The Latest 80’s Fashion
The look back at the 1980’s career of one of the most influential electronic bands in history, Depeche Mode, before they became a huge mainstream success. #depechemode #1980s #electronicmusic
“I’d like to thank the Academy and all the little people…”
For April Fool’s Day, and just weeks from the annual Golden Raspberry Awards (The Razzies), a program featuring some of the worst and sometime unintentionally hilarious film music of the 80’s and 90’s wrapped in an essay of how badly people have ruined the entire award system by truly not challenging it at every level. #razzies #filmmusic #1980s #1990s #razzies #aprilfools #webbys #commuunicatorawards
Soul Jazz, Pt. 2 (Jazz Day 2017 Archive Program)
The second and last of the final two International Jazz Day archive programs, featuring Jazz music’s biggest and most lasting impact on popular music. #jazzday #souljazz #jazz
Soul Jazz, Pt. 1 (Jazz Day 2017 Archive Program)
The first of the final two International Jazz Day archive programs, featuring Jazz music’s biggest and most lasting impact on popular music. #jazzday #souljazz #jazz
Layover in Tago Mago
A look at one of the strangest progressive rocks albums in history by German group Can, featuring a Japanese lead singer, with an influence that would be felt less in traditional rock circles but prove highly influential on alternative rock and indie music. #can #krautrock #1970s #progrock #komischemusik
Sisters of The 70’s
For those of you who may believe that the “Girl Group” sound died in the 1960’s, it didn’t. It decided to evolve and mature in ways that were’t always geared at the Pop chart, and with a newfound freedom that didn’t always include bouffant hairdos, high heels and with new found themes of independence and honesty. #IWD2021 ##InternationalWomensDay
Hitchcock Out To Sea
Scripted radio drama in your home prior to the mass adoption of television and streaming that is so commonplace today. #hitchcock #Steinbeck #radio
Electric Miles (Jazz Day 2018, Pt. 2)
Revisiting my International Jazz Day program from three years ago for Black History Month, with a two part special focusing on the Jazz idioms most visible practitioner, Miles Davis, during his “electric period”, which saw him move away from traditional Jazz (again) and create a whole new vocabulary for the art form. jazzday #jazzfusion #milesdavis #BHM #BlackHistoryMonth
Electric Miles (Jazz Day 2018, Pt. 1)
Revisiting my International Jazz Day program from three years ago for Black History Month, with a two part special focusing on the Jazz idioms most visible practitioner, Miles Davis, during his “electric period”, which saw him move away from traditional Jazz (again) and create a whole new vocabulary for the art form. #jazzday #jazzfusion #milesdavis
The Other Side of Love, Vol. 2
Revisiting the tumultuous decade that almost saw the organization that had been the leading and most successful Black business in history almost go bankrupt as it struggled to find its voice. #motown #1970s #blackhistorymonth #BHM #marywilson #singlesawarenessday #valentines #valentinesday
All The Squares Go Home
Spotlighting the first several years of a band that blew all conventions out the door, Sky and The Family Stone, the first major music act that was multi-gendered and multi-ethnic, who also became the Haight-Ashbury San Francisco music scene’s most popular act. #blackhistorymonth #BHM #slystone #psychedelicsoul #rockandroll #RandB #1960s
Bartender, I’ll Have a Triple Icy Stalli Bacardi.
Spotlighting a unique moment in music history, one where female Hip Hop artists of color are making their biggest-ever impact on the charts and on culture. Featuring Saweetie, aka Icy, Megan Thee Stallion, aka Stalli and Carbi B, aka Bacardi. NOTE: This program contains language and subject matter some may find objectionable. We are in … Continue reading Bartender, I’ll Have a Triple Icy Stalli Bacardi.
