RADIO HANNIBAL

Roll Away The Stone, Mott Reunites

Mott The Hoople, featuring Ian Hunter and Mick Ralphs is in the midst of their five night reunion run at the Hammersmith in London.  And, I sure wish I was there. 

As a teen, the band was one of my favorites.  I even looked like Hunter as I grew my hair long and curly and often sported shades.  In fact, the first rock concert I ever attended was a Mott The Hoople show at the Allen Theater in Cleveland.  Queen was to be the warm up that evening but Brian May contracted hepatitis and an unknown band named Kansas filled in. 

Then when Hunter went solo and recorded an ode to my fair city, Cleveland Rocks, well that was the topper.  Why would a Brit record a song about Cleveland.  We had the largest Mott fan base in the US thanks to WMMS. 

So, now the band has reunited, performing their first gig last night.  Here's the set list:

Hymn for the Dudes
Rock'n'roll Queen
Sweet Jane
One of the Boys
Sucker
The Moon Upstairs
The Original Mixed Up Kid
I Wish I Was Your Mother
Ready For Love/After Lights
Born Late 58
Ballad Of Mott
Sweet Angeline
Walking With a Mountain
Like a Rolling Stone
The Journey (ending into a little of Laugh at Me)
Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll
Honaloochie Boogie
All The Way From Memphis
Roll Away The Stone
All The Young Dudes
Keep a knocking
Saturday Gigs

Joe Elliott, lead singer of Def Leppard joined them on stage for All The Young Dudes.  The original drummer, Buffin, has been in poor health so Martin Chambers of The Pretenders is filling in for the reunion.  Though Buffin did come out for the encores and played a bit along with Chambers. 

You can hear snippets of a few songs from last night here and perhaps even purchase a limited edition recording of the show. 

And here's some bootleg video of the show.

And finally a review from The Telegraph

Live 365 Mobile Gives Me New Motivation

Yep, the title of this post says it all.  It's been ages since I last updated my Live 365 Radio Hannibal station.  In fact I was contemplating canceling the service.  Yes, it does cost me money to indulge in this hobby.  Ha.  Aside from all the music I buy. 

Well, just for kicks I wanted to see if Live 365 had an iPhone app since I have recently begun a serious relationship with an iPhone. 
Sure enough one exists.  In fact they have one for the Blackberry as well.  Check them out here. 

I also discovered that an app I already own, ooTunes, allows me to search and play Live 365 stations.  I can even bookmark them.  It's almost like adding them to favorites.  ooTunes also allows you to access all your music on your hard drive while you're on the go.  There's an added fee for that service and I don't use it anyway.

The point is, now you can plug your smart phone into your car stereo and listen to Radio Hannibal.  Of course you can still listen to the stream on your PC. 

I'm really excited about this turn of events and will promise to deliver fresh playlists to the station on a regular basis. I'll also be doing another downloadable hour show in the near future now that the hectic summer is over.  Alas.

OK, I've just started the new playlist on Live 365 and now I'm heading out for a drive and see how it sounds behind the wheel.

Pitchfork's Top 500 Indie Singles of the 00's

Pitchfork, the number one online music magazine for the indie music scene, is counting down the Top 500 singles for the decade starting today.  Though the decade isn't quite up yet, traditionally this is a slow time of year in the music business with very few new releases.  A perfect time to undertake such a task. 

I haven't even begun to look at the list myself, but I suspect it'll mostly be an affirmation of much of the music I've loved over the past 10 years.  Hopefully there will be a few discoveries for me as well.

My Top 100 Singles Of All Time

I recently had to put together a list of my favorite rock songs of all time.  A daunting task to be sure.  And like all these type lists it's mercurial.  So, for right now this is my list.

1. Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
2. Powderfinger – Neil Young
3. Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks
4. Prairie Rose – Roxy Music
5. Different Drum – The Stone Poneys (Linda Ronstadt)
6. Paperback Writer - The Beatles
7. Daydream – The Lovin’ Spoonful
8. Itchycoo Park – The Small Faces
9. Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
10. Windfall – Son Volt
11. Everybody’s Talkin’ – Nilsson
12. Temptation – New Order
13. Tumbling Dice – The Rolling Stones
14. Anchorage – Michelle Shocked
15. The Tears Of A Clown – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
16. Fall On Me – REM
17. That’s Entertainment – The Jam
18. Faith Healer – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
19. Starman – David Bowie
20. Kid – The Pretenders
21. Dr. Jimmy – The Who
22. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now – The Smiths
23. Daydream Believer – The Monkees
24. Autobahn – Kraftwerk
25. Carey – Joni Mitchell
26. Tangled Up In Blue – Bob Dylan
27. Love Is Here (Now You’re Gone) – The Supremes
28. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes – Elvis Costello
29. This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) – Talking Heads
30. Joanne – Michael Nesmith
31. I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos
32. Sunshine Superman – Donovan
33. So It Goes – Nick Lowe
34. Do You Realize – The Flaming Lips
35. Dry The Rain – The Beta Band
36. New Speedway Boogie – The Grateful Dead
37. After The Goldrush – Neil Young
38. Up The Junction – Squeeze
39. Closing Time – Leonard Cohen
40. No Matter What – Badfinger
41. I’m On Fire – The Dwight Twilley Band
42. California – The Babys
43. Protection – Graham Parker And The Rumour
44. Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl – Mink Deville
45. You’re Not Smiling – Audience
46. Town Without Pity – Gene Pitney
47. Rockaway Beach – The Ramones
48. Walking On Sunshine – Katrina and The Waves
49. Starry Eyes – The Records
50. There She Goes – The La’s
51. Let’s Pretend – The Raspberries
52. The Rain, The Park & Other Things – The Cowsills
53. Settin’ The Woods On Fire – Hank Williams Sr.
54. Dressed Up Like Nebraska – Josh Rouse
55. Something In The Air – Thunderclap Newman
56. 96 Tears - ? and the Mysterians
57. I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers
58. I Hear You Knockin’ – Dave Edmunds
59. Heart Full Of Soul – The Yardbirds
60. There’s A Kind Of Hush – Herman’s Hermits
61. Band Of Gold – Freda Payne
62. Jockey Full Of Bourbon – Tom Waits
63. I Will Dare – The Replacements
64. Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
65. The Whole Of The Moon – The Waterboys
66. Greetings To The New Brunette – Billy Bragg
67. Kind Of A Drag – The Buckinghams
68. Don’t Sleep In The Subway – Petula Clark
69. Hank Panky – Tommy James And The Shondells
70. One Bad Apple – The Osmonds
71. If You Want Me To Stay – Sly And The Family Stone
72. I Can Help – Billy Swan
73. Walk Away Renee – The Left Banke
74. Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
75. Bernadette – The Four Tops
76. I Want You Back – The Jackson 5
77. Stoney End – Barbara Streisand
78. Cracklin’ Rosie – Neil Diamond
79. Chasing Heather Crazy – Guided By Voices
80. Last Nite – The Strokes
81. Since I Left You – The Avalanches
82. You Get What You Give – New Radicals
83. Race For The Prize – The Flaming Lips
84. Designs On You – Old 97’s
85. Dry Your Eyes – The Streets
86.Float On – Modest Mouse
87. Coming Up Close – Til Tuesday
88. Happy Hour – The Housemartins
89. Diggin’ Your Scene – The Blow Monkeys
90. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
91. Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young
92. Absent Friends – The Divine Comedy
93.Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
94. Terry Stafford - Suspicion
95. Buddy Holly & the Crickets - Oh Boy / Not Fade Away
96. Honeycombs - Have I The Right?
97. Bobby Darin - Beyond the Sea
98. Santo & Johnny - Sleep Walk
99. Chad and Jeremy - A Summer Song
100. Dusty Springfield - I Only Want to Be With You

New Session

Just upped a new session recorded yesterday evening drive time.
Enjoy. 
 Radio Hannibal 7.22.09   

Vinatge American Top 40 Shows

Casey Kasem may have just retired last week from doing some form of current hit countdown show.  I didn't even know he was still doing such a show.  How I, and many, remember Casey is as the host of American Top 40 , a nationally syndicated weekly show that counted down the top 40 singles as tallied by Billboard.  The show is still running strong and now called AT 40, hosted by American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest. 

Recently though, Casey's son, Mike, and Premier Networks have packaged the vintage shows for current radio.  The 70's version airs locally twice on Sundays on WMJI.  There's an 80's version that doesn't get heard around here. 

I'm a nut for this type of programming and have made it a habit of tuning in every Sunday.  I really enjoy hearing those songs in the upper tiers that never quite become a big hit and may be years since you last heard them.

I started to do some searching online to see if there's a bigger nut than me.  One who may be recording the shows, turning them into MP3's and then uploading them for all to hear whenever and wherever they like.  Alas, I haven't found such a blog site yet.

In my searching I did find a station out of Boston, WODS, Oldies 103 who have the the last few shows archived for on-demand listening.  The bandwidth and/or server isn't the greatest so the sound is not as good as FM radio.  Still, it's better than nothing. 

