The Xmastime Sunday Brunch Radio Hour!

I agree with the UG. This dude, whose Memphis band (Compulsive Gamblers?) I loved and I thought I put on one of my brunches, but I didnt, is awesome. I've prolly heard 11 songs, each one is great. I thought I had put that song on one of my radio spots, but I guess I didn't.

Radio Silence Episode, in observance of Pearl Harbor.

Listen to My Heart (live) – Ramones


Nadine – Chuck Berry



The Nerd/Turkey Song - Wreckless Eric


Caitlin Cries - Chopper


All I Know – Art Garfunkel


Teenage Head


Floormats - Bombpop


Some Assembley Required – Bombpop


Horse to Water – REM


No One Ever Sings About the Horses – The Undecided

Well, Well, Well....

...you live long enough you discover there actually IS a Tom Verlaine that’s fun to cover. Hey, who knew?

And even better, it's longtime Xmastime pals Bombpop, whose 1997 album The Day I Had to Explode is an Xmastime superslice:

DON’T BE AFRAID - Bombpop
Fellow Westerberg worshippers from Charlottesville, VA…mostly this song has always struck me with the “all you ever wanted, was to to get out of this town.” The small-town boy clarion call. Being from a small town myself, I know that feeling; I remember busting out of Tappahannock, VA when I hit 18 and diving right into…Farmville, VA. Which, it being a college town meant it actually had a bar in town, so it was technically a step up. Upon graduating I finally shed the shackles of small-town life by heading to…Oxford, Mississippi. Hmm. At this rate, but the time I’m 70 I’ll be living in a town the size of Angelina Jolie’s nursery. Big City, Mrs. Ruth Ann indeed.

 🤷‍♂️😜🕺🕺🎸🎸🥁🥁

The Xmastime Sunday Brunch Radio Hour!

SUZY IS A HEADBANGER - The Ramones
I will never, ever do a radio show here without a Ramones slice. Period.



SHILOH – Neil Diamond
This song always makes me think of The Bridge to Terabithia. Young friends, loyalty, soaked in the sunshine of the early 70’s, my own youth. Well, maybe a few years before I was running around myself. Also for some reason this song makes me think of my college girlfriend sneaking food outta the dining hall to bring me, as I was living off-campus. I dunno why this song makes me think of that; maybe it was at that time of my life I had discovered this song. Regardless, her roommate, whom I was in love with the whole time, loved Neil Diamond too…and if my girlfriend had ever found out it would’ve been, like the Civil War battle of the same name, a bloodbath. Bullet, dodged! (Also dodged: a life of happiness, of knowing what it’s like to share a life and love with another human being instead of having a bed with no sheets. Shew! That was close!!)


DON’T BE AFRAID - Bombpop
Fellow Westerberg worshippers from Charlottesville, VA…mostly this song has always struck me with the “all you ever wanted, was to to get out of this town.” The small-town boy clarion call. Being from a small town myself, I know that feeling; I remember busting out of Tappahannock, VA when I hit 18 and diving right into…Farmville, VA. Which, it being a college town meant it actually had a bar in town, so it was technically a step up. Upon graduating I finally shed the shackles of small-town life by heading to…Oxford, Mississippi. Hmm. At this rate, but the time I’m 70 I’ll be living in a town the size of Angelina Jolie’s nursery. Big City, Mrs. Ruth Ann indeed.


LOVE BARGE – Big Dipper
Super-slice. Period. Just occurred to me, is this band named after Wilt Chamberlain? Wasn’t that one of his nicknames? Interestingly enough, Wilt and I do have one thing in common. He famously slept with 20,000 women, and I famously pissed the mattress at Spring Break ’95, after which while we were out the maid put the mattress outside our door to “air out”, ensuring that every single hot, horny chick down in Fla for some cheap, anonymous fucking would know who Piss-Boy was and make sure he would spend the night in his room, alone, watching the NBA playoffs instead of hittin some skins. Jesus, where does Wilt stop and I begin? Bizarre.


I ASKED FOR WHISKEY – Mississippi Fred McDowell
Rainy Sunday mornings call for songs about whiskey. That’s all. And I like how he spends one verse basically just counting. Awesome. And then at the end of the choruses during the turnarounds to go back into the verse, he always seems to get stuck, no idea how to get back to the chorus so just goes on and on for a spell til the answer kicks in. It’s tough to NOT sound super-authentic as a cotton-picking bluesman when you’re called “Mississippi”, isn’t it? When somebody says “oh, here comes Mississippi ____________”, you never roll your eyes thinking “Christ, ANOTHER Cornell lawyer Larchmont motherfucker…” What if his parents had actually NAMED his “Mississippi”, which for a long time he resented, feeling like he had no choice but being a grizzled, dirt-poor homeless blues musician - and had in fact added the “Fred” himself to try to get into accounting school? Now see, THAT would be interesting to me.


