The leaves aren’t quite falling yet here in D.C. But we did drop a half dozen songs of October to start the show. Then it turned to birthdays of such old timers as modernist poet Wallace Stevens (born this day in 1879) and the comedy giant Groucho Marx (1890).
Don McLean, author of the South Korean President’s favorite song, turns 78 today, and punk pioneer Richard Hell is 74. Sting is 72; Badly Drawn Boy, 54; Phil Oakey of Human League 68 and Ron Meager of the Beau Brummells is 82. Gillian Welch is 56, Kelly Willis 55. And we didn’t forget about Dave Somerville, lead singer of The Diamonds, born this day in 1933.
I kept getting social media posts over the weekend about the abundance of music from San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, so included tunes from 14 of this year’s artists.
Had a whole set planned on the government shutdown. But after the unexpected aversion of that disaster (at least until November), subbed a musical tribute to something else happening in Washington: the First Monday in October gathering of the Supreme Court for its session.
Here’s the link to the whole show; the setlist follows:
Capital Radio, October 2, 2023, 1 – 4:27 p.m., www.cygnusradio.com
- “Capital Radio Two,” The Clash
- “We Fell in Love in October,” girl in red
- “My October Symphony,” Pet Shop Boys
- “Secret Oktober,” Duran Duran
- “October Song,” The Incredible String Band
- “Cold October,” Escondido
- “October,” U2
- “Wallace Stevens,” Vic Chestnut
- “Wallace Stevens,” Dutch Pink
- “Key West (Philosopher Pirate),” Bob Dylan
- “Omaha, Nebraska,” Groucho Marx
- “Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” Groucho Marx
- “Just a Little,” The Beau Brummells
- “Laugh, Laugh,” The Beau Brummells
- “Church Bells May Ring,” The Diamonds
- “Little Darlin,’” The Diamonds
- “Everybody Loves Me, Baby,” Don McLean
- “American Pie [live],” Mott the Hoople
- “Listen to Her Heart,” Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
- “Blank Generation,” Richard Hell & the Voidoids
- “I Wanna Be Loved,” The Heartbreakers
- “Going Going Gone,” Richard Hell & the Voidoids
- “Something to Talk About,” Badly Drawn Boy
- “I Was Wrong (& You Were Right),” Badly Drawn Boy
- “Together in Electric Dreams,” Phil Oakey & Giorgio Moroder
- “So Lonely,” The Police
- “Fortress Around Your Heart,” Sting
- “Fields of Gold,” Eva Cassidy
- “Dark Turn of Mind,” Gillian Welch
- “Look at Miss Ohio,” Gillian Welch
- “Whatever Way the Wind Blows,” Kelly Willis
- “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away,” Kelly Willis
- “The Toughest Girl in the World,” Syd Straw
- “My Mind’s Got a Mind of Its Own,” Jimmie Dale Gilmore
- “Comin’ Around,” Steve Earle & Emmylou Harris
- “Sweet Old World,” Emmylou Harris
- “Don’t Make Her Cry,” Buddy & Julie Miller
- “Under the Milky Way,” The Church
- “Show Biz Kids,” Rickie Lee Jones
- “Stolen Car,” Beth Orton
- “Flying Over Water,” Jason Isbell
- “The New World [demo],” X
- “Killing Machine,” Chuck Prophet
- “Joy,” Bettye LaVette
- “There Must Be a Better World Somewhere,” Irma Thomas
- “Nothing But Heartaches,” The Supremes
- “My World is Empty Without You,” The Supremes
- “In and Out of Love,” The Supremes