Hell's Kitchen Radio #549: 14th annual Annual Annual: 1994

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It's time for my 14th annual Annual Annual! This is where I choose one year to focus on for two hours. I like to put this out to my music-loving friends before I make a choice. I've covered a couple years from the 90s in the past, including 1991 last year. This time around I'm going with 1994.

My memories of 1994, when I was turning 24, are murky at best. In my own life I was single, living in Redwood City, on the air at KFJC and working at a small local record label/music distributor: Tandem Records/The Remix Club (TRC). I ran the warehouse before becoming the promotions director of the label. I recall us courting The Mermen, though I'm fairly confident we didn't get much farther than a meeting with them.

That was a challenging job. Most of the music the label had was in the Pop R&B genre, and I think you know what I think about anything Pop. And my boss was dating a young singer, who was marginal in talent to say the least...not to mention at least 20 years older than her. It was my job to get her played on R&B stations around the country and to take her to events in the Bay Area. There wasn't a lot of success there, in her music or the relationship.

I also didn't appreciate how my boss liked to yell at his staff, either. Ooh, I do remember that we watched the OJ Simpson trial in the office though. HA!

It was while I ran the shipping and receiving department that I learned of Kurt Cobain's death. I can picture that moment well: working in the warehouse and the announcement came on the radio. I saw Nirvana at the Warfield Theater in October 1991 for the Nevermind tour. TAD and Sister Double Happiness opened. I was on the floor for the openers, but it was so packed (oversold?) and my shoelaces were united, that I decided to bodysurf my way out of there. I ended up on the first tier with a perfect view of the stage for the Nirvana set. I always liked that band. 

Like my previous annual specials there's more to share than just the music: film, news and culture are included throughout the night, and there's never enough time to get to all the music I want to. 

Though there wasn't a lot of strong releases in 1994 (I blame the major record labels), there were a number of notable debuts: Notorious BIG, Jeff Buckley, Fu Manchu to name but a few. 

Let's get on with the show.

Enjoy and please share.

jh

2011 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1971
2012 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1972
2013 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1973
2014 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1974
2015 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1975
2016 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 2006
2017 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1992
2018 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1983
2019 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1969
2020 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1980
2021 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1978
2022 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1968
2023 - ANNUAL ANNUAL - 1991

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

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Miserlou: Dick Dale (Pulp Fiction Soundtrack)

Juicy: Notorious BIG (Ready to Die)

Give It Up: Public Enemy (Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age)

Get It Together: Beastie Boys (Ill Communication)

The Man Who Sold The World: Nirvana (MTV Unplugged)
Royal With Cheese (Pulp Fiction Soundtrack)
Grace: Jeff Buckley (Grace)

Revolve: Melvins (Stoner Witch)

Timeline: 1994

Ojo Rojo: Fu Manchu (No One Rides for Free)

Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop: Kyuss (Welcome to Sky Valley)

Buenas Tardes Amigo: Ween (Chocolate and Cheese)

Baddest of the Bad: Reverend Horton Heat (Liquor in the Front)

Gringo Honeymoon: Robert Earl Keen Jr. (Gringo Honeymoon)
Pendulum: Mark Lanegan (Whiskey for the Holy Ghost)

Timeline: 1994

Bull in the Heather: Sonic Youth (Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star)

Violet Eyes: Meat Puppets (Too High To Die)

Fuel My Fire: L7 (Hungry for Stink)

Do You Love Me: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Let Love In)

Free As A Bird: The Beatles (Free As A Bird)

Zed's Dead, Baby/Bullwinkle Part II: The Centurions (Pulp Fiction Soundtrack)

The Dishwasher: King Missile (S/T)

She Gave Good Sunflower: Black Crowes (Amorica)

Hell's Kitchen Radio #526: What's Behind The Curtain?

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Never draw attention to the mistakes. 

That's really good advice. Don't let them see what's behind the curtain, and all that jazz. 

Unless you can make it an art form. 

I like to think I have made it some kind of art form, and not just roommate radio.

I don't often bring CDs into the studio; it's almost exclusively vinyl for this dude. But tonight I wanted to play a few tunes to celebrate Bunny Day and St. Stupid's Day, so I brought a few CDs along just to find out the CD player was not in operating condition. And I didn't bring nearly enough vinyl to fill two hours. I did have my trusty 5GB external hard drive filled to the brim with tasty musical treats, but I hadn't prepared to pull anything from there, so there was more improvisation on this night than I am used to.

You can probably hear it in my delivery.

And I had a friend in the studio I forgot was coming by, and I like to play the good host, all the while troubleshooting the CD players, which I was unable to do.

Taking a look at the playlist looks pretty satisfying though. I may sound a little cringe on the mic. Let me know. I can take it. My dad always told me it's healthy to embarrass yourself from time to time: it builds character. If that's the case, John Hell was certainly representing tonight!

Come look behind the curtain.

Enjoy.

jh 

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
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White Man's Got A God Complex: Last Poets
Religious Vomit: Dead Kennedys
Faith in My Pocket: Mark Growden

Imagine (Take 1): John Lennon
Loose Lucy: Grateful Dead
I've Got A Tiger By The Tail: Buck Owens and His Buckaroos

Gila Monster: King Gizzard
In and Out of Grace: Mudhoney
I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You: Ramones
Stunner: OSees

Psychedelic Orgasm: Kim Gordon
Know Your Rights: The Clash

No Place To Fall: Kevin Morby
She Don't Care: Ty Segall
Jesus Was Way Cool: King Missile
Built For Speed: Howlin' Wolf
Mercy: John Cale

Amphetamine: Rocket From The Tombs
Sister Morphine: Marianne Fatihfull
Gates of Eden: Bob Dylan
White Linen: Blüchunks

Bedside Manners: The Black Crowes
Downtown: Johnny Thunders
Walk On: Dave Alvin and Jimmy Dale Gilmore

Chocolate Jesus: Tom Waits

John Hell's Live Bootleg Bonanza - Monday, February 22nd, 2021 - 6-8PM Pacific - Black Crowes June 15, 1991 - Rolling Stones March, 13, 1971

John Hell's Live Bootleg Bonanza

Monday's 6-8PM Pacific

http://radiovalencia.fm

Hot damn it's time for some southern harmony tonight with the Black Crowes! This amazing show from the end of the first national tour in 1991 will blow the doors off your Cadillac! As well it should. What a brilliant back the Black Crowes were in the early 90s. I thought they rivaled the Stones when they were at the top of their game. I'm certain if Duane Allman were alive he would have been nodding in agreement to the power of this band. 

Speaking of the Allman Brothers, they deserve two hours to themselves, so I'm going to grab a real treat for you in the weeks to come. 

I have enough time to slip in a 30 minute live taste for you following this BC show. So hold onto your hats as I slide in a kick ass Live at Leeds show from the Rolling Stones March 13, 1971. Can you imagine seeing the Black Crowes opening up for the Stones when both of these bands were at the top of their game? 

DAYUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!

Both bands are still around, so who knows what the future holds?

Enjoy.

Stick around for my two hour music mix, Hell's Kitchen Radio, right after the Bootleg Bonanza, 8-10PM Monday night. 

Hell's Kitchen Radio #297: Steal This Show

 

Stream the Jubilation, HERE!

Download the Contraband, HERE!

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I purchased my first bootleg, via cassette from a street vender on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, way back in 1983. It was a Grateful Dead show (obviously) from their 1981 European tour. Specifically, it was the Copenhagen, Denmark show from October 8, 1981. It was the second set only, and an audience recording. I didn't care. I was so excited. I was just shy of 13 years old, and I knew that I was in possession of some serious contraband. It thrilled me. My heart was racing. I had to hide it away. I didn't want to get busted holding something that I knew I wasn't supposed to have.

Looking back on that, it's so sweet I thought that way.

Shortly after that I began to hear tales of a store near my San Mateo home, in Burlingame, "The Record Man", who had a three ring binder full of shows, called "the bible", that he would pull out to show you if you asked nicely. I can picture him to this very day. I bought the brilliant June 18, 1975 Pink Floyd show from Boston Garden. This is an audience copy as well, but the quality far surpassed the 81 Dead show I had. This Floyd show had early versions of Sheep and Dogs, with their original titles "You've Got to be Crazy", and "Raving and Drooling", respectively. I was floored. By now I was totally and completely obsessed. I knew that I couldn't keep spending money on boots, since I didn't have a lot to begin with, having no job at 14. I had to think of other ways to find this golden booty.

I go into much better detail about my obvious addiction in a previous post, which you can find here.

I download an average of 12 shows a week these days. This year I've taken to featuring many of these shows during my second hour, but tonight I thought I'd take both hours to share what I've found recently. Sometimes two hours just is not enough! It's a mix from rock and blues, to jazz and reggae. There's some Americana and psych thrown in for good measure. As always I put the date and location for your edification.

