Never Too Old with Wendy V

12/20/09 Blog/Playlist: last show-guest Lance Hoppen

2009-12-20T06:28:00.019-06:00

For a moment I thought I might not have a last show. I looked at the WRFN online program guide on Saturday and saw that the 8 a.m. time slot was filled with automated programming. I didn't want to not do this show because I had Lance Hoppen of Orleans booked as a guest and we tried three times to make this happen due to previous conflicts. But I checked with the powers that be and learned it was just all set up ahead of time for the next week due to the holidays. Whew.

The show went out on a high note because Lance Hoppen of the group Orleans was my guest this morning. First I started things off with a short set of songs from some of my favorite collections and anthologies I've played on my show over the past year and a half that have served me well. Here's one from a compilation series I've enjoyed playing cuts from on the show, called Hard To Find 45s On CD.

Nathaniel Mayer – Village Of Love
Gene Pitney – Town Without Pity
Los Bravos – Black Is Black
Grass Roots – Where Were You When I Needed You
Tyrone Davis – Can I Change My Mind

Guest - Lance Hoppen
Well, the third time's the charm. I've tried to have Lance Hoppen on earlier this year and something came up on two other occasions (one of those being the technical improvements that came with the station). Lance is the bass player with the group Orleans who had some of the most memorable hits of our generation such as "Still The One" and "Dance With Me". Lance and the band are still active. I saw Lance recently on two occasions, once with Orleans at the recent "Rock The Power" show and at the Tunesmithing writer's night where he performed as a duo with his brother Larry Hoppen, the lead vocalist of Orleans.

Orleans is about to celebrate its 38th anniversary. The band got its start as a trio in Woodstock, NY. with Larry Hoppen, John Hall and Wells Kelly. Lance joined after high school graduation. The rest of the story is well detailed on the band's website bio. The band also just released a very comprehensive DVD of the band's history with some rare archival footage.

Lance described Orleans as a band that's had a tendency to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. From initial success to being dropped by their label and scoring another hit, a difficult decade in the 80s and personnel changes (sudden departure of John Hall and passing of Wells Kelly), the band nonetheless found itself bouncing back from circumstances and continuing to keep on.

Rock and Pop Masters is another band started by Larry Hoppen a decade ago. Lance and most of the present Orleans band is part of this, including about 30 well known singers from other groups and hits (Survivor, Pablo Cruise, Deep Purple, Rascals) rotating gigs at various times. The group just released a fundraiser song "The Real Meaning Of Christmas", a song originally done by the Winans, which benefits Feeding America (www.lesshungermoremusic.com).

At one point, Lance referred to this group as RPM. Hmmm...about 30 singers, RPM. That opened the door wide for me to insert a cheap pun. "Well, Lance, if you have that many singers, if you get up to about 33, then you would have 33 RPM!"

Lance very generously brought along a bit of music to play on the show.

Song list:
Orleans - Dancing In the Moonlight (the band has a strong connection with this song...Larry and Wells were in a band with Wells' brother Sherman, the writer of the song.) We played a very nice Orleans version of this song.

Rock and Pop Masters - The Real Meaning of Christmas

Lance Hoppen - Start From Where You Are. A demo recorded by Lance which appears on the Orleans Obscurities CD (isn't that a great title?), and presently nominated for a Positive Music Association award.

Orleans - New Star Shining. From the Still The One Live CD, A Christmas song written by John and Johanna Hall, which I recognized as done by the Gaither Vocal Band on their "Still The Greatest Story Ever Told" album. It was also covered by Ricky Skaggs and other artists.

Links:
orleansonline.com
lesshungermoremusic.com

Frequency To The Heart

I have one more Frequency To The Heart, (and I will bring this feature with me to TJ and Company by the way). But this is for all of you who are going through tough times right now, financial, personal, or whatever. I think I've said this before here but it's worth repeating. While you're waiting for the job to come or for the crisis to pass, find the time regularly to do something you love. It may not be for money but it's for the spirit and that's very important too. It gives you some hope to face each day. I know of which I speak...that's what I've been doing here and that's what I'm going to continue doing.

So...that's it for Never Too Old. I want to thank everyone for listening to me this past year especially in this early time period, and thanks as well to program director Beau Hunter and our station managers here at RFN, Ginny Welsch and Greg Welsch, for letting me do my thing with this show here and for the blessing to move on and team up with my buddy and radio mate T.J. Kirby. Most of all, a very special thanks to all those guests who got up at what is an ungodly hour for musicians to come be with us and play and sound great. Remember to go out there and support the music of the baby boomers!

The blogs for the Never Too Old show will remain up and posted because there is a lot of good stuff up there about some of the guests I've had on the show, plus past Frequency To The Heart readings and show reflections that I think you'll enjoy. I will also have the My Space page and the Facebook Never Too Old show group up a little while longer as well. But I do encourage you to join the T.J. and Company group on Facebook and watch for a TJ and Company MySpace page and yes, a new blog! Those last two will all be up by January.

Things I will not miss: dealing with the board and the technical flubs. Not that it's all that difficult. It's just not my thing. T.J.'s doing that part on Saturday. I'll be the keeper of the logs and the blog, admin details and guest hospitality along with being the sidekick.

Update: I will be joining T.J. Kirby on "T.J. and Company" starting January 2.

Again, thanks for being part of this journey. I'll see you next year on T.J and Company, Saturday afternoons, 3-5 p.m. Central on Radio Free Nashville. Be there!

12/13/09 Blog/Playlist: Twist On Christmas 2009

2009-12-13T06:28:00.009-06:00

Today's show was my second "twist on Christmas". Last year the archive of the show I did got lost so I just figured I'd do it over. I've got some songs that are a little bit different, kind of fun and clever. I did some of these last year so I thought I'd bring them back once again. Some are old and some are new and we'll mix them into this set. Let's start with a song from one of the great Christmas albums in the history of rock and roll, the Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector.

Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Denver and the Mile High Orchestra – Frosty the Blues Man
Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping
Diona Devincenzi – Merry Christmas To Me
(This song has ministered to me personally, particularly last Christmas Eve when plans fell apart at the last minute!)

Record Box:
If you grew up in the 60s chances are your mom and had mostly likely had the album "Merry Christmas" by Johnny Mathis and if they were like my mom, played it over and over again until you just couldn't get it out of your head. So here's one of those songs.

Johnny Mathis – Sleigh Ride
Brenda Lee – Rockin Around the Christmas Tree
Claudine Clark – Party Lights
Darlene Love – Marshmallow World
Bobby Rydell - Forget Him
Friend and Lover – Reach Out In The Darkness

Also want to remind you that my guest next week for the last live show will be Lance Hoppen of Orleans. So do tune in for that!

Soul Stew
Impressions – Amen
Jerry Butler – Mr. Dream Merchant
Four Tops – Ask the Lonely
Stevie Wonder – Someday At Christmas

Current:
Stephen Hill and Woody Wright - Come and See What's Happening in the Barn
Eve Selis – Do You Know Me

Frequency to the Heart
Real quick one this week--it's a rough time financially for a lot of folks this year. Take a look around you, see who's struggling and see if you can do something special, needed and unexpected...discover and delight somebody in need!

This season does a number on my sinuses and I'm hearing it on the mike the past couple of weeks. I wish they'd clear up.

Announcement

2009-12-11T07:24:00.013-06:00

I have an announcement to make about "Never Too Old".

I will be "moving back to the old neighborhood" (no, not the Twin Cities!). I've been spending a lot of time lately in my original time period of 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon being an occasional sidekick with my dear friend T.J. Kirby at "T.J. and Company" and I even filled in for him last weekend. We've had a lot of fun and some nice feedback when we were on the air together. I've also been helping him out over the past few months with administrative details for the show. We've talked about teaming up for quite some time. I've finally decided to do that.

So, at the end of the month, I will bring "Never Too Old" to a close and I will be joining "T.J. and Company" on Saturday afternoons from 3-5 p.m as a regular sidekick and co-producer sometime in January. My last live broadcast in this Sunday 8 a.m. time slot will be next Sunday, December 20, when my guest will be Lance Hoppen of Orleans. There will be a show rebroadcast on the 27th (don't know which one at this point).

T.J. and I are very excited about the plans we have for the show...we think it's going to be very unique and entertaining and we're working on some great guest lineups. You'll hear a lot of the same music that you've heard on Never Too Old each week; we've always had that similarity going on so it's just another reason that it makes sense for us to combine our efforts. And yeah, I did start feeling a little burned out on getting up and rushing out the door early Sunday mornings!

I do hope you will join us on Saturday afternoons. And yes, there will be a new "T.J. and Company" show blog, so watch for that as well! This blog will remain up and archived after "Never Too Old" ends...there's still a lot of good stuff in it, after all!

I know I'll probably repeat this, but I do thank everyone who supported me and this show, and most especially all the guests who got up at an ungodly hour for them to join me.

A new era in radio is about to begin!

12/6/09 Blog/Playlist: Complicated Love-The Sequel

2009-12-06T06:28:00.010-06:00

I got a bit of a surprise this morning when I entered the studio. Two guys were in the studio doing a new show. Their names are Hal and Tyler and the show is called Wide Open. It's a mixed bag of music and thoughts. I didn't think anyone besides me would want to get up at those hours on Sunday morning, but these guys have taken on the 6-8 a.m. slot preceding me. Thanks for helping with a gracious transition and welcome to Sunday morning, fellows!

Segment 1: Complicated Love-The Sequel
I've been promising this theme for awhile and so, here it is this week...complicated love, the sequel! Back in March I did a show like this which looked at the complicated aspects of love and tried to tell some stories within the theme. I'll try that again this time out and as with last time, I'll have a question for you which I'll ask in the next set. But this first set is devoted to liars, cheaters, players, what they do to people. We've all known a few of those, right?

Bob Kuban and the InMen – The Cheater
Del Shannon – Little Town Flirt
Johnny Mathis – What Will My Mary Say
Beach Boys - Surfin Safari (It has been this kind of week for me here at RFN. I had the wrong disc in the wrong case. So let's say someone cheated on someone by taking somebody surfing!)
Brenda Lee – Fool #1
Lesley Gore – Maybe I Know
Knickerbockers – Lies

Segment 2: Record Box
OK, to start this set out is my question for this show: can you be in love with someone you don't like? First, the Beatles weigh in on the question.
Thanks to all for the responses on Facebook! Most folks said something to the effect of "yes, but..." in that you can love someone but not like what they do.

Beatles – You Really Got A Hold On Me
Petula Clark – I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
Patsy Cline – Sweet Dreams (Of You)
Gene Pitney – Half Heaven Half Heartache

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Well, Gene Pitney led us off with a look at heartache which will continue for a little bit in the soul stew portion. To continue that, great minds think alike.

Supremes – Nothing But Heartaches
Flirtations – Nothing But A Heartache

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
We didn't do a current/non-oldie segment last week due to the 70s show so we're going to make up for it a bit this week. Probably one of the things that makes love so complicated is communication, or lack thereof. I discovered this first song a while back which to me completely nails that problem between a man and a woman --so it was a no-brainer for me to use it in this show.

Greg Lamboy – War of Words
Beth Nielsen Chapman – Trying To Love You (Beth wrote the song, also recorded by Trisha Yearwood. I also had her version and wanted to use that but I had a time issue...Beth's was shorter).
Louise Mosrie – Maybe I'm Your Angel
Semisonic – She's Gone To The Movies

Frequency To The Heart
Encouraging Words – December 2009

Well, at least the players worked this time. But in my haste to try to fit that one last song in, I forgot to switch the mike over at the end so people probably heard only half of the encouraging words. I probably should have left that out.

I think I'm glad this weekend in radio is over. I want an engineer for Christmas.

My Experiment With Personality Radio: TJ and Company 12/5/09

2009-12-06T06:23:00.016-06:00

My dear friend and "radio mate" T.J. Kirby and his wife Rene had a function to go to this week which was taking place at the same time of his show. I had this bright idea: why don't I sit in for him? After all, I've been a sidekick guest on the show a few times. Surely I've learned something from it all this time, right? Well, T.J. agreed to give me a shot.

It was indeed quite the learning experience. I learned just how much work goes into trying to do a decent two-hour "personality radio" type show. T.J.'s basic format is a throwback to "radio like it used to be" when the DJ was an integral part of the show. The format is two songs and talk segments across the two hours and making it all entertaining. I spent about four days trying to assemble bits to use and finding songs I could "hear" on his show, and making sure I wouldn't run short of material.

My own style is pretty much laid back, like the FM progressive rock DJs of the 70s; basically I just like to share music, play longer sets and then tell you a little bit about what you heard. For me to be witty and charming on the air consistently and not be self-conscious about it is quite a stretch out of my comfort zone. Believe me, I have gained a new respect for folks like T.J. who make it all seem so effortless.

I did, however, come up with a couple of things we thought were cute and clever. I started with a bit where I walk into the studio at the start of the show expecting to find T.J., but he's not there. Instead there's a note from him reminding me that I am hosting, not guesting, "here's your music and material, it'll be easy, just remember everything I taught you". Then I kicked into the theme and my take on the opener. Another segment was one called "Cat Talk" which evolved from some joking between T.J. and me...it started with Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" and gossip about the hilarous "cat betrayed his girlfriend" video out on You Tube, along with some cat facts.

I also had some great music which I don't get to play on my show, including some #1 songs on that date from the 60s to the 90s.

Alas, though, the technical glitches dogged me as usual. The players skipped on a couple of songs. Then, a strange weird thing during a comedy bit I played by Mark Lowry. In the middle, I started hearing the Emergency Broadcast System type tones. Oh no, I thought, what's going on? I immediately looked out the window--I hadn't heard of any storms on the way. Then a voice came on and said "I'm the rock" and then it stopped. What the hell was that? And why does this stuff always have to happen to me, anyway?? Then at the end, I thought for sure I put the mike switch on but it wasn't registering...so I checked it again and it came back. Unfortunately, I lost most of T.J.s poem I was reading. Grrrrr....

Prime time on-air personality? Probably not my destiny. Occasional sidekick to T.J.? We've done that and we have in fact gotten some feedback from listeners suggesting we ought to team up one day. Content producer? Now there's a good radio gig for me. Just so long as I don't have to engineer.

Anyhow as I said, I have gained a greater respect for what T.J. does and his talent. Someone needs to hire him. I'll be the producer.

11/29/09 Blog/Playlist: Nice Decade - The 70s

2009-11-29T06:18:00.008-06:00

I waited a long time to get this "Have A Nice Decade" box set available from the library...it had about 36 or so holds on it. So just as well I was able to push this show up a week as I'll have to return the box set soon!

Segment 1 and 2: Have a Nice Decade - The 70s

Today we're going to dig a bit deep into the 70s. The 70s were fascinating and interesting for pop culture enthusiasts. It was the era of disco, Watergate, many trends, catch phrases and just plain distinctive looks. Do you remember what you wore back then and do you groan when you think about it and see old pictures of yourself? And how about those old prom pictures? Still have any of those?

A lot of what I'm going to play today will come from a series called Have A Nice Decade: the 70s. For the most part, I stayed away from the overplayed, tried and true and dug out some you probably haven't heard in a long while. As I was looking through the collection, I notice there these were a lot of songs in this decade which were off the beaten path, funny, maybe even ridiculous. Probably a good reason why you don't hear many of these anymore! But let's have some decadent fun and recall some of those songs in this first set. As I mentioned, there were a lot of wild trends during the 70s, and this first song celebrates one...I forgot just how funny it was.

Ray Stevens – The Streak
Daddy Dewdrop – Chick- A Boom
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods – Billy Don't Be A Hero
George Baker Selection – Little Green Bag
Bay City Rollers – Saturday Night
Johnny Wakelin and the Kinshasa Band – Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)

In the notes for the Have a Nice Decade package, the producer, David McLees, notes that the 70s was the one decade which caused people of all generations to laugh at how we looked. I'm not even going to mention some of the outfits I recall I had during my teen years which I thought were way cool at the time. Well, OK, I mentioned one--the white pantsuit with the large green flowery petals. Why didn't anyone tell us how ridiculous we looked back then!

This set started with a couple of songs good for a Sunday morning.

Godspell – Day by Day (that one jumped in the player a few times..but did so on pitch!)
Ocean – Put Your Hand In the Hand
Coven – One Tin Soldier
Five Man Electrical Band – Signs
First Class – Beach Baby

Segment 3: Soul Stew

If you remember the music of the 70s, you know that some of the best soul music ever came out of that decade. I got a few in as I had time for.

McFadden and Whitehead –Ain't No Stoppin Us Now
Blue Magic – Sideshow
Honey Cone – Want Ads
Main Ingredient – Everybody Plays The Fool

Frequency To The Heart:

The 70s were the "have a nice day" decade, symbolized by that famous "happy face". Going into the holiday season, in that spirit, why not find some ways you can help someone have a nice day? Take somebody to lunch, do the unexpected, or just say something to brighten someone's day. Like perhaps say "have a nice day". (Couldn't resist!)

Next week: Complicated Love...the sequel! We'll play songs about liars, cheaters, players, and I'll have a question for you, too.

Also next Saturday December 5, I'll be sitting in for my buddy T.J. Kirby on T.J. and Company from 3-5 p.m. Central time. That puts me back in my old time slot for a week and I get a shot at a two hour show. I do a guest spot with him once a month but this week "steal the show" while he's away.

I didn't do a current music set this time because I just had so much in the 70s collection I wanted to get to. I apologize to those who missed that..I'll make it up next week and get one or two in on Saturday as well.

11/22/09 Blog/Playlist: 1963 Revisited

2009-11-22T05:36:00.011-06:00

Segment #1 – 1963 Revisited
Today is the 46th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963. If you lived through that time no matter how old or how young you were, you never forget it. (I'm rather surprised that there's been little media notice of the date this year...it being one of the most shocking events in modern history). Last year I had a show on that same date and I played some music from 1963. I'm going to revisit that year again musically this time as well.

On last year's show I mentioned that there was an aircheck on the internet of a Dallas radio station, KLIF to be exact, from the afternoon of November 22, 1963 around the time when the assassination was happening. It starts out as if it were a normal day, and then once the first reports of the shooting came in, the music started to change and become more somber. Eventually it went to all news and stayed that way throughout the weekend. I have a couple of the songs that were played that afternoon on KLIF. I'll start the set with those, the first one being a song conveying the innocence of the times…all of which was about to change later that afternoon...

Chiffons - I Have A Boyfriend
Tommy Roe – Everybody
Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs – Sugar Shack
Dale and Grace – I'm Leaving It Up To You
Little Peggy March – I Will Follow Him
Kyu Sakamoto – Sukiyaki
Beach Boys – Surfin USA

Segment #2/3 – Picking Through the Record Box/Soul Stew
Last year I tried to play this song,If You Want To Be Happy by Jimmy Soul Clark, which I have on cassette, and it didn't work. If I recall, it would have helped to check to see if the power button was actually on, instead of assuming it was turned on, which it wasn't. Now that we have our cassette deck back in the studio, I tried it again. Not only didn't it work again, but the tape got stuck in the machine for a moment or two. Sheesh. Well, if something doesn't work you move on to the next thing. Just like you do in life.

Bobby Vee – The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Caravelles – You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry
Bobby Vinton – Blue On Blue
Ricky Nelson – Fools Rush In
Four Seasons – Candy Girl
Brenda Lee - Losing You (Followed glitch #2 - meant to play Still by Bill Anderson but the wrong track came up--I think I might have had the wrong disc!)
Impressions – It's All Right
Brenda Lee - My Whole World Is Falling Down (Another unplanned track--so this set became an extended record box set with a little soul thrown in. At that point I wondered if my whole show was falling down! But it turned out to be a pretty good song. Can't do too wrong with Brenda Lee, after all...)
Barbara Lewis – Hello Stranger
Shirelles – Foolish Little Girl

Segment #4 – New/current/non-oldie

There's a new CD out by someone who would have hits a couple of years later. B.J. Thomas has a new Brazilian style CD out called "Once I Loved". I played a track from it. It is as its title says...So Nice.

B.J. Thomas – So Nice
Amy Holland – Miracle River

Frequency to the Heart:

This coming week is Thanksgiving. A lot of us are in hard times these days, but there's always something to be thankful for. How about the people in your life you are thankful for? Has it been a while since you've contacted them? Now would be an excellent time to encourage them and tell them how much they've meant to you. Tell them that you're thankful they are in your life.

Here's a link to a good list of songs that were hits in 1963: www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1963.htm

When I play this show back, I'll see how well I vamped through the glitches...

11/15/09 Blog/Playlist: Double Trouble

2009-11-15T05:53:00.009-06:00

I have been on the road and on the go since last Thursday evening, with for the most part only enough time to get home to bed for a few hours each night. Somewhere inbetween it all I had to find time to throw a show together.

Today it's two for the price of one. As we get older, sometimes we have a tendency to repeat ourselves, don't we? I came up with a set of songs in which words in the title are repeated twice. Perfect for us baby boomers!

New Christy Minstrels – Green Green
Drifters – True Love, True Love
Tommy James and the Shondells – Mony Mony
Miriam Makeba – Pata Pata
Brenda Lee – Dum Dum
Kingsmen – Louie Louie
Crazy Elephant - Gimme Gimme Good Lovin

I realized I could have also included the Doo Wop song I played last week, Trickle Trickle by the Videos, in this set. But, I wasn't thinking about doing this theme for this week last week. So there ya go!

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

Association – Time For Livin'
Randy and the Rainbows – Denise
Kingston Trio – Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Johnnie and Joe - Over The Mountain Across The Sea
(Last minute change--that's what happens when you get into your music,don't pay attention and forget to cue the next track!)

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Joe Jeffrey Group – My Pledge Of Love
Aretha Franklin – Since You've Been Gone
Michael McDonald – Love TKO
Brenda Holloway - When I'm Gone

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

Last weekend I went to a wonderful house concert by an artist introduced to me by Laurie McClain, who was a guest on my show a couple of months ago. When she was here she brought along a CD by Dublin born singer/songwriter Danny Ellis. He has a CD called "800 Voices" which chronicles his childhood life in an Irish orphanage. Music was one of the things that kept him going. I played track off that CD, appropriately called Radio.

Danny Ellis – Radio
Kim McLean – Faith, Hope and Love

Frequency To The Heart

Hug someone today. Hug someone that needs some comfort. Hug somebody that did something sweet and wonderful for you. Hug someone just for being who they are. It's a great way to encourage. Hug somebody now, while they are around to be appreciated.

11/8/09 Blog/Playlist: Library Finds-Anthology Day

2009-11-08T05:55:00.023-06:00

It was "anthology day" on Never Too Old this morning. As I was keeping my show log, I realized that most of what I played came from various "anthology" collections.

I also had a case of the "flying mic" this morning. The microphone kept bouncing up to a higher level and I couldn't keep it lowered down close enough for me, so I had to hold it to talk. It helps when I have two hands free to do things instead of one.

Segment 1: Library Finds - Association and Doo Wop

I enjoy going to the local library to try and find music for my show. I often find many gems among the collections. This week I found two great compilations: one put out by Rhino Records called "The Only Doo Wop Collection You'll Ever Need" and an anthology collection on the popular 60s rock band The Association called "Just the Right Sound" that has a bit of interesting stuff on it. I played some songs in this first set from both of those collections. I'm going to throw a song in here that you may recognize as done by another group...but many of you may not be as familiar with this earlier version. But first, something from the Doo Wop box set.

Fiestas – So Fine
Association – Goodbye Columbus (From the movie of the same name - two different group members submitted songs for the movie but one won out. The band also recorded the other song and renamed it "Goodbye Forever")
Videos - Trickle Trickle (Also covered a few years ago by the Manhattan Transfer)
Association – Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (You all may remember it done quite differently by Led Zeppelin)
Gene Chandler – Duke Of Earl

One of the things I love most about these compilations is the package liner notes. Now, unfortunately, when you get items out of the library, there's a chance some things may be missing with all the passing around a CD might get. I would expect there probably was some kind of annotation with the Doo Wop package, being it's a Rhino release and all, but unfortunately I don't have one. I do have one for the Association collection. The introduction was written by Bill Inglot, one of the producers of this project and, as I have discovered, he's had a hand in several other compilations put out by Rhino and other labels. He also was involved in the "Soul Shots" CDs I play here a lot. I just love what he says here...it's a marvelous insight on how growing up with the music in the 60s impacts your life.

"Once Gepetto dies, the toys just aren't the same anymore...
The 60's were a vast sea of energies, synergies, colors, and yes, trouble, which won't repeat and perhaps shouldn't. Even more than that, they can't.
I can't go back there and I know most times I don't want to, except when I long to see those colors again. There is plenty of pop music today that conveys the happiness and joy that life can be. But those colors are missing..."

Man, I wish I wrote that!

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I started with this other Association tune, a song that I have been teased with for most of my life since the thing came out in 1967. Whenever anyone would see me back when this song was out, I would unfailingly hear a rendition of the chorus of this song. I kept correcting people, no, no, I'm WENDY, not WINDY! Didn't matter. Even at times to this day, people will start singing it.

Association – Windy
Chimes – Once In Awhile
Johnny Horton – North To Alaska
Bobby Darin – Things
Beatles – What You're Doing

Segment 3: Soul Stew
We'll hear a couple from the Tops and the Tempts in this set!

Four Tops – Standing in the Shadows of Love
Temptations – You're My Everything
Four Tops – Something About You
Temptations – It's Growing

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

I started with this cut from George Adams, who you might remember was my guest last month (boy, the time does fly!). He played another gig at Red Tree Coffee in Kingston Springs this past Thursday. I requested him to play this song, he did and it's a beauty...it's off his "Anthology" CD.

George Adams – Hold On To Love
Semisonic – Closing Time
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"...what a great, poignant lyric and one that has been very comforting to me. The song was written by the talented Dan Wilson, of the Twin Cities, who at the time was lead singer/principal songwriter of Semisonic. It's off one of my favorite albums, "Feeling Strangely Fine". I got hooked on this album when I went to a couple of Matchbox 20 and other shows at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and it would be played before the show started. It was one of those released around that time that had songs that spoke to my spirit. I'll play another track or two on upcoming shows.

Frequency To The Heart
Wendy V's Encouraging Words – November 2009: Show Your Heart...Show Your Appreciation

Different closing theme today: Booker T and the MGs - Time Is Tight (and indeed it was...). Reason: forgot to put the CD with "Soul Serenade" in my bag when I changed things out this weekend. Gotta watch that.

Still getting used to the new board setup..only my second time out with it. Also we've got a technical gremlin or two to yet work out. It'll get there.

11/1/09 Blog/Playlist: Grab and Go!

2009-11-01T09:36:00.009-06:00

So here's the deal. Saturday afternoon our transmitter blew. The station managers didn't think we'd have things up and running in time for my show Sunday morning. So I called Lance Hoppen (of the group Orleans), who was my scheduled guest, and told him we needed to postpone his guest appearance until December. I got up Sunday morning, went on Facebook and learned we had a loaner transmitter in place. I turned on the radio and there we were. But I hadn't heard anything from the station on whether or not I should show up. Would my hour be automated, or were they expecting me? There was only one thing to do: grab a few CDs and my computer and go over to the station and see what was up. I got hold of Ginny and Greg (station managers) also showed up. Both told me to go for it and give doing a live show a shot. So what the heck. I did. (No, I did not call poor Lance and rouse him out of bed and tell him to come on down!) I winged this one solo. I momentarily lost my script but found it so I at least had my first set I originally planned and my "frequency to the heart".

There were a couple of technical flubs in the beginning but those were to be expected. I did a lot of explanations about how the shows work and such. I started with a 70s set, with one flub-prompted change:

Grass Roots - Sooner or Later
Grass Roots - Two Divided By Love
Pickettywitch - Same Old Feeling
Walter Egan - Magnet and Steel
Maria Muldaur - Midnight at the Oasis

Record Box:
Gene McDaniels - 100 Pounds of Clay
Marcie Blaine - Bobby's Girl
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas - Bad To Me
Shangri-Las - Give Us Your Blessings (a Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich rarity played from a rather interesting collection of "death" songs called "Dead: The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits")
Los Bravos - Black Is Back

Soul Stew:
Wilson Pickett - Funky Broadway
Supremes - Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart
Temptations - You've Got To Earn It

Current/Non-Oldies:
Grabbed a quick couple of tracks this morning from some past guests:
Boomer Castleman - Never Say Never Again
Les Kerr - Camellia Grill

Frequency To The Heart:
I was just looking at the calendar here at the station one day and happened to see a quote on one page from Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Some of us tend to be the type that says "yes" to a lot of things. But we need to say "no" to comparing ourselves to others and buying in to feelings of inferiority. So when it comes to those things...don't give your consent.

