Archive for the ‘Roger McCall’ Category
Sunday, January 6th, 2013
Listen: Come And Play With Me In The Garden / John’s Children
Come
True story: In the early 80′s, I did a weekly two radio hour show called Import/Export for the mainstream rock station in Rochester, WCMF. It was tucked away at midnight on Tuesdays, and in today’s market it’d be deemed as a specialty show, where all the bands/records that are left of center and on the way up get a weekly spin. It was loads of fun.
When the station decided to leave the building they’d been housed in since the 60′s to a much smaller location, their massive record library needed to be eliminated due to space restrictions. Oddly, instead of inviting the staff to help thin it out and take whatever you want, give it away to the needy, or super serve their listeners with a free for all, they instead chose to rent a dumpster and fill it daily until the massive library was eliminated over the course of a week.
On that particular Tuesday, I left the station somewhere around 3am, as I’d always stay awhile and visit with Roger McCall, who was my co-host and did the normal overnight shift that followed. I just couldn’t resist having a look into that dumpster. I must tell you, the area and parking lot were a touch daunting anyways. Being in a very quiet part of town, and not the nicest either, I always made a quick dash to the car.
In fact, I vividly remember getting in, starting it and just staring at the dumpster heaving with records. The junkie in me came out. But suddenly of equal concern was getting caught. Seriously. There was a security camera affixed to the entrance area to allow the dj’s a look at whoever rung the bell before buzzing them in and there’d been a stern directive that no one was to pilfer through the discarded records. Nonetheless, I got out of the car, approached the dumpster, opened the heavy lid, and the very top album, I swear, was ORGASM by John’s Children.
Now if you’re a collector, you are well aware that this is a very, very valuable record. In 1967, it was pressed up promotionally, a result of their one and only US single ‘Smashed Blocked’ becoming a hit on the west coast, even a Top 10 in LA, as well a Bubbling Under The Hot 100 BILLBOARD item (#102). Needless to say, the album title caused more resistance than it was worth and White Whale, the label, cancelled it’s release, hence it’s collectibility to this day.
I was purely convinced it was a set up but regardless of the ultimatum, I wasn’t leaving this record behind. By the time I arrived home, I was fairly comforted in realizing there probably wasn’t a person at the station, other than Roger, with much interest in something so obscure, and hence left my paranoia at the door.
A few years ago, Vicki Wickham rang and asked if I’d like to join her and Simon Napier-Bell, one time manager of John’s Children, and later Marc Bolan who was in the band’s lineup, for a lunch. Vicki is the best at these things, She’s fueled my record collecting habit for ages and is always looking out for me. It was a quite fun hour. In New York for a few days, he was happy to talk about his time with the band, providing I buy lunch, which I did. But sadly he informed me that when leaving the UK for Thailand, he tossed boxes of 7″ singles by John’s Children as well as Marc Bolan ‘A’ labels during his house clear out. It was a pretty sobering moment.
Tags: Billboard, Bubbling, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Roger McCall, Simon Napier-Bell, Track Records, Vicki Wickham, WCMF, White Whale
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Thursday, December 20th, 2012
Listen: Last White Christmas / Basement 5
Last
My holiday contribution, but really just an excuse to post this, having weeded through the B’s this past weekend making room for a new bunch of James Brown UK presses, thereby stumbling on some neighboring singles. Been years since I’d played this, and unfortunately I never ever hear the record name checked nor credited. Almost like it never existed.
Although a pretty happening seasonal single in 1980 this one, complete with original Christmas wrapping paper sleeve. And what a marvel when cranked loud. ‘Last White Christmas’ may be one of the best holiday singles of all time, if I do say so myself.
Roger and I played this on the radio a lot that December. We particularly loved the “Ayatollah this and Ayatolla that” lyric. The whole affair unthreateningly meshed nicely with The Slits and Killing Joke. I guess no one informed Basement 5 they needed a non-stop drip of solid material. Given their encouraging beginnings, it was a surprise when the guys remained cold as soon as the snow melted.
Nonetheless, original intended punk/dub sonic onslaught generally accomplished.
Tags: Basement 5, Island, James Brown, Killing Joke, Roger McCall, The Slits, WCMF
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Friday, November 9th, 2012
Listen: Dead Or Alive / John Cale
Dead
Met John Cale back in ’81 or so, when ‘Dead OR Alive’ was a current single from HONI SOIT. Roger McCall and I were playing it pretty regularly on our weekly show at WCMF, possibly the only play it was getting. The guy was irritated and in a very cross mood. Well so was I. Needless to say, it was not a good recipe. Pretty much steered clear of anything to do with him or his music since. Couldn’t even be bothered to listen to HELEN OF TROY era Island stuff despite a strong fondness for it as a result.
