Sharon showed me all around the station, answered my interminable questions, and made me want her job. With a rotation of 57,000 songs it can be easy to get confused. The grizzled engineer disagreed, and we found 5 tracks that they do, in fact, play (most from later albums). And like all good music lovers, she has a Beatles poster on her office wall, even though she claimed that there was no Beatles in rotation at the station. She gets to do the fun work of deciding which songs to add to rotation on a weekly basis, and with the help of an intern, programs the massive system called Simian that runs everything. Sharon is the station manager and one of the main instructors in the radio program at the college. Sharon Hogg was just the gal to help me out. I wondered how technology has impacted operations, how songs are selected, what's hot, etc. I love listening to their variety ( recently in one set I heard: Springsteen's "Pay Me My Money Down," followed by "The Only Lie Worth Telling" by Westerberg, "Playing In The Distance" by Grand National, and rounding it out with "Long Road" by Pearl Jam), and I have long-wondered how radio had changed since the last time I was in a college radio studio, KSCU at Santa Clara University back in the day ('93 or '94 when I was in high school). Remember when you were a kid how you got to go on all kinds of neat field trips to see how things worked? Whether it was the bank or the fire station, I loved learning about how the world operates with all the behind-the-scenes goodness.įor that reason, I decided to schedule myself a little field trip to the local college radio station, KEPC. And thanks again to Phil Marino for the header photo.Īs for me, I'm seein' him in Denver (at the Walnut Room, no less!) in just a few short weeks and looking forward to it. If you'd like to hear a preview track from the new album ripped from his MySpace page, "Go With It," check out A Spacious Hole In The Ground. The release date for his new album Nightcrawler has been amended to August 29th instead of the 15th. has a twang to it and is a real departure for me 'Nightcrawler' is most definitely the rock record." I've been really inspired by guys like Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.
Yorn says, "I've been in this lonesome cowboy phase for a while. " The Man" - Pete Yorn with Natalie Maines
It has the sweet nostalgic feel of summers to me, with a nicely syncopated beat that Pete slips into his songs like a gift. How many times in a row can I listen to it? That remains to be seen. ") which combine flawlessly with Natalie's bittersweet & evocative harmonies. "The Man" has some lovely lyrics ( "Walk me out by the water's edge, oh my brother I'm comin' down. "The Golden Road" (recorded in rami jaffee's trailer in malibu.a vibe so strong i cant even explain) "The Good Advice" (a ripper featuring leon russell on piano)Ħ. "Don't Mean Nothing" (written for nancy sinatra, and recorded by her for her own record.had to do it myself.love the song too much.also featuring natalie from dixiechicks.)Ĥ. "Never My Love" (studio version of association classic featuring FARMER DAVE scher of beachwood sparks fame on pedal steel)ģ. The six-song limited edition EP is available only at shows on his current acoustic tour, and I highly recommend getting your hands on it however possible.įrom an earlier post, here is what Yorn says about the songs on the Westerns EP (c rappy picture, I know, but it is the ONLY one I could find of the cover art):Ģ. (Thanks to PopCandy for the info)Įasily one of the best songs so far this year for me, ranking up there with my favorite Pete Yorn songs ever, "The Man" is the title track off Pete's appropriately titled "twang-rock" Westerns EP. It hits stores in September and is the brainchild of Jason Rekulak. * Hours of endless summer fun: Let's Paint the '90s - a coloring book which includes a set of watercolors and hilarious drawings of Billy Ray Cyrus, Tonya Harding and Elian Gonzalez that beg for color. I used to deliver the smackdown on that game. * YOU KNOW that you need a Donkey Kong polo shirt. Check it out in the Tour section of his website if you couldn't get tickets to the largely sold-out acoustic shows. * And I know I just posted about Pete Yorn, but I got this email shortly after announcing a bunch of in-stores which have been added. * I recommend reading this interesting article about SF-Bay Area musician/independent filmmaker Chris Brown (not the rapper guy), whose Now That You're Fed CD is one of my top sublime power pop efforts for the year. Three more new streaming songs on Leona Naess' profile * Contest Alert: If you are into the Tapes 'N Tapes business, Joe from Stage Hymns blog is giving away a signed copy of Tapes 'N Tapes limited edition 7" vinyl single "Insistor." The contest runs til tomorrow, Friday.