Closer - King Curtis - Soul Serenade

This was also my first time trying out the new broadcast board at the station. We had been using a board more typical of a sound mixer, but we now have one with "pots" you turned up and down. This is more like the board I learned radio on when I was in college. There is a big difference in the sound on the microphone...much better clarity and fidelity. Of course, it also picks up all your vocal tics better.

It was cool in a way to be the one to "inaugurate" the new board for the weekend programmers. I didn't think it would happen. We were told today would be sort of a "dress rehearsal" for us since we are at lower broadcast power until we get technical things to full speed. Not bad, considering it was a "grab and go" show.

Next weekend we put up the new antenna. Depending when that happens, I may or may not be on. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to those who tuned in (I know of at least one who did!) and rolled with me this morning.

WRFN Barnraising #2

2009-10-24T05:40:00.014-05:00

There was no show this weekend. WRFN was off the air to prepare for our big switch to 107.1 LPFM. In the low power FM world, these station-establishing events are known as "barnraisings". I was not around here when Radio Free Nashville had its inaugural one in 2005, but I understand it was quite the undertaking, with folks from around the country and even around the world coming in to take part. I've shared some video on that here.

Lots of work to do on the first morning. We early crewbies hauled equipment out of the studio and office to get the place ready for painting. We cleaned out an old, musty trailer, unearthing lots of trash and perhaps a few treasures. The tech crew, led by Matt the PM (and host of RFN Weekend, Saturdays at 5 p.m.), got the broadcast and computer prep going, with folks even going under the house. Stepping stones were dug up and moved and then the studio painting began.

There was food galore with tons of goodies from Bread and Company and some most marvelous chili from Kristi Rose (of Pulp Radio, Wednesdays 5-6 p.m.). The great thing, though, about any of these rare occasions for the WRFN programmers to get together is the chance to see each other and learn about each other's shows.

Barnraising day two began at noon Sunday. This was the day when the new antenna was scheduled to be put up and work at the studio and office finished up. Unfortunately they ran into some delays with the new antenna installation, but we will be broadcasting on 107.1 in this coming week...it'll just be with our old antenna until things get worked out. There's a lot of detail that's gone in to this transition and it takes a lot of dedicated folks to make this happen. It was great to meet and work with so many different people with great skills.

T.J. and Rene Kirby and I were there from morning to evening on both days and worked as a team in many spots. We were a tired but happy team when it was all done and we all agreed it was a very interesting experience being involved at this level beyond our shows. Now we just can't wait to get at the new broadcast board!

See you November 1 at 107.1!

10/18/09 Blog/Playlist: Devil or Angel

2009-10-18T06:43:00.013-05:00

Opening: Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass - So What's New
Segment 1: Theme - Devil or Angel
What side do you come down on? Do you come off like an angel or do you have a bit of a devilish side to you? We'll take a look at a few songs that cover either or both sides of that coin starting with a song that covers the theme and this question.

Bobby Vee – Devil or Angel
Elvis Presley – (You're the) Devil In Disguise
Beatles – Devil In Her Heart
Shelby Flint – Angel On My Shoulder
Neil Sedaka – Next Door To An Angel
Aretha Franklin – Angel

I almost forgot about that Aretha Franklin song, even though I'd always loved it.

Many times, as I do these sets, I get some folks guessing about what I'm going to play. But more often than not I either won't have the song since I use my own collection or occasionally the station's. Plus, when given a choice I really try to avoid the obvious song that any other stations that still air this music would pick.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
Well, with Halloween coming up, I wanted to get at least one weird song in. This one's got sort of an eerie and spooky storyline to it: Dickey Lee, with the story of "Laurie".

Dickey Lee – Laurie
Ral Donner – You Don't Know What You've Got Until You Lose It
Sarah Vaughn – Broken Hearted Melody
Lou Christie – Two Faces Have I
Impalas – Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home)

I got hold of another in the Hard To Find 45 CD series from which I played the Impalas and Sarah Vaughn songs. I was just noting on the Eric Records site which produces the series that the Volume 1 CD is now pretty rare. I got this copy out of the library, so it was pretty cool that I was able to find it under those circumstances!

Just a reminder that next weekend we'll be off the air because we'll be getting ready for the switch over to 107.1 FM. So be sure that you set your dials for 107.1 and be back with me on November 1 when my guest will be Lance Hoppen of Orleans. Also coming up on the show is singer/songwriter Marc-Alan Barnette on November 8 and coming soon "Complicated Love—the sequel"!

Segment 3: Soul Stew
I would have loved to fit the first song in last week's feelgood show but didn't have it handy.
Spinners – I'll Be Around
Edwin Starr – Agent Double O Soul
Stylistics – You Are Everything
Tony Clarke – The Entertainer

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

There is an organization called Bring Peace Not Pain which has been having a Peace Song Challenge. One of the songs entered in this challenge is this angel song by Randi Perkins.
Randi Perkins – Army Of Angels
Eve Selis- Angels and Eagles
Alan O'Day – I Hear Voices

Alan O'Day will be the featured writer, performing with his producer Denny Martin, at the Commodore Grill Wednesday evening, going on at about 8 p.m.

Frequency To The Heart:
If you've been listening closely to the devil and angels songs in the show this morning, you can probably tell that I tend to favor angels. We can encounter wolves in sheep's clothing. We've all probably come across people like that. But I like to think of this world as basically good. I believe there are angels among us in our everyday lives and I know I can speak to that personally. There are a lot of hurting people out there right now. Think about how you can be an angel to someone in need.

Closing: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

I'd rate this week's show pretty good. My throat had a bit of junk in it at times. It's probably not a good idea to be clearing it on mike so I just had to roll with it...but oh well.

Everybody sleep in next week--back on November 1 on 107.1 FM!

10/11/09 Blog/Playlist: Music That Heals

2009-10-11T05:51:00.012-05:00

To be honest with you, it's been a rough week. Disappointments, hurts, unexpected expenses, passings, other annoying problems. A dear friend of mine brought me over for lunch and we watched a video of Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire together in concert. Both of those bands still had it...and the songs we loved and the energy that poured forth did a lot of good for my soul. I think we all know that music has healing properties. There are a lot of soothing instrumentals that are created just for that purpose. It can be, and often is, about song lyrics that manage to express just what it is that you feel at that moment. Other times, like on the video, it's just an energetic and uptempo song that gives you a lift. You just want to feel good, ya know? So I'm starting with a set of songs which for me serve that purpose. Now on this first one you may not understand the language, but I don't think you need to – the spirit's universal.

Miriam Makeba – Pata Pata
Nathaniel Mayer - Village of Love
Brenda Lee – Dum Dum
Major Lance – Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (This guy had the right idea..come up with a melody to hum when you're feeling down)
Johnny Nash - Hold Me Tight (very last minute change and a good one--with the "ba ba ba ba" etc. fitting in well with the previous two songs)
Reflections - Just Like Romeo and Juliet

There's talk from time to time about getting a camera here in the studio. If there had been, you'd have seen me rocking in my chair. People have noticed that I do that when I'm out listening to music. I've been doing it since I was about 3 years old. I just can't sit still when I'm listening to music. You can't always get up and dance, so I "chair dance" when the spirit moves. There were times when I was younger I'd get so into it that I've even broken a chair or two (but I watch it here in the studio!). But it's also a comfort thing for me, too.

Record Box
One of my all time favorite albums is the Drifters Golden Hits. I played one of my particular favorites, one that doesn't get as much play as some of their better known hits.

Drifters – Dance With Me
Swinging Medallions – Double Shot of My Baby's Love
Beatles – I'll Be Back
Go West - King Of Wishful Thinking

Soul Stew
Nothing like a good dose of Motown to perk you up, right? Starting out with something by the Supremes.

Supremes – Come See About Me
Four Tops – It's The Same Old Song
Temptations – Ain't Too Proud To Beg
Wilson Pickett – 634-5789
Temptaions - Get Ready (hard to decide between two Tempts songs--so decided to do them both!)

Current/Non-oldie/out of the box

Sometimes when things are not going well, you just have to get away to regroup and recover. Here's a lovely song on that subject by Eliza Gilkyson.

Eliza Gilkyson – Coast
Matchbox 20 – Unwell (Live acoustic version. Maybe slightly out of show demographic but there's something about Rob Thomas for me. Whether it's something in his voice or his songs, he just seems to nail whatever I'm going through.)
Mark Lowry – When The Sun Comes Out Again

(OK,that set together just about did me in...glad I had tissues...)

Frequency To The Heart
I might call this a note to self for this week, but this is for all of you too: When you're going through a rough time, it's very important to take care of you. Be sure you are surrounding yourself with supportive and encouraging people who care for you, who give you energy and don't drain your soul and your spirit. Don't settle for less...it may mean stepping back from people and situations that can't serve that purpose, however difficult it may be to do. Do those comfort things that will help your heart until you see that peek of sunshine coming through again.

Opening theme: Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – So What's New
Closing theme: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

Coming up on NTO:
Next week – Devil or Angel theme set
Then we are off for the weekend of October 23/24 for the WRFN barnraising, where we prepare to switch to 107.1 and install a new antenna and make some studio improvements. I will be back on November 1 at 107.1 when my guest will be Lance Hoppen of Orleans. So I do hope you'll follow me for that!

I was VERY happy with how the show went. I think it was one of the best shows I've ever done. I hope it helped some folks who may have been needing a lift.

Next week will be better.

10/4/09 Blog/Playlist: in-studio guest George Adams

2009-10-04T13:44:00.013-05:00

I was excited because I had a guest with me this morning that I've wanted to have on the show for a long time...George Adams, a guy in my list of top male vocalists. I asked George what he wanted to hear, so I started with a few of his requests. It was mostly a different set of songs than I normally play on my show except for two, but there was a reason for that...stay tuned.

Lovin Spoonful - Darlin Be Home Soon (until the gremlins invaded. Rats.)
Critters - Mr. Dieingly Sad
Jimmy Webb - Galveston (lovely version of the song by its writer)
Dan Fogelberg - Part Of The Plan
Kenny Chesney - That's Why I'm Here

You may have heard me say from time to time in the little over a year that I've been here on Radio Free Nashville that I've gotten much more out of this gig than I bargained for. I started out on Saturday afternoons in September of last year. I used to follow a show called "Geo On the Radio". Back then I used to show up a half hour or so early to get prepped for my show, go through the station's online catalog and look for songs and check out Geo's show because I really liked it. One day I'm doing all that and I hear this drop dead gorgeous voice. I said to Geo "WHO is THAT??" He says "oh, you've never heard George Adams?" Um, no, I hadn't. He told me where his MySpace page was, I checked out his song samples and was completely blown away. Now it's hard to get that reaction from song samples and I hadn't been that impressed in about seven years. I went to see him at a gig a month after that and gave him the kind of a five star review in my Wendy V's Nashville Blend blog that I rarely give anyone. Suffice it to say I have since become a major fan of this guy – I love his voice and the music.

George considers himself more of a vocalist than a songwriter, but we heard some of his songwriting live and from studio cuts.

Song list:
Why Don't I Know It's Over
It's Just Love (these first two were done live and are unrecorded as yet)
Stronger Than Words (studio track)
Turn The Knife (live)

George is from Boston originally. He was working in the auto parts business but started developing his singing. He joined a group called the Secrets and moved to Nashville in 1988. He also played at the Stockyard Restaurant and Bullpen Lounge in the 90s as a strolling balladeer and later as part of the house band. He just finished a five month run as a performer on the Carnival Legend cruise ship. The ship carried over 2,000 passengers a week...out of 900 crew members he was one of only 10 who were American.

We also divulged one of the worst kept secrets of low-power FM radio. If those who listened to WRFN on weekends since last year thought George sounded just a little bit familiar when he spoke, yes, George Adams and "Geo On The Radio" are one and the same. Obviously, I've known him for quite some time, having followed his show back when I was on Saturdays last year. The opening set was very much like what you'd hear on a typical "Geo On the Radio" show. George picked those songs because they were songs or artists that he loved. The Kenny Chesney song "That's Why I'm Here" has great personal significance to him...like the characters in the song, he made the decision nearly five years ago to stop drinking and he called it the best decision he ever made.

Plugs:
Gig Friday, October 9, 7 p.m. - Red Tree Coffee, 385 Main Street, Kingston Springs, TN

Info/Contact:
www.myspace.com/george.adams
www.reverbnation.com/georgeadams
www.geoontheradio.com
email: geoontheradio@gmail.com, geoontheradio@yahoo.com or george.adams@myspace.com

Go to any of the above websites to hear more of George's music and e-mail him to find out how to get a copy of his "Anthology" CD he mentioned on the show.

Frequency To The Heart:
You're special. Who among us wouldn't want to hear that...or feel that? What are some ways to show people in your life how special they are? Keep your full focus on them, show your undivided attention when you are with them. Do something kind just for them, maybe make them a surprise lunch or do some other unexpected gesture. You may be making a big difference in their world just at a time when they most need to feel special.

You might think because you have a guest on that you know pretty well personally that it would be easier, right? Wrong. You want everything to be right and go well and be in the pocket. My nerves got the best of me in places. I'm used to dealing with the usual tech glitches, but this was NOT the day that I wanted any of them. I wish I'd been better on a show I'd been so psyched for.

Thanks for getting up early and coming on the show, George.

9/27/09 Blog/Playlist: Never Say Never?

2009-09-27T08:37:00.009-05:00

I had very little sleep this weekend because of two awesome concerts. I will have a report on those in my Nashville Blend blog soon. But I knew this would be an interesting show in terms of my functionality here, to say the least...I warned the audience accordingly and I was right. Some interesting pronouncements came out of my mouth.

Segment 1: Never
I was originally going to call this theme set "Never Say Never". But I realized that, here I am with a show called "Never Too Old" and how would it look doing a never say never theme when I'm telling people they're never too old? So maybe that doesn't make sense. I planned a song called "Never Say Never Again" in the last part of my show, so I think that's okay. Thus I'll just take the first word of the show title and make it a "never" theme...and start with a classic from the Association.

Association – Never My Love
Lovin Spoonful – Never Going Back (Joe Butler on lead vocal, written by John Stewart. also the first "glitch of the day" I had in quite some time. I had the wrong track and was bound and determined to have the right one play.)
Gene Pitney – True Love Never Runs Smooth (and neither does a radio show when you've had little sleep...)
Seekers – I'll Never Find Another You
Laura Nyro – I Never Meant To Hurt You

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I have been searching and searching for a long while for a couple of songs I've always loved that I wanted to play on the show...and finally, I've found them! This first one is a song that came out in 1964 and was a hit on the pop charts right in the middle of the Beatles and the British Invasion. One of those stylistic anomalies (believe it or not, didn't stumble over that word in my zombie-like state!) that turned up as pop hits around that time. It's one that would be an unlikely favorite of mine for that time and would really be considered "square" by a rock and roll kid such as myself. But for some odd reason, it's one that always stayed with me...not sure why I liked it then but I do now. Just like those Lawrence Welk shows I did call square as a 60s kid but occasionally watch now for the pop culture factor. Anyhow, the song I'm talking about to start off with is Love Me With All Your Heart, by the Ray Charles Singers.

Ray Charles Singers – Love Me With All Your Heart
Peter Paul and Mary – If I Had A Hammer (in tribute to the late Mary Travers)
Ruby and the Romantics – My Summer Love
Simon and Garfunkel – Homeward Bound (live version)
Rose Garden – Next Plane To London

In case you haven't heard, WRFN is moving to 107.1 in October! With that move, we will be heard clearly all over Nashville. That will be happening around the weekend of October 24-25, so we'll be off the air during that period to install a new antenna and make station improvements. We do need your help in raising money for all of this. Please go to www.radiofreenashville.org to see about the many ways you can donate. And, if you are in the Nashville area you can also find out there about a benefit classic car and motorcycle show/concert event happening on October 2.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

A couple more "never" songs in the soul set. I'll start with this one by Eddie Floyd:
Eddie Floyd – I've Never Found Me A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
Temptations – I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
Dixiebelles – Down At Papa Joe's
Wilson Pickett – Funky Broadway

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

George Adams - Stronger Than Words
(George is a guest on my show next week. A singer's singer and I've been hoping to get him on the show for a long time. So I'm throwing out the format on this one and having him for the hour.)
Boomer Castleman – Never Say Never Again

Now what did those two songs have in common? A great big triple axel hitting, move in for the kill falsetto note at the end. When Boomer was here on the show a couple of months ago, he hit it live at 8:00 in the morning.

Frequency To The Heart

Well, I've had an hour to think about this whole "never say never" thing. The more that I thought about it, there are some times when you should think "never say never". It could be that goal you think you may never accomplish. Or that job test you thought you'd never pass (true story here!). Even perhaps, that love you thought you'd never have in your life. At those points, you might want to try a "never say never" mindset, open yourself up to encouragement and confidence. It could happen.

And for you all, one more song that I didn't have on CD to play but surely would have if I did: Styx- Never Say Never

9/20/09 Blog/Playlist: in-studio guests Dr. Jay & Miss Diana

2009-09-20T10:01:00.005-05:00

Opening theme—So What's New – Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass

Well once again, I have some special guests in the studio: Dr. Jay and Miss Diana, a dynamic singer/songwriter duo and dear friends of mine.

But first, if you haven't already heard, we have some pretty exciting news to share here at Radio Free Nashville. In a couple of weeks, we are going to be moving to a new home on the FM dial! We will be moving to 107.1 FM...this is something we've been hoping to have happen for quite some time and we've now got the green light. The best news about it all is that we will then be heard all over Nashville. Before that happens, it's going take a bit of work. We'll need to invest in a new antenna and some studio improvements. So, this is where we need the support of all of you out there who love what we do here at Radio Free Nashville. Please go to our website at www.radiofreenashville.org and choose one of several ways to make a donation to the station. You can also go to www.goodsearch.com and designate Radio Free Nashville as your charity and every time you search there or shop through GoodShop WRFN will earn money.

I started out with a set of music.

Rascals – A Girl Like You
Swinging Medallions – Double Shot Of My Baby's Love
Supremes – Back In My Arms Again
Shadows of Knight – Gloria
Wildweeds – No Good To Cry
Survivor – The Search Is Over

My guests today: Dr. Jay and Miss Diana. I heard a little bit about them around town before I actually saw and met them at the Commodore Grille. The song that was the most memorable at that time was one that went I'm just trying to get your attention. And well, they certainly did. So much so that ultimately they were part of my birthday bash round at the Commodore.

They met when Dr. Jay (Jay Worth Allen) saw her as a telephone receptionist on an office visit. Once he heard Diana's voice decided he wanted to hear it the rest of his life. They hit it off personally and musically, married three weeks after they met and have stayed married for over ten years. Diana has sung in church choirs and folk settings, but didn't know any club songs. Jay brought her some recordings from some of the great female vocalists (Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, etc.) and they started off playing jazz.

Just hearing Dr. Jay and Miss Diana's music is half the picture. They need to be seen live. Diana is a performer who sings from her center and looks you in the eye as she sings. Believe it or not, when she first started performing, she sang with her back to the audience and kept checking with Jay to see if she was doing well!She emerged from her shell one day in the studio after getting frustrated with Jay telling her "that's not right". She decided she was going to sing her way, and out it came!

Besides the music, Jay is a prolific writer and artist. He's had a art exhibit going on this week...you can see samples of his art and writing on the website.

We played a few songs that will be on their upcoming Anthology CD which covers cuts from a few of their earlier CDs: Six Rhetoricals and Four Metaphors (named because a songwriting instructor told Jay you can't use rhetoricals and metaphors in Nashville!), Eleven Plays For the Radio, and Some Pretty Darn Good Songs.

I Do Believe
Just One More Time
I Love Only You
'Till My Money Runs Out

Plugs for Dr. Jay and Miss Diana:

www.drjaymissdiana.com
www.myspace.com/drjaymissdiana
Maxwell's (Millennium Maxwell Hotel in Nashville) regular Thursday night show starting 7 - 10 p.m.
10/2-3: Song Festival – Loretta Lynn's Ranch
10/23, 11/4: Commodore Grille

Frequency To The Heart

If it is true that our thoughts attract the types of things that come into our lives, then we all need to encourage each other to help keep our thoughts on track. We need to help one another maintain the positive outlook toward what we desire and keep those negative or fearful thoughts away. Find someone who needs a positive influence and show it and be it in their life. You can do more good than you can possibly realize.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Upcoming shows:
9/28 - "Never" opening theme set
10/4 - George Adams

A fun show this morning with great folks. Thanks Jay and Diana. And you all go see them live.

9/13/09 Blog/Playlist: in-studio guest Laurie McClain

2009-09-13T06:17:00.011-05:00

Opening theme—So What's New – Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass

Laurie McClain was my guest on the show this morning. She's got a CD out called "Ascend" and she has an upcoming CD release show this Friday night at Fiddle and Pick in Pegram.

But first a couple of personal indulgences, if I may: today marks the first anniversary of the start of "Never Too Old". The show began on Saturday afternoons at 3 p.m. when I first came to Radio Free Nashville. It moved to this time slot at the first of this year. It's been a great journey, I've learned a lot since the beginning of this thing and I really appreciated everyone who has ever listened or read my show blog. Of course I want to thank Beau, Ginny, Greg and Matt here at the station for all their support and as I've always said, the best thing for me about being part of Radio Free Nashville is that I've made some life-impacting friendships here...and you know who you are.

Also, I want to thank everyone out there who came to my birthday bash at the Commodore Grille this past Wednesday. It was a great turnout and there were a couple of other RFN folks who turned out for it, my buddy TJ Kirby and his lovely Rene and Steve Haggard and Kimberly King played that evening and did a great job. So I did a brief set this morning and in honor of my party and Judy and Johnny who took such great pictures for me, I started with Lesley Gore!

Lesley Gore – It's My Party
Beatles – I'll Be Back
Joni Mitchell – Help Me
Sonny and Cher – Baby Don't Go
Janis Ian – Society's Child

Laurie McClain moved here in 1997 with four daughters from Lincoln, Nebraska. She and I had much in common. She grew up loving to watch the old Johnny Cash which always had such great artists as Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, etc. She knew from age six that she wanted to be a singer. And so she has, going on to do that and writing lovely songs. She did very well in the recent Just Plain Folks awards, with "Ascend" coming in third in the New Folk Album category.

Another thing she and I had in common was she had spent time playing in the Twin Cities, where I moved here from. One person we both know is folksinger Jerry Rau, a dear friend of hers who sang a duet on the tribute album to Kate Wolf that she made a few years back.

Plugs for Laurie:
www.lauriemcclain.com
www.myspace.com/lauriemcclain
9/16 Richards Café and French Quarter Cafe
9/18 CD release party at Fiddle and Pick, Pegram, 8 p.m.

Songs:
He Smiled Like An Angel (live in studio)
Somewhere In Kentucky (from the "Ascend" CD)
Rosy Glasses (live in studio)

I do understand what it's like to be on fire for an artist and want to share that music with everyone you come across. Laurie asked if I would play a song off a CD by an artist she met at the JPF awards. He's an Irish-born artist named Danny Ellis, who grew up in an orphanage. His CD, 800 Voices, is made of his songs about his life in that setting. We played a track called "Artane Boys Band". It was quite striking and he has a wonderful voice.

Frequency To The Heart:

When It's Not A Fit – Encouraging Words July 2007

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

As always with a guest, the time ends up flying and I wished I had more time in the hour for her music. However, I also like to hear the guests talk about themselves and their music. You can always buy a CD and listen to it however often, but it's not as often you get to hear from the arists themselves about their music and their inspiration...so I like to allow a chunk of time for that.

I hope I didn't come across as too self-indulgent today. There were some things regarding the past week that I needed to express. Plus, at times my interview with Laurie was more like a friendly conversation but I hope I didn't focus more on me and less on her than I should have.

Upcoming guests:
September 20 - Dr. Jay and Miss Diana
October 4 - George Adams (strong tentative)

9/6/09 Blog/Playlist: Weather

2009-09-06T06:19:00.010-05:00

First, thanks to my buddy T.J. Kirby for having me on his show yesterday afternoon from 3-5. It was a blast just like last time...always fun getting together with him and there'll be more of that in the future. We also had folks listening in via Facebook and posting comments while we were on air, so that was cool.

It seemed that one of the CD players took ill yesterday while we were on the air. I just had to wait and see if that would be the case this morning. One seemed a little under the weather this morning as well, so I asked the audience for healing thoughts and prayers for it! I guess they worked--after one slight glitch this morning the rest of the tracks played fine.

Opening theme — So What's New – Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: Theme-Weather
Well, the weather is about to change yet again. It does get kind of interesting year round here in Nashville—we can have good stretches of sunshine but when it does decide to rain, it does so in earnest. So I thought I'd play some weather related songs to start us off this morning. I say let's start with a little sunshine!

Gale Garnett – We’ll Sing In the Sunshine
Lovin Spoonful – Rain On the Roof
Lesley Gore – Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows
Dee Clark – Raindrops
Bobby Hebb – Sunny
Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain
Beach Boys – The Warmth of the Sun (This song's haunting, melancholy melody was inspired by the death of President Kennedy)

I notice a lot of people around here love thunderstorms. They're fine to watch, I suppose, but it is not fun at all when you are out driving in them and it's raining so hard that you can't see.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

I've been watching repeats of the Beatles Anthology special this past week. There's a Beatles Rock Band and remastered tracks coming out this week...on 9/9/09 in fact, which happens to be my birthday. I don't think I'll be getting it as a birthday present, unfortunately. So in honor of all that, let's start out with a Beatles tune.

Beatles – Things We Said Today
Honeycombs – Have I The Right
Little Peggy March – I Will Follow Him
Knickerbockers – Lies

Dates in music history: noted a few MTV Awards past winners and that tomorrow marked the anniversary of American Bandstand leaving Philadelphia for California in 1963 and cutting its TV schedule from daily to once a week on Saturdays. End of an era at the time.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose in the game of love. I thought I'd put together a few soul songs that look at both sides of the coin.
Temptations – Since I Lost My Baby
Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
Supremes – Back In My Arms Again
Drifters – Some Kind of Wonderful

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
One more artist who will be featured in my birthday round coming up this week at the Commodore Grille.

Beth Browne – Taking Back Your Better Half
Laurie McClain – He Smiled Like an Angel

Laurie McClain will be my in-studio guest next week.

Frequency To The Heart

Wendy V's Encouraging Words for September - The Face of Encouragement

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

8/30/09 Blog/Playlist: in-studio guests Rick and Janis Carnes

2009-08-30T06:14:00.018-05:00

I know it's really difficult for some of my guests to get up at the hour of 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. I mean, I've been getting up at early hours since I was in high school because I always got stuck with 8 a.m. classes. Since I've been working a temp job for the last couple of weeks, I've had to get used to the whole routine again. But I know it's not the norm for a musician. So I do appreciate those guests who make the extra effort and wake up and come on down to my little show on Sunday morning.

My guests today were Rick and Janis Carnes, singer/songwriters with a number of hits to their credit by Reba McEntire, the Whites and many others...and Janis has a new CD out, "Hoagy and Me" which is a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael. It was way unusual for Rick and Janis to be up at this hour and Janis wondered if her voice would be up for some live songs. But they ended up doing two songs live in studio and it was.

Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: Record Box
I was at a concert out at Pegram Park last night where my fellow DJ and good buddy TJ Kirby emceed a fun segment during the band break. Of course he got me in on the act—we played some music, we danced and had some kids doing their thing with hula hoops and just having a blast. Here's one of the songs we played:

Beatles – Twist and Shout
Grass Roots – Things I Should Have Said
Lovin Spoonful – Younger Girl
Verdelle Smith – Tar and Cement
Chiffons – I Have A Boyfriend
Lesley Gore – Look of Love (last two songs were a tribute to Ellie Greenwich, who with her partner Jeff Barry was one of the great writers of the Brill Building. Ellie passed away this week of a heart attack.)

Guests: Rick and Janis Carnes

Some of their writing credits from their bios:
In 1983, Rick wrote Reba McEntire’s first number one hit "I Can’t Even Get the Blues No More" and co-wrote with Janis and Chip Harding three top ten hits for the Whites; "You Put the Blue In Me", "Hangin’ Around" and "Pins And Needles". Rick also had success with album cuts on such artists as Conway Twitty, Karen brooks, Loretta Lynn, Lacy J. Dalton, Johnny Rodriguez, Janie Fricke, Ronnie McDowell, T.G. Sheppard, Pam Tillis and many others including three more Reba McEntire cuts.

