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.
Listen into all my shows here! Subscribe to my show, via
Serving up some hot platters for your brain matter.
Seriously though, there are some good eats for your ears on this here show. Give it spin...or a stream. You can download it to go! Who knows, maybe you're listening to this show in the distant future, floating through space, far from our galaxy. Good on ya! Do you still consider yourself human, even if you don't live on planet Earth anymore?
I've been reading the "Three-Body Problem", by Cixin Liu, and that question comes up throughout the trilogy.
As for this here show, it's an interesting one. I'm training a new host, DJ Collin, who's going to be starting his new show Friday's 6-8PM Pacific, "Digging with DJ Collin". The second half of this show features a lot of his selections. I really put him to the test tonight. There were so many tech issues, even I was getting a bit flustered. He was chill the whole way through, and really gave his best. I can't wait to tune in to his show!
Our new home is really attracting some great talent. Please take the time to tune in regularly throughout the week. You never know when your next favorite host will knock you off your feet.
Take a look at the playlist below, click on the link at the top to stream or download this baby, and enjoy your trip through the cosmos.
Enjoy.
jh
Are you in our around San Francisco, Sunday, August 15th? We're having a fundraiser at Make Out Room, our next door neighbor on 22nd street. We would love to see you. We have bands, and yours truly is MCing along with a few other Radio Valencia DJs. Check out the link for all the details.
Have you tried out our iPhone or Android app yet? Get them where you get your phone apps. I love the iPhone app and use it every day.
Guess what, our door broke again. WTF?!?!? More than ever we are in need of funds beyond what our staff can afford. If you can throw a few dimes Radio Valencia's way, we will be forever in your debt. Thanks in advance.
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Radio Valencia in SF http://radiovalencia.fm
Listen into all my shows here! Subscribe to my show, via
I was about 12 or 13, laying in my bed on a weekend morning, listening to my clock radio, set to KFOG 104.5FM, when it was worth listening to. This song came on that hypnotized me; it's the only way to describe it, really. I was paralyzed. I could not move, and my ears did not want that song to release me from its spell. When the song ended, I knew I had stumbled across some kind of magic. I had to know what that was? Who that was? And what else awaited me?
The song, "Stuck Inside of Mobile (with the Memphis Blues Again) took me on a journey that keeps showing itself in greater and more dynamic ways over 35 years later. Bob Dylan showed me that there is more to music than what shows up on the music directors list of approved songs. It's possible this was the song that propelled me deeper into my love of the art of radio?
I think I had my dad take me to Rasputin Records in Pleasant Hill so I could buy whatever record that song is on. I couldn't locate Blond on Blond that day, but I did come home with the next best thing, Highway 61 Revisited. I swear I wore that copy out in a matter of months. I felt that I had discovered this deep secret: brilliant music can be longer than 2:50 long.
Mind. Blown.
Along my musical journey, discovering the joy of so many great artists across numerous genres, I have
always gravitated back to Dylan. How many people have said this? How many essays have been written about the man and his lyrics, not to mention the myth of BOB DYLAN? I like not being able to separate fact from fiction when it comes to his persona. I don't care to know the "real" Bob Dylan, when the shaman is much more interesting. And isn't that really what he's going for anyway?
Now, if I could just travel back to that innocent 12 year old version of me laying in bed being woken by the brilliance of Dylan, just for one moment.
I've been asked countless time what my favorite Dylan album is, and I have to go with "Blood on the Tracks". It's a summation of everything that came before, in terms of his prose. And it's filled with emotion regarding the end of his marriage. You can feel his heart in every beat. All of his albums come close, but this one really does it for me.
What's your favorite Dylan album? Leave a comment, and please share this with all of your Dylan-loving friends.
I merely scratched the surface with this show.
If you missed my 6-8PM live bootleg show, you can catch it by going here. I played the 90 minute "Judas" show from May 17, 1966, followed up with a few tracks from the 1975/1976 Rolling Thunder tour, and a track from the 1986 Dylan/Petty tour.
So much Bob Dylan for your earholes!!!
If you're looking for some reading material that'll fill up an afternoon, Rolling Stone has opened up their archives of many (all?) their Bob Dylan reviews and interviews.
Enjoy.
jh
Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell Mondays 8-10PM Pacific Radio Valencia in SF
It's that time once again when I get to indulge my inner Dave Morey and focus my show on one special year. This is my seventh annual Annual Annual, and this year it's all about 1992. I turned 22 in late September and was deeply involved at KFJC as well as attending countless live shows around the Bay Area.
As for the music, the indie scene was at a peak since Nirvana went super duper platinum (is that a ranking?) the previous fall with Nevermind. Major labels were doing everything they could to swipe up the next big thing. Some really horrible knockoff bands were popping up on commercial radio during this time. Some things never change.
I was hosting the 6-10AM morning show on Wednesday's at KFJC. The music below feels like I took it straight from one of my playlists from that time. It's possible I did. Granted we weren't allowed, by FCC rules, to play any music with naughty language, so there are a few tracks on here that I would have loved to have played back then, but could not. Count yourself lucky for the advent of internet radio!
Take a walk down memory lane for the next two hours and enjoy 1992 like it never left us.
Stream another fine year, HERE! Download your youth, HERE! Listen into all my shows here, or just scroll down
Way way back in 2011 I had this desire to feature 1971 on my show. What a great year that was for music. This was when bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones were still considered young and relevant. Following this show I made an executive decision to annually feature another great year during the month of November. Preparing for this year's show I was eager to share a more recent year with you. 2006 stood out to me even while we were deep in it. Taking a look at the playlist below I think you'll agree.
I didn't get to nearly all the artists and tracks I wanted to play during my sixth annual ANNUAL ANNUAL, but this here is smattering of the genius that was 2006.
If you're interested in my previous five ANNUAL ANNUAL shows, click the links below.
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song: The Flaming Lips
Black Mountain: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Black Sweat: Prince
They Call Me Flava: Public Enemy
Aliens: Dr. Octagon
Living Proof: Cat Power
Jihad: Slayer
Run Devil Run/The Big Guns: Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Jams Run Free: Sonic Youth
Like the 309: Johnny Cash
Freya: The Sword
Beyond the Horizon: Bob Dylan
You Don't Know Me: Willie Nelson
Laugh/Love/Fuck: The Coup
A History of Drunks: The Melvins
Make Them Suffer: Cannibal Corpse
It Is Us: Mudhoney
Backstage Girl: DJ Shadow
What Keeps Mankind Alive: Tom Waits
If Looks Could Kill: Camera Obscura
Wherever You Go: Built To Spill
Mr. Tough: Yo La Tengo
Akuma No Kuma: Sunn O))) and Boris
One band that didn't make it onto the show this year was Texas' own Midlake. Their sophomore effort "The Trials of Van Occupanther" was a real winner in the Hell household starting in 2006. It still gets a lot of play during road trips. Below is the video for "Roscoe".