Delta Rae "Bottom Of The River"

My office is directly below the studio (trolls and Program Directors live in basements), and there's nothing more entertaining than when the DJ above is really rocking out to a song.

I can hear if they are tapping their feet, or hand-drumming on the console, or if they are jumping up and down to the rocking beat.  And if their singing or whooping is loud enough, I can hear that too.

I'm especially curious to hear these sounds, when I know that the DJ is experiencing the song for the first time.

I'm usually in my office during Barbara's "What's New For Lunch" segment.  And though she invariably previews the track, we know that you don't really experience the track until it's on the air, going out to the world, and you have the speakers up to listen.

So many times, I've checked out a song, not because I was listening to the radio.  Heck, I might have even had the radio off.  Sometimes I'm moved to go hear a band, because I heard the sound of someone first reacted to the song.

A week or so back, I needed some last minute coverage for Barbara who was not feeling well, so Laurel stepped in.  It's not common for Laurel to fill in for Barbara, but it happens once in a blue moon.

Barbara had already picked out the songs she was planning to play that day, so Laurel was able to jump right in.

I could hear some wild yelps of "YEAH!!! WOOOO!!!" coming from the studio, and at the end of the shift, Laurel emerged from the studio to tell me that she'd been moved by the spirit of Delta Rae's "Bottom Of The River."

I can see why she was moved.  I'm surprised she didn't stomp through the floor on this one . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Huey Lewis & The News "Do You Believe In Love"

Do you know what "100th Monkey Effect" is?

Here's the short version:

Scientists observed Monkeys in the wild.  They noticed that a few monkeys were washing their sweet potatoes.  And each day, they noticed that a few more monkeys were also washing their sweet potatoes before eating them.  This seemed to follow a normal pattern of simple observation and repetition.  However, at a certain point---when over 100 monkeys were now washing their sweet potatoes, an incredible phenomenon happened.  The following day, ALL the monkeys---thousands of them---were washing their sweet potatoes.

Their collective knowledge had reached a critical mass, and spread to the entire population via unknown means.

The 100th Monkey Effect explains how ideas flow into the stream of the collective unconscious to reach us all.

Of course, the 100th Monkey Effect story seems to be a complete hoax.  Having no real basis in scientific fact, it has been widely debunked.

And yet, I find it to be the most reasonable explanation for the awkward moment that occurred during an 8th grade sleepover.

I can't remember who's birthday it was, but I remember that 4 or 5 of my best friends were sleeping over someone's house for a birthday.  This was 1982, the when MTV was still brand new.

Bands that no one had ever heard of, were suddenly becoming hugely popular, on the basis of silly little film clips that aired round the clock on the channel.

My friends and I were excited about pretty much any fun band with a fun video, especially if the video featured a good looking woman---hey, we were teenage boys, you'd expect no less.

Quarterflash, Aldo Nova, Adam Ant, The Tubes, Wall Of Voodoo, we didn't discriminate.

But something weird happens when you turn from a pre-teen to a teen.

"We should go see Huey Lewis!" I enthused to the group of friends.

(The stage direction here should read:  Blank, slightly disdainful stares.)

I thought it was a great idea.  And I didn't understand what part of my statement seemed confusing to my friends.

"He's playing at Hampton Beach Casino next week!"

There was another long moment of silence.

The someone simply said, "Uh.  No . . ." and the other guys laughed weakly.  And the subject was changed.

Now I know these guys liked that Huey Lewis video.  I'd watched it with some of them before.  My God, it showed a woman in a bed!  And clearly the band was sleeping over.  Sexy!

But somewhere between being a pre-Teen and a Teen, Cool happens.

Cool doesn't become part of every kid's consciousness at the same time.  Some kids become Cool later than others.  And frankly, some kids never learn that they should wash their sweet potatoes.

I don't believe my group of friends ever had discussed it, but somehow a critical mass of them had arrived at the notion that Huey Lewis was not cool.

And unbeknownst to me, I had not yet stepped into the stream of Cool, leading me to an icy silence.

It's awkward, when you are the 101st monkey.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Morphine "Cure For Pain"

Here's another Weekend Post:


A friend mentioned that 15 years had passed (as of this week) since Mark Sandman of Morphine passed away.


And I thought of this song, when I was posting yesterday's tune. 


There may never be a cure for stupidity or apathy, but maybe someday, "there'll be a cure for pain . . . "



Hear the song 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.

Harvey Danger "Flagpole Sitta"

Here's another Weekend Post:

I thought of this song this week, when I read about a poll on people's understanding of the Supreme Court's decision on the Healthcare Act.

