We’ll Be Ringing in The New Year in Style With Our #BecomeUngovernable House EP, and Two Live New Year’s Eve Shows Later, Friday, December 31, 2021

Good Morning, Revelers! We are kicking off the New Year’s Eve celebration in style with our House Extended Playlist, and two live New Year’s Eve shows from two of our favorites!

We’ve got five hours of very inspirational music for you!

Here’s your New Year’s Eve line-up:

9:00 a.m. #BecomeUngovernable House Playlist: Various Artists

The music that makes up the greatest part of our DNA, including songs from Barry McGuire, The Beatles, The Temptations, CSNY, Pink Floyd, Peter Tosh, Edwin Starr, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Chambers Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Byrds, Donovan, Jimmy Cliff, Cat Stevens, The Association, Marvin Gaye, The Band, Arlo Guthrie, George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, and more!

7:00 p.m. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: The New Year’s Eve Concert Live at The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, December 31, 1978

They were just musical babies here, but they were kicking ass and taking names. There are many reasons why TPATH is one of our House Bands, one of them being that they’re one of the best live performers on the planet. This concert is one for the books.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at the Closing of Winterland, San Francisco, December 31, 1978

Meanwhile, back in San Fran, the Dead was closing one great venue at Winterland. We give you a special edition of LIVE DEAD! tonight to help ring in the New Year.

There’s nothing like good music to help ring in a new beginning and, hopefully, better fortunes for all of us in the New Year. In the meantime, stay safe and push the button below. OK?

Got Those Post-Turkey Blues? We’ve Got Some Great Musical Programming Today Designed to Make You Smile, Friday, November 26, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, and we’re here to make you feel even more thankful with great musical programming at the end of the work week.

Today we give you the music that inspired this station!

Here’s today’s programming:

11:00 a.m. #BecomeUngovernable House Playlist: Various Artists

Yeah. Today we give you all the reasons we started this radio station in one great EP. In all honesty, there are those who came after these artists who are also very much part of this station’s DNA as well, but these are the people who gave me (personally) my own music after years of listening to my sisters’ music. These folks also musically represented the times in which they lived. You will hear Barry McGuire, the Temptations, CSNY, Edwin Starr, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Chambers Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Peter Tosh, The Byrds, Donovan, Joan Baez The Association, The Band, Arlo Guthrie, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, and more!

7:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Bill Withers

Everyone knows Lean On Me, Ain’t No Sunshine, and Use Me for sure. Bill Withers was that guy. A great singer-songwriter who had an amazing number of hits in a relatively short fifteen-year career. Today we put that guy, his hits, and more In the Spotlight.

Tune us in and get that L-tryptophan out of your system. It’s wake-up time and the music is on 24/7. Before, in between, and after our programming, we are circulating the biggest cache of music anywhere all for free. No kidding. No strings. No fucking lie.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Happy Thanksgiving From The Mermaid Lounge, and We Promise Our Line-up is No Turkey Today, Thursday, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving morning live from The Mermaid Lounge where we give thanks for great music, great musicians and, most of all, great listeners.

Arlo Guthrie and his friends share Thanksgiving dinner at Alice’s Restaurant.

Here’s your Turkey Day line-up:

11:00 a.m. Our Thanksgiving Tradition: The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie

We’ve been playing this as our Thanksgiving tradition since we started back in 2017, and we continue on today with all 18 minutes and 34 seconds. The song, recorded in 1967, occupies one entire side of Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant album. As Guthrie himself explains it, the restaurant is not really called Alice’s Restaurant, even though the song is about Alice and the restaurant. That factoid is in keeping with the song’s continuing mystery. You can find the lyrics here should you want to sing along.

2:00 p.m. Folk Music From A-To-Z: Various Artists

After the L-Tryptophan has taken effect, you can all sit down and relax with some great folk music as we air our Folk Music From A-To-Z extended playlist and hear Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Cat Stevens, Phil Ochs, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, The Band, Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, The Stone Poneys, The Wallflowers, Jesse Winchester, Tom Rush, John Prine, Eric Andersen, The Band, Odetta, and many more.

9:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Greatest Hits by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac

We toss in some blues to close out the planned programming with our Album of The Week by the great Peter Green and his original Fleetwood Mac. Most people don’t know he’s the founding father here. This is our next-to-last airing, so squeeze it in before you pass out.

Join us for the Turkey Trot today (figuratively, of course). I wish I could tell you that listening is free today, but the fact is that listening is free every day. Just tune us in and give us a listen today. You’ll be very thankful. We promise.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

We Close Out Tom Petty Month, Give You A New Album of The Week, and Folk Music From A-to-Z, Sunday (also, Halloween), October 31 , 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists. We’ve got another fine Sunday on tap kicking off a bit earlier so that we can give you a final Heartbreakers live performance this evening to close out Tom Petty Month.

Today’s featured Folk Music EP starts at 2:00 p.m.!

Here’s your Sunday Funday line-up:

10:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Dusty in Memphis by Dusty Springfield

This was the first time Dusty Springfield brought her unique R & B style together with the Memphis sound. It sold poorly when it was released in 1969, but as Springfield’s music became known and her legend grew, things changed. Later, it would be acclaimed by critics as one of the most important popular music albums ever made. It also spawned Son of A Preacher Man, Springfield’s “signature” song and her great version of Windmills Of Your Mind.

2:00 p.m. Folk Music From A-to-Z: Various Artists

Take a trip down memory lane to the present with one of the original “protest” musical genres, FOLK. You’ll hear Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Odetta, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, John Prine, Nanci Griffith, The Stone Poneys, Bonnie Raitt, The Wallflowers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Peter, Paul & Mary, Jesse Winchester, Eric Andersen, The Band, Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens, and many more!

8:00 p.m. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live at The Fillmore, San Francisco, March 15, 1999

Earlier during Tom Petty month we played the recordings of the Heartbreakers’ legendary 20-might residency at the Fillmore West from 1997. Tonight, we close out another Tom Petty Month here in The Mermaid Lounge with recordings from the band’s 1999 residency at The Fillmore.

There are many reasons to tune us in, people. Must I keep listing them? I mean, I will if I have to. We’re totally free and we don’t ask for a credit card or personal information. We don’t accept advertising, so we don’t mess up the musical vibe with endless capitalist chatter, and our DJ is practically a mute. I mean, I know people don’t trust the whole “no strings” thing, but maybe you should give us a shot and we’ll prove it to you.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

We Close Out The Week With The #BecomeUngovernable House EP and Some True Confessions, Friday, October 29, 2021

Good Morning, Pettyologists! The month is coming to a close quickly and we’ve got just a couple of more things to squeeze in, one of them coming this evening. Read on!

We’ve got Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on The True Confessions Tour later

Here’s your Friday line-up:

11:00 a.m. The #BecomeUngovernable House Playlist: Various Artists

This is one of our favorites here. It started small and became an EP a little over a month ago. We’ve got some great music lined up over the afternoon hours coming from this excellent multi-artist long player.

7:00 p.m. Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live at The Cal Expo Amphitheatre, Sacramento, CA, June 12, 1986

We’ve got a tour where Petty and his mates were not necessarily the headliners, but that didn’t seem to matter to either them or the audience. This is where the seeds were planted for a great musical match and where Mike Campbell said that the band truly learned how to improvise on stage. He credited Dylan with that lesson. This is one of those “don’t miss” moments.

Come on, folks. What the hell are you waiting for? Your friends from around the planet are out there right now listening to us and you need to find a way to join them. Hey, this isn’t rocket science. It’s Internet radio.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

The Doors Live at Cobo Arena, We Celebrate Ringo’s 81st Birthday, and Launch Our New ‘Under the Sun & Moon’ Playlist, Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists everywhere! Today we have some great live Doors, and celebrate Ringo’s 81st birthday. Later on, we launch our brand new playlist.

