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.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Hi From Boomer and Lois!
Boomer Castleman and Lois Hess did a video greeting for everyone when they guested on the show last week.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
6/21/09 Blog/Playlist: in studio guest Boomer Castleman
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!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
6/14/09 Blog/Playlist: Change of Plans...
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.
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.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
6/7/09 Blog/Playlist: Baby!
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.
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.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
5/31/09 Blog/Playlist: 1962
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.
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.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
5/24/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest Les Kerr
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
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