10 SONGS: 6/14/2025

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 # 1289

THE GRIP WEEDS: Soul Bender

This little mutant radio show is always delighted to play brand new music from the Grip Weeds. We're also delighted to play familiar music from the Grip Weeds. We are remarkably--and delightedly--consistent on that point. And an opportunity to open a show with a new single from the Grip Weeds? We're ON it! "Soul Bender" is the advance single and title track from the group's eagerly-anticipated new album, and delight rules the friggin' day. Delight will renew itself with another spin of "Soul Bender" on our next show.

KID GULLIVER: 24 Hours

We are also delighted to play both new and familiar music from Kid Gulliver. We're fans! The group's "Forget About Him" is a proven TIRnRR Fave Rave, and we included it on our 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. It's been a bit since we've had anything new from these Kids, but the wait is over! New single "24 Hours" is a little more Ramonesified than previous Kid Gulliver classics, though the comparison to your Joey, your Johnny, and your Dee Dee is in terms of the track's forward-lunging rhythmic thrust. The resulting flourish of pretty pop music is pure Kid Gulliver. Welcome back, Kids.

AMY RIGBY: Bitter

JILL SOBULE: Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart

Tribute.

Our time in this mortal plane is steeped in loss, reluctant farewells whispered again and again. Beyond the devastation of personal losses, we also mourn people we've never met, but who nonetheless became a part of our lives through the magic of the art they created. We are inundated with constant, rapid-fire reminders of our fragile nature. On this week's show, we felt the fresh wound of losing Terry Draper, and since then the losses of both Sly Stone and Brian Wilson. 

And we still feel the sting of the recent loss of Jill Sobule. Amy Rigby acknowledges that sting, and she's channeled the lingering ache into a homemade cover of Sobule's "Bitter," a song Sobule wrote with Richard Barone of the Bongos. The track is now available as a single, with sales benefitting The Jill Fund. A worthy tribute for a worthy cause.

We followed Amy Rigby's version of "Bitter" with another spin of what's become my favorite Jill Sobule track, "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart." With hearts born to be broken, we do our best to avoid becoming bitter.

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Speak To The Sky

Last week's exciting edition of 10 Songs extolled the virtues of the new various-artists collection Second By Second By Minute By Minute: The Songs Of Rick Springfield. My favorite Rick Springfield song is his very first single, 1972's "Speak To The Sky." On the new tribute album, the Corner Laughers offer a loving and heartfelt rendition of "Speak To The Sky," capturing the ache of looking to the heavens and communicating with the cherished memory of a departed father, speaking to the sky every night. More loss. The comfort is sweet and welcome. 

We'll play this again on Sunday. Father's Day. Love you , Dad. It's been thirteen years, but I know you're still with me all of the time.

PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS: Just Like Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

SORROWS: Radio

After many months of gleeful teasing, we have announced the track listing for the long-promised tribute album honoring Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. Due out in September from the irresistible rockin' pop force of Big Stir Records, our twenty-four track salute Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes gathers twenty-one new covers of songs written by members of the 'Cubes, and supplements 'em with three new recordings by the Flashcubes themselves. This week, we reprised a couple of already-proven Make Something Happen! favorites--the Flashcubes' "The Sweet Spot" and Sorrows' epic cover of "Radio"--as we look toward the bright lights of September. The sweet spot! Let us be your radio.

(And on our next show, we'll debut two more tracks from Make Something Happen!, as Graham Parker and Mike Gent take on "Pathetic" and Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin conjure up a "Bad Dream." We will also have encore spins of Flashcubes tribute album tracks by Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas and Librarians With Hickeys, another run through Make Something Happen!'s first single "Reminisce," and we'll even throw in the Slapbacks' previous cover of "Make Something Happen" from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. The tribute you take is equal to the tribute you make.)

KLAATU: Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

We mentioned the passing of Terry Draper. Draper was best-known as the drummer for Klaatu, and he also crafted an impressive body of work as a solo artist. Terry was always nice to us, and we mourn along with his friends and family. We've played a fair amount of his music over the years, both solo and with Klaatu, and also working with Ray Paul. This week, our opening set included "For The Few" from Draper's 2024 album In The Beginning. And we circled back near show's end for a spin of Klaatu's most famous track, "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft." We are your friends. Godspeed, Terry Draper.

THE BEATLES: Within You Without You

From a previous post about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, picking up the narrative with Side 2, Track 1:

"...The mystic hum of Indian music invites us back inside. Many will skip over George Harrison's meditative 'Within You Without You' on subsequent spins, and your humble blogger would be among them for a while, until the song's beguiling, subtle magic eventually completes its spell, capturing the heart forever thereafter...."

We were talking about the love we all could share. Life goes on within you and without you. Music endures. Memory endures for as long as we can hold it. We endure for as long as we can hold on.

