Florida Rocks Again! #40: Anywhere But Here

This eclectic episode is sort of a companion piece to Florida Rocks Again! #20: Florida Time. Unlike that show, where all of the songs were about Florida, all of these songs are about other places. So lay back and get a load of the all-time greats from the Sunshine State singing about Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, California, and elsewhere.

Hosted by Mal Thursday, produced by JM Dobies and Jeff Lemlich, and presented in Living Monophonic Sound on the GaragePunk Podcast Network.

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Playlist:

HOUR GLASS: Gotta Get Away/Down in Texas
CHARLIE PICKETT & THE EGGS: Goin’ Back to Marlboro Country
WE THE PEOPLE: Follow Me Back to Louisville
THE MOVERS: Birmingham/Hello LA (Bye Bye Birmingham)
PURPLE UNDERGROUND: On Broadway

WAYNE COCHRAN: Harlem Shuffle
SAM MOORE: The Tennessee Waltz
MIGHTY SAM: Georgia Pines
SAMMY AMBROSE: Welcome to Dreamsville

TOMMY ROE & THE ROEMANS: Diane from Manchester Square
CHARLIE McCOY: The Boy from England
THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN: Battle of New Orleans
STEVE ALAIMO: New Orleans
KANE’S COUSINS: Good Lovin’ Women of Bismarck, North Dakota
TRACY PENDARVIS: Philadelphia Filly

THE OUTLAWS: Sweet Home Alabama
MUDCRUTCH: Up in Mississippi Tonight
FRED NEIL: Mississippi Train
GRAM PARSONS: Ooh Las Vegas/California Cotton Fields
MAGIC: California
THE ECHO: Monterey
THE ROVIN’ FLAMES: I’m Afraid to Go Home

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Florida Rocks Again! is sponsored in part by Zazzle.com, where millions of people create, buy, and sell billions of customized items every day. Get 10% off orders of $50 or more by using the discount code MALTHURSDAY1 or save 20% on orders of $75 or more (an even better deal) by using the code MALTHURSDAY2;

And by CCS.com, where you can find the largest online selection of authentic skateboarding gear, from CCS, Volcom, Vans, Von Zipper, Nike SB, and more. Get free shipping on orders of $30 or more by using the discount code AFTHURFS, or 15% off of orders over $75 by using the code AFTHUR15.

Classic Reruns: The Mal Thursday Show #5 / Florida Rocks Again! #25

This weekend, it's a double shot of classic reruns from the GaragePunk.com Podcast Archives:


Live recordings of rock ‘n’ roll bands from the mid-’60s are often a mixed bag of out-of-tune guitars, screaming girls, and questionable mic placement. Witness the Rolling Stones’ Got Live If You Want It and The Kinks’ Live at Kelvin Hall, to name but two. Then there are the fake live records, where audience noise is dubbed on to studio recordings, usually with underwhelming results.

Here, originally posted 5/5/08, is the most popular episode of The Mal Thursday Show to date, "Live 'n Wild," featuring some excellent live garage records, drawn from 45s, radio and TV broadcasts, demo tapes, and even a Hawaiian “Battle of the Bands” LP.

Presented in Living Monophonic Sound.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

Playlist:

13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me
THE SAVAGES: The World Ain't Round, It's Square
RAIK'S PROGRESS: I'm Gonna Change the World
THE GREEK FOUNTAINS: Howlin' for My Darlin'
THE SNAILS: Snails Love Theme
THE OUTSIDERS: Summertime Blues

LYRES: 100 cc/Gonna Find A New Love
THE REMAINS: Hang on Sloopy/All Day and All of the Night/Why Do I Cry

13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS: Everybody Needs Somebody to Love/I'm Gonna Love You Too/Before You Accuse Me/You Don't Know/You Really Got Me

THE SPIRITS: Almost There

The other classic rerun is Florida Rocks Again! #25, "Girls, Girls, Girls," a rockin’ roll call of delightful dolls and delectable dames as the all-time greats from the Sunshine State sing songs with girls’ names in the title. Featuring a mess of fine Florida garage 45s, as well as some deep soul, psych, rockabilly, and crispy, crunchy country rock, with added bonus cuts by the Champions and Papa Don Schroeder.

