The last Little Lighthouse for 2010 is dedicated to wonderful rock musicians and rock personalities that left us in the past year. We have a practice at the show where we give small tributes whenever someone leaves this ugly world we live in, but we missed to pay a proper tribute to Andy Hummel, bass player of Big Star who had died in the summer while the show was on the break. We correct this omission now with two Big Star songs that Andy wrote. Of course, Alex Chilton from Big Star also died this year, which leaves the drummer Jody Stephens as the only surviving original member of this amazing band. Then we go on and pay tribute, one by one, to the other great musicians who died this year: Bobby Charles, Jay Reatard, Mark Linkous, Kenny Gethway, Captain Beefheart, Ari Up, Solomon Burke, Vic Chesnutt, Predrag Ivanovic and two rock’n’roll sidemen: Malcolm McLaren and Billy Ruane. To all of them, rest in peace and to all of us – happy new 2011.
Bobby Charles – Laura Lee;
Jay Reatard – Before I Was Caught;
Big Star – Way Out West;
Big Star – The India Song;
Alex Chilton – All Of The Time;
Sparklehorse – Hammering the Cramps;
Monstrous – Abby;
Captain Beefheart – Gimme Dat Harp Boy;
Jay Reatard – Oh, It’s Such A Shame;
Monstrous – Thumbsucker;
Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant;
The Slits – So Tough;
Jay Reatard – Searching For You;
Solomon Burke – Home in your Heart (aka Find Me a Home);
Tommy McLain – Before I Grow Too Old;
Vic Chasnutt – When I Ran Off And Left Her;
Alex Chilton – I Remember Mama;
Varsity Drag – Billy Ruane;
Vic Chesnutt – Shippin’ Out;
Vokalni Kvartet Predraga Ivanovica – Niko ne zna moj bol;
Captain Beefheart – There Ain’t No Santa Claus On The Evenin’ Stage.
Sad news came on December 17th this year. Don Van Vilet, better known as Captain Beefheart passed away after a long battle with various kinds of complications due to multiple sclerosis. This disease was also one of the reasons for his withdrawal from rock’n’roll scene and the whole world for the most part in the eighties. In those “retirement” days, he lived alone in a desert, mainly concentrating on painting. But before that, Captain redefined rock’n’roll, blues and avant-grade music the way nobody saw it coming. Recently, radio show Down on The Corner (Dole na uglu) pronounced Captain Beefheart as the greatest American blues rocker. You may think that this is an odd title in company of more conventional blues rockers that we know. But still – when you think about it harder, Beefheart took the good old blues format and stuck to it, but he also took it where the idiom never went before. And it will remain in that place. Bands like Endless Boogie, Black Keys, Dirtbombs, Mark Lanegan, Electric Six, Gori Usssi Winnetou… know where that place is and they call us from there every now and then. But now it’s time to say goodbye to Don Van Vilet, Captain, blues rocker, painter and magician…
One of my favorite rock’n’roll genres is paisley underground where a bunch of 80s bands revisited the sound of the 60s. I keep hearing and reading lately how there are new bands that embrace these bands as huge influences. Basically, we have bands that revisit the 80s bands who revisited the 60s sound. I think that’s wonderful! Today we represent three such bands, two of which are brand new. We have Brooklyn ladies The Girls At Dawn and The Parties from San Diego for the first time at the show. Third band is not a stranger to us, it’s La Fleur Fatale from Sweden. In the mix, we also hear some classic paisley recordings. Talking about paisley-power-pop, Paul Collins from The Nerves and The (US) Beat is back with a new record. Two excellent records that came out earlier this year, but we never got a chance to play them are here also: Nobunny with First Blood and Demon’s Claws with Defrosting. And Kurt Vile’s War on Drugs are also here with a new record, although with Vile out of the band for this particular release…
Today’s show is mix and match. We have three new albums for three wonderful ladies and the rest of the show is mostly 80s vinyl records I got/renewed recently. Juliana Hatfield has a new solo album, mostly lo-fi and acoustic. There’s a song about Evan Dando on it. And since we know It’s About Time was for her, we play both songs today. Shannon McNally from Memphis has a new album out called Western Ballad. I was lucky to see her live in Chicago and it was awesome. Anna McCue is the new name in the Little Lighthouse. She’s from Nashvlle TN (but born in Australia) and has already 7 albums out. The newest addition to the roster is Broken Promise Land.
