Snap, Crackle, POP! with Alec Cumming – Details, episodes & analysis

Snowhaustion? These g-ddamn blizzards keep happening on Sunday nights, which means these days that the Monday- and Tuesday- wee hours commute to WPKN's Fairfield Avenue studios in downtown Bridgeport becomes impossible, so I have to pre-record these shows, which often improves the quality of the show (yay!) but it takes me too much damn time to prepare (boo!_ because I fuss over them too much. (Did I write about this about yesterday's show? I'm losing it, people. A mind is a terrible thing.)

This was actually a re-jiggered - and, franky, improved - January 26th show. I think it came out well. My apologies to Steve Di Costanzo for  my forgetting to mention that I was filling in for his RADIO BASE CAMP SHOW, as I will continue to do until April. Enjoy your world travels, Steve, but get back here safely and soonly! 

Cold, Cold, Cold – Little Feat

Blizzard of '77 – Nada Surf

Cold Hands, Warm Heart – Brendan Benson

Snowglobe – Sugar Fight

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Coldest Winter EVER! – Lewis Black

She’s So Cold – The Rolling Stones

Ice Cold Daydream – Shuggie Otis 

Slip Slidin’ Away – Paul Simon

The Blizzard – Camera Obscura

Cold, Cold Heart – Norah Jones (Hank Williams cover)

Out In the Cold Again – Sam Cooke

Snow – Claudine Longet (Randy Newman cover)

Snowfall – Eisley

Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter – Ingrid Michaelson

Song for a Winter’s Night – Gordon Lightfoot

Hazy Shade of Winter – Simon & Garfunkel

Avenue – Saint Etienne

The Fox in The Snow – Belle & Sebastian 

Cold Light of Day – Lewisburg

Howlin’ Wind – Graham Parker & The Rumour (R.I.P. & thank you Andrew Bodnar)

Ice Cold Ice – Hüsker Dü

When It Touches You, A Snowflake Dies – Norma Tanega

Soon It Will Be Cold Enough – Emancipator 

It’s a Cold Night for Alligators – Roky Erickson

The Blizzard – Jim Reeves 

Amid the Falling Snow – Enya

The Frozen Man – James Taylor 

Walking On Thin Ice – Yoko Ono

Sometimes in Winter – Blood, Sweat & Tears

(Hey, you guys know that you can friend me on Facebook so you can get the latest info on upcoming SCP broadcasts, right??)

Today was the crazy-ass "Calvin" blizzard day - still happening as I post this - so for this morning it was time for another last-minute Sunday pre-recorded Snap Crackle POP! show for a Monday morning. And yeah, yada yada I like to do these shows live, weather traffic yada yada, and pre-recording is such a pain because I fuss over the shows too much (tho grateful to have an opportunity to delete all my ummms and ahhhs and delete my word-retrieval shenanigans). But this show gets to the point, PLUS I get to play my daughter Julia's first-ever solo single. I'm enjoying the re-listen, especially after last week's live fiascoes. Valhalla, I am coming!

=================

Cold Rain and Snow (live at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY 2/21/1971) – Grateful Dead 

Angel In the Snow – Elliot Smith 

Valley Winter Song – Fountains of 

Cold As Ice – Foreigner 

Hazy Shade of Winter – The Bangles 

Wu Tang – They Might Be Giants

Goodbye Girl – The Shins 

Junior’s Farm (live BBC 2) – Squeeze 

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five – Paul McCartney and Wings

The Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin

Snow Blind – Black Sabbath

Heavy Snow – Lightnin’ Hopkins

Cold, Cold Heart – Hank Williams

Hold Steady – Queen Esther 

Headless Heroes – Eugene McDaniels 

My Life – Julia Cumming 

Anyone Who Ever Had a Heart (live) – Wynonna 

So Far Away – Carole King

That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be – Carly Simon

American Obituary – U2

How Much Did You Get for Your Soul? – Lucinda Williams

A Plea – Flea 

The Windows of the World – Dionne Warwick

Winter (Giles Martin 2020 mix) – The Rolling Stones

Frozen Pines – Lord Huron 

White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes

Freeing Wheels – Souled American

The title of this podcast is influenced by a Reds, Pinks and Purples song lyric. Lotsa good new/new-ish music here, much in the tradition of the show I'm filling in for - Steve Di Costanzo's RADIO BASE CAMP.

Hard Livin' – Railroad Earth

Save Your Soul – Kathleen Edwards

Pick Up That Knife – Wednesday

Frontrunner – Horsegirl 

Gimme Time – Hannah Jagadu

All We Ever Do Is Talk– Del Water Gap

Oh Dorian – Ben Kweller (feat. MJ Lenderman)

Dancing in the Club – This Is Lorelei (MJ Lenderman Version)

Summer Seizures – The Cribs
Hot Wheels – The Wedding Present

Brassneck – The Wedding Present

Therapy II – Viagra Boys

Heroes – David Bowie

Warning Sign – Talking Heads 

Miss Modular – Stereolab 

Wreck – Neko Case

I Only Ever Wanted to See You Fail – The Reds, Pinks and Purples 

Cruise Ship Designer – Dry Cleaning

So Long – Fischer–Z

Popsicle – Juliana Hatfield

Forgotten Dreams – Leroy Anderson

On this morning's show, I did a tribute of sorts to the great Bob Weir, who passed away over the weekend. A great big thanks to Lane Steinberg for writing insightfully about what Bob could really make happen on guitar. But before that we started off with some sexy mornin' Dusty.

Just a Little Lovin' – Dusty Springfield 

Some of Your Lovin' – Dusty Springfield

Pussywillow, Cattails – Gordon Lightfoot

Little Bird – The Beach Boys 

Glad and Sorry – The faces

My Friend the Sun – Family 

How To Live – Del Water Gap

Lose – Hannah Jadagu

Small Town Joan of Arc – Del Water Gap

Never Ending Game (Panda Bear Remix) – Angel Du$t

Holo Boy – This is Lorelei

Popafangout – Sharp Pins 

Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand – The Who 

Truckin' – Grateful Dead

Playing in the Band (Live at Manhattan Center NYC 4/6/71) – Grateful Dead 

Jack Straw (Live in Paris 1972) – Grateful Dead

Cassidy (Live at Radio City Music Hall, 1980) – Grateful Dead 

Don't Let It Bring You Down – Neil Young

Here She Comes Now – The Velvet Underground 

Sally, Go 'Round the Roses – The Jaynetts 

Damn – Del Water Gap

Sugar Magnolia (demo) – Grateful Dead

In which I finally give up and acceptance the consensus worship of my friends re: Sharp Pins. 

Life Is – Jessica Pratt
Guess I'm Dumb – Glen Campbell

Mock The Hours – David Nance

Say It On – J Mascis

Coke, Suede and Waterbeds – Sopwith Camel 

Not Enough – Benny Sings

Cruise Ship Designer – Dry Cleaning

Wreck – Neko Case

Edge of the Ocean – Ivy 

Keep On Movin' – Soul II Soul

Hold Steady – Queen Esther

Vague Utopia – Tia Gostelow

I Knew Love – Sunflower Bean 

Under the Milky Way – The Church

Astor Place – Edward Rogers

Dominoes – Mary Timony 

Traffic and Weather – Fountains of Wayne 

Popsicle – Juliana Hatfield 

Is It Better – Sharp Pins

Queens of Globes and Mirrors – Sharp Pins 

Queens of Cans and Jars – Guided By Voices 

But You Just Woke Me Up – This Is Lorelei

Elderberry Wine – Wednesday 

Baby, Now That I've Found You – Alison Krauss

For the first show of a precarious new year, I chose to focus on a theme of reletively obscure 1970's "deep cuts", apropos of... nothing. Some great songs, though. The first song isn't all that obscure, but the movie it served as the theme song for is deeply quaint; it's about a late '70s commercial rock radio station being forced (gasp) into using a format and playing from a songs list , and the outrage that then ensues - how dare they take away the deejay's rights to play whatever the hell they want? Like I said, quaint... in terms of commercial radio, of course... but not so much for our beloved WPKN.

FM – Steely Dan
She Might Have Been a Nice Girl – The Guess Who
Gramophone Man – Spirit

Bluebird – Leon Russell
She Wandered Through the Garden Fence – Procol Harum
Heart To Hang Onto – Ronnie Lane & Pete Townsend
Lily (Are You Happy) – Darryl Hall & John Oates

Look What You've Done – Bread
Strawberry Flats – Little Feat

O Lucky Man! – Alan Price
Grey Seal – Elton John

Friends – Elton John
Running Back – Phil Lynott

Suite: Clouds, Rain – David Gates
Thatcherie (from "Inner Space") – Sven Libaek
Strawberry Letter 23 – Shuggie Otis

Real Thing – Drugdealer (feat. Weyes Blood)

Keep It Warm – Flo & Eddie
Critics Choice – Chicago

Let's Pretend – The Lemon Twigs
Overnight Sensation – The Raspberries

Friends – Buzzy Linhart

This was a fill-in episode for Steve Di Costanzo's classin WPKN morning show, RADIO BASE CAMP. I should be doing a lot of these Tuesday shows as well as the Monday shows, and that's good because I can get better at this. 

Because it's the Eve of New Year's Eve, I went with that as the theme; hour 1 is more of a downer than hour 2. 

Millennium – Robbie Williams 

Auld Lang Syne – Guy Lombardo 

Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think) – Guy Lombardo

In These Shoes? – Kirsty MacColl

Happy New Year Next Year – Violent Femmes

Getting Ugly Out There – Wille Nile

A Town Called Malice – The Jam 

New Year – SVT

Together We'll Ring In the New Year – Motion City Soundtrack 

The New Year (demo) – Death Cab For Cutie

My New Year's Resolutions – Mae West 

Resolution Blues – Dinah Washington

Brand New Year – Eric Carmen

Better Things – The Kinks 

Life Gets Better – Graham Parker 

Shooting Star – Sunflower Bean 

Happy New Year – Camera Obscura 

Walk Out to Winter – Aztec Camera 

Romeo – Edward Rogers 

This Will Be My Year – Semisonic 

A Little Bit of Light Banter – Sparks

Glad Tidings – Van Morrison 

Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder 

This Will Be Our Year – The Zombies

Auld Lang Syne – The Beach Boys 

Wake The World – The Beach Boys

There's been a lot of CBGBs in the air lately at WPKN, courtesy of programmers Dave Schneider (The Zambonis), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) - yes, THE Chris Frantz -and Rob Tannenbaum, a great music journalist who produced a must-have (IMHO) new box set for Cherry Red Records named "CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986". Inspired by the annual CTBGs show at the Fairfield Theater Company, I programmed a mainly-early CBGBs music set. This music is so important to me - and to many many other musicians and fans, whether they realize it or not.  Punk Rock, "New Wave" and Alternative Rock STARTS HERE. 

In The Congo – The Bongos

My Three Sons (Revolve Around the Earth) – The Individuals
Fa cé-La – The Feelies
Jealousy – The Colors
Love & Emotion – Mink DeVille
Trapped Again – Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes

Teenage News – Sylvain Sylvain
Two Tub Man – The Dictators
I Need a Million – The Laughing Dogs
Beat On the Brat – The Ramones

Red Lights – The Marbles
Black and White (Don Dixon Mix) – The dBs
Tell Me Your Plans – The Shirts

Pretty Dress – Cryptic Soup
Picture This – Blondie
Frederick – Patti Smith Group

Days – Television
The Book I Read – Talking Heads

Green For Go – Polyrock
There She Goes – Nervus Rex
Christmas Weather – Student Teachers

December 26th – Alicia Witt (feat. John Paul White)
(I'll Be Glad When) Christmastime Is Done – Bite the Wax Godhead

It's a Christmas week episode - what a concept! I owe my friend Al Quagliari a huge thank for providing me with lots of wondrous and oft silly Christmas and New Year's songs and soundbites, and for turning me on to Bob Rivers, the Weird Al of Christmas music. It may have been a bit self-indulgent to play my own Christmas song at the end, but I'm working on a larger Bite the Wax Godhead project at the moment, so I'm hoping to give my and Cynthia's old band just a bit of additional visibilty in the next few months before we return to obscurity. And the song isn't half-bad. This was a fun show to prepare and pull off. Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas Baby – Otis Redding 

O Little Town of Bethlehem – Bob Rivers

Bounce of the Sugar Plum Fairy – John Kirby and His Orchestra

Joy To the World – The Butties

I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You – Margo Guryan

Tchotchkes– Tchotchke & The Lemon Twigs  

Decorations – Bob Rivers 

(Yes It's) Christmas – War

Christmas In Suburbia – The Cleaners from Venus 

Bellringers Are Hungover – Lorraine Bowen

The Christmas Song – Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva

Old Toy Trains – Roger Miller

Christmas At the Airport – Nick Lowe 

How Do You Spell Channukkahh? – The Leevees

I Saw Hanukkah Harry Beat Up Santa Claus – Hal Singer

Sled Zeppelin – Bob Rivers 

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town – John Davidson

What Christmas Means to Me – Stevie Wonder

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Carol of the Bells – Robert Glasper & Cynthia Erivo

Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal Version – studio chatter + Takes 6 & 7) – Vince Guaraldi & St. Paul's Episcopal Church Youth Choir

Santa Don't Go – Farrah

You Trashed My Christmas – The Primitives

Xmasploitation (Santa's Badass Revenge) – monochronic

All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) – Nat King Cole (MJ Cole Remix)  

Father Christmas – The Kinks 

Silver and Gold – Rosine (featuring Nancy Howell and Mark Lerner) 

(I'll Be Glad When) Christmastime is Done – Bite the Wax Godhead

In which we hear from The Elbow Patches (aka John Dunbar), Downtown Mystic, Guerilla Toss, Drugdealer (fronted by Weyes Blood!),The Belair Lip Bombs, a ridiculously hot early take of Vince Guaraldi's "Skating" from 1965, and many more fine performers and combos.

Add Some Music To Your Day – The Beach Boys 

Eyes of the World (Shorefire Remix) – Downtown Mystic 

You Can't Kid Yourself Anymore – The Elbow Patches 

Play On – The Lemon Twigs

Let's Pretend – The Raspberries

Cuddly Toy – The Monkees

Red Flag to Angry Bull – Guerilla Toss

Heartthrob – Indigo De Souza

Chocolates – The Aluminum Group

Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy vs James Bond – Pizzicato 5

Real Thing – Drugdealer, Weyes Blood 

Love Me or Let Me Be Lonely – The Friends of Distinction

Say My Name – The Belair Lip Bombs

Try To Make It – Sloan

Teenage FBI – Guided By Voices 

Quite the Opposite – Dominic Fike

Tomorrow Tomorrow – Brad Mehldau & Daniel Rossen

classic love – Luke Roberts & Kurt Vile 

Grocery Store – Kate Micucci

The Crumble Song (brown sugar remix) – Lorraine Bowen

Baby Doll – Juniper

Annie Almond – The Junipers

Looking For Santa – The Hungry Dutchmen 

Southhold Santa – The Hunkerdowns

Skating  (#7, Take 2/September 22, 1965) – Vince Guaraldi Trio