2023-02-26 playlist & stream

Feb 26

1st set

They Might Be Giants – It’s Spare the Rock

ID 

They Might Be Giants – Apartment Four

Gentle Hen – Beautiful Day in the Woods (Ayla)

Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke

ID

Lucky Diaz – El Sol Tesega

Pianosaurus – Eleanor Day

Shawny – Justin Time (new)

ID

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down – There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

[WJFF – Lloyd Miller – John Brown

[KUTX – Uncle Rock – Play Outside Today (in-studio)

[WFNU – Elizabeth Mitchell – Elephants All Over The World

2nd set

Shovels & Rope – Everybody Hurts (feat. T. Hardy Morris)

ID/prep to rock

They Might Be Giants – Don’t Spare the Rock

ID

Pixies – Tony’s Theme

ScribbleMonster – All Ready to Go!

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – Everyday People

Diet Cig – Together We Can Conquer Whatever

ID

3rd set

Smith & Yarn – Mix It Up

SaulPaul – Ready Set Go

MC Lars & Mega Ran – Ode to a Grecian Urn

ID

Josh Lovelace – Moonwalking

The Nields – Anna, Kick a Hole in the Sky

Walk Off The Earth – Alright

ID

They Might Be Giants – One Dozen Monkeys

They Might Be Giants – Spare the Rock

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Spare the South By Southwest

Feb 22

We have an amazing lineup of shows for you during South by Southwest in Austin next month. For the first time ever, we’ve curated and will be hosting an official showcase.

“But Bill! Does that mean I need a badge and wristband?” you say, weirdly angry.

“No, it doesn’t,” I respond, calming you down with a little typical dad hand gesture. “It’s official but it’s also free and open to the public! How cool is that?”

Okay, don’t know how I ended up doing a whole dialogue thing there.

Anyway, with our good friends at our flagship station KUTX, on Thursday, March 18, from 3 to 7 pm, we’re presenting Rock the Shores at Auditorium Shores (Fun Fun Fun Fest RIP). Evoking the spirit of our Rock the Park series, we’ve got a whole afternoon/early evening of family friendly fun, starting with family acts and transitioning to more grown-up (but still kid-friendly!) stuff.

It’s continuing our string of themed shows, with this year being ska-themed. That’s right, every act will do at least one song from the long ska tradition. Performing: Lucky Diaz, Mega Ran, Smith & Yarn, SaulPaul, Jonny Langford & the Silver Sands Roustabouts, Rosie Flores, and Thao! That’s a wildly great show.

And then on Saturday, March 18, we’re partnering with our friends at Captain Quackenbush’s to present Rock It To Outer Space, featuring Red Yarn, Stacy Gray, Strawbitty Tops, and Andy Sprouts! This is a big ol’ day of activities, from 11 am to 5 pm. Tickets for that party are available at the SoundSpace website!

I can’t wait to be back in Austin for a week of fun, and to see all y’all!

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2023-02-19 playlist & stream

Feb 19

1st set

They Might Be Giants – It’s Spare the Rock

ID 

They Might Be Giants – Dinner Bell

Bhi Bhiman – Up All Night (new)

Sam Cooke – Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha

Baby Loves Jazz – Make Me Want To Scat

ID

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Three Little Birds

SaulPaul – Home (feat. 123 Andres)

ID

Thao – Bag of Hammers

[WJFF – Bonga & the Vodou Drums of Haiti – Activity

[KUTX – Justin Roberts – Backyard Spaceship

[WFNU – Pianosaurus – Eleanor Day

2nd set

Cloud Cult – Back Into My Arms

ID/prep to rock

They Might Be Giants – Don’t Spare the Rock

ID

Frank Turner – The Zeitbeast

Boogers – This Land Is Your Land

Babe the Blue OX – Surfin’ Minnesota

ID

3rd set

Preservation Hall Jazz band – Tootie Ma

Red Yarn – Bunnies at the Club feat. Uncle Devin

Aaron Nigel Smith – Banana Bread

ID

Sugar Free Allstars – Banana Pudding

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – I Gotta Be Me

The Bar-Kays – Soul Finger

ID

They Might Be Giants – Zeroes

They Might Be Giants – Spare the Rock

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Don’t worry.

Feb 14

A year ago at this time, I was in Duluth, Minnesota, reeling from the unexpected death of our friend Jon Western. I was raised United Methodist, and to the extent I’m anything, I guess I’m that, but I think I was doing whatever my equivalent of sitting shiva is. I rented a little place on Park Point and spent a good bit of time looking at the lake and sitting with my grief.

