10 SONGS: 2/13/2025

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 # 1323

BALLZY TOMORROW: Double Our Numbers

Our Featured Performer this week was the late, great Parthenon Huxley, and I think we managed an effective and loving tribute to this wonderful artist. We played a lot of Parthenon's music, including material under his own nom de bop, with his group P. Hux, fronting latter-day Electric Light Orchestra incarnation the Orchestra, as a member of Veg, as Rick Rock, with 3KStatic, collaborating with Jeffrey Foskett, and as part of his "pretty good band" with Rusty Anderson, Jen Condos, and Rob Ladd. It was Hux to the max, all in memory of a TIRnRR idol.

For all that, we deliberately skipped my favorite Parthenon Huxley song: "Double Our Numbers," from his brilliant 1988 album Sunny Nights. Our pal Robbie Rist is one of the biggest P. Hux fans we know, so we wanted our P. Hux tribute to include Robbie's cover of "Double Our Numbers," marketed under Robbie's alter ego Ballzy Tomorrow. From a previous edition of 10 Songs:

We have said this many times, yet it bears repeating: Enthusiasm is its own reward.

Enthusiasm drives our individual fandom, and I mean that in a good way. It certainly drives this little mutant radio show. Sure, there can be something said on behalf of detached objectivity...but ferchrissakes not in pop music, or at least not when we're listening to pop music. Objectivity? No. Not on our watch.

Robbie Rist occasionally feigns detachment, but he's never afraid to let his enthusiasm be known. Robbie loves pop as much as anyone loves pop; he loves it unashamedly, proudly. As a performer, Robbie will not hesitate to share his own enthusiasm with the audience

Case in point: Robbie Rist loves the music of Parthenon Huxley, particularly the music on Parthenon Huxley's 1988 album Sunny Nights, and most particularly the Sunny Nights track "Double Our Numbers."

Robbie is right about all of that. "Double Our Numbers" is exquisite, and the subject of one of my Greatest Record Ever Made! rants (and a seeming shoo-in for the hypothetical GREM! Volume 2). The song never became the rockin' pop staple it deserved to be, and I don't think it's available on any current streaming service.

So Robbie's kept the song alive, with a faithful rendition released under his Ballsy Tomorrow dba, all the while tipping his hat and dutifully applying heart to sleeve in recognition of Parthenon Huxley's original.

If you love a song, you wanna play that song, sing that song, dance to that song. And you want to introduce that song to your friends. 

Double our numbers. Triple our numbers. Robbie Rist has the right idea. Greater strength in numbers. Enthusiasm rewards and renews.

We'll hear Parthenon Huxley's original version of "Double Our Numbers" on our next show. We're enthused. And we're doubling down.

THE CYNZ: You Wreck Me

We're also enthusiastic about the music of the Cynz, and we've been playing selections from the group's new album Confess with zealous, righteous conviction. This week, we turn to their absolutely ace cover of Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me," and we may have wrecked a speaker trying to crank this one up to proper volume. So worth it. We'll circle back to a previous Pick Hit from Confess on Sunday night.

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl

From an American girl singin' a Tom Petty song into Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singing "American Girl." I tell ya, sometimes the segues just program themselves.

SORROWS: Just One Fool To Blame

I continue to be amazed at the gift of Sorrows' 2025 release Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, a previously-unreleased 1981 one-night-studio-stand that serves as the group's in-era farewell but sounds like it was recorded tomorrow. The album was a consistent fixture on our playlists last year, and we just debuted its epic John Lennon salute "Cricket Man" on our January 25th show. Two weeks later, we return to the well of constant Sorrows for "Just One Fool To Blame," which turns out be just one more winner from an album overflowing with post-teenage heartbreak of the sweetest kind.  

