose everything.' "

I am not letting go of that.

THE SHIRTS: I Wanna Be A Rocker

Wanna be a rocker? Worthy goal! As part of the 1970s NYC rock 'n' roll scene centered at CBGB and Max's Kansas City, the Shirts pursued that goal with determined flair. The Shirts recorded three albums for Capitol Records, but the group doesn't get mentioned often enough alongside storied scenemates like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, and the Heartbreakers. They should be. The Shirts were the real deal.

The two Capitol records are long out of print (though available digitally), but the visionary Think Like A Key Music label has returned the classic Shirts sound to retail with a pair of exquisite archival live releases: 2025's Live Featuring Annie Golden (recorded live in the studio in 1981) and 2026's Live At Paradise 1979. Collectively, these two records are the next best thing to being near Bowery and Bleecker at precisely the right time to experience the rush of the Shirts in live performance.

From Live At Paradise 1979, last week's TIRnRR spin of "Starts With A Handshake" and this week's spin of "I Wanna Be A Rocker" serve up ace in-concert renditions of Shirts songs we've never played before. On our next show, we're turning to a Live At Paradise 1979 performance of a Shirts song already well-known to our listeners.

I'm telling you: Those are our plans.

THE HIVES: Tick Tick Boom

I first heard the Hives around 2002, when I saw them gloriously lip-sync "I Hate To Say I Told You So" on Top Of The Pops. At the time, this long-running British TV music program was carried Stateside on BBC America, and I watched its weekly cablecast whenever I could. Watching that day with my seven-year-old daughter, the sight and sound of the Hives had us dancing gleefully in the living room--cool memory, that. Visually, the Hives reminded me of Paul Revere and the Raiders (albeit without the Revolutionary  War costumes), and the music suggested a herky-jerky blend of punk, pop, and Nuggets-approved '60s garage. I loved it.

A few weeks ago, our pal Fritz Van Leaven emailed me: "You've played the Hives, but never this cut. Curious to hear what you think of it." Well, "Tick Tick Boom" (from the group's 2007 work The Black And White Album) immediately reminded me of why I fell in love with the Hives' music in the first place. I bought the track and put it on the radio at my first opportunity. Thanks for the tip, Fritz!

THE BARRACUDAS: (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

P. P. ARNOLD: Angel Of The Morning

EVIE SANDS: Any Way That You Want Me

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR: Julie

THE TROGGS: Wild Thing

THE HOLLIES: I Can't Let Go

This week's show had already been programmed when we heard of the passing of songwriter Chip Taylor. At least some modest tribute to Taylor's work and legacy felt imperative, so we made the playlist changes necessary to accommodate five songs from the Chip Taylor songbook.

We went with two of Taylor's hits in their familiar renditions: "Wild Thing" by the Troggs and "I Can't Let Go" (co-written with Al Gorgoni) by the Hollies. We wanted to include singer/songwriter/guitarist Evie Sands, who was a friend of Taylor; she recorded several of his songs in the '60s, and we chose her 1969 single of "Any Way That You Want Me" as representation. We went with P. P. Arnold's cover of "Angel Of The Morning," and the Bobby Fuller Four's album track "Julie." Amazing songwriting talent; the world is poorer for the loss, but richer for having been able to hear Taylor's work in the first place.

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: 11/15/2025

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 # 1310

P. HUX: Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak

The great Parthenon Huxley covering Raspberries? I'm IN! P. Hux's irresistible rendition of "Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak" comes to us via Think Like A Key Music's Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, a simply sublime berry-flavored confection collection masterminded by our old friend Ken Sharp. It's hard to get over how good this is. We'll debut two more Play On cuts on our next show.

THE RAMONES: Surf City

When the Ramones' incredible Rocket To Russia album was released in 1977, someone in the rock press (I don't remember who) proclaimed with great glee, IT'S A JAN AND DEAN ALBUM! True assessment! But it took da Brudders more than 15 years to get around to actually covering your Jan and your Dean on record. That feat was finally accomplished with this righteous 'n' respectful punk rock romp through "Surf City," as heard on the Ramones' 1993 all-covers album Acid Eaters. Two girls for every boy. Well! Jackie and Judy, and Sheena and Ramona, meet Jan and Dean. 

STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: Monsters

Who cares what trick-or-treat games we choose? As the eerie glow of jack-o'-lanterns fades in the rearview mirror, and colorful lights of a different season beckon on the horizon, we still wanted to play one more track from Big Stir Records' epic Halloween compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies. With little to gain but nothing to lose, and mindful of a rare opportunity to play something new from Strawberry Alarm Clock, we opted for a post-All Hallow's Eve spin of their TCH&HH track "Monsters." A yardstick for lunatics? Man, that's just one point of view.

And on the subject of Strawberry Alarm Clock, from a previous 10 Songs:

I don't remember if I knew Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense And Peppermints" at the time of its 1967 chart reign--I was seven years old, but it's possible--or if I came to embrace the song after the fact. If the latter, I may have heard of the 1970 sexploitation film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls before I knew "Incense And Peppermint;" I certainly didn't see the movie itself until many, many years later, and I didn't know that Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared in it, but I saw a Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls pictorial in Playboy, and that got my adolescent attention. (What business did a ten-year-old have reading Playboy? The business of staring at unclothed women. Plus articles, I guess.)

But yeah, in addition to the pulchritudinous charms of its actresses, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls presented Strawberry Alarm Clock in a party scene, lip-syncing their hit from a few years back, and then doing the same with two new songs for the soundtrack LP (as well as pretending to back up the film's fictional combo the Carrie Nations).

Unlike the Carrie Nations, Strawberry Alarm Clock kept their clothes on.

THE CRAWDADDYS: There She Goes Again

MARVIN GAYE: Hitch Hike

The Crawdaddys covering the Velvet Underground, and Marvin Gaye inspiring the Velvet Underground. I believe Lou Reed acknowledged that his VU song "There She Goes Again" borrowed directly from Gaye's 1962 Motown stalwart "Hitch Hike," as both songs are built on an identical boppin' rhythm that starts 'em and carries 'em. Thumbs out, and thumbs up. 

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH: I Could Be The One

"I Could Be The One" is another past TIRnRR favorite included on Drops Of Gold: The Best Of Vegas With Randolph. We play the hits, and this particular hit has a brand-new animated video that is likewise hit-worthy. GOLD, I tell ya! Gold.

THE GO-GO'S: Surfing And Spying

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE KINKS: Juke Box Music

From a previous post:

There are songs for all occasions. The right tune can comfort, console, lift, motivate. It can offer catharsis or escape, band aid or blunt instrument, challenge or confirmation. A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together. 

Also dancing. Evidence suggests the right song can inspire dancing.

The Kinks' 1977 Sleepwalker album was released just as I was becoming increasingly fascinated by the Kinks. It was the right album at the right time, unencumbered by the larger themes of the group's then-recent series of concept albums, fittingly sprightly and energetic at a time when punk rock was also about to draw my interest. I saw the Kinks perform the album's title track on TV, on both The Mike Douglas Show and NBC's Saturday Night. Each of these home tube appearances was supplemented by older Kinks material--"Celluloid Heroes" on the Douglas show, an exciting medley of "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," "Well Respected Man," and "Lola" on the show soon to be renamed Saturday Night Live--reinforcing the connection between past and present. The Kinks weren't back; they'd never gone away.

I wound up absolutely obsessing over a Sleepwalker album track and single called "Juke Box Music." That song's bouncy saga of a girl who maintains a far-too-literal belief in the lyrics of the songs she loves resonated within my own ongoing conflict of thinking too much versus not thinking nearly enough, taking things too seriously (and being waaaay too thin-skinned) versus developing an elusive emotional and (quasi-) intellectual balance. As a college freshman in the fall of '77, I wrote a short story inspired by my interpretation of "Juke Box Music." It...wasn't very good. But my skills improved over time. It's only juke box scribblin', man.

But it's only meant to dance to, so you shouldn't take it to heart.