The First Lady of Songbooks (Jazz Day 2019 Pt. 2)
A slightly edited version of the program I ran almost two years ago for International Jazz Day. This is the second of two parts featuring what many consider the greatest vocal Jazz albums in history by an artist considered one of the immortals. #ella #Jazz #ellafitzgerald #jazzday
Ella and The Duke (Jazz Day 2019 Pt. 1)
Part of the program I ran almost two years ago for International Jazz Day. This is the first of two parts featuring what many consider the greatest vocal Jazz albums in history by an artist considered one of the immortals. #ella #Jazz #ellafitzgerald #dukellington #jazzday
Wolves Like Them
A career retrospective of one of the most unique bands of the new millennium, TV On The Radio, who are one of the few music acts that continually create and release alternative rock in a sea of radio morass. #TVontheradio #TVOTR #altrock
More Than Apple Vanity
For this series 100th program, a extended show dedicated to some of the many talented artists of music history’s most amazing experiment in the business, Apple Records, that started off with great promise but crashed and burned amid a bitter divorce among what were once close friends. #beatles #applerecords #apple
The Continuing Legacy of Mr. Excitement
Responding to fans of this show about the first song played after Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, one that somehow makes all the crazy in 2020 a little more bearable. #jackiewilson #RandB #rockandroll #oldiesbutgoodies #oldies #joebiden #kamalaharris
The Mighty Van Halen
A band who was told they had no future that became a defining example of American Hard Rock. Eddie Van Halen, thank you for your gifts. #vanhalen #hardrock #rockandroll #guitarrock #fuckcancer #NYE202
Willing to Play Two Female Country Artists In A Row
Spotlighting the early achievements of female artists in the 74 years of the Billboard Country Chart’s existence, which, since its inception, has been a hard, rough and long continuous battle to be heard and represented. #country #countrymusic #womeninmusic Recently, Billboard magazine reported, in an article disseminated by the Associated Press, a startling find: by mid-summer … Continue reading Willing to Play Two Female Country Artists In A Row
Ma Rainey’s Original Black Bottom
A brief overview and spotlight on the real Blues musician who’s name adorns an upcoming film on Netflix that features Academy Award winner Viola Davis and the last filmed performance of Chadwick Boseman. #marainey #blues #bluesmusic More than 75 percent of all correspondence to me is concerning an artist or recorded audio that someone has … Continue reading Ma Rainey’s Original Black Bottom
A Marvelously Unofficial Soundtrack
Though no one seems to know why, the songs in film soundtrack to Captain Marvel didn’t rate a physical release, which is a major disappointment, considering the number of Black female artists in it. So, giving you a special digital one here, since they can’t pull it off. #moviemusic #captainmarvel #MCU #Marvel #brielarson
Ain’t That The Gospel Truth?
A focus on the brief, soulful, funky and amazing period in the early 1970’s when Black music had no bounds, including reminding us all that it not only came from the Blues, it also came from church. #gospel #soulgospel #stax #gospeltruth
Fela Kuti and Africa ’70 On World AIDS Day
December 1st is the 32nd Annual observance of World AIDS Day. As a tribute to people worldwide who have lost their lives to this disease or are still living with it, we dedicate this show to you and to our spotlight artist this week, Fela Kuti. #AIDS #HIV #WAD2020 #Africa #Nigeria #Highlife #afrobeat
The Music of Degenerates That Became a Phenomenon
Birthed from the same circumstances that gave rise to the U.K. Punk scene, The New Wave of British Heavy Metal took the sound of what was called “degenerate trash” by the mainstream and transformed it into a worldwide phenomenon. #heavymetal #metal #UKmetal #NWOBHM
The Return of the Hip-Hop Album Statement Artist
The last decade has primarily seen Hip-Hop artists focus on singles in place of albums, much like in its early history, but Kendrick Lamar has carved out his place as the rare current artist who maintains a foot in both worlds. #kendricklamar #hiphop
Dance Away Alzheimer’s Vol. 2
Our second annual show dedicated to your health and wellness, with this year’s focus being on dance tracks featuring female and female fronted acts of the New Wave era. #alzheimers #dance #newwave #womeninmusic
They Were On A Mission From God
A tribute to our friend and loved one Wendy Posson who who left us at the age of 50 last month. The Blues Brothers was hands down her favorite film, and we are celebrating one of cinema’s most outrageous, most diverse and most amazing musical movies in her memory.