So recently, a friend from the UK sent me a link to this great piece on John Cale in The Guardian, a series of meeting celebrities in restaurants, mixing food with discussion. I was taken back by his intellect and poise. It led me to another current clip on FADER TV. Now I was mesmerized, suddenly so interested in his work, I couldn’t revisit it fast enough.
Being a record hoarder, of course I kept most of his releases, despite never listening. His EMI album from ’05, BLACKACETATE, is spectacular.
Full circle to ‘Dead Or Alive’. God I love this still. Mike Thorne was at his fifteen minutes of fame peak as a producer, having done Nina Hagen’s NUNSEXMONKROCK around then as well. Despite just about every record from this era sounding too 80′s sonically, you can’t beat John Cale’s vocal on this single. By the end, his delivery is some of the best ever committed to vinyl. And the song, well a great song is a great song.
Tags: A&M, John Cale, Mike Thorne, Nina Hagen, Roger McCall, WCMF
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Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
Listen: So Long / Fischer-Z
So
One of many records proving my lack of instinct when it came to picking songs that could blow up mainstream. ‘So Long’ was a no brainer, I’d thought. A few listens, and the world was going to find their new anthem. Seriously, I didn’t have a doubt.
‘So Long’ came into my head on Monday, overhearing the slogan during Duane’s birthday dinner at Benny’s Burritos. As NEW YORK MAGAZINE describes it, the restaurant serves grub not food, emerging one into a world of pink walls, lava lamps, and 60s artifacts. Who can resist and consequently, been eating here since the 80′s, dependable and maybe even better than ever. An additional bonus, the corner location with it’s large open windows doubles perfectly as a panoramic, non stop visual of every nut in New York, while they strut their eccentricities proudly along Avenue A.
So when overhearing the old school exchange of “so long”, the Fischer-Z track popped instantly into my head. And to be perfectly honest, had me immediately sitting straight up, slightly concerned I’d not seen the record in ages. No worries, there it was on the shelf back home a few hours later.
Roger and I played this religiously back in 1980, and all things stopped from it’s very first note, consistently anticipating the subtle production dub splash on the snare at 4:45. That was the song’s payoff to us, and we’d laugh with joy every single time we played it. Nice memory that.
Tags: Duane Sherwood, Fischer-Z, Roger McCall, United Artists, WCMF
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Thursday, December 29th, 2011
Listen: Green Glass Windows / Roy Wood’s Helicopters
Green
Okay, I’d agree, there were some patches there when Roy Wood lost his way fashion-wise. Maybe this was one (’81). Unlike his early days with The Move and their pastel colored suits or his inventing multi colored hair decades before the rest of the world caught up (’73) in Wizzard, the short lived Roy Wood’s Helicopters were visually very out of step. And most likely, musically as well.
But to the Roy Wood addict, he could, can, nor ever will, do any wrong. All is forgiven, especially when he kept and keeps churning out dependable singles like ‘Green Glass Windows’.
I don’t recall any love or hate, even indifference to this one when issued. Well, that’s not true. Roy Wood was beginning to ascend the legend curve around this time. Regardless of current trend, he was respected and if you didn’t love his output, seemed most people just kept it to themselves.
Roger and I played this on our Import/Export show for a few months straight. I bet we were the only DJ’s on any major commercial US rock station to do so. We may have been the only guys in all of America to play ‘Green Glass Windows’ ever, bar possibly Rodney Bingenheimer.
Largely forgotten and under appreciated, this is one of Roy Wood’s greats. Fact.
Tags: EMI, Rodney Bingenheimer, Roger McCall, Roy Wood's Helicopters, The Move, Wizzard
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Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Listen: Smashed! Blocked! / John’s Children
Smashed!
True story: In the early 80′s, I had a weekly two hour radio show called Import/Export for WCMF, the then mainstream rock station in Rochester, NY. It was tucked away at midnight on Tuesdays, and in today’s market it’d be deemed a specialty show, where all the bands and records that were left of center, or both hip and on the way up, got a weekly spin. It was loads of fun.
