Hello, everyone, and welcome to Now Spinning, the official podcast of the Lansing Community College Vinyl Record Club.
Speaker A:
We meet twice a month to listen to vinyl and talk about music.
Speaker A:
Stay tuned to learn about how you can get in touch with us and attend our meetings.
Speaker A:
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Now Spinning.
Speaker A:
With me today, I have Jacob Zocvic, Noah Miller, and I am still Simon Medina.
Speaker A:
th of:
Speaker B:
Yum, yum, yum, yum.
Speaker A:
And we have quite a few interesting songs to talk about today.
Speaker A:
So let's just jump right into it.
Speaker A:
Starting off today, we had a song called Vegetables by a group called the Laughing Gravy.
Speaker A:
But in fact, that is not a real band.
Speaker A:
And this is actually a cover of the Beach Boys song Vegetables by Jane and Dean pretending to be a different band, apparently.
Speaker A:
I looked this up just today.
Speaker C:
That's brilliant.
Speaker A:
They lied to me.
Speaker A:
And this is a.
Speaker A:
This is an interesting little song.
Speaker A:
This got played again, spoiler alert, right at the end of the meeting.
Speaker A:
But with the actual Beach Boys version, this is a very little.
Speaker A:
Interesting little song in that.
Speaker A:
It's just a nice little song about the virtues of eating vegetables and how they're good for you.
Speaker A:
And there's not much else to it in terms of themes.
Speaker A:
Musically, it's very interesting.
Speaker A:
There's, like, a lot going on.
Speaker A:
e original smile version from:
Speaker A:
The Beach Boys are, like, eating celery and they have the chomping sound effects in there.
Speaker A:
And it's been long rumored that Paul McCartney was actually at that session when they were eating the vegetables.
Speaker C:
And you can hear his teeth.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
Yeah, that's what they say.
Speaker A:
I've looked into this.
Speaker A:
I've done a lot of research into this, actually, and I.
Speaker A:
It's been inconclus whether or not he was there, but it's inconclusive whether or not that ended up on the record.
Speaker B:
People will conspire about the Beatles long after every one of them dies.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:
Was he:
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Paul McCartney will return in:
Speaker C:
Because, you know, of course, he died before.
Speaker C:
Let it be.
Speaker A:
No, he died in:
Speaker A:
Everybody knows this.
Speaker A:
But anyway, was he on the song or not?
Speaker A:
This is.
Speaker A:
We'll never know.
Speaker A:
They asked him about it and he said, I don't remember being there.
Speaker A:
They asked Brian Wilson about it and he said, I don't remember Being there either.
Speaker A:
But he was definitely there.
Speaker A:
That's just an interesting little.
Speaker C:
Brian Wilson was experimenting with music and some other things.
Speaker A:
Indeed.
Speaker A:
Bless his heart.
Speaker A:
Great friend of the show, but always moving on to a related artist.
Speaker A:
Actually, the Beatles themselves.
Speaker A:
Two songs by them got played, which I think we haven't had a proper Beatles song played in quite a few meetings.
Speaker A:
I think I might have been or I Could be wrong.
Speaker A:
But yeah, we had.
Speaker A:
But interestingly enough, these two songs that got played are not actually Beatles songs, but they're covers.
Speaker A:
The first of which was Twist and Shout, and that's a one that a lot of people don't actually know was a cover.
Speaker C:
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker C:
Definitely.
Speaker C:
The Beatles version is the most famous.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
And then the other one was a little bit less famous, which is A Taste of Honey, which is.
Speaker A:
I've only ever heard is like.
Speaker A:
Like the.
Speaker A:
The trumpet version, like that I've heard like the Herb Albert version as like, you know, hold music before.
Speaker A:
But I didn't know that, like.
Speaker A:
Well, I knew that they covered it, but I didn't know there was words.
Speaker C:
You didn't know there were lyrics.
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker C:
Brilliant.
Speaker B:
Say.
Speaker B:
Yeah, the Beatles version had like this kind of folksy thing to it as well.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Which I really liked.
Speaker C:
When they leaned into that style, it seemed to be more of a.
Speaker C:
Like a John Lennon writing thing, more so than Paul.
Speaker B:
I'm super familiar.
Speaker C:
But yeah, they.
Speaker C:
They both did it and it was.
Speaker C:
I did enjoy it whenever they do.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Another little anecdote.
Speaker A:
I know about this just because I want to be able to flex my massive amount of useless knowledge about these two bands.
Speaker A:
They recorded this whole album in a single, like, nine hour session because it was basically just their live set at the time.
Speaker A:
And they saved Twist and Shout for last for.
Speaker A:
I think they saved it for last because John Lennon had like a bad cold at the time.
Speaker A:
And if they knew, if he sang this song, he would not be able to sing for the rest of the day.
Speaker A:
So they just saved it till the very end.
Speaker A:
And you can really tell when you listen to the song that he's like kind of dying while he's singing it.
Speaker A:
He's not doing too hot.
Speaker C:
He has gravel in his throat.
Speaker A:
Exactly.
Speaker B:
He's putting his whole whole throat behind that.
Speaker A:
Absolutely.
Speaker A:
Any other songs you want to talk about?
Speaker A:
I think there's a couple more.
Speaker B:
Mostly just let's just mention ween.
Speaker B:
Because we can never go.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
We need everyone to check your bingo card.
Speaker D:
Yep.
Speaker C:
Hold on.
Speaker C:
Is there King Giz in this episode?
Speaker A:
Oh, no.
Speaker C:
Oh, no.
Speaker C:
We're looking through the list.
Speaker B:
There is, there is.
Speaker C:
Oh, we can't get away if you.
Speaker A:
Believe me I'm innocent of this crime I wasn't at this meeting.
Speaker A:
I didn't play ween.
Speaker A:
I have people who have like ween in the club as well, so I got them to cover for me.
Speaker C:
But speaking of bands that have played at some other meetings that we've talked about before, you played Sungazer again, was it again?
Speaker B:
I think this was actually the first.
Speaker A:
There was.
Speaker B:
Well, it didn't get played at Record Club.
Speaker B:
It was my album of the year.
Speaker B:
That was.
Speaker C:
That was what I talked about.
Speaker B:
But the track we're talking about is Whiskey and Mess by Sungazer featuring Shub Saron.
Speaker B:
This one, I got the vinyl when I actually went to see them out in Indianapolis and they were playing at hi Fi.
Speaker B:
Really good set.
Speaker B:
It was just the four.
Speaker B:
Four folks.
Speaker B:
There was Adam, Sean, drum and bass, and then they had Jared Yee on sax and Joshua De la Victoria on guitar.
Speaker B:
And yeah, just a rip and set.
Speaker B:
They played this song during the set and Adam actually broke it down a little bit as far as kind of like, you know what it means.
Speaker B:
The whiskey without an e is the Irish spelling and mess.
Speaker B:
From what I remember he mentioned it's some kind of like a Latin American kind of sauce or like a sweet kind of like, sauce thing.
Speaker B:
I also can't find it on Google.
Speaker B:
Like, Google hasn't given me anything about what that is.
Speaker B:
But the idea behind the track is that it's an Irish melody with like a Latin groove underneath it.
Speaker B:
It's kind of got this like 5, 8 kind of quintuplet thing going on.
Speaker B:
And I actually did do a further review of this on my YouTube channel.
Speaker B:
It's just my name, Noah Miller.
Speaker B:
You can probably search it up with Noah Miller and sungazer in the YouTube bar.
Speaker B:
But yeah, if you want to listen to any more thoughts I have on that album, there is that.
Speaker C:
Oh, cool.
Speaker A:
Very awesome.
Speaker A:
Great friend of the show, Noah Miller.
Speaker B:
Hello.
Speaker A:
Jumping down the list a bit, there's just.
Speaker A:
I want to touch on this song just for like, half a second.
Speaker A:
There is a song on here that's called Addicted to Cheese by a band called the Evaporators.
Speaker A:
And it's just a song about how good cheese is.
Speaker A:
It's like a minute and a half long.
Speaker A:
That's all I have to say about it.
Speaker A:
It's very fun.
Speaker A:
A little bit more seriously.
Speaker A:
After that, we have Mack the Knife, which is about a serial killer, I believe, or something like that.
