Susan Tedeschi "Lord Protect My Child"

Do you know what an Apgar score is?

Thankfully, three years ago today, I did not.

If you are someone who doesn't yet have kids, but are planning on it, maybe you just want to skip clicking through.  I found the ignorance to be quite helpful on the day my boy was born.

I don't want to over-dramatize the story of his birth---I know many, many folks who have gone through much, much worse.  But suffice it to say that his first Apgar score was "1."

Today he is 3 years old.

He is a happy, healthy, feisty thing, that gives no hint of the very narrow line he walked in his first 30 minutes of life.

I'm not religious.  I don't pray.  But I hear this song in my head and I thank whatever fate or good fortune or God that smiled upon him, upon me, upon us to make today possible.

Happy Day, little thing.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Lyrics by Bob Dylan

For his age he's wise
He's got his mother's eyes
There's gladness in his heart
He's young and he's wild
My only prayer is if I can't be there
Lord protect my child

As his youth now unfolds
He is centuries old
Just to see him at play makes me smile
No matter what happens to me
No matter what my destiny
Lord protect my child

While the world is asleep
You can look at it and weep
Few things you find are worthwhile
And though I don't ask for much
No material things to touch
Lord protect my child

He's young and on fire
Full of hope and desire
In a world that's been raped raped and defiled
If I fall along the way
And can't see another day
Lord protect my child

There'll be a time I hear tell
When all will be well
When God and man will be reconciled
But until men lose their chains
And righteousness reigns
Lord protect my child

Tom Jones "Hit Or Miss"

This is one of those tunes I wish I could present to you (and to myself), with complete anonymity for the artist involved. 

I'd love to know what your reaction to this tune would be, if I could tell you, convincingly, that this was a no-name, undiscovered 73-year-old artist who'd made a record worth hearing.

Because seriously, simply by uttering the two words, "Tom Jones" it's hard to see or hear anything but an older man in leather pants singing "What's New Pussycat" and "Kiss."

Neither could I call you up, without you hearing the song, and say, "Would you like to hear Tom Jones do an Odetta tune?"  Just trying to conceptualize it might make your brain break.

And yet, hear it is.  Tom Jones, who, for all the goofiness and cheesiness you can rightly tag him with, has always had, and still has, a powerful instrument.  He does a credible job here.

Hear it, if your brain will let you . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Hoodoo Gurus "Come Anytime"

After a summer in a hot, unpleasant warehouse, I knew that I needed an upgrade.  So in the Summer of 1989, I got a job working at a Holiday Inn, in Portsmouth, NH.

This would be the last job ever I would ever hold that would require me to wear a tie on a daily basis.

I worked at the front desk, checking folks in and out.  Typing interminable amounts of information into a computer, while people just wanted to a) go to their room and lie down, or b) leave.

I learned 3 things that summer.

1. It’s lonely on the road.

If I’d ever held any fantasies about the freedom of the road, they were obliterated by the realities of interacting with folks to did it for a living.  We had regulars who’d come through town on business and stay over every Tuesday, or for the last week of the month.  Their itinerant lifestyle didn’t make them free.  It clearly weighed them down.  Meals on the go, strange dark rooms, pockets full of boarding passes and road receipts.  They looked grey and unhappy.  They were not having a good time.

2. Drink it black

I didn’t grow up in a coffee-drinking household, so I had never really had a cup of coffee.  But working long, late (or sometime early) hours at the front desk, landed me in a coffee-drinking culture.  And while my instincts were to load my drink up with milk and sugar, it was the overnight accountant who scoffed at my beverage and sneered, “Candy.”  Sweetening up your coffee was the equivalent of putting fruit and an umbrella in your cocktail.  Not manly.  Not serious.  Learning to drink it black, I avoided years of Coffeemate substitute and stirrer pokes in the eye.     

3. If you’re going to ask for an autograph, know what the person looks like

We were not too far from a venue called The Hampton Beach Casino, and because the hotel was located right off the highway, it was pretty common for the acts to stay with us.  That summer both Meatloaf and Kool & The Gang checked in to our place.

I was pretty excited to see one morning, that The Hoodoo Gurus were to be checking in later that day.  The Casino generally booked heritage acts, but occasionally, they’d have some alternative up-and-comer play.

I wasn’t necessarily a huge fan, but I knew this girl who was.  Wouldn’t I be the coolest, if I scored her an autograph?

Making sure that I would be the one to check them in (the older woman I worked with was happy to let me do it---she asked if the gurus were from India), I readied myself with a good pen and a piece of paper and some fan-boy-like praise.

Things started off fine enough, as the band’s manager came to the desk first, identifying himself as such.  I asked him if I could get a band autograph.  He, I think, was happy to his boys were being recognized.

Here’s what I didn’t expect.  When a band travels, it’s not just the 4 guys and the manager.  It’s all the guitar techs and lighting guys and sound board operators.

And none of them are wearing name-tags.

So as the guys come up one by one to get their room keys, I’ve got my pen and my paper on the counter, awkwardly trying to assess who’s in the band and who isn’t, attempting to indicate with my body language that the paper an pen are for autographs.

Long story short - - - 3 guys signed the piece of paper.  I have no idea if any of them were actually in the band.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Letters To Cleo "Awake"

Here's another Weekend Post:

In the 90s, when I was single/dating, I liked a good Power Pop break-up song, and this was another fave.

