By Don Jacobson

There is an uncharted and obscure spot in the rock ‘n’ roll spectrum where the Addams Family, Muscle Beach, novelty drive-in speakers, furious rockabilly, true soul shouting and high-booted go-go girls all meet up in an acidy haze, where fuzz guitars and B-movie posters screaming sex and blood light the way to what seems an exit, but when you burst through it leads only to a scene from a William Castle cheese-fest as seen through Roy Orbison’s sunglasses. Yes, you’re in too deep in the frightening, monstrous and ultracool retro world of DJ Howie Pyro and his Intoxica Radio show, webcast weekly on LuxuriaMusic.com and available as a podcast.

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Posted on November 14, 2007

By Courey Gruszauskas

I compiled this mixtape for myself to play during the last week of my stay in Champaign-Urbana. It served as a summation of my three-and-a-half years of mass book-reading and paper-writing, espresso-serving and ass-kicking (at the coffee and community womb that is Caffe Paradiso), bike-riding and chili-cooking, and beer-drinking throughout the fraternal twin towns. It also served as a way to sever the cord from a place that tends to strangle its young in cheap rent, even cheaper beer, and a lifestyle that is too comfortable for one’s own good.
While my graduate school aspirations have me again looking to Champaign-Urbana’s vast landscape of golden grains and pajama-clad youth, I realize the futile attempt to capture those same feelings and experiences of my undergraduate years. The songs may sound the same, but the words have changed their meaning.
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1. Tally Ho!/The Clean
Innocent organs mimic the bouncing curls of some pre-pubescent girl, latching onto her lollipop as she skips with the beat. While my Freudian Psychology class would suggest eroticism and pedophilia in regards to this image, I will shimmy proudly alongside that little girl, smiling with the simple joy found in those snotty vocals. “Tally Ho!” takes you by the hand, no worries about where it will lead you.
2. I Put a Spell on You/Arthur Brown
With the first hit of those drums, you feel this one in your knees. Gravy-thick organs melt into Arthur Brown’s howl and take you down to the floor. His vibrato brings you back up, anxious and scared with his repetitious “I can’t stand it!” The song stops as hard as it starts, and you wonder why you feel this way. The man’s put a spell on you, for Christ’s sake.

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Posted on October 17, 2007

By Don Jacobson

Our latest playlist comes from The Casbah. Being taken away to this Casbah means a trip not to North Africa but to Garageland and its musical neighbors – Punk Point, Psychedelic Surf City, Shoegazeville and Cool Jazz Junction. It’s a mysterious and surprising journey guided by DJ Brian Parrish of San Antonio’s KSYM 90.1 FM, who uses his exquisite and extensive taste in these kinds of grooves to produce one of the best such radio shows and podcasts in the land every week.

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Posted on September 10, 2007

By Don Jacobson

When I think of Time-Life Books, I think of sturdy, well-turned bindings and covers. They were so cool; they were frequently much better than the books’ actual contents. Nice, hefty cardboard that was engineered to look classy on your living room bookshelf, kind of like that faux-brick facing they put on clapboard houses in first-ring suburbs. Mass-produced, down-market, cheesy-cool. You can also find millions of Time-Life books at garage sales, mostly covering such topics as ’70s pop stars and DIY home repairs.
Chicago’s Time-Life Records are much the same – who among us can say they weren’t suckered into calling that toll-free number to order up a heapin’ helpin’ of Sounds of the Seventies, Guitar Rock or the easy listening sounds of Super Hits (reissued as AM Gold)? Plus, they were unbelievably complete compilations thanks to Time Warner Corp.’s licensing pull. If you can find any of these babies at the garage sale, snap them up immediately. They’re golden cheese.
The only drawback was the way Time-Life’s telemarketers would sign you up for about a billion records to be sent out to you every month when you thought you were only buying one. Very tricky. So now, thanks mainly to the Internet, we’re older and wiser in the ways of mail order and telemarketing tactics. That being said, Time-Life Records, now no longer owned by Time Warner, is still very much in the music compilation business, this time coming out with a breathtakingly comprehensive look at folk rock. Its new four-CD set is entitled Four Decades of Folk Rock and will be released (unironically) on Sept. 11.

