Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
October 24, 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:

– Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater was waiting for me at the station when I got there and stayed during the entire show. He brought his banjo and acoustic guitar, sang two songs, ate lunch, and chewed the fat with me on the air on topics ranging from Sarah Palin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live to some of the positive side-effects of the crappy economy (rosy glasses indeed). We also talked about music, including his take on Shearwater’s opening gigs for Coldplay, the lost world of the early recording era, what he listened to growing up (his parents were heavy on the Bread and Simon & Garfunkel records, and his Episcopal Church choir masters turned him on to Renaissance music), the revelation that he has never listened to a single Jeff or Tim Buckley record in its entirety (future interviewers take note), the lousy current state of the craft of music production and engineering (the disastrous overuse of compression), and the weirdness of the transition to digital downloads in the music industry (Shearwater’s new EP, The Snow Leopard, is digital-download-only), among other things.

– Jonathan also chose some records to spin, including the incredibly depressing Lou Reed track "The Kids" from the 1973 album Berlin, for which producer Bob Ezrin reportedly recorded his own kids crying after he falsely told them that their mother had died. Considering they’re probably about my age, I wonder if those kids ever beat the crap out of their father for doing that to them; I can only imagine the psychic scarring that is so clearly evident in their wailing. Jonathan also brought in one of those Secret Museum of Mankind CDs compiling old field recordings from around the globe, and we played a choral piece from Polynesia with some hair-raising quarter-tone note bends.

– I want to thank Jonthan for stopping by and hanging out–and especially for the beautiful two songs he sang and played for us. I also want to thank Robby Morris at Matador Records/Beggars Banquet for setting up this interview. [The photo above is taken from Matador's Shearwater website, who in turn credit it to Jalapeño's flickr.]

– Tune in next week for a special Halloween version of the The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly! It’s the first day of the WPVM Fall Fund Drive, and my special co-host will be none other than Dr. Filth, host of WPVM’s thoroughly ass-kickin’ The Replacement Party. He’s bringing scary music, so get ready to be so frightened and thrilled that you call up and GIVE GIVE GIVE to WPVM!

Background Music: Charles Mingues – The Great Concert of Charles Mingues – Prestige (1964)

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