Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Mustard Greens"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I was feeling a little under the weather so I didn't speak much and let the music do the talking. Here's a quick breakdown of the things I mentioned on the show.

• First thing I talked about was a mysterious band named The Squires. The band name is fairly generic, which didn't help my research much, but I did find them on a 2007 compilation named So Cold!!! (Unearthed Mid 60s Sacramento Garage). If we trust the title of the compilation, I guess it's fairly safe to assume they are from Sacramento (I know. A brilliant observation on my part).  If the name sounds familiar you might be thinking of another band named The Squires which I played on the episode name "Jackfruit." They were from Bristol, Connecticut and the song I played is Go Ahead.
  
• The next band I spoke about was from Norwalk, CA and took their name from Link Wray's most popular song Rumble. The Rumblers released quite a few singles with Downey and Dot Records but a lot of their history is incomplete due to the fact that most of it was written on a fan-made Myspace profile and Myspace stupidly removed all blog posts back in 2013. That's not to say all is lost though because the band has an official Facebook page which occasionally posts about the band's history including a story where Dick Dale, during one of the band's sets at Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA, rode a skateboard across the stage.
• Later in the show you heard a song by Dino, Desi, & Billy which was comprised of Dean Martin's son Dino, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's son Desi, and their grade-school buddy Billy Hinsche who is also known for his work with the Beach Boys. Because the band was mostly made up of sons of famous recording artists, critics have argued that their success was due to the contributions of session musicians and studio songwriters. The fact that they were even signed to a major record label at all is often seen as a sign of nepotism rather than a reflection of the boy's talent. In an old biography on All Music, rock critic Richie Unterberger contends that: "bands like Dino, Desi & Billy took away valuable air time and sales from much better groups that really needed it, in an era in which chart considerations were much more vital to ensure an ongoing career." Take that as you will. For a little more insight into the group check out this old article with Billy Hinsche (who sadly passed away this year) on Classic Bands website.
  
• As the show went on you heard The Legends play their song Alright but the band's best known song is their cover of Gene Vincent's Say Mama which, to me, sounds heavily inspired by Buddy Holly. 

 

Some beautiful 90s special effects in Brooks and Dunn's Music video for My Maria

• And finally, I talked a little bit about The Plymouth Rockers, which was a band featuring brothers Daniel and Matthew Moore. Daniel had a few massive hits with his song Shambala, made popular by Three Dog Night, and a song he co-wrote with B. W. Stevenson, My Maria which I know from the 1996 version by Brooks and Dunn. As kids we heard the song practically non-stop on our local country radio station. You gotta love their cheese ball music video for the song!

That's about it folks! Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm or through KUCR.org! If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

The Plymouth Rockers - Don't Say Why
Lords - She Belongs To Me

Let's Laugh at The Beatles - Beatles Novelty Records - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Cherry"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I played a strange Beatles inspired song, I'll Let You Hold My Hand, by an all-female group named The Bootles. I say "an all-female group" but in reality, I couldn't find any real solid information on the group beyond photos from their singles and their appearance on the cover of Girls In The Garage: Volume 2.

The Bootles!

 

The band's gimmick appears to be that they wore wacky boots and if their sole single had been more successful, I'm sure their shtick would've been developed further. Imagine all the strange boots they could've worn! However, the world wasn't so lucky and the band fell into obscurity. What we do know is, their single was released on GNP Crescendo with the publisher credit being assigned to Neil Music Inc. The song itself was written by Chet De Milo and Mark Wiley who also worked together on the Eartha Kitt song No Second Chance, which appears to be difficult to track down as well. On the show I mentioned that I couldn't find any American releases of the single but upon further investigation I did find one listing on Discogs. Most versions of the single I found were released in Europe with covers that say something along the lines of the song being: "America's response to The Beatles." Of course, if you hadn't already figured it out, the song is a reference to The Beatles' biggest hit in America at the time, I Want To Hold Your Hand. If you'd like to dive deeper into De Milo's musical career I suggest you check out his unusual soft rock group Soft Soul Transition, aka SST (not to be confused with the another SST) and, since I mentioned Eartha Kitt, you should listen to her cover of one of my favorite Donovan songs Wear Your Love Like Heaven.

