10 SONGS: 3/21/2026

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

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1328

THE ON AND ONS: Speck Of Smiling Faces

From the group's native Australia to our native Syracuse airwaves, the On and Ons have been fixtures on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio since their 2020 EP Menacing Smile, and that unrelenting barrage of pure pop oomph will keep on keepin' on and on with the forthcoming On and Ons album Luminary. The album ain't out until April, but advance single "Speck Of Smiling Faces" has already made its way to hearts, ears, and smiling faces everywhere in the here, the now, and the AWIGHT!. One should expect no less from  luminaries like the On and Ons.

THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Joyride

"St. Valentine's Day Massacre" by the great Norwegian garage pop group the Cocktail Slippers is one of my all-time favorite tracks, and it earned its own chapter in my 2024 book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Through an evolving line-up, the group has continued to fascinate and amaze with the same tightly-executed sass that made us love 'em in the first place. New single "Joyride" offers another delighted cruise in the Slippersmobile, where speed limits are optional and the radio's volume is always set to SURRENDER!! Joy! Let's ride.

THE SURFRAJETTES: She Loves You

The Surfrajettes at Middle Ages Beer Hall In Syracuse 3/19/2026

Decades ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing a performance by the Ventures, wherein the group had the admirable audacity to open their fantastic show with "Walk--Don't Run." The club owner introduced the Ventures as "the best fucking dance band in the world," and damned if they didn't prove it.

That torch has been passed to a new generation of North Americans. Over the course of the past eleven years, Toronto's phenomenal pop combo the Surfrajettes have established themselves as one of this world's preeminent surf instrumental groups. On Thursday, the Surfrajettes and their ace opening act Bethlehem Shalom kicked off the second leg of their Road Dogs tour in our beloved Salt City for a show at Middle Ages Beer Hall, and their energetic fun-in-the-sun twang served as the perfect weapon to drive a motherlovin' stake through the icy heart of Syracuse Winter. Armed with original tunes and impeccable savvy in choosing covers (routinely reaching outside the box to convert material by Cream, Iron Butterfly, Spice Girls, and more into their own chosen style), the Surfrajettes are what the Ventures were: The best fucking dance band in the world. The Ventures would be proud to share that distinction with the Surfrajettes.

I remain chagrined by the fact that TIRnRR didn't get around to programming the Surfrajettes until last week's spin of the title track from their Easy As Pie album. We're slackers, but we're slackers with a vision. This week brings us Surfrajettes TIRnRR spin # 2, as the 'Jettes apply yeah-yeah-yeah reverb to "She Loves You" (from previous album Roller Fink). This coming Sunday night brings a reprise of "Easy As Pie," and Dana and I agree that maybe we should just commit to playing the Surfrajettes every week from now on. Pipeline to the stars, man. Surf's up.

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Whenever You Want Me Too

Rapple Dapple! In my liner notes to Rhino's 1997 compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s, I wrote:

"The unfortunate fate of the Greenberry Woods offers a sobering reminder that even the best pop bands can still be resolutely ignored by the buying public. Maryland's favorite pop sons released two absolutely dreamy albums--1994's Rapple Dapple and 1995's Big Money Item--only to be met with appalling indifference by retail and radio. Following the group's apparent demise, a couple members resurfaced in a new group called Splitsville, and released an interesting, cartoony debut album on Big Deal in '96. But Splitsville ain't a proper substitute for the Greenberry Woods, whose passing we mourn here with a spin of their signature tune 'Trampoline,' an impossible-to-resist barrage of singalong charm and halcyon AM-pop style. Come back, guys!"

(Before we go any further, it's important to note that, my '97 self notwithstanding, I soon became a Splitsville fan as well. Pop pundits. We can be a mite slow on the uptake sometimes.)

And now, the return of '90s pop stars the Greenberry Woods should merit a guaranteed berth on any power pop radio playlist, and their new single "Whenever You Want Me Too" certainly deserves that instant-add status. Hell, "Whenever You Want Me Too" woulda fit in on Rapple Dapple, and I further dig its correct titular use of the word "too" to create an effective pun for would-be lovers everywhere. We want this. We hope you want it too.

GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach)

From a previous post:

I first heard about this beach-music team-up of Joey Ramone and former Chairmen of the Board singer General Johnson when Joey Ramone called to tell me about in 1994. Yes, I am cooler than you are. (I should probably let that illusion stand in place, but Joey's call to me was just a follow-up to a Goldmine interview we'd done within the previous week, as he wanted to make sure I was aware of a number of projects he was doing outside the Ramones' aegis. He never called again. My claim to being cooler than you are is, y'know, suspect at best.)

(Those interviews are, of course, preserved in my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. You should get yourself a copy from publisher Rare Bird Books, or contact me directly to purchase an autographed copy.)

But: back to the record! It's an ongoing testimony to the greatness of Ramones songs that they can thrive in different interpretations. The Swedish girl-pop group Shebang did a girl-pop bubblegum version of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker." Ronnie Spector covered "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" and "She Talks To Rainbows." KISS did "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" with more kitchen-sink Phil Spector than the Spector-produced original. The Nutley Brass and the Ramonetures did entire albums of Ramones covers, in the respective styles of elevator music and surf instrumentals. It all worked. These Blitzkrieg bops remain more versatile and universal than anyone realized at the time.

Remaking the power-pop bubblepunk of "Rockaway Beach" as a soulful slow-groove Carolina beach shag would seem a preposterous notion...until you hear it. Whoa! Grab a blanket, grab your honey, and snuggle by the fire as the sun descends. It's not hard, not far to reach. Hitch a ride, baby.

MADONNA: Dear Jessie

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE DOLLYROTS: Attention Span

"Attention Span...?!" See, that's kind of a problem area for us, especially for me. I suffer from what my daughter calls ADOS, which is Attention Deficit...Oooooo, SHINY!

Where was I? Oh, right. "Attention Span," the flat-out full-on invigmoratin' new single from the irresistible rockin' pop forces of the Dollyrots. PAY ATTENTION! It spins here again this Sunday night.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Stand!

Good advice.

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

Also good advice. 

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

And we finish with a snarky 'n' buoyant pop tune pretending to offer good advice while still being, y'know, snarky. I suspect the Little Girls are snickering at the odious machinations of hapless would-be Lotharios. I say we snicker right along with them.

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: 1/3/2026--This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's Most-Played Tracks In 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 # 1317: The Countdown Show. These are TIRnRR's ten most-played tracks in 2025, and the individual entries are mostly drawn from previous 10 Songs features.

10. SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

I have previously written that Sly and the Family Stone's "Hot Fun In The Summertime" 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." I later added, "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."

It would probably be a stretch to suggest that Sly Stone wrote "Hot Fun In The Summertime" under the influence of Brian Wilson. I don't quite believe any of Sly and the Family Stone's brilliant work was shaped by Wilson's pet sounds of the soul, at least not willfully. But it would also be a stretch to insist that Wilson wasn't a possible influence; Sly Stone was aware of everything going on in pop music in the '60s, and--to paraphrase something famously uttered by someone else in the Wilson family--Sly Stone was a genius, too. "Hot Fun In The Summertime" doesn't sound like the Beach Boys. Doesn't matter. Sly and Brian sound great in the same radio show. Hot fun, fun, fun in the summertime.

9. THE NON-PROPHETS: Alibi

We're as punched as pleased to welcome the Non-Prophets back to the TIRnRR playlist. The Non-Prophets are the dba of our bud Allan Kaplon, who scored some significant airplay here with his solo album Notes On A Napkin. Our Allan returns to the collective Non-Prophets billing for "Alibi." For this track, the Non-Prophets also include Stacy Carson and Bruce Gordon (half of TIRnRR Fave Raves Pop Co-Op), it's produced by Don Dixon, and it's a match made in Heaven's boppin' li'l nightspot. We believe this particular "Alibi."

8. SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHIOLS: Pop Radio

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio is a pop radio show. There's a new Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols track called "Pop Radio?" We're playin' it. It's what a good pop radio show does. "Pop Radio" is a delicious ditty which serves as manifesto for TIRnRR in all our imaginary glory, a manifesto for us and all others who crave the pleasures of hooks 'n' harmonies cascading 'cross the airwaves, where they belong.

Throughout 2025, we played "Pop Radio" with all of the manic obsession one should expect from a self-respectin' rockin' pop radio show. We're also playing some new SPARK Radio promos that Super 8 'n' Lisa concocted for us, based on the irresistible chorus of "Pop Radio." Thank you, friends! 

And yeah: TURN IT UP! Pop radio is its own reward.

7. THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

"Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" is a song by Flashcubes guitarist Arty Lenin. It was first performed by the Flashcubes in 1979, demoed by the 'Cubes, subsequently recorded and released by Flashcubes offshoot Screen Test, and eventually redone in this brightly-lit new century for the Flashcubes' 2003 album Brilliant. The song's lyrics are among the most effective expressions of teen alienation I've ever heard, a clique-inflicted miasma buoyed and ameliorated by the transcendence of its pop. Even now, listening to it with senior-citizen ears that are more years removed from high school than the onset of Beatlemania was removed from America's entry into World War I, "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" can still make me feel the snub and the sting of my time serving that sentence in teen purgatory. Yet I love the song. That's the power of art, the power of music.

The Flashcubes' fellow Power Pop Hall of Famers the Spongetones' new rendition of "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" lives up to its incredible Cubic legacy. I'm stunned, I'm grateful, and I'm thrilled that Dana and I have the opportunity to play this on the radio.

2025 was the year of Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, the various-artists blockbuster I curated for release on the mighty Big Stir Records label. 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 a Flashcubes tribute album with the new Flashcubes track "Reminisce" (see below) and barreling our way to the Stongetones' authoritative closing statement "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 vital and compelling as a great album's first track. Mission accomplished here. It matters. It always will.

6. JOE GIDDINGS: Tonite Tonite

Early in 2025, we played "Adrenalin," an advance track from Star Collector superstar Joe Giddings' then-forthcoming new album Stories With Guitars. Great as that was, I was further blown away when I heard "Tonite Tonite," another track from the same album, kick off the February 7, 2025 edition of The Spoon podcast. Hey HEY! I've since heard the whole album, and I say it's a strong candidate for one of 2025's best. See, ya learn stuff listening to The Spoon.

5. THE FLASHCUBES: If These Hands

More than a year's work paid off with the September 12th release of Make Something Happen! Poundin' the console on behalf of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse is technically work, and it's also a calling. Plus it's fun! Given all the fabulous covers the Flashcubes have recorded and released over the past several years, I wanted to call more attention to the wonder of the Flashcubes' own brilliant songbook. A various-artists Flashcubes tribute album seemed the best way to accomplish that, so we gathered a bunch of talented artists, matched them with a bunch of songs written or co-written by members of the Flashcubes, and sent 'em off with one simple directive:

Make something happen.

"If These Hands" was the third and final single in advance of this tribute. Back in 1978, the Flashcubes' first 45 was "Christi Girl," a ballad written by Arty Lenin. In 2025, Arty closes this portion of the Flashcubes' singles discography with this song, another lovely ballad that serves as a yearning bit of folk rock that would have sounded right at home on one of the Searchers' irresistible late '70s/early '80s albums. 

In planning a Flashcubes tribute album, I was determined to include at least one new track by the Flashcubes themselves. In fact, we have a 'Cubic trinity of fresh Flashcubes offerings, one apiece written or co-written by Arty, guitarist Paul Armstrong, and bassist Gary Frenay. 

We naturally talk about the songwriters, as befits an album intended as a salute to a group's original songs. Let's also throw in a bit of praise for Flashcubes drummer Tommy Allen, not just for his incomparable percussive skill, but for the sheer pop and power he brings to this material as a producer. This stuff sounds amazing, and that's due in large part to our boy Tommy.

Putting this album together was a lot of work, and there's a long, long list of people who deserve credit for making this particular something happen. Even though others did most--almost all--of the heavy lifting here, I find myself exhausted in its aftermath. 

Exhausted, but proud. 

If memory serves, the last original song recorded and released by the Flashcubes prior to these three new singles was "Carl (You Da Man)" for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1 more than twenty years ago. As flattering and fulfilling as it was that this band that's been so important to me wrote and recorded a killer song about Dana and me, I could not allow that to stand as the last word in original Flashcubes recordings.

It isn't the last one anymore. "Reminisce." "The Sweet Spot." Maybe "If These Hands" will be the Flashcubes' final recording, or maybe there will be more yet to come. I hope so. Either way, man, we made something happen. It was well, well worth the work.

4. THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

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

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

Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.

