1. For many years, before he died in 2017, Tom Petty recorded Buried Treasure, a weekly radio show for SiriusXm. I'm very happy that SiriusXm is maintaining the Tom Petty channel and today I tuned in to an episode of Buried Treasure.
The only real similarity of Buried Treasure to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (also broadcast on SiriusXm from 2006-09) is the staggeringly eclectic taste in music and depth of knowledge both Petty and Dylan possess.
Today the Tom Petty Channel aired Show #071 which was originally broadcast on April 17, 2008.
Highlights of the show for me? "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Vanilla Fudge. "Jump Into the Fire" by Harry Nilsson. "War" by Edwin Starr. "Spoonful" by Howlin' Wolf. "Deportee" by The Byrds.
But, best of all, I enjoyed the wit and mirth of Tom Petty himself.
2. After Buried Treasure, I listened to a regular Tom Petty Radio feature, Tom Petty Radio Guest DJ.
I listened to Marty Stuart take over the controls for an hour and it was divine. Not only was it thrilling to hear a musician of Marty Stuart's stature proclaim that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was, in his estimation, the best rock n roll band of all time and not only was it thrilling to hear Marty Stuart break down and discuss Tom Petty's genius as a song writer, it was also thrilling to hear the cuts Marty Stuart decided to play.
I have trouble keeping up with the wide world of music! There's so much out there! Until today, I didn't know Marty Stuart was a member of a band called The Fabulous Superlatives. During his DJ stint, Marty Stuart played a recording of the Superlatives playing a dynamic, fiery, imaginative version of "Runnin' Down a Dream". As he introduced it, I wondered how they would cover Mike Campbell's exquisite guitar solo and, oh! my! did I ever get an answer as Marty Stuart ran away with it on his mandolin.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the story Marty Stuart told about how Johnny Cash came to record the song "Rusty Cage". Stuart then played Johnny Cash singing "Rusty Cage" backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Marty Stuart. Hearing Stuart's story and then the song within the context of this hour of songs curated by Marty Stuart invigorated me.
3. Later in the afternoon, I decided, for no really good reason, to listen to the countdown on the Classic Rewind Channel of what the channel's listeners voted as the top 40 albums/cassettes forty years ago in 1981.
1981 was a most memorable year in my life, a mixture of difficulty and rupture at home -- my wife and I began our separation which led to our divorce several months later -- and of successful work at the University of Oregon.
But, as I listened to this countdown, nothing took me back to 1981. I didn't connect any memories or feelings with Journey, Sammy Hagar, Triumph, Rush, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, etc. or the Eric Clapton or Santana music on this countdown.
I'm not sure what I thought I might connect with as I decided to listen to this countdown.
I got I guess what I'd call a kick out of listening to this music -- a lot of it was very melodramatic, some of it almost operatic, and other songs were boisterous anthems to the world of rock n roll itself -- I'm thinking of "For Those Who Love to Rock (We Salute You)", "Jukebox Hero", and "There's Only One Way to Rock".
I might have been listening mostly to music from the 70s in 1981. I might not have been keeping up very well with what was contemporary that year -- or, it's possible, I was listening to music released in 1981 that was different than the listeners of the Classic Rewind channel.
But, whatever I was listening to, if it was songs on this 1981 Top 40 Countdown, they didn't make an impact on me forty years ago.
But, I think other stuff did.
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