First off, I want to apologize to my friends in Ithaca that were not able to get Stuck in the Psychedelic Era last week. Apparently, the folks at Ithaca Community Radio, which owns the 88.1 transmitter, decided to no longer carry WEOS on that frequency. I only found out about it myself six days after the fact, and thus carried on obliviously last week. What made it worse is that due to some weird stuff happening (a Saturday night Lacrosse game one week, severe weather the next), the same recorded show had just run for three weeks in a row, giving some people the impression that Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was being cancelled.
Let me say right now that is not the case. Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is still running every Saturday night at 9 on WEOS 89.7 , covering Ontario, Seneca and parts of Cayuga, Wayne and northern Tompkins Counties. In fact, I am doing the last live show tonight. (The show will be pre-recorded from now on for reasons I'll get into in the next paragraph.) If you can't pick it up on 89.7, try going to www.weos.org and clicking the "listen live" box. The streamed signal is mono only, but it is virtually lag free because of that, even on dialup.
That still leaves the problem of how to get Stuck in the Psychedelic Era in Ithaca. Well, I just learned that the show will be running on the new WITH 90.1 Sunday nights from 10-Midnight, starting May 30th. Granted, it will be a little weird getting used to tuning in on a different day, time and station, but at least it will be there. This, by the way, will be the exact same show heard Saturday night at 9 on WEOS. The only way to do this is for me to pre-record the show every week, which is why tonight is the last live show on WEOS. Feel free to call me tonight between 9-11 at 315 781-3897 or 1-800-213-WEOS if you want. I'll be there.
Now I know some of you in Ithaca have to get up for a day job Monday morning and may not be able to listen to the entire show Sunday night and I apologize for that. Truth to tell, I have no control over the scheduling of the show; that is done by the WXXI management team up in Rochester, which programs WITH. If you have any feedback regarding the scheduling of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era on WITH, you can probably contact them through the wxxi website (www.wxxi.org). At this moment they don't have a WITH website, although I imagine that will change in the near future.
Anyway, tell your friends that don't do the internet about the new day, time and station (WITH 90.1 Sunday nights from 10-Midnight) for Stuck in the Psychedelic Era in Ithaca. For the rest of you, I'll talk to you tonight and every Saturday night on WEOS. And in the future, if you want to contact me, go to the "contact" page at www.hermitradio.com or just leave a comment here on the blog.
Thanks for sticking with Stuck in the Psychedelic Era through all the craziness lately. Remember, the music is really all that matters and that's not about to change.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era
Playlist-5/15/10
OK. For those of you who are like me and can’t figure out how to use the weos playlist lookup without explicit instructions, I’ve got the entire song list from the show that aired on May 15th. This show was done live. The plan is to do it live again next week, then go into syndication mode starting May 29th, so if you want to call during the show, May 22nd will probably be the last opportunity.
The List
FIFTY FOOT HOSE---If Not This Time
Cauldron (1968 promo vinyl)
SPIRIT---Veruska
Spirit (1968-song is bonus track recorded at same time as album but unreleased until 1990s)
WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND---I Won't Hurt You
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Vol. 1 (1967-included on late 1980s vinyl Nuggets series)
PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY---Eventually
Where the Action Is - LA Nuggets 1965-68
PENNY ARKADE---Swim
Where the Action Is - LA Nuggets 1965-68
DOORS---My Eyes Have Seen You
Strange Days (1967)
MUSIC MACHINE ---Astrologically Incompatible
Bonniwell Music Machine (1967)
YARDBIRDS –Steeled Blues
45 RPM B-side (1965-Jeff Beck, guitar)
TRAFFIC---Glad/Freedom Rider
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970-LP started off as Steve Winwood’s first solo album, but ended up being Traffic reunion album instead)
VANILLA FUDGE---The Sky Cried/When I Was a Boy
Renaissance (1968-first VF album to feature primarily original material)
TOMMY JAMES AND THE SHONDELLS---Hanky Panky
45 RPM A-side (1966-original band broke up before song became a hit)
WISHBONE ASH---Time Was
Argus (1972-3rd WA album)
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE---Medley: Dance To The Music/Music Lover/I Want To Take You Higher
Woodstock: 40th Anniversary Edition (1969/1999-recording restored to original condition, flaws and all)
BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY---Ball and Chain
Cheap Thrills (1968-recorded live at the Fillmore)
JOHNNY WINTER---Rollin’ and Tumblin’
The Progressive Blues Experiment (1968)
SEEDS---Mr. Farmer
A Web of Sound (1966-2nd LP by the Seeds)
MOTHERS OF INVENTION---Trouble Comin' Every Day
Freak Out (1966-Frank Zappa’s debut)
EVERPRESENT FULLNESS---Darlin' You Can Count On Me
The Everpresent Fullness (1967-featured on Where the Action Is-LA Nuggets 1965-68)
LEMON PIPERS---Green Tambourine
A-side (1968)
MYSTERY TREND---Johnny Was A Good Boy
A-side (1966)
Friday, May 14, 2010
Will Stone
The most enjoyable gig I ever had in commercial radio was working for WEVA Emporia, a small daytime-only AM station in southern Virginia, in the 1990s. It wasn’t the music that made it enjoyable. As a matter of fact, I quickly grew bored with its bland mix of Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Lionel Richie and the like, and would often try to sneak in songs by people like Toad the Wet Sprocket or the Rembrandts whenever possible. It wasn’t even the fact that I was given total creative control over the popular Sunday Afternoon Oldies show, although I did enjoy the opportunity to implement some programming theories that I had been kicking around in my head for years.
