Andrews Sisters "Ferry Boat Serenade"

You can walk into a grocery store, or department store, or restaurant, or just about ANY kind of establishment, and they'll be playing music on the overhead speakers.

There are a couple of reasons a business will do this.

Sometimes it's to "brand" themselves.  As in, "we're a hip store that listens to the hip music of today so buy our clothes."

Sometimes it's to set a pace.  Fast food restaurants typically play upbeat music, which may encourage folks to eat faster and therefore turn-over tables more quickly.  A fancy Italian restaurant may play slower, more romantic music, hoping to set a mood and encouraging you to order that one more bottle of wine.

Usually, though, the music is there in a public place to make the whole experience of being there a little more pleasant.  Pleasant music, along with pleasant aesthetics and even pleasant smells can elevate a person's perception of their visit.

I've thought about this recently whenever boarding one of the Steamship Authority Ferries.  Wouldn't a little music on the boat make the ride a more pleasant experience?

Now let me say that nearly 15 years after my first Steamship ride, my personal experiences with the SSA are overwhelming positive.  That being said, you don't talk to too many folks on the Island, who don't have a quip about the ferry service.

They have the overhead speakers---a whole soundsystem---in place.  Why don't fill the journey to the Island with a soundtrack?  Carly Simon's "Never Been Gone."  "Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic."  James Taylor's "Lighthouse."

I heard this Andrews Sisters song for the first time recently.  How have I traveled by ferry for 15 years, and never heard this once while cruising across Vineyard Sound?

Oh, I'm sure there's a good reason there isn't music on the boat.  They would have to pay ASCAP/BMI fees.  Someone would have to operate it.  With the boats running 18 hours a day, the song turnover would be maddening to the folks who spend all day working the ferries.

But it would make the voyage more aesthetically pleasant.

Alternate suggestion:  The SSA workers should bake a fresh batch of cookies for each ferry ride for an aesthetically pleasant-smelling boat ride.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bonnie Raitt "Silver Lining"

As part of the Save mvyradio campaign, we've been reaching out to artists, asking them to do things like post about Save mvyradio on their Facebook page (Jackson Browne did), talk to the media about us (Lyle Lovett and Carly Simon did) and record some station IDs for us.

This last one is pretty standard, and no doubt, no matter what station you listen to, you've heard these kinds of things.  "Hi, this is So-And-So, and you're listening to Station XYZ!"

Surprisingly, I've learned a few things from this process.

I learned the proper way to pronounce the last names of JD McPherson and Madeleine Peyroux, because I heard it from their own lips.  (McPherson says it as "Mick-FURR-son" not Mick-FEAR-son"; and Peyroux says her name just like the country Peru).

I learned that Jason Spooner likes Cape Cod Potato Chips.  (Do I smell an endorsement for Mr. Spooner?)

I've learned the Mavis Staples may be one of the best voiceover artists I've ever heard.  I want to hire her to record ALL announcements for mvyradio.  Or read me bedtime stories.

And I learned, much to my shock and delight, that Bonnie Raitt listens to the station!

Barbara got to interview Bonnie by phone, and, unsolicited, while answering a question about how she finds songs to cover, Raitt says that independent radio, including MVY, plays a big role in helping her select songs.  She even called us one of her favorite radio stations, and says she streams it at home on the West Coast, and while on the road.

!!!!!!

To hear Bonnie and other artists talk about mvyradio and why people should support it, hit play on the Youtube video on our main page today.  And for the full Bonnie Raitt interview, catch it when we air it at noon today, or find it in the archives after that.


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Odd Couple "You're So Vain"

Over the holidays, the family was talking about the End Of The Year reviews that were listing the famous folks who had passed away in 2012.  The list seemed unusually long.  Adam Yauch.  Doc Watson.  Davy Jones.

And even over the holidays, a couple of famous actors passed away.  In reading their obituaries, I learned that they actually did some singing.

Without further ado (and hopefully not sullying their legacies in your mind), enjoy!

Perhaps you had no idea that the late Jack Klugman made an album with Tony Randall, in character as The Odd Couple.  Klugman can't sing, but he knew that---the album was a fun lark.

Check out their take on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."  I think you can download the entire album at this site.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward "So Long"

My kids love Winnie The Pooh.

In fact, my toddler, has only about 12 words at this point ("No," "Mine," "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad") and one of them is "Pooh."

So when we started seeing trailers for a new Winnie The Pooh movie, we were excited.

But what was the song in the trailer?

"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane??? Why? Weird . . .

It's certainly not uncommon for a movie to appropriate a popular song to run under the trailer, even if it has nothing to do with the film.

But for a Disney/Pooh film? You'd think they would stick to original, Pooh-music.

I mean, can you imagine the trailer for "Beauty And The Beast," set to U2's "The Sweetest Thing" or something? No.

Thinking about it a bit, I did grasp the marketing ploy.

They were marketing to me, directly (and people like me).

It's not lost on me that the song came out in 2004, the same year I met my wife. And now, 7+ years later, we have two Pooh-loving kids.

How many other folks out there are like my wife and me, who have warm feeling about the time period this song evokes, and now have kids?

So I get it.

But still, couldn't they have created some original songs, featuring a talented contemporary songwriter, a la Carly Simon and her memorable work on earlier Pooh films?

My father-in-law (though, unlikely moved by the Keane song), saw the commercial and bought the DVD for the kids for Christmas.