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 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: 11/24/2023

 10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1208. This show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: Bad Brain

Near the end of last year, our irreplaceable stats man Fritz Van Leaven sent us a list of every track we've ever played over the course of what was then This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's first twenty-four years as...well, this, whatever this is. Coincidentally, "Bad Brain" probably about covers it. But I digress....

I refer to that list a lot, always cross-referencing to see if there's some great thing we oughta play that we ain't played yet. It's most amazing to realize there are tracks by some of our all-time Fave Raves that we've never gotten around to programming, and then rectifying a bunch of those omissions.

2023 has been my year of the Ramones. Yeah, mostly because my Ramones book was published this year, but the book was itself the result of my decades-long fascination with everyone's favorite Carbona-huffin' quartet. I love the Ramones. Duh. This show is named after a line in a Ramones song. This show would never have happened in the first place if not for the inspiration we draw from the Ramones. 

Throughout the year, I've been using Fritz's list to help me program a few of the Ramones tracks that had not graced any previous TIRnRR playlist. This week's show opened with "Bad Brain," the only track from the group's masterpiece Road To Ruin that had never seen previous airplay on our little mutant radio program. Next week, we'll spin the only remaining Rocket To Russia track to escape airplay here to date. More Ramones. More. Ramones!

On this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Jimmy Fallon fronted the Roots for a lip-sync performance of the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)." Everyone complaining about it is dead wrong. Things like this, my friends, are further evidence of the Ramones' growing (and overdue) assimilation into our greater pop culture. Year of the Ramones? EVERY year is my yrear of the Ramones. Bad, bad brain? Bad brain made good, I say.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Journey To The Center Of The Mind

Working with the mighty Jem Records, the phenomenal rockin' pop force known as the Grip Weeds have recently reissued their irresistible holiday album Under The Influence Of Christmas. If you've begun the serious business of this year's letter to Santa Claus (in yet another valiant attempt to convince the old elf to white-out your permanent-inked entry on his naughty-as-hell list), TIRnRR would like to remind you that the Grip Weeds' Under The Influence Of Christmas is exactly the coal you need for rekindlin' that frigid block of black ice you call a soul. Nice! You CAN be nice! Santa might even believe you this time!

Still, we're not quite ready to start programming Christmas music for at least a few weeks yet. You can probably expect a track from Under The Influence Of Christmas to lead off our December 10th show. Meanwhile, we reach back to the Grip Weeds' 2022 all-covers album DiG for their confident take on the Amboy Dukes' "Journey To The Center Of The Mind." The original was great, but the Grip Weeds' version benefits by having a much more intelligent lead guitarist. We'll dig into yet another DiG track next week.

KLAATU: Anus Of Uranus

Hey, a crack in the sky!

CINDY LAWSON: I Don't Want You Anymore

The divine Cindy Lawson's ace number "I Don't Want You Anymore" comes to us from her current album Don't Come Crying To Me, a superswell six-song effort that earns beaucoup bonus points in this spot for sporting a cover graphic that conjures comparison to the 1973 eponymous debut album by Suzi Quatro. Ya can't go wrong paying tribute to our li'l Suzi!

Even better, this week's spin of "I Don't Want You Anymore" caught the fancy of intrepid TIRnRR listeners Rich and Kathy Firestone, who thought the song was a laugh anna half. See? We play the hits! And we'll play this particular hit again on our next show. 

I'm sure Ms. Quatro would approve. I hope Ms.Lawson will likewise dig the notion.

1.4.5.: Right Now

A recent blog post about five albums you need to own on vinyl included a spotlight on Rhythm n' Booze, an unfairly overlooked 1988 LP by 1.4.5. In that piece, I wrote:

"Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes are the third lad in my rockin' pop trinity: The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. After the 'Cubes split at the end of the '70s (the end of the century), 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong piloted an evolving membership of unrepentant rock 'n' rollers as 1.4.5. The legacy of 1.4.5.'s original trio--PA hisself, bassist Dave Anderson, and the late, great Ducky Carlisle on drums--is well represented on the compilation 3 Chords & A Cloud Of Dust, and that collection also provides proper representation of the latter-day 1.4.5. following the original formula. Hey! It's 1.4.5.! Let's GROOVE!

"Missing in action is the late '80s version of 1.4.5., a combo who morphed into the Richards. The late Norm Mattice sang lead during this period; the Richards' 1995 album Over The Top is out there, and their non-album masterpiece 'Five Personalties' (later redone by the reunited Flashcubes) was one of many highlights on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3.

