Lindsey Troy Post-Deap Vally, Rumi Koyama, and The Who - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Red Pontiac Potato"

This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM featured a ton of garage rock classics and a couple newer tunes by Christina Jean & The Howlers and Lindsey Troy.

You might remember Lindsey Troy from an interview I conducted with her band Deap Vally back in November of 2023. Now that Deap Vally has called it quits, Troy is going the solo route with an upcoming album she has recorded at home with vintage analogue equipment. So far she's released a couple singles: Love Is Deeper and I've Seen the Willow Trees, which you heard at the end of the show. Lyrically, both songs are reminiscent of confessional poetry and musically it's a strong departure from the hard hitting and straight forward blues influenced rock of Deap Vally. 

As for Christina Jean & The Howlers, you heard their song She Garbage, from their latest EP Get Trashed w/ The Howlers. The EP is full of buzzsaw fuzz and drippy reverb and overall, the band has a Cramps vibe, specifically around the Psychedelic Jungle era. It seems like they perform live quite often so if you like what you hear, check out their Instagram page and catch them live.

The first song of the night was The Kids Are Alright by The Who and although I typically lean towards the obscure side of rock, I go through stages in life where I listen to this song almost on repeat. I mentioned on the show that although there's a million covers of the song, I particularly like The Calamities' adaptation from their self-titled LP released in 1984 (In their home country France the album was also titled À Bride Abattue). The whole album is sweet pop-punk mix of covers and originals which is sometimes lumped in with the genre Twee-Pop. As time went on, the band became more polished and lost their punk-ish edge but if you're a fan of bands like Shonen Knife or The Shitbirds, you'll probably like their first release.

Rumi Koyama wearing an Endless Summer shirt in the 1969 film Me and My Siamese cat 

Towards the middle of the show you heard a song performed by Rumi Koyama named Watashino Inori. Koyama's music sounds like yé-yé at times with hints of GS music but most of her output consists of covers and sounds like the typical early '70s pop that dominated Japanese music charts at the time. From what I can tell through poorly auto-translated forums, YouTube comments, and various semi-dead leads, Koyama was poised to be the trifecta of a popular singer, actress, and model but for whatever reasons she only received moderate attention. According to her Wikipedia page, Koyama eventually left Japan for Los Angeles where she found a husband and left the entertainment business. There are very few clips from the movies she appeared in (including this scene where she sings The Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On, in the style of Vanilla Fudge's cover) but I've struggled to find full versions of her films. Maybe the clips are the full extent of her acting?  

Anywho that's it for 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.

Check out this week's playlist below:

  

The Bad Seeds - A Taste of The Same
The Others - I Can't Stand This Love, Goodbye
The Kandells - I Want You To Know
Blox - Hangin' Out
Rumi Koyama - Watashino Inori
The Pandas - Walk
Silk Winged Alliance - Flashback
Yanti Bersaudara - Pohon Kenari
The Ban - Bye Bye
The Tuesday Club - Only Human
Danny and The Counts - Ode To The Wind
The Arondies - All My Love
Phil and Harv - Darling

Pulled From The Crowd, Scot Halpin Drums With The Who - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Pawpaw"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard Daybreakers play their song Psychedelic Siren and I spoke a little bit about their hometown Muscatine, Iowa. Located in Eastern Central Iowa, the city was formerly known for its busy river port on the mighty Mississippi River. Although the port isn't as busy today, there are still plenty of things to check out in Muscatine. One such attraction is the Muscatine Art Center, which is located in the former Musser Mansion and serves as both a local history museum and a place for artistic expression. One of the highlights of the museum is The Mississippi River Collection which contains various artworks related to the history of the Mississippi River. The museum also appears to have a rotating collection of more modern works pertaining to the environmental and social issues of the area.

Scot and The Who

 

However, when it comes to musical exports, Muscatine is known as the hometown of Scot Halpin, a man that was famously pulled from the audience during a performance by The Who after drummer Keith Moon passed out on stage. The circumstances leading to the situation almost sound like an unlikely work of fiction. Our hero in this story, Scot, was visiting a friend in California when he heard that The Who's first concert in the US was going to be at the nearby Cow Palace in Daly City. Because Scot's buddy only had one ticket to the concert the pair had to show up early and find someone willing to scalp a ticket. After the pair procured a ticket, they made their way to the front of the stage where they eventually noticed a distraught and disorderly Keith Moon losing consciousness multiple times. Scot's pal pushed Scot to the side stage where he was spotted by promoter Bill Graham.

"Graham looked straight at me and said, ’Can you play?’ Next thing I knew Bill Graham took me backstage and turned me over to the drum roadie who sort of prepped me as to the drum setup."

Serendipity at its finest!

You can read more about the incident, along with Scot's recollections, on the Drum Magazine website and there happens to be a video of the event as well. The craziest part of the whole story is that Halpin considered himself more of a stringed instrument guy than a drummer yet he was able to perform on stage in front of a large crowd with zero preparation. Wild stuff.

 

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

Pseudos - Back Door Man Bites The Dust
Akiko Nakamura and The Jaguars - Rainbow-Colored Lake
The Derby-Hatville - Scorched Sand