Wednesday, October 31, 2018

SAVAGE RADIO PLAYLISTS OCTOBER 2018: WVMO 98.7 FM-THE VOICE OF MONONA

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #145
"REMEMBERING TOM PETTY AND MORE..."
OCTOBER 3, 2018

1. "Keep A Little Soul" performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2. "Consoler Of The Lonely" performed by The Raconteurs
3. "Indecision" performed by Eagle-Eye Cherry
4. "Beautiful Blue" performed by Mudcrutch
5. "Even The Losers" (live 1989) performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
6. "Drowned" (live) performed by Pete Townshend
7. "Little Black Submarines" performed by The Black Keys
8. "Caroline" performed by Jefferson Starship
9. "Have Love Will Travel" performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #146
"THE MUSIC OF 2018: PART ONE"
OCTOBER 10, 2018

1. "Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)" performed by The Smashing Pumpkins
2. "Canyon On Fire" performed by Wild Nothing
3. "Evan Finds The Third Room" performed by Khruangbin
4. "Low" performed by Lenny Kravitz
5. "Hindsight" performed by Anna Wang
6. "Mayfly" performed by Paul Weller
7. "Me" performed by Jonathan Wilson
8. "Astral Drive" performed by Astral Drive
9. "Hey Angel" performed by Johnny Marr
10."Nothing Compares 2 U" (original 1984 version) performed by Prince

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #147
"THE MUSIC OF 2018-PART TWO"
OCTOBER 17, 2018

1. "Under Lime" performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters
2. "Plastic Hamburgers" performed by Fantastic Negrito
3. "Connected By Love" performed by Jack White
4. "No Secrets" performed by Jim James
5. "Wish Upon A Satellite" performed by Sloan
6. "Great Destroyer" performed by Donny McCaslin
7. "Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino" performed by Arctic Monkeys
8. "Sorcererz" performed by Gorillaz
9. "Never Know" performed by The Lemon Twigs with Todd Rundgren
10. "Sticky Hands" performed by Post Social
11. "Despite Repeated Warnings" performed by Paul McCartney

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #148
"ELECTION 2018"
OCTOBER 24, 2018
1. "Time's Up" performed by Living Colour
2. "Volunteers" performed by Jefferson Airplane
3. "We March" performed by Prince
4. "Time Is Running Out" performed by Steve Winwood
5. "He's Evil" performed by The Kinks
6. "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" performed by A Perfect Circle
7. "Primary/Ballot Or The Bullet" performed by Van Halen
8. "Public Servant" performed by Todd Rundgren
9. "Where Does It Go?" performed by Planet P. Project


SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #149
"HALLOWEEN 2018"
OCTOBER 31, 2018
1. "In The Evening" performed by Led Zeppelin
2. "The Ghost" performed by Fleetwood Mac
3. "The Rhythm Of The Heat" performed by Peter Gabriel
4. "There There" performed by Radiohead
5. "Still" performed by Foo Fighters
6. "Glass And The Ghost Children" performed by The Smashing Pumpkins
7. "Swamp" performed by Talking Heads
8. "Evil" performed by Stevie Wonder

NOW PLAYING IN THE SAVAGE JUKEBOX OCTOBER 2018

"GO TO SCHOOL"
THE LEMON TWIGS
Released August 24, 2018
NEW 2018 MUSIC: "No one I think is in my tree..."-The Beatles "Strawberry Fields Forever"

It opens with a miscarriage. It concludes in isolation. The centerpiece is a cataclysmic fire set within a high school that kills 100 people. And the star of the story is a chimp named Shane. Welcome to "Go To School," the second album from brothers Michael and Brian D'Addario, collectively known as The Lemon Twigs.

