14 – “And Now For The Forecast”

Download the mp3

Subscribe to the podcast

AC/DC – “Let There Be Rock”

Scott H. Biram – “Hang Your Head and Cry”

The White Stripes – “Let’s Build a Home”

Nirvana – “Silver”

The Beatles – “Act Naturally”

The Rolling Stones – “Get Off of My Cloud”

The Allman Brothers Band – “Statesboro Blues”

The Blues Brothers – “Soul Man”

Black Randy and the Metrosquad – “I Slept in an Arcade”

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 – “African Airways”

Dave Clark Five – “Catch Us if You Can”

Parquet Courts – “Black and White (7-inch version)”

ZZ Top – “Gimme All Your Lovin’”

The Black Keys – “Till I Get My Way”

Bob Dylan – “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down”

Drive-By Truckers – “Let There Be Rock”

13 – “Mixtape in Spaaaaaaace”

Download the mp3

Subscribe to the podcast

David Bowie – “Space Oddity”

Devo – “Planet Earth”

Frank Sinatra – “Fly Me to the Moon”

I Roy – “Space Flight”

Louis Prima – “Beep! Beep!”

Grinderman – “Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to the Mars)”

Clare & the Reasons – “Pluto”

VHS or Beta – “Bring on the Comets”

Man or Astro-Man? – “Journey to the Stars”

Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic”

The Dirtbombs – “Vixens in Space”

The Mummies – “(You Must Fight to Live) on the Planet of the Apes”

The Killers – “Spaceman”

Klaatu – “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”

Monster Magnet – “Space Lord”

Cocktail Slippers – “Rock and Roll Babe”

Deltron 3030 @ Prospect Park

Deltron 3030
@ Prospect Park Bandshell
Brooklyn, NY - July 19, 2014

Written in the voice of Bill Cosby:

Elwood doesn't really know much about the rap, you see? But I do know about Del the Funky Homosapien because my a friend played me a song about being on a bus - heh heh heh heh - and I've heard Del interviewed on the public radio you see. And the night before, someone pointed out to me that the "Mistadoblina" was by Del. So when I was invited by the bus song friend to go see Del's project, Deltron 3030, I said sure. YOU SEE?!

At the immediate moment Del started the rapping, I thought "Gee, his voice is very familiar...he sounds like the guy who was on that Gorillas song - "Steve McQueen" or "Lee Marvin" or "Clint Eastwood" or whatever it was called heh heh heh and sure enough at the end of the show there was that song - it was him the whole time! YOU SEE?!

In between were the songs of the concept that is Deltron 3030, a dystopian saga that needs the graphic novel treatment or even a rotoscoped animated film (what's Ralph Bakshi up to these days? Heh heh heh).

I enjoyed it. You see?!

12 – “R.A.M.O.N.E.S”

Download the mp3

Subscribe to the podcast




The Ramones – “Blitzkrieg Bop”

The Ramones – “You Should Never Have Opened That Door (Demo)”

The Ramones – “Carbona Not Glue”

The Ramones – “California Sun (Live at the Roxy, 1976)

The Ramones – “Teenage Lobotomy”

The Ramones – “Sheena is a Punk Rocker (ABC Single)”

The Ramones – “Pinhead” (from It’s Alive)

The Ramones – “Needles & Pins”

The Ramones – “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You (Live in NYC, 1978)”

The Ramones – “The KKK Took My Baby Away”

The Ramones – “Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La)”

The Ramones – “It’s Gonna Be Alright”

The Ramones – “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”

Tom Waits – “The Return of Jackie and Judy”

The Replacements – “Bastards of Young”

Redd Kross – “Peach Kellie Pop”

Uncle Monk – “The Mystery Spot”

Motorhead – “R.A.M.O.N.E.S”

Amy Rigby – “Dancing with Joey Ramone

The Pretenders – “Something to Believe In”

Joey Ramone – “What a Wonderful World”

The Ramones – “I Remember You (Live at the Roxy, 1976)

Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin with The Guilty Ones @ Bell House

Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin with The Guilty Ones; Jonah Tolchin & The Lonesome Angels
@ The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - July 11, 2014

I can't shy away from the fact that there was a sense of mortality about the appearance of Phil Alvin with his brother Dave Alvin and their backing band in Brooklyn for their tour in support of a new record of Big Bill Broonzy tunes. Combine that with the tone of family, as the brothers looked back upon their ancestors and namely their mother, and their own conflicts over the years and it made for a very, very emotional night.

There is no sufficient wording that can convey the remarkable strength of Phil Alvin's voice. It is untouched. Perfect and pure, like the Blasters music of old. It is as steadfast in its existence as Phil's big grin. And whether it was Bill Bill stuff like "Truckin' Little Woman" and "Key to the Highway" or Blasters classics like "Border Radio", acoustic and electric alike, Phil led the charge of his terrific band. And Dave - ever the talented guitarist and song writer (Hearing his "4th of July" just a couple of weeks after hearing John Doe do it in the X way was very sweet) - has a storytelling voice of liquid California gold that held the audience in complete rapture.

At the end of the set, when Phil brought out again his Sonny Terry-trained harmonica talents and put it to use on a show stoppin' medley, and the whisps of "So Long Baby Goodbye" came to the fore, I had a bit of a task keeping it together and not letting my emotions get the better of me. Something about the night made hearing that perfect song in the context of what I was seeing and feeling, with "When the Saints Go Marching In"on top of all that as well, almost too much to handle.

And then when I got home and heard that Tommy Ramone was gone, that feeling came back. Maybe that was it the whole time. Or it was hearing the Alvins, together, maybe saying goodbye also but maybe not. Maybe it was thinking about the whole damn stream - from spirituals and blues in cotton fields to electricity and drums in cities and jukes, hopping over to working class England and then back again and then revolutionized by snot nose punks (and back to England again) and then taken on new old trails all over the last few decades. It's just the lifeblood of rock n roll, coursing through the veins of all of us who love it.

Jonah Tolchin and his band were a very nice country blues act. Excellent version of "Lost Highway".

11 – “Summer Night Dance Party 2014”

Download the mp3

Subscribe to the podcast

The Hold Steady – “Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night”

The Undertones – “Here Comes the Summer”

Barracudas – “Summer Fun”

The Paybacks – “Celebrate Summer”

Eddie Cochran – “Summertime Blues”

Bob Dylan – “Summer Days”

The Prime Ministers – “Summer Shoulders”

The B-52’s – “Summer Love”

Buffalo Tom – “Summer”

The Lovin’ Spoonful – “Summer in the City”

Pokey LaFarge – “City Summer Blues”

Wavves – “King of the Beach”

The Ramones – “Rockaway Beach”

The Dirtbombs – “Cedar Point ‘76”

X – “4^th of July”

Bruce Springsteen – “Independence Day”

Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald – “Summertime”

10 – “Wouldacouldashoulda”

Download the mp3

Subscribe to the podcast

Two Door Cinema Club – “Eat That Up, It’s Good For You”

Headlights – “Market Girl”

Cold Cave – “Life Magazine”

The Cute Lepers – “Smart Accessories”

Frazey Ford – “If You Gonna Go”

Brakesbrakesbrakes – “Crush on You”

Tutankamon – “Are You Sure”

Massy Ferguson – “Long Time, No See”

Head Like a Kite – “Thrones of Glory”

Tired Pony – “Get on the Road”

Angus & Julia Stone – “Santa Monica Dream”

Katie Herzig – “Wish You Well”

Mimicking Birds – “Burning Stars”

Magnolia Electric Co. – “Little Sad Eyes”

The Mynabirds – “Numbers Don’t Lie”