John Richards

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Morning Show with John Richards! You are not alone. -- R.I.P., Vivian Trimble, keyboardist of Luscious Jackson, who has died from cancer at age 59. Born to classical musicians, Trimble was raised in France and the U.S. and spoke three languages. She attended Oberlin College and met bassist and singer Jill Cunniff in 1991 when both were teaching GED adult education classes in New York. She was also a choreographer and dancer as well as a musician.: variety.com

Happy birthday to "Song 2," released on this date in 1997. The song wasn't supposed to keep its "Song 2" title, but the name stuck. It's two minutes and two seconds long, with two verses and two choruses.

A-House formed in Dublin in 1985 and broke up in 1997. They got together briefly in 2019 to play their classic 1991 album, "I Am the Greatest" live: bit.ly

The Breeders performed "Wait in the Car' live on Conan in 2018: www.youtube.com -- "Consider I Always struggle with the right word Meow meow meow meow meow..." Here are the lyrics to this song written by Kim Deal and Richard Presley: genius.com

Happy belated birthday to Frank Black, born on April 6th, 1965. -- Watch a live version of "Wave of Mutilation" from Belgium in 1989: www.youtube.com

John was the host when Sebadoh played live in the KEXP studio in 2019. Watch that fine performance: www.youtube.com

The video for "In the Morning" was featured on Beavis and Butt-head. Heh. Cool.:www.youtube.com

Bully will play an all-ages show at The Neptune on Friday, August 18th! -- This song is a tribute to Bully mastermind Alicia Bognanno’s late dog, Mezzi. A word from Bognanno: As someone who has spent the majority of my life feeling agonizingly misunderstood, there is no greater gift than experiencing true unconditional love and acceptance. I waited my whole life for the bond and irreplaceable companionship I had with Mezzi. She was my best friend and my only constant through some of the most pivotal moments and phases of my life. I was a stranger to the level of love I now know exists because of Mezzi. Love you forever; I’m lucky for you. --

This is Blondie's cover of a 1958 Buddy Holly song. The song is credited to Joe B. Mauldin, Holly's bass player; Norman Petty, his producer; and Nikki Sullivan, his sometime rhythm guitarist. There have long been questions about the songwriting credits assigned to the original songs Holly recorded, and Jerry Allison, his drummer, has gone on record stating that "I'm Gonna Love You Too" actually was written primarily by Holly, with Allison composing the bridge.

Unlike her previous two albums, with themes of sex and relationships, Whitechocolatespaceegg focused more on motherhood and family, as Phair had recently gotten married and given birth to a son. -- That's producer Scott Litt on harmonica, drums, and background vocals. See an intimate live performance on "Breakfast with the Arts": www.youtube.com

This was the second single from Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut. We've got a Platinum copy of this record (courtesy of Vampire Weekend) hanging at KEXP due to being a station that was playing this song while it was still just a CD-R demo to run off of (which we started playing in 2007). www.vampireweekend.com

Someone wrote that Deerhunter's fourth album was "daring, experimental and simply gorgeous." Read a review of this fabulous release: pitchfork.com

Fontaines D.C. will be at Climate Pledge Arena (with Arctic Monkeys) on Friday, September 22nd, 2023. -- John selected "Chequeless Reckless' as a KEXP Song of the Day. Download it for free here: www.kexp.org

This song from the Canadian band is about a relationship that didn't work out.: genius.com

The Airborne Toxic Event performed this one live at the Bat Bar in Austin, TX during SXSW in 2007: www.youtube.com

"Touching yourself..." Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers were live on KEXP during last year's THING Festival from Port Townsend, Washington, performing this song: www.youtube.com

Vivian Trimble, founding member, vocalist and keyboard player with ‘90s indie rock outfit Luscious Jackson, died Tuesday (April 4) following a years-long battle with cancer. “We were not expecting this,” reads a tribute, signed by the band’s surviving members Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar), Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), and Kate Schellenbach (drums). “She was a great friend and a gifted musician and choreographer, but it was being a partner to David and a mother to Nate and Rebecca that gave her the greatest joy.”: bit.ly

Here's the article that John is reading while the music plays: www.jta.org -- Once you've finished reading, you can see Blondshell at Madame Lou's on Saturday, July 8th.