Janis, along with Rick and Chip Harding, co-wrote three top ten singles by the Whites; You Put the Blue In Me, Hangin’ Around and Pins And Needles. She also had numerous album cuts by Reba McEntire and Eddy Raven, Lacy J. Dalton, the Kendalls, Karen Brooks, J.C. Jones, Steve Wariner and others.

Rick and Janis talked a lot about their writing process in general. I asked them about what it was like to hear songs they wrote on the radio for the first time. Rick recalls hearing his song which was Reba's #1 on the radio: he was driving down the road and heard the song come on, but his car radio conked out at that moment!

We focused a lot on Janis' project "Hoagy and Me" with covers of Hoagy Carmichael songs woven seamlessly with songs Janis wrote in the same style. It's a two disc CD with the vocals on one disc and all instrumentals of the songs on the other. Most of the tracks were done in one day, and in one take!

Songs played:
After Dark (live in studio)
Up With Love (Track from "Hoagy and Me")
Am I Naive (live in studio)

Plugs:
website: www.janiscarnes.com

Upcoming appearances:
Round at the Bluebird Café September 16, 9 p.m.
Commodore Grille September 6 (evening starts 7 p.m.)

Frequency To The Heart

Another one of those job questions is "what would your co-workers say about you?" Think about it: what do you think people around you would say about you? Sometimes we're pleasantly shocked when we find out, and sometimes we wince and say ouch. Have you treated those around you in a way that would make people speak well of you? The good you give comes back to you. Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

Closing theme: Soul Serenade - King Curtis

I thought it was a good interview with some fun comments and good insights on writing with Rick and Janis. I was a bit sloppy this morning, though...my timing was off in spots and I forgot to get the camera and take a picture of Rick and Janis for the blog, so I do apologize for that. (Update: I snapped a shot of them performing at the Commodore Grille on September 6.)

8/23/09 Blog/Playlist: World

2009-08-23T05:45:00.013-05:00

Pretty much threw this show together today due to my temp job schedule...been working a lot this week.

Opening theme - So What's New - Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: Theme - World

I thought we'd get a little worldly on the show today. I've got a few songs with a unique look at the world, starting with a song which was a hit in 1957 by a British teenager, Laurie London.

Laurie London – He's Got the Whole World In His Hands
Cilla Black – You're My World
Vogues – Five O' Clock World
Sam Cooke – Wonderful World
Deon Jackson – Love Makes the World Go Round
Ricky Nelson – Young World

Segment 2: Record Box
This first song was my theme for a little bit when I first started here on Saturday afternoon.
Beatles – Rock and Roll Music
Roy Head – Treat Her Right
Four Jacks and a Jill – Master Jack
Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs – Sugar Shack

Dates In Music History (courtesy www.musicorb.com)
Some Beatles-related items:
1962 - John Lennon weds Cynthia Powell
1963 - Beatles release "She Loves You" in UK
1963 - Ringo admits he wrote a song "Don't Pass Me By"
1968 - Ringo quits Beatles over a disagreement, temporarily
1974 - John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in NYC
Notable birthdays:
1936 - Rudy Lewis, rocker (Drifters)
1947 - Keith Moon, English rock drummer (Who-I'm A Boy)

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Temptations – Ball of Confusion
Brook Benton – So Many Ways
Brenton Wood – Gimme Little Sign
Aretha Franklin – Call Me
Impressions – I'm So Proud

Segment 3: New/Current
Sort of a hat tip to "world music" with this cut. I played something by one of the good guys in the singer/songwriter community here in Nashville, a great friend to a lot of folks–-Sam Cooper, from his CD Sam Cooper Boulevard. Hanging on to what's left of summer...

Sam Cooper – Reggae Summer
Randi Perkins – Little Girl In A Lady's Shoes
Randi is another of the writers who will be playing at my birthday round on September 9. Find more info about this on my Nashville Blend blog.

Frequency To The Heart

Speaking of "the world", if you think you can't impact anyone's world, think again. The world indeed can be a brighter place, one person at a time...and it starts with each of us. It can only take a kind word, a word of encouragement at just the right moment. There are so many stories out there about how encouragement has impacted people's lives. Be willing to give and accept encouragement, and yours can be one of them.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Another pretty good show today. I know I'm getting good at doing tight segues between songs. I attribute this to the mentorship I've been getting--thanks, TJ.

8/16/09 Blog/Playlist: Weddings

2009-08-16T05:41:00.006-05:00

Opening theme: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass-So What's New

Segment 1: Set Theme-Weddings
Today my opening set theme is about getting married. No, I have nothing to announce for myself there..don't get excited! But my dear friend and fellow RFN DJ, TJ Kirby and his lovely Rene did get married this past week—I was there, I took a lot of pictures for them, it was sweet and I had fun at their reception as well. So this set goes out to them today. I'm going to start with a song on that subject which really touched my heart as no other song has. So, I'll play this and I hope you're as moved by this as much as I am.

Johnny Otis – Wedding Boogie (LOL! I heard this song on the NPR show "American Routes" and laughed my head off..so I tracked it down and got it. Had to play it today! I made a "bit" out of it too, as if I were too choked up to spit the intro out..)
Laura Nyro – Wedding Bell Blues
Ronnie and the Hi-Lites – I Wish That We Were Married
I got a kick out of this song—this fellow was only 12 years old and here he is, crying his heart out in this song about wanting to get married. Don't grow up so fast, go out and play baseball or something!
Chuck Berry – You Never Can Tell
Danny Williams – White On White
Julie Rogers – The Wedding

Segment 2: Record Box
Two significant happenings in music history this time of year: one being the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival and the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. So in this set I had some Elvis and music from some of the artists who were at Woodstock.
Richie Havens – San Francisco Bay Blues
Arlo Guthrie – City of New Orleans
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love
Elvis Presley – (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame
John Sebastian – She's A Lady
Elvis Presley – Little Sister

Artists who were NOT at Woodstock (from Wikipedia) because they declined:
The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull, Byrds, Tommy James and the Shondells, Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Joe Jeffrey Group – My Pledge of Love
Sam Cooke – You Send Me
Aretha Franklin- Until You Come Back To Me

Segment 3: New/Current
A little bit more into the wedding theme—this song by one of my favorite artists, Samantha Mooney, has been played frequently at weddings, so I thought we'd do this one.

Samantha Mooney – Love of My Life
Louise Mosrie – Maybe I'm Your Angel
Louise is another of the artists who will be at my birthday bash at the Commodore Grille on September 9.

Frequency To The Heart

I was at a job networking meeting the other day and the subject of interview questions came up. One of the questions we asked each other was "if you were a tree, what would you be?" I said I wanted to be a fruit bearing tree, so I chose a cherry tree. It brought up good memories for me as well because when growing up there was a cherry tree in our back yard.

If you were a fruit-bearing tree, what kind of fruit would you bear? Would it be nourishing by being affirming, uplifting, encouraging to those around you? Think about the kind of fruit you bear—make it as sweet and healthy to others as you can.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

The show went pretty smoothly. I'm coming close to my first anniversary of doing this show. Maybe I'm getting the hang of it?

8/9/09 Blog/Playlist: Black and Blue

2009-08-09T06:15:00.016-05:00

Segment 1: Theme: Black and Blue

My theme today was black and blue. Why did I pick this theme? Well, I had a bit of a freak mishap at home this past week. I caught my toe on the cord of my cell phone charger which was lying on the floor, and it yanked my foot. I ended up with a sprained foot which was black and blue in spots. It was pretty painful for a couple of days but now it's doing much better.

(Yeah, I should have read the underwriter announcement for Sole Supports, right? But I did it last week and it would have been too cheesy!)

I had a few suggestions for this set from my Facebook friends but alas I had none of them on CD. So here is what I did come up with.

Los Bravos – Black Is Black
Bobby Vinton – Blue On Blue
Beatles – Baby's In Black
Temptations – Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)
Checkmates – Black Pearl
Patsy Cline – Blue Moon of Kentucky

Segment 2: Record Box

I started this set with a couple of "hurt" songs (yes, I'm sucking as much sympathy as possible!).

Bill Deal and the Rondells – I've Been Hurt
Lou Rawls – Love Is A Hurtin' Thing
Blood Sweat and Tears – Just One Smile
American Breed – Bend Me Shape Me
Essex- A Walkin' Miracle

I threw that last one in for obvious reasons. Some people with foot injuries are laid up for a while but that's just not an option for me and I had no intention of stopping my life for it...just something to work around for a little bit.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
I haven't played Sam Cooke in a while lately so I got a track in by him. I played one that's a favorite of mine.
Sam Cooke – Nothing Can Change This Love
Barbara Lewis – Make Me Your Baby
Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Brokenhearted

Dates in Music History
I thought I'd try adding a new segment today. When I went to the website I'll be using for this feature, I saw that today's date was actually pretty boring. But there was one event in music history which happened the day before back in 1969: the famous shoot for the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover.

Segment 3: New/Current
I'm going to start plugging an event that is coming in a month from now. I am having a birthday celebration on September 9 at the Commodore Grille on the West End of Nashville, I got to pick some writers to play a couple of rounds for an hour (no, I am not one of them!) so I am going to feature music by some of those writers in the next few weeks in this spot. Festivities start at 6:30 pm on the 9th with the Wild Oats Records round featuring my friends Steve Haggard and Kimberly King, my birthday round following at 7 p.m. I'll have more info on that in the Nashville Blend blog at wvnashblend.blogspot.com so if you're in the area, hope you'll stop by that evening.

John Velora – Holdin Out
Steve Haggard – If She Only Had A Heart

Since Steve Haggard and Kimberly King of the Haggard-King Radio Hour which is heard here on Tuesday afternoons from 4-5 were so kind to put their show in my hands for a couple of weeks while they were out touring, I thought I'd play something from Steve Haggard's CD which is called Love Conquers All. That one's a catchy tune I like a lot.

Frequency To The Heart
Since I was ruminating about my injured foot, I thought I'd share a piece I wrote some years ago called "If The Shoe Fits".

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

One of the cleanest, glitch-free shows I ever had! Did run a little short on stuff and had to fill, so it's sure a good thing to have the computer in the studio with me to grab info to read to fill in.

8/2/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest: Denny Sarokin

2009-08-02T05:59:00.014-05:00

First, a few quick words about a couple of other WRFN shows I was on this past week.

I had fun co-hosting "The Haggard-King Radio Hour" with Garry Jackson. Things went a little more smoothly for me this time. We threw the history/births/deaths material together at the last minute. However, we may have had too much of a good time talking--even though we happened to start a couple of minutes early, we cut it close so one song had to be left out.

Saturday was my guest appearance on TJ Kirby's show "TJ and Company". I think it went pretty well...I know I had a great time being there and my face hurt from laughing. TJ is one very talented and dear person. He made me feel very relaxed. I did one of my "Encouraging Words" pieces and I was grateful for his comments and the discussion he set up after it. Since much of that appearance was talk, I may do some editing and post some excerpts from it on my website at a later date.

Tried out something new this morning...took my netbook to the studio with me. I thought it might be handy, especially if there's a guest on and you want to look up some last-minute information or something quick while you're on air. It was cool to have Denny's web page up in front of me to refer to. So I'll probably do it regularly as long as the thing works.

Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: Record Box - A short music segment relating to Denny and who he's worked with.

Buffalo Springfield – Rock and Roll Woman
Rick Nelson – Young World
Every Mother's Son – Come On Down To My Boat

Guest: Denny Sarokin

Denny Sarokin is pretty much a "Renaissance man" here in Nashville. He's been the lead singer of the aforeplayed Every Mother's Son and bandleader for Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, he's an author, guitar instructor, session musician, songwriter and perhaps a few other things!

Before being part of Every Mother's Son, he was doing a folk duo with his brother. As with many young bands, having a big hit was Every Mother's Son was exciting. He and the bands were on one of the first promotional tours of its kind, played on the bill with artists like the Box Tops, Blues Magoos, Herman's Hermits and even the Who as the opening act! From there, he went on to become bandleader and guitarist for Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band.

Denny has a wonderful story about his song "Sanibel" being written recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (he claims it probably holds the record for the longest "hold" on a song!). Read that story "Sanibel: A Songwriter's Odyssey" on his website.

If you're a budding guitarist who knows a few chords but want to learn much more in the way of tips and tricks, check out Denny's Licktionary package of a DVD and workbook.

I just had to squeeze in a song that Denny did for me when I ran into him at an event a couple of months ago, "Never Too Old To Rock and Roll". You may be hearing it in bits and pieces on the show in weeks to come, as Denny very graciously offered it up for future use. He performed it live this morning and it was great fun.

Other songs played:
Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band - One Night Stand
Denny Sarokin - Sanibel
Denny Sarokin - Never Too Old To Rock and Roll

Closing theme - Soul Serenade - King Curtis

Plugs:
Denny will be at the Commodore Grille for Debi Champion's writers nights on Sunday, August 9 (I mistakenly said the 6th on air, but it is Sunday, August 9) and Sunday, August 23.

Websites:
www.dennysarokin.com (website is being revamped soon)
www.licktionary.com
e-mail: info@licktionary.com

Frequency To The Heart:
Wendy V's Encouraging Words - August 2009: Go The Distance

A great show, a great guest (who by the way was no stranger to Radio Free Nashville--Denny once hosted a political show on the station). Thanks, Denny!

All in all, a good and fun week for radio for me.

7/26/09 Blog/Playlist: All About Bobby

2009-07-26T05:47:00.006-05:00

I had a couple of events to go to the night before the show, which kept me out and up a bit later than I should be. Of course, I paid for it this morning..my lack of sleep causing a few verbal fumble bumbles.

Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass

One name kept cropping up as I was going through my CD collection: Bobby. There are a few Bobby hitmakers out there so this first set today salutes some of those. But I couldn't help but start off with this song which is an ode to Bobby:

Marcie Blaine – Bobby's Girl
Bobby Rydell – I'll Never Dance Again
Bobby Darin - Dream Lover
James and Bobby Purify – I'm Your Puppet
Bobby Vee – The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Bobby Hebb - Sunny (the dance mix strikes again! Back to CDs only...)

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

Well, last week I had TJ Kirby on my show and it was a lot of fun. I was talking to him this week and we were both bemoaning the fact that we let go of a lot of our vinyl albums that we wished we still had because, well, in my case at least, who knew I'd be doing an oldies show out here after I moved? Sometimes you get lucky and you can recapture what you used to have on CD. I came across a Rhino compilation of Dionne Warwick's biggest hits, so I played something here and in the next set from that. This is one of my all time favorites.

Dionne Warwick – Promises Promises
Buffalo Springfield – On The Way Home (always loved the lyrics of this song, especially the first line that says "when the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed".)
Beatles – All I've Got To Do
Reflections – (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet

A couple of other things to plug—this is almost déjà vu from a couple of weeks ago with a different twist. First of all, I will once again this week be sitting in for Steve Haggard and Kimberly King on the Haggard and King Radio hour this coming Tuesday at 4 .p.m. while Steve and Kimberly are on a brief tour in Germany. Last time was fun, and this time, I'll have a co-host to talk to—our good friend and Wild Oats recording artist Garry Jackson will be joining me, so I'm looking forward to that.

Also, I noted last week TJ Kirby was on my show—well, this coming Saturday August 1 at 3 p.m. the tables will turn and I'll be on his show,TJ and Company, talking about what exactly it is I'm doing in this town!

And on next week's Never Too Old show, my guest will be singer/songwriter Denny Sarokin, author of the Lick*tionary DVD for guitar and former lead singer of Every Mother's Son. Do tune in for all of those!

Segment 3: Soul Stew
(I started running short on planned songs so I threw in a couple last minute. I've been sort of stiffing the soul set in recent weeks, so a makeup was due anyhow.)
Drifters – I Count The Tears
Dionne Warwick – Reach Out For Me
Temptations – I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
Gene McDaniels – A Hundred Pounds of Clay
Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces - Searching For My Love
Eddie Holman - Hey There Lonely Girl (originally done in 1963 by Ruby and the Romantics as "Hey There Lonely Boy")

Segment 4: New/Current/Out of the Box
I made this segment a George segment today. I took this George Strait greatest hits CD out of the library the other day and it ended up in my show bag. So I said, hey, well, why not, here's a guy that fits the demographic, still making great music today after about 25years of being at it. I picked one of my favorites of his.

George Strait – Amarillo By Morning
George Adams – Turn The Knife

If you've been thinking about taking a Western Caribbean cruise in the next month or so, you might want to look at the Carnival Legend cruise ship, because you'll get to hear George Adams. He's been performing on there for a few months now and the reports I'm getting is that he's knocking them dead out at sea...so good for him!

Frequency To The Heart:From Soap Bars to Raisin Boxes...

Encouragement can be found in the most unusual and unexpected places.

Raisins have always been one of my favorite foods. I often bought them by the small boxes and back when I had a job, took them with me to work for a snack before lunch. I'd noticed the inside flaps of these raisin boxes contained inspirational thoughts or sayings. I tore off a lot of those flaps and stuck them around my computer monitor where I could see them each day. People asked what the wing-like things were I have all over my monitor, and I invited them to read some of these. They were usually quite surprised to find they came off of a box of raisins. "Healthy foods, healthy thoughts" is how I look at that one.

Not long ago I bought a 4 bar package of soap. To my surprise, I found that the individual wrappers had inspiring sayings on them—written in English and French! Cleansing thoughts on cleansing bars...makes rather clever sense as well.

Encouragement and inspiration can be found in many places...the expected as well as those from out in left field. The challenge is to keep ourselves open to finding them and applying them to our lives.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

7/19/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest TJ Kirby

2009-07-19T06:41:00.016-05:00

If you've heard TJ Kirby, host of "TJ and Company" on Saturday afternoon from 3-5 p.m., you know he's a funny and wacky guy. So, I asked him to start my show by giving me one of those wild, over the top introductions as he does for himself. I figured that will wake people up big time!

I started with a short music set:

Intruders – Cowboys To Girls
Murmaids – Popsicles and Icicles
Johnny Nash – Hold Me Tight
(in between here was a Walter Brennan-ish character thrown in by TJ. I was playing two songs from the same CD, so he offered this up to fill the gap inbetween. I think it will make a cute promo to use in the future!)
Steve Alaimo – Every Day I Have To Cry
The Seekers – I'll Never Find Another You

TJ Kirby grew up in the Atlanta area, got 45 rpm records as an allowance as a child and loved to play those records for other people. That began his desire to do radio, eventually going on to work at stations in Georgia and Tennessee, such as Radio Free Georgia, Oldies 96.3 in Nashville (working with a hero of his, Coyote McCloud) and station WYXE ("Wixie and Dixie"). While working at a classic country station, he interviewed numerous artists. Coming from the top 40 era where the DJs were more of a personality than they tend to be nowadays, TJ brings that feel to his "TJ and Company" shows with the emphasis on having fun.

TJ is also a songwriter. He started writing poetry after his marriage ended, then began writing songs. After being involved in music industry events in Atlanta, he moved to Nashville in 1981. He's had a cut with the country/inspirational artist Cristy Lane and music in a movie. He gave some great advice to songwriters out there today: keep trying, go to workshops, learn your craft. If you manage to get your best songs listened to, take note of whatever they say and go away and take it as knowledge.

Other songs played:

Earth, Wind and Fire - September
Cristy Lane - Believin' In Your Love (written by TJ)
Ronnie Bowman - Love For An Angel

Just a reminder: I'll be a guest on TJ's show on Saturday August 1, so hope you tune in. He's become a great mentor and friend to me. Thanks, buddy.

Frequency To The Heart

Have you been a "day-maker" lately? It's probably one of the easiest things to do. And here's one of the most common ways to do that—it's with a kind word. Sure, some people will think something positive about a person, but they don't always say it to them for whatever number of reasons. But I've run out of fingers to count the number of times I've been glad I did say something because I learned afterward that by doing so, I've made someone's day.

So don't hold back. Don't hesitate. Say what you think. Make someone's day.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

I had a few seconds before the hour ended so I thought I'd throw in a station ID off the top of my head. I completely botched it up...boy, am I useless without a piece of paper in front of me sometimes.
_
While I'm at it here, I'll add a couple of notes about last Tuesday, when I substituted for Steve Haggard and Kimberly King on their show "The Haggard and King Radio Hour". After I played the theme, I heard someone talking as I was about to speak. That meant one thing: automation was on. So I ran over and shut that off and ran back to the board and did my thing. That and not being real sure I'd fill the whole hour with the music I had (Steve and Kimberly talk much more during their show than I do!) kinda threw me off but it all ended up okay.

7/12/09 Blog/Playlist: International

2009-07-12T06:13:00.007-05:00

Back on live this week after being off for the 4th of July weekend. The new CD players worked just fine. I tried a new system (or my version thereof) of arranging my CDs that my fellow DJ and next week's guest T.J. Kirby suggested to help me keep straight what I have in the players when. Thanks, T.J.!

Also, the automation from last week started as I hit my theme, but this time I knew how to shut it off and kick it out! Yay!

Segment 1: Theme- International
I noticed recently, especially since I got these "hard to find 45" collections I've been raving about, that I now have a few international/foreign language songs in my collection that were hits on the pop charts. So I started with a set of some of those this morning. I started with perhaps what is my favorite of all. There was an English language cover of this in the 80's by a Taste of Honey, but those lyrics were a bit far removed from what I understand to be the actual translation. The essence of the English meaning of this song is "looking up when walking so the tears won't fall". The song is Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto.

Kyu Sakamoto – Sukiyaki
Singing Nun – Dominique
Emilio Percoli – Al Di La
Domenico Modugno – Volare
Miriam Makeba – Pata Pata
Lolita – Sailor (Your Home Is the Sea)
Sandpipers – Guantanamera

I figured I was going to have a time with some of the prounciations of these titles and artist names. I studied French in high school and college...so I'm afraid I wasn't as smooth with the German and Italian this morning!

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
This past week I learned of the passing of Drake Levin, the original guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Being that the Raiders were my favorites when growing up, I have very vivid and joyful memories of watching "Where the Action Is" and seeing him and Fang jump around and dance with their guitars. So Drake, this one's for you.

Paul Revere and the Raiders – Just Like Me
Beatles – Sie Liebt Dich
Sanford and Townsend – Smoke From A Distant Fire
Shelby Flint – Angel on My Shoulder

Well, I am excited because I do have a guest coming on with me next week: TJ Kirby who is the host of TJ and Company here on Radio Free Nashville on Saturday afternoons from 3-5. He's a fun guy and besides being a radio personality he's also a songwriter, so we're going to talk radio and songwriting and it's just going to be a blast..a little different from the usual and be prepared to laugh! I do hope you'll tune in.

I also have a couple of other shameless self-promotion plugs for you: I will be doing a talk tomorrow for a fairly new music networking organization in town called Indie Connect. I will be speaking on how radio appearances can work effectively for artists. I'll be talking about finding radio stations to guest on, how to prep and how you can benefit. That's going to happen tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Corky's BBQ, 100 Franklin Road (Franklin Road and Old Hickory Blvd) in Brentwood. You can find out more information at www.indieconnect.net .

And on Tuesday, I will be sitting in for my dear friends Steve Haggard and Kimberly King on the Haggard-King Radio Hour from 4-5 p.m. while they are away playing gigs in Latvia. That should be a lot of fun and they've picked out some great music, so do tune in for that if you can.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Aretha Franklin – Chain Of Fools
Supremes – Nothing But Heartaches
Jackie Ross – Selfish One
James and Bobby Purify – Let Love Come Between Us

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

I played a couple of artists who are international. I've mentioned this group from Scotland, OneDay40, who actually just got a record deal with a small independent Nashville label. Colt Records, and their album, Unfinished Business, is slated for a US release. Here's the song from the CD that has done well for them overseas.

OneDay40 – Sad Cowboy
Samantha Mooney (from Australia) – Love Of My Life

Frequency To The Heart
July 2009 Wendy V's Encouraging Words piece from www.embraceencouragement.com – Everything That Glitters

This was one of my better shows. I also got a nice word of encouragement from one of my songwriter friends...thanks, Pam, I needed that!

Rewinding the Memories

2009-07-03T10:11:00.008-05:00

I'm not on live this week because I'll be spending the 4th of July at an all-day small-town celebration in Pegram, TN, west of Nashville. Among other activities, I've been asked to help judge a baby pageant, so it should be fun. Anticipating such a long day, I've decided to sleep in through my usual get-up hour on Sunday to get ready for the show. The rerun I have planned is the "Folk 60s" show from March. Had to pick one where I didn't mess up too much!

I've been going through a fellow DJ's old shows and helping him get them re-archived at the station while he's away. When I was on at Saturdays at 3 p.m., I used to follow "Geo On The Radio". Listening to some of his archives from that time brought back a few memories for me. I'd remember a few conversations Geo and I had when I hear a song...maybe a song that gave us both goosebumps. I also recall that some of these shows were so great that it would intimidate the heck out of rookie me and I'd think "I've gotta follow THAT?". Some of the things I remember were not fun...for instance, the day when I couldn't wait to tell everyone how I'd met my hero, Brenda Lee. I started talking and suddenly the previous week's automation kicked in instead and neither of us figured out how to stop it until about 10 minutes into my show.

For the past few Memorial Day weekends, I'd have this "tradition" of tuning in to WABC-AM in New York for the "WABC Rewound" weekend. This consisted of 12 hours of airchecks from the 60s and 70s of the station's golden era as a top 40 station with some of its best known DJs, such as Dan Ingram and Cousin Brucie. The best part of those years was when we would post to a message board in real time as the broadcasts were happening to share our memories. This past year was a little disappointing as WABC chose to air "Rewound" on the internet only as a download on demand. It lacked that sense of community of all of us sharing our thoughts as it happened. But now, we've been given a new alternative: "Rewound Radio", with constantly streaming airchecks from past "Rewound" weekends and a message board to go with.

Yes, it is important to go forward and forge ahead in the present and create quality radio programming. But there's also something to be said for having the ability to look back to recall and appreciate great moments in radio. (One other notable example: WSM's airing of Grand Ole Opry broadcast moments fron the 60s on Friday nights. Being able to hear some of what many of us only heard about as the stuff of legend over the years is invaluable.) Those who have missed them the first time around can enjoy and perhaps be personally impacted by what they're hearing. God knows this happened to me many times.

Radio does need to be fresh, creative and current in order to continue to thrive. But, let the memories have their place as well. That's what much of my show's about, after all.
___
Upcoming on "Never Too Old":
7/11 - International theme set
7/19 - In-studio guest: T.J. Kirby, host of TJ and Company on WRFN
8/2 - In-studio guest: Denny Sarokin

6/27/09 Blog/Playlist: Sailin'

2009-06-28T06:30:00.005-05:00

I felt like I did the show with one arm tied behind my back this morning. I had only one working CD player at the studio, so I had to flip those discs in and out of there as quickly as I could. But I didn't lose too much time in the pacing of the show.

Opening theme—So What's New - Herb Alpert and the TJB

Segment 1: Theme: Sailing
Well you know, with warm weather, you just want to be outside a lot and one thing folks like to do is hit the water. These "Hard To Find 45s" CDs I've been telling you about helped me put together today's first set theme, which is on sailing. So we drew from those and some other tracks for that one this morning. So don't miss the boat, now—get on board!

Frankie Ford – Sea Cruise
Bobby Darin – Beyond the Sea
Looking Glass – Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)
Lolita – Sailor (Your Home Is the Sea)
Diane Renay – Navy Blue

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
We're going to dig more into the "Hard To Find 45" CDs for most of this next set. I have two more songs about sailing for you first, though. I'll start with a group from the 60s whose lead singer, Denny Sarokin, is a well known singer/songwriter and guitar instructor here in Nashville and he will be a guest on my show August 2.

Every Mother's Son – Come On Down To My Boat
Styx – Come Sail Away (I was a big Styx fan in the 80. When the group did "Come Sail Away" at shows, alot of us fans would face in the direction of Chicago and salute at the line "on board, I'm a captain." Maybe they still do.)
Thomas Wayne – Tragedy (by request-Happy Birthday Steve!)
Caravelles – You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry
Julie Rogers – The Wedding
Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas – Bad To Me

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Temptations – You've Got To Earn It
Sweet Inspirations – Sweet Inspiration
Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces – Searching for My Love
Jackson 5 - I'll Be There (a sadly obvious choice)

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

Going to start talking about an event that I have coming up in September. I mentioned last week in my interview with Boomer Castleman that my birthday is September 9. Well, I'll be celebrating that at the Commodore Grill here in Nashville with a round with some great writers. I'll tell you more as the time gets closer but I do want to play a track by a writer who will be there. This is Louise Mosrie and you can catch her today at 2 p.m. at Norm's River Road House.

