LIC Radio

Jimmy Cliff, 1982 Photo by John van Hasselt  “It’s between that and exercise, and drugs win hand [sic] down.” -A little wisdom from John Lennon   So let’s see... Tribute was paid to Jimmy Cliff, I found the B-side of that weird Peter Sellers Beatles cover from last week, and I dug out a recording of Sellers and The Beatles talking about Acapulco Gold. Musically, the most pleasant surprises for me this week were finding out that Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s music is far more adventurous than their big hit had led me to believe, and Metallica doing an absolutely brilliant job covering Bob Seger. Sent a lot of love out into the universe for legendary bass player Donald “Duck” Dunn in honor of his birthday, playing some classic Stax cuts that he played on, oh and another surprise, his work on a classic Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tune. I also had a little time left over to pull a few things out of the backburners/leftovers folder, and tell (for the umpteenth time) ...

Featured on four tunes, Jon Hiseman is the the most featured player of the episode. Photo by Alan Messer Another good time with Brett. I know that we probably talk too much, and there may be too many in-jokes and references that only we get, but I like to think that when we are enjoying ourselves that the listeners (all two of them today) do as well. Brett always brings the stuff that comes out of left field, and I love him for that. From his list, I picked out some interesting cover tunes; reimaginings of songs by the likes of the Beatles and Procol Harum, and even some musical theatre. There was a track by Colosseum that was left over from our last episode together, and I really wanted to delve into that. I mean, at least as far as what I know about his taste, Brett’s not a big prog-rock, jazz-fusion guy. Thus, I wanted to discuss how that band, not very well known in America, particularly these days, entered his orbit. Sadly, once again, we ran out of time, and so I’ll have to wait ...

Birthday boy, Andy Partridge Photo by Kevin Cummins If you’re into English post-punk/power-pop, today would have been a good day to tune in. Starting the show by paying tribute to Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis, who passed away last week at the age of 74, I moved on to playing some cuts from a couple more of the records I picked on my trip abroad (I’m almost done, really!). So that accounted for the first XTC doubleheader. The “on this day” segment was probably more diverse than usual, with some killer cuts by Devo, Richard Thompson, Jimmy Cliff, and more. Today’s birthdays included Andy Partridge, which accounts for the second doubleheader of XTC (the Dukes of Stratosphear are just XTC by another name). It was also Mose Allison’s birthday today, and I hardly need an excuse to play more of him. All said, killer show.   Click here to check it out: LIC Radio 11/11/2025     Devadip Orchestra “Jharna Kala” (Sri Chinmoy) Scandinavium, Göteborg, SE, 11/11/78 Studio version releas...

Donna Jean Godchaux Photo by Jim Marshall Sometimes the best shows are the ones that have the least planning. However, after the fiasco that was last week’s show, I left nothing to chance. I plotted it out carefully, and I didn’t consume any spirits beforehand (I mean, I tossed back a few, but only after the show began). I felt that I had something to prove today. Just execute a good show. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. Good tunes all around. Played a few more from the records obtained abroad. Gave a little love to the much-maligned and recently deceased Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, whose tenure as a vocalist with the Grateful Dead brought her both admires and detractors, but whose work with Cher, Boz Scaggs, Percy Sledge, and Elvis Presley earned her a page or two in the history book of rock n’ roll. Lastly, in honor of Chris Difford’s birthday, the show ends with a nice one-two punch of Squeeze tunes. Dig it.   Click here to check it out: LIC Radio 11/4/2025   ...