10 SONGS: 8/30/2025

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 # 1300.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Hitting a milestone like a 1300th show invites a celebration. For us, it seemed appropriate to mark this festive occasion of TIRnRR # 1300 with some specific examples of the sort of rockin' pop mojo that brought us this far. Every track on this show is something we've played before, most of them with some frequency. 

With the imminent release of the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, I wanted to open this milestone mutha with "Reminisce," the first of the three new singles that Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse did in conjunction with their own tribute album. The Flashcubes have meant an awful lot to me, and to this show. "Reminisce" is the perfect song to kick off a celebration, looking back while facing front at the same damned time.

We also felt compelled to program the Flashcubes' other two fabulous Make Something Happen! singles--"The Sweet Spot" and "If These Hands"--at subsequent points in our 1300th show, setting up one other Flashcubes song to kick off the show's final set. We'll return to that subject in a few minutes. Now? All I wanna do is reminisce with you. 

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

My favorite individual track of 2024, "If We Could Let Go" by Slyboots is heartbreaking in all the best ways, a song full of hope and ache, empowered with an awareness of how far we fall short in pursuit of peace, love, and understanding, and driven by determination to overcome that gap and collectively become the better people a burning world needs us to be. Not merely my favorite track from last year; it's a legit contender for my all-time Hot 100. 

SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Starting waaaaay back in the earliest Dana and Carl shows (1992's TIRnRR precursor We're Your Friends For Now), Dana and I have occasionally been known to come up with some unexpected song segues. Our pal Dave Murray called these Neck-Snappin' Segues™, where, y'know, one of these things is not like the other, at least on paper. We never mean it as an intentional shock-value jump cut; we always figure our seemingly outta-left-field pick of an unexpected Song B is the appropriate follow-up to Song A, even if no one else sees it that way. To paraphrase the Batman describing the Joker's thought process: Dana and Carl's motives make sense to us alone.

Our first Neck-Snappin' Segue™ occurred on the very first We're Your Friends For Now, Phil Ochs ("I Ain't Marching Anymore") into the Ohio Express ("Yummy, Yummy, Yummy"). In the early days of TIRnRR, I recall back-to-backs of Little Richard ("The Girl Can't Help It") into Pink Floyd ("See Emily Play") and Sugar ("If I Can't Change Your Mind") into the Partridge Family ("I Woke Up In Love This Morning"), both of which were seamless and perfect. 

My favorite Neck-Snappin' Segue™ memory is from one Sunday evening in 1999, 2000, whatever it was. Dana played the Nails' left-of-the-dial stalwart "88 Lines About 44 Women." As I mulled options for the right follow-up song, I was struck by the sudden realization--nay, the sudden conviction!--that if I didn't play Solomon Burke's soul classic "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" faster'n immediately, an otherwise-benevolent deity would smite me where I sat. Fairly certain that I had the track with me, I rummaged through my CD case, searching intently as the Nails racked up increasingly larger numbers of lines about their 44 women. I found the right CD, handed it to Dana, and he had it set to play just as the Nails completed a couplet about their 44th subject. 

Disaster averted. SING it, King Sol! Just another night here at The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet.

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

How in the world did we rate getting a track from the Cowsills for our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2? I can't answer that, beyond noting that the Cowsills are really, really nice people. They're also really, really talented people; "She Said To Me" was on their stunning 1998 album Global, and it merited an enthusiastic chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Global has since been reissued by Omnivore Recordings. Omnivore also released the Cowsills' wonderful 2022 album Rhythm Of The World, and the label will soon offer the first-ever legitimate physical release of the Cowsills 1978 lost album The Cocaine Drain. The Cowsills' hits were great; their later stuff is also great, and well, well worth your time and attention. 

sparkle*jets u.k.: 10 Inches

From their 1998 debut album In, Through, And Beyond, the track "10 Inches" served as our introduction to the way fab music of sparkle*jets u.k. More recently, their 2024 album Box Of Letters was one of last year's very best albums, and really a serious contender for the best. Even more recently, the group's Michael Simmons was in charge of making all of the tracks gathered for our Flashcubes tribute album Make Something Happen! play nice and sound terrific together, and sparkle*jets u.k. themselves executed an absolutely stunning rendition of the tribute album's title tune. We're fans! For our 1300th show, it was time for a reprise of where it all started for us. sparkle*jets u.k. are GO!