THE FLASHCUBES: I Won't Wait Another Night

In the course of my work curating my passion project Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes for Big Stir Records in 2025, I had a series of communications with Parthenon Huxley about the possibility of him recording a Flashcubes cover for the compilation. His schedule didn't allow him a lot of opportunity to get this done, but he was friendly and open to the idea, and settled tentatively on doing a solo acoustic 12-string rendition of 'Cubes guitarist Arty Lenin's lovely ballad "I Won't Wait Another Night." 

Our conversation began in February of 2025. I then sent Parthenon several possibilities for him to evaluate from the Cubic catalog, and after considering another Arty tune ("Cycle Of Pain"), he picked "I Won't Wait Another Night" as his preference. He had a lot of working and gigging commitments, including a cruise. In March, he noted that he was closing in on an arrangement of the song. In April, he moved his Make Something Happen! participation status from tentative to "I will participate."

A downturn in Parthenon's health prevented that participation. He remained friendly and engaged in subsequent messaging, but I told him that it was more important for him to get better and feel better than it was to for him to risk damaging his vocal chops while trying to recover from a persistent cough. I expressed appreciation and gratitude for his interest and indulgence, and he expressed hope that we might meet in person some day.

This week, we played the Flashcubes' own original version of "I Won't Wait Another Night." A toast to absent friends, and a toast to what might have been.

P. HUX: Better Than Good

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

And yes, I did indeed repurpose much of this for my subsequent GREM! celebration of "Double Our Numbers." Serving the greater good, and that's much better than good.

HOLLY AND THE ITALIANS: Tell That Girl To Shut Up

Holly and the Italians' 1981 debut long-player The Right To Be Italian is a perfect record from start to finish. The 'tude classic "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" is the best-known among the original LP's ten tracks, but they're all great, presenting an irresistible oomph-a-thon of girl-group pop, New York punk, and undeniable rock 'n' roll climbing in the back seat and pulsating to the backbeat. One of my all-time favorite albums.

ELVIS COSTELLO: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shows

I saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions perform on campus when I was a Freshman at Brockport in early 1978, and I wrote an extended reminiscence of that experience here. The performance did not include the 1977 My Aim Is True track "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," but we did hear (but not see) Declan and the lads run through the tune that night. Let's look back at that part of my in-concert recollection:

"...Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True, featured studio backing by a group called Clover; he formed the more raucous, willfully chaotic Attractions after that. My Aim Is True was well-received by critics; I suspect a few critics may have embraced it because it was tangentially punk, but not really, and endorsing it might make such critics seem slightly hipper than they actually were. But My Aim Is True was a terrific album, deserving of accolades regardless of the unconscious reasons prompting such praise.

"Still, it was surprising to return to Brockport and discover that Elvis Costello was scheduled to perform on campus. Although there was some underground support for punk and new wave among a beleaguered minority of students (and a very small handful of DJs on the student-run radio station WBSU), Brockport was simply not a hip place. The predominant musical taste of Brockport students was embodied by the Grateful Dead, Southern rock, and similar shit-kickin' and/or stoner stuff. It was either that, or dat ole debbil disco. The campus newspaper The Stylus had dismissed the Sex Pistols' album in a fit of blind, frothing fury: "Simply put, this album sucks." This was not a CBGB's crowd...

"...This was only my third rock concert. I'd seen KISS in 1976, and (yechh!) the Charlie Daniels Band in '77. More importantly, though, I'd seen my first club show and my first punk or new wave or trend du jour show in January, when I witnessed Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes for the first time. I already knew that was a life-changing experience; why not hope for another revelation, with Elvis Costello and the Attractions?

"As we waited outside the ballroom before showtime, Costello rushed sullenly and silently past us, en route to his soundcheck. We heard run-throughs of 'Alison' and '(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes' coming from behind the closed doors of the ballroom. It would be the only time we'd hear either of those songs that night...."

So, a question for the armchair pundits in our audience: This was my only Elvis Costello show; are "Alison" and "Red Shoes" a part of my virtual ticket stub gallery, or not? The well-shod angels in our midst await your decision.