Speaker C:
All time classic jazz song.
Speaker C:
Absolutely one of my favorites.
Speaker D:
One of.
Speaker C:
One of the songs that even when I was a child I knew, I was like, oh, that's a.
Speaker C:
That's a jazz standard.
Speaker C:
Before I even knew what a jazz standard was.
Speaker A:
Dang.
Speaker B:
A little bit of history about this one.
Speaker B:
It was initially the opening song for the Threepenny Opera.
Speaker B:
a play back in, I believe the:
Speaker B:
I believe it got brought over to America, or it might have been still with like the German like cast or something like that in I believe the 30s or 40s.
Speaker B:
And the lead was threatening to walk out, the guy who played Captain McKeith, which this song is made for, to introduce that character.
Speaker B:
He was threatening to walk out if the composer didn't write a song then and there for that night, like within about an hour.
Speaker B:
And so he whipped this up and now we have this brilliant.
Speaker B:
But yeah, and also the whole connection to like the moon character.
Speaker B:
s and:
Speaker A:
It's an interesting song for a McDonald's ad.
Speaker C:
Yeah, I don't think most people know what the song is about.
Speaker C:
I think a lot of people don't.
Speaker A:
Really listen to the lyrics.
Speaker A:
Yeah, it's a good little.
Speaker A:
It's a nice song to dance along to.
Speaker A:
But then you listen to the lyrics and you're like, oh, that's not wholesome at all.
Speaker A:
I was gonna spoiler alert for the next podcast we're gonna be doing, but we did a meeting that was about.
Speaker A:
It was called Law and Order.
Speaker A:
It was about just songs about crime and, you know, law and all that.
Speaker A:
And I was gonna bring in, I have the Bobby Darin version of this, 45 of it.
Speaker A:
But I never got to play it.
Speaker A:
I just want to shout that one out.
Speaker A:
That's a really nice version of the song.
Speaker A:
Nice as well.
Speaker E:
Right.
Speaker C:
So song that I brought in next, shake your coconuts by Junior Senior.
Speaker C:
Love Junior Senior.
Speaker C:
Go check them out.
Speaker C:
So I discovered this song cuz it's the end credits song from a Looney Tunes movie.
Speaker C:
So I was a kid watching this, heard this and I was like, that's a jam.
Speaker C:
And in a wave of nostalgia, decided to rewatch it as an adult.
Speaker C:
Heard the song again and I went, that's sick.
Speaker C:
Let's see what else they got to offer.
Speaker C:
They have a lot of other great songs, really cool stuff.
Speaker C:
Just a kind of a funny song name and concept for you know, what is ostensibly a kids movie, but classic Looney Tunes to kind of subvert expectations in exactly that way.
Speaker B:
Yeah, super groovy, too.
Speaker D:
Just.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah, that's.
Speaker C:
They're very funk focused.
Speaker B:
Nice.
Speaker C:
Go check them out.
Speaker C:
Highly recommend.
Speaker A:
All right, what movie was this?
Speaker C:
Looney Tunes Back in Action.
Speaker C:
I got in, like,:
Speaker A:
Sounds familiar.
Speaker A:
I don't know.
Speaker A:
I can't recall it right now, but it's.
Speaker C:
I don't know.
Speaker C:
Arguably the best Looney Tunes movie in my opinion.
Speaker C:
But it's the one from my childhood that isn't Space Jam.
Speaker A:
Oh, well, yeah, that's too.
Speaker A:
I guess that one's too easy.
Speaker D:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
But Space Jam, none of the characters behave like the classic Looney Tunes.
Speaker C:
Whereas, like, Back in Action, they're, you know, they're.
Speaker C:
They're very much acting in the characters.
Speaker A:
It's got Michael Jordan in it.
Speaker A:
Yeah, he acts like Michael Jordan in that movie.
Speaker C:
He does a little bit.
Speaker C:
He doesn't act like Michael Jordan acted on the court, but, yeah, he acted like Michael Jordan acted, you know, in public.
Speaker A:
Sure.
Speaker C:
Anyway, moving on.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I want to touch on the King Giz song that got played.
Speaker A:
It's a Down the sink off of what is.
Speaker A:
I think that's Gumboot Soup.
Speaker A:
That's a good song.
Speaker A:
It's like a.
Speaker A:
Like a boogie rock thing.
Speaker A:
They always.
Speaker A:
That was one of their first.
Speaker A:
They're always, like.
Speaker A:
They kind of jump into that style every once in a while, like this album and then.
Speaker A:
Was it Fishing for Fishies?
Speaker A:
And then, like, their latest album they just did is also kind of this style as well.
Speaker A:
And I think that they do it pretty well.
Speaker A:
Like, I'm not.
Speaker A:
I'm not really that big of a fan of, like, this kind of, like, style of rock, but, like, they.
Speaker A:
They pull it off really well.
Speaker A:
I think they did.
Speaker A:
They always come back to it and always do it good.
Speaker A:
Mm.
Speaker C:
I like a boogie.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Plastic Boogie.
Speaker D:
Ooh.
Speaker C:
Probably my favorite King Giz song, actually.
Speaker A:
That's good.
Speaker A:
That is a good one.
Speaker A:
I'm gonna have to go back to that one and listen to it again.
Speaker A:
I haven't in a long while.
Speaker A:
That band has, you know, giant discography.
Speaker A:
I'm working on it.
Speaker A:
I'm working on it.
Speaker A:
I've listened to two more albums since the last time I mentioned it, I think.
Speaker A:
But we got, like, 30 more, so.
Speaker B:
Right on.
Speaker A:
But right after this one is a song that I think, like, all of us would enjoy.
Speaker A:
That would be Breakfast in America by Super Tramp.
Speaker A:
Yes, this is.
Speaker A:
Oh, my God, I love this song.
Speaker A:
It's just a.
Speaker C:
The whole album's pretty good.
Speaker A:
Oh, the whole album.
Speaker C:
I'm a big fan.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I love this.
Speaker A:
The album covers, very interesting.
Speaker A:
It's like the Statue of Liberty, but it's replaced by a waitress.
Speaker C:
And then, oh, I hope that woman got paid.
Speaker A:
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:
But it's.
Speaker C:
It's a.
Speaker C:
It's a funny one and.
Speaker C:
Yeah, just kind of captures the sort of silliness of the album.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker C:
And the, like, kind of joyful nature of it.
Speaker C:
But there are, you know, there are darker moments in the album.
Speaker B:
There's a bit of drama on this track, just in general, just with the.
Speaker B:
Yeah, the orchestration of it.
Speaker B:
It's very dramatic.
Speaker A:
Yeah, there's a lot going on.
Speaker A:
I think this song is like, a little bit, um.
Speaker A:
It's kind of just like making.
Speaker A:
It's like making fun of, like, America a little bit.
Speaker A:
This whole album is just like the.
Speaker A:
Like, the COVID of it is just like New York City skylines replaced by just like boxes.
Speaker A:
And then, like, you know, the Statue of Liberty is a waitress.
Speaker A:
You know, it's just kind of satirizing, you know, consumerism and that kind of thing.
Speaker A:
It's just a really good album.
Speaker A:
I would highly.
Speaker A:
If there's one album you check out after this Super Tramp, Breakfast in America.
Speaker A:
I said it.
Speaker A:
Let's put that off the Bingo.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:
Knock that one off.
Speaker E:
Oh, man.
Speaker C:
Last time I recommended somebody, Supertramp, I don't know.
Speaker C:
It's been a minute.
Speaker C:
But they're great.
Speaker C:
I really like them.
Speaker A:
Great record.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
There's Beef Jerky by.
Speaker B:
I believe that's Cibo Mato or Chibo Matto.
Speaker B:
I'm not entirely sure how to pronounce that, but this one was actually pretty interesting.
Speaker B:
On Re.
Speaker B:
Listen, there's kind of like this schoolyard sort of beat and chant that's kind of, you know, takes up the sort of middle section of it.
Speaker B:
But in between, like, those.
Speaker B:
Like the form of those two, there is like some reversed, like, reverb sort of stuff going on.
Speaker B:
Like the sax line and the trumpet line, they just really, like, cut off and like, almost have this swell and like really quick cut off.
