Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty-Three

Back! After a month away!  I was completely unmissed!

Also I apparently beat the technical difficulties I dealt with a month ago.  I did this by doing the show on a laptop, something that I never thought I'd do.  I think it went okay - & it was surprisingly easy.  But - should radio be easy?  Maybe not.

Some great births & deaths to celebrate & commemorate today!  Available now at the Self Help Radio website!  The songs I played are below!

(birthdays)

"Bumble Bee" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues: All The Published Sides, 1929-37_

"J'ai Deux Amours" Josephine Baker _Exotique_

"My Heart's Delight" Dakota Staton _I Hate Cherries (Serious 50s Female Jivers)_

"Hold On This Time" Fontella Bass _I Need To Be Loved_

"Love Ain't No Toy" Yvonne Fair _The Bitch Is Black_

"Howl (Radio Edit)" Allen Ginsberg _Howls, Raps, & Roars_

"Walking By Myself" Jimmy Rogers _Blues Greats_

"Wild & Free" Curtis Mayfield _Curtis_

"Tijuana Taxi" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass _Going Places_

"Yakety Sax" Boots Randolph _Yakety Sax_

"What A Way To Die" The Pleasure Seekers _What A Way To Die_

"Country Honey" T.Rex _Tanx_

"Little Doll (Original John Cale Mix)" The Stooges _The Stooges_

"One Of The Boys (UK Single Version)" Mott The Hoople _All The Young Dudes_

"Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" Lloyd Cole & The Commotions _Rattlesnakes_

"Fantastic Cat" Takako Minekawa _Losing Money & Losing Friends_

(death anniversaries)

"It's Gonna Be You (vocals Ozzie Nelson & Harriet Hilliard)" Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra _The Uncollected Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra_

"Strange Enchantment" Skinnay Ennis & His Orchestra _Swingin' Uptown: Big Band 1923-1952_

"The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" Sam Butera & The Witnesses _Ultra-Lounge Vol. 4: Bachelor Pad Royale_

"Slow Down & Cool It" Piano C. Red _Slow Down & Cool It_

"Birth Of The Boogie" Bill Haley & His Comets _From Western Swing To R-O-C-K_

"Zorba The Greek" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass _!!Going Places!!_

"The Rockford Files" Mike Post _Television's Greatest Hits 70s & 80s_

"Around" David Carradine _Grasshopper_

"Lonely Boy" Andrew Gold _Super Hits Of The '70s: Have A Nice Day, Vol. 19_

"Whatever I Am, You Made Me" Koko Taylor _Koko Taylor_

"Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)" Benny Spellman _Crescent City Soul: The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974_

"The Whole World Is A Stage" The Fantastic Four _Beg Scream & Shout: The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul_

"Jesus, Puerto-Rican Boxing Champion" Elodie Lauten _ Orchestre Modern_

"Sonic Reducer" Dead Boys _Young Loud & Snotty_

Self Help Radio 053116: Scottish Pop (Again)

(All album/single covers taken from discogs.com.)

All right! We get it! You went to Scotland! Enough already! Jeez! No one makes this big a deal about their vacation! Cripes! Sheesh! For fuck's sake!

Whatever.  These are great tunes from a great time in music from a great land.  Sue me if I get to process vacations on the radio & you don't.

Listen to show: here.
Username/password (important): SHR/selfhelp
Songs I played (in each part):

(part one)

"Chance Meeting" Josef K _Chance Meeting_
"Gone Wrong" Avo 8 _Gone Wrong_
"Simply Thrilled Honey" Orange Juice _Simply Thrilled Honey_

"Mattress Of Wire" Aztec Camera _Mattress Of Wire_
"Candyskin" Fire Engines _Candyskin_
"Forevermore" The Bluebells _Forevermore_
"Feathers-Oar-Blades" Cocteau Twins _Lullabies_
"Honey At The Core" Friends Again _Trapped & Unwrapped_

"Stop The Rain" Suede Crocodiles _Stop The Rain_
"Fifty Years Of Fun" Biff Bang Pow! _Fifty Years Of Fun_
"Where The Traffic Goes" The Jasmine Minks _Where The Traffic Goes_
"Dreaming" The Wee Cherubs _Dreaming_
"Upside Down" The Jesus & Mary Chain _Barbed Wire Kisses_

"King Mob" Rote Kapelle _Big Smell Dinosaur EP_
"Don't Slip Up" Meat Whiplash _Don't Slip Up_

