Transmission 2609

The Annual RFW Christmas Show reaches deep into Santa's bag for a smokin' set including Paul Revere & The Raiders, Sonny Columbus & His Del Fuegos, The Neighborhoods, The Gable School Choir, Little Cindy, Marcel, Bob Seeger & The Last Heard, Soul-Saints Orchestra, Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns, Pee-Wee Herman, Sonic Youth, The Psycho Daisies, Bob Dylan, Lowell Fulson, Charles Brown, Canned Heat,The Thompson Family, Paddy Roberts, The Sonics, Hybrid Kids and Escape Mechanism!

T2609 is a 67.3 mb 128k mp3 1:13:36 in length made loud to be played loud!

"so little kiddies, here's my point, just leave him cookies, and save your joint"

RFW

*Santa left more music in the RFW stocking. Enjoy last year's Christmas Spectacular T20908 here!

Transmission 2509

Not being a dedicated follower of fashion, I didn't have a Beatle haircut in '64 when I was absorbing the English Invasion, didn't grow it out it '69 when I was into West Coast Psychedelia and didn't dye it orange during my '71 Glam Rock stage! In the second half of the 70's, I was right in the middle of the burgeoning Punk Rock explosion as a DJ at the legendary WTBS/WMBR, Cambridge and I did not pierce my face with a safety pin, wear a dog collar or sport a Mohawk! It was the music, not the scene that sucked me in and kicked me in the ass. I still enjoyed all the bands that were important to me in my earlier formative years - but something definitely changed. 30 plus years later, the sound is still raw, vibrant, energizing, infectious and loud if you're doing it right!

Turn up Venus & The Razor Blades, Mission Of Burma, Crime, The Sex Pistols, The Avengers, Buzzcocks, DNA, Wreckless Eric, Elvis Costello, X, The Reds, The Damned, The Nuns, The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Saints, The Clash, The Germs and Generation X. I was a punk before you were a punk!

T2509 is 58.6mb 128k mp3 1:04:06 in length made loud to be played loud!

"this is Punk-A-Rama"

RFW

Transmission 2409

The future is in the past - a nice way to describe today's blend of the old and new. The tuneful time-traveling includes 13th Floor Elevators, Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Len Price 3, The Jam, The Anderson Council, The Aardvarks, Locksley, The Flys, Flower Children, Tinted Windows, Cheap Trick, Marmalade, Bo Diddley, The Pretty Things, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Led Zeppelin, Them Crooked Vultures and Chickenfoot!

T2409 is a 58.7mb 128k mp3 1:04:08 in length made loud to be played loud!

"saving the best for last"

RFW

Transmission 2309

Peace - an absence of hostility - what a concept! We explore the seemingly unattainable by rocking with Brain Donor, The Doors, Toots & The Maytals, The Only Ones, Humble Pie, Terry Reid, The Illusion, Ray Davies, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Sir Douglas Quintet and Brinsley Schwarz. Peace out!

T2309 is a 59.7mb 128k mp3 1:05:18 in length made loud to be played loud!

"Give Peace A Chance"

RFW

Transmission 2209

Legs, thighs, breasts, white/dark meat, whipped potatoes, stuffing - the whole turkey dinner experience is a finger-licking sensual trip into culinary engorgement. As you're busy trussing Tom or prior to your post-feast couch coma, enjoy these Thanksgiving toe-tappers from William Burroughs, The Soft Boy, The Raiders, Ohio Players, The Bagatelle, Calypso King & The Soul Investigators, The Kinks, Norman Greenbaum, Tony Joe White, Panda Bear and Faust!

T2209 is 57.1mb 128k mp3 1:02:25 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I am The Turkey"

RFW

Transmission 2109

Politics aside - War is, has been and will continue to be the basis for countless works of art, books, poems, movies and songs! The ammunition for this musical war on war is provided by Crazy Horse, Colonel Bagshot, Ramses, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Black Angels, A Darker Shade Of Black, Earl China Smith, Dillinger, Bob Dylan, Krokodil, Blitzen Trapper, Buffalo Killers, Killing Joke, The Vibrators and Blue Oyster Cult.

T2109 is a 54.8mb 128k mp3 59:55 in length made loud to be played loud!

"War Is Not The Answer"

RFW

* The featured poster is "Make Art Not War" by Shepard Fairey. Visit his website at obeygiant.com .

