Wednesday, October 28, 2009

RT 20 Podcast 01: Scott McCaughey

When I first hatched this podcast idea back in November of '08 (yes, I am that crazy in planning ahead sometimes), the first person I knew I had to interview was Scott McCaughey. His work with Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5 and most recently The Baseball Project has brought me more entertainment and pure musical joy over the past two decades than any artist not named The Figgs. In this wide ranging interview we talk about one of the 20 LPs from the past 20 years that changed my life, the Fellows 1991 album-that's-not-really-an-album Hits from the Breakup Album; the new Fellows and Minus 5 albums that were released in July; his work as a member of Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3; and his stint as a long standing sideman for one of my favorite bands, R.E.M. I'd like to thank Scott once again for taking the time out after a Radio City Music Hall soundcheck to pop upstairs to chat.

Click here to subscribe through your iTunes or click here to go the podcast homepage and download the MP3.

Monday, October 26, 2009

RT 20 Podcast 00

Greetings friends, and welcome to a new era of the RT20.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the annual list, today I'm launching a series of podcasts that will run of the next eight weeks. In these podcasts I'll be talking with a diverse group of people:

--musicians who made one of the 20 albums that changed my life over the past two decades;

--former radio co-workers about the bands we liked from our past career;

--and lots of people like you. Some I've known for decades, some I've known for a few years, all have had an impact of my musical life.

There are two easy ways to download the RT20 podcasts (which there will be 2-3 podcasts every week, except Thanksgiving week):

1) If you use iTunes, click here. iTunes will automatically subscribe you and download the first podcast.

2) If you don't, click here, go to the bottom of the page and right click on the MP3 icon and do "Save Target as" to download the MP3. On that page you can also use the pop-up player to listen to the entire podcast without downloading.

Podcast 00 is sort of an introduction to the series, with yours truly playing some tunes and talking about getting older. Yee-ha. Other podcasts won't be so naval-gazing, I promise.

sr

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Song of the Week 10/24/09

John Eddie - "Forty"


"Well I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
I can’t say that I’m thrilled
I never dated Winona Ryder
And I probably never will
Well I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
Oh but I’m better off than sum
Well I might be Fuckin Forty
But you’re Fuckin Forty One

Well I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
Well getting older really sucks
I went to see The Spy Who Shagged Me
He said “one senior that’ll be four bucks”
I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
But I’m better off than you
Well I might be Fuckin Forty
But you’re Fuckin Forty Two

Well I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
Well I’m a petered out Peter Pan
Well sometimes I feel foolish
I make my living singing in this band
I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
Well that’s what my Momma said
But Bruce Springsteen’s Fuckin 53
And the Stones are almost dead.

Well I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
I can’t say that I’m thrilled
I never dated Winona Ryder
And I’m guessing I never will
I guess I’m Fuckin Forty
Oh now poor poor pitiful me
Well I might be Fuckin Forty
Hell I’m lying I’m Forty Three"

Um, yeah.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Song of the Week 10/16/09

Cliff Richard - "Devil Woman"

I kid you not, I heard WCBS-FM play this song FOUR times in a space of eight days. Each time it was in a different day part. Seriously, what are the chances of this happening? Maybe I need to turn the radio off for a while.

Or maybe I need to infect your brain with this song:

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Song of the Week 10/9/09

Bob Mould - "Wishing Well"

In various interviews this spring Bob Mould mentioned how he thought his new album Life and Times was a successor to his 1989 solo debut Workbook. I didn't fully grasp how right he was until seeing him perform at Irving Plaza Thursday night. He did three Life and Times songs followed by three from Workbook, and hearing all of them back to back made the lyrical and sonic connections clear. And "Wishing Well" stood high above the rest, with Mould delivering what was the best performance of the song I've seen in the 18 years I've been going to his shows. Watch the intensity below.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Song of the Week 10/2/09

Phoenix - "1901"



I didn't see as much music at this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival as I have in the past three editions. (Stupid drought-ending rain.) Out of the acts I had never watched before, Phoenix were by far the best. Who knew a bunch of Frenchman could be so entertaining? And when the band played the opening notes of "1901," the crowd (which was an extremely impressive size for a Friday afternoon at ACL) went nuts. (See an example below.) The band fed off that energy all afternoon, and were genuinely moved by the amount of people who had decided to check them out on a beautiful day in Zilker Park.