We begin the day with The Doors live at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

Here’s your mid-week line-up:

11:00 a.m. The Doors Live at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan, May 8, 1970

Just about a year before his untimely death, Jim Morrison and the Doors played the Cobo Arena in Detroit. We have it for you today.

3:00 p.m. DJ’s Choice: My Favorite Ringo Starr Music

We celebrate Ringo’s 81st birthday today by weighing in on my favorite Ringo Starr music as a Beatle, as a solo artist, and as a drummer. I hear a lot of bullshit disparaging remarks out there about Ringo’s drumming. Talk is cheap. His peers in the drumming world don’t share that attitude. In fact, Ringo is one of the most respected drummers on the planet, and The Beatles went to great lengths to lure him away from Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

7:00 p.m. Under The Sun & Moon: Various Artists NEW!

We love putting together these playlists here in The Mermaid Lounge. Today’s is a pile of songs with the sun and the moon mentioned either in the title or the lyrics (and sometimes both). You’ll hear The Beatles, Tom Rush, Little Feat, Joni Mitchell, The Wallflowers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, The Traveling Wilburys, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Kinks, and many more!

The song list will be up under the Playlist tab before airing.

Tune us in, folks. Join your friends around the world by jumping on board the magic Mermaid Music bus. You don’t need no stinking credit card. All you need is a free computer tab. Seriously.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Sunday Brings ‘Folk Music From A to Z’ and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Own The Album of The Week, April 25, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! It’s another fine Sunday here in The Mermaid Lounge. We bring you our long-playing folk music playlist today, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Damn The Torpedoes.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers around 1977

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Damn The Torpedoes by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers NEW!

We chose Hypnotic Eye as our first Heartbreakers’ album to be the Album of the Week back a couple of years ago. However, Damn The Torpedoes is second to none. There is no question that this put the band on the map, and there is absolutely no question that this album is an absolute classic in popular music. It kicked off a long and wonderfully amazing 40-year run from one of our house bands (The Beatles being the other).

3:00 p.m. Folk Music From A-To-Z: Various Artists

We are back with another of our long-players today, an uninterrupted homage to our folk music roots with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, Peter, Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, John Prine, Tom Rush, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt, John Hartford, Eric Andersen, Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin, Linda Ronstadt, The Carter Family and many, many more.

It is a great day to tune us in. Let me reiterate: We are totally non-for-profit, and we do not allow advertising. The only thing that interrupts the flow is an occasional station I.D. announcement by yours truly. We never ask our listeners for a credit card or personal information. Best of all, we do not purchase music from either Amazon or Apple. That’s why we call ourselves #BecomeUngovernable Radio.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

New Song Additions to The Standard Rotation Completed

We’ve just completed a new round of upgrades to the Standard Rotation, adding some brand new artists and bolstering the song collection of others.

We’ve added the music of Harry Chapin to our standard rotation.

Here’s the breakdown:

New Additions: Harry Chapin, Mitch Ryder, John Hartford, Glen Campbell, The Move (pre-ELO for Jeff Lynne), Eric Andersen, Cilla Black, Brenda Lee, Dion & The Belmonts, The Blues Project, The James Gang, Basia, Solomon Burke, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Additional Material: Cat Stevens, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and Buddy Guy. We’ve also now put Bob Dylan’s entire catalogue in with the exception of his Christmas album. This includes his latest release, Rough and Rowdy Ways, which is coming up soon as our Album of The Week.

We are already working on pulling together material for another update and will keep you informed.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

It’s Mid-Week at The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/2/2020

School is never out here in The Mermaid Lounge. We are here every day giving you all the news that’s fit to print. Of course, you know we post early for Wednesdays as retail slavery starts early.

