SWITCHING GEARS -- Junior

Recent Playlists

As with many (but not all) shows on our station, the type of show is best described as “all over the map”... or at least I hope so.  We have occasional theme nights, but other than that, the goal is to have as many abrupt genre changes as possible.  That said, the truth is Switching Gears is rooted in old-school ‘60s and ‘70s rock, and from there we go off in whatever directions seem fun at the time. Some of it's new, some of it is very old, but no matter what, the musicians are playing real instruments. 

I grew up unwittingly absorbing the country music of my banjo-playing mom and the Ventures, Beatles and Rachmaninoff that my dad blasted throughout our house every weekend. My older sister came back from college with all manner of bizarre tapes of bands I’d never heard of and whose lead singers retained Cockney accents even in song. Obviously, all this had a warping effect on a young kid, and by the time I popped out the other side of high school I had morphed into a drumming disciple of Neil Peart who was also a devout roots reggae fan, a nearly chemosynthesizing absorber of Hendrix-style distortion, a semi-apologist for ‘80s cheese-bands, and a part-time noodler on bass and guitar. Not surprisingly, the ensuing decades of musical horizon-expanding only added to the confusion.

My all-time favorite albums include: KAYA, Bob Marley and the Wailers; DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, Pink Floyd; ABBEY ROAD, the Beatles; LIVE AT THE COW PALACE, NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1976, the Grateful Dead; and TWO SEVENS CLASH, Culture.

My favorite album of 2009 was KEEP RISING, House of Shem.  My favorite albums of 2008 were HERE WE STAND, the Fratellis, and THE RED ALBUM, Weezer (tie).