Speaker B:
Elongated.
Speaker B:
Maybe that's.
Speaker B:
Maybe that's part of the gate, but it all.
Speaker B:
But in some of the vocals in that section too, there's like this pre delay or this pre reverb or something like that that kind of like comes in.
Speaker B:
Does that sort of effect.
Speaker B:
I just thought that was really cool.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Sick one another One I played no Sugar Tonight by the Guess who.
Speaker C:
You know, food.
Speaker C:
Food related enough, you know what I mean?
Speaker A:
Sure.
Speaker C:
We'll say that.
Speaker C:
They're talking about food.
Speaker C:
Yeah, there's.
Speaker C:
There's a lot of songs in here.
Speaker A:
Food.
Speaker C:
Food is used as a bit of a euphemism quite often.
Speaker B:
Pretty common in my tea, you know.
Speaker A:
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:
No sugar tonight in my coffee.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
You know, this one, I actually.
Speaker B:
I mean, I had heard.
Speaker B:
I'd heard this a lot, you know, just on the radio and kind of growing up, I always thought that it was like collective soul or.
Speaker B:
Or like Golden Earring or something like that.
Speaker B:
I don't know.
Speaker D:
I just got kid.
Speaker A:
I hear the golden earring thing actually.
Speaker C:
Pretty collective soul in the 70s.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker A:
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker D:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
No, I don't know.
Speaker B:
It was just what came to mind when I heard it.
Speaker B:
And on re.
Speaker B:
Listen.
Speaker C:
Mm.
Speaker A:
Funny following this one up.
Speaker A:
Two songs with similar source material.
Speaker A:
I just want to touch on real quick.
Speaker A:
This is.
Speaker A:
I think this is the first meeting where we've had two Jane and Dean songs played, so.
Speaker A:
Shout out to Jane and Dean, I guess.
Speaker A:
Popsicle truck.
Speaker A:
Goofy little song.
Speaker A:
It's literally just about getting popsicles.
Speaker A:
It was the 50s.
Speaker A:
You could just write songs about that and nobody.
Speaker A:
Nobody cared.
Speaker B:
Hanging out with your baby.
Speaker A:
Exactly.
Speaker A:
Or might have been 60s.
Speaker C:
I don't know, man.
Speaker C:
I think if, like, Sabrina Carpenter released a song about popsicles tomorrow, I think it would do really well and nobody would think anything else about it.
Speaker B:
I mean, she made one about espresso.
Speaker A:
Exactly.
Speaker A:
There you go.
Speaker A:
Nobody played that today.
Speaker A:
Somebody's played Sabrina Carpenter before, but nobody's played that.
Speaker A:
Could have been a freebie for this one.
Speaker B:
She is doing important work, though.
Speaker B:
I haven't heard anyone say espresso since that song dropped.
Speaker D:
Good.
Speaker A:
That's fat.
Speaker A:
That's fantastic.
Speaker A:
Following that little Jan and Dean song up is Ice Cream man by Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers.
Speaker A:
I just love this band a lot.
Speaker A:
Jonathan Richmond, he's a very interesting character in that.
Speaker A:
Like, all the songs he writes, at least, like, on this era of his career, it's all just very, like, straightforward.
Speaker A:
He's just telling it like it is.
Speaker A:
He just got he want.
Speaker A:
He's getting ice cream.
Speaker A:
Ice cream's really cool.
Speaker A:
It's just.
Speaker A:
It's just a whole.
Speaker A:
So there's like.
Speaker A:
It's very wholesome.
Speaker A:
It's a very wholesome experience.
Speaker A:
I can't help but smile when I listen to this song.
Speaker C:
That's a good one.
Speaker C:
I love songs like that too.
Speaker C:
You know, just not not every song needs to be some deep metaphor that makes you think about your life and the past and, you know, hardship, you know.
Speaker C:
Ice cream.
Speaker A:
This is a pretty.
Speaker C:
I love ice cream.
Speaker C:
Let's talk about ice cream.
Speaker A:
It's a pretty light episode today in general, I think, because there's not a lot of deep, depressing, introspective songs about food that were made.
Speaker C:
I don't think, man, we'll get on it.
Speaker C:
I'll write you a song about cheesecake that will make you cry, I promise.
Speaker A:
I. I'm hold you to that.
Speaker A:
I'm going to hold you to that.
Speaker C:
It'll happen.
Speaker B:
I feel like I saw this somewhere on like an Anthony Fantano stream or something like that.
Speaker B:
But he mentioned there's like an album with a song called Collard Greens and it kind of goes into like this really like storied history about this guy with his grandma and stuff like that.
Speaker B:
I mean, food can be a very powerful connecting tool.
Speaker C:
It is hugely nostalgic.
Speaker C:
You talk about your grandmother.
Speaker C:
Food is like one of my primary connections to my grandmother, who is still alive, by the way, but will always be a connection that I'm sure I will have long after she is gone.
Speaker A:
Yeah, right.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Talking about old stuff.
Speaker C:
La Vie on Rose.
Speaker C:
So am I allowed to call?
Speaker C:
Am I allowed to call my grandmother old?
Speaker C:
I feel like I'm about to call.
Speaker C:
She is 84.
Speaker B:
No, no, it's just a segue.
Speaker B:
Moving on to some more old stuff.
Speaker C:
Not every segue is going to be smooth.
Speaker C:
No, it's not going to be.
Speaker B:
It's not going to be buttery.
Speaker D:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:
Ooh, wait.
Speaker C:
A way to tie it back to food.
Speaker B:
Oh, just wait till the end.
Speaker A:
I got it.
Speaker C:
Oh, no.
Speaker D:
Oh, no.
Speaker C:
I'm ready.
Speaker C:
But La Vie on Rose, one of the all time classic recordings of this song.
Speaker C:
Edith Piaf is like probably the best, but Louis Armstrong definitely a close second.
Speaker C:
So this one was really bizarre.
Speaker C:
This was a remastered version of the song, like digitally cleaned up.
Speaker C:
And it sounded perfect in that way.
Speaker C:
There was no crackle.
Speaker C:
There was none of that tinniness that you get in old fashioned recordings.
Speaker C:
And when it got played at the meeting, I felt like I was being haunted.
Speaker C:
I don't know why, but the cleanness of it was so different than every other time I heard the song, you know, I mean, like, because I'm used to hearing the original recording and well.
Speaker B:
It'S almost like it's like if the caretaker, like everywhere at the end of time, like I'm not sure if you Were aware of that, but that's.
Speaker B:
It's like a sample thing and it go.
Speaker B:
It's like a.
Speaker B:
It's like a dementia simulator, basically.
Speaker B:
It's like a six and a half hour thing.
Speaker B:
So, like, as you know, you go through it, it gets more and more degraded, but.
Speaker B:
And there's like one motif that gets like, you know, it sounds worse and worse throughout the album, but makes sense it would be.
Speaker B:
Yeah, like the Caretaker was just kind of going for that sort of aesthetic and obviously he had like these old samples and stuff that.
Speaker B:
And like old recordings that he degraded even further for the album.
Speaker B:
But it be like hearing that stuff just like pristine.
Speaker B:
Just like with the modern fidelity of recording.
Speaker C:
Doing it in reverse.
Speaker B:
Yeah, it's just the uncanny element of that that I'm assuming you're kind of getting at.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:
Well.
Speaker C:
And again, Louis Armstrong is an artist that I've listened to since I was a kid.
Speaker C:
I don't know why, but it was very easily available for me to find, like jazz CDs and stuff when I was younger.
Speaker C:
And yeah, it's.
Speaker C:
It's.
Speaker C:
It's just that thing of, like, it's not the same as when I listen to it.
Speaker C:
And it's like, good.
Speaker C:
It sounds amazing.
Speaker C:
It's so clean, like, it's so amazing what technology we have now to fix, you know, old messed up stuff.
Speaker C:
Yeah, it's.
Speaker C:
Yeah, it's still kind of surreal when you hear it and you're like, whoa.
Speaker B:
Yeah, it's like.
Speaker B:
It's not supposed to sound like this, but it does.
Speaker B:
That's weird.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Brilliant.
Speaker A:
Very good.