When the station decided to leave the building they’d been housed in since the 60′s to a much smaller location, their massive record library needed to be eliminated due to space restrictions. Oddly, instead of inviting the staff to help thin it out (take whatever you want – we’re about to toss it anyways), give it away to a library or charity, or God forbid super serve their listeners with a free for all, they instead chose to rent a dumpster and fill it daily until the massive library was eliminated. Still gives me the shivers.
On that particular Tuesday, I left the station somewhere around 4am, as I’d always stay awhile and visit with Roger McCall, who was my co-host and did the normal overnight shift that followed and a very close friend. I just couldn’t resist having a look into that dumpster. I must tell you, the area and parking lot were a touch daunting anyways. Being in a very quiet part of town, and not the nicest either, I always made a quick dash to the car.
In fact, I vividly remember getting in, starting the engine and just staring at the dumpster heaving with records. The junkie in me came out. But suddenly of equal concern was getting caught. Seriously. There was a security camera affixed to the entrance area allowing the on-air dj’s a look at who rang the bell before buzzing them in. Plus there had been a stern directive that no one was to pilfer through the discarded records.
Nonetheless, I got out of the car, approached the dumpster, opened the heavy lid, and the very top album, I swear on my family’s lives, was ORGASM by John’s Children.
Now if you’re a collector, you are well aware that this is a very, very, very valuable record. In ’67, it was pressed up promotionally, a result of their one and only US single ‘Smashed Blocked’ becoming a regional hit on the west coast, even a Top 10 at KHJ in Los Angeles. As well, on January 14 of that year, it peaked on BILLBOARD’s ‘Bubbling Under The Hot 100′ chart at #102, where it had already spent two weeks:
Needless to say, the album title caused more resistance than it was worth and as the single had stiffed just outside of The Top 100, I’m guessing the label, White Whale, cancelled it’s release. Commercial copies were never manufactured, thus it’s collectibility to this day.
At that moment though, I was purely convinced it was a set up, being as critical and lippy of the station’s shit playlist then as I am of some current US radio song choices now. But fuck it. I wasn’t leaving this one behind.
By the time I arrived home, I was comforted in realizing there wasn’t a person at the station, other than Roger, with a thread of knowledge about a record of this obscure, and hence they’d never have even known to place it top of the heap to frame me. I slept fine.
Tags: Billboard, Bubbling Under The Hot 100, John's Children, Roger McCall, WCMF, White Whale
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Friday, August 12th, 2011
Listen: Buffalo Gals (Single Edit) / Malcolm McLaren & The World’s Famous Supreme Team
Buffalo Gals (Single Edit) / Malcolm McLaren & The World's Famous Supreme Team
Howard Thompson sent me this one the week of release in Britain, or more likely, even before street date. Getting those packages from him provided yours truly the honor of being the first disc jockey in America to play so many great records, ‘Buffalo Gals’ being one.
Back then, I co-hosted a midnight – 2am Specialty show, as they’re referred to nowadays, on the town’s local AOR outlet, WCMF. Those stations were basically the enemy, force feeding the public on mainstream corporate rock only, although in the case of this particular one, with the occasional great record or two thrown into evening rotation.
Their overnight jock, Roger McCall, would always have considerable leeway given his shift, and spun more than a safe number of playlist no-no’s in those early hours. We ended up co-hosting that show together, specializing in all the groovy stuff of the moment, on Tuesday nights.
Every once in a while, there’d be some mind blowing record, often from England and courtesy of Howard, that I’d take in to debut.
Like Howard, Roger and I had musical tastes that were profoundly in synch and we’d play those singles over and over really loudly in the studio while simultaneously doing the show, and of course giving them some needle time as well.
Yes, this was one of those records. Seriously, our jaws dropped on first listen. How could anything possibly be so good?
Years later while working at Island, Chris rang and asked me to take a meeting with Malcolm McLaren, he having originally signed him to the US label and issuing ‘Buffalo Gals’. Malcolm’s reputation certainly preceded him, so I was excited.
Honestly don’t recall what he was shopping at the time, maybe his French voguing record that ended up on Epic. But he was a riot to sit with for half an hour. An absolute storyteller/salesman.
