Episode 175: Summer, Jam (3365) (Featuring a selections of seasonally appropriate songs, selected by our long-lost, unstuck-in-time co-host, DJ Really Sloppy.)
While the idea of doing a summer show seemed like a good idea at the time, it turned out that this week, I had nothing. Not a single idea for songs about summer, outside of just listening to surf music. Fortunately, my good friend DJ Really Sloppy accidentally called me, and babbled for about an hour about what he thinks of when he hears the term “Summer Jam.” The results are this program.
Summer, Jam
Part I
01.) Island In The Sun * Weezer * Weezer * DGC Records
02.) The Savage * The Ventures * Walk – Don’t Run: The Best of The Ventures
03.) Hipalong Hop * B.J. Cole and Luke Vibert * Stop the Panic * Astralwerks
04.) Penny Loafers * Daedelus (with Inara George) * Bespoke * Ninja Tune
05.) Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto remix) * Massive Attack * Heligoland (Extended Version) * Virgin
Part II
06.) Taco Wagon * Man… Or Astro-Man? * Destroy All Astromen!
07.) A Kissed Out Red Floatboat * Cocteau Twins * Blue Bell Knoll * 4AD
08.) I L U * School of Seven Bells * Disconnect from Desire * Vagrant Records/
Ghostly International
09.) Underwater Love * Smoke City * The Rebirth of Cool Four * 4TH & BWAY/Island
10.) Awake in the Sand * Kaitlyn ni Donovan * Songs for Three Days * hush records
Part III
11.) Monkey Safari * Messer Chups * Crazy Price
12.) Something Tropical * Tipsy * Trip-Tease * Asphodel
13.) Rum and Coca Cola * Wanda Jackson * The Party Ain’t Over * Third Man Records
14.) Groove Is In the Heart * Deee-Lite * World Clicque * Elektra Records
15.) I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) * The Proclaimers * Sunshine On Leith * Chrysalis
16.) Walk Don’t Run * The Ventures * Walk – Don’t Run: The Best of The Ventures
17.) Strawberry Jam * Michelle Shocked * Arkansas Traveler * Mercury
As I relax at my island retreat, I thought it would be unfair to bask in the overwhelming opulence the entire time, and thus decided to produce a quick little Vacation-themed podcast to meditate on a single theme: the two-week Summer Vacation. What goes on? What does one do? How does one pass the time? All these questions, and more, are answered in this three-part episode.
As this show was assembled on-the-road, it may not sound like your average show. Couple that, with the three-part nature of the show, definitely puts this into the “its an experiment” category of show. If the technical specs didn’t give it away, the repetition of, “Holiday For Strings,” by two-different artists should have been a dead giveaway. But the song is sooooooooo good! Oh well, perhaps we’ll fare better next time.
I would like to thank my family (Karly, Kyle, Marti and Evelyn as my Sister, Brother, Mother and Grandmother, respectively) for hosting me during this vacation. Thanks again! You guys are amazing.
There should be one more of these before the next live show in August. Stay tuned!
See ya in seven.
Happy Holidays
# Track * Artist * Album * Label
01.) Paradise Found * Martin Denny * Quiet Villiage * Liberty Records
02.) Two Week Vacation * The Embarrassment * Heyday 1979 – 1983 * Bar / None Records
03.) Ha Ha Holiday * The White Wires * Girly Girly Girly * Going Gaga Records
04.) Holiday Song * The Pixies * Come On Pilgrim * 4 AD Records
05.) Holiday * Crackerbash * Holiday EP * Imp Records
06.) Holiday Harbor * The Phantom Surfers * Great Surf Crash of ’97 * Lookout! Records
07.) Payed Vacation: Greece * Camper Van Beethoven * Telephone Free Landslide Victory * IRS Records
08.) Doomsdayer’s Holiday * Grails * Doomsdayer’s Holiday * Temporary Residence Records
09.) Holiday For Strings [Live] * Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 * Duck, Duck, Chimp (Rarities 1987 – 2001) * Self-Released
10.) Holiday In The Sun * Los Punkrockers * Los Exitos de Sex Pistols por Los Punk Rockers * Dial Discos Records
11.) Paid Vacation * Circle Jerks * Group Sex * Porterhouse Records
12.) Holiday For Strings * Spike Jones And His City Slickers * Musical Depreciation * ASV Living Era Records
13.) Holiday In Waikiki * The Kinks * Muswell Hillbillies * RCA Records
14.) “Remember Ruby Sue” * Cast * National Lampoon’s European Vacation * Warner Bros. Records
15.) Holiday In Cambodia * Dead Kennedys * Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables * Alternative Tentacles Records
16.) Holiday For Strings * Sun Ra and His Arkestra * Holiday For Soul Dance * Evidence Records
17.) Holiday For Shakespeare * Sun City Girls * Dante’s Disneyland Inferno * Abduction Records
18.) On A Holiday * Brian Wilson * Smile * NoneSuch Records
19.) Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday * William Bell * The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959 – 1968 * Stax Records
20.) Holiday * Weezer * Weezer * DGC Records
21.) Sweet Charity [Excerpt] * Mr. Bungle * California * Warner Bros. Records
22.) Vacation’s Over * Lou Josie * The Chess Story: 1947 – 1975 * Chess Records
Last year I prepped a show called “Summer Sounds,” which was going to include all my favorite songs that remind me of summer. Sadly, a series of circumstances let to a lot of other shows getting put together instead, and this Summer Sounds show wound up slipping through the cracks. I kept the playlist, imagining that I might get to do at some point down the road. That day has finally come.
