2011-10-31

Meat & Potatoes #54

Aired Sunday October 30th.  A short show because I slipped away early for a film screening, and let the capable Mr. iTunes DJ take over.

  1. Mothers of Invention--Trouble Comin' Everyday
  2. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings--Inspiration Information
  3. Duffy--Live and Let Die
  4. The Emotions--Blind Alley
  5. Albinia Jones--Give It Up Daddy Blues
  6. Etta James--Teach Me Tonight
  7. BB King & Bobby Bland--I Like to Live the Love
  8. Freddie Scott--(You) Got What I Need
  9. Leo Sayer--You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
  10. Andy Kim--Rock Me Gently
  11. Hall & Oates--You Make My Dreams
  12. The Juan Maclean--Love Is In the Air
  13. Hot Chip--One Life Stand
  14. Jem & the Holograms--Truly Outrageous

Meat & Potatoes #53

Aired Sunday October 23.

  1. Mothers of Invention--Trouble Comin' Everyday
  2. Jefferson Airplane--Plastic Fantastic Lover
  3. The Rolling Stones--Beast of Burden
  4. Eric Clapton--Motherless Child
  5. Faces--Stay With Me
  6. The Beatles--Come Together
  7. The Doors--Strange Days
  8. Bob Dylan--Like a Rolling Stone
  9. Glen Campbell--Rhinestone Cowboy
  10. Hank Williams III--You're the Reason
  11. Honky Tonk Hustlas--Hallways of the Always
  12. Rae Spoon--Living a Country Song
  13. Kitty Wells--It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
  14. k.d. lang & the Reclines--Rose Garden
  15. Heather Myles--Playin' Every Honky Tonk in Town
  16. Lindi Ortega--Little Lie
  17. Hamilton Camp--Pride of Man
  18. Judy Henske--Baltimore Oriole
  19. Tim Buckley--No Man Can Find the War
  20. Roberta Flack--Ballad of the Sad Young Men
  21. Regina Spektor--Summer in the City
  22. Be Good Tanyas--What Are They Doing in Heaven Today
  23. Great Lake Swimmers--Pulling on a Line
  24. Willie Tee-Walkin' Up a One-Way Street
  25. The Drifters--Under the Boardwalk
  26. General Johnson & the Chairmen of the Board--On the Beach
  27. Junior Walker & the All Stars--Shotgun
  28. Marion Black--Who Knows
  29. Joe Simon--Drowning in the Sea of Love
  30. Gloria Jones--Get It On pt. 2
  31. Edwin Starr--War
  32. Bob Dylan--Lay Lady Lay
  33. Tennessee Ernie Ford--Sixteen Tons
  34. Andy Kim--Rock Me Gently

Meat & Potatoes #52

Aired Sunday October 16th.

  1. Chromeo feat. Ezra Koenig--I Could Be Wrong
  2. Edward Sharpe & the Magnificent Zeros--Home
  3. Arcade Fire--Modern Man
  4. Modest Mouse--Missed the Boat
  5. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers--Learning to Fly
  6. Eric Clapton--Motherless Child
  7. T. Rex--Bang a Gong (Get It On)
  8. Grizzly Bear--Southern Point
  9. Fleet Foxes--Sun It Rises
  10. Iron & Wine--Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car
  11. Neko Case--This Tornado Loves You
  12. Joe Cocker--Bird on the Wire
  13. Paul McCartney--Maybe I'm Amazed
  14. Pablo Cruise--Love Will Find a Way
  15. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!--Gimme Some Salt
  16. TV on the Radio--Shout Me Out
  17. Destroyer--Kaputt
  18. Neko Case--Deep Red Bells
  19. Billy Bragg & Wilco--One by One
  20. Cat Power--Love and Communication
  21. Velvet Underground--Sweet Jane
  22. Jefferson Airplane--Embryonic Journey
  23. The Beatles--Hello Goodbye
  24. Antony & the Johnsons--Fistful of Love
  25. Belle and Sebastian--The Boy With the Arab Strap
  26. Devendra Banhart--Now that I Know
  27. Nick Drake--Cello Song
  28. Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons--December 1963
  29. Sandford & Townsend--Smoke From a Distant Fire
  30. Los Bravos--Black is Black
  31. Barry White--Oooo...Ahhh

2011-10-11

Watch and Learn

Recently I treated myself and ordered one of Mr. Jones' beautiful watches.  I think his watches are not just beautiful but also thought provoking and unusual.  I chose the Cyclops, and really do think of it more as a piece of jewelry rather than a timepiece.  Whenever I look at it to try to figure out what time it is, I just get distracted by how pretty it is and forget why I need to know what the time is.  It is very relaxing in this way.


I also love how it reminds me of the Chromatic Diet from Sophie Calle's Double Game, in which she responds to the use Paul Auster made of her in his novel Leviathan.  I read Double Game in the library a week or two ago (although I have not yet read Leviathan), and really enjoyed Calle's work.  She seems like the best kind of crazy (and so very lucky that her father was willing to fill her bank account with francs until she made it as an artist).


Often when I look at the watch, I try to relate the mood and feel of the colours to the activities I commonly undertake at that particular time of day.  What makes 4 am or 4 pm green, anyway?  Considering that I have clocks almost constantly in sight--on my laptop, my work computers, my iPod, my cell phone--a watch that makes me think of something besides time is a very pleasant thing indeed.


Have I mentioned how pretty it is?  I would like to collect twelve nail polishes that exactly match the watch so that I can alternate but always co-ordinate.

2011-10-10

Meat & Potatoes #51

Aired Sunday October 9th.

