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.
Midwest rock is where it was at back in the 70s. Seriously, if you wanted to Rock, then it was all about Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the such. I really think there wouldn't have been any arena rock if it weren't from the many bands that hailed from those states. What would have been the point?
Can you even imagine the dreams of every young headbanger growing up in the basements of the Midwest back then, seeing themselves on the big stage, rockin' out to all the denim-clad teens, throwing the devil horns into the air?
And all that Aquanet!
I've got a couple bands that are going to make you flash that Zippo lighter by the end of the show.
First up is an extremely rare James Gang show. Not many of these Joe Walsh-era James Gang shows exist, and those that do are mostly audience recordings. This one from the Fillmore West in San Francisco, November 21, 1970 is a carefully remastered audience recording that really impresses me. I've had the previous version of this show for many years and already loved it. When the remaster came out I could hardly believe this wasn't a soundboard. There's a lot I could say about this band and this show, but I really think the performance speaks for itself.
What's crazy about this show is the lineup. James Gang was in support of Love with Arthur Lee. But the opening band was a very young Black Sabbath on their first tour of the United States! WOW!
Lineage: unknown stereo reel-to-reel recorder -> master stereo reel -> 1st generation stereo TDK-SA C90 cassette, Dolby B on
Your headliner tonight is the one and only birthday boy himself, Alice Cooper from El Paso, Texas, June 4, 1980. What an amazing band, and more importantly, too underrated. I never really understood why? Was is the makeup? I can't imagine. Was it the horror-theme of much of the lyrics? Maybe. Were they being overshadowed by others like Kiss, Ted Nugent, and ZZ Top? That's what I'm thinking. Frank Zappa knew what was up, signing them to his label. Smart guy, that Zappa fella. Whatever happened to him? This show is taken from a "Supergroups in Concert" broadcast, October 25, 1980...right before Halloween. I cut out the DJ banter and interviews, and leave you with just the music. You're welcome.
Vicent Furnier (aka: Alice Cooper) was born in Detroit, Michigan but moved to Phoenix, Arizona as a young teen. I like to think the Midwest Rock sound is in his DNA. Cooper turned 74 on February 4th.
Lineage: Vinyl>VPI HW 16.5 Record Vacuum>VPI MK III/Audioquest PT-6 Arm/AT OC-9 Cartridge>Sony CDRW 33 Pro Cd Recorder>CDRW>WAV>CD WAV>Flac
Support these bands. Buy their officially released music and merch, and never ever sell live bootlegs. These are for trade only.
Stick around Monday's 8-10PM Pacific for my weekly music mix, Hell's Kitchen Radio. Lots of new music to share with you every week.
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Rain makes me nostalgic. It reminds me of when I was younger and was first hearing tunes that I really connected with. I remember walking around San Mateo, south of San Francisco, as a teenager with my headphones on listening to Led Zeppelin and hungry for more. I remember hearing bands like Judas Priest and wanting to eat up everything Metal. I think about my growing love of the Grateful Dead, starting around 1983 when I was 13.
Tonight's show is all about discovery. It's the feeling you get when you hear something you've never heard before, but it gets all up in ya, and you have to have more. We're lucky to live in a world where media is at our fingertips, but that still doesn't change the sensation one gets when they hear something new and they just have to have more of it.
Into the Void: Black Sabbath
Sacrifice: Glitter Wizard
Gyre: Meatbodies
Second Coming/Ballad of Dwight Fry: Alice Cooper
Paper: Ty Segall
Smells Like Teen Spirit: Willie Nelson
Polly (Demo): Kurt Cobain
Night Goat: Melvins
Greedy Man: James Brown
Oh My People: Last Poets
Love Buzz: Nirvana (1991-11-25 - Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL)
Rockin' In The Free World: Neil Young (04-07-1990 Indiana Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, IN)
Little Girl Blue: Nina Simone (12-1977 Theater Royal Drury Lane, London, England)
Hitler/All Hail The American Night/The Holy Shah: Jim Morrison (March 1969 Los Angeles, CA)
54-46 Was Her Number: Toots and the Maytals (1976 The Longbrach Saloon, Berkeley, CA)
Walk Away: James Gang (02-26-2001, Allen Theater, Cleveland, OH)
The Green Manalishi: Judas Priest (11-04-1979 The Palladium, NYC, NY)
Parchment Farm: Blue Cheer
Pepsi Jingle: T-Rex
Rock And Roll Queen: Mott the Hoople
Ok, so in the "I've been way too busy to upload any of my shows lately" theme, this is a real winner. This show is all live cuts, starting with a German radio station announcing the death of Elvis Presley. How's that for a start? Somewhere along the way I actually play some live Elvis. And it's a doozy too.
There's something for everyone: there's goth bikers in lace; there's shoe gazers covered in syrup; there's classic rockers on tricycles sucking pacifiers. I tell ya this is the kind of show you've been waiting for.
