I Me Mine

Here’s the playlist for last Tuesday’s show. During the show, I talked a little about the music-related gifts I received for Christmas:

The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz
996 pages long! Engrossing, but wordy, and somewhat speculative and presumptuous. I think this is what they mean by “creative nonfiction.” Not held to quite the same factual standards as regular old nonfiction. Strangely, however, I was in a store the other day and had the overwhelming urge to buy a guitar so I could be in a rock n roll band.

The Beatles: Let It Be…Naked
On casual listen, I can’t tell a radical difference. It sounds a bit cleaner. Perhaps my ear is ignorant. The booklet detailing how Let It Be came to be is really interesting. There’s an extra disc featuring an audio recording of excerpts from the sessions—pretty cool.

Beta Band: Best of the Beta Band
I don’t know that much about the Beta Band, but I like their sound. I really like the song “Eclipse,” which ironically is not on the Best Of.

Radiohead: There There CD Single Import
This has two songs I never heard before, presumably from “Hail to the Thief” times—Paperbag Writer and Where Bluebirds Fly. I played these for the Seven O'Clock Special (right about halfway through the show), so if you want to listen, click on the show archive link in the upper right corner of this page.

More '80s Music Than You Can Shake a Legwarmer At

I got to be the lovely assistant today on a special '80s mix version of the Friday Morning Drive, handling all the “paper”work while Marc spun some discs. I have no idea if that’s proper DJing talk. Suffice it to say Marc is a kickass club DJ from way back. He played, among others, Alphaville, WANGchung, Tears for Fears, Thompson Twins, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Prince, Tom Tom Club, Bronski Beat, and Kraftwerk. Check out the proper playlist here and listen to the show here.

P.S.--My shameful '80s secret: I'm not much of a Pet Shop Boys fan.

O Song Divine

Here’s the playlist for today’s show: December 20, 2005

I was late today because I left all my music at home and had to go back and get it. I don’t live very close to the studio! Suffice it to say there was some crazy racecar drivin’ goin’ on out there.

My sister Joy sent me this incredible version of
O Holy Night. Thanks to the caller who wanted to download it so she could send it to her sister. It’s a new family holiday tradition. You really can’t believe it until you hear it.

Here’s the link to the Saturday Night Live video of Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg’s Lazy Sunday. It’s old-school rap about going to see The Chronicles of Narnia. Hilarious! You can get the mp3 of the song here. Thanks to my friend Kurt for those links.

Merry Holidays, Everybody! See you next Tuesday.


Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
By John Lennon

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now...

Jeffrey Lewis

I got a lot of calls about Jeffrey Lewis today. I love his music, and as I said on air, he's the reason I have a radio show. I saw him play a coffee shop in Murfreesboro in November 2004 and was blown away. I felt he didn't get enough airplay on WRVU (which actually was better than the no airplay he got elsewhere), so I decided to become a DJ and make it so, number one.

There's a new album out on Rough Trade records--still an import but the U.S. release is in the works. Check out the official Jeffrey Lewis Site for more info.

Subbing for the Stretch Today

I'll be filling in for JT on The Stretch today from 4-6 p.m. He's a little under the weather but will be back next week. I'm gonna play some dance stuff plus the usual crazy conglomeration of new and old rock...

Playlist for Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I started out slow today, but it all came together in the end: Alphabet playlist for 12/13/05

Hold on world, world hold on
It's gonna be alright
You gonna see the light

When you're one
Really one
Well, you get things done
Like they've never been done
So hold on

--John Lennon, "Hold On"

A Working Class Hero Is Something to Be

You can access the playlist for my show today here.

The Seven O'Clock Special was "Love" by John Lennon, from the 1970 album Plastic Ono Band. It made me sad to think about his death, which happened 25 years ago this Thursday. After the Seven O'Clock Special we had a moment of silence, which you probably thought was me screwing up the equipment again. A big thanks to the caller who knew what I intended...

Today I played a number of Beatles/Lennon songs in what turned into a memorial show, at least in my mind:

"Strawberry Fields Forever" from Magical Mystery Tour

"Love" from Plastic Ono Band

"Instant Karma" from Shaved Fish

"Oh My Love" from Imagine

"Because" from Beatles Anthology 3

"The End" from Beatles Anthology 3

There are a lot of sites dedicated to the life and work of John Lennon, but this is the official one (www.johnlennon.com).

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon was released October 4. From www.johnlennon.com: "The double CD set, executive produced by Yoko Ono, will offer the most comprehensive collection of Lennon's hit singles and key album tracks to date--38 songs in all."

Among other things, John Lennon was a protest singer and a social activist. Guess that's one reason I like him so much. "Working Class Hero" is one of my favorite Lennon songs.

Working Class Hero
by John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

Extra hour Friday, December 2, 2005

I picked up the last half of Vandy Days today; here's the playlist.

Songs I got calls about today:

Simon & Garfunkel, "Blessed" from Sounds of Silence

The Smiths, "Pretty Girls Make Graves" from The Smiths

David Bowie, "DJ" from Lodger