Comboland Radio

New on Comboland Radio! LOTS!!!

2011-08-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Ok…. I haven’t written a about Comboland Radio song updates in a while. So here is what has been recently added to the playlist that you should listen up for…

The X-Teens were an awesome band! I play a bunch of their stuff on Comboland Radio culled from the 1 EP, 1 45 and 2 LP’s they released. “Internal tensions” broke the band apart which was a shame because it seemed they just about to make it to the next level. Todd Jones wrote several of the songs we feature by the X-Teens, and Todd Jones is back! His new CD “Mister Sensitive” features songs he has written during the past couple of decades. This is a very cool CD, lots of fun to listen to. It is available at CD Baby as either a CD or download. For more details on the CD go to THIS PAGE on Todd’s website. And listen for cuts from “Mister Sensitive” on Comboland Radio.

Don Dixon and Marti Jones have made a new CD! They have been touring a bit in the last couple of years so I guess Dixon finally convinced Marti to put down the paint brushes long enough to record a few tunes. “Living Stereo” is available at CD Baby. Dixon says always thought they recorded bunches of duets but only 2 or 3 ever made it to CD. They did record a few more for tribute albums which seemed to be the rage for a bit. This CD marks the first real Marti and Dixon CD. Marti’s voice is still just as pure as you may remember and marries well to Dixon’s self-proclaimed caterwauling which I, and many others, have always loved.

Somehow I missed the Aqualads. They are a surf-rock band from Charlotte, and believe me… they have perfected the sound! I downloaded all 4 of their CD’s from CD Baby. This is some great stuff! They just released “Treasures” a few months ago and it is a good place to start if, like me, you are new to this band. But if you are a surf music fan you will want the earlier offerings as well.

The Dex Romweber Duo’s “Is That You In The Blue” is now out and available from Bloodshot Records. Just like the Aqualads above Dex and sis Sarah recorded the album at Rick Miller’s (Southern Culture On The Skids) Kudzu Ranch. Rick and Mary Queen Of SCOTS also play on one of the tunes. This is one cool cd! Go get it!

Speaking of SCOTS they have a new release coming out in September. “Zombiefied” was an EP released in Australia in 1998. It will now be released here with some newly recorded tracks added to extend it to proper “album length”. They have been playing some of the Zombiefied tracks at their recent gigs to get people like me excited to buy the new LP or CD. And even though I already have the EP (which ain’t cheap to get) I’ll gladly get a copy of the new release! Also I saw on Facebook that Rick was re-mastering the 1985 self-titled LP so that may be coming out soon!\

Nantucket Has released a new 7 song CD “You Need A Ride To Raleigh”. Listen for the title track on Comboland Radio. Also listen for new tunes from “When Cousins Marry” and the “James Thomas Band”.

I wrote about the Malamondos from Greensboro in a previous update but somehow missed getting their tunes in the playlist. That has been corrected and you can now hear them on Comboland Radio.

I also wrote about finding the Moonpie 7 inch in some of my old vinyl. It is fully restored and in the playlist. Another restored 7 inch from Fielding Darden is also new to Comboland Radio.

Coming up on Comboland Radio…

As I continue to fill holes in the library more from Polvo including their new 7 inch, Jennyanykind, Trailer Bride, The Moaners, more from both Dexter Romweber and the Flat Duo Jets, 4 Who Dared (even though Todd Jones said on his website that this Lp could "not be found anywhere on planet earth", and whatever else I stumble across.

RSD Tunes, Plus SCOTS, dB's, Othermothers and more!

2011-05-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

April 16th was Record Store Day for 2011. Since 2008 this is a day to celebrate music, and the independent record stores all over the world. There were bunches of great releases! Unfortunately there is not one independent record store on the Outer Banks. Other commitments kept me from being able to drive to Raleigh or even Virginia Beach, to pick up the items I wanted. I did have a friend pick up the dB’s 45, but for anything else it was eBay after the fact. The stores themselves do sign something stating they will not sell the items on the internet or take pre-orders. Yet they do end up online after the fact. So my picks that you will now hear on Comboland Radio are:

dB’s – “Picture Sleeve” and “Write Back” Two cool tunes from an upcoming NEW dB's album.

Superchunk – “Horror Business” This one is loud and rockin'!

Polvo – Selections from the re-released “Celebrate The New Dark Age”. This was cool, limited to 300 vinyl LP’s signed by the band. Non autographed versions including CD and downloads available from Merge.

Since I was digitizing vinyl anyway I decided to include some recent acquisitions that are not RSD releases but are certainly rare.

Southern Culture On The Skids – I am VERY close to completing my quest of finding the complete discography of SCOTS. I just got a second copy of the very first EP which appeared to have never been played. It made for a very clean transfer. It is not like the SCOTS you hear today but I sure did like it then and am still a fan. Also listen for an early version of “Cicada Rock” from an Australian 45, “Come And Get It (Before It Done Get Cold) from the same 45, and “Rumors Of Surf” from a shared 45 (although I believe it is the same take is later used on the “Ditch Diggin’” LP).

Stratocruiser did a limited 45 release in 2005 on a red vinyl 45. “41 Times” and “Smell Of Success” are two killer tracks from one of my favorite bands.

The dB’s had a 45 on Shake records which featured “Soul Kiss” (1 & 2) and “Black And White”. I got a decent transfer on that so it is in!

Before their lone but rockin’ EP on Making Waves records The Othermothers self-released a 45 with “Party Topics” and “Traveling In Circles”. I procured an EXTRA clean copy to play on Comboland Radio.

Just today I got a 45 I had never been able to find, in very decent shape too... The first Arrogance 45 on Crescent-City records. The songs themselves were included on Tobacco-A-Go Go Vol.1, and "Black Death" was included on the very limited "Give Us A Break" CD issued by the band in 2000. I may stick that one in two for a few days.

So listen up!

eBay Finds! Othermothers SCOTS

2011-04-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

While the Comboland Radio library is somewhat impressive (to people who are into the regional rock music scene… maybe 5 people?) there are still items on my musical “want list”. eBay is still the primary spot for finding the obscure music I am looking for, however I have discovered a couple of non-eBay sites for vinyl and CDs.

Recent non-eBay finds include a 45 by Greensboro’s Othermothers. This pre-dates their Making Waves released EP “No Place Like Home” by about a year. I also found a SS (still sealed) copy of the lone recording by Th’ Cigaretz. I have two copies already that are both complete (including lyric sheet) and in VG++++ to M- condition. Still the price was low, right around $30, and a still sealed copy of that LP is next to impossible to find. The last time I saw a Cigz LP on eBay the bidding went well over a hundred bucks.

Another tough to find item is the Monkees tribute CD “Hear No Evil”. It features two killer tracks from Comboland artists, Mitch Easter’s take on “Valleri” and Peter Holsapple with “You Just May Be The One”.

One item I have been seeking for quite a while is the first EP from Southern Culture On The Skids. Every time I find one the bidding gets WAY too rich for my blood! Hey! The economy has been tough on me too! So imagine my surprise when the bidding on a very nice VG++++ to M- copy ended with only 2 bidders, with me taking the EP for $12.51!!! Usually you can’t get one for under $150.

One I missed out on was the 4 song “Happy Eggs” 7” EP which went for over $180! If anyone has a copy they would like to part with… or let me borrow to digitize… feel free to email me!

Tunes from all of my recent finds will soon be playing on Comboland Radio.

Peter Holsapple, and The dB's

2011-03-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

Some good news from the dB’s messageboard! The band is close to releasing a long awaited CD, and Peter Holsapple HAS released a new CD!

Just over a year ago Peter started contributing to the “Radio Free Song Club” (as a radio guy I’m not sure I like that name…)(insert idiotic smiley face here). The project features a group of songwriters with a monthly deadline to create a song for the podcast they produce. Peter has decided to release his contributions on a CD which is available here. “Songs From The Radio Free Song Club” is only $10, a paltry sum for great tunes from a wonderful songwriter. Also available is his 1997 solo release “Out Of My Way”. This is a fine CD at a great price. Several tunes from this CD are featured on Comboland Radio, and I'll put a few from the new CD in rotation when it arrives to the remote outpost which houses Comboland Radio.

Support your favorite musicians by BUYING something from them today!

Woods, Mitch, Ghost Town Revelry, American Idol?!?

2011-01-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have asked on several occasions for folks to suggest/guide me to bands/artists/CDs I might have missed for Comboland Radio. I have gotten a few… but just a few. Sometimes from the bands themselves, which is cool. Most of the stuff I find I stumble across myself. Such is the case with most of the new additions to Comboland Radio this week.

It is fun to run across something I didn’t know about with some of the early Comboland pioneers featured. Such is the case with “For The Love Of Todd”, a tribute to Todd Rundgren released in 1993 on Third Lock Records out of Charlotte. It it’s North Carolina connection it didn’t surprise me that 5 of the tunes were from true Comboland artists. There is Don Dixon, Parthenon Huxley, Jamie Hoover… also Bill Lloyd and other artists from out of the Comboland region. (There are a couple of real dogs on here to be sure… In my opinion… but not by those listed in this blog.) To me, however, the 2 standout tracks are from Mitch Easter and The Woods. It is still amazing to me that Mitch didn’t release his first solo album, Dynamico, until 2007. His take on “International Feel” gives a glimpse, sonically, of what would come 14 years later. What a great tune to kick off the CD. Hey… the P. Hux, Jamie and Dixon tunes are strong too!!! So we are through 13 tracks after Dixon… the CD leaves me a little… ah… man I hate to criticize because I probably couldn’t do much better… and not all bad either. Then Track 18 hits… “Slut”. Man! If I had never heard of The Woods at this point in my life I would have been trying to find more songs by this band! This song alone makes it worth buying the CD. Jack’s vocals are fantastic; David’s guitar work is sensational. The feel of the song is just rockin’! I’m sticking the Mitch and Woods tunes in my Hot rotation for a few weeks, and the Dixon, P. Hux and Jamie tunes will be in the mix too. The CD is available on eBay for $3.95… if you are interested.

Congratulations to Nod Norkus! As far as I can tell he was the 500th person to “Like” Comboland Radio on Facebook. Of course today it says it’s back down to 499 and 2 of personal friends like it less… although I have the same amount of friends. Dang Facebook! Nevertheless Nod receives all of the glory associated with being the first #500 Woo Hoo!!!! He also posted a link to a band from Charlotte he plays drums for “Ghost Town Revelry”. Some good tunes here!!! The released their 2nd album at the end of 2010, “Phasmatis Apparatus”. Listen for them on Comboland Radio.

There are a few American Idol contestants from North Carolina head to Hollywood with their “golden tickets” (if you are an Idol fan you know what I’m talkin’ about). One of them is from Wilmington and has some Comboland connections. James Ethan Clark has a tune on iTunes, “The Vines of My Heart”. It was recorded at Chris Stamey’s Modern Recording Studios, produced by Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds. Singer/Songwriter, Django Haskins played lead electric, Joe Hall of Hammer No More The Fingers played background electric, Jeff Crawford of Mandolin Orange played bass, and Matt McCaughan of The Rosebuds played drums. James Ethan Clark wrote the lyrics and music to the song, and played acoustic, ahythm guitar, and piano and also did the three part harmonies heard in the song. Listen for it on Comboland Radio.

Back to Mitch… One of the music blogs I frequent featured a post about a quasi-supergroup (that according to Wikipedia) “The Orange Humble Band”. I am still trying to familiarize myself with particulars but Mitch is a member, along with Jamie Hoover. I have 2 of their CDs, “Assorted Creams” and Humblin’ (Across America). I’ll stick a few tunes in the mix at Comboland Radio. Give it a listen.

Sparkleberries, Mollybond, X-Teens Club Mix!!

2011-01-23T12:34:00.001-08:00

Another off-season with the day job that is SO busy it leaves little time for Comboland Radio. But I have added a couple of things:
The Sparkleberries - "Architect Of Woe" (Love it!!) and "Skylight"
Mollybond - "Change" and "Friday Night"
David Dixon - "Whisper"

Of course I am also playing cuts from the most recent SCOTS release "Kudzu Ranch" and the new Superchunk tunes too... along with LOTS of other great music new and ancient. Check it out!

I have a bit of Comboland Radio email to catch up on too but if you have an artist/band suggestion please do let me know.

A recent eBay find!!!! In the early 80's it seemed like every artist/band had a 12 inch club/dance remix. One I missed way back then was from the X-Teens self-titled LP on Dolphin Records. I don't remember it, never had it, but did find it on eBay. It features 4 songs total with a 6 minute version of "Hard Is A Love Departing" on one side (the "club" side), and 3 songs on the "radio side". They are "Tonight, Tonight", "Nothing Left To Say" and "Baby John". I'm not sure this record had ever been played! It is super clean and needed little in the way of audio restoration in the transfer to my digital library. I'm gonna stick the Club Mix into the hot rotation for a few weeks so listen up!

Comboland Holiday Music!

2010-12-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

You can hear Christmas Music from many of your Comboland favorites on Comboland Radio! The dB's, Southern Culture On The Skids, Arrogance, The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team, selections from Holly Raleigh Christmas and more are playing right now!

For live Comboland music during the holidays check out one of these great shows!

An email from The dB's website states:
"The dB's will play a brief Christmas set at Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, NC, on Thursday, Dec. 16 as part of Trekky Records Christmas at the Cradle 2010 A Benefit for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society featuring as The dB's: Peter, Chris, Will, Mitch." This sounds like a fun show!

SCOTS has several shows during late December. The 16th they're in Charleston at The Charleston Pourhouse, 17th in Wilmington NC at The Soapbox, the 18th at the Berkley Cafe in Raleigh, and New Years Eve in Charlottesville at The Jefferson Theater! Man!!! That will be some rockin' New Years Eve!

Christmas night Terry Anderson will again celebrate his birthday with his pals in The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team at The Pourhouse in Raleigh. I missed last years as the world's biggest OAK Team fan, my wife, was quite sick. We WILL be at this show and you should be to. By Christmas night you'll need a break from relatives anyway.

And New Years Eve the place to be in The Triangle is The Cat's Cradle for Arrogance! What a great way to bring in 2011!!! And there is no telling what sort of surprises the boys will have in store for us! Get your tickets in advance so you don't miss out!

I'm sure there are TONS of other shows! Email me and I'll spread the word.

Holla Band, Fast Annie, Remembering David...

2010-11-27T10:52:00.001-08:00

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the passing of David Enloe. So it was about 3 years ago I started to dig out all of my old vinyl to listen to. I got to hear all of my favorite bands, think about old friends and get inspired to share it all with the world. I regret not having enough time to adequately spend on Comboland Radio but I do what I can in hope one day I'll have time to do more. I do still occasionally add more music. Tune in now and you will hear two new additions, "The Holla Band" and "Fast Annie".

The Holla Band played around a bunch as I remember hearing the name, but I don't think I ever saw them. That is a shame as I can tell by the LP, release on Moonlight Records in early '82, I would have enjoyed them. The LP I found was in very good shape and required very little cleanup. There is a very small Facebook group devoted to Holla but it appears not to have been visited much lately. Matt Barrett has some photos on his site devoted to NC music. And one of the former members has a page with the band on it as well. The tunes sound great on Comboland Radio.

