Today's Five O'Clock Rock (Episode 46)

Okay, this takes some background.

Way back, there was this scene that my friend Kit and I always talked about putting into a screenplay. It was basically a real conversation of ours. The scene would have gone something like this:

INT. CAR
J is driving. KIT is shotgun. On the radio, Sam Cooke's "What a Wonderful World" is in its final chorus.
KIT: What a perfect song. Just perfect. Sam Cooke, right?
J: Yep.
KIT: Man, whatever happened to him?
J: He was shot outside a motel office, wearing nothing but a trenchcoat.
KIT: JESUS. Really?
J: Mmm-hmm.
On the radio, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" begins to play.
KIT: Nothing bad happened to Marvin Gaye, did it?
J: Shot.
KIT: Damn.
J: By his own father.
KIT: Fuck!
KIT reaches over and turns the radio dial.
KIT: Them?
J: Singer, car crash.
KIT changes the dial again.
J: Car.
Again.
J: Car.
Again.
J: Plane.
Again.
J: Drowned.
Again.
J: Can't remember. Something with vomit.
Again.
J: Drowned in vomit.
KIT turns off the radio.
KIT: Okay. The one song that will cheer me up, no matter what's wrong. (INHALES) Please, please tell me that, somewhere, the theme-from-"Maude" guy is a fat happy grandpa.
J: Fell out a window.
There is silence.
KIT: (POINTS) That bar up there.
J: Sounds good.
EXT. CAR
The car exits the freeway.
KIT: But then we're sleeping it off in the car.

Sorry. It's just been that sort of week. Not to mention how I felt myself age by writing that I have used a car radio with dials.

Intro
Big Houses / House Of Freaks
I'm Free Now / Morphine
#1 Hit Song / Minutemen
Ticket Tulane / Silkworm
Trouble / Little Feat
Ballad Of Big Nothing / Elliott Smith
Things Behind The Sun / Nick Drake
New Year's Prayer / Jeff Buckley
You And Your Sister / Chris Bell
That's Where It's At / Sam Cooke
When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You / Marvin Gaye
You've Got A Friend / Donny Hathaway
I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song / Jim Croce
Let's Get Lost / Chet Baker
Loving You / Minnie Riperton
Don't Cry / J Dilla

This Friday's Mix: Whatever Happened To?

Do This, Don't Do That/Can't Yuu Read the Sign?



This picture, it's hilareus.

Word of the Week

Se•cret Han•ta

(n.) The process of swapping viruses at holiday gatherings, usually done anonymously.

I think Cousin Earl must have had me for Secret Hanta. I remember seeing him sneeze into the cider.

Today's Five O'Clock Rock (Episode 45)

All the better to rock you.

Intro
What Would Wolves Do? / Les Savy Fav
The Wolf Put His Mouth On Me / His Name Is Alive
The Grandmother Wolf / Pretty Girls Make Graves
Teenage Werewolf / The Barbarellas
Hungry Like the Wolf / Duran Duran
Wild Flower / The Cult
Run With The Wolf / Rainbow
Werewolves of London / Magnolia Electric Co
Little Red Riding Hood / Sea Monster
Clap for the Wolfman / The Guess Who
Hillbilly Wolf / Link Wray
The Howling Wolf / Lightnin' Hopkins
Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon / Super Furry Animals
Full Moon / The Kinks
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Part 2) / Jimmy Smith
Prenez garde au grand méchant loup / Django Reinhardt

This Friday's Mix: What Big Teeth

Today's Five O'Clock Rock (Episode 16)

This is something of a repeat, but it's new to the podcast. So don't drive yourself crazy asking which came first.

Intro
Chicken Payback / A Band Of Bees
Mansize Rooster / Supergrass
Chicken Little Was Right / The Turtles
Chicken Pox / Booker T. & The M.G.'s
Memphis Women and Chicken / Dan Penn
Chicken Shack / Charlie Musselwhite
Chicken Shake / Stereo MC's
Chicken / Devendra Banhart
Chicken Grease / D'Angelo
Do the Funky Chicken / Rufus Thomas
How Funky Is Your Chicken / Jackson 5
Sweet Rhode Island Red / Ike & Tina Turner
Egg Man / The Beastie Boys
A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off / The Magnetic Fields
Want Me Cock / Owen & Leon Silveras
Chicken Talk / Yma Sumac

This Friday's Mix: Chicken!

