March 16, 2025 • 33 mins
An unexpected music miracle unfolded in Athens, Georgia when all four original members of REM reunited on stage during a Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy performance celebrating the 40th anniversary of "Fables of the Reconstruction." This rare convergence became the highlight of a music-packed fortnight in Athens, GA that I'm thrilled to share with you in vivid detail.
The magic moment happened at the legendary 40 Watt Club when Michael Stipe took the microphone, joining Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry for a performance of "Pretty Persuasion." As someone witnessing this unicorn of rock reunions, I found myself torn between capturing the moment on my phone and simply absorbing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with my own eyes.
My Athens immersion continued with visits to iconic landmarks like the Murmur Trestle and Weaver D's (of "Automatic for the People" fame), followed by four days at Cracker's annual "Camp in" event. This gathering of devoted fans—affectionately called "Crumbs"—featured intimate performances ranging from David Lowery and Johnny Hickman's acoustic sets to full-band experiences. A particularly moving moment was Ike Reilly's performances featuring his adult children, weaving themes of redemption and musical legacy.
We dive into musical history with explorations of Depeche Mode's "Violator" album and its transformative impact on their fanbase in 1990, plus Mike Watt's collaborative 1995 album featuring members of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and the Foo Fighters. "Minute with Jimmy" spotlights The Vapors' surprising return with a new album 45 years after their hit "Turning Japanese," proving great music transcends time.
Whether you're a devoted fan of Athens' storied music scene or simply love discovering musical connections across generations, this episode captures those special moments when music history unfolds before your eyes—and why sharing these experiences matters now more than ever.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
He's got the feeling and it's out there growing.
Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music
In my Shoes.
That was Vic Thrill kicking offepisode 70.
As always, I'm thrilled to behere with you.
Let's learn something new orremember something old.
So, jimmy, I have a lot to talkabout today.
(00:51):
A lot to talk about Awesome.
We had Kevin Kinney and LennyKay in studio with us and that
was a pretty awesome episodethat they, you know, appeared on
yeah.
And I had the opportunity to seethem that night with Peter Buck
at Eddie's Attic.
What a great show.
It was a lot of fun and Kevinwould take a turn singing a song
(01:13):
and then it would be Lenny Ksinging a song and it was very
energetic.
It was everything that I couldhave hoped it to be all packed
in one day after having themhere.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You were saying that Peter was energetic too, right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, peter was very energetic.
He really was into it.
You know he loved the PattiSmith group, you know as a
youngster and that's part of whyhe got into music as well as
Michael Stipe, and you could seethe energy in him, how excited
he was to be playing along withthem Not that it was his first
time playing with them, but justfor him it's definitely a fun
(01:49):
thing.
So that was pretty cool.
What else is pretty cool is twonights later at 40 Watt in
Athens, athens, ga, michaelShannon and Jason Narducci.
They have a band and it's not acover band but it's kind of
like a tribute band that playsREM songs and they're on tour
(02:15):
doing their 40th anniversary nottheir 40th anniversary, but
REM's 40th anniversary of Fablesof the Reconstruction.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Or it could be Reconstruction of the Fables.
You don't know about that.
No, oh, so the record, one sidesaid Fables of the
Reconstruction, the other sidesaid Reconstruction of the
Fables.
I did not know that.
Yeah, and if you look at thealbum cover it says Fables of
the and then kind of down theother side it says
(02:44):
Reconstruction and then it saysof the again.
So you could kind of turn itand make it say whichever one
you wanted.
It's officially known as Fablesof the Reconstruction, but
that's just REM kind of addingtheir own spin to it.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That's pretty cool.
I did not know that.
Learn something new.
So they're doing their you knowtribute to the band, to the
album, and they did it last year, tried to get tickets to it,
could not, it was sold out andended up that three of the four
(03:17):
guys from REM showed up lastyear everybody but Michael Stipe
and when we heard that theywere coming this year, it's like
we got to go, because if threeof them showed up last year,
maybe four will show up, or evenif only three show up, it's
still cool, you know.
So tickets went on sale, I'dsay in the fall.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
October.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I want to say it was yeah it was a pretty long time
ago, two shows in Athens, bothof them sold out, and
fortunately I got to go.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I got to go.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You got to go.
Some friends A lot of friendsbetween me and you Got to go to
the show and it was just areally really fun night.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It's my wife's favorite REM album, so it was a
really big, really fun night.
It's my wife's favorite REMalbum, so it was a really big
deal for her too.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, I did not know that.
There you go.
Another good reason to be there.
So Bill Mike Mills, bill BillBerry, the drummer, mike Mills
and Peter Buck showed up again.
Okay, they had played the nightbefore.
I told you there was two shows.
They had played on the Thursdaynight before, but on the Friday
(04:29):
night show that we went to, allthree showed up again and
between them they played oneither solo or a combination of
them on eight songs.
Right, okay, harborcoat, theyHarborcoat, they play Harborcoat
, which was Peter Buck and MikeMills, and I absolutely love
(04:50):
that song and they did such agreat job.
I was like man, this isfantastic.
And then the biggest moment ofthe night comes right after
because Michael Stipe joins them.
So it's all four members of REMon stage with Shannon and
Arduci, and you know just it was.
(05:12):
I don't know.
It was everything you couldhope for in a band that doesn't
tour and keep saying thatthey're not going to tour again,
and you know they do.
Pretty persuasion, again, Ilove Reckoning.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think that album's fantastic, and I think, now that
you mention it, I think thatalbum starts out with Harbor
Coat and Pretty Persuasion isthe second song, so it's fitting
that they played that rightafter it, right, right?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
yeah, and it was just .
It was fantastic.
I mean, I took pictures, Ilooked, and then the second half
of the song, I used my phone tovideo, but I was trying to take
everything in, I was trying totake part of it in live, because
it's very different when you'relooking on your phone than when
you're looking in person, rightyou know.
So I'm trying to take pictures,I'm trying to take video, I'm
(05:59):
trying to do all this Becausewill they be together again?
I don't know.
I mean, so what were yourthoughts?
When you know we talk, we keepthinking, yeah, he's going to
show up, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, no, I had faith that they were going to show up
and hopefully play again.
They all have houses in Athensand because they were there the
night before, it's like oh yeah,they should come again.
And it sounded like they had areally good time the night
before and sure enough they did.
The cool thing that happened onour night was Michael Stipe.
(06:31):
Very clearly you could hear himthrough the microphone.
He said to Michael Shannon hesaid I'm singing lead tonight
Because the night before theykind of both been singing a
little bit together.
And this was no, this isMichael Stipe leading and
Michael Shannon literally stoodback.