Transmission 2009

Sgt. Monkees Only Chart Flub Land

Mickey, Mike, Davey and Peter - maybe not as instantaneously recognizable as John, Paul, George and Ringo or Mark, Don and Mel or even Dino, Desi and Billy - but The Monkees have passed the test of time better than many of their 60s contemporaries. They have been in and out of vogue since their conception, but never wiped from our collective memory. Can you sing the first few lines of their theme song - of course you can! Do you remember Mike's hat of choice - without a doubt. Double breasted shirts, liquid paper and Head - all part of the the Monkees legacy! Pre-fab or not, this band deserves more than just a footnote in the great Rock and Roll History Book! Hey Hey - It's The Monkees!

T2009 is a 59.4mb 128k mp3 1:04:51 in length made loud to be played loud!

"we're the young generation and we've got something to say"

RFW

* Check out Frank Zappa and Monkee Mike on Episode 57 of The Monkees, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", originally aired on March 11, 1968.

** For an incredible treasure-trove of all things Monkees, you should visit the outstanding Dartman's World Of Wonder blog and his Month Of Monkees posts. It's like finding money, end of school and Christmas rolled into one!

Transmission 1909

"Tonight is the night when pumpkins stare,

Through sheaves and leaves everywhere.

When ghouls and ghost and goblin host,

Dance round their Queen.

It's Hallowe'en!"

Halloween is not a safe night for "wirgins", but knowing the extended RFW family, I don't think we'll have to worry about that - so spark up the candle in the old jack-o-lantern, turn out the lights and and dig this monstrous set of tunes from Dead Kennedys, The Turtles, Bo Diddley, Vic Mizzy, Ted Cassidy, The Crystals, Rick Derringer, Brain Donor, The Vulcans, Woggles, Roky Erickson, The Moontrekkers, Arctic Monkeys and Wendy Carlos. Fang-tastic!

T1909 is a 59.4mb 128k mp3 1:04:53 in length made loud to be played loud!

"cause all you people are vampires""

RFW

* The opening rhyme is an excerpt from the poem "Hallowe'en" by Harry Behn.

** Our Halloween picture is Udo Kier from "Blood For Dracula", the 1974 film directed by Paul Morrison and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsbergg. Enjoy a few favorite scenes!

** Ted Cassidy played Lurch, the family butler on The Addams Family TV series. His dance craze "The Lurch" was sweeping the country in 1965 (not so fast...he hasn't swept the kitchen yet) - here's Ted on Shiveree!

***One of the funniest episodes of The Addams Family was "Lurch, The Teenage Idol"!

Transmission 1809

Dedicated to Timothy Leary
"Like every great religion of the past, we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present — turn on, tune in, drop out."

Come along if you can, take a trip to the land inside of your mind - through the doors of perception and into an altered state of swirling colors, heightened senses and throbbing sounds from British Sea Power, Haymarket Riot, Johnny Walker, Curtis Mayfield, Sonic Youth, T.I.M.E., Kim Fowley, Fifty Foot Hose, Harry Nilsson, The Beatles, The Purple Gang, The Moody Blues and Kasabian!

T1809 is a 57.9mb 128k mp3 1:03:20 in length made loud to be played loud!

"take you trips around the bay, bring you back the same day"

RFW

* The spoken word interludes were taken from the 1966 Capitol records release LSD, A Documentary Report. Visit the incredible Redtelephone 66 blog for more information.

** I got a question about our selection from T.I.M.E. (Trust In Men Everywhere).They formed in 1968 in LA and released two albums on Liberty, T.I.M.E. (1969) and Smooth Ball (1970). I played Tripping Into Sunshine which is the first cut on their debut.

*** Today's picture is Benjy Carver (played by Michael Burns), the infamous Blue Boy from The LSD Story episode of the Dragnet that appeared on the NBC network on January 22, 1977. It was produced and directed by Jack Webb, who also starred as Joe Friday. If you have never had the pleasure of seeing this classic check it out below!

Transmission 1709

It's time to duck and cover as we revisit the School Of Spontaneous Selection. This is seat-of-the-pants RFW in its purest form. The only song I have planned is the first one on-deck. Every other selection played was chosen based on my immediate reaction to what came before it! This is funtime for us all because I'm just as surprised by the outcome as you!

T1709 is a 56.8mb 128k mp3 1:02:07 made loud to be played loud!