When Character Limits Go Really, Really Wrong

Today's Five O'Clock Rock (Episode 44)

What do toddlers and job seekers have in common?

Intro
(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea / Elvis Costello
I Don't Want to Lose You / The Smithereens
I Don't Wanna Face It / John Lennon
I Don't Know What I Want / The Raspberries
I Don't Ever Want to Come Down / The 13th Floor Elevators
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely / Hüsker Dü
I Don't Want To Lose You Yet / Eddie Spaghetti
I Don't Want To Get Over You / Mary Lou Lord
I Don't Want to Know / Nils Lofgren
I Don't Want Love / Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks
(I Don't Want To) Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes / The Band
I Don't Want to Know / Fleetwood Mac
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party / The Blazers
I Don't Want to Kill Anymore / Chan Poling
I Don't Want You On My Mind / Bill Withers
I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire / Ink Spots

This Friday's Mix: No, Thanks!

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Making like a tree and getting out of here.

Intro
Modeling Sucks / Handsome Boy Modeling School
I'm Settin Away / Fu Manchu
Gonna Leave You / Queens Of The Stone Age
Color Me Gone / Girl Trouble
Goodbye To You / Scandal
Auf Wiedersehen / Cheap Trick
Goodbye Again / The Iguanas
Call It a Day / The Raconteurs
Never Can Say Goodbye / Isaac Hayes
…And I'm Out / Galactic w/ Mr. Lif
Moving / Supergrass
Gone For Good / The Shins
I'm Bound to Pack it Up / The White Stripes
Kyle Quit The Band / Tenacious D
Over The Hills And Far Away / Led Zeppelin
Drift Away / Dobie Gray

This Friday's Mix: Bye Now

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

The definitive infinitive.

Intro
Cruel To Be Kind / Spacehog
Made To Be Broken / Soul Asylum
Right To Be Wrong / Delbert McClinton
Got To Be Someone / The Waco Brothers
Ways To Be Wicked / Lone Justice
Nothing To Be Done / The Pastels
Never To Be Repeated / The Long Blondes
Fun To Be Happy / Love Tractor
Got To Be Free / The Rulers
Soon To Be Large / Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf
Free To Be Freaks / The Freak Accident
Born To Be Hit / The New Duncan Imperials
Born To Be Bad / Carl Mann
Happy To Be Here / Todd Snider
Hard To Be You / The 88
Touched To Be Sure / Robert Pollard

This Friday's Mix: That Is the Question

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Okay, so, I got an iPhone. I began the day of the price cuts swearing I'd never do it, but after five minutes of trying one out, I had to do it. It's the mapping. Maps and directions on demand are crucial for someone with a notoriously bad sense of direction like mine. I get lost constantly, but I can totally grasp where I should be if I can just see it. Now I'm totally set.

Unless I lose the iPhone.

Intro
I Got Kinda Lost / Chris Bell
Lost In the Supermarket / The Clash
Finding My Way / Rush
Can't Find My Way Home / Styx
There's No Way Out Of Here / David Gilmour
Is This Where? / Mission of Burma
Lost Highway / Hank Williams
Turn Around / Carl Perkins
Side O' The Road / Creedence Clearwater Revival
Too Late to Turn Back Now / Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
Will it Go 'Round In Circles / Billy Preston
A Place Nobody Can Find / Sam & Dave
There's A Break In The Road / Betty Harris
Love Map / Lyndon
Farther On Down The Road (You Will Accompany Me) / Taj Mahal
Where Could I Go But To The Lord / Jesse Fuller

This Friday's Mix: A Bit Lost

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Seventeen years ago tomorrow, I was at Stevie Ray Vaughan's second-to-last show.

The van ride up to Alpine Valley was cramped. We sat way back on the lawn, relying on the video monitor to see anything at all. Wedged between Robert Cray, Jeff Healey and Eric Clapton, the Stevie Ray set wasn't nearly long enough. The drive back that same night was a long one. I think I wound up sleeping away most of Stevie Ray's last day on earth, just to recover from the trip.