He's a great singer but youknow, when Michael Stipe's up
there singing, you want to givehim the spotlight.
(06:51):
It was awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It really was.
I mean, without a doubt, andI'm so glad that we went Friday
night, like you said.
You know that was clearly thenight Michael Stipe wanted to
sing.
They played a lot more songstogether.
The previous night Peter Buckwas actually playing with Lenny
Kay and Kevin Kinney in Athensand Mike Mills went to that show
.
Michael Stipe was actually onthe side watching that, and when
(07:17):
that show ended, and Millsplayed with them right.
Yes, when that show ended, thenthey all ended up going to 41.
So that must have been a supercool night for all of them, just
all these different things thatthey got to do.
So it reminds me, don't youhave some sort of fables of the
reconstruction story that youtold me one?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
time, first time that I'd really seen REM live.
They played at the Fox Theaterin Atlanta and this is still
true, I believe to this day,that you can go down to the Fox
Theater on the day of a show,and I believe it's five o'clock.
(07:55):
They release the promo ticketsthat weren't picked up by
contest winners or people fromradio stations or whatever it is
.
They don't want seats to beempty.
So if you didn't pick up yourtickets by then, they're going
to sell them at the box officefor face value.
So a lot of times a show that,oh, the scalpers are asking
(08:15):
three times the face value, no,you just get it for whatever.
And my friend John McCarl and Igot tickets 1985, to the Fables
Tour and we were like secondrow center.
It was incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
That's pretty awesome .
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, so it was a great, great show.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's a very cool story.
Not having to pay a ton ofmoney to have great seats like
that, yeah, and I'm sure facevalue back then was like $12 or
something.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's crazy.
It might not have even beenthat much, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You know it's funny how things have changed.
So while I stayed in Athensthat weekend stayed on the
street where the Murmur Trestleis from.
You know the REM album MurmurTook some pictures with that.
Went by Weaver D's and you know, took some pictures with the.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Automatic.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Automatic for the people sign up above.
And I went to an Athens RockLobsters hockey game so I really
took in like all the Athensthings to do.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Do they play the song Rock Lobster, like when they
score a goal or something?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
They do, and everybody takes their hands like
claws and goes.
I know you can't see me at home, but this is what they do,
Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, they can picture it.
Everybody has a gimmick.
Make your hands like claws andsnap them back and forth.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Snap them back and forth and so forth, but it was a
pretty cool weekend.
So not only did I do that, thatweekend I ended up going to
Cracker has this annual thing inAthens called the Campin, which
was the following Wednesday itstarted.
(09:59):
So I ended up.
Out of 10 days, I spent eighteither partial or whole days in
Athens.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So I spent- yeah, you're practically a local.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, athenian, is that the correct word?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, all right .
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So I was back there.
You know, the four days it's areally cool thing.
You know, last year I went toone night.
This year I went to, you know,all four days that had.
You know, some of them hadthings in the day, some of them
was things at night, and it wasreally cool because all these
people from all over the countryflew in for it.
(10:38):
And it's this group of peoplethat are huge Cracker fans.
They call themselves the Crumbsand I just met a ton of them
and they Wow yeah, and theydon't even live in Georgia,
(11:03):
they're just coming from allover.
Really nice people.
I had a lot of fun talking to alot of them, hearing some good
stories.
It was fun, really good people.
First day it was first night,actually Abe Partridge and the
Cracker Duo, so it was DavidLowery and Johnny Hickman
(11:23):
playing by themselves.
Second day, david Lowery opensup solo and then they do a song
swap with David Lowery, johnnyHickman and Jim Dalton.
Jim Dalton plays with RogerKlein and the Peacemakers and he
came in for the show and so JimDalton did a song and I don't
(11:46):
know anything of Jim.
This is the first time reallyhearing his stuff.
Then Johnny would do a song,then David Lowery would do a
song and then back to Jim and itwould go through.
It was a really cool concept.
I had fun.
I really did enjoy that Nightthree.
Well, actually day three, theyhave this thing called the
Crumposium and it was a daything where there was pizza but
(12:09):
they had four people that werecrumbs, that have either taught
at a university or are stilldoing it and kind of going over
what they, you know, are allabout and books that they might
have published and thesedifferent things.
It was just really cool.
I learned a ton of stuff, tonof stuff really liked that part.
(12:31):
And that night was the IkeReilly assassination, followed
by Cracker Full Band.
Ike Reilly assassination didnot know a whole lot.
Did you know much about?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, so my friend came in town for that.
My friend Mo, from Chicago, andhe's been friends with Ike
Reilly for 20 years, so Mo hasbeen sending me Ike Reilly songs
now and then so I was familiarwith a bunch of the songs and
kind of with his backstory.
He actually has a documentaryabout his life that showed in
(13:08):
Athens that afternoon at a movietheater called Cine and I
watched the trailer for it.
I haven't seen the movie yet,we couldn't get there early
enough to see the movie, but itsounds like he's had an up and
down life, like a lot of rockand rollers do, and he's had to
work some not so glamorous jobsand now he's living his rock and
(13:30):
roll dream.
So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It is a pretty cool story, and the one thing that I
really kind of liked about it ishe had two of his kids up there
that were singing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, they're probably in their 20s right.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
One's 27 and one's 31 .
Okay, they look younger thanwhat I thought that they were.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
But I actually I would have thought like 22 and
26.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I actually talked to them after the show.
I went up and they were at themerch little booth area, wasn't
expecting it and just you know,talked to them for a few minutes
and I talked to them about howit seemed like it was a family
revival, you know, not so muchof an assassination as it was a
(14:15):
revival while they were up thereand it was really uplifting.
And you know, their songs arenot straightforward rock and
roll songs.
They're different.
You know, parts of it remind meof Bruce Springsteen.
Yeah, I was going to say thatyou know parts of it.
Remind me of you know like aJoe Strummer after the Clash.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, that's a good thought too.
Yeah, maybe a little bit oflike old 97s or something sort
of that acoustic.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Right and it was just .
I really liked the way it was.
So I was telling them about itand they said have you seen the
documentary?
You have to see the documentary.
If you're going to talk aboutmy dad at all, you have to see
the documentary.
So I watched the documentarythe next day it was on like Hulu
(15:02):
or something and watched it.
Don't Turn you Back on FridayNight is the name of it and it's
everything that you said.
It is and it's the ups and thedowns and I mean he's sharing
everything and it's got to betough as he's sharing all this
stuff because you know, nobodyreally wants to share all that
(15:23):
stuff.
But I guess when you're a rockand roller, a songwriter, a
singer and you're writing fromthe heart and everything, you
end up sharing it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It sounded like maybe he had some regrets about the
level of father.
