10 SONGS: 6/21/2025

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 # 1290

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

Selecting a mere four tracks to play in memory of Sly Stone could be something of a challenge. With an intention of programming three Sly and the Family Stone hits and one slightly deeper cut, our choices somehow felt immediately clear and definite. I regret we couldn't also include "Dance To The Music" or "Everyday People" or "I Want To Take You Higher" (though the latter was sorta represented on the playlist by Billy Preston's "Advice," which was arranged and co-written by Sly and presages some of the lyrical hook of "I Want To Take You Higher").

Nonetheless: Three hits, one deep cut. I knew I wanted to open with either "Stand!" or "Hot Fun In The Summertime," and the current real-world resonance of "Stand!" made it a fitting choice to rise up in power near the end of the show. The fact that my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) includes a chapter about "Everybody Is A Star" made that track a practically compulsory pick for our regularly-scheduled weekly GREM! spot. The designated non-hit Sly track "Trip To Your Heart" took care of itself.

All of the above pushes "Hot Fun In The Summertime" to the top of the playlist. The song is as inviting and idyllic as any June-July-August embrace ever committed to wax, a comforting groove that shines in the daytime and sways with the shadows of twilight. 

THE GREAT SOCIETY: Someone To Love

When the legend becomes fact: Did Sylvester Stewart--the DJ and producer soon to achieve fame and acclaim as the one and only Sly Stone--really quit his staff job at San Francisco's Autumn Records label because of his frustration while working on a session with a then-unknown Grace Slick and her then-current band the Great Society?

Whether the story is Gospel, Big Fib, or in the large gray zone in between, it's a good story. Grace did okay either way, taking "Someone To Love" (under its new title "Somebody To Love") to her next combo Jefferson Airplane.

And Sly? Yeah, Sly did okay, too. And his legend became fact for damned sure.

GRAHAM PARKER AND MIKE GENT: Pathetic

TOM KENNY AND THE HI-SEAS: Welcome To The Working Class

ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN: Bad Dream

Ahem.

Yeah, we got Graham Parker--GRAHAM MOTHERLOVIN' PARKER!!--to cover the Flashcubes for our forthcoming compilation album Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. We feel taller! Credit Mike Gent of the Figgs for making this particular something happen, revamping and adapting 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's "Pathetic" into a worthy vehicle for the esteemed 'n' well-respected GP, and seeing it through to perfection.

With that accomplishment serving to make us rightly chuffed, we had "Pathetic" spearhead an entire set of Cubic-related huzZAH!, interspersing two more Make Something Happen! gems courtesy of Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas and Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin with a couple of treats by the Half/Cubes (a combo piloted by the Flashcubes rhythm section of Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen) and a repeat spin of the world's first Flashcubes cover, the Slapbacks' "Make Something Happen" (from our previous compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5).

Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes is due in September from our friends at Big Stir Records. This week, I listened to the entire compilation in its entirety, in sequence, for the first time. It is very, very good. I'm not humbled--let's not get crazy--but I'm so happy and so grateful to all who had a helping hand in making...

...you know. 

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Trip To Your Heart

"Trip To Your Heart" was not a hit, nor do I think it was even a single. It was a track on the first Sly and the Family Stone album, 1967's A Whole New Thing, which also was not a hits. Hits would follow. Legend would follow.

Still, "Trip To Your Heart" has its own place in popular culture, as it was sampled by rapper LL Cool J for the title tune (and subsequent hit single) of his 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out. I don't claim to be much of a hip hop fan, but I've always loved "Mama Said Knock You Out," and I didn't even realize that its vocal hook was taken from Sly and the Family Stone until many years later, when I heard Dana play "Trip To Your Heart" on TIRnRR.

Don't call it a comeback. Legend establishes its legacy by whatever trip happens to knock it out.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Everybody Is A Star

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BEAU BRUMMELS: Laugh, Laugh

Sly Stone's production work with the Beau Brummels is, at best, a footnote to his stellar career. But it's a supremely cool footnote, because I adore the Beau Brummels.  I interviewed Beau Brummels lead singer Sal Valentino in 1998:

"The Beau Brummels signed with Autumn Records, a label run by DJs Tom Donahue and Bob Mitchell. How did you connect with Donahue and Mitchell?

