HowWasTheShow Blog

HowWasTheShow on Music Lover's Club

I was honored to be the guest on Radio K's Music Lover's Club today. Karla Klaustermeier was filling in for a vacationing Mark Wheat as host, and she gave me pretty much free reign to play what I wanted. DJ'ing is something that I've been kind of reduced to doing in my own living room, in the wee hours of the morning, normally after too many cocktails in recent years. But doing it sober, and on the actual radio no less, is definitely more fun.

I'd been thinking about how and when musical taste is formed, and for me the last few years of high school were some key years. For my MLC selections, I played exclusively songs that were released while I was in high school; that means 1978-1982. Here's my playlist:

1. New Order - Dreams Never End (Movement, Factory, 1981)
2. Klark Kent - Don't Care (IRS Records, 1980)
3. Plimsouls - Now (Planet Records, 1981)
4. The Jags - Back of My Hand (Evening Standards, Island, 1980)
5. The Brains - Money Changes Everything (Mercury, 1980)
6. The Records - Starry Eyes (Virgin, 1979)
7. The Stranglers - Baroque Bordello (IV, IRS Records, 1980)
8. The Vapors - News at 10 (New Clear Days, EMI, 1980)
9. The Damned - Silly Kids Games (IRS Records, 1980)
10. Joe Jackson - One More Time (Look Sharp, A&M, 1979)
11. The Dickies - Tricia Toyota (Dawn of the Dickies, A&M, 1980)
12. Athletico Spiz 80 - Touched (Do a Runner, A&M,1980)

What can be learned from this supposedly random selection from my formative years? For one thing, I notice that 10 out of 12 bands are British. (The two exceptions are The Brains from Atlanta, GA and the Plimsouls from LA.)

To close out the show, I played some much newer, much more local music, "3 Girls Ago" by The Vestals (Warming House Records, 2004) and "Meantime" (The Bus Stop Label, 2003) by The Beatifics. The Beatifics and the Vestals along with Big Ditch Road, Martin Devaney, and Apryl Electra will play the HowWasTheShow 2nd Anniversary Party (which also doubles as my 2nd Annual 39th Birthday Party) Saturday, June 5th at the Dinkytowner. I will actually be playing a few songs myself, so if any of the bands I've written about over the past few years wish to write about my performance you're more than welcome.

Anna Lee of Voltage: Fashion Amplified was my co-guest this afternoon. Anna talked a little about the success of Voltage #1 and revealed that the event was such a success she's already in negotiations with First Avenue for Voltage #2, tentatively on the calendar for November, 2004.