Speaker A:
Moving on from that one, we have Mahavishnu Orchestra, Eternity's Breath, part one.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So that.
Speaker B:
Yeah, there's a. Yeah, part two to that, but I figured just a little three minute intro would be pretty cool.
Speaker B:
Really cool groove on it.
Speaker B:
And you have some really cool vocals on it too.
Speaker B:
As far as, like the food thing, it's loose connection.
Speaker B:
Breath.
Speaker B:
I don't know, like, you know, breath of Eternity, Morning breath.
Speaker B:
I don't know, it could be like a funky, like, I don't know, whatever.
Speaker C:
Not every song is about the theme.
Speaker C:
You know what I mean?
Speaker C:
We really encourage that, you know, play.
Speaker C:
Play songs you like.
Speaker C:
Doesn't have to be about the theme, but I appreciate that you tried to try it.
Speaker C:
Tight.
Speaker F:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And then it was actually a really cool follow up with Peaches on Regalia.
Speaker B:
I don't know, I just love Frank Zappa.
Speaker B:
And the transition was also really cool.
Speaker B:
I think Tyler was kind of helping out with that.
Speaker B:
But, yeah, it was just the drum fill after the kind of sort of fade out into the next one.
Speaker B:
Yeah, no, it was really cool.
Speaker C:
So another song I played, Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarms Clock.
Speaker C:
Kind of a classic early psychedelic sound, you know, right where they were working through that transition.
Speaker C:
I'm mostly just proud of playing this one because it's got food in the song name and in the band name.
Speaker B:
Yeah, nice.
Speaker B:
Also very interesting, like, vocal harmonies on that.
Speaker C:
The lead singer is the drummer, which is wild.
Speaker D:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:
Interesting.
Speaker C:
It's so hard to sing while you're playing the drum.
Speaker B:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:
And it's.
Speaker C:
It's very impressive when you see it done well.
Speaker D:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
But, yeah, Strange Overtones was pretty fun as well.
Speaker A:
This one.
Speaker B:
This is just kind of a chill, laid back kind of thing.
Speaker C:
Who was that by?
Speaker A:
David Byrne and Brian Eno.
Speaker D:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:
I will collab.
Speaker A:
I'll.
Speaker A:
I'll stand by that.
Speaker A:
This is maybe this is my.
Speaker A:
At least my favorite Talking Heads solo outing.
Speaker A:
I think this album is very.
Speaker A:
It's fantastic.
Speaker A:
Sorry, Tom Tom Club.
Speaker A:
I don't mean to be mean to you, but, like, I just love this album so much.
Speaker A:
I haven't.
Speaker A:
I only listened to it, like, the whole album all the way through, just the first time in, like, December of last year.
Speaker A:
But, like, I just.
Speaker A:
I can't get enough of it.
Speaker A:
I've been, like, listening to it a couple times since then.
Speaker A:
It's just so a very good, very wholesome kind of album.
Speaker A:
Like, I'm not about wholesome, but, like, it's interesting.
Speaker A:
It's an interesting album.
Speaker A:
David Byrne is a.
Speaker A:
He's a character.
Speaker A:
I know I said that about everybody, but David Byrne is especially a character.
Speaker F:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
One more song that I played.
Speaker C:
I played a lot of songs at this meeting.
Speaker C:
I don't know how that happened.
Speaker B:
I think it was probably, like a small turnout.
Speaker C:
It might have been.
Speaker C:
Might have been right at the beginning of February.
Speaker D:
Anyway.
Speaker C:
Point of the story is hold your head up by Argent has nothing to do with the theme.
Speaker C:
It's just a song I really like.
Speaker C:
It's a great song to hear when you're feeling down.
Speaker C:
That's what I recommend it for.
Speaker C:
Go, go listen to hold your head up next time you're having a bad day.
Speaker B:
Yeah, some nice.
Speaker B:
Kind of like a methodical, like, kind of pumping up of some energy there going on.
Speaker A:
I think the.
Speaker A:
The guy who made this song.
Speaker A:
Was it Rod Argent?
Speaker A:
He was.
Speaker D:
He's.
Speaker A:
I think he's in the Zombies or he was in the Zombies before this.
Speaker C:
I know he had a couple other projects.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Argent is not what he's most famous for.
Speaker A:
No, no.
Speaker A:
Interesting.
Speaker A:
It's a good song though.
Speaker A:
I think that.
Speaker A:
I think that about wraps it up actually for today.
Speaker A:
Is there anything else anybody wanted to touch on before we get out of here?
Speaker C:
I mean, I think it's funny that vegetables, you know, at the be an end.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Normally vegetables go on the inside of the sandwich.
Speaker C:
They're not the sandwich on the outside.
Speaker D:
I don't know.
Speaker A:
You go.
Speaker A:
Sometimes you get like the lettuce if you're trying to be healthy.
Speaker C:
Right.
Speaker C:
Oh, did I steal your joke?
Speaker B:
Yeah, I was gonna do.
Speaker B:
I was gonna do the sandwich pun.
Speaker C:
Oh, no.
Speaker A:
I'm so sorry.
Speaker B:
Vegetable bread.
Speaker A:
Vegetable bread.
Speaker C:
Oh, there you go.
Speaker B:
I don't know.
Speaker C:
Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker G:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Grey Minds think alike.
Speaker A:
I guess we'll say that.
Speaker A:
Wow.
Speaker C:
Or Messed up minds have a similar sense of humor at the very least.
Speaker A:
Whatever you want to do with that.
Speaker B:
Six to one half dozen to the other.
Speaker F:
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker A:
Exactly.
Speaker A:
But I do think that does wrap it up for today.
Speaker A:
If you're interested at all in attending any of our meetings or listening to any of these playlists or past podcasts, you can check out our website that'll be linked with the podcast.
Speaker A:
If you want to join the Vinyl Record Club, all you have to do is just show up.
Speaker A:
Our meeting schedule is posted on the website as well.
Speaker A:
It's a very accepting group of people, wide variety music tastes.
Speaker A:
Even if you don't have any vinyl yourself, all you have to do to come is just have, like, appreciation for music and a desire to listen to stuff that's outside your comfort zone.
Speaker A:
I know I personally have heard a lot of things at this club that I've never thought about listening to before, and it's become, you know, a big part of what I, you know, my music tastes these days.
Speaker A:
Yeah, that does wrap it up for today.
Speaker A:
Thank you everybody, for listening.
Speaker A:
Love you.
Speaker A:
Bye bye.
Speaker B:
I'm going to love you too.
Speaker C:
Bye bye.
Speaker G:
Featuring the faculty, staff, students and others that helped to make Lansing's premier college what it is today.
Speaker G:
LCC Connect Mid Michigan's connection to Lansing Community College.
Speaker G:
To find out more about our featured programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect voices, vibes Vision.
Speaker A:
Studies show that students who take part in sports often see stronger concentration, better problem solving skills and higher academic achievement.
Speaker A:
At Lansing Community College, athletics plays an important role in student success with opportunities to compete in basketball, baseball, track and field, volleyball and more.
Speaker A:
LCC athletes learn teamwork, discipline and leadership skills that last long after the final game.
Speaker A:
Find more information on supporting student athletes@lccstars.com.
Speaker C:
Hi, I'm Greg Ladig and I host.
Speaker F:
A show called Stars on Sports with.
Speaker D:
Assistant Athletic Director Steven Cutter here on LCC Connect.
Speaker B:
It's all about Lansing Community College Athletic department.
Speaker D:
You can always find out more about Stars on Sports and listen on demand@lccconnect.org Calm down.
Speaker D:
Go wild.
Speaker B:
Well, I'll have a real good time.
Speaker H:
When our son and his wife had children, we thought he would settle down.
Speaker H:
We didn't know his drinking problems were just getting started.
Speaker H:
I don't know why he would choose alcohol over his beautiful family.
Speaker H:
In retirement.
Speaker H:
I thought my husband and I would enjoy going places and doing things together.
Speaker H:
Our son's drinking seriously interfered with our plans.
Speaker H:
All of a sudden we worried about our grandchildren and we didn't know what to do or where to go for help.
Speaker H:
Our son's attorney suggested suggested we try Al Anon Family Groups.
