In this excerpt from the 2011 Soundwaves Christmas Countdown show, Dennis Willis and Joe McCaffrey preview the big show, which premieres Sunday, December 11th at 5:00pm PST.

Dennis Willis and Steven Kirk announce the musical acts and special guest of the 22nd annual edition of Soundwaves Christmas. The annual music-themed fundraiser premieres December 11, 2011 on five Bay Area stations, bringing the show into 400,000 homes.

The goal: to raise food, clothing, toys and money for local non-profit organizations, from Daly City to Gilroy.

But you don’t have to wait to make a donation! Pick any of the links at soundwaveschristmas.com and make a contribution. It’s that easy!

And…SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, December 11th @ 5:00pm PST!

For more information: soundwaveschristmas.com

Check out this blistering performance of the classic “Witch Doctor” as deliriously imagined by Johnny Legend and his band, The Chuckleberries. Technically part of the shoot for the 22nd annual Soundwaves Christmas show (which will air 12/11/11), we saw no need to hold back on a great version of such a cool Halloween-perfect tune!

So, consider this a preview of the upcoming show, and our ghoulish gift to you!

Long considered to be one of the seminal stoner video experiences, here is the complete synced mash-up that has become legendary!

But first, a little history…

In August 1995, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette published the first mainstream media article about the “synchronicity”, citing the Usenet discussion group alt.music.pink-floyd. Soon afterward, several fans began creating websites in which they touted the experience and tried to comprehensively catalogue the corresponding moments. A second wave of awareness began in April 1997 when Boston radio DJ George Taylor Morris discussed Dark Side of the Rainbow on the air, leading to further mainstream media articles and a segment on MTV news.

Pink Floyd denies connection between the works but take a look, the synchronicities are sometimes eerie. It has also been performed as a live stage version by many theater groups such as Next Door Theater in Massachusetts and Fearnoart Entertainment in California.

In 2007, Brooklyn audio engineer Bryan Pugh married the 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz for our internet watching and listening pleasure, that he dubbed The Dark Side of Oz.

Enjoy!  It’s okay.  We don’t judge.

It’s interesting how our resilient brains cope with unspeakable things.

Oddly, people tend to juxtapose world-shaking tragedy with something grounded and optimistic.   How many times, upon hearing about a death, do we say “I just talked to him yesterday!”  As if one thing had to do with the other.  And how many people recalled the horrible events of September 11, 2001 by recalling what a perfect blue-skied New York morning it was?  That’s kind of how I feel as I relate Soundwaves to the events of that day.

It was a good time, creatively.  We had just kicked off a new season with an epic Hollywood-based episode with Steven Kirk, Amy Atkinson and our director Scott Beale.  The road trip had been awesome, filled with happiness, much laughter and a shoot at Universal Studios Hollywood.  It also featured an interview with one of my Bay Area idols, the great Dave Morey from KFOG radio.  We were all high on the show, and the episodes that would follow.

Then, on September 11th, I was awakened by a call from Rob Krueger, a longtime-friend and part of our sound team on the annual Christmas show.  He said, “Terrorists have attacked America.  They flew planes into the World Trade Center.”

Those words simply didn’t make sense in the same sentence together.

For the moment, let’s forget about the years that followed – the political polarization that further divided a nation still reeling from a heavily-contested election, the abuses of power, the march to war, the economic collapse, the rights and wrongs of it all, the theories about what really happened that day.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, a deep sadness permeated the consciousness, the feeling that something had been broken.   People of every age, and every political stripe, felt the same thing.  They wanted to do…something.  It wasn’t cynical or calculated.  People just wanted to help where they could.  And when they couldn’t help, they mobilized.  They marched, they held vigils, they prayed.