Continuing on with the Beatles theme, I had suggested during the show that you check out the compilation Beatlemaniacs!!!: The World Of Beatles Novelty Records which features a bunch of songs that attempted to cash in on Beatlemania. Most of the songs are fairly straightforward and honestly, a little forgettable, but it's a fun glimpse into The Beatles' massive cultural impact. My favorite track on the album is Link Wray's instrumental cover of Please Please Me, which is the only song on the album I could see myself listening to regularly. Probably because it's not really a novelty song. The other highlights of the album are The Fondettes The Beatles Are In Town, The Beatleettes Only Seventeen, Rainbo's John You Went Too Far This Time, and Terry Knight's Saint Paul. 

John You Went Too Far This Time is a stand out track on the album because its singer, Rainbo, is best known today as the actress Sissy Spacek (Carrie, JFK, The Help). Before acting, Spacek initially pursued a singing career which apparently died after this release. If you are familiar with Spacek's acting career you may have already heard her sing during her performance in the Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner's Daughter. As for the song itself, well, it's quite a doozy. The song is strangely over produced with kitschy strings and horns behind lyrics that describe a young fan's infatuation with John Lennon. Eventually, the young fan explains how Lennon has gone "too far" as she reveals her disappointment over "that picture" which is probably a reference to the cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins.

Now I gaze in awe before that picture. 

My mind retires to the place it was before you came. 

I love the things you showed me up 'til now, John. 

But since that picture, I don't think my love will be the same.

At the time the cover sparked quite a bit of controversy due to its fully nude depiction of Lennon and Yoko. Famously, the cover was shipped with brown paper covers that censored the offending image and there were reports that shipments to New Jersey were ceased by authorities. 

 

The Beatles as seen in The Ten Commandments - Revisited by Max Brandel in Mad Magazine

 

Of course, Lennon had also previously caused controversy in the US after an interview where Lennon compared The Beatles' success to Christianity and Jesus' disciples. John You Went Too Far This Time alludes to this incident with the lyrics: "You were something special when you said, John, that you had more disciples than the man who was too green." I was surprised that hear that the incident was reduced to such a throwaway line but I guess the writers found genitals more offensive than blasphemy. Overall, the song feels a bit hokey and strangely prudish but it's definitely an interesting look into the social values some people held in the late '60s. 

I'll definitely be revisiting Beatles novelty songs in the future but for now I'd like to say thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm or through KUCR.org! If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In. 

Also, I'd like to give a special shout-out to the O.H. (original hippie) Hippie Harmonica Hal. Hal wrote in to share his appreciation of college radio and it really made my day. Thanks for the kind words, Hal!

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

Tasmanians - Baby

Del Shannon - Beyond Runaway - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Collard Greens"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard a real groover by Del Shannon titled Move It Over. The song has a similar feel to Ray Charles's What I'd Say and Sir Douglas Quintet's She's About a Mover, so be sure to check it out if you dig those songs. 

Although most people know Shannon from his song Runaway, he had a fairly expansive discography which ranged from country to sunshine pop and soft rock. If you feel like taking a deep dive into Shannon's work, I suggest listening to his dreamy pop album Home and Away which flirts with psychedelia and sounds completely at odds with much of his earlier output. The story goes that Shannon was on tour in the UK when he met Andrew Loog Oldham, a producer that most famously worked with The Rolling Stones. Oldham had heard Shannon's cover of The Rolling Stone's Under My Thumb and liked it so much that he asked to produce an album for Shannon. A few singles from the session were released to disappointing sells figures, leading to the album being shelved for quite some time. One of the strangest, but most interesting, tracks on the album is a re-imagining of Shannon's top hit Runaway, this time titled Runaway '67.

If you'd like to continue your Del Shannon exploration, I'd suggest you also listen to Shannon's 1981 album Drop Down and Get Me which was produced by Tom Petty and features Petty's backing band The Heartbreakers. If you are a fan of Petty's, this album is especially worth listening to because many of the tracks sound like outtakes from Tom Petty and The Heartbreaker's own album Damn the Torpedoes, especially the title track Drop Down and Get Me and, another Rolling Stones cover, Out of Time. 

Shannon worked with Petty and The Heartbreakers again on his album Rock On! which features songs that I'd argue are written better than Drop Down but suffer from worse production values. Imagine Roy Orbison's 1989 album Mystery Girl but with worse sounding gated and compressed 80s drums. A particularly bad example is the opening track Walk Away where the drums sound like they were lifted straight from a Casio keyboard. Perhaps one day someone might be able to tweak the album and make it more palatable to modern ears but I doubt it.