Ahhh....the Friday song. (Get to school, Henry!) Music Heals: Addiction and Recovery will be Thursday, April 13th. Join us from 5 AM to 7 PM PT, Thursday, April 13th, on the airwaves to talk about addiction, share stories, and play music that is a salve to our souls.: www.kexp.org

Five Fingers Of Funk is a ten-piece live Hip Hop band from Portland OR. Founded in 1992, the Fingers destroyed stages (in some cases literally) from Portland ME to Portland, OR. The band was fronted by rapper Pete Miser and DJ Chillest Illest and featured a three-piece horn section. -- Of the video for the single, “My Mom’s Prius,” an autobiographical cut and tribute to his mom and Portland, video director and band member Pete Miser says, “‘My Mom’s Prius’ is an earnest autobiographical song inspired by visits home to Portland, Oregon after I moved to Brooklyn, New York. I would stay at my mom’s house and borrow her car to go meet up with the homies. I couldn’t help but notice the look of envy on the faces of my boys when I pulled up next to their low riders and Lambos in her stock hybrid… that look was envy, right?”: ghettoblastermagazine.com

Everything will be fine when Cheekface comes to Barboza on Tuesday, May 16th. -- "The track finds the trio (guitarist and “singing person Greg Katz, bassist and “other singing person” Amanda Tannen, and drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards) up to their usual tricks, setting Katz’s wry speak-singing to chipper pop-rock, both of which belie the song’s despair.": www.pastemagazine.com

Bassist and lead vocalist for the band Chris Ballew came up with the song when he was cleaning his room while listening to a mixtape of various recordings he made. In one of them, he sang the song’s outro (Is this lump out of my head? I think so.) and wrote the song around that. -- This song is featured on the album, "Live at KEXP, Volume 10." 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the artists.: kexp.bandcamp.com

The cut is found on Cracker’s self-titled debut album. At the time the album was recorded, the group consisted of only three members David Lowery (who also played guitar), guitarist Johnny Hickman, and bassist Davey Faragher. For the album, session drummers were used.

Joy Division originally attempted to cover Nolan Porter's "Keep On Keepin' On." The band attempted to record the song for a demo commissioned by RCA records, but after struggling to replicate the song, Bernard Sumner took the riff, inverted it and played it faster. The band then presented RCA with “Interzone”. -- That's bassist Peter Hook on lead vocals on this song, while Ian Curtis sang background vocals.

It says this on the Bandcamp page: "Seaweed formed out of the fertile northwest punk scene of the mid- to late-’80s in Tacoma and Olympia, WA. Aaron Stauffer and his best bud since fourth grade, Clint Werner (guitar), were going to all-ages shows featuring the likes of Fugazi, Dag Nasty, Bad Brains, and 7 Seconds. It was a great time to be a young punk rocker, and the two gleefully found themselves caught up in the DIY ethic." -- This is a Joy Division cover.

While only a minor hit on the charts, this mod/punk number is well remembered for serving as England's first introduction to singer/guitarist and Jam songwriter Paul Weller. The song's #40 chart position when the song was first released marked the beginning of his band's streak of 18 consecutive Top 40 singles. -- The song's descending opening bassline re-appeared a few months later on the Sex Pistols' single "Holidays in The Sun." Weller subsequently had a scrap with Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in the Speakeasy Club over the pilfering of the riff. -- Watch the Jam perform "In the City" live: www.youtube.com

In a 1979 interview, Tina Weymouth said of the album's title: When we were making this album I remembered this stupid discussion we had about titles for the last album," Tina smirked. "At that time I said, 'What are we gonna call an album that's just about buildings and food?' And Chris said, 'You call it more songs about buildings and food.' -- This song was written by David Byrne and co-produced by Talking Heads and Brian Eno.

Watch the official video for "the baby Friday song," which is also the New Radicals' signature song: www.youtube.com

Lead singer Mike Scott wrote the song; he composed about 20 different verse lyrics, choosing the best five for the final product. Looking back on the song in 2017, Scott wasn't impressed. "Melodically, I think it's a very limiting song," he said. "My abilities with melodies have improved a lot, have developed a lot since those days, and that song doesn't really make it for me." -- Decide for yourself as you watch this live performance of "this Is the Sea" in NYC in 2022: www.youtube.com

Speaking of "tourists," Death Cab for Cutie is touring this year and will be at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday and Saturday, October 6th and 7th. -- According to the band, "You Are a Tourist" was the first ever live, scripted, one-take music video shoot.: www.youtube.com

Last month, The Edge discussed the release of the band’s 1991 album, "Achtung Baby," which incorporated more alternative rock and electronic dance music into their sound. “We started to become caricatures on that basis, like the "Joshua Tree" period had way overexaggerated this sense of earnestness and responsibility,” the guitarist explained. “We just had to own up and say, ‘Actually… we’re very silly, we’re not those characters.'” Learn more here: bit.ly