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Posted on July 6, 2007

By Matt Cook and John Dorr

Every Monday at noon, Matt Cook and John Dorr host Trucker Caps and Cowboy Hats on WIIT from the Illinois Institute of Technology on Chicago’s South Side. You can listen in at 88.9 on the FM dial or stream it here. Each week they concoct some sort of theme to hang the show on, and this is what they’ve been listening to this week in support of their hand-picked motif.
Do you remember the scene in To Kill a Mockingbird where the angry mob is trying to lynch Jim at the jail only to be thwarted by the pie-eyed happiness and good cheer of Scout? Me too. That is the way I like my justice served – in a timely, dispassionate fashion with as little mob activity as possible. Emotionally remote jailers simply carrying out their appointed tasks without comment or prejudice. For, after all, aren’t we all criminals in one sense or another? Have we not committed crimes in our hearts if not our actions? And don’t we deserve to be treated like it’s not a big deal?

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Posted on June 7, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

A mix tape.
1. Anchorage/Michelle Shocked. She walked across that burning bridge.
2. Come a Long Way/Michelle Shocked. Her 920’s gonna take her far today.
3.This Note’s For You/Neil Young and the Bluetones. The real thing, baby.

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Posted on June 1, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Jukebox run, 5-25-07.
1. Shining Star/Earth, Wind & Fire. So funky smooth and glide-y.
2. Scarborough Fair/Simon & Garfunkel. For some reason this song led to a debate about the name of the crime dog, determined to be McGruff. Says Beachwood Bob: “Did you play this Joe? Don’t ever play it again.”
3. El Condora Pasa/Simon & Garfunkel. Sparks debate about the song title. At one point I suggested it was “Ticonderoga or something.” Preferred consensus: The I’d Rather Be a Hammer Than a Nail Song.
4. Last Train to Clarksville/The Monkees. CTA jokes ensue.
5. Sloop John B/The Beach Boys. We liked it better when it was Sloop John A. During this song I learned that Will Patton does the Al Gore audiobook. Will Patton kicked butt as the villain in The Postman. He was the copier clerk turned militia general.

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Posted on May 28, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

The jukebox run from May 18, 2007.
1. Another Done Somebody Wrong Song/BJ Thomas. Hey, won’t you play, another somebody done somebody wrong song? ‘Cause I miss my baby.
2. School’s Out/Alice Cooper. A graduation party came into the bar the other night. A college graduation party. Plus, Beachwood Bob likes to keep the jukebox seasonal. So this went on the box instead of “Eighteen.”
3. Behind Closed Doors/Charlie Rich. This is a great song, but let’s face it: Everyone knows what goes on behind closed doors.

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Posted on May 21, 2007

By Don Jacobson

Rolling Stone magazine. God love ’em. It’s kind of like Saturday Night Live – you keep expecting them to go away, but somehow they hang in there, putting out a certain brand of something that keeps drawing us back year after year no matter how much you think it’s nothing but a dirty habit. Despite all the, you know, meaninglessness of these “greatest” lists Rolling Stone seems to do about once a week, they continue to grab attention. It’s force of habit. They’re Rolling Stone. They do lists.
Well, so do we, dammit. Ours is called Playlist, with the big difference being our lists are rarely about the “greatest” of anything, and are usually just collections of random shit that seem to fit well together for whatever reason. But because the master of lists has spoken, we will honor the occasion with our own breakdown of Rolling Stone’s “40 Songs That Changed the World,” which is in honor of the venerable mag’s 40 years of Baby Boomer voice-giving.

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Posted on April 24, 2007

By Matt Cook and John Dorr

Every Monday at noon, Matt Cook and John Dorr host Trucker Caps and Cowboy Hats on WIIT from the Illinois Institute of Technology on Chicago’s South Side. You can listen in at 88.9 on the FM dial or stream it here. Each week they concoct some sort of theme to hang the show on, and this is what they’ve been listening to this week in support of their hand-picked motif.
It is the middle of March in the Midwest of the United States. It snowed all winter long in Chicago and it’s worse elsewhere. We had 10 days in a row of single-digit temps and we see the sun only for a few minutes per day every third day or so. It really can bring a man down.
So what do we do to get us through the long days and longer winter? We drink, of course. But we also turn to music. This time, a playlist of songs that feature the sun, which we almost remember, mainly via pictures.
1. Ray Charles, “That Lucky Old Sun.” From the seminal Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, “That Lucky Old Sun” starts us off with some fine imagery. Ah, the joy of simply lazing away the day on a bed of clouds, as opposed to de-icing frozen car locks. Written by Haven Gillespie and Harry Beasley Smith.

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Posted on March 23, 2007