Playlist for September 16, 2007 from 12:00AM - 3:00AM

Dedicated to Lisa Adeva Samoy, my dear friend in "Naropa," Colorado, and friend of Philip Melancon's from the Neutral Ground Coffeehouse, which he owns (thank Goddess).

I was born in the Chicago region, so this song is always an homage to my origins.

This makeshift band is comprised of members of Turner's family; visiting Senegalese musicians; a university percussion student/organizer; and slide guitarist/producer/North Mississippi All Star Luther Dickinson.

Spoken-word piece by Tchai and Komunyakaa. The collaboration is amazing ~ the brilliant Tchai, who played with Coltrane, and Komunyakaa, who won the Pulitzer for poetry book Neon Vernacular in 1994 and who has done significant therapy-through-poetry work with Vietnam veterans and his book Dien Cai Dieu (he also received the Bronze Star during Vietnam). I met Prof. Komunyakaa in 1994 and knew I had to work with him. He was my poetry professor the following semester at Indiana University at Bloomington; supervised my final poetry project for graduation; and was again sought as my instructor in 1997 at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (summer). He now teaches at Princeton, but hails from Bogalusa. His words describing the flora of Louisiana helped guide me to relocate here in 1995 (he's from Bogalusa and of Trinidadian descent; perhaps Gatemouth's lineage per the Brown family? I'm still playing detective on that one...).

Ginger Baker's only tune on the album.

By request, for Bob from Slidell. Yes, sometimes it feels like they'll stone you ever chance they get. Perhaps this is the best "buck-up-and-deal-with-it" songs ever to remind us that we are not crazy, that people's aggressions really do exist. JUST KEEP GOING.

This was handed to me by WWOZ DJ Dean Ellis; Seth is a friend of his. However, I happened to play this tune one day before Dean, so technically I was the first DJ to support this song (ha!). This cut has strong and very clever lyrics doing anything but praising President GW Bush. Hail, First Amendment (oh, gee, does that get us all on an FBI list?!) Well, lots of listeners get a huge boost of HOPE from this song... an anti-Bush song set to the tune of "Santa Maria," which was Seth's sister Becky's idea (she's also an amazing musician herself). And there are only 491 days until W is out of office 1/20/09. You can download for free a copy of Dirty Rat Bastard at www.myspace.com/peacepenguins. Also find gadgets that count down the days until G.W. Bush's term is over at www.backwardsbush.com for a mere ten bucks.

This ends my throw-back set (OK, except for the next Rads tune...).

Andy's also a nifty painter. Ask his ex-wife Gwen at Coffea on Burgundy/Louisa Streets in the Bywater to buy one of his paintings and help a struggling mom and child.

Ahhh, Lucinda. It's like she's grinding a cigarette butt out in her ex-lover's face while simultaneously protecting herself from being stalked. Gotta love it. She's REAL.

Anything with the word "rat" gets a laugh from me... like Quintron's "Fly Like a Rat" on the new Jam Skate! Love palindromes? How about RATS STAR (thanks, Ann Sexton).

Recorded live at Tipitina's Sept. 7, 2006.

Featuring Willie T.

Awww, the Kebster's gettin' romantic on us...

The Irving Berlin classic, featuring Joan Bow and Charlie Gabriel. I get sentimental up here in the middle of the night, you know.

The Seals and Crofts classic...Dekkerized (Desmond, that is). Funny, I always thought the original was rather hokey, but then again, I mostly remember it from those commercials where the guy says, "Sessions presents... 50 Classic Songs as Remedy for Insomnia"... I think Gordon Lightfoot was also on those things (though I have a soft spot for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," thanks to an 8th-grade English teacher who made us analyze the verbs).