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
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| THE FLASHCUBES: Arty, Paul, Tommy, and Gary |
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1334, an Irish wake for Syracuse punk Paul Armstrong
THE FLASHCUBES WITH MIKE GENT: Reminisce
The gut punch of hearing that guitarist (and friend of this show) Paul Armstrong had succumbed to his battle with cancer was cushioned an eensy bit by knowing the bad news was coming soon, and more importantly by the fact that PA's mortal suffering had finally ended. It was still a gut punch. Paul battled his illness bravely and privately; I was made aware of it solely because of my work on a book detailing an oral history of the Flashcubes--PA, Tommy Allen, Gary Frenay, and Arty Lenin--and the pressing need for me to prioritize completing my interviews with Paul. We were able to accomplish that, though I would have liked the opportunity to do one more follow-up. But man, we'd all like the opportunity to have many more years with Paul Armstrong in our lives, singing, playing, writing, and kibbitzing. That wish will not be granted in the limits of this physical world. As always: Fuck cancer.
It felt imperative to dedicate this week's show to Paul Armstrong, to offer an Irish wake for a Syracuse punk. 14 tracks on the show include PA as a performer, and a total of 20 tracks were written or co-written by Paul (plus we played two versions of two of these 20 PA compositions/co-compositions, "Reminisce" and "Five Personalities"). The importance of Paul Armstrong's influence on shaping TIRnRR's DNA cannot be overstated.
In this moment, it felt important to reminisce.
Excerpted and adapted from a previous 10 Songs:
"Reminisce" was written by Flashcubes guitarist 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.
My 2025 Flashcubes tribute album Make Something Happen! opened with "Reminisce." It was by far my favorite individual track of 2025, and it woulda been a tough one to challenge. 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 kick off a celebration, looking back while facing front at the same damned time.
BALLZY TOMORROW: Five Personalities
Also from that same previous 10 Songs:
From the tribute album's acknowledgements:
"Special thanks to Robbie Rist; two years ago, when I said that someone should put together a Flashcubes tribute album, he immediately replied (and I'm paraphrasing): "YOU do it. You know bands! And I'll be on it!" When Robbie speaks, power pop fans listen."
This power pop fan listened anyway. And as the Flashcubes tribute album moved from Wouldn't it be cool? to GO TIME!!, it was clear to me that our Robbie should use the great power and responsibility of his nom de bop Ballzy Tomorrow to do a cover of the Flashcubes' "Five Personalities."
"Five Personalities" was originally recorded by Paul Armstrong's group the Richards (as heard on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3), co-written by PA with Richards lead singer Norm Mattice and CNY guitar legend Mark Doyle. With some additional songcraft from Flashcubes bassist Gary Frenay, "Five Personalities" was subsequently recorded by the Flashcubes themselves for their 2003 album Brilliant, and that arrangement provides the basic template for Ballzy Tomorrow's Make Something Happen! entry.
And Mr. Rist runs with it. Hell, Gary Frenay recently declared Ballzy Tomorrow's (and I quote) "phenomenal" rendition of "Five Personalities to be "Best version of the song yet. So inspired!" PA chimed in with "Stellar!," and 'Cubes drummer Tommy Allen added a reverent "AWESOME!!!"
They are correct. But I expected nothing less. When Robbie Rist speaks, power pop fans listen. And when Robbie plays and sings? They listen even harder. Robbie Rist gives us an interpretation of "Five Personalities" that our friends at Big Stir Records describe as "majestically Queen-like whimsy." We concur!
SORROWS: Radio
Op. cit.:
"Radio" was the B-side of the Flashcubes' second single "Wait Til Next Week." The song was co-written by Paul Armstrong and Gary Frenay, and although it was a live favorite at the time, it fell into disfavor within the band and was dropped from the set.
Coincidentally, within days of snaggin' my copy of "Wait Til Next Week"/"Radio" from Gary at Gildersleeves on Bowery in '79, I also picked up "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" by the Poppees. Sorrows formed out of the aftermath of the Poppees, and Sorrows' recent album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow earned guaranteed representation on TIRnRR's 2025 year-end countdown show
And for Make Something Happen!, Sorrows have given us a cover of "Radio" that is nothing short of full-on freakin' phenomenal.
Listen: You can search the four corners of the globe, and by the time you realize globes don't have corners, you'll already know what a fiercely loyal Flashcubes fan I am. Given that, consider the sheer gravity of me saying that Sorrows have accomplished the definitive version of the Flashcubes' "Radio." Pop music is my religion. Radio is one of my pulpits. With "Radio," Sorrows deliver the sermon we need.
Testify. And put your antenna to the sky.
