COW #168 -- 10-Dec-1994 -- Rock It to the Moon!

Here it is, the latest episode of Chas’ Crusty Old Wave, fresh out of the oven! It’s a humdinger as well if I do say so myself, with lots of killer tunes. Heck, any episode with both They Might Be Giants and Weird Al Yankovic is bound to be good, plus you throw in lots of original punk, an interview and music from Orlando band Potential Frenzy, some particularly brilliant but less-heard music from Bruce Woolley, Bill Nelson, Modern English, Joe Jackson, The Assembly, the Buzzcocks, Paul Collins' Beat, and Georgia bands The Woggles and Hillbilly Frankenstein.

Oh wait, there’s more! How about a rare remix from Yazoo, some ska from the Toasters and Madness, and more great local music from The Hatebombs? And did I mention a bit from Monty Python? It’s all here, friends, in two hours of delightful fun. Get it streaming or downloadable on the site or from iTunes.

Get your dancing shoes on -- by the time Malcolm McLaren’s “Double Dutch” shows up, you’ll already be out of your chairs and hip-hopping down the stairs! Enjoy.

And back into the tape vault we go! Here's a classic one from 1993, episode #102. This was just two weeks after my old Black Volvo was broken into and the core of my CD collection I used for the show stolen. In some ways (and with a lot of hindsight) I think it may have made this episode better than average.

I will always remember these days -- I was so shocked when it happened (first time my car had ever been broken into) and it came on the heels of a perfectly DELIGHTFUL evening (up to that point at least) in a period where I was doing very well for myself on most fronts. Popular show, king of downtown, some lovely relationship happenings, good day job ... Lucky Pierre, that's me ...

Anyway, a great mix of familiar and obscure 80s tunes. That's what makes COW so special.

You can grab your copy from the website or directly from iTunes.

Enjoy.

That COW ... it’s ALIVE!!

Wow, sorry that took so long, but here it is -- part two of our madcap 20th Anniversary celebration as it aired on WPRK this past July 4th. On this episode, we took down the “80s only” sign and grabbed great music from the past 30 years to play for our listeners and to dance around the studio like mad fools in the wee hours to.

As I say in the introduction to the show, some of these songs are not just pieces of music ... they’re my friends! Seriously, I have long and cherished memories with some of these tunes, from the They Might Be Giants song I sang with a TMBG cover band (seriously!) to the way Kraftwerk melted my 70’s-rock, guitar-addled brain, to the way the Hidden Cameras and the Botticellis (both contemporary bands) make me feel so alive the way Punk and New Wave (and Ska) did way back when ...

There’s plenty of familiar stuff over the course of the 2.5 hours, like the B-52s and Elvis Costello and Violent Femmes and Talking Heads. But there’s also some stuff both old and new that’s so obscure I dare you to name every song on the playlist without cheating. Lots of really great tunes in my opinion!

You can grab your copy from the website or directly from iTunes.

Enjoy.

COW XX -- 20 Years of Crusty Old Wave!

WPRK threw a party and invited me ... and, by proxy, you ... to a celebration of 20 years since the first episode of what would become Chas’ Crusty Old Wave. I returned to Florida for the first time in nearly two years, and we did not one but two two-hour shows featuring the music we all love so much -- the red-headed stepkids of the 80s!

Today, three months after the event, we present the first of the two anniversary shows, hosted by Phantom Third Channel and myself. We get on terribly well and giggle like schoolgirls reading Tiger Beat magazine when we talk about music and bands and records and stuff, and this shows in our several extended conversation breaks -- but don't worry, there's lots of great music there, with an emphasis on Brian Eno, David Bowie and Elvis Costello. A lot of the tunes on this episode slot neatly into that all-too-brief era between the fall of UK punk and the rise of commercial "alternative" music. For a bit there, before MTV and in a few cases even before punk rock, there was a period where Weird Was Good. We touch on a lot of that with things like the Stiff Records single You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties by Jona Lewie, or Bruce Woolley's original take on Video Killed the Radio Star, or Bow Wow Wow's call for sonic revolution, C30 C60 C90 Go!.