THE BEATLES: Here Comes The Sun [Take 9]

Listen, man: Here in Syracuse, we're still waiting for proof of this elusive "sun" of which you speak. We'll believe it when we see it.

PARTHENON HUXLEY: Beautiful

Another one of the biggest P. Hux fans we know is loyal TIRnRR listener Eleanor Cook. Our Eleanor has guest-programmed a couple of shows for us, and one of those shows included "Beautiful,"  a go'geous tune from Parthenon Huxley's 2013 album Thank You Bethesda. Beautiful. And a beautiful way to conclude our tribute. Godspeed, Parthenon.

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.

VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: Seeing the band in its original lineup (or in partial groupings thereof), Part 2

Here's Part 2 of a Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery tour of bands I've seen in their original lineup (or in partial groupings thereof). Part 1 listed bands I saw with their founding configurations intact. Now, let's look at groups who were one player shy of their charter membership when I saw 'em perform:

BLOTTO [5/6]

My first Blotto show occurred during a visit to Albany in the spring of 1981. The occasion was a lost extended weekend with some friends, the venue was J. B. Scott's, and the band consisted of Bowtie Blotto, Broadway Blotto, Cheese Blotto, Chevrolet Blotto, Lee Harvey Blotto, and Sergeant Blotto, Chevrolet having recently replaced Blanche Blotto. No offense to Mr. Chevrolet, but Blanche looks kinda cute in the photos I've seen (like the one directly above), so I kinda regret missing out on seeing her. Chevy hit the road [HAR!] after that, and Blotto was a quintet from then on. I only saw them a few more times in the '80s, but I remained a fan. In 2006, I saw Blotto one more time on April 1st--no foolin', really!--with the Flashcubes at Turning Stone Casino. And they did indeed play something good.

COCKEYED GHOST [2/3]

This one may be a ritual splitting of hair's separation from landing in the complete original lineup category. In the '90s, I'd been corresponding with Cockeyed Ghost frontman Adam Marsland for a while, and a tour brought the group to Planet 505 in Syracuse. 1997, I think. The touring group was the same lineup--guitarist Marsland, bassist Rob Cassell, and drummer James Hazley--that had recorded most of their 1996 debut album Keep Yourself Amused. But Hazley had been a later addition to the group, and hadn't played on their first single, "About Jill"/"Disappear," which featured Paul "Wally" Presson keeping time on the A-side, and Kurt Medlin poundin' on them Pagan skins on the flip. Splitting hairs, but technically I saw 2/3 of OG Cockeyed Ghost.

The gig itself was fascinating and invigorating. Editors at The Syracuse New Times allowed me to write an article hyping the show, and I was able to get the Flashcubes' Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin added to the bill as opening act. A splendid time was strongly implied for all.

The evening provided a quirky note of interest when I met another attendee, a woman from Cockeyed Ghost's L.A.-area stomping grounds. I don't remember her name, but she said she was married to one of the members of SoCal stalwarts the Jigsaw Seen. She was in Syracuse for a funeral, and was surprised to read my New Times rah-rah about Cockeyed Ghost's Planet 505 show. That seemed exactly the sort of event one could use to lift one's spirits, should one's spirits be in need of lifting.

At 505, someone introduced us. We'd never met before and didn't know each other at all. The weird thing was when she realized she and I had in fact spoken on the phone the past Christmas. I had been at home moping my way through the holiday season, recovering from chicken pox (not a great thing for someone my age), when David Bash happened to call me from his home in California. Why? I have absolutely no recollection. But his call cheered me up a bit. He was having a party, and he passed the phone to one of his guests and bid her to share some good vibes.

And yeah, that guest at Casa Bash happened to be the same Jigsaw Seen-adjacent pop fan who turned up that night at Planet 505. You saw that comin', I'm sure. Weird the way these things unfold. 