"Fast Annie" featured ex arrogance member Mike Greer, was produced and engineered by arrogance member Don Dixon and was recorded where Don did much of his recording and producing, Reflection Sound Studios. Released on Chelsea records the LP has a couple of tunes that fit well on Comboland Radio, both written by Greer, "Laugh At The World" and "My Baby's Alright". They are playing now on Comboland Radio.

Robert Kirkland is involved with a couple of new projects I hope to track down and add soon. I have some unanswered messages to catch up on too. Maybe this weekend...

Tonight is a sort of celebration of David's life as the Comboland Radio staff (Missie and I) are going to see some live music. SCOTS is playing out here on the OBX. So we get a little taste of home, and maybe a piece of fried chicken.

Free Music Blogs

2010-11-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

What do Chris Stamey, Let's Active, The Killer Whales, The X-Teens, and The Woods Have in common? Several things of course... but one you may not be aware of. Then again.... All of these artists, along with thousands of others, have their works "featured" on music blogs where you can download the for free! Sounds great right?!? I'm not too sure.

It's a fairly recent phenomenon that seems to have exploded in the past few years. Literally thousands of blogs have cropped up that "feature" mostly out of print recordings and most of these sites allow you to download the entire recording for free. Are you looking for a copy of the hard to find "Precision Auto" 7 inch by Superchunk? It's available... for free... you just have to know where to look. You don't need Limewire, Bit Torrent or anything except a browser and some rudimentary knowledge of file extraction and mp3 files. Some have complete artwork ready for you to print out just in case you want to make your own CD.

I'll be honest. I don't know how I feel about these blogs. On one hand some of this stuff is never going to be re-released in any form. These bloggers aren't making any money themselves. Most seem to be passionate fans of a specific genre of music. Most have a policy of removing a link of the artist objects or if the material is re-released. In fact I pointed out to one blogger that the "Van DeLecki's" "Letters From the Desk of Count S.Van Delecki" was still commercially available and he quickly removed the download link and replaced it with a link to the page on CD Baby where you can buy the CD. However it does seem to me that the artists are still getting ripped off.

I do know that Terry Anderson and Jack Cornell had been working on a Woods box set but that seems to have stalled. Terry said something to effect of "why should I spend the money to put it out when it's already out there for free"? Specifically "It's Like This" is on one of these blogs, despite the fact that Twin Tone will still make you a copy on a custom CD for $15. Also floating around is The Wood's "Lost Album". Never released the "free" copy's quality is not great, but the songs sure are. I, for one, would have plopped down the cash for the box set JUST to hear decent copies of these songs. I don't think it's happening. Is it because of these blogs? Are blogs like this preventing artists from making some of their pasts works available to their fans?

I tried my hand at legally selling music on The Comboland Radio website. For 2 years I had all but one of the Arrogance recordings available. We sold a few downloads, but it cost twice the dollar amount we sold to host the website and pay the fees for the "shopping cart" and to accept PayPal. NOT a good business model! I was surprised too. But after thinking about it all of the fans we have seen at the shows in recent years probably had the stuff already. Not everybody felt the need to replace their vinyl with the digital downloads... although they do sound good. Also I shouldn't have sold individual songs. For the same amount of storage space and inventory items I should have tried harder to get some of the other bands to sell some of their out of print stuff there too. Still I'm not sure it would have ever broken even.

I guess I could put the Arrogance stuff up on a blog of my own! I guess I could put ALL of the vinyl have I digitized for Comboland Radio up on a blog somewhere!! (It's quite a bit!) Hell I could put up the all of out of print CDs I have too!!! I could... but I can't. I was a suspected music bootlegger in the 80's. While working at Reflection Sound Studios the studio recorded 4 live R.E.M. shows. OF COURSE a few copies were circulated by the staff. However copies of 2 of the shows got to the outside world. It wasn't nefarious... it didn't involve me... and it was an innocent mistake. However I DID hear about it and several people were/are convinced I bootlegged the tapes. I didn't, but I felt horrible. R.E.M wasn't this huge band yet. I had seen them many times in clubs and dives in the south. I had friends who were working with them. I wouldn't have done anything to take money out of any of their pockets. I still feel the same way.(By the way... I still have my tapes. I check the R.E.M. bootleg list every now and then and as of yet the 2 shows I have are not listed anywhere.)

For what it's worth Comboland Radio is a "legal" Internet broadcast and pays all of the music licensing fees through Live365 (although I would be GREATLY surprised if ANY of the artists ever receive a penny of what I pay in... but that is a another blog for another time).

Again... I don't really know how I feel about these blogs... but they are in great abundance and cover every form of music imaginable. I would be interested in your point of view. If the musicians and artists are against this type of "sharing" then I would have to side with them. Just know that no matter what "the man" does to prevent the sharing of music on the Internet people will figure out a different way to do it.

With all of that said I have just transferred 2 albums to digital, both with Triangle ties, that will start playing legally on Comboland Radio later this week.

th' Cigaretz Jerry Williams Links

2010-09-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Below are additional links for information on Jerry Williams:

The first is from Beastiemania, a site devoted to The Beastie Boys, who Jerry worked with and recorded.
http://www.beastiemania.com/whois/williams_jerry/

Next is an obit from The Punk Vault.
http://www.punkvinyl.com/2010/09/20/r-i-p-jerry-williams/

Here is Jerry's MySpace page.
http://www.myspace.com/jaydublee

This is an old article from 2004 but scroll down to the heading "Best local record hunter's captured prey:". Read for yourself to see this authors selection, as if you can't guess.
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/music-and-clubs/Content?oid=1191951

An obit with a few external links you may find interesting from Brooklyn Vegan.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/09/jerry_williams.html

Another obituary from Papermag. In the comments below the obit there are details of an upcoming memorial in New York.
http://www.papermag.com/2010/09/jerry_lee_williams_obituary.php

David Menconi wrote an article about a website that claimed Miley Cyrus ripped off th' Cigaretz "Apartmentalivin".
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/category/tags/Fly-on-the-Wall

Sad Cigaretz News

2010-09-20T02:01:00.001-07:00

...Opened up Facebook this morning at 3:45 to some sad news posted by Terry Anderson. Jerry Williams of Raleigh's Cigaretz has died, just a few days shy of his 62nd birthday.

For many, myself included, the Cigz was their first live exposure to a real punk band. Playing countless gigs at the Free Advice th' Cigaretz certainly made a name for themselves and carved out a nice fan base. Their lone DIY LP is classic! Yet it doesn't quite capture all of the noise and intensity of seeing them live.

How important were th' Cigaretz? Read Sam Hick's 1998 article "How North Carolina Got It's Punk Attitude". Go read it now... The three paragraphs devoted to th' Cigaretz might put it in perspective. It also details a bit of Jerry's life after th' Cigaretz which had to be quite exciting at times.

I saw them a number of times during their heyday. But one show I didn't see was one where they opened for Arrogance in Chapel Hill at The Town Hall. That show is a bit Woodstock-esque in that more people remember being at that show than the place would ever hold!! I believe it was Byron that turned one of the stage monitors speaker side up, filled it with cereal and milk and ate out of it. Hopefully someone will recall that story and it's repercussions.

Rest in peace Jerry. Your fans and friends love and remember.

I'll try to play more tunes from the LP starting tomorrow on Comboland Radio.

Killer Whales - States - SCOTS - Stratocruiser - Leisure McCorkle

2010-09-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

The revamped Skidmart at the SCOTS website is open! The new release "Kudzu Ranch" is available in LP, CD and digital download. When you buy "Kudzu Ranch" in any format you get a digital download for free which includes alternate takes of 4 tunes. (hint... the free version of "Pig Pickin'" download is an alternate take too!) The re-issued "Too Much Pork..." is also available in CD and digital download. There are new t-shirts and other swag too. Comboland Radio has been playing a couple of tracks from "Kudzu Ranch" for a few weeks now. In celebration of the new store we have changed them up and are also featuring 2 cuts from "Too Much Pork.."(I had the original release) to get you all hopped up to go buy your own copies from the Skidmart!! As usual the tunes are mixed in with the best music new and old from the Carolinas on Comboland Radio.

I have also got some new old music to add to the rotation. I finally got a copy of the very hard to find "Big Bang" from the "Killer Whales". Their website is now dead but their music lives on. Former member David Bethany has put up a couple of pieces on youtube worth checking out.

"The States" from Norfolk, VA had 2 songs featured on "Mondo Montage" that we currently play on Comboland Radio. They also had 2 LP's and at least 2 singles previous to the MM tunes. I had one of those albums but couldn't locate it... until now.

Stratocruiser is one of my faves! So I can't believe I missed the July 27th release of their latest EP (see previous posts about my crazy work schedule...). Unlike last year's "best of" release this one is available for download and immediate gratification for the usual evil download sources. It is absolutely worth getting!

Another recent discovery for me is Leisure McCorkle. The 2002 CD I have was "on sale" at Not Lame so I picked it up. It is pure Power Pop and fab as well. Produced by Jamie Hoover (who plays and sings on it as well) it is well worth getting. It seems since this CD was released Lee has finished his PhD in Ireland and has had time to work on a new release that should be out soon. He has been playing a bunch of shows this year with a few more to come.

Listen for all of these tunes, artists and much more on Comboland Radio.

SCOTS - Dixon - Arrogance Gig!!

2010-08-31T07:39:00.001-07:00

I did get some new tunes into the rotation on Comboland Radio.

As promised some of them are hard to find cuts from Southern Culture On The Skids. Their new "store" debuts on their website on September 7th. In the new store will be their new album, "Kudzu Ranch" I am playing 2 songs from it, "Pig-Pickin'" and "Come As You Are/Lucifer Sam" as we get ready to hear the whole thing! I have also encoded several singles SCOTS has released over the years, mainly for the "B" sides which are not available anywhere else. I have them playing too. They include:

Two Pigs In A Blanket
Wedding Bell Twist
BSA441
C.W. James 00-Spy
Tantrum
Tidewater Jack

Listen for these tunes and get ready to get the new SCOTS long player "Kudzu Ranch" on September 7th.

Don Dixon has a new CD out, "Don Dixon Sings The Jeffords Brothers". I got to hear some of these tunes during Dixon's visit to the OBX in March. I now have a couple of them playing on Comboland Radio. Get the CD or download from CD Baby. Dixon fans will love it. But WARNING! It does have a "Beach Music" feel about it. I know some of you have an aversion to this music. I prefer to think of it as Dixon re-visiting his soul roots. Those who know him understand that he was influenced by soul and R&B from the 60's, as were many of us. This is actually the third project he has done with the Jeffords brothers. Earlier projects with Dip Ferrell & The Truetones also included Jamie Hoover and Marti Jones. These CD's were true "Beach Music" and do sound great.

Get ready to see Don along with Robert, Marty, Scott and Rod on New Year's Eve at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. Yes... Arrogance will rock the Cradle and rock in the new year! Hey... if your life is like mine it is NOT to early to start planning and figuring out how you are going to be there. If you have missed any of the Arrogance show in the past couple of years then make it a priority to be there! You won't be sorry.

Other new songs in the Comboland Radio playlist include 2 from a "Jamie Hoover Group" 45 from 1977, Chris Stamey's "The Summer Sun" (produced by Alex Chilton) and some additional cuts from Richmond, VA's "Single Bullet Theory". I still have some other Chris Stamey songs to get in. I just need more time to work on them!

SCOTS and New Vinyl!!

2010-08-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

The company I work for, Max Media, has just purchased 4 more radio stations on the Outer Banks. That means I now have 8 total to run/manage. With the acquisition I have had little time to devote to Comboland Radio (a continuing theme in my notes). But I do try to work on it when I can. I do still look for material and have had excellent success recently.

I the world of vinyl record collection the grade a piece receives for the seller is important. NM stands for "near mint", VG is "very good". Then you have the "+" and "-" signs added to the grade to give an even better idea of the condition of the record. VG+ and VG++ are usually decent enough for a decent digital transfer and restoration. The Holy Grail for any collector is an SS, or "still sealed". Those are un-opened and therefore un-played!! Still sealed copies of old albums can be quite valuable. For example one of my favorite sites has a SS Beatles "Rubber Soul", original pressing, mono, and a rare promotional sticker on the cellophane. It recently sold for $6500. This same site has an SS "butcher cover" "Yesterday And Today", mono for sale right now for $47,500.

I'm not sure if any of the "Comboland" records will be worth quite that much in an SS state but I have found quite a few of them recently. They include:

X-Teens - X-Teens (1st LP)
Sugarcreek - The Creek
Bad Checks - Innocence
Southern Culture On The Skids - Southern Culture On The Skids (1st LP)
Brice Street - Imagination
Othermothers - No Place Like Home

The X-Teens disc is the second SS X-Teens LP I have purchased, the first about 10 years ago... a copy of "Love And Politics" I played it once to transfer it to digital.

I would love to think that one of these LP's would increase in value to an "Butcher Cover" price but I don't see that happening. So I will open them at some point. I've been considering getting a new phono cartridge and stylus so I will wait for that. As I already have copies of most of those LP's there isn't much new to add to Comboland Radio. However in the case of a few of those I will have much better copies with a lot less restoration needed.

Other recent purchases will make there way to Comboland Radio. Earlier solo works of Chris Stamey have been largely absent but I have tracked most of them down and will be adding selections from them soon. I mentioned SCOTS in my last post. They have a new CD/download coming out soon, plus a re-release of "Too Much Pork For Just One Fork". The SCOTS 45's released through the years offer some nuggets not otherwise available. I have obtained quite a few of them, including one which was only given to guests at a wedding. Supposedly only about 150 were pressed. One side is SCOTS performing "Wedding Bell Twist". A cool tune which I know SCOTS fans will dig.

I am contemplating a bit of a change in direction for the Internet radio station. While I am not going to abandon new bands and music those show the most interest in Comboland Radio seem to come here for the older material and for the new material from those artists. Especially in the Triangle there are great outlets for the newer bands, like WKNC. There are also folks there who can keep up with the new scene much better than I can from my outpost in Kill Devil Hills. While I enjoy the mix of new and old it is probably too broad for most folks tastes. There are no big changes yet but certainly on the way soon. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Free Tune From SCOTS!

2010-06-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Southern Culture On the Skids is making their Summer stop at "The Port 'O Call" in Kill Devil Hills tonight!! The early morning hours of the day job keep me in most nights but I do make an exception when SCOTS comes to town.

Their website has been revamped and if you bookmarked the home page before you might need to update it now. Rick shares news on the site of an upcoming album release, and offers up a free download of a song from it for signing up for the SCOTS news letter. The song. "Pig Pickin'" is fab and is playing on Comboland Radio .

Rick also informs fans that a re-issue of the "Too Much Pork For Just One Fork" album is on the way soon on both CD and MP3 downloads. Can't wait for that!!!

Of course Comboland Radio plays A TON of SCOTS every day. Why today alone you will hear 16 songs by SCOTS throughout the day!!!! ...Plus lots of other great songs from Carolina bands and artists. Listen now and listen often!