But I would pay twenty times what I paid for that show to see it again. At these rates, you understand, all I ask for is a slightly more comfortable ride. Seventeen extra years aren't kind to the knees or ass.

Intro
Scuttle Buttin' / Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Couldn't Stand The Weather / SRV & DT
Change It / SRV & DT
Mary Had a Little Lamb / SRV & DT
These Blues Is Killing Me / A.C. Reed
Soulful Dress / Marcia Ball
Cold Shot / SRV & DT
Look At Little Sister / SRV & DT
Double Whammy / Lonnie Mack
C.O.D. / Angela Strehli & Stevie Ray Vaughn
Long Way From Home / The Vaughan Brothers
Pipeline / Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dick Dale
God Knows / Bob Dylan
Life By The Drop / Stevie Ray Vaughan
Lenny / SRV & DT
Life Without You / SRV & DT

This Friday's Mix: Couldn't Stand the Weather

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Because what's driving in the summertime without hot vinyl?

Intro
Summer's Cauldron / XTC
Grass / XTC
Every Kinda People / Robert Palmer
Harlem / Bill Withers
Take Me Girl (I'm Ready) / Jr. Walker and the Allstars
Hot Fun in the Summertime / Sly and the Family Stone
Please Don't Make Me Cry / UB40
Summer of Our Love / Bar-Kays
Summertime / Big Brother & the Holding Company
Thank You / Led Zeppelin
Deep Blue Sea / John Mayall
Under the Boardwalk / Sam & Dave
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White / Roy Clark
The Look of Love / Julius Wechter and the Baja Marimba Band
Tomorrow / Joe Walsh
Be Here Now / George Harrison

This Friday's Mix: Summerly Too

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Can’t think of joke no brain work mmmm summer.

Intro
Ponta De Lança Africano (Umbabaraúma) / Jorge Ben
Spark Plug / Stereolab
Chinese Checkers / Booker T. & The MG's
Un Homme Et Une Femme / Francis Lai
Scenic World / Beirut
Too Strong / The Sea And Cake
La Iguana / Los Lobos
Canterurias / Cecilia Barraza
Midnight at the Oasis / Maria Muldaur
Day Dreamin' / Aretha Franklin
Castles Made Of Sand / Jimi Hendrix Experience
At The River / Groove Armada
Simple X / Andrew Bird
Southern Nights / Allen Toussaint
Ené alantchi alnorem (I Can't Live Without You) / Mulatu Astatke
If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven / Leon Redbone

This Friday's Mix: Summerly

Worst-written Headline of the Day

"Bjorn Borg bitten during dogfight, withdraws from exhibition"

Disappointingly, one reads on to find out that the Wimbledon champ was (a) not in a dogfight, and therefore (b) was not taking part in a dogfighting exhibition.

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

What’s that rumbling? It’s like there’s-— AAAAH!

Intro
The Bug / Dire Straits
The Full Bug / Van Halen
Badass Bug / The Cramps
Cicada Rock / Southern Culture on the Skids
Earwigs In My Brain / The Meteors
Love Bug / Marcy Playground
Spider's Web / Mission of Burma
Centipede / Veruca Salt
Two Bugs And A Roach / Earl Hooker
Ole! Tarantula / Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3
Bug Scuffle / Swift Jewel Cowboys
Spider in the Snow / The Dismemberment Plan
The Moth / Aimee Mann
Insect Eyes / Devendra Banhart
Wedding Of The Bugs / Robbie Fulks
Ugh! It's a Bug! / Jim Post

This Friday's Mix: Bugs

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

Remember to always Bee Kind.

1. Intro
2. Quest for Fire / Iron Maiden
3. Lost In America / Alice Cooper
4. Six Pack / Black Flag
5. Colors / Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes
6. Strange Brew / Cream
7. Fame / David Bowie
8. Breathless / Robin Trower
9. Tightrope / Stevie Ray Vaughan
10. Running On Empty / Jackson Browne
11. Firestarter / .38 Special
12. Back to School / Ace Frehley
13. No Way Out / Electric Light Orchestra
14. Blue Thunder / Galaxie 500
15. Funny Farm / King Kong
16. All Of Me / King Pleasure
17. All the Right Moves / David Hasselhoff

This Friday's Mix: Yellowed VHS Cases

Today's Five O'Clock Rock*

Okay. So the Pistons beat the Bulls. But does Detroit have great music like--? Oh.

