10 SONGS: 12/23/2025

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 # 1316: The 27th Annual THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Christmas show

THE WEEKLINGS: Gonna Be Christmas

Why, yes! It IS gonna be Christmas! Very soon! Following our standard Christmas show introduction--John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"--The 27th Annual THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL Christmas show opens with this delightful track from the Weeklings' Christmas album. It's a perfect song to kick off our seasonal celebration, its eyes bright with wonder and its heart open to the promise of possibility. It's gonna be Christmas. Here's a toast and a wish for the best of what that might be.

BLAINE CAMPBELL AND THE CALIFORNIA SOUND: Christmas Day

The annual TIRnRR Christmas shows are built in large part with familiar favorites. We don't want to do the same ol' show every December, but Dana and I do have a few specific tracks we're hell's-jingle-bells bent on programming. We never even come close to accommodating all of the music we wanna play, and this year's holiday playlist (like its 26 predecessors) did not have time to include a number of our perennial picks. Santa understands our dilemma, and he does not assign us naughty points for our omissions.

As berths on the playlist fill up faster'n a little kid's Christmas wish list, we still try to squeeze in a little bit of new Yuletunes alongside our beloved classics. We debuted 2025 offerings by Perilous, Jamie Hoover, and the Krayolas on last week's show, and saved this gem from Blaine Campbell and the California Sound's recent Holidays EP for this week. 

QUINT: Almost Christmas Eve

I'm not much of a Hallmark-style Christmas TV movie fan, but I recognize the sweet sugar-cookie comfort appeal of those flicks, and more power to those who celebrate. Love at Christmas? Can't fault that.

Before my mom passed in 2021, I used to catch extended glimpses of some works within this ho-ho-Hallmark genre playing in the common room at her nursing home. I think the only one I've ever deliberately watched in its entirety is 2021's Blending Christmas, which I made a point of seeing because TIRnRR's long-time friend Robbie Rist is in it (as are some of his former castmates from The Brady Bunch). I didn't get around to seeing Blending Christmas until well after he fact--I don't think I was aware of its existence until last year--but it was inoffensive and agreeable, and there's nothing wrong with that.

For the TIRnRR Christmas shows, the Hallmark and Company movie music content comes from Beaus Of Holly, a 2020 production with soundtrack contributions by Quint, which is our Robbie with film director Anthony C. Ferrante. Some years we play "Bows Of Holly," the de facto title theme as performed by Quint with guest vocalist Karen Bassett. Sometimes we go with "Almost Christmas Eve." Can't go wrong either way, and you can stuff your own virtual stocking with digital copies of both songs on the Quint collection Yes, It's Christmas. 

Warmth and comfort. Love for Christmas. Meet cute. I refuse to summon snark against anything that brings joy to the world. 

ELVIS PRESLEY: Santa Claus Is Back In Town

King Elvis I. Repeating what I've said in previous years: It's not Christmas without the King.

DARLENE LOVE: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

One long-ago holiday season, back when our pal (and Radio Deer Camp host) Rich Firestone was slavin' away in commercial radio, a clueless suit once told him that nobody wants to hear anything from Phil Spector's Christmas album A Christmas Gift For You. See, that guy's getting coal for Christmas. The late Spector himself is also getting coal; in fact he's probably helping to produce the (literally) damned coal nowadays--warm and toasty!--but I digress. 

We endeavor to include a track from Spector's Christmas album in each year's TIRnRR Xmas Xtravaganza. The picks vary from year to year; last year and the year before, it was the Ronettes' "Frosty The Snowman," and in 2022 it was the Ronettes' "Sleigh Ride." We've skipped some years, but A Christmas Gift For You is always in the mix as we consider what to play on our Christmas show.

The above-mentioned "Sleigh Ride" is the track I most remember hearing on December AM radio airwaves when I was younger, and it's a fabulous number indeed. But the truest classic on the Spector Christmas album is Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and it was way overdue for a return to our playlist. This year, it finally comes back home.

SLADE: Merry Xmas Everybody

Slade's 1973 we're-gonna-have-a-GLITTERY-Christmas treat "Merry Xmas Everybody" was a huge, huge hit in the band's native England, but it's merely something of a cult fave rave on these shores. Pity, because I've absolutely adored it since first hearing it on a various-artists Christmas collection more than a decade later.

Does your Granny always tell you that the old songs are the best? Then she's up and rock 'n' rolling with the rest

Old and new. As the philosopher Linus once told his friend Charlie: That's what Christmas is all about.