The Slackmates

2010-06-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

When I first signed on Comboland Radio almost 2 years ago one of my best friends, Jimmy Knight (drummer in a couple of bands I played in a LOOOONNNG time ago) asked me if I was playing any "Slackmates". I had to claim ignorance as I didn't know anything about them. I SHOULD have but, as has been chronicled many times with various bands, they came and went after I left the Triangle to seek my radio fame and fortune... which I am still seeking.

Old friend, former fishing buddy and guitarist extraordinaire Rod Abernethy teamed up with some of the Triangle's elite musicians to form "The Slackmates". Dave Adams, Jack Cornell, Jeff Anderson and Whit Helton recorded some of the coolest surf inspired tunes this side of Waiamea Bay. Venture-esque but not a rip-off at all. There are some great tunes on their lone (I think) CD.

It is not surprising to me that Rod would be involved in such a project. One of the aspects of his style that I have always enjoyed was his subtle incorporation of that "surf guitar" sound in his playing. I remember after the Ventures show at "The Pier" several of us hung around hoping to meet them, which we did. Rod had a guitar with him for the band members to sign (3 original members played at that gig as I recall). I hope he still has the guitar! I believe it was an SG with a hand painted front.

The Slackmates "Hot Car Girls" was released on a German label, Gee-Dee Music, which seems to concentrate on "surf" inspired artists. The cool cover art was designed by Jack Cornell. I got the CD on eBay from a seller in Germany. It took my quite a bit of time to actually find a copy but it is not impossible. Also occasionally available is a tribute to Herb Alpert, "Surfin' Senorita" on which The Slackmates surf through the "Third Man Theme". It is one of the strongest tracks on the CD.

Maybe others can post other information on this band. Did they every play gigs? Man I would to see them play now!!

Speaking of Rod his self titled solo LP from 1975 just sold on eBay last week for $147.50. It was a "still sealed" copy and still had a "Record Bar" sticker on the front. I have a mint copy of this LP (no... I ain't sellin') and a couple of cuts, "Bossa Nova Baby" and "eggplant Comes To The Party", play regularly on Comboland Radio.

Veldt, Happy Eggs, "Let Us Be Heard"

2010-06-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to write about Comboland Radio but I have made a few additions to the playlist.

The Veldt - I finally got copies of their 3 Cd's and have cuts from all in rotation. This is one of the many bands that I was unfamiliar with but really enjoyed listening too once I got the Cd's. "All Music" compares their sound to England's Dream Pop bands. Whatever. They sound good. Check them out. All of the Cd's are out of print but not too hard to find. Amazon is a good source.

The Happy Eggs - You WILL have a difficult time finding anything by one of Jamie Hoover's earliest bands. I do have a copy of the first Happy Eggs 12 inch 45 RPM single. Jamie' "You Can't Avoid Love" created an ear-worm I couldn't get rid of for a week! Both sides are cool and quite a bit different from a later Eggs EP (which I am STILL trying to find).

The dB's - The first single credited to the dB's was on Car Records, CRR 7. The A side isn't the dB's at all. It's Chris and Richard Lloyd performing Lloyd's "(I Thought) You Wanted To Know". The B side is the dB's, minus Peter Holsapple, "If And When". The later is available on "Ride The Wild Tom Tom" but to my knowledge the A side is only available on this 45. Both are now playing on Comboland Radio. I have some other solo stuff from Chris on the way.

"Let Us Be Heard" - The Radio Station at 93.1 on the dial in Winston-Salem has been many different formats through the years. It was the FM sister station of WAIR 1340-AM, a Top 40 station that competed with, but probably never beat WTOB in the ratings of the day. In the 60's and much of the 70's FM stations were barely listened to and the red-headed stepchild of nearly every radio operation that had one. By the late 70's the FM would become Z-93. The format was Top 40 for a few years before changing to Album Rock around '84 or '85. In 1986 the radio station solicited tapes from local bands, picked the best from over 400 entries (according the the liners notes) and released an LP, "Let Us Be Heard". The Bands included:
The Alka-Phonics
The Allisons
Brice Street
Bryan Smith and the Boogie Blues Band
The Carter Brothers
Dayroom Monitors
Express
Hege V
Split Decision
Voce'

Brice Street had released 2 LP's on Dolphin Records before this compilation. Hege V's debut LP would be released the following year. The Allisions tune had been included on the Comboland Tapes Godfrey Cheshire was shopping around but was not included on the "Welcome To Comboland" LP. The Alka-Phonics and the Dayroom Monitors are band I remember from that time but the other artists I know nothing about. The LP's liner notes give very little info on the bands themselves. Any info would be appreciated.

The LP is absolutely worth seeking out... but good luck!! The Allisons tune "The Love You Give", and the Hege V song "Keep On Killin' Me" are killer tunes. Most of the other tunes are solid as well.

The copy I obtained is still in the shrink wrap but opened and played. The original owner evidently really wanted to protect the cover but as for the LP the inner sleeve was gone and the LP was not in the best of shape. The Split Decision song has a bad scuffed area in the middle of the track. Lots of pops and clicks but it seems that it was played on decent equipment. With the exception of the scuffy track it cleaned up pretty well with iZotope RX. Listen for tracks on Comboland Radio.

I have decided to feature to feature the items in this article in a heavier rotation for a few weeks. I hope you enjoy them!

Remember "The Snap"?

2010-04-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

I search eBay on a regular basis for some of the missing pieces of the music from Comboland. I finally obtained a copy of "The Snap - Voice Of America", DLP 2004. I remember my roommate having a copy of the EP but I don't think I ever did. I do remember seeing this band play a number of times but the history of "The Snap" is a tad fuzzy, as are quite a few memories from 27 years ago.

I do remember guitarist Charlie Ward playing in this band. I also remember him being quite good, but not necessarily interested in playing in a pop band. I remember Donna Von Plock too... nice lead singer. Two of their tunes made it on the first "Mondo Montage" LP, "Voice Of America" and (She's A) Modern Girl. They were produced by Arrogance co-founder Robert Kirkland and recorded at Hummingbird Studios, according to the liner notes. The MM liner notes don't list the other band members (see below).

During the time between Mondo Montage and the six song EP release on Dolphin Records the band line-up changed and the producer did too. Select Records founder Fred Munao produced the EP, which was recorded at TGS Studios, Singer/Actor Gary Private (whose single "Waiting For You" got a 92 and a half on American Bandstand's "Rate A Record" but failed to chart) sang background vocals and provided percussion of some sort. Band members were Donna Von Plock - Vocals, David Anthony Matos - Guitars/Synthesizer (replacing Charlie Ward), Tom Bryan - Bass/BG Vocals, Vernon Marshburn - Drums/Percussion.

Harry Simmons managed the band and told me he initially got involved because of Robert's insistence. He also said that Fred wanted to sign the band to his label but they thought Dolphin Records was a better choice at the time because of the power/clout of "The Record Bar" which owned the label. The two songs from Mondo Montage were included on the EP but new versions were recorded and they do sound a bit different.

The Snap certainly had a good following in Comboland for a few years in the early to mid '80's. I have put the two hits from the EP in heavy rotation for a few weeks on Comboland Radio and also added their version of the The Beatles "Hey Bulldog" to the playlist.

Here is the description of "The Snap" from the Mondo Montage liner notes;

"With the addition of vocalist Donna Von Plock, The Snap has emerged as the most critically acclaimed new group in the Carolinas in 1982. Combining various elements of old style rock and roll with contemporary soul influences the group has synthesized its veteran talent into a unique new sound. This disc reveals The Snap for the first time on vinyl, under the steady studio control of Arrogance guitarist Robert Kirkland. Hard core stuff for dancers that like to sweat."

Mark Kano and Stratocruiser

2010-03-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago I wrote about a big update with several new bands/artists added to the Comboland Radio playlist. This week there is another update to the "New Music" category!! The purpose of this music category is to highlight the latest releases of the Comboland artists. As always if I am missing something let me know.

I really like the band "Stratocruiser". So I was a bit bummed I missed the November release of their limited edition (300 digipack copies only) CD "OK. Class" It is a "best of" compilation but does have a few new songs on it. Comboland Radio features many of the songs on this CD in the "regular" rotation. Listen for 2 of the new tunes, "Ok. Class" and "That Phone Call" on Comboland Radio. Go to the Stratocruiser website for information on getting the CD. it is NOT available for digital download!

On my last post I mentioned that I buy the majority of the music played on Comboland Radio. (Another HUGE thank you to those of you who have sent me "promo" copies of your music!) I don't mind paying for it as my purchase helps, in a small way, support the artist and hopefully their desire to continue making new music. Mark Kano has a bit of a different idea. Through the month of March (hurry!!!) Mark is offering free music downloads from his website, markkano.com. There is quite a bit of music here for free! Good stuff too! Much of it is in our playlist but now you can add it to your personal collection for free!

Listen Now!! New Music!!

2010-03-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

I have FINALLY had some free time to work on some playlist additions to Comboland Radio. There are still some to follow... maybe even this week! But for now here is what's new:

Jonathan Mudd graciously sent me a copy of his brand new release, Truth Lies. "Run Amelia" and "Breaking My Way" are now in the new music rotation. The CD is available through CD Baby. Jonathan has a nice website too with links and hopefully soon some gig announcements.

"I Was Totally Destroying It" had 2 different releases at the end of last year. In the new music rotation are "Come Out, Come Out" and "Done Waiting". I will be adding songs from the 2007 self titled release and the 2 songs featured on the Cy Tunes website. This is a new band to Comboland Radio.

Speaking of Cy Tunes I purchased several other tunes which are now in the playlist. Jeff Hart's 1999 Spacelab Sessions, a single from "Stratocruiser" and a neat demo track from "Hammer No More The Fingers" are now playing.

"Schooner" has a new EP release available from Cy Tunes. The "Duck Kee Sessions". If you have not checked out this site and it's cause you have a few good reasons to. Listen for the new Schooner tunes on Comboland Radio.

"The Annuals" have a new release in the works which should be out very soon. A song from this album is available as a free download from their website, and is now being played on Comboland Radio.

98% of the music heard on Comboland Radio is purchased by it currator...Me! This is not a complaint because I believe in supporting these musicians efforts. Buying a download or a CD is a small price to pay for the endless enjoyment I get from their efforts. None of these artists are getting rich from making music so if my small purchase helps them in some way want to make more music then I gladly make that purchase. However when someone sends me a free CD I do feel compelled to give them what little exposure Comboland Radio can offer (see Jonathan Mudd above).

I had been looking for the "Let's Get Mikey" CD "Crazy Days for a couple of years now with no luck. The band features Jamie Hoover collaborator (Van Deleckies) Bryan Shumate, Nat Hammer and Eddie Snuggs, and was co-produced by Jamie and Jack Cornell from "The Fabulous Knobs" "Woods" and "Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team to name a few. Nat happened across the station and inquired about the band's lack of presence, then offered to send me a copy of the CD. NICE! When I got the package there was also a CD from "Zeke The Freak". Both have some killer tunes which are now in the playlist. Even though they share some of the creative components Zeke is a bit off center... in a good way... described by Nat as "a basement project where a bunch of musicians got together, had a few too many drinks, and decided to put it on tape". This is a fun CD to listen too. It's a shame more people didn't have the chance in 1997 when it was released.

Keven Burrus stumbled across the website and offered to send me a copy of a CD his band, "Broken Blue", released in 2000. He said "We played all over the triangle from 1996 to 2003. We recorded 2 Cd's of originals at Mike Gardner Studio (of PKM fame). Craig Woolard from the Embers added synth sax patch on 2 of our songs and Robert Kearns (of Cry of Love fame) sang backups on one track. Mike Gardner did some dueling guitar leads with one of our guitarists on one track." Listen for "Broken Blue" on Comboland Radio.

While searching around for new bands, which I haven't much time to do recently, I stumbled across Nick Driver who has just released a solo album. It's available at CD Baby among other places. Two tunes from in are in the new music category on Comboland Radio.

While in search mode I also found a new release by "100 Yorktown" that rocks! It's another CD Baby find as was "Distrails" a few months ago. "Distrails" has a new EP out and cuts are now in the playlist.

Those of us hailing from Henderson, North Carolina can tell you nearly every important musical milestone from our fair town. Famous folks from there include Ben E. King (Drifters, solo), Gerald Austin (Manhattans), and Rick Miller (Southern Culture On The Skids, not the same Rick Miller who later became Parthenon Huxley, grew up part of the time there so we claim him whether he wants to be claimed or not!). Oh... non-musical famous people from "The Gateway City" include Charlie Rose from PBS and Soupy Sales Mother. Musical highlights from Henderson include any of the few "Cheese" shows at "Sunset Park" out by Kerr Lake, the Khrome Jerome gig at the Kwick Pick complete with the Icee Bear, my band "Strike Zone" playing in the Parking lot of "The Big 89 WHNC". If you don't remember that last one maybe it is because the morning guy there at the time referred to us as "The Dry Heaves". Still don't remember? Hmmm. Imagine my surprise to find a band from my hometown on CD Baby and I don't think I know any of them. "Forgetful Old Guys" CD F.O.G. was released on the last day of 2009. They have a gig coming up at the Broad Street Cafe in Durham on March 10th. Listen for them on Comboland Radio.

Another new band to Comboland Radio with Henderson connections is "When Cousins Marry", featuring Hendersonite Charles Blackburn. According to their website they have been playing together for over 25 years. They released their first CD in 2007 and have another one in the works. Thanks you Charles for sending me the CD!

So there is lots of new music to enjoy on Comboland Radio!

The OAK Team's Winter Dance Party!

2010-02-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

Man.... my day job has kept me super busy. During the off-season I expect things to be a bit slower but this year some special projects have kept me away from Comboland Radio. My wife and I did make it over to see Terry Anderson & The OAK Team recently. Terry is a much better writer that I so go on over to his blog and read about the gig from his perspective! I'm working on processing some new tunes for Comboland Radio. Keep Listening!!

OAK Team's New Vinyl Release

2009-12-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

I just ordered Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team's new vinyl
release!! It is a limited edition, only 250 will be made. I ordered 2.
That leaves 248 for the rest of you. It has a new Christmas tune and
some remixed tunes from "National Champions" with horns added! Order
yours today so you can have it by Christmas! You can get it from Doublenaught Records website. Don't forget the OAK's are playing Christmas night at the Pour House

Records!

2009-12-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

I like albums. I'm talking about 12 inch, black (mostly), 33 1/3, LP's. I still have almost every LP I ever bought. Current count.. well.... I haven't taken inventory recently but it's more than 3500. That number is still growing, but at a much slower rate now since the only new vinyl release are "special" and usually expensive. I do hit up some used record outlets occasionally, and eBay.

My albums used to reside in my house. Alas, most of them are in a (climate controlled!) storage facility 20 miles away. I visit them when I can. I had to retrieve the Christmas decorations from that facility a couple of weeks ago and decided to look through them and pick out a few to bring home. I have about 75 or so at the house, primarily the LP's that I digitized for Comboland Radio. I opened the box with the D's. The Doors - L.A. Woman... Man I remember buying that LP! ...From Nits Nats etc in the Henderson Mall.

