Rock Garden Tour

This Week's Category: Hydrangeas! Mystery! Aggregate Fruit!

Tried a bunch of new things in the studio last night, most of them didn't work out. The Rock Garden Tour Family Band actually performed a tune backed by punk rock squirrels, live on the air. We attempted to communicate with a vaporous entity, live on the air. We channeled an Iowa farmer who was killed in a threshing accident, live on the air. And both Oil Can and I smoked a pack of Jobe's Fert. Sticks, live on the air. We also played a bunch of sweet tracks. Have a look at the set list and keep it rural.

The Delfonics - Ready Or Not Here I Come

Mexican Institute of Sound - Arboles De La Barranca

John Vanderslice - D.I.A.L.O.

Passion Pit - Moth's Wings

Jovenes Y Sexys - Amor Platonico

Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band - Nikorette

Young Fresh Fellow - This Little Mystery

The Deep Dark Woods - Bakersfield

Drive By Truckers - Bob

Akron/Family - River

Fleshtones - American Beat

John Vanderslice - Romanian Names

Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear

Iron And Wine - Belated Promise Ring

Horse Feathers - Curs In The Weeds

The Mountain Goats - Song For An Old Friend

Tonic - Flowerman 

Rock Garden Tour 27: We don't wish to fight Garrison Keillor! Besides, we're pacifists.

We can't talk about rhubarb on the Rock Garden Tour, that's Keillor's gig. We can talk about whubarb though, and chewbarb, moobarb, and fubarb. We can also talk about wind gardening, which we did do, a lot in this week's rock and roll gardening podcast. We talked about Donovan. Flowerman sang showtunes, and Oil Can attempted to answer the phone. It's all in this week's Rock Garden Tour. Enjoy this week's podcast and keep it rural.

Download Rock garden tour 27 podcast

This Week's Category: The troubadour, the eurodour, the self medicadour...

Talked a little bit about Donovan last night. Corporate asked us not to, but we did it anyway. Corporate also asked that we not allow Oil Can to exceed a word count of 150, as it was his first show back after a few weeks off. He exceeded 150 by the first weather segment, and you can hear most of them when I post this week's podcast. In the mean time, let's talk tunes. Last night we blasted the Southeast corner of the Queen City pretty much away, with massive hits by Passion Pit, The Wooden Birds and Calvin Johnson. Take a look at the set list and keep it rural.

The Greenhornes - The End Of The Night

Jason Ringenberg - That Last Of The Neon Cowboys

Donovan - Catch The Wind

Years - The Major Lift

Passion Pit - Moth's Wings

Marshmallow Coast - Darkside Of The Moon

Drive By Truckers - Perfect Timing

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton

The Tallest Man On Earth - This Wind

We All Have Hooks For Hands - The Man Trying To Outfox Us All

The Wooden Birds - False Alarm

Calvin Johnson - Rabbit Blood

Metric - Help I'm Alive

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You

Frank Black - Where The Wind Is Going

Iron & Wine - Belated Promise Ring

Son Volt - Windfall

The Mountain Goats - Alphabetizing

The Gourds - Country Love

Tonic - Flowerman

Augustana College sends KAUR 89.1 FM down the stream without a paddle, so what about the Rock Garden Tour?

Listening to Passion Pit's Moth's Wings right now, loud, you could tell me that I have 7 minutes to live and I'd probably just keep sitting here nodding my head with a grin on my face, my friggin' face. You could smash a Sioux City Sarsaparilla bottle on my head right now, it wouldn't erase the grin, this 'I know something that you don't' grin, this 'my right bicep is abnormally huge' grin, this 'taco night' grin, this 'I'm skipping out on bean walking so I can go play softball at Moparish' grin, this 'rock gardener' grin, this 'my dad is a farmer and he's fallen off the barn twice' grin, this Sioux Falls Canaries are still the champs and you can't take that away from me' grin, this 'Norway Center' grin, this 'Emery, SD turns 125 this summer' grin. Anyway...

Augustana College is shutting down KAUR as you and I know it, no more FM broadcast. No more 89.1. FM. They're switching to a stream only feed, which means that in Sioux Falls, SD you'll be switching that preset station on your boom box to some kickin' or mixin' or jammin' radio station. It doesn't matter.

So the bums lost. Surprise! The bums will always lose! So radio isn't what it used to be. So KAUR isn't what it used to be. So...let's not get carried away. The magic of radio isn't gone - it just isn't necessarily on the radio. The real magic, the real stuff, the real action is in web streams, and podcasts, and public broadcasting. Precisely why we at Rock Garden Tour studios remain unaffiliated (that and the suits kick us off the air every chance they get). We do this stuff for free anyway, that is until somebody gets a bright idea and starts paying us some money, some real money. In the mean time...