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Listen The Snow Is Falling

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE MONKEES: House Of Broken Gingerbread

Last week, for the first time in a long time, I listened to the Monkees' 2018 album Christmas Party. At the time of the album's release, I was disappointed--very disappointed--that the Monkees were following up the sheer triumph of their 2016 album Good Times! with a Christmas record rather than, y'know, a real record. This disappointment grew three sizes when the subsequent deaths of Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith meant that Christmas Party would be the final Monkees studio album.

The playlist for this year's Christmas show was already set, and the show itself already recorded, before I listened to The Spoon podcast's 2025 Christmas show. The Spoon, hosted by that Robbie Rist guy with his buds Chris Jackson and Thom Bowers, is always a must-listen event, and their holiday presentation this year includes a track from Christmas Party, as Michael Nesmith croons "The Christmas Song." Papa Nez wasn't exactly Nat King Cole, nor did he wish to be, but his rendition is warm and inviting. I didn't hate it.

That was sufficient impetus for me to spin the whole album again, half of it during my Saturday morning commute, the rest of it when I arrived at work. It's a better record than my knee-jerk resistance to it would have conceded at the time of release. Micky Dolenz has always been one of my favorite pop singers, and he acquits himself well here, even on a palatable version of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Dishwatertime," or whatever we wanna call that awful Macca song I've despised for decades. Mostly produced by the late Adam Schlesinger, Christmas Party is almost a Dolenz solo album, with two independent contributions from Nesmith, two archival tracks by Davy Jones (whom we lost in 2012), and a heavily-autotuned solo vocal and banjo performance by a very fragile-sounding Tork on "Angels We Have Heard On High;" cancer claimed Tork in February of 2019, mere months after Christmas Party came out.

As noted above, our Christmas show was wrapped 'n' ready before I heard Michael Nesmith on The Spoon extolling the virtues of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, before my re-listen to Christmas Party. The Christmas Party track "House Of Broken Gingerbread" made its way to our playlist on its own virtue and vice and everything nice. Co-written by Adam Schlesinger and novelist Michael Chabon, "House Of Broken Gingerbread" is sung from the POV of a child of divorce, spending part-time holidays at the separate households of his estranged parents. Perhaps not the stuff from which traditional Christmas cards were crafted. Dolenz sings it so well, so commandingly, applying a candy-cane coating that does not conceal its underlying ache and discontent.

(The Monkees have appeared in some form on most of our 27 annual Christmas shows. Our usual go-to Christmas Monkees track is the simply gorgeous a cappella "Riu Chiu" from 1967 [discussed here], but we occasionally play "House Of Gingerbread" instead. This year, I was thinking of subbing "Christmas Is My Time Of Year," a 1976 single by Dolenz, Jones, and Tork, but as I was mulling song choices, Micky's insistent Fa la LA la la la-la-laaaaa from "House Of Broken Gingerbread" stage-dived into the visions of sugarplums that had been dancing in my head, causing 'em to flee for their lives. So: "House Of Broken Gingerbread" got the slot. Fa la LA...!)

THE RAMONES: Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)

Seems like a worthy goal.

THE IDEA: It's About That Time

John and Yoko at the top. George Harrison's "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" at or near the end. In between, our Christmas show perennials generally include "The Man In The Santa Suit" by Fountains Of Wayne, "Purple Snowflakes" by Marvin Gaye, "Gonna Ask Santa Claus" by Bibi Farber with the Michael Lynch Orchestra, "Jesus Christ" by Big Star, "Christmas" by the Rooks, "I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You" by Margo Guryan, "2000 Miles" by the Pretenders, usually "Father Christmas" by the Kinks, usually something by James Brown, the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" when we can carve out enough space for it. Other than the Beatles' Christmas messages 1963-1969, no individual track has been played on all 27 of our annual Christmas shows.

The Idea's "It's About That Time" has been on most of them. It's my # 1 all-time favorite Christmas track, and it's not Christmas for me if I can't play it.

It's about that time. Gather 'round the Christmas tree, or just around the artifact of your choice. "Happy Holidays!" remains one of many valid and welcome expressions of well wishes, and these trying times are in dire need of as many well wishes as we can generate. Peace on Earth. Good will toward all. It should always be about that time. We wish you the merriest.