As you may have already guessed, The Lemon Twigs have boldly decided to take on the challenges of the mythical "difficult second album" head on by taking a wild swan dive directly into the deep end of concept albums, rock operas and stage musicals as "Go To School" tells the story of Shane, a chimp taken in and raised by the miserable couple Carol, an embittered school teacher who gave up her rock and roll dreams for an even more embittered stab at Motherhood (sung by the D'Addarios's Mom, Susan ) and her partner, failed actor Bill (sung by none other than Todd Rundgren!).

Captivated by innocuous school themed television programs, Shane becomes obsessed with the desire to go to school, a place in which, he soon discovers that he never fits into. Teased by some, fully ignored by others and misunderstood by everyone, Shane's life at school becomes gradually unbearable and the final straw occurs after being sexually humiliated by Daisy, the most popular girl in school. These events plus the revelations of all of the lies Bill and Carol have fed to him, Shane snaps, thus starting the cataclysmic school fire. Our story ends with Shane, now living in isolation in the woods, hoping to regain his sense of empathy and love.

Composed, produced and arranged entirely by The Lemon Twigs, and within their parent's basement at that, Michael and Brian D'Addario's musical aesthetic somehow seems to not extend beyond perhaps 1975 and it is astounding as to how authentic their vision actually is, despite not having even been alive during the time period this album magically evokes.

Performing essentially all of the instrumentation between the two of them, aside from the string and horn sections (which they arranged) and a guest spot from Big Star's Jody Stephens, "Go To School," much like their debut album "Do Hollywood" (released October 14, 2016), is bursting at the seams with musical ideas which run the gamut from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Who, Frank Zappa, The Kinks' "Schoolboys In Disgrace" (released November 17, 1975), the aforementioned Big Star and Todd Rundgren plus Stephen Sondheim, George Gershwin, Gilbert and Sullivan, as well as Gilbert O' Sullivan and sometimes all within the same song. Everything flows at light speed and yet, not one moment ever feels like a mess or morass of unconnected motifs and sounds and what results is an experience that is surprisingly moving despite the bizarre nature of Shane's story.

Because really, who else is Shane but every single kid who ever felt to be a misfit, or left out or who has been harassed and bullied to the point of tragedy?  The Lemon Twigs' "Go To School" is an album of tremendous pain and empathy (even for the album's most despicable characters) and fearless vision as it allows its own freak flag to fly proudly, boldly and unapologetically, making for one of the most unique listening experiences of 2018.  
"AMOK"
ATOMS FOR PEACE
Released February 25, 2013
"THE GOLD EXPERIENCE"
PRINCE
Released September 25, 1995
"1999"
PRINCE
Released October 27, 1982
"VOLUNTEERS"
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
Released November 1969

Saturday, October 13, 2018

SYNESTHESIA'S SESSION NOTES FOR OCTOBER 2018: T.P.O.H. POST-SCRIPT-HERE'S THE STORY

FROM THE DJ'S STUDIO DESK:
At this moment, as I write, The Pursuit Of Happiness is performing live in Canada at a promotional event in conjunction with the recent 30th anniversary re-release of their debut album "Love Junk" (re-released September 21, 2018). 

Of course, I would love nothing more than to be present at said event as I have never once seen the band perform in concert...and truth be told, since the band is no longer signed to any American record labels, and have not been for nearly 25 years, the likelihood of them touring the United States is sadly unrealistic. Yet, while I cheer the band onwards from very afar, I am still caught up within a certain powerful afterglow...and to think, it all began with a blogpost from this site.

If you are regular visitors to this site, you may recall that in August, I wrote and published a tribute to The Pursuit Of Happiness, partially because "Love Junk" was reaching its milestone and partially because it had been something that had existed in my head for more years than I am able to fully reveal to you and that time truly felt to be, at long last, the right time.