Series hosted by Mal Thursday, produced by JM Dobies and Jeff Lemlich in Living Monophonic Sound.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

Playlist:

STEVE ALAIMO: Girls, Girls, Girls/Big Bad Beulah
THE 31st OF FEBRUARY (with GREGG & DUANE ALLMAN): Melissa
THE BIRDWATCHERS: Mary, Mary (It's to You I Belong)
MAGIC: Indian Sadie
THE RAVEN: Calamity Jane
JIM STAFFORD: Cow Patti

DON SCHROEDER: Peggy Sue
THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN: Bonnie & Clyde
THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS: Christine's Tune
PAINTED FACES: Blackhearted Susan
THE NIGHTCRAWLERS: Sally in Our Alley

THE CHAMPIONS: Annie Met Henry
THE NEW CLARENCE REID: Cadillac Annie
KRIS JENSEN: The Jackie Look
JOHNNY TILLOTSON: Gidget
POWERS UV PURPLE: Miss Dove
BENNY JOY: Steady with Betty

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW

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The Mal Thursday Show and Florida Rocks Again! are sponsored in part by Zazzle.com, where millions of Zazzlers create, buy, and sell billions of customized items every day. Get 10% off orders of $50 or more by using the discount code MALTHURSDAY1 or save 20% on orders of $75 or more (an even better deal) by using the code MALTHURSDAY2;

And by CCS.com, where you can find the largest online selection of authentic skateboarding gear, from CCS, Volcom, Vans, Von Zipper, Nike SB, and more. Get free shipping on orders of $30 or more by using the discount code AFTHURFS, or 15% off of orders over $75 by using the code AFTHUR15.

The Year the Expos Almost Won the Pennant!

It was 30 years ago this summer that the Montreal Expos had their first winning season, finished second in a wild race for the NL East title, and captured the hearts and minds of the Canadian People. Re-reading Brodie Synder's The Year the Expos Almost Won the Pennant is a bittersweet experience, given the team's sad decline and eventual relocation. I fell in love with Les Expos that long ago summer, a love that only diminished when Major League Baseball moved them to Washington, D.C. I have no love for the Nationals, who recently traded Nick Johnson, their last remaining player who had also played for Montreal.

After a disappointing 1978, the team's tenth straight losing season, manager Dick Williams and GM John McHale sought to improve a few glaring weaknesses on the Expos' 25-man roster. They got lefthander Bill "Spaceman" Lee on the cheap from the Red Sox, for light-hitting infielder Stan Papi. They signed ace reliever Elias Sosa as a free agent, and strengthened the bench by picking up Duffy Dyer, Jim Mason, Jerry White, and Rodney Scott (who would beat out Dave Cash for the starting second base job in Spring Training).

The team already had a good nucleus, with a stellar outfield consistening of Andre Dawson, "The Hawk," who would go on to win the NL MVP award with the Cubs in 1987, Warren Cromartie, and talented head case Ellis Valentine, whose frequent absences may or may not have had something to do with the drug and alcohol abuse that would derail his career in the '80s. The infield was anchored by former Cincinnati slugger Tony Perez, out to prove the Reds wrong for running him out of town, at first base, with Larry Parrish at third, Scott at second and Chris Speier at short. Behind the plate, in his young prime, was Hall of Famer Gary Carter, handling a staff that included Steve Rogers, Rudy May, Ross Grimsley, Woodie Fryman, Stan Bahnsen, David Palmer, and Dan Schatzeder.

The team came out of the gate on fire, and held first place for most of the season, only faltering on a brutal West Coast road trip in August, and against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team that would win the division and eventually the World Series. Reading Brodie's day-by-day account of the '79 season, it is difficult for the Expo-lover in me not to play "What if?"

"What if Steve Rogers had pitched better down the stretch?"

"What if Dave Cash hadn't been in Williams's doghouse for most of the season?"

"What if Ellis Valentine had played up to his potential, and not dogged it at various junctures?"

Of course, the late-season acquisition of former Expo great Rusty Staub lit a fire under Valentine's ass, and he finished strong, even if the team didn't.

I recommend this book to any Expos fan who remembers the 1979 season, or even those who don't, but recall the '94 team, who had the best record in baseball before the ill-advised player's strike ended the season, and effectively killed baseball in Montreal.

Florida Rocks Again! on YouTube

Here's a video I did to promote Florida Rocks Again!

Your comments and ratings are greatly appreciated. Enjoy.

