Tonight On THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

We're gonna open with THE VENTURES, and with the same peppy number that opened the Ventures' live show when I saw them at a nightclub in the late '80s. With our boppin' vibe duly set, we'll follow with a veritable rush of rockin' pop from the '40s through today, courtesy of LOLAS, DAVID RUFFIN, THE RONETTES, THE LINDA LINDAS, CHRIS CHURCH, LANNIE FLOWERS, THE CLICK BEETLES, MICHAEL OLIVER AND THE SACRED BAND, THE SHANG HI LOS, THE MONKEES, THE BLUSTERFIELDS, JIM BASNIGHT, THE DRIFTERS, WENDI DUNLAP, THE JAM, THE RAMONES, and more. MUCH more! It starts with the Ventures. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, http://sparksyracuse.org/

POP-A-LOOZA: My Pop Culture Résumé

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 a very quick look at "My Pop Culture Résumé."

This short piece is intended as a breather in between lengthier things, such as a longish comics post that will probably run at Pop-A-Looza some time next week. As for this post, though, it's worth noting that one of its pop culture résumé items relates directly to one of the two books I finished writing in the past year. It's not The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1); it's the other one, the one I haven't said much about yet. It has nothing to do with Batman, so these Adam West pix are just to distract you. I hope to be able to tell you a little more about my other project some time soon.

In the mean time, I have my c.v. to think of. "My Pop Culture Résumé" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

Support For BOPPIN' (LIKE THE HIP FOLKS DO)

Here's a list of ways you can support this blog and its intrepid blogger.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can contribute to this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon. For as little as $2 a month, patrons receive an exclusive private blog post each month: Fund me, baby! 

Read about my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) here.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE OLD 52: Imagining A New Pre-Crisis DC Comics

I don't remember any of the details (like whose idea it was or where the idea appeared), but some time back, someone in one of the online DC Comics groups I frequent challenged fellow fans to come up with a Pre-Crisis DC Comics New 52. That is, a hypothetical slate of 52 comic book series set in the DC Comics continuity that existed prior to the 1985-1986 mini-series Crisis On Infinite Earths, a series which wiped out the multiple universes that had been DC's playground up to that point. Worlds will live! Worlds will die! And the DC Universe will never be the same!

The idea here was to create a new DC line-up based in the old DC continuity. One of DC's latter-day relaunches was called The New 52, so this would be the new Old 52, drawing on characters and concepts that DC had before the Crisis. I liked the idea, and started jotting down possibilities. I wound up with way more than just 52.

I mean, way, way more than just 52.

Rather than attempt a self-edit--because really, what fun would that be?--I figured I'd just list the whole mess right here:

Action Comics

Action Heroes

The Albatross

Adventure Comics

All-American Western
All-Star Comics

All-Star Squadron

Ambush Bug

Angel And The Ape
Aquaman
The Atom
Bat Lash

Batgirl
Batman

Beowulf: Dragon Slayer
Beware The Creeper

Black Lightning

The Black Orchid

The Black Spider
Blackhawk
The Blue Beetle

Blue Devil
The Brave And The Bold

The Bronze Tiger

Bulletgirl
Captain Atom And Nightshade

Captain Thunder
The Challengers Of The Unknown

Claw The Unconquered

The Crimson Avenger
DC Comics Presents

DC's Imaginary Stories

Deadman

The Demon

Dial H For HERO

The Doom Patrol

Doorway Into The Unknown

Dr. Fate

Firestorm

The Flash

Forbidden Tales Of Dark Mansion
Freedom Fighters

G.I. Combat

Green Arrow And The Black Canary
Green Lantern
Hawkman

Hercules Unbound

Hourman
House Of Mystery

The Human Target

Ibis The Invincible

Inferior Five

Jason's Quest

Jimmy Olsen

The Joker

Jonah Hex

Judo Master

Justice League Of America

Kamandi

Kid Eternity

Kobra

Legion Of Super-Heroes

Lois Lane

The Maniaks

The Martian Manhunter

'Mazing Man

Metal Men
Metamorpho
Mister Miracle
Mystery In Space

Nemesis
The New Gods

Newsboy Legion

Ninja The Invisible

Nubia Of The Amazons

OMAC
Our Army At War
The Peacemaker

The Phantom Stranger

Plastic Man 

Plop!

The Question

Ragman

Rima The Jungle Girl

Robin
Rose And The Thorn

Scribbly And The Red Tornado

Secret Origins

The Secret Six
Secret Society Of Super-Villains

Seven Soldiers Of Victory
Sgt. Rock

Shade The Changing Man
Shazam!

