Snap! "The Power"

I GOT THE POWER! POWER!

We were without power at my house, due to the storm, all the way through Monday evening.

This is the first time in 2 years that I missed two days in a row of blogging.

Happy and thankful to have had a hot shower, a home cooked meal, to wake up in my own bed and so many of the other perks that come with being home.

Thank you to Bruce, Karen, Greg, Jimmy, Josephine, Gram & Tim, Stephanie, Salty and everyone else that helped my family out in these last few days.

More storm story blogging to come, later this week.


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Stevie Ray Vaughan "Riviera Paradise"

I know people were wondering---were concerned, even---as to what we would play as our last song on 92.7FM.

We didn't have to think about this question for long, before coming to the conclusion that there was really no right answer.

Anyone who cares about 92.7 probably had their version of the "ideal" last song.  And it was going to be different for everyone.

So were weren't likely to please the majority of folks.

Instead, we talked about the criteria for a good final song.

It should be something we regularly play.

It should be something thoughtful and reflective, but not necessarily sad.

It should be something that we (and hopefully our listeners) associate with listening to on the radio.  (Songs that remind you of videos, commercials, TV themes, youtube clips, were off the table).

It should be something that listeners associate with listening to, specifically on MVY.  Meaning, this is the kind of tune you rarely hear elsewhere.

It should be beautiful.

Barbara was the one who suggested "Riviera Paradise."  It seemed like a great choice to me.

When I came to MVY in 2000, I had never heard the song before.  And I have never before, nor never since, heard another radio station play it (I'm sure a few do, but I haven't heard it anywhere but MVY).

Way back when, when we would do the station's legal ID ("You're listening to WMVY, broadcasting on 92.7 . . ."), a portion of "Riviera Paradise" was the music bed.  So, for many of our longtime listeners, the tune is forever hitched to us saying our frequency.

But that wasn't the last thing heard on 92.7.

Again, it was Barbara's very clever idea, to end with the Legal ID, stripped down.

Normally, we say "This is listener supported mvyradio, broadcasting on 92.7 WMVY, Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Newport."

But legally, the legal ID only needs the frequency, the call letters and the city of origin.  So that's what Barbara did.

"This is 92.7 WMVY, Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard . . ."

And then we let silence hang there.  Dropping the rest of the Legal ID created an absence, which was filled only by silence, to mark the end of a chapter, and an era for this little Island station.

We did this at 11:30, but we still had a half-hour before the official switch over at midnight.

It was my idea to fill the rest of our time with ocean waves.  It was a peaceful passing to another plain . . .



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Led Zeppelin "All Of My Love"

I've had this song in my head this week, as we wind down our time on 92.7fm and go internet-only.

"Is this to end or just begin?"

I think I'll play some Zeppelin today.


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David Alan Grier "It Ain't Necessarily So"

Yesterday, I mentioned the Comedy category at the Grammys.

Today, I'll point out two comedians who have Grammy nominations, but not for comedy.

David Alan Grier, of "In Living Color" fame, is a Yale trained actor, and has won great acclaim for his role in the recent revival of "Porgy And Bess."  Hear him sing a bit of "It Ain't Necessarily So," from the Grammy nominated Soundtrack in the Best Musical Theater Album category.

And Ellen Degeneres is up for Best Spoken Word Album, for her audiobook version of her book "Seriously, I'm Kidding."


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Hear Ellen on Youtube.

Jimmy Fallon/Neil Young "Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air"

The thing that sets Jimmy Fallon's imitations above the rest, is that he can actually fool you for a second.

Watch once he gets the hat and wig on---he believably looks like Neil Young.  And his voice is shockingly close to Young's too.

And on top of getting the look and the tone down, he nails the delivery too.  To a casual ear, it does sound just like Neil Young.

Fallon's album "Blow Your Pants Off" is up for a Grammy this weekend, in the Best Comedy Album category.

PS. Make sure you watch the video to the end, as he tells a funny/cute Neil Young story.


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John Fullbright "Gawd Above"

The Best Americana Album category at the Grammys is usually pretty good to MVY.  Often it is the only category featuring 4 or even 5 nominees that you can hear on the station.

I was not surprised to see The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons in this category this year.  I was pleased (but a little surprised, because I don't think of her as Americana) to see Bonnie Raitt.  And The Lumineers had a big year, so I see how they made the list.

Then there's John Fullbright.

Lindsay Reid, one of the promo folks I regularly talk to, has been evangelizing (in his typically low-key way) about John Fullbright, for much of the last year.

"Gawd Above" has been circling on my iTunes playlist for months on end, but things never reached critical mass for me, where I liked it a lot, AND I saw it succeeding on the national charts AND/or listeners were asking for it, or any of the other things that might push me closer toward adding a song.

But a Grammy nomination does get my attention.

What do you think?  Do you hear this one on MVY?


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Mumford & Sons and Birdy "Learn Me Right"

The Grammys are on Sunday, and, as usual, there are a ton of weird-category nominees that might surprise and interest you.

No surprise that Mumford & Sons is up for a number of Grammys, including Album Of The Year, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and Best Americana Album.

But they snagged a couple other nominations, in places you would not expect.  And if you are not a full-on obsessive Mumford fan, you may not know about these tracks at all.

The band is up for Best Song Written for Visual Media, for a track (featuring vocals by Birdy) that appeared in the excellent Pixar movie "Brave."

And they are up for Best Long Form Music Video, as part of "Big Easy Express," a concert-film/road-trip documentary, also featuring Old Crowe Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes.


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See the trailer on Youtube.

NBC "Brotherhood Of Man"

In case you missed this one last year, I think the "Brotherhood Of Man" certainly extends to this year's Super Bowl.

And speaking of extended, make sure you watch the Extended Version all the way to the end, for one last cameo.

(Fun game, see if you can count all the shows that have been canceled/stars who've left the network in one short year!)

John Mayer "Shadow Days"

I don't know why this image popped into my mind, or why it makes me laugh, but I get cracked up at the thought of Punxsutawney Phil retiring to his underground den after having seen his shadow, sensitively singing this John Mayer song, as he resolves to return above ground.

I’m a good man with a good heart
Had a tough time, got a rough start
But I finally learned to let it go
Now I’m right here, and I’m right now
And I’m hoping, knowing somehow
That my shadow days are over
My shadow days are over now

Enjoy that image for Groundhog Day!


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Widespread Panic "The Ballad Of John & Yoko"

I learned two new fun terms from an old friend.

Facebook is great for that---catching up with people you haven't seen since high school.

You do a lot of "Here's what I've been up to, what have you been up to?" back and forth.

And, because of my job, the conversation often turns to music.

We were going back and forth about shows we had seen.  And, unlike 90% of the folks I talk to, he'd seen as many shows as or more shows than I have.

And then he bested me:

"Gonna' whip out the concert penis here . . ." and went on to talk about how many times he'd seen Widespread Panic.

I'd never heard the expression "Concert Penis" before, but I knew exactly what he meant.

There is that conversation that I've had a million times before, where someone tries to impress you with the size of their musical knowledge or experience.  And maybe you volley with, "Oh nice, you've seen them 9 times?  I saw them 20 times, including once in a small club."

That's whipping out your Concert Penis.

Particularly with jam bands, the number of times you've seen the band, and the earliest date of your first show, is currency within the fan base.

And he explained, that within the Widespread Panic world, they call it your "Panis."

That made me laugh out loud.

If only there were such thing as a Blog Penis, I could impress the ladies by saying that mine is 1155 posts long!


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