Alternative Rock

Rabu, 04 Januari 2012

Alternative Rock - January 3, 2012

One of my goals this year is to get back to writing. Since I met my wife (and if you don't know me, it was May 26th...and a whirlwind courtship that resulted in me getting married November 7th), a lot has changed. Not surprisingly, my time is now our time, and therefore I don't have hours to put together a Top 30 list (okay, occasionally I do) and muse about drunken stories from yesteryear.

For now, I think about how lucky I am.

When Irish Spring and I started dating, she told me that she hated cuddling. That same night, she said I was too sensitive and that she would be the man in the relationship. For someone as insecure as I, normally those words would have been a deal-breaker...but that would've meant she was right.

So, here was a woman who hated cuddling, who fell asleep with her head neatly resting on my shoulder. Today, a few months after that fateful night, Irish Spring can not fall asleep without her touching me.

Fathers tell me the love of a baby is amazing, but I can assure you that laying in bed with the woman of your dreams needing your touch to fall asleep is incredible. What's even more incredible is that during the night, when we lose touch with one another, she wakes up. Sort of.

Irish Spring doesn't remember any of this, but if I try to pull my arm from underneath her head, she lifts her head, moans and groans until I put it back, and then she's asleep again within seconds. When she turns over away from me, instinctively she reaches back across the bed and implores me to follow.

I'm a light sleeper. I can lay awake for hours, and I certainly wake up when she moves, if only because she's smacking me in her sleep. But the love I feel makes me love her more. So, at 7:21 in the morning I write this. The computer is on my lap, I'm awake, but she's breathing heavily...

And our legs are intertwined to make sure she gets a good night sleep. It's a love I've craved all my life.

Selasa, 03 Januari 2012

The Specials ... Raquel & Show # 385

In 1981, the UK Ska revival act The Specials had several songs featured in a movie entitled Dance Craze. At the time of the films release the label 2 Tone, which was owned by The Specials Jerry Dammers was in a declining state, the soundtrack to the film featured only 2 Tone artists, even charting at number five on the UK album charts. The soundtrack featured 15 of 27 tracks that were used in the film, one of the tracks not included on the soundtrack that is the main topic of discussion here is The Specials song “Raquel”. The song was released on a 1981 single release of The Specials song “Concrete Jungle”, the songs B-side was the then previously unreleased Specials song “Raquel”. Clocking in at about two minutes, the song is a fast paced Ska number, done in the vein of songs such as “Little Bitch” found on the 1979 debut album from The Specials. As a result of the Dance Craze soundtrack this exclusive seven inch single was released for promotional purposes and for years remained a hard to find single featuring this track “Raquel”, which was equally as hard to find. The song dates back to The Specials early days when they were known as The Coventry Automatics, it was also released on a cassette tape compilation album in 1981 with numerous other 70s Punk and New Wave hard to find nuggets titled NME C81, released by NME magazine in the UK. The track continued it’s hard to find status for about twenty years until a demo version of “Raquel” was released on The Coventry Automatics – Dawning of a New Era, which collects recordings from The Specials early days. In 1993, The Compact 2 Tone Story Box Set was released, which featured the song as it appeared on the 1981 B-side to “Concrete Jungle”, as well as all of the A and B-sides that the 2 Tone label released.

This Week's Play List:

1. Dan Sartain - I Don't Want To Go To The Party (Toerag Version)
2. Minutemen - Voodoo Slaves
3. Psycho Surgeons - Wild Weekend
4. Silent Movie Type - She Says
5. Johnny West - You Turn Me Off, I'm A Microwave
6. Pere Ubu - Misery Goats
7. Aztec Camera - We Could Send Letters
8. David Bowie - What In The World
9. Public Image Limited - Careering
10. The Stig – Who Are You
11. Huladog – R88
12. Jack Pine and The Fire - Lost In New Orleans
13. Sumner Brothers - Big Rock Candy Mountain
14. Le Butcherettes - I'm Getting Sick Of You
15. The Black Angels - Sunday Afternoon
16. The Ugly Ducklings - Hangman
17. The Specials - Raquel
18. The Love Me Nots - End of the Line
19. The Pointed Sticks - Splish Splash
20. The Libertines - I Get Along
21. Miesha & The Spanks - Night Danger Baby
22. The Jam – Going Underground
23. The Waldos - Golden Days

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 3. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-A-Rama

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A provocative, irreverent, and indispensable resource book on the most popular music of our day, from Rolling Stone magazine--the most trusted name on alternative music.

As the fastest growing category of popular music, alternative rock now can claim nearly every fan of rock & roll.��From the early days of Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground, to Pearl Jam and Pavement, the alternative music revolution has been unfolding for over twenty years.��Now, from Rolling Stone magazine , Rolling Stones's Alt-Rock-A-Rama, a unique compendium on the history and culture of the alternative music scene.��Chock full of facts, trivia, anecdotes, critiques, top ten lists and riffs from alt-rockers themselves, Alt-Rock-A-Rama is the essential book to chronicle the ongoing alternative rock revolution.��Featuring both hugely popular bands such as R.E.M. and U2 as well as more obscure acts such as Alex Chilton and the dB's, this fascinating collection offers everything you need to know and more about alternative rock.��Sample entries include:

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� The Greatest Garage Recordings of the Twentieth Century

� The Five Worst Rock Club Rest Rooms in the U.S.

� Ten Bootlegs that Illustrate the Origins of Punk

� Set List for the Ramones' First Live Performance

� The Best and Worst Things About Owning an Indie Label

� Eight Really Dumb Things the Replacements Did

For die-hard Alt-Rockers, old-time music lovers, and anyone interested in popular culture, Rolling Stones's Alt-Rock-A-Rama is the most definitive resource guide of the alternative music revolution.

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