Hell's Kitchen Radio #597: Best of 2025

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What music caught your attention last year? Did you even pay attention? Of course you did. You have discerning taste. Only the best of the best attracts you. Nothing worth your time will slip past. 

Great minds...

I present to you my favorites from 2025. It's hard to conceive that we're a quarter of the way through this century. I remember the 80s and 90s, when 2000 seemed so close we could touch it. I was DJing at midnight on Y2K at Anon Salon for the monthly Burning Man parties in San Francisco. That was a great party we used to have. That night was off the hook. 

The host of those parties always wanted to pay me in coke. I don't do coke. I've never done coke. I've done many other things; never coke. I used to tell him that my landlord didn't take coke in payment. Someone ought to write about those parties. They were epic. A true who's-who in the early Burning Man scene, long before the term "burner" was ever used. Back then we were just a bunch of pranksters who liked to build big art, put on huge parties, and burn it all down. 

Good times. Then again there are always good times to be had. 

This show is nothing but good times too. Most of the show are releases from 2025, and I throw in some epic anniversary remastered reissues in the final hour. 

Are you coming to our SantaCon after party this Thursday night at Kilowatt? Talk about a good time! Radio Valencia DJs will be spinning throughout the night. Bring your piggy bank, this is also a fundraiser for the station. 

Go out and make some good times of your own.

jh

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

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Lonely Cosmos: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (Phantom Island)
Company Culture: Lambrini Girls (Who Let The Dogs Out?)

Paranoid: Freckle (Freckle)
I Hunt, You Prey: LA Witch (DOGGOD)

Rakiya Su Katamam: Altin Gun (Ask)
Nimerudi: GOAT + MC Yallah (Single)
Sister of the Moon: Death Valley Girls (Single)

Total Reset: Frankie and the Witch Fingers (Trash Classic)

King of Rome: Melvins 1983 (Thunderball)

Mangetout: Wet Leg (Moisturizer)

Ageism: Public Enemy (Black Sky Over The Projects - Apartment 2025)

I Once Was A Contender: Kate Vargas (Golden Hour In The House of Lugosi)

First of the Gang To Die: Chrissie Hynde and Cat Power (Duets Special)

Evil People: MIEN (MIIEN)

Glue: OSees (Abomination Revealed At Last)

An L.A. Funeral: Orcutt, Shelly, Miller (S/T)
Albuquerque: Neil Young and Crazy Horse (Tonight's The Night 50th Anniversary Remaster)

Castles Made Of Sand: Jimi Hendrix (Axis: Bold As Love - 2025 Remaster)

Wish You Were Here (Take 1): Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here 50th Anniversary)

The Real Contra Band: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (Pogo Rodeo)

Not of This World: Zig Zags (Deadbeat at Dawn)

Working Man (Vault Edition): Rush (Rush 50)

Hell's Kitchen Radio #596: So Long, Ace

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Damn. 

I knew when I was in my early 20s that eventually they would all be gone. That's a thought we all probably have about our favorite artist: one day they'll be gone. For the most part we note it and move on. But what about when that band is our calling? The go-to band. The band that you have invested so much of your musical life to? 

They're still going to go.

Brent went in 1990. Jerry went in 1995. Phil in 2024. Donna in 2025. The way Bobby, the youngest, worked out, daily, I think we all expected him to be the last to go. When we heard of his passing it was a shock. I'm not on social media I don't know if there were stories of him having a cancer scare last summer, which the family said he was able to get past; lung issues eventually did him in. 

Bobby was known to spit out the lyrics, and I mean literally. If you stood in the crowd in front of him there were chances you would get a shower. He was such a crooner in the 90s, really playing to the crowd. 

I've written a lot about my time seeing the Grateful Dead over the years. The 40th anniversary of my first show just passed: December 30, 1985. Post-Dead I saw a few of the incarnations. I saw Phil a few times, went to the two days of Fare Thee Well in 2015 in Santa Clara, saw Dead and Co twice a decade or so ago. I'm happy the music continued to bring so much joy to so many people, and brought in a lot more fans. 

Bobby postulated about the music lasting 300 years. I'd have to imagine that's possible. There are so many people who have been inspired by the music created by Jerry and the boys, that it is conceivable it will grow and morph into the band that be "most triumphant and unite the world". And here you thought it would be Wyld Stallyns.

So here we are, closer than ever to being the orphans we knew we would one day be. Has anyone checked in on Billy, Mickey, TC, Ned and Bruce? If you know, you know.

As for this here tribute, I think Bobby would appreciate what he sees. I start out with an acoustic set, with a few special guests. I then move on to a proper first set, with those first set songs you've come to know and love, before moving onto the second set jams we all live for. 

There is minimal set breaks throughout the show. I marked each track with the date of the performance. There were two shows in 1978, when Jerry had laryngitis, that each song was a Bobby songs. These are all Bobby songs, with only four cover songs. I've also linked all the shows to Archive so you can listen to them all the way through. And you want to do that. All the links are soundboard or matrix (mix of soundboard and audience. I grew up thinking I only wanted to listen to pristine soundboards, but once I started to give audience recordings a listen that what I listen to almost exclusively. The sound of the crowd interacting with the music is a real treat.