Despite the fact that it was one of the most anticipated political news events of the year, despite the fact that countless hours of TV and radio and countless pages/bit have been typed in print and online leading up to and immediately following, still, 45% of the people polled either incorrectly thought that the Court struck down the law, or simply didn't know what had happened either way.

Like it, don't like it, either way, it seems like you'd have to actually go out of your way to not be aware of it.  And yet, almost half of your neighbors are clueless.

The line the came to mind from this song?

"I've been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding . . ."


Hear the song 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.

Mary Lou Lord "His Indie World"

Exiting the Wilco show at The Orpheum, we had a nice after-show treat.

My brother-in-law and I were going to hop to T and head back to his place in Somerville, but we hung around the station, because Mary Lou Lord was there.

I know she's not a huge, worldwide name, but at that point in her career (2001-ish), she was well known enough that she could book gigs at respectable venues.  She didn't have to busk to get an audience.

But she did it anyway, which I always thought was pretty cool.

Actually, don't know why more artists aren't out there.

For those who say they play because they have to, it seems like a great way to work.  Kind of like a comedian who does an unannounced set at a tiny club as a way to try out material, busking is a great chance to try out new songs on an audience, without subjecting something un-vetted on a paying crowd.

She took requests and I called out for some Richard Thompson.  Later she played an updated version of "His Indie World" changing it to something like "His Roots Rock World" substituting the hip indie bands in the original, for hip Alt-Roots bands of the day.

I always wanted to work the line in the original, about "Give me my Joni, my Nick, Neil and Bob" into something for mvy, because it seemed to fit us so well.  And our listeners would be sure to get the reference of the title of her song "Jingle Jangle Morning."  And "Lights Are Changing" just sounds like a song we should be playing.

But I don't see her on mvyradio when I hear these songs, I see Mary Lou Lord in the Park Street Station stop of the T, just playing her songs, happily, for those who wanted to stop and listen.


Hear "His Indie World" on Youtube.


Hear "Lights Are Changing" on Youtube.


Hear "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" on Youtube.

Avett Brothers "Live And Die"

I remember when Mumford And Sons broke through a couple of years ago, with their banjo-led rock-and-roots approach, I heard more than a few people say:

If I were The Avett Brothers, I'd be pretty irritated.

So here we are, over 2 years since "Sigh No More" and nearly 3 years since "I And Love And You," and The Avetts are on the verge of releasing a new album, and Mumford And Sons has a new one due in the September.

Both records stand to garner a lot of attention, press, airplay and ear-time.

I just can't think of a time when the banjo had the chance to move to the fore-front of music in such a way . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Schoolhouse Rocks "Fireworks"

When my wife and I first became parents, we did a lot of reading to prepare ourselves.

Maybe too much reading.

There are lots of horrible, scary things to be horribly scared about, as parents.

One bit of advice for parents-to-be:  Don't read "What To Expect When You're Expecting" from front to back.  Just use it like a reference book, and look up stuff as you have question.  If you read the full laundry list of everything that can go wrong, about every possible orifice that can ooze fluid from, about every disease you and your baby might possibly have, you'll lose your f-n mind.

We read a lot about TV, and TV consumption by kids.

Most research says to limit your child's TV time.  Some suggest that an hour of TV is too much.  Others say that any kid until 2 years old should not watch any television whatsoever, for fear of warping their small brains.

So early on, we didn't even have the TV on, if the kid was awake.

But slowly, slowly, we started letting her watch.  And when the 2nd kid arrived, we were much looser about the whole thing.

The turning point for me, was when my daughter would start telling me about the things she learned on PBS.  Having a 3 year old explain to you what a herbivore is or what nocturnal means, did make me thing that her mind was not shut off when she was watching a show.

And I thought about my own childhood.

I can still recite the entire Preamble to the Constitution. 

How?  Not because of something I learned in a classroom.  I learned it from Schoolhouse Rocks.

They set the Preamble to music, and even today, I can still sing the whole thing.

I first learned that a noun is "a person place or thing" from Schoolhouse Rocks.  And I knew exactly what qualified as an interjection from their song on the subject.

So when I was thinking of a song to post for the 4th of July, I thought this one would be good.

Names like Phillip Livingston and Roger Sherman may not have otherwise crossed your lips today, but it's good to remember some of the details that make up Independence Day.

Happy 4th!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Liz Phair "Dotted Line"

I can't think of another artist I have this issue with . . .

Liz Phair has done some work that I find exceptional.  And she has done some work that . . . well . . . I just can't make sense of.