Tom always told the story that a hooker turned him on to the Beau Brummels.  And I didn't know that she was a hooker, but she had an act down on North Beach.  He was living in the house of the guy that owned the Morocco Room with his father.  And he had this big house, and she was up there for a period of time.  And so she ran into Tom one night in North Beach, and she told him about us.  And he came out to see us.  And he brought Bob Mitchell out, and Carl Scott, and then Sly. And they wanted to sign us....

How was Sly Stone to work with as a producer?

It was great.  We were pretty scared, probably, and Sly listened to everything, he encouraged us, he was really into the material, he loved my singing.  He liked the whole thing, and he made it work...."

The Beau Brummels’ Sly-produced 1965 hit "Laugh, Laugh" has a permanent berth on my all-time Hot 100. Yeah, it's just a footnote in the incredible story of Sly Stone. But it's a footnote for which I will always, always be grateful.

THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIKE GENT: Reminisce

Ahem. 

THE NEW DIGITAL SINGLE FROM THE FLASHCUBES WILL BE RELEASED ON JUNE 27th. Working with the same Mike Gent lauded above for his Flashcubes cover with Graham Parker, "Reminisce" is the first original (non-cover) Flashcubes single in decades. One can preorder this fresh wonder right here. Proceed accordingly, and then you'll be able to reminisce about your undeniable savviness as a rockin' pop consumer. This is my song of the year for 2025, and it will also appear on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Stand!

Good advice, and an imperative in these troubled times. Godspeed, Sly Stone. 

The rest of us?

STAND!

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: 6/7/2025

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 # 1288

TOM KENNY AND THE HI-SEAS: Welcome To The Working Class

Tom Kenny is an international treasure, and he was born 'n' bred right here in our beloved Syracuse, NY. You may know him as the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants, Plastic Man, The Penguin, and a zillion others across a zillion animated credits. In live action, he was the evil Binky the Clown in his hometown buddy Bobcat Goldthwaite's 1991 film Shakes The Clown. To my daughter, he was the voice of both the Mayor and the narrator on The Powerpuff Girls. I tell that story here and here.

But as I like to point out and repeat: Before Tom Kenny was your SpongeBob Squarepants, he was our Tomcat, one of us, a participant in the same vibrant late '70s/early '80s local music scene that Dana and I loved so much, the scene that gave the world the Flashcubes, Maura Kennedy, Chris von Sneidern, the Penetrators, and many others. He found fame as a talented and celebrated voice actor; to us, he's so much more than that. He's a music fan from way back, and he channels that passion as a magnificent live performer. From local faves the Tearjerkers in the early '80s through the simply sublime Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas today, international treasure Tom Kenny remains solid gold on stage and off.

So yes, of course we wanted Tom to record a track for our forthcoming compilation Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. And man, did he and his superlative and uber-tight band o' Hi-Seas deliver. And then some! Credit 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay for suggesting his song "Welcome To The Working Class" as the perfect Cubic choice for Tomcat and company to tackle, and a more perfect match of artist and material will not be found anywhere. Not even in Bikini Bottom, nor in Townsville, nor Gotham City itself.

I have heard that "Welcome To The Working" is the first recording the Hi-Seas have completed since the November passing of their music director, the great Andy Paley. Beyond the blow of  personal tragedy, having to overcome the loss of Paley's enormous talent was no doubt a daunting task. From this bittersweet transition, one hopes there will be many more new Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas recordings yet to come. An international treasure. Welcome, indeed.

GRAHAM PARKER: Back To Schooldays

As I recall, my first awareness of Graham Parker's song "Back To Schooldays" was in 1981, when I read that none other than Rick Nelson had covered it. Even then, I didn't hear Nelson's version nor Graham Parker and the Rumour's 1976 original until a little bit later in the ol' timeline. I caught up eventually. Although we've played a more recent live performance of the song by Graham Parker and the Goldtops, I'm amazed that this is the TIRnRR debut of the studio version, from Graham's album Howlin' Wind. Looks like our trip back to schooldays merits a spell in detention, but consider this a good-faith attempt at extra credit.

(Have we mentioned yet that Graham Parker has also recorded a Flashcubes cover for the much-anticipated Make Something Happen! tribute album? No? Well, I'm sure we'll get around to mentioning it soon. I tell ya, all this detention can slow ya down.)

