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Category Archives: Robyn Hitchcock

As Rock Genre Directors at WEFT 90.1 FM, once a month we would set about opening our mail, criticizing the type treatment used by the mostly micro-label CDs we received, and digging for buried musical treasure. All on the air, with envelopes ripping and bubble wrap popping. And lots of playing songs that were new to us, even if they might be stale to others.

Send your CD to Rock Geek Enterprises, P.O.Box 91, Urbana IL 61803.

28 February 2009: Vampire Weekend, Davis Schneiderman, Robyn Hitchcock, &c.

20 June 2009: Martin Newell, The Bird and the Bee, Robyn Hitchcock, &c.

1 August 2009: Common Loon, Paul Kotheimer, &c.

19 September 2009: Phoenix, Electric Tickle Machine, Apples in Stereo, Vivian Girls, &c.

15 January 2010: Surprises both fresh and rancid.

12 April 2010: Broken Bells, Gorillaz, MC Frontalot, &c.

14 June 2010: Dead Weather, Seth Augustus, Karen Elson, &c.

19 July 2010: Wolf Parade, Hot Hot Heat, Black Keys, Sadies, Dark Night of the Soul, &c.

16 August 2010: An attempt to work through the entire alphabet: new releases by bands starting with letters A—Z…

30 August 2010: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Wavves, Aloe Blacc, &c.

20 September 2010: Of Montreal, Philip Selway, &c.

18 October 2010: Janelle Monae! (Followed by a live performance by Community College on the WEFT Sessions)

15 November 2010: Decemberists, and what else do you need, really?

13 December 2010: John Steinbacher joins William while Cristy takes a holiday

17 January 2011: with Todd Hunter

7 March 2011: Chain and the Gang, Bare Wires, &c. Wow.

18 April 2011: Dopestylevsky, Mammals of Zod, Paul Kotheimer, Gary Heidt, Shipbuilding Company, Deerhoof, &c.

6 June 2011: Raphael Saadiq, Chad VanGaalen, &c.

20 June 2011: Fist of Kindness, Five-Eight, Wombats, the Head, Hammer No More the Fingers, &c.

18 July 2011: Bloc Party, Mike Watt, &c.

22 August 2o11: Rome, Material Issue, &c.

12 December 2011: We were late and called in to ask a baby boomer to start our show, with predictable results. Thanks, Mick.

 23 January 2012: They Might Be Giants, The Asteroid Galaxy Tour, &c.

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The Count.

The Count.

As a corollary to our shows about numbers and years, we had to devote a show to addresses, ages, dates, and times. Are we geeks yet?

Rules? Well, just giving street names is a different mix. On the other hand, knowing that Heartbreak Hotel is on the end on Lonely Street is probably enough information to find it on a map of Miseryville. We’d also include “53rd and 3rd”—enough to let you know which subway stop is closest to the Ramones.

Download and get really specific with your listening.

Other shows that require an abacus:


The irrepressible Dave Witzany joins us for a Valentine’s Day show dedicated to a songwriter we truly love: Robyn Hitchcock. Two absolute Hitchcockphiles join forces to somehow cull two hours from his 40-year career. Listen, love.

 

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s. Light west winds. Songs about the rain.

From 8-10 CST on Rock Geek F.M. with Cristy and William: the music of Paul Kotheimer, Scott Walker, the Troggs, Marmalade, Cracker, Tones on Tail, and a couple dozen others. Songs about rain drizzling online at http://weft.org/stream, evaporated to the cloud right here.

Possibly the first rock band photo shoot in the rain. Trendsetter band the Band.

Possibly the first rock band photo shoot in the rain. Trendsetter band the Band.

 

 

Mutatis Mutandis by Herbert Brun.

Mutatis Mutandis by Herbert Brun.

As a sub for Fanfare for the Speeding Bullet, the avant-garde show, I had it in mind to do an entirely a capella show focusing on experimental music for voice. I really wondered what two hours of anticommunicative voices would feel like. People talking to you who did not want anything from you. Halfway through, the usual host, who was supposed to be taking the night off, showed up and hovered nervously. Perhaps to Jason I was playing the wrong avant garde music. But isn’t that the point?

I include the complete playlist below and reconstruct the broadcast as well.

PART ONE

01 Central Park Transverse Vocal 1    0:43    Henry Flynn
Slender Fungus    3:36    Tones On Tail
Breaking Up Immediately Recognizable Units of Significance Is Hard to Do    4:27    William DeFotis
Universal Drainage    1:24    Phil Minton
That’s Halloween    1:47    Duplex Planet
Zweiter Teil    3:13    Kurt Schwitters
Dritter Teil    2:43    Kurt Schwitters
FIDDLE    0:05
My, I’m Large    3:58    The Bobs
Anselm_Berrigan    5:55    Anselm Berrigan
Maledetto    14:33    Kenneth Gaburo
The Flow of (u)    23:01    Kenneth Gaburo

PART  TWO

Lifting Leeks    2:44    Phil MintonShadowSong (1979)    5:10    Joan La Barbara
Three Lies    3:01    Phil Minton
Dialogue ”Lonnie Cooks Quail”    0:22    Dialogue with Glen Fitzgerald
Todor Todorka :trad.Bulgarian    3:11    Amasong
Unfortunate    0:14    Exene Cervenka
Erin (1980)    6:56    Joan La Barbara
Circlesong Two    4:14    Bobby McFerrin
Son Of Byford    0:27    Run-D.M.C.
Josquin: Petite Camusette    1:02    The Hillard Ensemble
01 Emergency    3:41    Sweet Honey In The Rock
02 Our Side Won    5:10    Sweet Honey In The Rock
03 Ode to the International Debt    3:16    Sweet Honey In The Rock
04 Are My Hands Clean_    2:56    Sweet Honey In The Rock
Well    2:08    Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Ballad    2:15    Phil Minton
Dough Song 1    0:47    Phil Minton
Dialogue ”Acid Propaganda”    0:59    Dialogue with Lily Tomlin, Alan Alda & Ben Stiller
Gil    1:22    Don Van Vliet
Dough Song 13    0:35    Phil Minton
ENOUGH    0:02
Wafflehead    4:04    Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Whole Lotta Love    3:26    The Bobs

Cristy’s ultra-cute cybergreen VW new beetle suffered another super-cute battery failure while we were filling the tank on the way to the station.

As a result we arrived out of sorts and fell back on a strategy we had not resorted to before: playing songs we really, really like.

Isn’t that what freestyle rock radio by passionate humans should be about?

Nah.

If that were so, we’d play the same stuff every month.

But it took the edge off a stressful night. Listen, enjoy almost as much as we did, dancing in the studio.

Check engine light is on, guys.

Check engine light is on, guys.

I just love a good talking part in a song. Emphasis “good.” Give me Elvis over Arlo any day; life is short.

Here’s a collection of some of our favorites—mid-song orations, some soothing, many inexplicable, some classic, and most not classic until we uploaded them to this site but are now canonical.

Oh come on, Arlo, where's your sense of humor?

Oh come on, Arlo, where’s your sense of humor?

Musical meta-radio. Well, there’s a lot of songs about radio, most of them pretty damn cheerful. Are we postmodern yet? Download this fun if effortless mix.

Serious about fun music.

Serious about fun music.

Saturday morning ear cartoons: songs about television for the next hour with Cristy and William. Get a bowl of cereal and listen online with your jammies on.

We just cleaned!

We just cleaned!

A pledge drive show during which we claim we can play any requested song, and give away a copy of Ripped, by Greg Kot. Success..?

Well, the station is still on the air.

Just try it!

Just try it!