THE GRIP WEEDS: Strange Bird

The Grip Weeds have been fixtures on TIRnRR for the entirety of our mutant radio lifetime. We wouldn't have it any other way, and that status will not change. I've been able to see them perform on three separate occasions so far, and they're as dynamic and exciting live as they are on record. And vice versa! Their current album Soul Bender continues the Grip Weeds' record of excellence. TIRnRR superstars!

THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Carl (You Da Man)

I don't know how deep I got into the planning for the Flashcubes tribute album before I realized that the last original 'Cubes composition recorded and released by the band was a song about us. 

The Flashcubes recorded "Carl (You Da Man)" for our first compilation album, 2005's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1. "Carl (You Da Man)" came after the Flashcubes' 2003 album Brilliant (which featured just one cover, of Eddie and the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do") and before a string of accomplished covers the 'Cubes did over the ensuing decades: The Roy Wood tribute album Sportin' Wood, a two-sided single of Chris Spedding covers, contributions to various-artists Monkees and Bay City Rollers tribute albums, and a string of digital singles heralding the triumph of 2023's Pop Masters album. 

As flattering as it was (and remains) for the Flashcubes to write a song naming Dana and me "the kings of power pop," the world needed more new material from the Flashcubes. That need was answered this year by "Reminisce," "The Sweet Spot," and "If This Hands," and embellished by the act of other bands finally paying proper tribute to the Flashcubes on Make Something Happen!.

After playing all three of the Flashcubes' 2025 singles within our 1300th show playlist, it felt right to begin the celebration's closing set with the original song the Flashcubes gave to us twenty years ago. The weekend stops here. The music keeps playing still.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

The American Beatles. The greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, and a damned near religious inspiration for me. I don't ever get to the opportunity to co-host a radio show, let alone co-hosting a radio show for such an ungodly long period of time, without the Ramones nudging me toward an ideal of rock 'n' roll radio. I don't get to the Flashcubes without the Ramones. I don't get to writing about pop music without the Ramones. I certainly don't get to writing books without the Ramones, and that would be true even if my first book didn't happen to be a book about the Ramones. 

Only the Beatles could claim greater importance in my life as a music fan, and the Ramones are closer to the toppermost of my poppermost than an unbeliever might expect. Beatles. Ramones. Flashcubes. Hey-ho, let's go.

THE STALLIONS: Why

We couldn't do a milestone show without another spin of the Stallions' cover of the Dirty Wurds' 1966 garage obscurity "Why." "Why" by the Stallions was far and away our most-played track during our first year, as well as during our second year, and although it ceded that position to "Highway Lines" by Mannix in Year # 3, "Why" remained our all-time most-played track for years thereafter. Its reign was finally brought to an end by Big Star's "September Gurls." Even though we don't play "Why" very often any more, it racked up sufficient spins in those early years to still remain the second most-played track over the course of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's long and storied history.

A long and storied history that continues! Why? Because we like it.

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: 11/10/2023

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

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1206. This show is available as a podcast.

BIG STAR: September Gurls

Over the course of nearly 25 years of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, I'm pretty sure Big Star's "September Gurls" remains our all-time most-played track. I doubt it even has any serious competition at that particular pinnacle. 