But it's how we keep ourselves amused.

THE KINKS [3/4]

The first two (out of three) times I saw the Kinks, they still had three-fourths of their classic well-respected men in place, with guitarists Ray Davies and Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory, missing only bassist Peter Quaife, who left in the band in the late '60s. Avory also left by the time of my third and final Kinks show in '89.

My third Kinks concert was weird, taking place in a college gymnasium that (on a separate visit) smothered the sound of the Ramones. A mid-'80s arena show was my second live Kinks experience.

But my first Kinks show? I was in paradise.

LET'S ACTIVE [2/3]

I saw a bunch of shows when I lived in Buffalo, late 1982 to early '87. I think I only saw a small number of shows at Buffalo's punk club The Continental; my Continental gigs included Johnny Thunders (YEAH!!!, and making up for a missed opportunity to see Thunders with the Heartbreakers in Rochester a few years earlier), the Waitresses (perhaps with the original lineup, definitely including singer Patty Donahue), and the Bangles. Oh, and Intergalactic Burnt Toast. Obviously.

I also saw a two-thirds original edition of Let's Active at The Continental, with Mitch Easter and Faye Hunter, without Sara Romweber, who had already split from the band. Good show, of course, but my primary memory of the night is calling out a non sequitur request for "September Gurls" during Let's Active's set. Hunter seemed surprised and amused, and said, "Did someone just request Big Star?" It was not a common song to request at club gigs in the '80s.

They didn't actually play it, mind you. When a band responds to an unsolicited audience request, every word means no,

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS [4/5]

1989 at the great New York Stater Fair: Tom Petty hisself, with Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, and Stan Lynch, plus Howie Epstein, who had replaced original bassist Ron Blair a few years back. Fantastic show, but its unique highlight was its encore, when Axl Rose strolled onstage to join in for renditions of "Free Fallin'" and Bashful Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door." This was just shortly before the Guns N' Roses singer appeared with Petty on The MTV Video Music Awards that year--maybe just days before--and Axl's State Fair cameo was a complete surprise to the audience.

(We'll circle back to this show a few paragraphs south of here, when we discuss its opening act.)

THE RASCALS [3/4]

In either the very late '80s or the very early '90s, I saw the Rascals (formerly the Young Rascals) play at a bar in East Syracuse. Eddie Brigati opted not to participate in this reunion tour, but Felix Cavaliere, Gene Cornish, and Dino Danelli did, and it was very, very cool. All four of the Rascals eventually made it back to Syracuse for a higher-profile gig at The Landmark Theatre many years later, but circumstances--I WAS OUT OF TOWN, DAMMIT TO HELL!--prevented me from attending.

THE REPLACEMENTS [3/4]

I was a latecomer to the Replacements; I don't recall even hearing them prior to MTV airing their video for "Bastards Of Young," but I must have heard them on WBNY-FM when I lived in Buffalo. In any case, my first of two Replacement shows was on the Don't Tell A Soul tour in 1989, by which time Bob Stinson was long gone. So: Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars, plus newer replacement Replacement Slim Dunlap at The Lost Horizon. The 'Mats later told Rolling Stone it was the single worst gig of the tour. I...suspect they may have been drinking that night. Shhhh. Don't tell a soul.

(My second and last Replacements show was when they opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the above-mentioned State Fair Grandstand date, also in '89. I liked 'em. Most of the Petty audience did not.)

THE ROLLING STONES [4/5]

You know who was missing: Brian Jones, who died in 1969, twenty years before the Steel Wheels tour brought the Stones back to Syracuse's Carrier Dome. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman, of course, with Ronnie Wood having replaced Mick Taylor, who replaced Mr. Jones.

I had made a lame attempt to get in to see the Stones at the Dome in the early '80s, hoping a scalper was desperate to unload his/her supply. You can't always get what you want. In '89 I tried the radical move of actually buying tickets. See? If you try sometimes, you get what you need.

