Rock Garden Tour

Vote! Vegetable! Vote! Future!

Last night we named the top 7 nominables for Veggie Of The Year 2009. Intenisty. That is what we set out to do, the rest is up to you. Take a look at the list, think on it for a spell, and then cast a vote down there in the comments section beneath this post. Vote multiple times if you like. Speak your mind. Challenge Oil Can's belief that mesquite beef jerky should be considered a vegetable. The nominables are:

Snow Pea: All we are saying is give peas a chance.

Jicama: Jicama sun...buh, duh, duh, duh...Jicama sun...its all right.

Baby Carrot

Squash: Squarsh yer troubles dude.

Potato: The potato is what freedom is all about.

Mesquite Beef Jerky

Asparagus: Your asparagus is as good as mine.

 
In addition to some witty banter about vegetables, last night's show featured some most righteous free range rock and roll. Here's the playlist if you're interested. Keep it rural.

Oscar Brand - Fair And Free Elections (1800)

Harper Simon - Cactus Flower Rag

Jonquil - Whistle Low

Built To Spill - Planting Seeds

Neko Case - I'm An Animal

Oscar Brand - I've Got A Ballot (1948)

The Birds [UK] - No Good Without You

Radiohead - Vegetable

Neutral Milk Hotel - King Of Carrot Flowers Part I

Steve Martin - Clawhammer Medley

Judee Sill - There's A Rugged Road*

Langhorne Slim - Back To The Wild

The Band Of Blacky Ranchette - Getting It Made

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Them Old Days Are Gone

The Elois - By My Side

The Clash - Capital Radio Two

The Mountain Goats - Seeds

Headlights - Secrets

Tonic - Flowerman

* Best song that I've heard in 2010, though it was recorded in the 70's.

You mean to tell me that you built a time machine? Out of a seed catalog?

 
Happy New Seed Catalog to you and your kin. It felt great to get back into the studio last night after a couple weeks off. I talked about Paul Harvey, and the often mispronounced pawnsetta plant, but mostly I talked about seed catalogs, glossy and new, vintage and torn, Gurneys, Burpees, I talked about them all. I also played some most righteous free range rock and roll. Have a look at last night's playlist and keep it rural.

The Mickey Finn - Garden Of My Mind*

Steve Martin - Dadddy Played The Banjo*

Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings

The Eyes - I'm Rowed Out

The Fiery Furnaces - Ray Bouvier

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

Steve Martin - Pretty Flowers*

Free Energy - Dream City

The Creation - Biff! Bang! Pow!*

Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Bugs & Flowers

The Hold Steady - Magazines

We All Have Hooks For Hands - Made Up Of Tiny Lights

Rock Plaza Central - When We Go, How We Go

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Family Band - Let Your Light Shine

The Mountain Goats - Going To Georgia

Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel

Daniel Johnston - Like A  Monkey In A Zoo

Tonic - Flowerman 

* Tracks from albums that I purchased with Christmas money

Yes Petunia, There Is A Flowerman

We intended to play a classic holiday show but wound up talking about dung, parasites and buffalo scrotums. Did Oil Can sneak in a few Jimmy Stewart impressions? Of course he did, but it was too little too late. At least the tunes were festive. Have a look at this week's Rock Garden Tour playlist and keep it rural.

Buck Owens - Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy*

Sufjan Stevens - Put The Lights On The Tree

Pixies - Holiday Song

Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings

Hooray For Earth - Surronded By Your Friends

John Prine - Christmas In Prison (live)

Flight Of The Concords - A Kiss Is Not A Contract

Hasil Adkins - Teenie Weenie Waddy Kiss

Pearl Jam - Let Me Sleep

Buck Owens - One Of Everything You Got*

Bob Dylan - Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See The Land

Fanfarlo - The Walls Are Coming Down

Bob Wills - Big Ball's In Cow Town

Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear

Buck Owens - Blue Christmas Lights*

The Mountain Goats - Going To Georgia

Sufjan Stevens - I Saw Three Ships

Tonic - Flowerman

* Thanks to our Forestberg, SD correspondent for putting us in touch with some holiday originals by Buck Owens

Good Neighbors Control Noxious Weeds

Last night's show went about as well as can be expected when you consider that we spent the night talking about some of the most invasive plants on the planet. I'd love to tell you more about it. I'd love to tell you that we enjoyed ourselves, that the in-studio audience enjoyed themselves, that we weren't forced to flee the studio under a storm of noxious weed goo, that we didn't end up in a closet at the 7-11 where we chowed on electric blue freezies and Twin Bings. I'd love to tell you all about our wonderful radio program, but that would be a disservice to the brave men and women of the Rock Garden Tour who spent last night talking about noxious weeds. At least the music sounded good. Have a look at the playlist, stay tuned for the podcast, and keep it rural.

