When I first met Rich I couldn’t get over how he could ever have gotten through high school without a grounding in rock n roll. All my other friendships were formed over passionate responses to rock music. How exotic could Wantaugh, Long Island be that you could grow up without Mitch Ryder and the Stones? I found out when I visited him at his parent’s home. Later it was Rich who turned me on to Bitches Brew.
Rich was a guest dj on Howard Thompson’s WPKN “Pure” show yesterday. His theme-centered show looked at sisters, brothers and brothers & sisters who make music together. You know, Van Halen and the Ramones. I should have shared this link before the show but it will be archived here for the next two weeks. Rich has such a great radio voice. I told him so and he shared a few of his secrets. He used two vocal effects, plus a de-esser and he sped it up 5%. He sounded so smooth, like Adrienne Barbeau in John Carpenter’s Fog.
Madison, a young woman who has been coming to ME for the last six months or so asked me what I was listening to. I told her mostly 45s and she asked if I could share a playlist of them on Spotify. I have a short stack of 7 inchers, ones we’ve played recently, sitting next to the turntable so I limited myself to those. I found most on Spotify but I couldn’t find the single version of “Black & Tan Fantasy” so I had to skip that gem. And because I’m not a subscriber I can’t order the Spotify playlist so I’d recommend shuffling it.
When i took Rich with me to an Iggy Pop show soon after we got together he was nervous and surprised when i dashed off and bum rushed the stage. 😂 I was shocked and concerned that he remained seated.