North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 28th ’08

1. Bruce Springsteen: Dream Baby Dream
2. Prisonshake: Dream Along
3. Roy Orbison: In Dreams
4. Bunny Wailer: Dreamland
5. Cheap Trick: The Dream Police
6. Suicide: Keep Your Dreams
7. Tom Waits: Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
8. Dr. John & The Lower 911: Dream Warrior
9. Ian McNabb: You Must Be Prepared To Dream
10. Audience: I Had A Dream
11. Duffy: Distant Dreamer
12. Tommy McLain: Sweet Dreams
13. Sandy Denny: I’m A Dreamer
14. Neil Young: It’s A Dream
15. Patto: The Dream I Had Last Night
16. Max Romeo: Wet Dream
17. Home: Dreamer
18. Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream Of Trains
19. The Heartthrobs: Dreamtime
20. Danny Gatton: Memphis Dream

Featured Album:
Glasvegas (Sony/BMG, UK)

The 7” B-side:
X: Positively 4th St.

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Big Al Anderson & The Balls: Pawn Shop Guitars
Angelo Badalamenti: Laura Palmer’s Theme
Katrina Leskanich: Hitsville UK
MX-80 Sound: Man On The Move
Paul Weller: Sexy Sadie
Carl Perkins: Honey Don’t
The Action: I’ll Keep On Holding On
Robert Palmer: Johnny and Mary
The Feelies: Time For A Witness
The Shadows: Apache
Chris Montez: Let’s Dance
The Who: The Last Time
The Lone Sharks: Rx Of Love
Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance: How Come
Los Lobos: Somewhere In Time
Dion: Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller
Emiliana Torrini: Gun
Christine Ohlman: Wrap it Up
Rodney Crowell: Truth Decay
Ronnie Spector: Hell Of A Nerve
The Hellacopters: Dirty Women
The Flying Burrito Brothers: Lazy Days
Martin Rev: Narcisse
The Four Horsemen: Moonshine
Inez & Charlie Foxx: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush
The Head Cat: Big River
25th Of May: Made In The USA

Bruce Springsteen, Suicide

Last night I dreamed Alan Vega cycled past my car's open window (in the rain) wearing a turqoise, red and black striped wooly rasta hat and shouted "Juicers!" at me.
I think that, and the 10" limited edition import that arrived today (Blast First Petite, UK) warrants a "dream" play-list next week.

Lemmy

Lemmy in his dressing room, Roseland, NYC
Sept 20 '08

"...and then there are GODS...ladies and gentlemen - MOTÖRHEAD!" Thus ended pro-wrestler Triple H's introduction and out trooped Lemmy and his comrades, "greatest drummer in the world" Mikkey Dee and 24 year 'head veteran, axeman Phil Campbell, to waste the Roseland masses who clearly recognize a god (or three) when they see one. Perhaps this is a religion they should teach in schools. Anyway, for the next 90 minutes, Motörhead delivered - AS THEY ALWAYS DO - with élan, power, digital dexterity, humour and VOLUME. 'Rock Out' from the new album (their first to crack the Billboard Top 100 albums, ever), old favourites like 'Stay Clean', 'Metropolis', 'Just Cuz You've Got The Power', 'Killed By Death', 'Iron Fist', 'Ace Of Spades' and (this week's #1 at North Fork Sound) 'Overkill' plus Thin Lizzy's brilliant 'Rosalie' and a killer version of 'Going To Brazil' showed just what a great rock 'n' roll band Motörhead truly are. Forget the metal or punk tags. They're rock 'n' roll like very few are even capable of being, these days. Before the show, Lemmy was kind enough to do the above ID and show me a book of drawings he's been working on. Some of the captions accompanying the images reminded me of a 'piece' he'd done for me on a Gramercy Park Hotel Room Service Breakfast Menu in the late 80s (click on it for a better view)

2 Eggs Fried & Fertile + Scabby Kid's Head

The hospitality in Lemmy's dressing room consisted of 4 bottles of Jack Daniels, some ice, Cokes and a tray of deli meat. He told a joke (which I've forgotten) and said Philthy now has white hair. I told him the station plays Motörhead and his side project The Head Cat plus a lot of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry etc to which he responded, "Buddy Holly?" Of course. I had my friend Eric Danville with me. He's currently compiling the Heavy Metal Book Of Lists, for which Lemmy has written the foreword, so I took a couple of pix of them together and then we split for the bar.