DREAM LOVER – Bobby Darin
Everytime I hear this song, I think of some show that was on in the late 80’s…can’t remember the name, only that it took place in the early 60’s and the father was played by the guy who played Adam Sandler’s father in Big Daddy. Anyways, we were watching the show one night, and the classic “Wipeout” came on during some scene. Coincidentally, the Fat Boy’s “version” of “Wipeout” was out at the time. Now, at the age of 15 I had already become an expert on 50s/60s music…most of which I’ve forgotten by now. Sistatime!, however, being only 10 years old,was not as cultured as yours truly. When “Wipeout” started playing on the show, she scrunched up her nose as if someone had just cut one, and said in a voice dripping with disdain “Whhhhhaaaat? Wipeout isn’t an old song!” Christ. 15, I felt like I had liver spots BURSTING all over me.


DOWN THE LINE – Buddy Holly
My favorite Buddy song. I think I’ve mentioned before somewhere on here about getting shitfaced in college and deciding to try to call his parents in Lubbock. Hmm. Shame I never got through; I’m sure we’d be great friends to this day. They prolly would’ve adopted me!

Buddy’s dad: “Xmas, you remind us so much of Buddy.”
Xmas: “I do??!?!!
Buddy’s dad: “Well. Maybe. I don’t know. Not really.”
Xmas: “I love you too…dad.”


OH NO! THAT FUNNY FEELING – Camper Van Beethoven
This one keeps me frozen in time, Summer of 1987. To quote:

Most albums I love somehow remind me of fall or winter, and this is the only album I've ever loved that reminds me of burnt, dead summer grass in 98 degree heat. Summer of 1987, my first summer of freedom (my brother having gotten his license); thanks mostly to RRTHUR and a tape of "Burning Ambitions", I without a doubt found more amazing songs and bands that I still love today during that summer than any 3-month stretch before or since. First summer I hung out at French's parking lot. One of only 2 sophomores to make varsity that year, I can still feel what a thrill it was when the Northern Neck football preview came out in the paper and Coach Lewis took 2 paragraphs to talk about how good I looked, the promise I held. Summer my brother and I started working on the horse farm. Boy. I promise you I have never had a summer that good since. Ah well.

Boy, was I right…every summer since HAS sucked…how’d I know that? So prescient…I should play the lotto!

Another fearless prediction: I will see no titties today. Book it!


NOT THIS TIME – The Black Diamonds
Sounds like an up-tempo outtake from Beatles for Sale. Listening to the main chorus, why didn’t they name the song “Not Tonight”? Christ…”Not this time”, “not tonight”…I’ll take “Things Women Usually Say To Me About 4 Minutes Before the Police Show Up" for $1000, Alex.


BREAKFAST IN BED – Dusty Springfield
Now this is a rainy Sunday morning slicety-slice-slcie, n’est pas? I just saw a quote from her, from 1973:

“I mean, people say that I'm gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. I'm not anything.”

I’m sorry, Dusty – but yes, if somebody calls you something 7 times, that’s what you are. Period. If you think that– hold on, sorry; getting a phone call from shifty, shifty, shifty, shifty, shifty, shifty, shifty Kam Sing, my food might be here…

1985 Fucking Ruled

I've yammered on this blog many times about one of the great music scenes of my youth, the bands that came out of James Madison University in the mid-80s - in particular, three bands: DT & the Shakes, The Rational Herdsmen and The Undecided. All 3 bands released their debut albums in 1985, and rumor has it that to celebrate those records' Silver Anniversary, there will be a reunion show in Charlottesville, VA in Summer of 2010; ex-band members coming from all corners of the globe to shake off the dust and rock the old hits one last time. And GodIHateYourBand is planning on blowing up the event as much as possible, including having our own bands record versions of various songs from those records, as well as having the old catalog available for sale online at Reel to Reel Records. I'm thrilled, I'm excited, I can't fucking wait. And will keep you posted.

Of course, who's to say if this reunion will actually happen - GIHYB quickly runs out of steam when it comes to following through on things. And I'm lazy too; I'll bitch and moan in the beginning but will quickly wander off back into things like peeling daisies or watching The Fresh Prince reruns. I certainly HOPE this happens, and will do my best to blather about it here as much as possible. Luckily, I already have on some of my brunches, so enjoy!


No Sand – The Rational Herdsmen
From the mid-80’s James Madison University scene that also gave us DT & the Shakes and the Undecided. This whole ep is off the charts great, even if it sounds like it was recorded inside a pencil sharpener on a sheet of metal inside another pencil sharpener. Of course, I mean that in a good way.

