You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
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.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
10 SONGS: 3/30/2021
Monday, March 29, 2021
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1070
It would be an exaggeration to say that Rich Firestone saved our radio station. But Reechie sure did us an awful lot of good with his weekly show Radio Deer Camp, which celebrates its first anniversary today. For years, both Dana and I have wished that Rich would be able to do a show on this station; Rich and his wife Kathy Firestone had been in-person guest hosts of TIRnRR a couple of times, and Rich programmed and recorded the first-ever remote edition of TIRnRR one Sunday back in 2017. Man, remember when radio by remote was a novelty? Those were the days!
Anyway. Because necessity is Frank Zappa (or however the saying goes), it took a global pandemic to prompt weekly Reechie radio. A year ago, when it became clear that none of our local Syracuse programmers (us included) would be doing shows in the studio any time soon, Dana drafted Rich to do something, just to ensure SPARK's airwaves wouldn't have to be all reruns all the time. Rich stepped up bigtime with Radio Deer Camp, a destination radio show that offers The Best Two Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. Radio Deer Camp has occupied that 5 to 7 pm Eastern time slot on our station ever since, and SPARK is better for it. Furthermore, RDC inspired TIRnRR to begin programming remotely, and some other SPARK shows have also followed suit. Rich Firestone led the way.
So, did Rich Firestone save our radio station? Close enough. He has certainly made it better. We thank Rich, Kathy, and RDC's producer Harry for their efforts. Now, c'mon guys: would it hurt you to play some ABBA every once in a while? Well...either way, TIRnRR salutes you. And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
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 all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
http://sparksyracuse.org/support/
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/
THE BEATLES: I Should Have Known Better (Apple, A Hard Day's Night)
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Tonight On THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO
Hey, first things first! Congratulations to our pal Rich Firestone as we celebrate the first anniversary of his fabulous show Radio Deer Camp. Radio Deer Camp airs every Sunday afternoon from 5 to 7 pm Eastern right here on SPARK!, and we've been delighted to have our Reechie as part of the team. We'll use that anniversary as an excuse to party with a few RDC-influenced selections scattered throughout our own playlist tonight, mixed with new releases from Allan Kaplon, Beebe Gallini, Dolph Chaney, Tommy Ray, Athensville, and The Stan Laurels, plus recent and/or classic sides from The Gold Needles, The Chambers Brothers, Amy Rigby, The Ramones, Sam Cooke, Kid Gulliver, Star Collector, Mary Lou Lord, Kelley Ryan, The Beatles, and more. RADIO! Let's celebrate. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, http://sparksyracuse.org/
Saturday, March 27, 2021
POP-A-LOOZA: My Guitars
Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is the story of my guitars.
I have written previously of my inability to sing, play guitar, or create music of any agreeable kind. "My Guitars" supplements the longer-form chronicle "I've Got The Music In Me (And That's Where It's Going To Stay)," and my annoying predilection for drumming on counters, walls, body parts, or what-have-you is described in "To Beat Or Not To Beat."
None of it happens without the music. I sing the now-familiar refrain: I can't play, but I can write. "My Guitars" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
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.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Friday, March 26, 2021
Update And Pause: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1)
An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.
It's been a little over two years since I announced my intention to turn my Greatest Record Ever Made! blog series into a book. The book project made a little bit of progress in 2019, as I secured the services of a literary agent and put together a formal proposal for the book. I was encouraged, and things seemed promising.
Alas, there has been no real progress on the book's prospects for publication since late in 2019.
I alluded to some of this in last week's post about where I think I am and what this place looks like today. I mentioned some specifics in this week's GREM! video. Because of legitimate real-world complications (including but not limited to, y'know, a global pandemic), my agent has not shown the proposal to any potential publishers. And I want to be clear when I say that I bear her no ill will for that; she has been in a difficult situation, and this could not be helped.
Nonetheless, we have agreed to part company. She was an enormously positive factor in getting the project on track at its beginning, and in coaching and/or coercing me into crafting a decent book proposal. I really wish that we would have been able to continue working together, but it simply wasn't gonna happen. The parting is amicable, as I have expressed my gratitude and she has replied, "I also hope that I can read your finished work when it's available because Greatest Record Ever Made has a lot of style and heart; it was and is a worthwhile and moving piece of writing."
And now, I have to figure out a way to move forward with it.
At this time, I am not interested in self-publishing or ebooks; that may change, but I'm going to continuing pursuing my original goal for now. That will require professional representation, so I will be starting the process of finding another agent. I will continue to work on the book itself, perhaps tweaking the proposal and certainly tweaking the selection of songs. I believe very much in this book, and I remain confident that it will become a book. Eventually. Someday.
It just won't become a book as quickly as I had hoped.
In the mean time, the weekly GREM! videos will also continue. And I am currently pursuing an unrelated book project directly with a publisher; that project, win or lose, should not require an agent.
GREM! does need an agent. So yeah, it's just like starting over. Take two. We'll get it done. Time is not infinite; but our music is. My turn's coming soon.
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
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.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Thursday, March 25, 2021
MY WEEKLY VIDEO BLOG: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! # 23: The Carpenters, "Only Yesterday" and Material Issue, "Kim The Waitress"
An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. I like that idea so much I'm writing a book about it. And I'm promoting that book with a weekly video series, discussing each of the book's chosen tracks one by one.
As the video will tell you, the book's path to publication just got longer; I'll talk a little bit more about that in Friday's blog post. Meanwhile, the video series now offers TWO! [smack] TWO! [smack] TWO songs in one: "Only Yesterday" by The Carpenters and "Kim The Waitress" by Material Issue. It's an emotional entry, a willful example of my intention for the book to show how the songs we love are integral parts of our lives, in happy times and in, y'know...other times. Refresh your memory of the magic of the Carpenters song and the Material Issue song, then witness my own testimony:
If you dig whatever the hell it is I'm doing in these weekly videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. NEXT WEEK: uncertainty notwithstanding, we'll be back with more from The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THIS WEEK'S VIDEO: The Carpenters, "Only Yesterday" and Material Issue, "Kim The Waitress"
GREM! # 22: The Beatles,"Yesterday"
GREM! # 21: The Bay City Rollers, "Rock And Roll Love Letter"
GREM! # 20: Buddy Holly, "Peggy Sue"/"Everyday"
GREM! # 19: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"
GREM! # 18: Melanie with the Edwin Hawking Singers, "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)"
GREM! # 17: The Romantics, "What I Like About You"
GREM! # 16: The Hollies, "I Can't Let Go"
GREM! # 14: Crazy Elephant, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'"
GREM! # 13: Neil Diamond, "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"
GREM! # 12: Little Richard, "The Girl Can't Help It"
GREM! # 11: Eytan Mirsky, "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year"
GREM! # 10: The Monkees, "Riu Chiu"
GREM! # 9: Patti Smith, "Gloria"
GREM! # 8: Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog"
GREM! # 7: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"
GREM! # 6: The Sex Pistols,"God Save The Queen"
GREM! # 5: Dusty Springfield,"I Only Want To Be With You"
GREM! # 4: Chuck Berry, "Promised Land"
GREM! # 3: Baron Daemon and the Vampires, "The TransylvaniaTwist"
GREM! # 2: Badfinger, "Baby Blue"
GREM! # 1: The Ramones, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
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.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.