No, what made working at WEVA special was its owner, Willis Stone. Will, as everyone knew him, had spent his entire life at WEVA. His father Maxey had founded the station on November 2, 1952, just in time to cover the presidential election that saw Eisenhower become the first Republican president since the beginning of the Great Depression.
Will began working at WEVA while still a high school student in the mid-50s, covering airshifts after school. Back in those days, small-town stations were not dedicated to a particular format. I remember Will telling me about running back-to-back 15 minute shows of local news, country and western music, black gospel, farm news, big band music, and even a nightly rock and roll show. After the station signed off at sunset, he would occasionally take his high school sweetheart Eleanor to a rock and roll show up in Richmond.
When Will was 22 his father died suddenly, and Will the newlywed became Will the President and General Manager of WEVA, a position he held for the rest of the century. Much like the fictional George Bailey, Will never left Emporia, but his influence extended well beyond Southside Virginia through the numerous newscasters, engineers and disc jockeys that either started out at or passed through the WEVA studios on the way to successful careers in the industry. He was on the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Broadcasters and even served as President of that organization during the 1970s. Locally, he served terms as president of a variety of organizations, including the Rotary Club, the Jaycees, the Emporia Chamber of Commerce and the local Industrial Development Corporation.
Will Stone was not a greedy man. In fact, he had to occasionally ask us to hold off on cashing paychecks for a day or two because a client was behind on payments. Nor was he an arrogant man. Despite being sole owner of the primary media outlet in the community (the only other one being a weekly newspaper), he was always accessible to anyone that cared to approach him. By all accounts Will was the best-known and best-liked person in town.
The aspect of Will Stone that most impressed me, though, was this: from the very beginning Will put serving the community ahead of making a profit, and never wavered from that commitment. Even into the 90s, when most AM stations were converting to news/talk or sports programming, Will kept WEVA a full-service station, taking on multiple roles as station manager, news director, and program director, and handling a good number of sales accounts as well in order to keep the station afloat. He did the morning drive himself, signing on the station at sunrise seven days a week and staying on the air until 10 every morning. He wrote and read his own newscasts, most of which he gathered himself, tirelessly attending every city council meeting for years on end, and stopping by the local police station on the way to work every morning to check the blotter. Whenever there was a major traffic accident on I-95, he’d go out there himself to get a firsthand view of the scene, interviewing witnesses and taking notes, then heading back to the station to write the story.
Will Stone outlasted virtually all of his contemporaries, whose stations were gobbled up by corporate buyers in the wake of the deregulation binge of the early 90s. Sadly, the new owners were, by and large, more interested in the bottom line than any mandate to serve the community. As more and more commercial radio stations came under corporate ownership, the concept of a full-service radio station became obsolete, replaced by niche stations catering to carefully targeted segments of the listening audience.
Shortly after I left Emporia in 1999, Eleanor Stone was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. As Eleanor’s condition worsened, Will Stone, always the family man first and foremost, sold WEVA in order to be able to spend as much time with her as possible. After her death in November 2000, Will spent the next few years indulging his own hobbies of collecting arrowheads and participating in E-bay auctions.
Last year I got word that Will himself had passed away at the age of 71. I think it’s safe to say that we won’t see another one like him again.
Goodbye Will Stone. You will be missed.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Another Rerun???