Sand to Bury Our Heads - Rational Herdsmen

Broken Pieces – The Undecided
I’ve yammered here several times about the JMU mid-80’s music scene I’m still in love with, and while The Undecided’s full-length debut doesn’t stack up with DT and the Shakes or Rational Herdsmen’s eps of the same year, this cut is my desert island cut out of them all. Chopping rhythm, cool story, chorus that’s almost indecipherable. Check, check, check – wrap me up in a blanket filled with last night’s Colt 45 and a “mature” woman who drinks battery acid, and I’m home.



Tell Me It's Not the Same - DT & the Shakes
I think this is the first track from DT & the Shakes I’ve played here, from the Glory Days JMU mid-80’s run I’ve blown up here before (Rational Herdsmen, The Undecided - tho DT was the best of them all.) From the BWWCAUTR* files. And of course like so many others, this song was left off of an album…on which it would’ve been the best song. I’d say such thinking is baffling, but then I only came up with the “fuck it, just put the potato chips ON the burger” idea about 5 years before Bobby Flay did, so what the fuck could I possibly know?



HONORABLE MENTION:

Song Like Diane – The Burnt Ernies
The Burnt Ernies, like the Undecided et al, came out of Harrisonburg/Charlottesville, but I believe a few years after the magical year of 1985. One connection if that their album was produced by Will Croxton, BWHUTAR**. Influenced greatly by Husker Du, I assume the song is a reference to Diane from the HD record Metal Circus. Well, or Diane Sawyer,; what the fuck do I know. Mostly though, “Burnt Ernies” sounds like one of those stupid made-up band names on shows like My So-Called Life, a silly name that lends itself instantly to “band that sucks, but makes me cool cause I’m the only person that knows them.” Ugh.

ps - would run over Angela on Brian's bike to get up in her mother's tongety-tongs. Or whats her name, her drunk friend. Or hell, the nerdy girl. Sorry Angela! You get "Honorable Mention", along with the gay black guy and sweater-vest teacher guy.


DON’T BE AFRAID - Bombpop
Fellow Westerberg worshippers from Charlottesville, VA…mostly this song has always struck me with the “all you ever wanted, was to to get out of this town.” The small-town boy clarion call. Being from a small town myself, I know that feeling; I remember busting out of Tappahannock, VA when I hit 18 and diving right into…Farmville, VA. Which, it being a college town meant it actually had a bar in town, so it was technically a step up. Upon graduating I finally shed the shackles of small-town life by heading to…Oxford, Mississippi. Hmm. At this rate, but the time I’m 70 I’ll be living in a town the size of Angelina Jolie’s nursery. Big City, Mrs. Ruth Ann indeed.


Blue Moon of Kentucky – Ryan
This is my buddy Ryan and some of his friends (nerds) back when they were in college. I can’t remember who plays what, but the point is he’s getting married in 2 months, so this burst of publicity from me will certainly lead to his last truckload of trim before shipping out to I Will Never Get to Use My Own Bathroom Again, USA.

TXSBRH!: The Reboot '23

15 years ago I started doing THE XMASTIME SUNDAY BRUNCH RADIO HOUR!; looking back I don't know why I called it that since it's just kinda a string of songs without any radio chatter in between but hey I was back in my early 60s back then, so gimme a break. Anyways it looks like I did about half a dozen of them so I figure hey why not re-post them since I barely recognize a few of these songs and it's great to hear them again. Obviously this time instead of embedding the songs one by one via song streaming services that haven't existed a decade I figured I'd just make a Spotify playlist (see below post). I'll roll out one every Friday over the next month or so YOU'RE WELCOME!!

FROM SEPTEMBER 28, 2008:

SUZY IS A HEADBANGER - The Ramones
I will never, ever do a radio show here without a Ramones slice. Period.

SHILOH – Neil Diamond
This song always makes me think of The Bridge to Terabithia. Young friends, loyalty, soaked in the sunshine of the early 70’s, my own youth. Well, maybe a few years before I was running around myself. Also for some reason this song makes me think of my college girlfriend sneaking food outta the dining hall to bring me, as I was living off-campus. I dunno why this song makes me think of that; maybe it was at that time of my life I had discovered this song. Regardless, her roommate, whom I was in love with the whole time, loved Neil Diamond too…and if my girlfriend had ever found out it would’ve been, like the Civil War battle of the same name, a bloodbath. Bullet, dodged! (Also dodged: a life of happiness, of knowing what it’s like to share a life and love with another human being instead of having a bed with no sheets. Shew! That was close!!)

DON’T BE AFRAID - Bombpop
Fellow Westerberg worshippers from Charlottesville, VA…mostly this song has always struck me with the “all you ever wanted, was to to get out of this town.” The small-town boy clarion call. Being from a small town myself, I know that feeling; I remember busting out of Tappahannock, VA when I hit 18 and diving right into…Farmville, VA. Which, it being a college town meant it actually had a bar in town, so it was technically a step up. Upon graduating I finally shed the shackles of small-town life by heading to…Oxford, Mississippi. Hmm. At this rate, but the time I’m 70 I’ll be living in a town the size of Angelina Jolie’s nursery. Big City, Mrs. Ruth Ann indeed.