He was right.
That's kind of what they saidin the trailer, I think.
And here he is making good tohis kids they're part of his
band now, you know.
It's like he's doing his best.
We all do our best.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We all try to do our best, without a doubt.
So Cracker Full Band that night.
They were fantastic.
They always are fantastic everytime I see them.
Definitely enjoyed it and thenwent back to where I was staying
, went to sleep to get up thenext day to go see Johnny
(16:12):
Hickman do a little solo thingat Hendershot's in Athens and
Anne Harris joined and played acouple of songs with him.
And then that night it's Is.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Anne Harris, the violinist.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I apologize, she is and was fantastic.
You know, the night before withthe full band was fantastic
with Johnny, with the two songs,and then that night is the full
band again at 41.
And after four days it's like,oh my God, I just can't wait to
get back and go to sleep.
It was just so much but it wasa really fun time.
(16:49):
I really enjoyed it and um Ilook forward to doing it again
next year.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay, so you're becoming a crumb.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You know what, if that's what it takes, but it was
a lot of fun.
It really was.
I enjoyed it Good, and Ienjoyed my time with you, me too
, I know, yeah, we got to hangout a good bit.
Oh, I got to meet the drummerfrom the Violets Jimmy's band
from back in the day.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, he was very upset that I had not told him
about music.
In my shoes.
He gave me the two-fingersalute, saying why did you not
tell me you have a music podcast?
And I just neglected to tellhim.
But he's great.
Jay has a record label inAthens called Propeller
Recordings and they're puttingout all these great old Athens
(17:36):
bands and some new ones.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And then I got introduced to another guy that
was in an Athens band, Trent.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Oh yeah, Trent from Dreams, so Real.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So got to meet a bunch of people over the last
couple of weekends out there inAthens.
I got to be honest with you.
I was surprised that I did meeta bunch of people that I didn't
know who they were, but theyknew who I was and that was kind
of cool so I had fun with that.
You're famous man?
I don't think that I'm famous,oh come on.
So for those of you that cannotsee me, I am wearing a 40-watt
(18:08):
shirt, so the 40-watt blackshirts.
When I went to buy one, thelady says the guy before you
just bought the last extra large.
And I'm like, oh my Lord, andshe did everything to put the
sale on me, to sell me this one.
Okay, so this one.
(18:29):
And Jimmy, you can see it,don't say anything about it.
Yet While it is on the wall, itis a white t-shirt, absolutely
With black lettering.
Yeah, is the way that I saw it.
Yeah, it really is Okay andshe's really trying to make the
sale, and she pulls it down andshe gets her phone and uses the
(18:51):
light and says look, it's inpurple.
And I look and I can't reallytell, but it looks like the
40-watt insignia.
The logo is in purple.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I got out of the club and all of a sudden I'm walking
and I realized Jimmy, whatcolor is this shirt?
Lilac it is not the color thatI thought that it was going to
be at all, and I'm so glad thatyou saw it on the wall and
thought that it was white also.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I did and I was going to, because I gave my brother a
40-watt T-shirt for hisbirthday, which was a couple of
days ago.
Happy birthday.
And yeah, john, who's been onthe show?
Oh, yes, and uh, I was.
They were out of black at thesame time that you were trying
to get a black one, and then mywife was there and she clued me
(19:45):
in.
She said, oh, somebody justsaid that one is lavender.
It's not white, it looks whitebut it's lavender.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Well, I'm going to try and wear it well.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
So you know, I did that the first time at the 40
Watt for the REM show, and thenthe following week they had
black ones back in stock.
So that's when I got John'sshirt.
There you go, that they hadblack ones back in stock so
that's when I got John's shirt.
There you go.
That was smart, but it looksreally good on you.
You know, it's kind of likewear it with pride.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I look like.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Barney Real.
Men wear periwinkle.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Hey, jimmy, let's revisit some great music from
the past.
All right, let's start up withPeter Murphy.
Cut you Up.
First week of March 1990, wdreShriek of the Week.
Best new song on WDRE.
In my opinion it's the mostpopular Peter Murphy song.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You know solo song.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You know he was the former singer for Bauhaus
post-punk.
You know very different.
We've talked about BelaLugosi's Dead before and this
was just like a straight-up songsinging it and acoustic guitar.
And I think that a lot ofpeople listen to this that had
no idea about Bauhaus, no ideaabout his past.
(21:08):
They just heard a song thatsounded good and they enjoyed it
.
It came in at number 55 on theBillboard Hot 100 in May of 1990
.
All right, calming song, to mevery calming song.
Depeche Mode Violator album cameout March 19th 1990.
(21:30):
Now this album is an album thatbrought a whole new set of fans
to Depeche Mode and I, like youknow it's kind of pre-violator,
post-violator, because so manypeople they heard this became
Depeche Mode.
Fans Didn't know a song beforebut this album changed
(21:51):
everything for them.
Personal Jesus was the shriekthe second week of August 1989,
and it peaked at number 28 onthe Billboard 100 March 3rd of
1990.
That's a pretty long periodbetween DRE playing it and it
(22:11):
peaking on Billboard.
Lift up the receiver, I'll makeyou a believer.
Remember that, jimmy.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I don't remember those lyrics, but I remember the
song.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh, my Lord, you're going to have to listen on your
way home.
Dangerous, it was a B-side ofpersonal Jesus single.
It was the shriek, the secondweek of October 1989.
Enjoy the silence.
Words like violence, break thesilence.
Shriek, the second week ofFebruary 1990.
(22:43):
And then it peaked at numbereight, july 14th 1990, on
billboard Policy of truth.
Never again is what you sworethe time before.
Fourth week of March 1990.
It's the shriek of the week.
Peaked at number 15.
And in October 1990, onbillboard Waiting for the Night
(23:08):
was the Shriek of the Week, thefifth week of March.
So basically, you are goinghere.
It's just Depeche Mode Shriekof the Week.
Shriek of the Week.
Like everybody was voting forthem, they were just enamored
with this album, you know Mm-hmm.
So world in my eyes?
Wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Everybody was voting for them.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, so the Shriek of the Week you would vote.
It would be the listeners.
The listeners would call up andthey would play.
You know, I don't rememberexactly, but it was like maybe
10 to 15 songs, and then youwould vote on which song you
thought was the best.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And that was true back in the LIR Screamer of the
Week.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yes, from the LIR Screamer of the Week to the DRE
Shriek of the Week, that's howit would be.
And fans just were going crazyand just calling up and calling
up.
World in my Eyes week, secondweek of April 1990, peaked at
number 12, december of 1990.