Just take a look at this playlist!!!
And if you tune into my show on a regular basis, then you know that my live stuff is second to NONE! Take THAT Rotten Ronnie!
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A Season in Hell with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia, 87.9FM in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
Exodus: Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980-07-12 - Wales, UK)
Elvis is Dead: German Radio
Kathy's Song: Simon and Garfunkel (Live in Central Park, NYC)
Big Chief: The Meters (1976-10-01 - Baton Rouge, LA)
Red Right Hand: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2013-04-09, San Francisco, CA)
Human Fly: The Cramps (1982-05-20 - Seattle, WA)
Sympathy for the Devil: Rolling Stones (1969-11-09 - Oakland, CA)
When the Music's Over: The Doors (1970-07-05 - Seattle, WA)
Relgion: PIL (1983-11-08 - Bristol, England)
Cherry Bomb: The Runaways (1976-07-19 - Cleveland, OH)
Sex Ed Class->Don't Touch Me There->Mondo Bondage:The Tubes (1977-04-15-San Francisco, CA)
Unknown Track: Electric Masada (2013-7-13, Rotterdam)
Wooden Ships: CSNY (1969-08-26 Greek Theater - LA, CA)
The Way Young Lovers Do: Van Morrison (Demo 1968)
The Bomber: James Gang (2001-02-26 - Cleveland, OH)
An American Journey: Elvis Presley (1972-04-10 Richmond, VA)
Let's Go Crazy: Prince with 3rd Eye Girl (2013-04-24, San Francisco, CA)
Another rare night with no guests. I pulled a lot of tonight's music from the Radio Valencia library. I have a dream to have a library to rival any free form radio stations' library. We don't have enough space for that, but I can dream can't I? Most DJs bring their own music in, so it's not like we don't each have enough great things to share with you. But I did have a lot of fun pulling from what was a available.
I also rant on a bit about government intrusion and how the media plays us all for saps. It's obvious you don't have enough Slack.
Tonight was also the 40th anniversary of a classic Grateful Dead show. RFK Stadium, Washington DC, June 10th, 1973. I played a stellar Eyes of the World to close out the show.
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Enjoy.
jh
Up in Smoke: Cheech and Chong
Cuban Pete: Desi Arnez
More Peas: The JB's
I Gotta Be Me: Sammy Davis Jr.
Are you Ready? Grand Funk Railroad
The Bomber (Closet Queen, Cast Your Fate to the Wind): James Gang
You Win Again: Ray Charles
I love having local bands in the studio, and The Y Axes made my night.
Now here's a young band, with a fresh pop sound, that's making it in the post-record label era. Let's celebrate young, fresh bands! I swear, if I could have hastened the death of the record label sooner I would have.
I follow up their visit with some live tracks I've yet to share with you.
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Enjoy.
jh
Do It: Rollins Band
Come on Over: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Cardboard Houses: HRVD
Winter Bones: The Y Axes
Interview with The Y Axes
Neon Streets: The Y Axes
Loop Machine: The Y Axes
Green to Gold: The Y Axes
I Want to Marry A Lighthouse Keeper: Erika Eigen
Mermaids: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Lady Day and John Coltrane: Gil Scott-Heron
The Move Apart Parcel: Rin Tin Tiger
Mr Slick: Ken Nordine
What Does Your Soul Look Like?: DJ Shadow
Jams Run Free: Sonic Youth
Mojo Man: Jimi Hendrix
Closet Queen: James Gang (July 15, 1971 Oenkerk, Frisa, Holland)
400 Years: Peter Tosh (Pier 84, NYC, NY, July 6, 1983)
Virtual Insanity: Jamiroquai (Tokyo Dome, Japan, November 17, 1999)
Big Chief: The Meters (The Kingfish Lounge Baton Rouge, LA Oct. 1, 1976)
Squeeze Me Macaroni: Mr. Bungle (March 3, 1993 The Omni, Oakland, CA)
Here Comes the Sun: Nina Simone (August 9, 2000 Marciac, France)
Crawlin' King Snake: The Doors (March 18, 1967, Detroit, MI)
I am so going to kick Ron Donovan's ass tonight! I can almost taste it. Er...the win, not his dirty, Hobbit ass. ew
For five years Ron and I have gone mano-a-mano in a battle royal of bootleg mayhem. We have so many live shows between us, that the only way we have a chance to listen to them is when we do this show.
Ron has generally sucked at this show. He always brings in lame 70s classic rock, or poor audience recordings, which he proceeds to do air guitar jerk-off leads to. Poor guy.
I, on the other hand, have stellar soundboards, of kick ass ROCK!, which will blow your earholes our, and pop your corneas off. Good stuff.
We have some bands come in, and always welcome listener interaction.