JIM BASNIGHT: All Summer Long

We love playing new music from Jim Basnight, and we're therefore delighted to add his new single "All Summer Long" to the TIRnRR playlist. Though the song shares its title with a Beach Boys classic, it's all original all the time, so grab the Coppertone and get set to frolic already. Sure, we'll be frolicking on the Bayou, but don't quibble: It's SUMMER!

EYTAN MIRSY: Jessie's Girl

BALLZY TOMORROW: Old Gangsters Never Die

Andrew Curry has compiled a number of superb tribute albums, each one full of accomplished and compelling interpretive salutes to its designated subjects: lite rock, the second British Invasion, the music of 007, Paul Williams, and Andy Gibb. Can't go wrong with any of them, which is why we've played 'em all on TIRnRR.

Second By Second By Minute By Minute: The Songs Of Rick Springfield is the newest release from Curry Cuts, and I won't be surprised if this winds up getting even more Dana & Carl airtime than its illustrious predecessors. 

In 1981, "Jessie's Girl" was Springfield's first breakout hit in the US. He'd been a star in his native Australia, and he played himself in animated form on the 1973 American TV cartoon series Mission: Magic! As an actor, he did a lot of TV work, achieving wider notice in '81 on the soap opera General Hospital. The soap stint coincided with his ascension on the pop music charts.

Is "Jessie's Girl" Springfield's signature tune? I think it is, so we begin our recognition of this magic mission with Brother Eytan Mirsky, coveting his best friend's girl with unashamed longing and aplomb. We follow with Robbie Rist fronting his nom de bop Ballzy Tomorrow for a supercool performance of "Old Gangsters Never Die," a Springfield tune I did not know prior to this.

A great tribute album can do that: Introduce you to deeper cuts and expand your awareness and appreciation of lesser-known gems to be found within an artist's body of work. I have, at best, a slightly better than cursory knowledge of the Rick Springfield canon, going beyond the hits into his lovely 1972 debut single "Speak To The Sky" and partial memory of his 1973 album Comic Book Heroes. Clearly, I have some homework to do. But we have this fine Rick Springfield tribute album to get us started.

(Ballzy Tomorrow also has a track on our Flashcubes tribute album, as do a few other artists on Second By Second By Minute By Minute. The best tribute albums demand the best talent!)

ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN: Why Can't You Come

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Red Beans And Gasoline

Both Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin and Arthur Alexander are among the acts covering the Flashcubes on Make Something Happen!, the latter with his ace combo Sorrows. In the mean time, Rob and Arthur are covering each other! A brand new split single pairs Skin-Tight Skin's cover of Arthur's "Why Can't You Come" with Arthur's rendition of Rob's "Red Beans And Gasoline." Now there's a high-octane meal!

THE MONKEES: I Never Thought It Peculiar

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

LISA MYCHOLS: What Kind Of Fool Am I

One more from Second By Second By Minute By Minute: The Songs Of Rick Springfield, courtesy of Lisa Mychols. This is just fantastic, and yeah, it just so happens that Ms. Mychols will also be on the Flashcubes tribute, collaborating with Super 8. Ain't no fools to be found here.

THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIKE GENT: Reminisce

The Flashcubes' new digital single is out on June 27th, and available for preorder now in advance of its appearance on the Flashcubes tribute album in September. Reminisce AND look forward. It's the most effective way to make something happen.

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...no, 11 SONGS!: 5/31/2025

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 expands to 11 songs, and draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1287

THE SPONGETONES: Lulu's In Love

From Sir, with love. New music from North Carolina's phenomenal pop combo the Spongetones is always a welcome (if rare) cause for a round of Oh YEAH!s, so we're dead chuffed to begin this week's proceedings with the group's brand-new single "Lulu's In Love." 

Not counting their collaboration with the Flashcubes on the latter's WAY fab 2016 remake of the Spongetones' "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart," this new single is the Spongetones' first group appearance on the Big Stir Records label. "Lulu's In Love" also serves as the recorded debut of the group's new drummer Eric Willhelm, joining bassist Steve Stoeckel and guitarists Jamie Hoover and Pat Walters as they devise the next step in the Spongetones' master pop plan. "Lulu's In Love" is the first of three new 'Tones studio singles, and Big Stir will be collecting all three singles later this year in a special package with some live music recorded at the Spongetones' 40th Anniversary gig. The Spongetones' legacy of beat music survives and thrives. No wonder Lulu loves them so.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Hurry Up Sundown

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty [Long Pond Studio Session]

Here's to a pair of American folk heroes, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. Their celebrity gives them a forum if they choose to use it, and I'm delighted that they've both opted to speak out against homegrown tyranny. Even at their dizzying level of fame and acclaim, they are not necessarily insulated from the threat of pushback, and I respect them all the more for doing the right thing anyway. Born in the USA? It's a love story, so baby just say YES.

