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.
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
Listen into all my shows here! Subscribe to my show, via
How many ways am I supposed to say it, you do not get nearly enough good music in your diet. I want you to promise that if I drop off the face of this Earth, that you are going to commit to listening to quality music on the daily. And you need to mix it up. You can't just stay with the same genre, you know? My suggestion, when you go record shopping and you purchase three or more records make at least one from a genre you aren't used to. Trust me, it's a great way to build your collection while broadening your horizons.
I know that my international collection was built in this way. And I never would have discovered the richness of African Funk if I didn't stick to this method. And one artist leads to another, and one unheard of genre leads to another. My dad always said there's no reward in life without risk. I have always taken that to heart, in ways I'm not ready to discuss on this blog. I can attest to the fact that taking a risk on music is always a good thing. Except that hair metal band, Cinderella. There was no redeeming qualities in that band, none. Winger either. Nope. Sorry. None.
As for this show right here, I think the sets speak for themselves. I was in a real dance mood in the first few sets; really funky. If you haven't heard Mdou Moctar, then you haven't heard one of the all-time greatest guitarist there is, alive or dead. Seriously, he's up there with Hendrix and Van Halen. There's new music from Japan's Kikagaku Moyo, who are on their final tour right now. A show I cannot attend because I'm going to be in Yosemite. Lucky me. I gave tickets away in the second hour to Diane Coffee. You really need to check them out. The entire lineup is in the last half hour.
Lots of new music for you that isn't much of a risk. Perhaps I need to get a bit more edgy next week? Tune in.
Enjoy.
jh
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Radio Valencia in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
Download the Mirth HERE! Listen into all my shows here! Subscribe to my show, via
Oooooooohhhhhh weeeeeeeee It's time for my 9th annual Annual Annual!!!!!
I live for this time of year.
For the ninth consecutive year I'm taking a night to focus on one year that was chock full of tasty tunes. For this show it's all about 1969. Atlanta Music Festival, Woodstock, Altamont, Moon Landing, Nixon!
The final year of a tumultuous decade saw a lot of bands on the wane and a few starting out. The music scene was diverging as proto-punk bands were emerging, while funk and country were defining themselves more succinctly.
As always there is too much in my library to make the perfect two hour show; I merely scratched the surface, which means next week I'll have 1969 left overs to share!
Speaking of left overs, enjoy the week, and care for yourselves and those around you. Let's find a way to treat each other with kindness during this time of insecurity. We deserve better.
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Radio Valencia in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Facebook Follow Radio Valencia on Twitter Follow Radio Valencia on Facebook Follow me on Instagram Debut Set:
Good Times, Bad Times: Led Zeppelin
Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge
The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson
I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore: Dusty Springfield
Magica: Os Mutantes
Because/You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King: The Beatles - Final Recorded LP
Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud: James Brown
Lay Lady Lay: The Byrds
Girl From North Country: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: Neil Young and Crazy Horse - First LP with Crazy Horse
Kick Out The Jams: MC5 - Debut LP
3/5 Of A Mile in 10 Seconds: Jefferson Airplane
Okie From Muskogee: Merle Haggard
Tear Drop City: The Monkeys - First LP without Peter Tork
The Painter: Deep Purple
1969: The Stooges - Debut LP
Beginning To See The Light: Velvet Underground
God Knows I'm Good: David Bowie
Nobody's Fault But Mine: Nina Simone
In the Ghetto: Elvis Presley
Mr. Green Genes: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Seeing: Moby Grape
Stream the answer, HERE! Download the question, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down
Thanks for tuning in every Monday night at 8. I never mention this on the blog, but it's always fun to chat folks up during my show, so please if you're listening take a second to say hi on the Radio Valencia Chatterbox, or if you're a FB friend, then on there.
Another show, another tribute. What's up with this friggin' year? I have done more tributes in this single solitary year than in my first 25+ years in radio, combined! Greg Lake of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame passed from cancer at the age of 69 last weekend. Best known for his days as bassist/vocalist for ELP, he was also a co-founder of the seminal prog-rock band King Crimson, where he performed on the first record and toured for their first two LPs before going on to start ELP alongside the late great Keith Emerson, who died in March of this year, and Carl Palmer who still has a few weeks left before something horrible happens to him. ugh
Much of the first hour is actually down right danceable. There are some seriously funky-ass tracks in here. Do me a favor and get your groove on until it's too late.
The second hour features a dive into my live music vault. And what a vault it is. You know, when I started doing the community radio thing a while back I committed to playing an hour of live music each week. I've sort of slacked off on that one, and for good reason. There are so many great releases I want to play with you week in and week out that the live music thing has had to take a back seat. Well not tonight. Take a look at the second half of the playlist and you can see that it's all over the damn place, and worth every second of your precious time.
I know the world has totally sucked this year. Who will it take next? Alan Thicke? Meredith Baxter (formerly Meredith Baxter-Bernie)? The election will still be with us. Syria will still be with us. Your job will still be with us...er, you. Maybe we just need to put some of this aside and enjoy the music for a little while.
Winter in America: Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
Power to the People: Curtis Mayfield
I'm So Bored with the USA: The Clash
The Candidate: Urge Overkill
Smokin' Cheeba Cheeba: George Benson
The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson
Black Enough: The Pharaohs
Home Affairs: Osibisa
Since You've Been Gone: James Brown
Dip Stick: The Perfect Circle
Tidal Wave: Thee Oh Sees (Live at The Chapel, SF, CA - 2015)
She's On Fire: King Tuff (Live at Pickathon - 2013)
You Got It: Mudhoney (2001-01-13, Knitting Factory, LA, CA)
I've Been Loving You Too Long: Otis Redding (1966-04-10 Whiskey A-Go-Go, Hollywood, CA)
Toussaint L'Overture: Santana (1973-02-26, The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA)
Dance to the Music: Sly and the Family Stone (1970-10-09, Piknik Kasteel Groeneveld Baarn)
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed: The Allman Brothers Band (1971-03-13 Fillmore East, NYC)
Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago: ZZ Top (1980-04-15 Pine Knob, Clarkston, MI)
Big Chief: The Meters (1976-10-01 The Kingfish Lounge, Baton Rouge, LA)
Stream the craziness, HERE! Download the straight TRUTH, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down
Subscribe to myhere
There were so many amazing sets tonight. For the past month or so I've been designating a "Set of the Week" to sets that have the type of character that stands out against the rest of the program. Tonight, I swear there must be at least three sets that I could have given the title to. It was that kind of night. Everything just made sense. Just take a look at the playlist below, and I think you'll agree.
Really, take a look at the Set of the Night™. It's all about T. Rex. First, there's the new LP release from Ty Segall "Ty Rex", which is all T. Rex covers Ty originally released on 7", with the addition of the track I played, for vinyl only. Hell yes! I follow that up with a John Zorn produced track from Zorn's "Great Jewish Composers" series on Marc Bolan. Finally I have to play some T. Rex. Do I play "Bang A Gong"? Fuck no! What radio station are you tuned into? Get your head out of your ass. No. I play "The Motivator" because it kicks serious ass! Now THAT is a quality set.
But later in the night I connected Black Sabbath to Primus. How did I do this? I know you're interested. Get this: The Butthole Surfers track I played, "Dum Dum", uses the exact same drum melody as "Children of the Grave" by Sabbath. I followed up the Buttholes with some Melvins, featuring Pinkus and Leary from the Buttholes, off of the 2015 Melvins "hold it in" release. But wait, it gets better! Dale Crover is the drummer from the Melvins (but you know that). He's also the guitarist/singer for Altamont! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! And Altamont is a local SF band, which leads to me playing the next four local bands: Rube Waddell from Oakland; The Mummies from San Mateo (where I went to high school, thank you very much, and saw The Mummies at Pony Express Pizza in Redwood City, when I was 16-18); SF's Polkacide, which if you haven't seen them then you just plain suck, and you know it. Give it up already. Really. Give it up. Finally, South Bay's Primus. They suck, but I still love them. I was at that Berkeley Square shows that turned into "Suck on This". Party. With. Me.
What a ride. If memory serves the banter was humorous at times, and I didn't stick around long enough to make you run away screaming.
There's some very early (1965) Pink Floyd near the end, and an isolated vocal track from a young and wild (though probably not nearly as wild as he would be following the electro shock treatments he received for skipping out on Vietnam) Roky Erickson.
That's probably more than you wanted to read, but aren't you happier for doing so? No? Thanks for being a friend. Can you feel the love? Just feel the love, already.
