A Fine Romance

I just cannot get enough of the Ella and Louis duets. They make me swoon. Ummmmmmmmmm.....

Radio Show Tuesday, May 29 6-9PM

Bill Haley & His Comets - See You Later, Alligator
The Records - Starry Eyes
Aretha Franklin - You Send Me
Autumn Shade - Home
Future Bible Hereos - Real Summer
East River Pipe - Hey, Where's Your Girl?
Dinah Washington - I've Got You Under My Skin
Devon Sproule - Let's Go Out
The Smiths - Sheila, Take A Bow
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
REM - Gardening At Night
Carmen Miranda - Cuanto La Gusta
Rose Melberg - Mr. Spaceman

Last night's show was fun. I wasn't a very attentive dj and just threw things on. But I got a handful of phone calls from people loving my show which is really weird since nobody ever calls when I'm on the air. (Or maybe I do get calls and just never pay attention to the little light blinking telling me that the phone is ringing.)

When I was in middle school and high school, I didn't listen to music that much. I was definitely NOT musically obsessed like I am now. But I did have a record player in my bedroom and I would listen to lots of my parents' albums. I vividly remember listening to the Supremes Greatest Hits while getting ready for church. The Supremes always remind me of badly-fitting panty hose. I also remember listening to Aretha's Gold. There was one song on that record that I would listen to over and over... a cover of Sam Cooke's hit, "You Send Me."

I had never heard the Sam Cooke version (or Sam Cooke for that matter) until I met Tina in 1994. She was a big music fan and introduced me to ALOT of music over the years including Sam Cooke. She was a dj at WXYC, too, and sometimes we would tag-team dj together. We'd squeal and dance to the Flying Burrito Brothers and Yma Sumac and to anything with crazy yodeling. Most of the time, she couldn't do a talk set if I was in the control room or else she would just bust out laughing and couldn't get any words out. It was silly and fun and listeners didn't seem to mind since we were playing fun music. I remember performing a spontaneous song-and- dance interpretation of "Cuanto La Gusta" one night at the bar in 506 for our favorite record store employee... I sang the Carmen parts and she sang the Andrews Sisters parts.

Tina moved to Greece a few years ago which makes me sad. I want her to come home. When Tina left, she got rid of all of her music. She sold it or gave it away. It's hard for me to understand how someone can love music as much as she did and then just suddenly stop and get rid of it all. She left her Sam Cooke's Greatest Hits CD at the wine distributor where we briefly shared a job. The warehouse guys would play it every now and then. When I heard Sam Cooke's voice echoing from the warehouse, I'd always think of Tina.

If Tina had been up at the radio station last night, I am sure that there would have been lots of squealing and singing and dancing and to "See You Later, Alligator" and to "Starry Eyes." And she would've brought me and Bill chocolate. She always had really good chocolate. Greece can't be all that great. She's gonna come back home, right?

Radio Show Sunday, May 27 10AM-1PM

Snuffy Jenkins - Television
Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies - Oh You Pretty Woman
Roy Smeck - Steel Guitar Rag
Tommy Collins - You Better Not Do That
Charlie Rich - Who Will the Next Fool Be?
Sister Wynona Carr - The Ball Game
The Five Scamps - Stuttering Blues
Any Old Time String Band - Free Little Bird
Hank Penny - Won't You Ride in My Little Red Wagon
Little Jimmy Dickens - Take An Old Cold Tater (And Wait)
Freight Hoppers - Cornbread, Molasses and Sassafras
O.B. Jackson - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/Big Fat Turkey/Happy Birthday To You
The Mississippi Mud Mashers - Bring It On Home to Grandma
Tex Williams - Never Trust A Woman
Sol Hoopii - I Like You
The Texas Drifter - The Yodelin' Teacher
Shirley Caesar with the Caravans - Soul Salvation
Pee Wee King - Hog Wild Too

Today, I hosted a show on WXYC called the Orange County Special. I haven't hosted one of these specialty shows in years and years. It was alot of fun. But holy cow, it was hard. All these old songs are about two minutes long, and that can be exhausting after three hours. The entire playlist can be found here.

There is this great CD at the station about North Carolina hollerin'. Before the age of telephones or radios, folks would just holler information... it kinda sounds like yodeling to me, but real connoisseurs will probably cringe at that comparison. The national hollering contest is coming up soon in Spivey's Corner. If you've never been, it is definitely worth the road trip. It is surreal to say the least. I played my favorite off the hollerin' CD in which this guys hollers "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "Happy Birthday." Nice.

The dj doing the Hell or High Water show after my show walked in during Pee Wee King's "Hog Wild Too" and we both laughed out loud at King's snorting/oinking parts in the song. She also told me that her mom got Shirley Caesar's autograph when she ran into her in Raleigh last week. Cool.

I've gone back to that Freight Hoppers CD several times over the past few months and I really like it alot. They've broken up, but you can still hear their music on their myspace page. Old-time music just rocks my world. I would give anything to be able to play old-time guitar or banjo. But for now, I'll just keep cloggin'... well, once my ankle heals.

Never Enough Time To Write

It's been a really busy week. I've been feeling much better and have been pushing myself to the limits in regard to hobbling around on my ankle. Today was exhausting and I only accomplished about half of the items on my Saturday to-do list. But I have tomorrow and Monday, I guess.


On Thursday night, Denise and my dad started a little computer project in my unfinished guest room. Now, I have "geeked" with Denise for years: hooking up minidisc players to our laptops, troubleshooting routers, talking C++, or sometimes I just yell at him for taking my laptop and doing something that he says is "making it better". But Thursday night was the first time that I've geeked with Denise AND my dad. It was fun and this picture just makes me laugh.

Radio Show, Tuesday May 22 6-9PM

Holy Moly! I AM BACK ON THE AIR!!! And I am so happy! It made me feel a little more normal and less gimpy... I feel like I am finally on the mend.

And it marked 10 years since I've been djing at WXYC. I'm old. The dj on before me even called me "Ma'am." Holy crap! I AM SO OLD!

Here are some of the songs that I played:
Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck
Bill Davis Trio - Catch 'Em Young, Treat 'Em Rough, Tell 'Em Nothin'
Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection
Lambchop - Hey, Where's Your Girl?
Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
Mighty Lemon Drops - Inside Out
Small Faces - Just Passing
Beach Boys - I'm Waiting for the Day
Tennessee Ernie Ford and Kay Starr - You're My Sugar
Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care
Fred Astaire - Cheek to Cheek
Light Crust Doughboys - Pussy Pussy Pussy
Wilco - I Must Be High
Elliott Smith - Pretty Mary K

The show was so much fun. I even danced a little on one foot!

However, I was a bit concerned that the Muppet Movie Soundtrack record was kinda warped. I wanted to play "Movin' Right Along" featuring Fozzie and Kermit, but "Rainbow Connection" looked a little safer considering the wear on the record.

I only received one phone call the entire night, which is one more than I usually receive. It was from someone who wanted to hear the Traveling Wilburys. I haven't thought of them since I was in high school. There are a few cassettes that I can remember from back then... Edie Brickell, REM, U2, INXS, the Fine Young Cannibals, and the Traveling Wilburys. I liked that Traveling Wilburys request so much that I want to investigate the album again... it has Tom Petty *and* Roy Orbison.

The last time I did a radio show a month or so ago (when I was in denial about my ankle), Tim played a song off a Pet Sounds [stereo and mono] double album that is new in the station's library. I just about flipped my wig. The records were made of translucent pastel vinyl. I remembered it last night, so, I played one of my favorite songs from that record: "I'm Waiting for the Day." The timpani and the flutes give me chills. I just love the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds so much. It's definitely an obsession. I am trying to get into their album Smile again, but it just isn't doing it for me.

I played Tennessee Ernie Ford/Kay Star and the Light Crust Doughboys last night to get me geared up for WXYC's Orange County Special program which I will be hosting this Sunday from 10am to 1pm. I used to host this show regularly in the late 90s until I was told that someone at WXYC didn't like my music choices for this show... too much western swing. Well, it's been a few years and I think that the rules are less rigid these days. I am going to play ALOT of western swing and MANY silly country songs. Tune in!

Uncomfortably Numb

Today will be Day #2 of this Non-Profit Accounting Conference. Yesterday, I was the only non-CPA in the room. We studied among other topics, "Guarantor's Accounting and Disclosure Requirements for Guarantees, Including Indirect Guarantees of Indebtedness of Others." Easy! Just take 10% probability of default based on history of guarantees to others and multiply by the present value of $1 table at 4% risk free rate.

Um, yeah.

I think that there will be more non-profit professionals in the room today and fewer auditors.

The highlight of my day was having my first radio show of the summer! It was great despite it being open-station night for prospective DJs and being interrupted for an on-air band interview. The band seemed a little drunk. I played Wayne Newton.

Happy Birthday, Dad!