It’s not very often that we get to say this, but Twirl Radio turns 600 today! That’s pretty old. We started this ride over 15 years ago, in January, 1998. Our mission then and now is the same–to bring you “the finest music from the rock era”. And I mean that.

Today, we go big. Big heat: it’s going to be over 100 degrees here in Sacramento. Today’s show is going to go into overtime–we’ll take 3 big hours–4:00-7:00 p.m. Pacific. And–3 big interviews for you, representing a wide swath of Twirl territory. We’ll feature Sam Phillips, The Taters, and Vegas With Randolph on today’s show.

Sam Phillips is somebody I’ve been a fan of for a very long time. In fact–one of her songs showed up on the very first episode of Twirl, on January 17, 1998. We’ve played songs from her legendary albums The Indescribable Wow, Martinis & Bikinis, and Omnipop over the years. She’s about to release her latest effort, Push Any Button, and we’ve been playing sneak previews from it over the past month. It’s wonderful, and we’ll chat about it on the show. It’s due out in August, and you can preorder now, CD, vinyl, or digital, at www.samphillips.com.

Those of you who have listened to my show for a while know that I often refer to The Taters as “the unofficial house band of Twirl Radio”. The boys from Richmond, VA are among the funnest bands you’ll ever find. In fact, they are so fun that I willingly violated the rules of grammar in the last sentence to bring you the word “funnest”! Their albums and live shows combine the best of originals and inspired covers. We’ll chat with 75% of the band today (Craig Evans, Brad Tucker, and Chris Mendez) about their new live acoustic album Taters Party, and they will perform a song for us live on the show! www.thetaters.com.

Vegas With Randolph produce what one reviewer described as “thinking man’s party music”. It’s thoughtful power pop, with equal parts of intellectualism and fun. The Washington, D.C.-area band have put out a couple of great albums, and are currently putting the finishing touches on release #3: Rings Around The Sun.  Today, we’ll chat with principal songwriters/vocalists Eric Kern and John Ratts. They’ve been kind enough to slide the VWR vault open a crack, just enough to let us WORLD PREMIERE two tracks off the next album. And pay attention during the interview segment, because there is a contest afoot! Vegas With Randolph wants to give you free stuff, so you’ll want to go to this link to answer the contest questions during the show: http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_blogs/artist_486374?blog_id=9734886.

And as for me, I’d just like to acknowlege Access Sacramento, for enabling me to create the kind of radio show that I’d want to listen to, even if at times, I was the only one listening. Special thanks to our radio program director Shane Carpenter, and our outgoing Executive Director, Ron Cooper, who both encouraged me over the years to do this show. Sure, it’s my First Amendment right to express free speech, but more importantly, it’s just a whole lot of fun to do so! Thanks for listening.

–Mike Lidskin, Sacramento, CA

June 29, 2013
Categories: Twirl Radio Events . . Author: twirlradio . Comments: Leave a comment