Yonkers Alert!

Michael Yonkers is doing a rare appearance in support of our community radio station KFAI on Sat., February 7th at the Turf Club in St. Paul. He’ll perform at 8:00.  I can’t thank Cyn Collins enough for making this fundraiser happen, but especially for getting Yonkers on the bill – I’m giddy over being able to see him! He tells Cyn that he won’t be “covering” himself – he means his songs, not that he’ll be naked, so all originals can be expected.

What was that moment…

….that pivotal moment or concert that changed everything? When you fell in love with music? Some friends of mine and I were talking about that last night, and I was just drawing a blank. I mean, obviously, something happened to me and I was influenced by a lot of things in the late 60’s when I was a little kid in New Jersey and then being a teenager in Detroit in the 70’s. But it seems like people I know can speak to a show or record that informed them from that moment on. And I couldn’t think of anything.

Well, I just remembered it. Quite possibly I had trouble recalling it because I was 9 years old. I was laying in the back of my dad’s Ford Country Squire station wagon (with faux wood on the sides, of course.) I had this habit of putting my ear right on the speaker after begging my dad to tune in to WABC New York. River Deep Mountain High came on, and it blew my mind. Nothing was the same after that. Mind you, I had been listening to the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Monkees and I was wild about all that, but RDMH had something in it that sent a shiver down my spine, and I knew I’d be in love with music for the rest of my life.

Oh Evil Earworm

Earworm tunes. This happens to me ALL THE TIME. I have a great record collection which I listen to all the time. I listen to my favorite shows on KFAI and try to surround myself with music I love as much as I can. However, weird tunes enter and infect my ears and brain frequently and the only way that I can expunge them is to inflict them upon others. Sort of an exorcism. One time (years before the internet and youtube and stuff) I had Bryan Adams’ “Everybody Wants You,” stuck in my head for almost a week, so I broke down and bought the 45 and opened up my radio show with that insidious song. I’m sure I irritated my audience, but it needed to be done. Mental floss.

Alright, here was the first one…I think I just saw the words “Black is Back,” and that of course set me off:

And then – and this is a bad one – I was whistling (my whistling skills are really lame) and this little ditty came to mind. (I posted that one on Facebook, and I think my husband and my friend Jeff unfriended me.)

 

 

 

We Gotta Find Casey!

I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night.

So it’s another radio nightmare…sort of. I was trying to deejay a show with one of my old radio cohorts, my friend Abbi who calls me “Punk Rock Mom.” Apparently I had been away from doing radio for some time and I didn’t know that they had changed everything in the studio. The music was being programmed in the same manner as the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Anyway, when we started playing music, all it was was ducks quacking. Abbi assured me that was what everyone wanted to hear. I attributed this to the fact that there was a mallard couple sitting in our little man-made backyard pond yesterday – just sitting there like they were ready to start a nest. I should’ve taken a photo. Not sure if Mr. and Mrs. M knew that there are two dogs on the premises weighing 76 and 96 pounds. But apparently the music “that the kids like” will be ducks quacking. You heard it here first!

Then I insisted that we play some Jayne/Wayne County, but we couldn’t find anything amidst the HAL system. Jayne must have been on my mind because of the big to-do regarding Facebook taking down her “vulgar” post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/jayne-county-transgender_n_5169324.html – it really chapped my ass to the point of entering my dream.

And then it ended, as all of my radio dreams/nightmares do – in dead air space, with the mic open and not having anything cued up and not being able to speak.

 

Promo Promo Promo!

The Wave Project – Pledge Drive Edition

Date:

Sunday, April 6, 2014 – 10:00am to 11:00am

Patti and Leila team up and come at you with music Detroit Rock City style, enabling you to shake loose your ATM and credit cards from your chain wallets and pledge heartily to the radio station you love – FRESH AIR – KFAI. Patti taps into her Motor City roots and dedicates this show to the late Scott Asheton, drummer for The Stooges, with the noise that made Detroit RAWK. You’ll hear the MC5, the Frost, the Rationals, Frijid Pink, and, of course, Iggy and the Stooges, the greatest band that ever was. Get ready to rama lama fa fa fa.

The Art of Healing – IWD at KFAI

http://kfai.org/international-womens-day-2014/playlists/20140308-14

Here’s the link for Marie Cooney’s International Women’s Day show which I pushed the buttons for last Saturday. It was a great program – Marie did a super job and I was almost moved to tears by her story and the stories of her guests. They had all been affected in one way or another by severe brain injuries and experienced great triumphs over extreme adversities and awful prognoses; doctors telling them that there’d be no more reading, etc. Very inspirational and I was humbled by their stories.

Are You In With The Out Crowd?

http://kfai.org/jazzed-up-bonkers/playlists/20140220

JAZZED UP & BONKERS IN CONTROL, NAUGHT TO WORRY ABOUT!

Yeah, yeah, I know…ME TOO! Here’s a new JAZZED UP & BONKERS (it’s NOT RADIO) to embrace you into the fold of Out-Crowdedness. Get with it, man, they are so out they’re in. They emote, they cry, they resolve world problems – ok, I’m going too far now – but it’s good times, Jack!

These guys also unleash themselves upon unsuspecting Twin Cities audiences out there in the clubs from time-to-time – so be on the lookout for their live gigs – “gigs” isn’t quite the word – “performance art” is too, well, arty. Wull, just go see ’em. There’s sand involved.

Yeah, That’s Right. Black Oak Arkansas.

Vinyl’s Just Nummy

Maybe you’ve already heard – vinyl is making a comeback! Don’t take my word for it. Just Goggle “Is vinyl making a comeback?” and you’ll get your answer.

Although I’ve certainly purchased a lot of digital music, I’ve never stopped buying vinyl records – lp’s [(Long Play), or 33⅓ rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a format for phonograph (gramophone) records, an analog sound storage medium, according to Wikipedia,] 7” 45’s (which are sometimes 33⅓ and not labeled as such, which makes for embarrassing airplay), and even 10”ers. I just like putting them on the turntable, giving them a little brush with the disk cleaner, and dropping the needle. I love cuing them up when doing radio – push the “cue” button, try to find the beginning of the song, drop the needle, play it for a second, then back-spin it (I don’t think that’s a real dj term, but that’s what I call it.) I wonder if that’s how a radio dj found the “Paul is Dead” lyrics on Abbey Road – why else would you be playing the record backwards?

So, whenever I sub for a radio show, I lug mostly vinyl – well, one shopping bag full of albums and 45’s, and one shopping bag full of cds – over to the station as though I’m doing 12 hours of programming, even I’m just doing a 2-hour show. I’m not much of a planner.

JOE COLEMAN’S INFERNAL MACHINE

I love the artwork of album covers and picture discs – I think that’s probably a good deal of the appeal for me. I can remember one of my first albums being “Stand Up,” by Jethro Tull, and when you opened it, it had some pop up art spring out at you. You can’t do that with a cd or download, nuh-uh.

I have a friend who thinks I should start selling my vinyl – get into the business of selling records – and because I’m not working, I’ve considered it. For five seconds at a time. And then I look over at the piano room in our 1908 house which serves as the record library, and I get a massive panic attack. “No, I can’t let you go!” “No, you’re all staying here!” “Mama loves you.”