TarFest 2011 Just Needs a Little Shovel Magic

Hot on the heels of his recent LobsterFest triumph, we have another music fest which benefitted from the Mr. Shovel magic. Last year, Mr. Shovel curated the music fest entirely. This year, he was just brought in to fine tune, and add some touches. Those touches polished this festival of music and art in the LaBrea Tar Pits for a magical Sunday afternoon in the park.

Sadly, I missed some of the early bands (Ash Panda and Infantree). But I got there early enough to hear the soulful stirrings of A House for Lions. Really poignant lyrics. An excellent lead-in to the band of the afternoon (Everest). A Check One Two favorite, Obi Best, lent her girlish softness to a beautiful afternoon.

All around, there were food trucks and painting happening. Children ran with hula hoops (and some adults too). Some kids blew bubbles. It was fun. A marvel of creativity and art.

The draw indeed seemed to be local favorite Everest, with crowds packing the small area for their set.

(Although Everest is also a Check One Two fav, this time, the festival had already booked them.) But Shovel's magic lies in polishing what diamond is already there. Obi Best and A House for Lions were perfect lead-ins to Everest. And the perfect close out?

As Shovel knew, to follow a band with a following, you have to get another band with a following. And there are those in this town who LOVE their Saint Motel. Right after Everest finished, people started lining the stage to see Saint Motel. (Mostly girls, cause Saint Motel is, after all, filled with cute guys...) 

Somewhere midway through, I started speaking, as I am wont to do, to friends and acquaintances about what radio they are listening to now. It's still hard for me, after all this time, to watch a group of local bands and NOT think of our beloved Indie 103.1. Especially since we were so close to it, watching this concert. The usual answers came up: KEXP, KCRW. I heard a new one: WFMU (East Coast). Some people still listen to Pandora, or Last.fm. I'm sure once next week's Facebook changes come about the answer will also be Spotify more than it is now.

The unspoken answer is: we still miss Indie 103.1 terribly. And nothing has really replaced it since it left our terrestrial airwaves. There isn't a concert that goes by that I don't miss the Shovel magic. There isn't a show on the air (terrestrial or otherwise) that doesn't benefit from more Shovel (Have you listened to the dreadful Jonesy's Jukebox, now that Shovel isn't there? I rest my case.). Sure Indie 103.1 dot com still exists, and "content director" Tedd Roman was spotted in the crowd, Mayor of the Beer Tent, but Indie's magic left when Shovel did. Everyone who used to listen (and doesn't now) knows that.

So I was shocked when I wandered over to the merch tent to pick up some band CDs and saw this bumper sticker amongst the items:

I gasped, and said, "Indie 103?" (Mostly because I was shocked that someone had the balls to use the old logo (albeit badly... I mean, really? a 45? where's the hole?). The green kid looked at me and said brightly, "It's a great radio station, you should listen." There we are in the shadow of the House that Shovel Built, its absence palpable, so much that I still think about it every day and miss it. Thinking about how I've stood at hundreds of merch tables, just like this, one of its proudest fans, so glad to be a part of it. Scooping up every available piece of Indie gear to show my allegiance. But rather than let the tears well up in my eyes just then, I just stare at him glazedly, and say: "Really? I'll have to check it out."

Two of the most brilliant musical minds in Los Angeles, (l-r) our own Mr. Shovel and Watusi Rodeo's Chris Morris, enjoying TarFest. You can thankfully still hear Chris' radio show on the Scion Network here.  You can catch Mr. Shovel's magic at Mr. Shovel  or at some curated concerts around town.

Jonesy's Jukebox Returns! To the Evil Empire...

Remember back, if you can, to winter of 2003. Terrestrial radio was boring, bland, much as it is now. The only real "alternative" radio station in Los Angeles was the CBS monolith called KROQ. Not much of an alternative. People were turning to their iPods in droves.

Then, suddenly, on Christmas Day 2003, with a blast of The Ramones "We Want the Airwaves," a real alternative was born, and they called it Indie 103.1. From that day till its final terrestrial one, January 15, 2009, we were graced with some of the best radio ever to cross airwaves.

But it was on February 10, 2004, that radio was truly changed forever. That day was the day the irrascible, farting, belching, dead-air-flaunting machine that is Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols began his radio career with his trusty producer, Mark Sovel, Indie's visionary music director, by his side.

There were three versions of Jonesy's Jukebox. The second version had Indie's production director, Chuck P. as producer. But the Jonesy-Chuck P. mix just wasn't the same thing. Jonesy seemed to want more of a lackey, someone he could kick around, and in came Kevin Begley, from Boston's WFNX. Young, green, he suited the bill perfectly. Except for one thing.

The Sovel-Jonesy mix was an equal pairing. Modest Sovel, of course, will deny this, but while Jonesy was the star, the Sex Pistol, the legend, Sovel was also tops in his field of DJdom. For every Jonesy push, Sovel pushed back. Takes a lot of strength to do that. Strength that both Chuck P. and Begley ultimately lacked opposite Jonesy.