Maybe its because she seemed to appear, via "Exile In Guyville" with a persona fully realized and in tact, that her subsequent  . . . uh, I'm not sure what to call them . . . reinventions?  Stabs at commercial viability?  Casting about for something that sticks? . . . whatever they were, they just didn't appeal to me, at all.

Because it hasn't seemed like she knows who she is, I don't know who she is.  And because I don't know who she is, I have a lack of trust in any of Liz Phair's new work.

Here's a new song that appears in the movie "People Like Us."

My first reaction upon seeing the CD come in was, "Ugh, a new Liz Phair tune?"

My reaction on listening was, "Hey, I think this is actually a pretty decent song."

My reaction on listening again was, "Is this a good song?"

That's the thing.  I feel like I can't trust my own judgement here.

Can you hear this song out of the context of all her previous work?  Is this a good song?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bill Haley & The Comets "Rock Around The Clock"

My Great Grandfather helped build Fenway Park.  How about that!

I had no idea, but learned this via the Baccari Family's Facebook Group, earlier this year.  My Mom's cousins started the group, to put together a family reunion for the many generations that have descended from my mother's mother's parents, and family members have been posting pictures and telling family stories online.

My Great Grandfather was a mason who worked on what sports fans consider the holiest of baseball shrines, to the most American of Pastimes.  He took pride in his work, and I learned (on the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park this year), and that he was apparently in the stands on opening day to enjoy the game!

You know what my Great Grandfather did not do very well?

Speak English.

Not that he was unintelligible.  Or non-conversant in English.  What I mean, is that he was an Italian immigrant.  English was not his first language.  He worked at it, and did his best.  But he spoke with an accent that any "Real American" would peg as "foreign."

I remember being in my early 20s, walking through a Mall with my Mom.  Two workers (wearing shirts from one of the local stores, but on-break, walking near the Food Court) walked past me and my Mom, speaking a language I did not understand.

"If you come here, you should speak English," my Mom said to me, off-handedly.

I spat out a retort:  "Did Noni Pa speak English when he was with his friends?  Did he speak English with a heavy accent?!  Would you say the same thing to him?"

To her credit, she got it.  And I think there is probably still a part of her that thinks about her own Grandparents, when she hears the sound of people who's first language is not English.

Bopping around Facebook, I see people posting "This Is America, Speak English or get the Fuck Out!!!" kind of blather, and yeah, I think of my Great Grandparents, who came from Italy as teenage immigrants.

My memories of my Great Grandather, Giovanni, who we called Noni Pa, are pretty limited, so I only have a vague sense of the quality of his English.  He died when I was young.  But his wife Donata lived into her 90s.  And despite her 70+ years in this country, her accent was so thick and her grammar could be so fractured, that I even in my late teens, I often had trouble understanding what she was saying.

Yeah, Noni Ma and Noni Pa didn't Speak English well enough by the standards of those who would post stuff like this:

You know what my Great Grandparents did do?

They loved the hell out of this country.  Noni Ma crotcheted "God Bless America" and proudly displayed it in their home.  They worked their asses off, starting their lives in America with virtually no money.  They raised eleven kids (I know, I can hear the anti-immigration folks screaming "Anchor Babies!" right now).  And those eleven kids raised generations of good Americans.

Giovanni and Donata begat children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are scientists and teachers and nurses and accountants and builders.  Baccari Family members served in World War II, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.

And I just learned this week, a distant family member was inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  Noni Ma's nephew was Danny Cedrone, who was inducted in back in the Spring as a part of The Comets, Bill Haley's backing band.  Cedrone is credited with as lead guitarist on Haley's version of "Rocket 88," which is considered to be one of the first Rock And Roll songs.  And he played the solo on "Rock Around The Clock."  People like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Danny Gatton, Brian Setzer and The Reverend Horton Heat are just a few of the folks who have cited that solo as an influence on their work.

You can't get more American than Rock And Roll.

It's the 4th of July this week.  People want to celebrate Real Americans.

The real Americans are the ones who built stadiums and fought in Wars and brought their instruments and fixed your wounds and ran the local charities and worked tirelessly to make sure their own kids grew up to be educated, hard-working, respectful citizens.

Our country was built by people who spoke with an accent you might find funny.  And if you are too stupid to respect that, then maybe you are the one who doesn't know what it takes to be a Real American.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bare Jr. "You Blew Me Off"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Like yesterday, more adrenaline.  Though this one resonated with me less.

In in 90s, if "she blew me off," it didn't turn me on.  No, it was more likely to send me into the studio to play the Velvet Crush song, and forget about her

But I still liked bouncing around to this one.


Hear the song 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.