Louise Mosrie – God Lives In Arkansas

Frequency To The Heart
Part 3 of the 3 ways to Embrace Encouragement – Owning Encouragement

Now you might think, isn't owning encouragement the same thing as accepting encouragement? Not really. One has to come before the other. If you aren't going to accept encouragement, it's mighty hard to believe in yourself enough to own the encouragement. The encouragement given to you is external. Once you have truly accepted and absorbed it, then you've begun to own it as true.

Sometimes that’s hard to do when you’re facing rejection, encountering roadblocks, and things aren’t coming together as you’ve hoped...just yet.

There’s a reason why I paused there. You know deep down inside why you’re doing what you’re doing. You have a God given talent, a calling, or a message. Trust it. Things don’t always happen on our timetable...or exactly in the way you planned. It may not be the circumstance you're counting on. Lots of times, it’s that thing that comes out of left field. Somebody saw your website link in some odd place, went to hear your sound clip and was touched by what they heard. Or someone found out about you from someplace or someone else...maybe an avenue you weren't ever aware of. Be open and keep your hope and faith alive.

So the three ways to embrace encouragement—give it, accept it, own it.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

All things considered, not too bad a show. I'm not live next week--I'll be rerunning the "Folk 60s" show from March. I will have a new blog entry though--I have something special planned.

Hi From Boomer and Lois!

2009-06-27T07:29:00.002-05:00

Boomer Castleman and Lois Hess did a video greeting for everyone when they guested on the show last week.

6/21/09 Blog/Playlist: in studio guest Boomer Castleman

2009-06-21T14:07:00.009-05:00

Forget the trainwreck show of last week. Some things come better late than never. I had a wonderful time with Boomer Castleman and his fabulous drummer, Lois Hess. Not only did they make it to the studio okay, but they beat me there, for heaven's sake! I actually saw a lot of Boomer and Lois this weekend because I introduced them onstage at the Nashville Songwriters Festival on Saturday and also heard them later on Sunday evening at the Commodore Grill.

Boomer shared all kinds of great stories about his career during the 60s and 70s and some of the people he's worked with, such as his experience with knowing and writing for the Monkees and some "musical history" he was present for involving John Denver. You can read some of those stories in an excellent interview with Boomer from 2004 that is online at http://www.musicdish.com/mag/index.php3?id=9820

Opening songs:
I Feel Good, I Feel Bad - Lewis & Clarke Expedition
What Am I Doing Hanging Round - Monkees

The first time I met Boomer at one of Doak Turner's 3rd Sunday songwriter gatherings I shocked him when I told him that I remembered him from being in the Lewis and Clarke Expedition (which also included Michael Martin Murphey, by the way). For many years until my last move, I had some of the 16 and Tiger Beat magazines with them and the Monkees! 40 something years later, here I am talking to Boomer! Who knew? I wish I'd kept those magazines.

Boomer and Lois did two songs live: "Never Say Never Again", the song Boomer did at the "Silver Stars" competition (and he "landed the triple axle" with a perfect falsetto at the end at 8:00 in the morning!); and "Alligator Gar", with some hot licks!

Other tracks we played were "Where's Jenny Now" and his hit from the 70s, "Judy Mae" (which he notes was controversial for its time, being a song about incest).

Boomer is also known for his invention of the Palm Pedal, a guitar enhancement which gives it a pedal steel sound and endorsed by such luminaries as Chet Atkins. This also earned him a recent place on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville.

I knew we'd have no problem filling the hour with things to talk about and the hour just flew by. (He also kept telling me how young I looked...I love this guy!) I also laughed a lot during this show. I am glad Boomer did most of the talking because my voice was in somewhat dubious shape, no thanks to a headcold I caught during the week (which I blame on a swimming pool).

Frequency To The Heart:
Part two of the three ways to Embrace Encouragement: Accepting Encouragement

This show's a definite candidate for rebroadcast. Thanks, Boomer and Lois...love ya!

6/14/09 Blog/Playlist: Change of Plans...

2009-06-14T06:37:00.007-05:00

Well, let's just say this morning's show was "memorable". Unfortunately, not for the right reasons.

First of all, there was a schedule mixup with Boomer Castleman, who I planned to have on as a guest. When I didn't see him at airtime, I called him during a song to track him down. There was a time misunderstanding so we ended up rescheduling for next week. Those things you can work with and always have a plan B for. That wasn't the worst of it. While I was talking to him on my cell phone, midway through I realized I left the dang mike up! When I get anxious or nervous, I tend to lose attention to detail. So, any who were listening heard my end of the conversation, unfortunately. Thankfully I was nice and cordial on the phone. Boomer, bless his heart, offered to reschedule for next week. I am grateful he would want to come on at all after this. I don't really blame anyone for hesitating to get up at 8 in the morning to be on the show. I've been getting up at early hours since high school because I always had those 8:00 classes, so the habit stuck with me.

I apologized to the audience and slid under the table as our program director, Beau Hunter, came walking through the door. I thought for sure I would be removed from the air. If it were big time radio, I'd have been fired on the spot. But instead, Beau, being the gracious and understanding person that he is, laughed at me. He claimed I was actually carrying out the purpose of the station. The idea being to encourage people listening to folks with (in)competency levels like mine and thinking "I can do better than that!" to come to the station with their show ideas and be part of it. And, you can do that by checking out www.radiofreenashville.org if you are one of those who feel led. If nothing else, you'll make some great friendships, which I always say has been the biggest bonus for me in this whole thing.

So what I ended up doing is the show I planned for next week, which was to feature tracks from this great set of compilation CDs I got called "Hard To Find 45s". I got three of the CDs and there is lots of great stuff. So most of what I played today came from there. By the time I got to this point of the show, I was so flustered that I literally loaded the CDs, just picked random track numbers and let it rip and wrote them down after the fact. So here's all I played:

Opening theme—So What's New TJB

Lou Christie - Lightning Strikes
Los Bravos - Black Is Black
Lesley Gore- California Nights
Nathaniel Mayer - Village of Love
Tommy Roe - Everybody
Nancy Wilson - How Glad I Am
Blues Project - Fly Away
Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You
Bobby Darin - You're The Reason I'm Living
4 Jacks and A Jill - Master Jack
Verdelle Smith - Tar and Cement
Gene Mc Daniels - 100 Pounds of Clay
Clyde McPhatter - Lover Please
Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata

Randi Perkins - Army of Angels
Mark Elliott- Not All Who Wander Are Lost
(my comment for this morning--not all who are lost wander!!)

Frequency To The Heart
First in my 3 part message on the three ways of embracing encouragement. The first way: giving encouragement to others. The encourager could have used some of her own advice.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

On the way home, I spotted not one, but two, skunks coming down the road opposite me. Appropriate, I thought, for my performance today. I rolled up the windows and sped up.

My apologies to all who were disappointed. We'll try again next week.

6/7/09 Blog/Playlist: Baby!

2009-06-07T06:56:00.006-05:00

Nature had its impact on the show today. Nashville and surrounding areas have a lot of woods. Woods around here mean deer. Every time I drive to the studio (or just around any such areas) I pray to God that the deer stay away from me. I cannot afford them impaling themselves on my car right now. They are beautiful creatures but they need to stay in the woods where they belong. Well, they were out in force this morning. One bounded along Highway 100 and fortunately I was able to stay back and anticipate it leaping back to the other side of the road. The other was in the area right near the station and luckily it stayed out of my way.

Opening theme—So What's New - Herb Alpert & TJB

Segment 1: Theme- Baby
The theme today is songs with the word "baby" in the title. None of these actually refer to babies at all...as you might guess it's about "baby" as term of endearment for a sweetheart. I'm also doing this in the Soul Stew set, because there are just so many soul songs with the word "baby" in the title. I'd been kind of curious as to just how calling one's lover "baby" got started. I tried to do a little research on it but didn't come up with much except for a Wikipedia entry which states that "baby" was first used as a term of endearment in 1839.

Grass Roots – Baby Hold On
Sonny and Cher – Baby Don't Go
Bruce Chanel – Hey Baby
Patsy Cline – He Called Me Baby
Four Seasons – Bye Bye Baby

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

We'll get back to our baby theme a little bit later but for now we'll just pick through and see what comes up here. Let's start with Pat Boone.

Pat Boone – Moody River
Beatles – I'll Get You
Swinging Medallions – Double Shot of My Baby's Love

Something coming up: June 19 – 21 is the Annual Songwriters Festival down on Music Row in Nashville with dozens of songwriters on several stages. There are workshops and open rounds to get in on as well. Find out more on that at www.songwritersfestival.com . Yours truly Wendy V will be emceeing on Saturday from 3:30-7:30 on the Sure Fire Web Cast stage, so I hope you come out! Looking at the schedule, one of the people I'll be introducing happens to be my guest on the show next week...Boomer Castleman! Boomer has been part of the music scene since the 60s in several ways and he's still going strong today so we'll have lots to talk about and music to hear. By the way, thanks to everyone for all the nice compliments on the guest interview shows recently. I'll try to have more for you in the future; I'm waiting to hear back from a few folks right now.

Back to nature thing...here's where things started going downhill. As I was talking, a huge mosquito crawled across the desk. So while I was talking, I was taking my script and crushing this huge sucker.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

A lot of soul hits with "baby".

Four Tops – Baby I Need Your Loving
Supremes – Baby Love
Temptations – My Baby
Aretha Franklin – Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)
Barbara Lewis – Baby I'm Yours

Then the trainwreck occurs. I found "Are You Lonely For Me" by Freddie Scott in the playout library and wanted to play it first. As you recall, I had a playout problem last time. When I got here this morning, the program director told me things were changed and there was now a volume slider on the console for the playout system. I I put the slider up all the way. Again, no sound. And because I was expecting that to work, I didn't cue up the next cut. So the track I hit was not the Supremes but Bob Kuban's "The Cheater". Well, I wouldn't let that go as I was bound and determined to salvage the "baby" soul set. I momentarily lost track of the Supremes cut so I had to vamp while I grabbed the Four Tops track and put it in the player. I hesitated a bit and started plugging Goodsearch.com on which you can help Radio Free Nashville (or charity of your choice) earn donations everytime you shop online.

At that moment, I would have given anything to be Dan Ingram, the legendary top 40 DJ who is the king of the one liners and quick responses. He'd have come up with a good line or two. Thank God this isn't big time radio. I sure wouldn't last very long. Anyway, I eventually got the train back on the track and moving again.

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

A friend of mine back in St. Paul does have a song about babies (the real ones) so I played it. This set actually ended up spanning the range from infancy to parenthood.

TD Mischke – Babies
Kim McLean – Pearl
Mark Lowry – Nothing To Hide

Frequency To The Heart – June's Wendy V's Encouraging Words column: True To the Calling

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Boomer Castleman is the guest next week. Thank God. These guest shows have gone smoother than the music shows, so I should do more of them.

5/31/09 Blog/Playlist: 1962

2009-05-31T06:10:00.007-05:00

Opening theme—So What's New Herb Alpert& Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: Theme - 1962

Today I am taking a look back at the year 1962 in music. It was a pretty interesting year...still a couple of years away from the British Invasion, teen idols and the Twist were making a strong presence on the charts, and some of the greatest singers around were having a very good year. I'll start with one of my favorites who placed a couple of songs on the top 100 that year.

Gene Pitney – Town Without Pity
Gene Chandler – Duke of Earl
Del Shannon – Little Town Flirt
Patsy Cline – She's Got You
Connie Francis – Vacation
Freddy Cannon – Palisades Park
I used to hear the radio commercials for this all the time, having grown up on the East coast not far from NYC. The song, by the way, was written by Chuck Barris of "Gong Show" fame.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

Continuing on with 1962 for a bit, as I mentioned, the Twist was at its height in popularity during that year if the Billboard top 100 is any indication. The great Sam Cooke got in on celebrating the dance craze as well.

Don & Juan - What's Your Name
Sam Cooke – Twisting the Night Away
Rick Nelson – It's Up To You
Barbara Lynn - You'll Lose a Good Thing
Bobby Darin – Things

I thought I was going to have a glitch-clean show. Silly me.

I had "Twisting the Night Away" by Sam Cooke in the playout system because I forgot to pack his CD. Well, the playout didn't work, so I had to grab a random track off the Time-Life compliation CD I was using for most of the show. The Don and Juan track came up and then I noticed that "Twisting The Night Away" was also on this same CD! So I played it next. At least I didn't make a complete liar out of myself.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Brook Benton – Hotel Happiness
Shirelles – Baby It's You
Booker T and the MGs – Green Onions
Drifters - Up On The Roof

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New (Outside the Box)
I played a couple of songs from some terrific women. One is a singer/songwriter I found earlier this year who blew me away, and over Memorial Day weekend she was a New Folk winner at the Kerrville Folk Festival in TX. Congrats to Louise Mosrie! I plan to have her on the show at a later date.

Louise Mosrie – Maybe I'm Your Angel
Samantha Mooney – Laying It All On the Line
(both tracks are from EPs with full albums soon to come from both artists)

I had a couple of minutes to fill...so I thought about artists like Samantha and Louise and what it felt like to hear them and others like them for the first time. I encourage everyone to go and seek out new artists and give them your support, because you never know how they're going to touch your world. You can learn about some in my "Wendy V's Nashville Blend" blog, for starters.

Frequency To The Heart:

Last week we talked about setbacks. You may not want to be in the place in life you are at the moment. But can you find something in it to help you make the best of your present circumstances? You may be without a job right now...but that gives you time to take a nap in the summer sun. If you're on your own, you have the freedom to see new places, have new experiences and meet new people without being tied down. (I'm speaking from experience on these, folks). Even at the hardest times in life, we all have things to be grateful for. Focus on those and you will find the rough waters in your heart will calm a bit.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Coming up on June 14, I will have Boomer Castleman on as my guest...he's been a part of some pop music history and he's still going strong here in Nashville; so do check that out in a couple of weeks.

I was sad to hear from our program director after the show that Kerry Miller, who had been doing the "Samurai Songs" show after mine, decided to end his show. Kerry was an absolute pleasure to have in the studio with me every Sunday. He's been a great encourager and gracious enough to be my "blog photographer" when needed. I will certainly miss him.

5/24/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest Les Kerr

2009-05-24T06:08:00.010-05:00

I was again fortunate this week to have another wonderful, talented and articulate guest, Les Kerr. And, it was so easy to prep for this show. Musicians can take a lesson from the efficiency of his press materials...concise, to the point and included all the essential info.

No opening theme today. The CD got off kilter in the player and wouldn't work. Technical glitch of the day. Not what I wanted when I had a guest in the studio so that threw me off a bit mentally.

Once again, it sounded like mic #1 was checking out. I couldn't hear myself in the headphones and Les said he couldn't hear me in the monitors. So a few words in I decided to bring up mic #2 which was over on Les' side and hoped it would pick me up until I had a chance to switch. But playing back the show, everything came out fine. So go figure!

I began with a few shout-outs to some of my fellow DJs:

- Bobby Bob, host of Bobby Bob's Rock and Roll Revolution on Saturdays at noon, for a heartfelt and emotional Memorial Day tribute on his show yesterday.

- Congrats to the Haggard and King Radio Hour which celebrated its 1st anniversary on the air this past Tuesday. Steve and Kimberly play some great music, pass on some facts and knowledge, have a real fun chemistry, they crack me up...and they're two of the dearest people I know as well. Tune in Tuesday from 4-5 p.m.

- I attended a reading and book signing yesterday by River Jordan, who is on a short leave from her show on Saturday afternoon supporting her new novel, "Saints In Limbo", which was a Random House pick of the month. Great to see her again and very happy for her success!

Segment 1: Picking Through the Record Box
For the "picking through the record box set" I asked Les to tell me some of his favorite oldies and I actually had a couple of those, believe it or not! I threw in a few New Orleans related songs and artists here, too.

Elvis Presley – Heartbreak Hotel
Arlo Guthrie – City Of New Orleans
Ernie K-Doe – Mother In Law
Frankie Ford - Sea Cruise
Fats Domino – I'm Walkin'

Guest segment: Les Kerr

I came to hear of Les Kerr actually through the station. River Jordan had him on as a guest and I got a MySpace note from him the same day telling me that he listened to my show. I really appreciated that and all his support ever since. Les describes his music as "Hillbilly Blues Caribbean Rock & Roll." He is a cheerleader for all things New Orleans as a singer and songwriter and is also a prolific writer of blog entries and other things.

Born in Shreveport, LA but raised in Mississippi, Les has loved New Orleans, its music, its food and its culture all his life. He is also quite knowledgeable about its rich musical heritage. Les is just back from a trip from New Orleans. You can read about that and see pictures at his MySpace page.

In addition to being a musician, Les is also an accomplished writer. He is a freelance journalist and most recently contributed to the book Tennessee with photos by George Humphries. He's also a co-author of the All-American Truck Stop Cookbook. Keeping it in the family, many people may also be familiar with his wife, Gail Kerr, columnist for the Tennessean.

Tracks:
Retro (a wonderful song not yet recorded about many of the things folks our age loved about growing up with music...especially buying vinyl records and 45's. When I heard him do this song at the recent Pegram Park Writers Night, I begged him to do it on the show. It was the perfect fit I imagined it to be.)

Pray for New Orleans (done live, written years before Hurricane Katrina hit)

Smile Upon Your Soul

The Camellia Grill (last two from his CD New Orleans Set)

Links:
www.leskerr.com
www.myspace.com/leskerrmusic

Upcoming gigs:

May 28 2009 6:00P
Bluebird Cafe with Nashville ECLECTIC Service, Nashville, Tennessee
May 31 2009 8:00P
Les hosts Bluebird Cafe Sunday Songwriter Showcase, Nashville
Jun 20 2009 3:00P
Jefferson Street Jazz and Blues Festival, Nashville, Tennessee
Jul 17 2009 7:00P
Red Caboose Park Concert Series, Nashville

Frequency To The Heart:
Setbacks will come in our lives. Things will happen to us that will seem puzzling or unfair. Jobs or people will leave us. Sometimes that means that where we were when those bumps in the road came may not have been the ideal places or situations for us at the time. But those are the times to hold fast to who we are and what our gifts are. Think about those you know of who may have been in similar situations, picked up the pieces and moved on...and landed on their feet. It may seem dark now...but morning will come.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

5/17/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest Mark Elliott

2009-05-17T06:24:00.018-05:00

Yay! The microphones all worked today! Mark Elliott was such a great guest. There was so much I wanted to cover, but time just seems to fly so fast. I also wish I could have captured some of the stories Mark shared during CD plays, but you can't really manage show details and take notes(at least I can't).

Segment 1: Picking Through the Record Box
While I set up for guests, I do a "picking through the record box set" that will have a mix of things. I asked Mark what some of his favorite oldies were and unfortunately, I bombed out on having all but one...so I picked some songs by artists which were relevant to him.

Beatles – Thank You Girl
Wilson Pickett – 634-5789
Gordon Lightfoot- Early Morning Rain (the only song I had that he requested!)
John Sebastian - She's A Lady
Kim McLean – Ain't No Glory (Kim and Devon O'Day are part of the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groove Train with Mark)
Tom Paxton - The Last Thing On My Mind (Tom was influential in getting Mark to Nashville)

Guest segment: Mark Elliott

I must tell you my story of how I came to hear of him. I was doing some music screening last year for an indie music organization for their music awards presentation. One of those artists who came up in the process was Mark Elliott. I was very impressed, saw he was in the Nashville area and made a mental note to check him out if he played in the area. Well, I had plans that weekend to go to one of the Friends of Pegram Park Writers Nights held at Fiddle and Pick because I'd never been there before. Well, lo and behold, much to my surprise, on the bill was none other than Mark! He was great, he was nice and he did a special favor for me that evening that he did again here this morning...played "Baseball and Beatles" for me live!

Mark grew up around a vibrant bluegrass and folk music scene in Washington, D.C. He and his parents drove around in an old VW van with an 8 track player (high tech for that time), listening to Jim Croce, John Denver, the 5th Dimension and other 60s acts. His parents gave him the van for his 16th birthday, but sadly he wrecked it shortly thereafter.

A debut album (Common Ground, 1988) and a last minute opening act for Tom Paxton earned some encouragement from Tom, leading him to Nashville and a publishing deal with Cherry Lane Music. Mark wasn't quite sure what a publishing deal was at that time, but he managed to do well, placing a cut on an album by Chris LeDoux (which included a duet with Garth Brooks, so it was a well-timed opportunity!).

Mark's tracks:
Baseball and Beatles (live in studio--by request! From the "American Road" CD) My favorite song of Mark's. Co-written with Jim Moran, a story of two communication points between a father and daughter during the tough growing up years. You should have seen my face when he played this song.
Good Life (title track from his CD)
Bye Bye Baby Jane (live in studio- from the Good Life CD)
Crescent City Lullabye (cut from Good Life CD)

Mark's links:
www.myspace.com/cubcreekrecords
markelliottmusic.com (website)
http://markelliottmusic.blogspot.com/ (music blog...Mark was very kind to write about his experience on my show and post the audio file! Go listen!)
www.myspace.com/folklahomaappalachigroovetrain

Frequency to the Heart: Repeated from last week, since no one was able to hear it then. See last week's blog.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Pretty smooth show overall. Great artists who are nice people make it easy. Thanks, Mark!

5/10/09 Blog/Playlist: Boys and Girls

2009-05-10T14:08:00.002-05:00

Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert and TJB

Well, apparently no one heard me this morning. I am listening to my archive and I don't hear myself at all. I thought my mike was working this morning although maybe kind of fuzzy. But my fellow DJ Kerry who follows me thought it might not have been and he used the other mike. So, he was right. Hey, the technical stuff isn't my thing (somebody get me an engineer!). But apparently, no one around town was listening to my show this morning or someone would have told me--I hope. Or, everyone just dug the music (which did work) and didn't care what I said....good thing I played longer sets. Maybe I could say I borrowed an idea from my friend in the Twin Cities, TD Mischke, who once did an evening of silence on his old talk show. Anyway, below is some of what I said to myself, I guess...

Segment 1: Theme – Boys and Girls

OK boys and girls, the first set is all about you. I wanted to be sure that I gave equal time to both sexes here and fortunately my collection cooperated.

Four Seasons – Candy Girl
Connie Francis – Where The Boys Are (I didn't realize Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield wrote that song!)
Rascals – Girl Like You
Beatles – This Boy
Okaysions – Girl Watcher
Shirelles – Boys (Now a lot of you probably grew up hearing Ringo sing this with the Beatles, but that's the original)
Barbarians - Are You A Boy Or A Girl (A real period piece! Couldn't resist playing that one when I found it. A notable fact about this group was their drummer, Moulty, who had a hook for a hand due to an accident.)

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

I'm going to start with a song I remember first hearing in the 60s on FM progressive stations by the group Rhinoceros. That group had another FM track that was popular, that being the instrumental "Apricot Brandy". But Three Dog Night picked up this song from them and had a hit with it in 1973.
Three Dog Night – Let Me Serenade You
Petula Clark – I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
Ricky Nelson – Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear To Tread)
Critters – Mr. Dieingly Sad
Jackie DeShannon - Needles and Pins

Segment 3: Soul Stew

I have a song for the boys and girls theme here that covers both in one song!
Intruders – Cowboys To Girls
Four Tops – It's the Same Old Song
Wilson Pickett – I'm In Love
Impressions – I Loved And I Lost

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New (Outside the Box)

I played this song a few months ago from this group from Scotland called OneDay40, which had found me on MySpace and blew me away. I have an update on them for you—they have been signed to a deal here in the US by an indie Nashville label and their album will have a US release very soon. I sure hope it involves a visit to the US at some point to play here—I would definitely go!

OneDay40 – Sad Cowboy
Nancy Moran – Perfect World

Nancy Moran is a singer/songwriter, known as part of the group "The Four Bitchin' Babes". She also does some occasional workshops here in town for songwriters and musicians on how to make money playing music...very informative, so keep your eyes and ears open for those if you're interested.

Frequency To The Heart:
The Vanessa Williams hit of some years back, "Save The Best For Last", has the great line "sometimes the very thing you're looking for is the one thing you can't see." When we go looking for that thing or person we perceive to be our ideal, we should make sure that as we're looking, we aren't missing something that is right in front of us. Sometimes the goodies are placed on the lower shelf. If you're reaching high, or you're tall, it's possible you could miss seeing them. So, don't overlook that person or that opportunity that might have blended into your world and not be sticking out as much; it could be what you wanted after all.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Join me next week with my in-studio guest, singer/songwriter Mark Elliott. I hope the mikes are working.

5/3/09 Blog/Playlist: By The Numbers

2009-05-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

Opening theme—So What's New - Herb Alpert and the TJB
(It was a little quick to get started this morning. Automation before my show was a replay of a very nice show called "Acoustic Guitar Revival" which usually airs 12-2 Monday afternoons. I should have watched the clock though because I clipped in on an ID and a little bleed through in the archive from "Democracy Now)

Segment 1: Theme- By The Numbers

I have come up with a set of numbers songs for this morning. As I was preparing this, I noticed that one number in particular seems to come up a lot in songs of the baby boomer generation. That number is the number 16. I probably could have done an entire set of 16 songs if I had all the songs that came to mind. Most likely, that's because a popular song subject back then was turning 16 years old. It was a big milestone for a lot of us growing up. Honestly, I don't know if it's the same big deal for teenagers these days…I don't have any so I couldn't speak from experience. I just wonder if it was just a bigger part of the innocence of those times past. Anyhow, I'll start with a couple of those 16 songs.

Neil Sedaka – Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen
Sam Cooke – Only Sixteen
Johnny Burnette – You're Sixteen (I played it from a cassette--it seemed a little speeded up to me)
Three Dog Night – One
Lovin Spoonful – Six O'Clock
Gene Pitney – Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box

I found a song that was a pretty good hit for Leo Sayer in the 70s but it was originally done by Bobby Vee.

Bobby Vee - More Than I Can Say
Association - Six Man Band
Vogues – Five O'Clock World
Sonny and Cher – Baby Don't Go

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Continuing the numbers theme for a bit…

Four Tops – Seven Rooms Of Gloom
Barbara Lewis – Make Me Your Baby
System – Don't Disturb This Groove (This was the song I wanted to play last week in the 80s show but it glitched on me. I was bound and determined to play it because I dig it, so I put it in this week.)
Mary Wells - Two Lovers

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New (Outside the Box)

Les Kerr – Smile Upon Your Soul
Little Village – Don't Think About Her When You're Trying To Drive (John Hiatt, Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner, Ry Cooder "supergroup" in the 90s. I always dug this song so when I saw the CD in the library I decided I'm so playing this!)
Kim McLean - All About Us

Frequency To The Heart:
Wendy V's Encouraging Words: Remind Yourself Of Who You Are

Closer: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

Upcoming guest reminder:
May 17: Mark Elliott
May 24: Les Kerr (I finally met and heard him at the Pegram Park Writer's Night on Saturday. He did a new song that will be perfect for my show so I made the request of him to play it on the 24th. You'll love it.)

The rest of the show went okay, except I could use a speech coach. Add it to the list of things I want but can't afford right now, money or time wise (along with the guitar lessons...).

4/26/09 Blog/Playlist: Don't Hate Me--It's the 80s!

2009-04-26T05:41:00.005-05:00

Segment 1: Theme – Don't Hate Me – It's the 80s

I'm going to feature a set of 80s music today. Now, before you go wondering if I've sold out, look at it this way. Next year, the 80s are going to be 30 years old! I think a lot of you were still young enough to perhaps like a lot of the music from that decade, and were probably excited about the debut of MTV as I was. If nothing else, it's a hat tip to the younger end of the demographic of the listeners today.

I'll start with a song that I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard it. I was at work and I had the radio on at my desk. I heard this voice that sounded like honey. Afterward, the DJ went on and on about how you just had to see the lead singer of the group. I was thinking, well, love the voice, who cares what he looks like. When I finally saw Boy George, I still didn't care what he looked like. In fact, I thought he was pretty!

