David Lynch Inspired Lego Art and Tony Ronald Asks For Help! - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Goji Berry"

This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM, featured a lot of garage rock that was more on the poppy side, followed by some moodier psych tracks towards the end. Sometimes it's fun to rock out to a whirlwind of emotions!

We kicked off this episode with a fun little ditty by Debbie Williams and The Unwritten Law named "Love Seems So Hard To Find." The song's intro is reminiscent of The Doors' "The End" or maybe even The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" before it quickly transitions into a thumping garage rock anthem. In addition to the dark introduction, you have a 14-year-old Debbie Williams singing lines such as: "Today, today he shot me down because I was tripping hard" with her country twang and higher pitched voice along with a somewhat intense fuzzed out guitar solo which adds to the song's uniqueness. The flip-side of the record, "Ask Me" is a little more straightforward, but highlights the strength of Williams' voice which makes me think of a younger and less gravely Wanda Jackson. 

From what I can find, it appears that Williams never recorded any other songs, which is a shame because I can only assume she would have gotten better with age. As for The Unwritten Law, they recorded at least one more single featuring the songs "This Whole World Is Blind" and "Actions Speak Louder." I'm somewhat surprised that The Unwritten Law didn't go on to record more, being that they seemed to have had the potential to write popular songs, but that's how things worked out for a lot of garage rock bands. You can find more info on the group from this article on Garage Hangover.

As the show went on you heard a Spanish and Dutch band known as Los Zooms perform their song "Give Me More." The band's international heritage comes from the fact that they were formed through singer/musician/producer Tony Ronald who was born in the Netherlands but settled in Spain. Ronald's musical career began after he formed a group known as Kroner's Duo with José Luis Bolívar. At the time, Spanish duo groups were gaining popularity due to the success of Dúo Dinámico, a pop group that frequently appeared in the Spanish charts. Unfortunately for Ronald and Bolívar, Kroner's Duo didn't find similar success. 

Tony Ronald's October 29th, 1971 appearance on Hits à gogo. Any info on that wild car?

However, Tony Ronald eventually stuck music gold with his international hit song "Help (Get me some Help)." Ronald recorded versions in Spanish and English while other artists recorded versions in French, Portuguese, Swedish, German, and Italian. The song is a fairly standard 70s pop song but for some reason it stood out to listeners around the world in ways that many of it's contemporaneous songs didn't.

Towards the halfway point of the show Paupers performed their song "Searching For Someone" and I talked a little bit about the history of their hometown Leavenworth, Kansas. Not only was Leavenworth the first city in Kansas, it also has a unique history as being a place that was initially established by members of the pro-slavery movement before quickly becoming an important part of abolitionism. 

Naomi Watts, as seen in this video.

Later on, you heard me talk about The Cutaways' hometown of Bellaire, Ohio but rather than delve into the town's past, I talked about the Bellaire Toy and Plastic Brick Museum which is supposedly one of the world's largest unofficial Lego sculpture museums. From the photographs and videos that I've seen, it appears that the museum is in a former school or government building and the exhibits range in scale and subject matter. Funny enough, if you watch Youtuber Daze with Jordan the Lion's video about his trip to the museum, you can spot a portrait of Naomi Watts based on her appearance in David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive. Now I desperately want to see some Lego artwork based on Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, or Eraserhead. Imagine that!

Anywho, that's everything from this episode! Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST or listen to an archived version of the show here. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In. 

You can check out this week's playlist below:

  

Debbie Williams and The Unwritten Law - Love Seems So Hard To Find
Terry Gordon and The Virtuals - Lucille
Deacons - You Can't Get There From Here
Paupers - Searching For Someone
Jerry Williams and The Epics - Tell Me What You See
The Chain Reaction - When I Needed You
The Carnabeats - As Long As There Is A Blue Sky

The Dirt Merchants, Bradley's Barn and Other Obscure Garage Rock! - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Seakale"

This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM featured a bunch of bands that aren't on Spotify so I had to dig a little deeper than usual to provide a playlist but luckily there are plenty of fine people on YouTube that are willing to share some of their collections.

Towards the beginning of the show, you heard The Dirt Merchants perform their song Do What You Wanta Do which appears as a B-side on their only release from 1966. The A-side is a song named I Found Another Girl which shares a lot of similarities to The Nightcrawlers' song The Little Black Egg. And by saying it shares a lot of similarities I mean, it's practically the same song, even down to the basslines with the differences coming from the lyrics and the chords used in the refrain. Perhaps someone was banking on the popularity of The Little Black Egg to rub off on The Dirt Merchants single, however, I would argue that the B-side is the stronger song of the two and would have made a better A-side. Unfortunately, both of the songs suffer from fairly generic lyrics along the lines of the typical "you did me wrong" song. If you are having a little déjà vu it might be because I recently wrote about The Little Black Egg on the episode Mizuna.

There were at least two different bands with The Dirt Merchants name and because there's little information on either band, it's easy to get them mixed up. The Dirt Merchants from this post appear to have been from Yazoo City, MS and featured Jack Phillips, Ricky Pettigrew (mislabeled R. Pettigraw on the single), John Brister, Kenny Waldop, and Charles Jackson. Jack Phillips, the singer of The Dirt Merchants (MS), continued to play music in various groups over the years with his most recent band being The Remnants until his passing on May 3, 2021. 