Halo Shriek, the third week ofMay 1990, just an album track
(24:12):
that most people wouldn't know.
I mean it was just crazy, crazyhow popular this album was.
Nine songs, six of them areShriek of the Weeks on DRA and
that's people again voting forthem that they think that's the
best song of the week.
So definitely changed a lot forthem.
(24:33):
For Depeche Mode, speaking ofchanging Mike Watt, ball Hog or
Tugboat came out February 28th1995.
And I know a bunch of you aresaying who the heck is Mike Watt
.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He's the bass player for the California punk band
Minutemen.
He was also in— Firehouse yes,and I figured you would know
that for sure.
Yes, and I figured you wouldknow that for sure.
So Ball Hog of Tug Boats, firstsolo album, and he just gets
(25:12):
all of his friends and musiciansthat were influenced by the
bands that he was in and he justgets them all on the album.
There's so many people on thisalbum so he had I think there
was like three singles and thefirst single was Big Train.
It's got him on vocals.
He was only on vocals, Ibelieve, for two songs, so it's
got him on vocals.
And Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jamis on vocals with him playing
(25:39):
guitar.
Jay Maskis of Dinosaur Jr leadguitar, chris and Kurt Kirkwood
banjo and lead guitar, also bothfrom the Meat Puppets Mm-hmm.
And it was only a few monthsearlier that they performed with
Nirvana on the MTV Unpluggedshow.
(25:59):
Here they are with Mike Wattand it's just a cool song.
You know Mike Watt singing it,A lot of bass, because he's a
bass player.
It's cool.
Then the other big song thatwas played on the radio here in
Atlanta well, 99x Radio here inAtlanta, that was really the
only other station that wasplaying anything was Against the
(26:22):
70s Mike Watt on bass, eddieVedder, lead vocals and guitar,
dave Grohl of Nirvana and FooFighters on drums, gary Lee
Connor of Screaming Trees onlead guitar, chris Novoselic of
Nirvana on the Farfisa organ.
(26:44):
I mean it is just so cool, itreally is and there's like I
don't know 17 songs or somethinglike that, and each song is
like that Beastie Boys are on itwith different members of the
Beastie Boys and just differentmembers of all these bands and
it's a pretty cool album.
So Mike Watt, he tours in early1995.
(27:06):
They played at the Masqueradethe Masquerade Music Park, I
think actually is what theyplayed at and he had Eddie
Vedder on guitar and vocals, patSmear of the Germs Nirvana on
guitar, william Goldsmith ofSunny Day Real Estate and Foo
(27:28):
Fighters on drums and Dave Grohlon guitar and drums.
So Mike Watt was really smartwhen he picked these opening
bands, because Grohl, goldsmithand Smear were in the Foo
Fighters, who were one of theopening bands, and Eddie Vedder
he was playing with a sideproject with his wife at the
time, hovercraft.
(27:49):
So those were the two bandsopening and then he took members
from them to be his backup band.
So from an expense purpose, hedid a good job with it.
So, hey, you know what Speakingof good job?
According to my watch, it'sMinute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Good job with it.
So, hey, you know what?
Speaking of good job?
According to my watch, it'sMinute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
All right, there's an albumthat just came out this past
week by the Vapors.
Vapors are a British post-punkband and they put out an album
in 2020 and they just put outanother one this year.
It's fantastic.
It's got some really great kindof inspiring songs on it.
(28:32):
Lead singer's voice stillsounds amazing.
It's called Wasp in a Jar.
Hit the Ground Running is thelead single on it, but I really
like Carry On Nothing Can StopUs.
Now it Gets Better and the lastsong is called Proud and it
sounds like he's talking to hisparents, who are no longer with
him, and saying you know, if youcould see me now, would it make
(28:55):
you proud?
And that's something a lot ofus can relate to.
So you might remember theVapors from their 1980, 45 years
ago single, turning Japanese.
I have an interesting storyabout Turning Japanese that I
found out when I was kind ofresearching this minute with
Jimmy that they couldn't get arecord label.
Their manager was Bruce Foxtonfrom the Jam.
(29:18):
Right right, bruce Foxton fromthe jam.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
And Paul Weller's dad , the singer, guitar player from
the jam's father.
So Foxton and Weller's fatherwere the managers of the Vapors.
They couldn't get him a recorddeal.
Finally, a producer said, okay,I'll do Turning Japanese.
I think we can do somethingwith that song, but we need to
(29:49):
restructure it.
I've got a bunch of changesthey need to make to it.
So they agreed to make all thechanges.
He recorded it.
It went to number three inEngland, number one in Australia
, number 36 in America, but itturned out to be their only hit.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And it was a good hit because I think most people
still remember that song.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Very good, that was a great minute with Jimmy, thank
you.
I'll have to check that albumout.
Hey, before we go, I want tomention the 80s cruise, jimmy.
It had Squeeze Men at Work,adam Ant and a bunch of others
that were on it, and I think itjust took off out of like Miami,
like February 27th or something.
(30:25):
It's like a week-long cruise,and my buddy and his wife were
on the cruise.
They've been going for a numberof years now.
Say it's a good time, it's fun.
I believe he's already bookedfor 2026.
Like they already have.
Who's going to be on the ship ayear in advance, which is some
pretty good marketing, becausethey get you to sign up and it's
(30:45):
a couple hundred dollars lessper person if you've been on it
before.
So now, while you're having agreat time, you think this is
the best thing in the world.
Boom, let's sign you up fornext year also.
And my buddy, he does it, himand his wife they love it.
So rock band Faster Pussycatwere on the cruise as well when
tragedy struck and I don't knowif you heard about this, I did.
(31:06):
It's awful Lead singer tameddown and his fiance, kimberly
Birch, had a heated argument andmoments later she ends up
jumping off the ship and there'svideo of it now that has been
turned over to the police.
You know, according to TMZ it'syou know, it's clear cut that
(31:26):
she got up on the rail and shestepped off of it and it's sad.
I mean, it's really sad thateven on a ship that's supposed
to be full of fun and everythingthat sometimes people have
moments that are breaking forthem and I find that really sad
for them and, you know,hopefully for her family.
(31:48):
You know they can figure out howto deal with this and I know
that it's no fun for them.
You know I've had some friendsthat have done some similar
things and it's very tough oneverybody.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
No, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So you know, the ship stopped for a couple of hours,
according to my buddy, but thenyou know it's a big ocean, they
couldn't find her and then itjust becomes you know, a job for
you know the police and theCoast Guard and whoever to you
know try and find her and shestill has not been found as of
(32:24):
this point Right.
So, again, super sad.
You know, if you're out thereand you need to talk to someone,
find someone to talk to,because there's better things
that we can choose to do.
