Life was meandering along in a happy midsummer kind of way when suddenly, out of nowhere (well, almost nowhere), we were hit with a double whammy of unhappy occurrences. First, our cat Birdie, nearly 20 years old and barely awake most of the time, wandered off one evening and didn’t come back. We were not nearly over that when the DNC rolled around, at which our champion Bernie Sander’s seemed to completely roll over in what seemed like an utter capitulation to everything we didn’t think we stood for. It was painful. We were not in the mood to do radio. But we did, and Bubble Wrap: The Sad Show is the result, a musical ratatouille of a sort, encompassing many decades and genres of pointed tunage.
For Birdie, we played Birdie’s Tree, a song written just for her because she loved the Christmas Tree. For Bernie, take your pick but I’d say “Carry On” by Axe Riverboy (or maybe, wincingly, “Bye Bye Pride” by Winterpills). For the voters, there was “It’s Your Thing” by the Isley Brothers and for me, Great Lake Swimmers’ “Everything Is Moving So Fast,” another of those pretty, sad songs by a boy-girl duo with their finger on the pulse of introverts everywhere.
I will say no more. Playlist follows:
July 27, 2016
Everything Is Moving So Fast: The Sad Show
Isley Brothers – It’s Your Thing
Bill LePage – Birdie’s Tree
Animaniacs – Wakko’s America
Eno & Byrne – America Is Waiting
Chaka Khan – Democrazy
Stevie Wonder – You Haven’t Done Nothing
Guided by Voices – Echoes Myron
Arms and Legs – Dreamers Do
Axe Riverboy – Carry On
Winterpills – Bye Bye Pride (Go Betweens cover)
Great Lake Swimmers – Everything Is Moving So Fast
Bill Hicks – Politics in America
Cheri – Murphy’s Law
AC/DC – Kicked In The Teeth Again
Brazil (movie) – Central Services
Ian Schoales – Temp Jobs
Apparitions – Worker Bees
Stereolab – Tomorrow Is Already Here
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
Beastie Boys with Santigold – Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Mistakes and Regrets
Broken Social Scene – Almost Crimes (Radio Kills remix)
Royal Crescent Mob – Ballad of Monte Temple
James Brown – Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing
Cameo – Fast Fierce and Funny
Fishbone – Dear God
Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed
The Autumn Project – Between the Smoke and Mirrors
The Black Keys – Meet Me In the City