#bluesbrothers #filmmusic #blues #rhythmandblues #soul #danaykroyd #johnbelishi #johnlandis #jamesbrown #cabcalloway #arethafranklin #raycharles #johnleehoker #tvthemes
Fake News and Alien Heavy Metal
Orson Wells proved to the world he was a media genius without limits with a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds that literally shocked many and even drew the ire of a dictator. #orsonwelles #waroftheworlds #radio #mercurytheater
The Very Short In-Town Move
How can a group survive by proudly staying local, being possibly too talented for their own good, not being pigeonholed and rising to the occasion when others drop the ball? Not for long, at least in the case of The Move. #themove #roywood #jefflynne #bevbevan #freakrock #UKrock #psychedelic #powerpop
We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1979!
One of the few bands to survive the Garage Rock revival of the new millennium, The Strokes have carved out their own corner of cool by looking back twenty years prior to their formation. #postpunk #altrock #garagerock #newwave
Santana and the Latin Rock Breakthrough
Though Hispanic/Latinx/Latino music from the United States of the last couple of decades has primarily focused on club bangers and Pop music, there was a time when practically everyone in the underground and the mainstream was grooving to a brand new and hip sound not before experienced by anyone. #hispanicheritagemonth #latinorock #lantinx #santana
Janis Forever
Before there was the marketing catchphrase “Women In Rock”, there was Janis Joplin, who set a standard so incredibly high that 50 years after her passing, no one can match her. #bluesrock #womeninmusic #blues #acoustic #rockandroll #rock #counterculture #LGBTQ #bivisibility #guitarrock #janis #janisjoplin
The Other Passion of RBG
Regardless of your political views, there was one unmistakable truth about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Opera was what she loved. #RBG #Opera #Classical
Phil May Was The Prettiest Thing
A tribute to one of the greatest “cult” bands of all time, which featured lead singer and songwriter Phil May, Rock and Roll’s first true bisexual frontman. #bivisibilityday #britishinvasion #garagerock #psychedelic #guitarrock
Ladies of Latin Freestyle
Kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 is a program featuring remixes and extended tracks from the mainland United States first-ever homegrown Hispanic music movement. #lantinx #hispanicheritagemonth #dance #oldschool
When Hippies Overtook The Great White Way
Billed as the “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”, Hair made an immediate and far-reaching impact outside of Broadway. NOTE: This program contains language and subject matter not suitable for all audiences. Racism. The Vietnam War. Rejection of uptight sexual mores. Nudity. Profanity. Simulating open drug use. Hippies and the counterculture. This was definitely not your parent’s … Continue reading When Hippies Overtook The Great White Way
Black Jazz on Broadway
The legacy of Ain’t Misbehavin’ is that the genius of Fats Waller might never have been recognized if this Broadway show, first appearing in 1978, had not been made. #jazz #broadway #fatswaller #aintmisbehavin #blackhistory
Start Them Young: The Rockabye Baby Series
look at the cleverly executed and incredibly popular children’s music series. #childrensmusic #kids #infants
Black Prison Work Songs -Repost
Mid-20th Century historical recordings of Black men and women in two of the most notorious and dangerous jails in the U.S. #blues #folkmusic #prisonsongs #acappella
Music from the Matrix Films
With the new Matrix film being pushed back by Warner Brothers until April of 2022, here is a chance for you to recap one part of what made this film series so very special. #matrix #animatrix #filmmusic #instrumental #techno
Jazz Fusion: 1969-1976, Pt. 2
The second of the two International Jazz Day 2016 promised to all of you I would start bringing out of the archives. #jazzday #JazzFusion #Jazz #JazzRock Note: Biographical/historical information about each selection follows below the track listing. Even though the seeds of what we now call the first wave of Jazz Fusion had been sewn … Continue reading Jazz Fusion: 1969-1976, Pt. 2
Jazz Fusion: 1969-1976, Pt. 1
The first of the two International Jazz Day 2016 promised to all of you I would start bringing out of the archives. #jazzday #JazzFusion #Jazz #JazzRock
