Month: December 2020

It’s Sunday Here in The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/27/2020

Good Morning, Musicologists! Here we are with today’s lesson from the college, where nobody ever really sleeps much these days.

Bob Dylan. ‘Nuff said.

Here’s today’s lesson from The Lounge:

December 27, 1958: Buddy Holly makes his first appearance in his home town of Lubbock, Texas, since becoming a major star.

December 27, 1960: The Beatles played to a welcome home crowd at the Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool, after completing a residency in Hamburg, Germany. They played with a sit-in drummer, as Pete Best remained in Germany and would, actually, never return to the group. As a result of the crowd’s reaction to their performance at this event, the Beatles finally believed in themselves. The rest, as they say, is fucking history, people.

December 27, 1963: The Animals performed for the first time on a BBC radio broadcast called Saturday Club. This would lead to a contract with Columbia.

December 27, 1964: The Supremes make their first of 16 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

December 27, 1967: Bob Dylay released the album John Wesley Harding.

December 27, 1969: The Supremes’ final release with Diana Ross, Someday We’ll Be Together, becomes the final #1 hit of the sixties.

Also on this day, Led Zeppelin II, goes to #1 on the Album charts, replacing Abbey Road after eight weeks.

December 27, 1974: Bob Dylan recorded Idiot Wind and You’re a Big Girl Now on this day.

December 27, 1975: Faces announced their break-up (unfortunately). Rod Stewart focuses on his solo career (I have a love-hate with this guy) and Ron Wood joins the Stones.

December 27, 1980: Weeks after his murder, John Lennon’s Just Like Starting Over goes to #1 in both the US and the UK. It was chosen as the release not because Lennon considered it the best song on the album, but because he thought it was appropriate after a five-year hiatus from recording. It was his only #1 solo release.

Born On This Day

December 27, 1944: Mick Jones, great guitarist and songwriter with Spooky Tooth and co-founder of Foreigner, was born in Somerton, Somerset, England.

December 27, 1948: Larry Byrom, guitarist for Steppenwolf, was born in Huntsville, Alabama.

December 27, 1951: Karla Bonoff, singer-songwriter, solo artist, and back-up vocalist for Linda Ronstadt was born in Santa Monica, California. She wrote several songs for Ronstadt’s Hasten Down The Wind album, and also wrote All My Life, the Linda Ronstadt-Aaron Neville duet which won a 1991 Grammy.

And that is it for today, my friends. We will be back with the line-up shortly.

Roy Orbison In the Spotlight, The Final Airing of Moondog Matinee, Selections From Monterey Pop, and Tonight’s Live Dead, Saturday, December 26, 2020

Well, Good Morning, Musicologists! It’s our usual busy Saturday here in The Mermaid Lounge as we kick off some new playlists to carry us into the New Year!

Five-octave Roy Orbison, the man with the golden voice.

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Roy Orbison NEW!

We’ve got all the Roy you want here, from his outstanding solo career right up on through his time as a member of The Traveling Wilburys with friends George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan, the best damned super group on the planet. Ever. Enjoy this one.

The set list is up under our Playlist tab. Simply scroll to the bottom!

3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Moondog Matinee by The Band FINAL AIRING!

We’re closing out Moondog Matinee today. Tomorrow when you wake up, there’ll be a brand new Album of the Week ready to go!

6:00 p.m. Selections From the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, June 17-19, 1967

Since today marks the day the rockumentary hit the theaters back in 1968, we thought we’d commemorate the precursor to Woodstock by playing some tunes from the festival.

The set list is also up under the Playlist tab. Again, just scroll down.

10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, April 12, 1986 NEW!

Another new ‘Live Dead’ offering for this week. We’ve played no duplicates here since this little extravaganza began, and we will go as long as we can with new material! This one comes from the now-demolished Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Tune us in, people. No commercials. No credit card required. No memberships. No personal information. What’s the matter? That make you nervous?

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Happy Boxing Day From The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/26/2020

Hell, we’re a global radio station and it’s Boxing Day, the official Christmas, of many of our compadres. So, we wish you a very happy holiday indeed.

The Spencer Davis Group with a very young Steve Winwood on your left.

Here’s today’s rock n’ roll lesson:

December 26, 1960: Elvis Presley’s Are you Lonesome Tonight was at $1 for a fifth week.

December 26, 1963: The Beatles release their first hit single in the US, I Want To Hold Your Hand backed by I Saw Her Standing There. It’s their first single released by Capitol Records; within months Beatlemania will be full-blown in the States.