Owned by Cheryl and Phillip Hawkins Nits Nats was an old school mom and pop store, as many were in the 60's and 70's. In Henderson, NC, before Nits Nats you bought records from Roses or Eckerds. Or downtown there was a place that also sold sewing machines and vacuum cleaners, Henderson Music Company I believe. Nits Nats was that first cool place for music and I bought a TON of records there. I hung around the store a bunch too. I even met my first wife there. There were times when I was looking for something to do I would just go and see what they had... what was new. There was a time I probably knew their inventory as well as they did!

Each mom and pop record store had it own personality, many times mirroring the personality of the owner. Some were cluttered and seemed unorganized, but the proprietor knew where everything was! This was especially true of any store that sold used records. Man I LOVED the Record Hole! In the early days of The Record Bar those stores had a bit of personality and were fun to shop in. With the shift to CD's the stores seemed to loose that personality. I was a regular at the CD Superstore locations in the Triangle and Triad, and later at Planet Music in Virginia Beach. Good stores but a more sterile feel. Of course some would say CD's have sort of a sterile feel as well.

Alright... back to current time... for a second. While I was in the box of D's I noticed the dB's LP's I had. Man.... I remember buying them too! I bought both "Repercussions" and "Stands For deciBels" at New World Records in Charlotte. It was my shop of choice while I lived in Charlotte. They always had a great selections of imports and hard to locate items. Those are still two of my all time favorite records. When I got home I put "Repercussions" on the turntable. I have the CD's, MP3,s, I hear the songs on Comboland Radio. But something about putting the record on and sitting down to listen to it gave me a different perspective. I was hearing the album, not the songs. I now remembered why I liked it so much.

When I listened to CD's I usually had a remote control nearby and I would skip songs that didn't hit me at first. With MP3's it is even easier to skip through songs. With LP's I, and I'll bet most others, were less apt to skip over a song thereby listening to the complete LP. During the heyday of the LP we also had more time, and fewer distractions! I guess MP3's are perfect for this fast paced distraction filled society we are all a part of. I'm not sure they are good for the music industry, especially local musicians. I hope I'm wrong.

Back to the dB's! I got an email from their website alerting me to a couple of videos that were unearthed and placed on You-Tube. Check them out! Also check out their website.

By the way.... Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Lickin Team is getting ready for their annual Christmas night gig, again this year the the Pour House in Raleigh. It's a great excuse to get away from the family for awhile. Just tell them you need some air and will be back in 4 or 5 hours.

If you haven't been listening to Comboland Radio lately you are missing some great new songs from Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel from the Spongetones, Luego from the Triangle that Peter Holsapple is playing with, and a band whose material has disappeared from sight very shortly after it was made available, Animal. All are great so listen in!! Just go to Comboland Radio and click on one of the players.

Playlist Update

2009-11-19T14:52:00.001-08:00

Finally!!!

The playlist update is in tomorrow on Comboland Radio.

New music from:

The Spongetones Present Jamie & Steve
Birds And Arrows
The Old Ceremony
Luego
The Dex Romweber Duo
Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies
The Dynamite Brothers
Medusa Stone
Animal
Spaceship Days

Also some new catalog tracks show start to filter in over the weekend from:
Distrails
The Flood
Bryan Shumate
Medusa Stone
Dexter Romweber/Flat Duo Jets
Sex Police

Just more reasons to listen to Comboland Radio!

Playlist Update and BIG Show in Winston

2009-11-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

A BIG playlist update for Comboland Radio is in the works for early next week. It will include tunes from the new "Spongetones Present Jamie and Steve" "English Afterthoughts" CD, Luego, a few from the quickly out of print Animal EP's (somebody needs to help these guys get these songs BACK out... there are some great tunes here that couldn't have available for more than 3 months or so), Birds and Arrows, Dexter Romweber, Dynamite Brothers and a few more. I can't promise these will make it in this weekend, or that all of them will make in at the same time. But sometime next week expect to hear some new tunes on Comboland Radio!

If you are close by the Triad head to The Garage tomorrow (Sat. Nov. 14th) for "The Rock On The Road Tour". It kicks off at 8p. the lineup is strong:

The Smith Bros. (from Columbus, Ohio)
The Anderson Council (from New Brunskwick, NJ)
The Saving Graces (from Winston-Salem, NC)
Stratocruiser (from Raleigh, NC)
easybake (from Winston-Salem, NC)
The Othermothers (from Greensboro, NC)

With the exception of the out of state bands, and easybake (who I had not been aware of... until now!), the others receive regular airplay on Comboland Radio.

Don says "Play It Moose!"

2009-10-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

I have received permission from Don Dixon to play an unreleased song of his I found on an old tape in my collection. It is called "Silent Night". It was originally recorded for the "Romantic Depressive" album but was culled out during the sequencing process. Don responded;

"hey MOOSE

please play "Silent Night"...i want to hear it...i think i have a version of BONNIE singing it, too!"
October 16, 2009 12:14 PM

So I'm sticking "Silent Night" in active rotation this week. There are SO many arcane rules involving streaming music on the Internet. Honestly... you would not believe many of them, and few of them are beneficial to the artists and writers but are intended to be. For example I can't play requests. The thought being you might figure out a way to record that song as I am playing it and then not buy it. Another is I can't tell you when I am going to play a song because you might record it. There are many others. So I can't say exactly when you can listen for the Dixon tune today but trust me, it is coming up in the schedule 2 or 3 times a day for the next few weeks. And if you happen to be listening between noon and 6 EDT today (10/20), say almost halfway between, you just may hear this song. I do think you'll enjoy it.... especially if you are a fan of Don's music. He also informed me that an additional date has been added to his and Marti's tour schedule. Check out his Myspace page for the latest.

Other new adds include the
Matt Barrett tunes I just located, cuts from Athenaeum's "Radiance" and "The Green CD", SCOTS cuts from the OOP "Liquored Up and Lacquered Down" and "The First Album". I am processing the 3 "Sex Police" Cd's and the Superchunk EP released in April so cuts from those will filter in this week.

If I am missing anything feel free to let me know. And tell everyone you know about Comboland Radio.

Rare Finds And A Dixon Song Unearthed

2009-10-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Very little time for Comboland Radio updates in the past few weeks. Sorry about that. I'm gonna try to get some playlist changes done this weekend. Although I DO have some new old material.

Matt Barrett has written a couple of my favorite songs. One is "Six-Pack" which was recently covered by Don Dixon and the Jump-Rabbits. Matt's original version from his "Ruse" EP is great. I play both versions on Comboland Radio. Another one from the same EP "My Baby's M-M-Making Me Dance is killer! Early on in the development of Comboland Radio Matt sent me some additional material transfered from cassette. Some of the tunes were decent transfers, a few were not... phase and tape head alignment issues. I can correct a lot of noise issues with computer aided restoration, of which I use several different products. However some issues can't be overcome. I have an "Allisons" cassette with similar issues. Doing an eBay search recently I searched Matt's name and a couple of copies of the "Ruse" EP showed up... not that unusual... but a copy of his self released single "Nothing At All To Write Home About/Is This It?" also showed up. Now THAT is a bit unusual. It is in mint condition and didn't cost too much either. I'll get it in the playlist very soon.

I also FINALLY got a copy of the SCOTS "Liquored Up and Lacquered Down" CD. It is not available for download so if you want it you have to track down a used CD. This one is not terribly difficult to track down but has been out of print for some time, suffering the same fate as all of the Connells material as it too is on the TV Tunes label. Sometimes folks selling the OOP stuff want huge bucks for it. Some of it is truly rare and in demand. Sometimes patience is necessary. In fact there is currently a copy of this CD on eBay for a starting bid of $5.

Speaking of Southern Culture On The Skids I've had the "First Album" sitting around waiting to be transfered into the digital domain for some time. That time is now. I have a couple of early SCOTS tracks from the Comboland tapes in the playlist but they don't come up all that often. Newer fans be warned.... this stuff is a bit different than what you are used to hearing!! I really like the direction Rick has taken the band through the years. But I also like this early LP. This is the band I remember seeing in the mid-80's. Now this is a tough LP to find these days, but not totally impossible. Listen for some tracks to filter in this weekend.

I was digging through a box of CD's... boxed sets I have stored up in a closet because I don't have anyplace to display them. In this box of boxed sets I found a cassette, "Don Dixon, The Album", dated 1994 or 5. Harry Simmons was Don's manager at the time and an old bud. He sent me things to listen to from time to time knowing I was a fan and always had an opinion. This was a pre-release cassette, recorded straight off the board, great quality, one used in the "tinkering with the songs/sequence" phase of putting an album together. So here I am in 2009 looking at the sequence trying to remember what CD this was... oh yeah. "Romantic Depressive". Came out on Sugar Hill in 1995. So I'm checking the sequence on the CD against the one on on the cassette. A couple of tunes swapped positions in the order... wait a minute.... "Silent Night"? That one is not on the CD anywhere. It ain't no Christmas tune either! Looks like it got replaced by "What You Saw" on the CD featuring Anton Fier from "The Lounge Lizards", "The Golden Palominos" et al playing drums. WOW I have unearthed a "lost" Dixon cut!! I cleaned it up a bit from the cassette dub and it sounds pretty good. The song itself is quite good! I prefer it to a couple of tunes that made it onto the CD. But this is an area where everyone has a different opinion. I am positive Dixon had a "sound" in mind for the CD at the time and this one just didn't fit. So Dixon.... can I play it? What do you think Harry?

Listen for "Silent Night" to possibly air on Comboland Radio soon!... or not!

arrogance @ 40 - The Birthday Bash

2009-09-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

I wish I knew how many times I have seen Arrogance play. Fifty? A hundred? I really don't know. I saw them at The Town Hall, The Cat's Cradle (old one), on the campus of both UNC and NC State, Rumors in Atlanta, The Bears Den, places I now can't remember. I probably saw them at The Pier in Raleigh more than any other place. I usually stood in the same place, close to the front of the stage but not right up front, audience right, near the sound and light boards. There were a group of us that went to every show. Arrogance manager Harry Simmons, a friend since elementary school, got us "on the list" at the door nearly every show. His younger brother A.T. "Bud" ran lights, which is one of the reasons we stood to that side... so we could harass him during the show. In the bands final couple of years my friend Cliff Atchison ran sound. That made it even more fun with two people to torture during the show.

There are images in my mind of that place that are so much clearer now. Images I had misplaced in my brain until Saturday Night at The Cat's Cradle (new one). Arrogance was playing a couple of tunes from "Suddenly". They were nailing them too! And for a few minutes I was back at The Pier. It flashed in my brain with such clarity... neat but a bit eerie too. As I was the faithful DD I had not had anything to either enhance or dull my senses. They were playing that good.

This was the arrogance @ 40 Birthday show. All of the different musical styles they covered were represented during the show. They didn't follow in exact chronological order, but close. Dixon was the narrator during the show recounting their surroundings, different venues, setting a mood for what you were about to hear. As has been the case with the Cradle shows in recent years the started with the more acoustic stuff. Joining the band onstage for the first time in many years was percussionist Ogie Shaw. Ogie played on the first arrogance LP "Give Us A Break". He got a warm reception for the crowd on several occasions. It was a real treat to hear these songs live with Ogie. They sounded so much more familiar.. more authentic. He did a fine job too!

Rod then played two songs from his solo LP, "Bossa Nova Baby", and "Eggplant Comes To The Party", the latter I had totally forgotten about. It's an instrumental that used to be a part of his solo set before he joined Arrogance. I have got to dig his solo album out and digitize that one!

Next up was the original arrogance with Mike Greer and Jim Glasgow. Those of you who were at the March show at The Carolina Theatre got a chance to hear this lineup. These guys took us through what was the early days of their new band, with some rousing covers of songs they probably jammed to as they started to find their way. Then they moved to some early arrogance originals... "Black Death", and a song they had never tried to perform on stage, "Nights Of Dreams". This is a song that was supposed to be on an early arrogance album but was later released on Mike Greer's "Between Two Worlds" LP. The Original arrogance can still rock it!

After a quick break electric Arrogance rocked it for a while! Then all 8 Arrogance members in attendance took the stage one more time for a final sendoff. As I eluded to earlier this was a great performance! and a long one too! They started playing just after 8:45p, took 2 short...really!...breaks and finally walked off the stage at 12:25p. What a night!

I have noticed in past shows at The Cradle that many of the "acoustic" fans leave after that portion of the show is over. I don't think quite as many folks left this time. I did hear some rumbling when they were playing some of the covers. A number of folks went outside and said "I'll come back in when they start playing Arrogance songs again". Man! I thought they were great! And in the context of the show they were trying to do they fit. Plus you got to hear comical lyric replacement from Robert such as... during "Sunshine Of Your Love" replacing the words "To give you my dawn surprise" with "and giving my dog some wine". Man was I laughing! Covers were many times a part of an Arrogance show. Barrett Strong's "Money" kicks of "Lively". Have we forgotten about "The Dogbreath Blues Band"? Their old surf medley rocked!!! I enjoyed the "covers" section of the original arrogance set. It reminded me of how nearly every band I have ever been got started, by trying to find some common ground so you can start making some noise.

I really enjoyed the vibe of this show. It's a similar vibe at the other "Cradle" show of recent years. The band is relaxed on stage and enjoying themselves. The audience is full of the bands old friends and that seems to energize them a bit. It is just a fun night, a night you wish you had more of.

A rumor was floating around about this being the "swan song" performance of the band. I found that hard to believe and confirmed with Scott that it wasn't. However he did point out that none of them are getting any younger. There have been some health scares over the years. You just never know. As I mentioned in an earlier blog we should all make an effort to see any of our favorite bands/musicians from back in the day when they decide to play. No one can make all of the shows but go to the ones you can. Those bands from Comboland still make the best music in the world.

Listen to ALL of the Comboland bands, old and new, on Comboland Radio!

arrogance @ 40 - Pictures From Chapel Hill

2009-09-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

What a great show at The Cat's Cradle! Merch Mike will have more and much better pictures on his pages but I have posted a few on the Comboland Radio MySpace and Facebook pages, find the links to both to the right. The battery on my laptop is running out so a review is coming later today.

Arrogance @ 40 Gig and OAK Team Video

2009-09-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday. You've got a couple of days to figure out how you are going to rearrange your schedule to make it to Chapel Hill to see Arrogance. It's going to be a great show. Arrogance celebrates 40 years of creating some of the best rock songs to ever come out of North Carolina. After 40 years they can still rock it on stage. Don and Robert's voices are still strong, their musicianship is still strong, the songs are still good... and this show will have some surprises.

So what could keep you from the show? Football? NC State and Gardner Webb? The way State played against USC I think Gardner Webb has a chance! This is one you can miss. UNC and ECU? It's a Noon game. Hey!... If you're coming for the game stay over and come out to the Cradle to either celebrate or commiserate. Duke and Kansas? Away game for the Blue Devils.... and c'mon. Duke Football?!?

If you, like me, live away from the Triangle area now and are wondering if this show will be worth the hassle to drive and get a place to stay and get the kids a taken care of and find a place for the dog and whatever whatever... the answer is YES. When you were younger you would! So just make it happen, you won't be sorry.