RIP: Earl Palmer (Oct 25 1924 - Sept 20 2008)

photographer: unknown

North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 21st ‘08

1. Motörhead: Overkill
2. Alvin Robinson: Let The Good Times Roll
3. Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine
4. The Flamin’ Groovies: Shake Some Action
5. Gang Of Four: At Home He’s A Tourist
6. Carl Perkins: Honey Don’t
7. Suicide: Ghost Rider
8. Peter C Johnson: 9:00
9. Roxy Music: Pyjamarama
10. James Brown: Please, Please, Please
11. Doug Sahm: Texas Tornado
12. J. Geils Band: Back To Get Ya
13. Katrina Leskanich: Hitsville U.K.
14. Ronnie Lane: How Come
15. Eric Dolphy: Something Sweet, Something Tender
16. Nico: Genghis Khan
17. Drive-By Truckers: Perfect Timing
18. The Action: I’ll Keep On Holding On
19. The Soul Rebels: Do It For The Rebel
20. Evil Beaver: Cherry Master

Featured Album:
The Jim Jones Revue (Punk Rock Blues Records)

The 7” B-side:
Ronnie Spector: Hell Of A Nerve

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Yvonne Fair: It Should Have Been Me
Dion: Runaway
The Stooges: 1969
Suzan Cadogan: Hurts So Good
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band: Hope Street
Culture: Love Shine Brighter
X: Los Angeles
The Stranglers: Golden Brown
Yellowman: Operation Radication
Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan: You Made Me Laugh
The Soft Machine: Why Are We Sleeping
Jerry Byrne: Lights Out
The Godfathers: Birth, School, Work, Death
The Jim Jones Revue: Princess And The Frog
The Ramones: Loudmouth
The Lone Sharks: Please Don’t Dance
X-Tal: An Old Colonial’s Hard Luck Story
Amy Rigby: The Leader
Manfred Mann: 5-4-3-2-1
Doug Powell: A Prayer For Ray Davies
Paul Thorn: Things Left Undone
Howlin’ Wolf: Color And Kind
Sinead O’Connor & The Edge: Heroine
Pink Fairies: The Snake
Them: I’m Gonna Dress In Black
Harvey Mandel: Christo Redentor

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Motörhead

I know it looks like I'm slacking, but I'm not...honest! The radio station takes up several hours a day, I'm scanning ALL my photos and converting some of my vinyl to mp3s and I haven't even unpacked the lps or books yet...so by the time I get to focus on the writing, it's usually dinnertime and nothing gets done. Furthermore, once a piece is written, I usually have to rewrite it at least once, so we get to Friday and we're still looking at Sunday's chart. I really thought it would be easier than this. Anyway, bear with me. Tomorrow, after giving my new cd shelves - thanks, Danny - a second coat of stain, I'm driving into the city to hang with Lemmy and see Motörhead at Roseland. I feel like I need to hear Overkill on an endless loop right now. It's time for some noise. I discovered some old photos while unpacking a box and worked on this one a bit more. Sorry if you've already read most of it...