What else is there to say? Thanks Ace, it's been a true pleasure. Oh, I always wanted to ask how the hell you grew to look so damn old all of a sudden? And why the beard? You went from being so young a fit, to someone's grandfather over night.

You still rocked like a young man. See you on the other side; wherever that is

Enjoy and please share.

jh

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

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Green, Green Grass of Home - May 31, 1969
Dark Hollow - September 20, 1970 with Dave Grisman
Wake Up Little Susie - June 4, 1970 with David Nelson and John "Marmaduke" Dawson
Monkey and the Engineer - October 11, 1980
Cassidy - October 14, 1980

Jack Straw - January 22, 1978
Beat It On Down The Line - April 26, 1971 with Duane Allman
Yellow Dog Story - May 24, 1969
Mexicali Blues - August 27, 1972
New New Minglewood Blues - March 9, 1981

Greatest Story Ever Told - September 28, 1972 (with St. Stephen jam)
The Music Never Stopped - May 9, 1977

Estimated Prophet - December 26, 1979
Take a Step Back - May 8, 1977
Playin' In The Band - February 18, 1971 (the first one)
New Potato Caboose - February 14, 1968

Throwing Stones - October 09, 1989
Sugar Magnolia - November 11, 1973

Hell's Kitchen Radio #595: Rickshaw Throwdown

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What a jolly fine night this was. My good buddy John Karr, who runs sound at Rickshaw Stop came by with his colleague, Carmen Caruso, to talk up the club and spin some tunes from some upcoming shows. What makes this a hoot is that the staff of Rickshaw Stop are the one's curating the shows. This doesn't happen often, and when it does the staff bring together some really strong showcases.

I love talking music with people who know music. And it's a real treat to talk cross industry: radio and nightclub. We're all linked, you know. Artist, radio, clubs, record stores, promoters, critics. When we get together it's like we're comparing notes; a mind meld.

Carmen is also the fierce leader of the band Agouti, who is playing one of the showcases. The set that features her band also includes the other two who are on the bill, the Thursday. John and Carmen put this showcase together.

The following set of bands, featuring Gumby's Junk, is for the showcase that John Karr has put together for Thursday, January 22nd. 

I love when people who know and love music as much as I do turn me on to really great stuff. Feel free to share what you love with me. It may just get a spin.

John and I also tease an event that Radio Valencia is co-presenting at the end of February. I am just popping at the seams to tell you about it, but you'll just have to wait until next week for the official announcement. Suffice it to say if you hunger for the deep Punk history of San Francisco then you are going to flip for this!

Check out the playlist below and click on the link above to listen in.

Go see live local music and support the artists by buying their records and merch!

Enjoy and please share.

jh

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

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Truckin': Pop O Pies (The White EP - 1982)

Linda Blair: Redd Kross

Music Never Stopped: Grateful Dead (Blues for Allah - 1975)

Dragons: Agouti (Nodes - 2019)

Friendo: Grooblen (EP - 2025)

Living In A Flood: Everyone is Dirty (Caramels for Grandpa - 2023)

Stayin Alive by the Bee Gees: Gumby's Junk (Business and Pleasure - 2025)

Discover What Your Monsters Are: Rip Room (Alight and Resound - 2022)

Goblin Gruel Part 1: Inner Ear Brigade (Perkunas - 2024)

The Light, The Sound: Flipper (Gone Fishin' - 1984)

Paint It Black: Avengers (S/T - 1983)

Frustration: Crime (San Francisco's Doomed - 1978)

Wild: The Nuns (S/T - 1980)

Holiday in Cambodia: Dead Kennedys (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - 1980)

Bar-B-Que Pope: Butthole Surfers (Brown Reason To Live - 1983)

Irony Man: The Freak Accident (Octopus Head - 2022)

Youth of America: Melvins (Electroretard - 2001)

Silver Machine: Hawkwind (Live at the BBC 1972 - 2010)

A Writhing Jar: Bill Orcutt (Odds Again Tomorrow

Hell's Kitchen Radio #594: How Bad Can It Be?

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I just read that for the first time since 2000 California is 100% drought free. For those who are 25 they have only known life either in a drought, going into a drought, or coming out of one. If that snow pack is deep then this might just be a good year for the Golden state! 

And it's a new year for Radio Valencia! We've had a lot of ups and downs over the year, especially since COVID, but 2025 was a banner year! I am thrilled about the many new shows we've added, and even more so about the people staffing them. The tech side is getting a huge boost from some folks on staff who come with the credentials to bring us into the 21st century. Stay tuned in!

In the next week I have huge news to announce about a show I'm co-producing out the wilds of North Beach, at a once legendary venue that has new life being breathed into it. I am so excited about this, but I will not jump the gun. This will be a Radio Valencia co-presents, and you are going to want to be there. This is the kind of event that more people will claim to have attended than the venue can actually hold.