Seriously, when any of the bands we loved decides to play a gig you should make an effort to go see them. Certainly you can't go to every show. There have been a few this summer I have had to miss because of work, life, health. You just never know how many more chances you will get to see any of the guys from this era play together. If you are wondering how good they can sound just ask anyone who went to the March show at the Carolina Theater. It rocked. This one will too. At the last Cradle show a bunch of folks left early. It seemed like the "acoustic" fans bailed during the break. I would encourage all to hang for the whole show this time. It will be worth it... trust me.

If you don't have the Arrogance tunes in a digital format remember you can download them from Comboland Radio's Arrogance Store. I haven't sold very many of these so I KNOW you need them in your collection. Of course you can Arrogance an a slew of other great North Carolina acts on Comboland Radio.

Another of my very favorite bands is Terry Anderson's Olympic Ass Kickin' Team. The recently were featured in a "Sessions In Studio B" at Music.MyNC. Check it out! If you've never seen these guys live... well... you are wrong for that.

Comboland Mailbag - The Othermothers

2009-08-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

Before I get in to the subject matter of the post a reminder....

Arrogance is at the Cat's Cradle on September 19th!! This is their 40th anniversary year. If you missed the March show DO NOT miss this one. Along with Don Dixon, Robert Kirkland, Marty Stout, Scott Davison and Robert Kirkland the show will feature the original lineup again with Jim Glasgow and Mike Greer, and include percussionist Ogie Shaw who was a member when the first album was released. You will be hearing more about this show in the next few weeks. Make plans now to go. Don't let it slip up on you. More details as they are finalized can be found here, at the Arrogance website, their MySpace and Facebook pages, and from the Arrogance Street Team.

I got the coolest package in the mail the other day. A couple of months ago I got a Facebook message from Othermothers drummer Tommy Cowett informing me of the re-release of the rocking EP "No Place Like Home". The new CD has 4 additional songs which will please fans of the Othermothers. The new CD is titled "Back For More", which is a perfect title as they are out playing gigs again. Tommy offered to send me a copy which I gladly accepted. I received it along with a DVD a friend of theirs put together, and all of the band members signed the CD. Neat touch!

I remember first hearing about this record through my friends Robert Kirkland and Steve Haigler, the producer and engineer for the EP. I may have still been working at Reflection Studios at the time but my memory is fuzzy. I DO remember Steve telling me how hot this band was, and how great the recordings sounded. I had a cassette copy of the EP and listened to it a bunch!! This was one of the many bands from the early to mid 80's that should have made it through. Hey... they made it further than most with the EP getting released on Making Waves Records in the UK, benefiting from the "Comboland" project undertaken by Godfrey Cheshire. This is a high energy record, with that "punk" edge and hyper-tempo beat, but with great hooks and melodies. Plus the band has the musicianship to pull it all off.

The Othermothers started playing shows again this year and if you have been fortunate enough to see them play you can attest to the fact that they still got it! There are a few YouTube videos to prove it too. If you haven't seen them you do have a couple of chance coming up. They will be playing at The Tate Street Festival in Greensboro on September 26th, the at the Blind Tiger on October 9th. I don't see a link to buy the CD on the MySpace page but I'll bet they are selling them at the shows. I'll also bet you could buy one from them by emailing the band through the Othermothers MySpace page. It is worth seeking out! When you DO get it it won't just sit in your collection. You'll want to listen to it!!!

I honor of the new release I am putting a couple of tunes from "Back For More" in the "Heavy" rotation in the Comboland Radio playlist, which is usually where I put new music.

A Letter To Terry Anderson of The OAK Team...

2009-08-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Terry,

What are you trying to do to me man?!? I mean I look at the WhassupTA blog nearly every day. (I especially loved the pictures from your recent "procedure"!) I check the schedule of gigs over at Doublenaught Records on a regular basis. I try to check the 2 Myspace pages you occupy. Now I find out that there is an OAK Team gig.... TONIGHT!!! Man you are killing me!

You know my wife is a monster fan. Now she is calling me on the telephone and yelling in my ear asking questions like "What are you durin wit all of yo damn free time? "Boy.... u 'posed to keep up wit thangs like the OAK Team's schedule!"

Man... I saw the Yayhoos dates listed. Somehow I missed the OAK Team gig. And I am now in the doghouse. And when I next see my wife I will be receiving an Ass-Kickin' like you have never seen.

I went to bed last night a 10:30p, and got up for the day job at 4:30a. If we do make the three and a half hour drive to Raleighwood tonight I'll be the one with a sore ass and toothpicks in my eyelids.

Your Friend,

Moose

The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team will ROCK the Berkley Cafe tonight (8/28) as they open for The Bottle Rockets. Don't miss it. If you do you deserve to get a swift kick in the....

Addendum
Also... OAK Team fans can hear an interview on US 98.3's Homegrown Hour Sunday week (Non-Hick Translation.. that's not this Sunday but Next Sunday, September 6th). Host Mike Elliot is an OAK Team fan himself so the show show be great! You can listen online at the US 98.3 website.

Thinking Of Memphis

2009-08-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

Memphis is one of my favorite cities. I didn't discover the magic of the place itself until later in life, but have been a fan of the music that has come out of that place since I was a kid. Going there now one can only wonder what it must have been like to have been there when music history was being made. Country, Soul, R&B, Rock And Roll, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, all have a place in the music history of "The River City". Certainly great music could be heard but Memphis has had it's share of heartbreak and tension as well.

I think of Memphis this week because of two people.

First is Jim Dickinson who died last week. Musician, producer, he really could do it all. I'll point you to a couple of articles from folks who are better writers than I to tell his story. From the PowerPop blog and Steve Simels, and from the Commercial Appeal in Memphis. What a life this guy had! And what an influence on the world of music too.

Second is Al Bell. This former disk jockey would later work at, then own, Stax Records. Now I do love me some Motown but Stax is tops for me when it comes Soul and R&B. I also get infuriated when I see a list of Motown artists that includes Sam and Dave and Otis Redding. So when a radio industry site I frequent noted that yesterday, 8/18, was the anniversary of the dissolving through forced bankruptcy of Stax I had to follow the link to a New York Times article about Al Bell. It is the story of how a great record company came to a sudden end, and about a great man who has continued to persevere. For anyone that thinks making music is all fun and games... read this. You'll be amazed.

Now... don't forget to listen to Comboland Radio for at least 2 hours a day, and tell all of your friends about it too!

Go See One Of These Bands Friday 8/21

2009-08-17T13:26:00.001-07:00

What is it about August 21st? It this coming Friday, and it is a day that Comboland Music will be played live and loud!

Ok... I know that other bands will be playing that night so email me and I'll add it to the post. BUT... three of my faves will all be playing that night and you can't go wrong with any of them.

The Othermothers came out of "retirement" a few months ago and have been playing a few gigs since. The will be at the Somewhere Else Tavern in Greensboro along with Patrice Pike, Tiffany Shea Band, Dreamkiller, and Your Friend. Still waiting for the CD release they have coming out. If you go to this show the Othermothers won't disappoint. Just check out this video and see for yourself.

Mitch Easter is playing some gigs before the 21st, at Southpaw in Brooklyn, NY on the 18th, Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ on the 20th, then to The Garage in Winston-Salem on the 21st.

And the Spongetones are at the Double Door in Charlotte, along with the Cruise-O-Matics.

Go see one of those shows!!!! And tell everyone there about Comboland Radio!

Greer LP on CD!!! And Other News And Additions

2009-08-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am entering the busiest week of an already busy summer with the day job. Still I have a bit of time on a Sunday morning for a couple of quick tweaks and additions to Comboland Radio.

With the Arrogance show coming up September 19th at the Cat's Cradle it is an odd bit of coincidence that I found the Greer album "Two Worlds"... ON CD! Michael Slawter posted a song from the LP on his "NC Music History" blog and there were a few comments but none mentioning the availability of this album on CD. So I can only assume that few know of this. Mike Greer was an original member of Arrogance, along with Don Dixon, Robert Kirkland, and Jim Glasgow. All perform on this album with Bobby Locke and David Niblock and future Arrogance member Marty Stout appearing as well. The CD version was released in 2008 on the UK label, Erebus Records". Their description of the CD is:

"Obscure artifact out of a local scene that produced cult music for a 15-year period; this is a powerful trip in a song-oriented 1970s British rock/hardrock style, with psych moves on the two long epics. Plenty of raw guitar, some piano and synth, heartfelt vocals, all wrapped in a consistent package that displays talent and self-confidence. May be too much of a '70s mainstream sound for some, and indeed it would have deserved to come out on a major label. Should appeal to fans of Felt on Nasco." --Acid Archives. As with all Erebus Records titles, this was remastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. It is presented here for the first time on CD."

Uh... some would dispute that "15 year period"! But the rest is an enthusiastic recommendation of a great lost LP. I found the CD while doing a search on eBay for missing pieces of Comboland music. I can't remember what prompted me to enter "Greer" into the search box. And there is nothing else related to Arrogance or Dixon, two regular searches, in the product description. I have found none for sale from US sellers, only from the UK. The quality of the CD is excellent! The only downside is the back cover artwork which is from the back cover of the LP as if it were shrunk down to CD size. The type was small to begin with but now is nearly impossible to read, especially with 52 year old eyes that were never that good to begin with! Still... that is the only downside to this release. Everything else is right on.

According to the new liner notes for the CD two of the tracks, "Night Of Dreams" and "Send Me Back" were originally recorded in 1971 and intended to be on the first Arrogance album. All of the tracks were produced by Don Dixon, who also did the cover photography, and sister Susan Dixon the illustration. Reflection Sound Studios owner Wayne Jernigan was the engineer.

I would be interested and any other information on this CD release... like how it came about... hopefully Mike is getting a percentage of the sales. If so I would get it from Erebus instead of used on eBay. Price with shipping would be about the same anyway. For you Arrogance/Dixon completest this is a must have item.

I am going to put a couple of cut from this into heavy rotation for a few weeks so be sure to listen to Comboland Radio for an hour or two everyday!

Also going in this week cuts from Mark Kano's band Athenaeum, from the first self titled CD (green cover) released in '95 and their second CD "Radiance" from '98. Tunes from Mark's new solo release are already playing on Comboland Radio.

Finally Don Dixon is not retiring even though many of us thought so after reading an earlier blog on his Myspace page. He recently played with the Cosmopolitans at their reunion, and will be with Arrogance on September 19th, The Jump Rabbits in Charlotte on October 24th. He is also hitting the road with wife Marti Jones for some gigs in October! It will be great to hear Marti again... and one of the gigs is in Norfolk, VA which is where us OBX'ers go for culture and better shopping. MUCH closer than Raleigh! Check Dixon's pages for a gig near you. And don't forget to check out his book!

Recent Additions and Must See Shows!!!

2009-08-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Don't miss this show tonight!! If you are close by The Cat's Cradle you really should go see "The Cosmopolitans" as they play together for the first time in 27 years. N&O writer David Menconi has an article about the reunion that is worth checking out. But go check out that show if at all possible. It will be stellar indeed.

And... Don Dixon and Mitch Easter will be on stage too!!! So the Cosmopolitans and two of North Caolina's... and the World's... finest musicians/songwriters/producers on stage at The Cradle!!! Make it if you can! I wish I could... but summer is my busy season with the day job and there are some personal obligations that will keep me at home this weekend. Anytime you can see Dixon or Mitch on stage you really should make the effort. That goes for the Cosmopolitans too!!!

With a beach based business summer is it!! Add to that the sad fact that I have the smallest staff in our station cluster's history this leaves me little time and less energy to devote to Comboland Radio or to go see shows. However a little of both have occurred.

I did get to see Southern Culture On The Skids a few weeks ago. They come to the Outer Banks at least once a year and always draw a crowd. They usually do 2 shows which is somewhat unusual for bands out here. They pack the Port 'O Call both nights every time. They put on a great show too... which is why the place is packed. The performance seems so effortless partially because they get a LOT of practice playing their tunes. That also seem to have a ton of fun on stage. They played most all of the songs we wanted to hear and played a few new tunes from an upcoming CD planned for release in October. Man I can't wait for THAT! I couldn't tell you the names of the new tunes they played as I was enjoying all aspects of not being the DD but I can tell you they were good! Check their website and go see SCOTS when you can.

As far as song additions I switched up the "current" tunes from the latest Spongetones CD, Hammer No More The Fingers and Embarrassing Fruits. I added more tunes from one of my new faves Stratocruiser, specifically from their "Revolution" CD which is not available via download but worth getting. I also added tunes from all three albums from Ed James.

Finally.... In one of my last blogs I mentioned "Bullwinkel Gandhi" and that I had added songs from their 1994 CD "Kung Pow". Founding member Ronald Tucker is quite the prolific songwriter and band starter-upper!! Angelo at "Power Pop Criminals" labels him as a genius and I can't really argue with that! Ronald has a great way for you to catch with all of the different musical projects he has undertaken from 1983 to today. He has a CD called "Catch Up". It has 80 songs, photos, artwork, video and more. Now its NOT a CD you can slap into your conventional CD player... unless it will play MP3s and some will. It is a data CD but is is loaded with some great music! The price is on $16.99 plus shipping. I bought it recently and will be adding many of the tunes to Comboland Radio. At 16.99 you can't go wrong! As Ronald points out on his web site that is less than 22 cents a song!!!

It may be awhile before I can sit down and write a blog but I frequently make a few changes and additions to the playlist at Comboland Radio so keep listening, and tell your friends they need to listen for at least an hour a day!

Gityoassupta Sadlack's to see the OAK Team!

2009-07-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Whew... this is my busy time of the year at the day job!! So I am slow on updates for Comboland Radio. However I just learned a day or 2 ago that Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team will be in National Championship form and playing some great rock and roll at Sadlack's Heros on Hillsborough Street Friday Night!!!! That's July 10th just in case you are wondering. I saw them there just about a year ago and they rocked!!! Of course.... they always do! And Sadlack's always rocks too! Awesome sandwiches!!!! I LOVE the Dr. Franks Special!! It would be wrong, so wrong, NOT to see The OAK Team in action at Sadlack's!

Comboland Radio New Music for June 30th

2009-06-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Got busy this past weekend and a bit caught up on adding new music to Comboland Radio, most from artists/bands new to the station.

I freely admit that I am not an expert of any sorts about all of the different bands/artists in North and South Carolina. What little I do know is from the time I spent going to see bands in my High School/College years and for a period of time thereafter. And those years were some years ago: let's say 1973 through about 1990. Even then I focused on the bands I liked so I missed a bunch even then. So trying to catch up on this ever changing music scene is challenging! People seem reluctant to make suggestions... except when I see them in person somewhere. Then I will get a few suggestions. But that is rare too as the day job keeps me busy and away from the places most of these bands are playing. So, again, if I am missing a band/artist that would fit on Comboland Radio please make the suggestion!

It is fun discovering artists that are new to me. It's seems a bit weird how and where you find them these days too. I have found quite a few by mining the Myspace friends and seeing who I con connect with. I found several current bands through Jason Adamo's friends, a couple from Parmalee's page... you know... their friends who are also bands/artists. I also like to search by location at CD Baby. The downside to that is there are 5149 Cd's available from North Carolina artists!!! They are categorized but still appear in no particular order in the search results. Some newer Cd's may be at the top of a search but other new releases are mixed in all the way through. I probably miss a lot of music that would fit on the station! But eventually if it fits I seem to find it.