The first time I saw Motörhead was at Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore complex, an old cinema they’d bought and converted to a rehearsal facility and recording studio. I had received an invitation to a showcase from their handler at the time, Frank Kennington, suggesting that Island Records might be interested in putting out their records. Since my job was to take a look at everything out there, I accepted. So I go on the appointed afternoon and, upon entering the building, encountered a deafening roar not unlike that of a low-flying airplane. When my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness (the only illumination was provided by the little red lights on the amplifiers and these fast moving bright white 'flashlights' flying about the place) it became apparent that while Motörhead were playing, a couple of Hells Angels were riding around the otherwise empty, seatless auditorium on their bikes. The din was staggering and it wasn’t long before the handful of us that had shown up promptly sought the peace and quiet of London's traffic outside on Fulham Broadway, where the fumes and stench were slightly more acceptable. Needless to say, the showcase didn’t exactly pan out the way they had hoped and it wasn’t until a couple of years later when (new manager) Douglas Smith called me at Bronze Records and asked if I would consider signing the band. By this time, they’d lost 3 record deals (an album ‘On Parole’ had been rejected by United Artists) and they’d just been dropped by Chiswick Records after their ‘Motörhead’ album had failed to light up the charts. Stiff Records had done a single with them too, but were prevented from releasing Leaving Here c/w White Line Fever by U/A who claimed the band were still under contract to them when the songs were recorded. At the time, Bronze’s biggest artists were Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Uriah Heep and Osibisa, so it wasn’t exactly the first label a manager would bring their clients. In fact, it was the last. Doug admitted to me that he’d been everywhere else and, unless Bronze signed the band, they would probably have to break up. I told him that I wasn't really interested, but he convinced me to come and see them one last time, this time at Dingwalls, a club in Camden Lock. I agreed, mainly because I had cut acetates and the lacquers for (his other client) Hawkwind’s ‘Urban Guerilla’ single when I was at Trident. I liked Douglas and I’d also quite liked Motörhead’s eponymous single, although I thought its production left a lot to be desired. The band now had 'Fast' Eddie Clarke on guitar and, this time, they were just awesome! Not only did they rock the packed house, but everybody in the room was wearing a Motörhead t-shirt and a 'bullet belt' (Lemmy's trademark) so clearly there was an audience for them. I was very excited by what I saw and told my boss, David Betteridge, we should agree to Doug's suggestion of a singles deal which, upon some degree of success, would convert to a multi-album deal. Their idea was to go into a studio and cut a version of ‘Louie Louie’, Motörhead-style.
To this point, I'd not actually met the group and now it was time to put that right. These guys had a pretty fearsome image. Apart from just looking like they'd eat babies for breakfast, they were friendly with the Hells Angels - Lemmy rode with president and founding member of the Oakland chapter, Sonny Barger, when he was in town - and their drug intake was legendary. Lemmy had been fired by Hawkwind for forcing them to cancel some Canadian shows due to some customs officials mistaking speed for coke and throwing him in jail. It's not like I hadn't been around musicians who took drugs - hey, I'd even tried a few myself - but these guys just seemed so hardcore. Doug (or Drug-less, as the band called him) suggested I drop by on the second day of recording so when that day came, I went to Wessex Studios and knock on the control room door. It opens, and there’s Lemmy, clad head-to-pointed-toe in black. He barks, “Yeah? Who are you?”
“Uh…Howard...from the record company”.
“Wait...” and he begins to unroll his shirtsleeve, extracting a polythene bag of a white-ish powder. He sticks a switchblade into the bag and draws out a blade-tip full of what I figure is amphetamine sulphate and holds it under my nose.
“Snort that”, he commands. This gets repeated for the other nostril and when that’s done, I make a move to step inside but
“Hold it”, he growls, and goes to fetch something from inside the room. He returns clutching a tall can of Carlsberg Special Brew, gives it to me, and orders,
“Drink that...all of it...now!” I comply, wondering what's coming next but, as soon as I’m finished, he steps aside, ushers me in, offers me a seat at the center of the mixing desk and tells producer Neil Richmond to "turn it up, and hit ‘play’". Both sides of the single thunder from the speakers and from that moment on, I become a huge admirer of Lemmy and the guys in Motörhead, particularly the 'Philthy' Animal Taylor and Fast Eddie version. ‘Tear Ya Down’ is the B-side to Louie Louie and remains, to this day, a favourite getting played regularly on North Fork Sound. That single did well enough to chart (#68) and the band clawed their way onto Top Of The Pops, thanks to some skillfull maneuverings by Bronze promo-dude, Roger Bolton. To get on TOTP, a record had to be in the top 30, but somehow Roger pulled it off. That was the start of the band's climb to fame and, by now (I hope), fortune. Jimmy Miller was brought in to produce the pioneering and utterly glorious ‘Overkill’ album and the rest is history. You can see Lemmy - The Movie, coming in 2009.
Those interested in seeing some rarely seen photos can go HERE and click on "slideshow"