3. THE MUFFS: That's For Me

The Muffs' eponymous debut album was released in 1993, the year after the short-lived first Dana & Carl radio series We're Your Friends For Now completed its rapid Vini, Vidi, Vacuum into the abyss. By the time we returned on even more modest terms as Radio Peace in 1994, the Muffs' "Saying Goodbye" had already established itself as my favorite track of the '90s, and I'm pretty sure we played it on the very first Radio Peace. And I'm positive we played both "Saying Goodbye" and the Muffs' "Sad Tomorrow" on the inaugural edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio on December 27th, 1998. TIRnRR has lasted a tiny bit longer than any of our previous series.

After the pop world lost the vibrant and irresistible talent of the Muffs' Kim Shattuck in 2019, the subsequent release of the group's farewell album No Holiday became a prevailing and pervasive fixture on our playlists. The No Holiday track "On My Own" was our # 1 most-played track in 2020, the Muffs were our # 7 most-played artist in 2025, that status led by the short 'n' sharp No Holiday nugget "That's For Me." That's for Kim. Man, that's for all of us.

2. AMY RIGBY: Heart Is A Muscle

We have heard that Amy Rigby wasn't all that enthused about her song "Heart Is A Muscle," that maybe she almost chose not to record it, and that she probably wasn't sure about releasing it once she did record it.

Well.

For whatever it's worth, this track from Amy's oh-so-nice 2024 album Hang In There With Me was one of TIRnRR's most-played tracks last year; by summer of 2025, it had already accrued sufficient fresh spins to guarantee a berth on this year's year-countdown show, and it kept right on a-pumpin' all the way to the # 2 spot. Gotta keep the ol' heart exercised. Terrific track, but then again, we always expect terrific stuff from Amy Rigby.

1. THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

"Reminisce" was written by Paul Armstrong, with lyrics that look back in wonder at the heady days of the Flashcubes' brilliance under the bright lights in the late '70s. The music struts and commands like a Flashcubes song oughta, and the chorus is just magnificent, jaw-dropping, a compelling incitement to raise the ol' fist and be there like you wuz there.

Man, I was there. "Reminisce" captures what it was like.

Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes opens with "Reminisce." It's such a great track, and it provides an irresistible introduction to a passion project that--false modesty be damned--I regard as one of THE best compilation albums released this year.

"Reminisce" is also my favorite individual new track of 2025. The song was first written in the '90s and (I think) only performed once before being filed away and mostly forgotten. (I remember it, of course, but I'm, y'know...me.)

If I understand the subsequent story correctly, in 2024 PA reconstructed the song from memory, moving what had been a somewhat perfunctory number into the magic realm of rock 'n' roll transcendence, toasting the past but raising the roof in the here and now, even adding a Ramones quote that nails a demonstration of the essential truth that what's cool once is cool forever. The present is built upon the past. We can still jump up, down, and all around to its sound. 

And we will! The Flashcubes have meant an awful lot to me, and to this show. "Reminisce" is the perfect song to open an album and close out a celebration, looking back while facing front at the same damned time.

It's all I wanna do. 

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: 12/13/2025

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 # 1314

MICHAEL SIMMONS: Switchboard Susan

The rant accompanying this week's posted playlist waxed rhapsodically anna half about Fun Where You Can Find It, the splendid new covers album by rockin' pop whirlwind Michael Simmons. To wit:

"...On Fun Where You Can Find It, the original source material saluted by Simmons is varied and delightful, as our Michael meets 'n' greets the diverse likes of the Grass Roots, the Beach Boys, Squeeze. Steely Dan, World Party, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Lowe, Fountains of Wayne, Genesis, Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey, and Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, looks 'em each in the eye without flinching, smiles, and buys 'em all the drinks of their choice. Whether we're imbibing bourbon or Yoo-hoo, we're havin' a party.

"And here's the party's soundtrack: A Top Ten plus one, going up to eleven with taste, accomplishment, and an overriding belief that the song's the thing, the music matters, and love of music can help turn doldrums into gold. Like Midas. Like Brian Wilson. Like this. True treasure. Anyone who loves pop music should treasure Michael Simmons. 

"We sure do...."

