Alright, we at the Balcony recommend that you synchronize your bongs to the music . . . right . . . . . . . now. Now. Here it is, presented to you in full quadraphonic stereo the band is inside your head psychedelic surround sound: This Pill Makes You Small. Here in episode four of music the Cheshire Cat would love, we sit seven inches off the ground and spin all the day-glo jams you can fit on a black circle. Don’t mind the naked shaman, he brought pizza.
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Summer time means a lot of things: bar-b-que, sunshine, zinc on your nose, a good case of heat stroke, some potato salad bloat and the music of Charlie Manson’s second favorite band (even he preferred The Beatles) . . . In Lesson 54 of the 101 Series we spin the well-produced tunes of the Beach Boys. Join us as we travel from the early surf rock all the way to the days when each song had a five french horns, a mellotron, a string section, and no Beach Boys except for the harmony singing . . . Here it is: the Brian Wilson show, featuring Mike Love, Van Dyke Parks, the rest of the Wilsons, their cousins, Glen Campbell, Squeaky Fromme and who ever else woke up in the sandbox.
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The Charleston, the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug, the Hand Jive, the St. Louis Shag, the Fox Trot, the Jump and Jive . . . at the Balcony we know them all. We could totally open an Arthur Murray location right here in the studio if we got the mics out of the way. We might even throw in a Rhumba and a Tango for some international flavor. So let’s move onto the dance floor now with episode 4 of our tribute to the sounds of the days before rock n’ roll: Swingtime. Join us for ninety or so minutes of music recorded and danced to by people who now eat dinner at 3 p.m.
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In 1950 two college hipsters named Jac and Paul started folk record label in their dorm room. Why? Because that’s what you do when you drink a lot of wine from a jug while smoking reefer and listening to Leadbelly if you were in your early 20s before rock and roll changed everything. In Lesson 53 of the 101 Series we chart the history of Elektra from two guys in a room to becoming THE rock label of the 60s and 70s to the boutique niche label it is now. Find out how popular music went from acoustic guitars to bleeps and bloops in sixty years . . .
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Hey. You. Get some soul music in your life. Right: now. It’s that time again . . . join us for our fourth trip to the land of horns, pianos, bass all falling into the honey deep groove: Soulville. In this episode we go out of our way to play all the deep cuts that you’ll find in the crate in the back, under the table at your local indie vinyl record store. Come on, listen to all the stuff Dre, Kanye and the Dust Brothers sample from . . .
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The one thing we at the Balcony truly consider blasphemous is when you consider gospel and rock two different things. You ever seen a big choir put on a show? They’ll kick your ass more than an Arcade Fire concert, that’s for damn (darn, sorry) sure . . . In Lesson 52 of the 101 Series we take our secular-living-long-hair-having-dope-smoking-devil-horn-throwing-up asses to church for some religious music. Join us for two hours of proof that rock stars have soul. Now throw some bills in the collection, not coins . . . you don’t want to wake up the Lord this early on a Sunday morning. Say Hallelujah!
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Every once in a while we here at the Balcony take a little boat ride down to the islands . . . it takes about ten months each time. It’s a l-o-n-g ass boat ride. In episode four of Songs From the Yard — our toast to reggae, ska, dancehall, lover’s rock, dub, and rocksteady — we play all the jams that should soundtrack your spliff rolling.
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Once upon a time, sometime between WWI and WWII, a wisp of wind found its way to a lonely crossroads and met a man named Robert Johnson. And when that meeting was over The Blues was born. There was nothing the wisp could do. And so with Lesson 51 of the 101 Series we look at the formative years for the genre known as The Blues and listen to recordings so old they’re growing moss. It starts with a lonely solo guitar player and ends with howl in the night – with a bucket of sweat for an appetizer. If Jay Gatsby had played The Blues he’d have been a happy man!
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The name of the show says it all. Sometimes you’ve just got to rock. You need to build a playlist of the 37 most rockin’ songs you can think of at that moment and listen to it for many days. We do that, too – fairly routinely. And we bring it to you in a nice, easy-to-swallow sweet treat called Sock Rockin’ Beats. This is episode 4 and we throw caution to the wind – and a television off The Balcony – and play all those songs that keep us stompin’ on the floors in wild abandon – and the neighbors on the phone to the landlord. But we don’t care. We just want to rock out for awhile.
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Hello, students. Time to gas up the Woody, break out the Sex Wax and pack up the cooler with beverages. The weather is getting warmer and the waves are getting higher so it’s time for some sun and sand in your sandwiches. Lesson 50 of the 101 Series says it’s “Surf’s Up!” – we get out of the classroom and on the road to beaches around the world – or maybe right down the 101 Freeway – and listen to lots of twangy guitar. Get your sunscreen and zinc oxide and hop in the back. Time to use some vacation time!
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