Toad The Wet Sprocket "The Moment"

People asked us for months, "What is going to be the first song you play on your new FM signal?"

And everyone had an opinion.

You may be a little surprised to know that even just a couple of hours before we were to go live, we hadn't picked a song yet.

A few weeks back, Barbara Dacey and I had agreed that we should air the "ocean waves" sound effect that comprised the last 20 minutes of our final broadcast on 92.7, fifteen months ago.

My first idea was that we would play "Riviera Paradise," which was the last song on 92.7.  It seemed to suggest that we were picking up right where we left off.  But then it didn't seem original enough.

While brainstorming, Barbara suggested Carly Simon's "Never Been Gone," which is perfect on a number of levels, since it is specifically about the Vineyard, and the joke that "mvyradio feels like it never was away" was pretty funny. 

But we set that idea aside, because we really wanted the first song to be something upbeat.  (Hilariously, the 2 comments I saw online about "Never Been Gone," which ended up being the 3rd or 4th song we played were along the lines of, "I can't believe you didn't play that one first!" and "Ugh, I can't believe they played Carly Simon!?!"  So I guess we did strike the appropriate middle ground)

It was Barbara who came up with the unconventional choice of playing James Brown's "I Got You."

Though it's not a tune we would regularly play, the spirit and vibe matched the moment.

But that wasn't the first song on the new 88.7.

What I knew all along was that we were going to have to turn on the new transmitter and be certain that everything was working properly, before it was safe to announce to the world that we were going to "launch" 88.7.

And we had no idea when that was going to happen.

We were scheduled to have the antenna hung on the tower, last week.  But rain prevented the contractors from doing the work.

They were supposed to start Monday, but they couldn't get a ferry reservation.

They got to the station early Wednesday, but by mid-morning, they realized that a couple of necessary cables had not arrived via UPS.  We tracked the package and found that it was on-Island, so I furiously started texting a couple of guys I know who work for UPS, to see if we could pull some strings and get it there.  It came shortly after lunch.

I kept wandering down to the engineer, who was hooking things up in the basement.

"Now?  How about now?  Are we close?"  I was like a 4 year old.

The plan, once the thing was live, was to put the ocean wave on, send out a press release to the media and send an eblast to our listeners giving them a 45 minute heads up.  Craig, the engineer, just had to finish his work to set this all in motion.

Finally, he came running upstairs, and simply gave me the thumbs up.

Craig, Barbara and I ran out to the parking lot, and put on the car radios.

88.7FM was on the air.

"Does it sound good?  It is a go?"

It was "The Moment."  Completely random that the Toad The Wet Sprocket song was the one on the air when the switch was flipped.  But there it was, coming out of our speakers.

We all smiled.  And yes, a tear or two was shed.

Toad The Wet Sprocket was on 88.7FM, which probably only had 3 listeners, Craig, Barbara and me.

I ran back inside and put the waves on the air.

The moment had arrived.


Hear the song on Youtube.

James Brown "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto"

James Brown has, like, 5 original songs about Santa.

It’s an interesting fact that you are reading.  Important stuff!  It must be, because you are a looking at it!

And if you are still reading this, then I’m pretty sure you are just surfing around online because a) You have Christmas stuff you are supposed to be doing and you are avoiding, b) you are stuck at work and not getting a dang thing done, c) you don’t celebrate Christmas but are surrounded by people experiencing “a” and “b.”


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear "Soulful Christmas" on Youtube.

The JB's "Pass The Peas"

Of all the dishes that I look forward to preparing, and eating, on Thanksgiving, I'd have to say that Peas are pretty low on the list. 

Not that I dislike them.  Just . . . they're peas.  Who cares?

BUT, if I'm looking for something to keep things grooving in the kitchen as I juggle the pots and pans and mixers and hot plates . . . well, bring on the JBs and Pass The Peas . . .




Hear the song on Youtube.

James “Laid”

The normal trajectory of a successful song’s popularity goes something like this:

--It gains a few early supporters

--It becomes a hit in its genre (alternative, R&B, country, etc)

--It crosses over and becomes mass appeal, it’s everywhere, completely inescapable for a season

--The song burns out and drops to the background

And this process, at most, takes about a year. From there, it remains familiar for years to come, occasionally spiking in popularity as new generations discover it (or some cover version).

