Ryan Adams "Rosalie Come And Go"

I've already offered myself as a Professional Athlete Theme Song Consultant---a job that is totally imaginary.

A more realistic music-meets-baseball job would be "that guy at WEEI."

I don't know who does this job---it could very likely be an intern---but if you listen to the Red Sox on WEEI, they transition back from commercials to the announcers with a short music bumper.

I always wanted to be pals with whoever was doing the job around that magical 2004, World Series season, because he/she and I had the same taste.

There were lots of familiar and unfamiliar alterna-hits and special nuggets.

And when they were using this Ryan Adams semi-obscurity, I was super-impressed.  Only a real music-head would know this tune, as it's from the bonus "Side Four" ep from Adams' "Gold" album.

I don't know if I could top this nugget as we tossed to Joe Castiglione, but I'd love to try . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Steve Poltz "Sucker Punch"

There are a thousand reason why we might not play a song on mvyradio.

It could be too Poppy, or to esoteric.

It could be too raucous, or too flat.

It could be the wrong genre, or it could be too generic.

But rarely, only rarely, do I say, "Well that's just inappropriate . . ."

Steve Poltz is frickin' hilarious, but I just don't think mvyradio could get away with playing this one.

But it's a great one to share for the blog.

Put on your headphones, this one's NFSW (that's "Not Safe For Work," in case you're not familiar with the acronym).


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bruce Springsteen "Badlands"

I was standing at the back of the crowd as Tom Morello ended.  I was looking for my wife, who'd been texting me from somewhere up front, when I saw Sue come out of the crowd.

She, like pretty much everyone else who'd just seen his spirited set, was pretty amped up.  She gave me a big smile, said something like, "What a show!" and slapped me a high-five.

Then she said a quote that I knew I knew, but I couldn't place right away.  But knowing Sue, I was sure it was a Bruce Springsteen line.

I first spoke to Sue McDonald several years ago.  She had contacted to the station to let us know that she, along with some other Bruce Springsteen fans, were raising money for the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund.  (Federici was the longtime organ player and multi-instrumentalist in the E Street Band).  We made her the mvyradio Person Of The Week (hear it in our archives), to spread the word about the good deed she and her other Springsteen loving friends were doing in honor of the band member who'd recently passed away from cancer.

I thought of Sue again, two years ago, when my wife was approaching the due date of our second child.  We knew it was going to be a boy, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to keep up this blog while I was out.  So I contacted Sue, and asked her if she'd like to do a Guest Blogger slot, and write about Springsteen songs featuring Fathers and Sons.  Two of the Top Five Most Viewed Posts in the history of my blog, are by Sue.

Sue and I continued to bump into each other at various shows and mvy events, including the Newport Folk Festival on a few occasions.  And because we're friends on Facebook, I kept up with her musical adventures.  It seemed like every time I saw her status, she was off to see another live concert.

So it was curious to see her post a comment on the mvyradio Facebook page, during Newport Folk 2011.  I wrote her a quick email to ask why she wasn't at Fort Adams this year.

"I'm with you in spirit, PJ! Unfortunately some medical stuff has gotten in the way . . ."

She went onto explain that she'd be diagnosed with lymphoma.  She called it "highly treatable," but she was still going to have to go through chemotherapy.  She had, in fact, had her first treatment the day before the festival, so she felt it would be wise to spend a couple of days on the couch, and enjoy the festival vicariously through mvy.

I heard from her periodically through the Fall.  She lost her hair ("Apparently I'll be rockin' the Sinead O'Connor look for a while"), but the chemo did what the doctors said it would do.  Her tumor disappeared and she began the to road to reclaiming her life, which (as best I could gather from Facebook) included getting out to as many shows as time and money would allow.

I ran into her early in the weekend at Newport Folk this year.

"I think about where I was at this time last year . . . " she said.  We let that thought hang in the air for a minute.  "I'm just glad to be here."

I saw her a couple more times over the course of the weekend, including at the Tom Morello set, as we were all running from one stage to the next.

A few days after the Festival, after I'd written about my own experience with the Morello set, I got a note from her:

You know, I was slightly embarrassed when I thought about high-fiving you on my way out of the tent after this show. I'm a pretty reserved person, after all. But, I was so energized by Tom Morello's performance, by raising a fist to "Union Town", by his guitar hero antics during Ghost of Tom Joad, by asking us to "jump the f-- up", and by his cheekiness in getting "us" on stage. It was by far my favorite set of the weekend. I'm pretty sure I told you "it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive"!

