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
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
I grew up wishing I had graduated from a San Francisco high school in 1964 so that by the Summer of Love in 1967 I would 21 years old and able to fully immerse myself in everything that era had to offer. It's the music of that time that influenced me the most during my adolescent years, when I was moving past what played on the home hi-fi and more into discovering my own likes. It was that swirling psychedelic music and it was that message of change and opportunity that grabbed me most.
My family moved to the Bay Area in late 1982 when I was 12 years and I knew right away what a special place San Francisco was. In our first excursion into the city my parents wanted to tour Fisherman's Wharf, I wanted to go to the Haight. Of course by 1982 the Haight was long past its hippy prime and deep in its lost years of heroin and speed and closed storefronts. That didn't stop me from searching this great city and colorful neighborhoods for any crumb that remained from the vibe that the Summer of Love hoped to propagate following 1967. Today the area is inundated by boutiques and way too many Tibetan importers and head shops; not to mention countless tourists, who, like me, are looking for a shred of evidence that there was once an energy of love that attempted to take our nation to a higher level, overcoming war and grief and capitalism. And let's not forget the number of homeless teens and 20-somethings who have been termed out of foster care, who call the doorways of Haight Street their home.
It was the swirling music, colorful fashion, and risk-taking youth that took precedence at that time. It was the music industry that bastardized it and made way for the punk movement of the 70s/80s. But before that all came to pass we have to appreciate what the bands of the time were doing. San Fransisco was one hell of a great scene. Great clubs, like the Avalon Ballroom, Carousel, Fillmore, Family Dog at the Great Highway had the best bands playing their stages night after night. And promoters like Chet Helms and Bill Graham were pairing local rock bands with legendary blues and jazz artists, opening the ears of the audience to sights and sounds they may never have taken the time to check out on their own.
We are all better for 1967 and San Francisco.
Two books I'd like to recommend that will shed much better light on that era include Joel Selvin's
"Summer of Love", and David Talbot's "Season of the Witch". The latter starts in 67 and works its way up through the first 49er Super Bowl win in early 1982. Both are definitely worth your time, especially if you hold a place in your heart for San Francisco.
As for the music I chose for this show, it's all from 1967, and most are west coast American bands. in retrospect I could have chosen more obscure acts from that year, or other, more current bands, covering these songs, below. Instead I played music that really moved me as I was growing up. And isn't that the job of the DJ, to move you the way they have been?
My friend Linda Kelly, managing editor of the local rag Haight Street Voice was hanging out in the studio with me too. She was interviewing me for the August issue. It's a free paper, so pick it up when you see it, or go online to check it out. I hope she doesn't make me sound too bitter. It's been a challenging year when it comes to my love for SF. But isn't that like all relationships? We'll see it through to the end.
Wednesday I had the chance to take in the Summer of Love exhibition at the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park. It was more than I could have hoped for. If you live in the Bay Area make sure you get to this show before it closes, August 20th.
Next Monday night is lots of new music and the return of Little Lauson Hell!!!
Enjoy.
jh
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Radio Valencia in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
Stream the Spectacle, HERE! Download the Love, HERE! Listen into all my shows here. You can subscribe to my show through iTunes here.
Radio should be hosted by people who understand what it takes to create an aural spectacle, leaving you in awe and wanting more. Tonight was about me appreciating radio as such an art form. It's all about the segue. New Savage Republic in the first hour. Tribute to the late Maggie Roche who died January 17th. Also a tribute to the founding bassist of Can, Jaki Liebezeit, who passed on January 22nd.
If you love music, or know someone who does, then why aren't you tuning in every Monday night 8-10 on Radio Valencia? You are? Good on ya! Spread the love and share this post. Thanks in advance.
This coming Monday night I share with you the winner of the 2016 Run For The Lillies contest. And what a list they had. It's possible they cheated. Thanks to all who sent me their list of ten famous people they believe will kick the bucket by 12/31/2017. Since I wasn't on the air this past Monday, I'll give you until this Sunday, February 5th to email me your list. Send it to mrjohnhell@gmail.com
Shake up the stream HERE! Download your dietary concerns HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down Subscribe to my show, via
Patsy, Cooter and Haskel McDonald from Shake Well broke down on the side of the road and joined me in the studio Monday night. They've been touring Tanzania and Namibia, and have found that being back in the Bay is a bit of a culture shock. Listen to them share their road stories, living in a van, cooking on the hot pavement of Zaire, and inter-band relations (they're all related, so it gets a bit funky).
Much of the music tonight comes from deep in my music library. But isn't that the way it is week to week? That's why you tune in. Also, BROWN appears to be some sort of theme tonight. I can attest to it not being on purpose. Seren-typical as Michael Vav would say.
Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge
Bottle Up and Go: The Monkeywrench
Ode to Scientology: The Evangenitals
Too High: Shake Well
Seeing Things: Shake Well
Pink Cadillac: Tiger Honey Pot
Meat: Idiot Flesh
Metapsychomagia: Abraxas
Long Way To Go With No Punch: Dirty 3
Super Heathen Child: Grinderman (with Robert Fripp)
The Wizard: Brown Sabbath
Brown Sugar (Clapton on Slide): Rolling Stones
Brown Shoes Don't Make It: Frank Zappa
Freya: The Sword
Cyrano De Berger's Back: The Flesh Eaters
The Devil's Chasing Me: Reverend Horton Heat
Me and My Friends: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blue Jay Way: The Beatles
Get loud and stream this ROCK show. Download this bucket if joyous aural pleasures here. Or perhaps you wish to listen to all of my shows? Good choice. Go HERE!
Another one of those nights where I have no guests, so the objective is how can I take a two hour empty canvas and paint and aural picture that will leave the listener in awe of what is and what can be? I think I did a pretty good job. You be the judge.
My first set of features Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit, whom I'm going to see live Thursday night at the Fox theater in Oakland. My wife is very excited about the show. My third set features some rocksteady along with a rare Lee Perry release from 1976. There is a new Pink Floyd record out, so I've decided to play some Pink Floyd, Except it's not what you think it is. Because really, who wants to hear new Pink Floyd?
Monday night is also the 45th anniversary of the release of Live Dead by the Grateful Dead. Instead of playing something off of that record, I've decided to play something from one of the shows featured on that record.
My second to last set of the evening was by far my favorite, because it features some bands that I've really been into lately, In the punk/garage rock genre: Meatbodies (whom I'm seeing this Saturday night at Bottom of the Hill), Fuzz (Ty Segall's louder than normal side project), and OBNIIIs from Austin, who will be playing Brick and Mortar the day after Thanksgiving. See you there.
I close out the show with a bluesy/psychobilly/psychedelic set.
There is a good mix of new music music that's new to you. Check out the set list below, And enjoy.
Happy New Year everyone. I've taken the past two weeks off, so I'm well rested and really hungry to be back on the air. Let me tell you, this show is one of my all time best. And not just the music. I mean listen to me talk!!!!! Ahahahhahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!
Really though, listen.
Here's a New Year's resolution for you, that I promise you'll keep: listen to Radio Valencia all of the time. OK, from time-to-time. Maybe, just Mondays 8-10PM (PST). That'll do. Really though, Radio Valencia is the best radio station west of East Orange, NJ. Trust me.
Have you checked out the Radio Valencia iPhone app? Well this guy did. You'll love it too.
You can download the first show of the year, here.
Feel free to stream the energy-conscious exposition, here.
To listen to all of my shows hour after hour, click here, or just scroll down.
Do It: Rollins Band
Let It Shine: Al Green
There She Goes, My Beautiful World: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Sun King: The Beatles
Brazil: Frank Sinatra
TV Eye: Iggy and the Stooges
Licking Stick, Licking Stick: James Brown
54-46 Was Her Number: Toots and the Maytals (04-22-78, Toronto)
Auld Lang Syne: Wooden Shjips
Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge
By The Time I Get to Arizona: Public Enemy vs. Tijuana Brass
Creole Love Call: Roland Kirk
Dragonfly: My Brightest Diamond
I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier: John Lennon
Mona Lisa: Slick Rick
Total Eclipse out of Hell: Enrique
Kool Thing: Sonic Youth
Romeo is Bleeding: Tom Waits
Skeeter: The Melvins
When Doves Cry: Patti Smith
Theme From Cyrano: William Shatner
Mr. Tambourine Man: William Shatner
Wow, Ronnie Montrose dies, Davey Jones dies. Damn. What to play? I know, Afro-Funk and Psychedelia! I bought the new Wooden Shjips Remixes on vinyl yesterday, along with a tasty Afro-Funk record from 1975. I've pulled a lot from both the psychedelia and Afro-Funk parts of my extensive library.
To stream this fabulous show go here. To download this remarkable show and listen to it wherever and whenever you desire, go here. To listen to all of my shows, just scroll down to previous playlists, OR you can go here.
Enjoy.
It's Hard to be Humble: Mac Davis
Crossings (Andy Weatherall Remix): Wooden Shjips Astrophobia: Turn Me On Dead Man
Water Mind: Angel in Heavy Syrup T.F.B.: High Rise with Keiji Heino High in a Flat: Bevis Frond
Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge
Sand: OP8 Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun: Pink Floyd
Tei Egwu: Afro Funk You Killing Me: Segun Bucknor Home Affairs: Osibisa
Telephone Girl: Assagai Zombie: Fela Kuti and Afrika 70
Beware: BLO Keleya: Moussa Doumbia
I Don't Want It: Montrose (04-21-73) The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie (Davy Jones)