From the 2014 EP American Beauty, "Hurry Up Sundown" is one of my favorite Boss tunes. I've never been a Springsteen fan on the level of so many of my peers, but nor would I or could I ever deny the man's passion and accomplishment. He's recorded a number of things I like, a handful of works I love, and one song--"Girls In Their Summer Clothes"--that I just adore. My book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) includes a chapter on "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," and that articulates my feelings about Springsteen better than anything else I could ever attempt in that regard.

I'm not in Taylor Swift's demo, but I've come to appreciate her more and more, and I've even discovered a few of her tracks capable of annexing some pop-starved corner of my little wheelhouse. This is particularly true of "The Last Great American Dynasty," a stunning track from Swift's 2020 album Folklore; it's even more true of the alternate version of "The Last Great American Dynasty" found on Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, which feels more intimate and artful. As I said to a friend recently: I can't see anyone who likes Rumours-era Stevie Nicks disliking "The Last Great American Dynasty."

And I'm glad we have both Bruce and Taylor on our side.

THE BONGOS: The Beat Hotel

THE CYNZ: Heartbreak Time

THE GRIP WEEDS: Gene Clark (Broken Wing)

Tonight in Asbury Park, the Bongos--one of my many favorite bands of the 1980s--will be marking the release of their fabulous archival in-concert album The Shroud Of Touring: Live In 1985 with a reunion gig. TIRnRR Fave Raves the Cynz and the Grip Weeds are also on the bill with their Jem Records labelmates the Bongos, and I really, really wanted to be in attendance. Alas, I wasn't able to execute the logistics of making the trip, so I have to sit this one out. It's going to be an incredible show, and I'm bummed that I have to miss it. But we spin a track apiece from each of the three groups as a virtual long-distance cigarette lighter held high above our heads.

We've been programming the recent singles by the Cynz ("Heartbreak Time") and the Grip Weeds ("Gene Clark [Broken Wing]") anyway, and we've been on a weekly Bongos kick as well, starting with studio tracks then moving to live cuts from The Shroud Of Touring as soon as they were cleared for airplay. Other than a spin of the live "In The Congo"--probably my single favorite Bongos song--we've been sticking with Bongos numbers (with wings!) that have never made it to any previous TIRnRR playlist in either a live or a studio incarnation.

That continues with this week's airing of "The Beat Hotel" from The Shroud Of Touring. The studio version was the title track from an album the Bongos released when I was working at a record store in the '80s. I gave it a lot of in-store play, and I can't believe I never got around to playing it on the radio before including its live performance in this week's show.

We'll have another track from The Shroud Of Touring on our next show, a song we have played in its original studio version, but which wasn't originally credited as an official Bongos track. And we toast all of our friends in Asbury Park tonight. Wish we were there.

KISS: Calling Dr. Love

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Ahead of the September release of Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, our friends at Big Stir Records have announced a June 27 date for the various-artists tribute album's first digital single: "Reminisce" by the Flashcubes with Mike Gent.

Our regular listeners already know the song quite well. We've been playing "Reminisce" for months, each spin somehow even more enthusiastic than the last. After a few years celebrating the Flashcubes' prowess in covering other artists, it was imperative to remind all 'n' sundry of the magnificence to be found in the band's own songwriting catalog. Hence a tribute album, gathering a bunch of accomplished rockin' pop performers to offer their own interpretations of some Cubic classics. 

I felt it was important--very important--that this tribute album should also include at least one newly-recorded original track by the Flashcubes themselves. Independent of what passes for my thought process, the 'Cubes were already working on three new tracks--"Reminisce" by Paul Armstrong, "If These Hands" by Arty Lenin, and "The Sweet Spot" by Gary Frenay (with the late B. D. Love)--so this was a match made in Bomp! magazine.

