10 SONGS: 5/17/2025

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 # 1285

JILL SOBULE: Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart

As we mourn the passing of Jill Sobule, the commentary accompanying this week's posted playlist wondered out loud why TIRnRR hasn't played more--a lot more--of Jill Sobule's music over the years. "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" is a prime example of the sort of sublime rockin' pop splendor this show favors; I can't offer any excuse for the fact that I've owned the track (from Sobule's 2000 album Pink Pearl) for a quarter of a century, yet we didn't program it until now.

But we're playing it now, and we'll play it again on our next show. No shortage of broken hearts, not then, not now, nor in any direction going forward. Godspeed, Ms. Sobule.

GRAHAM PARKER AND THE GOLDTOPS: Last Stretch Of The Road

I've been digging the music of Graham Parker since I was in high school, when WOUR-FM in Utica, NY started playing "Hotel Chambermaid." That was almost five decades ago, meaning my interest in GP predates my subsequent thralldom to the Rubinoos, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. 

The esteemed Mr. Parker has a brand-new, as-yet unreleased track we hope to play for you within the next few weeks. I've heard a work-in-progress mix, it's flippin' fantastic, and I can't wait for the moment when you'll be able to hear it. 

Meanwhile, we play "Last Stretch Of The Road," the de facto title track from Graham Parker and the Goldtops' 2023 album Last Chance To Learn The Twist. Last chance? Man, we're just getting started. 

THE BONGOS: In The Congo

Although I can't claim to have been a fan of the Bongos for quite as long as I've been into Graham Parker, it's only about a five-year discrepancy, still totaling nearly 45 years since a couple of tracks on a various-artists live compilation called Start Swimming served as my introduction to the wonderful world of the Bongos.

The Bongos' tracks on Start Swimming were "Telephoto Lens" and "In The Congo," and the studio versions on their first album Drums Along The Hudson remain my top two Bongotunes. Both are represented on the new archival live album The Shroud Of Touring--Live In 1985, due out soon from everyone's friends Jem Records, and we spin that in-your-face in-concert "In The Congo" on this week's show. We'll hear another Shroud Of Touring selection on the radio this coming Sunday night. We are, in fact, gonna glow in the dark that night. Glow with us!

NELSON BRAGG: We're Gonna Laugh About It

A new single from long-time TIRnRR Fave Rave Nelson Bragg? Yeah, we're playing that for sure. Our man Nelson's tenure playing with Brian Wilson serves him well on his luxurious new confection "We're Gonna Laugh About It," and we've now learned that this perfect li'l pet sound will be on a cool new Nelson Bragg anthology called Mèlodie De Nelson: A Pop Anthology. HuzZAH! We're not laughing. We're CHEERING! 

SONNY: Laugh At Me

THE SKELETONS: Trans Am

How to build nonpareil rock 'n' roll radio playlists, Lesson One: Know what works and, y'know, do that. In this example of better radio through better radio, Dana followed my spin of Nelson Bragg's "We're Gonna Laugh About It" with Sonny (of Sonny and Cher) warblin' his amiable 1965 protest single "Laugh At Me." As one does if one is a superior radio programmer like Dana.

I love that track, but I don't recall hearing Sonny's original until many years after the fact. In place of Mr. Bono, my initial exposure to "Laugh At Me" came from witnessing America's Coolest Band the Skeletons cover it in their live sets in the early '90s. In programming this week's show, that specific Sonny-to-Skeletons connection compelled me to respond to Dana's pick with the Skeletons' own original 1980 protest single "Trans Am." That, in turn, prompted Dana to say that he'd almost played the Skeletons' studio cover of "Laugh At Me" instead of Sonny's. Serendipity at work, my friends. Superior playlist achieved. Plenty of laughter in that ol' Trans Am.

THE RAMONES: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

From the previous piece "Chewin' Out A Rhythm On My Bubblegum: My 25 Favorite Ramones Tracks:"

We don't generally think of the Ramones as balladeers. But the Ramones were raised on AM Top 40 radio when AM Top 40 was fantastic, bred by the sounds of girl groups, British Invasion, Motown, garage, bubblegum, rock, and pop. Ballads were part of that environment.

And the Ramones were--perhaps incongruously--great at ballads. That should not be true...but it is. I'm not much for power ballads myself. But Ramones power ballads? The Ramones made power ballads cool.

We got a new album out. It's called Rocket To Russia. This one's called "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow."

