Every music geek in the world has at least one band that they think deserves wider recognition.  As regular I.W.H. listeners (both of them) know by now, mine is NRBQ.

It's a minority opinion, of course, but that minority includes, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello, among many others.  If you've never heard of them you can read a quick synopsis here:

http://www.livinglegendsmusic.com/library.php?groupID=4433

Ray Bradbury turns 90 this week.

I was a complete sci-fi geek during my teen years - subscribed to the magazines, bought the paperbacks by the ton.  I don't remember when I stumbledonto Ray Bradbury's work, or what the first story of his that I read was.  But I knew I'd found something special almost immediately.  Here was a writer who wasn't trying to impress me with high-flown concepts or dazzle me with futuristic technology, though his stories often had both of those elements.  He really seemed to be trying to get me to pay attention to the world around me, to see the beauty and poetry and wonder in everyday life - even when the stories took place on Mars.

From nearly the beginning of the recording era it was an accepted truism that if a song was a hit for one artist it could very well become a hit for another.  In fact, several times during the 1940's the #1 song was knocked off of the top spot by another version of the same song.  During the 1960's if Motown Records had a hit with one artist then they would have several of their other artists cover the song as well, just in case.

And the 60's were such an active period of musical cross-pollination that a Top 40 hit would often be recorded by musicians in half a dozen other genres as well, from jazz to easy-listening.  Case in point: Light My Fire by The Doors, a song that has been recorded dozens of times, from the 60's to the present, and was in fact also a hit for Jose Feliciano.  

Whaddya say, gate? Are you in the know, or are you a solid bringer-downer? Here's the stone bible for you to collar that apple trickeration that will truly get your boots on!

Say, all you cats and chicks, don't be icky. Bust your conk on this mess and you'll be wailin' with the mellows.

Hepcats' Holiday is the new Friday morning show from those same fine folks who bring you (all right, it's just me so I guess it's 'that same fine folk who brings you') The Intercranial Whizbang

As everyone knows, August is Foot Health Month (Not to be confused with National Foot Health Awareness Month, which is April, of course.)

With that in mind, this week's Whizbang will open with a salute to all things podiatricious.  Tune in, unless you have a defeetist attitude.

Tuesday 8/10/10  8-10 PM

Rebroadcast Friday midnight after P5K.

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye (most Iowa farmers keep an elephant just for measuring purposes) so it's time for an I.W.H. salute to the joys of sticking things in the ground and waiting to see what happens.

Tuesday 8/3/10  8-10 PM

Rebroadcast Friday midnight after P5K

Return with us now to those classic years in the late 1950's and early-to-mid 60's, when a new dance style was invented every few days and someone immediately made a record to cash in on it.  

Those of us who grew up during that period may well remember the Twist, the Frug, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Pony, the Swim, the Jerk, the Hully Gully, the Shing-a-ling, the Stroll, the Monkey, the Dog, the Hammer, the Boogaloo, the Funky Chicken and possibly even the Freddy.  

But who remembers the Razzle Dazzle, the Bug, the Utee, the Choo Choo, the Popeye Waddle, the Doolang, the Sand, the Egyptian Shumba or, god help us, the Snacky Poo(!)? (What were they thinking?)

This week's Whizbang will open with a salute to these and other dance crazes that never quite caught on.  Roll up the rug and tune in.

Tuesday 7/27/10  8-10 PM

Rebroadcast Friday midnight after P5K

This week's Whizbang opens with its more-or-less annual salute to ice cream, milkshakes, double-chocolate malteds and all things cool and creamy that help make summer bearable.  We'll even throw in a popsicle song or two.  Come on by and chill.

Tuesday 7/20/10  8-10 PM   Rebroadcast Friday midnight after P5K.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, the movie that caused thousands of women to put better locks on their bathroom doors*, was released fifty years ago, on June 16,1960.  

The powers-that-be at Paramount Studios, which had Hitchcock under contract, did not want him to make the film, calling the story "too repulsive" and "impossible for films," and denied him his usual budget.  So Hitchcock financed the film himself through his own production company and shot the film mostly using the television crew he employed for his Alfred Hitchcock Presents program.

The film was widely panned at the time of its release, but after it became a huge hit many critics reversed themselves and called it one of the best films of the year.

In any case, it's as good an excuse as any for hauling out a two-hour selection of 'psycho' songs, both silly and serious.  Tune in at 8:00 PM this Tuesday...or I'll tell your mother.

The circus has come to town: July 5, 2010, marks the bicentennial of the birth of P.T. Barnum, American showman and founder of what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.  (And by the way, Barnum did not say, "There's a sucker born every minute."  This was said by a rival of his about customers paying to see an exhibit that Barnum had copied from him.)

In Mr. Barnum's honor, this week's Whizbang will open with an hour or so of music devoted to tightrope-walkers, clowns, trapeze artists, the midway and carnivals and circuses in general.