We opened this week's irresistible extravaganza with Michael's ace take on "Switchboard Susan," a Mickey Jupp tune made essential by Nick Lowe. The Searchers also cut of very nice version, and Michael does not disappoint in his own effort to bring a smile to your dial. We'll hear Michael's take on a Steely Dan in our next show.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Accept no substitutes: The Flashcubes' "Reminisce" is my favorite new track of 2025. And (with apologies to the Velvelettes), that is really sayin' somethin'. Amidst this year's considerable real-world faults, we have seen a veritable treasure trove of utterly fantastic new music. There has been music to inspire us, music to comfort us, music to challenge us, music to nurture us, music to cheer us, music to marshal the power of righteous anger, music to transcend, music to look ahead...

...and music to reminisce.

I'm biased--proudly so--but I do believe that a project I curated--the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes--can stand among the year's best. Each of the album's 24 tracks is compelling in its own right, and damned near nonpareil in context, gathering 21 great acts executing great covers of great songs written by members of the Flashcubes, and we set the ol' needle firmly into ragin', ravin' red by inviting the Flashcubes to contribute three new original recordings as well. 

The Flashcubes rise to the occasion of enhancing their own tribute album, and all three of the new 'Cubes classics--"Reminisce," "In These Hands," and "The Sweet Spot"--are bright-lights brilliant, all worthy contenders for anyone's Tops of '25 list. 

"Reminisce" was Make Something Happen!'s first advance single. It's the album's lead-off track. Rumor suggests it may soon be getting another renewed push as a single. And each and every spin of "Reminisce" compels me to raise my friggin' fist in accord and sheer exultation. The buzz is eternal, self-renewing, and endlessly invigorating. The path forward is built from the experiences that brought us this far. The mantra supplied by the Ramones and reaffirmed by the Flashcubes remains steadfast and true:

Hey-ho. Let's go.

SWEET: The Ballroom Blitz

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

PERILOUS: Glass Of Something

The mighty Perilous have a new EP called SOS, which collects all of their previous 2025 digital singles plus a remix of their remake of "Band Aid," a song originally done by drummer Paul Doherty's former group the Trend. Perilous have been TIRnRR Fave Raves from the get-go, they allowed us to use their incredible "Rock 'n' Roll Kiss" on our 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, AND they played at the release party for my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. Say it with me: WE'RE FANS!! And that's worth a toast with a glass of something. We'll have a brand-new Perilous holiday track on our next program.

GAME THEORY: Linus And Lucy

Sure, it's Game Theory covering a much-loved perennial first heard 60 years on the inaugural broadcast of the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. But it's NOT a Christmas tune! Not really! It's too soon for Christmas music! It's not time yet! It's...we...but...

...damn.

THE JAC: Summer Forever

THE HALF/CUBES: Feels Like Summer

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun In The Summertime

THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach

Willful denial. Technically, we're not even up to winter yet, but who are we kidding? This is Syracuse! OF COURSE it's been snowing! I say thee Duh! The release of the superswell new single "Summer Forever" by the JAC provided sufficient excuse for me to slip a frolicsome foursome of fun-in-the-sun frivolity into this week's closing set (mingling with abandon alongside Dana's spins of Amy Rigby, XTC, the Pretenders, and Her Majesty's Ramones the Beatles).

I was not at all familiar with Tim Wheeler's "Feels Like Summer"--I'm listening to it for the very first time as I write this--but I was immediately in favor of programming  the Half/Cubes' exuberant cover, as heard on their current album Found Pearls. Wheeler's original is likewise pretty cool (even in summer), and it feels like ya can't go wrong either way.

I have previously written that Sly and the Family Stone's "Hot Fun In The Summertime" 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." I later added, "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."

And the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" speaks for itself. Even though the Beatles will always be my all-time favorite group, the Ramones inspire a specific resonance and reverence within me. No other band's music can match the Ramones' ability to improve my moods at their darkest moments. Church of Ramones. Testify, brudders. The summer promised in "Rockaway Beach" currently is far and hard to reach...but we'll hitch a ride and get there when we get there.

THE SPONGETONES: Carol Of The Guitars

And so the calendar grows thin. The Spongetones herald (as in "Hark...!") the tentative beginning of TIRnRR's short Christmas season. We rarely play Yuletunes before mid-December, but we've gotta admit it's about that time. We'll dip a stocking into that pool on our next show, with new seasonal sides from Perilous, Jamie Hoover, and the Krayolas, plus two Christmas Stax classics in memory of our Featured Performer Steve Cropper. We'll follow up the following week, December 21st, with The 27th Annual THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Christmas Show.

Eggnog all around!! I'll join you as soon as I've cleared my driveway.

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