The Songs Vin Played for 04/18/1999

There are three essential Commandments:

Respect The Elders.
Embrace The New.
Encourage The Impractical and Improbable, Without Bias.

These are the songs I played on WNEW-FM / NY on IDIOT'S DELIGHT 4/18/99

"Cool and gone
Cool and gone
Nothing stays the same for long
How could anything so strong be so cool and
then be gone?"
—Bill Lloyd, "Cool and Gone" (1999)

THE RENTALS Hello, Hello
BEE GEES Turn Of The Century
BEN LEE Nothing Much Happens
JOE HENRY Want Too Much
POI DOG PONDERING Diva (Live At The House Of Sound)

THE PHIL BERNARDI BAND I Like Jersey Best (1981; privately released) (John and Martin Pizzarelli were in this band, former WNEW-FM "Prisoners of Rock'n'Roll!")
JOHN PIZZARELLI Got To Get You Into My Life (on the Canadian version of his album Meets The Beatles)
LOOPER Impossible things #2
LIANNE SMITH w/NEILL FURIO Take The Train Back To Brooklyn (The L Train) (recorded live on ID 4/4/99; unreleased)
SHOOTYZ GROOVE L Train

LIANNE SMITH w/NEILL FURIO Take The Train Back To Brooklyn (The L Train)
BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS Take The L Train (To Brooklyn)
TOM WAITS Downtown Train
TOM WAITS Hold On (pre-release)

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, historian/author—guest—conversation Doug Brinkley, one of the country's most influential young historians, first was a guest on Idiot's Delight back when he was teaching locally at Hofstra University and inaugurating his "majic bus" program there. He is now the director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans. His current book is The American Heritage History Of The United States (Viking). He is Jimmy Carter's biographer (The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond The White House published in 1998 by Viking). He has written highly respected books on Dean Acheson, Franklin Roosevelt and the rise of the United Nations, and American foreign policy. He is the editor of Hunter Thompson's letters (The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967—The Fear and Loathing Letters / Hunter Thompson, Vol 1). He is currently editing Jack Kerouac's hundreds of lifetime journals and diaries for future publication. He continues to take his students on the world's most exciting "field trips"—the "majic bus"—concentrating recently on leading inner city high school students on journeys throughout the South that explore everything from the harsh realities of slavery to visiting with the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights movement. His 1993 book about the first "majic bus" ride (although currently "out of print") has become a "cult classic" and still inspires countless teachers and students to take the study of American history and culture (especially literature, art and music) out of the classroom and onto the highways and byways of the land (The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey). We spent over two hours talking about a wide variety of subjects. During the course of our conversation I played the following recordings: BILLY BRAGG & WILCO California Stars (Woody Guthrie lyrics)
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO California Blues (Jimmie Rodgers)

CHRISTINE LAVIN The Sixth Floor
ERIC TAYLOR Visitors From Indiana (both are songs about JFK and Dallas)

DAVID AMRAM Pull My Daisy (concert performance from 1988) (lyrics by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg)
JACK KEROUAC (w/Steve Allen) The Sounds Of The Universe Coming In My Window

Brinkley is currently writing a short biography of the key Civil Rights heroine Rosa Parks for the "Penguin Lives" series.

NEVILLE BROTHERS Sister Rosa

During a discussion on the war in Kosovo, Doug requested the following Bob Dylan song:

BOB DYLAN License To Kill
PASSENGERS Miss Sarajevo (U2 and Pavarotti)

Producer Manning mentioned the organization which Pavarotti and many other artists are involved with called War Child, which is dedicated to "helping the innocent victims of war." They have a very informative web site at http://www.warchild.com.

I ended our visit with an appropriate song to play for a historian at the end of the century:

PATRICIA BARBER Postmodern Blues
PHAROAH SANDERS Save Our Children (with Abiodun Oyewolf)
KULA SHAKER Shower Your Love (pre-release) (from the forthcoming album Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts)
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE A Fine Day For A Parade
BILL LLOYD Cool And Gone
GIGOLO AUNTS Everything Is Wrong

EDDI READER Kiteflyer's Hill
EDDI READER Wings On My Heels
EDDI READER Bell, Book And Candle

BOO HEWERDINE Bell, Book And Candle (with Martha Wainwright) (it's Boo's song)

SKIP SPENCE, a founding member of the original Jefferson Airplane and most notably of Moby Grape, died from lung cancer in California on 4/16 at the age of 52.

MOBY GRAPE Omaha
MOBY GRAPE Indifference (both are songs he wrote for the Grape's debut album)

SKIP SPENCE Books Of Moses (from his 1969 solo album Oar)

(Coincidentally an album entitled More Oar featuring new versions of the songs from that original album, by such artists as Michael Stipe, Tom Waits, Beck and Robert Plant, is scheduled to be released this summer.)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE My Best Friend (which Spence wrote; on the Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow)

MANDY BARNETT Who (Who Will It Be)
MIKE NESS Crime Don't Pay
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO I Was Drunk
TOM WAITS Cold Water (pre-release)
"WILLY WONKA" SOUNDTRACK Oompa Loompa
JILL SOBULE Rainy Day Parade (unreleased demo)

I played the "Oompa Loompa" song from the "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory" soundtrack to note the passing of composer/performer ANTHONY NEWLEY, who died last week in Florida at the age of 67 from—what else?—cancer. In addition to Willy Wonka (which contained the hit song "Candy Man") he is known for the musicals "Stop The World-I Want To Get Off," "The Roar Of The Greasepaint-The Smell Of The Crowd" and the original "Doctor Doolittle" film. With his lyricist partner Leslie Bricusse he collaborated with composer John Barry on the lyrics for "Goldfinger." He himself had a middle-of-the-road hit with "What Kind Of Fool Am I," a song which became a cabaret standard.

"Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory" is one of my all-time favorite movies. From it I also played:

GENE WILDER Pure Imagination
R.E.M. At My Most Beautiful
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO Pale Blue Eyes (Lou Reed)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Sad Eyes
HEATHER EATMAN Sympathy

SHIRLEY BASSEY Goldfinger (1965)
SEX MOB Goldfinger (1998; instrumental)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN The Fever (1973; finally released on 18 Tracks)
JOHN COLTRANE Naima (1959, on Giant Steps)
MARK KNOPFLER Metroland (from Knopfler's soundtrack for the film of the same name)

MARK KNOPFLER Metroland (again!)
PAUL SIMON The Cool Cool River
DON CHERRY Birdboy (1990)
BOSSA NOVA BEATNIKS New York Town

JOE HENRY Like She Was A Hammer
DAVID SYLVIAN I Surrender (with Kenny Wheeler, flugelhorn)

RICHARD "GROOVE" HOLMES Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me (closing theme)

Show ended approximately 3:50 A.M.

NOTES:

JOE HENRY's new album, Fuse, is on Mammoth Record.

POI DOG PONDERING has a new album entitled Natural Thing distributed through Tommy Boy.

Guitarist/vocalist JOHN PIZZARELLI's latest album is Meets The Beatles (RCA Victor)—featuring wonderful jazzy arrangements (by Don Sebesky) of 11 Beatles songs...and a neat take-off on the Beatles A Hard Day's Night album cover. (The Canadian version has two extra tracks that are not on the U.S. release.)

LOOPER is a side project of Belle & Sebastian's bassist Stuart David, a spoken-word-with- music-loops album entitled Up A Tree (Sub Pop). Looper has a charming web site at: http://www.treehouse.clara.net.

LIANNE SMITH (with Neill Furio) will be appearing on 4/24 at Fez (380 Lafayette at Great Jones), as part of the "Losers' Lounge: Lee Hazlewood Tribute." Lianne can be contacted by e- mail at topper@echonyc.com. She has no released recordings.

The TOM WAITS songs I played tonight (except "Downtown Train") are from Mule Variations, his first new album since 1993. It will be released on 4/27 on Epitaph Records.

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO has a new album called Bourbonitis Blues on Bloodshot Records, which contains both originals and covers. All the songs by Al that I played tonight are from this new album. He will be appearing at the Bottom Line on May 4.

PATRICIA BARBER's album Modern Cool is on Premonition Records, PO Box 477621, Chicago, IL 60647. The album title is an apt description of this jazz-tinged outing, featuring her own lyrically-hip songs and strikingly original interpretations of an eclectic array of covers.

PHAROAH SANDERS latest album is Save Our Children (Verve), produced by Bill Laswell.

The new FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE album Utopia Parkway is on Atlantic Records. They will be guests on the show on 5/23.

BILL LLOYD's latest album is Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants (KOCH International). GIGOLO AUNTS' new album is entitled Minor Chords And Major Themes on E Pluribus Unum Recordings, 947 North Cienega Boulevard, LA, CA 90069.

EDDI READER is a wonderful vocalist from Scotland. Her new album is entitled Angels & Electricity on Compass Records out of Nashville, 800-757-2277. Boo Hewerdine wrote many of the songs on this album and plays guitar throughout.

BOO HEWERDINE has a new album called Thanksgiving on Compass Records out of Nashville, 800-757-2277.

Retro-Country (for lack of a better description) vocalist MANDY BARNETT's second album I've Got A Right To Cry (Sire) comes straight outta Nashville...circa 1955! Some of the tracks were produced by the legendary Owen Bradley just before he died last year, and his brother Harold Bradley is also a co-producer. Strings, twang, heartbreak...an exquisite time-tripping production! Except for Mandy, they don't much make 'em like this in Nashville anymore. Patsy Cline is smiling somewhere in heaven!

MIKE NESS is the gruff-voiced singer from the band Social Distortion. His new solo album is Cheating At Solitaire on Time Bomb Recordings, 6 W. 57 St. NY, NY 10019. There are guest appearances on the album by Bruce Springsteen and Brian Setzer. Mike has an e-mail address: mikeness@timebombrecordings.com; snail mail: Mike Ness, 219 Broadway Suite 519, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.

To contact HEATHER EATMAN about her new self-released album Candy & Dirt you can write to Impossible Records, 55 W. 11 Street, Apt. 1G, NY, NY 10011. E-mail: carseat@aol.com. Her web site (where you can buy the record): http://members.aol.com/carseat. (Heather is also a very talented graphic artist, so her web site is great fun to look at!)

SEX MOB is a downtown jazz band featuring Steven Bernstein (slide trumpet), Briggan Krauss (alto saxophone), Tony Scherr (acoustic bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums). Their album Din Of Iniquity is on Knitting Factory Works. In addition to original compositions it features some wonderfully bizarro arrangements of such familiar songs as "House Of The Rising Sun," "Goldfinger," "Sing 'O' The Times," and "Let And Let Die.".

How could I resist a band called BOSSA NOVA BEATNIKS? The self-released album of this local area band is entitled Danger Bongo Crossing. It is available at some of the on-line music stores. They can be reached at tgouldbnb@aol.com or at Box 419, Huntington, NY 11743.

The new DAVID SYLVIAN album is Dead Bees On A Cake (Virgin); it features players such as Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Kenny Wheeler.

SCHEDULE UP UPCOMING GUESTS:

4/25 KELLY WILLIS
5/23 FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE

IDIOT's DELIGHT is produced by KARA MANNING. The engineers for all guest performances are DAVID VANDERHEYDEN and PAUL ALTEMUS.