Roosevelt Sykes "Forty-Four Blues"

Well, the only thing I'm blue about, is that Daylight Savings stole a hour from my birthday . . .

Otherwise, I'm grateful and thankful for everything I have, and for just being alive.  And for only feeling half as old as this guy sounds.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Subdudes "All The Time In The World"

"You need a minute?  Take your time.  Need an hour?  You can borrow mine."

Need an hour?  Don't forget, Daylight Savings starts tonight.


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Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"

I got a good 20-years-delayed laugh, the first time I was with my wife and we heard this song, together.

We hadn't been going out too long, when we were somewhere and "I'm On Fire" came on.

She talked about how sexy Bruce sounded on this track.  She'd always known that girls found him attractive, and she knew that he was handsome but hadn't yet found him sexy.  Until she'd heard "I'm On Fire."

And when she said that (circa 2004/2005, sometime after we first met), I flashed back 20 years.

My Dad was a high school teacher and a coach.  And in my youth I logged many, many miles in transit with my Dad and many other high school teachers/coaches.

I remember being in Dad's Toyota, heading North on 95 on a dark, cold winter's night, with my Dad and one of his buddies.

"Who's this?"

The silence of the ride was broken by the start of a new song on the radio.

"Bruce Springsteen."

I was known to know a thing or two about popular music, so the adults always liked to test me.

We rode in more silence, as "I'm On Fire" played.

But when Springsteen got to the line: "Sometimes it's like a knife, baby, edgy and dull, cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my skull . . ." my Dad's buddy said offhandedly, incredulously:

"This is what gets the girls all excited?"

I couldn't argue with him.

And even 20+ years later when I hear that lyric, despite what my wife and millions of others might think, it's hard not to laugh, 20-years-delayed.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Chris Ross "Mostly Sober"

When we were advocating to Save mvyradio, you might have been thinking "Will the station be able to survive?" and "Will I still be able to hear them?" and "Will they have to change their format?"

A question that perhaps didn't cross your mind was, "Will they still be getting service from the record labels?"

It's an interesting, sometime strange arrangement we have in the world of Radio and Records.  And if you're not in it, you may not know how it works.

Here's how it works.

Record companies sign artists and release records.  Their promotions departments (or hired freelancers, called independent promoters) promote the record to radio stations.  Meaning, I get phone calls every week from promoters saying, "We sent you the record.  Have you heard the record?  Do you like the record?  Will you be playing the record?"  Ultimately, their goal is to get mvyradio to put the record in regular rotation on the radio station, because regular airplay (generally speaking) leads to sales, which allows the artists to get paid, and the label to make enough money to sign new artists and release new records.

How do they quantify success?

Here's where industry trade magazines come it.

Each week, I am expected to send a list of what songs we played, and how many times we played each song to Billboard/R&R and Triple A Radio/Mediabase and FMQB, all trade magazines.  The list includes all the current songs we play (not all the older tracks).  For instance, last week, mvyradio played Grace Potter's "Stars" 15 times.

That 15 is added to all the the other spins that Grace got, on all the other radio stations that report.  The song with the most spins, is the Number One song of the week.  Right?

Having a high charting song lets the label know that the promoter is doing a good job, lets the band know that the label is doing a good job, and lets radio know that a band is succeeding elsewhere (and might prompt the station to increase airplay).

So having radio airplay be an accountable thing, is vital to the whole Radio and Record ecosystem.

What happens if you don't report to the trades?

Well, all those times you spin "Stars" aren't counted by anyone.  The bands and the labels have no proof that you are supporting them.  And the promoters lack incentive to even send you records, because there is no proof that you play them.

Stop reporting, and the records stop coming to your mailbox.

Way back when, when I hosted an Alternative specialty show, I'd try to get service from the record labels.  I wanted to be on their mailing list and be shipped their regular releases.  But I was often just blown off.  The nice ones would say, "I can't put you on my list, but if there is something you really want, send me a request and if I have an extra I will send it to you."  Imagine not being able to get a copy of "Nevermind" in 1994?

To get on these lists, you have to be a real radio station, with a real reach and impact.

Going off the FM dial was putting mvyradio's status in jeopardy.

Two pieces of good news happened:

First, we were able to work out a deal that keeps us on 96.5FM in Newport.  So for the sticklers, we ARE on a real FM radio station.