Motörhead start work on Overkill
David Betteridge (Bronze Records MD), Eddie Clarke, Lemmy, Phil Taylor, Doug Smith & ht (Bronze a&r)
Roundhouse Studios, Chalk Farm, London (late 1978)

North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 14th ‘08

1. Glasvegas: Go Square Go
2. Lou Reed: What’s Good
3. Michael Nyman: Birdlist
4. Small Faces: I’ve Got Mine
5. The Nipple Erectors: King Of The Bop
6. Rodney Crowell: Sex And Gasoline
7. Suzan Cadogan: Hurts So Good
8. Suicide: Touch Me
9. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Party Of Special Things To Do
10. Albert Collins: Shiver ‘n’ Shake
11. Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez: Highway 61
12. Ninian Hawick: Scottish Rites Temple Stomp
13. Hello Saferide: I Wonder Who Is Like This One
14. Deborah & The Puerto Ricans: Respect
15. Sugar Minott: Rub A Dub Sound
16. Spiritualized: Don’t Hold Me Close
17. Emiliana Torrini: Me And Armini
18. Thirteenth Floor Elevators: You’re Gonna Miss Me
19. The Psychedelic Furs: Pretty In Pink
20. Junior Murvin: Roots Train #1

Featured Album:
Dion: Heroes: Giants Of Early Guitar Rock (Saguaro Road Records)

The 7” B-side:
The London Dirthole Company: Stripshow

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Los Straightjackets: Pacifica
The Rolling Stones: Luxury
Fania All-Stars: Son Cuero Y Boogaloo
Mick Ronson: Roll Like The River
Glasvegas: Daddy’s Gone
Yvonne Fair: It Should Have Been Me
Dan Baird: Rock This Place
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Ella Guru
Mick Ronson: Billy Porter
Ike Turner: Caldonia
The Nips: Gabrielle
Amy Winehouse: Help Yourself
Paul Heaton: Deckchair Collapsed
Johnny Winter: Illustrated Man
Ellen Foley: What’s A Matter Baby
Lazy Lester: You’re Gonna Ruin Me Baby
Chris Isaak: Goin’ Nowhere

