Category Archives: My Radio Playlists

Back after a week at the beach, so naturally had a headful of songs of surf, sea and sand. So much sand.  It began by law with The Beach Boys but also included two from the Ramones, selections from Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, early Carole King, Patti Smith, Surf Punks. Yo La Tengo, Annette Funicello, […]

There were birthday greetings to Benny Goodman, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and Topper Headon of The Clash. Also, some time to remember Ronnie Hawkins, the rockabilly cat who helped form what would become The Band.  But mostly, there was a big antiwar Memorial Day segment that segued a little too easily into memorializing dead schoolchildren […]

Back from a long walk on West Highland Way, I began the radio show with Scottish music, naturally, but also weird songs that came up along the way (“One Step Beyond!”). Music from a Glasgow show by the American group the Delines reverberated, and I learned more about Icelandic music since that was the only […]

Because I was rushing out the door at the end of my last show, I didn’t have time to post the archived show until now, when you now determine whether my anticipation for a 96 mile trek on Scotland’s West Highland Way was accurate or warranted.  Now that I’ve returned (having made the trek, soggily), […]

Tax Day meant songs about the nation’s least favorite occasion, from the Beatles, Charley Patton, Sharon Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Paycheck, among others. Then a meditation on money itself, from Elmore James to the Pet Shop Boys with Lefty Frizzell, The Notorious B.I.G. Randy Newman and of course, Barrett Strong. Noted the birthday of […]

Saw Santana the other day, so played a few of their classics. Remembered a bit of the work of Bobby Rydell, who died last week at 79. But mostly played a lot of songs regarding Easter, from Patti Smith Group to Jefferson Airplane and a couple of takes from Bob Dylan, who tends to have […]

Ah, April is here, and so we hear about it from Deep Purple, Ron Sexsmith, Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. Just as important, baseball’s Opening Day is Thursday, so there was a lot of songs about the game, from a 1908 reading of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (with extra verses) to Chuck Berry, […]

Started with a salute to the great Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died Friday at 50, concentrating on the tracks on which he also sang lead, mostly on cover songs. Then I delved into the long, melancholy-tinged mythos of Hollywood and all the unfulfilled dreams it represents, from the Kinks, Dusty Springfield, Weyes Blood […]

In Washington, the first day of spring unexpectedly coincided with peak cherry blossom bloom — 10 days ahead of schedule. We can’t take credit for that, of course, but hope the day’s show helped set the soundtrack to the new season with songs from artists as varied as Stravinsky, Donna Summer, the Magnetic Fields, Jonathan […]

The weirdness of Daylight Saving Time, and the concept of time itself dominated this week’s show, and there’s quite a lot of music that considers the concept, from Dooley Wilson and Tyrone Davis to Sandy Denny. But it’s also Pi Day, so there was some songs about pies fresh out of the oven from the […]