December 26, 1964: The Beatles score another #1 with I Feel Fine. They finish the year with six #1 songs and own the top spot on the chart for 18 weeks.

December 26, 1966: The Spencer Davis Group release the single Gimme’ Some Lovin‘ which was written by seventeen-year-old Steve Winwood.

Also on this day, Jimi Hendrix wrote the words to Purple Haze in his dressing room between shows at London’s Uppercrust Club.

December 26, 1967: The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour film debuts on BBC-TV.

Also on this day, The Doors and Chuck Berry open a weeklong series of concerts at The Fillmore West in San Francisco.

December 26, 1968: Led Zeppelin’s first US tour begins in Denver, Colorado, where they are the opening act for Vanilla Fudge.

Also on this day, D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Monterey Pop, which chronicles the 1967 Monterey International Pop Music Festival, opened in theaters. This was the concert where The Who smashed their instruments and Hendrix lit his guitar on fire.

December 26, 1970: George Harrison becomes the first ex-Beatle to top the Hot 100 as a solo act as My Sweel Lord hits #1.

Also on this day, a new singer from Canada named Gordon Lightfoot enters the charts for the first time with If You Could Read My Mind. He will make some great music in his time.

December 26, 1979: Paul McCartney held the first of three concerts at Hammersmith Odeon in London to benefit relief efforts in war-torn Kampuchea. He was joined by The Who, The Clash, Queen, Elvis Costello, and Rockpile.

Born On This Day

December 26, 1935: Duke Fakir of the Four Tops was born Abdul Fakir in Detroit, Michigan.

December 26, 1940: Famed record producer and despicable human being, Phil Spector, was born in The Bronx, New York.

December 26, 1946: Bob Carpenter, keyboardist and accordionist for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

And that is today’s less here at the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge!

Merry Christmas to All From The Mermaid Lounge, Home of #BecomeUngovernable Radio, Friday, December 25, 2020

Good Morning, Music Lovers everywhere and a very Merry Christmas here from all of us here laboring in the lounge. Today, we are not forcing you into a music lesson (we will be back tomorrow), and there is no programming!

It’s all on the Mermaid today as we celebrate St. Nick on TOTALLY Open Stream. Whatever the Music Mermaid chooses is what you get! In the meantime, in the background here, we will be adding new music and playlists that you will begin hearing tomorrow!

Get on it. The Music Mermaid is running the show today.

For those of you who don’t know how the Music Mermaid works, she’s fully in charge and picks up music from our stream randomly. What does that mean? Well, she could, and has in the past, literally pick up and stream, say, a playlist. For example, she could choose to play Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live in Lucca, Italy, or The Beatles Complete Rooftop Concert. In short, whatever the Mermaid fancies is what she’ll do.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas Day and that you choose to spend at least part of it here with us, where we do not play Christmas music. It’s Christmas every day here.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Our Antidote To Christmas Music: Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Band and MOONDOG MATINEE, and Later It’s That Sweet Soul Sound, Thursday, December 24, 2020

Good Morning, Musicologists! Here we are on holiday, and we’ve got the perfect antidote to that bad Christmas music that I know is playing in ACE Hardware today. Luckily, I’m here in The Mermaid Lounge.

Dylan and Petty. Does it get any better? Not from where I’m sitting.

Here’s your Christmas Eve day programming!

11:00 a.m. Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live in Sacramento, June 12, 1986

One day, Bob Dylan asked Tom Petty to go on tour with him. There’s a reason why all these guys wanted The Heartbreakers around. You’re about to find out just exactly why. In return, all of the members of The Heartbreakers credit Dylan with teaching them the importance of adjusting plans, songs, and being more spontaneous on stage. It was a marriage made in music heaven.

4:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Moondog Matinee by The Band

I could go on and on about The Band, undoubtedly one of the great treasures in American popular music. They may have started as Dylan’s back-up band, but they carved their own very real place in music history.

7:00 p.m. That Sweet Soul Sound: Various Artists EXPANDED AND UPDATED!

This is a great playlist to close out today’s programming. We’ve added some new music, so we’ve added some new songs to the playlist. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Mary Wells, James Brown, Rare Earth, The Box Tops, The Marvelettes, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations, Ann Peebles, Bill Withers and many more!