More information can be gleamed from the comment section of a Garage Hangover blog post about the Florida based Dirt Merchants. A commenter that identifies himself as Ricky Pettigrew's son states that The Dirt Merchants (MS) won a Battle of the Bands in New Orleans which awarded them a recording session at what he believes to have been Bradley's Barn. This is mostly likely how the band recorded their only single since it appears that they never had a record contract. Besides that, I haven't been able to find any other information on the group.

The name Bradley's Barn may be familiar to you because it's also the title of The Beau Brummels' fifth album which takes its name from the studio. It's a bit different from the band's earlier releases but it's worth listening to if you want to hear early releases in the country rock genre. There were a ton of great albums recorded at Bradley's Barn before it burned down in 1982 due to a florescent light's faulty electrical connection. Unfortunately many irreplaceable masters were completely destroyed in the fire. Eventually, I'd like the dive deeper into the history of Bradley's Barn, however, until then you can check out the Barn's official Facebook page.

Now I'll quickly go over some of the other topics I covered on this episode!

Following The Dirt Merchants, you heard a track by The Satans named Makin' Deals. There's a post on a blog named On The Flip-Side that makes a pretty solid argument that the group was probably just another studio project and that The Satans probably never existed in the true sense of a band. On The Flip-Side also makes a connection to biker exploitation soundtracks and points out how the B-side, Lines And Squares, swipes lyrics from an A.A. Milne poem with the same name. The poem features "satanic" lines such as: 

The sillies who tread on the lines of the street
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, "Bears,
Just look how I'm walking in all the squares!"

Later in the show you heard The Interns track I've Got Something To Say and I spoke a little about how the single suffered from mistakes during its production. Additionally, I touched on a little history of the band's hometown Uniontown, OH that's just outside of Akron, OH and is known for its proximity to a Superfund site.

That's about it for this episode! Be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In. 

You can check out this episode's playlist below:

 

The Catsanovas - I Want To Be Loved
The Dirt Merchants - Do What You Wanta Do
Half Pint And The Fifths - Orphan Boy
The Interns - I've Got Something To Say
The Madd, Inc. - I'll Be The One
Freedom Five - To Save My Soul
The Troyes - Rainbow Chaser
The Casuals Incorporated - I Realize
The Nite Watchmen - I'm Gonna Lose My Mind

Jesus, Aliens, and A Little Bit of Soul - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Pineapple Guava"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard a song by Merrell Fankhauser and (His Trusty) H.M.S. Bounty titled: Drivin' Sideways (On A One Way Street). The song features some fuzzy guitars and lighthearted psychedelic lyrics with a nice solid backing groove making it a fun cruising song that sounds like it'd fit on the soundtrack of an old biker flick. 

Prior to H.M.S. Bounty, Fankhauser started his musical career with The Impacts, a surf-band that released their first album Wipe Out in 1963. After The Impacts dissolved, Fankhauser started a group that could be described as teen pop, rock n roll, or garage rock with a group known as The Exiles. In the late '60s Fankhauser switched genres and released what I consider his best musical output with H.M.S. Bounty, an album titled Things! There's a re-released version of the album that came out in 1985 but I prefer the original version because it feels raw and appropriate for its time, whereas the '85 re-release feels like it was polished in a way to fit in with '80s standards and, funny enough, feels more dated to me. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it seems that there were also newer overdubs and editing that also take away from the original release.

Clip from Merrell Fankhauser's Alien Talk

Fankhauser's musical output changed quite a bit over the years as his interests in Hawaii, tikis, space travel, and alien life became more apparent. In the 80's Fankhauser's science fiction themes reached their peak with his 1986 album Message To The Universe. The album features drum machines, synths, and is a bit funkier. 

Eventually, Fankhauser began hosting radio and television shows which featured live performances from various artists on a stage built at his own home. There are some clips and episodes available on Fankhauser's YouTube channel, all of which have a public-access television feeling to them. If you want a more exhaustive look into Fankhauser's history I suggest checking out his interviews with It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine and Mark's Record Reviews or his official site.

As the show continued you heard Music Explosion's I See The Light. The band is considered a one hit wonder with their song A Little Bit of Soul being their claim to fame. Similarly, to other bands of the time, a big chunk of their work includes covers from various other garage groups. The band's drummer, Bob Avery, went on to work with another group, Crazy Elephant, which also had a single hit with their song Gimme, Gimmie, Good Lovin' in 1969. 

Image from Biblewalk's official website

While researching Music Explosion I stumbled upon an unusual wax museum located in their hometown Mansfield, Ohio named Biblewalk. Like many other religious museums, Biblewalk features dioramas based on scenes from the bible featuring narration and stage lighting. However, what's most peculiar about this museum is the fact that most, if not all, of the wax figures have been repurposed from other museums. Despite the museum's attempts to mask the wax figures' origins, visitors with sharp eyes can spot various famous actors and musicians throughout history. If you are interested in Biblewalk but can't make it to Mansfield, check out this video by The Carpetbagger where he explores the museum's highlights.

Anywho, that's about it for this episode's summary. Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In. 

You can check out this week's playlist below:

 

The Elois - By My Side
Chosen Few From St Michaels - Get In On Life
The Hazards - Tinted Green