I think at least part of the reason for the song's ongoing TIRnRR sovereignty (aside from the fact that it's, y'know, terrific) is rooted in a tacit understanding that Big Star was a cherished underground act that the faithful believed shoulda been the big stars their dba claimed. From the "September Gurls" entry in my proposed book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"Big Star was a big secret. As I became familiar with Big Star's records, I became a fan. And I soon learned that being a Big Star fan was like being a member of an underground pop society, a discerning, scattered network of music enthusiasts who knew--knew--there was more out there, old and new, than we were hearing on any radio station anywhere. Big Star was the golden ticket. You like Big Star? You're one of us, then. 

"This goes well beyond the limited parameters of hipster snobbery, of us versus them, of self-conscious cool that is, in fact, not cool in any way. This is faith. This is belief in the power of song. This is the inner certainty that there is greatness everywhere, awaiting someone to appreciate it and spread its Gospel. And there is no greater manifestation of that belief than the pure, tear-stained splendor of Big Star's 'September Gurls.'

"How can I deny what's inside?"

TAYLOR SWIFT: Welcome To New York

Big Star was correct: Never deny what's inside.

I admit I was a little bit surprised when my lovely wife Brenda floated the idea of the two of us checking out Taylor Swift's concert movie. I was even more surprised by how much I flat-out enjoyed Taylor Swift: The ERAS Tour, a film that offers a marvelous, fascinating immersion into the phenomenon of a Taylor Swift live show. Good choice, Brenda!

Previously, my take on Taylor Swift was that she's a remarkable talent whose music was intended for a demographic that doesn't include me. Fair enough. It didn't stop me from respecting her, even admiring her, and recognizing that she's a star whose celebrity status was built by talent, as well as a star who uses her celebrity responsibly. These are good things. I needn't wish to sing along with "Bad Blood" to appreciate any of that.

Now? Man, I think I need to take a deeper dive into some of her records. This week's show was programmed and recorded prior to my viewing of The ERAS Tour, but I felt motivated to check out her recently-released 1989 (Taylor's Version). Its track "Welcome To New York" struck me as something of a piece with whatever it is we do on TIRnRR. It is, as we say, ALL pop music.

Welcome.

ANY TROUBLE: Playing Bogart

In high school, I knew a girl who often wanted to hear my inept impression of Humphrey Bogart. Mind you, my Bogart was nothing short of terrible, but she seemed to dig it, and this teen boy was generally A-OK with the idea of being able to accomplish something--anything!--that a pretty teen girl might dig. Herszh lookin' at you, Szhweetheart....

I don't think I caught on to the music of Any Trouble until many years after the fact. And it's only just now that I've made a mental connection between the group's lyrical ode to playing Bogart and my own clumsy attempts at Bogie on demand all those decades ago. Play it again, Szham.

JOHNNY JOHNSON AND THE BANDWAGON: Let's Hang On

With no offense intended to the Jersey boys, I say Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon's 1969 cover of the Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On" is the definitive version. The Bandwagon were a criminally undervalued soul group--their "Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache" keeps company with Big Star in my Greatest Record Ever Made! book--and they had a particular knack for pulling off covers that were better than the originals. The Bandwagon  took one of the Monkees' worst tracks, "The Day We Fall In Love," and somehow made it better'n decent, and they went toe-to-toe with the likes of the Rascals ("People Got To Be Free"), the Hollies ("Gasoline Alley Bred"), and Bob Dylan via the Byrds ("Mr. Tambourine Man"); in each case, the Bandwagon emerged the victor.

Same goes for the Bandwagon's reading of "Let's Hang On." Sorry, Mr. Valli. But there's no need to hang your head; the Bandwagon were just that good.

THE RAMONES: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Following the May 9th publication of my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, I put together a blog post about my 25 favorite Ramones tracks. That list includes "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow." This is what I wrote about that track:

"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."

On two separate occasions in October, I got to witness the great 1.4.5. as they performed "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" in their live sets, the song dedicated both times to the late Ducky Carlisle. Tough disguises tender, but only if we don't bother to look for the hearts that beat beneath leather jackets, the emotion that lurks behind practiced scowls.

Here. Then gone.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Organ Grinder's Monkey

One of my two 1.4.5. live shows in October was the Grip Weeds' recent gig at The Lost Horizon in Syracuse. Whatta show! And one of its unexpected highlights was when the Grip Weeds dazzled us with their cover of "Organ Grinder's Monkey," a way obscure 1970 single by the equally obscure group Frosty. The song opens the Grip Weeds' magnificent 2022 covers album DiG, and hearing it performed live at the Lost compelled us to play it on the radio. About time! Dance, monkey. Dance!

SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Some things in life are certain. Death. Taxes. Construction on I-81. And also TIRnRR playlists that include a spin from my favorite album of 2023, the Flashcubes' Pop Masters. Their cover of the Motors' "Forget About You" is on a (wait for it!) certain collision course with our year-end countdown. As it should be.

"Forget About You" had last week off, and it's taking next week off as well. But we still had another Pop Masters track last week, and I can risk the sin of spoilers as I say we'll have yet another Pop Masters gem spinning next week.

Much more pleasant than death or taxes, and a damned sight more interesting than roadwork. Pop Masters. You can be certain of that.

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You

Acknowledging that the Flashcubes' Pop Masters is unassailably secure in its position as my album of 2023, Dave Kuchler's "In It With You" could stake a credible claim as my favorite individual track of the year. You can find it on Dave's album Love + Glory, and you can hear it again on the radio this coming Sunday night in Syracuse.

THE JIVE FIVE: What Time Is It

The show's over already...?! I blame that whole FALL BACK nonsense. What time is it? The Jive Five have the answer: It's time for love. 

The right answer, I say. Love is always the right answer.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

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

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

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

This is one of the many completed chapters I cut from the working draft of my long-threatened 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!

SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Written by Jerry Wexler, Bert Berns, and Solomon Burke

Produced by Bert Berns

Atlantic Records single, 1964

Welcome to the one true Church Of Love. The Reverend Solomon Burke will testify, and you will believe. 

Solomon Burke never got to be as well-known to the white American pop audience as he should have been. His string of soulful singles on the Atlantic label from 1961 to 1967 yielded fourteen Top 20 R & B hits (including nine Top 10 hits, and the 1964 # 1 "Got To Get You Off My Mind"), with scattered additional success with other labels into the '70s. But not a one of 'em did any better on the Hot 100 than "Got To Get You Off Of My Mind"'s pop peak at # 22. Solomon Burke did not cross over. His music is better-known to many via covers by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Brothers, or maybe via the film Dirty Dancing, which used Burke's "Cry To Me" in a key scene.

But Solomon Burke was soul personified. He took country, blues, and pop, and when he sang, it all came out as soul.

Burke was a big, big man, weighing well over 300 pounds, maybe 400. He sat on a throne while singing, the King of Rock 'n' Soul. His holiday single "Presents For Christmas" included a throwaway line that he was fat enough to be the world's biggest Santa Claus. As big as he was, his voice was bigger, a force of (you guessed it!) soul that could boom deeply or float high above as needed, as he decreed, all purred with royal ease by the king in his kingdom. When Burke teamed with other soul giants Arthur Conley, Ben E. King, Don Covay, and Joe Tex as the Soul Clan for the 1968 single "Soul Meeting," the group referred to Burke as King Sol.

"Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" was written by Burke, Bert Berns, and Jerry Wexler. It's as easygoing as a powerhouse can be, steamrolling a declaration of love, a plea for love, a demand for love, while retaining a beatific smile and the secure composure of one who rules all that he surveys. If you only know it through covers by the Stones or the Blues Brothers, or even if you know it from the great Wilson Pickett's own bravura rendition, you don't know it at all if you don't know Solomon Burke. You don't. It's his song, and no one has ever come within sovereign airspace of annexing it. 

