Everybody Had to Pay and Pay: Transmission 69, 2013 October 30

I had some material planned for this particular broadcast, but Lou Reed had to go and die on us, so that stuff will have to wait.

Working under an ill-formed philosophy about such things, I did the best I could under the circumstances. Occasionally I've given a a musical nod to various people who have passed on during the life span of this program. Ravi Shankar, Dave Brubeck, Alan Myers, and Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner come to mind. This felt a bit different.

When we inducted Prince Far-I into the Hall of Legends, back in April, I explained why I didn't wait until the anniversary of his death, which would have been a couple of months ago: "I don't think deaths are anything to commemorate....It is much better to celebrate lives, which can be done whenever." I still feel this way, and I think this program embodies that. At the same time, news of Reed's death made me especially sad, as it did many others. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me what separated Lou Reed from other "influential musicians" of his generation [thanks for that one, NPR] was that he clearly wasn't finished. He was going to make more albums, and they were going to be interesting. Of course I never knew Lou Reed personally, and grief always has an element of selfishness to it--I'm mourning what I don't get to hear.

What I do get to hear is a wide range of music that has Lou Reed's fingerprints all over it. My collection is full of it, and if you enjoy this program, I suspect that yours is too--not to mention the music not yet made, which could not exist had Lou Reed and/or The Velvet Underground never been. I am wary of "creative products" that capitalize on tragedy--something awful happens, but the upside is that I get a book/movie/play/song/radio show out of it--and was never going to use last week's news as an "occasion." All of the "tribute" material on this program is music that, I am sure, would have made it to air sooner or later, on its own merits. Nothing to prove, no history lesson, no elegy--just a bunch of divergent moods and energies, as always.

Huh. Feelings. Anyway.

BOMBAST playlist, 2013 October 30, 2100-2300:

1. "Smile Now" | Thee Headcoats | Headcoats Down! | Damaged Goods
2. "Walk on the Wild Side" | Lou Reed | Transformer | RCA | "Listening Parlour"
3. "Somewhere" | Benotmane | Somewhere | Fenou
4. "She's My Best Friend" | The Wedding Present | Singles 1989-1991 | Manifesto
5. "Faithful Hessian Walks into Ada's Bar - Joerg Burger Remix" | Metope | Black Beauty Remixes | Areal
6. "All Tomorrow's Parties" | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Kicking Against the Pricks | Mute - Homestead
7. "Heroin" | Roky Erickson | Gremlins Have Pictures | Light in the Attic
8. "Oh Sailors" | Whore Paint | Swallow My Bones | Load
9. "What Goes On?" | The Mind Readers | Medway Powerhouse Volume 4 | Hangman
10. "Sweet Jane" | The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy | Cake City | Vinyl Japan
11. "Trace Missed Call" | Lake People | Step Over, Trace Into | Connaisseur
12. "Birmingham" | The Wolfgang Press | Queer | 4AD
13. "The Made Man's Manifesto" | The Legendary Pink Dots | Your Children Placate You from Premature Graves | self-released
14. "White Light / White Heat" | David Bowie | Bowie at the Beeb | EMI
15. "Age of Oil & Wax" | Live Skull | EP | Desire
16. "Velvety Instrumental Version" | Pixies | Dig for Fire | 4AD
17. "There She Goes Again" | R.E.M. | Dead Letter Office | I.R.S.
18. "Skanking on the A Train" | Tony Aiken & Future 2000 | Unity, Sing It, Shout It | Boom Shot
19. "Femme Fatale" | Big Star | 3rd - Sister Lovers | PVC
20. "This Time" | Moderat | II | Monkeytown
21. "Junk Shop" | Scott & Charlene's Wedding | Any Port in a Storm | Fire
22. "Sword of Damocles - Externally" | Lou Reed | Magic & Loss | Sire - Warner Bros. | "Listening Parlour"
23. "I'm Set Free" | The New Fast Automatic Daffodils | Heaven and Hell Volume 3 | Imaginary
24. "Sister Ray" | Joy Division | Still | Rhino

next time: a technophobe and a space dog. Enjoy the music! --kid catharsis