[tyler sonnichsen]


For the title of this posting, I couldn't decide between using the title of Elvis Costello's old hit single "Radio Radio," or using the leading line in the chorus to Rancid's less old song "Radio." In the end, Rancid won it, mostly because their gratuitous use of the word "radio" helps me drive home the announcement that I have to make.



First off, vote for me in the Public Radio Talent Quest!. I'm participating in this thing where they're trying to find someone to host their own show on public radio, and considering how much I love the medium of radio, I decided to send them a somewhat representative clip of me talking about "Zip Zap Rap." Go to that link, listen if you'd like, and rate it for me! I'd appreciate it and will thank you profusely if I make it to the next round.


And, of course, this Tuesday, May 15th at 10 PM, we'll be making our grand return to Georgetown radio! Other than that one special that Herbie, Jim, Jermaine, and I did in December, we've been waiting for this pretty much since the end of last summer. So tune in, IM us (wgtb requests), call us (202-687-WGTB) and hope you enjoy it. WinAmp and iTunes are the most reliable ways to access the live stream. We've got plenty of big plans for this summer, including, but not limited to a Claudio vs. Tony DeNikos story-telling-off, special guest hosts "Gator n' the Gooch!" and much more. You know that this guy's excited.

[tyler sonnichsen]

I'm not dead; I'm just putting entries onto this site at a rate that would suggest I am. That D-Plan thing deserved to fester on the top of the front page for two weeks, didn't it? Anyway, in leiu of something that requires a full, regimented thought process, I'm going to hit you all with a list of what I believe is essential from the thinly-bordered realm of "pop-punk." I excluded those top five because they're like the wild cards, the veritable "R S T L N E" of punk rock as ostensibly pop music. That, or I just didn't feel like writing about 24 Hour Revenge Therapy or Punk in Drublic , as great as they are.

Screeching Weasel - "My Brain Hurts" (1991)
I recently bought a copy of their s/t debut album from 1987, and inside I found a lengthy spiel from Ben Weasel himself about how much he hates that album and hopes most of those songs burn in hell. I love the man's honesty. Ben Weasel's always good for a lark. In fact, he's one of the best in the industry for a lark. I always turn to the man for most all of my lark-related needs.

When 1991 rolled around and Screeching Weasel returned tighter and smarter than ever, I'm sure this album turned plenty of heads. It sounds just as exciting and fun today as it did 15 years ago. I'm sure that people were thinking "wow..when they hell did Ben Weasel learn to sing?" "when did these guys become a great punk band?" In fact, "when did these guys become a great band, period?"
Veronica Hates Me
Don't Turn Out the Lights

The Queers - "Don't Back Down" (1996)
I think it's illegal to talk about Ben Weasel without mentioning Joe Queer in the same breath. It kills me that he's been doing this band for 25 years now. I haven't even been alive that long.

A lot of their stuff sounds the same, of course (The Ramones and the Beach Boys have a kid who loves nothing more than lighting his farts on fire. Or spending an evening with that special girl. One thing or the other) but by 1996 The Queers had hit their stride and "No Tit," "Punk Rock Girls," "Another Girl," "Born to Do Dishes," among others are about as good as it gets.


Dillinger Four - "Versus God" (2000)
I can't write enough about this band, between their song titles (the funniest in rock history, I believe) and the sheer exuberance they pumped into their rocktitude. When I saw their fellow Minneapolans The Hold Steady setting up in Orlando this March, they blasted the first D4 album Midwestern Songs of the Americas so loudly that I almost didn't enjoy it. But watching their guitarist sing along to half of the songs with some drunk fan in the front was priceless.

Versus God is probably their tightest album of the three they've dropped (where's number four, you bastards!?) and reminds me why I like all of this crap in the first place.
Q: How Many Punks Does It Take to Screw In a Lightbulb?

Chixdiggit - s/t (1996)
This is the most polarizing and possibly borderline-retarded band on here, but goddamn if I don't love this album. Imagine if Weezer's Pinkerton 1996 recording sessions got invaded by a bunch of smelly, drunk rabblerousers from Calgary who wanted to play crunching 3-chord songs about moms, trying to be cool, and PARTY!!! I used Weezer as a touchstone for no reason other than both albums came out in 1996 and both bands may use the same guitars. I actually have no idea. Hey, they were on Sub Pop! That's worth something ironic, right?


Propagandhi - "How to Clean Everything" (1993)
More Canadians, eh? I listened to this on repeat when I was 17. For most any time that's said pertaining to anything in the Fat Wreck Chords catalogue, the phrase that usually follows that is "but then I started getting laid." Au contraire, societal standards!! Keith, a friend at the time who ran a local record store back home during its six months of glory in 2000, pushed this album on me, claiming it was one of the most influential pieces of music he'd ever heard. And it was, and shockingly still is, considering how the shitty world that these three Manitobans sang about got ten times shittier between the advent of the Bush II administration, post-9/11 paranoia, the progressive disintegration of a number of cultural institutions, and of course, American Idol's rise to prominence. But something about how these three refuse to pay reverence to just about anything that The Man tries to shove down their throats and then end it all with a barrage of "fuck!"s is endearing. The whole stop-on-a-dime thing is pretty sweet, too. It was hard hearing a song by the Weakerthans, original Propagandhi bassist John Samson's pretentious later project, sold to that Owen Wilson wokka-wokka-fart-fest "The Wedding Crashers." For now, just listen to "Anti-Manifesto" and enjoy.
Anti-Manifesto