After ten years at a National Public Radio station in Chicago, Mike Lidskin returned to California in 1997 and created Twirl Radio, a weekly two hour radio program which features the finest independent music and artists from the rock era. Mike’s on a mission to not “just spin rock music, but to educate listeners about this vital art form.” Indeed, he doesn’t just announce the songs, but gives histories about some of the artists, the albums, and the songs themselves.
You can catch Twirl live each Saturday afternoon, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM PST on Sacramento’s Voice, KUBU 96.5 FM, and archived right here, as well as at http://www.twirlradio.com. If you haven’t headed into your Saturday night with an earful of Twirl, you’re doing it wrong!
Artist | Track | Album
Richard Turgeon | Lost Angeles | Lost Angeles
Three Hour Tour | Gray Waves | You Never Know
Sunshine Boys | Schoolyard Bully | Blue Music
Poplord | Kill Me | The Fowl Tone Sampler
Maxi Dunn | Change The Record | Edmund & Leo
Bud Rogers | Slave To Passion | Whiteout
The American Professionals | Just Do Something | Sympathetic Overdrive
Lannie Flowers | James Bond Theme | Songs, Bond Songs.
Duncan Faure | The Day That I Found Love | 4
Braam | Maybe Honey You’re A Lemon Tree | The Things You Think You Have
Gretchen’s Wheel | The Maze | Black Box Theory
The Crushing Violets | Strange Voices | Ghost Fields
Pugwash | Make It Yourself | Silverlake
Elk City | No Depth | Everybody’s Insecure
Anton Barbeau and Felsen interviews
Anton Barbeau | Disambiguation | Natural Causes
Anton Barbeau | It’s The Coffee That Makes The Man Go Mad | Natural Causes
Felsen | Lay Kenneth Lay | Accidental Drowning
Andrew Griffin | Vultures On Your Bones | Live in Twirl studio
Andrew Griffin | Private Airline | Live in Twirl studio
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS:
So for the past two weeks, we had doubleheader interviews on the show. Where do you go after that? How about two interviews–live, in the Twirl studios? So we did just that.
There was a very special occasion in Sacramento that night–a show at the lovely Shine Cafe, featuring Anton Barbeau (with full Antband Kenny), and Felsen. These two bands had never before played a gig together–and in fact, had never even met.
So on the show, we had Anton Barbeau and Julia Boorinakis Harper from Anton’s band, and Andrew Griffin, frontman of Felsen, live in the studio. The in-studio photo shows this historic first meeting, and we were honored to have it happen live, on the air.
Anton Barbeau is no stranger to our show. He lives in Berlin, but fortunately for us, makes frequent visits to his hometown of Sacramento, and it’s always fun and insightful to catch up with him whenever he does. This is the first visit since his wonderful Natural Causes album was officially released. Some say this album is the “most Anton” of all his records, or “the Anton record they’ve been waiting for”. It’s hard to know just what that all means, but suffice it so say, Natural Causes is by turns accessible and poppy, yet quirky and charming. If you already like Anton, you’ll love this record. If you’re just discovering him, you’ll love this record. http://antonbarbeau.com/
Andrew Griffin of Bay Area band Felsen is also no stranger to our show. He’s the mastermind behind Felsen’s five studio albums, and some amazing live performances over the years. The last few Felsen records have been what I would consider to be vital listening for the 21st century. “I Don’t Know How To Talk Anymore” was my pick for Album of the Year for 2013. It spoke to isolation in the technology age. The current album, “Blood Orange Moon”, tied for the Album of the Year for 2017 (technically a 2018 release, but I’ve had it since last September, so it counts). It picks up where the last one left off, but with a couple of changes. The entire band, save for Andrew, has changed. And the sound is not quite as boisterously rockin’. It is a bit quieter, but no less intense–this one simmers and smolders. In REM terms, this is Felsen’s “Automatic For The People”. We were treated to Andrew performing a couple of the newer songs live on the show. Try out both albums: https://felsen.bandcamp.com/
And in case you were wondering, the live gig at Shine was every bit as good as you might expect. Two great bands, playing loose, but fiery sets. At the end, another bit of rock ‘n’ roll history was created: Andrew called Anton up to the stage, for a duet of “Suffragette City”. A magical capstone to a magical day of music in Sacramento.
Enjoy the show!