Additionally, I wished to compose something in tribute to this band that actually happened while all of the members were...frankly...living. Not that any of the members happen to be of an elderly age (they aren't) but it always feels like tributes are written once someone passes away--postings of the very type and style that I have written on Synesthesia over the years. I just did not wish for it to be the same way for this band because shouldn't we offer our words of praise and love while we are all still here among the living? How often do we ever hear any sort of praise in our day to day lives anyway, for that matter. With regards to The Pursuit Of  Happiness, it was import to me to pay tribute right here and right now and all I could hope for is that the band members would see it and feel the appreciation and love contained in the words.

I have no idea whatsoever of the reach that posting would ultimately have.

Now I have to preface the remainder of this particular posting by announcing to you that I am indeed Facebook friends with the members of The Pursuit Of Happiness. This does not mean that I am chatting with them with any degree of regularity, aside from vocalist Renee Suchy, who has been exceedingly kind, generous and open with her friendship towards me and I am as grateful as I am astonished (she would probably be laughing her head off right now as any words of me being starstruck tend to have her sending me responses like "You're killing me!"). Not at all.

Yes, I have sent very brief messages to both guitarist Kris Abbott and even bandleader/singer/songwriter/guitarist Moe Berg  here and there, to which each of them have been kind in their responses but as I do not wish to intrude, I leave them alone. When I completed my tribute posting, I did have a direct avenue to the band via Facebook so to both Kris Abbott and Renee  Suchy, I sent them the piece and that was that. Again, all I hoped for was a positive response from the band. What occurred was more than I could have ever wished for.

First of all, my main wishes were granted as both Abbott and Suchy responded affectionately to the posting. Abbott then informed me that she would send it to the band's Media Coordinator and before I knew it, the piece was shared on the official T.P.O.H. Facebook page as well as the band's 'official Twitter account.

Soon, that one posting became the most read/clicked posting that I have ever written, as it has received well over 2500 clicks and counting, far outpacing tributes I wrote for both Prince and Tom Petty when each of them passed away. To provide you some context, the things that I write typically do not click much further then somewhere between 50-100, sometimes a little more or less. My space in the Internet ocean is quite tiny and I never expect more than a very small sense of being noticed and that is just fine with me.  But yes, I was screaming for joy on the inside as I regarded the numbers climbing higher and higher for this posting about this band. But this was not about me. This achievement spoke directly and loudly about the powerful love that remains for The Pursuit Of Happiness and how it has endured for these past 30 years.

If it had ended there, I would have been more than satisfied and happy. But...yet, it kept going...

One of the responses I received arrived from the management of Mr. Moe Berg himself and with that response arrived an opportunity:

"How would you like to interview Moe?"

What?!

The answer to that question was an obvious one and yet, I was absolutely terrified as I am not a professional interviewer by any means and the interviews that I have conducted upon my Savage Radio program  which broadcasts upon WVMO 98.7 FM, have been with a variety of wonderful artists and musicians local to Madison, WI, some of whom I am now very friendly with, so any sense of pressure or nervousness was considerably muted.

The possibility of interviewing Moe Berg was of an entirely different league and I was terribly unsure if I was really up to this challenge. But...really...to have the chance to speak with a musical hero, why would I ever pass that up if it was a real possibility?

I will spare you the minutia of all of the back and forths between myself, Berg's management and the top brass of WVMO as we all e-mailed details, questions, answers and so on. But it was a process that lasted for several weeks before finalizing the day, date and time that Moe Berg would call me in Monona, WI from Toronto, Canada and we would have an interview that I could record and then, program into a future episode of Savage Radio. I absolutely wanted to ensure that whatever time spent was worthwhile for Mr. Berg and hopefully our conversation would be fun and informative to listen to. I wanted to keep any fan worship at considerable bay because there was work to be done and I also wished to tackle the conversation with some sense of intelligence and depth.

Simply stated, I needed to "Cameron Crowe" this thing.

Monday, September 24, 2018 8:30 p.m.

That was the day, date and time agreed to by all parties for the interview. I arrived at WVMO by 8:00 p.m. to settle myself and make sure all of the technological aspects were in place and ready. And I have to admit to you that by this point, I was absolutely terrified!