Second, attitudes (inside and outside the industry) are changing. 

If we had left the FM dial a few years ago, many Record folks would have treated the fact that we were a stream-only station the same way they treated my Alternative Specialty show:  not significant enough to be on the radar.  It wouldn't have matter to them mvyradio's online listening audience is much bigger than many of the terrestrial FM stations that do report.  We would have been off the reports, off the mailing lists and kicked down to a second-class status.

But today, industry minds are finally coming around to the fact that some of the old measurement systems really don't accurately represent the world today.

Perhaps the most notable shift in all of the business occurred a couple of weeks ago, when Billboard Magazine announced that they would add Youtube data to how they calculated their Hot 100 charts, which historically was based on radio airplay and sales of the record.

It makes sense.  The new math allowed the song "Harlem Shake" to leap to the Number One spot on the singles chart, propelled by the viral nature of videos featuring the song.  More and more people are hearing, discovering and sharing songs in this way.

Keeping mvyradio on the charts, due to its long reach and influence, I know makes sense to a lot of folks in my business.

In fact, Marc Ratner, a former Major Label guy who know runs his own operation, spoke on our behalf to the folks at Billboard.  He talked about how everyone may still call them "records" even though they might be CDs or MP3 or a stream or whatever.  It's still music, the delivery system is just a little different.  mvyradio should stay as a reporter.

mvyradio is still radio, it's just delivered a bit differently.

And that brings me to this Chris Ross song.

Ross is a singer-songwriter from Maine, and a client of Ratner's.  I got a kick out of "Mostly Sober" the very first time I heard it, enjoying the humor, liking his voice and rolling with the lyrical twists and turns that remind me of a Beck song.

After deciding "We like the song," the next question asked, on the path to adding it to rotation is, "Will the audience care?"

Chris Ross is nowhere on any chart.  He's unknown.  There is no data, from traditional sources, to indicate if we played the tune, music fans would be interested.

So it's all the more striking that his Youtube Channel has about 200,000 views of his self-produced videos.

He's not charting, but someone is listening.  And folks are reacting.

I played "Mostly Sober" at 2:50pm on Wednesday.  By 3pm, an mvyradio listener in New Jersey had written on Ross' Facebook page that she'd just discovered him by listening to mvyradio.   And a few minutes later, Ross had emailed Ratner in Maine, and Ratner forward the message to me.

The modern world!

"Mostly Sober" is no "Harlem Shake."  It's not about to rocket to the top spot on the chart due to Youtube play.

But it's good that we are recognizing that "records" are more than just a plastic disc, and "radio,"---what it is, what it does and what it means to people---isn't limited to a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.



Hear the song on Youtube.


See a "Harlem Shake" compilation on Youtube.

Lyle Lovett "Here I Am"

Do you ever have the experience of hearing a song many, many times, but suddenly, it jogs a memory?

We play Lyle Lovett's "Here I Am" on a semi-frequent basis.  And have, for many, many years.

But I heard it yesterday, and for whatever reason it shook loose a little sketch of a memory from a good 15 years ago.

My roommate Mandy had a computer.

Why is this significant?  This was the first time I'd ever lived with someone who actually owned a computer.

I know, I know.  It seems unfathomable now, to live in a house without computer-access.

But in the mid-to-late 90s, it was pretty unusual for a 20-something like myself and my roommates, to actually own a computer.

But Mandy had one.  And she was even savvy enough to create her own sounds.

She'd edited pieces of "Here I Am" so they played at key moments---when you might normally hear a beep or ding.

When you logged on, you'd hear Lyle's "Hello?"

And if you Escaped out of something, it would say, "That wouldn't make you a shallow person, would it?"

If you tried to log out, Lyle would say, "Please, if it's not too late . . ."

Funny that this memory would suddenly dislodge here in 2013. 

That's my brain.  As reliable as a computer from 1997.



Hear the song on Youtube.

Carla Bruni "Chez Keith Et Anita"

I heard this song over the weekend, and was really charmed by it.  (I'm certainly neither the first nor last person to be charmed by Carla Bruni)

I was thinking about how rare it is that a non-English-language song makes it into mvyradio rotation.