"all aboard for funtime"

RFW

Transmission 1609

The keywords stoned and jailhouse result in sets that leave you in an altered and captivated state. Add some pure-pop for you now-people and a few English singles from the sixties and we are half-way to rock and roll heaven'. Enjoy the sounds of Clark-Hutchinson, Daevid Allen & Planet Gong, Robin Trower, Tinted Windows, Cheap Trick, Raspberries, Tomorrow, Small Faces, The Eyes, Dean Carter, Tom Waits and Wizzard!

T1609 is 58.6mb 128k mp3 1:04:00 in length made loud to be played loud!

"the whole rhythm section was the purple gang"

RFW

*Today's picture was taken at the Jailhouse Ruin, Bullet Canyon, Utah. Visit Desert Explorer for more pictures and info.

**I have always been turned by the music of Daevid Allen from his early days with Soft Machine and Gong , through his various solo projects and bands including Planet Gong and University Of Errors to his more recent projects like Acid Mother Gong. Check out this great interview with Daevid from 2001 found on the excellent Planet Gong site.

***For a taste of Daevid live - enjoy the Planet Gong performance of Stoned innocent Frankenstein below (If you have a buffering problem - pause the video and allow it to load before viewing)!

Transmission 1509

The RFW Prisoner Suite features music and dialogue from *The Prisoner as well as selections from The Clash, The Alan Brown Set, Dave Barker, Stereolab, Esperanto, Death, Sun City Girls, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Peter Kaukonen and David Shea!

T1509 is a 57.3mb 128k mp3 1:02:41 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I am not a number - I am a free man"

RFW

*The Prisoner ran for 17 episodes on U.K. tv from September of 1967 to February of 1968. It was co-created by and starred Patrick McGoohan.

** You can view all the original episodes of The Prisoner here!

** * AMC is reinterpreting (gulp) The Prisoner in November, 2009.

**** For audio clips from The Prisoner, visit Willard at the always wonderful Never Get Out Of The Boat.

Transmission T1409

All the modern conveniences you desire are supplied by RFW including a Bostonian ode to unique footwear, funk/soul workouts, a robo-disco-dance-a-thon and and an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii! Step out to the sounds of Albert Hammond Jr., Reddy Teddy, The Sugar Shoppe, The Teardrop Explodes, Al Green, The Soul Destroyers, Lee Fields & The Explorers, M83, Simian Mobile Disco, Bochum Welt, Dalek i, The Kinks, The Flys, Helmet and Cornelius. I may be a heel, but I have sole!

T1409 is a 56.5mb 128k mp3 1:01:47 in length made loud to be played loud!

"your messin' up my Novelty Shoes"

RFW

Transmission 1309

Even *triskaidekaphobics have nothing to fear from this 13th sound-blast that includes Mission Of Burma, Pearl Jam, Kings Of Leon, Jet, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, Toots & The Maytalls, Lydia Lunch, Blues Creation & Carmen Maki, Sonny & Cher, The Pretty Things, David Bowie, The Coral, The Red Button, Goblin & Giogio Gaslini and XTC!

T1309 is a 59.5mb 128k mp3 1:05:01 in length made loud to be played loud!

"Music is what I've got baby, I want you to come on and shake it"

RFW

*Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris meaning "3," kai meaning "and," and deka meaning "10") is fear of the number 13.

Transmission 1209

Our genre-bouncing exercise brings you the sounds of Squeeze, Brendan Benson, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, John Zorn, Cardiacs, Magazine, Eddie Floyd, King Tubby, Fun Boy Three, Sylvester, Calvin Harris and Zapp!

T1209 is a 58.5mb mp3 1:03:59 in length made loud to be played loud!

"oh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wee, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

RFW

Transmission 1109

Friends are elektrik with the plugged-in sounds of Elektriktus, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ametsub, Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler and Vangelis. Music hertz!

T1109 is a 57.6mb 128k mp3 1:02:58 in length made loud to be played loud!

"all those moments would be lost in time like Tears In Rain"

RFW

Transmission 1009

I can't think of a man whose name is more synonymous with the guitar than Les Paul. His playing, inventions and techniques literally changed the course of music. RFW includes a salute to this pioneer who passed away on August 13th at the age of 94 (featured here with a cameo by his wife Mary Ford), as well as tunes by the late musician and producer James Luther Dickinson and the recently departed Willy DeVille with his old band Mink DeVille. They will all be missed.

We also check out music from the new gathering of the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, saxophonist Steve Marcus, an extended composition from Frank Zappa's 1972 Petite Wazoo tour and recently uncovered Pink Floyd that should have been on Ummagumma!