(part two)

"You Supply The Roses" Memphis _You Supply The Roses_
"All Fall Down" Primal Scream _All Fall Down_
"Paper Wraps Rock" Momus _Circus Maximus_

"I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You" The Shop Assistants _Will Anything Happen_
"Hang-Ten!" The Soup Dragons _Hang-Ten!_
"Going To Heaven To See If It Rains" The Close Lobsters _Forever, Until Victory! The Singles Collection_
"E102" BMX Bandits _E102_
"Sign On The Line..." Fizzbombs _Sign On The Line..._

"Splashing Along" Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes _Cabinet Of Curiosities_
"Heard About Love" Big Gun _Heard About Love_
"Get Out My Dream" Clouds _Get Out My Dream_
"Forever (Swansong)" The Incredible Blondes _Where Do I Stand?_

"Not Unloved" The Pastels _Comin' Through_
"A Secret Goldfish" Baby Lemonade _A Secret Goldfish_
"Driving Skills" This Poison _Magazine_
"Jack & Julian" The Bachelor Pad _The Albums Of Jack_

Whither Scottish Pop (Again)?

(This is from Wikipedia.)

To make something very clear: I actually didn't visit any record stores when I was in Scotland.  Did I mention it?  I was in Scotland for a week!  Anyway, none of the music I will play today is from magical "finds" made in dark Edinburgh basements.  This is all music I have loved for a very long time, put under a theme ("Scottish pop") & played hopefully in an enjoyable way.

& as I explained yesterday, I have sort of done this before.  What I wanted to do on this show, was play the non-Scottish song, "Scottish Pop," by Spearmint, which you can listen to here, in which the singer namechecks several Scottish musicians/bands:

The Secret Goldfish, Edwyn C,

Nectarine No. 9, Bobby G...

Stephen Pastel, Raymond McGinley

Adventures In Stereo, Emma P,

Stuart Murdoch, Duglas T

These are truly giants of Scottish music.  In case you don't know, Edwyn C is Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice, Bobby G is Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, Stephen Pastel is the patriarch of the Pastels, Raymond McGinley is from Teenage Fanclub, Emma P is Emma Pollock of the Delgados, Stuart Murdoch is from Belle & Sebastian, & Duglas T is Duglas T. Stewart of BMX Bandits.  Most of these artists date from around the time of the Spearmint song, but as I started gathering music, I was finding that there was so much Scottish pop in the 1980s, that I abandoned my idea to base it around the Spearmint song.  Instead, my focus was going to be music much earlier.

No Scottish pop post 1980s?  That means no Secret Goldfish, Nectarine No. 9, Teenage Fanclub, Adventures In Stereo, Delgados, or Belle & Sebastian!  Oh no!  Yeah, so maybe my obsessive-compulsive self will feel like continuing the series into the 1990s.

As it stands, actually, I might not even get to bands from 1987!  You can find out how it goes by listening to Self Help Radio today from 4-6pm on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, wrfl dot fm online.  It won't be much more than me & music, so don't expect any bells & whistles or even fake Scottish accents.  Just lots & lots of Scottish pop!

Preface To Scottish Pop (Again): What, Again?

Yes, again.

Technically - if you wanna get technical - I've never done an episode of Self Help Radio with the theme "Scottish Pop."  Oh sure, if you go to Self Help Radio's "Table Of Contents" page - it's actually more like an index, but whatever - it shows that I did a show with the theme "Scottish Pop" on the first day of the year, 2005.  That was over a decade ago, at a radio station a thousand miles away.  But!  If you look carefully, it says "Ear Candy Sub Show."

"Ear Candy" was an awesome show on KOOP that ran for more than ten years I think & was hosted most of the time by one or two women named Jennifer.  (I actually had both Jennifers precede me for a time in the slot before my old 9-11pm KVRX show in the 1990s.)  The KOOP website may still have a page for the show.  It does.  It's not much help.

Anyway, since it was New Year's Day, & since even back then it was widely known that I don't have a life, I was often asked to do radio shows on that & other holidays.  & that day, inspired by the Spearmint song "Scottish Pop", I did an entire show of, well, you know.

So, why revisit the theme again?  There are two reasons: one, I just got back from a trip to Scotland; & two, I needed a theme close to my heart that I could complete in just a couple of days.  & guess what?  Here it is!

But I suppose I'll talk more about it tomorrow.