I know that it can be tough foreverybody, but we got to be
there and help each other Forsure.
That's it for Episode 70 ofMusic in my Shoes.
(32:45):
I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie,show producer and owner of
Arcade 160 Studios located herein Atlanta, georgia, and Vic
Thrill for our podcast music.
If you want to contact us, youcan at musicinmyshoes at
gmailcom.
Please like and follow theMusic in my Shoes Facebook and
Instagram pages and please sharethe podcast with your friends.
(33:07):
Let your friends hear what youare hearing and what you're
enjoying.
Let them enjoy it as well.
This is Jim Boge, and I hopeyou learned something new or
remembered something old.
We'll meet again on our nextepisode.
Until then, live life and keepthe music playing.
Enjoy the silence.
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
He's got the feeling and it's out there growing.
Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music
In my Shoes.
That was Vic Thrill kicking offepisode 70.
As always, I'm thrilled to behere with you.
Let's learn something new orremember something old.
So, jimmy, I have a lot to talkabout today.
(00:51):
A lot to talk about Awesome.
We had Kevin Kinney and LennyKay in studio with us and that
was a pretty awesome episodethat they, you know, appeared on
yeah.
And I had the opportunity to seethem that night with Peter Buck
at Eddie's Attic.
What a great show.
It was a lot of fun and Kevinwould take a turn singing a song
(01:13):
and then it would be Lenny Ksinging a song and it was very
energetic.
It was everything that I couldhave hoped it to be all packed
in one day after having themhere.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You were saying that Peter was energetic too, right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, peter was very energetic.
He really was into it.
You know he loved the PattiSmith group, you know as a
youngster and that's part of whyhe got into music as well as
Michael Stipe, and you could seethe energy in him, how excited
he was to be playing along withthem Not that it was his first
time playing with them, but justfor him it's definitely a fun
(01:49):
thing.
So that was pretty cool.
What else is pretty cool is twonights later at 40 Watt in
Athens, athens, ga, michaelShannon and Jason Narducci.
They have a band and it's not acover band but it's kind of
like a tribute band that playsREM songs and they're on tour
(02:15):
doing their 40th anniversary nottheir 40th anniversary, but
REM's 40th anniversary of Fablesof the Reconstruction.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Or it could be Reconstruction of the Fables.
You don't know about that.
No, oh, so the record, one sidesaid Fables of the
Reconstruction, the other sidesaid Reconstruction of the
Fables.
I did not know that.
Yeah, and if you look at thealbum cover it says Fables of
the and then kind of down theother side it says
(02:44):
Reconstruction and then it saysof the again.
So you could kind of turn itand make it say whichever one
you wanted.
It's officially known as Fablesof the Reconstruction, but
that's just REM kind of addingtheir own spin to it.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That's pretty cool.
I did not know that.
Learn something new.
So they're doing their you knowtribute to the band, to the
album, and they did it last year, tried to get tickets to it,
could not, it was sold out andended up that three of the four
(03:17):
guys from REM showed up lastyear everybody but Michael Stipe
and when we heard that theywere coming this year, it's like
we got to go, because if threeof them showed up last year,
maybe four will show up, or evenif only three show up, it's
still cool, you know.
So tickets went on sale, I'dsay in the fall.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
October.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I want to say it was yeah it was a pretty long time
ago, two shows in Athens, bothof them sold out, and
fortunately I got to go.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I got to go.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You got to go.
Some friends A lot of friendsbetween me and you Got to go to
the show and it was just areally really fun night.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It's my wife's favorite REM album, so it was a
really big, really fun night.
It's my wife's favorite REMalbum, so it was a really big
deal for her too.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, I did not know that.
There you go.
Another good reason to be there.
So Bill Mike Mills, bill BillBerry, the drummer, mike Mills
and Peter Buck showed up again.
Okay, they had played the nightbefore.
I told you there was two shows.
They had played on the Thursdaynight before, but on the Friday
(04:29):
night show that we went to, allthree showed up again and
between them they played oneither solo or a combination of
them on eight songs.
Right, okay, harborcoat, theyHarborcoat, they play Harborcoat
, which was Peter Buck and MikeMills, and I absolutely love
(04:50):
that song and they did such agreat job.
I was like man, this isfantastic.
And then the biggest moment ofthe night comes right after
because Michael Stipe joins them.
So it's all four members of REMon stage with Shannon and
Arduci, and you know just it was.
(05:12):
I don't know.
It was everything you couldhope for in a band that doesn't
tour and keep saying thatthey're not going to tour again,
and you know they do.
Pretty persuasion, again, Ilove Reckoning.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think that album's fantastic, and I think, now that
you mention it, I think thatalbum starts out with Harbor
Coat and Pretty Persuasion isthe second song, so it's fitting
that they played that rightafter it, right, right?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
yeah, and it was just .
It was fantastic.
I mean, I took pictures, Ilooked, and then the second half
of the song, I used my phone tovideo, but I was trying to take
everything in, I was trying totake part of it in live, because
it's very different when you'relooking on your phone than when
you're looking in person, rightyou know.
So I'm trying to take pictures,I'm trying to take video, I'm
(05:59):
trying to do all this Becausewill they be together again?
I don't know.
I mean, so what were yourthoughts?
When you know we talk, we keepthinking, yeah, he's going to
show up, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, no, I had faith that they were going to show up
and hopefully play again.
They all have houses in Athensand because they were there the
night before, it's like oh yeah,they should come again.
And it sounded like they had areally good time the night
before and sure enough they did.
The cool thing that happened onour night was Michael Stipe.
(06:31):
Very clearly you could hear himthrough the microphone.
He said to Michael Shannon hesaid I'm singing lead tonight
Because the night before theykind of both been singing a
little bit together.
And this was no, this isMichael Stipe leading and
Michael Shannon literally stoodback.
He's a great singer but youknow, when Michael Stipe's up
there singing, you want to givehim the spotlight.
(06:51):
It was awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It really was.
I mean, without a doubt, andI'm so glad that we went Friday
night, like you said.
You know that was clearly thenight Michael Stipe wanted to
sing.
They played a lot more songstogether.
The previous night Peter Buckwas actually playing with Lenny
Kay and Kevin Kinney in Athensand Mike Mills went to that show
.
Michael Stipe was actually onthe side watching that, and when
(07:17):
that show ended, and Millsplayed with them right.
Yes, when that show ended, thenthey all ended up going to 41.
So that must have been a supercool night for all of them, just
all these different things thatthey got to do.
So it reminds me, don't youhave some sort of fables of the
reconstruction story that youtold me one?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
time, first time that I'd really seen REM live.