Speaker H:
I didn't want to go because Al Anon met at a church, but I found out Al Anon isn't part of any religion.
Speaker H:
Al Anon is a spiritual program, not a religious organization.
Speaker H:
Sometimes they use meeting rooms in hospitals, churches or schools.
Speaker H:
I'm glad we tried Al Anon Family Groups right here in our community.
Speaker H:
Is someone's drinking troubling you?
Speaker H:
You might be surprised at what you can learn in an Al Anon family group from people just like you.
Speaker H:
Call 1-888-4-ALANON or go to alanon.org.
Speaker G:
Michigan residents age 25 or older may qualify for Michigan Reconnect, a program providing free or reduced tuition to students who have not earned a prior college degree.
Speaker G:
Reconnect students are responsible for books and fees.
Speaker G:
Visit LCC eDureConnect for more information.
Speaker D:
LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision.
Speaker E:
This is Amy Wagonar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment.
Speaker E:
Detroiters loved him.
Speaker E:
Sonny Elliott was on the radio and television airwaves in southeast Michigan for more than 60 years.
Speaker E:
He enlivened his weather reports and forecasts with with gags, puns and jokes about small towns in the Upper Peninsula.
Speaker E:
People who tuned in felt they knew Sonny Elliot, but very few of his viewers ever knew that he had spent 16 months as a prisoner of war during World War II.
His sister Anne dubbed him Sonny and the name stuck.
Speaker E:
Elliot studied acting and broadcasting at Wayne University, now Wayne State University.
Speaker E:
He also took flying lessons and earned his pilot's license.
Speaker E:
In:
Speaker E:
He piloted a B24 on bombing raids over Europe, but Elliott's 16th mission was his last.
Speaker E:
His squadron ran into enemy fighters and flags.
Speaker E:
His plane was hit and caught fire.
Speaker E:
He and his nine crewmates bailed out.
Speaker E:
All survived.
Speaker E:
February:
Speaker E:
During his time in the prisoner of war camp, Elliott did not try to hide his Jewish origins and his heritage was noted on his prisoner of war identity card.
Speaker E:
He became the camp morale officer and helped put on shows and skits for the other prisoners.
Speaker E:
In the spring of:
Speaker E:
ot returned to Detroit and in:
Speaker E:
He became the station weathercaster and livened up his program with jokes and gags.
Speaker E:
If there was a storm brewing, Elliot would joke that it was busier than a one armed pickpocket with a large family.
Speaker E:
And he quipped that Jacobsville in the up was a town so small their dog catcher is a vicious cat.
Speaker E:
By the mid-:
Speaker E:
In:
Speaker E:
He appeared at events everywhere around the city, notably at charity fundraisers.
Speaker E:
in:
Speaker E:
He passed away two years later.
Speaker E:
He had turned down many offers from bigger TV stations, choosing instead to remain in the Motor City.
Speaker E:
I was born here, I grew up here, he said.
Speaker E:
Detroit is where I belong.
Speaker E:
This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.
Speaker G:
Examining the issues and topics that affect our lives from the local level to the world stage.
Speaker G:
Listen to the programs of LCC connect anytime@lccconnect.org.
Speaker H:
LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision.
Speaker A:
Every year, the Dental Hygiene Clinic at Lansing Community College provides essential services to people in the mid Michigan community.
Speaker A:
Open to the public, the clinic is led by a licensed dental faculty and provides a platform for LCC dental students with the opportunity to hone their dental hygiene skills.
Speaker F:
Associated fees apply to clinic services.
Speaker F:
To find more information, visit LCC.
Speaker A:
EDU DentalClinic.
Speaker G:
Hey there, this is Dedalion, and I want to invite you to join me for a show called behind the Connection.
Speaker G:
It dives into what's happening behind the scenes here at LCC Connect.
Speaker G:
It also provides you early introductions to new podcasts, some of the Connect initiatives that we are putting forth, and of course, insights into the concept of building the voices, vibes and vision of LCC Connect.
Speaker G:
Find out more about it at our website.
Speaker G:
It's lccconnect.org.
Speaker I:
As I went through school, one giant question loomed over me.
Speaker I:
What did I want to be?
Speaker I:
But in order to know what I wanted to be, I had to first decide what I wanted to make.
Speaker I:
I wanted to make more.
Speaker I:
So I became a teacher.
Speaker I:
Now I make learning a privilege, not a chore and frustration a tool, not an obstacle.
Speaker I:
I make working hard seem easy and giving up impossible.
Speaker I:
I make an old subject feel like a fresh thought and unconventional methods common.
Speaker I:
I make material things less important and little things like patience and kindness count.
Speaker I:
I make weekdays more exciting than weekends and classrooms feel like anything.
Speaker I:
But I make things different, which is all I ever hoped for.
Speaker I:
I'm a teacher.
Speaker I:
I make more.
Speaker E:
Find out how you can make more@teach.org.
Speaker B:
Make More Teach brought to you by Teach and the Ed Council the Lansing Community College foundation provides scholarships that make education possible, change students lives and uplift our community.
Speaker B:
The foundation annually accepts scholarship applications from November through January.
Speaker B:
Learn more at LCC Edu Scholarships, LCC.
Speaker H:
Connect, Voices, Vibes, Vision.
Speaker G:
This is Time Signatures with Jim Irvin, a podcast and radio program presented by the Capital Area Blue Sea Society in Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker G:
Most any contemporary musical style can trace its roots back to the blues.
Speaker G:
Time Signatures explores the blues and its musical connections with captivating interviews, lively discussions and news from the world of the blues.
Speaker G:
And now, here he is, your host, Jim Irvin.
Speaker F:
Well, thank you so much Parker, and welcome to Time Signatures.
Speaker F:
I'm your host, Jim Irvin, and here we go, kicking off season four.
Speaker F:
Already, it's hard to believe that we've arrived at this incredible milestone, but as I say on each and every episode, were it not for you, none of this would be possible.
Speaker F:
And so off we go.
Speaker F:
I'm honored to have and share the microphone with a fellow professional broadcaster on this episode.
Speaker F:
This gentleman has graced the local airwaves of Queensland, Australia and internationally for some 27 years playing his very special mix of blues music, adding in some fantastic interviews with the who's who of the genre.
Speaker F:
He has chatted with just about everybody from John Namath to Elvin Bishop and Sue Foley to Joe Monomasa.
Speaker F:
He left the broadcast airwaves four years ago and has successfully launched his own podcast, simply called Blues with a Feeling.
Speaker F:
Sean Binley it is indeed a pleasure.
Speaker F:
Welcome to Time Signatures.
Speaker F:
How are you?
Speaker D:
I'm doing really well, thanks, Jimin.
Speaker D:
I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me so far away.
Speaker D:
And congratulations on your three series so far and going into series four.
Speaker D:
That's fantastic.
Speaker D:
Well done.
Speaker F:
We're really excited about it and it's been a great ride so far.
Speaker F:
If you'd have told me I was going to be here at this point, I don't know that I would have believed you.
Speaker F:
In any event, we've got so much to discuss.
Speaker F:
I would like to dive right in.
Speaker F:
Sean, what were your earliest memories of music?
Speaker D:
I grew up in Sydney, but my father was an army officer.
Speaker D:
He served in Vietnam for a couple of tours and then we moved to the US and lived in Georgia.
Speaker D:
And they were the first times that I can remember being exposed to black culture.
Speaker D:
You know, I'm seeing Muhammad ali on the TV, occasionally seeing people like Sammy Davis Jr. Or Nat King Cole.
Speaker D:
And I was inspired by stuff that swung from an early age.
Speaker D:
And I'm talking about four or five.
Speaker D:
I was just inspired by this.
Speaker D:
But there wasn't a lot of music in the house.
Speaker D:
My parents split up a couple of years later.
Speaker D:
We moved back to Australia, moved back to Brisbane, and I've been here ever since.
Speaker D:
And every now and then I'd become exposed to like Fleetwood Max Albatross on AM radio.
Speaker D:
And there was nothing else like that on the radio at all.
Speaker D:
And I'd hear that and I just go, well, that's just extraordinary.
Speaker D:
I can't believe what I'm hearing.
Speaker D:
And right.