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: 11/8/2025

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 # 1309

THE GOLD NEEDLES: Ghost In The Airwaves

Awright! Even as we barrel past October 31st with manic intent, we're still playing goodies from Big Stir Records' fabulous Halloween compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies. Yeah, we pride ourselves on being jack o'lanterns for ALL seasons. This week, that deliberate pursuit of tricky treats brings us to the Gold Needles' Chilling-Thrilling-HAUNTED! hit "Ghost In The Airwaves," which seems a natural choice to put the ol' poltergeist into our little mutant radio signal. We'll hear Strawberry Alarm Clock's contribution to this album on our next show. And for further gilded 'n' pointed deviltry, stay tuned for more from the Gold Needles in two weeks, as we dive into their brand-new album Mood Elevator. Stick with us, you silver threads! We all shine on.

THE PRETENDERS: What You Gonna Do About It?

Both Dana and I love the music of the Small Faces, and I'm gonna guess that Chrissie Hynde and her great Pretenders are Small Faces fans as well. Their take on the Small Faces' "What You Gonna Do About It?" is outstanding, and might even surpass the original. 

THE HALF/CUBES: When I Look In Your Eyes

"When I Look In Your Eyes" was the first track by the Romantics that I ever heard on the radio. It wasn't my first exposure to the Romantics; it was Romantics # 6 for me, as I already owned copies of their two indie singles ("Little White Lies"/"I Can't Tell You Anything" and "Tell It To Carrie"/"First In Line"), plus the compilation LP cut "Let's Swing." But in 1979, the only DJ I'd heard spinning any of those Romantics classics was future DJ me, either at home in the Syracuse suburbs or in my Brockport college dorm room.

In (I think) late '79, Syracuse's 95X started playing "When I Look In Your Eyes" as an advance track from the Romantics' forthcoming eponymous debut album. That album wasn't released until January 1980, but I clearly remember hearing the track on 95X prior to the LP's street date. My memory insists I heard it in the summer, but I suspect my memory mighta been drinking. Whenever it was, I was thrilled to hear power pop on commercial radio.

My hometown heroes the Flashcubes were contemporaries of the Romantics, and the two bands shared bills at shows in Syracuse and Detroit. Alas, the Romantics' appearances in the 315 always occurred when I was out of town, matriculatin' elsewhere. The Flashcubes also had a track ("Christi Girl") on the same compilation (Waves Vol. 1) that sported the Romantics' "Let's Swing."  

Now, the Half/Cubes (featuring Flashcubes bassist Gary Frenay and drummer/producer Tommy Allen, plus Randy Klawon and Fernando Perdomo) have recorded an absolutely exquisite cover of "When I Look In Your Eyes" as a track on the uber-fab new Half/Cubes album Found Pearls. It still sounds great in its natural habitat: On the radio, playing loud.

THE SPONGETONES: It Seemed So Easy

Power Pop Hall of Famers the Spongetones are a regular and welcome presence on TIRnRR, and 2025 has provided us with a treasure trove of new Spongetones tracks to program with our usual delirious dedication. They released three swell new singles this year, and then packaged those studio winners as the "and beyond" portion of  their new live album The 40th Anniversary Concert...And Beyond. They have a track on the above-hyped Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies. Of course they have a track on my labor-o'-love compilation Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. Duh.

And the Spongetones pay proper tribute to power pop's ur-band Raspberries with a kickin' cover of "It Seemed So Easy," as heard on our pal Ken Sharp's flat-out fantastic compilation Play On: A Raspberries Tribute. We're gonna play this again on our next show, too. All hail this Year of the Spongetones.

THE CHELSEA CURVE: Rally Round

Wait, how has this not already appeared in a previous 10 Songs...?! I swear to Joey Ramone. I'd fire me if I could find someone cheaper. The Chelsea Curve's "Rally Round" is wall-to-wall invigmoration, it's one of this year's best singles, and we're gonna keep on playing it for the specific purpose of invigmoratin' in earnest. Invigmoration is its own reward. Rally round!

SLADE: Gudbuy T' Jane

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Do You Wanna Dance?