Culture Club – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (At the beginning of this version, a voice, presumably Boy George, says "popularity breeds comtempt." Well sometimes it does, doesn't it?)
Greg Kihn – Jeopardy
Steve Perry – Foolish Heart (from his solo LP "Street Talk")
Dionne Warwick – Heartbreaker (written by Barry Gibb)

Now, how many of you back in the 80s had big hair? I did for a while. I had one of those big curly perms. Back then, my hair was thick and stubborn and I used to scare the hair stylists because my hair would wait until the last minute to take a curl. I'd see the look of concern in the stylist's face when it was time to check it midway and they'd breathe a sigh of relief when it would finally take.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I picked an obscure song to play in this set. This is one of my favorite Three Dog Night songs, though probably not one of their best known..it was in fact their last charting single, written by Dave Loggins of "Please Come To Boston" fame.

Three Dog Night – Till The World Ends
Survivor – The Search Is Over
Bobby Vinton – Blue on Blue
Styx – Too Much Time On My Hands

Here's another 80s memory I have...my first trip away from my home state of CT was in the 80s. A bunch of us who were fans of Styx and Tommy Shaw met up in Niles, MI to meet Tommy and each other at a horse show where Tommy had a farm at the time and showed some horses. This was a time where Tommy had taken a break from Styx for a bit and was doing some solo things and I had a little correspondence with him around then, back in the days before e-mail. It was then I realized there was more than where I was living and ended up moving to the Midwest before I got here and I've also seen about 21 states since then. So just one way that music can profoundly affect your life!

Show plug: TJ and Company with TJ Kirby, which started a couple of weeks ago in my old time slot of Saturday at 3 p.m. – part music, part talk show, he's a real radio professional and a baseball fan too; you'll hear all kinds of good stuff.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
This first song was a hit in the 80s by Mark Almond and Soft Cell, but here is the original.

Gloria Jones – Tainted Love
Major Harris – Love Won't Let Me Wait
Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes of the Brokenhearted

That last song is always good to hear, but not part of the plan today. I really wanted to play "Don't Disturb This Groove" by the System, but the wrong track started to come up. I don't know why there is a difference between the tracking on my backup disks and the station CD players, but I seem to be running into that again. Then, when I tried to get the right track I couldn't get anything to go for about a minute. Thus, the technical glitch of the day. I blamed it on things getting too steamy in the studio from "Love Won't Let Me Wait". Then again, if I played "Don't Disturb This Groove", I think the steam factor would have been greater, and I would have run overtime anyhow.

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New (Outside the Box..yes, new title for this part of the show too!)
I am going to have a couple of in-studio guests coming up in May. One of those is Les Kerr, who is a popular singer/songwriter in town here who does a lot of New Orleans/Cajun type music. He'll be with me on May 24. Coming up on May 17 is a guy who I'm going to play a track from... Mark Elliott .

Mark Elliott – Baseball and Beatles
George Adams – Turn The Knife

Frequency To The Heart:

We all have our different "styles" of who we are. What's on the surface, though, can fool us sometimes. At first glance we might think, well, I don't know that I like this person very much or say, hmm...might be too much baggage here, I think I'll pass this one by. I know there have been times in my life when I've been so grateful that I didn't stick with my first impressions about people because they went on to be very dear to me in my life. So before you write someone off, take that deeper look beyond the surface. There may be more of value to you that what you first see.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Speaking of technical glitches, I just played my archive file of the show and it sounds fuzzy and distorted. I wonder if it sounded that way on the air or it's an internal thing?

4/19/09 Blog/Playlist: Dreams

2009-04-19T09:37:00.002-05:00

I think I was half asleep and daydreaming for much of the show today...kinda got into the zone here and there listening to the music and cut it real close on some of my cues.

When I came in to the studio this morning, something smelled kinda funky. The explanation for that came from our program director, Beau Hunter, who stopped in to note that most likely a mouse died in the walls (They'll be dealing with that. The smell was worse earlier in the week, he said, which makes me grateful for my weekend slot). I hadn't given a thought to the possibility of mice being around. I am terrified of them and can tell you several horror stories. So, if you are ever listening and you hear my voice get extremely excitable while on mike or just hear a blood-curdling scream...that might mean there's a mouse in the studio.

Anyway...I want to say a very grateful thank you to Steve Haggard, who is co-host with Kimberly King of the Haggard King Radio Hour here on WRFN on Tuesdays from 4-5, for the very kind words about yours truly in his Nashville Free Press column, "The Real Music City". He was kind enough to allow me to share some thoughts about supporting local music here in Nashville. You can pick up an issue on newsstands and I also encourage you to read the column online. Like I've said before I've gotten more out of this gig here at Radio Free Nashville personally than I ever bargained for.

Segment 1 – Dreams
Today I started with a set of songs about dreams. When you think about dreams you think of two things, that which involves sleeping (and I'll tell you that the older you get the harder that is) or going for your hearts desire. This set is sort of a mix of the two ideas here, so I'll start with one of the greatest female singers who ever lived---Patsy Cline.

Patsy Cline – Sweet Dreams
Bobby Darin – Dream Lover
Roy Orbison – In Dreams
Jimmy Clanton – Just A Dream
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams (Live) (from "The Dance" CD--the only version I had)

Segment 2: Record Box
Lovin Spoonful – Daydream
Rascals – Girl Like You
Paul Revere and the Raiders - I Had A Dream
Supremes - Baby Love
Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady

Segment 3 – Soul Stew
One dream song here to start you with in this set.
Jerry Butler- Mr. Dream Merchant
Gladys Knight and the Pips – Midnight Train to Georgia
Brook Benton – Rainy Night In Georgia
(You know, when you have those last two songs handy, you just gotta play them together!)

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
I'm excited because I got an EP last week from of my favorite singers I've been playing on my show, Samantha Mooney who hails from the gold coast of Australia. She was kind enough to send me a few songs which will be on her upcoming album to be completed sometime this year. This is one song I absolutely fell in love with when she had it posted on MySpace so I'm thrilled to have a copy of it now.

Samantha Mooney- Somebody You Once Knew

Greg Lamboy – War of Words
I wish I could have used this song in the complicated love show but couldn't fit it in. I found this song when I was doing some music screening for an independent music organization. This guy just nails what can happen when communication breaks down between two people—very effective storytelling here.

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband – Dream Big

Frequency To The Heart (That's the new name of the encouragement section. There's a motive behind it. I won't tell you about it just now, though):

In the aforementioned Nashville Free Press column, Steve used a quote of mine in which I said that everyone deserves a certain amount of respect for following their dreams. This came up as we were discussing some of the struggles musicians go through out here. Not everyone needs to be, or should be, a critic. Many times all that's needed is a kind word, or showing up and being present and listening. People do feel that support and you'd be surprised just how much it means to them. I've heard a songwriter say that very thing from the stage at a writers night just this past week. It's something simple that we all can do.

I am also happy to say that my workaround for the online catalog system worked and no "dance mixes" today!

Behind the Scenes at Never Too Old

2009-04-09T06:56:00.004-05:00

Since I've taken a break from doing the show this Sunday for the Easter holiday, I thought I'd take this week's blog to give you a look "behind the scenes" of how I put it together.

I usually start my show planning around mid-week. I go through my collection or try to think of what the station has in its catalog to see what I can put together for a "theme" for the first set. Sometimes, if I have enough material, that theme will move into other segments of the show. For the rest of the segments, it's mainly a matter of what I've got and what I haven't played too often. In my song choices for the show, I try to use less of the "time tested" older songs and lean toward those that don't get much play on these "oldies" stations (using that term loosely) that are left in commercial radio.

As I've mentioned before, I script the show. I write my narrations and commentary but try to let it sound as conversational as possible. I don't really have the gift of flying by the seat of the pants and being spontaneous like a couple of the other programmers do. Without a map, I tend to get lost. When I do try to go too off the cuff, I can tell the difference in those spots when I play it back from my archives.

The last part of the show is the encouragement piece. Coming up with something new each week there is the biggest creative challenge I've had in doing this show, but I think it's been a good one for me. I will either write something fresh for the week, or go through my archives from my past "Wendy V's Encouraging Words" column from my Embrace Encouragement website and rework it. I always share the current column at the beginning of the month (as I did this past week).

I'll usually show up at the studio early and use that time to read through the underwriter announcement, stack my CDs in order, write down the track numbers and go through the online catalog if I've left room in the show for additions. There are two CD players in the studio, so while I am on air I use post-it notes on each one to remind me who's in what player. It's easy to be confused and forget when you're managing so many details. Also, we are required to keep logs of what we play on air, so I write down the artist and title of each track on my log sheet.

My opening theme is "So What's New" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, a track from the 60s. I remembered it when popular 60s music TV show host Lloyd Thaxton passed away last year; it had been his show theme song. I got it when I paid tribute to him that week and thought with its peppy, snappy opening it would make a great front theme and a fresh beginning when I made my time change. Plus, it gets me in a good groove to start the show! My closing theme is the smooth soul instrumental "Soul Serenade" by King Curtis. That was chosen because it sounded good and done primarily as a courtesy to the following DJ, Kerry Miller, host of "Samurai Songs". I like to ensure a prompt start time for him and not run over on to his time (though he is a very gracious gentleman about it all). When he comes in, he can fade it down accordingly and start on time.

I will start having guests again occasionally. When that happens I will probably do one or two short "record box" sets (depending on the plan for the guest) and give the rest of the time to the guest for music and interview, and get my encouragement piece in at the end. Here are a list of some of the people that have said they'd be willing to do the show, so I'll be working on getting them scheduled in the future: Boomer Castleman, Walter Egan, Mark Elliott, Lance Hoppen (Orleans), Gary Talley...and more to come.

By now, I've been at this just about six months. Over these past couple of months, I've actually enjoyed listening to the playbacks of my recent shows. If I were to aspire to a radio career, I'd be probably more realistic in a "behind the scenes" role rather than on-air. I know I have at least a couple of loyal listeners out there, and I'm grateful. But the main point of all this is to have fun. Thanks for indulging me each week either by listening or reading (and if you do both—love ya!).

4/5/09 Blog/Playlist - Back to the Brill Building

2009-04-05T13:08:00.004-05:00

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

First off, just a personal indulgence...this weekend marks my second anniversary that I moved to Nashville. I rolled in with a friend driving my little car and another driving a Dodge Caravan from St. Paul, MN with all of my stuff I decided to keep. Life has been amazing here, with getting to be a part of the music community in Nashville as a support person and to have hooked up with Radio Free Nashville and do this show, and here I must say I got more out of this personally that I ever bargained for. I do wish now that I kept much more of my music collection I could have been using here, I certainly would have had I known I would do something like this, but be that as it may. It's all good and I'm grateful!

Segment 1 – Back to the Brill Building
For the theme set today, I thought we'd pay a return visit to the Brill Building which is that legendary spot in New York City where some of the greatest hits of the 60s were written. I'll play some songs that are from the "Brill Building Sound" collection that came out in the mid 90s. This compilation has some great track notes and facts about the songs, and that's of course one of my favorite things, so I'll be sharing some of those with you. I started with a song that was written with the Drifters in mind but ended up with Jay and the Americans.

Jay and the Americans – Only In America
Gene Pitney – Every Breath I Take (Gene Pitney sang his last notes in falsetto due to vocal fatigue!)
Timi Yuro – What's A Matter Baby (early pre-Phillies Phil Spector production)
Shirelles – Foolish Little Girl (Co-written by frequent Neil Sedaka collaborator Howard Greenfield)

Segment 2: Record Box

I have a special dedication I want to make. I'm going to first share some notes on this song which I found out on YouTube. In 1972 in Victoria, Canada, a rookie policeman wrote a poem for his girlfriend while driving home in his police car. Dave "the Cop" Richardson gave the poem to his young friend David Foster, an aspiring musician looking for material for his new band. Foster passed it along to Skylark guitarist Doug Edwards who set it to music. It was the first song Edwards had ever composed.

The song, Wildflower, went to Number Eight on the Billboard Top Ten sold over a million copies and launched David Foster's career.

I have always loved the way the song described a tender hearted person. The song was written about a woman, but you know, there are a lot of tender hearted guys out there too. I don't care for the macho type, I totally love the type of guys who aren't afraid to cry at the drop of a hat or a little more open and honest with their tender emotions, so guys, don't hold back, or pretend your feelings aren't happening. It's okay to feel and show it. So this song's for the tender hearted women and men out there, and those that stand behind them and support them.

Wildflower – Skylark
Walter Egan – Magnet and Steel
England Dan and John Ford Coley – Love Is the Answer
Major Lance – Um Um Um Um Um
Vogues – Five O'Clock World

Segment 3 – Soul Stew
I got hold of a Rhino collection called the Incredible Soul Collection and yeah, it does have quite a few heavy hitters on there. So I played a few songs that are on this compilation.
Chi Lites – Oh Girl
Stylistics – You Are Everything
Delfonics – La La Means I Love You
Moments – Love On A Two Way Street

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
The reason I was barely able to talk in spots was because I was barely awake. This past week was Tin Pan South here in Nashville with dozens of showcases all over town with an amazing array of singer/songwriters. Two of those I went to were Hippie Chick Twang on Friday night and Michael McDonald and friends on Saturday. Go here to read the reports on those.

I first met Eve Selis at a gathering before the Hippie Chick Twang showcase. You know how an artist can just capture you with not only a voice or a song, but with heart and passion in performing? Well, this precious gal just did it for me...she sings from her center.

Eve Selis – Cryin Days
Bonnie Koloc - You Played Me Just Like A Piano
I did not mean to play the last song. I had another set to go. Remember, I told you I was barely awake. But, the more I thought about it, I decided that Someone other than me decided that song was supposed to be played, I guess.

Encouragement:

This piece comes from my Embrace Encouragement website, my "Encouraging Words" piece for the month of April. I have already shared this on my Wendy V MySpace and I've been pleasantly surprised at the reaction that it's gotten..it sort of continues the question of last week's show. This is called Who I Am..Or Who I Should Be.

There's no live show next week. I'll be off and there will be a rebroadcast (I will have a blog, though), so a happy Easter to those who'll be celebrating.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

3/29/09 Blog/Playlist: Complicated Love

2009-03-29T13:47:00.004-05:00

Before I go on about my show, I want to acknowledge something. I've said often that here on Radio Free Nashville I think we're blessed to have some of the best programming going on here. I call these things as I hear them and I want to say there was some great radio done this weekend. Geo on the Radio who is on Saturday from 1-3 in the afternoon (and whose show I used to follow, by the way) did an amazing show yesterday. He had Kim McLean and her band as guests; they were on my show a couple of weeks earlier and it's always interesting when you hear artists go on different shows and how it turns out (and of course a win-win for the artist in terms of exposure). Well, there was such a spirit in the studio yesterday and I do believe God showed up there. And, if you heard the Dan Seals tribute in the first hour of his show, it was honest and real, breaks your heart in a million pieces, very special and to me, that is what makes great radio. So Geo, good job my friend.

Segment 1 – Complicated Love
I started writing a piece which ended up as my next website podcast (haven't done one in ages), and out of that came the idea for today's theme set. It's about complicated love. It's not a look through rose colored glasses...remember I'm the gal who didn't do a Valentine's Day show. Even Facebook is with me on this one; one of the relationship statuses one can pick from on a profile is "it's complicated." (I changed mine to that this weekend to promote the show and I scared some people). All this brings about a thesis or a question I'm going to ask at the end of this set and I hope some of you MySpacers, Facebook group members and others might weigh in on this. I'm going to give the first of a couple of opinions on the complications of love from someone who in his lifetime had quite a few things to say musically on this issue, Mr. Gene Pitney.
Gene Pitney – It Hurts To Be In Love
Shirelles – Mama Said
Lovin Spoonful – Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind
Beatles – No Reply
Rascals – How Can I Be Sure

Ok, here is the question I have on this issue of complicated love and all its trials. If, going into this thing, you knew your heart was going to get squashed like a bug on the wrong side of a windshield, would you do it anyway? Would you do the middle stuff... flowers, holding hands, listening to music together and tearing up in the same places? It seems to me like there's no ala carte to this love thing. You can't just pick the good and skip the bad.

So what say you? Go ahead--make a comment!

Segment 2: Record Box
I'm going to bring Gene Pitney back for the start of the record box set to weigh in on the question.
Gene Pitney – True Love Never Runs Smooth
Lesley Gore – That's The Way Boys Are (Thanks, Lesley, for your explanation on how boys work, great public service there! You might have helped out a bunch of people, course when you get older you substitute boys with men.)
Flirtations – Nothing But A Heartache
Connie Francis – Don't Break the Heart That Loves You

Segment 3 – Soul Stew
One of the mainstays of my MySpace profile player is one of the most poignant soul songs on the issue of complicated love, a timeless song of the Motown era.
Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
Drifters – Please Stay
Billy Paul – Me and Mrs Jones

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
Now this first song starts out with a complicated love situation but resolves with a scenario that most would wish for. But what if it's not you on the receiving end? Then you need to find a way to pick up the pieces and go on and it takes a bit of self-encouragement to get yourself started.
George Adams – Stronger Than Words
Cher – The Way Of Love
Samantha Mooney – Take This Heart
Denise Van Outen – Somewhere Someplace Sometime (from the musical "Tell Me On A Sunday)

Encouragement:
I think this last song from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about a gal who was a bit unlucky in love shares a good bit of advice about what to do if indeed you end up like that bug on the windshield. If someone leaves you or doesn't pick you, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe if you had that kind of experience, you can look back and end up grateful for not being there at the present moment...because maybe you're in a place in your life that's better or you otherwise realized, nah, it wouldn't have worked. Easy to say now but hard to feel when you're hurting. But hold on...it will pass.

If you're nursing a broken heart and you need a little help, here's some great advice courtesy of T.D. Jakes.)

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

This is probably one of the most ambitious shows I've ever done creatively. I put a lot of work into this. I think it came out okay.

So, what's MY take on complicated love? Go here and pick episode #27.

3/22/09 Blog/Playlist: Folk 60s

2009-03-22T13:58:00.002-05:00

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

Segment 1 – Folk Sixties
At home I came across this tape called "Folk Sixties" which includes some of the folk influenced songs that made the charts during the 60s, so I thought I would play a few of those in this first set. Let's start with one by a group that actually came out of San Francisco - We Five.

We Five – You Were On My Mind
Sandpipers – Guantanamera
New Christy Minstrels - Green Green
Kingston Trio – Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Gale Garnett – We'll Sing in the Sunshine

Segment 2: Record Box
Another folk-influenced act of the 60s was one of my very favorites, the Lovin Spoonful. First song, Younger Girl, was written by John Sebastian and was also covered by the Critters.
Lovin Spoonful – Younger Girl
Richie Havens – San Francisco Bay Blues (This one took me back to my pre-teen and teen years when I discovered FM progressive rock. The "Mixed Bag" album by Richie Havens touched my soul, particularly his version of this song. Most times this song is done uptempo, but Richie's arrangement and rendition will be my favorite for all time.)
Simon and Garfunkel – America
Youngbloods – Sunlight
Byrds – My Back Pages

Segment 3 – Soul Stew
Did you see the PBS special "The Sound of Philadelphia"? It aired here in Nashville this past week and it was great hearing all those songs and seeing some of the original performers. If I get enough cuts together I'll do a theme set one of these weeks. But for now, I started with one of those songs which personified the Philly sound.
Delfonics – LaLa Means I Love You
Dells – Oh What A Night (The reason they say "we rededicate this song to you" at the spoken intro was that this song originally charted on the R & B charts in 1956. The Dells redid this in 1969.)
Knight Brothers – Temptation's Bound To Get Me
Four Tops – Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Barbara Lewis – Make Me Your Baby

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
I played something by a good friend of mine who I saw out at Norm's River Road House this past week playing on the bill with Walter Egan, Steve Haggard and Kimberly King. This is Garry Jackson, from his album Something's Got A Hold On Me.

Garry Jackson – Mixed Up Crazy
Mark Elliott - Good Life

Encouragement:
This past week I was feeling a bit pleased with myself and my writing and maybe gloating just a bit...then I opened up an email from an Internet group I subscribe to about encouragement and the subject line hit me like a cold breeze: "Your gifts are not for your own good for but for the good of others." Ouch-wrist slap. Because it's true. We're all given gifts and I believe that we are meant to share those and not be in a competitive spirit with them. The best thing we can do with our gifts is to try to encourage others with them and impact people's lives for the better. If we can be focused on that goal, that's the greatest reward of all.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

Aside from my sinuses kicking me in the tail today, I think this show went pretty well. Am I finally getting the hang of this radio thing? You decide.

3/15/09 Playlist: 1961/1971

2009-03-15T13:08:00.003-05:00

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

I have from time to time mentioned on here and on my websites who my radio heroes are. One of those is Keith Bilbrey who was unceremoniously dumped from WSM and the Opry announcing staff this past week. I met Keith Bilbrey a few months ago at an industry luncheon and it was a thrill for me. He was a lovely and gracious person to talk to. We talked a little about radio; I told him I was on Radio Free Nashville and he was familiar with that. Keith, we fans love you, and I hope you're back on radio where you belong real soon.

Sign the petition to support Keith: http://www.petitiononline.com/weeeds22/petition.html

Segment 1: '61/'71
Today it was a look at a couple of years in music, 10 years apart. I played music from 1961 and 1971. I just happened to have a couple of compilation CDs from those years (Time/Life 1961 and Entertainment Weekly 1971), so that's why I picked those two years to do this 10 year spread overview. It's always interesting to listen and realize just how much music can evolve over that kind of time span. These collections also have some facts to go with the songs, and since sharing music trivia is one of my favorite things to do, I'll pass along some of those to you. I don't really have a lot of trivia about this first song except to say it was one of my favorites going back when I was a kid in grade school and it just stayed with me through the years.

Dick and DeeDee -The Mountain's High
Ocean - Put Your Hand In the Hand
Gary US Bonds - Quarter To Three (Originally an instrumental called A Night With Daddy G)
Raiders - Indian Reservation (This was actually intended as a Mark Lindsay solo single. Columbia put it out under the "Raiders" name and it became their most successful single. The group's name was shortened to "Raiders" from Paul Revere and the Raiders by this time.)
Jive Five - My True Story (This group had a hit later on in 1965 with one of my favorite oldies, called "I'm A Happy Man")
Joey Dee and the Starlighters - Peppermint Twist (Three members of the Rascals were part of the group and in 1965 Jimi Hendrix had a short stint in the band as a guitarist. In 1963, Joey Dee went over to England for a tour, met Brian Epstein, heard a group he was managing and told him that he didn't think the Beatles would go over well in America!)

Segment 2: Record Box
Tony Orlando, after having some hits as a teen, like Halfway to Paradise and Bless You (both of which came out in 1961), went on to work for a record label by the mid 60s early 70s. He wasn't doing much recording, but was persuaded to go into the studio and be the voice for a studio act called Dawn. Well, he ended up having a hit with Candida in 1970 and this song, which was the first #1 single of 1971...and it was when doing this song that he finally met the other members of what would become Tony Orlando and Dawn (Joyce Vincent and Telma Hopkins being the other studio singers).

Dawn – Knock Three Times
Shep and the Limelights – Daddy's Home (What's interesting about 1961 is there were a few songs out during this period that sound like they belonged in the 50's, with the doo wop sound. There was a bit of a revival of that sound during that year. Other such hits were Blue Moon by the Marcels, Those Oldies But Goodies by Little Caesar and the Romans.)
Brewer and Shipley - One Toke Over The Line (Jerry Garcia plays steel guitar on the track)
Dee Clark - Raindrops
Honey Cone – Want Ads (They met as background singers for a Burt Bacharach TV special.)

Segment 3: Soul Stew:
Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman (First #1 song for Berry Gordy's Motown related label Tamla. Marvin Gaye played drums on the session)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Miracles - Shop Around (First hit on the Tamla label)
Al Green - Tired of Being Alone (This was, I believe his first major hit, after Back Up Train)
Ernie K Doe -Mother In Law (This song was rescued from Allen Toussaint's trash can!)

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
I thought we'd get at least one cover of a song from one of the two years in here. For that we turn to the main man himself, Michael McDonald, with another 1971 Marvin Gaye hit.
Michael McDonald – Mercy Mercy Me

Encouragement:
For many years now I've been teaching people about encouragement and how important it is. Is encouragement a gift? You bet it is! It is a gift in a couple of ways. It is a gift to the person who receives it. And, if you have the ability to share an encouraging word in a way which is so natural to you that it's like breathing, it is a gift that you have. Encouragement is so important because it is a life-altering gift. Not only for the person who gets it…but also for the one who gives it. The person who is getting it..or giving it…might be you. There are three ways that you can embrace encouragement in your life: giving encouragement, accepting/receiving encouragement and owning encouragement. I'll be sharing more about each of the three ways in upcoming shows but if you want to know more about them, you can visit my Embrace Encouragement website in the meantime.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

If you tune into my show, do also stay tuned for the show that follows me at 9 am, Samurai Songs, with Kerry Miller. Kerry is someone who understands encouragement. He always comes into the studio every Sunday morning with a kind, supportive word for me and my show and was incredibly welcoming to me when I arrived in the Sunday morning slot. He is one of the nicest people you could ever have on either side of doing a show. And if you need something calming and tranquil for going on the way to church or some Sunday morning quiet time, this is the show for you.

I was very happy with this morning's show. Since I worked mostly off of two CDs, didn't use the online playout catalog, there was very little opportunity for glitches. Heh heh.

3/8/09 Playlist: One Hit Wonders

2009-03-08T12:54:00.002-05:00

We turned clocks ahead and all of us lost an hour's sleep. I lost a lot more than that. The birds decided to have a loud neighborhood concert at 2 a.m. (and I don't mean Roger McGuinn and company...I may not have complained as much). All of which I offer up as an explanation for being barely able to spit out a sentence during my encouragement piece.

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

Segment 1: One Hit Wonders
I hope you got that reminder postcard from your realtor or other service person and turned your clock ahead. If you didn't and you expected automation, well you got me instead! Today I started out playing some songs from a collection compiled by well known DJ Dick Bartley, who is one of my radio heroes, called One Hit Wonders of the 60s. You know, sometimes these one hit wonders are some of the best songs that come out in a given year, and it's for sure that the 60s are filled with those.

Hombres – Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)
Crazy Elephant – Gimme Gimme Good Lovin
Casinos – Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
Jimmy Soul – If You Want To Be Happy
Bob Kuban and the InMen – The Cheater
Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In

I have a story about Dick Bartley to share with you from a dozen or so years ago back when I was still in Minnesota. He does a syndicated radio show called American Gold. He had this contest where he would play a few seconds of a song and you had to guess the song and artist. Well, after hearing so many people struggle to guess songs I knew in a flash, I decided to enter that contest. My name got picked and we set up a time to tape my show segment. So I went into my boss' office and did the contest...and I blew Dick away. I had the answers to all those songs before he even had the chance to ask what my answer was. It was great fun and I think I won a gift certificate for eyeglasses or something!

I always thought I was pretty knowledgeable about 60s and 70s music but out here in Nashville I met someone who could wash the floor with me with his knowledge. His name is Steve Haggard and you can hear him and Kimberly King host the Haggard and King Radio Hour on Tuesday afternoon from 4-5 on Radio Free Nashville. They play a lot of diverse music, give you great background info and also share facts on things in general you probably didn't know. Steve and Kimberly are both accomplished singer/songwriters.

Segment 2: Record Box
This past week marked the 46th anniversary of the plane crash that took the life of Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and Randy Hughes. So I picked this one from Patsy to play....
Patsy Cline – He Called Me Baby
Laura Nyro – Stoney End
Beatles – Things We Said Today
Standells - Dirty Water ("Never Too Old mix" once again; I think I figured out the bug that's been bugging me. I'll try a workaround next week.)
Floyd Cramer – Last Date

Never Too Old on MySpace -- I've jazzed up that page in the past week so if you haven't visited there lately, go take a look and listen to some tunes while you're there.

Segment 3 – Soul Stew
Impressions- Gypsy Woman
Aretha Franklin – You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman
Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters – Cry Baby
Little Anthony and the Imperials – Hurt So Bad

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
You know what I really miss on the radio these days? Classic pop music with good melody and solid vocals. I was at a writers night out here not long ago and I came across somebody I heard in a round who's still writing and playing that kind of music. He gave me a couple of his CDs and I'm going to play something from one of those he released a few years ago. His name is John VeLora–this track is from his album "Wonderdog".
John VeLora – I'm Not Cryin'
Steve Haggard – If She Only Had a Heart
Kim McLean – Cracks In the Concrete

Encouragement: My latest Encouraging Words column from my Embrace Encouragement website— Weeds...Or Flowers?

