If the Kingsmen never had another recording, they would always have “Louie, Louie” – the classic party song with the barely audible lyrics that could be mondegreened into other meanings. You know “Louie, Louie.” Of course you do. Now the original “Louie, Louie” was recorded by Richard Berry, and the lyrics are pretty clear. Here’s…
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K-Chuck Radio: The hidden evolution of Black Betty
You most likely know the classic 1978 rock song “Black Betty,” as performed by the one-hit wonder group Ram Jam. You can hear it now as you’re reading this blog post. But what if I told you that the Ram Jam version not only isn’t the most unique version of the classic blues song ……
Read MoreWay down yonder in the cornfield …
In the late 1960’s, the most popular television show at the time was Laugh-In, a hyper-scattered comedy variety program that mixed surrealism with one-liners and ribald satire. Here’s the first episode of that series, and you can see the lightning as it flashes in the proverbial bottle. Laugh-In proved so popular that other television networks…
Read MoreDr. Demento is retiring? NOOOOOOO!!!!!
Dr. Demento is a certified legend. An award-winning musicologist and historian, the man born Barry Hansen has championed the wild, the weird and the wonderful in alternative music for nearly 55 years. I listened to him on Sunday nights on WPYX in Albany, and later in life I met and interviewed Dr. Demento for various…
Read MoreK-Chuck Radio: Who is Broken Peach, and why do I want to hear more?
Okay. As near as I can figure out, Broken Peach is a cover band. A cover band that takes pop standards and rock classics, glams them up, rocks them up, and performs them while wearing weird costumes. That’s all I’ve got. But man, when they take these songs and ramp them into overdrive … I…
Read MoreNina Conti likes to play with her monkey
Ventriloquism is fun. The ability to throw your voice into an inanimate object, and then convince an audience that the object has its own personality and essence separate from your own, while trying NOT to move your lips throughout the whole performance – that’s tough. And there are a few legendary and famous ventriloquists who…
Read MoreHello, My Name is Blotto – The Movie – what an amazing night!
It’s Saturday night and I’m navigating my way through the Cohoes Music Hall for the world premiere of a documentary on Albany’s greatest party rock band – Blotto. Hello! My Name is Blotto – The Movie is a retrospective of the rock band whose songs “I Wanna Be a Lifeguard” and “Metal Head” broke through…
Read MoreAll right, choose your weapons. Toilet plungers at 10 paces!
At one point in time,ESPN aired a series of competitive matches involving timber sports. Competitors were challenged with chainsawing logs, rolling logs in water with their feet, and everything short of singing “I’m a Lumberjack, and I’m Okay.” It was a fun little diversion, and I have to say that the program itself was quite…
Read MoreThat time Midnight Oil stopped traffic in New York City
There’s a fantastic documentary airing on Australian television about the legacy and history of the rock band Midnight Oil. Midnight Oil brought their social message to nearly every song in their repertoire, and brought it with conviction and passion and strength. Even though the documentary hasn’t arrived in the United States – yet – here’s…
Read MoreIt’s “Subways Of Your Mind” by FEX? Well, that explains EVERYTHING.
You have to love those Internet mysteries. The ones where someone uncovers some mysterious fragment of a historic artifact, and the Internet’s hive mind tries to uncover the mystery. Well, such a mystery was revealed last weekend. Follow along with me. In 1983, a German radio station played its usual mix of new wave and…
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Chuck The Writer 
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