XTC "Stupidly Happy"

On these Weekend Posts, I try to put up songs that I enjoyed in the 90s, but have disappeared or faded into obscurity.

I've been at mvy so long (since 2000), that now there is a whole list of songs in my head, that used to be part of our playlist, but have slide out of view and memory.

I'm on vacation starting today, so while I'm away, I'll do some of these "We Used To Play This" posts.

XTC made a great comeback around 2000 with a couple of very strong albums, including "Homegrown."

I haven't heard this song in a good decade, but it's quality stuff from Andy Partridge.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Joe Jackson "Got The Time"

I shot out of bed a few minutes ago, with this song in my head.

We're supposed to leave for vacation tomorrow.  Nothing's packed, nothing's ready.

Had to go to a wake yesterday.  Had to do some juggling because Mom just got home from a hospital stay and needed someone to sit with her, as she's still a bit immobile.  The wife couldn't do it because we'd spent the morning after a completely sleepless Wednesday night at the pediatricians with an unhappy 3 year old who, turns out, has croup and strep throat.

We shipped the 5 year old off to the other Gramma's for the night so she's got to be picked up today before anyone can start getting ready to go away, and I've got work.  Yes, the last day of a Friends of mvyradio Drive usually means I get nothing else in the office done, but I've got stacks of scheduling, reports, emails from listeners, voicemails and other things to deal with before I head out the door.

And I have no blog posts lined up for my vacation.

I missed a day of posting for the first time in over a year, this week.  And I am fastidious about posting on Facebook every day about my blog.  Forgot to do that yesterday.

Joe Jackson's got the best advice for situations like this. 

Though I'm a guy who likes to look at the horizon, and see how everything will come together between here and when I have to go, it's too overwhelm to do that now.  I just have to focus on the task in front of me, get that done quickly and move to the next thing.

"There's no such thing as tomorrow only ONETWOTHREEFOUR!"


Hear the song on Youtube.

Jim James "A New Life (tUnE-yArDs remix)

In the pop and rap and dance world, artists are very open to remixes, to invigorate a song, and perhaps extend the its life in the public eye.

Wonder why artists from the mvyradio world aren't as open?

It doesn't have to be a dance remix.  Do like Peter Gabriel did, and reimagine a tune with strings or a choir or a Latin feel.  It might actually work for some of the singer-songwriters we know an love.

At least you can count on Jim James for some adventure . . .

Check it out here . . .

R.E.M. "New Test Leper"

If you're a dope smoker, you're naturally paranoid.

I mean, not just from smoking dope, but (at least back in my day) from getting caught.

I was never one of those guys who could light up a joint in public and not care.

Really, I was never really a pot smoker myself.  But I certainly traveled with pot smokers.

We were seeing R.E.M. at an amphitheater outside Nashville.  This was the tour behind the record "Monster" and they were trying out new material that would eventually appear on "New Adventures In Hi Fi."  It was raining.  There were a lot of young people there who were more interested in drinking beer and making out, than listening to the band.

To make things a little brighter, one of my friends decided to light up a joint.

He hadn't gotten too far, before a figure was coming down our aisle, with a flashlight.

I nudged him.  Instinctively, he tossed the joint to the ground and stepped on it.

The woman with the flashlight brushed passed me, handed something to my friend and kept walking.

I gave him a quizzical look.

He laughed and showed me the sticker she'd give him.

Hear the song on Youtube.

Charlie Mars "Picture Of An Island"

This is the new Charlie Mars single being worked to radio stations like MVY.

Right now there is a small, undaunted, resilient team of record promo folks who are calling radio stations asking them to consider playing the track.  Coming up with any and all reasons to do so.

Sometimes that means adding in a stretch of a reason . . .

If a song that comes out that has the words "Island" or "Sea" or "Ocean" in the title, then you can guarantee that a promo person will add in to his/her pitch to me:

"You're on an Island.  It's a perfect song for a station on an Island."


Hear the song on Youtube.

Sungha Jung "I'm Yours"

It was Saturday night of Newport Folk and I was hanging with the mvyradio On The Road crew, eating a late dinner, talking about the day.