21st Century Schizoid Man: King Crimson
Starliner: Montrose
Easy Now: Hot Tuna (request)
Into the Sun: Grand Funk Railroad
Give Me Some Skin: James Brown
***Set of the Night***
20th Century Boy: Ty Segall
Children of the Revolution: Arto Lindsey and Marc Ribot
The Motivator: T Rex
Stay Away From Downtown: Redd Kross
Steppin' Out: John Mayal's Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton)
The Thrill is Gone: BB King
Rubber Biscuit: Blues Brothers
Spazz: The Elastic Band (request)
Baby Let Me Kiss You: King Floyd
Children of the Grave: Black Sabbath
Dum Dum: Butthole Surfers
Bride of Crankenstein: The Melvins
Young Man Blues: Altamont
Boom Boom: Rube Waddell
The Frisco Freeze: The Mummies
Glorious: Polkacide
John the Fisherman: Primus
Africa: Sun Ra
Double-O Bo: Pink Floyd
Below is a great and grimy commercial from Pony Express Pizza's Hair Metal Week. I'm so happy this place existed. We need more all-ages venues for the kids, today.
Stream inspired radio, HERE! Download life-affirming radio, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down Subscribe to my show, via
Some nights I'm not super inspired when I walk into the studio. That doesn't mean I don't want to be on the air. Au contraire, there's nothing I love more. It's more like, I have a ton of music and I'm not certain exactly what I'm going to play and when I'm going to play it. It's a first world problem.
Yesterday was James Brown's birthday, so it was apropos that I threw on some live JB in there. Also it was the third anniversary of the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys. I cannot believe that it's been three years already. Really, that's just crazy.
It's good to be back. I haven't taken so many breaks in a good decade. I'm back in the groove after tonight's show.
After such hullabaloo from the Rock Fight 10 show, I needed a much
deserved break. Also, I produced and hosted Comic Outpost TV for the SF
comic store Comic Outpost, at Comic Con in San Diego. More on that
coming soon. What an eyeopener that was.
My show has never been genre-specific. I plays what I wants to. But that's not saying that I can't focus on a specific genre from time to time. I've been collecting music (LPs, CDs, digital) since I was a wee lad, dating back to my first KISS records in the mid 1970s.
I have a rule when I shop for music: if I purchase three things or more, one MUST be from an International artist (reggae, dub, middle-eastern, etc.), one must be Jazz. By doing this I've realy grown a very well-rounded library. Tonight I was in the mood for Jazz. Most of the show is some tasty vinyl treats.
Get into it. Let your mind wander about this one.
Snap your fingers along with the streaming beat, here.
Download this toe tapping menagerie, here.
Listen to all of my cool stylings here, or just scroll down.
Enjoy.
jh
Up in Smoke: Cheech and Chong
Interstellar Overdrive: The Melvins
Sysyphus: Pink Floyd
Don't Box Me In: Stan Ridgeway/Stuart Copeland
Slop: Mingus
Back Home: Yusef Lateef
Sticks and Stones: Boogaloo Joe Jones
Radebe: Johnny Dyani
Investigation: Carl Holmes
Money in the Pocket: Cannonball Adderley
Darling Nikki: Sex Mob
Two Bass Hit: Miles Davis
Strangers in the Day: John Lurie
Mas Que Nada: Dizzy Gillespie
The Bump: George Freeman
21st Century Schizoid Man: King Crimson
I want to thank Pirate Vereker (Mondays 6-8pm) for the idea for the show title tonight.
It's so much fun to just show up to the studio with an arm full of music, not knowing exactly what it is that I'm going to play. Once again, tonight was a fun night.
Download this epic show here. Stream it in its entirety here. Find all of my shows here, or just scroll down.
Do It: Rollins Band
Mexican Radio: Wall of Voodoo
Click your Fingers Applauding the Play: Roky Erickson
The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson
Concert Outlook
Everything Scatter: Fela Kuti
Who Stole the Keeshka: Polkacide
Pee Wee Herman Theme: Mr. Bungle
The Salamander: Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant
Inner Ear Rupture->Baby, Won't You Weird Me Out?: Melvins Lite
20th Century Boy: Buckethead
I Had A Talk With My Woman: Tim Buckley
The Runaway: Danny O'Keefe
I Shall Not Be Moved: Public Enemy
Object Unknown: Kool Keith and DJ Spooky
Broadway Sam: Iceberg Slim
The Wild Bunch Trailer
Space-Age Couple: Captain Beefheart
Frankie and Albert: Taj Mahal
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again: Bob Dylan
Pride of Man: Quicksilver Messenger Service