Anywho, before I finish this post, I'd like to quickly suggest you check out the punk compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans which features songs by DOA, Dead Kennedys, and Flipper. I briefly mentioned the compilation after you heard The Jelly Bean Bandits play their song Tapestries. The compilation has been out of print for some time now and features an alternative version of Black Flag's Police Story as well as some other rarely heard treats!

Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm or through KUCR.org! If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

The Sands - Open Your Eyes
The Chob - We're Pretty Quick
The T-Bones - Paint It Black
Crystal Chandelier - Setting of Despair

Food Rock Radio Special - The Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show

This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM was based on everyone's favorite essential aspect of life... FOOD! Yes, every song you heard on this episode was based on, or related to food, even the background songs. 

I didn't speak too much on this episode but I did mention a few things about potatoes (then again, when am I NOT talking about potatoes). 

Did you know that Americans eat over 115 pounds of potatoes a year with most of those potatoes enjoyed as French fries and potato chips? Speaking of French fries, there are arguments about whether or not France or Belgium can claim to be the origin of the salty side dish which is ironic because at one time France actually banned potatoes over fears that the vegetable could cause leprosy. 

One of my favorite ways to prepare potatoes is by mashing them but mashed potatoes are actually a younger dish than I had imagined. The timeless classic was first documented in the 18th-century by an English writer named Hannah Glasse in her book: The Virginia Housewife: Or Methodical Cook. If you aren't accustomed to reading old recipes you'll notice how simple Glasse's directions are compared to the sorts of modern recipes you may be used to:

POTATOES MASHED.

 
When the potatoes are thoroughly boiled, drain and dry them perfectly, pick out every speck, and rub them through a colander into a clean stew-pan; to a pound of potatoes put half an ounce of butter, and a tablespoonful of milk; do not make them too moist; mix them well together. When the potatoes are get- ting old and specked, and in frosty weather, this is the best way of dressing them you may put them into shapes, touch them over with yelk of egg, and brown them very slightly before a slow fire.

 

And for my final potato fact, I had mentioned that the stacked potato-based product, Pringles, aren't considered potato chips due to the way they are constructed by using a sort of potato dough. At first Pringles were marketed as "Newfangled Potato Chips" before other potato chip manufacturers argued that the potato chip term should only be applied to sliced potatoes with the FDA eventually making a similar distinction. In the year 2007, Procter & Gamble (the previous makers of Pringles) embraced their non-potato chip distinction when they argued in British courts that Pringles should not be classified as chips in order to avoid a tax known as a value added tax (VAT). You gotta love those silly global corporations! Funny enough, I think this episode had more potato facts than my episode named Potato. Check out that episode's playlist here.

As for the other foods I talked about, I spoke about a few candies such as the gum drop, which has a convoluted and mysterious history and the discontinued Altoids Sour Tangerine. I used to love Sour Tangerine Altoids and, like a lot of other people, I had assumed the candy would be around forever. Old expired cans can fetch a pretty penny on the used market but there is a company in Tallahassee, FL named Lofty Pursuits which has reversed engineered the candy and developed a small-scale approach to recreating the treat. If that's the sort of thing you are into, then you can follow along as the company documents their manufacturing process on their YouTube channel. It's really neat watching the process evolve over time as the product becomes commercially available.

Anywho, thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm or through KUCR.org! If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

The Gum Drops - Gum Drop
Sixth Day Creation - Cherry Pie
Shadow Casters - Cinnamon Snowflake
Johnny Cymbal - Marshmellow

The backing tracks used in this episode were:

  Intruders - Fried Eggs
Dick Dale and His Del-tones - Taco Wagon
The Ventures - Green Onions
Beachcombers - Purple Peanuts

Alice Cooper, Dalí, Mushrooms, and Garage Rock Tunes - The Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Clementine"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I was having one of those nights where my brain was bouncing all over the place. Perhaps my mind is twisted from this unusual weather with temperatures still in the mid to high 80s or maybe I'm still trying to cope with the fact that another Halloween season has come and gone and all I got was a bag full of rocks. Either way, let's take those rocks and roll into the topics I covered on this episode (please don't hate me).