1. Intro
2. Down On The Street / The Stooges
3. High School / MC5
4. Meet the Creeper / Destroy All Monsters
5. Mesmerizer / The Come Ons
6. Hey Sailor / Detroit Cobras
7. C'mon C'mon / The Von Bondies
8. Eat This City / Thunderbirds Are Now!
9. Dance Commander / Electric Six
10. Dangerous / Sonic's Rendezvous Band
11. Livin' for the City / The Dirtbombs
12. Ten O'Clock / ? & The Mysterians
13. Mama Don't Allow No Parkin' / Brownsville Station
14. Hey Baby / Ted Nugent
15. Aimless Lady / Grand Funk Railroad
16. I'm Bound to Pack it Up / The White Stripes
17. Life In the D / Brendan Benson

This Friday's Mix: D-fense!
* Yes, it's late. Yes, it's partly repurposed from the pre-podcast era. Thanks for asking!

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

This one goes out to friends here from Amsterdam last week, and those who couldn't make the trip. Keep your fiets dry and your biertjes cold.

Intro
Lower the Boom / Ugly Duckling
Boom! Shake the Room / DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Boom Music / Quasimoto
Boom Bip / Zion I & Goapele
54321...Boom / Public Enemy
Boom Shak A-tack / Born Jamericans
Boom Boom Carnival / Aswad
Heart Go Boom / Apollo Four Forty
Bang-A-Lang-A-Boom-Er-Rang-Man / Jona Lewie
Boom Boom / John Lee Hooker
Boom Boom, Out Go the Lights / The Levon Helm Band
Get Out Of Here With Your Boom-Boom / Bobby Rush
Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom) / The Staple Singers
Boom-A-Rang / The Dynamic Soul Machine
Sophisticated Boom Boom / The Shangri-Las
Tchin Boom Da Ra / Frank Yankovic and His Yanks

This Friday's Mix: Baby Made a Boom

Today's Five O'Clock Rock

If you’d been wondering where the rock has been lately, the answer is three letters long.

1. Intro
2. Call It What You Want / Tesla
3. Takin' Care Of Business / Winnebago Deal
4. Takin' Care Of Business / Charlie Musselwhite
5. Jesus Just Left Chicago / ZZ Top
6. Take Care of Business / Nina Simone
7. T.C.B. / Diana Ross, The Supremes & The Temptations
8. Back in My Arms / Robert Palmer
9. Work To Do / The Isley Brothers
10. Funky Nassau, Pt. 1 / The Beginning Of The End
11. T.C.B. or T.Y.A. / Bobby Patterson
12. Slippery When Wet / The Commodores
13. I'm Livin' Right / Fats Domino
14. I Can Take Care Of Business / Syl Johnson
15. Dr. Feelgood / Aretha Franklin
16. Step Right Up / Tom Waits
17. The Mighty Stephen Hawking / M.C. Hawking

This Friday's Mix: TCB

Today's Five O'Clock Rock Why, yes, my refrigerator IS running. Why do you ask?

1. Intro
2. Chain of Fools / Paul Revere & The Raiders
3. You're Fooling You / The Dramatics
4. A Fool in Love / The Levon Helm Band
5. Ship of Fools / World Party & Anthony Thistlethwaite
6. Like A Fool / Superchunk
7. When I Was A Fool / Concrete Blonde
8. King of Fools / Social Distortion
9. Fool Too Long / Rockpile
10. Fools Gold / Rachel Sweet
11. Genitalia Of A Fool / Glenn Tilbrook
12. Everybody Plays the Fool / The Main Ingredient
13. Only A Fool Would Say That / Ivy
14. Sentimental Fool / Lloyd Cole
15. Who Will the Next Fool Be / Charlie Rich
16. A Fool For You / Ray Charles
17. Fool's Paradise / Sam Cooke

This Friday's Mix: Fool Frontal