Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #7
Ricky

Ok. So All Music actually says that "Ding a Dong" ruins a collection of Dutch hits ("The CD is tainted, though, by a rather annoying disco-oriented cut which received little airplay in America: "Ding a Dong" (Teach In).") What do they know? No sense of humor. Teach-In won the 1975 Eurovision contest for this semi-ABBA ripoff that is significant for being even dumber than any ABBA song. I guess the song is about masturbation. ("Ding a dong every hour even when you're lover is gone gone gone..." What do *you* think?), but it's hard to say given the group's broken English. When I joined the drag/improv/burlesque troupe Dumpsta Players (dumpstaplayers.org), this was a song that was played every night in the post show dance party due to Ricky's Eurovision obsession. It quickly became a song all of us mp3-downloading fools *had* to have. It's that addictive.

Song: Ding a Dong

Band: Teach-In
Album: Dutch Treats

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #6
Trishylicious

This electro classic was one of the first songs I remember my fab DJ'ing partner Trishylicious championing before most of hipster Philly started spinning it. Trishy was extremely influential in my exploring early 80s electro, R&B and hip hop - stuff my own 80s fetish had mostly ignored in favor of new wave. Our bonding over music has led to three great DJ nights, the rollerskating jam fest Rollergirls, 70s/80s dance-lovin' mismash Cruel Summer and now our sex songs spectacular Nonstop Erotic Cabaret (Silk City, Philadelphia, January 29th)

Are they talking about drugs? Sex? Both probably. Weird. Catchy. Strangely sexy. Makes ya do the robot. The lead track on the great Disco Not Disco 2 collection, an LP I bring almost every time I've DJ'ed.

Song: White Horse

Band: Laid Back
Album: Keep Smiling

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #5
Bill

I always thought I'd be a great DJ, and when I heard this sizzling cover of the Led Zeppelin song at one of Bill W.'s DJ nights I knew I had to become one just so I could play songs like this. One of my favorite cover songs ever (considering how cover song obsessed I am - did a whole DJ night around them - that's saying a lot). It's fucking sexxxy as hell to boot.

Song: Whole Lotta Love

Artist: Tina Turner
Album: Acid Queen

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #4
Rich

No song reminds me more of Rich, who taught me it was ok, at the height of my sullen hipster teen phase, to like classic rock again. This is my favorite Bruce Springsteen song, a tale of small-time criminals, desperate people, those who loved them, those who took advantage of them and the no good end they came to. It hits the romantic in me.

Song: Atlantic City

Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Nebraska

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #3
Jeremy

Jeremy was, and still is, a friend that challenges my musical taste. Negativland was one of the first experimental acts I remember him introducing me to - certainly one of the most memorable. This U2 and Casey Kasem-skewering sound collage was the subject of a nasty lawsuit and became an underground favorite, one of my favorites anyway. How can you go wrong with American Top 40 outtakes of Casey Kasem spewing a string of obscenities a mile long at his engineers?

Song: Excerpt from U2

Band: Negativland
Album: U2

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

Song #2
Jen K.

Meeting Jen K. in tenth grade was important for me musically. She was a little older, wrote poetry and was ultra-sensitive - all the ingredients for offbeat teen sophistication. She also loved The Smiths. I'd already been listening to late 80s alternative music by the time I met her, stuff like Depeche Mode. However, being introduced to Morrissey and Marr really ushered in the most angst-ridden and over-dramatic phase of my young life. I was never the same. This song best articulated my frustrations, sadness and my constant desire to never go home.

Song: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

Band: The Smiths
Album: The Queen Is Dead

Super Karate Monkey Fist Guest DJ Week
With Guess DJ Cathy Heard

[overview]
You'd think that as someone who DJs picking out seven songs to share with people would be really easy, but the opposite was true. Too many choices. Too many possible themes. I just decided to go really simple - pick out seven songs that other people introduced me to that really shaped my taste now. Over the next seven days they will be posted in the chronological order they were introduced to me.