You can talk to anyone who listened to Indie 103.1 regularly. Every person will wax rhapsodic over which bits were their favorites. Whose show they liked the best, or listened to the most. Which guest really bowled them over. But among the hardcore listeners, the jewel in Indie 1031's crown is, was, and always will be the Jonesy-Sovel pairing. Or "Shovel," as King Jonesy decreed him to be.

Even today, as news came over the transom about Jonesy's Jukebox once again hitting the terrestrial airwaves, the recurring question hitting my inbox was: "Is he doing it with Shovel?" (Aka, is it gonna be great again? Or crap?)

More on that later.

Cause there's another big ugly pink elephant in the room. During Indie the upstart's years in terrestrial radio, not only were they at first not taken seriously; they were then openly harrassed by the monolith KROQ. The big station (I took to calling it "The Evil Empire" on my podcast and blog) spent quite a lot of time kicking the little station that could. They might say it was all in good competitive fun. But it did get ugly.

After hanging on for five long wonderful years (a Sex Pistols reunion and tour of Europe in the mix), way past when anyone thought they would, Indie 103.1 ended its terrestrial operations, gutted its staff and opted to keep the Internet version of the station, which was still drawing ads, going. It's still going now (http://www.indie1031.com).

One thing KROQ was good at during those five years and after is stealing Indie's best stuff. Bands, songs, playlist items, even staff. I suppose it's no surprise then, in these recession days when Yahoo has to suck it up and be happy that Bing is now their search engine, that we find, beginning Sunday: Jonesy's Jukebox will once again start spinning the tunes. (YAY! Applause) On the Evil Empire, KROQ. (Hmmm.)

It is with trepidation that one hears that news if one is a hardcore Indie 103.1 fan. But I'm happy to tell you that it's the good version of Jonesy's Jukebox: the one with Shovel alongside. We can only wonder if "Fast Food Rockers" and songs accompanied by melodica are far behind. (This version's focus is more "new music," apparently.)

Those Jukebox shows were truly magic. The more interaction with Shovel the better, in my view. Jonesy can get a bit ornery, even for the most dedicated listener. Thank God, Shovel's there to balance him out, to bring the funny. Radio truly almost doesn't get better than that.

I know it's KROQ, but listen, won't you?
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The fourth edition of Jonesy’s Jukebox begins airing Sundays from 7 pm to 9 pm, this Sunday, October 10, on KROQ, 106.7 in Los Angeles. You can also stream it here:


KROQ radio stream


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Radio Is Dead: Halloran No Longer On Air

2010 begins with sad radio news. Shakeups at morning shows all across the country, and radio legend Mike Halloran no longer on air at San Diego's 94.9 (where he had been for seven years). It is a sad and sorry day for terrestrial radio. If it wasn't dead before, it surely is now.

But what of the future? Wither radio?

Here's what I really wish: that these amazing radio talents (Halloran, Sovel, TK, Kurt St. Thomas, Angie C., the FNX crew, etc.) that are no longer appreciated by terrestrial as we know it, just take the bull by the horns and forge a REAL radio in the Internet space.

Suck it up about the salaries (yep, you're gonna make less initially), and just do Internet radio we can be passionate about. The money may not be there now, but it will be.

Do radio the way you always wanted to. Not crap dictated to you by consultants, where playlists rule the day; but music that makes you feel alive, music you are inspired by.

Like terrestrial Indie 103.1 was, but even freer and moreso. There has not YET been a station like that online. One with personalities that we love to listen to, and hear commentary from; one that is REALLY about the music, with a vast lack of bullshit.

Even Indie 103.1 dot com is too playlist oriented (for reasons that boggle my mind). Give us people talking, and music we love. How hard is that? Why hasn't anyone done this yet?

Like how Huffington Post reinvented newspapers for the web, and now it's the gold standard. We need that for radio on the Web. And boy, would I love Halloran to be masterminding something like that. Or the ones we loved at Indie. Or the ones we loved at FNX. Or all of the above.

Because otherwise, radio is going to die. I'm a hardcore radio addict, and I could honestly never listen to radio again, now that most of the folks from Indie and Halloran are no longer on air. What is the point?

Breaking bands? I get my new music online, in any of various sources.

The bands fan pages on MySpace or their own websites are more reliable sources of new music anyway, and you can interact with the bands you love there. All of that used to be the bastion of radio. No more.

What I wanted from my radio station was this: music I could just turn on, and listen to. Whatever was played. Listen because I enjoyed what the jocks had to say, because I liked the music, because interviews and banter was informative. I would still do that if there was a viable alternative. But, sadly, there isn't.

GIVE US ONE, OH GREAT RADIO GODS. Forge a real radio station on the Internet. One that everyone hears about and has to listen to. One that isn't constrained by ratings malarky. Or corporation dictatorship. One that bands love and come to (like they did to Indie 103). One that truly remembers and honors the music that matters.

Really? Is this so hard?