We're going to ride downstream with KAUR and see what happens. You can tune in on-line at kaur.augie.edu every Thursday night from 8-10 (from anywhere in the GD WORLD!). I'm not sure when the switch will happen officially, but they'll keep you up to date.

Wait, there's more...

That's not the only place you can hear from Oil Can and la Flowerman. Catch weekly podcasts right here at RockGardenTour.com. You can also hear us every Saturday night at about 9:45 - 10pm on South Dakota Public Broadcasting's ON RECORD with Matt Weesner (from now until July). AND! Coming in July, you can catch a full hour of the Rock Garden Tour from 10-11pm (Central) every SUNDAY NIGHT AFTER THIS AMERICAN LIFE on South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Maybe radio is beyond saving, so what, there is still hope for your vegetable garden. Keep it rural.

Rock Garden Tour 26: Less Talk, More Atavistic Appeal.

This week's Rock Garden Tour podcast offers a few down and dirty pest control techniques. I'd tell you a bunch more about it but I don't want to give away the ending. For tips on squirrel control, deer control and fun facts about human pee - listen to this week's Rock Garden Tour gardening podcast. Keep it rural.

Download Rock garden tour 26 podcast

This Week's Category: The HOLE!

Last night's show was dirty. I don't even want to write about it. I just want to put it behind me, move on with my life. I don't want to think about the hole, the compost, the punk rock squirrels that terrorized the studio, I don't want to think about the story about frog guts either. In fact, the only thing I want to think about is the most righteous free range rock and roll music that we jammed during the show. It blasted the south east corner of the Queen City pretty much away. Here's the playlist from last night's show:

Cath & Phil Tyler - Yellowhammer

The Velvet Underground - I Can't Stand It

Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band - Spoiled

757's - Atrophy

The Thermals - My World

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

John Doe & The Sadies - Detroit City

The Theater Fire - Its All The Same

White Denim - All Truckers Roll

Loudon Wainwright III - Swimming Song

Florence And The Machine - Kiss With A Fist

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Heartless Bastards - Wide Awake

Holy Modal Rounders - Sugar In The Gourd

St. Vincent - The Strangers

Gino Washington - Do The Frog

Art Brut - The Passenger

The Mountain Goats - Minnesota

Tonic - Flowerman

Rock Garden Tour 25: Pass On Grass. Bake Up Some Tuberous Root Crops Instead.

This week on the Rock Garden Tour podcast Flowerman offers a few alternatives to intensive lawn care practices. Enjoy the podcast and keep it rural.

Download Rock garden tour 25 podcast

This Week's Category: Hobo Trampin' Pinecone

The Rock Garden Tour Family dropped their monster smash 'Hobo Trampin' Pinecone' on top of the Queen City last night during the show. What a mess. We also talked about intensive lawn care practices and the fact that they're a complete waste of time, resources, and mojo. You're not going to want to miss the podcast. Now, about the music...

Last night's show feature most righteous tracks by White Denim (thanks to Mitchell, Oil Can's GD prodege, for the tip), John Doe & The Sadies, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and more. Here's the full play list:

The Smithereens - It's A Boy

The Action 13 - More Bread To The People

Conor Oberst And The Mystic Family Band - Spoiled

Peter And The Wolf - The Bansai Tree

Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La

Todd Snider - Thin Wild Mercury

Prozac Rat - Didn't catch the name of the track, but it blew the extreme south east corner of the Queen City pretty much away.

John Doe & The Sadies - Detroit City

Rock Garden Tour Family Band - Hobo Trampin' Pinecone

Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster

The White Stripes - Hand Springs

Right Away, Great Captain! - Oh No, I Tried

Ben Kweller - Things I Like To Do

Akron/Family - River

Young Fresh Fellows - Rock 'n' Roll Pest Control

David Bowie - Janine (Bowie at the Beeb)

Reverend Peytons Big Damn Band - Them Old Days Are Gone

The Mountain Goats - Two Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel)

White Denim - All Truckers Roll

Tonic - Flowerman

Let's Get Colt Cocked!

My day job here at the office involves making coffee and cracking wise during various meetings. The job also involves producing a little known podcast titled Fresh Friday. I usually crank it out by Monday or so. This week's podcast features the rest of that great interview we did with Telly from the ColtCockers. The podcast also features a most righteous jam about big business.

Enjoy this week's Fresh Friday podcast and keep it rural.

http://www.pickfresh.com/files/pods/FF-46-Let-s-Get-ColtCocked.mp3

Rock Garden Tour 24: "That's Your Hombre Up In The Rafters."

This week's Rock Garden Tour podcast features witty banter about bats, bullheads and sprouts. It also features a most righteous interview with the pride of Lake County South Dakota and ColtCockers front man, Telly, not to mention a ColtCockers tune titled Silver Scapes. Enjoy this week's garden variety podcast and keep it rural.

Download Rock garden tour 24 podcast