They played at the Fox Theaterin Atlanta and this is still
true, I believe to this day,that you can go down to the Fox
Theater on the day of a show,and I believe it's five o'clock.
(07:55):
They release the promo ticketsthat weren't picked up by
contest winners or people fromradio stations or whatever it is
.
They don't want seats to beempty.
So if you didn't pick up yourtickets by then, they're going
to sell them at the box officefor face value.
So a lot of times a show that,oh, the scalpers are asking
(08:15):
three times the face value, no,you just get it for whatever.
And my friend John McCarl and Igot tickets 1985, to the Fables
Tour and we were like secondrow center.
It was incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
That's pretty awesome .
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, so it was a great, great show.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's a very cool story.
Not having to pay a ton ofmoney to have great seats like
that, yeah, and I'm sure facevalue back then was like $12 or
something.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's crazy.
It might not have even beenthat much, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You know it's funny how things have changed.
So while I stayed in Athensthat weekend stayed on the
street where the Murmur Trestleis from.
You know the REM album MurmurTook some pictures with that.
Went by Weaver D's and you know, took some pictures with the.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Automatic.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Automatic for the people sign up above.
And I went to an Athens RockLobsters hockey game so I really
took in like all the Athensthings to do.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Do they play the song Rock Lobster, like when they
score a goal or something?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
They do, and everybody takes their hands like
claws and goes.
I know you can't see me at home, but this is what they do,
Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, they can picture it.
Everybody has a gimmick.
Make your hands like claws andsnap them back and forth.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Snap them back and forth and so forth, but it was a
pretty cool weekend.
So not only did I do that, thatweekend I ended up going to
Cracker has this annual thing inAthens called the Campin, which
was the following Wednesday itstarted.
(09:59):
So I ended up.
Out of 10 days, I spent eighteither partial or whole days in
Athens.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So I spent- yeah, you're practically a local.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, athenian, is that the correct word?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, all right .
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So I was back there.
You know, the four days it's areally cool thing.
You know, last year I went toone night.
This year I went to, you know,all four days that had.
You know, some of them hadthings in the day, some of them
was things at night, and it wasreally cool because all these
people from all over the countryflew in for it.
(10:38):
And it's this group of peoplethat are huge Cracker fans.
They call themselves the Crumbsand I just met a ton of them
and they Wow yeah, and theydon't even live in Georgia,
(11:03):
they're just coming from allover.
Really nice people.
I had a lot of fun talking to alot of them, hearing some good
stories.
It was fun, really good people.
First day it was first night,actually Abe Partridge and the
Cracker Duo, so it was DavidLowery and Johnny Hickman
(11:23):
playing by themselves.
Second day, david Lowery opensup solo and then they do a song
swap with David Lowery, johnnyHickman and Jim Dalton.
Jim Dalton plays with RogerKlein and the Peacemakers and he
came in for the show and so JimDalton did a song and I don't
(11:46):
know anything of Jim.
This is the first time reallyhearing his stuff.
Then Johnny would do a song,then David Lowery would do a
song and then back to Jim and itwould go through.
It was a really cool concept.
I had fun.
I really did enjoy that Nightthree.
Well, actually day three, theyhave this thing called the
Crumposium and it was a daything where there was pizza but
(12:09):
they had four people that werecrumbs, that have either taught
at a university or are stilldoing it and kind of going over
what they, you know, are allabout and books that they might
have published and thesedifferent things.
It was just really cool.
I learned a ton of stuff, tonof stuff really liked that part.
(12:31):
And that night was the IkeReilly assassination, followed
by Cracker Full Band.
Ike Reilly assassination didnot know a whole lot.
Did you know much about?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, so my friend came in town for that.
My friend Mo, from Chicago, andhe's been friends with Ike
Reilly for 20 years, so Mo hasbeen sending me Ike Reilly songs
now and then so I was familiarwith a bunch of the songs and
kind of with his backstory.
He actually has a documentaryabout his life that showed in
(13:08):
Athens that afternoon at a movietheater called Cine and I
watched the trailer for it.
I haven't seen the movie yet,we couldn't get there early
enough to see the movie, but itsounds like he's had an up and
down life, like a lot of rockand rollers do, and he's had to
work some not so glamorous jobsand now he's living his rock and
(13:30):
roll dream.
So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It is a pretty cool story, and the one thing that I
really kind of liked about it ishe had two of his kids up there
that were singing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, they're probably in their 20s right.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
One's 27 and one's 31 .
Okay, they look younger thanwhat I thought that they were.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
But I actually I would have thought like 22 and
26.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I actually talked to them after the show.
I went up and they were at themerch little booth area, wasn't
expecting it and just you know,talked to them for a few minutes
and I talked to them about howit seemed like it was a family
revival, you know, not so muchof an assassination as it was a
(14:15):
revival while they were up thereand it was really uplifting.
And you know, their songs arenot straightforward rock and
roll songs.
They're different.
You know, parts of it remind meof Bruce Springsteen.
Yeah, I was going to say thatyou know parts of it.
Remind me of you know like aJoe Strummer after the Clash.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, that's a good thought too.
Yeah, maybe a little bit oflike old 97s or something sort
of that acoustic.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Right and it was just .
I really liked the way it was.
So I was telling them about itand they said have you seen the
documentary?
You have to see the documentary.
If you're going to talk aboutmy dad at all, you have to see
the documentary.
So I watched the documentarythe next day it was on like Hulu
(15:02):
or something and watched it.
Don't Turn you Back on FridayNight is the name of it and it's
everything that you said.
It is and it's the ups and thedowns and I mean he's sharing
everything and it's got to betough as he's sharing all this
stuff because you know, nobodyreally wants to share all that
(15:23):
stuff.
But I guess when you're a rockand roller, a songwriter, a
singer and you're writing fromthe heart and everything, you
end up sharing it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It sounded like maybe he had some regrets about the
level of father.
He was right.
That's kind of what they saidin the trailer, I think.
And here he is making good tohis kids they're part of his
band now, you know.
It's like he's doing his best.
We all do our best.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We all try to do our best, without a doubt.
So Cracker Full Band that night.
They were fantastic.
They always are fantastic everytime I see them.
Definitely enjoyed it and thenwent back to where I was staying
, went to sleep to get up thenext day to go see Johnny
(16:12):
Hickman do a little solo thingat Hendershot's in Athens and
Anne Harris joined and played acouple of songs with him.
And then that night it's Is.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Anne Harris, the violinist.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I apologize, she is and was fantastic.
You know, the night before withthe full band was fantastic
with Johnny, with the two songs,and then that night is the full
band again at 41.