James Deem would fit into that "I finally found it" category. He released the 10 song collection titled "jamesdeem.com" in 2007. He recorded it at Jamie Hoover's studio with Jamie producing and plying some of the instruments and singing background vocals. It's got a nice Power Pop feel to it with some neat songs that sound great in the mix on Comboland Radio. I am a bit embarrassed because I just noticed today that James is a Facebook fan of Comboland Radio. I've got 3 cuts from it in active rotation now on Comboland Radio.

There is a cool blog some of are are no doubt aware of called Power Pop Criminals. So much of the music that comes out of the Carolinas get classified as PP I have had good luck finding bands I missed along the way on blogs like this. This guy WOULD be an expert... unlike me! I found several nuggets on this site including Bullwinkel Gandhi. Produced by Mitch Easter this CD came out in 1996 and is out of print but absolutely worth tracking down!!! I have put 6 songs from this CD in active rotation. Now that is a bunch of tunes from 1 CD... and I may cull a couple out later but this one great PP CD!! They also have a 1994 release which I will begin tracking down.

Bullwinkel Gandhi spwaned several other bands which shared members here and there. Poppy Nosh, Clone Farm Carnival and Wonderwall are 3 which I have Cd's from and need to process and get into my system. I'll try to get them in this week.

Yet another spin-off band is Stratocruiser. This is where I sort of say to myself how did I miss these guys!! More on that in a minute. Some really fun tunes, good melodies and hooks... what's not to like!?! They have a newer single aimed at the "Guitar Hero" "Rock Band" crowd called "Kids Today Hate Rock And Roll". Love it!!! What WOULD those kids do with guitars with strings?!? (I've been told that those who actually play guitar do terrible at these games. True or not?) Another more recent single release is "Crazy Horses". Both of those go into Current rotation with a slew of their older tunes going into active rotation, with another one of their Cd's yet to process.

I already had cuts from The Saving Graces second CD in rotation but had somehow missed the earlier EP release called "These Stars Are For You" Some good stuff here with three cuts from it now on Comboland Radio!

Mark Kano popped up while doing one of those CD Baby "By Location" searches narrowed to Power Pop. He is no stranger to the music scene having had some success with his band "Athenaeum" which some of you will remember from the late '90's. Well he's back with a solo release "Walking On Broadway". This is a CD with several hits on it, 2 of which I have put into Current rotation: the title cut along with "Sad Songs". listen for them on Comboland Radio. You will like them and then want to go buy this CD. You could just go ahead and buy the CD... but why not listen to Comboland Radio anyway. You might discover some tunes you have missed!

In many ways the Internet has really helped independent artists. However there is so much out there it is also hard to sift through all of it to find just what you are looking for. It is challenging for an artist too as with so much out there it can be difficult to break through. That was part of the original mission for Comboland Radio; To give a voice to the local scene in the Carolinas and a place for fans to listen to and discover new music.

I have had questions about the difference between "Active" and "Current" rotation. Newer releases are played more often, older tunes less often. It is one of those old radio equations that has always worked. The question is how often to rotate new music? Current Hit Radio stations (CHR... today's Top 40) varies from once every hour and a half to once every 45 minutes in some cases. The turnover on the currents on Comboland Radio is a bit longer that 45 minutes! On Comboland Radio each artist in the two current categories has 2 songs in the rotation. One category allows 3 plays per day for each song, the other 2 plays a day for each song.

For example The OAK Team's "Goin' Or Comin'" (which is on as I am writing this) got played 23 times in the past seven days. "Indy 500" also got 23 plays. That's 56 plays for those 2 songs alone. Terry has a bunch of other OAK Team and solo songs that are in the other active categories so in total The OAK Team got 104 spins last week! And that doesn't count the Woods, Knobs and Yayhoos tunes.

104 spins is a bunch for sure but there are a ton of tunes here from 6 Cd's. A newer band like Hammer No More The Fingers would obviously have fewer as there is less material to choose from. However HNMTF got 52 spins for their 2 currents, "Shutterbug" and "Nobody Knows", plus 12 spins from cuts from their first CD. Where else did they get their songs played 64 times? It does benefit bands and artists included on the station to support it. It also helps the region as a whole. Everyone benefits!

I chose those 2 bands as examples because both have been supportive of Comboland Radio. Terry has gone as far to include links on his blog and on the Doublenaught Records website. I assume both believe a venture such as Comboland Radio is not only beneficial to them but to the scene as a whole. And as the regional scene as a whole is successful all of the bands/artists benefit. If you're an OAK Team or Hammer fan you are likely to find other music on the station you like enough to go see the band or buy a download or two. That is what a radio station like Comboland Radio can offer. If you are one of the bands/artists being played on the station I hope you will help promote this effort. Tell folks at your gigs, give it a link on the social network page of your choice, anything helps. Help spread the word about Comboland Radio! The more you help the station the more the station can do for you!

Comboland Radio Remembers Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T18:28:00.001-07:00

I can vividly remember the first three LP's I ever purchased with my own money. The first was Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced". My dad drove me the the Eckerds Drug Store the the Henderson, NC Mall... yeah they sold records back then. My dad was NOT happy with my purchase! I bought it just about the time he died which would have made me 13 years old.I was just beginning to explore music seriously. I was totally hooked on Jimi!

The second LP I purchased was "Let It Be". I had other Beatles albums and bunches of 45's but most were given to me. Many were half worn when I got them too! I still love that album. I was too young to know that Phil Specter had, in the eyes of many, ruined that record.

The next LP was the "ABC" album from the Jackson 5. I told people about these LP purchases and most laughed at the J5 purchase. It was a great pop album! I'm not sure my dad liked that one either, if for no other reason than I played it over and over and over... as 13 year old kids are want to do.

As much as I was becoming engrossed in the world of "Acid Rock" I have always loved pop music. Blame that on the transistor radio my grandfather gave me when I was almost 5 years old. I listened to it non-stop!! I always got batteries from somewhere... the battery fairy? I grew up listen to all of the great Top 40 stations from Raleigh when I was at home in Henderson, in Winston-Salem and Greensboro as a young kid before we moved, and all of those stations that would boom in at night. So no matter how deep I got into hard rock I would always keep up with and enjoy Top-40 pop music.

Once I decided to try radio as a career I went to work at the local Top-40 station WHNC in Henderson, NC. I was a baby DJ at the same time Michael Jackson was enjoying his huge rise to solo stardom so I played all of those monster hits on the radio then, and continued to play them through the years. I couldn't help but be a fan. Those songs were great pop songs.

While at that first radio gig I did a parody of "Do You Wanna Be Starting Something" call "Do You Wanna Be Crappie Fishing". While I was working briefly at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte Don Dixon found a tape of mine that had that song on it. He thought it was funny so he made copies and passed them around to I don't know how many people. Marti Jones was recording her first LP, "Unsophisticated Time" at about the same time and she and Dixon gave me a blurb on the album credits. I have had several people request a copy of this song in the past few years so with the greatest respect to a great musician I post it here.

Do You Wanna Be Crappie Fishing - Moose

The man had his issues and became downright strange. Nevertheless he was a talented artist who made many people happy with his music. RIP Michael.

More new music this weekend on Comboland Radio!!!

Comboland Radio New Music for June 22nd

2009-06-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

I added couple of new bands to Comboland Radio this week. They are "The Comas" from Chapel Hill and "Airiel Down" from Raleigh. Both have been around for a few years. But as I have mentioned in previous posts I am still (probably always) trying to fill in the blanks with the bands/artists I have missed. It is difficult to follow the different music scenes from afar. But that's the way is is. And few others seem to want to build a radio station to promote the great music coming out of the Carolina's (and a little bit of Virginia!)... that geographic musical region known as "Comboland"! So I fill in where I can and when I discover bands that should be included. Check out the Band List page at Comboland Radio to see just who is on there. I may be missing some but check out all of the bands/artists that ARE there!!

The Comas have been around for over 10 years!! I just discovered them for myself last week. Three of their Cd's are available for download from the usual sources. Tunes from all three will start playing this week on Comboland Radio and I will be searching out the first release from the band to add as well.

The other band hitting the Comboland Radio airwaves this week is "Airiel Down". They've been around for a while too releasing their first CD, "Vision", in 2005, with a new one, "Shine" out now! I found out about these guys from a club owner who is booking them at his place, Levels in Elizabeth City. They have a bunch of shows coming up so go to their MySpace page for all of the dates and go see them!

A cool aspect of this process is that I personally like all of the music played on Comboland Radio. So discovering a "new to me" artist is a bit exciting. I get to listen to some cool new music then turn around and give it some exposure so others who may not be familiar can discover it for themselves. The artist then has another avenue of exposure... another place where their fans can listen to their music along with that of other similar artists. The fan of one band then finds a few others they like and the whole scene benefits. Exposure for all grows as the current fan base brings in their friends and gets them exposed. Everybody wins! So pass the word about Comboland Radio. And if you know of an artist/band from the Carolina area I am missing let me know about them!!

A band that found me and actually sent me a copy of their CD to play on Comboland Radio is playing at The Pour House in Raleigh on Monday, June 29th. Go see Nova Stella!!! They have also helped to spread the word about Comboland Radio by adding a link to their MySpace page and including CR as one of their top friends!! Thanks! You can hear Nova Stella on Combolad Radio and you can buy their CD here.

Combolnad Radio Review: Don Dixon at Papa Mojo's

2009-06-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

This was the first time I have seen a Dixon show since the early 90's. I had seen him with Arrogance quite a few times since then but this is a totally different show. Don has had a prolific solo career releasing 9 solo Cd's plus a collaboration with Jamie Hoover and Jim Brock as "The Jump Rabbits", and a collaboration with wife Marti Jones, "Lucky Stars: New Lullabies For Old Souls". Not to mention all of the producing and song writing, acting... this is one multi-talented guy. There is so much material for him to choose from when compiling a set list for a show. Then again... I'm not really sure there was one.

The show started out with "Praying Mantis" which everyone in attendance at Papa Mojo's seemed to know and they responded as soon as the opening bass lick had been played. It's nice nice to play in front of a "home" crowd! The first set featured plenty of tunes from the "Jump Rabbits" "The Nu-Look" CD but also nuggets from Dixon's other CD's... songs like "Kitchen", "In A Politician's Bed", "Secret Room", again... there is so much to choose from. Dixon and crew sounded fabulous! Jamie's guitar work is impressive and Jim Brock is truly a world class percussionist. The three work together exchanging subtle cues and performing these songs superbly! Young artists could take a lesson from these guys and this performance on how to do a rock show! It moved along nicely, great song placement within the set. 40 plus years of performing for each of those guys provide the experience to do a great rock show. Plus they have the chops to pull it off. A couple of times Dixon would say "I'm tired... Jamie sing one". I don't know if that was planned or not but it did give the audience an opportunity to hear a few recent tunes from the Jamie Hoover/Spongetones repertoire. What a great show!!! As they stopped Dixon said they were taking a brief break but were going to play another set and there was a lot more to come. Boy was there!

The crowd thinned out a bit during the break. Man... those folks don't know what they missed. As a young musician Dixon was heavily influenced by Soul/R&B and Blues. You can hear it in his songs and in his vocal stylings. The second set of the night was a bit of a blues review with the owner of the venue, Mel Melton, joining the "Jump Rabbits" on stage and playing some incredible blues harmonica. Mel has had quite a bit of playing experience and fell right into the groove with the Blusey Rabbits as they played some fab Blues and R&B classics! Dixon had told me during the break to come up and remind him during the set to give Comboland Radio a plug. There was not one place during that set I dared to interrupt the flow. It was awesome!! More so because it was unexpected. A great treat to all of those who were still in attendance at Papa Mojo's. It was also further proof (as if we needed it!) of the depth of musical knowledge of Don, Jamie and Jim, and of their musical chops. It also showed how much the enjoy being on stage. Dixon did give Comboland Radio a plug at the end and I was thankful for that. He said "I told you to come up and remind me!!" "You know I forget!" I really couldn't do it. I was enjoying the show way too much.

I wrote a blog in response to Dixon's blog on MySpace about the April shows. His blog gave many, myself included, the impression that he was getting tired and may be slowing down. He said that was not his intention at all and that he was not "retiring". Well THAT was certainly some great news to hear, both as a fan and a friend. He certainly proved (again, if any was needed!) that he still has the playing chops and the ability and desire to entertain an audience. Let's hope he continues to do just that for a long time to come.

Papa Mojo's is a nice venue for an intimate show. And the food ain't bad either! Mel is a affable host who made folks feel welcome. We got there WAY early and had dinner. As we left our table so they could get a few more diners in he was concerned that we had been rushed but we assured him that was not the case. In fact the wait staff and hostess were great, as was the food. I would definitely go back... and if I lived there I would be a regular! At the end of the night we realized that there had been no smoking in the room. WOW! That was nice!

At this time Dixon only has one gig, June 28th in DC, on his site. I do know there is an Arrogance Birthday show coming up on Sept. 19th at the Cat's Cradle. So make sure you check his website and MySpace page often for updates and future gigs. Also buy a copy of the "Don Dixon & The Jump Rabbits" CD, "The Nu-Look". It is a great CD! Dixon's "Songs 101 - The Lyrics Of Don Dixon" is available too. I got my copy!

Have you gotten yours? Go to to Don's site now!

Comboland Radio New Music for June 10th

2009-06-10T14:03:00.001-07:00

More new music has found it's way to Comboland Radio!! Two bands from Chapel Hill, North Elementary and Embarrassing Fruits, have recent CD releases. So a couple of tunes from each go into the "new music" rotation.

I'm still filling in holes in the playlist too, especially from the past 10 years or so. If you have suggestions please email me. The Comas will be added soon, maybe by the end of the day tomorrow.

Heading inland to catch Don Dixon on Friday night. Maybe I'll see you there!

Holsapple & Stamey "hERE aND nOW", OAK Team on the road!

2009-06-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

I re-connected with an old college roommate yesterday via Facebook. He was an upperclassman at East Carolina University during my freshman year. We were both music majors and at the time shared some musical interests. I remember he had a Monkees Model Gretsch that I wanted, plus a silver face Twin-Reverb and a very nice Guild acoustic. Mike is an excellent musician... sax and clarinet, guitar too when he used to play it... I think he gave it up. I should have! He spent quite a few years touring with "The Dukes Of Dixieland" (2nd incarnation) and lived in New Orleans until he and his wife decided to have kids and thought there might be better places to raise them. He eventually got back to North Carolina and is still here, on the coast in Wilmington.

So I was checking out his profile and in the box where some people put a phrase or a quote Mike wrote "I miss the days when we listened to complete recordings & absorbed them over time." I made me think about where "music" is today as an industry and how people get their new music and how they listen to it. I know myself that I rarely do that when I get an MP3 download. I'll skip around, find the tunes I like and forget the others. The ability to do this has always been around but with a computer it is so easy. Maybe there is a time aspect to it too. Everyone is so pressed for time that maybe the opportunity to sit in one place for 45 minutes or so and focus on an album isn't possible. In my case I have been spoiled by "the hits" as that is what my industry, radio, focuses on. I thought about "The Wad's" quote a few time. I even mentioned it to my wife. Now we did sit and listen to the entire OAK Team CD "National Champions" all the way through the day we got it. But I can't remember another one in a very long time. I made a mental promise to do that more often. Then I walked to the mailbox where a surprise was waiting.