Only juke box music. Can anything that captivates us really be reduced to an only? I say no, but I also embrace the need for balance. We can't let passions interfere too much with the task of living our lives in this mundane world. As a slightly later Kinks song tells us, you've gotta live life.

But without our passions, is it really living? 

In the spring of '78, I saw the Kinks in concert. "Juke Box Music" was their encore. Right place at the right time. God save serendipity, and God save "Juke Box Music."

ELVIS PRESLEY: Heartbreak Hotel

King Elvis I. From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

This was rock 'n' roll's equivalent of the shot heard 'round the world. A segregated America was about to be forced to integrate its pop charts in a manner without precedent, to look on in horror as its young embraced this race music, this primal beat, this blatantly sexual sound that their daughters would find orgasmic, that their sons would find irresistible. A white kid who could sing like a black man. Before long, more and more white kids would also listen to black performers, and pop music would change forever after. The roots of that change predate Elvis and "Heartbreak Hotel," but it is still impossible to overstate the cultural significance of this record. And it would be stupid to deny its lasting effect and appeal. One could only claim a handful of records as changing everything that followed. "Heartbreak Hotel" would top that list.

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, contributing a fab original tune to their own tribute album. As one oughta! In a year of Dow-Jonesian highs and lows, assembling the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes stands as my proudest work. We have found the sweet spot, and it is ours.

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: 4/26/2025

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 # 1282

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

Work continues with blinding bright-lights speed on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. There's a lot of stuff that still needs doin', mind you, but we're on track for the album's planned September release from the good folks at Big Stir Records. We've already played Make Something Happen! contributions from sparkle*jets u.k., Joe Giddings, the Kennedys, Pop Co-Op, the Spongetones, and Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols, we've revealed that the album will also include 'Cubes covers by Chris von Sneidern, Callan Foster, and Hamell On Trial, and we have two more tracks to debut on our next show. 

We have three Make Something Happen! debuts this week.

In planning a Flashcubes tribute album, I was determined to include at least one new track by the Flashcubes themselves. In fact, we will have a 'Cubic trinity of fresh Flashcubes offerings, one apiece written or co-written by Paul Armstrong, Arty Lenin, and Gary Frenay. This show's already been pummelin' the airwaves with Paul's irresistible new tune "Reminisce," and we'll hear Arty's "If These Hands" on this coming Sunday night's broadcast.

This week's show opens with a sublime new Flashcubes track called "The Sweet Spot." Gary co-wrote "The Sweet Spot" with the late B.D. Love, who was also known to long-time Syracuse music fans as Buddy Love. That's not the NYC pop performer of the same dba, nor is it Jerry Lewis for that matter. Our Buddy/B.D. fronted Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers and My Sin, and he was an integral part of our local scene in the new wave era.  

Other than times 'Cubes guitarist Arty Lenin sat in on drums for Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers, I believe "The Sweet Spot" is the first Flashcubes-B.D. Love collaboration. And oh, it's magnificent. We are honored to be able to honor B.D. Love's memory by including this track on Make Something Happen! And we'll hear "The Sweet Spot" again on our next show.

Sweet.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Slow Twistin'

The many, many flaws of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame notwithstanding, I remain adamant in my view that rock 'n' roll should honor its own. So I keep preaching that the Hall should finally correct its biggest snub to date (INDUCT THE MONKEES!!!), and that such honors should likewise be awarded to the New York Dolls, the Bangles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Rick James, the Shangri Las, and a long list of other worthies.

NOW, dammit!

After the Monkees, my pick for the Hall's second-most egregious omission to date is Chubby Checker. Unlike these others, Chubby is at least on the ballot this year, so here's hopin'. We'll find out Sunday night. 

THE CHOOSERS: Christi Girl

In the summer of 1978, I haunted Gerber Music's Penn Can Mall location, badgering the (remarkably patient) staff about when the Flashcubes' debut single "Christi Girl" would be available for purchase. I was 18 years old, in between my freshman and second years at college, with a part-time job at another Penn Can store (which made it even easier for me to haunt Gerber Music at will). 