GRAHAM PARKER AND MIKE GENT: Pathetic
My Flashcubes book Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Group Called THE FLASHCUBES originally had a targeted publication date of Fall 2025. I was not able to make that something happen, particularly given the demands of organizing and overseeing the Flashcubes tribute album. As much as I regret that I couldn't complete work on this book before PA's passing, I don't regret making that choice. Over the years, Paul was able to read tons of stuff I wrote about the Flashcubes, and stuff I wrote specifically about him. By choosing to concentrate on getting the Flashcubes tribute album done, I enabled a situation where Paul Armstrong was able to hear the great Graham Parker cover one of PA's songs. As Paul told me, "It's unreal hearing GRAHAM FUCKING PARKER sing a song I wrote!"
Yeah, I would make that same choice again in a heartbeat.
Op. cit.:
Ahem.
Yeah, we got Graham Parker--GRAHAM MOTHERLOVIN' PARKER!!--to cover the Flashcubes for Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. We feel taller! Credit Mike Gent of the Figgs for making this particular something happen, revamping and adapting 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's "Pathetic" into a worthy vehicle for the well-respected GP, and seeing it through to perfection.
Although it would be inaccurate to call the great Graham Parker a punk rocker, the irascible 'n' irrepressible vibe of some of his 1970s material places him (at the very least) on punk's periphery. Parker wasn't a punk...but a lot of punks loved him. This punk sure did.
As such, GP was among the first artists I ever heard within this broad not-really-a-category category of the punk-adjacent. In my senior year of high school, 1976-77, WOUR-FM in Utica, NY was playing Parker's "Hotel Chambermaid," and they were also playing Nick Lowe's "So It Goes." In the summer of '77, WOUR added the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" to its parade of Hey, Carl! Dig THIS!! revelations. None of these three sounded at all like the other two. The common ground was attitude.
The shared trait was transcendence.
Graham Parker is, of course, still at it, gloriously still at it, and still a reliable resource for Hey, Carl! Dig THIS! Consider his cover of "Pathetic" as case-closed evidence of that.
THE RICHARDS: Over There
Do you know the story of PA's inspiration for writing "Pathetic?" No, it's not about me. but it is about another music journalist. By the early '90s, Paul and singer-guitarist-born rock star Norm Mattice had already relocated from Syracuse to Boston, and changed the name of their 'Cuse-born combo 1.4.5. to the Richards. The Richards released only one album under that name, and that was a dynamic rockin' bopper called Over The Top.
I loved it. The person who reviewed it for The Syracuse New Times did not love it, and publicly trashed it accordingly. Paul Armstrong, being the easy-going take-all-things-in-stride guy he was, accepted the constructive criticism and tried to apply this new-found wisdom to his future works.
NO! I KID! I'm a kidder. PA saw red, and wrote "Pathetic" as his vitriolic response. You haven't got a penny to your name/A victim of self-inflicted fame/Spewing venom on a one-horse town/ You're no Kewpie Doll, you're just a clown! Lyrics woulda been worthy of Never Mind The Bollocks. When the Flashcubes recorded "Pathetic" for their album Brilliant, they changed Kewpie Doll to New York Doll for a more universal reference. "Pathetic" basically became Paul Armstrong's signature tune. And some people say rock critics aren't relevant!
Over The Top gave us this sturdy rocker "Over There." Love it. What do critics know anyway?
MEEGAN VOSS AND STEVE JORDAN/THE VERBS: I Need Glue
PA's transcendent giddiness over hearing Graham Parker sing "Pathetic" was matched by the joy he experienced in adding renowned musician Steve Jordan to his list of personal contacts, all as a result of work on the Flashcubes tribute album. Op cit.:
Meegan Voss was a veteran participant in that same vibrant late '70s Syracuse music scene sparked by the Flashcubes, and her 1978-1980 group the Poptarts shoulda been stars. Now, she and her husband Steve Jordan perform together as the Verbs. I remember Meegan from the Poptarts days, and I remember watching Steve on TV in the '80s, when he was the drummer for the house band on Late Night With David Letterman. Steve has worked with just about everybody, though one suspects his current gig as the Rolling Stones' drummer kinda pops out on the ol' résumé with extra added satisfaction.
We are so fortunate to have Meegan and Steve involved in this Flashcubes tribute project, and it's such a unique kick to hear how the Verbs have taken "I Need Glue," a very early Flashcubes punk number, and made it their freakin' own.
I continue to be knocked out by how radically the Verbs were able to revamp, restructure, and reimagine this punk stomper while still retaining a comfy tether to the original's intent. One of my (many!) favorite tracks on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes.
