RADIO FREE PHOENIX NAILS IT!!!

Andy, Cheryl, Llz, Dave, Miss Holley King, Paul Riopelle and the gang (too numerous for my brain to hold on to at the moment!) congrats on being voted the NEW TIMES BEST INTERNET STATION! IT"S WELL DESERVED AND LONG OVERDUE!

ANDY OLSON'S A VALLEY TREASURE & IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF ANDY, HIS WONDERFUL, DEDICATED AIR STAFF AND SUCH VAST KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE FOR MUSIC THAT THE MAGIC OF RADIO FREE PHOENIX HAPPENS AT ALL!

MUCHO LOVE TO Y'ALL!! LET'S KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD! SUPPORT RADIO FREE PHOENIX!! The Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame does! www.azmusichalloffame.org

BEST INTERNET RADIO STATION (2007)
RADIO FREE PHOENIX
www.radiofreephoenix.com
928-402-1590
You know a radio station is free from crappy, corporate play lists when it airs a weekly show called "Zappa Universe," honoring the music of Frank Zappa. Or when it plays The Earps, an abrasive, local cowpunk band, right after classic-rock fogies like The Marshall Tucker Band. Or when listeners play DJ and pick a pile of weekend songs (and the station actually plays them).

Welcome to RADIO FREE PHOENIX, an Internet station that plays everything from New Wave to blues to folk to psychedelic jams (and a bunch of amalgamations in between), spanning the '60s through today. Where corporate-owned radio stations use a computer program called Selector to determine their playlists (based on time, genre, and even gender limitations), RADIO FREE PHOENIX'S DJs actually choose the music they play.

So instead of hearing "hit singles" all day, listeners get gems like the new song "I Think I See the Light" by Yusef Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) — which will never ride a Clear Channel frequency — along with special programs like "Rock-A-Billy & Beyond," hosted by former AZ resident Miss Holley King. There's also "Jukebox Cantina," which dishes out ditties by the likes of locals Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, Truckers on Speed, and The Pistoleros. With programs like these, and on-air personalities like Liz Boyle (also on-air at KOOL FM) and Andy Olson (formerly of defunct PHX stations KRIZ and KRUX), RADIO FREE PHOENIX has truly Net-ed a winner.

AMEHOF Induction Ceremony - tomorrow night! (Sun., 9-23)

Don't forget! The 2007 AMEHOF Induction Ceremony is tomorrow night (Sunday, Sept. 23)! Click here for the evite plus links to everything you need to know about the night (including how to get there).

Here's the word from Danny Zelisko,:

"to ALL:

this will be a wonderful event, and i hope you can join us. tickets are pretty cheap. ... and i will be inducting Dwight. i am sure it will be a bittersweet moment, as we all wish Dwight was here with us.

he will be in spirit, i am sure.

regardless if you can make it, i wish all a great day...

Cisco"

Wonderful Russ Interview

Derrick Bostrom did an interview with Wonderful Russ and got him reminiscing about all kinds of stuff. Click here to read. Here's Derrick's summary:

"In this exclusive interview, Phoenix broadcasting legend and real estate celebrity “Wonderful” Russ Shaw reminisces about “Love Workshop,” the comedy show he co-created in 1976 with Tod Carroll for the progressive rock station KDKB-FM. He also shares stories about the early days of free-form radio in Phoenix and the various local luminaries he met along the way. he also talks about pirate radio, doing stand-up and selling houses.

Non-Phoenicians who maintain enough interest to keep reading this rather long interview to the end might gain context from this article about KDKB radio, as well as the KCAC Lives! blog, where surviving staff and fans share their memories of KDKB’s predecessor, the short-lived KCAC-AM. Honorable mention must also be made of the online station Radio Free Phoenix, Andy Olson’s tribute to the classic progressive radio format of the seventies, and KDIL-FM 666, the home of Phoenix’s infamous pirate station. Meanwhile, you can dig Russ firsthand on the Bloodhound Blog, which is predominantly - but not solely — about his adventures in the real estate trade.

And don’t forget Bostworld’s own “Love Workshop” page, which collects all of our content about this historic and awesome program, including rare scans and many hours of audio."

Thanks, Derrick!

AMEHOF Induction Ceremony - Sept. 23

Pat McMahon welcomes all you "white punks on dope" to the 2007 AMEHOF Induction Ceremony! Click here for your personal evite from Pat to the Sept. 23 induction ceremony at the Dodge, this year honoring The Tubes, Stevie Nicks, Buck Owens and others. Besides the video, the evite includes links to everything you need to know about the night (including how to get there).
As much as we hear Pat talk in this city, there's just something about his delivery that remains perpetually cool. Apparently he's also MC-ing the event. Should be a good 'un!
Michael Dunn, owner of the Rock Star Gallery, is also doing a benefit silent auction for the event and has some really cool stuff. Stay tuned for pictures of some of the stuff to be featured in that.

Edge of Sixty

In honor of Arizona's own Stevie Nicks turning 60 next May, why not enjoy some Fleetwood Mac tunes as played by a classical string quartet? Usually these "classical tributes" to various rock bands don't work, but these arrangements from the Vitamin String Quartet, who've apparently done 232 such albums, somehow do. (I think these particular tracks are all Lindsey Buckingham compositions, but of course, they're all about Stevie.)

While you're listening, check out the "My Stevie Room" gallery on Stevie's own Website, where the Gold Dust Woman's most crazed fans have erected elaborate Stevie shrines (see above sample). I'm sure many of these fans are hitting the big 6-0 themselves. Stand back!

“The Chain” (mp3)

“Secondhand News” (mp3)

“Go Your Own Way” (mp3)

(Thanks to the music blog, “This Recording”)

Report from the field

Hello fellow bloggers. I keep meaning to post something profound and eloquent, but working overtime in 110+ degree heat outside of Gila Bend kinda saps my energy. So I'm just saying hi, and letting you all know that I may yet survive the summer and get back to digitizing the KCAC tapes. In the meantime, please do yourselves the following musical favors: (1) buy the new Linda Thompson album, "Versatile Heart"; (2) ditto for Andy Hersey's "Between God and Country" (I've blogged about this one previously); and (3) check out some kick-ass honkytonk music on the new live album by the Tucson-based Hacienda Brothers (www.haciendabrothers.com). And remember that Richard Thompson is playing at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix on September 26th (this time it's a full-band, electric show). And by the way, Teddy Thompson - Richard and Linda's proverbial chip off the old block - has a wonderful new country album of his own, "Up Front and Down Low". Quite a summer for the Thompson family!

Thank you, Jimmy, for keeping the blog alive during the seasonal doldrums. Let's all get talking again once the thermometer dips to tolerable levels.

Tom