Once we concluded the meeting, I pulled out my jukebox tab with the usual autograph request as part of the ask. Malcolm happily obliged, paying me quite the compliment: “Well, this truly is a new idea”.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by Malcolm McLaren
Tags: Chris Blackwell, Howard Thompson, Island, Jukebox Tab, Malcolm McLaren & The World's Famous Supreme Team, Roger McCall, WCMF
Posted in Chris Blackwell, Howard Thompson, Island, Jukebox Tab, Malcolm McLaren & The World's Famous Supreme Team, Roger McCall, WCMF | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Listen: Ja Funmi (Remix) / King Sunny Ade & His African Beats KingSunnyJaFunmi.mp3
Chris Blackwell was always a believer that the world would be, or eventually be, open minded and enjoy a wider musical palate. Logically, in the early 80′s he started releasing African artists to the pop consumer. Everyone enjoys a bit of world music in their life, right?
Unfortunately, not as many as would have – had they heard it.
When I joined Island, it was like an oasis, being a part of the music business, yet at the same time comfortably away from the mainstream. An A&R person’s dream come true. You could take a flight to Paris for a Ray Lema or Ali Farke Toure show – and have Chris excitedly anticipate your opinion.
But even before Island, I was bitten by the King Sunny Ade & His African Beats bug. Roger McCall and I would play his stuff seamlessly amongst all the punk, reggae and new wave on our weekly ‘specialty show’.
We particularly loved ‘Ja Funmi’ – I wonder, did anyone else?
Listen: Ase / King Sunny Ade & His African Beats KingSunnyAse.mp3
There’s a great 12″ extended dance mix of ‘Ase’ that Island US promo’d, but an edited 7″ – now that’s a treat. Found this one lying around Island’s London St. Peter’s Square radio department – seems the promo folks were only too happy that I carted off a whole 25 count boxlot with me.
A beauty indeed.
Tags: Island, King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
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Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Listen: Under The Boardwalk / Tom Tom Club TomTomUnderTheBoardwalk.mp3
God, I remember seeing Talking Heads back as a three piece. Great they were, and the stand out song, which I’d wait for anxiously every time, was ‘Pulled Up’, luckily a UK 7″. Tina just had it down, the playing and the physical grasp of her bass. Just uptight enough to create genius.
Years later, what seemed to start as a side project obviously turned into a rewarding business model. The Tom Tom Club were, still are, a true breath of freshness. ‘Wordy Rappinghood’ was so freakin’ hip, white as can be, but a perfect fit amongst the street hip hop they clearly loved. Then ‘Genius Of Love’ – I mean try topping that.
Well funny enough, in my book they did. The next single, still in the James Rizzi designed picture sleeve tradition, came their rendition of this, ‘Under The Boardwalk’. Never got much attention in the day, except Roger McCall and I spun it religiously for months on our weekly radio show. Sad to say, but forget expecting a station to give it a spin now. Proves it’s too good for just anyone.
Best part is the last third. Let me know if you agree.
Tags: James Rizzi, Roger McCall, Sire, Talking Heads, Tina Weymouth, Tom Tom Club
Posted in James Rizzi, Roger McCall, Sire, Talking Heads, Tina Weymouth, Tom Tom Club | No Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Listen: Close (To The Edit) / Art Of Noise ArtNoiseClose.mp3
As if overnight, suddenly there were a few Art Of Noise singles being released seemingly simultaneous in the UK and US. I did a specialty radio show at the time with Roger McCall on WCMF, and we would dig through all the latest releases every few days preparing for our Tuesday night slot. I will never forgot our jaws dropping in unison when we gave this it’s first spin on the unused production studio’s turntable. It sounded like nothing at all in the solar system – the exact similar awe we experienced upon initial listens to Malcolm McLaron’s ‘Buffalo Gals’ or Scritti Politti’s ‘Wood Beez’.
We opened our very next show with ‘Close To The Edit’.
Listen: Beat Box / Art Of Noise ArtNoiseBeatBox.mp3
As I said, as if overnight, another Art Of Noise 7″ arrived. ‘Beat Box’ just as innovative and exciting as the previous release. Now we were playing two of their tracks each program – and this went on for weeks. Even as other records were being broadcast, Roger and I would flail around the studio blasting these on the second unused turntable until moments before needing to use the bloody thing to cue up the next record. We had a few close calls, then figured out playing Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’ or The Special AKA’s ‘Ghost Town’, both quite lengthy, would allow us more time to carry on to Art Of Noise.
Listen: Moments In Love / Trevor Horn, Paul Morley with Art Of Noise ArtNoiseMoments.mp3
Eventually, but not too long after, ‘Moments In Love’ graced a 7″, culled from the soundtrack to PUMPING IRON II – THE WOMEN. Not having seen the movie, I can’t understand from it’s title how the hell this track fit in – but it must have. Almost ambient, it was addictive. Sampled years later into a UK hit, ‘Moments In Love’ by JT & The Big Family, I’m pleased it earned some cash for the writers of this superb song.