We also hit some songs that are sheer nostalgia for me personally, within and without the New Wave movement -- such as Love and Loneliness the most over-produced record in the world, and Monochrome Set's odd little B-I-D Spells Bid, one of the very few songs written by and about the lead singer of the band. There's also some Ultravox from both "eras" of the band, some bona-fide classics like Gary Numan's Me! I Disconnect From You and more. You can grab your copy from the website or directly from iTunes.

Enjoy.

COW your head -- the epic Episode #19 is complete!

Like the relief felt at the completion of the end of the Lord of the Rings, I have managed to split a massive six-hour (well, five after editing) show into two parts, including artwork and for the most part very high audio quality into two great new episodes of Chas’ Crusty Old Wave (actually, its predecessor Chas n Gwen’s Pop Pajama Party), both parts of which you can now download directly from the website or via iTunes.

As was the case with Chas n Gwen’s Pop Pajama Party more so than the later solo show, we mix up the 80s songs with a healthy helping of music from the very early 90s, to great effect in my opinion. This far on, only the most dedicated collectors and historians of the New Wave era will remember specifically that bands like They Might Be Giants (for example) weren’t part of the original New Wave movement, but of the first wave of great stuff that came after it, so it all ends up a bit of a wash of nostalgia. Looking back, it’s kinda cool to see the obvious impact the punk aftermath had on artists that were actually paying attention -- before that awful grunge crap came around and ruined everything for a while.

I'd suggest -- if you think you can stand five hours of 80s, 90s and Chas with his multiple personalities -- downloading both parts of episode 19 and use them as a good workout tape or just for revelling in memories of your own misspent youth. There’s a heck of a lot of great stuff in there. Enjoy.

Fall Back, Spring COW

With the flowers and warmer weather comes a great new episode of Chas' Crusty Old Wave (actually, its predecessor Chas n Gwen's Pop Pajama Party), part one of which you can now download directly from the website or via iTunes. Part two of this (originally) six-hour funfest will arrive next month, and we hope you will subscribe (it’s free) so that new somewhat-monthly-ish episodes are automatically delivered to your computer.

I’m very pleased in particular with the audio quality on this episode, given the age of the tapes -- there is still a hint of carrier-wave static and normal FM compression as always, but for the most part you won’t even notice it. Mainly because you’ll probably be dancing around your kitchen a lot -- this is some seriously great tunes.

On Torture, WikiLeaks and Our Lost Sanity

Torture, WikiLeaks and our lost sanity is a remarkable essay that recently appeared in our local paper, and neatly sums up a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recent events. I don’t agree with every sentence of it, but I must bow to the logic of it and wonder whatever happened to rational leaders ... and the public that was supposed to hold them to account. When we express our contempt for politicians, aren’t they for the most part the easy targets hiding the real problem -- an apathetic public that whines a lot but doesn’t actually maintain their end of the “checks and balances” needed for government and society to function effectively?

A Parable

The always entertaining Ruben Bolling strikes again

It's Fall, and the COWs are Turning

The (ahem) October episode of Chas’ Crusty Old Wave is now available via the website or directly from iTunes. We’ve been very pleased with the attention the show has been getting lately, and we hope you will subscribe (it’s free) so that new more-or-less monthly episodes are automatically delivered to your computer.

I want to particularly highlight Liz Langley’s contribution to this (and other) episodes, her “Horror-Scopes” are always a comedic delight and this show features a specially-written one for the holidays that’s just plain hilarious.

Oh, and there’s also a crapload of great 80s tunes, a nice mix of stuff you’ll have heard before and maybe a few songs or artists you aren’t that familiar with. Please do check it out.

Yeah, Pretty Much This.