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

3/1/09 Playlist: It's All Right

2009-03-01T13:43:00.002-06:00

Opening theme: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

Segment 1: All Right
I declared that this show today was going to be "all right", starting out with a set of some "all right" songs. I also tried to have some songs with a positive outlook.

Impressions – It's Alright
JJ Jackson – But It's Alright
Byrds – Jesus Is Just Alright
Temptations – The Girl's Alright With Me
Elvis Presley – That's All Right Mama

On the Byrds song, the Doobie Brothers came along with their version of this a few years later and changed up the arrangement; now it seems to be the definitive one when other artists cover it...but the Byrds did have the original.

Hi to all of my online network friends listening today from MySpace, Facebook, Gaither and a couple of other communities. I love you all and thanks for tuning in. (I did check the stream listener numbers and noted I had double this morning of what I usually have. I'm not saying what those numbers are, though. ;)

Segment 2: Record Box

Bobby Darin – Artificial Flowers
Grass Roots – Let's Live For Today
Neil Sedaka – Next Door To An Angel
Rick Nelson – Young World
Everly Brothers - Gone Gone Gone (the original version of the song Alison Krauss and Robert Plant had so many awards thrown their way for on their "Raising Sand" abum)
Uniques - Not Too Long Ago

By the way, a new techno development for you: if you have an iPod touch or iPhone, you can now pick up and listen the to station through the Public Radio Tuner. Go to the link on radiofreenashville.org to download the software you need to listen to us and other public radio stations from around the country.

Friendly reminder to those viewing this version of the blog: You can also find a page for Never Too Old on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/nevertoooldwv -- go out and listen to some songs out there. There is also a Never Too Old group on Facebook you can join. There is a bulletin board where I have a couple of topics out there and I let you know what's coming up on the show. So if you are on MySpace or Facebook, you can keep on top of what's happening.

Segment 3: Soul Stew

Sam Cooke – Good Times
Marv Johnson – I Love The Way You Love
O' Jays – Lipstick Traces
Brenton Wood – Oogum Boogum Song
Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You
Major Lance - Monkey Time
(The last two were very last minute adds. The set was running short with all these two-minute songs.)

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
I played something from the new CD by Mark Lowry called Life Gets Loud. Mark is known primarily in gospel circles for his humor, but he's the other singer at the top of my list as a male vocalist's singer's singer in my opinion. He is a masterful communicator and few can phrase a lyric to convey emotion quite like he does. This is a great example.

Mark Lowry – When the Sun Comes Out Again
(By the way, when I arrived at the station this morning, it was cloudy and it had snowed. Just a dusting in Nashville, but considered a "snowstorm" to some here. By the time I had played this song, though, the sun had come out again.)

Gaither Vocal Band – I'm Not Gonna Worry
Mark, as many know, just rejoined the Gaither Vocal Band (this after a seven year absence; his previous tenure as a baritone was 13 years), as did previous lead and tenor Michael English and David Phelps. What goes around comes around.

Encouragement:
Few things in life bog us down as much as worry. I know I used to have a big problem with it. Concern is one thing...but worry creates so much stress, physical and emotional problems. I guess some people use worry as sort of preparing for the fear of what might happen. But look at this way—why choose to experience ahead of time what may never actually happen? Think about how many times that worry has backfired on you…the outcome you feared that didn't take place. And when something did happen...you walked through it and survived on the other end. So try to focus on today, and not worry about tomorrow. It's all right to.

Closer: King Curtis – Soul Serenade

The show was all right, pretty much. Just one noticeable glitch and a couple of brief senior moments.

2/22/09 Playlist: In Studio Guest Kim McLean

2009-02-22T19:26:00.004-06:00

Forget about last week's train wreck of a show. This one couldn't have been better.

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

Well, today was a special edition of "Never Too Old". I had singer/songwriter KimMcLean in the studio as a guest. She's got a beautiful new CD called Rapunzel's Escape.

I changed up the format for today. For this first half hour I mixed up the record box, soul and one not so oldie/current portions and brought in Kim in the second half hour. I started the first set off with a song that I did get by request last week. This is a song I've played pretty often on my show, most recently on my 1964 show. It's one that I think wears very well, even being about 40 years old...I never get tired of it.

The Reflections – (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet
Byrds – 8 Miles High
Rascals – Groovin
Drifters – I Count the Tears
George Adams – Stronger Than Words
Sorry, ladies, should have given you a goosebump and tissue alert on that one. Now that is a singer's singer.

I asked Kim McLean what some of her favorite oldies were, and it turned out the station did have one or two of them here in the catalog.
Archies – Sugar Sugar
Gladys Knight and the Pips - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Barbara Acklin - Love Makes A Woman
Temptations - You're My Everything

I want to thank people for e-mailing me and giving me encouragement about last week's show which became a bit of a technical challenge...I am upfront and honest about all the glitches that happen on this show and I'm hearing that people enjoy it when I make my comments about all that in the blog. It's kinda fun, and I do try not to take things and myself too seriously.

In-Studio Guest: Kim McLean; also joined by Devon O'Day (backing vocals) and Will McLean-Johnston (aka "Will McJ") on percussion.

Kim McLean, originally from Greensboro NC, is an award winning songwriter who’s had more than two hundred songs recorded by artists like Tim McGraw, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, and a Gospel Song of the Year recorded by The Martins, "Count Your Blessings". She's also done a duet with Dolly Parton called “Angels and Eagles". Kim McLean’s music is available through Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby, and all major online retailers.

Featured tracks from Rapunzel's Escape

Cracks In The Concrete - live performance
Rapunzel - CD track
Any Day - CD track
Beautiful Goodbye - live performance

Upcoming in store appearance – Shoppes On The Harpeth – Apricot Lane store on Hwy 100 in Nashville, February 28 2 p.m.

Websites: www.kimmclean.com
www.myspace.com/kimmclean

Encouragement:
One of the greatest gifts anyone could have, I think, is the gift of song. Especially this week I've witnessed the gift of music touch and move people, inspire them to action. If you do have that gift, I do hope you are using it to bring joy to others. Maybe you have another gift—you could be a writer, a painter...or simply being someone with a good listening ear. Don't pass up the chance to be the difference to someone...use whatever gifts you have to brighten your corner of the world, and someone else's.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

It had been a while since I've had guests on a show, so I was a little nervous and hoped I wouldn't seem too amateurish in front of such accomplished songwriters and one seasoned professional radio personality. But Kim and Devon made it easy and it helped that they've also become friends of mine; what I didn't mention on the show is that I've been blessed for the last few months to be part of a Tuesday night prayer group led by Kim and Devon.

By the way, there's a chance this interview may be archived on Kim's website at some point as soon as I can get the archive file to them, so stay tuned for this...I'll keep you posted.

2/15/09 Playlist: Name Dropping

2009-02-15T13:17:00.005-06:00

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

I thought we'd drop a few names today on the show, being that name dropping is a time honored tradition in show business and a few other circles. I won't do that for every song throughout the hour today as overkill can get a little obnoxious and annoying. Moderation is the key, after all. But I just had to start this out with perhaps one of the ultimate name dropping hit songs...of course, I mean the Name Game by Shirley Ellis.

Shirley Ellis – The Name Game
4 Seasons - Dawn (Go Away)
Del Shannon – Hats Off To Larry
Left Banke – Walk Away Renee
Beach Boys – Wendy
(A little self-promotion never hurt anyone, so there it is.)

Giving a show plug here: check out Geo On the Radio on Saturdays from 1-3...hear a lot of indie artists, some oldies, acoustic, comedy, all kinds of "good stuff". And I want to mention that Geo played a show at Red Tree Coffee in nearby Kingston Springs on Friday night. He's an awesome singer and writer and he had a great, enthusiastic turnout...a couple of other RFN DJs came out to join me to support him. If you're a fan of somebody that's what you want for them more than anything else, to see them succeed and knock it out of the park, so it was a sweet thing for all of us to witness. You can read more about that night here, or go to wendyv.com and click on the Nashville Blend link. Scroll down to the entry on Red Tree coffeehouse.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
The one thing I've noticed in this whole name theme as I was putting this together is that the girls rule—there's no shortage of songs with girls names in the title. I kept that going a little longer as we got into this set.

Grass Roots – Bella Linda
Johnny Mathis – What Will Mary Say
Beau Brummels – Laugh Laugh
Brook Benton - So Many Ways
Dionne Warwick - Message To Michael

Next week on the show I'm doing something that I have not done for the longest time since I tweaked my format and have not yet done since I have been in the Sunday morning time slot: I will be having guests in the studio. I didn't think anyone would want to get up this early in the morning to come in, but a couple of friends of mine approached me about it and they have some great new music to share with us. Kim McLean and Devon O'Day will be with me next week. Kim has a new CD out called Rapunzel's Escape and we'll playing music from that release and be talking with Kim and Devon a bit about what they're up to. So do tune in next week if you can.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Here's a song I meant to play last week but didn't so I got it in this week:

Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally
Patti Drew – Workin On A Groovy Thing
James and Bobby Purify – Let Love Come Between Us
Sam and Dave – I Thank You

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
A few weeks ago I received a MySpace friend request from a country pop band from Glasgow, Scotland called OneDay40. They described their music as "Matchbox 20 in a street fight with the Eagles". Since I'm a pretty big fan of Matchbox 20, and the Eagles, too, that got my curiosity right away. I checked these guys out and every track they had posted was excellent and the vocals were great. So I picked up one track to share with you today—this is from their album "Unfinished Business".

OneDay40 – Sad Cowboy (Unfinished Business)
Kim McLean – Elisabeth (Rapunzel's Escape)

Encouragement:
This song I just played is about a person who is an inspiration to someone. Do you have someone who is an inspiration, a teacher, a mentor, a positive role model in your life? And the most important question: do these people know the impact they have had on you? Givers, you see, also deserve to receive. By not holding back and telling them just what they've meant to you, you're giving great blessings back to them. Encouragers also need encouragement...and you just could be giving back to them at a time when they most need it.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

Well, things had been going pretty good more or less up until today. Today's show, sorry to say, was a technical train wreck. Some of it was my bad, some of it wasn't. First, one of the CD players was left on continuous rather than single play and I didn't notice that in time, so I had Buddy Holly playing in the middle of the next cut. I could have used Buddy's "Peggy Sue" today I suppose, but the song that played by mistake wasn't it.

Then there was the usual "dance mix" problem with one song (a known issue, I'm told). Because of this, I opted to use my tape cassette version of "I Thank You" by Sam and Dave instead of the station catalog, thinking I'd be safe. Wrong. It was the last song on the side of the tape and I figured it would be okay if I left it in the player and let it stop. Well, it didn't. Turns out it's an auto reverse tape deck. So you can guess the rest. And don't ask me how "Message To Michael" started playing again from the catalog toward the end of the show. I have no clue. It messed me up and threw me off.

Anyhow, thanks for letting me vent.

2/8/09 Playlist: Quirkyalone Day

2009-02-08T13:41:00.003-06:00

Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

Segment 1: International Quirkyalone Day
Well, this coming Saturday is a holiday, sort of, as you probably know. If you listen to the media, everyone is supposed to be getting flowers, candy and have a spouse or significant other. But, if that all doesn't apply to you, if you aren't partnered and you don't get candy and hearts and flowers, you don't have to feel left out. There is an alternative that you may not be aware of and you can celebrate instead...and it just happens to happen on February 14th. It's called "International Quirkyalone Day" and that is described as a "do-it-yourself celebration of romance, friendship, and independent spirit; a feel-good alternative to the marketing barrage of Valentine's Day". Here is the definition of a "quirkyalone": A person who has the capacity to enjoy single life (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than dating for the sake of being in a couple.

The "quirkyalone movement" arose from the publication of an essay in 2000 in the Utne Reader by writer Sasha Cagen, who later on in 2004 also wrote a book,called "Quirkyalone: A Manifesto For Uncompromising Romantics", published by Harper Collins. The quirkyalone.net website states that by 2003, the movement grew so large that it staged its first holiday: International Quirkyalone Day, February 14. As Sasha Cagen writes in her original essay, "We are the puzzle pieces who seldom fit with other puzzle pieces. Romantics, idealists, eccentrics, we inhabit singledom as our natural resting state. In a world where proms and marriage define the social order, we are, by force of our personalities and inner strength, rebels."

Now I'm being realistic here, if I tried to avoid your typical love song throughout today's show, I wouldn't have had much of a show. So for at least this first part of the show I started off with a set of songs that aren't about sappy romantic bliss. If I were to give a musical quirkyalone award to someone, that might go to John Fogerty, who while with Creedence Clearwater Revival managed to rack up a string of hits that weren't about romance.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Who'll Stop The Rain
Simon and Garfunkel – I Am A Rock
Beach Boys – In My Room
Statler Brothers – Flowers On the Wall
Lesley Gore – You Don't Own Me (note to self: remember that the cassette player in the studio has its own power button. Turn it on first before you hit the "play" button and expect the cassette to play.)

I have sort of a "quirkyalone" story for you. Last year, back when I was working, one of our co-workers was just starting a relationship and her boyfriend sent her a dozen roses at the office. I remember saying to my co-worker in the next cube that no one ever sent me roses. Well, the next day, a dozen roses were delivered to me...courtesy of that same co-worker. It was a sweet and thoughtful gesture and really, it should be what it's all about. You know?

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I have a birthday to acknowledge for this week. One of my musical heroes, Al Kooper, turned 65 years old on Thursday. I played a couple of songs from him, the first from his Soul Of A Man CD which featured live performances from his 50th birthday celebration.

Al Kooper - My Days Are Numbered
Blood Sweat and Tears - Just One Smile
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs – Wooly Bully
Bobb B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans - Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Rascals - People Got To Be Free

I want to thank some folks who left some nice comments on last week's 1964 show on the MySpace version of the blog. I invite you to please post your comments as well. Thanks also to those who sent me e-mail via MySpace.

The Facebook group is now up to 51 members--thanks one and all!

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Impressions - It's All Right
Temptations - Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down
Jackie Wilson - Baby Workout
Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
I had to switch gears quickly. A couple of songs which I brought in on my stick drive to play were in a format other than MP3 and the playout system didn't recognize them. Fortunately I had Amy Holland's CD with me and found a song from the CD which lyrically fit nicely with the rest of the show.

Amy Holland - A Few Short Hours (Journey To Miracle River)

Encouragement:
Somewhere on the quirkyalone.net site is a picture of a candy heart which said "Be Yours" on it. I remember I printed it one year, stuck it on a button and wore it to work one February 14. But really, it's not so much an act of defiance of Valentine's Day. In the midst of all this self-celebration is a very valid truth. We all need to believe that we have something good within ourselves that we can offer others. If you don't love yourself first, you really won't be very good at loving someone else or being a good friend. So first, think of yourself, your talents, abilities, your kindness and compassion as the gift to others as it truly is. That, my friends, is the bottom line.

Closer: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

The technical gremlins were out in full force today. Two songs I played from the playout system sounded like a malfunctioning CD, and did that sticking effect like I was playing some sort of dance mix of the songs. I'd have figured it to be a CD issue...except these were MP3 files I was playing and not from CDs themselves. I have no idea why that happened. Other than that, a fun show.

2/1/09 Playlist: 1964

2009-02-01T13:47:00.004-06:00

Opening theme: So What's New - TJB

Underwriter: Today I redeemed myself by reading the underwriter announcement for Sole Supports and pronouncing the word "orthotics" clearly and correctly!

Unfortunately, once again, the mouth working flawlessly did not continue throughout the show. I was telling my fellow DJ, Kerry Miller, whose show "Samurai Songs" follows mine, about my snafu the first time I did the Sole Supports announcement and he said "Oh well...sometimes we put our feet in our mouths." A perfect observation. (By the way, sorry, Kerry...I almost got the prounication of "shakuhachi" right. Next time, perhaps.)

Segment 1: 1964
Today I took a look at the year 1964. This week will be the 45th anniversary of the Beatles' arrival in America—an event which was, of course, a pivotal one in pop music history and pop culture. For those of you who weren't there, if you were but you were too young to remember what it was like, or if you just want to relive what it sounded and felt like...I set the scene with a :15 Beatles segment from a CD called "20th Century Time Capsule". It was from a press conference when the Beatles explained how they got the group name ("We could have been called shoes for all you know...").
Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
Dionne Warwick – Walk On By
Beatles – This Boy
Reflections – Romeo and Juliet
Beatles - I Call Your Name
Nashville Teens – Tobacco Road (actually a group from England)

A Beatles related tale for you: Dad wasn't a big fan of all that rock and roll, but when it came to doing something for us, he'd get in on the act. I remember that he called a local radio station in a mock British accent to try to win us some tickets to the premiere of the Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night". Alas, his acting was in vain--all he heard at the other end was a recorded message. I think we did get tickets somehow because I do remember going.

By the way, this week was another Beatles related anniversary, the 40th of their famous rooftop "Get Back" performance. Here in downtown Nashville an excellent tribute band, the Wanna Beatles, performed a rooftop concert at Rippy's Barbecue this past Friday. It was a lot of fun and I even got interviewed for the TV news show, got to plug my show, not a bad deal!

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
Keep in mind as we pick through the record box that 1964 was still very much a transitional year as far as the music charts went. If you look at a top 100 chart for the year, it was still a wide stylistic mix. The British invasion did not totally overrun the charts as yet, which I must admit surprised me. Traditional pop music for example was still very much a strong presence, producing hit records like this Louis Armstrong classic that went to the top of the charts.
Louis Armstrong – Hello Dolly
Four Seasons- Big Man In Town
Roy Orbison – Oh Pretty Woman
Gene Pitney – It Hurts To Be In Love
Rolling Stones – It's All Over Now
Bobby Rydell – Forget Him

I've had a couple of comments left at the blog and last week I had one from a great-nephew of Sam Cooke, who is the author of a book about him called "Our Uncle Sam"—that was pretty exciting. I certainly do invite you to comment as well.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Back in 1964 the Motown sound started to become a major musical presence. One of the most successful groups in that year was the Supremes. Though they made a significant chart debut in 1963 ("When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes), '64 was when they really charged onto the scene with a huge string of hits.
Supremes – Come See About Me
Temptations – Girl Why You Wanna Make Me Blue
Drifters – Under The Boardwalk
Sam Cooke - Ain't That Good News

Next week on the show I'm going to be marking a holiday of sorts that happens on the 14th of February. No, it's not the one you're thinking of, I'm sure. Here at Radio Free Nashville we try to give voice to alternative viewpoints, so in that spirit I'll be celebrating International Quirkyalone Day on the show. If you're curious as to what it is, I hope you'll tune in and learn what that's all about.

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
I have a couple of very fine covers of songs that were out in 1964. I started with Buddy Greene from his CD "Rufus". He does a beautiful cover of a song from the Beatles first US release.
Buddy Greene – All My Loving
Samantha Mooney – I Only Want To Be With You (cover of Dusty Springfield's hit from 1964; Paper Memories CD)

Encouragement: Wendy V's Encouraging Words column (www.embraceencouragement.com), February 2009: In These Hard Times

Closing theme: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

1/25/09 Playlist: The Guys' Turn

2009-01-25T13:30:00.005-06:00

I'd always believed that the more sleep you get, the better off and more with it you are. Couldn't prove that by me this morning. I crashed and burned early last night and slept most of the night, but I just couldn't spit out the words or get it right at times for the life of me today. Maybe I'm better off staying up and out and turning in later on Saturday nights.

Segment 1: The Guys' Turn
Last week we had the "Ladies Choice" theme here on the show and so this week it's only fair to give the fellows an equal shot. I'm going to start with a group that's made some of the greatest records of the baby boomer era and had some of the finest singers, and we hear one in this set (Ben E. King).

Drifters – Save the Last Dance For Me
Ben E. King – Spanish Harlem
Bobby Vee – The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Rick Nelson – Young World
Paul Revere and the Raiders – Kicks

Here's a story for you: when I was around 11 or so I had a huge crush on Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Now some of the boys in school got wind of that and thought they were going to be smart alecks and start making up rumors, such as Mark Lindsay had died, or Paul Revere had died, or something like that. Ah but you see, I always knew better, because I read 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat. Back then, those magazines were 35 cents, which at that time was a challenge to an 11 year old's budget. Yet, I managed to save to buy at least five of those a month. Now I think they're something like $3.99. I looked through one of those the other day. They don't make them like they used to.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
Grass Roots – Where Were You When I Needed You
Gene Pitney – Love My Life Away
Charlie Rich - Mohair Sam
Beatles – Yes It Is
Johnny Horton - North To Alaska

I tested out my new show promo during this set. One of my fellow DJs was kind enough to ask if I even had one he could use to plug my show, so I gave it a shot and came up with something. (Thanks, Billy!)

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Brook Benton – It's Just A Matter of Time
Jackie Wilson – Doggin Around
Tyrone Davis – Can I Change My Mind
Sam Cooke – Nothing Can Change This Love
Marvin Gaye - Stubborn Kind of Fellow

One of the things I was trying to spit out today was about Sam Cooke's lasting influence and legacy which continues today. For example, track down a song in the Southern Gospel genre done recently by the Gaither Vocal Band called "I'll Tell It Whereever I Go". You'd think tenor Wes Hampton was about to sing "You Send Me" somewhere in that song!

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New
I played a song that was "a hit that should have been". Sometimes the music industry just misses it completely. One of my favorite male voices belongs to Tommy Shaw of Styx. He struck out on his on for a little bit in the mid-80s and he put out an excellent solo album called "Girls With Guns". This song was released as a single and it had all the elements of a hit. A lot of us fans called and bugged the radio stations to play it, but it didn't quite catch on.

Tommy Shaw – Lonely School
Michael McDonald – Love TKO

Encouragement:
Encouragement can be found in the most unusual and unexpected places.

Like, believe it or not, foods. I sometimes buy small boxes of raisins. I've noticed the inside flaps of one brand of these raisin boxes contained inspirational thoughts or sayings. I've torn off a lot of those flaps and stuck them around my computer monitor where I can see them each day. "Healthy foods, healthy thoughts" is how I look at that one.

Once I bought a 4 bar package of soap. To my surprise, I found that the individual wrappers had inspiring sayings on them—written in English and French! Cleansing thoughts on cleansing bars...makes rather clever sense as well.

Encouragement and inspiration can be found in many places...in the expected as well as those places from out in left field. The challenge is to keep ourselves open to finding them and applying them to our lives.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

Next week I'm going to do a show centering on 1964, taking a look back at that year in noting the 45th anniversary of the Beatles coming to our shores and in large part changing popular culture. I'll have some good stuff lined up for you so I hope you'll stop in next week for that show.

Radio Free Nashville: The Beginning

2009-01-22T05:23:00.002-06:00

I've just located some YouTube video of the Radio Free Nashville "barnraising" back in 2005,(courtesy of our technical genius, Mattthepm) when the station got started. I thought you'd like to see it, too.

1/18/09 Playlist - Ladies' Choice

2009-01-18T12:52:00.007-06:00

Opening theme- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

Segment 1: Ladies Choice
I thought we'd put a spotlight on some of the great female singers and girl groups from the oldies era. These are pretty much my favorites. This one I'm going to start off with is on my list of one of the greatest who ever lived, and I had the privilege of meeting her a few months back, thanks to Billy Block...Miss Dynamite herself, Brenda Lee.

Brenda Lee – All Alone Am I
Petula Clark – Who Am I?
Shirelles – Mama Said
Dionne Warwick- Promises, Promises
Patsy Cline – Faded Love

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I realized as I went along here that I picked out a lot of female voices for all the segments. So, I just kept it going. I'd always been a female singer fan and of course, fantasized with a "brush microphone" as a kid in front of the mirror about being a singer. Alas, I realized early on that I did not have the gift of song...so I went on and made a career of sorts of applauding.

The set started with someone who has reinvented herself so many times over the past 40 years, certainly a renaissance woman of sorts, but she's always had one of my favorite female voices. The one and only Cher.

Cher – All I Really Want To Do (Uh oh. I hadn't played this one in a while and forgot it was a live version. What if she said something outrageous or something that would get me in trouble for playing it? Well, it was a short track...short enough to end abruptly and catch me off guard. And, I lied about what she said on the track--it was her first hit record, not necessarily her first #1. Pay closer attention, Wendy.)
Connie Francis – Where the Boys Are
Crystals - Uptown
Laura Nyro - Wedding Bell Blues

I noted there's now a group on Facebook for the Never Too Old show, and I want to thank the people who have joined that group. Here is a link to that if you're interested in joining.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Some of the greatest female singers were in the soul and R & B genre. I started with none other than Aretha Franklin and a cut from her classic Lady Soul album, "Ain't No Way". This song had a huge impact on me as a teenager and it still does today. A goosebump performance for sure.

Aretha Franklin – Ain't No Way
Supremes – Nothing But Heartaches
Velvelettes - He Was Really Saying Something (covered by female British trio Bananarama in the 80s)
Brenda Holloway - When I'm Gone
Ronettes - Walking In The Rain

Here's what coming up theme wise on future shows. Next week, we'll give the guys a chance to be featured. Then the following week we'll take a look back at 1964, on the heels of the 45th anniversary of the Beatles' arrival in America, and after that week I'll be celebrating not Valentine's Day but an alternative, Quirkyalone Day. So I hope you'll be able to catch one of those shows.

If you have a chance to go through some of the shows on the program schedule, I came across one that I really enjoyed. It's called Cosmosis and it is such a great eclectic mix of styles, blues one moment, early 80s punk rock the next, this past week a lot of oldies, like I play--bring it on, the more the merrier is what I say!--and who knows what else. You can catch this show on Fridays from 3-5 p.m. so do give a listen and see what you think. I actually found this show because an old show was aired a couple of weeks ago in automation in my old Saturday afternoon time slot. I thought it was a new show and a new DJ and it sounded like a better fit for the afternoon than my show was, so I e-mailed the host, Billy Lurken, to say welcome. He wrote back and said he's been on from the beginning of RFN and did I have the wrong person? We figured out it was automation...but all things work for good. Billy's a cool guy (also a singer/songwriter), he's been an encouragement to my show and he's actually one of four rotating hosts for Cosmosis. He does a great job, so do check him out when he's on!

Segment 4: Non-oldie/Current/New

I have been a fan of Lauren Wood as a singer and songwriter for over 30 years. I first found her music on an old Warner Brothers sampler called "Limo" when she was part of the group "Chunky Novi and Ernie" and I've been in the tank for her music ever since then.

Lauren Wood- Electric Eyes (Love, Death and Customer Service)
Amy Holland – Miracle River (Journey To Miracle River) Glitch of the day. I almost blew this one big time. I forgot to cue the song so the player started with track 1 which had a guitar intro, as Miracle River does. Except I couldn't say the heck with it, I'll play this track instead because I needed "Miracle River" for my encouragement piece! So I had to flip quickly from one guitar intro to another. Sharp ears I am sure detected that, but Kerry Miller, who hosts "Samurai Songs" after me, bless his dear heart, told me he didn't know the difference. (I like having him follow me!)

Encouragement: I love the lines found in the song "Miracle River"*: "They say that when you get there, that's when the real magic starts...it's less about arriving than the journey to miracle river." I've been a life coach and I've seen the truth of those words unfold as I've worked with people who committed to making change in their lives. When we're faced with taking a new direction, or finally pursuing our dreams, we can run into roadblocks. "I can't do this", "I'll never be any good at this", some of us think sometimes. You need to drown those doubt demons. Because, what if you tried and you were good? And you could do it? No matter what the outcome is, you learn something valuable about yourself. It's worth taking that journey.

Closer – Soul Serenade – King Curtis

*Miracle River by Amy Holland McDonald/John Goodwin/Bernie Chiaravalle
Dutch Girl Music ASCAP/Queen's Knight Music BMI/Bernoit Music ASCAP

1/11/09 Playlist - Not Snubbing the 70s

2009-01-11T13:55:00.007-06:00

Segment 1: Not Snubbing the 70s
A couple of weeks ago, our Program Director, Beau Hunter, asked me, "Do you ever play any 70s music on your show?" Well, um, no, I guess I haven't much. It's not that I meant to snub the 70s. It's just that I'm so partial to the 60s when it comes down to oldies. But I'm going to rectify that. I had 70s stuff in this first set and I sprinkled some more throughout the hour. This first song was a hit back in 1972 but I don't think gets much play on the so-called oldies stations these days.

