It Will Stand!

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IT WILL STAND

Astute readers might recognize the title of today’s entry as a song title from an obscure New Orleans vocal group called the Showmen. This was the title I originally intended for a radio broadcast on New Orleans’ innate ability to survive seemingly anything…until the levee broke and the news grew more and more disturbing. By Tuesday afternoon, one day after hurricane Katrina, it is painfully obvious that this city has so much to do. It is a civil engineer’s worst nightmare, but I believe in my heart that New Orleans will indeed survive this.

Those of you familiar with the ‘American Hit Radio’ program know of our deep affiliation with the city; Heidy was born and raised there for virtually her entire life, while I have been traveling to the city with religious regularity. It is where Heidy and I met, and it is where we plan(ned?) to retire together. We plan to get married there next year, and I trust that the city has the resilience to piece itself back together by then. Meanwhile, we are here in New York, relying on the god-awful media for some signs of hope, but it is very hard to not feel frustrated and helpless. We desperately want to convey solidarity with those who have lost so much, and we also want to distract ourselves from the sensationalist ratings-mongers disguised as journalists. For these reasons, we offer this show as a musical love letter to friends, family, and all other residents of the Crescent City. Our thoughts are always with you.

It was somewhat painful to do this show, and I’m afraid that I jabbered a bit too much at the beginning, but I hope you’ll forgive me, as I was still trying to deal with the surreal image of familiar landmarks immersed in water. We feel a strong love for New Orleans and its people, but just you wait and see. It will stand.

Songs Featured:
1) THAT’S MY HOME – LOUIS ARMSTRONG
2) MY BLOOD – THE NEVILLE BROTHERS
3) GOD MOVES ON THE WATER – BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON
4) LOUISIANA 1927 – RANDY NEWMAN
5) NEW ORLEANS WINS THE WAR – RANDY NEWMAN
6) LEVEE TOWN – SONNY LANDRETH
7) GREAT GULF WIND – SONNY LANDRETH
8) YES, I’M IN A BARREL – LOUIS ARMSTRONG

THE BIRTH OF THE 'ME' GENERATION!

AMERICAN HIT RADIO

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December 1970-January 1971


Here’s a show with a slightly different flavor than most others. The Winter of ‘70/’71 marked the start of a new phase for pop music, signaling the start of the singer/songwriter trend. For a while, rock and roll offered little in the way of rebellion. In its place was introspective self-analysis. It was the birth of the ‘Me” decade! We do plenty of our own analysis during this program, so I’ll let the show do the rest of the talking.

Here’s a list of songs that are covered in this edition of American Hit radio:

1) YOUR SONG – ELTON JOHN
2) DOMINO – VAN MORRISON
3) IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN – GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS
4) I HEAR YOU KNOCKIN’ – DAVE EDMUNDS
5) GOD – JOHN LENNON (as a featured ‘album track’)
6) AWAITING ON YOU ALL – GEORGE HARRISON (another featured ‘album track’)
7) IF YOU COOULD READ MY MIND – GORDON LIGHTFOOT
8) MR. BOJANGLES – THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND
9) JUST MY IMAGINATION – THE TEMPTATIONS

The Summer After the Summer of Love – 1968

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LATE SUMMER 1968


Well, now that we’re back from our own summer vacation, we figured it would be a great idea to analyze the flip-side of the Summer of Love; the ‘detritus’ of our culture at its most optimistic, falling inexorably toward something much darker and more mysterious. To paraphrase Heidy’s comment, the Summer of Love represented the feeling of somebody getting high for the very first time. The following year’s pop music sounds more like somebody in need of a fix. The songs were getting darker, the culture was politicizing, and music became the focal point for a youth culture hell-bent on establishing its own identity.
This show starts with a few songs representative of the ‘old school’ style, but the mood shifts rather abruptly, and rather obviously.
For good measure, we include a cut from Iggy Pop and the Stooges, since their debut album had been reissued on the day that this show originally aired.
I think this is one of our better shows. Naturally, we hope you think so too.

Want a list of the songs we cover here? Sure!
1) LITTLE GREEN APPLES - O.C. SMITH
2) MIDNIGHT CONFESSIONS - THE GRASS ROOTS
3) I'VE GOTTA GET A MESSAGE TO YOU - THE BEE GEES
4) TIME HAS COME TODAY - THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS
5) PIECE OF MY HEART - BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY
6) ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER = JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

7) I WANNA BE YOUR DOG - THE STOOGES (Played as a re-issued new release)

8) IN A GADDA-DA-VIDA - IRON BUTTERFLY (as a "GREAT MISS' - thankfully, it's the edited version)

Odd Rock

Podcast: oddrock.mp3
Format: MP3
Size: 43.9MB
(To play it, just click, or save it to your computer first.)

I've always had a fascination with odd rock -- music that is just somehow "off" and weird. I like the way it surprises me, makes me laugh and smile, the way it refuses to take itself too seriously.

In the 70's we had bands like The Tubes, Queen and Frank Zappa. Then in the 80's odd rock hit its heyday with New Wave. This was when Cyndi Lauper, The Cars, Thomas Dolby, Oingo Boingo, XTC and Devo actually had a shot at the pop charts, not despite their weirdness, but because of it. But then we had the 90's and, with a few rare exceptions, like They Might Be Giants, it all died. Gone. Music became serious and mopey. Nobody was happy anymore.

I miss those days. Where is the odd rock today? It is hard to find and it rarely makes onto the pop charts. I keep looking, but rarely find something that can scratch my odd rock itch.

This podcast is some of my favorite odd-rock from the last five years or so. Songs include:

BLOSSOM - Komeda
Shit Luck - Modest Mouse
Mixed Bizness - Beck
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - Flaming Lips
I Need You Back - Ben Kweller
Carnival Kids - The FutureHeads
I Wish I Had an Evil Twin - Magnetic Fields
Stay Don't Go - Spoon
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Take, Take, Take - The White Stripes
Common People - William Shatner
It's Alright Baby - Komeda
Debra - Beck

Please. Got any other odd-rock bands I should be listening to? Let me know.