It’s Christmas. Time to pack it in. Be done with the pursuit of capitalism, and tune in to a radio station with no ulterior money-making motives. We don’t ask you to subscribe. We don’t ask for your credit card. We don’t ask for personal information because we don’t intend to sell you anything. We’re here for the music, believe it or not. If you choose not to believe, then all I can say is that you have no idea what you are missing.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Good Morning From the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/24/2020

Greetings and Salutations from The College this morning. Yes, here we are in New England, where it will go to 50 degrees today, and where we will have a massive rain storm with thunder and winds tomorrow. Where the actual fuck am I?

The Beatles. They changed everything.

Here’s today’s pre-Christmas lesson:

December 24, 1965: Once again, The Beatles own the #1 album at Christmas with Rubber Soul. This is their third year in a row. In 1964, it was Beatles For Sale, and in 1963, it was With The Beatles. They would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The Beatles (read: The White Album), and in 1969 with Abbey Road.

December 24, 1966: On Christmas eve 1966, Tommy James & The Shondells record I Think We’re Alone Now. It will become the band’s fourth #1 song in the US, selling over a million copies.

Also on this day, (I Know) I’m Losing You by the Temptations take over the #1 spot on the R & B charts, replacing You Keep Me Hanging On by The Supremes.

December 24, 1972: Meanwhile, in Miama, the police shut down a concert by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band because of a noise complaint, resulting in a full-fledged riot. During this shitshow, the band hid in a dressing room. The riot went on for two hours. So much for all that noise.

December 24, 1974: James Taylor, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell are spotted on the streets of Los Angeles singing Christmas carols. Can you imagine having the four of them stop in front of your house?

December 24, 1976: The Eagles‘ Hotel California, their sixth album, goes Platinum and begins the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at #1. It was their first album with Joe Walsh on lead guitar and their last with Randy Meisner on bass guitar.

December 24, 1977: Simple Dreams was the biggest album of Linda Ronstadt’s brilliant career. On this day it remained at #1 for a fourth week.

Born On This Day

December 24, 1920: Dave Bartholomew, co-writer and producer of Fats Domino’s Ain’t It A Shame and Blue Monday was born in Edgard, Louisiana.

December 24, 1924: Lee Dorsey, famous for his 1961 song Ya Ya, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

December 24, 1968: Doyle Bramhall II, guitarist and songwriter who worked with Freddie King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, was born in Dallas, Texas.

And that’s today’s lesson from the College of Rock N’ Roll Knowledge! We’ll be back with today’s line up shortly!

Here We Are at Another (Mostly) Open Stream Wednesday, with The Allman Brothers and The Shadow Dropping By Later, December 23, 2020

Good Day, Music Lovers! It’s one constant we have: (Mostly) Open Stream Wednesday, and it’s back here this week. Later in the day, we’ve got just a smattering of programming.

The Beacon Theatre. New York.

Here’s today’s line up!

All Day (Mostly) Open Stream Wednesday with Three-in-a-Rows!

Yep. We’ve got it all. More than 26,000 songs rotating throughout the day and night. Sorry, but alas, there is no disco, rap, hip-hop.

5:00 p.m. The Allman Brothers Band Play All Night Long, Live at The Beacon, New York City

The Brothers recorded live on March 10 and 11, 1992, at the famed Beacon Theatre in New York, including almost 21 minutes of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.

9:00 p.m. The Shadow 04: Death Under The Chapel

Insanity, suicide, students, and revenge. That’s all you need to know.

This would be a great day to tune us in. You can get a real flavor for the kind of music we play all day and all night long. Best of all, we’re free. No subscription. No credit card. No personal information required. Nope. None.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Getting a Jump On The Day At The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/23/2020

It’s getting closer and closer to Christmas. The shorter the time gets, the nastier the shoppers get. The pressure’s on to make sure they buy enough, or just the right thing, or whatever the fuck. Give it up.

The first transistor radios. Undoubtedly, man’s finest invention.

Here’s today’s musical lesson:

December 23, 1947: Three scientists from Bell Labs in New Jersey demonstrate the transistor, which leads to the invention of small, portable transistor radios. They would win the Nobel Prize for their work in 1956.

December 23, 1957: A new act called Tom & Jerry appear on the chart for the first time with their new song Hey Schoolgirl. They were just sixteen years old. Today, we know them as Simon & Garfunkel, and they have sold 105 million albums.

December 23, 1961: The Marvelettes spent their sixth week at #1 on the R & B chart with Please Mr. Postman.

Also on December 23, the Beach Boys make their live debut, performing two songs during intermission of surf guitarist Dick Dale’s concert at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach, California.