"But the Richards started out billed as 1.4.5., and their 1988 album Rhythm n' Booze is an undiscovered gem. The confident strut of the album-opening 'Right Now,' the pretty pop of 'Girl In The Window,' vibe-establishing covers of Slade and the Swinging Blue Jeans, the tongue-in-cheek 'Famous Local Hero,' and the just incredible 'Your Own World' (which original-formula 1.4.5. subsequently remade) combine for a record that freakin' cries out for wider acclaim. We were able to use the Rhythm n' Booze 'Your Own World' on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. The rest of the album still awaits overdue discovery by the pop world at large. Right here."

And right now. I said, RIGHT NOW! Someone needs to reissue this record, stat.

THE PRETENDERS: Vainglorious

I am quite pleased to live in a world where there is still such a thing as new music from the Pretenders. So far, I've only heard a couple of tracks from the Pretenders' current album Relentless, but I'm absolutely ready to continue. Precious? No. Relentless!

ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

PRINCE: Hot Summer

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Can't Wait 'Till Summer

His Royal Purpleness Prince, from the posthumous release Welcome 2 America, with "Hot Summer." Librarians With Hickeys, from their 2022 album Handclaps & Tambourines, with "Can't Wait 'Till Summer." Great songs, for sure, and welcome any time of year, but...c'mon, people! IT'S NOT EVEN DECEMBER YET!! Jeez, howzabout some friggin' patience here? Man, you'll never get through a Central New York winter with that kind of attitude.

(Wait. On the other hand, willful denial is kind of its own reward, innit? Awright. Carry on. Surf's up, you snowbirds.)

MICKY DOLENZ: Man On The Moon

I am in awe of how great Micky Dolenz and Christian Nesmith work as a team. After some individual live tracks they performed with Circe Link (released as latter-day bonus tracks on The MGM Singles Collection), Micky 'n' Christian collaborated on the sublime 2021 album Dolenz Sings Nesmith and its able follow-up Dolenz Sings Nesmith--The EP, offering simply stunning renditions of gems written by Michael Nesmith. The current four-song Dolenz Sings R.E.M. EP is equally magnificent, and I pray Micky Dolenz and Christian Nesmith will have many, many more such rewarding team-ups yet to come.

Dolenz Sings R.E.M. is just delicious: inventive, luxurious, compelling, and celebratory without being the merest bit slavish. With this week's spin of "Man On The Moon," we've now played three of the EP's four tracks on TIRnRR. We'll get to the fourth track next time. 

Beside yourself that radio's going to stay? Don't worry on that account. Micky and Christian have your back.

Christian Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Circe Link

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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

POP-A-LOOZA: THE EVERLASTING FIRST! Klaatu, the Knack, and the Knickerbockers

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is an Everlasting First! Quick Take recalling my introductions to Klaatu, the Knack, and the Knickerbockers.

I haven't written much about Klaatu (other than wishing that a 1999 Klaatu tribute album called Around The Universe In 80 Minutes had instead channeled The Day The Earth Stood Still and chosen the title KLAATU: Borrowed 'n' Nicked, Too). My CD collection includes better'n Klaatu representation, and debut album 3:47 E.S.T. track "California Jam" remains a favorite. I owe myself a deeper dive into my Klaatu library. But I've never had much to say about Klaatu.

I have had a little bit more to say about the Knack. These excerpts from my lengthy history of power pop The Kids Are Alright! sum it up:

"Even all these years after the fact, it’s difficult to articulate exactly what the problem was with the Knack. They really weren’t a bad group; their debut album, 1979’s Get The Knack, was a damn fine record, loaded with damn fine pop tunes like 'Good Girls Don’t,' 'Let Me Out,' 'That’s What The Little Girls Do,' the excellent 'Your Number Or Your Name,' and one much-maligned but still agreeable monster hit single ('M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my Sharona'). Sure, they weren’t the next Beatles, or the next Big Star, but what was so wrong about the Knack?

"The short answer: everything was wrong about the Knack. (Short answers are rude, disrespectful and have terrible personal grooming habits.) The long answer is a bit more complicated.

"The Knack’s own swift, gargantuan success was a large part of the problem many people had with the group. Much of this was due to simple jealousy. The Knack became so big so fast--a mere six months passed from the band’s formation to its signing with Capitol--that many were understandably chagrined by the group’s apparent paucity of dues-paying. Add in the general consensus that there were many acts more deserving of the kind of success the Knack enjoyed, and you’ve got fertile breeding ground for a backlash.

"The Knack’s Doug Feiger has claimed many times that if the Knack hadn’t hit big, if Get The Knack had only sold as many units as, say, Radio City, the Knack today would be revered as a visionary cult act. And there is probably some truth in Feiger’s claim...."

I like Klaatu. I really like the Knack. But although the Knickerbockers were a one-hit wonder with the fabulous "Lies," and in spite of the fact that I own more Klaatu tracks and more Knack tracks than I own Knickerbockers tracks, the Knickerbockers actually have a greater presence on my iPod than Klaatu and the Knack combined. "Lies" merits its own chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). When that chapter was reprised at Pop-A-Looza, the Knickerbockers' own Beau Charles wrote:

"Thank you Carl for an insightful view of our best effort 'Lies!' My brother [John Charles] and I have always been amazed by that performance by our band! BTW, a day or two before we recorded it our producer Jerry Fuller told me to get 'Lies' together for the session and make it about two and a half minutes! Our earlier demo was about half that! John and I worked on it and his bass part and I added the guitar break. Viola, 2:40! We showed [fellow Knickerbockers Jimmy Walker and Buddy Randell] the changes the next day in the studio and we did it! I love everything about it! The energy, the ad libs, the sound, and the love we had for playing rock 'n' roll! I think your analysis is spot on! Thank you!!!"

Thank YOU, Beau! Can't tell you how much it means to hear something like that from one of the architects of one of my all-time favorite tracks.

And let's add this one more thing I wrote separately about the fabulous Knickerbockers:

"...The Knickerbockers were one-hit wonders; they are remembered only for that one big record 'Lies,' if they are remembered at all. They deserve better. Both 'Lies' and a much lesser-known Knickerbockers track called 'They Ran For Their Lives' have permanent berths on the list of my all-time favorite songs, and I wish more folks knew additional Knickerbockers gems like 'One Track Mind,' 'My Feet Are Off The Ground,' 'I Must Be Doing Something Right,' 'Just One Girl,' 'High On Love," "Rumors, Gossip, Words Untrue," "I Can Do It Better," "She Said Goodbye," "Can't You See I'm Trying,' 'Please Don't Fight It,' 'Give A Little Bit,' and...well, that's a lot more great stuff than you'd expect from a one-hit wonder.

"I once had an editor (not at Goldmine!) who had inserted a reference to the Knickerbockers into a piece I'd written, and he was going over it with me to be sure I had no objection to the addition. He was a knowledgeable guy, and I had no issue with the (relevant) tangent he'd added to my piece. But giddy pop music wasn't his specialty. He had referred to the Knickerbockers as a California group; I wanted to correct that, as I knew they were from New Jersey. Are you sure?, the editor asked. I thought they were from California. I said that yeah, I was certain, but that I'd double-check the info in my Knickerbockers boxed set. He was flabbergasted. They have a BOXED SET...?!

"Yeah, they do. More than one, in fact. One-hit wonder? True, I guess. Only a one-hit wonder? No. Lies, man. Lies."

It's time to listen to some Knickerbockers, and maybe some Klaatu and Knack while I'm at it. My introductions to all three of these rockin' pop combos provide the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE EVERLASTING FIRST: Quick Takes For K [music edition]

Continuing a look back at my first exposure to a number of rock 'n' roll acts and superheroes (or other denizens of print or periodical publication), some of which were passing fancies, and some of which I went on to kinda like. They say you never forget your first time; that may be true, but it's the subsequent visits--the second time, the fourth time, the twentieth time, the hundredth time--that define our relationships with the things we cherish. Ultimately, the first meeting is less important than what comes after that. But every love story still needs to begin with that first kiss.

KLAATU



I heard the Are-they-The-Beatles? hype long before I heard the music. A DJ on WOUR dismissed the rumor on-air with a sneering, They aren't The Beatles! I may have heard Klaatu's "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" contemporary to its release, and I definitely heard The Carpenters' cover version. It's within the realm of possibility that I heard the Klaatu tribute album Around The World In 80 Minutes before ever hearing much of Klaatu's original recordings. I picked up a CD reissue of Klaatu's debut album, 3:47 e.s.t., on a visit to Brockport some time early in the 21st century. "California Jam" became my immediate favorite.

THE KNACK



Probably read about The Knack in Bomp! magazine before "My Sharona" was released. I had a love/hate relationship with The Knack, in the sense that I kinda liked them, I guess, but resented them for having the success I thought The Flashcubes deserved more. "Good Girls Don't" and "That's What The Little Girls Do" were my initial favorites on Get The Knack, but I like "Your Number Or Your Name" even more now. I have all of The Knack's albums in either LP or CD format, including their reunion albums, so I guess I must have finally gotten The Knack.

THE KNICKERBOCKERS



Easy one! I heard "Lies" one afternoon in my dorm room during the fall of 1977, as I was listening to Brockport's WBSU-AM. Listening to this incredible explosion of ersatz (but convincing!) Britboom, I wrote in my journal, They sound more like The Beatles than The Beatles do. In the spring of 1978, I bought a cutout copy of the Nuggets anthology just to get "Lies," so The Knickerbockers were indirectly responsible for introducing me to the concept of '60s psychedelic/garage/punk, and I thank 'em eternally. Much, much later, I'd discover that The Knickerbockers released a lot of other tracks that were nearly the equal of "Lies." There is often more than just one side to a One Hit Wonder.




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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.