J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 24th August 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem.

This week's show was dedicated to the memory of Guilford College alumni, former WQFS DJ and General Manager, musician and friend, Tim LaFollette. You've heard me talk about Tim numerous times on the show over the past two years as he has lived out his struggle with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. Through the Often Awesome organization and the film series of the same name, Tim took his battle with this poorly understood, incurable disease out into the world in order to try and make a difference in the lives of future sufferers of the disease and to raise awareness of ALS in general. He, and all the members of the Often Awesome Army, succeeded admirably through fund raising concerts, charity walks, tattoo benefits, art auctions and a dozen other ways that brought awareness, money and, most importantly, hope to people who suffer from the disease.

It also, unquestionably, prolonged Tim's life. The love and endless support of close friends, acquaintances and even people who didn't know Tim before learning of him through Often Awesome, no doubt had a boosting affect on his willingness to fight. Tim's particular strain of ALS, which also killed his grandmother and mother, is a nasty one, killing people, on average, around one year after date of diagnosis. Tim fought on for two years and four months. That's the power of positive energy.

Tim died this past Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011. My first memories of Tim are as a fellow DJ at WQFS and fellow student at Guilford. He was the General Manager of the station my sophomore year, 2000-2001, and presided over our amazing 30th Anniversary Festival which wouldn't have been nearly as awesome without his diligence in making it happen. I've uploaded an old recording of Tim on the air circa 2000. You can hear his goofy sense of humor, his breadth of taste and appreciation of music and everything else that made him such an amazing person. Click here to check it out. Thanks to Adam Thorn for posting that earlier this year.

This week's show is largely centered around music that Tim loved or that Tim was involved in making. There's still a wide smattering of new music - as a former WQFS DJ, Tim certainly wouldn't want me to stop playing the new, excellent music we strive to share just to pay tribute to him - but the majority of the older music comes from bands he loved or played in. I think it's an excellent show, and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did making it. Sorry for stumbling over my words at times. Trying not to cry on the air makes it a bit tougher to be my typical jovial self.

Tim, we will miss you terribly. But thank you for everything you shared before you left. I hope that I can touch even a tenth of the lives you did before I leave this world behind. We won't give up the fight against ALS until no one has to go through this again. Know that you made a difference, even if you didn't live to see it to fruition. Rest in peace.

Onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 24th August 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Tom Waits - "Bad As Me" [the title track from waits' forthcoming album due out in october. his first since 2004 or so. i mean, granted, we were tided over a bit with the awesome orphans box set, but still. this song sounds awfully promising.]
Ben Folds Five - "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" [from whatever and ever amen. i remember being at a ben folds solo show with tim back in 2002 over at the old ziggy's in winston-salem. this was right after his first solo record and was a bit of a homecoming show, since folds went to reynolds high school over in forsyth county. tim was a fan of well constructed pop music, for sure, so it's no wonder he liked ben folds. this song has lost a bit of its cultural bite since the slacker culture it parodies is a bit gone at this point, but it still makes me laugh. also, an upcoming best-of release will feature three newly recorded ben folds five songs, their first new music in 12 years. you can check out one of them over at NBC.]
Fountains of Wayne - "A Dip in the Ocean" [from sky full of holes. the chorus of this is pretty darn catchy, so this album is warming up for me a bit. still not sold on it overall. sad considering it has a few really excellent songs on it.]
Prince - "Play in the Sunshine" [from sign o' the times. tim was a huge fan of prince and this song, lyrically, was appropriate for his departure. a bit anyway. i hated seeing prince back in the spring knowing tim couldn't be there.]
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They Might Be Giants - "Can't Keep Johnny Down" [the lead track from their latest, join us. tim was a fan of tmbg and i play another of their songs later that i remember him covering in a convincingly punk fashion many years ago in the one-man band version of little brother. not to be confused with the hip-hop group. yeah, unfortunate timing on that one. literally, they both started out about the same time.]
Radiohead - "The Bends" [the title track from their second album. another favorite band of tim's.]
Eleanor Friedberger - "Inn of the Seventh Ray" [from last summer. we'll be hearing more, but the initial reviews of this new merge records album have been pretty solid.]
Kudzu Wish - "Do You Need An Athem" [from reverse hurricane. the first band i saw tim play in. made up entirely of guilford folk and just a force live at times, for certain. their reunion show for one of the often awesome benefits was just spectacular.]
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the War on Drugs - "Baby Missiles" [from slave ambient. you can take a listen to this song over at the album review at aquarium drunkard. don't know if tim ever listened to these guys, but i get the feeling he might have dug 'em. mainly because they remind me of springsteen and, obviously so does..]
the Hold Steady - "Chips Ahoy!" [from boys and girls in america. i tell the story on the show of how tim enthusiastically gave me a burned copy of separation sunday by this band well before i'd heard of them, raving about it. i, stupidly, sat on it and never got into them until this record dropped. but i did. it doesn't hurt that they're from the same town as..]
the Replacements - "Customer" [by request. from sorry ma forgot to take out the trash. my favorite band. and, really, let's talk about the fact, too, that i turned 30 this past sunday and this album has the 30th anniversary of its release today, thursday, august 25th. i was born four days before its release. coincidence? nope. i had to get out early so i could get to the store.]
Drive-by Truckers - "Danko / Manuel" [by twitter request. from the dirty south. an appropriate song in some ways for tim as well. thanks for the request, michael.]
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Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - "Stick Figures in Love" [from the new mirror traffic. i am digging this record, as you can read in my review over at aquarium drunkard. can't wait to catch him at the haw river ballroom on saturday, october 1st, too.]
At the Drive-In - "Enfilade" [from relationship of command. i remember sitting in a class at guilford listening to tim be upset about at the drive-in breaking up, claiming that this album was one of the best in rock and roll for some time. he wasn't wrong.]
Decoration Ghost - "Repay the Spark" [from the haze of wine and age. the band tim co-founded around the time of his diagnosis and his craft as a songwriter and song structuralist is all over this album, but especially in this song.]
Bad Religion - "No Control" [the title track from this album. tim also shared a fondness for bad religion, and i wish i'd had more than just the records i had to pull from to play something for him. i've always had a big soft spot in my heart for them as well.]
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Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - "Come to Mary" [from the new marble son. wow, this snuck up on me. had no idea jesse had a new record dropping. very exciting considering i'm a huge fan of hers. we'll definitely hear more. in the meantime, you can check out my interview with jesse on the show from 2007 when she last released an album.]
Faith No More - "We Care A Lot" [from introduce yourself, their last album with their original singer. i stumble, searching for mike patton's name on the podcast and feel foolish. but i do know tim enjoyed this band and patton's other project from the time period, mr. bungle. sadly, i couldn't lay my hands on any faith no more with patton though.]
Snüzz - "Die Trying" [from the one-piece band. this song was the closing title credits theme for all of the often awesome web series videos. pretty great song from a friend of tim's.]
the Cure - "Love Song" [from disintegration. according to a friend, a very important song in the world of tim. so who am i to say otherwise? also, a great song. seriously.]
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Megafaun - "State/Meant" [from their forthcoming self-titled record which is due out in september. really, really can't wait to hear this full album. every song off of it so far has been fantastic.]
Toad the Wet Sprocket - "All in All" [from in light syrup. this is a song that tim and i performed together in a duet years ago at guilford. tim was one of the few fellow toad the wet sprocket fans i've met in my life, so it was appropriate that one of the others, chris jackson of citified, would join me to duet on it for one of the often awesome benefits this past year.]
Weezer - "Say It Ain't So" [from the blue self-titled album. i remember tim defending the green album to me in a conversation not long after its release. and the weird part was, as much as i still don't care for that record, i totally bought his defense.]
the Popovers - "Yoga in the Morning" [from make it so. one of the last projects tim got to complete, a two-person band with catie braly. they also recorded the theme song for the savage lovecast, the podcast by sexual advice columnist dan savage. you can download the entire record for free over at their website.]
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Tommy Stinson - "Meant to Be" [from his forthcoming second solo record, one man mutiny. this song already marks this as way better than his disappointing first solo album. can't wait to hear more.]
They Might Be Giants - "Doctor Worm" [from a user's guide to they might be giants. this is the song i heard tim cover as little brother. classic and fun.]
Adam Thorn and the Top Buttons - "People Get Ready" [from where's the freedom. a cover of the curtis mayfield classic. you can hear tim playing bass and singing backup on this. and it just seemed kind of perfect to end the show on this note. i hope tim would concur.]

That'll do it for this week. We'll be back next week with Ryan Snyder from YES Weekly for the Indie/Rock Roundtable and other great new music. Until then, take care.