The first thing I blabbed on about were two of my favorite mushrooms, which I call my favorite purely for their unusual beauty. The conversation about mushrooms came up because the first song of the night was Hugh Barrett's cover of Terry Noland's song There Was a Fungus Among Us. While I think Noland's version is worth checking out too, I prefer Barrett's cover because it has a grittier edge which I think suits the topic of the song a little better.

Photo by Darvin DeShazer from Mushroom Observer

Anywho, the first mushroom is known by many names with Bleeding Tooth being the most descriptive. When the fungus is immature it has the appearance of used chewing gum with indentations that hold onto a red liquid that is reminiscent of jelly or blood. Despite the spooky name and unappetizing nature, the mushroom is non-toxic and actually contains Atromentin which is known for it's antibacterial and blood thinning properties. I won't pretend that I know how the Atromentin is extracted from the fungus but I doubt you should go around eating them for any sort of medicinal reasons, especially since the mushroom is known for having an extremely bitter taste. 

Basket Stinkhorn

Secondly, I mentioned the foul-smelling Basket Stinkhorn which has an egg-like appearance until it matures into a strange geometric shape that reminds me of chicken feet from heck. Unlike the Bleeding Tooth, a mature Basket Stinkhorn isn't considered harmless although flies certainly love it, which most definitely means that even if you can get past the awful smell, eating a mature Stinkhorn is probably a big no-no.

 

Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain as seen in this video

As the show continued, I played a song by a Phoenix, Arizona garage rock band named Spiders who were previously known as The Earwigs but more famously transformed into Alice Cooper. There's plenty of things to say about Alice Cooper, both the band and the man (they both share the same name), but what I chose to focus on in this episode was the time Salvador Dalí teamed up with Alice Cooper (the man) for an unusual portrait. In 1971 Dalí was contacted by an artist/businessman named Selwyn Lissack about the possibility of Dalí exploring the field of holography. Dalí eventually collaborated with Lissack and his crew by creating a series of holograms including a holographic cylinder which featured a portrait of Alice Cooper sitting down while holding a modified statuette of Venus de Milo, complete with his signature makeup and an assortment of expensive jewelry. Although the audio is a little spotty, you can hear Cooper recall the portrait during a Q&A session at The Dalí Museum back in 2013. 

Finally, to round out this post I'll quickly go over some other random things I touched upon throughout the show. You heard The Palace Guard's song Oh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight) and I mentioned that they were from the L.A. suburb Hawthorne, which was also the hometown of both The Beach Boys and Tyler The Creator. Another song I played was The Scots of St. James' Tic Toc which led me to recommend a short story by Harlan Ellison named "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman. You heard a fun tune by The Rats, who were a garage rock group from Akron, Ohio which some call the home of the hamburger due to claims by Frank and Charles Menches that they originated the staple American classic at Akron's 1892 Summit County Fair. However, Akron is probably most famous for their vast rubber production and their minor league baseball team, the RubberDucks. Lastly, you heard a song by The Nashville Teens who were surprisingly from a town in Surrey, England named Weybridge. Weybridge has a lovely bus museum nearby (The London Bus Museum) which features a wide variety of buses over the span of 150 years. From everything I've seen online, it sort of reminds me of the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA, which I highly recommend if you are in the Riverside area.

Thanks for tuning in! Remember, you can listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM or through KUCR.org every Saturday at 9pm. If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

You can hear this episode's playlist below:

 

Hugh Barrett - There Was A Fungus Among Us
The Palace Guard - Oh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight)
The Systems - Su un'altra terra
The Roosters - She Sends Me 
The Mummies - Your Love
Thee Headcoatees - Davey Crockett

Halloween Radio Special - 50s-70s Rock and Roll, Garage, and Novelty Songs

This Sunday at midnight on KUCR 88.3 FM is the Hippie Love Turbo Halloween Special! Be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM or through KUCR.org. If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

Just like last year's Halloween Special, I kept the talking to a minimum so we can all just enjoy the creepy tunes, however, that's not to say I didn't speak just a little. 

The first song on this episode is Gary Paxton's Spooky Movies and I mentioned that country guitar shredder, Roy Clark, performed his own version of Spooky Movies in 1963. Fans of Stranger Things might recognize Paxton's version from the first episode of the second season of Stranger Things. 