I had pre-ordered Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey's CD hERE aND nOW a few weeks ago but wasn't expecting it until June 9th or later as the receipt plainly stated it would not be shipped until then, the official release date. But here it was... sitting in the mailbox. Did someone make a mistake? Did I get it early because of the little Internet radio station? Am I special? Probably yes, no and NO! Nevertheless I had it and it was the perfect night to put it in the CD player, sit on the deck and listen to the whole thing.... Which I did.

It should be noted that any thing I write about members of Arrogance, The Fabulous Knobs/Woods/OAK Team or The dB's and their music might ought to be taken with a grain of salt as I have always been huge fans of all three. However if something REALLY sucked I would probably point it out.

This was the perfect setting to listen to hERE aND nOW. A nice late spring night on the back deck as the sun was setting... and a cool old tune by "Family","My Friend The Sun", kicks off this CD. The recording is very open from a production standpoint. Very nice to listen to. Some great hooks and lyrics. The musicianship is fabulous. Then again I would expect no less from these two. A REAL reviewer, Fred Mills, commented the that harmonies were "Everlys-Worthy" and I couldn't agree more. However Peter and Chris always have always had great harmonies. Their voices compliment each other nicely. The record has an acoustic feel to it but is not totally acoustic. Very tasteful!

Track 2, "Santa Monica", does feature all four members of The dB's. Branford Marsalis plays on a couple of tracks, "Here And Now" and "Begin Again". A nice addition, especially on "Begin Again", Track 8.

This is a nice CD. Even though tempo wise I usually prefer up-tempo songs this has a nice balance. Just when I was ready to hear the pace pick up it did. There is something to be said for sequencing a record. I'm not sure some of today's artists and producers get the concept sometimes but these guys definitely do. It's helps to have good songs to sequence and they certainly do on hERE aND nOW.

So I got two nice surprises with "Big Easy" connections on the same day!!

Order this CD today. You won't be sorry. And if you do get it before the June 9th release date please don't tell me. That way I can feel special for a few more days!

Hey... speakin' of the Oak Team they are hittin' the road for Kentucky and Ohio so go see them if they are playing near your town. The new CD is getting some great reviews which Terry is posting on his blog. I'm telling you... If you don't have this CD you are missing some great tunes.

As always cuts from both of these Cd's are playing now on Comboland Radio! Listen and please tell AT LEAST 5 people you know.

Addendum! There is a great interview with Peter on the Lehigh Valley Music Blog.

And now... on with the countdown.

2009-05-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

At the blog PowerPop they're counting them down all the way to Number One!!! Evidently they do this every Friday and this weeks countdown category is...

Most Memorable Post Elvis Song or Record Referencing Atmospheric Phenomena, i.e. Weather -- In the Title or Otherwise!!!

I don't want to spoil it for you but there is a Comboland artist at the top spot and you will get an Olympic Size Ass Kicknin' if you don't go see for yourself which artist/band and song it is.

Another hint... At Comboland Radio we play a ton of songs from this person from nearly every band this artist has ever been in.

Now remember... Keep your feet on the ground, keep reaching for the stars, and listen often to Comboland Radio!

Arrogance @ 40 and The Othermothers

2009-05-29T11:36:00.001-07:00

The Othermothers from Greensboro were one of my favorite bands in the 80's. I didn't learn about them until Robert Kirkland and Steve Haigler started recording the sessions for their EP on "Making Waves" (the same label that "Greetings From Comboland" was on) which was titled "No Place Like Home". Recorded at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, that is one rockin' record. "Rodeo... 88 seconds" was the hit but "Napalm Beach", "You and Yours", "Party Topics" well hell they're all good tunes. They were certainly a high energy band. Let me rephrase that... They ARE a high energy band and the proof is the video on YouTube shot at their gig at The Green Bean in April.

They can still wail away, which is really saying something with the tempo and intensity of some of their tunes. See them play again on June 20th at the Blind Tiger. See their MySpace page for all of the info. Love that SR-51 Blackbird on the poster!

Arrogance will continue their 40th Anniversary celebration on September 19th with a gig at The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, being called a "Birthday Bash". I don't have too many details yet but I do know that Jim Glasgow and Mike Greer are planning to be there to re-join the boys again as will percussionist Ogie Shaw who was a member when the first LP, "Give Us A Break" was recorded. There will be an official announcement next week and maybe some additional info then. But I am sure we will get more as we get closer to the show. Early details should be released during the first week of June.

If you missed the arrogance @ 40 show at the Carolina Theatre in March then here is your chance to make up for that serious lapse in judgment. Go to the Comboland Radio Facebook page and check out the pictures of that show. Go to the "Return To Comboland" website and check out Steve Boyle's video. Man was it fun with some incredible music by all. I don't yet know what this show might bring in the way of special guests but there were some great ones at the March show. Plus arrogance sounded great!! You can get more info as it is released at the arrogance website, the arrogance MySpace page, and OF COURSE at Comboland Radio!!!

Just In Time For Memorial Day, New Music!

2009-05-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the holiday weekend there is a load of new music on Comboland Radio.

First is a band from Raleigh that discovered the station on their own. Blister is punk at it's punkiest. They have a new CD that is being released today!! they also have a gig planned for tonight! Go to their MySpace page for all of the info. And listen for Blister on Comboland Radio.

Second is another Triangle area band that found the station months ago. They made an inquiry and somehow we lost touch. I did find their CD on CD Baby and added 3 tunes from Gray Young's Firmament CD to Comboland Radio. This CD has received some good reviews and was a pick of the week on WKNC. They have a bunch of gigs coming up so go see them! Their CD or MP3 Download are both available from CD Baby.

Yet a third band that found Comboland Radio and contacted me.... this one from the Charlotte area, Newton to be exact. Leaving Venus has an EP out which is available from their MySpace page. You will also find details about their show in Hickory on May 30th.

I have a TON of music lying around!! So much that sometimes it is a bit overwhelming. Comboland Radio actually came together relatively quick when you understand how much work is involved in putting any radio station together. Now it did sort of develop and morph along the way. Also along the way I would start something and get distracted by the day job, or life. I know I have a few pieces of vinyl about halfway through the restoration process. When completed you'll hear them on Comboland Radio. I also went through a period where I was filling in holes in my collection (a never-ending process) and have some things, mainly downloads, that I had forgotten about. One of those was Jamie Hoover's "Coupons Questions and Comments". What a great CD!! This thing is full of songs that should have been hits! It is available from CD Baby and elsewhere.

I also add some tunes from the Jamie Hoover and Bill Lloyd recording "Paparazzi" which is superb as well. It's on the Paisley Pop label and still available at all of the usual places.

Before The War began "Waving The White" they called themselves "Starting Tuesday" and released a CD in 2005. It's another one I downloaded and forgot about. Now you'll start to hear a few tunes on Comboland Radio.

It is a big auto racing weekend. The big Coca Cola 600 from Charlotte, and the Indianapolis 500 from one of the most historic racing facilities in the world. And speaking of the Indy 500 this would be a good time for you to check out The Oak Team's "Indy 500" on the new CD "National Champions" available from the usual places, and at Doublenaught Records Dot Com!

Now.... Go Listen!! And tell 5 people this week about Comboland Radio!!

arrogance @ 40 - The Video!

2009-05-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have often touted Steve Boyle's website "Return To Comboland". I have links to it in several places on the website and on my blog pages. If you haven't visited the site yet boy are you in for a surprise! This was one of the first sites I found when I began researching for the launch of Comboland Radio. Steve has some real gems on the site. And even though, like me, he has a day job that keeps him very busy he does find time to edit up the video in his vault so we can all enjoy it.

New on the Return To Comboland Site is Part 1 of arrogance @ 40. If you went to the show you can get a great close-up look at the show. If you missed it you can see for yourself how much fun everyone was having and why you should have been there. The video itself is just over nine minutes long and seems to cover most of the first part of the show, with the exception of the original arrogance line-up's performance. The video is in the same style as the others on the site and is part of Steve's documentary on the first era of Comboland. His work, as with all of the other shorts, is fabulous. I can't wait for Part 2, and 3, and... Go to the Return To Comboland site and watch for yourself.

Steve, like myself, read into Dixon's blog that a semi-retirement for him may very well be on the horizon. He and I are both fans and hope Dixon, or any of the Comboland performers, never has to slow down. And I have heard from a reliable source that there WILL be other arrogance shows. Still you should go see Dixon while he is still performing. Maybe if enough people turn out at the 4 upcoming shows he will feel differently about his future. If nothing else you'll get to see a great performer and have a good time. The upcoming shows are Dixon and the Hanging Chads are playing in Charlotte at The Evening Muse on Friday, May 15th, Dixon Solo in Winston-Salem on May 22nd and in York, SC on June 6th, and with the Jump Rabbits are playing on June 12th. Click on the links for complete details. Go see Dixon if you can.

I got a mailer full of Cd's from Blister, and punk rock band out of Raleigh the other day. I will be working on adding their music to the playlist and will hopefully have some in the playlist before the weekend gets here. They have a new CD coming out and a CD Release Party coming up on May 23rd. I'm hoping to get some tunes from Leaving Venus too.

Listen to Comboland Radio and please tell another person you know about it.

Dixon News... Good and Bad...

2009-05-08T08:39:00.001-07:00

The good news is Don Dixon has a book coming out. It's entitled "Songs 101 - The Lyrics of Don Dixon". The bad news is that Don says he is finished as a performer.

The book sounds cool. If you are a fan of Dixon's work and have always appreciated the lyrical content of his songs then this is a must have. Pre-order and Dixon says he will inscribe it to you or a friend. The page on his web site has all of the info and some early reviews. I'm ordering mine this weekend.

The blog entry on MySpace makes me sad.... and a bit mad. Sad for Don as I know how much he enjoys performing. I mean you can tell it when he is on the stage. I'm not sure he enjoys all of the BS and minutia he has to deal with beforehand but on stage has seems very happy. I'm sad because as a fan I know that I may not have too many more chances to see and hear him perform. I'm also sad because he seems to feel that way about his decision. In a few short sentences he talks about the fun he has had recently and that he will now have to quit doing what he loves.

I was at the arrogance @ 40 show in March. If you told me that night was Dixon was going to write in this blog I would have said you were crazy. The performance was good and everyone had a great time. If anything I would have expected to read about an upcoming show or 2. Not this. I can only hope that something will happen to change his mind. I'm sure we share many of the same medications as we both have a similar health condition. Get your doctor to check those meds Dixon. They can mess with you mind! Yes I can hope.... but in my heart I also understand. And THAT is what makes me mad.

In this digital world many of the things we are fond of are slipping away. Music may be one of them. It has never been an easy life. Most of the musicians on Comboland Radio have eked out a living but they never got rich. Most have had to get "day jobs" to support themselves. A few have been able to find other avenues in the music biz to keep them going. The digital download era we are now in has its pluses and minuses. It is easier to get your product out to the fans. It is also easier to make copies of the song and share them with friends, leaving the artist out. That is not good for anyone. Sure some people get free music but if that happens often enough the artist gets to the point where they can't make a living playing/writing music anymore and has to so something else. Playing at the size venues Dixon has been playing for the past few years won't make you rich either. There are costs involved in playing these gigs. A musician is also a business person. If you can't make a bit of money doing something then you are probably better off doing something else.

Another part of this that makes me mad is the belief I had that my generation would not be as much like those before and loose interest in music as we got older. Not all of us did... but the majority seems to have. I am not condemning anyone.... that's just the way it is. Life happens and interests and priorities change. It's happened before and probably will again.

Don Dixon, and many others, have given us all a gift. We will have their recorded music to listen to and enjoy. All of us arrogance fans have access to nearly everything the band recorded. If you don't own digital copies I encourage you to buy them now. Dixon's library is still mostly available. Buy those too and support his music. Any band you enjoy you should buy their music and urge your friends to do the same. Resist the urge to make copies. Your favorite bands will be around a lot longer if they can make a living doing what they love.

By the way Dixon and the Hanging Chads are playing in Charlotte on May 15th, Dixon Solo in Winston-Salem on May 22nd and in York, SC on June 6th, and with the Jump Rabbits are playing on June 12th. Go see Dixon if you can.

Max Indian, Cirkus, And More...

2009-05-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

New to Comboland Radio's playlist is Max Indian. I read about their CD on Peter Holsapple's blog and decided to give it a listen. It's very good! Great hooks, neat lyrics. The recording itself is not what I am used to but it doesn't matter. The songs are good and the production quality may even be an enhancement of sorts. Still I would like to hear what Jamie Hoover, Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey or Don Dixon (or a combination!) could do in the studio with these guys. It is a good CD as it is and I am happy Peter wrote about it or I would not have known about Max Indian.

I have a backlog of stuff to add to the ever expanding playlist. I have been sitting on Will Rigby's CD for a while and finally got a couple of cuts in the database. I was contacted by the band "Blister" and hope to get some new Raleigh Punk on soon.

Cirkus has a reunion gig coming up on May 8th at The Brewery. They played A BUNCH all over the Southeast in the 70's and 80's. In talking with Sean and Steve I did not realize that very little recorded material exists from the band. The best example is from the WROQ LP of a live concert at Carowinds. There were 2 songs from each band which also included Sugarcreek, The Vandals, and a couple of others. The recording was excellent and I sure would know where the masters to THAT are!! I know they recorded a lot more songs than were released on that LP. The 2 Cirkus songs are hot, both are featured on Comboland Radio. If you want to hear some great NC Rock be at the Brewery May 8th and help original lead vocalist Steve Quinney celebrate his 60th birthday and take part in the Cirkus Reunion.

I continue to search for older Comboland music to fill gaps in the library. I had a bunch of stuff in my personal collection but not everything. It has been surprising how much I have been able to find, primarily on eBay. I never had a copy of the H-Bombs but found one and it is on the way!! It'll be on soon, maybe next week.'

I continue to search out new bands too. You can help out by suggesting one or two, of if YOU are a band member/artist just drop me an email. Remember Comboland Radio is devoted to the Rock music scene form the Carolinas, and we do spill over into Virginia. I also suggest that you spend a little time listening to the station to get an idea of the overall sound to see if you fit.

Listen to Comboland Radio often. Top Friend us and tell folks your songs are being played on Comboland Radio!!

There's GOLD in them thar LP's!!!

2009-04-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

Stock prices are down. Real estate has hit rock bottom. BUT if you still have you vinyl copy of Arrogance's "Lively" it could be time to cash in!! I was checking on some items on eBay and came across an auction for this classic LP and the price... Buy It Now for $227.77! Click here if you don't believe me! Uh.... NO I am not the seller. It is complete... has the "Dogbreath" EP and the sheet from Notorious listing the other merchandise for sale. Now don't every body flood the market at once. That will just bring the price down! Then we'll have an LP recession and have to get a bailout. (Hmm... I may have just figured out a way to make some dough!) High prices for certain LPs and CDs aren't uncommon. A few years ago an IRS copy of Let's Active's Afoot/Cypress CD was going for nearly $200. The price came down to earth once this was re-released on the "Collectors Choice" label, where it is still available. Now... if $227.77 is a bit steep and you just want clean copies of the songs you can buy them at a VERY reasonable price from the Comboland Radio Music Store. Every Arrogance recording, except "Suddenly", is available as a high quality MP3 download.