[Song #1]
Mom

My mother might not have the best musical taste in the world, but rather than rejecting her cheese I've embraced it. My mom loves few groups more than The Carpenters. For me they are the best combination of the musical equivalent of comfort food, skill (come on... the production quality... Karen's voice... amazing, stuff) and are significant for being one of the first soft rock groups that even as a child I noticed had an (unintentional?) dark side. This might be the only vaguely slutty song Karen's ever sung. This groupie love song was originally performed by Bette Midler, and when The Carpenters reinterpreted it, lyrics had to be changed to prevent tarnishing Karen's sweetheart image. Allegedly the lyric "I can hardly wait to be with you again" was originally "I can hardly wait to sleep with you again".

Song: Superstar

Band: The Carpenters
Album: The Singles (1969-1973)

There are things you know when you are a Philadelphia Sports Fan

There are moments when things go from great to bad. Sometimes it takes a whole football game for those moments to play out. Today the Eagles lost the NFC Championship game at home. It was the last game in Veterans Stadium.

Last night, when we were all excited and confident that the Eagles would win, I had a conversation with another Eagles fan. She asked me how I felt about the game. While I was positive, I told her I am always ready to get my heart broken. I have been a Philadelphia sports fan too long not to feel that way. After the 1993 World Series I pulled off the road and cried. To be a Philadelphia sports fan is to have a broken heart. All that said, I would rather lose now then in the Super Bowl. Can we all say "Let's Go Raiders."

Song: I am trying to break your heart

Band: Wilco
Album: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Some times you just need one

Main Entry: anodyne
Function: noun
Date: circa 1550
1 : something that soothes, calms, or comforts
2 : a drug that allays pain

Song: Anodyne

Band: Uncle Tupelo
Album: Anodyne

Low

For some reason I have always like the idea of "Getting Low On Drugs."

Song: Low

Band: Cracker
Album: Kerosene Hat

Not even fifteen minutes

I wonder what happened to this band, the Interpreters. They got a little press with there album. It was an album I listened to all the time in 1998 before I left Philadelphia. I guess sometimes people do not even get out of the gates.

Song: Where Do We Go When

Band: The Interpreters
Album: Back In The U.S.S.A

That song you do not know the name of

I was listening to Fresh Air the other day and Ed Ward was doing a profile of Link Wray. They played his big song Rumble. It is one of those early 60's Instrumental Rock songs that you here everywhere, but you never remember the name. I know that I hear this song all the time. I am not sure if it a commercial, a TV theme song, or something on the radio. At least I know what song it is.

Song: Rumble

Artist: Link Wray
Album: Jack the Ripper

What happens next?

I was thinking about Nirvana and Grunge lately. That seems to be such a small moment in musical time. In one moment there are bands all over the chart making grunge and the next moment it is gone. It is not like disco where there was still an underground sound after it left the stoplight. My guess is that no one is making Grunge right now. If they were it would be called something else.

Foo Fighters is the best post-Nirvana band. I am really counting any of the old grunge bands. At what moment will people no long remember that Dave Grohl was a member of Nirvana. Has that moment already past?

Song: Next Year

Band: Foo Fighter
Album: There Is Nothing Left to Lose

Car Shopping

On Friday I went to the auto show. I figured out which cars are on my list that I might buy next. On Saturday I received a copy of my title in the mail. Now that my current car is paid off, I can start thinking about buying a new car.

Tonight I went to test drive a Toyota Matrix. The whole test drive process pointed out to me that I am not ready to buy a car yet. I have to save more for the down payment. What I know is that I want to buy a brand new car this time. I do not want to back to used cars. I do not want a car that I cannot trust.

Song: 1000 Dollar Car

Band: Bottle Rockets
Album: The Brooklyn Side

Self Promoting

This is the first person to ask to be put on Super Karate Monkey Fist. I feel honored that someone would want to be on my web site. It is even before I have been send a cease and desist order. For that reason alone I will post one of his songs. Besides the point that it is a pretty good song. If you want your song up here, just ask.