Dusty Trails is an American music duo consisting of Vivian Trimble (formerly of Kostars and Luscious Jackson) and Josephine Wiggs (formerly of The Breeders). -- R.I.P., Vivian Trimble, who has died at age 59: www.stereogum.com

Here's an English translation of the lyrics from the album (Its translation is "My youth is slipping away..."): bit.ly

Arlo Parks will be in Vancouver, BC at the Orpheum Theater on Friday, Jan. 26th, 2024. -- Here's the official video for "Weightless": www.youtube.com

Modern English will be LIVE on KEXP on The Morning Show with John on Friday, June 2nd at 9:30 AM. They'll be at The Triple Door on June 9th, 2023: modernenglish.me -- If you're wondering, the lyrics say,"...mesh and lace.": www.songfacts.com

Depeche Mode brings the Memento Mori tour to Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, November 26th, 2023. -- The excellent "Memento Mori" is Depeche Mode's fifteenth studio album and the first since the death of keyboardist Andy Fletcher.: pitchfork.com

Metric will be joining Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds for a performance on Friday, June 2nd at White River Amphitheatre. -- Emily Haines addressed the topic of her bouts with stage fright in the song "Help I'm Alive." And how did she overcome those fears? A mannequin came to her rescue at a random show in Santa Monica, California. Learn about it in this "Story Behind the Song" podcast: consequence.net

"We had a lot of extra material, and these songs all got written by Jill and myself on tour on a couple of acoustic guitars. We had just been on tour so long, we got antsy I guess and did these things." --Vivian Trimble The Kostars came about during the summer of 1995 when Luscious Jackson was touring the southern United States in support of Natural Ingredients. During those hot summer nights Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble began writing songs together that would later comprise the Klassics With A K album. The duo found inspiration in "watching people" and "experiencing a different lifestyle while passing through the sleepy towns" in the southern states. -- R.I.P, Vivian Trimble: pitchfork.com

Happy birthday to The Knife's and Fever Ray's Karin Dreijer, born on this date in 1975. -- In February, she discussed aging, romance, and kink: www.theguardian.com

This song is a cover of the much loved song by the Knife. Born in Gothenburg, Sweden to Argentinian parents, José González was joined by the international artist collective, the String Theory, for an enchanting performance live on KEXP in 2019. Watch Live Video from the performance: bit.ly.

Happy birthday to "4 Way Street," released on April 7th, 1971. Graham Nash wrote this song. The lyrics deal with the often difficult relationship he had with his father, who spent time in prison. In Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood, Graham Nash is quoted as saying, "When I wrote 'Teach Your Children' and 'Our House,' we didn't know what we were doing. 'This sounds pretty fun, we can sing this, let's do it!' And then all of a sudden people are singing it back to me forty years later." --

This "up and comer" will be at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, October 8th, 2023. -- This is the title song from Gabriel's new album (The release date has not been announced.). He says, "...“i/o” means “input / output.” You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways. That was the starting point of this idea and then trying to talk about the interconnectedness of everything. The older I get, I probably don’t get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there’s something to learn?

Kate Bush sang this great song live at the Brit Awards in 1986: www.youtube.com

Hmmm....does this sound familiar? This is The Futureheads' fabulous cover of the Kate Bush masterpiece. It comes from the 2004 debut album of The Futureheads. -- The Futureheads are "in the trees" (with some hounds on their speakers) in their video for this song: www.youtube.com

shame will be at The Crocodile on Friday, October 6th, 2023. -- Charlie Steen said Fingers of Steel is “about helping a mate and the frustrations that come with it. It’s coming to terms with the fact that people can’t be who you want them to be and sometimes there isn’t anything you can do to help, it’s their own thing they have to work out for themselves and you have to accept that.” See the official video: www.youtube.com

The music video for this song shows clips of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter Frances Bean Cobain, who was a year old at the time. Directed by Kevin Kerslake, it was shot in their basement using a Super-8 camera: www.youtube.com

Learn how The Sonics turned Richard Berry's 1959 song into a monster hit: ig.ft.com

See the late Dick Dale, "the king of surf guitar," performing "Misirlou" live at KEXP back in 2009: www.youtube.com

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet play Toronto's Pearson Airport Terminal One Arrivals, on Thursday, June 13 2013.: www.youtube.com