Rarer still, are non-English language songs that are also non-African.  We'll open the doors for Habib Koite or Miriam Makeba, but are far less likely to bring in a European voice.  I can't really explain why.  But I can't think of a single non-English/Romance Language song that we have in rotation on mvyradio.

What do you think?  Even if you don't speak French, does this song charm you?

(And remember, we can't show the video on the radio, so factor that out of how charmed you might be by Ms. Bruni)


Hear the song on Youtube.

Joe Jackson "Sunday Papers"

I was at a local auto shop back in January, to get my car inspected, and as I was talking to the guy behind the counter, his buddy, who'd been hanging out said, "Hey!  Are you PJ from mvyradio?"

Good ears.  He recognized my voice.

But times like that are pretty rare.  Mostly, I go through life anonymously.

In fact, I'd wager that there are folks who listen to mvyradio AND who have seen me around the town for years, who have no idea I'm "PJ from mvyradio."

But in the heat of the Save mvyradio campaign, we had reporters and photographers coming through the station on a regular basis.  The Vineyard Gazette, the MV Times and The Boston Globe were particularly generous with their coverage.

And a funny thing happened.  Immediately after these stories, folks I'd seen around for years would say, "You're the mvy guy!" for the first time making the connection to the voice on the radio and the skinny unshaven guy with the backpack, who never says anything.

How many Steamship ferry rides have I taken since moving to the Island 13 years ago?

I had a landmark moment happen.

I was late to catch a boat back to the Island.  I'd parked and hopped on the transport bus that drives you up to dockside.  9:29 for a 9:30 ferry.  As the bus was grinding to a stop, I could see the dock guys pulling the orange curtain across the car deck ramp.

For those of you who don't live here and don't know, when they pull the orange curtain, the ramp is CLOSED.

The City equivalent is when you get back to your car just as the Tow Truck driver has hitched up your vehicle.  It ain't coming down no-how, no way.

I leapt from the bus and started running, and something truly amazing happened.

One of the dock guys, someone I'd never spoken to before, yelled, "HEY PJ, HURRY UP!"

He opened the orange curtain and let me on.

Ask an Islander.  That stuff doesn't happen.

So thanks, newspaper friends and photographers, for pulling me out of the ether, making me look good and, at least for one day, making me somebody.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bash & Pop "Friday Night Is Killing Me"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Keeping Fridays' focus on the "Songs For Slim" project, let me share one more solo-Replacements project.

Tommy Stinson has spent a lot of the last 15 or so years being in the mostly-inactive Guns And Roses, but he put out some solid post-Replacements work.  "Friday Night Is Killing Me" is not unlike a good Keith Richards solo project, full of fun, loose rock n roll, a less that perfect voice that wins you over with charm, and plenty of call-and-response barroom rock.  Another 90s fave . . .


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.

Chris Mars "Popular Creeps"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Keeping yesterday's focus on the "Songs For Slim" project, I want to point you to one of my favorite albums of the 90s.  This is another one of those records that makes me feel like a lone voice in the darkness---I love it, and no one I know has ever heard of it, never mind succumbed to its rock n roll charms.

Mars spent years behind the drum kit of an iconic alt-rock band, and emerged, surprisingly, to be a very able and talented multi-instrumentalist and front-man.

Why yes, I am calling Dave Grohl a total copycat.  (Just kidding!)



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.

Slim Dunlap "Ballad Of The Opening Band"

Here's another "I Looked At The Internet Today So You Don't Have To" feature.

Guitarist Slim Dunlap has found himself in a position that too many Americans, and particularly, too many musicians, find themselves in.

He had a debilitating stroke last year and his insurance doesn't cover enough of what he will need going forward just to survive.  So not only is the medical condition delibitating, so is the financial condition.

Fortunately, he has friends.

In February, a limited edition new recording by his old band mates, The Replacements, went at auction for $10,000.  The songs will be available digitally later in March, but Pitchfork as a previous of the Gordon Lightfoot cover.

And there are more songs to come.  If you are, or you know, a fan of Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Jacob Dylan or a long list of others, check out the Songs For Slim site.  There you'll find out more about Slim and his needs, and more about the songs to come.

If nothing else, check out the song below.  It's Slim's funny, somewhat heartbreaking and very accurate "Ballad Of An Opening Band."


Hear the song on Youtube.