Richie Havens "Freedom"

The last time I saw Richie Havens, I knew that it would probably be the last time I saw Richie Havens.

I hadn't really even had a chance to hear him perform that day.  I'd been running around the campus of the Newport Folk Festival 2010, working on the station's broadcast.

But mvyradio's tent is located in the backstage area, and just happens to be at the end point where a car and driver who might be picking up a performer, can get closest to the stage.

Richie Havens, so dynamic on the stage (see a picture), was not unlike many performers, who appear larger than life on stage, but recede some in the context of real life.

Havens was somewhat different, in that he didn't shrink in the least bit.  His presence still loomed large as he made his way to his car.  Even someone who had never seen or heard of Richie Havens could have looked at the man and simply felt him.  I'm not a fan of the word "aura," but if anyone had one, it was Richie Havens.

But while he carried tremendous power on stage and off, you could now see the frailty of his 70 year old body.  She shuffled a bit as he walked, and getting into his ride was a most ginger, gentle and even uncomfortable looking effort.

Despite his unbound spirit, his mortality was apparent.

Several of the mvyradio staff went over to the car to say goodbye.  Two years prior, Havens had played at Newport Folk and had come by the house where we stay each year, for an interview with Barbara Dacey.  (Expect to hear that interview on the air soon, or find it in our archives; see a picture)  He had made a powerful, personal connection in that meeting.

For me, my connection was made a decade earlier when I realized that his magic was that everything he sang, became a moving, spiritual hymn.

He died yesterday at the age of 72, but that spirit, that magic, that aura connected with the hearts and minds and ears of the millions he touched during his 50 year long career is not something that could be hampered or diminished by simple mortality.  He was made of something more.

Godspeed, Mr. Havens.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Roger Waters "Radio Waves"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Yesterday I was saying that I never really obsessed about Pink Floyd. 

But I will say that, for whatever reason, I went through a phase of love love loving the Roger Waters solo record "Radio K.A.O.S."

If you have 20 minutes to kill, I found this 4 song video for your entertainment.



See the 4 song set on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"

This one is a memory that will resonate with folks I went to high school with . . .

I certainly associate my discovery of Pink Floyd, with my discovery of the fact that a lot of kids I went to high school with really liked to smoke pot.

No judgement here---but I never really cared for it.  Pot or Pink Floyd.

I mean, I didn't totally hate it.  But I didn't live for it either.  I didn't see it as this mind-blowing experience that I could spend hours talking about.  Pot or Pink Floyd.

Though we all had to agree, there WAS one cool mind-blowing thing about "Wish You Were Here."

We went to high school with a kid named Michael Tinkham.

Listen to the song at the 2:31 mark.  The guitar is saying his name, right?  You hear it, right?

And you're not even high!  (Or maybe you are.  Again, no judgement here.)


Have your mind blown, on Youtube.

Pink Floyd "Time"

It's hard to imagine a radio station like mvyradio, an internet radio station, in the pre-internet age. But I was there.

I was laughing to myself the other day, as our engineer/IT guy was talking me through a process I didn't understand, that would correct a problem I didn't understand that was happening to a machine I didn't understand.

I was laughing, because I was remembering my first year at mvyradio, when we had to fight over the dial-up.

Our phone system had 4 incoming lines, and if someone wanted to get on the internet, you'd need to use one of those lines to connect, via a dial-up modem. So no one could call you on that line. And if someone else needed the internet in another part of the building, well, you'd just have to sign off so they could sign on.

Now when I sit in front of the microphone, I usually have at least 3 computers within arm's length.

When I started at mvyradio, it was 2000, and we were forward, but not advanced.

Our webmaster had started this tradition of posting song lyrics on the website, and when he left the station for another adventure, it became my job to do the "Lyric Of The Day."

Back then, if you were trying to come up with a lyric, you'd listen to the station for a bit, and when you heard something, you'd type it in. Back in those days, we still played a little Pink Floyd, and I got a kick out of a phrase in the lyrics to "Time."

"Digging away, the moments that make up a dog day."

I just loved the idea of a dog, digging fruitless holes as a way to pass a hot day. What a brilliant metaphor!

Much to my chagrin, I got an email from a Floyd fan, who informed me that the lyric I posted wasn't right at all. The line really goes:

"Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day."

How did I get this wrong? Why didn't I just look up the lyrics?

Because 10 years ago, the correct lyrics to every single song were NOT YET POSTED ON THE INTERNET!!!

I know it's hard to imagine. I mean, right now you can probably think of a song. Any song. The first song that comes to mind, and if you Googled that song title plus the word "lyrics," you'd be able to find the lyrics, no problem.

But yes, there was a time when you couldn't find the lyrics to any old song on the internet.

Now, however, not only can you find the lyrics, you can find the whole song (something you'd be hard pressed to find, legally, in 2000), in a video, with the lyrics printed on the screen.

Viva La Future!


See the video on Youtube.

Richie Havens “On The Turning Away”

Five songs I’m looking forward to hearing again, in Newport.

I can’t say I had a ton of regard for the dehydrated Pink Floyd (no Waters). I mean, as my friend Brett said, “David Gilmour still knows how to play guitar,” but the music of “A Momentary Lapse Of Reason” seemed lacking to me, especially in the lyrical department.

But years later, I got turned around on the record, from a completely unexpected source.

I was in the wonderful town of Asheville, North Carolina, for their annual Bele Chere Festival. For a weekend, they close down several city blocks and put arts and crafts on the streets. And in each corner of the blocked off square, is a stage of live music.

I can’t remember whose idea it was to bop over to see Richie Havens. I don’t recall being a big fan or anything. But I appreciated that I was seeing a musical legend, and I knew he did some amazing covers of Beatles songs, so that was enough for me to stick through to the encore.

I knew the song from the first lyric. But I couldn’t place it.

Havens was doing this tune a capella, so there wasn’t a guitar melody that could jog the old sun-drenched brain pan. But I knew I knew the song.

It was a good 3/4ths over before I was finally able to recognize Pink Floyd’s “On The Turning Away.”

He was singing it, not like a Gilmour space-dirge. He approached the tune---with its lyrics about not turning a blind eye to the poor and marginalized---as a gospel song. And in that context, I got the song. I understood the song in an emotional way, in a way that moved me.

All credit to Gilmour for the point. All credit to Havens for making it.







Every year mvyradio heads down to Newport, to cover the Folk Festival. And every year has its share of anticipated performances. I thought I’d write this week about 5 songs I think I’ll hear in Newport, and what I’ll be thinking of as I hear them.