From a previous 10 Songs:

As much as we associate the film Rock 'n' Roll High School with the Ramones, actress P. J. Soles was the film's actual star, playing Riff Randell, teen rock 'n' roller. But the Ramones are at the heart of it all, and I can't imagine how the movie would have played with its previous intended band Cheap Trick (or director Allan Arkush's teen fantasy of a making a movie with the Yardbirds), nor how producer Roger Corman's original concept of Disco High could have succeeded on any aesthetic level. The essential nature of the Ramones' involvement here reminds me of what Roger Ebert said about the Beatles' first movie: If A Hard Day's Night had been shot in color, but was otherwise identical, frame by frame, it would not have been the same classic (and classic feeling) film as it is in black and white. The iconic black and white images of the Beatles are an essential part of A Hard Day's Night, just as the Ramones are central to Rock 'n' Roll High School.

Ramones music plays throughout the film, mixed with treats by Chuck Berry, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Devo, MC5, Alice Cooper, Brownsville Station, the Velvet Underground, and more. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Marky have brief "acting" bits, and five on-screen musical appearances. When we first see them, they lip-sync "I Just Want To Have Something To Do," and they show up in a dream sequence in Riff's bedroom--nice work if you can get it--serenading her with "I Want You Around." 

The Ramones return for two more songs at the film's climax. The film ends with title tune "Rock 'n' Roll High School," but the first of the two is "Do You Wanna Dance?," a cover of the familiar rock 'n' roll classic. For a very, very long time I regarded this as my all-time favorite cover of anything by anybody. And while I've kinda shifted my allegiance to the Ramones' cover of Tom Waits's "I Don't Want To Grow Up," I still wanna dance.

Don't you?

KATRINA LESKANICH: Honey Lamb

Katrina and the Waves' sublime signature hit "Walking On Sunshine" was my own Song of the Summer in 1985, and it's not even the group's very best track (an honor I'd bestow upon "Red Wine And Whiskey"). I get a warm 'n' sunshiny feeling just knowing that Katrina Leskanich is still walking that walk, and her glorious new single "Honey Lamb" remakes a lesser-known Katrina and the Waves to spectacular result. 

ACAPULCO LIPS: Fuzzy Sunshine

Gotta admit that I wasn't familiar with Acapulco Lips prior to hearing them as guests on a recent episode of the always-vital Only Three Lads podcast. The group's bassist/vocalist Maria-Elena Herrell immediately earned my respect by naming the Barracudas's Drop Out With The Barracudas (one of my all-time Love At First Spin perfect albums) among her Top 5 beach albums. PREACH!! And if mere great taste on the part of Herrell and her bandmates weren't enough to automatically make you a fan, a listen to their music will win you over to the righteous cause of all things Acapulco Lips. And while I'm cursing the fact that I didn't know about the group during [ahem] THE TWELVE YEARS THAT HAVE PASSED SINCE THEIR FIRST RELEASE, I thank O3L in there here and now, and we play this gorgeous track "Fuzzy Sunshine" from 2025's Now. Better late than not at all, and any record you ain't heard is a new record. If the sunshine's fuzzy, man, it feels fresh to me.

THE MONKEES: Daily Nightly

Psychedelic!

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.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Slade, "Gudbuy T' Jane"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

SLADE: Gudbuy T' Jane

Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea

Produced by Chas Chandler

Single, Polydor Records [UK], 1972

My love of rock 'n' roll radio was forged by my absolute fascination with AM Top 40, beginning when I was a kid in the '60s, manifesting in earnest when I was in middle school and high school in the '70s. My migration to FM by the time I graduated from high school in 1977 didn't change the fact of the matter: Radio was everything. 

Before radio playlists became so numbingly homogenized across the breadth of everywheresville, it was possible--common, even--for Top 40 stations in different parts of the USA to play records not being played in other markets; Top 40 stations in one city weren't necessarily playing all of the same potential hit records as Top 40 stations in other cities. Regional hits. Years later, I was surprised to learn that, say, "Tonight" by the Raspberries and "Blockbuster" by Sweet weren't radio smashes all across the USA. But here in Syracuse, they were. And so was "Gudbuy T' Jane" by UK stompers Slade.

The glittery 'n' glammy-looking (but rompin' 'n' stompin'-sounding) Slade were huge stars in their native British Isles in the early '70s, but nearly unknown in the States at that time. Except for in Syracuse; let's face it, we here in Syracuse were just plain ahead of you backward louts in the rest of America. 

Slade's awesome "Gudbuy T' Jane" was a great big hit record on Syracuse's Big 15 WOLF-AM, and I freakin' adored it. I can't remember whether or not I ever saw Slade alongside the divine Suzi Quatro, the loathsome Gary Glitter, or the Tartan-clad Bay City Rollers on cable-TV airings of the British pop show Supersonic a few years later; even if I did, "Gudbuy T' Jane" is my only real Slade memory from that time frame (other than a radio ad for a Slade live concert appearance, which this young teen had zero chance of attending).

