Playlist for

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 25, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

— How did Peter Frampton get away with what has to be the most ridiculous album title ever? "I’m In You"?????????? Incredibly weak song, too. We were going to play it straight, but I couldn’t do it, so we did our best Mystery Science Theater 3000 imitation and gave commentary. Check out that outfit–and the chest hair. 1977 was weird. Just think about crap coming out and shooting up the charts at the same time that the Sex Pistols were ushering in a new universe. Thank you, Johnny Rotten.

— Had a nice drug commentary set with Sonny Bono’s "Pammie’s on a Bummer," which Shaina knows all the lyrics to from her childhood (her dad had the record). Bill Cosby’s "Dope Pusher Song" is a fun and funky scare-tactic song. Holy Modal Rounders sang the "Cocaine Blues"; WPVM just got an incredible shipment of new CDs from the rejuvenated ESP-Disk, including two Holy Modal Rounders reissues and a slew of great jazz (Milford Graves, Giuseppi Logan, and Don Cherry). For more of this stuff, you should listen to Tenor to Tabla, Wednesday nights on WPVM from 8-11 pm, hosted by Jonathan. It’s dope.

— I played two of the three releases on the newly created Assophon Records out of Seattle: an imaginary soundtrack by Factums and a great skronky jazz set by the Spider Trio. You’ll hear the third disc, by The Sea Donkeys, in an upcoming show, I promise, as it may be the best of the three. Great new label!

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 18, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

— I’m catching up and just posting some playlists. Lot of good new music in this show.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 11, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

This show is available for listening as an archive for one week after its airing at WPVM’s Archive Page (click on the STREAM button for this show–under the letter ‘G’)

Notes:

— Don Howland (of the Bassholes, Wooden Tit, and Gibson Bros.) showed up with his Cincinnati Reds t-shirt and a sack full of rock ‘n’ roll records from the underbelly of the underground, ready to spring them on the rest of the world during this here little radio show. Many of these discs were ones Don said he had always wanted to hear on the radio airwaves, and they were all over the place, from classic UK punk rock to swampy R&B, from Columbus OH garage rock to French femme art-rock to NYC no wave. It was all a blast. Here are some things I learned…

— I need to track down a bunch of those 7-inch 45s on High Water Records, the label started by Dr. David Evans, ethnomusicologist (Delta blues expert) at Memphis State University. I had the Jessie Mae Hemphill LP, but Don brought a superb R&B blues-boogie thing by the Fieldstones. There’s an interesting piece on the Fieldstones and High Water Records in general in the superb online ‘zine, Perfect Sound Forever.

— We played several tracks related to Jim Shepard (Vertical Slit, V-3), and I learned that while both Jim and Don grew up in Columbus, Don didn’t know him until around the time punk broke. Jim had already been playing out in the Columbus area, thus making him truly proto-punk, kinda analogous to Pere Ubu in Cleveland.

— Some other drum and guitar duos before the White Stripes: Doo Rag, Flat Duo Jets, and the Bassholes (with Don Howland, of course).

— Bassholes will be recording later this summer for a release on Columbus Discount Records, which is evidently a collective involving folks from Times New Viking.

— When asked what his favorite band off all time is, Don will reply, "Chain Gang."

— Today’s picture is of the Beast 7", about which I completely forgot to ask Don. There’s precious little about them on the old internet, but Don wrote back to let me know that they were led by Bryan Gregory, original guitarist for the Cramps, and were rumored to be practicing satanists (some sites–here’s one–dispute this).

Background Music: Gabor Szabo – His Great Hits (Impulse!)

Don Howland is an underground rock-n-roll legend, shredding eardrums with his tinny ax and garage-punk high-lonesome vocals in such bands as Wooden Tit (from Asheville), Bassholes, Gibson Bros., and Great Plains for about 3 decades now. He’s coming all the way from his home in West Asheville to spin records and shoot the breeze on the air with Greg during “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, Friday 2-4 pm. Don’s going up to Columbus, OH, later this summer to record another Bassholes album, so he’ll be talking about that, the Columbus music scene, and god knows what else. If you miss it, catch up by listening to the archive!

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 4, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

Notes:

— Independence Day! The Feelies reunited and played Hoboken and New York this week, and as we were doing this radio show, they were probably playing live in Battery Park, opening for Sonic Youth in a free show. In lieu of actually being there, I played a live set by the Feelies. I always think of July 4 as a day to see–or at least listen to–live music (remember those Beach Boys shows on the Mall in D.C.?), so I hope everybody enjoyed it.

— Next week I will be having a special co-host, namely DON HOWLAND! Very exciting. Don lives here in Asheville and has graciously agreed to come in and spin some records with me. So tune in!