Have a “Louie, Louie” New Years!

Just a quick post to let you know that Radio Dead Man is having a New Years Eve “Louie, Louie” marathon since as they put it “What New Year’s Eve would be complete without “Louie, Louie”?” It starts at 8:00 PM EST and basicaly runs until they run out of versions of “Louie, Louie” to play. Hey, it beats Dick Clark!
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Polls? You want polls, you’ve got polls.

You looking for year end polls? Then Scott Woods over at Rock Critics Daily has found a great place to start. Check out FIMOCULOUS for every poll you could ever imagine.
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The Rock and Roll Radio Spotlight is on: Electrophonic Tonic

Looking for some excellent rock and roll radio to listen to on a drab and dreary Monday night? Then check out Electrophonic Tonic on CKUW radio. Broadcasting from the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada every Monday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM, Electrophonic Tonic plays great rock and roll from the past and the present with a healthy dose of Canadian content thrown in for good measure. Electric and eclectic, Electrophonic Tonic is just the thing to get you through a Monday night and primed for the rest of the week. You can listen online to their streaming MP3 broadcast using most of the popular MP3 players. Later.

You never give me your money. You only give me your funny paper.

NEMS, Northern Songs, Seltaeb, Apple Corps. EMI. I have always been fascinated by the monetary and legal machinations behind the Beatle’s empire. Stock market flotations, Bankrupt supermarkets for friends. Massive merchandising deals at the height of Beatlemania. Purchasing Greek islands. Apple electronics. The Apple boutique. The Beatles created a financial kingdom that was the envy of many small countries and they still continue to earn money long after they ceased to exist. If you always wondered where the money came from and where the money went, Beatle Money is a good place to start. An interesting compendium of financial facts for the truly obsessed Beatles scholars out there.
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Rock and Roll Record Label Spotlight: Sympathy for the Record Industry

If you think that all record label owners live like Phil Spector (ok bad example. How about Clive Davis?) then check out this feature on Long Gone John and his label Sympathy for the Record Industry as the label turns 15 years old. A very cool record label best known for giving the White Stripes their start, I like Long Gone John’s answer when asked why he does what he does: “I love rock & roll.” These are the kind of people who live, breath and eat rock ‘n’ roll and put out the CDs to prove it. Give ‘em a spin with some of that Christmas cash and have a ball. Thanks to Coolfer for the link.
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Imagine what Alan Freed and Wolfman Jack could do!

According to this article in the Washington Post, satellite radio is showing a steady growth in popularity and it’s hard not to like it: digital clarity, no interference, no commercials, lots of choice. Granted you have to pay for it but I suppose that’s the price of progress.
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Welcome to the University of Rock and Roll!

Do you want to be a rock and roll scholar? Then check out “University of Manitoba to be school of rock” for all the details of their new course offering this January “From Ragtime to Rock: A History of Popular Music in the 20th Century.” Sounds cool.
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CNET picks “Online music’s winners and losers”

For those of you keeping track, here is the lowdown on “Online music’s winners and losers” according to CNET.
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Where has the time gone?

It’s been six months to the day that I started The Rock and Roll Report and the time has flown by. When I started writing this blog, I had the vague idea to publish the increasing amount of cool rock and roll links that I had been collecting for the benefit of people sadly mistaken that “classic rock” and “adult alternative” radio were the only way to get their rock and roll kicks. After six months I can unequivocally state that the amount of cool rock and roll record labels, radio stations, magazines and websites featuring tons of cool rock and roll bands number in the hundreds and quite possibly the thousands. While my tastes and your tastes may vary on a particular band or song, looking at the big picture confirms that rock and roll is still alive and kicking on the cusp of 2004 and you don’t need to listen to “Stairway to Heaven”, “Back in Black” or “Start Me Up” forty times a day on the radio to satisfy your rock and roll fix. As I take a break from writing for the next couple of days (don’t worry I still have a couple of rock and roll tricks left for the remainder of 2003, they will just be sporadically posted) I am looking forward to the hype, the excesses and the stupidity that the music world no doubt will be throwing our way next year because I know that in some garage, basement or rehearsal space somewhere out there, a guitar amp is humming, a bass is being tuned and cymbals are being polished in preparation to unleash another wave of timeless, niche free rock and roll on the world and man, I can hardly wait! Trust me when I say that rock and roll is far from dead, you just have to know where to look. As Frank Zappa stated when describing the musical “underground” of the sixties and which still seems appropriate today “The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.” Join me for an exciting 2004 as we continue to search the “underground” for real, exciting rock and roll fun, have a couple of laughs along the way and maybe introduce some people to some really good (and really crappy yet strangely still good) rock and roll. Thanks for reading. Have a great 2004 and please, comments to the site are accepted and in fact encouraged. Attitude antennae up! Ears tuned to the underground! Turntables at the ready! Let’s go!
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Friday Fun: Visit the Retrolounge

Are you stuffed to the gills from eating too much turkey and mashed potatoes? Exhausted from visiting relatives? Wasted from putting together the kid’s toys? Just have a Boxing Day hangover? Then relax, pull up a chair and take a trip back in time by visiting the Retrolounge. This is a very cool, very innovative website that will keep you busy for a couple of hours at least. With 12 different categories like music, architecture and paperbacks to visit, the Retrolounge is another example of a website designer with too much time on their hands. And I thank them profusely for it because this is one great website!
Later.

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