Good Morning, Music Lovers! Hopefully, I’m improving enough to keep this programming going on a sustained basis now, and we’re kicking the comeback off with some great music today.
Yeah, baby. The British Are Coming!
Here’s today’s line-up:
12:00 p.m. The British Are Coming! Various Artists
We’re back just in time for our 5+ hour British music special, from the original British Invasion Bands to the Pretenders and more! You can also hear The Beatles, The Zombies, The Searchers, Them (featuring Van Morrison), The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Herman’s Hermits, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues, The Bee Gees, The Who, The Spencer Davis Group, and many more!
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, October 29, 1985 NEW!
Our Saturday night Live Dead musicfest is finally back. Sorry it was gone so long. This time we have a live show from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. No two shows ever sound the same. Not even on the same tour.
Tune us in. It’s Saturday, a perfect day to kick back and enjoy some great music.
Good Morning, Music Lovers! We are working in reverse today. With a positive COVID diagnosis, nothing remains the same. I’m sleeping later, so we’ll be back with the music trivia a bit later.
We’ve got the great sound of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young coming up today!
Here’s today’s line-up:
12:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
One of the greatest supergroups on the planet, made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills, British singer-songwriter Graham Nash, and Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. Together they made some amazing music. We have them In the Spotlight today.
3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Face The Music by Electric Light Orchestra
Today is the final airing of ELO’s great album, Face The Music. Tomorrow when ou wake up, there will be a brand new selection.
7:00 p.m. The Kinks Live at The Palladium, New York City, December 31, 1980
The feuding Davies brothers and their sidekicks made some great rock n’ roll together. Today we have them live from The Palladium in New York.
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at Radio City Music Hall, New York, October 30, 1980 NEW!
Another brand new three-hour extravaganza of music, this one from the fabled Radio City Music Hall in New York. Even on the same tour, no two shows sound the same.
Tune us in. We are on 24/7 every single day at no charge. We run no commercials. We do not employ chatty DJ’s who enjoy the sound of their own voices. No credit card or personal information required. Just click the link below.
Good Morning, Musicologists! Yes, it is the usual jam-packed eclectic Saturday offering here from The Mermaid Lounge. Enjoy.
We have Bob Marley on The Uprising Tour, his final tour ever. He would be dead less than a year later from melanoma.
Here’s your Saturday line-up:
11:00 a.m. Bob Marley & The Wailers Live at The Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania September 23, 1980
The Uprising Tour was Bob Marley’s final tour and the biggest European tour for that year, beginning in Zurich and ending at The Stanley Theatre (33 cities in Europe; 5 in the U.S.). Before September of the following year, Bob Marley would be dead from melanoma.
3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan
This is the final airing of Dylan’s first album of original material since 2012’s Tempest. Tomorrow when you awaken, there will be a new selection.
7:00 p.m. Bonnie Raitt & Friends Live at Ultrasonic Studios, 1972
This great live album features Bonnie Raitt, Lowell George (Little Feat), John Hammond and Freebo at Ultrasonic Studios in New York. It was recorded and broadcast on WLIR-FM. We have it here for you today.
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at Long Beach Arena, December 13, 1980 NEW!
Another great live show from our Grateful Dead vaults here in The Mermaid Lounge. No two shows ever sounds the same from these guys. Not even if it’s on the same tour.
It’s time for you to join our friends in Europe, Asia and beyond and tune us in. What are you waiting for?Must we charge you for our services?
Yes, we did miss yesterday and I apologize for that. But there will be days like this here and there. We are back today, and ready to go!
The Trips Festival, held in 1966, was instrumental in the cultural development of psychedelic music.
Here’s your lesson for today:
January 21, 1959: The Kingston Trio, key to folk music becoming a staple in America, won a Gold record for Tom Dooley.
January 21, 1961: The great Del Shannon recorded the song Runaway, which will top the charts in America by April.
January 21, 1963: The Beatles made their third appearance on Radio Luxembourg’s program The Friday Spectacular, where they performed Please Please Me and Ask Me Why.
January 21, 1964: Peter & Gordon recorded the Lennon-McCartney tune A World Without Love, which goes to #1 in the UK by June 1965. Down the road during the 70s, Peter Asher will become Linda Ronstadt’s producer and manager, and helps launch her amazing career.
January 21, 1965: More than 3,000 fans greet The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison at Sydney Airport when they arrive for a 16-date tour of Australia and New Zealand.
January 21, 1966: The first Trips Festival, a three-day event, begins at the Longshoreman’s Hall in San Francisco. It’s a landmark event in the evolution of psychedelic music and the hippie movement. Produced by Ken Kesey, Ramon Sender, and Stewart Brand, ten thousand people show up to see The Grateful Dead, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and The Jefferson Airplane. Pretty sure there was LSD in the punch.
January 21, 1968: Jimi Hendrix recorded Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower at Olympia Studios in London. Rolling Stone Brian Jones (percussion) and Traffic’s Dave Mason (12-string guitar) play on the session.
January 21, 1983: Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams died of lung cancer at the age of 34. He joined the band in 1972, and replaced the deceased Berry Oakley. His doctors suspect he contracted the disease from exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam service.
January 21, 1984: The great soul singer Jackie Wilson died at the age of 49 after suffering a massive heart attack while performing at the Latin Casino in New Jersey. He fell head first to the stage while singing Lonely Teardrops, suffered brain damage, and remained in a coma for eight years until his death.
Born On This Day
January 21, 1941: Richie Havens, the great folk singer who appeared at the Woodstock, Newport, and Isle of Wight Festivals, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
January 21, 1942: Edwin Starr, soul singer who recorded the great songs War and Twenty-Five Miles, was born in Nashville, Tennessee.
January 21, 1947: Jim Ibbotson, who played guitar, keyboards, drums, and accordion for the very underrated Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was born somewhere in the United States but nobody can seem to figure out where the fuck it was.
That’s it for today, and we shall be back with your line-up in just a while.
Good Morning From The Mermaid Lounge. Outside the wind is high and and it’s pouring rain…when it should clearly be snowing. But who am I to complain.
Today we have BeauSoleil live from Louisiana, one of the most well respected Cajun/Zydeco bands today.
Here’s today’s line-up:
11:00 a.m. BeauSoleil Live in Louisiana!
BeauSoleil was founded in 1975, and released their first album in 1977. The band plays traditional and original music rooted in the folk music of the Cajuns and Creoles of Louisiana. Consider this a warm-up for our Mardi Gras event.
3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: We Ran by Linda Ronstadt FINAL AIRING!
This is the last chance for you to give a listen to this great album. Tomorrow, we’ll have a brand new album featured when you drag your butts out of bed.
7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk and blues singer who has been around since the folk revival of the sixties, playing with John Sebastian, the Even Dozen Jug Band, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band as vocalist and sometimes violinist. Later, she’d lend her considerable talents to the Jerry Garcia Band. She’s in the spotlight here today.
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, June 30, 1995 NEW!
Again, more great music from the world’s premier jam band. Even on the same tour no two shows sound the same. What else can we possibly say about them except tune ’em in!
Yeah. I can say it until my eyes bleed. This is the station you should be listening to. But hey, if you’d rather pay for the stuff you used to get for free, go on. Some folks just don’t get it.
Good Morning, Music Lovers! Saturday is our big day on the programming scale but, in spite of that, our musical day remains mostly Open Stream.
The Grateful Dead. The ultimate jam band at the closing of Winterland.
Here’s today’s line-up:
11:00 a.m. Echoes From The Canyon: Various Artists
It was all happening in the canyon back in the day. They were all groovin’ together, feeding off each other, and it produced some of the best damned sounds in the history of popular music. They inspired people like Jakob Dylan and Tom Petty. This playlist is about just over 2.5 hours and features The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and more!
3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Joan Baez by Joan Baez
The final airing of Joan Baez’s brillian debut album, recorded when she was just nineteen. Get in on it now. It will be gone tomorrow when you wake up!
7:00 p.m. Elvis Presley: The Sun Sessions
We’re celebrating Elvis Presley’s birthday a day late. That’s usually how it goes around here. We do our best, but my multiple personalities have their limits. Today, we’re playing his songs from The Sun Sessions, recorded at Sun Studios during 1954 and 1955. It’s produced by Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, who gave Elvis his start, and includes one of the greatest (and some people argue, the first) rock n’ roll songs ever, That’s All Right. Happy Birthday, Elvis.
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at Winterland, October 22, 1978 NEW!
We made it through last year for 52 weeks with no repeats. And we intend to attempt the same here. Let’s face it. It should not be difficult. The Dead played Winterland alone 48 times. This is just one of them. Enjoy, Deadheads.
Saturdays are always a fucking great day to tune us in. Why don’t you give it a shot? We are free. No credit card or private info required. No advertising accepted. No endless DJ chatter. You have no idea what you are missing.
Good Morning, Music Lovers! It’s time for the British Invasion to make a return trip to our shores! We’ve also got a brand new Live Dead tonight and the final airing of Van Morrison’s brilliant Moondance this afternoon.
The Grateful Dead. No matter what kind of shit Bob Weir tries to sell you, there is no Dead without Jerry Garcia.
Here’s today’s line up:
10:00 a.m. The British Are Coming: Various Artists
Yes, it’s that time of month. We have the British back on our shores with more than five hours of uninterrupted stream of British Invasion music and then some. Hear The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, Lulu, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Kinks, Cream, The Rolling Stones, and more. No commercials. No chatter.
7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Moondance by Van Morrison FINAL AIRING!
This is your last chance to hear Van Morrison’s brilliant Moondance album. We’ll have a brand new selection tomorrow morning on the blog when you wake up.
10:00 p.m. Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Live at The Harding Theater, San Francisco, November 7, 1971 NEW!
It’s the world’s ultimate jam band back again with a brand new show. Even if they’re playing consecutive nights on the same tour, no two Dead shows ever sound the same.
Tune us in. It’s Saturday. Play us in the background. Around all this great programming, we have 24/7 live stream. We’re completely OUTSIDE the system.
Good Morning, Music Lovers! It’s the end of 2020 (happily), but we here in The Mermaid Lounge know better than to think 2021 is going to be much better. So, we’ve got music to soothe our souls. So do you. But only if you tune us in.
Happy 74th Birthday to Jeff Lynne (yesterday, actually). He’s In The Spotlight today!
Here’s today’s year-end line-up:
11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Moondance by Van Morrison
We’re winding down on Van “The Man” Morrison’s brilliant masterpiece here. You have one more day to tune it in before we choose a new AOW.
3:00 p.m. Under The Influence: Various Artists
Yes, we’ll be under the influence by this time today. I promise. Let’s face it, whether legal or illegal, we’ve all done it. Personally, I have no regrets. You’ll hear The Beatles, The Byrds, Arlo Guthrie, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Steely Dan, Talking Heads, Tom Petty, and more! Just over two hours of mind-altering music.
7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Jeff Lynne NEW!
Yesterday was Jeff Lynne’s 74th birthday. Our celebration is, as they say, better late than never. We’ve got Jeff Lynne here with his Electric Light Orchestra, and as Otis Wilbury. Most people don’t realize that Jeff Lynne was also the band leader of The Move back in the sixties (one of my favorite British bands). That band morphed into ELO. We have some Move music in here as well. Lynne is also a multi-instrumentalist and producer, who has worked with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, George Harrison and, of course, The Traveling Wilburys, the best damned supergroup ever.
10:00 p.m. The New Year’s Eve Special Edition of Live Dead! The Grateful Dead Close Winterland, San Francisco, December 31, 1978 NEW!
On this particular New Year’s Eve, The Grateful Dead played their 48th and final show at Bill Graham’s Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. It was one hell of a show.
This would be an EXCELLENT way to kick out the 2020 jams and start the New Year. We’re free. We’re fun. We don’t talk a lot, and we certainly don’t cut off songs with endless DJ chatter. We talk with our music. Join the fucking party.
Good Morning, Students! There will be no rest for the weary here in The Mermaid Lounge as we close out the year. Take out your pens and grab a pad of paper. There’ll be a quiz later (just kidding).
On New Year’s Eve 1978, The Grateful Dead closed Bill Graham’s Winterland Arena in style. We’ve got the concert for you tonight at 10:00 p.m.
Here’s today’s lesson from the College:
December 31, 1961: The Beach Boys make their live debut with their new name at the Long Beach Civic Auditorium in California.
December 31, 1963: The Kinks made their live debut at the Lotus House Restaurant in London.
December 31, 1965: The Beatles song I Feel Fine and their album Beatles ’65 are certified Gold.
December 31, 1969: Jimi Hendrix introduced his new band at a show at the Fillmore East in New York City. They are bassist Billy Cox and former Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles. The concerts is recorded for their album Band of Gypsies, which will eventually reach #5 in America and #6 in the UK.
December 31, 1970:Melody Maker magazine reported that The Beatles were searching for a new bass guitarist, as Paul McCartney files suit to dissove The Beatles’ corporation. Truly one of the saddest days of my life.
December 31, 1974: Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham are invited to join Fleetwood Mac. It is the band’s tenth line-up change since 1967.
December 31, 1975: Elvis Presley performed a New Year’s Even concert in front of a record-breaking 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
December 31, 1978: The Grateful Dead play their 48th and final show at Bill Graham’s Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, closing this institution in style. We have the concert for you tonight at 10:00 p.m. on a special New Year’s Eve edition of Live Dead.
December 31, 1980: Bruce Springsteen plays a kick-ass show at the Nassau County Coliseum, playing for more than four hours and covering 38 songs.
December 31, 1985: Rock n’ Roll legend Rick Nelson is killed enroute to a New Year’s eve show in Dallas, Texas. His private DC-3 (formerly owned by Jerry Lee Lewis) crashed in a field near DeKalb, Texas, killing Rick, his band and his future wife, Helen Blair. The pilot and co-pilot survived.
Born On This Day
December 31, 1930: Blues and folk singer Odetta was born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama. She is known as the Queen of American Folk Music. Odetta would sing O Freedom at Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington.
December 31, 1943: Pete Quaife, the original bass guitarist for The Kinks, was born in Tavistock, Devon, England.
December 31, 1947: Burton Cummings, lead singer and keyboardist of the great band The Guess Who was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
December 31, 1951: Tom Hamilton, bass player for Aerosmith, was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He co-wrote the hits Janie’s Got A Gun and Sweet Emotion, among others.
And that is it on this fine day in the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge!
I’m pretty sure I did not mention this, but we did do a recent music upgrade. In several cases, we added to artist libraries, but in a few cases, we added brand new artists.
Truffle. A new old local New England band. We’ve added some. We’ll be adding more.
Here’s the rundown:
Brand New Additions
Truffle, Peter & Gordon (it has been a long time coming), Hot Tuna, Jim Croce, and B. J. Thomas
Expanded Libraries
Buddy Guy, LaVern Baker, Chicago, Jackie Wilson, Wendy Waldman, Linda Ronstadt (Winter Light and We Ran), Joan Baez, The Neville Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Roy Orbison, The Highwaymen, Tim Hardin, Jackie DeShannon, The Grateful Dead (live shows literally weekly), and Guy Clark
This was a first pass. We have more to add and will be doing so soon. I have a couple more days off coming up this week and will be working on this. Feverishly, I might add. Because The Music Mermaid is bitching that her download bucket is full.
#BecomeUngovernable Radio 