Shazam's Squadron Of Justice
Showcase

Slam Bradley

Son Of Vulcan
The Spectre

Spy Smasher

Stanley And His Monster

Star Hunters
Star Spangled War Stories

Starfire
Strange Adventures

Sugar & Spike

Suicide Squad
Super-Team Family

Supergirl

Superman

Swamp Thing

Swing With Scooter

The Teen Titans

Thriller

Tomahawk

The Trident

The Unknown Soldier

The Vigilante

Vixen
Warlord

Weird War Tales

Wildcat

The Witching Hour

Wonder Woman

World's Finest Comics

Young Love

Zatanna

As a Silver and Bronze Age kid, my specific yearning is for the DC Universe as it existed in the '60s and '70s, but I also included some '80s titles, as well as the 1960s Action Heroes that DC bought from Charlton Comics in the '80s. Given my druthers, this line would also include some licensed titles, from The Adventures Of Jerry Lewis through Tarzan, The Shadow, Hot Wheels, and Captain Action. Plus the former Charlton book E-Man, which DC never published nor had rights to publish, but what can I say? I like E-Man! But that's all well outside the parameters of this exercise.

In my imagination, these are written and drawn by creators like Nick Cardy, Jim Aparo, Tony Isabella, Trevor Von Eeden, Murphy Anderson, Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, Joe Kubert, Nestor Redondo, Michael Uslan, Bob Rozakis, Curt Swan, Ramona Fradon, Bob Haney, Mike Grell, Steve Skeates, Dick Giordano, Sal Amendola, Paul Levitz, Mark Evanier, Dan Spiegle, Jack Kirby, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Alex Toth, Mike W. Barr, Don Heck, Wally Wood, Don Newton, Gray Morrow, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, Martin Pasko, Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Kurt Schaffenberger, Arnold Drake, Irv Novick, George Perez, Dave Cockrum, Frank Robbins, Rich Buckler, Berni Wrightson, Gene Colan, Mike Kaluta, Joe Orlando, Bob Oksner, E. Nelson Bridwell, Marv Wolfman, Joe Staton, Walt Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Carmine Infantino, Dick Sprang, Michael Netzer, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Marvel Comics stalwarts John Romita and John Buscema, latter-day lights such as Steve Rude and Darwyn Cooke, and a long list of more. Many of these creators are no longer with us. But if one is going to fantasize, one should shoot for the stars.

A few points to clarify. Starfire is the '70s DC sword and sorcery heroine, not the 1980s Teen Titan. The Albatross was an aborted 1975 back-up series that would have been written by Martin Pasko, who hated the idea and did his successful best to sabotage it. Ninja The Invisible, Vixen, and Captain Thunder were all era-appropriate DC books that were proposed but never realized, with the latter writer Roy Thomas' idea for an Earth-1 reboot of the original Captain Marvel as an African-American hero. 

Batgirl, the Black Orchid, Black Spider (a Batman villain), Bronze Tiger, Bulletgirl, Dr. Fate, Hourman, Nemesis, Nubia, the Question, Robin, Rose and the Thorn, the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Shazam's Squadron of Justice, Slam Bradley, and Wildcat (I'm thinking this would be the Earth-1 Wildcat) were DC properties that never starred in their own pre-Crisis DC books. The pulp-reminiscent Crimson Avenger was chosen here as a substitute for The Shadow. Jason's Quest and The Maniaks had appeared in DC's Showcase in the '60s. There was never a book called DC's Imaginary Stories, nor a Charlton characters team-up series called Action Heroes, but there should have been. I also wanted to have genres beyond my superhero favorites, hence the inclusion of humor, horror, science fiction, Western, war, and romance titles. If I could have justified throwing in a 100-Page Super Spectacular, I woulda, but even flights of fancy need some sense of tethering.

(The need for tethers didn't prevent me from listing The Trident, a World War II-set comics series I submitted to DC in the '80s. The perks of having your own blog. The Trident came about when I asked myself the question, "What if Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had created a two-fisted black superhero in the '40s?," and then attempted to answer that rhetorical query. You're free to ignore the Trident; DC certainly did.)

So that's the director's cut of my Old 52, imagining a new pre-Crisis DC Comics. It's not worth the effort to try to whittle this down to a mere 52, and I betcha everyone from Sargon the Sorcerer to Super-Turtle to the Mind-Grabber Kid is queuing up to expand the line after successful appearances in Showcase. Bigger worlds live. Nobody dies. A new old DC universe. Just imagine.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 1/27/2022

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 # 1113.

RONNIE SPECTOR AND THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

A listener once joked that the only way Billy Joel would get airplay on TIRnRR would be via Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band's fantastic cover of our Billy's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood." We actually have played Billy Joel a few times, and I wouldn't rule out playing him again when the whim strikes. 

But yeah, we clearly have played Ronnie's version of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" more than we've played all other Billy Joel songs combined. As the pop world mourns her passing, it seemed a given that we should close this week's show with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," open with "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," and thread more Ronnie Spector performances throughout the playlist. 

THE BLUSTERFIELDS: January Jones

It's no shade against the music of the Blusterfields--whose new album The Vicious Afterglow is really good--to confess that their song "January Jones" appears on this week's 10 Songs in part because it gives me an excuse to post a picture of the actress who shares that name.

