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.
You like Queen. I like Queen. You loved that movie that was amazing, even though it wasn't completely thorough, nor linear in its storytelling. That's all good. You think to yourself "self, if I were to travel back in time to see any show, Queen would definitely be in the top 10". How right you are. And I've got what you need.
Monday night 6-8PM Pacific I'm playing what is considered the greatest unreleased show in Queen history, as well as one of the greatest Queen shows ever performed. This magnificent soundboard from The Summit in Houston, December 11, 1977.
I double dog dare you to find a better Queen show. The boys are in top form, throughout. And the in-between song banter is worth the price of admission.
Stick around 8-10PM Pacific for my weekly music mix, Hell's Kitchen Radio. I'll be making my triumphant return to the studio for the first time since December 2019. And we're in our brand new studio on 22nd Street next to the nightclub Make Out Room! It's all vinyl, 8-10pm Pacific. Tune in
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Pacific Radio Valencia in SF
Download the Annoying Whine HERE! Listen into all my shows here! Subscribe to my show, via
Little Lauson Hell isn't so little anymore. Dang. What happened to my sweet, little, lovable, goofy little girl? Oh right, she's a teenager now. Ugh. Lauson has been joining me twice a year on my show for the past seven years. I've always enjoyed witnessing her musical evolution. Her love of The Beatles continues, but it's her discovery of artists like Frank Sinatra that really surprises me. At 14 I would expect her to listen to more pop-centered tunes, but then I remember that she's my daughter, and that I play a lot of alternative genres and artists at home. She did remind me that I don't play enough contemporary hip-hop. I need to do something about that.
I do take issue with her flagrant LIES about my love for Foo Fighters. Let me go on the record by stating unequivocally that I do not like the Foo Fighters. If I did, you wouldn't hear the end of them on my show. I don't understand why they're as popular as they are. How the hell do they sell out stadiums? It doesn't make any sense! Don't get me wrong, I think Dave Grohl (whom my brother-in-law thinks I look like) is talented and funny, but that doesn't make me a fan of the band!
Lauson enjoys getting my goat. I wonder where she got the sarcastic sense of humor from? Hmmmmm.....
We talk about music, high school, attending live shows at a young age, her friends, and just what makes a teenager tick.
Back to the music. I've denoted Lauson's selection with a "L" next to the track. It was nice to hear her say that she could co-host with me every week. Glad to see she's got the radio bug. She'll be back again this summer.
Enjoy.
Want to hear more shows featuring Little Lauson Hell?
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I try to please you too much. Sometimes I work to please you so much, it hurts. I overthink what I should or shouldn't play, because I don't want to lose you. Sometimes I take a risk, really wanting you to love a song, and I see that you left, and it really breaks me up inside, so much so that next time I see you there, I never even touch that track. It's like the electric third rail kinda thing. I just stay far far away from that. Too risky.
Then I start to think to myself "self, these people are tuning into you because they are really interested in what you're going to play. Go ahead and take that risk. Some may leave. Don't choose songs for the one's who leave. Choose for those who stay. Tonight's show is for those who stay. All tracks, but a couple, average roughly 8 minutes in length. Some jam out pretty far. I don't suggest you multitask while listening.
I pay tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin in my last half hour, with a selection from a fantastic show from 1971. RIP Aretha, and thanks for sharing your soul, your passion, your life with us all.
Radio is an artform. I get two hours a week to paint an aural picture for you. For this show I'm using a few pretty broad strokes. I hope you enjoy.
Next Monday, August 20th, 8-10PM (PDST), guitar gunslinger, and all around good guy, and my brother from another mother, Eric McFadden will be in the studio with me, celebrating the annual Steel Bridge Songfest. We'll feature two hours of supreme songwriting from such luminaries as pat mAcdonald, James Hall, The Legendary Sons of Crack Daniels, Craig Greenberg, Barrett Taskey, and many, many more. Steel Bridge Songfest is an annual week each June, of songwriting, culminating in four days of live performance, every June in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, as a fundraiser to keep the old Steel Bridge standing.
Enjoy.
jh
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Radio Valencia in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
I Came From the Mtn.: Thee Oh Sees
Interstellar Overdrive: Pink Floyd (October 31, 1966 Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK)
May The Circle Be Unbroken: 13th Floor Elevators
Well You Needn't: Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane
Oval Office: 3rd Bass
The Prophet's Song: Queen
Hazemaze: FUZZ
Natural Woman/Bridge Over Troubled Water/Dr. Feelgood-Spirit in the Dark: Aretha Franklin (June 12, 1971 Montreux, Switzerland)
Kuruimizu: Boris
New Potato Caboose/It Hurts Me Too: Grateful Dead (October 22, 1967 Winterland, SF, CA)
As a kid in the 70s Aretha Franklin would often be heard playing around our home. But what comes to mind most often is this scene from the classic 1980 film, The Blues Brothers, where she confronts Jake, Elwood, and her "husband" Matt "Guitar" Murphy. Don't mess with the Queen.
Stream the celebration, HERE! Download new sound going down, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down
Magnificent artists are all around us. Have you
taken the time to look and see? Do you make the time to enjoy the arts? Do you
go to museums? To the cinema? To the clubs? Do you support local bands?
Do you see one-person stage shows? Do you fReaK the scene? When did you stop
being an artist? Was it in elementary school, when the teacher told you to stop
doodling and start paying attention? What did you aspire to be when you were a
child? When did that stop? Why?
And then there'sBowie.
He taught me that art is all around you. He showed me that everyone can be a
part of the show. Life is drama. Life is high and low art. Art is what you make
of it. He wrote about the highs and lows of life; what it is to be alone; what
it means to want to be loved. He took risks. My father always told me that to
live is to takes risks.
When I heard the news on Sunday night, I was in
disbelief. I thought, like many, that his Twitter feed
had been hacked. That would be cold, but not impossible. I decided to sleep on
it, but in the morning the sad truth rang all too true. The rest of my Monday was
sleepwalking through the day, scrolling through my Facebook feed. I have about
1300 "friends" on FB, and over 90% of the posts throughout the day
were about Bowie. How do you like that? I've never seen anything quite like it
in my 9 years on FB. It was wonderful. No politics. No race issues. No economic
crisis. It was all about the celebration of an artist, that we were lucky
enough to exist on the same planet with at the same time.
Tonight on my show I pay tribute to Bowie by
playing some of my favorites, as well as some excellent live cuts, and some
co vers and a recent mashup featuring Bowie and Lemmy.
In the first hour I am seriously excited to have
in the studio a true up and coming band, Unlikely Heroes, fronted
by phenomENON Gaines. This eclectic group are synthesizing HipHop and Punk with
beats and melody that is fresh, exciting, and long waited for. I saw a street
performance from this young band over the summer, but I'm anticipating seeing
them at the club level. They will get the room jumping like the way Gogol Bordello had
the Catalyst jumping for three hours a
few years back. This band has energy, and the beats and words to back it up.
They've played 30 shows since last April, and for a new band that is unheard
of. Once you give them a listen, and hear the interview from the show, I think
you'll understand the attraction. Enon is an excellent front-man, and they'll
be gracing bigger stages in the near future, if there is indeed a God of music
justice.
Next Monday on my show, I'm
thrilled to have Bay Area club DJ Rasta Cue-Tip aka: RasCue ofCali Agents, and Various
Blends. You can check him out onUrban Umpires, or hisSoundcloudpage before next Monday. He'll be
guest DJing for the entire show, 8-10. Tune in.
Also, don't forget to get me your celebrity death list for my 2016 Run for the
Lilies. You choose 10 famous people (famous in any way), that you believe will
meet their demise by December 31, 2016. The only rule: you may not, in any way,
be involved in how they meet their maker. Send your list to
mrjohnhell@gmail.com by February 4, 2016. Winner will be announced January
2017.
