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Radioactive!

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Mixes and masters.
Mixes and masters.

Friends, some of you may be familiar with Radioactive, an LP released on the Big Sound label in 1978 by Roger C. Reale and Rue Morgue. Think Power Pop with an emphasis on the Power. Roger on bass/vocals and the fierce alchemy of Hilly Michaels on drums and G.E. Smith on guitar. The LP got ace reviews, releases in the UK and Japan, and that momentum brought Roger back to the studio to start in on a second second LP. Roger’s next batch of songs were stronger than his first, and the songs were matched with equally impressive guitar work by Mick Ronson (yep, THAT Mick Ronson) and the great Jimmy McAllister (Sparks, The Beckies, re-formed Left Banke). Momentum is a funny business though, and the album was never released.
Some years ago (does 2004 count as some years?) I started trying to make a CD reissue of Radioactive happen, not even realizing that there was an unreleased LP in the can. More than some years later I’m pretty excited to say that the tapes of Radioactive and the unreleased LP have been retrieved, baked and backed up. There’s a lot of work left to make it happen, but we’re hoping to find the right label to release and re-release to the world, perhaps by next year to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Radioactive’s original release.
Those of you already familiar with Radioactive know it’s a stone cold killer, and I guarantee that your jaws will drop when you hear what was left in the can. For those of you unfamiliar with Roger’s music, you’ve got a good thing coming.

Radio RPB

RADIO RPB AIRCHECK July 12, 2017

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A pretty darn good hour of music hosted by me as guest on WCNI’s The Dead Air Radio Show. I’ve never been too much for theme shows, and I fully delivery on that promise in this hour.

Set list and link to audio below.

00:00 RPB Intro/ID at head (Under: OverUnderSidewaysDown/Enoch Light’s Action)
01:13 Heart – 2 of Clubs
03:50 Good Times – Easybeats
07:10 Crazy Girl – The Incredible Casuals
09:35 RPB (Under: Day After Day/Sandy Nelson)
10:39 PSA Hunger Prevention “We’d Do Anything For Kids”
11:39 Did Everybody Just Get Old? – Graham Parker & The Figgs
14:57 Things That Disappear – Rhett Miller
18:18 Arkansas Summer – Chris Maxwell
21:50 RPB (under: Something In The Air/Sandy Nelson)
23:18 Girl In Golden Disc – The Records
26:53 Makes Me Feel Good – Pete Ham
28:38 Mare,Take Me Home – NRBQ
31:47 Here’s To You – Hamilton Camp
33:59 RPB (under: Caravan/Chet Atkins)
34:49 PSA “Make a Moment”
36:00 Different For Girls – Joe Pernice
38:49 The EMI Song (Smile For Me) – Alex Chilton
43:45 Aleyuya – Los Shakers
45:36 Terry, Who You Gonna Marry? – Paul Westerberg
49:25 RPB (under: Happening’s Ten Years Time Ago/Sandy Nelson)
50:57 I Heard The Bluebirds Sing – The Paley Brothers
53:39 My Girl the Month of May – Dion
55:50 RPB (under: Come Together/Count Basie)
56:47 Witchi Tai To – Everything Is Everything 45

https://www.mixcloud.com/RPBCreative/rpb-dead-air-radio-july-12-2017-aircheck/

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Aircheck – Oct 10, 2016 WCNI-FM

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They let me back on the air. Here’s the air check for the hour. Lots of good stuff, still a little scattered but getting a little better after a few decades off the air.

Playlist

Pete “Guitar” Lewis • Louisiana Hop
Allen Toussaint • Up The Creek
Shades Of Blue • Oh How Happy
The Equals • I Get So Excited
Brinsley Schwarz • Give Me Back My Love
Clefs Of Lavender Hill • Stop! Get A Ticket
1910 Fruitgum Company • Bubble Gum World
James Taylor • Carolina in My Mind (Apple Records Version)
Teenage Fanclub • I Need Direction (alt. version)
Aimee Mann • That’s Just What You Are (Acoustic)
Cilla Black • I’ve Been Wrong Before
Warren Zanes • Scrapbook (Let’s Put It All In There)
Jay Bennett & Edward BurchvVenus Stopped The Train
Evie SandsvI Can’t Let Go
NRBQ • Talk To Me
Lovin’Spoonful • Six O’Clock
The Windsor High School Marching BandvRidin’ In My Car

https://www.mixcloud.com/RPBCreative/rpb-dead-air-radio-wcni-october-10-2016-aircheck/

 

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Syd Straw – Pink Velour

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The great Syd Straw is going on tour next week with the great Don Piper, and if they’re near your town you really owe it to yourself to see the show. About a year ago I was honored to record a nearly three hour set by Syd and Don. Here’s a taste of what went down that night – a truly moving performance of Syd’s Pink Velour. Posted with permission (thanks Syd!).

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Radio RPB – RPB on The Dead Air Radio Show

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2481_66739418800_3830453_nThe Dead Air Radio has been a staple of the WCNI-FM airwaves as long as I can remember, and as long as I can remember goes way back to the Fall of 1983 when I first encountered this amazing rock and roll radio show . Why amazing? Well, really it’s about good taste. Peter Detmold, Hugh Birdsall and Paul Sweeney (the show’s current hosts) all possess an uncanny sense of good musical taste, history and a dry sense of humor – put them all together and you’ve got a recipe for a radio show that’s managed to stay on the air for more than 30 years.