Mayer Hawthorne - One Track Mind*

Pearl Jam - The Fixer*

Flotation Toy Warning - Made From Tiny Boxes*

The Reverend Peyyton's Big Damn Band - Let Your Light Shine

Rosanne Cash w/ Jeff Tweety - Long Black Veil*

Lou Barlow - The One I Call*

Conor Oberst - Milk Thistle

Seam - Petty Thievery

Animal Collective - Who Could Win A Rabbit

Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard - Low Life Kingdom*

Phoenix - Rome

Joannna Newsome - Peach, Plum, Pear

John Doe & The Sadies - Are The Good Times Really Over For Good

We All Have Hooks For Hands - Something To Live For*

Love Is All - Felt Tip

The Mountain Goats - Snow Song

Tonic - Flowerman

* Tunes off of new albums that you should really consider listening to.

The Most Gruesome Rock Garden Tour EVER!

Twas a massive show last night as we dedicated the entire 2 hour block to the farming men and women of rural America. Our Harvest Playlist episode started off with innocent banter about heavy metal thrashers Anvil, and Moe Berg the catcher turned spy during World War II. Our show ended with graphic stories of fingerless farm hands and exploding mice, all in a good night's work. We did feature some good clean harvest variety rock and roll though. Have a look at the playlist, stay tuned for the podcast, and keep it rural.

Doc Watson - Mole In The Ground

Neil Young - Are You Ready For The Country*

John Langford And The Sadies - Mayor Of The Moon

Chuck Prophet - Let Freedom Ring*

War On Drugs - Taking The Farm*

Levon Helm - Poor Old Dirt Farmer*

The Avett Brothers - Hard Worker*

Neil Young - Harvest*

Blitzen Trapper - Big Black Bird

Tim Van Eyken - Barleycorn*

Frank Black - Johnny Barleycorn*

The Kinks - Animal Farm*

We All Have Hooks For Hands - Something To Live For***

The Rolling Stones - Salt Of The Earth*

The Mountain Goats - Itzcuintli-Tozli Days

Chuck Prophet - American Man*

Tonic - Flowerman

* Tunes inspired by the harvest

*** Tunes inspired by Frenchy Gale 

Sex, Puritans, Rock & Roll

What can I say about last night's show? I had hoped to talk about everything from the First Lutheran Bazaar to the rare and glorious giant squid. But, as is often the case in the high pace world of rock and roll gardening shows, I ended up talking about yams instead. Have a look at the playlist and keep it rural.

Hasil Adkins - High School Confidential

Breakestra - Get It Right

Young Fresh Fellows - Let The Good Times Crawl

The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane

The White Stripes - Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn

Girls - Lust For Life

Lissie - Little Lovin

The xx - Heart Skipped A Beat

Chuck Prophet - Barely Exist*

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations

The Hidden Cameras - In The NA**

Phoenix - Lisztomania

The Born Again Floozies - We Got The Power

Say Hi - Maurine

The Mountain Goats - Deuteronomy 2:10

Chuck Prophet - American Man*

Tonic - Flowerman

* Tunes off of Chuck Prophet's latest and most righteous album !Let Freedom Ring!

** Tunes I'd put on a mix tape for LeTwan (wife and pest control team leader)

Yield Morphology Cultivar Assessment

Last night we instructed Queen City gardeners on the finer points of the Yield Morphology Cultivar Assessment, YMCA for short. I'd tell you more but you know the drill, I'd rather not give away the ending. We blasted some serious free range rock and roll last night. Everything from Mike Watt to Hasil Adkins. Have a look at the playlist and keep it rural.

David Bowie - John, I'm Only Dancing Dancing 

Hasil Adkins - No More Hot Dogs*

The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Deadroads

 Beat Happening - Other Side

We All Have Hooks For Hands - Made Up Of Tiny Lights

Girls - Lust For Life

Camper Van Beethoven - We Workers Do Not Unerstand Modern Art**

The Chi-Lites - I Found Sunshines**

Mike Watt - Pedro Bound!**

Rickie Lee Jones - Nobody Knows My Name**

Chuck Prophet - Let's All Help The Cowboys (Sing The Blues)**

Fanfarlo - Thhe Walls Are Coming Down

Kings Of Leon - Taper Jean Girl

Fruit Bats - Ruminant Band

Rock Garden Tour Family Band - Guns & Impatiens

Bob Mould - I'm Sorry Baby But You Can't Stand In My Light Anymore

The Mountain Goats - Distant Stations

Tonic - Flowerman

* Tunes about hot dogs and murder

** Tunes by artists that we haven't featured for far too long 

Kind Of A New Show

Tried something kind of new last night. If you listened close, you heard the live show that we produced in Deadwood, SD a few weeks ago. At the same time, or at least in between segments from the Deadwood show, you heard me talking about giant pheasants. So if you tuned in, you really heard 2 live shows going on at once, which is something I've always wanted to try. Another short term goal accomplished.

Here's the playlist from last night's show:

John Doe & The Sadies - Are The Good Times Really Over For Good

Young Fresh Fellows - Let The Good Times Crawl

The Greenhornes - Good Times

Langhorne Slim - Say Yes

Prescott Curly Wolf - Gold In The Mud

Michael Hurley - Hog Of The Forsaken

Polite Sleeper - These Are Not Fall Colors

Blitzen Trapper - Big Black Bird

The Glands - When I Laugh

Neutral Milk Hotel - King Of Carrot Flowers Part I

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - Home

Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La

Pavement - Gold Sounds

The Clash - Gates Of The West

The Mountain Goats - Going To Cleveland****

Tonic - Flowerman

**** Songs that I'm listening to on repeat today because I ran out of time last night and didn't get a chance to play them. **** Also means songs about Cleveland.

Join us next Thursday night for a show about the Pioneer Power Show of Menno, SD, and keep it rural.  

Night Of The Half Dead Zombie Plants

Last night on the original rock and roll garden show we talked zombie plants. I'd tell you that our witty banter killed, but the truth is that most of the audience was already dead when they got there. Kerry Roberts of the Sioux Falls Zombie Walk told us what he knew. Wumpus knocked out some hard core zombie rock and roll. And some guy from Hayti, SD weighed in on Real Hatian Zombies. Stay tuned for the podcast, take a look at the playlist from last night's show, and keep it rural.

The Zombies - The Way I Feel Inside**

Ultravox - Saturday Night In The City Of The Dead*

The Like Young - Dead Eyes*

The Avett Brothers - Kick Drum Heart

The Priscillas - All My Friends Are Zombies*

The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers*

Wumpus - March Of The Nobody's Nose*

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - I Love Creedence

Wave Machines - Dead Houses*

Blitzen Trapper - Black Bird

Still Flyin - Dead Memory Man*

Wumpus - Do The Zombie*

The Zombies - Friends Of Mine**

Beirut - My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille

The Mountain Goats - Half Dead*

Harper Simon - Cactus Flower Rag***

Tonic - Flowerman

* songs about dead stuff

** songs by The Zombies

*** songs by Paul Simon's kid

Life After Deadwood, SD

Spent the weekend away from the computer (mini-vacation), so we didn't have a chance to upload last Thursday night's playlist. If you're familiar with the website you've probably also noted that we have yet to upload this week's podcast, thats what we've been meaning to talk to you about, there isn't a podcast this week. Taping the show live in Deadwood, SD at Saloon No. 10 from this year's SD Festival Of Books threw us off a bit, messed with our schedule. You can bet that we'll make it up to you though. And thats a promise. So here it is then, last Thursday night's Rock Garden Tour playlist. Keep it rural.

Blitzen Trapper - Big Black Bird*

Rock Garden Tour Family Band - Honey Bee (Live in Deadwood, SD)

David Bowie - Life On Mars

Jay Reatard - Wounded

The Avett Brothers - Kick Drum Heart*

Fruit Bats - Being On Our Own

Built To Spill - Hindsight

The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Deathbridge In Lethbridge

Langhorne Slim - Say Yes*

Fanfarlo - The Walls Are Coming Down*

Strand Of Oaks - Two Kids*

The Avett Brothers - Die Die Die

Marvin Gaye - Can I Get A Witness**

Rock Garden Tour Family Band - Under Presho (Live from Deadwood, SD)

God Help The Girl - The Psychiatrist Is In*

The Mountain Goats - Trick Mirror

Tonic - Flowerman

* New stuff by bands we really like.

** Not so new stuff by bands we really really like.