Alone Again Naturally - Gilbert O'Sullivan
Come and Get Your Love – Redbone
Brandy – Looking Glass
I Saw The Light -Todd Rundgren
Go All The Way - Raspberries

So if we're going to be talking about the 70s, then you're going to get me started about "where were you and what were you doing?" Well, I was in high school and college during that decade. In high school I was your stereotypical outcast geek who was in the honor society and such. The good news was when I got to college, none of that cool or uncool stuff mattered. In fact, for one brief shining moment I was cool in college. I had become a fan of radio and TV news and I had the opportunity, thanks to encouragement from my advisor, to organize a news department for my college radio station. Then I actually got a radio news internship on the FM station at Yale University that I listened to as a teen. Ironically, it was in the course of doing that when I realized that radio news wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something more creative. That ended up being writing relating to supporting musicians and encouraging others, so all's well that ends well.

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
I came up with an old, obscure bubblegum type song. This from a group called Pickettywitch, who I believe were from Britain.

Same Old Feeling– Pickettywitch
Man's Temptation - Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield
I'll Take You There – Staple Singers
You Baby – Turtles (Remember last week I found this song before my airshift and then lost track of it during the show when I wanted to play it. This time, by golly, I found it!)

Now I have a quiz for you today. Go to the MySpace page for Never Too Old that is at www.myspace.com/nevertoooldwv and listen to the songs in the player. Which song in the MySpace player on that page is a vocal version of an instrumental that is played often on this show? If you know, post a comment here, at the MySpace mirror version of the blog or send me an e-mail either via MySpace or wendyvnto@gmail.com . Anyone who gets it right will have their names immortalized in the blog and on next week's show.

Segment 3: Soul Stew
Some of what I played today came from this compilation called Entertainment Weekly hits of 1972.
Everybody Plays the Fool – Main Ingredient
Didn't I Blow Your Mind - Delfonics
I'll Be Around – Spinners (one of the classiest soul songs of the 70s).

Segment 4: Recent
Things That Are Lost - Alan O'Day
Whatcha Need – Mark Lowry

Encouragement:
The encouragement for today can be found in the lyrics of the song "Whatcha Need". There is the part about the guy hating his wife and wanting to leave her. A friend told him to list out all the good points he felt she had, and then he did a complete turnaround and loved her all over again. Sometimes we get hung up on the sour stuff and we forget the good things. Those bad lists tend to be longer when we start making them. So, try this. Make your good list and your bad list. Maybe...there will be something on that good list you have overlooked that is strong enough or may have something someone might have done recently that will make you tear up that bad list...and open the door for healing to begin.

Closer: Soul Serenade - King Curtis

I realized that I have given myself quite a challenge in coming up with an encouragement section for the show every week. There could be weeks when I may come up with a blank piece of paper. I don't have enough stuff in the can from my previous writings to last me a whole year. Thus, if I find more songs with an encouraging, positive message as I did with this one and reflect on it a bit, that should put me in good shape.

And hey---no technical glitches! No big flubs either! This was a good show! The show's settling into its new home with good Sunday morning vibes...

Upcoming themes:
1/18 Ladies Choice
1/25 The Guys' Turn
2/1 1964
2/8 Quirkyalone Day

1/4/09 Playlist - Moving

2009-01-05T06:44:00.009-06:00

Welcome to this blog to any new Sunday morning time slot listeners!

Opener: So What's New - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. An apropos song for those who listened to automation on Sunday mornings and wondered what was going on. I think it will work as an opening theme as well.

Segment 1 - Moving
In honor of the show's move to a new day and time, and celebrating the anniversary of telling the world I was moving to Nashville after five years of planning and dreaming, I thought I'd play a few songs about moving. I should note that I'm working within the confines of my limited collection and some of what the station has, so sometimes one must get a little creative with themes. I'm going to touch on different kinds of moving and different ways of doing that in life. I haven't played as much Beatles as I should, so I started with this one.
Drive My Car - Beatles
We'll Sing In the Sunshine - Gale Garnett
We're A Winner – Impressions
Goin Back – Byrds
Place In the Sun- Stevie Wonder (I was so hoping the station catalog had this song because I didn't and I really wanted to use it. YES!)

Segment 2: Picking Through the Record Box
To re-explain this segment: It sort of reminds you of all those 45s people of the baby boomer generation may have had growing up and you kept them in one of those storage boxes or carry cases. You decide to listen to some music and you just go through randomly on impulse picking out stuff you want to hear, not worrying if all the styles fit together. You play a song because you want to hear it.

Now I have a confession to make. I don't actually have a record box anymore. I moved to Nashville nearly two years ago from St. Paul, MN. I did my move here with one friend driving my little subcompact and the other driving a mini-van with all my belongings. A lot of stuff had to get sacrificed and that included all of my vinyl. Of course, I've since kicked myself sore for not keeping some stuff that I could have used. Life's interesting sometimes.

This set started with one of my favorite childhood growing up songs, an "earworm" of many years that I've wanted to get at here but hadn't yet.
The Mountain's High – Dick and Deedee
It Ain't Me Babe - Turtles (This was a bit weird; I could have sworn I found "You Baby" in the catalog in my pre-show search and wrote it down. But when I got on the air and went back to put it in the playout system, I couldn't find it. So, I had to switch to this one.)
24 Hours From Tulsa - Gene Pitney

Segment 3: Soul Stew
For this first Temptation song I played, I admit I knew of a cover version first--the one by Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh, I think it was. For years I didn't know it was a Temptations original and I decided I like this one a whole lot better.
Don't Look Back – Temptations
Every Little Bit Hurts - Brenda Holloway (Another happy find in the catalog. This song was on one of the many vinyl albums that was sacrificed for my move. I always loved it but haven't had it since.)
Since You've Been Gone - Aretha Franklin (From the classic "Lady Soul." I noted how cool it was that the CD artwork replicates what an Atlantic single looked like.)
But It's Alright - JJ Jackson

Segment 3: Current/New
I'm excited because I have a new CD by a friend of mine from St. Paul, MN, TD Mischke. I've mentioned him in the past – he was a radio talk show host who is also a musician. I saw him in the early 90s in a rare (back then) solo gig in a small club called Music City Café. He just rocked my world and opened the door for me to seek out and encourage little known local artists, which I've now been doing for many years. This CD is called That Kind of Day, and I played a song I heard him do at this gig I mentioned. He hadn't recorded it until now. I have never forgotten this song over the years, so I'm thrilled he cut it here.
Babies – TD Mischke
Coast - Eliza Gilkyson (from the Red House Records compilation "These Times We're Living In")
Take This Heart – Samantha Mooney (one more from the Australian singer/songwriter I raved about weeks ago)

Encouragement: Wendy V's Encouraging Words from January 2007: Where Are You Moving To?

Closing theme - Soul Serenade- King Curtis

I dedicated this show to my mom, who passed away this past week. She was a lifelong music lover and would have wanted me to move ahead with the show. In fact, I trust that in her new home the signal is coming in loud and clear and she heard my show for the first time.

I was a little jittery -- I don't know why. It's not as if it was my very first show, though I did sort of treat it as such by doing an introduction for the people new to the show on Sunday mornings. I guess it's that way whenever you move to a "new home". I've surely been through that in the past year.

I must say that the glitch of the day came from my own mouth. I was reading the underwriter announcement, which was for a foot care company, Sole Supports . I pre-read it rather hastily and came across a word I wasn't sure how to pronounce properly. It was "orthotics", but with my jitters and haste, it came out as "orthodontics." Heaven knows that orthotics and orthodontics are two different physical matters. Sheesh.

Other than that, I like this Sunday spot and I think it's gonna work out fine, as Ike and Tina used to say.

My Favorite "Never Too Old" Shows This Year

2008-12-26T06:15:00.005-06:00

Well, I'm taking a break from Radio Free Nashville this weekend so there's no live broadcast from me. I didn't say, though, that I was taking a break from doing a blog this week, so here I am.

It's been a little over three months since I started this show. If you've followed my journey, it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of learning to do a half decent radio show. Indeed, the learning curve continues. Along the way, I realized talking off the top of my head isn't my strong point while trying to manage other details of the show...I had that skill once, while I was in Toastmasters for five years. But I've been gone from it too long and don't really have time to hook up with another club. So, since I decided to return to the practice of scripting my shows in November, I have found a few that have not been painful for me to listen to. I have actually enjoyed listening to them.

So in chronological order, here are my favorite shows of the ones I did this year, with links to the individual blog entries (In all of these, technical glitches not withstanding, by the way).

9/13/08 – The first one. First shows are always special, I guess. I knew I would be a bundle of nerves, so I did script this show. Perhaps for that reason it turned out to not be a total embarrassment to me. I remember how it blew me away when program director Beau Hunter told me that two calls came into the station from listeners saying they liked the show.

10/18/08 – Great Voices show. This is the one I did after listening to the replay of the "Geo on the Radio" Alex Harvey interview. I think the spirit stayed with me and made everything else click. Also one of the first where I had a theme. (And yeah, "quite" was one of my favorite words that day...)

11/22/08 – 1963 show. One of my favorite years in music. I thought the JFK assassination anniversary section came off well. I was dealing with a miserable cold that day but I must say it kept my voice pitch from jumping into the stratosphere as it often likes to do.

12/6/08 – The "by the shoreline" show where I talked about growing up in the Savin Rock part of West Haven, CT in the neighborhood of an aging amusement park. I was also happy with the extended pitch from the heart I did for Radio Free Nashville.

12/13/08 – The "highs of the 60s" show. Some good musical choices there. I was also inspired by the creative genius of my friend Dale Connelly earlier that week on the last broadcast of Minnesota Public Radio's Morning Show which lasted 25 years. He wrote a comic sketch with a most eloquent observation on endings that I just had to work into an encouragement piece on change. I want to write like Dale when I grow up.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't thank my musician friends Randi Perkins, Steve Craig and Simpli Lauri for taking a chance on me and agreeing to be guests on the show this year.

What I've realized after hearing some of my more recent shows played back is that perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself and I should stop venturing into "comparison-itis". My fellow DJ Steve Haggard of the Haggard-King Radio Hour on Tuesdays told me he thinks he and Kimberly King are getting pretty good at it after six months on the air. (I'd say so!). Hopefully I may be halfway to pretty good after three.

Things for me to remember going into the New Year: keep my voice pitch in the middle (you can tell when I'm particularly enthused or excited—up it goes!), and slow down so I don't stumble so much. Above all—focus, focus!

"Never Too Old" as I've noted, moves to Sunday at 8 a.m. starting January 4. It'll be a different experience in a few ways. By virtue of it being Sunday morning, it'll be more laid back. I will be following automation, which means I'll have more time to look around the studio before I go on-air and focus more on how things work and how I can make them work for me. Overall, it might be a better spot for a DJ in training.

Again, grateful thanks for those who have listened to "Never Too Old" or read the blog this year. I hope you will follow me into the next year.

Programming Note: Never Too Old moves to Sunday morning 8-9 a.m. starting 1/4/2009

2008-12-20T18:44:00.005-06:00

The 12/20/08 show is the last live show for the year on a Saturday. There will be a rebroadcast for next Saturday since I planned a break.

Beginning on January 4, "Never Too Old" will return live with a new day and time: Sunday mornings from 8-9 a.m. The reason for the change is due to, like most things these days, the economy. I've been laid off and out of work since July and so I've had to try to grab whatever I could get workwise. Unfortunately, the pickings these days are those options where you need to work weekends. Thus, I've found it necessary to free up Saturdays for work opportunities. (In fact, I have an upcoming temp job lined up which is a 7 day a week stretch over two weeks. Feast or famine!)

The decision to move was a difficult one. As I've said in past weeks, I've had a great time being part of this Saturday afternoon lineup. I want to acknowledge that I have been on both sides of some wonderful programming by two extraordinarily talented people. However, I am looking forward to preceding the show "Samurai Songs" with Kerry Miller. This show features the music of the Japanese flute, and if you've never heard it, I think you will find it a calming, peaceful and tranquil way to spend part of your morning. Kerry's a good guy, too. I hope some of you will be able to follow me from Saturday to Sunday, but if not, the blog will continue and you can keep up with the show there.

Now what was I saying last week about change being constant...?

12/20/08 Playlist - A Twist On Christmas

2008-12-20T17:52:00.005-06:00

This show was sort of a special edition. I did a "Twist On Christmas" and loosened up the format a bit today. I had some of the usual oldies mixed in with some songs of the season you might have grown up with some cute and kooky types of holiday tunes.

Now let me see a show of hands here: who among us grew up in the 60s and thereabouts like I did with Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas album? My family played it over and over again until it became etched in my brain as it is to this day.

Sleigh Ride – Johnny Mathis
Tonights the Night – Shirelles
Come and See What's Happening In the Barn – Stephen Hill and Woody Wright (one of the most creative Christmas songs I've ever heard; co-written by Woody Wright, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Michael Sykes)
Havin' A Party – Sam Cooke
Frosty the Blues Man- Denver and the Mile High Orchestra - that is their most requested song

My good friend Gigi Swanson, who is a songwriter, got in touch with me about a Christmas song she co-wrote with Diona Devincenzi. It's a song about a woman's opinion on the ideal way of celebrating the holiday. I heard it and I think I am right on with her about it –this sounds really good to me!

Merry Christmas to Me – Diona Devincenzi (video link)
How Did We Live Without Christmas? – Mark Lowry (featuring his Christmas album "Mary Did You Know" today. If you are familiar with the song "Mary Did You Know?" Mark Lowry co – wrote it with Buddy Greene. I am humbled to know both those guys personally).
Amen – the Impressions
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love (from the legendary Phil Spector Christmas album)
Christmas Wrapping – the Waitresses (I love this one about a gal chasing a guy amidst the seasonal hustle and bustle and tracking him down in a grocery store--and getting him)

As Mark himself would say, "it's my show!" and I indulged myself because he has to my ears been the #1 male singer in my world for the past seven years. So, I played his version of this holiday classic because I think he does an awesome job.
The Christmas Song – Mark Lowry
Marshmallow World - Darlene Love (also from the legendary Phil Spector Christmas album)

Encouragement: I brough Mark back in to give a message for us all.
Let There Be Peace On Earth – Mark Lowry

Remember there's an encore broadcast next week. I want to thank everyone for listening to me or reading my blog this year.

The music was good, there were a couple of usual technical glitches, but I didn't like my on-air performance today. I don't think I slept at all last night due to sinus problems and a brain that wouldn't shut down. Then there was the decision about the show that I felt I had to make due to my situation. All those things affected me. Ah well. I think a break will be good to recharge the battery.

12/13/08 Playlist - Highs of the 60s

2008-12-13T17:28:00.007-06:00

Segment #1 – Highs of the 60s
I started the first part of the show today with "highs of the 60s". Now, that's not to say that I'm talking about anything I might have partaken –I didn't do the drugs (I was only a kid, you know), I just did the music. I'm a CD collections and compilations fan and in the 80's Warner Brothers put out this great one called Highs of the 60s. It's a little bit garage, a little psychedelic, and it's got one of those pink/blue color combinations on the cover that makes your eyes freak out and vibrate. (I remember I did an art project like that once in grade school with those colors.)

Count Five – Psychotic Reaction
Shadows of Knight – Gloria
Left Banke – Walk Away Renee
Knickerbockers – Lies
Swinging Medallions – Double Shot of My Baby's Love

By the way, if you are a fan of the psychedelic, early progressive rock, summer of love type music, check out "Strange Daze" with Beau Hunter Thursday nights from 8-10 on Radio Free Nashville. I sat in with Beau on his show when I first got here and trained in and I had a blast—I heard stuff I hadn't heard in 30 years.

(Brief WRFN pitch)
I talked about this last week and I just mentioned quickly once again...if you're planning some year end giving. I hope you'll think about a gift to Radio Free Nashville if what you hear on this station is important to you. Radio shows do matter in people's lives; I found that out this week (more on that later), but in the meantime let me tell you what you can do to support RFN:

Write a check payable to Radio Free Nashville and send it to Post Office Box 41488, Nashville, Tennessee 37204. Visit the web site at www. radiofreenashville. org and make a donation via PayPal, through your PayPal account or on your credit card. Or become a sustainer and make a monthly donation through PayPal, adopt-a-bill, or make a workplace donation through Community Shares. Of course your donations are all tax-deductible.

Segment #2 – Picking Through the Record Box
When I was growing up, we had one of those big furniture like stereos, which I eventually inherited or was cast off on to me. But, I used to have the worst time with the turntable. As it got older, the thing didn't work or the speed would be off. I would know precisely if it was too fast or too slow, and it would bug the heck out of me. I finally complained enough to have my dad look at it and we figured out the belt drive was the problem. The belt would fall off or not set right. Eventually I started fiddling with it myself, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I put up with it until one day it finally gave up the ghost completely. So we junked it and I got one of those new "component" stereos. I'll always remember how excited I was about that.

I kicked this off with something from 1961, something we sure had enough of around here this past week.
Dee Clark - Raindrops
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – (I bet you all thought you were in for the 18 minute version...so if you took a potty or smoke break or did something else, well, you missed a few songs! This was the 3 minute edit version that top 40 formats had.)
Sir Douglas Quartet- She's About A Mover
The Music Explosion - A Little Bit O Soul
Denver and the Mile High Orchestra - Frosty the Blues Man (giving a sneak peek at what next week's "Twist On Christmas" show will be like! I'll play that next week, too)

By the way, speaking of the blog, I've gotten a few compliments on the picture of me that's out on the blog and the MySpace page for the show. Thank you! That was taken on my 50th birthday back when I was still in St. Paul and back when I still had a job. My co-workers came in and assaulted my desk with all that 50th birthday stuff. I was picking little glitter "50s" out of my keyboard for weeks afterward. My favorite thing of all that was a hand drawn sign one of my co-workers's daughters made which simply said "wow—the big 50". So I doctored the background of the picture, took the office out and made it kinda retro.

Segment #3 – Soul Stew
I had with me a great two disc collection of hits by the Temptations. I got one or two of these in, starting with one of my favorites when I was in junior high.
Temptations - You're My Everything
Mary Wells - You Beat Me To The Punch (Our technical glitch of the day. Don't ask me what happened in the beginning. I played this from the online catalog made up of MP3 files and it started sticking like an off track CD and sounding like one of those weird dance mixes. Fortunately, it fixed itself.)
Temptations - You've Got To Earn It (not a big hit I don't think, but a cool catalog song I discovered on this set. I really dig this tune.)

Segment #4 Recent/current section
My "This week's featured songwriter" out on my Wendy V MySpace page. I have been doing some screening of music for an independent music awards project for the last few weeks and came across this gal who is from the Gold Coast of Australia. Her voice and her songs touched my heart in a million pieces. I had to buy some of her tracks for myself and they are in extreme heavy rotation in my MP3 player. Her name is Samantha Mooney .

I started with the title track from her album
Paper Memories – Samantha Mooney
A Thousand Miles Away – Steve Haggard (Love Conquers All)
In the "support your fellow DJ department", Steve Haggard is co-host with Kimberly King of the Haggard-King Radio Hour on Tuesdays from 4-5 pm on Radio Free Nashville.

With Paper Memories being a song about reflecting on change, here's what I hope is a word of encouragement for you.

Encouragement: Change

Change. It's a given. It's the one thing that is ever constant in our lives.

If ever you had a doubt that a radio show matters in many people's lives, you need only to have experienced the outpouring of love and support for the hosts of two radio shows that ended in the St. Paul/Minneapolis MN market over the past two weeks. On one of the shows the hosts got to say a fond farewell to their listeners; the other sadly did not.

In that farewell broadcast of the first show I mentioned, I was struck by something said which was part of a humor skit that came from the pen of one of the co-hosts, the brilliant Dale Connelly. The character in the sketch noted it was too late for so many things, "because every ending, whenever it comes, comes early. And there is always something left undone."

And so it is when change comes, whether it is something quick or planned. If we don't get to do or say something before it comes to a close and it's beyond our control, we could be filled with regret. Sometimes there are things you can't do anything about, even despite your best efforts. When this happens we need to be kind to ourselves and not beat ourselves up. Know that we did the best we could do...and move forward with hope and anticipation to the next--you guessed it--change in our lives.

Closer: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

12/6/08 Playlist: By The Shoreline

2008-12-07T06:56:00.005-06:00

Busy, busy show today!

Segment #1 – By the Shoreline
Well, we are heading toward wintertime starting pretty soon and the weather's getting colder. It's been that way here in Nashville, though I know that if I were still in Minnesota winter will have already started in earnest so I won't complain that much! So I thought we'd steer our thoughts toward warm weather and think about being by the shoreline today.

I grew up in West Haven, CT on the southern CT shoreline. I lived three blocks away from the beach and a major amusement park called Savin Rock. This amusement park was around since the 1800s and lasted until the mid-60s. Drive down Beach Street which was the main drag back when I was a kid and you'd see rides like the Virginia Reel and the Flying Horses, and the big roller coaster called the Sky Blazer (in the early part of the 20th century there was a similar huge roller coaster built out onto a pier right off of the beach until a hurricane took it out). We little kids had our own set of rides to go on. The Tilt A Whirl was my favorite and so was the mini roller coaster in the White City section. At night when I was upstairs in my bedroom I could hear the stock car races running from the track by the Sky Blazer. As you could imagine, it was fun being a kid and growing up with all that close by. Savin Rock started going downhill by the time I came along but I managed to get a few good years in before redevelopment took over in 1967 and the park was torn down. But there are lots of memories and some great music as the soundtrack of our lives during that time. And when you think of the beach, who else do you think of but...the Beach Boys.

I Get Around – Beach Boys
So Much In Love – Tymes
Under the Boardwalk – Drifters
Summertime - Billy Stewart (technical glitch of the day--one of the CD players was left on continuous and those impatient Drifters again (!!) wanted to keep singing. So I started over.)
Don't Worry Baby - Beach Boys

When I do look back at all of this, I remember that for me it was mostly about--food. There were a lot of great restaurants around that beach area and it was a big deal for me when I'd get to go. There were Jimmies and Phyllis' which were your stereotypical 50s drive in restaurants. The one I liked the best was Turk's. It was a white building with a big old hot dog drawn on the front of it, and my dad would always let me get my hot dog, chocolate milk and French fries. Occasionally I'd get to go to Scotty's further down the shore which had the best vanilla malts and shoestring fries...these were soft, not those over-fried things you get today. When I would get taken to the beach, always with my parents or my sister (I was never allowed to go alone), I always hinted to get some food from a place across the road from the beach that still exists today and has changed very little, Chick's Drive –In. I didn't always get my way, but when I did I had some of their great French fries. They don't make hot dogs and French fries like that anymore. But those were great times, great memories.

Pitch for Radio Free Nashville year end giving

Segment #2 – Picking Through the Record Box
You know, I was talking to some people earlier this week about this part of the show and they used to do the same thing with their boxes of records, just going through and bringing out things they'd feel like hearing. Let me go back to the Beach Boys and do a little shameless self-promotion. When I was growing up, the song I would get sung to me most often was "Windy" by the Association...but I'll take my props on this song.
Wendy- Beach Boys
100 Pounds of Clay - Gene McDaniel
Baby Love - Supremes
Black Is Black - Los Bravos

Segment #3 – Soul Stew
In my first year here there was an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum called Night Train to Nashville. They had a video screen where they showed some old black and white footage of a Nashville music TV show from back in the 60s, and when you put me in front of that sort of thing, it's hard to move and I think they almost had to throw me out of there. Along with the exhibit came the release of a two CD set covering R &B from 1945-1970, so I took a couple today from that collection.
The Chokin Kind - Joe Simon
Talking About My Baby - Impressions
Sunny – Bobby Hebb
Anna - Arthur Alexander
Everlasting Love - Robert Knight

Segment #4 Current
For our recent/current day section, I do a feature on my wendyv MySpace page where I highlight a different singer/songwriter each week. My pick for this past week is in my opinion a first class male vocalist—one of the best singers I've heard in the past seven years. Somebody needs to sign this guy. This track is A1 as well—some great players on here. - Turn the Knife - George Adams

Army of Angels - Randi Perkins-(my guest from a month or so back)

Well sometimes it does take an army of angels to turn love around, but other times it just takes one person to reach out and change things. This piece I'm going to share with you is my Wendy V's Encouraging Words column on my Embrace Encouragement website for this month and it's called What If You Just LOVED?

Closer: Soul Serenade - King Curtis (this might be a keeper...works nicely as a fadeout..especially yesterday when the automation didn't kick in on time!)

A couple of glitches on my end and the station had some technical issues going on earlier in the day--we were off the air on FM for awhile but came back on by 2 p.m. So all things considered, not bad. I was really happy with how I did the pitch.

Support Radio Free Nashville

2008-12-07T06:29:00.004-06:00

This is an on-air pitch I did on the 12/6/08 show:

We're getting to the end of the year and you may be making some difficult decisions in these tight times about year end giving. I'd like to have you think about considering a gift to Radio Free Nashville. Those of you locally probably realize what a great community resource it is...it's been involved in some wonderful things this past year, just to name a few the Homelessness Marathon, the Young Voices of Nashville, the Oasis Center which had a benefit show last month, a new local news division and expansion of the signal. I'm sure there will be other activities coming up in the new year which as a fairly new programmer I can't wait to be part of.

From a musical programming standpoint as well, RFN offers something that's very rare and precious in radio these days. I know I am blessed to be part of our Saturday afternoon lineup which I've often called the best in town. You will really be hard pressed to find a musical mix like this certainly in commercial radio.

First off, we've got Bobby Bob's Rock and Roll Revolution. I love him...he's a throwback to the times when top 40 radio was fun. Bobby and his alter ego "Popsy" with his hysterical philosophies and observations are just a riot.

Geo On the Radio, what he's doing is just brilliant radio. He's got great musical taste and he puts sets together that can entertain you one minute and zing your heart the next. I know I've learned about so many wonderful artists just by listening to his show (especially one I'm going to play for you later) and some terrific guests he's interviewed, like Steve Leslie this afternoon. The one interview I'll never forget is Alex Harvey. I remember being in the studio listening to the rebroadcast and experiencing a gamut of emotions...I'm a major fan of him now. Radio that impacts your soul like this is hard to put a price on.

Then there's Backstory with River Jordan, a dear lady who is a very gifted writer and storyteller, also plays some wonderful music and features a wide range of authors. And me, well, I've said this before: I'm just very fortunate to be dropped in the middle here and live a dream and share with you as a music fan and a writer and encourage a population that gets overlooked and undervalued these days.

We can probably all think of programs that were dear to us at one time or another which disappeared due to lack of support and broke our hearts. So, if you've enjoyed anything you've heard on Radio Free Nashville, whether it's my show or one of my fellow DJs anywhere in the program schedule, I hope you'll think about lending support for keeping the great programming going.

Here's how you can do that: Write a check payable to Radio Free Nashville and send it to Post Office Box 41488, Nashville, Tennessee 37204. Visit the web site at www.radiofreenashville.org and make a donation via PayPal, through your PayPal account or on your credit card. Or become a sustainer and make a monthly donation through PayPal, adopt-a-bill, or make a workplace donation through Community Shares. Of course your donations are all tax-deductible.

Thanks!

11/29/08 Oldies To Be Thankful For

2008-11-29T17:21:00.004-06:00

Segment #1 – Oldies To Be Thankful For

I thought I'd continue the spirit of Thanksgiving just a bit into this weekend and play what I call "oldies to be thankful for", some of my favorite songs and artists that have stuck with me over the years. In the "credit where due" department, I borrowed this idea from a bluegrass dj in the Twin Cities, Phil Nusbaum of KBEM in Minneapolis, who always plays "bluegrass to be thankful for" on his show "Bluegrass Saturday Morning" around Thanksgiving weekend and he's played one or two requests for me in past years.

I will start with this song I've played before by the Critters—I've always thought it was beautifully sung and lyrically sophisticated for its time.
Mr. Dieingly Sad - Critters (lead singer was Don Ciccone, who also sang on the 4 Seasons hit "December 1963 [Oh What A Night]")
No Good To Cry – Wildweeds (Now Nashville resident singer/songwriter/guitarist Al Anderson was the lead singer back then)
Imagine That- Patsy Cline
My Cup Runneth Over – Ed Ames, who is probably more famous for a Johnny Carson appearance than his singing. This song was from the musical "I Do I Do" which was on Broadway in the mid 60s. This is another of those songs like I told you about a week or so ago when you were growing up that your mother loved but you thought it was square, and then when you got older you came to appreciate it—and you started watching all those Lawrence Welk reruns, too, for the pop culture of it all. OK, I confess to that!

