In honor of Valentine’s Day, this is my all-time favorite romantic scene from a film. From the Quentin Tarantino-scripted / Tony Scott-directed 1993 cult classic “True Romance,” I first saw this at a time when I was a lot like Christian Slater’s character Clarence. This movie gave me hope at a bleak time in my life. Eventually, I found my Alabama … ironically in Alabama … three years later. Thankfully, she was not a call girl, four-days on the job or otherwise. And yes, I’m envious of my friends in Norfolk, Virginia who are watching this on a big screen tonight at the Naro in Norfolk, Virginia.
Dave’s Strange Radio has returned as an official iTunes radio station!
What does this mean? It means that you can now find us in the “Eclectic” section of iTunes radio stations or on your Apple TV device. If you’re on your computer, open iTunes, go to Music and then go to Internet. Lots of genres will appear, but you will find us in the “Eclectic” section.
Less than two weeks ago, my licensing server announced it was going out of business, which prompted iTunes to drop the station. Since then, I connected with a licensing server that’s been beyond awesome (StreamLicensing.com) and not only can you now access the station through www.davesstrangeradio.com, you can now stream us through TuneIn Radio and now on iTunes again, as well as SHOUTCast.
Thank all of you for your patience and support throughout this process. I will sign off with the only song that seems appropriate at this moment…
If you grew up in Southeastern Virginia or Northeastern North Carolina, the name of this band is hopefully bringing a smile to your face, as it’s a clever take on the Great Dismal Swamp. Want your smile to grow bigger? Take a listen to their song “Death Mansion.” This is nasty, snotty garage punk at its finest. It reminds me a lot of the New York Dolls’ “Chatterbox” only faster and more aggressive.
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, this is the Man in Black’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” OK, not exactly, but both songs share the same melody and tackle the same subject matter. While Dylan sounds like he’s trying to be diplomatic despite his bitterness, Cash is having none of it. Dylan says “Fare thee well” … Cash says “F–k off!” If you’re a fan of the Dylan classic, “Understand Your Man” almost seems like some kind of redneck parody, even though it isn’t. I think it stands up well on its own and one of the best “I’m out of here” songs ever recorded.
Huge news! Dave’s Strange Radio is now available on TuneIn Radio.
Now there’s an even easier way to listen on your iPhone, Android phone, iPad, iPod touch, Roku … and now Kindle Fire! Just download the TuneIn Radio app, type in Dave’s Strange World, and you’re all set.
This is truly the best way to experience Dave’s Strange Radio on your mobile phone or tablet. You get album art as well as links to purchase the song you’re listening to.
One of Elvis Costello’s best and …. arguably … least-regarded songs is “Battered Old Bird” from the 1986 “Blood and Chocolate” album. It’s a song you never hear on the radio or even discussed that much. Graham Thompson dismissed the song in less than a sentence (calling it “dreary” and “disjointed”) in his Costello biography “Complicated Shadows.” I had pretty much forgotten about the song myself until I heard it again today and it knocked the wind out of me.
From what I’ve gathered “Battered Old Bird” is about the building where Costello grew up as a young boy and the various people who lived there. The song almost sounds like Costello’s version of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” only much sadder and more despairing. The song starts off quiet and builds in intensity and emotion, with Costello’s voice getting louder and cracking at various moments.
Some particularly memorable lyrics:
“But on the first floor there are two old maids
Each one wishing that the other was afraid
And next door to them is a man so mild
‘Til he chopped off the head of a visitor’s child
He danced upon the bonfire
Swallowed sleeping pills like dreams
With a bottle of sweet sherry
That everything redeems”
And another:
“Here’s a boy if ever there was
Who’s going to do big things
Guess that’s what they all say
And that’s how the trouble begins
I’ve seen them rise and fall
Been through their big deals and smalls
He’d better have a dream that goes
Beyond four walls”
Again, this song crept up out of nowhere on my iPod today and nearly left me shattered by the end of it. An immensely powerful song that should be a standard, even though I’m kind of glad it isn’t.
The most notorious live album of all-time “Metallic K.O.” was recorded 40 years years ago today. As a selling point back in the day, it was said you could hear beer bottles smashing against guitar strings. By this point, Iggy and the Stooges had worn out all of their good will and were drowning in a sea of heroin, booze, and “not playing nicely with others.” They were openly hostile with audiences and baiting them to beat the crap out of them …which often happened. Here’s the most infamous track from that legendary album. And, most importantly, Iggy is still alive to celebrate this milestone.
If you listen to 80s stations, you’d think there were only 200 songs recorded during that decade. As much as I love “Come on Eileen,” “Tainted Love,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” or “Billie Jean,” I’m totally burned out on these handful of hits. Which I why when I listen to 80s stations nowadays, I tend to listen to the Top 40 countdowns for a particular week during some random year in that decade. Here is where you get to hear a lot of songs that were hits, but for whatever reason, are shut out of the very tight programming of such stations. Some of these rarely played songs are terrible … some of them are great. “This Little Girl” by Gary U.S. Bonds is one of the great ones.
Gary U.S. Bonds was a rocker from the early 1960s who had a lot of seminal hits back in the day (“New Orleans,” “Quarter to Three”) and then faded away until Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band resurrected Bonds in 1981 with a hit album (“Dedication”) and this gem that made it all the way to #11 on the Billboard charts that year.
I don’t know about you, but where I lived at the time (Tidewater, VA area), you could not escape this song that year. This song was EVERYWHERE and then after a year, I never heard it again … until I happened upon one of those Top 40 countdown shows that replayed the most popular songs for a particular week in 1981. A great, great song that should be in heavy rotation on these 80s stations, but sadly isn’t.
In honor of the current Winter Olympics in Sochi, here’s the band DVDA doing a version of “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.” I don’t know whether to bang my head, start a fight, dance a jig, or do all three.
If you don’t know what the term “DVDA” means, you’ll have to look this up on Wikipedia. I mean, you’ll go to hell if you do, but it’s there if you follow Sam Kinison’s attitude of “My view of life is, ‘If you’re going to miss Heaven, why miss it by two inches?'”
My all-time favorite song from Sweet. Yes, the clothes and makeup are f–king ridiculous. But the 1970s glitter rock era produced a lot of great music. If the visuals bother you, just listen to the music. This is crunchy hard rock with pop hooks, not that far removed from the Sex Pistols which came two years later. It’s music you can bang your head and sing along to.
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