There can't be one single definitive soul record, any more than there could be one definitive rock 'n' roll record, or a one definitive country record. Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" should always be on the long shortlist of candidates, with Otis, James, Aretha, the wicked, wicked Pickett, and all of the worthiest purveyors of the pure sound of soul. 

Soul. 

No one was ever more soulful than Solomon Burke.

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

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

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

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 5/19/2022

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 # 1129.

POP CO-OP: Short Fuses

Our pre-release campaign on behalf of Suspension, the forthcoming new album from the irresistible melodic buzz force called Pop Co-Op, enters its second week with a spin of another exclusive track. We feel taller! "Short Fuses" pops 'n' sizzles in all the right places, and it opened the big show this week. Yep, just like the Suspension track "I Just Love To Watch Her Dance" kicked off last week's show, and how next week's show and then the next week's show after that will open with...

...well, that would be telling. Stay tuned.

POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart

In the same spiffy category as "Short Fuses," "I Just Love To Watch Her Dance," [redacted] and [redacted], "Extra Beat In My Heart" is another irresistible new 2022 track from Pop Co-Op. BUT! It will not be included on Suspension; it's from something else. It's not currently available from any resource. It will be. And it is indeed something else.

ARIELLE EDEN: U-Turns

Speaking of something else!, a previous edition of 10 Songs said this about "Sagittarius," a wonderful track from rockin' pop chanteuse Arielle Eden: "Well, now, this is pop music. Arielle Eden first came to TIRnRR's attention last year, through a recommendation from our pal, America's Sweetheart Irene Peña. 'Sagittarius' is Arielle's best yet, a bubbly and inviting track that easily earns this Capricorn's eager approval. This is the dawning of the age of Arielle."

Ms. Eden's recent singles have taken more a country-pop turn, and we continue to play those, too. Her latest effort "U-Turns" cruises on the periphery of modern mainstream country, and contemporary country radio would be improved by programming it. It's ALL pop music! And pop music is something else, man.

SOLOMON BURKE: Cry To Me

The great Solomon Burke: denying efforts to put Baby in the corner since 1962. At its core, "Cry To Me" is really a country song, but country (or any other damned thing) became soul when it was sung by King Sol. 

(And, while I have neither a particular affinity for nor a spiteful grudge against the popular film Dirty Dancing, I have seen it--way, waaay after the fact--and I believe Burke's "Cry To Me" plays on the movie's soundtrack when Patrick Swayze's character was trying to teach Jennifer Grey's character the flick's titular moves. Take it, Baby!)

PERILOUS: Rock & Roll Kiss

Also something else! And really, really good. BUY IT!

BRAD MARINO: Another Sad And Lonely Night

Although a myopic pop world remembers the Bobby Fuller Four as a one-hit wonder for the superb 1966 smash "I Fought The Law," that song is either my third- or maybe even fourth-favorite BF4 track. And there's a fistful of other Fuller cuts that are nearly as good. One-hit wonder? The world is a ninny.

Brad Marino recognizes the richness of the Bobby Fuller catalog. Marino's latest Rum Bar Records single is an ace, blood-pumpin' cover of Fuller's "Another Sad And Lonely Night," a sturdy little ditty that is my # 1 BF4 track on the days when "Fool Of Love" isn't my # 1 BF4 track. ("Let Her Dance" rounds out my Bobby Fuller Top 4.) 

And I tell ya, Mr. Marino rises to the occasion of honoring Fuller's legacy. Whether you're investigating the great originals or immersing yourself in our Bobby's many able proxies, there is a world of treasure to discover beyond the well-known bop of breaking rocks in the hot sun. We'll be playing Brad Marino's "Another Sad And Lonely Night" again on next week's show.

STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: Incense And Peppermints

Going out to the Z-man, wherever he is. It's my happening, and it freaks me out!