Two Broadcasting Giants

Here I am in Montana with Tom Brokaw.

I also met novelist Thomas McGuane, who shared pungent memories of Warren Zevon in fair trade for a rare copy of the Sunday Times.

I later received an inscribed copy of 92 in the Shade, which I will treasure.

Also rode a horse for the first time since 1966, and caught three fish.

Thank you, Meg and Skip!

Reality TV Police Blotter: Parole Violations, 911 Calls, and Murder!

The typical reality show contestant is usually good for a misdemeanor or two, the occasional felony, or more often, a sex tape. Reality TV "star" Ryan Alexander Jenkins has taken it to another level entirely.

Police in Buena Park, California, investigating the strangulation murder of Jenkins's ex-wife, 28-year-old swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, have labeled him "a person of interest," which is allegedly cop slang for "guilty as hell."

Keep Reading »

The Return of 'Mad Men'

Matthew Weiner's brilliant, Emmy-winning drama "Mad Men" returns for a third season on AMC this Sunday with big changes afoot at Sterling-Cooper. The opening episode, "Out of Town," finds Don Draper (Jon Hamm) going on a business trip with closeted graphic designer Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt). After years of banging everything in skirts, is Don going gay? Tune in and find out.

The image above is my guest starring role as Joan Holloway's new love interest, super-suave ad man Biff Brannigan, courtesy of AMCTV.com's cool "Mad Men Yourself" application.

The Latest Celebrity Headlines from JM Dobies

More Celebrity Headlines from my new writing gig with The Dallas Examiner:

John Edwards: Love Child Baby Daddy

Brangelina, QT at L.A. Premiere of Inglourious Basterds

Stop the Presses! New pics of the back of Rob Pattinson's head!

"Oliver!" Star Claims He was Jacko's Sperm Donor

Are Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart totally doing it? Allegedly. Or not.

Ben Lyons, most hated movie critic in America - Fired!

Now I know I've sold out - I actually used the word "Brangelina."

Please subscribe to my column regardless of whether or not you care about this stuff: I get paid by the page view.

Thank you for your kind indulgence.

Florida Rocks Again! #39: Jeff's Moody Monsters

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #39: Jeff's Moody Monsters

Mal Thursday is joined by Florida Rocks Again! music guru Jeff Lemlich to bring you some of the finest examples of downbeat teen balladry to emerge from Florida in the mid-'60s. A perfect complement to a long, hot summer's day, this double-wide episode is crammed with adolescent angst, minor chord misery, and woebegone rarities.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

Playlist:

THE SHAGGS: Ring Around the Rosie
THE NOVAS: Whenever You’re Ready
THE BURGUNDY BLUES: Nothing Without You
THE MEMBERS: I'll Get By Without You
THE CANADIAN ROGUES: Have You Found Somebody New
THE BUSY SIGNALS: The Losers
THE TROJANS: Leave Me Be
THE OUTSIDERS: Just Let Me Be
PAINTED FACES: Don't Say She's Gone

LITTLE WILLIE & THE ADOLESCENTS: Stop It
FLOWER POWER: Stop
THE EMOTIONS: Why Must It Be
THE NEWPORTS: Life Must Go On
J. WALKER & THE PEDESTRIANS: Life's Too Short
EVIL: I Know I'll Die
WE THE PEOPLE: The Day She Dies
CLEARWATER HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF '68: My Friend

THE NON-PAREILS: Willow Tree
THE WRONG NUMBERS: I Wonder Why
THE NIGHTCRAWLERS: What Time Is It?
NATION ROCKING SHADOWS: Time
THE BIRDWATCHERS: Girl, I've Got News for You
SHADES INC.: Don't Run My Life
THE TROPICS: Black Jacket Woman/Goodbye My Love
THE SHY GUYS: Goodbye to You

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The Mal Thursday Show on YouTube

Here's my promo video for The Mal Thursday Show and the GaragePunk Podcast Network:

I, Horror Host

Here are a couple of excerpts from my run as host of Surreal Cinema on good 'ol Channel 22 in NE Florida, under my nom de screen, Michael West. I'd love to do a variation on this show here in Austin. Anyway, here's a taste of my former gig as a TV horror host:

Wooly Weekend Has Begun!

If you're anywhere in the vicinity of Montreal, this is where it's at this weekend:

Jesse Garon (1994-2009)

My dog, Jesse Garon, died on Saturday.