Segment #2 – Picking Through the Record Box

One thing I'm so thankful for this year is all the wonderful new friendships I've made with a lot of the singer/songwriters and musicians in this community...and the support has really worked both ways. There are a lot of them out there trying to get cuts and gigs and such—I've seen and heard many of you this past week. I love you all so much and you know I have fingers and toes crossed for you—so this is for those who are listening today: Nashville Cats- Lovin Spoonful

Only Love Can Break A Heart - from the late, great Gene Pitney who hailed from my home state of Connecticut. I did get to see him in concert once a couple of years before I left for MN. He was wonderful and I'm very grateful to have had that experience. He recorded a lot of Burt Bacharach/Hal David compositions and there's one of those.
Just Like Me - Paul Revere and the Raiders (Mark Lindsay was my pre-teen heartthrob--more on that on another show, perhaps)
Here Comes The Night - Them (early Van Morrison)
Girl Like You - Rascals

Segment #3 – Soul Stew

I'm going to start a new section for the show. I call this Soul Stew. I've found myself in past weeks playing a lot of soul music. I've always loved soul and felt very connected to it so why not give it its own place in the show, right? I decided to give Wilson Pickett a call here and see if he wanted to start this thing off for us.
634-5789 - Wilson Pickett
Don't Play That Song - Ben E. King
Wish Someone Would Care - Irma Thomas
Double O Soul - Edwin Starr

Segment #4- Recent/current day section

I went to a writers night last weekend out at Fiddle and Pick in Pegram which is not far from here. There were a lot of wonderful writers and a few of them were very kind to share their CDs with me. I'll start with Mark Elliott, who went above and beyond in sharing his music with me—after the show Saturday he sang a song of his just for me that I liked called Baseball and Beatles—so thanks, Mark, if you're listening. I didn't have that song with me but I did have one from his latest release, Good Life.

Bye Bye Baby Jane – Mark Elliott
He Smiled Like An Angel – Laurie McClain (Ascend CD)

Encouragement:
A Closed Fist Holds No Light
(Adapted from the version written for SoGospelNews.com - that version will be posted here in December.)

I was driving home from someplace recently and heard on the radio a song I'd forgotten about, but I've liked: "I Just Wanna Be Mad" by Terri Clark. It's a song about a couple who had a spat and the wife declares her love but doesn't want to give up her mad...yet.

So, I got to thinking about that song. We are human and sometimes we do "just wanna be mad for awhile." Sometimes we get a little too critical too quickly before we know all of the facts. We direct that negative energy at people without thinking through the impact it might have on the person. But I think life's too short to hold small grudges for a long period of time and be unforgiving toward others. Besides, after a while it eats away at you and holds you back from happiness. A closed fist holds no light.

Try this if you're holding too tightly on to something someone may have said or done: make a fist. Note how uncomfortable and tight your hand feels. Look toward the center. It's closed and it's very dark in there. Not a bit of light can get in.

Now, open your hand. Stretch it out and allow the light to shine through. And let that grudge, bad feeling, misunderstanding that might not be all that important go.

The thing about the song I like is that despite present feelings, it offers up hope for reconciliation, that the dark cloud isn't going to last forever...that love will eventually conquer all. And making up and making peace can be fun, after all.
***
Closing song: Time Is Tight - Booker T and the MGs

The one show glitch might have been me struggling with a couple of words. Other than that, it was pretty clean. Go Wendy.

I want to take a moment to thank my fellow DJ River Jordan, whose great show, "Backstory On the Radio" follows mine, for her kind support--I heard her plug for my show on automation of her show as I was driving home. It came at a time when I needed it and it is nice to know someone's paying attention. And by the way, she nailed the essence of what the show is about. Thanks, River.

11/22/08 Playlist - 1963

2008-11-23T05:39:00.003-06:00

This day, of course, was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963. So I took a look back at some of the music of that year and walked through history a little bit. Most of us who were around at that time no doubt remember where they were when the President was shot. Me, I was in 3rd grade when one of the other teachers told our teacher the news. We had a little reading lesson going on at the time. I was one of those "teacher's pets" back then so our teacher left the room for a little bit and she put me in charge. Only thing was the class and I were a little confused on whether she wanted me to watch the room or run the reading group. Not long after that we were told the President had died and we all were sent home. From then on it was a weekend of black and white images on TV none of us will ever forget and my mother telling me to keep the volume on the music that I played on my stereo soft.

There is an aircheck out on the internet from radio station KLIF in Dallas from the day of the assassination which is quite chilling. At around 12:30 p.m. DJ Rex Jones was doing his show as usual. When the first report of a shooting came in, they played commercials for Sandra Dee's latest movie and clothing stores and music…then when reports got more serious, things gradually changed. But while this song aired on KLIF, few knew what was transpiring not far away from the station and the innocence the song by the Chiffons portrayed was soon to be changed forever.

Chiffons - I Have A Boyfriend
Rick Nelson - Fools Rush In
Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki
Lesley Gore - It's My Party
Inez and Charlie Foxx - Mockingbird
Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt

Going back to JFK for a second, I visited the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas a few years ago and it was quite the experience. One thing I picked up while I was there was a DVD called JFK-Breaking the News which is a collection on clips from the local Dallas TV coverage and interviews from people who were on the scene, so if you're a history and TV news enthusiast, you might want to try to find this one.

Picking Through the Record Box
For the record box, I've pulled out all my stuff ahead of time, so we're going to stay with 1963 for the most part. 1963 is the year that I have the most vivid memories of music and of my childhood. I was 8 years old back then (go ahead, do the math, I don't mind). There was always music around the house because my mother loved it and I had that older sister advantage that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. My family was also involved with an Irish music club, so on many occasions there'd be a lot of visitors to the outdoor patio...and maybe an accordion or two. I played some songs that seems to stick out in that era and stayed with me that everyone liked a lot.

(Obligatory technical glitch of the day: I wanted to play Jimmy Soul Clark's "If You Want To Be Happy" from a tape cassette, but it decided not to cooperate.)

Gene Pitney - 24 Hours From Tulsa
Jackie De Shannon - Needles and Pins
Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire
Supremes - When the Lovelight Start Shining Through His Eyes

Brenda Lee - Losing You
New Christy Minstrels - Green Green
Dixiebells - Papa Joe's
Steve Alaimo - Every Day I Have To Cry Some

Current music:
Scott Krippayne - What Breaks Your Heart
He was one of the American Idol finale songwriter winners a couple of seasons back. He co-wrote the song Jordin Sparks sang, This Is My Now.

Stephanie Mills –Born For This
This song was written by BeBe Winans who resides here in town. I heard him do this song last year in my church. He's an ordained minister as well as an artist and he preached his first sermon for us. He sang this song at the end, and there was an incredible move of the spirit. People were reaching across the aisles hugging each other and all. I'll never forget that experience.

Inspiration:

Next week most of us will be pondering the things we are thankful for. I'd like to suggest that if there are any people you are thankful for in your life, that you be sure to encourage them and tell then. Life is too short, after all. 45 years ago we lost a President in the blink of an eye. If someone were sadly snatched from your life, will he or she have known how you felt about them? I hope so. It doesn't take a whole lot to say so. I'm thankful for being in this town, for my friends, my singer/songwriter people who have encouraged me and my mission here, and for getting to do this show with some great people. And you do know who you are.

11/15/08 - Soul Shot Saturday

2008-11-16T12:52:00.005-06:00

Today on the show we had Soul Shot Saturday! Try saying that three times fast! Well, I practiced. I tried. But I blew it.

Déjà vu for those of you who saw a particular YouTube video featuring yours truly.

Anyway, what Soul Shot Saturday meant was I played a few cuts from some compilations that Rhino put out years ago called Soul Shots A Collection of Sixties Soul Classics. These have some great old soul tunes that you're not likely to hear on what's left of the commercial oldies stations (and I use that term loosely).I don't know how many albums were put out in this series, I have three of them.
Tyrone Davis – Can I Change My Mind
JJ Jackson - But It's Alright
Barbara Acklin - Love Makes A Woman
Lou Rawls- Love Is a Hurtin Thing
Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache

Picking through the record box:
Lovin Spoonful - You Didn't Have To Be So Nice (by request!)
The Turtles - It Ain't Me Babe
Tams - Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy
Drifters - Please Stay (The only glitch of the day--they wanted to sing sooner than I was ready for them to. Gotta wait your turn, guys!)
Johnny Mathis - What Will My Mary Say (A song I always loved, but secretly as a child. Little Beatles loving me didn't admit that I actually loved a song my mother did!)
Sweet Inspirations - Sweet Inspiration
Jerry Butler - Mr. Dream Merchant (last two also from Soul Shots collection)

Current section:
Quite honestly, I don't really know where this falls in the baby boomer demographic this show usually covers, but I did want to share this song with you. If some of you are around Nashville or if you read album liner notes, you may be familiar with the name Gordon Mote. He's been one of the first call session piano players in Nashville for quite a number of years, but he's also a wonderful singer. Of late he has been the pianist for the Gaither Homecoming Tour and has launched a gospel music solo career. This song was sent to country radio. I first heard it about two and a half years ago as a demo and I told Gordon then he had a hit on his hands and I've very glad he recorded it himself—this is from his most recent album Don't Let Me Miss The Glory.

Gordon Mote - Wake Up Dancin
Alan O' Day - I Hear Voices
Michael Loonan - Meet Me On the Way To Madison

I'm sure every city has its special venue where musical magic is made every night. For me it was Music City Cafe/Billy's On Grand in St. Paul, MN. Back in the 90s it was where I'd hear and came to know Michael Loonan and others who started out on a small stage and then went on to do me proud and become touring musicians.

Inspiration:
I tried to do this last week but ran out of time—these are challenging times we're all living in where we have to make compromises and sacrifices right now so hopefully this piece which I wrote for another website will help just a little bit.

http://sogospelnews.com/index/articles/comments/9817/

Wrap up: King Curtis - Soul Serenade

I actually was pleased with the show today. Scripting and conceiving the show seems to be working well for me.

Next week: a walk through history, looking at 1963 and the 45th anniversary of the JFK assassination. It still affects me to this day and I'll have some thoughts on growing up in the wake of that monumental event.

11/8/08 Playlist- Let's Dance!; Ten November

2008-11-09T19:11:00.004-06:00

Let's Dance!
I thought perhaps I'd start out by trying to get you all up and dancing. I was inspired a bit this weekend, not because I went to see Michael McDonald last Saturday night and ended up dancing in the aisles. On Sunday I tuned in one of the local cable access channels here in Nashville and found this little dance show. These couples were about 40-70 years old in age range and let me tell you, they were boogieing down, bebopping, just having a grand old time. It looks like they were from some sort of dance club—they danced one song right after the other for a solid half hour—it was pretty cool. Maybe I'll join one of those dance clubs, who knows. But right now, come one, everyone up on your feet, let's dance!

Four Tops – It’s the Same Old Song (and one of my favorite things was watching them dance)
Major Lance – Monkey Time
Sly and the Family Stone - Dance To The Music
Twisting the Night Away – Sam Cooke
Cool Jerk – Capitols
Dee Dee Sharp - Mashed Potato Time

Picking Through the Record Box
As I talked about last week, this is the part of the show that is like picking through the box of 45's you had as you were growing up and just playing whatever looks good to you at the time. Now for those of you who are younger and don't know what I mean by a 45, well, I'll presume you've at least seen what a vinyl album looks like. This is a tiny version of that with a big hole in the middle and you have to put a little odd shaped plastic spindle inside it to play it on a turntable. I know someone who has a neck chain with a little spindle charm on it and I said to this person, "isn't it scary that we're in a world now with people who don't even know what that is?"

Uniques - Not Too Long Ago
Reflections- Just Life Romeo and Juliet
Sandie Shaw - Always Something There To Remind Me
Human Beinz - Nobody but Me
Orlons - Wah Watusi
Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In
Swinging Medallions - Double Shot of My Baby's Love

Current
This week we are coming up on the 33rd anniversary of the shipwreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which disappeared on Lake Superior on the tenth of November, 1975, and its 29 crewmen disappeared without a trace. Many of you are probably familiar with Gordon Lightfoot's song on the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I played music from a production called Ten November. It's had dozens of performances across the US and Canada over the past 20 years. I saw it in St. Paul MN a couple of years ago and it was incredible. The liner notes to the soundtrack album, which is called Gales of November, tell us that the music and the play "reminds us how tenuous and precious are our ties to those we love in the face of the awesome power of nature." The singers are some of the finest voices in folk today: Prudence Johnson, who you may have heard regularly with Garrison Keillor on "A Prairie Home Companion", along with Ruth MacKenzie and Claudia Schmidt.

River to the Sea – Prudence Johnson (Gales of November)
Rich – Neal and Leandra – (Stranger to My Kin)
Listen Adversary – Prudence Johnson (Gales of November)

Wrap up - Telstar - The Toronados

11/1/08 Playlist

2008-11-02T07:44:00.003-06:00

It was a long afternoon. Either that or I must have played a lot of short songs.

I couldn't decide what version of a song I wanted to play so I played them both:
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - The Casinos
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - Eddy Arnold
It's Up To You - Ricky Nelson
Young World - Ricky Nelson

First set of songs from "The Brill Building Sound" box set. I have this on cassette and I never used the tape deck before, so I held my breath that it would work. And it did--yay!

Halfway to Paradise - Tony Orlando
Take Good Care Of My Baby - Bobby Vee
Run To Him - Bobby Vee
Bless You - Tony Orlando

Tell It To The Rain - Four Seasons
Are You Lonely For Me Baby - Freddie Scott
Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 + 2

2nd set from "The Brill Building Sound":
I Can't Stay Mad At You - Skeeter Davis
Hey Girl - Freddie Scott
Oh No Not My Baby - Maxine Brown

Current (or non-oldie) section:
Walls - Mary Jane Alm and Pat Frederick (this month's "Wendy V's Encouraging Words" was inspired by this song)
All My Loving - Buddy Greene
Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood

Personal reflection:
I grew up with an older sister who is 10 years older than me. It was a helpful thing growing up with this music in the 60s when she was 18 and I was 8. Obviously, she bought most of the records. But, it wasn't long after that when I started bugging my folks for an allowance so that I could buy some, too. In any event, we would have our little sessions where we'd play records and she'd always want to be the one to pick (or "dictate", as she put it) what to play. I did get my licks in often, though.

Maybe some of you, when you dig out your old record collections, just sort of poke through and start grabbing songs to play just on impulse, not caring about how they fit together. Well, I do that sometime on this show. Just so's you know what's going on...

Radio Days (Last Night A DJ Saved My Life)

2008-10-27T21:48:00.004-05:00

(That song happened to come on the streaming radio as I was writing this, so I had to include it in the title.)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled playlist rundown for this reflection.

So it's been a few weeks now that I started doing this show on Radio Free Nashville. How's it going? Well, I've been journaling some of that here. But it's funny how you walk into an experience and you have some expectation about what you're going to get from it...and it turns out to be much more than what you bargained for.

I am blessed to be scheduled where I am in the Saturday lineup. The djs in the slots around me have raised the bar high. At this point, I am the rookie in the midst of it all, the little peanut that jumps up that tries to meet it. Once or twice I'm able to touch it fast with at least a couple of fingers. It'll take time, I know, before I'm able to fully grab it. But after all, patience has never been one of my great virtues.

What I have gotten from it is much more than getting a chance to come in and play music and indulge my little penchant for sharing all these music trivia facts I've gathered in my head since I was at least 10 years old. It's been new friends. People whose eyes don't glaze over when you're doing all this rambling on about some song or singer. It's sharing the goose bump moments. Learning that just by simply giving those who've been at their music for 20, 30 years or so a chance to be heard is making a big difference for such a time as this.

Like the next song that started streaming as I wrote this, these are the sweetest days.

Thanks for tuning in on the journey.

10/25/08 Playlist - Guest: Simpli Lauri

2008-10-26T13:43:00.006-05:00

Playlist:

Brook Benton - Hotel Happiness
Sam Cooke - Soothe Me
Al Kooper - I Can't Quit Her (being inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame this week in Nashville)
Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools
Searching For My Love - Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces
The Name Game - Shirley Ellis
__
My in-studio guest was one of the singer/songwriters I see often in Nashville who has one of my favorite voices: Simpli Lauri along with her co-writer husband, Steve. I was distracted all week and didn't have much opportunity to prepare for the interview. They got a little lost on the way, so they stopped someplace and pulled someone off a cell phone call to ask directions! But anyhow, we got the interview in.

Tracks from her CD Body and Soul:
Whispers of Angels
Let Go of Me

Websites:
simplilaurimusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/simplylauri

Book: Can You Feel My Tears?
Written to comfort and inspire other families who face a grave illness, this moving, deeply personal memoir Can You Feel My Tears? is a heart wrenching tale of loss and renewal and a testament to the love of life and the joy of family.

The cost is $15.00, paid shipping to anywhere in the continental US. Mail a check or money order to:

Lauri Merrow
PO Box 191
La Vergne, TN 37086

Project Child Smiles: The idea is to pair artists up with children who are going through the hardship of an illness, or find themselves in the joyfulness of a remission, and they can share the ups and downs together, bringing smiles to the faces of children.
http://www.myspace.com/projectsmiles
http://www.simplilaurimusic.com/project_child_smiles

__
George Adams - Turn The Knife (rave review in Wendy V's Nashville Blend)
Cal Smith - Country Bumpkin (which was the track I wanted to play but I said I thought it would be Barbara Lewis, figuring the comp disk would be up to its old tricks again. That does it. I think on a future show I am just going to track through the disk and figure out what the missing song is and make sure I don't front announce anything.)

10/18/08 Playlist - Great Voices

2008-10-18T18:39:00.004-05:00

Woo hoo--this was I think the best show I've done yet. No technical glitches, no wrong buttons pushed, I stayed fairly focused and relaxed!

My unofficial theme was "great voices". I love instruments but there's something about a great voice that captures my attention like nothing else.

Playlist:

4 Tops - I Can't Help Myself (RIP Levi Stubbs)
Patsy Cline - Imagine That
Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In the Subway
Floyd Cramer - Last Date

(Here's the thing: I've got this compilation disk together and I believe I have about 20 songs on it. However, one of the CD players at the station apparently doesn't like one of the songs and isn't recognizing it. So, when I've cued up a song from it the last couple of times, I've gotten the song after the one I wanted. I've learned to get used to it and roll with it. That's how an instrumental got into a great voices set.)

Lovin Spoonful - You Didn't Have To Be So Nice
Paul Revere and the Raiders - Kicks
Blues Project - No Time Like the Right Time
Rascals - Lonely Too Long

Sam Cooke- Nothing Can Change This Love. (I forgot to make this observation on air. Someday, listen to this song and "Loving, Touching, Squeezing" by Journey together. Methinks Steve Perry was attempting to channel Sam in this song.)
4 Tops - Ask the Lonely
Arthur Alexander - Anna
Esther Phillips - Release Me
(As I said, I should have flipped the order of those last two--lyrically would have made more sense. Hindsight 20/20.)

Michael McDonald - Baby I Need Your Loving
Mark Lowry - Whatcha Need
Alan O' Day - I Hear Voices (please check out the video for this song)
Gene Pitney - Town Without Pity
Herb Alpert and the TJB - So What's New

If you heard the show, I hope you tuned in early for the Geo on the Radio rebroadcast of Alex Harvey's in-studio performance. It was special. As Mark Lowry likes to say, "God showed up" in the studio that day. I do hope you also listen to Bobby Bob's Rock and Roll Revolution earlier at noon and Backstory on the Radio with River Jordan after me. I love my fellow DJ's shows and I'm honored to be in the same lineup as these folks.

10/11/08 Playlist - Technology is our friend (not always)

2008-10-11T17:01:00.007-05:00

So I started my show a couple of minutes early...I began talking about Silver Stars at the Ryman last weekend. I was in the middle of thanking Billy Block for introducing me to Brenda Lee when suddenly we started hearing the automation kick in for one of my previous shows. Then, the online catalog disappeared and the computer started doing its own thing, much like if you're having a technical problem and a technician takes over your computer to resolve it. "Geo on the Radio", who is on before me, and I are shaking our heads wondering what on earth is happening. I didn't know whether to talk or what, so I stammered my way through the first couple of minutes of the show.

Eventually we learned that it was a couple of things: my automation from last week when I was off doing training hadn't cleared and there was some setup going on for the remote broadcast that River Jordan, whose "Backstory" show follows me, was doing from the Southern Book Festival. It kind of threw me off for the rest of the hour and I had to change a few things on the fly...luckily I had an hour's worth of CDs with me since I didn't have use of the online catalog. Anyhow, eventually I forged ahead:

Playlist:
Connie Francis-Many Tears Ago and Where The Boys Are (while we were trying to figure out what was happening)
Patsy Cline - Stupid Cupid (it was Connie's hit, but this was Patsy's live version from the "Live From The Cimarron Ballroom" CD)
Brenda Lee - All You Gotta Do

Beau Brummels- Laugh Laugh
Barbara Mason - Baby I'm Yours
Young Rascals - Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore

Electric Prunes - Too Much To Dream
Uniques- Not Too Long Ago
American Breed - Bend Me Shape Me
Grass Roots - Where Were You When I Needed You

Pat Boone - Moody River
Drifters- Sweets For My Sweet

Current:
Terry Pinnegar - Mississippi 1916 (from Silver Stars compilation disc)
Simpli Lauri - Flying Free (single track)
Boomer Castleman - Never Say Never Again (Silver Stars compilation)
Joe Cruz - Good Luck Man (Good Luck Man)

Tribute to Lloyd Thaxton:
LA Times obit feature
Lloyd Thaxton blog

In reference to Lloyd's show closing where he'd say "my name is Lloyd Thaxton" and the teens dancing on the show would respond, "So What?", I played a little of his end theme to end my show today: "So What's New" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

What can I say? Sometimes technology is a great thing, and sometimes it ain't.

I really wanted a smooth show today. Next time will be better. I figure it's going to take me a year to get good at this. Hope you'll hang with me.

PS: Oh, I forgot--one cool thing was I stopped in to the station earlier and met Bobby Bob, who hosts Rock and Roll Revolution, an all-oldies show from 12-1. I'm a big fan of his show and I finally decided I needed to meet this guy and give him a word of encouragement.

9/27/08 Playlist

2008-09-27T19:55:00.005-05:00

Today's playlist:
The Cheater - Bob Kuman and the InMen
Let's Live For Today - Grass Roots
Uptown - the Crystals

Concrete and Clay - Unit 2 +4
Soldier of Love - Arthur Alexander (not the 80's Donny Osmond hit, but also recorded by Marshall Crenshaw on his fine debut LP)
No Good To Cry - Wildweeds ("Big Al Anderson" was lead singer/guitarist)
Pouring Water on a Drowning Man - James Carr

In studio guest - Singer/songwriter Steve Craig who performed three of his songs live:
That's What She Said
If You Could See What I See
You Made Me

Just One Smile - Blood, Sweat and Tears
Am I Wrong - Al Kooper (from the Black Coffee CD. Also played "How Am I Gonna Get Over You" which ran into River Jordan's show...thanks, River for being so gracious about that!)

As for me, this radio show thing takes practice. I need lots of it.

No live show this coming Saturday as I have some required training. I'll be back on the 11th.

9/20/08 Playlist

2008-09-21T04:54:00.009-05:00

Playlist for show #2!

Beatles - Rock and Roll Music
Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki
Barbara Mason - Make Me Your Baby
Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt
Critters - Mr Dieingly Sad
Comments: the Critters' lead singer who also went on to join the Four Seasons and was a lead voice on December 1963 (Oh What A Night) was Don Ciccone (he sings the "I felt the rush like a rolling cloud of thunder..." part).

Grass Roots - Midnight Confessions (which I first heard by the Evergreen Blues months before the Grass Roots had their hit version--it got airplay in the New Haven/Hartford CT market)
Los Bravos - Black Is Black

In-studio guest interview: Randi Perkins
Tracks from "Life Is Good" CD:
The Last Harvest
North Dakota Farm Boy
Army of Angels
Website: www.randiperkins.com
www.myspace.com/randiperkinsmusic

This was my first in-studio guest interview and it went very well. It's easy when a writer has a lot of great stories to tell about the songs. Thanks, Randi!

Wendy V's Nashville Blend blog where you can read about the CLC writers night Randi hosts each quarter.

Last set:
Amy Holland - Miracle River (Journey To Miracle River)

Closer: Ramsey Lewis Trio - The In Crowd (and this time I got it cued right!)

Next week's live in-studio guest will be singer/songwriter Steve Craig.

9/13/08 Playlist (first show!!)

2008-09-14T05:48:00.005-05:00

The first show went well, with only a couple of minor technical glitches (thank you, Geo on the Radio, for your help in getting me set up!). They have a new catalog system and a couple of us are going through a learning curve on it. Watching and doing are two different things, but once I was comfortable, all was cool.

I also learned that there were a couple of calls from people saying they liked the show. Thank you, thank you so much. What an encouragement for the first time out.

Here's the playlist:
Beatles - Rock and Roll Music
Beatles - I Feel Fine
Randy and the Rainbows - Denise (I liked this one so much I almost played it twice...first of the technical glitches!)
Chiffons - One Fine Day
Gene Pitney - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Intruders - Cowboys To Girls
Robert Knight - Everlasting Love
Paul Revere and the Raiders - Steppin' Out
Steve Alaimo - Every Day I Have To Cry Some
Blood Sweat and Tears - My Days Are Numbered
Buffalo Springfield - Mr. Soul
Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love

(This part of the playlist is devoted to current music, local/regional artists, so I will include album info in parenthesis and artist site links for these tracks)
Michael Loonan - My Aunt Annie (Share the Disguise)
TD Mischke - Jazz On the Radio (Whistle Stop)
Buddy Greene - Happy Man (Happy Man)

J.J. Jackson - But It's Alright (it was supposed to be "In Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis but I lied. No, it was the second technical glitch due to my forgetting to cue the right track.)

Topic notes:
Aircheck site links:

Reel Radio.com
Airchexx.com

I also talked a little about Michael Loonan and TD Mischke, two artists I played in my last set. I lived in St. Paul MN for 18 years before moving to Nashville last year and came across these guys when I found the late Don Vogel, a comic genius doing a talk show on KSTP-AM 1500 in the Twin Cities. TD (Tommy) Mischke was a sidekick on the show at the time (he's since gone on to his own show with a huge following), and he and Michael Loonan provided some very creative and musically superb bumper music for the show. On separate occasions, I went to hear both Tommy and Michael do shows in a small cafe about the size of the Bluebird--perhaps smaller. Both shows rocked my world and made me look around to see just how much other undiscovered talent there was in the area. It also ended up changing my life...I've been proactively supporting local/indie musicians for almost 20 years. It's been an incredible blessing and to able to now do this here in Nashville is a hardly describable joy. So, I do encourage all of you to get to a writers night in town and hear someone new. You never know how it will impact you and these artists are so appreciative of any support.

Back at you next week when my in-studio guest will be singer/songwriter Randi Perkins, who has a new CD release, "Life Is Good". We'll be talking about it and hearing some music from it.

About "Never Too Old"

2008-09-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

This show celebrates those of us in the "upper demographic", or "baby boomers"...40s, 50s, 60s and so on who are active, energetic, engaged in life and out there making some valuable contributions. It's a unique mix of classics and current music and interviews. The music that we all grew up with and paved the way for artists to follow matters just as much to us today as when we were younger...we think it still holds up and deserves a place to be heard. Plus, there are many musicians and artists out there in this demographic that are far from "over", creating great music and work today. We'll introduce you to some of them on this show and let you hear what they've got going on right now.

If you're Generation X, Y, or younger, we especially welcome you to listen. Learn a bit about pop music history, explore some classic country, and meet some seasoned artists who still know their way around a good tune. We guarantee you'll come away as a new fan of somebody.

For me, doing this show fulfills a longtime dream to do something in radio. I grew up listening to the radio and have had a lifelong passion for it, as many who explored my website have figured out. I just happened to find out about Radio Free Nashville simply by picking up a flyer left in a library one day. I'm blessed to have this opportunity to share the music I love and help bring recognition to some of the great talent we have here in Nashville. I haven't done radio since my college days, so I am very excited. I have a list of folks I want to get on the show for interviews. Until I can get that going, the first couple of shows will probably be just music.

You're never too old to appreciate the past...and never too old to embrace the future.