I have my own history with WCNI (which perhaps I’ll tell another time) but it’s been a long, long time since I pulled songs together for a radio show. Still,  I was asked by Peter to take the helm of the Dead Air Radio Show for an hour on September, 8 and here’s how it went. Not so bad! I’m a bit rusty and I think I over-did it on the “sounds like The Beatles, but not The Beatles” set but there’s some good stuff in there. Have a listen.

https://www.mixcloud.com/RPBCreative/rpb-dead-air-radio-september-8-2016-aircheck/

Set List
Big Kids Wanna Rock • Myracle Brah

Nothing • Jay Sherman-Godfrey
A Question Mark • Elliott Smith
She Goes To Bed • Jason Falkner
Ruin My Day • Jon Brion
Get The Message • Sagittarius

The Magic Touch • The Bobby Fuller Four
Soul Deep • The Box Tops
It’s Looking Good • The Rutles
You Don’t Know Her • The Rubinoos
Thought You’d Never Go • Kenney Howes
So Far From My Heart • Frank Lee Sprague
Sexy Rickenbacker • Charlie Chesterman

Inside Looking Out • The Animals
For Your Love • Larry Williams Show
Listen, Listen • The Merry-Go-Round
The Trouble With Boys • Little Eva
That’s How It Goes • The Breakaways(UK)

Taking Pictures • Sam Phillips

Music, Production

Purple Bench

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Doing a little messing around, making something from something. Tim Heap came over with his guitar to sit on the Purple Bench and sing a few songs, and now it’s a Youtube playlist.

So now the fun begins. The beginning of a new series?

Tim Heap on the Purple Bench, April 2016
Tim Heap on the Purple Bench, April 2016

The bench is really starting to fall apart so if this is going anywhere I’ll have to invest a new model and some spray paint.

Live at Fi

Live at Fi – Under Your Influence

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Live At Fi is a podcast I produce that features live recordings from The Hifi Bar in NYC. It’s part documentation of the scene, and part enticement for folks to come down to the venue and enjoy the experience in real time.

This bonus length, hour long episode (most are edited to fit into your subway commute) is great fun and features songs from HiFi’s Under Your Influence tribute series. These tribute nights are loose and fun for musicians and the crowd, but there’s no mistaking the ambition of the performers to do justice to the featured songwriters and performers.

Recording these shows is also great fun but a technical terror. Stage lineups change song by song, mics drop, cables fizzle, singers alternately whisper, then scream. I stand by the side of the stage with my recording gear and headset listening, hoping for the best, but always grooving on the performances with a nervous grin.

My view of the stage.
My view of the stage.

My goal for these live recordings has never perfection (I’ve succeeded there), but something like the live FM broadcasts I loved listening to on FM radio in the ‘70s and early ‘80s on WNEW, WPLJ, or the short-lived and lamented WPIX. Those broadcasts were more about about sharing the excitement of a venue, with an attempt at presenting a sonic impact a bit more impressive than a microphone in the crowd, and I’ve tried to make sure that the sound of the room and the crowd at HiFi is a big part of the recordings. For example, check out how the Beautiful Fear performance of XTC’s Dear God silences a talkative crowd – the musicians never chide the audience, but the music and their presence shift the audience’s attention completely.

All the performances are fun, but a few others to mention – Jessie Kilguss’ take on The Kinks’ This Time Tomorrow makes me think Fairport Convention should have covered The Kinks in their heyday, Edward Rogers slays the crowd with his twist on Pretenders’ Precious, and it warmed my heart to hear the house band go for Rockpile’s live arrangement of Nick Lowe’s Heart of The City, as featured in many vintage live FM recordings and bringing it all back home for me.

Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/…/live-at-fi-under-your-influence-wi…

Live at Fi iTunes
apple.co/1KWMpNF

Production

PHOTO POETICS

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Sara VanDerBeek 'From the Means of Reproduction,' 2007. Courtesy of SRGM, via cooper.edu.
Sara VanDerBeek ‘From the Means of Reproduction,’ 2007. Courtesy of SRGM, via cooper.edu.

I love producing music and music programs but this was a fascinating break from the recent normal – producing an interview with New York artist Sara VanDerBeek discussing her work and show at The Guggenheim Museum. Working with the folks at The Cooper Union was a blast, looking forward to more projects.

Read more and listen to the interview here:

http://cooper.edu/about/news/blurring-edges-photography-art-alumnae-featured-guggenheim-show

 

Live at Fi, Music, Production

A Don Piper Situation

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What a treat to get to know Don and his music over the last few months. The latest episode of Live at Fi features 5 songs from a fiery set recorded at The HiFi Bar last August. And I mean fiery, like up from a slow burn to a blaze and back down to a slow burn.  I recall listening to the show live and grooving like crazy to the sound, then realized and remembered that  it was all being recorded (uh, by me). Sometimes you get lucky.

All the songs are great but I have a special love for Solitaire, starting about 22:14 into the podcast. Now that’s how you sell a song.

Don’s also got a new album out called What It Is and you you should own it. Get the lossless version for fullest fidelity!

www.cdbaby.com/cd/adonpipersituation