With Dee Dee's count-in following Joey's introduction, the first time I heard "Here Today. Gone Tomorrow" was when the Ramones played it at my first Ramones live show. Stunning, and a remarkably effective slow burn amidst the fast-loud-rules of the Blitzkrieg Boppin' and Cretin Hoppin' that surrounded it in concert. 

By then, I think I'd already read Greg Shaw's rave about the song in the pages of Bomp! magazine. Hearing it live delivered on Shaw's promise, and the studio track lived up to it. The Ramones as balladeers. Someone had to pay the price.

It was worth it.

THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS: O-o-h Child

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: If These Hands

As we settle everything into its perfect Cubic place for Big Stir Records' forthcoming various-artists set Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, we've been treating our lucky listeners to serial advance immersions in itty-bitty teases of this fabulous record's bounty. This week's show includes spins of Make Something Happen! tracks by Librarians With Hickeys and Chris von Sneidern, our next show will debut new Flashcubes covers by the Mayflowers and the Peppermint Kicks, and there's way more bright-lights brilliance to come. I may have suggested a Rumour of one as-yet-unrevealed Make Something Happen! participant earlier in today's post. 

At our beggin...er, our request, the Flashcubes have contributed three newly-recorded tracks to Make Something Happen! Each of those fresh gems--Paul Armstrong's "Reminisce," Gary Frenay's "The Sweet Spot," and Arty Lenin's "If These Hands"--will also be issued as digital singles, prepping an eager power pop world for the album's September release. It's all happening!

BARON DAEMON AND THE VAMPIRES: The Transylvania Twist

I've spoken elsewhere of the importance of Syracuse television personality Mike Price, particularly in his role as our beloved 1960s local TV vampire Baron Daemon. His single "The Transylvania Twist" (credited to Baron Daemon and the Vampires) earned a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), I did a video about it, and Price's death last week marks the loss of yet another cherished part of my childhood. I wrote about that here. And it's worth repeating this portion from the introduction of my GREM! book's chapter about "The Transylvania Twist:"

"My home town of Syracuse, NY is best known for its snowfall, its college basketball, and its foolproof plan to turn the area into a tourist Mecca by building a really big shopping mall where a bunch of oil tanks used to squat. What could possibly go wrong?

"But in the early 1960s, Syracuse gave the world Baron Daemon, the willfully goofy TV vampire host of Baron Daemon's Buddies on Channel 9. Believe me, if you were a kid around here at that time, Baron Daemon was as big as the Beatles to you.

"In the fifties and sixties, many local markets had their own flamboyant vampire kiddie TV host. Only Syracuse had Baron Daemon. From 1962 to 1967, the Baron and his cohorts cavorted in televised escapades and performed schtick between cartoons and Flash Gordon serial adventures, live (or undead) from the Channel 9 studio in the basement of the Shoppingtown shopping center. Every kid in Syracuse was a fan of Baron Daemon...."

And as I added last week:

"Today, Syracuse mourns its favorite vampire. Mike Price had a long and successful career with Channel 9, racking up a résumé that went far beyond just the bloody Baron. But the Baron could never be just a footnote. The Baron was too big for that.

"Our area has produced its share of stars, from Richard Gere to Tom Kenny, David Muir, and so many more. They're all great, and we're proud they came from the 315. But Syracuse has never produced a bigger star than Baron Daemon...

"...This bloody buddy will never forget you."

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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.

10 SONGS: 9/23/2021

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

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1095.

CHET ATKINS: I Feel Fine

In the hype for TIRnRR # 1095, I bragged about its playlist containing 25 tracks we'd never played before. That number included Dana's spin of "I Feel Fine" by Chet Atkins, from the country guitar legend's 1966 album Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles.

But: oops. Yeah yeah yeah, we have played that track before. Specifically, I played it as a between-sets musical bed on July 2nd, 2017, in my second of two all-vinyl solo TIRnRRs. See, I thought it sounded familiar. However, this week did mark the first time we've played the track without talking over it. And 24 is still a lot of fresh tracks for one decades-spanning show, and I think--I think--we'll have 22 on next week's show.  (Incidentally, the first all-vinyl TIRnRR was April 9th, 2017. For those tracking our grooves.) 