My God, I loved "Gudbuy T' Jane." But as huge as Slade were in their native land, the colonies didn't catch on.  As a college freshman in the spring of '78, I read more about Slade in Bomp! magazine's landmark power pop issue. A later purchase of the best-of set Sladest gave me "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" and "Cum On Feel The Noize," and I was a fan. When goofy metal group Quiet Riot hit big in the '80s with a cover of "Cum On Feel The Noise," I could only roll my eyes and sniff imperiously at my countrymen and countrychicks embracing this clunky, numbskull proxy instead of the rockin' original. 

Poseurs.

When Slade finally had U.S. hits in the mid '80s with "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway," I shook my head in wonder that it took my fellow Americans so long to get down and get with what AM radio listeners in Syracuse already knew more than a decade before that. 

My practiced smuggery is tempered by an acknowledgement that I don't remember WOLF ever playing "Cum On Feel The Noize" or "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" or "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" or even the deck-the-halls-with-globs-o'-glitter classic "Merry Xmas Everybody." As I bemoan Slade's status as '70s no-hit wonders in the States, I've gotta concede that being one-hit wonders in Syracuse ain't exactly a platform-booted step beyond. 

But I knew Slade because Syracuse's WOLF-AM decided Slade's "Gudbye T' Jane" was a goddamned hit, and played the track accordingly. My first is still favored: "Gudbuy T' Jane." Made for the airwaves, then and now. 

Get with it, America, and get with it all you rock 'n' rollers and especially all you power poppers everywhere. Jane is all right, all right, all right, all right.

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: 7/26/2025

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 # 1295.

THE CYNZ: Can't Help Thinking About Me

This blog began in January of 2016, when my reaction to the death of David Bowie compelled me to start writing again. Following Blog Post # 1 on January 18th 2016 (my open letter to Bowie, later reconfigured as a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]), I began this daily blog. Other than a reduced schedule for a couple of months following the disaster of the November election, I never missed a single day, nor have I missed a day since resuming the regular schedule on January 18th of this year. As I wrote at that time:

"Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) began nine years ago today, when my lingering emotion in the aftermath of David Bowie's death compelled me to start a daily blog. This was a rash and possibly stupid decision, but I kept at it, with at least one post every single day until this past November. At that time, a combination of writing projects in need of my attention and my absolute disgust with the results of the Presidential election led me to pause and reconsider. I cut back to a reduced schedule of three to four posts a week, and I separated myself from the silly idea of maintaining a daily blog.

"Like John Lennon said when he reunited with Yoko Ono: The separation didn't work out...."

Given the prevailing (if unexpected) importance of Bowie in my story, a new various-artists tribute to Bowie has to be an automatic addition to the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio playlist. This is especially true for Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie, which is chock full of appearances by so many familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves. C'mon! The Weeklings AND the Grip Weeds AND Paul Collins AND the Anderson Council AND Richard Barone AND Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men AND the Midnight Callers AND the Airport 77s AND the High Frequencies AND the On and Ons, all on one disc, all covering Bowie...?! To quote Lenny Haise, guitarist for '60s teen sensations the Wonders: "I'm signing, you're signing, we're ALL signing...!"

In addition to all of the Jem stars listed above, the first advance track from Jem Records Celebrates David Bowie comes to us courtesy of the Cynz. HuzZAH! We LOVE the Cynz, and they turn in an absolutely ace rendition of "Can't Help Thinking About Me." That's one of my own top Bowie tracks, and the Cynz friggin' nail it. It will spin again on our next show.

DAVID BOWIE: Queen Bitch

Well, we had to follow the Cynz singing Bowie with an example of Bowie singing Bowie, right? I think his BBC performance of "Queen Bitch" with the Spiders From Mars is our most-played Bowie track, making it the obvious choice here. 

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

This go'geous track "The Sweet Spot" was written by Flashcubes bassist Gary Frenay and the late Syracuse stalwart B. D. Love, and it's the latest advance single from the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. Each of the 21 artists we invited to record Flashcubes covers for this project delivered to the fullest extent of their brilliance, and the addition of three new tracks by the 'Cubes makes the whole thing shine with even greater brightness. 

A sweet spot indeed.