Speaker D:
My music tasted sort of gone from, you know, very early, sort of Brian Ferry.
Speaker D:
And then I become very interested in the Rolling Stones.
Speaker D:
And of course, I'm a classic example of one of those guys who's reading the.
Speaker D:
The album covers going, well, who's this?
Speaker D:
I want to know who wrote this song.
Speaker D:
And you started hearing liner notes and hearing about blues.
Speaker D:
And I think, well, what is blues?
Speaker D:
So I just started hunting it down and it was very hard to do.
Speaker D:
There was a limited range of record stores in Brisbane that would have any kind of blue section at all.
Speaker D:
It might be half a dozen records, maybe, if you're lucky.
Speaker F:
Sure.
Speaker D:
Slowly but surely.
Speaker D:
I just started hunting this, trying to educate myself about it.
Speaker D:
Didn't really know what it was that I was hearing.
Speaker D:
I remember in the mid-80s there was like a Charlie Blues Masterwork series that was put out that was certainly available here with a big book so you could read a lot about it.
Speaker D:
I read a lot.
Speaker D:
So I was very keen and gaining as much knowledge as I can.
Speaker D:
And these CDs were like 8, 9, 10 bucks.
Speaker D:
And they'd have 30 tracks the way CDs were.
Speaker D:
And there was, I must have owned 60 or 70 of them initially.
Speaker D:
And that was the, the way I first started getting into blues.
Speaker D:
And then I became aware of Australia's Blues Fest at Byron Bay at over Easter, the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival.
Speaker D:
I started doing that.
Speaker D:
And through a series of wonderful coincidences, I found myself doing a radio course.
Speaker D:
And as part of an audition, I guess, for continuing to work there, I put together a demo for a blues show because I'd become involved in the local scene.
Speaker D:
My partner at the time sang in a local band that were just incredible.
Speaker D:
So I had a bit of knowledge behind me and I had a background of spending quite a bit of money on CDs over the previous 10 years.
Speaker D:
I had enough money to think that I might be able to do this show.
Speaker D:
And of course, program managers being who and what they are, they went, oh no, that probably doesn't fit in with our format.
Speaker D:
But six months later he had the idea himself and of course I went, well, that's a fantastic idea.
Speaker D:
And I started doing the show on Monday night.
Speaker D:
Initially it was a five hour show and I, for 27 years I did the show live.
Speaker D:
I'd take a massive big bag of CDs and I'd have a pretty good idea of the songs on each CD that were what I wanted to play on the show.
Speaker D:
And I just start with one and let that inspire me to another one.
Speaker D:
Let that inspire me to another one.
Speaker D:
And I love that.
Speaker D:
It was fantastic.
Speaker D:
Live radio, spinning tracks, reading album notes, answering the phone.
Speaker D:
I was on the phone all the time as well, because five hours is a long time.
Speaker D:
And I just got a buzz for it, you know, and I was very proud of doing it.
Speaker D:
And it's very involved in the local scene.
Speaker D:
I ran a blues jam session on a Tuesday night and suddenly people were turning up to the jam that listened to me, me on the radio.
Speaker D:
And that's just continued over and over and over again over the years.
Speaker D:
So it's been my passion since my mid-20s, I guess, and I'm as passionate now about it as I've ever been.
Speaker D:
And I'm 58 now, you know, I've been at it for 30 years.
Speaker D:
I'm very lucky I've got such a privilege to be able to fulfill this role or partly.
Speaker D:
Oh yeah, and contribute to letting people know about this music.
Speaker D:
That has made such an incredible difference in my life.
Speaker D:
That's Stride out.
Speaker F:
Well, Sean, I. I want to turn the page here and talk about your relationship with.
Speaker F:
I'm going to try to pronounce this.
Speaker F:
Is it Lil Fi?
Speaker D:
Little Fee?
Speaker F:
Yeah, little fee.
Speaker F:
Okay.
Speaker F:
From the Delta Rhythm Kings.
Speaker F:
Now, I'm sure that you know that that band name is not uncommon in the blues world.
Speaker F:
In fact, we have our very own version of that here in the greater Lansing, Michigan area, known as those Delta Rhythm Kings.
Speaker F:
And if you look back in the archives of this show, you'll find my chat with Ray Elshire and Andy Wilson.
Speaker F:
But there's also another Delta Rhythm Kings here in the United States, which is why Ray decided to add those to his name.
Speaker F:
But I just thought that it was kind of ironic that they.
Speaker F:
That you have a Delta Rhythm Kings down there as well.
Speaker D:
Well, I guess you're.
Speaker D:
You're referring to Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings, of course.
Speaker D:
Been lucky enough to see them a few times.
Speaker D:
The great slide guitar player who played with John Lee Hooker, of course, Fiona's her name.
Speaker D:
been in a relationship about:
Speaker D:
And we were together for about a year or so and we were.
Speaker D:
She was interested in my interest in the blues.
Speaker D:
And we were on the way to a city called Bundaberg, which is about five hours north of Brisbane, to spend Christmas with her parents.
Speaker D:
And I was playing her a brand new tape that I bought.
Speaker D:
I had a really good stereo on my car, but not much else of Brownie, Brownie McGee and Sunny Terry.
Speaker D:
And we're just totally taken by the sound of this, you know, and listening to the Doors and stuff like that and trying to find the bluesy stuff.
Speaker D:
But like I said, it was hard to find here in Brisbane at the time.
Speaker D:
And she said to me, I'm going to be a singer in a blues band one day.
Speaker D:
And I went, so am I.
Speaker D:
And you know, we kept driving and.
Speaker D:
And we parted ways.
Speaker D:
And a few years later I first started listening to community radio.
Speaker D:
And there was a blue show on Tuesday night.
Speaker D:
And I was just.
Speaker D:
And the guy was talking about this local blues festival that was starting up, this first one.
Speaker D:
And there was a band playing called Lil Fi and the Delta Rhythm Kings.
Speaker D:
And straight away I knew that was her.
Speaker D:
I went, that's my ex girlfriend, Bad boy.
Speaker D:
Went off to see them.
Speaker D:
And I went, wow, it is my ex girlfriend.
Speaker D:
And we kind of rekindled that thing fairly quickly.
Speaker D:
And the, the founding member of that band is a.
Speaker D:
A guitar player called Blind Dog, Donnie Burke.
Speaker D:
And he's up there with the most amazing musicians I've ever been lucky enough to meet.
Speaker D:
So with Fee and I getting back together again, wasn't long before she was living in my beautiful big old Timber Queen center in Kangaroo Point, which is an inner city suburb here in Brisbane.
Speaker D:
And the band was rehearsing on my, on my veranda.
Speaker D:
The neighbors used to bring a six pack and sit on the footpath and listen to the band rather than ring up and complain.
Speaker D:
And two, three years later, they were one of the top blues bands in Australia.
Speaker D:
So already all of a sudden I was at backstage at festivals, you know, doing a little bit of touring with the band.
Speaker D:
And I was just exposed to the creative process watching this amazing musician, the way he would craft songs and build solos and the way they would play two, two and a half hour sets.
Speaker D:
You know, the band would start at nine at the local pub, which is only 200 meters away.
Speaker D:
And they every, every Saturday night for about eight years, in addition to their touring stuff.
Speaker D:
and at about:
Speaker D:
And he'd come off and they'd have a quick beer and then come back on for the next 15 minutes before the pub finished at 12.
Speaker D:
And the place would just be going bananas.
Speaker D:
And it was a constant source of inspiration.
Speaker D:
I was seeing four or five bands a week starting to sing with my own band, you know, running the jam session.
Speaker D:
So having that relationship, relationship with Fee, being able to be as part of the family of the Dr. Case was the most amazing opportunity.
Speaker F:
And it really kind of lent itself towards what you are doing today.
Speaker F:
Correct.
Speaker D:
You know, there's nothing quite as confronting as receiving your ex girlfriend's CD and finding out all that he treated me badly.
Speaker D:
Songs are written about you and your name's on the CD as well.
Speaker D:
But it's nice to live, it's nice to have some legacy.
Speaker D:
And it wasn't always bad, of course.
Speaker F:
See, you're gonna make me go look for the CD now I'm gonna have to go look for it.