LOVE BARGE – Big Dipper
Super-slice. Period. Just occurred to me, is this band named after Wilt Chamberlain? Wasn’t that one of his nicknames? Interestingly enough, Wilt and I do have one thing in common. He famously slept with 20,000 women, and I famously pissed the mattress at Spring Break ’95, after which while we were out the maid put the mattress outside our door to “air out”, ensuring that every single hot, horny chick down in Fla for some cheap, anonymous fucking would know who Piss-Boy was and make sure he would spend the night in his room, alone, watching the NBA playoffs instead of hittin some skins. Jesus, where does Wilt stop and I begin? Bizarre.

I ASKED FOR WHISKEY – Mississippi Fred McDowell
Rainy Sunday mornings call for songs about whiskey. That’s all. And I like how he spends one verse basically just counting. Awesome. And then at the end of the choruses during the turnarounds to go back into the verse, he always seems to get stuck, no idea how to get back to the chorus so just goes on and on for a spell til the answer kicks in. It’s tough to NOT sound super-authentic as a cotton-picking bluesman when you’re called “Mississippi”, isn’t it? When somebody says “oh, here comes Mississippi ____________”, you never roll your eyes thinking “Christ, ANOTHER Cornell lawyer Larchmont motherfucker…” What if his parents had actually NAMED his “Mississippi”, which for a long time he resented, feeling like he had no choice but being a grizzled, dirt-poor homeless blues musician - and had in fact added the “Fred” himself to try to get into accounting school? Now see, THAT would be interesting to me.

DREAM LOVER – Bobby Darin
Every time I hear this song, I think of some show that was on in the late 80’s…can’t remember the name, only that it took place in the early 60’s and the father was played by the guy who played Adam Sandler’s father in Big Daddy. Anyways, we were watching the show one night, and the classic Wipeout came on during some scene. Coincidentally, the Fat Boy’s “version” of Wipeout was out at the time. Now, at the age of 15 I had already become an expert on 50s/60s music…most of which I’ve forgotten by now. Sistatime!, however, being only 10 years old,was not as cultured as yours truly. When “Wipeout” started playing on the show, she scrunched up her nose as if someone had just cut one, and said in a voice dripping with disdain “Whhhhhaaaat? Wipeout isn’t an old song!” Christ. 15, I felt like I had liver spots BURSTING all over me.

DOWN THE LINE – Buddy Holly
My favorite Buddy song. I think I’ve mentioned before somewhere on here about getting shitfaced in college and deciding to try to call his parents in Lubbock. Hmm. Shame I never got through; I’m sure we’d be great friends to this day. They prolly would’ve adopted me!

Buddy’s dad: “Xmas, you remind us so much of Buddy.”
Xmas: “I do??!?!!
Buddy’s dad: “Well. Maybe. I don’t know. Not really.”
Xmas: “I love you too…dad.”

OH NO! THAT FUNNY FEELING – Camper Van Beethoven
This one keeps me frozen in time, Summer of 1987. To quote:

Most albums I love somehow remind me of fall or winter, and this is the only album I've ever loved that reminds me of burnt, dead summer grass in 98 degree heat. Summer of 1987, my first summer of freedom (my brother having gotten his license); thanks mostly to RRTHUR and a tape of "Burning Ambitions", I without a doubt found more amazing songs and bands that I still love today during that summer than any 3-month stretch before or since. First summer I hung out at French's parking lot. One of only 2 sophomores to make varsity that year, I can still feel what a thrill it was when the Northern Neck football preview came out in the paper and Coach Lewis took 2 paragraphs to talk about how good I looked, the promise I held. Summer my brother and I started working on the horse farm. Boy. I promise you I have never had a summer that good since. Ah well.

Boy, was I right…every summer since HAS sucked…how’d I know that? So prescient…I should play the lotto!

Another fearless prediction: I will see no titties today. Book it!

NOT THIS TIME – The Black Diamonds [NOTE: I couldn't find this on Spotify but you can listen to it HERE)
Sounds like an up-tempo outtake from Beatles for Sale. Listening to the main chorus, why didn’t they name the song “Not Tonight”? Christ…”Not this time”, “not tonight”…I’ll take “Things Women Usually Say To Me About 4 Minutes Before the Police Show Up" for $1000, Alex.

BREAKFAST IN BED – Dusty Springfield
Now this is a rainy Sunday morning slicety-slice-slcie, n’est pas? 

1990s Virginia Band du Jour: BOMBPOP

Friday reminder of how much I've always loved this album; I absolutely wore this fucker out back in the day 🤗🎸🕺