Came directly from an opening set by Scott Miller, so played some of his songs to start. Then it was a salute to a lot of July 15 birthdays: from Roky Erickson, of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, who turned 69; to Linda Ronstadt, who turned 70. Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls would have been 64 today but died in 1991 at 38; Ian Curtis of Joy Division would have been 60; he died in 1980 at the age of 23.
On this date in 1973, Ray Davies of the Kinks said he was calling it quits (though he didn’t). but we don’t need much of a reason to play The Kinks. Closed out, rather abruptly, with some Sufjan Stevens, since it is his show next Friday that may pre-empt the show altogether.
Here’s what I played on the radio tonight:
Friday Night Rock, 7-15-2016, 10:30 p.m.-1 a.m., Radio CPR, 101.7 FM, Washington, D.C.
- It Didn’t Take Too Long,” Scott Miller and the Commonwealth
- “Amtrak Crescent,” Scott Miller and the Commonwealth
- “Ciderville Saturday Night,” Scott Miller and the Commonwealth
- “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” The Thirteenth Floor Elevators
- “If You Have Ghosts,” John Wesley Harding and the Good Liars
- “I Have Always Been Here Before,” Julian Cope
- “Don’t Slander Me,” Lou Ann Barton
- “I Walked With a Zombie,” R.E.M.
- “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory,” Johnny Thunders
- “Great Big Kiss,” Johnny Thunders
- “Ask Me No Questions,” Johnny Thunders
- “Green Onions,” Johnny Thunders
- “Bad Girl,” New York Dolls
- “Subway Train,” New York Dolls
- “Babylon,” New York Dolls
- “Personality Crisis,” New York Dolls
- “Who are the Mystery Girls?” New York Dolls
- “Showdown,” New York Dolls
- “She’s Lost Control,” Joy Division
- “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Joy Division
- “Transmission,” Joy Division
- “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” Linda Ronstadt
- “Rock Me On the Water,” Linda Ronstadt
- “Birds,” Linda Ronstadt
- “Feels Like Home,” Linda Ronstadt
- “20th Century Man,” The Kinks
- “Holloway Jail,” The Kinks
- “Oklahoma U.S.A.,” The Kinks
- “Victoria,” The Kinks
- “This is Where I Belong,” The Kinks
- “Waterloo Sunset,” The Kinks
- “Death with Dignity,” Sufjan Stevens
- “Fourth of July,” Sufjan Stevens
- “Chicago,” Sufjan Stevens
- “A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons,” Sufjan Stevens
Friday Night Rock returns Aug. 26, if not next week, on Radio CPR, 101.7 FM, Washington, D.C., which is streamed worldwide at www.tinyurl.com/radiocpr