What was Don Draper thinking? Anyway, the song's great, too. More Blusterfields to come on future playlists.

CHRIS CHURCH: We're Going Downtown

Chris Church's 2011 album Darling Please was originally kind of a stealth release, but it's just been given a fresh shine and a factory-fresh spotlight. Yes, it's another public service from Big Stir Records, bless 'em. More! Please?

RONNIE SPECTOR [with JOEY RAMONE]: You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

The combined forces of the Ramones and producer Phil Spector did not create a match in Heaven. On the other hand, Ronnie Spector and Joey Ramone were a good fit. Ronnie had covered Joey's Ramones ballad "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" on her 1980 album Siren, and Joey produced her 1999 EP She Talks To Rainbows. The EP's title tune was one of two more Ramones covers on the record (along with "Bye Bye Baby"), which also featured Ronnie's version of the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" and a remake of the Ronettes' "I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine." Joey provided backing vocals for a cover of Johnny Thunders' tough/tender lament "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory." Perfect match all around. 

WENDI DUNLAP: Baby Blue

As often as I talk (sincerely!) about an infinite number of tracks each being THE greatest record ever made as long as they take turns, my own all-time # 1 favorite is probably Badfinger's "Baby Blue." I mean, on the days that it's not something by the Beatles or the Kinks or...skip it. It ain't easy for an artist to cover a song that's already perfect, but Wendi Dunlap manages a rendition of "Baby Blue" that's compelling on its own merit. The track is available on this free-for-nothing-gratis compilation album, a gift from the good folks at Futureman Records.

RONNIE SPECTOR: Something's Gonna Happen

Ah, curse whatever random mix of personal cluelessness and general obscurity kept this release outside of my awareness for so damned long. In the very late '80s, maybe into the early '90s, Ronnie Spector recorded a handful of tracks with every pop fan's pal Marshall Crenshaw. Working with Crenshaw and his combo, Spector cut five Crenshaw songs--"Something's Gonna Happen," "Favorite Waste Of Time," "For His Love," "Whenever You're On My Mind," and "Communication"--but the world at large wasn't interested. The tracks remained unreleased until 2003. 

Stupid, stupid world at large.

This is a magnificent little treasure trove of stirring pop music. If only this had gotten some traction at the time, prompting a full-length album by Ronnie, MC and company, we would all have a cherished memory of what would have been one of the best albums of the '90s. But it wasn't to be.

Nonetheless: it should have been. If you don't have the eventual Something's Gonna Happen EP, I must humbly recommend you remedy that ASAP. What a record. And what a missed opportunity.

LANNIE FLOWERS: Don't Make Me Wait

A new collection of tunes from Lannie Flowers! The partnership between Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records has already yielded a wealth of maximumYEAH! for rockin' pop fans. Big Stir has given wider release for previous SpyderPop albums (like Danny Wilkerson's TIRnRR Fave Rave Wilkerson, represented on this week's radio extravaganza by the irresistible "Let It Go Tonight"), and BSR and SPR have pooled resources on behalf of new stuff, too.

Lannie's long-awaited new album Flavor Of The Month gathers remixed versions of the digital-only singles Lannie released prior to his 2019 album Home. The new album was cleared for airplay just in time for this week's shindig, so over the wireless it went. Fantastic stuff, and another invigmoratin' product of the partnership between SypderPop and Big Stir.

THE RONETTES: He Did It

With "Be My Baby" set as this week's finale, and with spins of the Ronettes' "Walking In The Rain" and "Baby, I Love You" programmed elsewhere in the playlist, we still wanted to include one more Ronettes track. We opted for "He Did It," a 1965 release on the Colpix label. I'm pretty sure the track is older than its release date, presumably recorded before Ronnie, Estelle Bennett, and Nedra Talley got involved with, y'know...that guy. The murderer. Good enough for us! Who needs a wall of sound when you've got Ronnie Spector?

RONNIE SPECTOR: I'll Follow The Sun

Former hitmakers forsaken by the record biz often find themselves recording remakes of their own material and/or covers of other hitmakers' material. Ronnie Spector's 2016 album English Heart offers the fabulous Veronica interpreting some 1960s sides previously done by British acts the Dave Clark Five, the Zombies, Lulu, Sandie Shaw, the Kinks, the Fortunes, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Bee Gees, plus the lesser-known "I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls," a song the Rolling Stones gave away. My initial impression of the record wasn't terribly enthusiastic, but I owe it another spin to see if it rings in better with repetition. 

I do like Ronnie's English Heart cover of the Beatles' "I'll Follow The Sun." Maybe it was just because I heard it for the first time shortly after Ronnie had passed, but it seems a sad and touching moment, a moving farewell as we bid her goodbye. 

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuck Godspeed, Ronnie Spector.

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl