I talked a lot about and played some Life In a Blender, a fantasticly creative band from NYC who are coming up to Milford this Friday, January 23rd, 2026. And I also played some music that I'd consider twee, although I don't think that's a bad word. (Google's "AI Overview" is telling me "'Twee' describes something overly cute, sweet, quaint, or sentimental, often in an affected or delicate way, originating from a baby's pronunciation of 'sweet,' and also refers to a subgenre of innocent, simple indie pop music and an aesthetic featuring childlike whimsy, though it can sometimes be used as a mild insult" (cf. SNL's "Bein' Quirky With Zooey Deschanel").

I actually do not consider LIAB "twee". Well, possibly, at moments, but not really. Anyway, this show was a melange of intelligent pop music I like, and I hope you like it too.

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Something's Gonna Happen – Ronnie Spector
Save It For Later – The English Beat
To Love Somebody – Al Green
How Much I Really Love You – June & The Exit Wounds
The Old Law – Father John Misty

Baby Please Come Home – Bubble
Oh Gilbert (I Need Help) – The Junipers
Snowglobe – Sugar Fight
Vacancy for a Bluebird – Life In a Blender

Mobile Wash Unit – Life In a Blender
The Church of Laundry – Kelley Ryan
I Want You to Give Me Enough Time – Sunflower Bean

Fountains of Bellagio – Life In a Blender
Zoo – Altimeter

Magic Touch – Courtney Marie Adams
Here I Am – Dionne Warwick
Kaze Wo Atsumete – Happy End

Multiply – Dora Jar
My Bar – British Birds

Karate Dentist – Ward White
Until You Come Back to Me – Stevie Wonder
Send It To Zoom! - the cast of Zoom
Memo To My Son – Randy Newman

In a recent interview with the New York Times, President Donald J. Trump said he felt the Civil Rights Movement and its reforms were harmful to white people, who “were very badly treated.” Also, the administration made sure that Martin Luther King Jr. Day - still a national holiday (for now) - would not be a day where people could visit America's national parks for free. Trump did, however, make his own birthday as a day for National Parks free admissions. For Christ's sake.

I usually steer away from political commentary on the Snap Crackle POP! show, but I wanted to do my part (as infintesimly small as it may be) to celebrate this important American holiday. I am hearing there are more-than-usual MLK Jr. day celebtations happening today, which I'm grateful for. I remember his assasination day and I was so confused by it - why? Just... why? And why are some sh*tty. powerful, hate-filled people trying to erase this day in 2026?

Happy Birthday, Martin. And thank you for your brilliance and bravery. Our lonely nation (still) turns its eyes to you.

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Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder
Harvest For the World – The Isley Brothers

Like a Ship (Without a Sail) – Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir
Many Rivers to Cross – Jimmy Cliff
The Harder They Come – Jimmy Cliff
A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones & The Dap–kings
This World (Is Going Up in Flames) – Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band
Tell Me Mr. President – Eugene McDaniels

Impeach The President – The Honey Drippers
Morning Matters – Yazmin Lacey
Warning Sign – Hannah Jagadu

Memory Be a Blade – waterbaby
Hold Steady – Queen Esther

I'm Going Down – Rose Royce
Mississippi Goddam – Nina Simone
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott–Heron

Inner City Blues – Marvin Gaye
Scripto Labor Strike speech (Atlanta GA, 1964) – Martin Luther King Jr.
Give the People What They Want – PJ Morton, Yola
We Shall Overcome speech (Southern Methodist University, on March 17, 1966) – Martin Luther King Jr.
We Shall Overcome – Mahalia Jackson

The title of this podcast is influenced by a Reds, Pinks and Purples song lyric. Lotsa good new/new-ish music here, much in the tradition of the show I'm filling in for - Steve Di Costanzo's RADIO BASE CAMP.

Hard Livin' – Railroad Earth

Save Your Soul – Kathleen Edwards

Pick Up That Knife – Wednesday

Frontrunner – Horsegirl

Gimme Time – Hannah Jagadu

All We Ever Do Is Talk– Del Water Gap

Oh Dorian – Ben Kweller (feat. MJ Lenderman)

Dancing in the Club – This Is Lorelei (MJ Lenderman Version)

Summer Seizures – The Cribs
Hot Wheels – The Wedding Present

Brassneck – The Wedding Present

Therapy II – Viagra Boys

Heroes – David Bowie

Warning Sign – Talking Heads

Miss Modular – Stereolab

Wreck – Neko Case

I Only Ever Wanted to See You Fail – The Reds, Pinks and Purples

Cruise Ship Designer – Dry Cleaning

So Long – Fischer–Z

Popsicle – Juliana Hatfield

Forgotten Dreams – Leroy Anderson

On this morning's show, I did a tribute of sorts to the great Bob Weir, who passed away over the weekend. A great big thanks to Lane Steinberg for writing insightfully about what Bob could really make happen on guitar. But before that we started off with some sexy mornin' Dusty.

Just a Little Lovin' – Dusty Springfield

Some of Your Lovin' – Dusty Springfield

Pussywillow, Cattails – Gordon Lightfoot

Little Bird – The Beach Boys

Glad and Sorry – The faces

My Friend the Sun – Family

How To Live – Del Water Gap

Lose – Hannah Jadagu

Small Town Joan of Arc – Del Water Gap

Never Ending Game (Panda Bear Remix) – Angel Du$t

Holo Boy – This is Lorelei

Popafangout – Sharp Pins

Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand – The Who

Truckin' – Grateful Dead

Playing in the Band (Live at Manhattan Center NYC 4/6/71) – Grateful Dead

Jack Straw (Live in Paris 1972) – Grateful Dead

Cassidy (Live at Radio City Music Hall, 1980) – Grateful Dead

Don't Let It Bring You Down – Neil Young

Here She Comes Now – The Velvet Underground

Sally, Go 'Round the Roses – The Jaynetts

Damn – Del Water Gap

Sugar Magnolia (demo) – Grateful Dead

In which I finally give up and acceptance the consensus worship of my friends re: Sharp Pins.