Life on Mars: David Bowie
She Shook Me Cold: David Bowie
China Girl: Iggy Pop
Interview with Unlikely Heroes
Young Skywalker: Unlikely Heroes
Gold Rings: Unlikely Heroes
Interview with Unlikely Heroes
For You: Unlikely Heroes
Lazarus: David Bowie
Heroes: David Bowie
***Set of the Night***
Louis Louis Go Home: Davy Jones and the King Bees
Golden Years: Marilyn Manson
Under Pressure (a cappella): David Bowie and Freddy Mercury
"Ace of Dance": Lemmy Stardust Commemorative Mashup
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy: David Bowie and Bing Crosby
London Bye-Bye: David Bowie
Queen Bitch: Green River
Rebel Rebel: David Bowie (Dallas, TX April 27, 1983)
Young Americans: David Bowie (Tokyo, Japan May 16, 1990)
Hang Onto Yourself: David Bowie (Santa Monica, CA October 20, 1972)
Stream this EPIC year, HERE! Download the nostalgia, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down
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1975! What a year! What do you recall? I was five years old, and living in Toledo, Ohio. My aunt, who worked at Peaches Records bought me the first five KISS LPs, so naturally, KISS was my first favorite band. That's all I really remember about that year.
Being older, and a scholar of music and culture, I can tell you that 1975 was a real crossover year. The 60s were definitely over by this time. Music was moving a bit more into the "Yacht Rock" era, and Disco was starting to emerge as well. Funk was at its creative peak. Punk wouldn't really break onto the scene for another year, and metal was also still in its infancy. It was a weird year.
Some of my favorite records were released this year: Physical Graffiti, Nighthawks at the Diner, and Blood on the Tracks, just to name a few.
Along with Eric McFadden and Delphine de St Paer, we delve into the many faces of 1975 last Monday night. We just barely scratch the surface in two hours time. Take a look at the playlist below, and click on the links above to stream or download this show.
Stream HellKatt's Radio Magnificence, HERE! Download HellKatt's Holiday Ho-Down, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down Subscribe to my show, via
My daughter, HellKatt is in the studio with me tonight.
Oh joy of JOYS, my 10 year old daughter, HellKatt joined me in the studio tonight. This is her third visit to the Radio Valencia studios, and quite possibly her best yet! She chose much of the playlist for the show, and yes, it's a bit more mainstream than usual, but so what? I was thinking about this on the ride over with her, and I'll put it to you the way I put it to her: music tastes are like food tastes: when you're young you have very limited desires when it comes to the food you are willing to consume. The same can be said of music. No wonder so many kids LOVE The Beatles! They're easy to consume, like milk chocolate.
But when you grow older your tastes change too. And change they should! Who the heck only wants milk chocolate? I want dark chocolate with salted caramel, dammit!
HellKatt's tastes have always been more complex then many people her own age. Her first solid food was avocado. And at the age of three she was eating entire green onion stalks, from tip to root! No lie. She also prefers milk chocolate.
So it comes as no surprise that she enjoys Alice Cooper almost as much as she loves Paul McCartney...and The Simpsons. I placed a "HK" next to all the songs that she chose. You may be surprised.
What a great night! I hope you enjoy the music, and the banter as much as we did.
If you want to check out the other two shows that the Daughter of John Hell co-hosted with me, follow these two links, here and here.
Lauson is also an amazing (I'm not biased or anything) filmmaker. Check out this stop-motion film she made, here.
A couple of years ago I hit on the idea that it would be fun to host a show from 1971. It was an amazing year for rock and roll. Led Zeppelin IV, Sticky Fingers, Who's Next; the rock rolls on and on. Since doing that show in November 2011, I was encouraged to repeat the challenge for 1972 last year. Again, what an amazing year! So it looks like I've hit upon a regular annual feature for A Season in Hell. Last night was all about 1973!!!
When I started the research I was afraid it was going to be wimp rock. I'll be honest, I wasn't as into this one as I was 71 or 72. But upon careful research, from my very large, and very deep library of awesome-ness, I found that indeed, there are some unbelievable tunes coming from this year!
My Best of 2013 is coming up in a few weeks, and on Monday, December 16th, Rotten Ronnie Donovan and I are hosting Rock Fight 11!!!! This time it's all about the Rock Block!
This show is an epic journey. I think you're really going to enjoy this one.
Have fun.
Get into the time machine and stream this show here.
Download this trip down memory lane, here.
Check out my shows from 1971 and 1972, and all of my shows by going here, or just scroll down.
A Season in Hell with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia, 87.9FM in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
