Mellstrrradio: Recent Episodes
Mellstrrradio
My own slice of a little corner of....what is this, a pod? That's why they call it a podcast? WAIT! No, it's my little radio show that isn't really on the radio, unless you play it on one. But it sounds good anywhere. There's a general theme, more often than not, and no doubt lots of references to favorite music....and perhaps a wee bit of historical reference may surface. Are you confused yet? Yes? Well siddown and #TurnItUP, then, I'd love to have you stick around this time! All correspondence can be sent to facebook dot com forward slash mellstrr or to mellstrrradio at gmail dot com...
Every so often, I have to step back and remember it ain't all about being the coolest music maven in Podlandia, with my cutting edges and love for the beat and obscure, the weird, and the especially really extra-painfully-loud. See, I get it that it ain't All About Me all the damn time! Nothing is more important to me lately than "paying it forward", which is how I ended up on this podcasting thing to begin with. So with that in mind, today's thank-you-for-the-musical-guidance shout-out goes to my big brother Chuck, who could always be counted on to ask for a particularly tasty record or two for his birthday or for Christmas. He's the guy whose record collection turned me on to Clapton and Zeppelin and Alvin Lee and Jeff Beck and Deep Purple--not bad for a geeky suburban 12-year-old girl in the mid 1970s, as far as "musical taste" (though I managed to do worse later, and still do today, lol!). He's also the one who showed me the way to what remained of free-form FM, which begat my love for Dr Demento and cemented my love for Frank Zappa. Love you, bro, send requests to my text :-) ARTISTS: Kevin Harlan/MNF; Led Zeppelin; Cream; Eric Clapton; Allman Brothers; Stevie Ray Vaughan; Rolling Stones; Beatles; Traffic; ZZ Top; James Gang; Pink Floyd; David Coverdale; Deep Purple
And that title only has ONE thing to do with the holiday....chocolate bunnies and me—what better way to spend an hour of your Easter Sunday? I’d like to blame the chocolate for jackin’ me up into a fine lather, to the point where I’ve got the decibel meters maxxed out so they can handle all the feedback and screaming—but it’s not the chocolate’s fault, it’s just been a rough couple of weeks. The good news is that while I was away, I got a fine line on some interesting current and only-slightly-older musical output, from a friend who has always been tuned into great music beyond “The Radio”. He had good timing, too—not only did it tame my homicidal tendencies, one of the bands on the list turned out to be the perfect sonic remedy for anybody who’s ever been pissed-off about anything, ever. Just in time, too, because I was in desperate need! And you are darned lucky to have me to share some of it with you-- The Eye ❤️ Corporation wouldn’t touch most of this list with somebody else’s barge pole, let alone put it on their airwaves. But you’re gonna LOVE it, I promise. One thing of note, I forgot to tell you IN the episode that I played Joe Buck Yourself and Janitor Joe, before the Pixies. Ah well, I’m not trying for perfection here. Long as you remember to stand back after you #TURNITUP…. ARTISTS: Mel Blanc; 68; Jon Spencer Blues Explosion; Joe Buck Yourself; The Bronx; Pixies; St. Agnes; Donna Grantis; Garbage; Janitor Joe; Girls in Synthesis; Twenty-One Pilots; John Zorn
There are a billion songs on the naked Earth, and 90% of them sound AWESOME when you're listening to them in your car! The other 10% are about the act of road tripping, being on a road, going to a place or places or going back home. I love a whole bunch of them, myself, and today I'm serving up some of my favorites, straight through--here's hoping it's enough to tide yas over to April 4th, when I return from my own little journey. Catch me in the meantime at mellstrrradio at gmail dot com and tell me what you're up to, so's I can say....thanks for listening, once again. SMOOCHIES!
ARTISTS:
Buggs Wahh; Willie Nelson; Johnny Cash; Grateful Dead; Sheryl Crow; Dion; Roger Miller; Ray Charles; Red Hot Chili Peppers; Simon and Garfunkel; The Purple One; Depeche Mode; Lunachicks; Joan Jett; Monkees; Lenny Kravitz; Jimi Hendrix; Doors; Stone Temple Pilots
One day I sat down to count how many one hit wonder songs I could think of off the top of my head…and inside of an hour, I had a way bigger list than this one! Lucky for you, I can’t play them all, for any number of reasons, starting with the fact that a lot of them are just plain awful! But it was still fun to compile--and so I give to you today a list of some of the better ones. These are all guaranteed to get stuck in your head like a good earworm should. They may also, I should add, compel you to threaten the next person you see with some sort of physical assault. Speaking from personal experience, I have especially longed to do such a thing to someone (anyone!) every time I hear the pop song “Playground In My Mind” which was a one-hit wonder from the Olden Days of the 1960s, so long ago I can't even remember the artist. But it still haunts me. It was traumatizing! It hurt! Some one-hitters are that way, so don't say I didn't warn yas....
ARTISTS:
Wall of Voodoo; Falco; Frankie Goes to Hollywood; Mazzy Star; The Knack; the Hudson Brothers; Right Said Fred; Taco; Chumbawumba; the Lunachicks; Transvision Vamp; Men Without Hats; Eddy Grant; Freedie Johnston; Rickie Lee Jones; Gary Wright; Alannah Myles; Soft Cell
An hour and a half? I'm thinkin' you're thinkin' "This better be good...". Don't worry, it is! Lots of noisy guitars and amplification, by six- and twelve-string player's players, no less. Just right for cruising down the highway at max volume, or maybe irritating your old-people neighbors. Either way, it's guaranteed to make you feel young again! While it's not a complete list of all my guitar heroes, it's a damned good argument as to how and why I (like a few of my friends) still nurse a bitchin' case of arrested development. I do talk a bit in this one, just so you know. So I'll shaddup now...
