Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Fran Ritchie continues his tribute to the Summer Nationals on the Rock and Roll Party this Saturday (July 5) from 9 to 11 p.m. on WCUW (91.3 FM). "A lot of people listened and called in last week, but there was a lot of interference on the air," he says. Transmission problems corrected, he took to the streets to attract listeners to this week's broadcast.

"I went up to Green Hill Park and postered, then went to pizza parlors, bars, and record stores. Last year, some people saw the poster at Green Hill and called from North Brookfield. Unfortunately, they couldn't pick up the station."

Like the cars cruising Worcester's streets this weekend, most of his material is classic, with a few exceptions. John Fogarty has a new song called "Hot Rod Heart." Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys' "Big 49" is a song about hitting the highway." And Southern Culture on the Skids' "Dirt Track Date" is a typical hanging-around-the-dirt-track song.

Much of this year's material comes from the two-record set Chrome, Smoke, and Fire (Blast First). "It's a compilation of hot-rod music by Robert Williams. Both covers are painted with nice looking ladies, hot rods, and cops pulling cars over. He painted and signed them himself. I wish I could find another unopened copy so I could save it."

The set features three songs by Charlie Ryan (who recorded "Hot Rod Lincoln"), Ronnie and the Daytonas' (best known for "Little GTO") version of "Bucket T," a couple of Beach Boys covers ("409" and "Little Deuce Coup") by the Quads, Ramblin' Jimmy Dolan's "Hot Rod Mama," and "I Wish I Was a Car" by Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Haley. "The great thing about it is Mary keeps singing she wishes she was a car so he'd pay more attention to her, while he replies, if she could do the things a car can do, he would."

Also included is Bill Haley and the Saddlemen's "Rocket '88," recorded in 1951 when they were a country and Western band, prior to when they became the Comets and went rock and roll. Don Carson and the Whirlaways' "Three Carburetors" is a rockabilly R&B tune filled with lots of bragging and hipster talk that sadly ends with the narrator's hot rod conking out under a LA freeway overpass.

As we pull into the final turn, Ritchie names Johnny Fortune's "Dragster" as one his all-time favorite car songs, along with Dorsey Lewis's "Hot Rod Boogie" (Cozy). "It's a very obscure '50s song. In parentheses he went by the name of the Scared Coalminer. [In the song], he talks about going to the junkyard and putting together a hot rod." Let's all salute one of the country's first recyclers!

THE 1997 PLAYBOY JAZZ Festival will air a special July 4 broadcast on WICN (90.5 FM). Performances by the Los Angeles Multi-School Jazz Band (directed by Reggie Andrews), the Nicolas Payton Quintet (who'll perform a tribute to the recently deceased Doc Cheatham), the Roy Haynes Group, Gato Barbieri, and Bruce Hornsby are slated to be featured from noon to 4 p.m.

At 4 p.m. Our Lady and Her Freedom will follow. Hosted by Norman Corwin and Charles Kuralt (former host of the panoramic Sunday Morning on CBS), the program will explore the melting pot that creates our country's character, what attracts us to different regions, and our ongoing love affair with the Statue of Liberty.

ON JULY 7, the Sunday Night Concert, which airs at midnight on WCUW, will feature vintage Morphine. The Boston group's Cure for Pain CD is featured in a 1994 Cleveland appearance.