We never intended to do a “September 11th” edition of Soundwaves.  It just seemed like a crass thing, to push entertainment on people when they were hurting.   The late night comedy shows were on hold, as was Saturday Night Live.  Who the hell wanted to watch music videos?  Then on September 15th, we found out about a march and vigil that was happening in our small coastal city of Pacifica the following night.  I’m not sure exactly who thought of it, but by the time I got off the phone with our director Scott Beale, we had decided that we had to be there.

With barely a plan, we arrived at Terra Nova High School at dusk  About a hundred people had assembled with candles and signs.  Scott framed Amy and I in front of the flag pole and we just began talking.  Amy soberly recounted the attack on the World Trade Center and fought to keep her composure.  It struck me that the thing to do was to talk about the feeling in the air, how there are no words for the pain, but that everyone was feeling the need to do something, anything.

We interviewed some people, including George Mauro, a local cameraman who had recently visited the World Trade Center and had shot video from its observation deck.  George graciously allowed us to show it, as well as an animation that showed the towers disappearing to reflect New York’s new skyline.  It was sobering and powerful.

My wife Sarah, a United Airlines flight attendant (who recently returned after getting stuck across the country when the flights were grounded) agreed to share her thoughts.  Her resolve was evident, but she concluded with a hopeful message, that “We are united, we are American,” citing both airlines that had lost crews and passengers in the attacks.

We marched, talking to people as we went, and occasionally falling into a chorus of “America the Beautiful.”  We wrapped up at a vigil at the beach and I headed back to the studio to edit.  Less than 24 hours later, the show replaced our Universal Studios edition in the rotation.  We heard from people who couldn’t make it to the vigil and were thankful to be able to watch it on TV.  Random people would stop me on the street and thank me for that program.  Somehow, our stupid little music show tapped into the thing everyone was feeling and became bigger than all of us for just a moment.

It’s odd to think back on the experience with the jaded perspective of the ten years that followed.   We are divided politically over multiple wars, a horrible economy, and a deep cynicism for the entire political process.  But for a brief time, we all felt the need to come together and do something.

And like my initial sense at the time, it feels incredibly self-serving to tell my little Soundwaves stories at a time when people are reflecting on one of the most earth-shattering tragedies of modern times, an event that, ten years later, still confounds and perplexes.  But maybe that’s point.  David Letterman, upon returning to the air, soberly tried to put the whole thing into perspective and finally intoned that the attacks “will never make any goddamn sense.”  His words, and the feelings behind them, were primal.

On this weekend, we remember those lost in and affected by this unspeakable tragedy.  But I choose to also remember that the world came together, however briefly.  The constant here is that when it really, really matters, people rise up and do the right thing.  They coalesce into a community and leave their politics at home.

It happened last year in San Bruno, it happened ten years ago, and it will happen again, God forbid, the next time it has to.

This clip from Soundwaves #500 recalls some of the serious topics we’ve covered, and is linked to excerpts from the 9/11 episode.

“Tempted” was the second single released from Squeeze’s fourth album, East Side Story. Though it failed to crack the Top 40 in any country it was released (UK #41, Canada #45, US #49, Australia #90), over the years “Tempted” has become one of Squeeze’s most well known songs, especially in North America, thanks to its use in various TV commercials and in modern video games such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Unlike other Squeeze songs, which are usually sung by guitarist/songwriter Glenn Tilbrook, the song’s lead vocal is mainly by keyboardist Paul Carrack, though Tilbrook and producer Elvis Costello also sing for a few lines in the second verse.  The song was written by Squeeze members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook.Tempted has been covered numerous times, including versions by Sting, Richard Thompson, Joe Cocker, The Georgetown Chimes, and Rockapella. Jools Holland also covered this song on his album Lift The Lid, which was a nod to Jools’ history with the band.

Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known as Elvis Costello, is an English  singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London’s pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello’s lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs. His music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a “pop encyclopedia,” able to “reinvent the past in his own image”.

“Everyday I Write the Book” is a song written by Elvis Costello, from Punch the Clock, an album released in 1983 by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The song peaked at 28 on the UK Singles Chart and was their first hit single in the United States, placing in the Billboard Top 40.