T1009 is a 58.3mb 128k mp3 1:03:42 in length made loud to be played loud!

"well listen"

RFW

Transmission 909

A movie theme tribute to *Bruce Lee is the centerpiece of this action-packed show that also features Ministry, Hot Chip, Free Blood, Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Dirtbombs, Curtis Mayfield, Oneida and Jamie Saft!

T909 is a 56.4mb 128k mp3 1:01:39 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I've fought the strong and I did right the wrong, when I change my hands into fists of fury"

RFW

* Getting details about the Bruce Lee soundtrack music was not as easy as you would think. Using the cover information from the original vinyl releases, the OST for "Enter The Dragon" was composed by Lalo Shiffin, music for "The Big Boss" is credited to Joseph Koo and Wang Fu Ling and "Fist Of Fury" was by Joseph Koo (lyrics by James Wong and vocal by Michael Remedios).

Transmission 809

Juicy pop, Stonesy rock, funk with a Message and a refreshing dip in the waves are all included in this songfest featuring Raspberries, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, The Highlighters Band, Funk Inc., Cymande, Courtney Love, Motorpsycho and Wooden Shjips. Get wet!

T809 is a 59.3mb 128k mp3 1:04:51 in length made loud to be played loud!

"Can you feel the magic, floatin' in the air?"

RFW

RFW SPEAKS

"I read the news today, oh boy"

Radio stations die all the time. It has happened to a few stations I've worked at in my career. It's very sad and emotional. Employees, alumni and listeners grieve, then time does it's thing and the memories slowly fade. But the news of WBCN leaving the airwaves of Boston feels different. It really hasn't been the same station that provided the soundtrack to my youth for years. I did my last show there over 25 years ago. There should be no surprise in its demise. But I can not describe the feeling of loss. The people, the music and the history do not add up to what WBCN was for me. In this case - words do not work. A true end of an era.

RFW

RFW VIDEO REWIND

Mission of Burma

My old radio friend from Boston, Jan Crocker*, regularly posts a monthly dose of great archival video on Kino Digital Video. You can find this clip of early Mission of Burma performing "Break On Through" there, as a well as a portal containing a wealth of visuals (many of which date back to Boston's amazingly fertile late '70s/early '80s period). Enjoy!

RFW

* Jan and his alter ego Dr. Felix Kruell was a co-host of the legendary (?) WMBR, Cambridge talk show The Sports Palace (1980 - 1983) and a member of the (almost) hit group The Fabulous Billygoons. Find their Modern Method Records initial waxing "Rhapsody in Flatulence" in a cut-out bin near you. Now shut up and get out of here!

RFW Flashback

When I heard the news of Michael Jackson's death, I immediately thought of the great musical loss we had collectively experienced. Upon turning on the television, I was barraged with reports of his oddities, eccentricities, abuses, indictments, addictions.........and - oh yea, he was The King Of Pop. Remembering that I wrote about this very subject on an old RFW post, I went back and reviewed my words from August 7, 2007. They still speak volumes for the state of our culture. While not condoning or condemning him for any of the personal events of his life, I will remember him for his unique talent and all the great songs he wrote and/or sang. Beat It Michael!

(Download only)

Transmission 15507

What makes people allow themselves to go through the kind of drastic changes that Michael Jackson submitted himself to endure? Non-stop plastic surgery, skin bleaching and wardrobe choices now seem minor compared to the whole pedophilia situation. The thing that really bums me out is when people talk about him now, most of the time it has nothing to do with music. The reality is that so much bad water has passed under the bridge, he can never hope to get close to where he could have or should have been. That is a real shame. His body of work can no longer speak for itself without the freaked out image creeping into view. At least for today, we will succumb to selective amnesia and dance to a set of MJ including The Jackson 5, Jennifer Batten and a great tune from Dangerous. Also included are selections from Prince, Living Colour, Spaceways Incorporated, Billy Martin & John Medeski, David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto, We Are Frank Chicken, Jeff Beck, Jeff Parker and Jeff Tweedy!

T15507 is a 56.3MB 128k mp3 1:01:33 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I love you baby, but not like I love my guitar"

RFW

RFW FLASHBACK

This RFW HAL Transmission was our Father's Day special back in June of 2007. It was a special show then and deserves to be listened to again. Happy Father's Day to you and your Dad!