I also found a vinyl copy of "Rumors" from Arrogance for sale at a more reasonable 19.99. The listing says the LP features the "ULTRA RARE MONSTER DRUM BREAK LP **LISTEN". Someone may need to educate me on this as it is new to me! The 5'11" CD is on eBay for $75, and there are several "Suddenly" LP's available but at very low prices. This seems odd as "Suddenly" is the Arrogance recording I get the most questions about, yet I see vinyl copies on eBay on a frequent basis. I bought a sealed copy a few years ago for 9.99.

And there is a vinyl copy of "Give Us A Break" for sale. Now this is rare and the price is $300. Again, if you just want the songs this LP is available as and MP3 download from the Comboland Radio Music Store and includes both sides of the extremely rare first Arrogance single.

So if you have a working turntable there are a few LPs available that you might be interested in. If not you may be sitting on a gold mine!

More Gigs!!!!

2009-04-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across this.... The Yayhoos are playing at Slim's Downtown in Raleighwood Saturday night, April 25th! This is one of the band's Terry Anderson plays with and they are HOT! I wish I could be there.... It will be packed so get there early!

The Embarrassing Fruits are playing in Wilmington TONIGHT at the Soapbox Laundro Lounge.

There will be a Cirkus reunion May 8th at The Brewery in Raleigh. This should be fun!!

Hear ALL of these bands and MANY others anytime on Comboland Radio!

Dillon Fence Plays The Cradle!!

2009-04-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Dillon Fence fans need to head to the Cat's Cradle this Saturday Night for the Mammoth Records 21st Birthday Party. Greg Humphreys and his band mates are getting together for the celebration! There will be other Mammoth artists appearing so go to the Cat's Cradle web site to get the info. Get tickets there too.

Greg has some additional gigs coming up both solo and with Hobex. 2 of the Hobex gigs are in Raleigh at The Brennan Station Concert Series on Saturday May 2nd, then at Bandtogether on June 6th at/in front of the Lincoln Theater. to to the Hobex web site and Greg's site for even more, including a stream of his most recent release "Trunk Songs".

Email me updates on what you have going on and I'll gladly pass the word. My crazy day job makes it nearly impossible at this point in time for me to search out info like this.

And... listen to Comboland Radio. Tell all of your friends and fans too so we can promote ALL of our music.

New Spongetones CD!!!

2009-04-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Spongetones have a new CD out!!! The title is "Scrambled Eggs" and is on Jamie Hoover's "Loaded Goat" records. 13 cuts of new Spongetones material... and it's fab indeed!! Grab it from CD Baby along with other great Cd's from the Spongetones. My 2 faves are "All The Loving" and "Lost Weekend". As usual the musicianship and production on Scrambled Eggs is superb. Jamie Hoover has had a ton of practice in his production techniques but I continue to be amazed at how good his records sound. Even going back to the Sugarcreek stuff he did with Mark Williams his records have a rockin' sound that is not overdone. Loud but not harsh... full but not squashed. They sound great! Jamie is a prolific songwriter too and just keeps coming up with cool lyrics and great hooks. If you are new to the Comboland scene and the Spongetones the new record is a great place to start. Then you can start seeking out their catalogue items and Jamie's solo work, The Van Deleckies, The Jump Rabbits (with Don Dixon and Jim Brock) and you won't find a stinker in the bunch! Get Scrambled Eggs from the Spongetones today from CD Baby.

Comboland Radio is also playing new cuts from Hammer No More The Finger's new CD "Looking For Bruce". This is the second release from the 3 piece group from Durham. Their first CD got a bunch of airplay on CR and we are currently playing two cuts from the new CD in our "heavy current" rotation. This is a band you should have no trouble seeing live as their show schedule seems never-ending. Go to their MySpace page and just look at all of the gigs they have lined up between now and July.

I got an email from the Facebook Group for the dB's announcing that Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey will have a CD release show on June 27th at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. hERE aND nOW is coming put on Bar None Records and if the taste of it we got from the arrogance @ 40 show is any indication it should be great! Someone on the dB's message board gave a URL to a "micro-site" for the CD, and from there is a link to a new site Peter appears to be working on.

The Olympic Ass Kickin' Team has a batch of new shows to announce. Check out Terry's blog, the Doublenaught Records site or the MySpace page for details. I continue to enjoy the new "National Champions" CD and have turned on several folks to it. And they have actually gone to the website and purchased the CD!!! Uh... no I don't make copies for people because the bands/artists actually use the money they make on CD's to enable them to make new music for future CD's/downloads. And remember the CD "officially" goes on sale at Amazon tomorrow (April 21st).

HNMTF - The OAK Team - The Othermothers!!!!

2009-04-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

The new CD from Hammer No More The Fingers is now out and available from the usual places. (I still prefer Amazon for downloads.) They have had some of the new cuts playing on their MySpace page for awhile so you may have heard some of the tunes already. Great CD!! Go download it now. Not only will you add some great tunes to your collection but you'll help out a great local band as well. You might even become a fan and decide to go see one of their many appearances! HNMTF is very active and usually playing somewhere. Maybe that's one of the reasons the level of musicianship is so good on their recordings. Download "Looking For Bruce" today!!

Speaking of Amazon I got an email from them today alerting me of the new CD from "Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass Kickin' Team". They said I could pre-order it from them for the April 21st release date. I hope that went to a ton of their customers. Of course WE all know that the CD is already available directly from Doublenaught Records. This is another "must have" CD from a Comboland band.

The Othermothers are back!!!! Their lone LP "No Place Like Home" on the "Making Waves" label is a staple on Comboland Radio. They were early supporters of Comboland Radio and continue to keep us as a top friend. I really hate I will have to miss this show. It is April 11th (this Saturday... at least from the time this note was written) at The Green Bean on South Elm Street in Greensboro. Go see them!!

And remember these great bands and TONS of others are heard every hour of every day on Comboland Radio.

2009-03-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

I am still mentally reliving the experience that was arrogance @ 40. Those who missed it missed one great show. The sound was good. The venue was great... although I don't think they understand indie rock shows. The crowd was well behaved.... partially because we're old! But we can still rock when we want too. The performers certainly proved that!

Backstage a quick conversation or two popped up about doing a "Comboland" show. Scott Davison mentioned it to me as an idea. To do a show featuring some of the bands from the 70's and 80's would be fun. A lot of the musicians are still playing. Maybe some of those who aren't, or who only come out every 7 years or so (Debra) could be coaxed on-stage for an event like this.

So who would you like to see? I'm not going to give any suggestions... but I will say there are a handful of bands that I always get questions about so I do know of a few that would be a good draw. But.... who would YOU like to see on-stage?

If you were at the arrogance @ 40 show I know you will have an opinion. Don't be shy. Give me a group or two. I make no promises about a future show. But I will push the right people who CAN make one happen!

On the new music front Hammer No More The Fingers has a new CD coming out April 7th. This was one of the first new bands I added to the station. Cuts from the upcoming CD are on their MySpace page. GOOD STUFF. Listen for it soon on Comboland Radio, and pre-order the CD now.

And if you STILL have not heard tunes from The OAK Team's CD "National Champions" you don't know what you're missing. Go get it at Doublenaught Records. Hear cuts on Comboland Radio!!

arrogance @ 40 Re-Cap

2009-03-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Those reviewing music are supposed to be impartial. It's difficult to do that when the band you are going to see are old friends, and were one of your favorite bands before they were your friends! Of course if they sucked really bad, like Led Zeppelin did in '77 at the Greensboro Coliseum, I guess I could write some nasty stuff. But on their WORST night arrogance has never sounded that bad. On Saturday night at the Carolina Theater the guys turned in one of their best performances in years! It was a interesting show, which commemorated the band's formation in 1969 and featured a bunch of special guests. Each guest has made an impact to the Comboland Music Scene, and a few have had an even greater impact.

Up first was Debra DeMilo. She stole the damn show right up front!! That girl can still sing, and can still work the crowd!! Little Queenie and Mick Jagger tribute had that old theater jumpin'. Then she came out later to join arrogance in the Dogbreath portion of the show. Awesome. I, and others, wished she had done and old Knobs tune... but what the hell. Just seeing her on stage was good enough. I, and those others (of which there are many!) wish she would get on stage more often.

Dave Adams was next and played the Glass Moon songs "She's On" and "On A Carousel". you may remember that Rod Abernethy played with Dave for a bit in Glass Moon so it was cool to see those guys playing together.

Parthenon Huxley was up next. Originally known as Rick Miller his band "The Blazers" put out a fine LP called "How To Rock" and from that he and the guys from arrogance played "Country Girl", followed by an early solo effort, "Buddha Buddha" from his "Rick Rock" days. Both are killer songs and it was great to hear them performed. P. Hux is a damn fine guitar player and you got a taste of his playing in those two song, and again later in the free-for-all that closed the show. More on that later.

arrogance is my favorite Comboland band, I think that is obvious. In close second are the dB's. So a chance to see any member of the band perform is a real treat. To get Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey on the stage together, even if it is for only 2 songs (well 3 technically since one was a bit of a medley) would be reason enough for me to attend this show. They did a new song from a collaboration they are working on which was great! I was anticipating this new release anyway but now REALLY want them to get it done and out so I can play it on Comboland Radio.

Mitch and Shalini were on next. They used Scott on drums from arrogance as they had bassist Jon Heames (who rocked!), Mitch and Shalini on guitars (later joined by Chris Stamey) and Dixon on keyboard. Mitch has always been on of my favorite guitarists. He can truly play just about any type of music imaginable yet always gets stereotyped as this "jangle-pop" player. This is another artist who just doesn't play that many gigs these days so it was a real treat to see him on stage. Man... he rocked it during the free-for-all... but more on that later.

Next was a real treat for long-time arrogance fans as the original arrogance members, Dixon, Robert, Mike Greer and Jimmy Glasgow played their first single to close out the first portion of the show. Superb performance!! Mike and Jimmy sounded great! It looked like they were enjoying themselves too.

After a short break it was time for arrogance. No guests. Just arrogance. They nailed it! Many of those in attendance have seen them what seems like a million times. I mean this is the band that just won't go away. We don't want them to... they don't really want to. Before every show I can hear a few of the folks I hang with saying something like "why are we going to see them again?" "We just saw them in August for god's sake!" Then they start playing and it's like "oh yeah... this is why". Plus... Saturday night's performance was one of their best, musically, in years. Man they were on it!

Then the aforementioned free-for-all. After Debra got the crowd up outta their seats during the Dogbreath tunes Mitch and P. Hux joined in the fun for a few tunes.

It struck me that with Rod Abernethy, Mitch Easter and Rick/Parthenon you had three of Comboland's Best/Most Tasteful guitarists on stage together just wailing! Mike Greer and Jimmy Glasgow later joined in and it was loud, fun, still musical and definitely rockin'.

This was such a fun show. I really couldn't say anything bad about any of it. I am also not impartial where these musicians are concerned, it should be noted. Some are old friends and acquaintances. All of their songs are among my favorites. And with this particular show their musicianship was mostly spot on. You really can't ask for much more.

What Is Comboland Radio?

2009-03-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

You have stumbled upon an internet radio station that features the music of Comboland! You may be asking yourself "what the heck is a Comboland? You may be asking "where is it"? "Didn't I see a sign for it between Creedmoor and Berea?" Comboland is somewhat geographic in nature, but musical as well.

I, like many others, had the good fortune to be in central North Carolina during the golden age of clubs, bars, bands and music. It lasted from the early 70's through about 1985. There were so many groups and plenty of places to play. More importantly there were also plenty of people; mainly college aged folks, to support these musicians. I was also fortunate enough to become friends with several of these bands and their members, and even work with a few of them at a recording studio. It was a great time to be involved in the music scene!

I would later get back into radio, and at about the same time the drinking laws changed. Fewer people were going to these clubs, the number of bands dwindled down and the scene began to dry up. I moved out of the area in 1994 and lost touch with the most of the folks in the music scene.

Several of those folks I had known since childhood and we did maintain friendships. But…. you know how it goes. It might be months, or a year or two between conversations. One of those folks, former artist manager Harry Simmons, sent me an email in December of 2007 saying that Fabulous Knobs/Woods co-founder David Enloe had died. I could not believe what I was reading! I then found my way to David's band mate and best friend Terry Anderson's blog. It was touching and yet very sad.

After I cried a little bit I decided to dig out my old albums and tapes to reminisce about the old Carolina music scene. I got on the internet and Googled "North Carolina Music Scene". I saw Steve Boyle's great "Return To Comboland" website full of old videos and the new documentaries he was producing. I found a few other blogs and discovered that fans were still passionate about this music but except for a few websites there is NO outlet for it at all. I also discovered that beyond Don Dixon and Terry Anderson (whose CD's I already had) there was still some rockin' music coming out of the Carolinas. So I digitized a bunch of albums (and a few 45's) and did a bit of restoration to eliminate scratches and rumble, ripped a bunch of CD's, built a database and started generating playlist to listen to around the house. I was really surprised at how good the old and new stuff all sounded together.

I thought that maybe you could build a radio station built around the music of the "North Carolina Music Scene". I then refreshed myself on the rules and regulations for streaming audio and quickly realized I would need more artists, and more music post 1987 to make an internet radio station work.

Back to the web and I found some regional bands on CD Baby and through Terry Anderson and Jack Cornell's Doublenaught Records. I also saw the Spongetones had a new CD, Mitch Easter also had a recent release and the Jump Rabbits had one coming out (it is out now). I searched out music from the post Comboland era bands, COC, Superchunk, etc. Still not enough so I expanded out a bit more, hopefully without diluting the sound. I ran in test mode for awhile using my friends, my wife, and some of the musicians I was about to feature. Suggestions were made, then tweaks were made, music added, music subtracted, and got Comboland Radio up and rolling.

The station was launched publicly on August 1^st, 2008 via Live365. I have since heard from a number of people and have more music to track down and add! The initial response has been incredible! People are literally listening from all over the world, but primarily from North Carolina, which makes total sense.

The name is borrowed from a project spearheaded by Godfrey Cheshire and "The Spectator" magazine in 1985. You may remember the LP "Welcome To Comboland" 27 different artists/bands submitted 2 to 3 songs each for the initial project. Twelve of them ended up on the record that was finally released on the "Making Waves" label. It was this project that put "Comboland" on the map and gave a catchy name to the "North Carolina Music Scene".

The Comboland project was an effort to expose the great music coming out of the Carolinas (and Virginia too) and help these artists find some success. The internet radio station I have started is an effort to continue that tradition by providing an outlet to the artists that are STILL cranking out an enormous amount of great music from Comboland! Please listen and tell all of your friends to do so too. If you are a band in the North or South Carolina or Virginia I would love to hear from you so I can consider adding your music to the ever expanding playlist of Comboland Radio.