NELSON BRAGG: Glorious Days

We've been playing the mighty Nelson Bragg's music since his debut album Day Into Night in 2007, with its track "Forever Days" a partic'lar Fave Rave on these airwaves. We've continued to play and adore his subsequent releases, and we're certainly not gonna stop now. We're beyond delighted to serve up this debut spin of "Glorious Days," an instant grabber from Nelson's forthcoming new album Gratitude Blues. We will also be delighted to play it again next week. As our regulars understand: we know a hit when we hear one.

THE CHARMS: Top Down

Boston band the Charms' 2003 debut album Charmed, I'm Sure was an immediate Pick Hit on this program, and its lead-off track "Top Down" is a full-throttle rockin' pop combustion that can rightly be considered one of the defining tracks of this little mutant radio show's long and storied history. Jeez, it has been way too long since we played this fantastic track. Top down, radio on!

FOXY: Hot Number

My lovely wife Brenda and I recently finished watching the one and only season of Freaks And Geeks. It was her first time through, my second or third time, and we agree that the show was just fantastic, its premature cancellation offering another sign that TV networks are generally headed by schmucks. Clueless, soulless, Philistine schmucks.

Freaks And Geeks inspired two selections on this week's playlist: Black Flag's "Rise Above" and Foxy's "Hot Number," the latter going out to Nick Andopolis, wherever he is. It's a disco song, but ol' Nick was right in claiming that its bass and drums and overall oomph are as rock 'n' roll as any of its contemporaries. I would argue that it's a damned sight more rock 'n' roll than, say, Styx, though Nick would disagree with that. (If there'd been a second season of Freaks And Geeks, Nick would have probably disavowed Foxy, but we can only speculate about that.)

THE LINDA LINDAS: No Clue

I don't think it's a joke when I refer to the Linda Lindas as "the buzz band of 2021." The very young quartet has racked up accolades from fans and critics all over, under, sideways, and down, and the group deserves every syllable of praise they've garnered. And, as we've noted previously, ya gotta love a combo named after a song by Japanese punk combo the Blue Hearts (or at least after a movie--Linda Linda Linda--named after a Blue Hearts song).

The Linda Lindas' "Claudia Kishi" is a near-lock for an appearance on TIRnRR's year-end countdown show, and both "Never Say Never" and "Oh!" have legit shots at keepin' Claudia company on the countdown. This is the first time we've played "No Clue," and it may be my favorite of the lot. But there's no need to pick a favorite; they're all cool. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

DANNY MALONE: You Were So Warm

This comes to us courtesy of the Flashcubes' drummer Tommy Allen, who is also a producer of considerable renown and talent. Tommy's working with singer Danny Malone, and that collaboration has yielded this sublime cover of the Dwight Twilley Band's pure pop classic "You Were So Warm." Danny's recording includes Tommy, plus Flashcubes bassist Gary Frenay, the outtasight Maura Kennedy, Fernando Perdomo, and the Choir's Danny Klawon, so it's got TIRnRR written all over it. Of course we played it on the radio!

PRINCE: Yes

Dana and I are always looking for fresh and fascinating content to play on this show. The July release of what's effectively a new Prince album somehow slipped past my net entirely. Recorded in 2010, Welcome 2 America sat in the Prince vault until this summer, and what I've heard of it so far is prime Prince. We'll hear another track on next week's show.

THREE DOG NIGHT: It's For You

Believe it or not, this is the very first time we've ever played Three Dog Night on TIRnRR. Yeah, nearly 1100 shows into this, we still have a lot of ground left to cover. "It's For You" is a John Lennon-Paul McCartney song (though it's likely just Macca), originally recorded by Cilla Black. I swear to God I remember Three Dog Night's version from my adolescence, like I heard it on AM radio in the late '60s or very early '70s. And maybe I did. But it wasn't a single in the U.S., so I probably remember it from one of my sister's (or even my babysitter Ginny's) Three Dog Night LPs. 

 For dramatic purposes, my circa 1971 babysitter shall be portrayed by actress Linda Cardellini

Mmmmm--babysitters. And pesky, misleading, Swiss-cheese memory. Wherever and however, "It's For You" is my favorite Three Dog Night track.

THE WEEKLINGS: Mona Lisa

The Weeklings At The Hollywood Bowl! The Live Weeklings! Weeklings Got Live If You Want It! I could go on, but it's time for a little mercy to go with your Mersey. Its title a willful twist of Lennon, In Their Own Write is a fab new in-concert document from the Weeklings, showcasing the band as they exercise their effervescent Britmania on covers and originals alike. Cue the screaming female fans, but don't plug your ears; you need to hear the Weeklings. You may even wanna scream right along with the lasses. We love you Weeklings, oh yes we do.

