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

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.

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

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