Life Is – Jessica Pratt
Guess I'm Dumb – Glen Campbell

Mock The Hours – David Nance

Say It On – J Mascis

Coke, Suede and Waterbeds – Sopwith Camel

Not Enough – Benny Sings

Cruise Ship Designer – Dry Cleaning

Wreck – Neko Case

Edge of the Ocean – Ivy

Keep On Movin' – Soul II Soul

Hold Steady – Queen Esther

Vague Utopia – Tia Gostelow

I Knew Love – Sunflower Bean

Under the Milky Way – The Church

Astor Place – Edward Rogers

Dominoes – Mary Timony

Traffic and Weather – Fountains of Wayne

Popsicle – Juliana Hatfield

Is It Better – Sharp Pins

Queens of Globes and Mirrors – Sharp Pins

Queens of Cans and Jars – Guided By Voices

But You Just Woke Me Up – This Is Lorelei

Elderberry Wine – Wednesday

Baby, Now That I've Found You – Alison Krauss

For the first show of a precarious new year, I chose to focus on a theme of reletively obscure 1970's "deep cuts", apropos of... nothing. Some great songs, though. The first song isn't all that obscure, but the movie it served as the theme song for is deeply quaint; it's about a late '70s commercial rock radio station being forced (gasp) into using a format and playing from a songs list , and the outrage that then ensues - how dare they take away the deejay's rights to play whatever the hell they want? Like I said, quaint... in terms of commercial radio, of course... but not so much for our beloved WPKN.

FM – Steely Dan
She Might Have Been a Nice Girl – The Guess Who
Gramophone Man – Spirit

Bluebird – Leon Russell
She Wandered Through the Garden Fence – Procol Harum
Heart To Hang Onto – Ronnie Lane & Pete Townsend
Lily (Are You Happy) – Darryl Hall & John Oates

Look What You've Done – Bread
Strawberry Flats – Little Feat

O Lucky Man! – Alan Price
Grey Seal – Elton John

Friends – Elton John
Running Back – Phil Lynott

Suite: Clouds, Rain – David Gates
Thatcherie (from "Inner Space") – Sven Libaek
Strawberry Letter 23 – Shuggie Otis

Real Thing – Drugdealer (feat. Weyes Blood)

Keep It Warm – Flo & Eddie
Critics Choice – Chicago

Let's Pretend – The Lemon Twigs
Overnight Sensation – The Raspberries

Friends – Buzzy Linhart

This was a fill-in episode for Steve Di Costanzo's classin WPKN morning show, RADIO BASE CAMP. I should be doing a lot of these Tuesday shows as well as the Monday shows, and that's good because I can get better at this.

Because it's the Eve of New Year's Eve, I went with that as the theme; hour 1 is more of a downer than hour 2.

Millennium – Robbie Williams

Auld Lang Syne – Guy Lombardo

Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think) – Guy Lombardo

In These Shoes? – Kirsty MacColl

Happy New Year Next Year – Violent Femmes

Getting Ugly Out There – Wille Nile

A Town Called Malice – The Jam

New Year – SVT

Together We'll Ring In the New Year – Motion City Soundtrack

The New Year (demo) – Death Cab For Cutie

My New Year's Resolutions – Mae West

Resolution Blues – Dinah Washington

Brand New Year – Eric Carmen

Better Things – The Kinks

Life Gets Better – Graham Parker

Shooting Star – Sunflower Bean

Happy New Year – Camera Obscura

Walk Out to Winter – Aztec Camera

Romeo – Edward Rogers

This Will Be My Year – Semisonic

A Little Bit of Light Banter – Sparks

Glad Tidings – Van Morrison

Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder

This Will Be Our Year – The Zombies

Auld Lang Syne – The Beach Boys

Wake The World – The Beach Boys

There's been a lot of CBGBs in the air lately at WPKN, courtesy of programmers Dave Schneider (The Zambonis), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) - yes, THE Chris Frantz -and Rob Tannenbaum, a great music journalist who produced a must-have (IMHO) new box set for Cherry Red Records named "CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986". Inspired by the annual CTBGs show at the Fairfield Theater Company, I programmed a mainly-early CBGBs music set. This music is so important to me - and to many many other musicians and fans, whether they realize it or not. Punk Rock, "New Wave" and Alternative Rock STARTS HERE.

In The Congo – The Bongos

My Three Sons (Revolve Around the Earth) – The Individuals
Fa cé-La – The Feelies
Jealousy – The Colors
Love & Emotion – Mink DeVille
Trapped Again – Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes

Teenage News – Sylvain Sylvain
Two Tub Man – The Dictators
I Need a Million – The Laughing Dogs
Beat On the Brat – The Ramones

Red Lights – The Marbles
Black and White (Don Dixon Mix) – The dBs
Tell Me Your Plans – The Shirts

Pretty Dress – Cryptic Soup
Picture This – Blondie
Frederick – Patti Smith Group

Days – Television
The Book I Read – Talking Heads

Green For Go – Polyrock
There She Goes – Nervus Rex
Christmas Weather – Student Teachers

December 26th – Alicia Witt (feat. John Paul White)
(I'll Be Glad When) Christmastime Is Done – Bite the Wax Godhead