Speaker D:
Well, I mean, and of course the couple years together, I'd be at the back of the room and she'd be singing to me and singing songs about me.
Speaker D:
It's an extraordinary thing.
Speaker D:
And people are kind of looking at me going, yeah, whoa, man, that's cool.
Speaker D:
So it was amazing, amazing times that I've been able to enjoy in My life and music, it's just been wonderful.
Speaker F:
Very cool.
Speaker F:
Sean, I want to come back to your podcast now because the evolution of your program is really something of note because it didn't start out as a podcast.
Speaker F:
I mean, you did your radio show regular for 27 years.
Speaker F:
How did you transfer or what caused you to transfer from radio into the podcast world?
Speaker D:
I run foul of a manager who'd been at the station for probably 10 years.
Speaker D:
He'd started out as a 17 year old trainee and I'd been his mentor for many years.
Speaker D:
And he rose to the position of manager and I didn't receive the unsent memo that specified that we'd need to treat him differently now because now he was the boss and he had privileges that his friends with whom he had worked alongside for many years no longer did.
Speaker D:
And I suffered the death of a thousand cuts over about three years before finally he found an excuse to let me go.
Speaker D:
And I was pretty devastated by that after so many years and I wasn't sure what I was going to do.
Speaker D:
I was lucky enough to have a sponsor approach me and offered to fund me to create the podcast.
Speaker A:
Wow.
Speaker D:
And I've been able to do that.
Speaker D:
Fortunately, I had the skills necessary to put the show together to be able to record at home.
Speaker D:
Because all of a sudden I was trying to put together a pretty professional presentation and I was used to working in really well equipped radio studios.
Speaker D:
And yes sir, you know, I've got some curtains and some brick walls and a bit of carpet on the floor and a bit of fabric on the walls.
Speaker D:
But.
Speaker D:
And the, the blues industry has been so supportive of me.
Speaker D:
You know, hey, I've lost my job.
Speaker D:
I'm no longer in the station where I've had this big following and now I'm going to try and start up again.
Speaker D:
It'd be great if you could continue to offer your artists to, to chat with me.
Speaker D:
And you know, labels like Alligator have just been so good and all the years, they're awesome.
Speaker D:
The music ministers who work around the country, they've just been so supportive of me.
Speaker D:
I could never explain how grateful I am that I'm still able to do this after 30 years.
Speaker D:
You know, I'm so proud of it.
Speaker D:
Very proud of the fact that I've had such longevity.
Speaker D:
Cause that's a hard thing.
Speaker D:
My enthusiasm for the show is as big as it's ever been.
Speaker D:
I love it.
Speaker D:
And you know, strangely enough, having done a show live for so many years and just ad libbed the whole thing for four or five hours and then come back to doing a scripted, very tight edited together show.
Speaker D:
And it took me a year before I could really listen to it and actually think that's the way I would like a show, a blues show, a tight scripted one to sound if I was ever gonna do that.
Speaker D:
And now I'm kind of doing that.
Speaker D:
And I'm a hard judge of myself and I'm proud to say that I can listen to the show and actually enjoy it.
Speaker D:
And go, if I was a blues fan looking for a blues podcast, this is what I'd wanna hear.
Speaker F:
Yeah, I have to be honest, I've never considered a podcast to be something that included music like a radio show.
Speaker F:
At least I didn't until I heard your program.
Speaker F:
And I'm not just saying this, I'm being completely honest with you.
Speaker F:
You've made a believer out of me because I've always considered music based podcasts to be simply a radio show on the Internet.
Speaker F:
But your program really does a good job of weaving the interview content into the mix.
Speaker F:
I, I feel that it's quite seamless and I have to tell you, I really enjoy listening to your program.
Speaker D:
Thanks, mate.
Speaker D:
Yeah, it's, I mean that was the point.
Speaker D:
It was like.
Speaker D:
And there are stations around Australia picking it up.
Speaker D:
Share the music.
Speaker D:
It's made such a difference in my life.
Speaker D:
The healing power of the blues is a very real thing for me and I dedicate the show to that every week.
Speaker D:
And I dedicate the show to people struggling with mental health issues, people dealing with homelessness and financial pressures that we're all suffering around the world at the moment.
Speaker D:
And the blues has been such a.
Speaker D:
Something that I can been able to fall back on in some really terrible low times.
Speaker D:
And it's always been able to lift me up.
Speaker D:
For years I would go to 2, 3, 4 gigs a week and walk away.
Speaker D:
As I said, like going to Blues Fest at Easter, totally rejuvenated and ready to start again tomorrow.
Speaker D:
Full of the love of the blues and the difference it's made in my life.
Speaker D:
Yeah, my opportunity to share it with other people and see the enthusiasm in their lives.
Speaker D:
You know, there's 40 year old musicians playing around Brisbane now that started listening to me on the radio when they were 12.
Speaker D:
And to see them now and to see them as world class musicians is just the most extraordinary thing.
Speaker D:
It's what makes this all worthwhile, you know, because it can be some pretty low times, a lot of times leaving a radio station at midnight with trying to get home by public transport with a bag with 150 CDs.
Speaker D:
And it isn't easy.
Speaker D:
And I did that for a while.
Speaker D:
But yeah, having people meeting, people come up to me who say, are you shaky, Sean?
Speaker D:
I remember I was at Blues Fest one year and these two twins, young boys about 15, come up to me and they said, are you shaky, Sean?
Speaker D:
And I went, well, yeah, how you going?
Speaker D:
And I went, we listened to you on the radio.
Speaker D:
We're going to be in a band with you one day.
Speaker D:
And 10, 10 years later, I think I hired them as my rhythm section.
Speaker D:
It was fantastic.
Speaker D:
And they're pros these days and they're now in their early 40s.
Speaker D:
And to.
Speaker D:
To have known them since they were teens and to have known that for years they were listening to me on Monday night in their band room playing along with the stuff that I was playing on radio.
Speaker D:
It's the best thing ever.
Speaker D:
It really is.
Speaker F:
That's very cool.
Speaker F:
Now, over the course of more than 30 years, you have interviewed just about anyone who is anyone in the blues genre.
Speaker F:
Many of them multiple times.
Speaker F:
From what I've read and seen.
Speaker F:
You have any favorite interviews that you've had along the way?
Speaker D:
I'm such a fanboy, I constantly feel like I'm pinching myself.
Speaker D:
The first time I interviewed Taj Mahal, Jimmy Vaughan.
Speaker D:
Oh, where the.
Speaker D:
I've done so many interviews over this.
Speaker D:
Unfortunately, a lot of them weren't tapes when I was doing them live, so I don't have access to them.
Speaker D:
I only have access to about the last 10 years of interviews.
Speaker D:
But Mike Henderson was one of my heroes.
Speaker D:
The guitar player from Mike Henderson, the Blue Bloods, the great.
Speaker D:
The great Nashville slide guitar session player and songwriter, of course, who's written some hits in.
Speaker D:
In the latter part of his career that were huge.
Speaker D:
And I'd been wanting to do an interview with Mike for years, but I was a fan and I didn't.
Speaker D:
It's hard to go in as a fan sometimes because it's kind of like, ah.
Speaker D:
Because I get a.
Speaker D:
My energy is pretty high when I'm.
Speaker D:
When I'm around people.
Speaker D:
I'm really who've changed my life, you know, and that's the way I feel about these people.
Speaker F:
Yes, sir.
Speaker D:
And Mike died and I was devastated by that because I felt like I'd missed an opportunity to speak to him just because I didn't have enough, a good enough reason.
Speaker D:
And I was devastated.
Speaker D:
The fact that I now actually had a good enough reason was the fact that he passed and his label made at Dead Reckoning Records.
Speaker D:
Dead Reckoners Kevin Welsh had written a bit about Mike and I sent him an email and said, would you be interested in talking to me about Mike?
Speaker D:
And he said, absolutely, I'd love to.
Speaker D:
And I think he got some solace from actually speaking to somebody who was such an uber fan about this incredible musician.
Speaker D:
So that was very rewarding for me to be able to put that together and to be able to share that.
Speaker D:
There was another one I did with, with the great bass player Larry Fulcher, you know, of course, from the Phantom Blues Band.