Later in the episode there's a rare song by The Daringers called The Morgus Creep and, Although the band was around for a few years, The Daringers only recorded one single which happened to be with a television horror host, Morgus the Magnificent. The band remained fairly unknown throughout the years until another blogger and radio host named Hunter King spoke with The Daringers' drummer. A couple years after the single's release Morgus starred in a somewhat obscure full length movie named The Wacky World of Dr Morgus.

And finally, towards the halfway point of the show I spoke about the Winchester Mystery House which is located in San Jose, California. The house is known for its unusual architecture which includes a door to nowhere, staircases that lead to dead ends, and various other peculiarities. The myth goes that the house was built to confuse ghosts and spirits that haunted the estate's owner, Sarah Winchester. Mrs.Winchester's husband, William Winchester, was the man behind some of the most popular rifles ever produced and Sarah was supposedly convinced that the spirits of those that were killed by Winchester's rifles would haunt her if she didn't expand and renovate her mansion. Much of the house's history has been embellished over the years so sometimes it's hard to separate the facts from the fiction. Regardless, many have claimed that they've seen apparitions at the mansion and such stories, along with various works of fiction, have added to the home's mystique.

Thanks for tuning in this week! You can check out this episode's playlist below:

 

The Bells Of Rhymny - The Wicked Old Witch 

 And below are the songs used as backing tracks during the speaking bits:

The Skeltons - Terror
Henry Mancini - Experiment in Terror
Pat and the Wildcats - The Giggler
The Ventures - Fear

Partying and Experimenting with Crisco - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Bok Choy"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I mentioned an experiment that my elementary school teacher performed with us in 2nd grade that involved Crisco and ice water. During the experiment the class took turns placing our hands in some ice water to see how long we could handle it. After the students agreed that it uncomfortably cold (duh) our teacher brought out a bag full of Crisco, with another bag acting as a glove, and we tried the experiment again. This time around the Crisco, which served as an analog to blubber, made the ice more bearable. Eventually, our teacher turned the experiment into a competition to see who could hold their hand in the water longer, a Crisco gloved student or someone that was bare handed. Of course, the teacher chose a headstrong show-off as the bare handed participant and he held his hand in the water until it turned blue. Even as a kid I realized that it was a bad idea on my teacher's part but ultimately, I recognize the power of the experiment because I still remember it to this day. In fact, the experiment must have been a hit for many people as I see the lesson is still suggested, in various forms, to this day and more than likely, it was performed well before my time too.

Recently, the experiment was brought back from the dusty shelves of my mind when I listened to George Washington and The Cherrybombs song Crisco Party. What's a Crisco party? It's a sort of slippery dance party where everyone coats their bodies in what's essentially shortening made from vegetable oil. 

Well, all you need is a lot of Crisco and some girls and boys.
Well, when you get to that party throw your hands up for joy.
I like Crisco Party. He likes Crisco party. Everybody grease up now.

If I put my tin foil hat on for a second, it almost seems like the song was a sort of sly advertisement for the brand. In fact, Crisco was famous for its aggressive ad campaigns which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in between 1911-1915 and included cookbooks which were given away for free and listed Crisco as an essential ingredient. Even before that, Crisco was known for encouraging people to trust the brand and not worry about which ingredients were included in the product. Hmmmm. Suspicious. Then again, sometimes you just write about what you like, even if it can be construed as free advertising. 

Images from whatevernot and Temple Garden Ballroom

 

                                                                                                                                                           Changing topics from Crisco now, I had mentioned in the show that there isn't a ton of info on one of the bands I played named The White Nights besides that they come from Regina, Saskatchewan and that they recorded a couple singles on Gaiety Records. While doing some research I found out that early on the band had a gimmick where they wore all white and even had their hair bleached white as well. Gimmicks weren't uncommon in rock music back then but they feel so quaint compared to some of the stuff we see today. Anywho, I talked about how the existing pictures of the band were neat so I've included them above. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm or through KUCR.org! If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

You can listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

The Mods - I Give You An Inch (And You Take A Mile)
Los Texao - Swlabr

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

Fred Flintstone, The Beau Brummels, and Jimmy O'Neill! - The Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Leek"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I didn't have much to talk about because most of the bands I played on this episode were fairly obscure. When you start to dive into the history of a lot of these bands, especially if you've pulled the tracks from various compilations, you begin to see patterns. Sometimes they only released one single or the "band" was actually just a bunch of studio musicians, for some reason the musicians worked under a pseudonym or maybe their name was so generic they got lost among all the other generically named bands, or they were simply a regional group that self-released and didn't get any national recognition. Regardless, a lot of these artists either don't really care anymore about a small band from their teens, they have no real presence on the internet, or frankly, they've died. Such is life. 