It’s a pretty simple, rarely deviated from, graph. It trends up sharply, within the first year, and gradually slopes off over a period of years. And this particular rate of popularity is pretty unique to music.

Think about other art forms. Their trajectories can be quite different.

Paintings might take years, or decades, or centuries before they become a cultural phenomenon. Van Gogh was derided in his lifetime; now he’s one of humanity’s most cherished artists.

Books, similarly, can sit on a shelf for years before being discovered.

Meanwhile, Fashion goes in and out of, well, fashion.

And movies can follow the same pattern as music, or they can find a greater following year after year. Neither “The Wizard Of Oz” nor “It’s A Wonderful Life” were big hits in their day, but built a following over time.

Songs just don’t usually do that.

So how did a song, a risqué one at that, pull off such a trick?

James released the song “Laid” back in 1994. It was the second single off a well-received record by the British band. It did fine on the alternative charts. But it wasn’t a huge phenomenon or anything.

So far, the trajectory is just as it should be. The song caught on, become popular, and then started to fade.

But here’s the weird thing, “Laid” stubbornly refused to leave the public consciousness.

Five years after it was released, you could walk into any pub in Boston that catered to the college/post-collegiate crowd, and “Laid” would be on the jukebox. And when it got played, you’d hear the whole bar singing.

Ten years after it was released, you could walk into any pub in Boston, and find the same experience.

Fifteen years later, you’d find the same thing.

Improbably, “Laid” seemed to enjoy more popularity as the years went on.

Without the first-year-ubiquity that is usually necessary to lodge a song in our collective cultural brain, it just isn’t likely for a tune to become a pub sing-a-long song. And yet, “Laid” defied the odds, perhaps because of the sexual content, perhaps because it was deserving, perhaps just because of a quirk. Who knows? But it remains a staple of the P.A. system of gathering places everywhere.

The musical equivalent of Van Gogh? Probably not. But it’s a great song to share a pint with.

Van Morrison “Real Real Gone”

Hitting Random on the iTunes playlist . . .

“When you’re tired of what you got, try me.”

Much respect to the artists who acknowledge their influences, and sing about them, to insure that the audience goes hunting for the source.

I know plenty of music from the 60s and before, but only in the context of Oldies radio. So Carl Perkins and Elvis and The Beatles and The Stones and The Doors all entered my listening life at the same time. They were integrated into my consciousness on a level playing field, not as a progression of music styles through the years.

That makes context harder to ascribe to some classic artists. But that’s why I love Van Morrison’s “Real Real Gone.” Though originally recorded in 1980, it wasn’t officially release (or absorbed by me) until 1990. And at the time, I didn’t really know any of the artists Van gives a shout out to.

But it opened the door to those artists. So when I heard “In The Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett, I could see the connection “Real Real Gone” was drawing back to the 60s. When I heard Sam Cooke, I understood better the soul Van was trying to inject into his music.

When Solomon Burke came to town, I had to go see him.

And in a way probably more direct than Van intended, when I hear “Real Real Gone,” the artists whom he was invoking come alive to me in a way they would never have, just flipping past the Oldies station on the FM dial.


Clips of the artists mentioned in this post:


Hear the Solomon Burke concert I went to, in the mvyradio archives

Van is notoriously non-friendly to YouTube, so the only version of “Real Real Gone” I could find this the pictorial tribute to Colin Firth. Enjoy!


Sam Cooke


James Brown


Wilson Pickett


Solomon Burke


Gene Chandler

Black Joe Lewis And The Honey Bears “Sugarfoot”

Is this song the “S.W.F.” of James Brown idolatry?

Do you remember the Jennifer Jason Leigh/Bridget Fonda post-“Fatal Attraction” thriller, “Single White Female”? Fonda puts an ad in the paper looking for a roommate. Leigh show up, and promptly appropriates Fonda’s style, haircut and boyfriend? It was creepy, right?

So why am I not as creeped out by Black Joe Lewis And The Honey Bears, despite their transparent attempt to not just have James Brown’s instrumentation and groove, but even their recording style? Does this song not sound as if it was recorded in 1973, instead of present day?

Should Black Joe Lewis not be sued as an imposter? Given a restraining order as a stalker? Told to cease and desist from using the phrases, “Take me to the bridge!” “Hep Meh!” and “Uuuggghhhhh!!!

You Decide.

Hear Black Joe Lewis And The Honey Bears “Sugarfoot”

See the band perform on Craig Ferguson, here