Beach Slang Cover Dramarama

Beach Slang's James Alex at Asbury Lanes in July 2015.

"Anything, Anything"

Back when I was a teenager careening around the Jersey Shore in my 1980 Toyta Tercel and listening to FM 106.3: "Your Rock Alternative," Dramarama's "Anything, Anything" was a pretty iconic song. I think there was even one year there -- maybe 1987-1988 -- when "Anything, Anything" topped one of those "Top 106 Songs Ever" countdowns on the station, beating out The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now" for the honor. That's some home field advantage, right there.

Today, Beach Slang released a pretty faithful and pretty awesome cover of that iconic song from my youth. The band put their own within-an-inch-of-their-life spin on a pretty within-an-inch-of-its-life song. "Anything, Anything" will appear on the band's Here I Made This For You mixtape which is due on Cassette Store Day, 10/17/15. The five-song collection will also include covers of songs by Ride, The Plimsouls, Senseless Things, and Best Kissers In The World.

As far as original Beach Slang material goes, the Philly band's debut LP, The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us, comes out on Polyvinyl on October 30th.

And, just a word of advice: If you ever get even a hint or an inkling that you may be able to catch Beach Slang live, don't miss it. You'll regret it if you do.

Hey Wait. It's a Long Weekend! Edition

MLK Friday

I'd just about forgotten that CoolMom, CoolDaughter #2, and I have a three-day weekend.  Unfortunately, Sandy stole the day off from CoolDaughter #1.

CD #1 has a 7 AM warmup on both Saturday and Sunday for the Tiger Invitational Swim Meet in Princeton.  I'll get the driving honors both days probably.

The Light of Day Festival is going on in Asbury Park as we speak (SIMGE has a great rundown of the events, by the way).  Tonight, Asbury Lanes is hosting a great show remembering The Fastlane, headlined by Dramarama.  If I can get out to that one, CD #1 and I should have an interesting drive to Princeton at about 5:45 AM tomorrow.

The life of a cooldad.

I hope you've got a long weekend, too.  Stop to remember Dr. King.  And...

Rock on.

Your Rock Alternative

FM106.3 WHTG, Eatontown

In the mid-1980's, I worked at the snack bar for Sea Girt, NJ's public beach.  Sea Girt sits about 20 miles south of the town where I grew up, so I spent a good deal of time driving my silver Toyota Tercel in the summers.  As I drove down Route 18 each day, on my way to cook hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwiches for Bill Parcells and for beachgoers recovering from a night at The Parker House, I listened to a local radio station called FM106.3, "Your Rock Alternative." The bumper of that Toyota sported the station's black, vinyl "FM106.3 -WHTG-" sticker until I junked it in about 1993.

Loretta Windas, Bart Cross-Tierney, Rich Robinson, Mike Marrone, and Matt Pinfield (who, of course, found national fame as an alternative/indie music expert and MTV host) were with me in the car, at the snack bar, and, usually, wherever I was for the evening.  They played The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, Violent Femmes, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Church, Psychedelic Furs, The Replacements, The Pixies, Camper Van Beethoven, R.E.M., U2, local-ish acts like Dramarama, and on, and on.  You could not hear most of this music anywhere else on commercial radio in the New York area in 1987.  I listen to the music I do today because of that station and those DJ's.

I feel like the station peaked from about 1986-1988.  Maybe I missed some good years while I was in college, but as the 1990's dawned, and "alternative" became just another category for music-industry marketers, WHTG started to sound like a lot of other stations.

Tonight, I took CoolDaughter #2 out for a taco as we waited for her sister to come home from her summer camp field trip.  I saw a poster advertising a WHTG reunion coming up later this month and featuring Dramarama and good, old Matt Pinfield.  The show will take place down in Ortley Beach, NJ.  There must have been several advertisers on WHTG from Ortley Beach back in the day, because I can't hear the name of the place and not think of the radio station.  Appropriate, then, that they'd have their reunion there, I guess.

Maybe CoolMom and I will take the minivan down to Ortley Beach, and I can go crazy when the current incarnation of Dramarama breaks into "Anything, Anything."  Maybe Loretta, Bart, Rich, or Mike will also be there, and I can pair faces with voices.

I wonder if they'll have any of those stickers.