This was, I think, my first ever time inside the Dome. Subsequently, some friends took my wife and me to a Syracuse University men's basketball game in the early '90s, but I didn't really become an Orange fan until much, much later. I saw a few games at the Dome after that, the most recent occurring in 2017. I saw the Stones there again in 1994, and Paul McCartney in 2017, probably mere weeks before my last in-person SU hoops game (so far). I do see the Dome (now JMG Wireless Dome) on TV a lot. Go, Orange!

The Steel Wheels tour came to Syracuse the same week I saw the Kinks in Oswego. Not a bad week, right?

This series concludes tomorrow, with three acts for whom I've seen all or most of the original lineup...but not at the same time.

Photo by Dana Bonn

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

10 SONGS: 11/3/2023

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 # 1205. This show is available as a podcast.

DWIGHT TWILLEY: The Luck

It's not even the merest exaggeration to refer to the late Dwight Twilley as one of the giants of power pop. Twilley's been a part of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's DNA since our second broadcast, January 3rd of 1999, when we played the Dwight Twilley Band's "That I Remember."  For a show like ours, which lists "power pop" as its stated format--even if "power pop" is just a convenient shorthand for whatever the hell it is that we actually do--it was imperative for us to pay tribute to Twilley this week.

I chose "The Luck," from Dwight Twilley's 1999 album Tulsa, as our opening track. It wasn't until after the show aired that I realized "The Luck" was the first solo Twilley track played on TIRnRR, 7/4/1999. That serendipity added resonance and history to our selection.

(Thanks as always to the mighty, mighty Fritz Van Leaven for tending our stats. We wouldn' have any stats at all if not for Fritz.)

We stand on the shoulders of giants. One of those giants was named Dwight Twilley. Some people have all the luck. We were all lucky to live in a time of Dwight Twilley's music.

THE FLASHCUBES: Alone In My Room

As noted in this week's playlist commentary, I don't remember hearing the Dwight Twilley Band on AM radio in the '70s. I was still in high school in '75, and still a devoted listener of Syracuse's WOLF-AM, and I must have heard the great "I'm On Fire" on the Big 15 at the time. Yet it didn't register in my teen consciousness. 

Stupid teenager.

So: 1978. College. Bomp magazine's power pop issue. Paying attention by now. Stupid teenager trying to be, y'know, less stupid, at least in between keggers and girls. "I'm On Fire" was on a terrific compilation called Geef Voor New Wave, occupying grooves alongside the Sex Pistols, Generation X, Jonathan Richman, Motörhead, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Earth Quake, the Motors, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Rubinoos, the Adverts, X-Ray Spex, the Radiators From Space, Johnny Moped, and Radio Stars. You can be damned certain I snatched that sucker right up.

Still, I'm pretty sure my conscious introduction to "I'm On Fire" was when I saw the Flashcubes include it in a live set in '78. Really paying attention now! It was probably around the same time that the 'Cubes likewise hooked me on Big Star's "September Gurls." I cannot overstate the immense importance of the Flashcubes in my rockin' pop life.

Given all of the above, it was important to include the 'Cubes in our tribute to Dwight Twilley. The Flashcubes' current album Pop Masters gives us their vibrant cover of Twilley's "Alone In My Room." We had to play that.

(It should come as no surprise to anyone that we played the Flashcubes on our very first show, 12/27/98. Our first-aired 'Cubes track was "It's You Tonight.")

DWIGHT TWILLEY: 10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin'

"10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin'" is from Twilley's 1982 album Scuba Divers. The track has always been one of my top favorites among his many pure pop gems--maybe my # 1 Twilley solo number--and I was hellbent on mixing it into TIRnRR's tribute to Dwight Twilley. Mission accomplished!

However....

I was stunned to review our stats and discover that, over the course of nearly 25 years of doing this show, we'd never gotten around to playing "10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin'" before this week. My favorite solo Twilley cut. What it means is what it means is what it really means.