Due to the high wind warnings issued around here, I won't be able to get to the studios to do a live show tonight. I guess that's one of the drawbacks to living out in the country. Besides, from what I've heard tonight, it's entirely possible that the WEOS transmitter will get knocked off the air by the high winds anyway.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Stuck in the 21st Century
Big news this time around.
Thanks to the folks at fingerlakes1.com, the official Stuck in the Psychedelic Era web page (www.hermitradio.com) is up and running. My contact in the 21st century tells me the correct term is “published,” which sounds a little weird to me, since I can’t take it to work with me in my backpack, but what do I know? I’m just a hermit stuck in the psychedelic era (hey that sounds like a good name for a radio show).
Anyway, the thing is available for viewing, assuming you have a computer (and if you don’t, just how are you reading this?).
So what is there to see at www.hermitradio.com you ask? Well, for one thing, you get to see the spiffy new Stuck in the Psychedelic Era logo (in full color), along with a brief description of the show itself. There is also a link back to this blog (just in case you get lost in cyberspace), a link to the ubiquitous Temporary Democratization of American Popular Music in the mid to late 1960s article (really. Look up the word “ubiquitous” and you’ll see what I mean), a download page (exclusively for affiliate stations’ use, although I’m trying to get a link to the most recent week’s playlist for anyone to look at added to it), and a contact page so you can send me an e-mail.
That last item is an important one, since it is the primary way we’ll have to stay in touch once the show goes into syndication (which could be as early as next week, although I do plan on doing at least one more live show exclusively on WEOS in early May). The contact page will function mainly as a feedback page, although if you have a request and don’t mind waiting a couple weeks to hear it you can use if for that as well. The main thing though is that I really do want feedback from you. As I’ve said before, the only drawback to syndication is that I won’t have the opportunity to talk to you on the phone during the show (although to be honest the quality of the show has sometimes suffered from my being on the phone instead of paying attention to what was going on over the air).
So, that’s the big news from me. What’s new with you? I guess you’ll just have to go to the above-mentioned contact page and let me know, won’t you?
The Hermit
Thanks to the folks at fingerlakes1.com, the official Stuck in the Psychedelic Era web page (www.hermitradio.com) is up and running. My contact in the 21st century tells me the correct term is “published,” which sounds a little weird to me, since I can’t take it to work with me in my backpack, but what do I know? I’m just a hermit stuck in the psychedelic era (hey that sounds like a good name for a radio show).
Anyway, the thing is available for viewing, assuming you have a computer (and if you don’t, just how are you reading this?).
So what is there to see at www.hermitradio.com you ask? Well, for one thing, you get to see the spiffy new Stuck in the Psychedelic Era logo (in full color), along with a brief description of the show itself. There is also a link back to this blog (just in case you get lost in cyberspace), a link to the ubiquitous Temporary Democratization of American Popular Music in the mid to late 1960s article (really. Look up the word “ubiquitous” and you’ll see what I mean), a download page (exclusively for affiliate stations’ use, although I’m trying to get a link to the most recent week’s playlist for anyone to look at added to it), and a contact page so you can send me an e-mail.
That last item is an important one, since it is the primary way we’ll have to stay in touch once the show goes into syndication (which could be as early as next week, although I do plan on doing at least one more live show exclusively on WEOS in early May). The contact page will function mainly as a feedback page, although if you have a request and don’t mind waiting a couple weeks to hear it you can use if for that as well. The main thing though is that I really do want feedback from you. As I’ve said before, the only drawback to syndication is that I won’t have the opportunity to talk to you on the phone during the show (although to be honest the quality of the show has sometimes suffered from my being on the phone instead of paying attention to what was going on over the air).
So, that’s the big news from me. What’s new with you? I guess you’ll just have to go to the above-mentioned contact page and let me know, won’t you?
The Hermit
Monday, April 12, 2010
The WEOS website has a new "view playlist" feature that lets you see, for any given day, what songs were played on various shows (providing someone puts the info in). I tried it out for this past week (April 20), so feel free to check it out at http://www.weos.org then hit the schedule button and change it to April 20...down where the show is on the schedule there is an icon you can click that looks like little musical notes. Cool, huh?
Friday, March 19, 2010
A Sample Playlist
The new Stuck in the Psychedelic Era web page is still in the process of being designed, and I’ve been holding off from doing any extensive posting until it’s up and running. In the meantime, though, I thought it might be fun to put up a sample playlist for those who may have somehow accidentally found this blog without having ever heard the show (although last I looked it wasn’t showing up on any search engines, so I don’t know how anyone would be looking at it unless they heard me give out the address on the show itself).
