By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio
Longtime Pure Pop Radio favorite Michael Carpenter took to the road, literally, and on the way to a gig spoke with me about his latest musical endeavors on the April 25 edition of Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation.
Top of our agenda was the Supahip’s terrific new album, The Two Sided Face. Michael has crafted, with Mark Moldre, a classic collection of songs incorporating such varied influences as rock, pop, and country. Michael and Mark entered the studio each day without a written song to sing; by the end of each day, a song was written, performed and mixed. Working without a net has never sounded so good.
Michael and I also talked about creativity, the Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, and a whole lot more. We played three songs from The Two Sided Face: the upbeat, joyous “With the Radio On,” the country toe-tapping (and Rolling Stones leaning) “Fourarms,” and the four-on-the-floor rocker “Motor” (Listen to these songs from Big Radio Records’ Bandcamp page). Plus: we played Michael’s rousing, one-man-band cover of the Beach Boys’ “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone” and a surprise track from Beatle Paul.
Purchase the Supahip’s The Two Sided Face here (get the digital download right away; the CD will be available June 1).
Listen to my interview with Michael Carpenter from the April 25 edition of Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation by clicking the play button on the following player, or click on the Pure Pop Radio button to the left to download (then right click and choose “Save audio as” to save the file to your computer). (This interview is presented in scoped format; the songs have been removed due to copyright concerns.)
Listen to a wide selection of previously-aired Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation interviews by clicking here.
Listen to the Pop Tunes Deejay Show on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 pm ET (two different shows every week); In Conversation airs every Wednesday night at 9 pm ET. Don’t miss a minute!
Brian and Oliver Lieber, son of rock royalty classic songwriter Jerry Lieber (of Lieber and Stoller fame), have fashioned a pop album for the ages. It pops, it rocks, and it thrills!
During this lively program, Brian talks about how he met Oliver and decided to form The Bayonets. Brian also waxes poetic about songwriting and, in particular, lyric writing. Two songs from Crash Boom Bang! were played: “Sucker for Love,” and the Rolling Stones-y slow burner, “Cotton Candy.”
A fun mix of sun, sand, weird and wonderful, and big-beat blasts power this week’s lineup of Pure Pop Radio specialty shows.
Tonight at 9 pm ET, Jammin’ James Riley negotiates the sun-drenched waves for another set of fabulous summer sounds on Catching a Wave. You’ll dig a set of Beach Boys numbers, a pair of classic tracks from Glen Campbell, and tunes from the Rivingtons, Santo and Johnny, Surfer Joe, Duane Eddy, and many more of your favorites.
Scott McPherson’s got your midweek lunchtime festival of pure pop sounds to go along with your soup and sandwich combo on the latest get-together known as The Weird and the Wonderful. This Wednesday, October 26 at 1 pm ET, heritage sounds from Florapop and Klaatu mix with tracks from Eric Barao, Prefab Sprout, Frank Bango, Nilsson, Pop 4 and lots more. Plus: Scott remembers back to his first show, on which “Sammy Davis, Jr.” made a memorable visit…
Coming up this Thursday at 8 pm ET on Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Steve Marinucci, Al Sussman, and Allan Kozinn gather around the Beatles roundtable for a fun discussion with Lefty and Zeek Weekling, aka Glen Burtnik and Bob Burger, respectively, from the fabulous Weeklings. Lefty and Zeek speak with our panel about the Weeklings’ new album, Studio 2, which is full of big-beat fun and releases on November 18. (We’re all about the Weeklings here at Pure Pop Radio; this is the second interview with Lefty and Zeek that we’ve aired; Alan Haber’s chat with the boys on Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation ran on October 18.)
Paul McCartney stunned and delighted the crowd at this past weekend’s Desert Trip classic rock festival in California by playing live, for the first time, the Beatles’ legendary track “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?” Aiding and abetting Paul was classic rocker Neil Young, who seemed to be overjoyed at essaying this beloved track from the Fabs’ 1968 self-titled double-album.
After Scott McPherson’s The Weird and the Wonderful kicks off its run this Wednesday at 1 pm ET, musician Brian Bringelson lowers the tone arm onto a bevy of records on the latest edition of Needle Meets Vinyl. Tune in at 8 pm ET on Wednesday for a triple-play of Beatles tunes, and equally fantastic sides from across the decades from such artists as The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Michael Nesmith and the First National Band, and Emitt Rhodes. It’s all vinyl, all the time for a festive celebration of 33 1/3 and 45 rpm spins.
Tonight’s all-new edition of the weekly Beatles roundtable, Things We Said Today, is another can’t-miss get-together.
Beginning at 8 pm ET, our panel of Beatles experts–Ken Michaels, Steve Marinucci, Al Sussman, and Allan Kozinn–are joined by author Kit O’Toole (the popular Deep Beatles column on the 
What’s on tap? We kick off the cool proceedings on Monday, September 5 at 8 pm ET, with an all-new edition of Ken Michaels’ Every Little Thing, which this time around features an interview with Beatles author Chuck Gunderson and a pair of tracks from the Fab new Live at the Hollywood Bowl album, releasing on September 9.
Tune in Tuesday and Wednesday, September 6 and 7, for a rousing Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation twofer. On Tuesday, September 6 at 8 pm ET, Winterpills’ Philip Price sits down with Alan Haber for a two-hour marathon session detailing the many, varied stops through his musical career. Listen for tracks from the Maggies, Philip’s solo releases (including an unreleased tune), and Winterpills, whose latest album, Love Songs, is a big airplay item on Pure Pop Radio.
The next evening, Wednesday, September 7, also at 8 pm ET, we’ve got popster-of-the-hour Nick Piunti dropping in to speak with Alan about his smashing new album, Trust Your Instincts, releasing on Friday, September 9 through Jem Records. You’ll hear three songs from the album and Nick’s comments on them. Plus who knows what else?