And I guess it means better late than never. We're playing it again next week. The track has some catchin' up to do. On your mark. Get set. DIVE! And dance! Let's go swimming already.

THE GRIP WEEDS: Where Have All The Good Times Gone

New Jersey's phenomenal pop combo the Grip Weeds put on an absolutely epic live show last week at Syracuse's legendary home of rock 'n' roll The Lost Horizon. It was an evening full of highlights by the Grip Weeds themselves and billmates 1.4.5., Perilous, Preacher, and Kenne Highland's Air Force, and it provided an exuberant capper to a particularly rockin' month.

This week's radio shindig aired a couple of days after the Lost Horizon show, but was recorded prior to the Grip Weeds' live annexation of the greater Syracuse area. Dana and I had seen the Grip Weeds before, we knew they were gonna be amazing again, and we programmed accordingly. We had three Grip Weeds tracks on last week's show, and this week we programmed the Gripsters' ace take on the Kinks' "Where Have All The Good Tims Gone," from Jem Records' wonderful tribute compilation Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies.

Ooo! And NEXT week, we're playing a track from the Grip Weeds' 2022 album DiG, a little something we ain't played before, but which the group performed at the Lost, fully wowing all and sundry. Whatta band! What a great, great band.

(The Grip Weeds made their TIRnRR debut with "Out Of Today" on 1/10/99. The track was later included on our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2.)

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

(Tom Petty made his TIRnRR debut on 3/28/99, with his cover of the Byrds' "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better.")

PERILOUS: Name In The Paper

Last Friday's Lost Horizon gig was the first time I got to see Preacher and Kenne Highland's Air Force, and about the thousandth (and COUNTING!!) time I've seen 1.4.5. (still counting 'cuz a thousand times ain't nearly enough), and actually my second 1.4.5. live set in October. It was my second time seeing the Grip Weeds, and my second time seeing Perilous.

(The first time I saw Perilous was in May of this year, with 1.4.5. at a release party at The 443 Social Club and Lounge for my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. I even got to sing "Rockaway Beach" on stage with members of 1.4.5. and Perilous. It was a decent night. It was a really decent night. I have a flair for understatement.)

At the Lost, Perilous elevated the razzafrazzin' ceiling with bravura renditions of every song on their forthcoming album YEAH!!!, plus a cover of the Ramones' "Cretin Hop." We've been playing the YEAH!!! single "Name In The Paper" a lot, and now Perilous has a video to go with the song. The name will come up again in next week's show. It's the only decent thing to do.

(TIRnRR's first spin of Perilous was the group's debut single "Rock & Roll Kiss," which played on our 5/8/2022 show. It went on to be our # 3 most-played track in 2023, and it was included on our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5.)

DAVE KUCHLER: In It With You

We played Dave Kuchler's former group Soul Engines some time in the wayback, at which time they asked us to stop sending them our playlists. Ouch. Nonetheless, we jumped on "In It With You" (from Kuchler's current Kool Kat Musik release Love + Glory ) from the get-go. We started playing it on 10/15/2023, and it's been a weekly fixture ever since. And sure, that's not a lot of weeks...

...Yet. Not a lot of weeks yet. We'll add another week this Sunday.

THE RAMONES: Swallow My Pride

Power pop? The Ramones were more than any one genre, but yeah, they were assuredly a power pop group--a FANTASTIC power pop group--on so many of their tracks. "Swallow My Pride" (from 1977's Leave Home) is a prime example of power pop Ramones. 

(Hard to believe, but we didn't play our first Ramones track until our second show, with "I Don't Want To Grow Up" on 1/3/1999. On the other hand, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" was our opening theme from the start.)

THE BEATLES: Please Please Me

Power pop? The Beatles were also more than any one genre, but they invented power pop with "Please Please Me." The Beatles directly inspired the formation of the Dwight Twilley Band, just as the Beatles inspired so many others.