Art Laboe, The Original Oldie But Goodie
Happy 95th birthday to a man who not only is a Guinness World Record holder for broadcasting, he literally saved an entire era of music by people of color from being whitewashed and became an icon of Southern California Hispanic culture. #oldies #oldiesbutgoodies #lowrider #chicano #rhythmnadblues #rockandroll #doowop #crusing
Aerosmith Ruled The 1970’s
Sex. Drugs. Rock and Roll. Amplified to 11 with the power of a freight train. For those who rabbit on about being a “rockstar”, know that the Bad Boys from Boston wrote the book and then set it on fire. #aerosmith #classicrock #hardrock #rockandroll #loveislove #LGBTQ
Free Your Ass, Indie Style: Funkadelic 1969-1976
Before they were the most funky of them all, Funkadelic were an incredibly talented indie band that struggled for years. #funkadelic #indiemusic #psychedelicsoul #funk #p-funk
Pure Escapism: Sunshine Pop 1965-1970
Popular music can be used as a vehicle to reflect the politics of the day. More often, though, it is used an escape, and a means to remember the beauty of the world. #popmusic #sunshinepop #AMRadioGold
The Early Drama of Fleetwood Mac 67-74
The amazing and often overlooked early years of a classic rock mainstay. #fleetwoodmac #classicrock #petergreen
Rush In The 70’s
The greatest power trio ever had some interesting early history, with a sound that took time to develop. We all had to start somewhere, and here it is. #canadaday #canadaday2020 #rush #progrock
Rush In The 80’s
The greatest power trio in history decides to expand their sound and take chances in their second decade, resulting in world-wide commercial success. #canadaday #canadaday2020 #rush #progrock
Black Message Tracks, 64-75, Part 3
The third of three programs this month that focus on the original Black Power and Black Pride movements, with commentary by special guest host Ronald E. Smith, and by request. #blackpower #blackpride #blacklivesmatter
Black Message Tracks, 64-75, Part 2
The second of three programs this month that focus on the original Black Power and Black Pride movements, with commentary by special guest host Ronald E. Smith, and by request. #blackpower #blackpride #blacklivesmatter
Black Message Tracks, 64-75, Part 1
The first of three programs this month that focus on the original Black Power and Black Pride movements, with commentary by special guest host Ronald E. Smith, and by request. #blackpower #blackpride #blacklivesmatter
Catching Up With Tame Impala
Catching Up With Tame Impala
Like so many other artists, plans for a huge summer tour in support of an another amazingly excellent new release have been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is your chance to play catch up. #tameimpala #kevinparker #COVID19
Some Gave All: Glenn Miller
Some Gave All: Glenn Miller
This Memorial Day, we remember a musician who gave everything for his country. #glennmiller #bigband #andrewsisters #veterans #memorialday #stopnazis
“Florian Schneider is Recharging His Battery”
“Florian Schneider is Recharging His Battery”
The co-founder of electronic music pioneers and early Hip-Hop influence Kraftwerk passed away in April, but his death was not revealed until the first week of May. #electronica #kraftwerk #florianschneider #krautrock
Polarizing Without Bears: Trout Mask Replica
Polarizing Without Bears: Trout Mask Replica
A half hour overview of quite possibly the strangest and most awesomely un-listenable album in history. #captainbeefheart #troutmaskreplica
Brian Eno’s Headphone Music
Brian Eno’s Headphone Music
A triumph from tragedy story that changed music forever. #eno #brianeno #newage #ambient
When Boys Were In Bands: Duran Duran
When Boys Were In Bands: Duran Duran
Along with Michael Jackson, this was the band that helped kick-start a lifeless and dull music scene in the early 1980’s. #duranduran #synthpop #newwave #boyband #dancemusic
John Coltrane on Impulse
John Coltrane on Impulse
A brief overview of the final years of a legend gone far too soon. #JazzDay #IJD2020 #Coltrane #Jazz #JazzDayAtHome
#JazzDay 2016-2019 Archives
#JazzDay 2016-2019 Archives
By request, publishing my four previous Int’l. #JazzDay programs as special event pages here on this website. #JazzDayAtHome #MusicEducation #covid-19
The Weeknd Brings the 80’s to the 20’s
For the last decade, he has not only brought the auto-biographical hits, he is currently the hottest act in music going by bridging decades and being unashamed about his influences. #theweeknd
