Today’s show is dedicated to Clarence Clemons, the original saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. We start with three E Street songs in which I think Clarence particularly shined. We also have new albums for the Serbian band Eva Braun and college rock legends The Silos. Their new album is an unusually shiny summer deal and it’s call Florizona – obviously a name that connects Florida and Arizona. Talking about Arizona, Howe Gelb also has a new album called Snarl Some Piano. It’s mostly a piano record, and we check it out today as well. We hear, Tommy Stinson is about to finish up recording the new record and some of the songs that will appear on this album were beautifully showcased on Minnesota Public Radio. The one that I picked for today has a part co-written with Paul Westerberg. And finally, we introduce a new name at the Little Lighthouse, his name is Frederick Squire and he has a new single with Kate Maki. The last song on the playlist is an old underground hit for the Cleveland band Death of Samantha. They had a brief reunion last weekend when Doug Gillard, their original guitarist, returned to town.
Brother Claude Ely – Thre Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down;
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – Night;
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – Spirit In The Night;
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – Ramrod;
Joe Grushecky – What Did You Do In The War;
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Touch You;
The Silos – White Vinyl;
Bash And Pop – Tiny Pieces;
Perfect – Little Drum;
Tommy Stinson – Match Made In Hell;
Lisa Majersky – Uncle Ed And Them;
Kate Maki – Ode;
Frederick Squire And Katherine Maki – Crazy Tropical Survival Guide;
Howe Gelb – Better Man;
The Parties – When The Weekends Over;
Eva Braun – Istra;
Death of Samantha – Blood And Shaving Cream.
More bad news this week… Steve Popovich, rock maverick from Cleveland who indebted the world with many great records died last week in Tennessee at the age of 68. Steve was a musical promoter and record label owner in the golden age of ’70s when he helped manage careers of Bruce Springsteen, Cheap Trick, Boz Scaggs, Joe Grushecky, Southside Johnny, Ronnie Spector, Meat Loaf, Johnny Cash – just to name a few. He was a rare breed, a promoter who truly cared for the music he was promoting, someone who believed in what he liked, even if there was no conventional logic for pushing what he pushed. In that way, he is a true inspiration. We also say goodbye to Benny Spellman, a New Orleans singer who also died last week in his hometown at the age of 79. He left behind exciting early rock songs such as Fortune Teller and Lipstick Traces On A Cigarette, both written by Allen Toussaint. We also throw in a few new records. We introduce Dead Rock West from LA, a band clearly influenced by X. Also, we have new albums for Kate Maki and John Paul Keith. Mama Rosin, zydeco band from Switzerland is also back with a collaboration with Hipbone Slim.
Today we have one cause and three obituaries. First the cause… We would like to help the music producer from Arizona Craig Schumacher to raise funds for his battle with cancer. Through the nineties and on Craig helped either as an engineer or a guest musician or a producer on many great records by various bands in and out of Arizona (such as Green On Red and Calexico or Tim Lee 3, Steve Wynn and Neko Case). Craig is now battling the cancer (and the health system) and needs your help. Go to this link and check out what you can do: 
One Hundred Dollars is an americana band from Toronto. They have a third album out called Song of Man, but this is their debut at The Little Lighthouse. DM Bob and The Deficits is another americana band in today’s show, but they draw their main influences from the 80s cow punk. Still, they hail from a very unamerican Hamburg in Germany and DM stands for Deutch Mark. Japanese retro rockers The Routes also debut today at the show with their new record called Alligator. Singing Loins are well known to our visitors and they have a new single out. It makes me very happy to see that Laura Cantrell is also back with a new album filled with Kitty Wells covers.
Booker T. Jones of the MG’s fame continues a streak of new records with The Road To Memphis and once again he is in the great shape. This time he collaborates mainly with the Roots, but there are also other great contributors. Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco also have a new record, called Castlemania and a new compilation of singles. Peter Case also has a new compilation, this time consisted of rare recordings and it’s called The Case Files. Our good friends at Vacilando ’68 sent out another package and this time we pick out a new name for us, band called the Pocket. This is a project of another guy from that label, John Bisset. Check out our bonuses, both Mystery Train and Sympathy for Rock’n’roll offer fantastic tributes to Bob Dylan, who is sweet little seventy since yesterday!
May 8 marks hundred years of birth of the famous bluesman Robert Johnson. At least officially, as the exact date of his birth is unknown. But, the man’s influence on rock’n’roll and all other blues related music genres is impossible to measure. The majority of Johnson’s music was recorded between 1936 and 1937, long before rock’n’roll really had its name. But in 1961 his music was reissued on an LP and the young rockers embraced Johnson as a great precursor of their music. Black blues musicians of the 50s, like Howlin’ Wolf and Dinah Washington were a link, as they were playing Robert Johnson’s songs even before the 1961 LP. British rockers like Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones followed and brought Johnson’s music to the masses. Still, two of my favorite Johnson’s rock’n’roll covers belong to the 80s underground era: Rainer Ptacek’s version of If I Had Possession Over The Judgment Day and Gun Club’s Preachin’ The Blues. But indisputable strength of Johnson’s quality as a songwriter and guitar player is not the only link to the rock’n’roll. His entire short life is filled with mysticism, charisma and myth that also became an essential fabric for a decent rock’n’roll biography. Today, we pay a tribute to that.
Several new records today… Kid Congo Powers plays nowadays with The Pink Monkey Birds and they have a new record out called Gorilla Rose. They also have a new single which they split with Hunx and His Punx (which we introduced in our previous epizode). Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy also share the new single. Beastie Boys are back with Hot Sauce Committee Part Two which is their first album with vocals in seven years. New names today are Amanda Shires, a singer songwriter from mythical Lubbock TX, but now based in Nashville. Another band debuts at the Little Lighthouse from over in Nashville – Natural Child. We also have Raphael Saadiq for the first time today. The dude is a famous mainstream pop and hip hop producer, but now he has a new retro funky/soul record called Stone Rollin’ which I can really appreciate.
We are sad to hear that two ladies that influenced pop and rock music greatly from completely opposite directions passed away recently within a single day. One is Poly Styrene, legendary front woman from the X-ray Spex. This punk sister changed the music forever with the unforgettable opening lines “Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But i think: oh bondage, up yours! 1,2,3,4!”. The other one is Phoebe Snow, a singer songwriter from New York City that also changed the face of the music with her first album in 1974. Many performers today, and not only women, borrow today a lot from these two and they will be remembered. Other than paying tributes to Phoebe and Poly, we also introduce a new female singer songwriter Bonnie Whitmore from Nashville. Sam Phillips is also back with her new album. Then we also have a brand new EP for Ty Segall, which entirely consists of T Rex covers. Another new name today is Hunx and His Punks, also from San Francisco, just like Ty Segall.
A ton of new records today… We have a new band called Sonny And The Sunsets. Album is called Hit By Hit and it’s out on Fat Possum. Robyn Hitchcock is also here with a new album called Tromsø, Kaptein. Steve Earle also has a new record out called I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. Ad Hoc Detroit super group The Witches had put out a compilation record called A Haunted Person’s Guide To The Witches, which ranks as a seriously strong candidate for the best reissue of this year. A very pleasant surprise is the brand new collaboration between Susan Cowsill, Freedy Johnston and Jon Dee Graham in a band they call The Hobart Brothers And Lil’ Sis Hobart. The new songs are in progress, we got one from their website. We also have a new band today, Swedish hopefuls Bäddat för trubbel. I find it amusing how Swedish language when its sung sounds like gibberish English… Anyway, great stuff!
Today’s show is all about vinyl records in honor of the International Record Store Day, which was officially last Saturday. I stopped by the Blue Arrow Records and bought a couple of used vinyl. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the special Record day releases, so you won’t find any of those in today’s show. The only brand new thing in today’s show is the B side of the new Fleshtones single which the band dedicated to The Ramones. This show is in honor of the vinyl and also we can only hope that the new records are as good as those that came out in the past. Perhaps I’m just hopelessly nostalgic for the old era, but in any case, it was fun to do a vinyl only show.