The Breeders set the tone on this one: “Summer’s Ready When You Are.” I haven’t been feeling in a summer mood lately, in spite of the nice weather we’ve been having this week. Something feels off, as if something wasn’t quite in sync yet. Nearly all the elements were in place, but something wasn’t adding up. Even as I was getting ready to go down to the station today, I wasn’t sure that summer was really ready to start. Fortunately, as soon as I started up with the first song, I instantly started dancing. I guess all it took was a little musical push in the right direction.
I did update the playlist a bit from my first version of in last year, adding a few, subtracting a lot of others. I also tried to include music from summers over the years. Man… Or Astro-Man? always evoke the summer of 1997 for me, where Captain Beefheart seems rooted in 2006 for me. But nearly all of the bands evoke sunny skies, BBQs, drinking on porches, and close friends. In a way, it was an effort on my part to summon all those things.
This one also tries to tell a little story. In the first third of the show, Summer is starting, everyone is excited, and it’s sort of bacchanalian in a way: loud and excited. In the second third, we start to get into the groove a little. Dancing, telling stories, getting worked up, getting cooled off, etc. It’s all part of the part that’s brewing. In the last third, the sun is starting to go down. The real party is getting ready to kick into high gear, and it’s time to DANCE. Of course, every party has to end, and …Trail of Dead sort of caps off that party in a great meditation on the entire day. We end with The Ambiguity Song: because, the day after, everything seems to be up in the air.
There is also a little commentary (in the song selections) on our current situation with KBPS. While I hinted at it while on the air, I decided not to talk about it. While I’m very disappointed in KBPS for making a short-sighted (and poorly-timed) decision like this, the staff and volunteers at KPSU are united in their belief that this is the beginning of a new era for us. In a way, broadcasting on the AM signal was the last remaining part of a vestigial limb that was in bad need of amputating. While we are going to be in limbo in a lot of ways, in others, we get to make up our own future from here on out. In a way, that’s sort of a perfect place to be at the beginning of summer.
See ya in seven.
Summer Sounds
# Track * Artist * Album * Label
01.) Saints * The Breeders * Last Splash * 4AD Records
02.) Of Sex And Demise * Man… Or Astro-Man? * Destroy All Astromen! * Estrus Records
03.) Zig Zag Wanderer * Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band * Safe As Milk * Buddah Records
04.) Money Money Money * 9th Life * 9th Life * Self-Released
05.) Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t Have) * The Buzzcocks * Singles Going Steady * EMI Records
06.) Scuffle Town * Avail * Over the James * Lookout! Records
07.) Summertime * Ashtray * White Sugar Is The Devil
08.) Sex Euro And Elvis Pop * Messer Chups * Crazy Price * Ipecac Records
09.) Land Of 1000 Dances * Wilson Pickett * Atlantic Rhythm & Blues: 1947-1974 * Atlantic Records
10.) Little Egypt * The Coasters * Atlantic Rhythm & Blues: 1947-1974 * Atlantic Records
11.) Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo) * The Andrews Sisters * Greatest Hits: The 60th Anniversary Collection * MCA Records
12.) Rocky Racoon * The Beatles * The Beatles (White Album)
13.) Blues X Man * The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Orange * Matador Records
14.) DANCE * Battles * B EP * Dim Mak Records
15.) There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon) * The B-52’s * The B-52’s * Island Records
16.) Let’s Spend The Night Together * David Bowie * Best Of David Bowie 1969-1974 * EMI Records
17.) Gargoyle Waiting * …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead * …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead * Trance Syndicate Records
18.) Ambiguity Song * Camper Van Beethoven * Telelphone Free Landslide Victory * Independant Projects Records
Episode 069: Summon The Sun (In which I play a bunch of songs dedicated to Frith himself, in an attempt to keep him overhead in the coming months.)
