Dad's Car Radio

KDFC San Francisco

Nearly 25 years ago I began a career in Broadcast Advertising sales at a company that represented Classical Radio Stations exclusively. We had a fine roster of major market stations, many that had been in the format since the dawn of FM radio. Shortly after I joined the company we added a new client station, KDFC San Francisco. The station owner was Ed Davis. After returning home from serving in World War II, Ed boarded a train a train and arrived in San Francisco. In 1948 he obtained the license for 102.1 FM and launched KDFC as San Francisco's Radio Concert Hall. By the time I met Ed in 1984 He was a wealthy man, but not from selling radio ads. He had made much more in Real Estate, including acreage atop the Mountain in Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco where he built a tower for his station and was later able to rent tower space to numerous other broadcasters. For those of you who are not broadcast engineers, FM radio relies on height to get the optimum coverage and Ed bought the highest ground before most people even owned an FM receiver. He saw the future before others. He was in the right place at the right time and more importantly knew he was in the right place at the right time. KDFC was the first station to broadcast in stereo. The first to have unattended overnight automation and in many more cases Ed was quick to innovate. Ed would have loved Flycast. To be able to listen to his great station as I am now, on an iPhone on a train between Philadelphia and Baltinore would brought him great joy. So Ed , thanks for your vision and passion for great music and quality broadcasting. By the way, 60 years later, that Mozart guy is still a star and I am thrilled to have KDFC on the Flycast.fm network.

Area Man Rocks Out

Our neighborhood is directly adjacent to the Pimlico Race Track, site of the Virgin Mobile Music Festival, and the residents had some concerns regarding parking, trash and the potential for overnight car camping.

The promoter, I.M.P.  was very responsive and even provided dues paying neighborhood residents with 2 for 1 tickets.  I acted as the coordinator of the voucher program. The local weekly got wind of our good fortune and decided it was a good angle for their coverage of the festival.  So they called and spoke to several people and then we met up at the show and they took pictures of myself and Chelsea.  While Chelsea is far better looking than I and looks much more like a typical Festival goer - I made the front page. 

Hilarious. 

Wearing my Straw Hat and with camera in hand, I look every day of my 50 years. But I am rocking out.  The caption says so!

The full article, including caption, is HERE .

Everything that Happens Will Happen Today

28 Years after the groundbreaking "My Life In the Bush of Ghosts" Brian Eno and David Byrne have collaborated on a new recording.  It is a much more conventional album, with straightforward song structure and real lyrics and singing. Sure there are odd lyrics and strange sounds and exotic texturtes, It's really quite nice. And nice guys that they are - you can hear it all for free, download a free track and order the CD in advance and download the full album now. But go ahead stream it first.  I love geniuses who share. Just press play and enjoy!

Weezer "Pork and Beans" Video

Extending the 15 minutes of fame for a whole cast of You Tube stars, here's the first track from the next Weezer Album. Enjoy!

Virgin Mobile Festival 2008 Full Lineup Announced

The Full lineup for the 2 Day Virgin Mobile Music Festival at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore MD was announced today.  Full details on the event at their site.

Saturday - Previously announced headliners are Jack Johnson and Foo Fighters. My favorites among the new additions are:

WILCO - I have missed this band too many times. The Recher, the 9:30 Club,  The Meyerhoff, Merriweather, no excuses this time. Woo-Hoo!

Gogol Bordello - The Gypsy Punks were on my wish list for last year - very excited to see this spectacle.

She and Him - The duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel just released their first album. He is a virtuoso guitarist and you may know Zooey from the films Elf and Almost Famous among others. You can hear some of their bright and breezy music a their My Space page Some knucklehead put an auto starting video in the comments so stop that first or you'll be really confused. 

Cat Power -  Now that she has both sobered up and conquered her severe stage fright Chan Marshall AKA Cat Power is doing great shows. 

The Offspring! Are you ready to MOSH? Here's your chance.  A Tremendous live act, I will watch from a safe distance, I hurt my back, you see and the doc says no more Moshing for me.

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings - The band that backed Amy Winehouse on Back to Black, this should be nice to groove and sway to...

Get this kids - CHUCK BERRY and the Silver Beats  Yes, it's true - Chuck Berry a founding father of Rock and Roll is not only alive, but is playing at V-Fest. Wow.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - A brilliant guitar duo - He plays fast and linear with a pick and she plays flamenco style - born in Mexico and now based in Dublin, they will astound you.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!

Previously announced Headliners, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West and the Re-united Stone Temple Pilots, PLUS:

Bob Dylan! - How does it Feeeeel? Pretty damn good, Bob. Thanks for asking.

Iggy and the Stooges! - The legendary Iggy Pop and the reunited Stooges were the talk of the festival circuit last summer. Psyched!

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Stomp Your feet and Clap your hands as BRMC kicks out the jams.

The Black Keys - Dynamic innovative intriguing and inspired.

Lil Wayne - Uh, he raps, I'm guessing.

Taking Back Sunday - This one's for the kids.

Citizen Cope - Local Boy makes good (Music)

The Swell Season - Duo Du Jour, as seen in the film Once.

The Go Team - OK you stumped me. They are probably great.

PLUS each Day the Dance Tent features world class DJ's including MOBY doing a set on Sunday.

Thank you again, Sir Richard Branson.

Now, Check out the Stooges Live at SXSW 2007.