In addition to being the first single, "Reminisce" will open the album, kicking off this magic immersion in the Flashcubes' songbook, culminating in the Spongetones' album-closing cover of Arty Lenin's "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young." Make Something Happen! is a fantastic record, and I'm looking forward to the day you can hear it in its entirety. For now, we start with the single. June 27th will be your first opportunity to make something happen.

(An advance look at my liner notes for Make Something Happen! will be distributed privately to my $3-a-month paid Patreon supporters tomorrow, along with a mostly-unredacted look at the album's line-up. Wanna see it? Fund me, baby!)

THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach

HEY!WE'RETHERAMONESANDTHISONE'SCALLED"ROCKAWAYBEACH!"

Outside of the Beatles, no band has ever meant more to me than the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, the Ramones. The Flashcubes are the only other band in my all-time pop Trinity. The Ramones were the subject of my first book, and the creators of the record that changed my life. It's Alive is my favorite live album.

This week's spin of "Rockaway Beach" comes from NYC 1978, a 2003 King Biscuit Flower Hour CD that preserves a January 7th, 1978 Ramones performance at the Palladium. That date was eight days after the London New Year's Eve performance captured on It's Alive, ten days before my 18th birthday (which was the day I bought the "Rockaway Beach" 45), and about a week shy of three months before the March 31st, 1978 Ramones/Flashcubes/Runaways Syracuse gig that was my first Ramones show.

There is no substitute for live Ramones. There's also no substitute for studio Ramones, but let's talk in-concert brudders for a sec. Both It's Alive and NYC 1978 offer essential shots of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy in their natural element.

It's not hard, not far to reach. Everything is as it was then...except you are there. Take it, Dee Dee!

BEATLES: No Reply

Speaking of the Beatles: 

If I were you I'd realize that I

Love you more than any other guy

And I'd forgive the lies that I

Heard before when you gave me no reply

Pop music's best bridge ever. Narrowly edging out the Beatles' "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party," which narrowly edges out Badfinger's Beatles-inspired "Baby Blue." Toppermost of the poppermost, lads.

DAVIE ALLAN AND THE ARROWS: Blues' Theme

Our old theme song! Before the late-evening dawn (What...?!) of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio at the very end of 1998, the first Dana and Carl radio shows were the short-lived 1992 series We're Your Friends For Now. The trek from We're Your Friends For Now through the first two decades of TIRnRR is chronicled in my mini-memoir Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio).

On We're Your Friends For Now, our opening and closing theme song was usually Davie Allan and the Arrows' chopperrific classic "Blues' Theme." It's a track from the soundtrack of The Wild Angels, a 1966 biker flick starring Peter Fonda (as Blues) and Nancy Sinatra (as Blues' go'geous girlfriend Mike).

I saw The Wild Angels on a mid-'70s matinee double bill with The Born Losers, the 1967 film that introduced Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to "Blues' Theme," and I don't recall what sequence of circumstance led me back to the song in the '80s. It became one of my top tunes, so I was more than all-in when Dana started playing it at the Hola! and Sayonara! spots in each week's exciting episode of We're Your Friends For Now.

And it still sounds great--and chopperrific!--ridin' into the sunset of this week's eleven-song 10 Songs. Hey, Blues! Tell Mike we said hi.

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 5/10/2025

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 # 1284

CHRIS VON SNEIDERN: No Promise

Peerless pop performer Chris von Sneidern is an expatriate Central New Yorker--315 represent!--and he's been on each of the five This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums: "Lonely Tonight" and a TIRnRR show ID on Volume 1, another show ID on Volume 2, yet another show ID on Volume 3, "Insomniac Summer" on Volume 4, and "Goodnight Sailor" on Volume 5. CVS is nothing short of an international treasure, and we are honored that he's allowed us to share his wonderful, wonderful work. 

Given his firsthand local boy familiarity with Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, Chris was an obvious and prerequisite choice to include in the forthcoming album Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. And man, our Chris does not disappoint. He took on the tribute's most daunting task: A cover of my favorite Flashcubes song, "No Promise."

"No Promise" was written by 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay. We included the Flashcubes' demo version of "No Promise" on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 (as discussed here), and the official version from the group's Bright Lights anthology earned its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). One suspects that I kinda like the song.

Chris von Sneidern's cover nails it. Drop the freakin' mic awready. And it reinforces my belief that Make Something Happen! is destined to be one of this year's best collections.