I was a little disappointed to find out that she doesn't say, "Baby, I'm leaving out the ironing," which is a great "F-U, I'm outta here" line.

She says she's leaving out the "irony," which is a good line too, and more 90s-ish, I suppose.


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.

Greenberry Woods "Adieu"

Here's another Weekend Post:
Of those lost Power Pop hits of the 90s . . . this is one of the great kiss-off songs of the period.  A very happy sounding F-U.


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.

Soul Coughing "Screenwriter's Blues"

For a good 15 years now, if asked, I'd name "Ruby Vroom" by Soul Coughing as one of my Top 5 All Time Favorite Albums.  It's a record I go back to regularly.

Maybe you've heard it, but wouldn't put it in your Top 5.  Or Top 25.  I get that.

Maybe you've heard it, but didn't like it at all.  I get that.

Maybe you even actively dislike it, and can't possibly see how anyone could like it.

I can even buy that position.

Unless your name is Mike Doughty.

But yes, Mike Doughty, the former lead singer of the now defunct band, hates the music of Soul Coughing.  And he's not shy about saying so.

In fact, he hates it so much that he's started a Pledge Music campaign, to raise money to re-record many of the songs from those Soul Coughing records, to put them in a more palatable form.

I am truly, legitimately confused about how to feel.  The creation that I love is hated by the creator.  And in doing so, it seems to cast doubt on my own personal taste


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 "Pride In The Name Of Love"

"Early morning, April 4th, shot rings out in the Memphis sky . . ."

It was really amazing of Bono to turn this tune---which, reportedly had started as a song about Reagan and his take on American pride---into a timeless tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

But how did he get such a simple detail wrong?

King was shot to death just after 6pm, not in the early morning.

It's hardly a big deal, but like a misspelled word on a street sign, it sticks out every time I hear it.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Solomon Burke "Up To The Mountain"

Why is it that we mark deaths, with greater sentiment than achievements?

I mean, its good to have an alarm clock of sorts that rings to remind you of a person.  But stopping down to think about them at the moment of their death doesn't seem like the proper honor.

Same thing with their birth.  Don't get me wrong, I love birthdays.  But really, why are you celebrating my birthday?  I didn't do anything.  If anyone deserves a cake on March 10th, its my Mom.

So, tomorrow, people are going to talk about the passing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was shot to death on April 4th, 1968.

Wouldn't it be better to have your moment of reflection on the man and his message, to coincide with something like his "I've Been To The Mountaintop" speech, delivered on April 3, 1968?

It's uplifting message, it's hopeful nature, it's faith in the divine and the earthly---that is what is worth marking and remembering.


Hear the song Patty Griffin wrote and Solomon Burke recorded, inspired by the MLK speech, on Youtube.


Hear the last minute of the speech on Youtube.


Hear the full speech on Youtube.

And the full text of the speech can be found here.

Son Volt "Hearts & Minds"

Sometime shortly after I have become Program Director at MVY, I was down at the Pub where I hung out.  One of my buddies was saying to a third guy:  "Did you hear that PJ got promoted at MVY?"

The third guy shrugged.  "MVY?  I stopped listening to them since they went country."

Went country?

The previous month, we'd done an On The Road trip to Merlefest, the premiere East Coast Americana music festival hosted by Doc Watson.

We gave it massive coverage on the air, playing cuts from bluegrass, country, roots and Americana artists not typically found in large supply on our station.

Was it wall-to-wall country?  No.  But here in the Northeast, a little country goes a long way.

It's always important to keep a good balance, and air only a moderate supply of songs that push away from the center-boundary of what is mvyradio.

If you look back at the old entry about how we choose songs for mvyradio, you'll see that I expressly mention that we're okay when we have a couple of Country-leaning songs.  Anything over that, and we risk sounding "too country."

So what do you do when there's a plethora of great, mvy-friendly country music out there?

We're suddenly deluged with great albums that can't really be ignored, by Son Volt, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, and Steve Earle.  Not to mention the banjo and dobro inflected likes of The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and Jerry Douglas.

I guess the answer is, you go with it. 

We can't not play the Steve Earle.  Or the Emmylou & Rodney.  It would be weird for MVY, long-time Earle and Harris supporters, to suddenly ignore a critically-praised major release of theirs.  And the curiosity factor of the Steve & Edie record alone is reason to play it---it's the kind of oddball release that listeners expect to have a place on our eclectic indie station.

I say this all the time to listeners who complain about hearing too much of one new song or another:  Songs come and songs go.  If you don't like this one, don't worry, it will run its course and fade. 

Three months from now, many of these songs will be gone from our "current" playlist, and the balance of the station will be restored, or will perhaps lean in another direction that we'll have to course-correct for.

In the meantime, we haven't "gone country."  We're just enjoying the twang.


Hear Son Volt on Youtube.


Hear Buddy & Jim on Youtube.


Hear Emmylou & Rodney on Youtube.


Hear Steve & Edie talk about their record on Youtube.


Hear Steve Earle on Youtube.

The Buffalo Touch "Everybody's Polish On Dyngus Day"

Well, you'd be forgiving for thinking that I was pulling some kind of prank, telling you it's Dyngus Day.

It IS April Fool's Day, in case you forgot.

But it's also the Monday after Easter.  And in many Polish-American communities, the Monday after Easter is celebrated as Dyngus Day.  No Fooling!

And just like everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day!  Just ask The Buffalo Touch.


The Dyngus Day promo, on Youtube.