ARTISTS:
Jeff Beck; Jimi Hendrix; Eff Zee (ask me if you don't get it); David Bowie; Earl Slick; Robert Fripp and Andy Summers; Steve Vai; Traveling Wilburys; Queen; Cheap Trick, The Damned; Prince; Pixies; CRUSH
Oh, it's just another fancy name for "regular radio show"! Crapshoots = I just pulled stuff at random out of my brain and cued it up for your listening pleasure! I can't decide if it's just the times we live in right now, or if it's because there's too much of something going on and the universe is now "out of balance", or what--but the only thing that's making things right seems to be music. So dig if you will the picture this paints of some kind of mystery or another...Right! Anyway, please do drop me a line at mellstrrradio at gmail dot com, it's awfully quiet out there! And I'm going to keep doing this thing until somebody makes me STOP......
ARTISTS:
David Bowie; Bill Nelson's Red Noise; St. Vincent; Beck; Pixies; PJ Harvey; Blondie; Veruca Salt; Nirvana; Cheap Trick; The Funeral Portrait; the Kills; the Hives; Elvis Costello; the Cramps; John Wesley Harding; Gary Moore
I always wanted to go to Tahiti, myself, but it's not that far a jump to the east coast of Australia from there! In the meantime, I don't have the do-re-me to bankroll a trip there, so I have to content myself with dreaming about it. Such dreams generally have a soundtrack which sounds something like the one below. All these bands hail from that faraway land it takes at least 22 hours by plane from the western US, just to get to! Special shout-out to my good friend Joe Creams, for setting up that killer Goldie playlist--thank you, kind sir, for the inspirations herein, it allows me to continue to say "This ain't just a moldy-oldies festival around this joint!" New music is good for the soul, my peeps!
Artists: Alice and White Rabbit in Wonderland; Hoodoo Gurus; the Saints; Radio Birdman; Midnight Oil; Celibate Rifles; the Birthday Party; AC/DC; Divinyls; Silverchair; Dune Rats; INXS; Violent Soho; WAAX; Skeggs
As close to a musical exorcism as I've ever gotten--and damned if I'm not more haunted than ever (sigh) BUT, the good news is that it gave me hope to die another day. Your mileage may vary, of course....also, duly noted that email address, please go by this and not the one given within the ramblings of your thoughtful hostess, reach me at mellstrrradio at gmail dot com.
For now, umm, leave your door open. You know, so you can hear it better....
Artists:
Naked City; Pixies; PIL; Neon; Killing Joke; White Zombie; The Birthday Party; Skinny Puppy; David Bowie; Faith No More; Slayer; Pantera; Candlebox; Eddie Van Halen
How did I ever manage to keep a list like this to 17 songs? I don't know! It's my job--a volunteer job, too, in case you were wondering. That's right, I'm doing it all for love anyway, so...why not have a show about LOVE?? What with Valentine's Day right around the corner, maybe you can use these tunes to catch that hottie you've been eyeballing on the Intertubez. Hey, don't laugh, that may be the safest way to go these days, because YOU DON'T NEED A MASK THERE! (swoon) So break out your hankies and have a listen!
Artists:
Cloris Leachman; Jools Holland; Bill Nelson and his Gentlemen Rocketeers; Peter Frampton; David Bowie; the Beatles; Jim Croce; Elvis Costello; Eurythmics; Crowded House; Player; Smokey Robinson and the Miracles; Righteous Brothers; Aaron Neville; Etta James; Otis Redding; Beth Hart/Jeff Beck; Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
It's a radio show, not that drudgery from last year, so wake up, it's a much snappier re-boot! This week, I'm featuring 15 songs from artists who found themselves with one big thing in common on January 8th--David Bowie! All of them featured in the recent Celebration (Virtual) Show, and I'll give you a brief lowdown and some of my favorite songs of theirs--I daresay you may have never heard some of it before, which is always a plus. So....erm...."hang onto yourself", as the man said, and click "Play". ...
Artists:
New York Dolls; Culture Club; Ian Hunter; Joe Elliott; Charlie Sexton; Bernard Fowler; Trent Reznor; Slipknot; Jane's Addiction; Foo Fighters; The Pretty Wreckless; Halestorm; Yungblud; David Bowie/Gail Ann Dorsey; Duran Duran
(original air date 01/24/2021)
You gotta understand--hailing from the only other part of New York City that wasn’t actually physically a PART of New York City, unless you crossed some body of water or other to get there, was a little….weird. In fact, up until about 1964, you really couldn’t even get there any other way than by boat, because until then, there was no Verrazano-Narrows Bridge for them to cross back and forth. But SI found a way to make its own impressions. At some point, if you really, really wanted to make it, you had to make the jump to Manhattan. But, you could also be stubborn and do it your way and still get somewhere…
SETLIST—music starts at 1:02:25
(followed by the "outro" at 1:26:27)
The Elegants—Little Star
https://youtu.be/l8F4vdF-bJc
Jimmie Mack—Hold On
https://youtu.be/DZKNxdkpOjY
Earl Slick Band Live 1976—Boom Boom
https://youtu.be/PUXZI8QwOks
New York Dolls—Trash
https://youtu.be/wMUnqxmiV2k
Buster Poindexter—Castles In Spain, from Disney’s “Babes in Toyland”
https://youtu.be/SvuCCM-9g4g
Cherry Vanilla—Liverpool, from “Top of the Pops, 1/7/78”
https://youtu.be/z-GChfB8Mak
Matlock/Slick—Sexy Beast, recorded live at the Red Lion Ballroom, Leytonstone, London, UK 2/29/2020
https://youtu.be/897UCFtRNEg