Hell's Kitchen Radio #544: No Reason Not To Celebrate

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Happy birthday to MEEEEEEEE!

It's my birthday, and here I am alone in the studio giving back to YOUUUUUUUUU. And why not? It's a real treat being able to do this every week. Two hours is never enough, and I never come with a plan. I start with a song and go from there. I let the music move me, and since I wasn't focusing on playing anything new tonight, I was digging into my vault to pull out some tunes that have moved me over the years. 

Take a look at the playlist and click the link to play the show.

And if you want to show me some birthday love, please consider donating to Radio Valencia. This is labor of love, and we all pay monthly dues to keep the lights on and the turntables spinning. We need help maintaining the equipment we have, and regularly replacing worn out parts. We also have a deep desire to update our website. If you know anyone that can donate items for a raffle please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy this birthday gift I made just for you.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Metal Guru: T Rex
Powerman: The Kinks
Five Years: David Bowie

Poor Elijah/Tribute to Johnson: Delaney and Bonnie with Eric Clapton
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?: Derek and the Dominos

Can't You Hear Me Knocking?: The Rolling Stones
Sister Morphine: Marianne Faithfull
Slip Inside This House: 13th Floor Elevators

I Come From The Mountain: Thee Oh Sees
Licking Stick - Licking Stick: James Brown

Rise Up With Fists: Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Only Son Of the Ladiesman: Father John Misty
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song: First Aid Kit

Lilac Wine: Jeff Buckley
The Pusher: Nina Simone

Southern Girls (Albini Recorded): Cheap Trick
I Wanna Be Your Dog: The Stooges
Rock and Roll: Velvet Underground

Red Right Hand: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Right On For The Darkness: Curtis Mayfield

Chocolate Jesus: Tom Waits
Rebel Girl: Bikini Kill

Hell's Kitchen Radio #543: See All The Colors

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This is one of those times when I really count my blessings. Everyone has their struggles, so don't let me start getting into my own. Does any of it really matter? No. None of it matters. Holding a grudge does nothing but take the time away from having a really good time. And isn't that what we want: to have a really good time?

Why suffer? What does it bring? What have we gained by our own suffering? Experience? Isn't there any other way to grow? I've learned more lessons than blah, blah, blah. Is this what life is all about: learning lessons so as not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? What if I learned a lesson, put in my best effort, asked all the right questions, opened myself up to scrutiny and vulnerability, articulated my boundaries, and still tripped?!

What then?

Throw it all away? Remain alone for the sake of caring for my heart? Risk appearing aloof or uncaring just so I don't have to clean up a mess that I worked diligently to avoid happen in the first place? We're not a solitary species? But what's so bad about being alone? I have my music to keep my warm. Even the kids grow up to live their own lives.

Enjoy the moment. That's all we have. Meditate on that. You can do your best to make up for the past. Take accountability even when it feels impossible. Make amends. Speak your truth with the most compassionate head and heart. Be the best listener. Ask the deeper questions. Be vulnerable and available for the criticisms that will come your way (and they will come!).

Prepare for the future, knowing as hard as you do, life has a way of throwing a lot of curveballs at you. Be calm through the storm. Flow like water. Respond, don't react. Breathe. Always breathe. And know that everyone else is going through the shit too.

All we have in now. It's only now. It's always now. Bring your best now. Now. And do not beat yourself up if the best you have now is not the same as what others are bringing. Never compare yourself to others, ever. You'll lose that battle. So don't do it. Rise above that. You're not rising above others, you're rising above the idea that others are above you. No one is above anyone else. We're all treading water in our own way. Our job is to do it as calmly as possible. Don't fight the waves. Don't fight the tide.

Flow like water.

Forgive.

Love.

Be. Here. Now.

And listen to good music. 

There's some pretty good music here. New The Jesus Lizard, Ty Segall, Dale Crover, WAND, and a bunch of other stuff I think you're going to love. I love it, anyway.

And if you want to support what we're doing, please consider donating. This is labor of love, and we all pay monthly dues to keep the lights on and the turntables spinning. We need help maintaining the equipment we have, and regularly replacing worn out parts. We also have a deep desire to update our website. If you know anyone that can donate items for a raffle please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy and please share.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Kasalefkut-Hulu: Mulatu Astatke
Sevda Olmasaydi: Altin Gün

Theme de Yoyo: Art Ensemble of Chicago
Down Home Girl: The Coasters

Help Save The Youth of America: Billy Bragg
Youth of America: Melvins
Bang Bang: Nancy Sinatra
The Tide is High: The Paragons

High Time: WAND
Enemy Destruct: Thee Oh Sees

Teenie Weenie Boppie: Free Kitten
Purple: Ken Nordine
Golden Gate Park: The Catheads
2 Drunk 2 Fuck: Avenue D
Fuck the Police (edit): NWA
Rudy, a Message to You: Dandy Livingstone

Lord Godiva: The Jesus Lizard
Blood Like Cream: Red Fang

I Waited Forever: Dale Crover (ft. Ty Segall)
Killer: Alice Cooper
Gathering of the Ancient Tribes: GOAT

The Dance/Walk Home Pt.2/First Touch: Ty Segall
Rise: PIL

Hell's Kitchen Radio #542: Can't Spell Malfunction Without Fun

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I was this close (you'll have to imagine me holding my fingers really close together) to playing only three or four tunes for the entire two hours. And then I realized that's foolish when I brought a whole stack of albums with me. 