Today we have a special dedicated to one LP album. In fact, I will try to make this somewhat of a series whenever I stumble on an LP that sounds great and that I found sitting somewhere completely forgotten in a bargain bin of a record store. This is precisely what we have now. Peter Isaacson Sings is a completely strange folk album that gathers songs by Dylan, Donovan, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchel and others covered by some mysterious singer. On the record that I have, the mysterious singer is Peter Isaacson. On a different release that people mention here and there on the Internet, his name is Greg Lee. In any case, we have no clue who that person is and what is his real name, but he has a very beautiful voice and guitar style, all recorded what appears to be a single microphone. His voice is somewhere between Gordon Lightfoot at its weakest places and Sid Selvidge at its best parts. I am completely fascinated by this beautiful and mysterious record, and in this show we will hear nearly all cuts from it, along with the originals not just for comparison sake, but also because it makes one really rich playlist!
UK label Acid Jazz has started re-issuing rare ep records and demos of the garage rock legends from England. In today’s show we represent two of those eps, both dealing with the past of Small Faces – Ian McLagan’s Muleskinners and Steve Marriot’s early solo work. Another cool reissue is the legendary Gibson Bros. LP from 1986 Build A Raft together with a busload of extras. Loretta Lynn has a new tribute album that gathered a mottle crew of artists. Logically, the tribute’s title is Coal Miner’s Daughter. Our good friends from the early days of the show, San Francisco duet ing, is back after a few years of silence with a luxurious CD/DVD release of Dial which is a musical that in parts deals with a loss of Mark Smotroff’s life partner Jack. John Wesley Coleman, a singer-songwriter from Austin is busy lately with putting out albums quite frequently. This time we listen to a track from his latest album Bad Lady Goes To Jail. And we also have one brand new band today, they are very loud and their name is Bottle Up And Go. So let’s go!
Here we are for the 100th time at Radio SC in Zagreb. We have three new bands introducing today. Black Dub is a new band for Trixie Whitley and Daniel Lanois. Trixie is daughter of Chris and we trace the total of three of her recordings from the tender age of 9, ’till today. Kill Devil Hills are rocking out of Perth, Australia. Fawn are a melodious new band in Detroit that I’ve seen opening for the Electric Six here in Cleveland recently. Speaking of E6, they have a new album and they cover Spinner’s Ruberband Man on it. Greenhornes are also back with the new record which they call Four Stars. We give it five. And at last, we have Richard Thompson’s new live record called Dream Attic.
This is one of the heaviest shows with new materials if you consider what rockers we have with new records this time: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Mike Watt, Steve Wynn and Greg Cartwright. What a line up, huh? So, let’s see – the Boss dug out old sessions for the Darkness at The Edge of The Town album and has them out now as a double disc called The Promise. Costello recorded an album called National Ransom with T. Bone Burnett in LA and Nashville. Mike Watt has a new conceptual record called Hyphenated-Man and it’s about his life as a middle aged punk. Steve Wynn gathered his Miracle Three over in Richmond to record a new album which they call Northern Aggression. That one’s somewhat of a loose concept too – Yanks belting out in the Southern man’s land. Greg is here with a new band called The Parting Gifts, apparently an one time gig for him and Coco Hames of The Ettes.
Billy Ruane was a promoter and music event organizer in Boston. He had a huge impact on the Boston rock’n’roll scene and many Bostonians and others remember him fondly. Sad news came to us last Thursday that he has passed away in the age of 52. Today’s show is dedicated to him, as well as the beautiful song by Varsity Drag which bears his name. Besides this dedication, we also present some new music in this show. Gentleman Jesse has another 45 as well as the Memphis soul band Jump Back Jake. Croatian garage rockers Erotic Biljan and His Heretics have also a great new single. Jim Jones Revue are here for the first time, so we play two of their songs – one from the new album Burning Your House Down and the other from Mojo Magazine’s tribute to The Beatles album Let It Be. Underscore Adia sent us their song Buick. They come from Pittsburgh and they can really rock. Excellent Australian power-poper Dom Mariani is back with a new album and so is Susan Cowsill who calls her new album simply Lighthouse. I have a crazy fantasy that she named her album after my show… Am I right?!