1.4.5: Your Own World
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE MOST: Do The Jumping Jack
When Paul Armstrong got divorced from the Flashcubes in 1979, he immediately joined his girlfriend Dian Zain's new group the Most. Dian already had a solo single just about ready for release, and a new picture sleeve was quickly fabricated, changing the record's billing to the Most. I absolutely loved the Most, and I wrote about them when Dian passed in 2021.
The Most recorded some very cool tracks, but only three ever saw release. "Rockerfeller" found its way to a various-artist collection called From The City That Brought You...Absolutely Nothing, while fab material like "Girls Don't Pay," "I'm Not The Liar," "Habits," "Let's Go Out Tonight," and more remain unissued and unheard. Aside from "Rockerfeller," the only Most tracks ever to make their way to retail were the two sides of that Dian Zain 45: "Take A Chance"/"Do The Jumping Jack."
"Take A Chance" was a Dian Zain composition. "Do The Jumping Jack" was Paul, and it had been a staple of early Flashcubes live shows. At one point, it was mentioned as a possible B-side for the first 'Cubes single "Christi Girl," but that notion got jettisoned PDQ.
To be fair, "Do The Jumping Jack" isn't a great song...but I'm attached to it. I loved doing the Jumping Jack when the Flashcubes played it, and I loved doing that when the Most played it. I recall one Most gig upstairs at the Firebarn, and nobody was dancing. Nobody. I was dressed in Beatle boots and a suit and tie adorned with miscellaneous rock 'n' roll buttons. As the Most began playing "Do The Jumping Jack," I planted myself front and center before the stage, and I did the Jumping Jack like no one was watching. I felt awkward. I did it anyway.
And others joined in. In memory of that spirit, our tribute to PA demanded a spin of the Jumping Jack.
THE FLASHCUBES: Got No Mind
The Flashcubes were an incredible, exciting live rock 'n' roll band. The best document of that empirical fact is Flashcubes On Fire, a 2022 CD preserving an incendiary May 1979 'Cubes set at the Firebarn. In my liner notes to that album, I wrote:
"At its best, live music is alchemy in action, capable of transforming the air around us into pure gold. This mystic process is fueled by so many ingredients, both physical and phantasmic. Sweat. Love. Lust. Hate. Alcohol. Hunger. Ambition. Greed. Generosity. Divine inspiration. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Laughter. Tears. One pill that makes you larger, one pill that makes you small. Amplifiers, power chords, the beat of the bass and drums. Voices rising in anger or exultation. Taking a sad song and making it better. One for the money, two for the show. NOISE. Beautiful, transcendent noise. The sound of gold.
"In 1979, I was 19 years old. I reveled in this golden sound. My preferred alchemists were a fantastic rock 'n' roll group called the Flashcubes. My go-to goldmine was the Firebarn...."
The definitive rendition of PA's Ramones-inspired rant "Got No Mind" comes from this set. The 1978 basement demo of "Got No Mind" (paired with a basement demo of Gary Frenay's "Guernica" as the collective B-side of "Christi Girl") doesn't carry any of the punch a proper rant requires. The live "Got No Mind" has punch to spare, and the same Firebarn recording also served as the closing number on the original Flashcubes anthology Bright Lights.
On Bright Lights, the "Got No Mind" track fades out as the 'Cubes launch into a furious performance of the Larry Williams (via the Beatles) nugget "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." Flashcubes On Fire includes "Got No Mind" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" as separate tracks. On this week's radio tribute to Paul Armstrong, we segued the Flashcubes On Fire "Got No Mind" into the Beatles' screamin' promo video version of "Revolution"
Because that's what the Flashcubes were to me when I was 18: Revolution. Fuckin' A, man.
That A stands for Armstrong.
THE FLASHCUBES WITH TONY CARBONE: Reminisce
All I wanna do is reminisce with you. On November 25th, 1994, the Flashcubes played a gig at Syracuse's Lost Horizon, with deputy drummer Tony Carbone sitting in for Tommy Allen. It is, I believe, the only time the Flashcubes ever performed "Reminisce." I have a lo-fi recording of it, and this early version is barely a blueprint for the transcendent wonder of what PA, Gary, Arty, and Tommy did with the song upon returning to it circa 2024.
But it stands as history, a cornerstone, an early clue to the new direction. Wanna reminisce? I'm right there with you: Awkward and starry-eyed, a teen that never grew up because I can't figure out how to do that, and still hell-bent on the message: Pop music is my religion. Reminiscing keeps it in the present day.
And knowing and remembering all of that helps us in our ongoing endeavors to make something happen. Godspeed, PA.
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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.