My wife had made a surprise visit to join me in Newport.

She was talking to weekend DJ Jane about music, and the subject of playing music came up.

My wife got a guitar a few years ago, but found it difficult to a) find time to practice, since we had new babies, and b) press down on the heavy, hard strings of a guitar.

So we got talking about ukeleles.

Both Jane and I had see a documentary called "The Mighty Uke" about the unlikely resurgence of this instrument, and about the joy and ease of playing it.

My wife decided:  She needed a ukelele.

Late the next day, she called me from home to tell me something incredible.

She was driving home from Newport, and she called her mother, to whom she mentioned the ukelele thing.

To her surprise her mother said, "Oh, I have your grandfather's ukelele in the closet upstairs."

And by the time I'd gotten home from Newport, she was already on the Lazy-Z-Boy, strumming away. 

She's since found a treasure trove of Youtube instructional videos that have taught her, in a week's time, to play "Over The Rainbow," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz.

Her grandfather had a love and fascination with Hawaii, and had traveled there a number of times shortly after the State joined the Union.  There's even a famous story about a surfboard he owned . . .

He also bought a ukelele and learned to play.

The ukelele on the Lazy-Z-Boy

Though she, more than anything, wants to keep the family heirloom, and to learn to play it well, my wife couldn't resist.

A 1950s name-brand (Martin) Hawaiian ukelele?  How would you find out how much it was worth?

She did some Googling, and naturally there is a site.

And she got really cracked up.

Because she said the name of the site, and then realized what she said.

Go ahead, you say it out loud, but do it away from the kids and the co-workers.

The site where she found information on the value of her grandfather's ukelele?

"Uke Hunt."


Hear a uke version of "I'm Yours" on Youtube.


See a Uke tutorial on Youtube.


See the "Mighty Uke" trailer on Youtube.

Meat Puppet "Backwater"

Here's another Weekend Post:

It's kind of hard to even wrap my head around, but The Meat Puppets actually nearly crossed over with a Top 40 hit once.  Still a great sounding song . . .

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 fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Dandelion "Weird Out"

Here's another Weekend Post:

I probably wouldn't have remembered this song at all, if not for a friend posting it on Facebook . . . Thanks Lori T.

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 fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Robert Randolph "Born Again"

I hate to play this game with songs I actually like, but "Let Me Ruin This Song For You."

Jump to the bottom and remind yourself of Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With."  Then listen to the new Robert Randolph song.

Do they actually sound the same at the chorus?  Or is it just that the rhythm of Randolph's phrasing is just like Stills' phrasing?


Hear Robert Randolph on Youtube.


Hear Stephen Stills on Youtube.

Father John Misty "Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings"

There were lots of great sets and lots of great songs at Newport Folk 2013, but the most talked about performance was by Father John Misty.

"Why was he so angry?" I heard one woman say to another.  "It made me very, very uncomfortable."

"I loved it," said the woman next to her.  "I grew up with artists who weren't afraid to protest."

I'm not sure what FJM was protesting.  But I did enjoy how provocative he was, even when it was uncomfortable.

I spent a bunch of time on Youtube, looking to see if anyone had uploaded some of his stage banter, but I couldn't find any.  So I'm going to have to paraphrase.

First he came out by himself and dropped this hilarious line:

(Looking at his drink)  I guess this is strawberry moonshine.  It's what gay bootleggers drink.

But after a few songs, some of his commentary turned pointed.

The only reason I was invited to the Folk Festival is that I'm white.  And I have a beard.  And there's some acoustic guitar on my record.

And he had things to say about other, unnamed bands.

If you're going to put on your porkpie hat and your vintage clothes and pretend that you play Folk music, after you've made your millions of dollars I think you have a responsibility.  So say something for once in your fucking life.

(note:  these are all paraphrases, as best I can remember them)

I've already written about FJM's stage manner and moves.  He didn't disappoint.

I heard a lot of talk about these things at the show.  I even heard lots of folks say his set was amazing.

But oddly, I didn't hear people talk about the songs.  Which is too bad, because his voice, his songs and his band sounded really really good.

When when you get a performance like this, maybe that's what you have to talk about.


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the original version on Youtube.