In a few months I'm hoping to host another Rock Fight, where I go up against another bootleg collector and beat them to a pulp (aurally speaking that is) for about four hours. This time around, sound engineer John Karr will be joining me. Look towards the month of June for this show. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, sit back, put on the headphones, close your eyes, and let me take you to many venues and many nights of live musical magic.

Enjoy.

jh

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

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Rastaman Chant: Bob Marley and the Wailers (The Paris Theatre, London, May 24, 1973)
When the Music's Over: The Doors (09-18-68 Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark)

No Speak, No Slave: The Black Crowes (06-11-92 Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sun Plaza)
Incident and Neshabur: Santana (09-23-74 University Arena, Albuquerque NM)

Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk: Charles Mingus Sextet (64-04-14
Store Sal, Odd Fellow Palet, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Judy is a Punk: The Ramones (02-11-80 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
I Know You Rider: Janis Joplin (07-28-66 California Hall, San Francisco, CA)

Hunt For Grandpa: Goober and the Peas
No Expectations: The Rolling Stones (alternate take)
Round and Round: OP8

Gloria: Patti Smith (06-25-2005 Royal Festival Hall, London, England)
Graveyard Shift: Uncle Tupelo (08-15-90 Off Broadway, St. Louis, MO)
I'm Losing You: The Faces (05-13-71 John Peel Sunday Concert, Paris Cinema, London, England)

Careful With That Axe, Eugene: Pink Floyd (05-09-77 Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA)
Salty Dog: Procol Harum (05-05-77 Hofstra University Playhouse, Hempstead, New York)

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: Neil Young and Crazy Horse: (02-25-70, Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio)
Black Diamond: Kiss (09-05-77 Tarrant County Convention Center, Ft. Worth, TX)

Johnny B. Goode: Chuck Berry (09-1967 Fillmore Auditorium, SF, CA)

Rock Fight 11

Well we've gone and done it again. Last night Ron Donovan and I hosted ROCK FIGHT 11! At this early hour I'm a bit tired; having hosted a six hour show, interviewed three amazing people, played some of the rip-roaringest rock and roll, put up with Ron, and standing on my feet from about 6:30AM-12midnight.

My neck hurts.

In our previous 10! incarnations of Rock Fight, the format was all about not repeating an artist throughout the night. Though this proved to be a challenge, Ron and I were always up for the challenge. You see, rock poster artist Ron Donovan, and yours truly, John Hell, have what quite possibly will prove to be the LARGEST LIVE BOOTLEG COLLECTION IN THE WEST! Really, I stake my 25+ year radio reputation against that claim. We're junkies for the live rock 'n roll, and we want to share our problem with you.

For Rock Fight 11 we changed up the format a bit. Instead of it being a plethora of fabulous finger picking and hellacious head banging from many, MANY bands, we would do 30 minute blocks of a featured band. The set list below includes the song/artist/date/location and who selected the tune (JH=John Hell, RD=Ron Donovan).

We had some special guests in the studio, as always. I want to thank Bassy Stacy and Amy Ace of the all-female KISS cover band, KISSER for stopping by. I've been a fan of Stacy since she was in the Kinks cover band, The Minks. KISSER is amazing! This is the band we've all been waiting for. Listen to the interview and you can hear for yourself how enthusiastic they are about "their" music and the gigs. You have got to see them live. In the meantime check out their YouTube channel.

Even Steffan Chirazi of "So What" the official Metallica fanzine did a set. And what a set it was! He came by to talk about the recent Metallica show in ANTARCTICA! What the what?! Awesome! Steffan is a talented and experienced journalist, so interviewing him is always a blast. You have got to hear his story about Axel Rose. You may remember Steffan from the show he and I co-hosted back in May, following the passing of Margaret Thatcher. Take a listen.

Last night he brought some tasty tracks from the Antarctica set, as well as a few other juicy tidbits.

The banter was brilliant at times, and other times I was losing track of Ron's technical DJ errors. HA! That, and he talking away from the mic, and I wanted to hit him over the head with the turntable more than once. How I love that hobbit-wizard of the ink pulling world.

We'll do it again in June. Until then...

You can download all the delightful delicacies here.
Feel free to stream this into your noggin here.
You can check out all of my shows by going here, or just scroll down.