(Download only)

HAL41 - WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

We celebrate all things Dad during this Father's Day special! Enjoy the paternal based sounds of Secret Machines, Steely Dan, Cheap Trick, The Nice, Golden Earring, Janis Joplin, Gnarls Barkley, The Mothers Of Invention, Bill Withers, Drive By Truckers, Randy Newman, Johnny Thunders, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Cul De Sac, Can, Don " Sugarcane" Harris, The Winstons, Elton John, James Brown and The Temptations!

HAL41 is a 2 part 128k mp3 made loud to be played loud!

Part 1 is 56.4MB and 1:01:36 in length.

Part 2 is 58.2MB and 1:03:39 in length.

"Papa Was A Rolling Stone, wherever he laid his hat was his home"

RFW

Today's show is dedicated to my father, Lavern Curtis Wohlman, who passed away several years back. That's him pictured above in the far right of the second row, playing the trombone in his Navy band! I miss him and think about him every day! This is for you pop!

Transmission 709

Here's a shake'n show, perfectly crispy, yet still juicy and under 500 calories! Get baked with The Mars Volta, El Groupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Men/Women & Children, Rush, Johnny Otis, R.L. Burnside, Danko Jones, Kasenetz-Katz, Ken Boothe & Prince Jammy, Public Image Ltd., Faust and Silberbart. And I helped.

T709 is a 56.5mb 128k mp3 1:01:44 in length made loud to be played loud!

"you gotta shake that thing"

RFW

Transmission 609

Certain to satisfy your sugar cravings, enjoy these musical confections from Arthur Conley, Otis Redding, The Wailing Souls, The Chocolate Watchband, Sweet Cherry, The Bees, Sweet Thursday, Badfinger, Sweetwater, Brownsville Station, Sweet, Galactic and Sweet Smoke. One lump or two?

T609 is a 58.6mb 128k mp3 1:04:04 in length made loud to be played loud!

"do you like good music"

RFW

Transmission 509

A salute to Saturday, select odds and ends, our tip of the hat to Macca* and some closing junk make up a rousing show featuring The Flys, The Monkees, Kim Fowley and Ben Vaughn, Ultravox!, U2, Booker T. Jones, Kinesis, Tuxedomoon, Mother Superior, Sunday's Child, The Fireman, Paul McCartney, Devo and Medeski/Martin & Wood!

T509 is 56.4mb 128k mp3 1:01:41 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I know that Saturday's got what it takes babe"

RFW

*Macca (or "Macker" in Ireland) is a common British nickname for somebody whose surname begins with the Gaelic prefix Mac or Mc (meaning "son of").

Transmission 409

This musical Revolution includes John Zorn, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, CCS, Primal Scream, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Wanda Robinson, Third Guitar, Little Richard, The Beatles, Casino and Phil Manzanera. Alright!

T409 is a 56.4mb 128k mp3 1:02:08 in length made loud to be played loud!

"don't you know that you can count me out"

RFW

Transmission 309

Mothers have their Day on RFW with maternal music from Burning Spear, The Virtues & The Ambassadors, Lincoln Street Exit, Buzzy Linehart, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, John McLaughlin, The Temptations, Kool & The Gang, John Wagner Coalition, Jeff & Jane Hudson, Ancient Grease and Sensations Fix!

T309 is a 59.7mb 128k mp3 1:05:18 in length made loud to be played loud!

"well you gotta have a mother for me"

RFW

Transmission 209

My wife, Pam, gets a birthday set featuring Wayne Fontana, Sony Bono, Crazy Elephant and Pam Grier. We go from Pammy to glammy with Pink Floyd, Lucifer, Bee Gees, Velvett Fogg and T.Rex, then we get mellow(ish) with Daniel Lanois, David Crosby and The Black Keys. We end the show in the water with Jeff Simmons, Frank Zappa and The Mothers and Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band. Happy B-day babe!

T209 is a 57.8mb 128k mp3 1:03:12 in length made loud to be played loud!

"Pammie's On A Bummer Now "

RFW

Transmission 109

Easter inspired offerings from People, Wilco, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Living Things, Peter Ivers' Band, The Velvet Underground, Link Wray, Skip James, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Bobby Whitlock, Humble Pie, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and Johnny Keaton!

T109 is a 56.4mb 128k mp3 1:01:38 in length made loud to be played loud!

"What We Need Is A Lot More Jesus And A Lot Less Rock And Roll"

RFW