The Mal Thursday Show #16: Riot on Sunset Strip Revisited

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #16: Riot on Sunset Strip Revisited

In an episode dedicated to the memory of Sky Saxon, Mal Thursday trips back in time and space to Los Angeles, California, circa 1966, and the teenage riots that inspired the exploitation classic Riot on Sunset Strip. Then, dig some bitchin' Seeds covers from Thee Headcoats, Alex Chilton, the Zeros, the Fiends, and the Freak Mountain Ramblers, as well as a set of Mal's favorite Seeds tracks. Special guest appearances by Deborah Walley and Mimsy Farmer.

If you want the whole story on the Sunset Rebellion, be sure to check out Dominic Priore's great book, Riot On Sunset Strip – Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood, which I neglected to mention during the show.

Presented in Living Monophonic Sound.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

Playlist:

THE SEEDS: Pushin' Too Hard
THE STANDELLS: Riot on Sunset Strip
TERRY RANDALL: S.O.S.
THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND:

Are You Gonna Be There (at the Love-In)/Don't Need Your Lovin'
PEOPLE OF THE SUNSET STRIP: Sunset Symphony
DAVIE ALLAN & THE ARROWS: The Shape of Things to Come

THEE HEADCOATS: No Escape
ALEX CHILTON: Can't Seem to Make You Mine
THE FIENDS: Pictures & Designs
FREAK MOUNTAIN RAMBLERS: Rollin' Machine
THE ZEROS: Pushin' Too Hard

THE SEEDS: You Can't Be Trusted/Satisfy You/Mr. Farmer/

A Thousand Shadows/Bad Part of Town/101 Colorized Bottles/
A Faded Picture


Dig these wild tales from the archives (click on show title to launch):

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #13: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 1

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #14: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 2

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #15: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 3

Classic Rerun: THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #4: Songs the Lyres Taught Us

Classic Rerun: The Mal Thursday Show #4

Classic Rerun: The Mal Thursday Show #4:
Songs the Lyres Taught Us

A collection of vintage ’60s nuggets covered by Boston’s longest-running garage band, (The) Lyres, led by Jeff “Monoman” Conolly. A couple of these date back to Jeff’s days in the legendary DMZ, but all of ‘em have been heard at one time or another at various Lyres shows dating back to 1979.

Presented in mono, of course. Originally posted April 14, 2008.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

LYRES: Baby (I Still Want Your Lovin')
TOMMY TUCKER & THE ESQUIRES: Don't Tell Me No Lies
THE YO-YOS: Gonna Find a New Love
THE TEDDY BOYS: Jezebel
THE JESTERS OF NEWPORT: Stormy
THE HANGMEN OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY: Stacey
DRUSALEE & THE DEAD: Lily
THE LIVING ENDS: Self-Centered Girl
RICHIE'S RENEGANDES: Baby It's Me
THE ROADRUNNERS: I'll Make It Up to You
THE SCAVENGERS: But If You're Happy
DALE & THE DEVONAIRES: Never Be Free
THE SYN: Grounded
THE OUTSIDERS: Sun Going Down
THE ZEPHYRS: I Can Tell
THE ALARM CLOCKS: No Reason to Complain
THE SONICS: Cinderella
THE HANGMEN: What a Girl Can't Do
LYRES: The Way I Feel About You (Live WERS-FM '83)

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN!

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE GARAGEPUNK PODCASTS

And don't miss these rockin' trilogies from the GaragePunk Podcast Network (Click on show title to launch):

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #35: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 1

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #36: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 2

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #37: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 3

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #13: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 1

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #14: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 2

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #15: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 3


FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #13: Coverama!

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #28: Coverama! 2

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #38: Coverama! 3-D

Sky Saxon (1937-2009)

Sky Saxon, lead singer of L.A.-based '60s garage legends the Seeds, has died in Austin, Texas.

Read the obit by Joe Gross at Austin360.com.

Best known for their 1966 hit "Pushin' Too Hard," the Seeds extrapolated "two great chords" into "five great albums," and also appeared in the 1968 film Psych-Out.

Saxon, born Richard Marsh, also known as Sky Sunlight Saxon and Sun Star, had recently relocated to Austin, where he could double bill with fellow psychedelic pioneer Roky Erickson.

Over at GaragePunk.com, The Mal Thursday Show #16: Riot on Sunset Strip Revisited and Sonic Nightmares #29 feature lengthy tributes to the music of the Seeds, and Sky's recent recording of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Swamp Music" can be heard on Florida Rocks Again! #38: Coverama! 3-D. There's more Seeds madness to be found on The Mal Thursday Show #12: All Kindsa Girls, Pt. 2 and The Mal Thursday Show #7: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

The Lonesome Death of the Blizzard

I recently got a phone call from local St. Augustine radio personality Dave O'Dell, who called to tell me how much he enjoyed the Florida Rocks Again! show, and mentioned in passing that WFBO in Flagler Beach, a/k/a "The Blizzard," had gone "belly up."

I knew that their great morning man John Black had relocated back to the Midwest, and that the station owner was dealing with his wife's terminal cancer, but I was unaware that the Blizzard, Florida Rocks Again!'s most recent terrestrial radio outlet (2007-2008), has been off the air since the end of last year. Unbeknownst to me, the station went dark only a few months after the plug was pulled on our show and all specialty programming (see "Radio Silence," 9/3/08).