However, that's not to say everything I played on this episode was obscure. For example, you heard a song by The Critters and they had a few top hits during the late '60s including their most famous song Mr. Dieingly Sad. Later on, we ended the episode with The Jarmels' hit A Little Bit of Soap which was so popular that several cover versions also charted well. Garnet Mimms' version peaked at #95 on the Billboard charts, Paul Davis reached #52, and Nigel Olsson broke the top ten at #9. Of course, the version which most appeals to me the most is Daniel Johnston's Lo-Fi take on his album Respect. 

But if we're talking about popularity, you can't get much more popular than The Flintstones were in 1965. On episode 16 of season 6, Shinrock-A-Go-Go, you might recognize a tune by The Beau Brummels... (or should I say The Beau Brummelstones) Laugh Laugh. An animated version of the band plays the song several times on a parody version of the musical variety show Shindig! named Shinrock. 

The episode's main story line revolves around Fred Flintstone inadvertently creating several popular dance crazes including the "Flintstone Flop". However, what's most interesting about the episode is the lighthearted parodies of rock and roll tropes and the popular teen culture of the time with Shinrock's host, Jimmy O'Neillstone, who was voiced by the actual host of Shindig!, Jimmy O'Neill (clever?). The episode is worth checking out if you are a fan of music variety shows from that time period and as of writing this you can find the episode streaming for free on Tubi. Just watch out for Jimmy O'Neillstone's bizarre face which is too realistic for the Flintstones' aesthetic.

Yikes.

 

This episode's playlist can be found below:

 

Psycho - You Need Me
Crucibles - You Know I Do
Motion - The Thief
The Critters - No One But You

Bo diddley Flies Beyond The Black Rainbow - Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Tomato"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard Bo Diddley play his song Aztec and I spoke a little about Diddley's love for strange guitars. When Diddley first started playing guitar he didn't have the funds to buy a real guitar so, as the famous story goes, Diddley made his first electric guitar by scrounging together parts including a pickup designed from an old Victrola record player's electronics. As time went on, Bo's early guitar building continued to inspire the designs of his many custom guitars with the most popular designs being produced by Gretsch. 

Bo Diddley live and on the covers of Have Guitar, Will Travel and Bo Diddley Is A... Lover

 

Some of Diddley's stranger guitars included built in effects, equalizers, synths, and featured wild shapes that, if we are being honest, looked like chopped up coffee tables. All that being said, Diddley was a great showman and his guitars reflected his innovative personality.

Later in the show you heard this week's far out movie recommendation; the 2010 psychological horror film Beyond the Black Rainbow! The film follows Dr. Barry Nyle, the lead researcher of an experimental new age facility which melds science and spirituality, and his mysterious captive test subject Elena. As the film progresses you are given short glimpses into the history of the facility and the roles Dr. Nyle and Elena play in the motivations behind its creation. Beyond the Black Rainbow is a fairly slow burn that bombards your senses with deep saturated colors and an ever-present droning soundtrack, however, the film lacks the usual hand-holding exposition dumps found in other science fiction horror films which leads the viewer to constantly question what will happen next. 

Red and Moody

 

Firstly, what I like about the movie is the sensory overload and claustrophobic closeups which are contrasted with the sprawling facility. The most obvious visual comparisons are to 2001: A Space Odyssey and THX-1138 but there are also scenes that remind me of the experimental horror film Begotten and during the later sections in the film, 80s slasher films such as the original Friday the 13th. Because the film had a fairly lean budget for its high cinematic aspirations, there are times that the abundance of tight shots and highly saturated lighting choices feel as though they aren't simply aesthetic choices but also practical ones. As you may know, the use of closeups and darkness can help conceal the lack of big budget set pieces. I wouldn't necessarily say that it negatively affects the film but I know there are probably people out there that would be turned off by such things.