Taj Mahal 1968, one of our favorites here in The Mermaid Lounge.

Here’s today’s lesson:

December 2, 1957: Sam Cooke proves third time’s a charm when You Send Me becomes his first hit on the Billboard Pop chart.

December 2, 1962: The Beatles are the opening act for a gentleman named Frank Ifield. However, contrary to his calm crooning style, the Fab Four were pounding out blistering rock n’ roll, prompting some in the crowd to tell them to “turn it down.”

December 2, 1963: Roy Orbison released the single “Pretty Paper.”

Also on this day, the Beatles performed This Boy, All My Loving, and I Want To Hold Your Hand for the UK’s Morecambe & Wise Show.

December 2, 1967: Gladys Knight & The Pips hit #1 on the R & B chart with a remake of Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

Also on this day, Donovan had one of the hottest songs on the charts with Wear Your Love Like Heaven.

December 2, 1968: The Bee Gees released the song I Started A Joke. They made some fine fucking music before turning disco. After that? Nah.

December 2, 1969: George Harrison joined Delaney & Bonnie on stage at Colston Hall in Bristol, England.

Also on December 2, The Rolling Stones stop by Muscle Shoals Recording Studios in Alabama on their way to their ill-fated Altamont show on December 6. There, they record Wild Horses, You Gotta Move, and Brown Sugar over a three-day session.

December 2, 1971: Taj Mahal plays for death row inmates at North Carolina’s Wilmington State Penetentiary.

December 2, 1972: The Temptations’ version of Papa Was a Rolling Stone gives them their fourth US #1 song.

Steely Dan made The Billboard 200 for the first time with their debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. The album’s name is taken from a line in the Bob Dylan song, It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.

And Cat Stevens’ album, Catch Bull At Four, continued at #1 for a third week. This would also be Cat’s most commercially successful album.

Born On This Day

December 2, 1941: Tom McGuinness, bass guitarist with Manfred Mann, was born in Wimbledon, London, England.

December 2, 1942: Ted Bluechel, drummer for The Association, was born in San Pedro, California.

And that’s it for today from The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge!

We’re Back at The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 11/18/2020

Good Day, Music Lovers! We’re back here at the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge doing the deed for you.

Cat Stevens, now known as Yusef Islam.

Here’s today’s bucket of knowledge:

November 18, 1956: Fats Domino appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, where he sang Blueberry Hill. The song would peak at #2 on the US charts.

November 18, 1964: The Supremes appear on the TV Rock n’ Roll Show, Shindig, and sing Baby Love and Come See About Me.

November 18, 1967: To Sir With Love by Lulu sits on the top of the singles charts for a fifth week.

November 18, 1968: Glen Campbell, a former session musician for Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys, is awarded two Gold Records, one for Gentle On My Mind and the other for By The Time I Get To Phoenix.

The Jimi Hendrix double album, Electric Ladyland, reaches #1 on the US charts. Steve Winwood, Al Kooper, and Dave Mason appear on the album.

Randy Meisner, Jim Messina, Richie Furay, and Rusty Young — also known as Poco — make their debut at The Troubadour.

November 18, 1971: Procol Harum recorded a concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; portions would later be released on vinyl.

November 18, 1972: Bill Withers appears on Soul Train, where he sings his hit Lean On Me, and its follow-up Use Me Up.

Danny Whitten, of Neil Young’s back-up band Crazy Horse, dies of a heroin overdose. This tragic event inspires Young to write The Needle and the Damage Done.

Steely Dan makes its debut on the music scene with the release of the song, Do It Again. It would be the first of many hits for them.

Cat Stevens’ Catch Bull At Four begins a three-week run atop the album charts. Stevens played 14 instruments during the recording of the album, his most successful LP.

November 18, 1989: Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville reign at the top of the Adult Contemporary charts for a third week with the song Don’t Know Much.

And that brings today’s lesson to a close.