Tune into Hell's Kitchen Radio, with John Hell, every Monday night 8-10PM (Pacific), on Radio Valencia (https://radiovalencia.fm) in San Francisco. You can find my playlists and links to the podcasts right here.
Stream HellKatt's Radio Magnificence, HERE! Download HellKatt's Holiday Ho-Down, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down Subscribe to my show, via
My daughter, HellKatt is in the studio with me tonight.
Oh joy of JOYS, my 10 year old daughter, HellKatt joined me in the studio tonight. This is her third visit to the Radio Valencia studios, and quite possibly her best yet! She chose much of the playlist for the show, and yes, it's a bit more mainstream than usual, but so what? I was thinking about this on the ride over with her, and I'll put it to you the way I put it to her: music tastes are like food tastes: when you're young you have very limited desires when it comes to the food you are willing to consume. The same can be said of music. No wonder so many kids LOVE The Beatles! They're easy to consume, like milk chocolate.
But when you grow older your tastes change too. And change they should! Who the heck only wants milk chocolate? I want dark chocolate with salted caramel, dammit!
HellKatt's tastes have always been more complex then many people her own age. Her first solid food was avocado. And at the age of three she was eating entire green onion stalks, from tip to root! No lie. She also prefers milk chocolate.
So it comes as no surprise that she enjoys Alice Cooper almost as much as she loves Paul McCartney...and The Simpsons. I placed a "HK" next to all the songs that she chose. You may be surprised.
What a great night! I hope you enjoy the music, and the banter as much as we did.
If you want to check out the other two shows that the Daughter of John Hell co-hosted with me, follow these two links, here and here.
Lauson is also an amazing (I'm not biased or anything) filmmaker. Check out this stop-motion film she made, here.
Time to fight it out - Stream it HERE! Rock out with your download out - HERE! Listen to all my shows by going HERE! Links to all previous ROCK FIGHTS are below! Subscribe to my shows via iTunes
Too much has been written in the annals of mythology about the many Rock Fights which came before, but no one could have prepared any of us for what was about to come on this holiest of holy Rock Fight nights.
Each hour progresses with guests, amazing live tracks, and brilliant banter that will leave you in stitches, and quite possibly paralyzed from the neck down.
John and Ron are in fine form for much of the evening (I repeat MUCH of the evening), the guest interviews are a perfect addition to what is already an institution in radio land. The music selections, mostly focused on Rock, also feature a Black Metal set, and a wonderful Blues set; taking us from the roots of Rock to wear Rock has certainly come.
In the second hour author Linda Kelly joined us at to talk about the upcoming release of the new edition of her 1995 Grateful Dead-themed book: "Deadheads", just in time for the 50th anniversary of my favorite band.
Sound Engineer John Karr joins us in the third hour to talk about all the many bands he's worked with over the years. John has worked regularly as an engineer in many recording studios around San Francisco, and has worked the sound board at pretty much every club in San Francisco for over 20 years. He's got great stories and has brought along excellent, stellar live recordings from shows where he is manning the board.
Metallica fanzine editor Steffan Chirazi joins us for the fourth hour to play us BLACK (metal) Christmas. You know, an anti-christ/mas thing. All Black Metal, with some road stories. Great road stories. Steff is always ready with some of the best stories from the road. He's been doing it for over 25 years so he knows his stuff.
We're doing a blues set the fifth hour. It makes sense. All live versions you've never heard before. Eric McFadden called in this hour. He's in Albuquerque, New Mexico right now, and shared his history of listening to live music, and his own memories of his favorite bands growing up.
Play the game "Where is Ron". Where oh where could he be throughout the program? Is he on Mic? Is he lost in the mission? How many songs did Ron actually play on Rock Fight 14? Tune in and play along with rest of us.
Finally we close the show the way we opened the show: with a tribute to the late great Joe Cocker. Joe died on Monday at the age of 70 years old. Anyone who's listened my show over the years knows that I am huge fan of Joe Cocker, he's always been an absolute inspiration to my growth as a music fan. The Mad Dogs Englishmen Tour from 1970 is by far the greatest series of shows that I have ever heard in my long tenure of collecting live music. It is my dream and aspiration to one day front of band in much the same manner as Joe Cocker did with that tour. It's an understatement to say that you will be missed, Joe. RIP to a man who taught me more about music than most people I have ever known, personally.
Enjoy.
jh
PS: It would appear this is actually Rock Fight 13. This is what I get for not going back and actually looking at the most recent show we did. HA!