The Blizzard was founded in 2002 as a low-power (100 watts) FM oldies station owned by a Baptist church, and run by "Cap'n Ron" Kochner, who incurred the wrath of the FCC with overly commercial-like underwriting messages and by allegedly boosting the power to three times the legal limit. Broadcasting veteran Chris Lash bought the station in the summer of '07, intending to make it his last stop in his radio career. "An oldies station on the beach, how perfect is that?"

Cap'n Ron was out. Longtime program director Bob "Cruiser" Cummings was let go, and was dead within a week from cancer. "Rockin' Ronnie" Aitken walked away after that.

But while Cruiser and Rockin' Ronnie were still running things, I made a deal to air a two-hour version of Florida Rocks Again! twice a week, a deal which Lash grudgingly honored. However, it was right around this time that we decided to move to Austin, so I signed a couple of sponsors, gave 'em the first five episodes on CD-Rs, and headed West. The show had a nice run, and the additional listeners from the online stream gave us a decent-sized audience.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, the station had moved from the "European Village" in Palm Coast to a beachside locale in Flagler Beach, which almost immediately suffered hurricane damage. Lash had applied for a full power license from the FCC, hoping to take the station to another level, but circumstances conspired to scuttle that dream. With his wife Karen in failing health, he transferred the station back to original owners, Halifax Christian Community Church, and moved back to Pennsylvania.

Cap'n Ron re-entered the picture, announcing that after switching to Christmas music for the holidays, the station would re-emerge in a different format. Some say that Christian talk radio was the leading contender, but soon thereafter the station went off the air for good, so we'll never know.

Despite its many ups and downs, the Blizzard provided hours of great radio listening for those lucky enough to be able to pull in the signal, and served as the voice of a community.

And for a year, they aired our show, which is more than most Florida radio stations can say.

The Ballad of Bill Lee

I did a Google search to see how much of my old freelance writing work was still out there, so that I might present it here for your amusement. Not much, it would appear. But here is a piece from 2001 called "The Ballad of Bill Lee" because it's baseball season, and because it's a funny, bittersweet read, taking place at Le Stade Olympique in Montreal on Opening Day of that year. Sadly, the Expos are no more. Click on title or baseball card to launch:

The Ballad of Bill Lee

The former Boston and Montreal left-hander on the Sox, Fenway, and smokin’ with Dubya

By J.M. Dobies

Originally published April 19, 2001 in The Boston Phoenix Red Sox Supplement, and subsequently as a cover story in both the Portland and Worcester Phoenix. This is the version on my website, jmdobies.com, with the original photos from the piece.

Dedicated to the memory of Les Expos.

Get the DVD of Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey HERE.

Classic Rerun: Florida Rocks Again! #13

Florida Rocks Again! #13: Coverama!

Mal Thursday brings you another action-packed episode of Florida Rocks Again! — this one’s all covers, with the all-time greats from the Sunshine State doing versions of songs made famous by other artists — a set of early rock ‘n roll and rhythm & blues, a set of ’60s songs, a set of Vanilla Fudge-inspired remakes.

The Rovin' Flames cover Bo Diddley, the Allman Joys cover the Yardbirds, the Clefs of Lavender Hill cover the Beatles, the Fifth Order and Lyres cover the Nightcrawlers. It's Coverama, baby!

Written and Produced by JM Dobies, Co-Produced by Jeff Lemlich. Originally posted 21 March 2006.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW!

If you like this episode, you're sure to dig these (click on show titles to launch):

Florida Rocks Again! #28: Coverama! 2

The 31st Of February cover Jackie DeShannon, Fred Neil covers Tim Hardin, HP Lovecraft, the Candymen, the Fabs, and Gram Parsons cover Fred Neil.

NEW EPISODE!
Florida Rocks Again! #38: Coverama! 3-D

The Chocolate Watchband covers We The People, Sky Saxon covers Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Reigning Sound, the Artwoods, and Eric Burdon cover Sam & Dave.

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN!

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE GARAGEPUNK PODCASTS

And don't miss these other rockin' trilogies from the GaragePunk Podcast Network (Click on show title to launch):

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #35: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 1

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #36: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 2

FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN! #37: Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 3

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #13: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 1

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #14: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 2

THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW #15: The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 3

Keith Moon Was Here

About ten years ago, filmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell) was commissioned to write a screenplay based on the life of Keith Moon, the Who's legendary drummer and destroyer of hotel rooms.

From AlexCox.com: "Co-written by me and Tod [Davies] for American and London-based producers. The life of Keith Moon, whose antagonist we decided should be Peter Sellers. Sellers first appears as a giant spider, then as himself, then as Harry Nilsson, in whose London apartment rock stars invariably die. Supporting cast includes the other members of The Who, The Beatles, and Steve McQueen. Of all the scripts the two of us wrote together, this is the best."

In an interview with the Austin Decider, Cox describes why the film wasn't made:

"I think Roger Daltrey was the executive producer, and so maybe it didn’t fit his recollection of events or vision of the story [Daltrey is also portrayed as a bit of a wanker in the script] ...I think that the people who wanted to make the film were expecting more of a mainstream biopic — which is really hard, to make a guy like that sympathetic. I mean, the guy’s a serial wife beater, you know? It’s really hard to make a guy like that conventionally sympathetic."

Here's the screenplay for Keith Moon Was Here, which, despite a few anachronisms and other minor inaccuracies, would have made a great film, especially with someone like Colin Farrell in the part (and not Mike Myers, who was long rumored to be playing Moon):

http://www.alexcox.com/pdfs/MOON_1.pdf