The Flaming Lips Are The New Normal
Only in 2020 could the strangest and most-off kilter band to probably ever record for a major label could this band sound absolutely normal. #flaminglips #altrock #lonniedench
When James Brown Became The Godfather
The first half of the 1970’s proved not only to be Brown’s most challenging, electrifying and productive but also signaled the end of his chart supremacy. #jamesbrown #godfatherofsoul
April Fool’s Take A Break Show
The world has gone absolutely crazy. Take an hour to laugh, because those troubles are gonna still be there waiting for you. #COVID19 #noveltysongs #comedy #unemployment
When American Hard Rock Blasted from Your Camaro
Revisiting a time when all young people really wanted was to be free of bad news, and of course get laid and get high. #hardrock #rockandroll #AOR
Sly and Robbie are Jamaica’s Secret Weapon
Even though Bob Marley was crucial to the development of Reggae and Jamaican music, it was Sly and Robbie who gave it an expansive new vocabulary. #Reggae #Dub #Dancehall #Ska
Obligatory U2 St. Patrick’s Day Program
Coronavirus fears and stock market troubles got you in the worst of moods lately? Take a much needed break to focus on fun and wellness. #U2 #COVID-19 #stpatrick #selfcare
The Rock Hall’s Most Epic Fail: The Absence of Carol Kaye
The woman behind the soundtrack of our lives. #EachforEqual #IWD2020 #EveryWoman
AC/DC: The Bon Scott Years
A tribute to a man who helped made Rock and Roll dirty, loud and fun again. #rockandroll #acdc #bonscott
John Coltrane on Atlantic
Celebrating the brief by highly pivotal brief career of one of the most celebrated Jazz masters during his time on a label founded to bring Black musicians a wider audience. #atlanticrecords #johncoltrane #jazz
The Women of Stax/Volt
Spotlighting female solo acts and groups of history’s greatest Soul label. #BHM2020 #staxrecords #rhythmandblues #soul #deepsoul #northernsoul
The Other Side Of Love
Spotlighting songs for Singles Awareness Day with classic tracks and rarely heard gems from the Motown vaults. #blackhistorymonth #classicsoul #motown #valentinesday #singlesawarenessday
When Public Enemy Were The Most Dangerous Band In The World
The group that changed Hip Hop forever when many in the industry were about to declare it dead by the end of the 1980’s. #publicenemy #hiphop #BHM2020
James Baldwin Speaks
One of the most lauded authors and civil rights activists of the 20th Century was Black and openly gay. #BHM2020
Steve Marriott, The Greatest Mod Rocker You Never Knew
A birthday tribute to one of the most underrated and largely forgotten great classic rock British musicians. #smallfaces #humblepie #stevemarriott
Burning The Black Flag
The Clash were billed by their major label marketing department as “the only band that matters”, not even realizing they were already being surpassed the most indie and hardcore of them all. #blackflag #punk #hardcore #SST
The Staple Singers on Stax for Sandra Parks
Featuring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in tribute for the late Sandra Parks on Dr. King’s birthday. #sandraparks #endgunviolencetogether #MLKDay #staplesingers #stax #cnn #brookebaldwin #blacklivesmatter
Cher in the Early 1970’s
Looking back at the period when she went from being Mrs. Sonny Bono to a huge solo star. Dedicating this program to Amy Borsetti of LinkedIn, who openly stated she was really excited to Cher.
World Psychedelic Music
With 2020 promising to be the most surreal year ever in U.S. history, consider this your introduction to the New Year. #psychedelic #worldmusic
Purple Rain, 1984 and Pop’s Perfect Year
There may be more than a bit of truth to older folk bemoaning the fact that radio sucks at the moment, so consider this your alternative NYE2020 party playlist. #Prince #NYE2020 #Apollonia #PurpleRain #TheTime #1984
Aretha’s Amazing Grace
Just in time for Christmas and a review of what was the most talked about documentary of 2019. #arethafranklin #queenofsoul #gospel
Switched-On Wendy Carlos (Audio and Video)
To the children of the revolution, this one is especially for you. This program is presented by a long-term HIV/AIDS survivor and Leatherman which spotlights a trans woman who changed the music forever. #wendycarlos #transvisibility
George Lucas, Mrs. Anna Brown asked me to tell you thank you.