(The Beatles' first This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio appearance was--duh--TIRnRR # 1 on 12/27/1998. "It's Only Love." We'll hear the lads' new single at the top of our next show.)

THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND: I'm On Fire

A true classic, forevermore one of the defining singles of this engaging, fascinating, fulfilling music we call power pop. Godspeed, Dwight Twilley. We thank you for bringing us fire.

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: American Girl

This was written as a potential chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but it is not part of that book's current blueprint. Volume 2!

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!

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: American Girl

Written by Tom Petty

Produced by Denny Cordell

Single from the album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Shelter Records, 1976

God, it's so painful for something to be so close
And still so far out of reach

I know I've written several times about Phonograph Record Magazine, a rock 'n' roll tabloid that meant quite a lot to me when I was 17. I discovered the magazine when I was a 17-year-old high school senior in 1977, and even though I only saw a mere two issues of PRM, it was enough to open up a whole new world of possibility within my fevered teen brain. Punk rock? What the hell is that? And why am I suddenly so intrigued by it?

Among PRM's regular features was Pipeline, a determinedly silly column by writer Mark Shipper. And it was in Pipeline that I first heard of a new act called Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Granted, it was just in a humor piece about punk groups, referring to Eddie and the Hot Rods as a singer named Eddie backed by a combo of classic cars revvin' up, and referring to the Heartbreakers as a beleaguered band bullied by a leader so (wait for it!) petty that he required 'em all to wear matching underwear beneath their trousers on stage. You might find the idea of considering Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers a punk group funnier than Shipper's jokes (though I would disagree). But Petty and company were indeed swept up in the punk hype initially, spoken in the same breath as the Ramones, even though they sounded more like the Byrds. Nonetheless, the common ground was there. It was new. It was exciting. It belonged to us.

I don't have any real recollection of hearing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' first hit "Breakdown" on the radio in '77, though I must have. I did hear "American Girl," and adored its glorious channeling of Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark taking flyte on my FM dial. But it was really the group's 1978 TV appearance on Midnight Special that set me higher. "Listen To Her Heart." "I Need To Know." The album was You're Gonna Get It. I got it. I got it as soon as I possibly could.

The American record-buyin' public caught up with this mob in short order; their third album Damn The Torpedoes shot full speed ahead into the charts, onto the airwaves, and deep within hearts that would not be broken. Their success was proof that great stuff could sell, sell big, and remain great, remain true to itself. 

No one would ever dare to call Tom Petty a sellout. He was an everyman, one of us, yet still a superstar, the kind of star we wished we could be. When Petty helped to form the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, his self-assured cool guaranteed him an easy fit; but somewhere far under his skin, I guarantee there was still a starstruck kid from Gainsville, Florida, pinching himself while saying I'm pals with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison! And Jeff Lynne. His success was deserved. His fame and acclaim were well-earned. But he never forgot the long road he took to get there. His unbreakable heart was made of gold, but forged in rock 'n' roll.

"American Girl" recalls the best of the Byrds so effortlessly that there's no question that the similarity is an accident; Petty said he didn't even realize it sounded like the Byrds until someone pointed it out. It was organic, the result of creation nurtured by inspiration. "American Girl" is also arguably deeper, more emotional than most of the Byrds' sublime recorded work, painting a portrait of a woman dealing with her own desperation, her own regret, and determining her next step in moving on to something better.

"Something better" for this American girl may be an American boy who can try to understand her and help her; it may be even simpler than that, as she seeks the path to understand and help herself: an American girl, raised on promises, who couldn't help thinking that there was a little more to life somewhere else.

Tom Petty knew all of this, whether first-hand or as an observer. He told the story with a chime of guitars and an earnest commitment to seeing things through. Oh yeah. All right. A great big world with lots of places to run to must offer sanctuary somewhere. 

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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.