That is a promise.

JOE GIDDINGS: Tonite Tonite

MADDY MACLAINE: So What?

Family night at TIRnRR! From Joe Giddings' ace current record Stories With Guitars, we've been playing this way fab track "Tonite Tonite" with the saturation bombardment approach you should expect from a proper rockin' pop radio show. The esteemed Mr. Giddings has also given us a superb cover of Flashcubes guitarist Arty Lenin's "You're Not Grounded" for the above-extolled Make Something Happen! project. You can safely consider us in favor of all things Giddings.

Joe recently posted that his daughter Maddy Maclaine has a new single out. Intriguing! The single is "So What?," we did our due diligence in tracking down a copy for airplay, and we hereby declare it go'geous. Go'geous! The Giddings blood line runs true.

PERILOUS: Dear Heart

A new single from Perilous...?! Oh YEAH! "Dear Heart" may be the group's most flat-out POP!! record yet, sacrificing none of their CBGB's-level passion and drive while committing to a head-over-heels swoon into the arms of, y'know, swooning. Production by TIRnRR Fave Rave Kurt Reil adds extra dollops of gravitas, and we're all eager to swoon right along. This "Dear Heart" beats again on our next show.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Gene Clark (Broken Wing)

Speaking of the mighty Kurt Reil, his own phenomenal pop combo the Grip Weeds also have a new single out, further teasing the presumed magnificence of their forthcoming album Soul Bender. Given how much airplay this little mutant radio show has allotted to the Grip Weeds' cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend," it's a given that we'll likewise wanna spin an original Grip Weeds gem that name-checks the Byrds' Gene Clark. Byrdseriffic! We can not wait to go on a Soul Bender ourselves.

THE ROLLING STONES: Happy

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

Although Make Something Happens!'s track sequence is still subject to much further tweaking, the Spongetones' cover of Arty Lenin's "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" remains the likely closing track. How could it not be? As we exult in the legacy of the Flashcubes and how much their music has meant to me over a span of nearly five decades, I dig the flow and symmetry of opening the album with the new Flashcubes track "Reminisce" (written by 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong) and barreling our way to "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" at the end. Reminisce. Nothing Really Matters When You're Young. Look back. Reflect. And rock out with fist raised. 

A great album's final track has to be as irresistible as a great album's first track. Mission accomplished here.

THE NEW BRUTARIANS: Born Out Of Time

A recent episode of The Spoon podcast introduced us to St. Petersburg, Florida group the New Brutarians. We figured we can't go wrong copying The Spoon and grabbed latest New Brutarians single "Born Out Of Time" for our own selfish playlist-stuffin' purposes. Listen, these three-hour weekly radio shows don't just fill themselves, people. "Born Out Of Time" carries the added approved-by-TIRnRR patina of drummin' and productionin' by The Spoon's overhost Robbie Rist, though we credited those respective roles on air to Oliver Martin and David Baxter. Let's face it: We're too cute and clever for all but a select few words. Sadly, we can't say most of those words on the radio. 

Brutal.

MIKE GENT: Pathetic [work-in-progress mix]

Mike Gent of the Figgs is working on a very special contribution to Make Something Happen!, and he allowed us to play his work-in-progress cover of Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's song "Pathetic."

The finished version of Mike's track will sport a lead vocal by a noted rock 'n' roll artist whose work I've enjoyed since I was still in high school. I have also heard a subsequent work-in-progress mix with that lead vocal in place, and the result lives up to all of my giddy expectations. Or, as Paul Armstrong hisself noted, "It's unreal hearing [REDACTED] FUCKING [REDACTED] sing a song I wrote!"

We're not quite ready to address the Rumour of this secret guest singer's identity. Though sometimes I feel like pouring it all out. 

Passion is no ordinary word.

CALLAN FOSTER: It's You Tonight

It's tempting to say that Callan Foster's epic take on Gary Frenay's "It's You Tonight" was one of the precipitating events that made Make Something Happen! happen. That's not exactly true--the vague idea of maybe someday doing a Flashcubes tribute album predates Callan's one-man-'Cubes cover--but his version and its accompanying video blew me away. And it provided instant validation of my belief that a Flashcubes tribute album was viable and necessary. 

And now we are making it happen. Thanks, Callan! It's you tonight.

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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.