But, after reading about it, and watching it again, I'm not embarrassed, and I'm really, really happy for your wife that she got on stage. What a memory to take away from the weekend!!

-Sue

"Badlands."  She was quoting Springsteen's "Badlands."

It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.

You're damn right, Sue.


Hear the song on Youtube.


mvyradio has Bruce Springsteen tickets for his show at Fenway.  Find out how you can win them!

Delta Spirit "Tear It Up"

I had this funny aural experience listening to some new music with Barbara on Monday.

I was playing her a batch of tracks that I felt merited some discussion as to whether mvy should add them to rotation or not.  Some I liked, others I didn't care for but for various reasons (national popularity, loyalty to the artist, etc) deserved consideration.

So I was getting ready to play the new Delta Spirit single for her, and I said that I didn't think this record sounded like something we'd add.

We listened for a minute, and I pointed out that it DID have a Talking Heads vibe.

And that's a plus when considering a new-ish band---do they have a straight-line connection to a core artist/sound for the station?

Then Barbara pointed out that the little guitar figure that repeats is VERY Lindsay Buckingham---another core artist/sound for mvyradio.

I realized that I sorta heard other things in this song, including the African influenced guitar of a Peter Gabriel song and the drums from Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."

But the funny thing is, all those touchstones didn't seem to add up.

Yes, each individual part sounds like something you'd hear on mvy.  But the sum of its parts didn't magically retain that quality.

At least to my ears, it didn't.  What do you think?  Is this an mvy song?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Dionne Warwick "Deja Vu"

I went to my High School reunion last week.

I was great to see some folks I don't often get to see.  And see some folks I haven't seen in 2-plus decades.

I did kind of have it in my mind that seeing some of these people would jog a few memories, that would lead to a few good blog posts.

Surprisingly, despite the full night of 80s music on the P.A., I really didn't find any fodder for stories---until the end of the night.

As I was walking out the door, I passed a guy I hadn't seen or talked to, probably since graduation.  And hilariously, today's song is the first thing I thought of.

I've written before about being the oldest kid in my family, about not having an older brother to introduce me to certain things like music.

Other things that friends with older brothers had access too,  included profanity, and secret knowledge.

Secret knowledge is that stuff they don't teach you about in school, and your parent don't talk to you about.  You just pick it up on the playground.

In middle school, I learned, via friends with older brothers, what a hermaphrodite is.  And the definition of "twat."  Things like that.

Some things you learn from your friends older brothers are absolutely correct.  Other things, not so much.

I remember being in Middle School, at the lunch table, and for no reason one of the kids at the table (the guy at the beginning of this story) had been humming this song.  Then he turned to me and said:

"Do you know what Deja Vu means?  It's French for 'Shit On A Brick.'"

He had learned this from his older brother.

We all marveled at the cleverness of Dionne Warwick, and how she had this hit song that folks were singing along to, when they were really saying, in a foreign language, "Shit On A Brick."

Several years later, when my folks had transferred me to a Catholic School, and I actually took French classes, I realized that our information was inaccurate.

I'd totally forgotten this story, but seeing my old classmate brought the memory right back.  "Deja vu" all over again.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Camper Van Beethoven "Take The Skinheads Bowling"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Well this just seemed like a nice companion piece to Saturday's post.  These were fun ones to play during "What's The Alternative?" for an injection of silly energy.


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.

Dead Milkmen "Punk Rock Girl"

Here's another Weekend Post:

This is another song that came to mind at my High School Reunion, for non-specific reasons . . .

It was fun to see how certain people (the ones I rarely/never saw, post-graduation) turned out.

The Punk Rock Girls who looked a little more conventional.

The slacker dudes who looked clean cut.

The shy girls who had apparently blossomed later.

And the guys who looked like only 5 minutes had passed since I last spoke to them.


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.

Tom Morello "World Wide Rebel Songs"

My favorite moment from last week's Newport Folk Fest? Right here:

(you'll have to forgive the typos)

That's a text exchange between me (in green, on the right) and my wife (on the left), who came to the Festival on Sunday, specifically to see Tom Morello.