MONOGROOVE: That Girl

A song for Marlo Thomas, wherever she is. NO! I KID! I'm a kidder. When I heard that Monogroove had a new digital single available, I bought it faster'n you can say Donald Hollinger. It's great, and it joins the playlist to continue our show's proud tradition of, y'know, playing Monogroove. We're playing it again on Sunday.

The good news doesn't stop there! The single is included on a new Monogroove album called Popsicle Drivethru. The CD is due soon from our friends at Kool Kat Musik, and the digital album is available now. MULTIgroove!

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

My Greatest Record Ever Made! book contains a chapter about "Everybody Is A Star," which has generally been my top Sly and the Family Stone go-to. Since we lost Sly Stone in June, I've found "Hot Fun In The Summertime" has been on my mind and, consequently, in my ears and on the radio. If memory serves, a poll of Trouser Press magazine readers in the early '80s named "Hot Fun In The Summertime" as the # 1 choice for the title of all-time top summer song. Surpassing the Beach Boys in that category would seem a daunting task. But if anyone could do it, it would have to be Sly.

KEVIN ROBERTSON: We Found The Summer

Oooo--this is nice. Our buds at Futureman Records have a new album from Kevin Robertson of the Vapour Trails, and said new Kevin Robertson album Yellow Painted Moon kicks itself off with this luscious radio-ready tune "We Found The Summer." If you're seeking to find some summer, look no further. And "We Found The Summer" will shine again in Syracuse this coming Sunday night.

THE SHIRTS: Lost In A Rhyme

I am often amazed and delighted by unexpected discoveries from the vault. The visionaries at Think Like A Key Music have gone a-burrowin' through the archives of irresistible but unreleased rockin' pop, and they've pulled out a previously-unheard 1981 live-in-the-studio performance by '70s CBGB's fixtures the Shirts. Screw the Dead Sea Scrolls; finding what is essentially a fourth Shirts album from the group's original run is revelation and a half, especially considering the fact that I don't have (and don't really remember) the second Shirts album (1979's Street Light Shine) and have never heard their third (1980's Inner Sleeve).

No matter! Live Featuring Annie Golden is vintage, classic Shirts, of a piece with their magnificent eponymous debut album from 1978. "Lost In A Rhyme" is our immediate Pick T' Click, and these Shirts fit us perfectly.

AMOS MILBURN: Down The Road Apiece

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SLADE: Gudbuy T' Jane

From a previous edition of 10 Songs:

My love of rock 'n' roll radio was forged by my absolute fascination with AM Top 40, beginning when I was a kid in the '60s, manifesting in earnest when I was in middle school and high school in the '70s. My migration to FM by the time I graduated from high school in 1977 didn't change the fact of the matter: Radio was everything. 

In those days, Top 40 stations in one city weren't necessarily playing all of the same potential hit records as Top 40 stations in other cities. Regional hits. Years later, I was surprised to learn that, say, "Tonight" by the Raspberries and "Blockbuster" by Sweet weren't radio smashes all across the USA. But here in Syracuse, they were. And so was "Gudbuy T' Jane" by UK stompers Slade.

My God, I loved this record. Still do. Slade were huge in their native land, but the colonies didn't catch on until the '80s, first via the numbskull proxy of covers by Quiet Riot and then by the much-belated appearance of Slade themselves on the American pop radar (and on MTV) with "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway."

My first is still favored: "Gudbuy T' Jane." Made for the airwaves, then and now. Get with it, America. Jane is all right, all right, all right, all right.

THE BEATLES: You Never Give Me Your Money

Most of our weekly playlists end with a little something by the Beatles. That fully Fab spin is followed by our sign-off and a bonus track or two, but the playlist proper usually concludes with your John, Paul, George, and/or Ringo, comin' at you from their secure perch at the Toppermost of the Poppermost.

And here's a Beatles track we've never played in any of the preceding 1,294 editions and additional sundry TIRnRR specials over the past 26.75 years: From Side 2 of Abbey Road, "You Never Give Me Your Money."

Yeah, I was surprised, too. Well! Time to cash in finally play it, I guess.

There isn't any money. But there are still more great things we ain't played yet, including a dwindling but discernible supply of Beatles tracks. And yes, before you ask, we have played "Revolution 9" at least once, possibly twice. More play remains. More work remains, old stuff and new stuff alike. Music justifies itself. Enthusiasm justifies itself. Once again: Here's to the act you've known for all these years.

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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. You can read about our history here