The music video for “Everyday I Write the Book” (directed by Don Letts) has been called a “classic MTV hit” and features footage of Elvis Costello and the Attractions performing in a studio with female backup singers (one of whom was Caron Wheeler) dressed in African clothing and kente cloth headwraps. Footage of Costello and his bandmates performing is mingled with footage showing celebrity lookalikes of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, Charles incongruously doing household chores and Diana watching television in a middle class domicile. Clips of the silent adventure film being watched by Diana are also included in the montage.

When Prince Charles appears wielding a rapier and wearing a swashbuckler costume like that of the actors in the silent film, Princess Diana rolls her eyes and returns her attention to the television. Further attempts by Prince Charles to impress his spouse—including presenting her with a red rose and jumping through a flaming hoop—are similarly rebuffed as she is more interested in the romances depicted on her television. Costello later commented that he had “no idea” of the reason for the interspersed royalty scenes, which were, he says, the director’s idea.  At one point, the singer drops two stone tablets similar to those in the classic film The Ten Commandments and they are smashed.

Space Invaders is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.

It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry (see golden age of video arcade games). When first released, Space Invaders was very successful and popular. Following its release, the game caused a temporary shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan, grossed US$2 billion in quarters by 1982, and by 2007 had earned Taito over $500 million in profits. Guinness World Records ranks it the top arcade game.

Here’s another guaranteed time-waster, from your friends at Soundwaves!

Asteroids is a video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari Inc. It was one of the most popular and influential games of the Golden Age of Arcade Games. Asteroids uses a vector display and a two-dimensional view that wraps around in both screen axes. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy asteroids and saucers while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers’ counter-fire.

Due to the game’s success, a sequel followed in 1980 dubbed Asteroids Deluxe. Similar to the original game, the onscreen objects were tinted blue and a shield that depleted with use replaced the hyperspace feature. In addition, the asteroids rotated, a new enemy dubbed a killer satellite was added to the game, and would break apart into two smaller ships that homed on the player’s position if shot. Also included was a “3-D” monitor surround that glowed in the white-UV light. The ship and asteroids appeared to “float” over this cardboard backdrop. Two more sequels followed this, Space Duel in 1982 and Blasteroids in 1987.

The Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) credits this game as one of the “Top 100 Videogames.” Readers of the KLOV credit it as the seventh most popular game.

Asteroids is a video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari Inc. It was one of the most popular and influential games of the Golden Age of Arcade Games. Asteroids uses a vector display and a two-dimensional view that wraps around in both screen axes. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy asteroids and saucers while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers’ counter-fire.

Due to the game’s success, a sequel followed in 1980 dubbed Asteroids Deluxe. Similar to the original game, the onscreen objects were tinted blue and a shield that depleted with use replaced the hyperspace feature. In addition, the asteroids rotated, a new enemy dubbed a killer satellite was added to the game, and would break apart into two smaller ships that homed on the player’s position if shot. Also included was a “3-D” monitor surround that glowed in the white-UV light. The ship and asteroids appeared to “float” over this cardboard backdrop. Two more sequels followed this, Space Duel in 1982 and Blasteroids in 1987.

The Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) credits this game as one of the “Top 100 Videogames.” Readers of the KLOV credit it as the seventh most popular game.

Rick Springfield is an Australian-born singer-songwriter, musician, and actor.

He had a No. 1 hit with “Jessie’s Girl” in 1981 in both Australia and the US. He received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Jessie’s Girl”. He followed with four more top 10 US hits, “I’ve Done Everything for You”, “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, “Affair of the Heart” and “Love Somebody”.

In 1984, Springfield starred in his own movie, Hard to Hold and recorded the majority of the material on the accompanying soundtrack. This soundtrack included his top-ten hit, “Love Somebody” as well as several moderately successful follow-up singles.