Anyway, here’s the story. In order to get timing issues worked out (the pre-recorded version has to be recorded in segments that have to add up to 59 minutes per hour), I did a sample show the other day and saved it on the WEOS hard drive. Since that show will probably never actually air[1], I got to thinking that I could at least use it as a kind of audition for stations that might be considering adding Stuck in the Psychedelic Era to their schedule. Carrying that line of thinking a step further, it occurred to me that seeing the playlist posted might serve a similar purpose. Anyway, here’s hour #1. The asterisk (*) designates the first song in a playset. As you can see, set length varies a bit. In the second hour, in fact, there are two separate “sets” that each contain only one song. Hey, it’s my show and I can do that if I want to!
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Rolling Stones: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?; Single (A side) 1966
Amboy Dukes: Journey to the Center of the Mind; Single (A side) 1968
Uriah Heep: What Should Be Done; Look At Yourself 1971
*Paul Revere & the Raiders: In My Community; Spirit of ‘67 1966
Standells: Try It; Single (A side) 1967
Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’; Single (A side) 1967
Five Americans: I See the Light; Single (A side) 1966
Monkees: Star Collector; Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. 1967
*Otis Redding: Old Man Trouble; Single (B side) 1965
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Little Wing; Axis: Bold as Love 1967
*West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: In the Arena; Volume II 1967
Blues Magoos: Let’s Get Together; Electric Comic Book 1967
Traffic: Medicated Goo; Single (A side) 1968
*Joe Cocker: With a Little Help From My Friends; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
Of course, seeing the playlist posted is not quite the same as hearing the show itself. I tend to throw in little bits of trivia about the artists and/or the music as I go. For example, in the above hour I noted that Uriah Heep’s third album, Look At Yourself, was the last one released before their breakout hit album Demon’s and Wizards. I also pointed out that the Paul Revere and the Raiders cut was unusual in that regular lead vocalist Mark Lindsay stepped aside to let bassist Phil “Fang” Volker sing his own composition “In My Community.” Other bits of info include the fact that “Star Collector” is one of the first instances of a Moog synthesizer being used in a mainstream recording, “Let’s Get Together” is an old Jimmy Reed tune that was in vogue among garage bands in 1966, and that “Medicated Goo” was included on the post-breakup Traffic album Last Exit. I also threw in a rambling bit about how both Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix spent much of the early 60s playing the “Chitlin Circuit[3]”, paying their dues yet following separate paths that would eventually lead them both to the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967.
One thing I do on a fairly regular basis is to play an entire set from one particular artist or group. For the second hour of this sample I chose the popular Southern California club band Love. Most critics agree that Love would have been a much bigger success if they had not made the decision to forego touring in favor of staying close to where, in their opinion, the real action was: the L.A. strip, where they had replaced the Byrds as the house band at the famous Whiskey-a-Go-Go. For this set, I chose to alternate between Love’s second and third albums, with a non-album B side as a finisher. Also included in the second hour: an early recording from Hudson Valley band McEndree Spring, a set of songs from three Megalopolis bands[4], and a set of songs from the year 1966.
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Sea of Madness; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
*McEndree Spring: For What Was Gained; Second Thoughts 1970
*Love: Live & Let Live; Forever Changes 1967
Love: The Castle; Da Capo 1966
Love: Alone Again Or…; Forever Changes 1967
Love: She Comes in Colors; Da Capo 1966
Love: No. 14; Single (B side) 1966
*Moby Grape: The Lake; Grape Jam 1968
*Barbarians: Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl; Single (A side) 1965
Beacon Street Union: Speed Kills; The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union 1967
Circus Maximus: Bright Light Lovers; Circus Maximus 1967
*Jefferson Airplane: Tobacco Road; Takes Off 1966
Beatles: Drive My Car; Yesterday…and Today[5] 1966
Count Five: Psychotic Reaction; Single (A side) 1966
I did not include any of the original compositions that I use for theme music and instrumental beds in the playlist, as they are part of the backbone of the show and are not meant to be highlighted.
So there it is. Obviously it isn't the same as actually hearing the show (currently running from 1-3 AM GMT on Sunday mornings on weos.org), but it at least gives you some idea of what being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is all about.