To check out previous Rock Fights, go here:
Rock Fight 10
Rock Fight 9
Rock Fight 8
Rock Fight 7
Rock Fight 6
Rock Fight 5
Rock Fight 4 - Playlist only
Rock Fight 3 - Playlist only
Rock Fight 2 - Playlist only
Rock Fight 1 - Playlist only

I'm taking a few weeks off for the holidays and heading to South Island, New Zealand! I can't wait. I'll see you all in January. Have a great holiday season, and get well rested and prepare for a kick ass 2014, with more of A Season in Hell, with John Hell on the greatest radio station west of East Rutherford, NJ, Radio Valencia!

A Season in Hell with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia, 87.9FM in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Enjoy.

jh

Rock Fight: Cheech and Chong
Whipping Post: Allman Brothers (07/03/1970 Atlanta Pop Festival)-JH
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed: Allman Brothers (2/11/1970 Fillmore East, NYC)-JH

Remedy: The Black Crowes (10/28/1998 Paris)-RD

Wiser Time: The Black Crowes (10/28/1998 Paris)-R
Hard to Handle: The Black Crowes (05/26/1995 Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA)-RD

Sin City: AC/DC (10/1979 Australia)-RD

Cold Shot: Stevie Ray Vaughn (12/31/86 Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA)-JH

Texas Flood: Stevie Ray Vaughn (06/17/1985 Red Rocks Amp., Morrison, CO)-JH
Superstition: Stevie Ray Vaughn (04/29/1990 Jazz & Hertiage Festival, New Orleans, LA)-JH

I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town: Stevie Ray Vaughn & Albert King (12/06/1983 CHCH Studios, Ontario, CN)-JH
Thank You/Jesus Just Left Chicago/Waiting for the Bus: ZZ Top (04/15/1980 Clarkston, MS-RD

I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide: ZZ Top (04/19/1980 Essen, GR)-RD
Beer Drinkers and Hellraisers: ZZ Top (04/15/1980 Clarkston, MS)
The Bomber: James Gang (02/26/2001, Allen Theater, Cleveland, OH)-JH

Interview with Kisser

Detroit Rock Fight City: KISS (09/03/1976 Richfield, OH)-JH
Love Gun, KISSER (07/27/1973 Visalia, CA)-JH

Interview with KISSER

Black Diamond: KISS (11/27/1979 Fresno, CA)-JH

Interview with KISSER

She: Kiss (05/31/1974 Long Beach, CA)-JH
Sitting by the Ocean: Queens of the Stoneage (12/07/13  KROQ)-RD
With the Flow: Queens of the Stoneage (12/07/13  KROQ)-RD

Open Invitation: Santana (04/06/87 East Berlin, Germany-RD
Snowblind: Black Sabbath (08/26/2013 Shoreline, Mountain View, CA)-JH
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Metallica (09/21/2013 Apollo Theater, NYC, NY)-RD

Hit the Lights: Metallica (09/21/2013 Apollo Theater, NYC, NY)-RD
You Are Blessened: Melvins (08/22/2013 Slim's, SF, CA)-JH

Interview with Steffan Chirazi of Metallica fanzine "So What"

Fight Fire With Fire: Metallica (12/20/1984 Lyceum Theater, London, England)-Steffan

Interview with Steffan Chirazi of Metallica fanzine "So What"

Master of Puppets (headphones-mix): Metallica (12/08/2013 Antarctica)-Steffan
Master of Puppets: Metallica (12/08/2013 Antarctica)-JH

Interview with Steffan Chirazi of Metallica fanzine "So What"

Electric Eye: Judas Priest (05/23/983 US Festival)-Steffan
Riding on the Wind: Judas Priest (05/23/1983 US Festival)-Steffan

Lust For Life: Iggy Pop (01/26/1992 Nue Welt, Berlin)-Steffan
Raw Power: Iggy Pop (03/07/1977 Rainbow Theater, London, England)-Steffan

In My Time of Dying: Led Zeppelin (03/20/1975 Vancouver, BC)-JH
We're Gonna Groove: Led Zeppelin (01/01/1971 Canada)-JH

Heartbreaker: Led Zeppelin (06/02/1973 Kezar Stadium, SF, CA)-JH
Astro Boy (outtake 2): Jimi Hendrix (1969 studio outtake)-RD

Power of Soul: Jimi Hendrix (12/23/1969 Studio outtakes)-JH
Red House: Jimi Hendrix (07/30/1970 Honolulu, HI)-JH

Free Ride: Edgar Winter (09/03/1974 New Haven, CT)-RD
A Quick One While He's Away: The Who (04/06/1968 Fillmore East, NYC)-JH

Relax: The Who (04/05/1968 Fillmore East, NYC)-JH

Overture/It's a Boy: The Who (10/22/1969 Fillmore East, NYC)-JH