Hour one:
Something: Joe Cocker (San Francisco, April 26, 1970) - JH
Kick Out The Jams: MC5 (01-01-70 Saginaw, MI) - JH
Guns of Brixton: The Clash (Akron, OH 08-17-82) - JH
Jailhouse Rock/Don't Be Cruel: Elvis Presley (Las Vegas 1969)
Cafe Latte: Limbomaniacs (iBeam - SF 09-01-90)
John The Fisherman: Primus (Haight Street Fair 06-10-90) -JH
Feeling Alright: Joe Cocker (10-19-69 Fillmore West, SF, CA) -JH
Sin City: AC/DC (Oakland, CA 07-21-79) - RD
Hour two:
Songs Remains the Same/Rain Song: Led Zeppelin (01-07-73 - Oxford, England) - JH
Closet Queen: James Gang (07-15-71 Frisa, Holland) - JH
Summertime Blues: Joan Jett (Firemen's Memorial Park, Hempsted NJ, Aug. 8, 1981) - JH
Love Gun: Kiss (Selland Arena, Fresno, California November 27, 1979) - JH
Youth of America: The Melvins (Capitol Theater, Olympia, WA March 9, 2004) - JH
Interview with Linda Kelly
Hour three:
China Cat Sunflower - I Know You Rider: Grateful Dead (Assembly Hall, Umiversity of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana, IL 73-02-21)
Interview with John Karr - John brought a bunch of recording he made while doing live sound for these bands. He's not certain of the song titles or exact dates. We'll forgive him this one time.
Death Cab For Cutie: Bottom of the Hill, SF, CA 1999
Fucking Champs, Bottom of the Hill, SF, CA 09-13-2000
Rumah Sakit: Bottom of the Hill, SF, CA 03-04-2000
Cosmic Slop: P-Funk, Yoshi's SF, CA 2012
Mastadon, Justice League, SF, CA 2001?
Mirv, Great American Music Hall, SF, CA 12-28-2002
Hour four:
Mermen SF, CA
Interview with Steffan Chirazi
Black Metal Special
In Nomine Satanas/Black Metal: Venom
Gorgorath: Wacken Metal Fest 2012
Confessional Rape: Diecide
Hour five:
Necrolust: Mayhem
Ground: Celtic Frost
Blues set:
Shotgun Blues: Blues Brother (12-31-78 Winterland, SF, CA)
Boom Boom: John Lee Hooker (03-30-85 The Stone, SF, CA)
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed: Allman Brothers Band (07-03-70 Atlanta Pop Fest, Byron, GA)
Blues at Sunrise: Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert King 12-06-83 CHCN Studios, Hamilton, ON
Interview with Eric McFadden
Hour six:
D's Diner: Eric McFadden, Les Claypool, Paulo Baldi (2007 The Independent, SF, CA)
I'm A Howlin' Wolf: Muddy Waters (11-04-76 Blues & Jazz Festival Geneva, Switzerland)
Trouble No More: Junior Wells and Buddy Guy 12-03-85 Dingwalls, London, England
Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago: ZZ Top (04-19-80 Grugahalle, Essen, Germany)
I'm Waiting For The Man: Lou Reed (12-26-72 KLIR, Hempstead, NY)
Redondo Beach: Patti Smith (01-30-76 The Roxy, LA, CA)
The Letter: Joe Cocker and The Grease Band (10-19-69 Fillmore West, SF, CA)
Listen to all of my shows here, or just scroll down.
If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: radio is an art form. It's the art of the segue. It's knowing what song to play next to another. I've been at this game for over 25 years, and I still surprise myself from time to time. Tonight was just special moment after another, when I get to remind myself why I love radio so damn much.
Sometimes I'm guilty of playing a preferred artist a bit too much from week to week (see Melvins, Ty Segall), but hey, what can I say, if they made crappy music then I wouldn't play them so often. As for tonight, I went a little deeper into my vault for some artists who haven't come out to play in many a blue moon. We've got your holiday tunes, a few requests, some Americana, garage, proto-punk, and jazz-funk.
There's something for the whole family to enjoy.
jh
Next Monday night, December 22, from 6-midnight, it's
ROCK FIGHT 14!!!
Ron Donovan and I take over the "airwaves" for six rockin' hours full of blitzkrieg and bop! Ron and I have the nations largest combined collection of live bootleg material, and twice a year we love to share it with you.
We have GUESTS as well, including Steffan Chirazi, the official Metallica fanzine writer/editor for "So What"; John Karr, local sound engineer; bands, and malcontents-a-plenty!