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Eddie & The Hot Rods

It’s 1975 and I’m about 3 weeks into a new job at Island Records, working as an a&r scout, when I read that The 101-ers and Eddie & The Hot Rods were alternating as headliners every Thursday at a West Kensington pub called The Nashville Rooms. The Hot Rods came from the Southend/Canvey Island area, east of London and were the younger ‘siblings’ of Dr. Feelgood, a sharp-looking, and even sharper sounding pub-rock band whose guitarist, Wilko Johnson, had an unusual but wonderfully distinctive, choppy sound. On stage, Wilco moved like a demented, bug-eyed robot, while their singer and harmonica-player, Lee Brilleaux, went for the ‘spiv’ look in drainpipes and thin-lapeled, and rumpled (slightly soiled) suit jacket but he could belt out the rhythm & blues in a way no one else was doing in the UK at the time…fast! ‘Down By The Jetty’, their debut album - recorded in mono(!) - had set a new standard for pub rock and it was one the younger, brattier and even speedier Hot Rods would embrace with gusto. Barrie Masters, their 18 year old singer, had a face that could get away with murder and he could charm the pants off anyone within eye and earshot. The first time I saw him, he wore a dark pinstriped suit accessorized by one boxing glove, which he’d beat with a drumstick while he sang and usually, by the end of the set, once the jacket and his shirt had been torn off, he’d display the physique of someone who’d been a junior boxing champion in the UK. Steve Nicol was a fantastic drummer straight out of the Keith Moon school except on twice as much speed. Bass player, Paul Gray, looked like he should still be doing his homework and bespectacled guitarist Dave Higgs had obviously picked up some of Wilko’s traits, jaggedly attacking his instrument, inserting economical lead licks to complement his frenzied rhythm playing. He seemed like the sensible, experienced member of the group, despite the occasional lapse such as when he appeared on stage once wearing a monk’s habit. Completing the ensemble, Lew Lewis (frequently sporting a khaki raincoat), blew a harp so brilliantly, so furiously that, by the end of each set his mouth would often bleed. Along with their own songs like 'All I Need Is Money', 'Double Checkin’ Woman', 'Get Across To You', 'Horseplay' and 'On The Run', they’d carefully choose covers like '96 Tears', 'Wooly Bully', 'The Kids Are Alright', 'Shake'' and 'It Came Out Of The Sky', then they’d play everything as if they were being chased by the cops. The energy on stage was infectious and it wasn’t long before they started to attract decent sized audiences at all the pubs and clubs around town. Me? I had no real reference point as to what the hell I was doing. I didn’t know if they were going to sell records. All I knew was I liked 'em. A lot. They played the kind of music I grew up with but gave it a rawer edge and a life-or-death intensity that was hard to ignore. Their shows were thrilling. Back in the office (in the basement of 22 St. Peter’s Square, Hammersmith) I told Richard Williams that I’d seen something that I really liked and asked if he would come along and give a second opinion. Uh...and a green light.
Richard was the first in a series of excellent bosses I’ve been lucky to work for. As a writer (then editor) of Melody Maker, he was known for his scholarly approach to jazz and rock and brought a deeper appreciation for some of the more substantial musicians out there. The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music and Bob Marley benefited greatly from his enthusiasm and support. His 1972 biography of Phil Spector, ‘Out Of His Head’ (recently reprinted) remains to this day an essential read and some will remember him as the first presenter of The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2. He introduced Roxy Music to Chris Blackwell, who signed them to Island and, in return, Chris offered him a job as head of a&r. Richard brought in John Cale, Nico, Pete ('18 With A Bullet') Wingfield and a remarkable, teenage UK reggae band, Aswad, while overseeing releases by Richard & Linda Thompson, Brian Eno, Robert Palmer and Sandy Denny amongst several others. In offering a distribution deal to NYC's Fania Records, he was the first to bring salsa music to Britain and somehow managed to get Hector Lavoe to play the Nashville Rooms. Later, Richard would edit Time Out (London) and write for The Times. His books on Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and Ayrton Senna are all worth a read but if you’re only going to check out one thing by him, pick up 'Long Distance Call: Writings On Music' and read the chapter on 1965 where he makes the case – one that’s hard to disprove – that there’s never been such a great year for popular music.
These days, he’s chief sports writer at The Guardian but back then he was getting hassled to check out a bunch of noisy scruffs at the invitation of someone who had little idea of what he was doing. A nervous week or so went by, then Richard came to see the band at The Red Cow. Ed Hollis, the band’s novice manager, was a good talker and had the (necessary) powers of persuasion (and I think Richard genuinely liked the band enough to give me the necessary rope to get one under my belt) so a reasonable deal was arranged and, just like that, the Hot Rods became a rather untypical Island act. (Paul’s parents had to sign the contract, as he was only 16 at the time). Rehearsals were set up round the back behind Island’s canteen (where Burning Spear or the Wailers could occasionally be found playing table football when they weren’t in prolonged, herbalicious meetings with studio manager, Suzette) and two songs were chosen to be the first single. Vic Maile (who’d started his career in the Pye Mobile truck, engineering some of the best rock acts around) got the producer’s hat, largely because he’d done such a good job with the Feelgoods and knew how to make a band sound great. Photos were taken, more gigs were booked, equipment was bought, hopes were high and Caroline Coon gave ‘Writing On The Wall’ a decent mention in her Melody Maker singles column. The record flopped. It might have got one play on John Peel's show. Looking back, I don’t think anybody in their right mind would have picked either of these songs for a B-side, let alone an ‘A’. I told you I had no idea what I was doing. I asked Chris Blackwell to have a go and he tried his hand at producing 'All I Need Is Money' but, surprisingly, that didn't work so Roxy Music's Andy MacKay came in to produce ‘Wooly Bully’. Guess what? Another stiff...probably because it marked my debut on disc as one of the congregation belting out “Wooly Bully-y-y-y” in the chorus. The (considerably better) B-side, ‘Horseplay’ featured some wicked harp playing from Lew, but this was to mark his last contribution to the band as not long after, he was let go for his "erratic behavior". My memories of Lew are vague, but I do remember us all speeding back from a show in Cheltenham (where they’d opened for fellow Southenders, The Kursaal Flyers) when, all of a sudden, Lew opened the van’s side door and proceeded to relieve himself, holding onto the driver's seat while his mac flapped in the breeze (and piss). He had a kid, maybe two, and was always getting evicted from the places he lived, ending up on people’s floors, or lord knows where. The Lew Lewis Band recorded a couple of singles in the late 70s and then, as Lew Lewis Reformer, he released ‘Save The Wail’ on Stiff Records. In the 80’s, he held up his local Post Office (the teller recognized Lew through his mask) and ‘escaped’ on his bicycle. It didn’t take long for the law to catch up and Lew ended up doing a 7-year stretch at Her Majesty’s pleasure in Brixton Prison for armed robbery. He’s been in and out of hospitals and rehab ever since, but he still plays occasionally and hopes to record again soon. More about Lew, here…
In August 1976, the Hot Rods were invited to headline the First Annual International Punk Rock Festival in Mont de Marsan in southern France. Other bands on the bill included Roogalator, The Damned, The Gorillas, Pink Fairies, Nick Lowe, Sean Tyla, Telefon, Bijou, Shakin Street and it took place in a bullring during a heatwave. The locals didn’t know what to make of the sight of this lot sitting, sipping coffee at the tables outside their hotel. The Damned were only playing their 5th gig and had arrived with virtually no equipment. The 16 year old drummer in local band Telefon was persuaded to lend them his new drumkit and was moved to tears when Rat Scabies proceeded to beat the hell out of it, ending their set by kicking the drums all over the stage. Attendance for the festival couldn't have been much more than a few hundred and as the first day progressed the promoter, Marc Zermati, developed a severe limp. The next day, he was using a cane, complaining about the pain in his foot and then he sort of 'disappeared'. I'm fairly sure some of the bands didn't get paid as much as they were promised. Despite crummy record sales, the Hot Rods’ live reputation was building by leaps and bounds and soon they were headlining the Marquee on a regular basis. Pretty quickly, they'd become a fabulous live attraction, so we recorded a show and released the ‘Live At The Marquee’ e.p. and that, finally, charted at #43. Not great, but good enough to greenlight the album. Ok, the songs were all covers ('96 Tears', Bob Seger’s 'Get Out Of Denver' and the stringing together of 'Gloria' and 'Satisfaction') but it was a start. They set a new attendance record at the Marquee, subsequently snatched by AC/DC, then regained during a very hot summer, where temperatures in the packed, very damp club were close to 100F and an album, 'Teenage Depression' was assembled using some new songs, some old, a new recording of (the now Lew-less) Horseplay and a couple more songs from the Marquee show. Things were now moving in the right direction at last, and the picture sleeve to their second live e.p., ‘The Sound Of Speed’ featured the destroyed seats of the first 4 or 5 rows at the Rainbow, in Finsbury Park. Hot Rods fans were rowdy, vocal and liked to ‘express’ themselves. Ex-Kursaal Flyer, Graeme Douglas joined the band on lead guitar and to assist in the writing. He and Ed Hollis, (who helped write the lyrics to many of their songs) duly delivered the powerpop classic ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ in ’77, which finally got them into the top 10. Around that time, within 4 days of meeting MC5 singer Rob Tyner (who had flown to the UK from Detroit to write a piece on punk rock for the NME) I quickly arranged a one-off deal where the band would back him on a couple of his tunes '(Til The Night Is Gone) Let's Rock' and 'Flipside Rock'. This ferocious, legendary performer turned out to be one of the nicest - and kindest - musicians I've had the good fortune to meet and later, when I worked for Elektra, he was happy to contribute to the repackaging for the cd release of 'Kick Out The Jams'.
I left Island in 1978, but always relished my association with the Hot Rods, whose commitment to their audience has never waned. They always put on a dynamic show and that brings us to just a month ago, August 10th, when they played NYC for the first time in nearly 30 years. The band has changed considerably, with only Barrie from the original line-up, but back in the drum stool sat Steve Nicol’s nephew Simon Bowley. It must run in the family, because Simon propelled the band with all the energy, fills and clout of the old days. ‘Dipster’ loomed large on the bass while guitar duties were executed with panache by Chris Taylor and (erstwhile John Otway collaborator) Richard Holgarth. Playing a set that included 'Teenage Depression', 'I Might Be Lying', 'Ignore Them', 'Quit This Town', 'Why Should I Care', 'Love Love Love' (both from their latest album, 'Been There, Done That'), 'The Power & The Glory' and 'Life On The Line', they put 100% into it and those that made it out to the Knitting Factory that Sunday night had a blast. Barrie was in great shape and on top of his game (he really hasn’t changed at all, except for a few lines here and there…probably caused by a few lines here and there) and I was happy that the whole exercise didn’t seem like a band well past their sell-by date attempting to extort a few dollars out the pockets of their old fans. No, they played like they were just starting out and enjoying every minute. Barrie said every date on this tour (except Cleveland and this one had sold out) and that they'd be back in the Spring of 2010. Here's a few photos from back in the day and below, is a clip from last month