Mix Tapes and MuxTape.com

Everyone loves a great mix tape. Creating a Mix Tape used to be a full evening's project. A stack of LP's or CD's a fresh cassette tape, a couple of beers and time - at least 2 hours for a 90 minute mix - often longer.  Timing the start button and needle drop to make a tight mix sometime required multiuple attempts. If you later had regrets about putting Talking Heads before The Cure instead of vice-versa, tough. These were errors one learned to live with, starting over was a just to great an undertaking. 

Now, making a Mix CD is an easy drag and drop process. You can shuffle the songs around, think about it, add and drop, tweak it and burn it.  Get a better idea tomorrow and it takes just minutes to drop a track, add a track and burn again.  It's wonderful.

The Joy of Mix has evolved yet again with Muxtape.com. Here you upload 12 songs, sequence them to perfection and invite your friends to listen. Your mix will also reach the ears of random listeners, some of whom will be amazed by your talent for putting together a perfect mix.  Browsing and listening to the mixes of others is a lot of fun. Check it out at Muxtape.com You can go directly to my latest Muxtape by clicking HERE Then let me know and I'll make sure to listen to your labor of love. Mux On!

Virgin Mobile Festival 2008 Lineup

Here we go - The first announcement for this year's Virgin Mobile Festival at Pimlico Race Track, Baltimore, Maryland on August 9th and 10th.  With many more to be announced soon - So far we will be rocking with... Drum roll Please.......

Foo Fighters

Nine Inch Nails

Jack Johnson - I hope he brings Curious George along!

Kanye West 

The suddenly reformed and touring Stone Temple Pilots - Scott Weiland was in Velvet Revolver last week... They say fired but with the STP revival, looks like it was in the works for a while. Doesn't he look like a cross between Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury in this Picture?

There is also a more, so far unconfirmed, that Charlie the Unicorn will make an appearance!

Favorite Albums and Songs of 2007

New Rule: Just like IRA contributions you have until April 15th to post last year's "best of" lists.

Here is some of my favorite music from 2007.

Robert Plant Alison Krauss - Raising Sand - A great surprise and a true joy. "Please Read the Letter" was one of the finest vocal performances of the year.

Radiohead - In Rainbows - A brilliant return to form. It still isn't O.K. Computer but a heck of a lot closer than the last couple attempts.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - Jeff Tweedy rehabs and is happy to be alive., We're happy to hear that.

Bruce Springsteen - Magic - Two classics "Radio Nowhere" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - My affection for this CD rises and falls. When I love it - I REALLY love it.

The National - Boxer - Haunting brooding moody  glorious.

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away - Pain with high harmonies - what a glorious combination.

Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog  Backed by Calexico this is almost trance inducing. In a good way.

Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - This band continues to grow and evolve.  Several brilliant tracks on this one.

LCD Sound-system - Sounds of Silver WOW! Unlike anything else ever. "North American Sum" is just the beginning.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black Pray for her. This talent can not be squandered away. I hope.

Favorite Single or track

John Doe with Kathleen Edwards - "The Golden State" If it were not for Plant and Krauss THIS would have been duet of the year. Great song.

Runner Up - Band of Horses - "Is There a Ghost"

Favorite Personal Discovery - Manu Chao - It appears that the rest of the world already knew, but most of the US still doesn't. This guy is fantastic.

Sad Kermit has been Hurt

This video pulls off the unlikely trifecta of being hilarious, ingenius and oddly affecting.

Dazed and Confused

I recently watched the movie “Dazed and Confused” for the first time. In case you are the other person who hasn’t seen the film, it is a set in a small  Texas town on High School Graduation Day 1976, which is the year I graduated from High School in a small Pennsylvania town.

The film opens with a GTO prowling the High School parking lot to “Sweet Emotion” and the last scene has a carload of kids at dawn heading to Houston to get Tickets for the summer's main event - an Aerosmith concert. It all feels so familiar. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the haircuts, the cars… it’s all perfect. There’s even a somewhat geeky character that has my hair and glasses from that era.

 The soundtrack is often cranked, a full frontal assault of all that rocked in that era. In addition to  Aerosmith, there's Foghat, Frampton, ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, Nazareth, Sabbath, Kiss, Deep Purple, Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer, Steve Miller, War, even Head East’s “Never Been any Reason” gets blasted in the foreground of this 70’s version of American Graffiti. Led Zeppelin, which is honored by the film's title is missing from the actual film, it must have been a rights issue…

 So it was a cold splash on my warm fuzzy nostalgia when I received a terrible phone call with the news that one of my closest childhood friends and a fellow member of the Class of 1976 had died of a sudden massive Heart Attack.  It has been years since I saw James Wendell Maudlin, but my memories of him, his energy, enthusiasm and spirit are forged in my brain along with the soundtrack of the times.
 

Jim was the first person to play numerous crucial records for me, including Sgt. Pepper, Deep Purple’s Machine Head, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick Spirit’s 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, and the first Eagles album. Then there was the Woodstock Soundtrack, I can vividly recall putting the speakers in the window and blasting the infamous “Fish Cheer” for the entire neighborhood to enjoy.
 

We built and raced Go-Carts, created treacherous sledding runs, explored caves, rode mini bikes and motorcycles, built tree forts, hell the guy taught me how to drive a car. We sat for hours behind the wheel of his Dad’s 1972 Triumph Spitfire going through the shift patterns and winning race after imaginary race… anxiously waiting for the day when we got our licenses.

 

The spirit of Dad’s Car Radio – Rock and Roll on the open road - was very much a part of the Jim Maudlin I knew. Think I’ll go entertain the neighbors in tribute…

James Wendell Maudlin 1957-2008