Art Of Noise continued on for several years with Chrysalis. They never matched those initials few singles, well I don’t think so that is.
Tags: Island, JT & The Big Family, Malcolm McLaren, Paul Morley, Roger McCall, Scritti Politti, Television, The Art Of Noise, Trevor Horn, WCMF, ZTT
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Listen: Wot! / Captain Sensible
Wot!
As Seymour Stein once loudly yelled down the hall to a certain snooty A&R guy, “Don’t lie to me you liar”.
The action never ended on that 21st floor of 75 Rockefeller Plaza, home to the Warner labels for decades. Our Medicine office was conveniently smack dab in the middle of a long hallway anchored on one end by the Warner/Reprise A&R staff and at the other, Seymour and the Sire staff. Duane and I had the best seats in the house.
And anyone who tells you they never liked The Damned is also a liar. Not mentioned as often as they should be, the band were easily an equal to The Sex Pistols when it comes to the UK punk crown. A tie.
Captain Sensible never could, never will, do any wrong. He’s hysterical, a fantastic entertainer, front man, side man, guitarist, bassist, songwriter and an all around good guy. He was a big friend of Joey Ramone’s, and it was The Damned who were the only UK band that flew themselves over from England to honor his life at Hammerstein Ballroom a month after he passed away. His Mom, brother and all his close friends never forgot.
Sometimes the good ones do get their just rewards. Who wasn’t pleased when Captain’s first solo single ‘Happy Talk’ topped the UK charts? Captain Sensible at #1! Yes.
The followup, ‘Wot!’, also a chart success, was even better. It was pure Sensible humor. Hearing it is seeing him in that two piece pink shag rug suit. Great records make you visualize the artist. Here’s the proof.
Listen: Glad It’s All Over / Captain Sensible
Glad
Two years later, when it was looking like the solo Captain Sensible moment had passed, ‘Glad It’s All Over’, with it’s mischievous Kid Creole & The Coconuts fake intro, barreled to a UK #6. Great song, great production, great news. Again, hats off to the Captain.
This was ’84 and towards the end of a six year run, late night weekly FM radio specialty show I co-hosted with Roger McCall. We both found ourselves to be so sick of the ghettoized midnight to 2 AM life sentence of a time slot that the WCMF programmers inflicted on music which should’ve been heard all day. And so we’d end every show with ‘Glad It’s All Over’. They were so in the dark, they never did catch on.
Tags: A&M, Captain Sensible, Duane Sherwood, Joey Ramone, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Reprise, Roger McCall, Seymour Stein, Sire, The Damned, The Medicine Label, The Sex Pistols, Warner Brothers, WCMF
Posted in A&M, Captain Sensible, Duane Sherwood, Joey Ramone, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Reprise, Roger McCall, Seymour Stein, Sire, The Damned, The Medicine Label, The Sex Pistols, Warner Brothers, WCMF | No Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Listen: The End Of The World / Skeeter Davis SkeeterEnd.mp3
Listen: He Says The Same Things To Me / Skeeter Davis SkeeterSaysSame.mp3
Can you believe these records were originally considered country instead of pop? Even though they made the Billboard Top 100 (‘End Of The World’ #2 in ’63, ‘He Says The Same Things To Me’ #47 in ’64), being produced by Chet Atkins probably meant Skeeter Davis and her releases were always found in the country section at the stores. Now sounding way more like early Blondie than Kitty Wells, I’m pretty sure the double tracked vocals were exclusive to country productions at the time. Check any Loretta Lynn, Dottie West or Patsy Cline single if you feel the need to verify that bit. Despite her record store geographical placement, she was certainly a successful crossover act, as I clearly remember both of these singles being played on my local Top 40′s.
Listen: The End Of The World / Personal Effects PersonalEffectsEnd.mp3
Years later, indie bands were unearthing great singles from, in the 70′s, only ten or so years prior. A lost art these days, but then hearing a favorite band pulling out an old gem and recording it was not unlike a DJ doing a slamming set, littered with snippets of classics, in a club come the late ’90′s.
A 7″ single that should have been, Personal Effects’ version of ‘The End Of The World’ was one Roger McCall and I played a lot on WCMF around ’84, back when we did what would be referred to nowadays as a ‘specialty show’. Not one to toss anything related to records, I found the above flyer inside the album THIS IS IT, from which the track comes. And given that it’s promo only, I definitely saved it.