DANNY WILKERSON: Let It Go Tonight

Danny Wilkerson's fantastic track "Let It Go Tonight" (from his fabulous SpyderPop Records release Wilkerson) was TIRnRR's # 10 most-played track in 2018. The record was on many a year-end best-of list, but still didn't get the love and attention it deserved. One suspects the world at large is run by the same sort of clueless, soulless, Philistine schmucks who cancelled Freaks And Geeks. Cretins.

But now! NOW! The visionaries at Big Stir Records have partnered with SpyderPop to refocus your short attention span on Wilkerson, reissuing it alongside other SpyderPop irresistibles by Bill Lloyd and Lannie Flowers, all great, all deserving of a shrine-like spot in your permanent library of sound. Do not let it go. Get 'em all. Screw the Philistines anyway.

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My Pop Worlds Merge: ANNY CELSI Writes About BRIAN WILSON's Band, And PET SOUNDS

                                                

Anny Celsi is one of my fave raves.  I first heard Anny's music when intrepid This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana Bonn received a copy of her superswell 2003 album Little Black Dress & Other Stories.  From first spin, I was enthralled by the track "Empty Hangers," which has earned a permanent berth on my All-Time Hot 300. Since then, I've tracked down (I think) all of Anny Celsi's releases, from Annyland's 1996 She Walks In through Little Black Dress & Other Stories, Tangle-Free World, and January. Because Anny's a sweetie, she also allowed us to use "Empty Hangers" on our most recent compilation CD, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3.

While I fell for Anny immediately, it took me a while to become a Beach Boys fan.  As a kid in the '60s and early '70s, I knew the hits, and liked 'em well enough, but the standard-issue Endless Summer double-LP set was all the Beach Boys I was ever likely to need. Spurred on by a sudden, inexplicable love of "Sloop John B," I purchased a copy of Pet Sounds as a freshman in college, circa Spring '78.  I liked it.  My life did not change.  The Yergers, the wonderful folks who owned Main Street Records in Brockport, tried their level best to turn me into a Beach Boys fan, but I guess I just wasn't ready.  Not yet.

An odd sequence of events changed that by the late '80s. Capitol Records began a comprehensive series of Beach Boys CD reissues; I borrowed a copy of the two-fer Beach Boys Today/Summer Days (And Summer Nights!), and BAM! Hooked. Just like that. The Doonesbury comic strip ran a storyline about a terminal AIDS patient, trying to hold on to life long enough to hear Pet Sounds on CD.  Silly as it seems, this inspired me to give Pet Sounds a fresh listen.  I now agree with the many who hail it as the greatest album of all time.

I had a chance to see The Beach Boys in concert in...1989, I think? 1990? Somewhere in there. Brian Wilson, of course, was not touring with the group, and Dennis Wilson had long since caught that last wave home. Mike Love was there...yeah, hooray.  But so were Al Jardine and Carl Wilson, and it was just fantastic.  Even Love was sorta tolerable, kinda.  And I got to witness Carl Wilson singing "God Only Knows" live, and that's an indelible concert memory I can cherish until I catch the last wave home.  I saw Al Jardine with his band on one subsequent occasion, but I have never seen Brian Wilson live.

That will change on Monday, August 29th, when the legendary Brian Wilson brings his incredible band to Syracuse for a free--FREE!--show at the New York State Fair, recreating Pet Sounds live.  I guess I shouldn't call it "free"--ya gotta buy a ticket for admission to the Fair, which'll set you back a hefty $6 in advance, something like $10 at the gate.  Jeez.  Hardly seems worth it now, right?  Yeah, everyone else, just stay home that day.  Save your money!  Heh, heh, heh....

I cannot believe our good fortune in getting this opportunity here.  Wilson's crackerjack band includes members of The Wondermints, as well as Al Jardine, and a great guy named Nelson Bragg, whose own terrific music I was introduced to by some chick named...oh, Anny Celsi.  Right!  Full circle!

The Brian Wilson Band has earned international acclaim for its impeccable ability to perform Pet Sounds, SMiLE, and the full width and depth of the Brian Wilson Bible. But don't take my word for it.  Take Anny Celsi's word for it:

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/09/484983061/pet-sounds-and-the-band-that-gets-to-play-it-onstage

You should probably listen to her.  I betcha she caught on way before I did.