We may even have some special surprise guests and giveaways for you too!
Merry Christmas From The Family: Robert Earl Keen
Late at Night: The Iguanas
Merry Christmas Baby: Otis Redding
We Three Kings: Reverend Horton Heat
Blue Moon Waltz: Jimmy Dale Gilmore
Every Grain of Sand: Emmylou Harris
On The Inside: Eric McFadden
Let's Get Funky: Jack O'Fire
I'm In Your Mind: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Steps: Meatbodies
Music For A Film 1: Ty Segall
I Don't Give a Fuck Where the Eagles Fly: Moistboyz
CCTV: OBN IIIs
Lonesome Train: Robert Gordon with Link Wray
Shake It Off Parody: Six13
The Next Big Thing: The Dictators
Shut Up And Dance: Pearl Harbor and the Explosions
Shitload of Kissin': New Duncan Imperials
Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue: The Ramones
Who Says?: Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Hey Little Girl: Dead Boys
Prove It: Television
Sinatra Mantra: The Victims Family
This here Best of 2014 show can be streamed right here.
Perhaps downloading the Best of 2014 is BEST for you.
You know, you can listen to all of my shows by going here.
How is it that another year has passed us by? I think there needs to be a study about time, and how it's relative to each individual as they age. Has this been done already? No? Someone really needs to get on this. We need a real Einstein to help us out. I have a theory that as we get older, time goes by faster, mostly because we have too many bills to pay. I could be wrong, but if I had no bills to pay, then time would really slow down.
But I digress.
2014 had a lot of great new music. The garage resurgence peaked my interest, as did the abundance of quality singer-songwriter material and metal in its many variations. I play a little of it all tonight in my BEST OF 2014 show!
Take a look at the playlist below, then get streaming...or downloading...or whatever it is you do to listen to my show.
Tune in Monday, December 22, from 6-midnight for ROCK FIGHT 14!!! Ron Donovan joins me once again for a six hour live bootleg SMACKDOWN of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!! Ron and I have the largest combined live bootleg collection (self-proclaimed) west of East Rutherford, NJ. We play live music, insult each other, and have lots of live guests. We should have prizes too. Who will win? Who knows (me). Tune in and help us decide (that it's me).
Tune into all of my history-making shows, by going here.
Once again John Hell mixes up the musical stew by taking you back to a magical year in musical lore: 1974. It's time for my fourth annual "ANNUAL ANNUAL"! 1974 had a little bit of everything: proto-punk, glam-rock, shoe-gaze, funk, soul, avant-jazz, country, western, country-western, and the beginnings of prog-rock. I've got a taste of it all in the next two hours.
I've thrown in some commercials and movie trailers from the era too. Who knew 1974 was so damn cool? Where were you in 1974? I was four years old by years' end. I was living in Toledo, Ohio with my parents and two older sisters. My dad would play a lot of jazz and blues, while my sisters, who were 10 and 12 at the time, were playing mostly Monkeys and Beatles tunes. My mother was into Helen Reddy. Crazy times. My biggest memories of that time had to do with the snow making it difficult for my father to drive to work in the winter.
If I were an adult in 1974 it would have been totally different. It would have been all about getting my ass up to Detroit, Cleveland, and New York City to catch some amazing sounds. I probably would have been spending a lot of time at CBGBs and Max's Kansas City.
Want to hear previous ANNUAL ANNUAL shows? Just follow the links below.
Rumble: Link Wray
Earache My Eye: Alice Bowie
Hey Joe: Patti Smith
Sweet Jane: Lou Reed
Devil Gate Drive: Suzi Quatro
***Texas Chainsaw Massacre***
Back of a Car: Big Star
Chatterbox: New York Dolls
***Burger King Commercial***
100,000 Years: Kiss
Rock On: David Essex
Don't Eat the Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonso/Father O'Blivion: Frank Zappa
Be Thankful For What You've Got: William DeVaughn
The Bottle: Gil Scott-Heron/Brian Jackson
Don't Call Her No Tramp: Betty Davis
***Blazing Saddles Trailer***
Kung Fu: Curtis Mayfield
Rated X: Miles Davis
Loose Lucy: Grateful Dead
Revolution Blues: Neil Young
Diamonds on my Windshield: Tom Waits
Rebel Music (3 O'clock Roadblock): Bob Marley and the Wailers
Don't Go Near the Water: Johnny Cash
Heaven or Hell: Waylon Jennings
Angel From Montgomery: Bonnie Raitt
Boots/Numb Erone: The Residents
Mitternacht: Kraftwerk