I’m back here again after a year of deaths, some I guess expected and a lot not. There was Jon, but there was also Morgan, (another) Jon, Jeffrey, Mark, Alan, Art, Nancy. Our friend Erik died in 2020 but his celebration of life was in 2022 due to the pandemic.

I’m 51, and I know that some of this is just what happens. But half of those are my contemporaries and it seems too soon.

Anyway. Like I said, I’m back here and I’m trying to process. For me, a lot of processing stuff is music, and a lot of it is walking. So this morning I went for a walk from my place on one of Duluth’s many wonderful walking paths, and I wanted something familiar. So I put on Frank Turner’s album from a few years ago, Be More Kind.

Ella and I saw Frank open for The Hold Steady in December 2017 (here they are together, there are swears), so we got to hear one or two of the songs from that album early—I mostly remember him doing “Make America Great Again” (which isn’t what you might think it is).

“Don’t Worry” had honestly never made much of an impression on me other than as a pleasant album opener, one I’ve heard dozens (hundreds?) of times. But this time, walking with Lake Superior perhaps 1,000 feet to my left, avoiding slipping on the ice, it resonated.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what to do 
I’ve spent a little time in worried shoes 
I wore them out through walking 
It wasn’t any use 
Don’t worry if you don’t know what to do

Don’t give up if you just can’t get away 
Don’t listen to the bitter things they say 
Put those thoughts behind you 
Tomorrow’s a new day 
Don’t give up if you just can’t get away

And:

Don’t let your heart get hardened into stone 
Or lose yourself in looking at your phone 
So many so-called friends 
And still you feel alone 
You should spend more time 
With the do’s than with the don’ts

Gosh. Yes.

I’m trying on all of this. Trying. But it’s nice to be reminded that it’s okay to sometimes not be able to get away.

My mom pointed out that part of me knowing a lot of people who died is me knowing a lot of people, and that’s definitely true, and it is, absolutely, true and a good thing. But Frank’s right: it’s easy to still feel alone.

We talked with Frank way back in, gosh, late 2013, when he was touring with our pals Koo Koo Kanga Roo:

We’ve all changed a ton, obviously, except that I still wear a lot of Hold Steady shirts. Frank still seems to be kind and generous and thoughtful.

But, to steal from another one of Frank’s songs—this one featured today on a fantastic teaser for Ted Lasso, Season 3, that I saw right when I got back from that walk:

I still believe in the need 
For guitars and drums and desperate poetry 
And I still believe that everyone 
Can find a song for every time they’ve lost 
And every time they’ve won 
So just remember, folks, we’re not just saving lives, we’re saving souls 
And we’re having fun

Somehow I knew that Be More Kind was the record, and “Don’t Worry” the song, for this particular time I’ve lost.

Frank will be at the Fillmore in Minneapolis on April 29.

See you there, even though it’s a LiveNation venue. Go listen to his new record. It’s so good.

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2023-02-05 playlist & stream

Feb 05

1st set

They Might Be Giants – It’s Spare the Rock

ID 

They Might Be Giants – Read a Book

Renee & Jeremy – Shout (new)

Wee Hairy Beasties – Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel

ID (Rock the Shores)

Smith & Yarn – Brothers & Sisters

Rosie Flores – Red Red Robin

ID

Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Our House

[WJFF – Decemberists – Valerie Place

[KUTX – The Surfers – The Hurdy Gurdy Man

[WFNU – Tim Kubart – Field Trip

2nd set

Sonia De Los Santos – Yo Volare (I’ll Fly Away) (new)

ID/prep to rock

They Might Be Giants – Don’t Spare the Rock

ID

Skankin’ Pickle – Onyounghasayo

Michael & the Rockness Monsters – Squirrel Fight

Marsha & the Positrons & Claudia Robin Gunn – Thank You Science (new)

Parker Woodland – The World’s On Fire

ID

3rd set

Elizabeth Mitchell – Korean Spring (in-studio)

Joe Kye – Seollal (Korean New Year) (new)

ID

SaulPaul – Me, Gumby & My Six String

Tee Lopes feat. Mega Ran – It’s a Pizza Party

Dick Dale – Miserlou

Lucky Diaz – Orale

ID

They Might Be Giants – Electronic Istanbul

They Might Be Giants – Spare the Rock

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