There is a certain amount of logic to all the Festival of Lights cultures, who perform various religious rites in an effort to call back our absent friend, The Sun. I entirely agree with George Carlin, in that I am not religious, but if I were, I would worship The Sun. I regularly see direct evidence of the affects it has on the world around me, something I cannot say for anything else that is worshiped on this planet. I know, personally, that The Sun plays a huge role in my own life. My moods change with the seasons, and I find myself a much happier person in Spring and Summer, than I am the rest of the year.
With that in mind, I feel completely ripped off this Spring. The Sun has been suspiciously absent, making a handful of appearances this entire season. I am not against having a rainy season, and even enjoy the rain from time to time. If I was really against it, I would move. But this time, the season has gone much too far, and it time to perform some emergency Sun-Summoning Rituals, STAT.
Included in this show are a host of songs geared toward paying homage to that fiery ball of hydrogen that we all know and love. Spanning time, genres, and typical radio conventions, I pull out all the stops to bring you a variety of audio sunbeams to help keep us warm and dry, even when the weather isn’t feeling it. 60’s Psyche Rock, Punk Covers, Avant Rock and Discombobulated Pop join forces to create a bright and cheery soundscape, with the single purpose of trying to bring back The Sun from its extreme sojourn beyond the clouds. Plus: this one just plain old rocks, too.
This might also be the largest number of tracks I have played from reissues, compilations, Greatest Hits, and otherwise Non-Original releases in a single show. (I could be wrong, and will be again, even.) While my collection isn’t entirely comprised of re-issues, this show just happened to work out that way. You wouldn’t really know unless I told you, but I thought I should come clean. It’s just not that easy to find some of this stuff.
Hopefully this invocation will prove to The Sun that we are serious, and we would really enjoy his company at this time. Weather or not he listens, however, is entirely up to him.
See ya in seven.
Summon The Sun
# Track * Artist * Album * Label
01.) Sunology * Sun Ra and His Arkestra * Super-Sonic Jazz * Impulse! Records
02.) Section 2: It’s The Sun * The Polyphonic Spree * The Beginning Stages Of… * Good Records
03.) Sunshine Love * Rikki Lliong * Love, Peace & Poetry: African Psychedelic Music * Normal Records
04.) Sunshine Superman * Hüsker Dü * Everything Falls Apart * Reflex Records
05.) Biography of the Sun * Pink Mountain * Pink Mountain * Frenetic Records
06.) Sun Spots * No Age * Weirdo Rippers * Fat Cat Records
07.) Children of the Sun * The Misunderstood * Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond * Rhino Records
08.) California Sun * The Ramones * All The Stuff (And More) Vol. 1 * Sire Records
09.) Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas) [Live] * They Might Be Giants * Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants * Rhino Records
10.) Blister In The Sun * Violent Femmes * Violent Femmes * Slash Records
11.) Sun God * Squirrel Bait * Gimme Indie Rock * K-Tel Records
12.) Sunshine * Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti * 1920’s And 1930’s Sides Remastered * JSP Records
13.) Sun City Girls From Ipanema * Sun City Girls * Box of Chameleons * Abduction Records
14.) Sun Zoom Spark * Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band * Clear Spot * Reprise Records
15.) Sunrise * Tidal Waves * Homework #102 * Hyped 2 Death Records
16.) The Sun Shines Down On Me * Daniel Johnston * Welcome To My World * Eternal Yip Eye Music
17.) Keep On The Sunny Side * Carter family * A Proper Introduction To The Carter Family: Keep On The Sunny Side * Proper Introduction Records
18.) Sunology [Excerpt] * Sun Ra and His Arkestra * Super-Sonic Jazz * Impulse! Records
19.) The Warmth of the Sun * The Beach Boys * Endless Summer * Capitol Records
Mid-Valley Mutations 