The Family That Rocks Together

Tonight! A very special episode of Needles + Pins wherein Arnold and Willis discover the true meaning of Christmas.

Wait. Lemme try that again.

Tonight! A very special episode of Needles + Pins wherein my special guest will be bassist extraordinaire and Mr. N+P, Sammy P!

Join us, won't you?

5-7 p.m.
91.1 FM
http://wrvu.org

Thankfully

For the last time this year, Needles + Pins is off the air this morning. I'm in NYC yet again, humping it for The Man. The good news is that I get to go home tonight instead of in the morning. Hooray!

The even better news is that I'm doing a special all-this-family-togetherness-is-making-me-need-to-listen-to-some-loud-and-possibly-angry-music show on Saturday evening from 5-7 p.m. I'm gonna try to get Mr. N+P to come down and do the show with me. Tune in to find out how persuasive I am.

Hope everybody has a very happy Thanksgiving!

The Mystery Deepens!

Photo via Lavinia Jones Wright

Found this picture of backstage at Wed's Big Star show. That's our man AC there in the lower left hand corner. He's a little blurry, but you can clearly see that he's clutching The Parka! Curiouser and curiouser...

Random Rock Thoughts

While in NYC on biz, I have seen the Jesus Lizard, Big Star, and Ms. J from America's Next Top Model. That is the definition of a good trip, wouldn't you say?

At JL, standing behind me were two old dudes (older than me and that's oooold). One said "This guy is my favorite rock drummer." And I thought--is there any other kind?

There is no such thing as a casual Big Star fan. There's a reason they had that show in a Temple--it was like being at a revival. A very, very geeky revival.

David Fricke from Rolling Stone looks like Rocky from Mask.

Alex Chilton had a gigantic down parka that stayed on stage the whole show. He took it with him when they finished and brought it back out when they returned for the encore. And took it with him when they left the stage for good. What's in that parka?!? I figure it's either magic or it's filled with equal amounts of mary jane and spite instead of feathers.

Jody Stephens has the same hair as he did in 1973. And the same face. Think he moisturizes?

Best Work Trip Ever?

I hate being away from my world's awesomest kiddo, but this NYC trip just keeps getting better and better. Not only am I gonna get to worship at the altar of Big Star, but my friend John Christian just emailed and offered me a ticket to Jesus Lizard tomorrow night.

Um...yes?

Since I'll be in NYC getting my face rocked off a second time, Maddie of the fabulously-named Mr. Nasty Time will be sitting in for me this week.

Crap

WRVU has just announced that they're going to limit the number of non-affiliated DJs. That means DJs who aren't Vandy students, employees, alumni, etc. That means me.

Right now there are 50 non-affiliated DJs.
They're going to whittle it down to 25.
What are the criteria?
I have no idea.
Cross your fingers for me; red leather pants optional.

November 10 Show

First, the playlist:
Times New Viking: 2/11 Don't Forget
No Age: Everybody's Down
King Khan and the Shrines: No Regrets
The Flys: Love & A Molotov Cocktail
The Dirtbombs: Underdog
The Cigarettes: I've Forgot My Number (Now I'm Telling You My Name)
Bow Wow Wow: C30 C60 C90 Go!
Suicide Commandos: Real Cool
Bauhaus: Telegram Sam
The Avengers: We Are The One
Echo & The Bunnymen: The Cutter
The Left Banke: She May Call You Up Tonight
Dinosaur Jr: Repulsion
Supergrass: Caught By The Fuzz (R)
Husker Du: Sunshine Superman
XTC: Generals And Majors (R)
Bikini Kill: Reject All American (R)
The Slits: So Tough
Scrawl: Public Image
The Bags: Babylonian Gorgon
Buddy Holly: Rave On
Dave Clark 5: Pretend (R)
Wayne County and the Electric Chairs: Boy With The Stolen Face
The Rubinoos: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Love: My Little Red Book
The Shangri-Las: What's A Girl Supposed To Do?
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Born To Lose
Kimberley Rew: My Baby Does Her Hairdo Long
Sonic's Rendezvous Band: City Slang
The Sonics: The Witch
The Woggles: Do Me Wrong
The Stooges: Search And Destroy

I was so happy to be back today! I need this two hours of rock and spastic dancing each week. It is essential to my continued mental health. Unfortunately, I'm gonna miss my next two shows. I know! The Man is sending me to NYC. It's not a total loss since I'm gonna go see Big Star while I'm there. But still.

Speaking of awesome rock shows, one good thing about going to NC last week: seeing Jesus Lizard in Chapel Hill (or Carrboro or whatever) with Sherri. You can read all about it here and see some video here. They were even more ferocious than when I saw them back in the day. They rocked my face off, were crazy good, reaffirmed my faith in RnR, etc, etc. And as a bonus, I did not back over Mitch Easter in the parking lot, though I came pretty close. It's easier to drive a car when the parking brake is off, just in case you were wondering.