'On The Run'
Knitting Factory, NYC
August 10th '08

North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 7th ‘08

1. Danny Gatton: In My Room
2. Mara Carlyle: Saw Song
3. The Jim Jones Revue: Fish 2 Fry
4. Forest For The Trees: Dream
5. Lucio Battisti: Ancora Tu
6. Dave Alvin: Shenandoah
7. The Lone Sharks: It’s A Free Country
8. Dan Baird: Rock This Place
9. Suicide: Fast Money Music
10. Spiritualized: Broken Heart
11. Leatherface: I Can't Help Falling In Love With You
12. Mike Edison: Strut, Parts 3 & 4
13. The Lightning Raiders: Psychedelic Musik
14. Hopeton Lewis: Let The Girl Dance
15. Sly, Robbie & Brackenridge: Taxi Connection
16. Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Dance Little Rude Boy
17. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Pride And Joy
18. Family: No Mule’s Fool
19. Brinsley Schwarz: Trying To Live My Life Without You
20. Syd Straw w/The Skeletons: Harper PTA

Featured Album:
James Hunter: The Hard Way

The 7” B-side:
Dwight Twilley Band: Rock And Roll 47

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Bobby Charles: Clean Water
Elvis Presley: I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
Warren Zevon: Rosarita Beach Café
Robyn Hitchcock: Parachutes and Jellyfish
Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby
James Hunter: You Can’t Win
David Bowie: Quicksand
Traffic: Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
MX-80 Sound: Tidal Wave
The Star Spangles: The Sins Of A Family Fall On The Daughter
Kirsty MacColl: He’s On The Beach
Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby: Here Comes My Ship
Eddie Boyd: The Big Ship
Petty Booka: On The Beach At Bali Bali
The Pulsars: Das Lifeboat
Owen Gray: On The Beach
Sibling Rivalry (Joey Ramone & Mickey Leigh): On The Beach
Muddy Waters: Bottom Of The Sea
The Waterboys: This Is The Sea
Vernon Reid: Freshwater Coconut
Patti Smith: Redondo Beach
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Castles Made Of Sand
Ian Hunter: Ships (live)
Siouxsie: Sea Of Tranquility

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a list of all the beach/water-related songs programmed last week may be found in the 'blog' section at the North Fork Sound mySpace page

Christine Ohlman

Christine Ohlman
Bridgeport, CT
Sept 4th '08

Immediately after the 15 seconds it took to do this ID, some officious twerp in an orange jacket came over to tell us we weren't allowed to film there. Never mind that only 50 feet away, several people were taking pictures and filming friends and family as they were disembarking the ferry. How anyone could have thought we were dangerous terrorists scoping out a potential target near the trash dumpsters is way beyond me but, then again, I would never have thought one of the people up for election in November goes to a church where they speak in tongues, believe humanity is in its 'end times' and think it's "God's plan" to fight the war in Iraq, either.
On a more important note however, 'Re-hive', a collection of Christine Ohlman's best work with Rebel Montez is coming out shortly and right now, she's hard at work on a new one featuring Levon Helm, Dion, Ian Hunter, Andy York and Marshall Crenshaw. My vote's with her.