Anyway, here’s the story. In order to get timing issues worked out (the pre-recorded version has to be recorded in segments that have to add up to 59 minutes per hour), I did a sample show the other day and saved it on the WEOS hard drive. Since that show will probably never actually air[1], I got to thinking that I could at least use it as a kind of audition for stations that might be considering adding Stuck in the Psychedelic Era to their schedule. Carrying that line of thinking a step further, it occurred to me that seeing the playlist posted might serve a similar purpose. Anyway, here’s hour #1. The asterisk (*) designates the first song in a playset. As you can see, set length varies a bit. In the second hour, in fact, there are two separate “sets” that each contain only one song. Hey, it’s my show and I can do that if I want to!
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Rolling Stones: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?; Single (A side) 1966
Amboy Dukes: Journey to the Center of the Mind; Single (A side) 1968
Uriah Heep: What Should Be Done; Look At Yourself 1971
*Paul Revere & the Raiders: In My Community; Spirit of ‘67 1966
Standells: Try It; Single (A side) 1967
Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’; Single (A side) 1967
Five Americans: I See the Light; Single (A side) 1966
Monkees: Star Collector; Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. 1967
*Otis Redding: Old Man Trouble; Single (B side) 1965
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Little Wing; Axis: Bold as Love 1967
*West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: In the Arena; Volume II 1967
Blues Magoos: Let’s Get Together; Electric Comic Book 1967
Traffic: Medicated Goo; Single (A side) 1968
*Joe Cocker: With a Little Help From My Friends; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
Of course, seeing the playlist posted is not quite the same as hearing the show itself. I tend to throw in little bits of trivia about the artists and/or the music as I go. For example, in the above hour I noted that Uriah Heep’s third album, Look At Yourself, was the last one released before their breakout hit album Demon’s and Wizards. I also pointed out that the Paul Revere and the Raiders cut was unusual in that regular lead vocalist Mark Lindsay stepped aside to let bassist Phil “Fang” Volker sing his own composition “In My Community.” Other bits of info include the fact that “Star Collector” is one of the first instances of a Moog synthesizer being used in a mainstream recording, “Let’s Get Together” is an old Jimmy Reed tune that was in vogue among garage bands in 1966, and that “Medicated Goo” was included on the post-breakup Traffic album Last Exit. I also threw in a rambling bit about how both Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix spent much of the early 60s playing the “Chitlin Circuit[3]”, paying their dues yet following separate paths that would eventually lead them both to the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967.
One thing I do on a fairly regular basis is to play an entire set from one particular artist or group. For the second hour of this sample I chose the popular Southern California club band Love. Most critics agree that Love would have been a much bigger success if they had not made the decision to forego touring in favor of staying close to where, in their opinion, the real action was: the L.A. strip, where they had replaced the Byrds as the house band at the famous Whiskey-a-Go-Go. For this set, I chose to alternate between Love’s second and third albums, with a non-album B side as a finisher. Also included in the second hour: an early recording from Hudson Valley band McEndree Spring, a set of songs from three Megalopolis bands[4], and a set of songs from the year 1966.
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Sea of Madness; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
*McEndree Spring: For What Was Gained; Second Thoughts 1970
*Love: Live & Let Live; Forever Changes 1967
Love: The Castle; Da Capo 1966
Love: Alone Again Or…; Forever Changes 1967
Love: She Comes in Colors; Da Capo 1966
Love: No. 14; Single (B side) 1966
*Moby Grape: The Lake; Grape Jam 1968
*Barbarians: Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl; Single (A side) 1965
Beacon Street Union: Speed Kills; The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union 1967
Circus Maximus: Bright Light Lovers; Circus Maximus 1967
*Jefferson Airplane: Tobacco Road; Takes Off 1966
Beatles: Drive My Car; Yesterday…and Today[5] 1966
Count Five: Psychotic Reaction; Single (A side) 1966
I did not include any of the original compositions that I use for theme music and instrumental beds in the playlist, as they are part of the backbone of the show and are not meant to be highlighted.
So there it is. Obviously it isn't the same as actually hearing the show (currently running from 1-3 AM GMT on Sunday mornings on weos.org), but it at least gives you some idea of what being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is all about.
[1] For one thing I ended up 30 seconds short for each hour. I told you there were timing issues to work out.
[2] There is no #2.
[3] Small clubs, mostly in the South, that catered to an almost exclusively black audience.
[4] Specifically from, in order: Cape Cod, Boston and New York’s Greenwich Village.
[5] “Drive My Car” was originally issued in Britain on the Rubber Soul album on the Parlophone label, but due to lack of space (and a Capitol Records policy of limiting albums to 12 songs, compared to Parlophone’s 14), was not included in the US release. Instead the LP Yesterday…and Today, available only in the US and including songs from the British release of Help as well as some non-LP singles was issued later the same year.
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