This week's show was a (somewhat) logical progression from last week's show.  The music was a combination of bands and songs referenced by Michael Herr in his Vietnam War memoir, Dispatches, as well as some other Vietnam War related songs--so I went from the early sixties one week to the late sixties in the next.


I also read from Dispatches, which is a really incredible book.  I hope I was able to convey that on the radio (although it's possible no one was listening, what with it being Thanksgiving this weekend).

  1. Wingy Manone--Stop the War (These Cats Are Killing Themselves)
  2. Anita Carter--(Love's) Ring of Fire
  3. Kenny Rogers--Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town
  4. Tom Paxton--Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
  5. Johnny Cash--Ring of Fire
  6. Los Bravos--Black is Black
  7. Mothers of Invention--Trouble Comin' Every Day
  8. The Clash--Sean Flynn
  9. The Jimi Hendrix Experience--Purple Haze
  10. Cream--Sunshine of Your Love
  11. The Doors--Strange Days
  12. The Beatles--Day Tripper
  13. Tim Buckley--No Man Can Find the War
  14. Bob Dylan--Visions of Johanna
  15. Buffalo Springfield--For What It's Worth
  16. Edwin Starr--War
  17. Aretha Franklin--Satisfaction
  18. Junior Walker & the All Stars--Shotgun
  19. Archie Bell & the Drells--Tighten Up, part I
  20. Otis Redding--(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay
  21. Bobbie Gentry--Ode to Billie Joe
  22. Glen Campbell--Galveston
  23. Scott McKenzie--San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
  24. The Beatles--Magical Mystery Tour
  25. The Animals--We Gotta Get Out of This Place
  26. The Rolling Stones--Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In the Shadow?
  27. Paul Revere & the Raiders--Hungry
  28. Hair soundtrack--Aquarius
  29. Hair soundtrack--Hair
  30. Sam Roberts--An American Draft Dodger in Vietnam

2011-10-09

Meat & Potatoes #50

Aired Sunday October 2nd.

This week's show was inspired by the 1980s dance movie, Shag.  Set in 1963, four girls head off for a weekend of fun in Myrtle Beach and get into all sorts of trouble with boys.  I hadn't seen this movie until recently; I saw Vogue's Dress the Part slideshow this past summer and was instantly enamoured (although in retrospect I disagree with their assessment of Pudge as a tomboy.  She's really not).  It's actually a pretty awful movie in a lot of ways, but the Pudge and Chip storyline makes it worth watching for me.  They're the dancers.

Their big dance at the end of the movie--with Pudge looking so happy and so in love it just kills me--is set to a Lloyd Price song by the name of "Stagger Lee", and when I was getting music together for a Shag-themed show, I discovered that there is a whole lot of history and folklore surrounding this song, and many other songs about Stagger Lee.  To begin with, there are two versions of the Lloyd Price song.  One version has Stagger Lee killing Billy over a gambling dispute; in the other version, Stagger Lee and Billy argue over a girl, then sort out their differences and become friends.  This non-murder version was recorded at the request of American Bandstand, who thought the murder version was not appropriate for their audience.  This is the version that plays in Shag, although it's the murder version that hit #1 on the Billboard Chart.

Lloyd Price's Stagger Lees are just two versions of the story out of about 400 different interpretations; the real-life murder of Billy Lyons at the hands of "Stag" Lee Shelton has inspired many artists in the 115 years since it occurred.  The Wikipedia page and associated links are pretty interesting--but certainly need to be taken with the usual grain of salt.

Having somewhat obsesssed over Shag and Stagger Lee for a week, I devoted this radio show to music either on the Shag soundtrack or from the same era (with maybe a dash of Dirty Dancing and a pinch of Joe Versus the Volcano), as well as to some of the different versions of the Stagger Lee legend (tracks #2, and #28 through #35 below).

  1. Jakki O--Ooo-Aah
  2. Lloyd Price--Stagger Lee (American Bandstand Version)
  3. Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs--Stay
  4. The Contours--Do You Love Me
  5. Archie Bell & the Drells--Monkey Time
  6. Del Vikings--Come Go With Me
  7. Dionne Warwick--Walk On By
  8. The Four Tops--It's the Same Old Song
  9. Martha & the Vandellas--Dancing in the Streets
  10. The Coasters--Young Blood
  11. Tennessee Ernie Ford--Sixteen Tons
  12. Herman's Hermits--(What a) Wonderful World
  13. The Dominoes--Sixty Minute Man
  14. Lloyd Price--Personality
  15. Bob & Earl--Harlem Shuffle
  16. The Freshmen--Go Granny Go
  17. The Hollywood Argyles--Alley-Oop
  18. The Heptones--Our Day Will Come
  19. Elvis Presley--Blue Hawaii
  20. The Animals--I'm in Love Again
  21. General Johnson & the Chairmen of the Board--On the Beach
  22. The Tams--What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)
  23. The Sensations--Let Me In
  24. Aretha Franklin--Baby I Love You
  25. Brook Benton & Dinah Washington--Baby (You've Got What It Takes0
  26. Jackie Wilson--Baby Workout
  27. The Ronnettes--Be My Baby
  28. Lloyd Price--Stagger Lee (murder version)
  29. Mississippi John Hurt--Stackolee
  30. Ma Rainey--Stack o' Lee Blues
  31. Josh Ritter--Folk Bloodbath
  32. The Clash--Wrong 'em Boyo
  33. The Black Keys--Stack Shot Billy
  34. The Grateful Dead--Stagger Lee
  35. Beck--Devils Haircut
  36. Barry White--Oooo-Aaah