And after four days it's like,oh my God, I just can't wait to
get back and go to sleep.
It was just so much but it wasa really fun time.
(16:49):
I really enjoyed it and um Ilook forward to doing it again
next year.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay, so you're becoming a crumb.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You know what, if that's what it takes, but it was
a lot of fun.
It really was.
I enjoyed it Good, and Ienjoyed my time with you, me too
, I know, yeah, we got to hangout a good bit.
Oh, I got to meet the drummerfrom the Violets Jimmy's band
from back in the day.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, he was very upset that I had not told him
about music.
In my shoes.
He gave me the two-fingersalute, saying why did you not
tell me you have a music podcast?
And I just neglected to tellhim.
But he's great.
Jay has a record label inAthens called Propeller
Recordings and they're puttingout all these great old Athens
(17:36):
bands and some new ones.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And then I got introduced to another guy that
was in an Athens band, Trent.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Oh yeah, Trent from Dreams, so Real.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So got to meet a bunch of people over the last
couple of weekends out there inAthens.
I got to be honest with you.
I was surprised that I did meeta bunch of people that I didn't
know who they were, but theyknew who I was and that was kind
of cool so I had fun with that.
You're famous man?
I don't think that I'm famous,oh come on.
So for those of you that cannotsee me, I am wearing a 40-watt
(18:08):
shirt, so the 40-watt blackshirts.
When I went to buy one, thelady says the guy before you
just bought the last extra large.
And I'm like, oh my Lord, andshe did everything to put the
sale on me, to sell me this one.
Okay, so this one.
(18:29):
And Jimmy, you can see it,don't say anything about it.
Yet While it is on the wall, itis a white t-shirt, absolutely
With black lettering.
Yeah, is the way that I saw it.
Yeah, it really is Okay andshe's really trying to make the
sale, and she pulls it down andshe gets her phone and uses the
(18:51):
light and says look, it's inpurple.
And I look and I can't reallytell, but it looks like the
40-watt insignia.
The logo is in purple.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I got out of the club and all of a sudden I'm walking
and I realized Jimmy, whatcolor is this shirt?
Lilac it is not the color thatI thought that it was going to
be at all, and I'm so glad thatyou saw it on the wall and
thought that it was white also.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I did and I was going to, because I gave my brother a
40-watt T-shirt for hisbirthday, which was a couple of
days ago.
Happy birthday.
And yeah, john, who's been onthe show?
Oh, yes, and uh, I was.
They were out of black at thesame time that you were trying
to get a black one, and then mywife was there and she clued me
(19:45):
in.
She said, oh, somebody justsaid that one is lavender.
It's not white, it looks whitebut it's lavender.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Well, I'm going to try and wear it well.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
So you know, I did that the first time at the 40
Watt for the REM show, and thenthe following week they had
black ones back in stock.
So that's when I got John'sshirt.
There you go, that they hadblack ones back in stock so
that's when I got John's shirt.
There you go.
That was smart, but it looksreally good on you.
You know, it's kind of likewear it with pride.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I look like.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Barney Real.
Men wear periwinkle.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Hey, jimmy, let's revisit some great music from
the past.
All right, let's start up withPeter Murphy.
Cut you Up.
First week of March 1990, wdreShriek of the Week.
Best new song on WDRE.
In my opinion it's the mostpopular Peter Murphy song.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You know solo song.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You know he was the former singer for Bauhaus
post-punk.
You know very different.
We've talked about BelaLugosi's Dead before and this
was just like a straight-up songsinging it and acoustic guitar.
And I think that a lot ofpeople listen to this that had
no idea about Bauhaus, no ideaabout his past.
(21:08):
They just heard a song thatsounded good and they enjoyed it
.
It came in at number 55 on theBillboard Hot 100 in May of 1990
.
All right, calming song, to mevery calming song.
Depeche Mode Violator album cameout March 19th 1990.
(21:30):
Now this album is an album thatbrought a whole new set of fans
to Depeche Mode and I, like youknow it's kind of pre-violator,
post-violator, because so manypeople they heard this became
Depeche Mode.
Fans Didn't know a song beforebut this album changed
(21:51):
everything for them.
Personal Jesus was the shriekthe second week of August 1989,
and it peaked at number 28 onthe Billboard 100 March 3rd of
1990.
That's a pretty long periodbetween DRE playing it and it
(22:11):
peaking on Billboard.
Lift up the receiver, I'll makeyou a believer.
Remember that, jimmy.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I don't remember those lyrics, but I remember the
song.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh, my Lord, you're going to have to listen on your
way home.
Dangerous, it was a B-side ofpersonal Jesus single.
It was the shriek, the secondweek of October 1989.
Enjoy the silence.
Words like violence, break thesilence.
Shriek, the second week ofFebruary 1990.
(22:43):
And then it peaked at numbereight, july 14th 1990, on
billboard Policy of truth.
Never again is what you sworethe time before.
Fourth week of March 1990.
It's the shriek of the week.
Peaked at number 15.
And in October 1990, onbillboard Waiting for the Night
(23:08):
was the Shriek of the Week, thefifth week of March.
So basically, you are goinghere.
It's just Depeche Mode Shriekof the Week.
Shriek of the Week.
Like everybody was voting forthem, they were just enamored
with this album, you know Mm-hmm.
So world in my eyes?
Wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Everybody was voting for them.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, so the Shriek of the Week you would vote.
It would be the listeners.
The listeners would call up andthey would play.
You know, I don't rememberexactly, but it was like maybe
10 to 15 songs, and then youwould vote on which song you
thought was the best.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And that was true back in the LIR Screamer of the
Week.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yes, from the LIR Screamer of the Week to the DRE
Shriek of the Week, that's howit would be.
And fans just were going crazyand just calling up and calling
up.
World in my Eyes week, secondweek of April 1990, peaked at
number 12, december of 1990.
Halo Shriek, the third week ofMay 1990, just an album track
(24:12):
that most people wouldn't know.
I mean it was just crazy, crazyhow popular this album was.
Nine songs, six of them areShriek of the Weeks on DRA and
that's people again voting forthem that they think that's the
best song of the week.
So definitely changed a lot forthem.
(24:33):
For Depeche Mode, speaking ofchanging Mike Watt, ball Hog or
Tugboat came out February 28th1995.
And I know a bunch of you aresaying who the heck is Mike Watt
.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He's the bass player for the California punk band
Minutemen.
He was also in— Firehouse yes,and I figured you would know
that for sure.
Yes, and I figured you wouldknow that for sure.
So Ball Hog of Tug Boats, firstsolo album, and he just gets
(25:12):
all of his friends and musiciansthat were influenced by the
bands that he was in and he justgets them all on the album.