The first hour was only about four tunes though. Hard Bop (I originally wrote that as "Hard Bob" and that would have probably lost me a few listeners...or added a few), Free Jazz, Kraut Rock and modern Free Jazz/Electronic. Then I realized I really had to start sharing some other treats, including new Nick Cave, The Bell Rays and King Gizzard. There's also a 50th anniversary remaster of the Frank Zappa classic Apostrophe that I threw in. It's the album that got me into Zappa, though I admit I'm not as obsessed as my boy The Alchemist (Saturday nights on Radio Valencia).

If you like what you're hearing, please check out our other shows. This station was started with the mission of having real live DJs curate shows from their own deep knowledge of music, not from some algorithm. We're proud of the work we've put in. 

And if you want to support what we're doing, please consider donating. This is labor of love, and we all pay monthly dues to keep the lights on and the turntables spinning. We need help maintaining the equipment we have, and regularly replacing worn out parts. We also have a deep desire to update our website. If you know anyone that can donate items for a raffle please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy and please share.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Suite Sioux: Freddie Hubbard

Selflessness: John Coltrane

Flowers Must Die: Ash Ra Temple
London: Angel Bat Dawid

Wild God: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Killer of Peace: Crow Jane
Children of the Grave: Brown Sabbath
Reoccurring Cave: Pancho and the Wizards

Wolf's Sun: The Bell Rays
Crash Dancing: Sgt. Splendor

Apostrophe (Side One): Frank Zappa
I'm Feeling Alright: Big Mama Thornton

Antarctica: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Goo Goo Much: The Cramps

Hell's Kitchen Radio #541: Let Us Be Your Drug Of Choice

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You all need an exorcism from streaming services. The withdrawal is worth every drip of sweat and sleepless nights you are bound to experience. Those terrible voices in your head that will keep you up at night reminding you of the next recommended track you are missing when you cut them off cold turkey are going to hurt really bad. The headaches. The night sweats.The terrible desire to log back into your dealer, your pimp, the one who tells you they know what's best for you, for the low low price of $10 a month, but really, at the end of the day, all they want is your SOUL!!!! and $10 a month.

It's worth the pain.

Quit your dealer. Leave them on the street. Live on the right side of musical history.

I've got two hours of aural pleasure that will leave you wondering why you ever doubted the power of radio.

New music from The Bell Reys, and The Bell Reys who I saw at The Stork Club last weekend, along with Middle Aged Queers. GO SEE THAT BAND!!!

Lots of blues, funk, soul, punk, psych, metal, rock, and so much more than would ever be recommended for youknowwho. 

Enjoy and please be the one who tells your friends they too need to drop the apps...except ours.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Theme Song: Middle Aged Queers
Peace Train: Cat Stevens
Tater Pie: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Howlin' Wolf: Muddy Waters
Preachin' The Blues: Son House

13 Is My Number: Dave Alexander
Don't Tell It: James Brown
What It Is: Apollis

Whatever Turns You On: The Bell Rays
Azeta: Lafayette Afro Rock Band

Talk To God (Live): GOAT
Lament for the Aurochs: The Sword
People Who Died: Jim Carroll

Frogs: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Chasing the Bee: Mercury Rev

Roomful of Mirrors: The Pretenders

Chaise Lounge: Wet Leg

Daily Blues: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Drugs on the Bus: Crystal Fairy

Hell's Kitchen Radio #540: Throw the dart, it's gonna be great

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Since there isn't a holiday for Hell Day...yet, I figured I should pay tribute to all the great laborers out there who never get the appreciation they deserve. 

I've hosted a lot of Labor Day shows over the years, and I think it's my favorite holiday to celebrate. I've been a union member for most of my working career, being a teacher, and before that in the grocery industry. At the age of 21, I was a shop steward at a grocery store I worked at. I was a member of the Union Building Committee at the school I teach at for nine years, meeting weekly with the administration, keeping them true to the contract. 

I have never had a hard time speaking truth to power. If I have learned anything it's how to finesse how I articulate the message that's needed to be said; all of which in support of the workers. 

I will never cross a picket line. 

The music tonight is all in celebration of the workers, most of whom are paid far below their value. 

I shared a lot of worker history during the show as well. I'm guessing you aren't aware of a lot of the what I spoke about.

Don't like the way you're treated at work, then join a union. 

Below I share the song "Rich Men Earning North of a Million, by Billy Bragg, which was a song he wrote in response to the song "Rich Men North of Richmond, by Oliver Anthony. I encourage you to listen to both (Anthony's first), to understand why Bragg felt the need to write his version.

Enjoy and please share.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Heartbeat of America: Billy Strings
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out: Nina Simone

Work Song: The Animals
You Gotta Go Down and Join the Union: Woody Guthrie
Nine Pound Hammer: Johnny Cash

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol: Bob Dylan
Run Devil, Run/The Big Guns: Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore: John Prine
Career Opportunities: The Clash
Let's Lynch the Landlord: Faith No More

Mansion on the Hill: Bruce Sprinsteen
Do You Want New Wave, or Do Want the Truth: Minutemen
Crazy Baldhead: Bob Marley

Hey Joe: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Graveyard Shift: Uncle Tupelo
This is Not a Song, It's an Outburst (or Establishment Blues): Rodriguez
War Pigs: Black Sabbath

Get Behind the Mule: Tom Waits
In The Pines: Fantastic Negrito

Inner City Blues: Gil Scott Heron
Wild and Free: Curtis Mayfield

Get Back in Line: The Kinks
Cumberland Blues: Grateful Dead

This Land is Your Land: Woody Guthrie
What A Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong

Check out the Billy Bragg song below.