 

A Great New Streaming Radio Portal

Always on the lookout for great radio sites online that offer streaming of their broadcast, I stumbled across a new one last week that's captured my fancy.  It's called Reciva. 

The site appears to originate from England.  I first found it while looking at a write up on a new Internet Radio Device.  That's the fancy term for a radio that is capable of "tuning in" internet radio streams. 

With every passing day new radios of this type hit the market.  One of the more popular in the US is  made by Tivoli.  There are in dash car units being made.  When these car radios are built into new cars it'll mark the end days of satellite radio.  How the majority of us will access the internet while mobile is still unclear.  It'll either be through a network such as 3G (think iPhone) or through Wi-Max, a wi-fi signal on steroids being test marketed in certain US cities and abroad.  More on this at a future date.

What's great about these internet radio devices, aside from the relatively expensive prices, is its ease of use.  Simply plug the ethernet line carrying your internet into the device.  It's great for older folks who don't have a desire to wade through the internet. 

You don't need one of thse radios to enjoy streaming radio though.  As long as you have a computer with a soundcard and speakers you're all set.  Ideally, you then tie this into your home stereo set up.  Ask me how.

Now back to Reciva.  In the past I'd used Radio-Locator to find terrestrial stations that were streaming on the net.  Unfortunately that site has not been kept up to date nor does it include internet only stations.  The relatively new Reciva is very up to date and contains access to thousands of radio streams. 

These streams are categorized by country, format, etc., and searchable by popularity, alphabetical, etc.  Sign up and you can add stations to your list. 

As I type I'm listening to a rock station out of Denmark.  Bruce Springsteen is playing there tonight and I thought I might here some of the hype for the show. 

In the dead of winter I enjoy listening to stations in places like Australia where it's summer.   When I hear of a big news story I often tune in a station from that part of the world.  It's fascinating. 

I remember the thrill of tuning in AM radio stations from distant cities on my transistor while lying in bed at night as a kid.  This takes it to a whole new level.

Putting Michael Jackson In Perspective

With the sudden, unexpected passing of Michael Jackson (one of those "remember where you were when you heard the news" events) there's been heated discussion about celebrating his life and work.  I understand the passion on both sides, but here's my take. 

Certainly his life over the past 10 plus years has been that of a troubled and peculiar person.  He was cleared of the child abuse charges.  Yet, because there was a payout to the victim's family there's a clear majority thinking that he was guilty. 

His desire to change his skin color and entire appearance was looked on my some as an insult to African Americans.  Personally, I think he was transgendered and ideally wanted to look like a woman. 

Sure, there's plenty of fodder for talking about his personal life.  I haven't even gotten into Neverland and his exotic animal fascination. 

I prefer to remember the music.  Granted, Michael Jackson is not even close to the top of favorite artists of mine.  It's rare that I'd play any of his music other than when DJing parties.  But I realize what an impact he had on our culture. 

I am a year older than Michael Jackson.  And I recall vividly two TV appearances that had me riveted. 
Ed Sullivan Show in 1970


The Motown 25th Anniversary Show in 1983
I'm certain a number of you remember with amazement just as I do. I will not call him the "King Of Pop". It doesn't count when you crown yourself with a title. Still, he was an icon and left us with some great music.
Photo by Cleveland rock photographer Janet Macoska, the 1986 Bad tour

Bedazzled, A Cool Retro Blog

So, I just got turned onto yet another cool site.  A blog called Bedazzled.  It features lots of vintage and rare music videos, complete Shindig and Hullabaloo shows and much more cool stuff, including wack photos like this.

I can't seem to find an "about me" section on the site so I'm not quite sure who runs the thing.  If I'm not mistaken the guy's a DJ at WFMU, one the premier public radio stations in the country.
 

Watchinshadows, My Favorite Youtube Channel

Over the weekend I was turned on to, what has now become, my favorite Youtube site.  It's called Watchinshadows and was created by a blues musician from England.   It's really two separate groups of videos. 

First, there's his favorite videos, mostly consisting of rare rock and blues songs.  A real treasure trove at your fingertips. 

But what has me enamored with Watchinshadows is his own video creations.  These consist of obscure early rock and R&B songs in which he puts together collages of all things retro schtick from sci-fi B movie clips to old monster trading cards to 50's era BDSM and pin up photos.  For you Clevelanders, think Ghoulardi of whom I've spoken about in the past.

In fact, I brought him up in a post about the death of Lux Interior.  Not surprisingly, Watchinshadows wallpaper on the site is of Lux's band, The Cramps.  It's a site that Lux would've loved.