I mean --I was as prepared as I would ever be by this stage. In all of my previous interviews, I never had any prepared questions ready as I just wanted the conversations to flow naturally. For this conversation with Moe Berg, and especially as I would have him on the telephone and unable to read any facial expressions, I knew that I would have to be prepared so as to not waste time. So, I wrote out nearly two pages worth of questions to work almost as a script but I didn't wish to sound canned or stilted.  My nerves had already been getting to me, so much so that there were moments when I kind of wished that the interview would fall through so I wouldn't have to do it. And what that means is this:  I didn't want to do it, screw it up and make a fool out of myself as well as the station just by me being associated with them.

I wondered if Terry Gross ever felt like this.

So, as I sat in the quiet WVMO studio, I tried to calm myself and think mostly about the messages I had received from both Kris Abbott and Renee Suchy, each of whom expressed to me how everything would work out just fine, Moe Berg being a lovely man and that I should just go for it and have a good time with it.

By around 8:33 p.m., the light on the studio phone lit up and I saw the word "Toronto" on the display screen. I took a deep breath, picked up the receiver and said, "WVMO..." And then, it happened...

"Is this Scott? Hi. It's Moe Berg."

After a few minor preliminary words, the interview began and over the course of 51 minutes, I asked and I was graced with answers, all delivered via Moe Berg's loquacious storytelling which just held me completely captivated. There was no small talk between us and once the interview was completed, no more words other than a "Good night" were said. Which was fine because I really just needed to exhale!

I did it! I really did it and made it through the interview! This part of the job had been completed and I had all of the raw material needed to try and make a show happen. And even still, there was more work to be performed.

After making several copies of the interview, to ensure that I had additional versions should something unfortunate happen to one of them (yes, I was that paranoid), I listened to the entire conversation twice--the first time to make myself believe that it did really happen and the second time, to try and find decent spots where I could insert music, times where I could speak live on air, as well as points where I could place our station breaks. That was when I realized that I would need perhaps an additional 30 minutes of air time to really make the proceedings flow as best as possible--which meant that I needed to get permission from the top WVMO brass to extend Savage Radio from 60 to 90 minutes, a request which was unquestionably the easiest piece of this puzzle to achieve.

On Wednesday, September 26th, Savage Radio went on the air with this event that was unprecedented for me and my show, and despite a couple of hiccups, noticeable only to myself, the show aired without any significant hitches. As with that initial blogpost, my desires for this specific episode were really simple:

I wished that Moe Berg had been satisfied with my questions and the time spent on the phone answering them for I knew that he was performing a task that he was never required to do whatsoever. He was enormously gracious with his time and energy and I hoped he knew how deeply appreciative I was and remain for his generosity. Secondly, I hoped the show would be a good experience for anyone who took time out of their lives to choose to listen.

Once the show ended, I uploaded it to Soundcloud, shared it on my personal pages, and with Kris Abbot and Renee Suchy and left it at that.

And again, everything continued...

First, I was just humbled to have received enormously kind words from Abbot and Suchy, already exceedingly more than I could have wished for. The show was then soon heard and re-shared by The Pursuit Of Happiness' media team upon the band's official Facebook and Twitter pages, and what responses I have seen have been positive, again confirming the unbreakable hold this band has maintained over listeners and fans during these 30 years, as well as the excitement over the "Love Junk" re-release. 

Again, all I can really say after recounting this activity to all of you is that I hope that any of you out there who have not ever  been familiar with The Pursuit Of Happiness, to please make the effort to reach out and discover this incredible band and really take a dive into a musical vision that has remained so very singular as I am unable to think of any bands that have ever really sounded quite like them. If there was anything that I did, from the blogpost to the interview, that helped in giving this band and the "Love Junk" re-release some additional and much deserved attention, then I am thankful.

And once you do find it, without question......PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!