John Richards

You know how we got this? We asked Bill if we could have it, he asked the Pearl Jam peeps, and zam boom shazam, we were sent this wonderful version of this song!

Hi John, Not sleeping great... ya know? So last week I was listening and Cheryl played “Color Decay” by Junius Meyvant. I stopped and I was doing and looked up the song thinking it was something new and exciting! Of course I found it was from late 2014… But it was new to me! In fairness, our first kiddo was born in August 2014, so the next six months were a bit of a blur. In fact, my wife Jill creates a quarterly playlist and when we looked back, we found this song was on the winter 2014 playlist - so I had definitely heard it before! Anyhow, yesterday, after having now listen to the song 50 times, I wanted to see if performed, so I looked and found the recording on KEXP of them singing it in Iceland at the KEX hostile. It was a great performance and I was really enjoying seeing the huge band and him singing. Then the camera panned to the audience. I got so sad! Seeing all those people at a show having a good time and realizing how crushing it is right now that there are no shows. The collective experience of seeing and hearing music together is definitely one of my greatest joys! I didn’t know I was missing it - being so busy working, homeschooling, keeping it together - until I found myself tearing up, listening to this song and watching people gathered and experiencing that joy, together. It’s funny where the grief in all of this isolation comes out. So, I wanted to request Color Decay - And if you can play that live version that you recorded in Iceland, even better :-). I’m grateful for the collective experience of listening to music you give us, even if we can’t be together in person. ❤️ Jenn #amplifier

Hi John! Can you play this song by Stars? Thanks so much! Hope you are hanging in there! -Mandie

Wonder if listening to The Cure will helps keep people healthy. Thanks for keeping us energized and sane as we hunker down at home. Doc

Hey John, my wife is on her way to at Harborview right now. She is exhausted from dealing with the epidemic and the bearaucracy that is involved in our hospital system. Yesterday she got her advanced copy of the pearl jam but didn't get it uploaded it to her music player but really wanted to listen it on her way to work. Could you play some Pearl jam for Dena from Dave hoping she's safe today ...definitely stressful for us spouses at home too worrying about our loved on the front lines -Dave in Seattle

Hi. This has been a tough week. Relatively new to Seattle (1.5+ years) via New Orleans. We've got two little kids at home (3 and 5) who have missed out on birthday visits from East Coast grandparents in the last month, and really miss seeing their amazing teachers at school every day. Living across the country from our family feels extra hard right now. We're doing the best to hold things down and get our work done, and the radio is ON while we do it. Finally sending in my first of what I hope will be many future KEXP donations today. Thanks as always for the music, sharing stories about big hearts from all the listeners out there, and most recently the Blues Brothers. And if you wanna play Little Liza Jane by Nina Simone (live at Newport 1960) sometime, I wouldn't complain. Shout out to the heroes on the front lines. Keep on keepin' on everyone. Anna

I first wanted to thank you for continuing to play great music. I’ve been a member of KEXP since 2004. Right now we all want something normal. Something routine. To feel like things are okay, are going to be okay. And you’re helping do that. I’ve listened to your show at work every day for years. Hearing you during this time has been very comforting. Thank you so much. You’ll never know the number of lives your touching just by doing what you do. Second, can you play some live Sleater-Kinney? That would hit the spot today. Thanks again John. I hope you and your family are doing well. Mark from San Antonio (aka Hans Gruber)