Tags: Chet Atkins, Personal Effects, RCA, Skeeter Davis
Posted in Billboard, Blondie, Chet Atkins, Dottie West, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Personal Effects, RCA, Roger McCall, Skeeter Davis, WCMF | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
Listen: Screamin’ You Head / Hi-Techs HiTechsScreaminYouHead.mp3
It’s always good fun to be releasing local records out of the scene you create. This is what we all did during the late 70′s, not only in Rochester, but every town was on fire with this stuff then. Dick Storms who owned one of the local record stores, The Record Archive, started a label to release stuff for us all. And one of best were The Hi-Techs. Paul had played drums in the early New Math, and on the ‘Die Trying’ single. Things seemed to take and last forever then, but looking back, it all moved pretty quickly. Paul left and started The Hi-Techs with his wife Peggi, they eventually morphed into Personal Effects and later still (as well as presently) into The Margaret Explosion. This was their second single as The Hi-Techs, a double sided little masterpiece. Roger & I played this a lot on our show. It still sounds fantastic.
Posted in Dick Storms, Hi-Techs, Margaret Explosion, New Math, Personal Effects, Record Archive, Roger McCall | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Listen: Wipeout Beat / Alan Vega
Wipeout
1983, the year before Howard Thompson offered me my first real job doing A&R for Elektra, I was finishing an electrical engineering degree at RIT in Rochester. I was part of a popular local punk band and apparently a good candidate to anchor a two hour weekly show on the town’s AOR station. The program was called ‘Import/Export’. The point being to play all the very happening music the college and underground kids were devouring and giving the station a touch of needed cred, as well as allowing them to sell spots to local clubs promoting those bands as they passed through town, and charging the labels for some time buys on these releases without really having to play this uncommercial music during the earlier hours, when people actually listened. I was thrilled and should have appreciated it more, as no one has ever offered me a similar opportunity since.
When visiting town last year, I gave the station a listen. It’s an interesting, but sad, time warp, still playing ‘Iron Man’, Styx, J. Geils Band, things I can’t even remember now that dropped my jaw when they came on, a playlist that recently put some of the employees responsible for this programming out of jobs. Oh well, they stifled music culture for long enough. My show, hidden at midnight on Tuesdays. was hosted jointly by Roger McCall, a more wonderful person you just will never meet.
Roger and I would play ‘Wipeout Beat’ weekly for months. Like Marianne Faithfull’s ‘The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan’, it constantly gets overlooked when the press sites early music that helped start electronica and dance are sighted. Produced by Ric Ocasek, as was Alan’s band, Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream’, Roger and I would not answer the constantly ringing request lines as we blared this on 11, a high point of the evening for us always.
When I joined Elektra a year later, Howard and Michael Alago, who signed Alan to the label, introduced me to him and we became amazingly close friends quickly, closing Danceteria almost nightly with booker Ruth Polsky, visiting UK bands like Sisters Of Mercy, The Smiths or New Order, Joey Ramone, Arturo Vega, Mickey Leigh, Monte Melnick, Marina Lutz, Duane Sherwood, a then, unibrowed, Madonna, and of course Howard and Micheal.
With Marty Rev, his other half in Suicide, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by seeing one of their very occasional New York shows. You won’t need to spend either much time or money on going out again. They are so powerful, it’s almost unbelievable. How the likes of Beyonce etc. aren’t lining up to get Marty’s beats onto their new recordings is shocking. Why acts get out of bed in the morning trying to compete with Suicide is quite baffling to me.
Unfortunately, the reality is that a few years back, Roger was cruelly and needlessly murdered. His killers are still unfound. Given that he worked at the station I refer to above, WCMF, for something like 30 years, I heard he may have been the longest employed DJ at any US rock radio station, I’m shocked that, despite the large voice and influence WCMF had in that market, they didn’t use it to bring any attention or help to finding the people who did this, not stopping until justice was served. But no, only more archaic music numbly being broadcast as though nothing had happened.
Tags: Alan Vega, Suicide
Posted in Alan Vega, Arturo Vega, Danceteria, Elektra, Giorgio Moroder, Howard Thompson, Joey Ramone, Madonna, Marianne Faithfull, Marty Rev, Michael Alago, Mickey Leigh, Monte Melnick, Roger McCall, Sparks, Suicide | No Comments »