There's so many people on thisalbum so he had I think there
was like three singles and thefirst single was Big Train.
It's got him on vocals.
He was only on vocals, Ibelieve, for two songs, so it's
got him on vocals.
And Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jamis on vocals with him playing
(25:39):
guitar.
Jay Maskis of Dinosaur Jr leadguitar, chris and Kurt Kirkwood
banjo and lead guitar, also bothfrom the Meat Puppets Mm-hmm.
And it was only a few monthsearlier that they performed with
Nirvana on the MTV Unpluggedshow.
(25:59):
Here they are with Mike Wattand it's just a cool song.
You know Mike Watt singing it,A lot of bass, because he's a
bass player.
It's cool.
Then the other big song thatwas played on the radio here in
Atlanta well, 99x Radio here inAtlanta, that was really the
only other station that wasplaying anything was Against the
(26:22):
70s Mike Watt on bass, eddieVedder, lead vocals and guitar,
dave Grohl of Nirvana and FooFighters on drums, gary Lee
Connor of Screaming Trees onlead guitar, chris Novoselic of
Nirvana on the Farfisa organ.
(26:44):
I mean it is just so cool, itreally is and there's like I
don't know 17 songs or somethinglike that, and each song is
like that Beastie Boys are on itwith different members of the
Beastie Boys and just differentmembers of all these bands and
it's a pretty cool album.
So Mike Watt, he tours in early1995.
(27:06):
They played at the Masqueradethe Masquerade Music Park, I
think actually is what theyplayed at and he had Eddie
Vedder on guitar and vocals, patSmear of the Germs Nirvana on
guitar, william Goldsmith ofSunny Day Real Estate and Foo
(27:28):
Fighters on drums and Dave Grohlon guitar and drums.
So Mike Watt was really smartwhen he picked these opening
bands, because Grohl, goldsmithand Smear were in the Foo
Fighters, who were one of theopening bands, and Eddie Vedder
he was playing with a sideproject with his wife at the
time, hovercraft.
(27:49):
So those were the two bandsopening and then he took members
from them to be his backup band.
So from an expense purpose, hedid a good job with it.
So, hey, you know what Speakingof good job?
According to my watch, it'sMinute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Good job with it.
So, hey, you know what?
Speaking of good job?
According to my watch, it'sMinute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
All right, there's an albumthat just came out this past
week by the Vapors.
Vapors are a British post-punkband and they put out an album
in 2020 and they just put outanother one this year.
It's fantastic.
It's got some really great kindof inspiring songs on it.
(28:32):
Lead singer's voice stillsounds amazing.
It's called Wasp in a Jar.
Hit the Ground Running is thelead single on it, but I really
like Carry On Nothing Can StopUs.
Now it Gets Better and the lastsong is called Proud and it
sounds like he's talking to hisparents, who are no longer with
him, and saying you know, if youcould see me now, would it make
(28:55):
you proud?
And that's something a lot ofus can relate to.
So you might remember theVapors from their 1980, 45 years
ago single, turning Japanese.
I have an interesting storyabout Turning Japanese that I
found out when I was kind ofresearching this minute with
Jimmy that they couldn't get arecord label.
Their manager was Bruce Foxtonfrom the Jam.
(29:18):
Right right, bruce Foxton fromthe jam.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
And Paul Weller's dad , the singer, guitar player from
the jam's father.
So Foxton and Weller's fatherwere the managers of the Vapors.
They couldn't get him a recorddeal.
Finally, a producer said, okay,I'll do Turning Japanese.
I think we can do somethingwith that song, but we need to
(29:49):
restructure it.
I've got a bunch of changesthey need to make to it.
So they agreed to make all thechanges.
He recorded it.
It went to number three inEngland, number one in Australia
, number 36 in America, but itturned out to be their only hit.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And it was a good hit because I think most people
still remember that song.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Very good, that was a great minute with Jimmy, thank
you.
I'll have to check that albumout.
Hey, before we go, I want tomention the 80s cruise, jimmy.
It had Squeeze Men at Work,adam Ant and a bunch of others
that were on it, and I think itjust took off out of like Miami,
like February 27th or something.
(30:25):
It's like a week-long cruise,and my buddy and his wife were
on the cruise.
They've been going for a numberof years now.
Say it's a good time, it's fun.
I believe he's already bookedfor 2026.
Like they already have.
Who's going to be on the ship ayear in advance, which is some
pretty good marketing, becausethey get you to sign up and it's
(30:45):
a couple hundred dollars lessper person if you've been on it
before.
So now, while you're having agreat time, you think this is
the best thing in the world.
Boom, let's sign you up fornext year also.
And my buddy, he does it, himand his wife they love it.
So rock band Faster Pussycatwere on the cruise as well when
tragedy struck and I don't knowif you heard about this, I did.
(31:06):
It's awful Lead singer tameddown and his fiance, kimberly
Birch, had a heated argument andmoments later she ends up
jumping off the ship and there'svideo of it now that has been
turned over to the police.
You know, according to TMZ it'syou know, it's clear cut that
(31:26):
she got up on the rail and shestepped off of it and it's sad.
I mean, it's really sad thateven on a ship that's supposed
to be full of fun and everythingthat sometimes people have
moments that are breaking forthem and I find that really sad
for them and, you know,hopefully for her family.
(31:48):
You know they can figure out howto deal with this and I know
that it's no fun for them.
You know I've had some friendsthat have done some similar
things and it's very tough oneverybody.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
No, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So you know, the ship stopped for a couple of hours,
according to my buddy, but thenyou know it's a big ocean, they
couldn't find her and then itjust becomes you know, a job for
you know the police and theCoast Guard and whoever to you
know try and find her and shestill has not been found as of
(32:24):
this point Right.
So, again, super sad.
You know, if you're out thereand you need to talk to someone,
find someone to talk to,because there's better things
that we can choose to do.
I know that it can be tough foreverybody, but we got to be
there and help each other Forsure.
That's it for Episode 70 ofMusic in my Shoes.
(32:45):
I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie,show producer and owner of
Arcade 160 Studios located herein Atlanta, georgia, and Vic
Thrill for our podcast music.
If you want to contact us, youcan at musicinmyshoes at
gmailcom.
Please like and follow theMusic in my Shoes Facebook and
Instagram pages and please sharethe podcast with your friends.
(33:07):
Let your friends hear what youare hearing and what you're
enjoying.
Let them enjoy it as well.
This is Jim Boge, and I hopeyou learned something new or
remembered something old.
We'll meet again on our nextepisode.
Until then, live life and keepthe music playing.
Enjoy the silence.
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