I had been running around Fort Adams, taking pictures and doing live breaks and such. I really don't get to hang out with my wife (or anyone). But I did try to join up with her whenever I had a few minutes.

I happened to be near the Harbor Stage when I got her text saying that Jackson Browne was on stage with Tom Morello. I got over there in time to catch them do the most rocking version of "This Land Is Your Land" you'll ever hear.

I positioned myself way in the back, middle, near the sound guy, so I could get an overview of the crowd and perhaps pick out my wife.

Little did I know, I was about to get a very clear view of the crowd.

For the finale, Morello invited the entire audience up on stage, much to the chagrin of security.

I'm not great at estimating crowd size, but I'm going to guess there were a good 100 folks on stage with Tom, singing out loud, singing out strong.

And, as you've surmised from the text, my wife was on stage too.

It was a pretty wild scene, made wilder by the fact that, while being a rebel is fun, it does sometimes create a safety hazard.  Mid-song, security and officers of the law started kicking people off stage, forcibly having to remove some of them.  It made for quite a visual.

As you can imagine, it was all captured on video.  You can see a few of the Youtube videos made by folks in the audience, and on stage.  It's totally worth your while to hear how engaging and passionate Morello is, and what delight he took in his mischief.

My wife was energized too.  Later, after we had met up and talked about her adventure, she sent me another text as I headed back into the Fort:

"I might leave you to become a revolutionary woman!"

Photos by my wife.  

Hear the original on Youtube.


See the view from the crowd on Youtube.


See the view from the stage, on Youtube.

New Multitudes "My Revolutionary Mind"

We always joke about how we do a lot with a little, at mvyradio.

This was so true last weekend at Newport Folk, where our backstage production staff---which in past years has been as many as ten people---was just me and Barbara and Jess.

That meant we all wore many hats/traded hats quite a bit.  So at any given time, I might be working as an on-air host, or a technical director communicating with the DJs back at the station, or a social media maven, connecting to the folks following online.

But the most exhilarating and moving moment of my Newport Folk weekend, was when Jess handed me the station camera and asked if I could give her a break from taking pictures.

For most of the acts, they let photographers, even the amateur ones, down to a pit area in front of the stage for the first 3 songs of any performance.  So I was right up front for the New Multitudes set.

New Multitudes is the Woody Guthrie project put together by Jay Farrar, Jim James, Anders Parker and Will Johnson---Woody's lyrics with music by the foursome.

I was intent on not missing this, as I knew it would probably be the only chance ever, to see them.  The short tour was over and it's not like they are going to make a series of albums---this was a one-off project.

Taking advice from my wife, I shot photos at a furious pace, knowing that sometimes it takes 100 shots to get 1 or 2 really memorable keepers.  But I also tried to really enjoy the fact that I was right at the front of the stage, where I could soak up the energy and the joy of this performance.  I held my ground until security gave us the boot.

From there, I retreated out from under the tent, to the side of the stage, where I spied Nora Guthrie.  She was totally focused on the performance, her head bobbing to the music, with just a slight smile on her face.

I was just so moved by this idea of a message from beyond the grave.  The band was singing songs written by her father, who had scribbled these lyrics decades ago.  He had also passed away decades ago, but here were his words, his thoughts, brought to life in 2012.

We could all only hope to have such a message from the people we've lost.  It gave me goosebumps.


Hear "Changing World" followed by "My Revolutionary Mind" on Youtube.

Charles Bradley "Heartaches And Pain"

It's 3am.  I just woke up.  I fell asleep with the kids as we put them to bed around 8pm.

I'm still not quite caught up from Newport Folk weekend.  Not caught up due to lack of sleep.  And still processing the many, many events of the weekend.

No profound thoughts here at 3am.  I just thought it was worthwhile to use today's blog post to share Charles Bradley And His Extraodinaries.

I love radio.  I love the medium and I love how it delivers the message.

But I am aware of its limitations.

We did carry some of Charles Bradley, live on the radio.

But if you don't see him, I think you lose part of the experience.

You lose the full sense of his passion, his drama, his theatricality and his enormous sense of gratitude for being able to perform.

So check out the video.  I'm going to go brush the fur off my teeth and go back to bed.


Hear the song on Youtube.