Anybody who knows me knows how much I loved that dog, a terrier/cocker/black lab mutt who was with me for fourteen years. I can't express in words how much Jesse meant to me. I can't do him justice. So, before I try, I will quote from a much better writer, Harlan Ellison:

There's nothing more maudlin than reading someone's treacly and bathetic self-pity in the form of a lament for a pet. Nonetheless, the death of my dog, Ahbhu, did me in...For eleven years, Ahbhu was my closest friend. He was responsible for my writing a story about a boy and his dog that many people have read. He was not a pet, he was a person. It was impossible to anthropomorphize him, he wouldn't stand for it. But he was so much his own kind of creature, he had such a strongly formed personality, he was so determined to share his life with only those he chose, that it was also impossible to think of him as simply a dog. Apart from those canine characteristics into which he was locked by his species, he comported himself like one of a kind.

That was Jesse. In spades.

He was born in Missoula, Montana, and was rescued from the animal shelter, hours before he was to be euthanized, by my ex-wife Wendy and her then-boyfriend, Nathan. Jesse Garon (named after Elvis Presley's stillborn twin) came into my life on December 2, 1995, when he arrived at Bradley International Airport on a flight from Montana a couple of weeks after Wendy and I got married. I remember asking her if he shed, and she told me, "Oh no, he doesn't shed."

Of course, he shed like crazy, but it didn't matter. We were pals from the get-go, and I indulged him with drive-thru cheeseburgers and "snappy dogs," steamed, natural casing frankfurters from the roadside hot dog stand in Whately, Mass., the name of which now escapes me. We would go on "pal-time rides" and he would stick his face out of the window to get a nosefull of fresh, Western Massachusetts air (except when we passed the Oxford pickle factory in South Deerfied, with its acrid, vinegary aroma of dill pickle brine).

When Wendy and I split up, she graciously let me keep him. "I wouldn't want to break up you and your 'little buddy,'" she said, and I've always been grateful to her for that.

About ten years ago, he got hit by a car and was sent flying. Miraculously, he survived, with only a gash on his knee and no broken bones. Thank you, God.

When I remarried, and my wife Tonja and I were blessed with our beautiful kids, Jesse moved down the depth chart of my affections, but by then we had developed a sort of telepathic understanding. He was surprisingly good with the children, even if he did steal the food out of their little hands. At least he never bit them.

His cataracts made him mostly, if not completely, blind, and he was largely deaf as well. He was also pretty smelly, funkier than a five dollar whore at quitting time. But it didn't make me love him any less, and he was even more attached to me than ever.

He had been going downhill for a while. He slept more and more, and so hard that Tonja had to check him to make sure he was alive. Earlier this year, he had a mini-stroke, but bounced back with medication. He also developed an egg-sized tumor on his leg, in all likelihood malignant, which no doubt hastened his demise.

But I'll always remember him as he was in his prime, feisty and full of life, my little buddy, my pal time friend.

My New Gig: Celebrity Headlines Examiner

Longtime readers of the BLOG! know that my interest in popular culture leans toward the '60s and '70s rather than the vacuous anti-culture of today. For instance, on June 25th, I did not waste a minute mourning self-proclaimed King of Pop, junkie, and plastic surgery disaster Michael Jackson, instead paying tribute to Seeds frontman and Flower Power icon Sky Saxon.

I could give a shit about Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears - I'm more into Tuesday Weld and Mimsy Farmer.

That said, I just got a gig writing celebrity news for the Dallas Examiner. I get paid by the page view, and given America's obsession with celebrities, I should get some decent traffic and make some coin.

I used to do a humor/parody column called "Celebrity Spin," where I'd take actual gossip items and inject them with comedy collagen through gross exaggeration and absurd, made-up quotes. I can't make stuff up for this column, but I'll try to make my headlines "grabbers," inject a little snarky irony, and keep the items entertaining.

So far, I've posted three items this week:

Oversharing Ashton unapologetic about exposing overexposed Demi

NFL star Plaxico Burress indicted for shooting himself

Nic Cage, Screech in tax trouble

I was once a promising writer/editor for serious news outlets, but now I write about Demi Moore's ass (and also her butt)...

So, even if you don't care about celebrities, please subscribe to my RSS feed, because I need the money...