A few of the bands that we revere: The Bobby Fuller Four - George Jones - The Trashmen - Radio Birdman - The Litter - The Untamed Youth - The Byrds - The Belairs - The Replacements - Man Or Astroman - The Challengers - The Remains - The Kaisers - The A-Bones - Dick Dale - Del Shannon - The Fantastic Baggies - The Waistcoats - The Trashwomen - The Searchers - The Handsome Family - The Nomads - Eddie Angel - The Mekons - Shockabilly - Howlin' Wolf - Fortune & Maltese - The Revells - Hank Williams Sr. - The Suicide Commandos - Graham Parker - The Louvin Brothers - The Flat Duo Jets - The Troggs - Southern Culture On The Skids - The Astronauts - The 5,6,7,8's - Junior Varsity - The Vibro Champs - The Four Speeds - The Barbary Coasters - The New Colony Six - Dillard & Clark - Husker Du - The Surfin' Lungs - Lori Burton - Link Wray - The Gibson Bros. - The Penetrators - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators - The Sonics - Ramblin' Jimmy Dolan - The Lyres - Los Straitjackets - Ben Vaughn - The Continental Co-ets - Charlie Burton - Nobody's Children - Menster Phip & The Phipsters - The Hypstrz - Mach Kung-Fu - Ronnie Dawson - The Cramps - Jan & Dean - Freakwater - Steve Young - Uncle Tupelo - The Choir - The MC5 - El Vez - The Beach Boys - The Hentchmen - The Beau Brummels - Johnny Cash - The Gories - Ernest Tubb - The Knickerbockers - Kaiser George - Thee Headcoats - Gram Parsons - The Electras - The Fendermen - Wilderness Road - Arkie Shibley - The Stillroven - The Bloomin' Brothers - The Victors - Hasil Adkins - The Rip Chords - The Titans - The Collins Kids - The Hondells - The Crybabies - '68 Comeback - The Zombies - The Flying Burrito Bros. - The Johnny Burnette Trio - Wanda Jackson - Curtiss A - Johnny Horton - The Boss Martians - Mike Waggoner & The Bops - The Floyd Dakil Combo - Esquerita - The Neanderthals - The Waco Brothers - The Count 5 - The Super Stocks - The Surf Trio - Eugene Chadbourne - The Exotics - The Meat Purveyors - Deke Dickerson - The Detroit Cobras - The Maddox Bros. and Rose - The Saturn V featuring Orbit - The Bubble Puppy - The Phantom Surfers - Joe Maphis - The Orangu-Tones - The Swingin' Neckbreakers - The Krontjong Devils - Michael Yonkers - The Bedlam Four - The Pyramids - Buck Owens - The Sprague Brothers - The Surfaris - The Ready Men - The Yetti-Men - The Weird-Ohs - The Silly Surfers - The Hi-Risers - '60s garage rockers of the Midwest - just about anything involving Gary Usher - lots more...
Sounds Like
The Surfites, morphing out of Sweden's '90s surf'n'drag Daytonas, make great use of this vintage footage from the Bakersfield (California) Smokers Meet in this vid for Thou Shalt Drag. (This was in the days before clutch and tire technology rendered obsolete the spectacle of start-to-finish tire smoke. Too bad for that.) Anyway, Big Pounder is a great album by the Surfites and has been getting a lot of play in the Radio Rumpus Room.
Twin Cities legend Curtiss A has been performing this song for 30 years and we never tire of it. Here's a solo acoustic version of I Don't Wanna Be President performed August 23, 2008 at the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis.
Second-gen pop punks the Toy Dolls pull out the stops on a very credible Ghostriders In The Sky. Ride hard, boys!
The great Porter Wagoner died October 28, 2007 at the age of 80. Here's a very fun "seat-of-the-pants-it's-live-TV-folks" clip of him winging Would You Run That By Me One More Time with Dolly Parton on the long-running Porter Wagoner show.Porter did more than his fair share of treacly, overly sentimental songs, but we choose to remember him for his hard country stuff. I mean, Rubber Room, fer chrissakes! RIP, Porter.
This is a great video by Paul Revere & The Raiders for the 1969 GTO Judge, shot like many car commercials on one of California's dry lakes. The Judge, which took its name from the line "Here comes da judge" ..an & Martin's Laugh-In, was originally envisioned as a barebones version of Pontiac's "Goat" and intended to compete with Plymouth's hugely successful Roadrunner. The original concept of each: a lightweight, no-frills taxi cab with a hi-performance engine. However, by the time Pontiac's promotion team was done with it, the Judge had become the most highly optioned version of the GTO; in both Carousel Red (seen here) and later, Orbit Orange, it is one of today's most coveted musclecars. This was not the only song touting GM sporty cars the Raiders were involved in. A 45 of SS 396 backed by Corvair Baby was produced by Columbia Special Products for distribution in Chevrolet dealerships in 1966. (The Raiders' SS 396 was also issued with the Cyrkle's Camaro on the flip.)
Radio Rumpus Room has been broadcast on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota since April 1991. Each Friday, hosts Ron and Jean serve up a platter full of surf, hot rod, '60s garage, rockabilly, hillbilly twang, primal pop, primitive rock'n'roll and a bit of psychedelia to our on-air and Internet listeners. Twelve years of our playlists, plus RealAudio archives of past and recent shows are on-site. Since July 2006 we've been posting our weekly playlist to our MySpace blog as well. The two most recent shows are archived for two weeks at www.kfai.org. The Radio Rumpus Room website is also the home of the Bird Dance Beat page, a discography devoted to the reissued sounds of the '60s rock'n'roll of the Upper Midwest.
Theme shows: We generally do a different theme show once a month (barring an interference due to Pledge Drive). Some of our reoccuring specials are: Hot Rods To Hell (a tire-shreddin' staple for 14 years); The Day The Surf Stood Still (an all-surf show in the middle of Minnesota's winter, 11 years on); Hot Brakes, Cold Beer And Truckin' Favorites (truckdrivin' show); Big Beat Badger Blowout (Wisconsin '60s garage, four years on); Bird Dance Beat (Minnesota '60s garage, five years on); Dance CRAZE! (shake it!); Radio Rumpus Room Goes Commercial ('60s radio spots by and about rock artists); Flying Saucers Rock'n'Roll (extra-terrestial theme); See You Later, Equator! ('60s bands from the Southern Hemisphere); Mind Melt and 60 Miles High (psych shows); RRR Is Turning Japanese (all Japanese bands); Tall Corn Stomp! ('60s surf and garage bands from Iowa and the Dakotas); Flying Saucers vs The Red Menace: Songs and Sounds of the Cold War! (civil defense and the Red Scare); Smothered In Covers (all cover songs); She Shows No Mercy (savage women rockers); Two-Wheel Show Stoppers: A Spring Scooter Scramble (all motorcycle songs); Gary Usher: Genius Or God?; and of course Halloween and Christmas shows when it works out.
Ongoing events: In addition to the continuing weekly radio show we used to host the monthly First Saturday Surf Stomp at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis. Featured was a revolving cast of surf and instrumental rock bands, with usually a twang or vocal group included in the mix. After three-and-a-half years we decided to give the hosting duties a rest; last show for us was January 2008. We'll be involved in similar events, but for now we're taking a break from live events. We've also hosted the Radio Rumpus Room Hootenanny! series, featuring a mix of bands from the RRR musical melting pot: surf, twang and rock'n'roll. Radio Rumpus Room was the primary media sponsor of the Minneapolis Messaround car shows and the Twin Cities Riot multi-day blowout.
Website 1: Our original site at www.radiorumpusroom.com has playlists going back to 1995 along with the Bird Dance Beat guide to Midwestern rock of the '60s. (Lately this has been the last place I post the playlists, so check first at our KFAI program page [see next item] and then here if you need to see it sooner.)
Website 2: More good stuff at our KFAI program page. (This is the first place the playlist gets posted.)
Submissions for airplay: Please send us your CDs and vinyl for spinning on Radio Rumpus Room. Take a look at our playlists, and if you think your sound fits in with the stuff we play, please mail what you have to:
KFAI Fresh Air Radio
ATTN: Radio Rumpus Room, Box 23
1808 Riverside Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Friend requests: We're not jerks, but we are selective. Really, we deny a lot more requests than we accept. If by your profile it's obvious you play or are a fan of our kinds of music, you're in -- it's that simple. We want this list of friends to reflect what the show is about; we're not interested in amassing a big tally for the sake of numbers alone. No offense to anyone intended -- that's just the way it is. Also, we don't accept invites from commercial ventures, or folks whose profile is set to "private." Lastly, oversized or just plain obnoxious "comments" art will be deleted at the whim of cranky old Ron. Thanks friends -- see ya again soon. Your place or ours!