Speaker D:
He was Anika Chambers, producer once again about the sad passing of Mike Finnegan.
Speaker D:
And the Phantom Blues Band had made an album.
Speaker D:
Johnny Lee Shell, the guitar player and Larry had produced this album following Mike's death as a bit of a tribute to him and to have an opportunity to.
Speaker D:
I love to interview bass players and drummers and stuff, not necessarily the frontman because I love to hear about the life of musician, what it's like, you know, so.
Speaker D:
And Larry and I chatted about Mike and about the Phantom Blues Band and Larry sat there with his grandson Langston, grandson Langston sitting on his knee as we did the interview.
Speaker D:
And afterwards I put it all together, as you've heard, I like to put them together and, you know, give it some polish.
Speaker D:
And he sent me a message saying, man, my wife and I, we sat down with a bottle of wine and we listened to the whole thing.
Speaker D:
And to have a musician tell you they listen to your interview with them, the whole thing, because most musicians go great and they move on, they're onto promoting the album or onto the next gig.
Speaker D:
It's very.
Speaker D:
This is my thing, it's not really the artist thing, you know, even though it's about the artist, but this is my production.
Speaker D:
So.
Speaker D:
So for an artist to say, not only did we listen to it and enjoy it, but we're so thankful to you for actually lending your, your skill set in order to be able to provide this blues podcast.
Speaker D:
Like you say, a podcast about music that's got music.
Speaker D:
Lots of people told me you couldn't do it, but I made some inquiries and I found a.
Speaker D:
Found out a way that I could actually pay a license.
Speaker D:
Pay a license to use the music, pay that every year.
Speaker D:
It cost me, don't make any money these days, but so the show cost me a little bit.
Speaker D:
And I thought, well, why the hell not?
Speaker D:
ave a five hour blues show in:
Speaker D:
Sure, why not let him have a crack and see how it goes.
Speaker D:
I mean that, that first Blues Fest, I mean, I was there with a mate.
Speaker D:
He was a young musician coming up.
Speaker D:
We had a. I had a Toyota Light Ace van with a couch in the back and a tarp.
Speaker D:
We put it on the ground and not afraid to say, we were approached by a couple of beautiful young English backpackers about 20 minutes after we arrived there.
Speaker D:
And we built up a wonderful friendship with them over the weekend.
Speaker D:
I'm standing there in the front of the Paladins and all of a sudden I'm having these all.
Speaker D:
I'm gonna do a radio show and I'm gonna play this band on the radio show and I'm gonna, one day I'm gonna interview them and I'm gonna be in a band myself and I'm gonna play their songs and one day my band will actually open for them.
Speaker D:
And it was like, this is all pie in the sky stuff.
Speaker D:
You're a washed up footy player with a drinking problem.
Speaker D:
How is any of this going to happen?
Speaker D:
And it all happens.
Speaker D:
f them in front of a sold out:
Speaker D:
And to be standing on stage when you look to the side and you realize your heroes are standing there looking at you as they're getting ready to come up on stage after you.
Speaker D:
It's just the most amazing thing.
Speaker D:
How have I ever managed to pull this off?
Speaker D:
You know, I was a, like I was a washed up rugby player with a drinking problem with no idea what I was going to do in the future.
Speaker D:
And a mate of mine said to me, you like blues?
Speaker D:
There's this Blues Fest down at Byron Bay, we should go there.
Speaker D:
And we did.
Speaker D:
And my whole life changed.
Speaker D:
You know, the biggest thing was I just stopped thinking of myself as a footballer.
Speaker D:
And I started thinking of myself as this person who was totally immersed in the blues that would spend all their money going out to see bands that would spend $200 a week on CDs in the, in those early days before I started getting some money support from the record companies.
Speaker D:
After a few years I managed to survive a robbery at my house when my entire CD collection was stolen inside the first year of producing the show.
Speaker D:
And all of a sudden I had nothing to play.
Speaker D:
And I think I managed to get some CDs from a friend of mine.
Speaker D:
And once again we're talking about a five hour show.
Speaker D:
And I announced it on the show about this had happened.
Speaker D:
So, you know, I'm not really sure what's going to happen in the future.
Speaker D:
And listeners started turning up to the jam session on Tuesday night with boxes of CDs to lend me so that I could continue to making the show until I could get back on an even keel.
Speaker D:
And ultimately I end up finding some of the CDs that had been stolen to me because listeners, unbeknownst to themselves, had actually found them after they'd been on sold and brought them back to me and said, I found them here.
Speaker D:
And I'd go, you know, this on the back, that's actually my security mark.
Speaker D:
And they'd go, oh, wow, I've got lots of them with that mark on them.
Speaker D:
And I'd say, where did you buy them?
Speaker D:
And this guy told me, and he went.
Speaker D:
I said, are there any more with that kind of mark on him?
Speaker D:
And he went, oh, yeah, a couple of dozen.
Speaker D:
And I went down there the next day and there they were and I called the cops, and all of a sudden I had my CD Spanks.
Speaker D:
Most extraordinary thing, the blues community helping each other out, you know.
Speaker D:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:
Who would have ever imagined that?
Speaker D:
I think it was an Air Force officer, and he'd come in from.
Speaker D:
From the air, the air base, which is about an hour away, and just dig this local jam session, and then supported me buying CDs.
Speaker D:
And when we established that he had a whole bunch of my CDs that had been stolen that he bought, he just gave them, said, here, mate, here's your CDs back about 60.
Speaker F:
Wow.
Speaker D:
And they're, you know, 25 to 30 bucks each.
Speaker D:
He probably paid 12 to 15 and had no qualms about just giving them back to me so I could continue to do what I was doing on the radio.
Speaker D:
The blues community is the most amazing community worldwide.
Speaker D:
It's an amazing thing to be part of it.
Speaker F:
All right, Sean Binley, my sincere thanks for joining me today on Time Signatures.
Speaker F:
I wish you all the best continued success, and I promise you I will definitely be keeping in touch with you.
Speaker F:
And thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker D:
You're a gem.
Speaker D:
Jim, good on you, mate.
Speaker D:
I really appreciate your interest in my show and.
Speaker D:
And thank you for sharing my passion and thank you for allowing your opportunities to maybe be exposed to what I do.
Speaker D:
And congratulations on your fourth season coming up.
Speaker D:
What a beautiful thing, brother.
Speaker F:
Thank you.
Speaker F:
And I'll tell you what, it was Greg Nagy.
Speaker F:
I was trying to think of who it was.
Speaker F:
It was Greg Nagy that told me about your podcast because you mentioned him recently and played some of his new album.
Speaker F:
And so that's where I ultimately was first exposed to your music, to your program.
Speaker F:
But I absolutely enjoy it and looking forward to seeing what you have coming down the way.
Speaker D:
What a gem.
Speaker D:
That guy, Greg Nagy, he was the guy who introduced me to his mate Bobby Murray, who of course played guitar and Edda Jamesford 20 years.
Speaker D:
And if you go back in the Blues With Feeling archives, there's my interview with Bobby talking about playing with Edda James.
Speaker D:
Yeah, what an incredible thing to be able to do.
Speaker D:
This, man, every day is just such a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Speaker F:
Yes, sir.
Speaker F:
Well, thank you once again for joining us.
Speaker F:
And that wraps up this edition of Time Signatures.
Speaker F:
Once again, my sincere thanks to Sean Binley, but also to you, my listener, my viewer, my subscriber, because without you, none of this would be possible.
Speaker F:
Jim Revin, reminding you that keeping the blues alive is everyone's responsibility, but preserving the history of the blues, one story at a time, that's my mission.
Speaker F:
Until next time, Sola.
Speaker D:
Right on, baby.
Speaker G:
This has been Time Signatures with Jim Irvin, presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker G:
For more information on CABS, visit capitalareablues.org you can find this episode and past episodes@lccconnect.org the Time Signature's theme song, Michigan Roads, is used by permission and was written by Root Doctor featuring Freddie Cunningham.
Speaker G:
Until next time, keep on keeping the blues alive.
Speaker G:
This is WLNZ Lansing.
Speaker G:
You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College.
Speaker G:
To find out out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, visit us at lccconnect.org LCC Connect, voices, vibes, Vision.