Local band, Illogistical Resource Dept. came by to share some of their amazing music. The interview was tip top notch. Check out their music and then go buy it.
Live Evil stopped by to talk about their Tuesday night show at the Knockout in SF. These guys are almost dirtier than I am.
Following all of this, Ron and I paid tribute to the 50th anniversaries of both the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
Guitar: Prince (O2 Arena) RD
Remedy: Black Crowes w/Jimmy Page (10-18-99 - The Greek Theater, LA, CA) JH
Take Me: Kiss (07-27-2001 - Sau Paulo, Brazil) RD
The Trooper: Iron Maiden (05-26-1983 - Hammersmith Odeon - London) JH
Rock Block One: Ron Donovan
Renegade: Damn Yankees (01-20-1993 - Tokyo Japan) RD
Just What the Doctor Ordered: Ted Nugent (2010 - Sioux Falls, SD) RD
Southern Girls: Cheap Trick (Alt In Color recording with Producer Steve Albini) RD
Closet Queen: James Gang (07-15-1971 - Holland) JH
Shaking All Over: The Who (04-06-1968 - Fillmore East) JH
Hey Hey My My (Into the Black): Neil Young (02-06-1984 - Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA) JH
Ramble On: Led Zeppelin (12-10-2010 - O2 Arena, London) Both
Trade Off Set Two:
Stone Cold Bush: Red Hot Chili Peppers (04-28-1989 - Sundance Club, Bayshore, NY) JH
Running with the Devil: Van Halen (Gene Simmons Demo Tape) RD
Pink: Boris (12-05-2012 - Islington Mill, Salford, UK) JH
Been Away Too Long: Soundgarden (11-28-2012 - Phoenix Theater - Toronto, CN) RD
Rock Block Two: John Hell
Bad Reputation: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (08-08-1981 - Firemen's Memorial Park, Hempsted NJ) JH
Rebel Girl: Bikini Kill (09-21-1992 - Exit 99, Fargo, ND) JH
Done Got Old: Heartless Bastards (07-27-2012 - Wooly's, Des Moines, IA) JH
My Generation: Patti Smith w/Bruce Springsteen (11-26-1976 - The Bottom Line, NY, NY) JH
Rock Block Two: Ron Donovan
Long Live R&R: Dio (11-28-1984 - Tokyo, Japan) RD
Big Time: Peter Gabriel (10-08-2012 - Hollywood Bowl) RD
War Pigs: Black Sabbath (04-26-1970 - BBC - Peel Session) guest DJ - Noa "Oz" Appleton
TV Set: The Cramps (05-20-1982 - Astor Park, Seattle, Washington, USA) JH
Call Of The Wig Hat: The Cramps (05-20-1982 - Astor Park, Seattle, Washington, USA) JH
Memphis, Tennessee: Rolling Stones (09-23-63 - BBC) - JH
Not Fade Away: Rolling Stones (04-13-1964 - BBC) - JH
Fade to Black: Rolling Stones (12-15-2012 - New Jersey) RD
Gimme Shelter: Rolling Stones (11-09-69 - Oakland, CA) JH
In Another Land: Rolling Stones (Satanic Majesties Outtakes) RD
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad: Derek and the Dominos (11-20-1970 - Santa Monica) JH
Got To Get Better In A Little While: Eric Clapton (2009 - Tokyo, Japan) RD
Big River: The Beat Farmers (12-07-1985 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz) JH
Like many of you who live in San Francisco, I like to take advantage of all the free goings on in our fair city during the summer months. One of my absolute favorite things to do is Sunday Streets. This year, they were kind enough to allow the Mission to host four Sundays-worth of events. Lucky us.
At the beginning of July Radio Valencia broadcasted from in front of Stage Werx from 11-4. We had ten DJs, myself included, host 30-minute sets. I cannot convey to you the amount of pleasure we had hanging out in the streets with everyone. What a blast. My ladies and I walked around for a bit to take in all of the non-car-related ambiance. So many great local shops hawking their wares on the sidewalk, and live music in the intersections.
One of the bands, whom I've seen out there on previous Sunday Streets' was local alt-folk trio Rin Tin Tiger. Formerly Westwood & Willow, these homespun characters create a magnificent stew of unique musicianship, that also carries some of their influences, including Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Morrissey. They've been playing a lot around the Bay Area since 2010, and released an excellent self-titled 6-song EP in 2011. Their first full-length release, "Toxic Pocketbook" is due for release this Thursday, July 26th. Their having a CD release party at Great American Music Hall that night. Go check them out.
Tonight on my show, I'm pleased to have Rin Tin Tiger in the studio, talking about the upcoming show, the new CD, their own style of alt-folk in a town known for punk, funk and junk.
Support live, local music, often.
Lots of new-ish music before and after the interview, along with some live, tasty treats in the second hour.
You can download this show, and glorious interview, here.
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