Song: Mystery In My Mind

Artist: Jeremiah Jacobs

Flying back home

There have been a couple of air crashes recently. I am happy they happened after I got home, not before my vacation. It would have made it a little harder to fly. I do not think I will die on an airplane. It would not fit my life. It is still good to know I have no plans to fly anywhere in the near future.

Song: Air Crash Museum

Band: Dead Milkmen
Album: Eat Your Paisley!

Searching In the Sun for another overload

I love songs that are about place. I like that sense of place and conflict of place that music is so good at exploring. This song is also about love and longing. I usually hate love songs. There is something special about this song. You know the man is in love, but it sounds like his life is not in great shape. You do not know how the person he is singing this to will react. I have the the feeling he might be rejected.

What I know is I understand the idea in the line "I need you more then I want you and I want you for all time." That is something that I have felt in my heart. I have been rejected when I have declared it.

Song: Wichita Lineman

Artist: Freedy Johnston
Album: Unlucky

Everyone feels this way sometimes

Everyone feel alien to their life sometime. Everyone looks at there life with no idea how they got there. From time to time I am just waiting for the tap on the shoulder when they tell me I am a fraud. For some reason I always get this feeling right after I return from vacation. My life does not always make sense when I am trying to get back into it. I wonder what that means

Song: Once In A Lifetime

Band: Talking Heads
Album: Remain in Light

City of Someone's Dream

I asked a friend what is his favorite song about California. He said Welcome to the Jungle is his favorite song about Los Angeles and about California. I had not thought of it that way before, but I knew he was right. It is a special song that heavy medal fans and sports arenas cannot change. Just to remind you, this song is 15 years old now. (that makes me feel old) It will still sound pretty good in another 15 years.

Song: Welcome to the Jungle

Band: Guns N' Roses
Album: Appetite for Destruction

Maybe this is a new world

Sometimes I feel that the B-52's do not get the respect they should. They were know as a great "party band," but I think that understates their accomplishments. When I hear Private Idaho I think I am hearing post-modernism. The guitar work in this song is just amazing. It makes me feel that the world is just about to fall in on me. That is a great sound.


Song: Private Idaho

Band: B-52's
Album: Wild Planet

The Hole In My Heart is Getting Bigger

This song reminds me of that time in my life right after college. I was wondering around Bucks County trying to figure out where my life was going. I listened to Altered Beast almost everyday for several months. Most of the times I listened to it driving around in my car.

Altered Beast has a lost quality to it. At that same point in my life I had that same quailty.

Song: Someone To Pull The Trigger

Artist: Matthew Sweet
Album: Altered Beast

Conflict of Travel

Today I am flying from Philadelphia to San Jose, connecting through Washington, DC. Because of the joys of the airline hub system, I will be in the air for almost 7 hours today. That is too much time that I can do too little with. When I am flying I am always expecting for someone to tell me that I cannot get there from here.

Can't Get There From Here

Band: R.E.M.
Album: Fables of the Reconstruction

Old Things

I am not sure what ever happened to the band Suddenly, Tammy! I saw them back in 1991, before their first album was ever released. They were a big player on my local college music scene. They were once of the sweethearts of Lancaster music. They signed a contract with Warner Bros, but were dropped after their first record.

When I think of this band I think of college. I think Suddenly, Tammy! tried to express ideas that they were not eloquent enough to get across. Much of my time in college had the same problem.

Song: Stacy's Trip

Band: Suddenly, Tammy!
Album Suddenly, Tammy!

Best Song of 2002

Okay, it might not be the best song of the year. It is the song that I like the most. It is a song that I will sing for days once I hear it. It is a song that just stays with me in those little places. No other songs last year did that.

Song: Under Your Spell

Album: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling
Artist: Amber Benson

Losing A Whole Year

This song was released the year I left Warminster. It will always remind me of the time I had to wait before I could move. I am happy that I took a year to sort everything out before I left, but the last three or four months were hard. I was just waiting for the money at that point.

When I hear this song now it reminds me that I did the right thing by moving. It has been four years since I moved out to the west coast. Those could have been four more years wasted.

Song: Losing A Whole Year

Artist: Third Eye Blind
Album: Third Eye Blind