pheloniusfriar | Spotlight on Bobby McFerrin (?!?!)

Here's the playlist, etc. for my sixth show (Feb. 14, 2011)... which also went for a double shift because there is apparently no host for "Mid-Day Mind Control" which runs after "The Dollar Bin". This particular show was special because it was both a Valentines Day show and because I was joined by my older daughter Morgan for her radio debut!!! Now both of my offspring have now co-hosted my show... just to show I don't play favourites — who went first was simply a matter of timing and convenience (Laura had a day off from school Jan. 31st, so she went first). Both did awesome jobs, each in a different way, and both took to their airwaves like they were meant to be there! Morgan's advantage over her sister, albeit a temporary one, is that she has a much more mature sounding voice (Morgan is 17 and Laura is 14) and could easily do professional radio or voice work (and I'm trying to convince her to at least explore voice work).

As a reminder, my show is broadcast live and prone to mind-altering chaos every second Monday from 2PM to 3PM (Eastern Time) on 93.1FM in Ottawa or streaming audio on http://www.ckcufm.com/. You can always go here to find out when the next show will be (or read my playlists). Of this show, I wrote:

Music chosen by Morgan. Although we played Bobby McFerrin, the condition was that we NOT play *that* song. Sadly, since that conversation the song was stuck in my head... hopefully you faired better than I... Other than that, this was a wonderfully diverse and varied show with music from country to straight up punk.

I was particularly surprised and interested by her choice of Bobby McFerrin for the "spotlight". He is certainly a brilliant musician, but not too many people appreciate that fact or have heard anything but his "one hit song". Frankly, his rendition of "Sunshine Of Your Love" is truly a thing of wonder! Without further adieu, here is the playlist for The Dollar Bin:

Magnapop, Rubbing Doesn't Help, "Down On Me"
Llama Farmers, El Toppo, "You Bore Me"
Ohm-G, Voodoo Roux Deux, "Coming Down"
Mad At Gravity, Resonance, "Time And Time Again"
Speedbumps, Crayon Box, "Street Sign Man"
Dead Roses, I Hate It Here, I Never Want To Leave, "I Death You To Death!"
Butch Willis, 1996 Teenbeat Sampler, "Mummies Don't Die"
Bobby McFerrin, Simple Pleasures, "All I Want"
Bobby McFerrin, Simple Pleasures, "Drive My Car"
Bobby McFerrin, Simple Pleasures, "Sunshine Of Your Love"
The Cosmos, Sort Of, Kind Of, Not Really, But Badly Executed By..., "What's Black And White"
Left Front Tire, 42 Ways To Lose A Friend, "For What It Means"
Downstroke, Distorted Sunshine, "You Might Like It"
Monostar, The Airport, "Bahamas Heavy!"

We started out the show by my talking about the problem of racism we faced living in North Carolina and how it was much more overt there than it is here (it's still a problem here, it's just more subtle and subversive) and how Morgan had a vision for a short film that used the Magnapop song as its soundtrack (the film was to be more of a music video with a story). She then read: Imagine a slave woman on a plantation working in the field with her baby wailing from the hot sun on it's tender skin. She hears the baby wailing but cannot comfort it for fear of stopping her work and being whipped for it. Later she expresses her growing hatred and frustration by burning down her master's house and walking away from all of the pain. "You Can't See My Anger/You Can Only Feel It." I can't find a link to the song anywhere, so you'll have to take my word that it works really well as an idea and that it's powerful to hold that image listening to the music.

And then, the spontaneous playlist for Mid-Day Mind Control... this is where Morgan's creativity really came to the fore when she spontaneously suggested after playing the B-52's song "Juliet Of The Spirits" (my request) and Sister Soleil's "Liar" (her request) that we had embarked on an exploration of relationships and that we would continue the rest of the show examining various aspects of that theme. As I wrote on the playlist notes: We did all the facets of valentines: from love to breakup, from creepy to the innocent, from the stalker to the couple. From the passion of relationships to the passion of art and creativity. A wonderful moment of spontaneous radio (and a kickass set of music to boot)!

B-52's, Funplex, "Juliet Of The Spirits"
Sister Soleil, Soularium, "Liar"
Art Of Noise, The Seduction of Claude Debussy, "The Holy Egoism Of Genius"
Evelyn Evelyn, Evelyn Evelyn, "Elephant Elephant"
Don Felder, Heavy Metal Soundtrack, "Heavy Metal (Takin' A Ride)"
Seal, Seal, "Show Me"
Pomplamoose, Pomplacovers, "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Kurt Swinghammer, Vostok 6, "Valentina"
Pomplamoose, Pomplasongs, "If You Think You Need Some Lovin"
Neutralizing Force, This Is What We Do!!!, "Two Plus Two Makes Four"

We actually had two separate and independent requests for Pomplamoose (?!?!) and played ones that tied into the theme of the show. I was also blown away by Morgan's decision to play the extremely flippant "Elephant Elephant" song immediately after the very serious "The Holy Egoism Of Genius", but she explained it (on air) as being an amazing example of the holy egoism of genius in the guise of Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. It was also funny in that when the next host came in shortly before 4PM, the song "Two Plus Two Makes Four" was playing. It's a "chip music" composition (I'm a huge fan of chip music!!!) and he asked what 70s album it was from... well, it's off a 2005 compilation that a friend of mine had a song on (Ad·ver·sary)... ah, the old is new again :).

And here's a video of a live performance of "The Holy Egoism Of Genius" (and if you want to follow it up with "Elephant Elephant", it's here, heh).