And what a pleasant surprise to find out that there are several songs in the movie performed by Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward (usually known as She & Him, but here credited individually).

Again, they're probably marketing to my cohorts, but hell, it worked. The song is cute, but quirky enough to not be irritating.

Sweet like hunny . . .

"So Long" is a Grammy nominee for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Join mvyradio this Sunday, as we live cover the Grammys on our Twitter page.


Hear the song on Youtube.


See the trailer with the Keane song on Youtube.


Hear Carly Simon's take on Pooh on Youtube.

Carly Simon "Night Before Christmas"

Here's a song for the night before the Night Before Christmas.

Carly often checks in with us around this time of year---I remember being totally wowed, the year she came to the mvyradio Christmas party and hung out with the staff.

And though, like a Mom who will insist that she doesn't favor one child over another, I think this song must be a little extra special to her.

I mean, she has a full album of lovely Christmas songs, but I've heard her mention this song a number of times.

We love to play it at this time of year . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Old 97s "I'm A Train Wreck"

There are many great songs written about the Cape and the Islands, evoking the Spirit of this place. Great tunes like “Never Been Gone” or “Vineyard” or “Cape Cod Girls.”

But for every song that was inspired by a location and is written about that place, there are 100 songs that were inspired by a location that, well, really don’t exact evoke the location whatsoever.

A year ago, my wife was dragged, practically kicking and screaming, to The Wellfleet Beachcomber by her sister-in-law to see an artist she’d never heard of.

“If you don’t want to go with her, I will,” I told my wife. “I love Rhett Miller.”

By the time the show was over, so did my wife.

Something about the songs, and the setting really won her over.

Something about the setting must’ve won Rhett Miller over, too. Because on that night a year ago, he vowed to return with his band, The Old 97s. And the day after that show, a year ago, he wrote a song.

True to Rhett’s word, The Old 97s played the Beachcomber this past weekend. And my wife, and her brother and my wife’s sister-in-law and my sister and I all made the trek to see them.

Miller introduced new song by the band, saying that he’d written this particular tune one year before, on the sands of Wellfleet Beach.

I’m guessing the local Chamber Of Commerce will not be using this song to promote tourism on Cape Cod. Especially not with Miller’s introduction that says his day on the beach inspired him to write a song about being a “total fucking disaster.”


Hear the song on Youtube.

Carly Simon "Halfway Around The World"

This is a little tune I hum to myself, whenever I'm grinding through a long task but I'm making progress and suddenly, there is more behind me than in front of me.

I started this blogging venture nearly two years ago at the behest of my boss, who had suggested that some of the mvyradio DJs should be blogging as a way to offer listeners more music-related information and entertainment.

I was pretty resistant to the idea, knowing that blogs are like diets and New Year's resolutions---people start them and they don't last. And I also knew that blogs are only successful if you post frequently---once a week would never build a following.

Call it good luck or stupidity . . . I ran through a bunch of names for the blog, based on some favorite song titles. You came very close to reading something called "Real Live Bleeding Blog" (after a Lucinda Williams song about Paul Westerberg).

Every Day I Write The Blog.

And, well, settling on a name like that, is a challenge to live up to.

I started slowly, to see if I could get into the swing of writing regularly. Three days a week. When I got comfortable with that, I bumped it up to 4, then 5.

By January 2010, I was actually writing a post every day. And I've been able to maintain that groove for the last year, plus.

It's been extremely rewarding.

I mean, I hope people are enjoying it. I certainly do write for an audience, I write to be read.

But let's face it, blogs are an indulgent art form. But that's the rewarding part.

I've had fun revisiting old songs and old times and old girlfriends and old memories, while throwing in new thoughts about new songs that provide new twists to my job as a Music Director.

And I've been rewarded with discipline. Demanding of myself that I write a post per day has been a challenge that I've been happy to rise to. It's made my writing better, and it's been an asset to my time management and my creativity.

All good things.

While part of me feels like I could go on and on and on . . . well, that's not realistic.

This blog is largely about memories, and the supply and demand was never going to be in synch. I'm writing about more memories than I'm creating. I mean, I can't have a memorable life experience with a song to remind me of it, every day (now THAT would be a project).

So somewhere along the line, I picked 1000 entries as my goal.

I still have tons of stories I haven't put down, and lots of ideas to come, so 1000 seems like a good number.

That'll take me to around August 2012.

Maybe I'll write beyond that. But at the very least, I want to write up to that number.

Thanks for checking in with this blog, thanks for your feedback and thanks for passing the link on to friends.

I hope my stories have made you laugh or think or conjure up memories of your own.

See you tomorrow.

Carly Simon "Never Been Gone"

Somewhere approaching statistical perfection of 100 percent of the time . . . if I tell someone I haven’t met before that I work for the radio station on Martha’s Vineyard, the words “Carly Simon” will pass their lips within the next 20 seconds.

Carly is so closely associated in people’s minds with the Island. And mvyradio is so closely associated in people’s minds with the Island. It’s only makes sense that Carly and mvy go hand in hand.

We were excited to hear that she was going to delve into some of her old favorites, and re-record them. It’s pretty neat to hear these songs re-approached and re-imagined---some not too radically different, and some hardly recognizable from their original form.

It is totally worth your while to track through the samples below, and get a flavor for what she, and her cadre of collaborators, have done.



See the Carly on The Today Show

Buy it on CD, here, and get other special Carly packages, here.