December 23, 1962: Bob Dylan did a show at the King and Queen Pub in London.

December 23, 1963: Lesley Gore released the single, You Don’t Own Me.

December 23, 1964: Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys suffered a breakdown on a flight from LA to Houston. As a result, he decided to retire from performing live, in spite of the fact that their Beach Boys Concert was #1 at the time. Glen Campbell was a temporary replacement for Wilson, until Bruce Johnston joined the group.

December 23, 1966: London’s premier psychedelic hangout, The UFO Club, opens on Tottenham Court, with Pink Floyd as the house band.

December 23, 1969: Elton John met with Bernie Taupin for the first time, along with arranger Paul Buckmaster, and producer Gus Didgeon, to begin work on his first (and best, in my opinion) album.

December 23, 1970: Joni Mitchell earned her first Gold with her third album, Ladies of The Canyon.

December 23, 1972: The Moody Blues had another big album with Seventh Sojurn, which spent a third week at #1.

Born On This Day

December 23, 1940: Jorma Kaukonen, guitarist with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, was born in Washington, D.C.

December 23, 1941: Folk musician Tim Hardin, who wrote If I Were A Carpenter, was born in Eugene, Oregon.

December 23, 1946: Ariel Bender, guitarist for Mott The Hoople, was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, England.

December 23, 1964: Eddie Vedder, lead singer, guiarist, and songwriter of Pearl Jam, was born in Evanston, Illinois.

And that’s it for today’s lesson!

It’s Tuesday Bluesday in The Lounge and We’ve Got EC’s Crossroads Guitar Festival Highlights and Moondog Matinee, on December 22, 2020

Good Morning, Blues Lovers! This is your day. Today we’ve got a great mix of material for you to hear, including sprinkles of Three-in-a-Row’s along the way from the likes of B.B. King, Janis Joplin, and others!

Eric Clapton with Derek Trucks and friends at the Crossroads Guitar Festival.

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. Eric Clapton & Friends: The Crossroads Guitar Festival Revisited

Up first is nearly four hours of great music. Let’s call it a smorgasboard of songs culled from Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festivals over the years. You’ll hear the cream of the crop like, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., The Robert Cray Band, Willie Nelson, Joe Walsh, ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow, Doyle Bramhall II, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, and Susan Tedeschi.

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Moondog Matinee by The Band

Again, it’s kismet. This week’s Album of The Week, Moondog Matinee, just happens to be The Band’s homage to R & B and the blues. It fits just perfectly with today.

In between, we have Open Stream, uninterrupted by idle chatter and commercials, and seasoned with Three-in-a-Row’s from the likes of B.B. King, Janis Joplin, The Allman Brothers Band, and Lucinda Williams.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Here’s Your Tuesday (Bluesday) Lesson From The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/22/2020!

Yes, it’s Tuesday Bluesday in The Mermaid Lounge, and the lesson is lighter than usual today. Seems it’s not a very eventful day in music history, unless you’re talking about shit we don’t play.

The Beatles Live at The Empire Theatre, Liverpool, December 22, 1963.

Here’s today’s musical lesson:

December 22, 1956: Elvis Presley finished the year with 17 hit songs, a record that would stand until the year 1964 — when The Beatles had 30. (Yes, I said 30.)

December 22, 1962: Bob Dylan played at the Singer’s Club Christmas Party in London.

Also on this day, one of the greatest instrumental songs ever recorded, Telstar by the Tornadoes, went to #1. And yes it was a tribute to the satellite.

December 22, 1963: The Beatles performed at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

December 22, 1972: Led Zeppelin performed at Alexandra Palace in London.

December 22, 1973: Elton John moved to #1 on the UK Album chart with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

December 22, 1978: Kenney Jones, formerly of Faces, was chosen as the new drummer for The Who. He replaced Keith Moon, who had passed away a couple of months earlier.

December 22, 1979: The Pretenders performed at the Marquee Club in London.

December 22, 1980: Linda Ronstadt debuted on Broadway in the Gilbert & Sullivan production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Uris Theatre.

Also on this date, Pat Benatar’s first hit — Heartbreaker — debuted on the charts.

Born On This Day

December 22, 1939: James Gurley, guitarist for Big Brother & The Holding Company, was born in Detroit.

December 22, 1944: Barry Jenkins, drummer for The Animals, was born in Leicester, England.

And that signals the end of today’s lesson. We’ll be back with the Tuesday Bluesday line-up in just a bit.