Secondly, the soundtrack and ambient soundscapes in the film are relentless. There's hardly ever a moment of silence throughout the entire movie which is reminiscent of films like Eraserhead, or once again, Begotten, except with there's more synthesizer droning à la 80s John Carpenter. Some may find the soundtrack distracting but I really dug the way it built tension and if you are willing to watch this movie at a fairly decent volume, I feel that the soundtrack becomes an integral part of the setting. In fact, I'd even go so far to say that at times the soundtrack made me feel as though I should've been watching this film on VHS through an old CRT. 

However, and to me it's a big however, Beyond the Black Rainbow drops the ball at its conclusion. With a movie that's such a slow burn you need some sort of payoff at the end and instead the film subverts this expectation with a fairly abrupt and underwhelming ending. I could say that it was a fairly brave move but it comes off as hasty and rushed. I've seen other internet dweebs (besides myself) complain that the slasher-esque sequences felt out of place but my ultimate gripe would be that the film's ending doesn't follow the same pace as the rest of the film. I am completely okay with unexpected endings, in fact I usually find them refreshing, but I feel that the movie needed to give more attention towards what became of the telekinetically powered Elena. I'd rather not spoil the film for you so sorry if that's all a little vague.

 

 

If you like trippy movies like Altered States or heady 80s low budget horror then you'll probably find the movie worth your time, especially if you have a passing interest or appreciation of the dark side of New Age aesthetics. 

That's it for this episode! You can catch the next episode by tuning your radio into KUCR 88.3FM on Sundays at midnight or through KUCR.org! If you'd like you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In. As always, you also listen to this episode's playlist below:

 

Checking Out Some Washington Bands on The Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Celery"

Hey there buddy, did you happen to catch this week's episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM? Well, here's a bit of a summary of some of the things I talked about.

Sometimes these patterns form when you are putting a show together and you don't even realize it and this week, I ended up played a few bands from Washington. First you heard The Dimensions song Knock You Flat and I said that the band was from South Seattle. While researching the band I came upon a website that briefly mentioned that the band often played at a roller rink named the Lake Hills Roller Rink. As it turns out, the Lake Hills Roller Rink was somewhat of a cultural hub in the Bellevue's Crossroads area and maintained an active music scene well into the 80s where the musical focus shifted from garage rock, to psychedelic, and eventually heavy metal. The scene was started by KJR-AM (sadly a sports talk station now) DJ Pat O'Day who spoke a bit about the roller rink in 2018.

The next Washington band you heard was The Bandits, who came from Mercer Island, Washington, which is a short distance southwest from Bellevue. Mercer Island is known for being a more affluent region of the Seattle metropolitan area and, as is the case with most "well off" neighborhoods, it's a bit harder to find anything interesting culturally beyond real estate, shopping centers, or country clubs. However, for fans of public art, the island has a bunch of outdoor sculptures such as: the punny named Handsome Bollards at Luther Burbank Park which are aluminum hands that act as bollards, an oversized bronze rabbit which has a child leaned against it while reading a book named Between Two Worlds, and Kenton’s Dragon, a giant steel and concrete playground equipment dragon that replaced a similarly shaped sculpture that was also designed by Kenton Pies in 1965. 

Wrapping up the Washington bands, you also heard I'm Walkin' Babe by the Bellingham band The Unusuals. Bellingham has had a diverse music scene throughout the years but, without a doubt, the most famous band to come from Bellingham is Death Cab for Cutie which you may recognize from a cover of their song I Will Follow You into the Dark that you heard at your local coffee shop's open mic. If Death Cab isn't quite your musical style of choice and you dig bands like Pavement, Sebadoh, or Built To Spill you should check out a short-lived band from Bellingham named Crayon and more specifically their only full-length album Brick Factory. However, if you'd like to stick with a garage rock sound then I suggest listening to Mono Men's 1994 album Sin & Tonic. It's definitely more a product of the 90s than the bands you usually hear on the show but I feel like those types of bands also have their time and place. You can hear Mono Men briefly talk about hazardous bubbles which floated through Bellingham in the definitive documentary about grunge music, HYPE! (1996).

Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen to the show on KUCR 88.3FM on Sundays at midnight or through KUCR.org! If you'd like you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.

Enjoy this episode's playlist below:

 

Adam's Recital - There's No Place For Lonely People
The Mysteries - Please Agree
Apollos - That's The Breaks
Research 1-6-12 - I Don't Walk There No More
Trespassers - Come With Me
The Spirits - So Sad
The Composers - I Had A Dream Last Night