Keeping a promise I made in 1982 to my mother, who left us on the 20th of November at the age of 70. #georgelucas #mom #oldiesbutgoodies
World AIDS Day, Sylvester and HIV Stigma
A tribute to a true original and queer icon. Fight HIV/AIDS, not people with HIV/AIDS. #WAD2019 #EndHIVStigma #AIDS
Happy 80th Birthday Tina Turner!
Even though she once sang that we didn’t need another hero, she became one to us with her class, grace, positive attitude and self-confidence, showing us all that there are second acts in American lives. #tinaturner
Dance Away Alzheimer’s
This year’s annual Alzheimer’s Prevention show is seeking a specific audience: those who were alive when these songs were new. That doesn’t mean the rest of you can’t have some fun, children. #Alzheimers
Jessye Norman on Pigeons
The woman who once told a reporter that “pigeonholes were for pigeons” chose her own destiny in a world where Black women have often been dismissed and ignored. She left this mortal coil recently, and this program is in tribute to her gifts.
Veteran’s Day with Johnny Cash live (with Veteran’s Crisis Line info)
Celebrating the U.S. version of Armistice Day with Air Force veteran and Country music cornerstone Johnny Cash with live performances from 1955 to 1968. Additionally, about 20 veterans daily commit suicide, far higher than the national average. There is 24/7 free help available to you.
Lizzo, Overnight Sensation Ten Years in the Making
The artist of the year seemingly took everyone by surprise, with most not even realizing she has been one of the hardest working artists around for almost a decade.
Siouxsie and the Banshees, ‘Cause When You’re Goth, Everyday is Halloween
Celebrating a holiday some will call Samhain, some will call Halloween with a band that proved there is nothing to fear from the darkness.
Beyond the Grunge: Soundgarden
A band that came to represent the Grunge movement of the early 1990’s transcended it to create a new type of classic rock.
The Runaways: You Were Not Ready For This
The Runaways: You Were Not Ready For This #rocktober #joanjett #litaford #runaways
Glitter and Glam: When Rock Became Fabulous
Resurrecting a scene that had become dull and reminding us all that style and substance often go hand in hand. #glamrock
King Crimson 1969-1974
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of their debut, the album and band that launched Progressive Rock. #progrock #kingcrimson
Linda Creed: The Jewish Heart of the Quiet Storm
In honor of the Jewish New Year, a program none of you were expecting. #RoshHashana #LindaCreed #QuietStorm #SoulMusic
Fania Records, Part 2
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! The second of two parts celebrating one of the greatest indie labels of all time. #fania
Fania Records, Part 1
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! One of two parts celebrating one of the greatest indie labels of all time. #fania #hispanicheritagemonth #latinx
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Ashura
Not every cisgender, pissed off, middle-aged white man in the U.S. with an internet connection hates Muslims. You needed to know that today. #ashura
American Folk Revival 58-68
Proving there was a time when songcraft and honesty were still a viable means of communication. #folkmusic
1950’s Urban Blues: The Genesis Of It All
Blues music underwent a radical transformation after the Second World War, with its musicians creating the basis of all popular modern music. #blues
Ibibio Sound Machine: You Need This In Your Life
A new band that is more than a nostalgia act: they are one of the few groups keeping and updating an African musical heritage. #ibibiosound
Amyl and The Sniffers: The Hot Rock
Rock is dead. Long live rock from a band that play it like they invented it. #amylandthesniffers
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
The last artist to play the storied festival did so to the smallest crowd of Woodstock. #woodstock #woodstock50
Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock
Coming on with no sleep and high on LSD, the top female fronted band of the 1960’s blew everyone away. #woodstock50
Judas Priest, Leather and Queer Media
An Oregon Leather Pride 2019 program that shows how queer media often draws lines in the sand. #leather #judaspriest
Bette Midler and the Divine Miss M’s 1970’s Cabaret
Seemingly without fear or irony, The Divine Miss M re-established the cabaret as a viable commercial force. #divinemissm #bettemidler
Sturgill Simpson and Why Country Radio Hates Him
The hottest and most critically acclaimed country act this decade is one you probably won’t hear on country radio. #sturgillsimpson #country