I don't remember if I knew Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense And Peppermints" at the time of its 1967 chart reign--I was seven years old, but it's possible--or if I came to embrace the song after the fact. If the latter, I may have heard of the 1970 sexploitation film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls before I knew "Incense And Peppermint;" I certainly didn't see the movie itself until many, many years later, and I didn't know that Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared in it, but I saw a Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls pictorial in Playboy, and that got my adolescent attention. (What business did a ten-year-old have reading Playboy? The business of staring at unclothed women. Plus articles, I guess.)

But yeah, in addition to the pulchritudinous charms of its actresses, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls presented Strawberry Alarm Clock in a party scene, lip-syncing their hit from a few years back, and then doing the same with two new songs for the soundtrack LP (as well as pretending to back up the film's fictional combo the Carrie Nations).

Unlike the Carrie Nations, Strawberry Alarm Clock kept their clothes on.

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: I Wanna Be With You

Recently, Pop Co-Op's Steve Stoeckel referenced something I wrote for the first issue of Big Stir magazine in 2018: "Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it." I wholeheartedly agree with me on that point.

I bring this up again because it applies specifically to the enthusiasm musical performers can bring to their efforts, and how their own passion for acts that inspired them manifests in fresh magic, magic that can inspire others. That mystic mojo can be in the grooves of original work, or it can be expressed in covers.

Covers can be perfunctory, sure. But they can also serve as sincere and enthusiastic tribute, a thank-you note to the sounds that formed us. As Pop Co-Op's Bruce Gordon says, Let's be the Beatles! Or let's channel Chuck Berry, or Janis Joplin, or the Miracles, Buddy Holly, the Kinks, Otis Redding, the Velvet Underground, the Sex Pistols, Joan Jett. For the Flashcubes--my favorite power pop group--one can picture them imagining themselves as the Raspberries.

The Flashcubes have always been avid fans of pop music, rock 'n' roll, the vibrant sound of hooks and la-la-las played at a louder volume than decorum would prefer. The 'Cubes had dozens of influences, from British Invasion through punk, the Who through the Jam. I don't think there's any single act that served as the Flashcubes' biggest overall influence, but the Raspberries would be a huge part of that discussion. The Flashcubes positioned themselves--enthusiastically!--as a power pop band in the late '70s. That power pop approach was embodied by the Raspberries' hits, by "Go All The Way," "Tonight," and "I Wanna Be With You." The 'Cubes were Raspberries fans. That was evident. A power pop band is proud to wear its heart on its sleeve.

I remember witnessing the Flashcubes cover both "Tonight" and "I Wanna Be With You" at club shows when I was a street-legal teen. Their live version of "I Wanna Be With You" is one of the assorted shots o' gusto contained on the recent release Flashcubes On Fire, which preserves a 1979 'Cubes live show and captures the band at the height of their prowess. 

And the height of their enthusiasm. Covers and originals. The value of enthusiasm endures.

(That same enthusiasm carries through the Flashcubes' current series of Big Stir digital singles, covering the likes of Pezband, the Dwight Twilley Band, and Shoes. Chris Carter's British Invasion show recently debuted the 'Cubes' cover of Slade's "Gudbuy T' Jane" [and we'll start playin' that as soon as we get our hands on it], and next week's TIRnRR will include the combined forces of the Flashcubes and the Spongetones remaking the latter's "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?" There's still much more to come. We're enthused about the possibilities.)

STYX: Lorelei

Even the act you actively despise may be capable of creating one or more tracks you flat-out adore. As much as I hated Styx in the '70s and '80s--and, believe me, I hated Styx in the '70s and '80s--even then I knew I liked their peppy pop song "Lorelei." I still do like it, singer Dennis DeYoung's bombast notwithstanding, while retaining my decades-old disdain for most of the familiar Styx songbook.  (I was also okay with "Too Much Time On My Hands, and I worship a 2003 Styx track called "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" as just over-the-top friggin' fabulous. So: three. Three cool tracks from an act I otherwise shun. Here's to ya, Lorelei.)

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

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