Anyway. Gerber had a promo copy of the 45 on hand, so even though they couldn't sell it to me just yet, they did let me hear the record play through the store's sound system. And I was fully stoked when it finally became time to trade cash for 'Cubes.

We should have a special place nobody else can go

We should know the things nobody else can know

When I was a teenaged Flashcubes fan, a newly-minted owner of my very own "Christi Girl" 45, could I have imagined that 47 years later I would be involved in getting a bunch of fab rockin' pop bands to record a bunch of Flashcubes songs for a Flashcubes tribute? Would I even conceive the possibility of a Japanese band doing "Christi Girl?" 

Whatever I coulda/couldn'ta at the time, these fanciful notions are coming true now. A few years ago, the Choosers offered a live video of their rendition of "Christi Girl," it for damned sure passed the audition, so Gary Frenay reached out to recruit the Choosers for this project. And the Choosers' finished version of "Christi Girl" will indeed help take Make Something Happen! to that special place nobody else can go.

THE POPPEES: She's Got It

The Poppees were an avowedly fab, Beatles-influenced NYC combo machin' schau in the late '70s. The group included Arthur Alexander, who went on to noted TIRnRR Fave Raves Sorrows, and we're fans. An ace 1978 single by the Poppees sported an effervescent beat original called "Jealousy" backed with this boppin' cover of Little Richard's "She's Got It" on the flip.

Remember this 45. We'll be mentioning it again before this week's edition of 10 Songs is done. Got it?

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE KINKS: Add It Up

As noted here, our pal and stats man Fritz Van Leaven informed us that this week's show would include TIRnRR's 70,000th spin, and that the milestone would be achieved with whatever track wound up being our 44th song of the night. We teased the event a few times throughout the show--Are we up to our 70,000th spin yet, Dana? How about now? Must be there by now, right?--until we were set to begin our next-to-last set with Spin # 69,999.

We called in the house band to help us tabulate. And the Kinks led us into...

BIG STAR: September Gurls

Our 70,000th spin, and it had to be "September Gurls" by Big Star. Had to be! Our all-time most-played individual track, the first song we ever proclaimed on-air to be The greatest record ever made! (way, waaaaay before it even occurred to me to write a Greatest Record Ever Made book), and a song that's emblematic of this little mutant radio show. Great pick, Dana.

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio

Spin # 70,001. As we continue on the road to 100,000 spins, we start the next leg of the journey with a specific salute to the joy of radio. "POP RADIO!" Here's to every AM Top 40 hit and every left-of-the-dial communiqué that built TIRnRR. And we'll hear Trip 'n' Lisa's prototype for what became "Pop Radio" on our next program.

But right now, speakin' of "Radio"....

SORROWS: Radio

"Radio" was the B-side of the Flashcubes' second single "Wait Til Next Week." I bought the 45 directly from Gary Frenay at a show on Bowery in 1979. The song was co-written by Paul Armstrong and Gary Frenay, and although it was a live favorite at the time, it fell into disfavor within the band and was dropped from the set.

Coincidentally, within days of snaggin' my copy of "Wait Til Next Week"/"Radio" from Gary, I also picked up "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" by the Poppees. Yes! The same Poppees 45 referenced a few entries back! I love how this stuff ties together!

Sorrows formed out of the aftermath of the Poppees, and Sorrows' recent album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is guaranteed representation on TIRnRR's 2025 year-end countdown show. Guaranteed. 

And for Make Something Happen!, Sorrows have given us a cover of "Radio" that is nothing short of full-on freakin' phenomenal. 

Listen: You can search the four corners of the globe, and by the time you realize globes don't have corners, you'll already know that I'm the world's most insistent Flashcubes fan. Given that, consider the sheer gravity of me saying that Sorrows have accomplished the definitive version of the Flashcubes' "Radio." Pop music is my religion. Radio is one of my pulpits. With "Radio," Sorrows deliver the sermon we need.

Testify. And put your antenna to the sky.

THE ZOMBIES: What More Can I Do

TIRnRR spin # 70,015. What more can we do? Just keep spinning. Join us again on Sunday night for spin # 70,016 and counting.

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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.