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

As for this here show, being the first of the new year, I felt the need for a bit of a refresh. Some classic psych, blues, Black Power, folk, spiritual jazz, garage, krautrock, chicha, and so much more. 

Take a look at the playlist below, and click that link to give it a listen.

This coming Monday night I'm excited to have San Francisco's top soundman, John Karr in the studio, playing music from the many shows he engineers around the city and talking up this upcoming show I spoke about above. Oooh boy, this is going to be fun.

You do not want to miss this show.

Enjoy and please share.   

jh

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

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Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge (Near the Beginning - 1968)

White Man's Got A God Complex: Last Poets (This is Madness - 1971)

Crawlin' King Snake: John Lee Hooker (I'm John Lee Hooker - 1960)

My Time After A While: Buddy Guy (Chess Masters - 1984)

Memory of a Free Festival: David Bowie (Conversation Piece 5 CD Box Set - 2019)

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues: Bob Dylan (Highway 61 Revisited - 1965)

Peace Frog/Blue Sunday: The Doors (Morrison Hotel - 1968)

There She Goes My Beautiful World: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Abattoir Blues - 2004)

Looking for Your Door (Chrome): OSees (Levitation Sessions II - 2021)

21st Century Schizoid Man: King Crimson (In The Court of the Crimson King - 1969)

Hare Krishna: Alice Coltrane (Universal Consciousness - 1971)

What's In My Head (Demo): FUZZ (Fuzz's Fourth Dream - 2025)

Broken Hearted Blue: Jenny Don't and the Spurs (Broken Hearted Blue - 2023)

Spray: Can (Future Days - 1973)
Footprints: Wayne Shorter (Adam's Apple - 1966)

King Solomon's Marbles: Grateful Dead (Blues for Allah - 1975)

Ojos Azure: Money Chicha (Chicha Summit - 2021)

Gaia: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (Omnium Gatherum - 2022)

Hell's Kitchen Radio #593: Bodhi Comes A Knockin'

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It took eight years, but my son Bodhi finally popped his radio cherry. Ew, that didn't sound right. That being said, he was really excited to come into the Radio Valencia studios Monday night to play his favorite K-Pop tunes for you all. 

I was thinking back to Lauson's first show when she played songs I wouldn't normally play for you all. Who cares?!?!? The joy of having this little guy in the studio outstripped any esoteric, dissonant tune I could have made you sit through. Then again, I think you know what I think about pop music.

I wasn't about to yuck his yum.

Bodhi and I listen to a lot of music and home, so he's already used to dad's taste. I encouraged him to play the songs that he likes, so you get a few tracks from the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack. He loves the idea of this movie, but it's still a little scary fo him to
sit through. You have no idea how thrilled I am that he's not desensitized to scary films yet. He'll hide behind the couch sometimes. Considering what I accidentally did to Lauson when she was 5 or 6, I couldn't be happier that Bodhi will still cover his eyes.

It's all about the music for this little guy. He also pulled out a track from the Minecraft movie. 

Mom (Sgt. Sauce) was also in the studio, showing full support for our offspring. It's been many moons since she stepped behind the mic, and as always brought some great music along. 

I've marked their selections with "B" and "SS". 

I do what I do throughout, including interviewing our shrewd eight year old on all things of interest. 

Take a listen to the next generation of music aficionados here, and enjoy the banter along with the pop!

Enjoy and please share.   

jh

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

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When The Levee Breaks: Led Zeppelin (IV - 1971)

Soda Pop: Saja Boys (K-Pop Demon Hunters - 2025) - B
Nancy From Now On: Father John Misty (Fear Fun - 2012)

Surf Rider: Il Est Vilaine (Surf Rider - 2015) - SS
Here and Now: The Black Angels (Wilderness of Mirrors - 2022)
The Wizard: Brownout (Brown Sabbath Vol. 1 - 2014)

Your Idol: Saja Boys (K-Pop Demon Hunters - 2025) - B
Motorcycle Boy: LA Witch (Play with Fire - 2020)
Ghouls: Wooden Shjips (Back To Land - 2013)

I Got Heaven: Mannequin Pussy (Live at KEXP - 2024) - SS
Memories of a Cut Off Head: OCS (Memories of a Cut Off Head - 2017)
The Waitress Song: First Aid Kit (Stay Gold - 2014)

Takedown: Huntrix (K-Pop Demon Hunters - 2025) - B
The Vow: Shannon and the Clams (The Moon is in the Wrong Place - 2024)
Jesus Christ: Big Star (Complete Third - Vol 3: Final Masters - 2017)

If System of a Down were from India: Nooran Sisters and SOAD - SS
Nimerudi (Salmagundi Version): GOAT + MC Yallah
Vay Dunya: Altin Gun (Gece - 2019)

How It's Done: Huntrix (K-Pop Demon Hunters - 2025) - B
Steve's Lava Chicken: Jack Black (Minecraft Movie - 2025) - B
Creep: Cover by mom and son - SS
What A Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong