Theme: No Theme |
| I just loved both of the first songs I played, I could have just put them on repeat for the rest of the show. I still don't know why I like Regina Spektor so much, on paper I shouldn't, she is a solo piano player who does a lot of vocal gymnastics which is generally not my thing, also I have never been a big fan of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, or Ani DiFranco all of whom she has been compared to, yet something about her songs make them catchy and beautiful. The second song was by New Buffalo and featured Jens Lekman and thus was a no-brainer as far as me liking it. In the first set I also played a song by a band called The Repomen, so I had to play a song off of the soundtrack to the cult classic Repo Man. That album has so many great songs, but I decided to play the Burning Sensations version of the Jonathan Richman song Pablo Picasso. The Yo La Tengo song is from their new album "I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass", related to this is the website http://www.iamnotafraidofyouandiwillbeatyourass.com/ where you can see many different people saying the line, you can even submit a video of you saying it and maybe it will be added to the video wall. The Circus Room set featured songs by some of the great bands I saw at the Circus Room the Sunday before the show, not only were the headlining Mega-Haunches great (with their Bizarro twins from Knock Knock Ginger and go-go dancers) but the opening acts were also quite good. The Reverb Society lead singer (like me) obviously watched a lot of TV in the late 70s and 80s as they have song titles like "I Am The New Number 2" and "Zis is KOAS!" they also played the theme to "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." during the set. So during the show I played song from a vinyl EP I bought many years ago solely because of the title "Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me", as the two agents from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. were Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. Got to love the Magic Numbers doing a cover of the Beyonce song "Crazy in Love", the only reason I know the song is that they used it as the Raptor intro song this past season. I ended the show with a song by trumpet player Maynard Ferguson who passed away before this show. He is best known for playing the trumpet part in the Rocky theme "Gonna Fly Now", find out more about him here: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2352609
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Friday, September 1, 2006
September 1, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
August 18, 2006
Theme: Advertising Music |
The advertising music set didn't go that well, of course I should realize by now that if I want to make sure that I will be able to play a song I have to bring it myself. I wanted to play some more songs in the set but I didn't have them. I also should have remembered that the song by Joel Plaskett I was looking for is only available as a mini-CD included in his DVD. I did manage to find a good website that lists music used in commercials (adtunes.com). The best part of the site is the searchable forum section, so you can look up a song, artist, or product you want to know about and usually somebody has started a thread about it. As I missed doing the previous show, there were 4 weeks of songs vying for the top song of the week, you can see the winner and other contenders in the setlist below. A few songs from the first set (and the top song) came from a great new podcast I found this week called indiepopradio ( http://indiepopradio.blogspot.com/ ), there are only 5 of them on the site but they are all very good. He also has a live365 site that plays a new set of 50 songs every week. And I swear I had not heard of Corinne Bailey Rae before I played the song during the show, but a few days after the show, I was driving to Montreal and flipping around stations when I heard the song on America's Top 20 with Kasey Kasem (yes he is still doing the show and it is 20 now instead of 40). I have also seen stories on Bailey Rae in various newspapers and on-line. That is the danger of not listening to commercial radio, I can hear a song on somebody's podcast and I think that nobody else knows about it but it turns out to be a popular song. There was also the "bands that sound like Franz Ferdinand" set, especially the song by Cribs which could have been a Franz Ferdinand cover, some people don't agree with me about the concept of the set, but listen to it and decide for yourself. Speaking of sound-a-like songs, I ended with a song by the band "Boys" that sounds exactly like Morrissey, check below to see to whom the song was dedicated. TALK - Theme
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Friday, July 21, 2006
July 21, 2006
Theme: Hillside Preview |
I got the party started with the first set of danceable music, starting off with my top song by the Pipettes who released their debut album in England this week, unfortunately I haven't seen a North American release date. The second set featured some of the acts that are going to play the Grad House the Thursday night following the show. Along with great local act Knock, Knock, Ginger the evening features Henry Faberge and the Adorables as well as the Bicycles. I remember the Bicycles from when I saw them with Derek open for I am the World Trade Centre a few years back in Toronto. Even back then I thought the Bicycles were something special and now they have come out with a great debut album. The Hillside preview highlighted a few of acts that I was looking forward to seeing in Guelph at the Hillside Festival the next weekend. As well as the musical acts I also tried to touch on the various workshops and other things that make the Hillside Festival so enjoyable. On the festival theme, Michael T e-mailed me that him and Garth were going to see Sonic Youth and the Go! Team in August. Also in that set, the song by the Submarines sounded so much like the Stars that I had to play them next. I ended the show with a song from the movie Clerks II that I saw at a free preview the night before the show, the Talking Heads song played over the opening credits. I enjoyed the movie, it wasn't as good as Chasing Amy or the original Clerks, but it was a good return to form. |
Friday, July 7, 2006
July 7, 2006
Theme: Art, Daniel Johnson, and the Bikini |
In the week before this show, I went to see the movie about quirky alternative singer Daniel Johnston (http://www.hihowareyou.com/) called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston", it was quite good and I recommend it to people familiar with him, however I don't know how the movie would be for people who aren't. During the movie, they interview the lead singer of the band the Butthole Surfers while he was getting a tooth filled at the dentist, I didn't like that scene. Anyway, I played the song Sweat Loaf as it was featured in the movie and it reminds of my days at CHRW where Dave, Brian, and I used to play that song and mix in wacky sound bites during the quiet parts, the original mash up. I tried it here with the only spoken word record I could find in the station - George Carlin, but no matter who it was, I think that it needs to be about 4 in the morning before the process makes sense. I played the Diskettes song "Art" as Michelle was part of the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition going on that weekend in Toronto. I ended the show honouring the 60th anniversary of the bikini, it was introduced on July 6, 1956 although it was already being worn by French women for many years, that style of swimsuit got its name that day. Plus I never need an excuse to play "Wild Bikini" by Tullycraft.
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Friday, June 23, 2006
June 23, 2006
Theme: A Night in Paris |
I was really happy with how this show came together, probably something to do with the fact that I missed a show because of my knee surgery and had not been on the air in a month. A special song I played was called "A Night in Paris", it is a song about Paris Hilton (the lyric goes "I want to spend a night in Paris"). Even better was that the version I got off the band's website was updated from the original with a new boyfriend (now gone) and new dog. The song was also topical as Paris was in the news for making out with Jose Theodore after the MuchMusic Video awards. In the same vain I played the Mojo Nixon song "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin" and the Show Business Giants "I've Got A Crush on Wendy Mesley". Unfortunately I couldn't find another song - "Winona Ryder, I want to rider her" but the song might only exist in my imagination. I got to play another song by the Swedish band "Irene", I've only heard 3 songs but I love each one of them, I'm really looking forward to hearing their first album this summer. I ended the show on a World Cup note (Go Argentina! - I have them in a pool), unfortunately the station no longer has the New Order song "World in Motion" that they did for the 1990 World Cup. I ended with Jens Lekman because I was under the mistaken impression that he was playing goal for the German World Cup team, it turns out the goalie's name is actually Jens Lehman, sorry my bad. It was too easy but I had to follow up the Camera Obscura song (Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken) with the song it refers to - Lloyd Cole's "Art you ready to be heartbroken". If you are in the Kitchener-Waterloo area for Canada Day and you are going to check out the fireworks on the University of Waterloo campus, be sure to stick around after the fireworks and on the main stage you will see Knock, Knock, Ginger, in my opinion they are the best local band around today. TALK - Theme Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? S'ambassadeur - Kate Venus & Fergus - Song For My Head (C) Tasty Treats & Smelly Feet - Jet Ski Accidents (C) **Love this band name TALK Knock, Knock, Ginger - Looks & Books (C) The Hylozoists - Smiley Smiley (C) Figurines - Rivalry Math and Physics Club - Graduation Day Irene - To Be With You TALK (Funky set) Professor Longhair - Big Chief Catherine and the Firebirds - He's Sure To Remember Me Jo-Jo and the Fugitives - Chips, Chicken, Banana Split **Love this song title Lil'Ed and the Blues Imperials - Pride and Joy Herb Albert - Green Peppers TALK Nous Non Plus - A Night in Paris Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Stuffin' Martha's Muffin Show Business Giants - I've Got A Crush On Wendy Mesley (C) Peter Mansbridge and the CBCs - Back Where You Came From (C) TALK The Leather Uppers - Break My Leg (C) Starbeam - No Earthly Means of Transportation (C) The Girls - My Baby Air Miami - World Cup Fever TALK Jens Lekman - A Higher Power (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, May 26, 2006
May 26, 2006
Theme: Vancouver Special |
I didn't have an overall theme to this show, however I did start off each set with one of the albums I had purchased on my trip to Vancouver. And as I explained during the show I don't know the artist or title or my first song, I heard it on a Spanish language podcast and although the host says in English "Alan Clapp and his orchestra - Something strange happens" right before playing the song, I listed to an online version of that song and it isn't the same. Also the song doesn't contain those lyrics, the chorus is "leave all your old lives in the past". I have searched for songs with that lyric and haven't found anything. If you happen to know the song please tell me what it is, this is also a good incentive to listen to the podcast (remember you don't need an IPOD or even an MP3 player to listen, you can listen on any computer). If you are thinking that it has been a longer than normal time between shows you are correct. After debating for a while, I finally decided to put a permanent fix on the ACL in my right knee that I tore a few years back. The surgery involved taking part of my hamstring and using that to replace the ACL. My last radio show would have been the day after my surgery, I was feeling pretty good that day but getting around the station would have been difficult, so it was probably a good thing I got a replacement for the show. By the way, the knee is feeling great, 10 days after the surgery and I'm walking without crutches, unfortunately I didn't come off the anesthetic very well and the pain drugs actually gave me headaches, nausea, and caused me to spend Sunday curled in the fetal position praying for death. As I said I'm much better now.
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Friday, May 12, 2006
May 12, 2006
Theme: Grand McClennan spotlight |
I had a few nice tidy sets for this show. The call and response set just kind of happened putting together a few of the new releases at the station with a song off of Derek's music blog (www.burymenot.com), I think the Cab Calloway song is the most well known song of this type. The Grant McLennan set is pretty self explanatory, the reason for playing the Church is that Jack Frost consisted of McLennan and Steve Kilbey of the Church. In one of the articles I read about his passing it said that the Australian senate passed a motion recognizing his contribution to the country, that's cool. There was also a set of music by some of the people who have been confirmed at the Hillside festival.
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