Last Call for Rock-n-Roll
Born With a Tail
For nearly a decade, my best friend Tim Kelly (23 years and counting!), one of the kindest and most straight-up gents you could ever hope to meet bar none, has deejayed and produced the Late Riser’s Club show on WMBR 88.5 Cambridge. This Friday is his last day.
My media player at work sucks so I don’t get to tune in as much as I’d like but Tim has been spinning some of the best punk, garage, and just plain rock-and-fucking-roll for as long as I can remember. And he hasn’t been doing it for pay: it’s strictly volunteer. I would say Tim loves rock more than a lot of musicians I know. Outside of bluegrass, it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that Tim Kelly is responsible for the dirty, nasty rock-n-roll I listen to today, especially The Bags and The Fleshtones, who many of you know I consider to be the best rock-n-roll bands of all time. Well I’ll add to that that I consider Tim Kelly to be one of the most rock-n-roll PEOPLE of all time.
If you have the inclination, make some to listen in this Friday from 10-noon. Set lists, schedule, and audio links here, and here.
Tim, who is also a fantastic writer, has this to say:
This Friday, February 8, I will be doing my final (for now) Late Risers Club on WMBR, 88.1 FM on the greater Cambridge, MA terrestrial airwaves. The show airs from 10 to noon EST, and will be available for two weeks in a streaming archive format if you follow the program schedule links on the WMBR page.
This was an incredibly difficult decision for me to make; I am humbled and honored to have been able to be a part of this legendary radio progam — the longest-running punk rock-based show in the history of radio — for the past eight-odd years, not to mention at one of the greatest non-commercial stations on the planet. I was a longtime fan of the show — I listened whenever I visited family in Boston, and tuned in religiously once I moved to Boston for college in 1992 — and was in constant awe of the LRC deejays delivering such a high caliber
of uncompromising rock n’ roll radio. Thanks to a lucky acquaintance my cousin/then-roommate Henry Ryan (The Skels/The Sprained Ankles) made with WMBR ska/rocksteady deejay Generoso Fierro, I was nervously drafted into the WMBR ranks in 1998. Gene had spotted my record collection in the living room one night when he was at our apartment watching the Bruins game, and said to Henry, “Are these your records?”
“No, they’re Tim’s,” Henry said. “He should do radio!” Gene blurted. One thing led to another, and the rest is history.I produced this loud, angry/joyful baby for most of my time at the station — Joanie Lindstrom now formidably owns that five-day scheduling headache — and have had a wealth of incredibly talented, passionate, and brilliant deejays at my disposal to help make it all happen since I was welcomed to the club. Joanie Lindstrom, Generoso Fierro, Chris Hardgrove, Jonathan Gladstone, Peter Choyce, Kevin Hoskins, Ross Scott, Ben Kochan, Chris Bobko, Jess Liao, Jordan Wirfs-Brock, Andrea Tentner, Ken Avery, Bryan Cord, Chris MacDonald, spiritual leader Blowfish and ace fill-ins like Sue Safton, Nancy Masley, Tim Reardon, Jeff Breeze, John Funke, Joan Hathaway, and Jesse Kaminsky — I’m probably forgetting a few people here, but I owe them all my undying gratitude. The same goes for the listeners who call in every week; none of us are getting paid to do this, and their support — not just in terms of financial donations to the station — really helps make it all worthwhile. They’re not just calling for free tickets to shows; they want to know about the sounds we’re putting out on the airwaves before we even have the chance to back announce them.
Doing radio is as thrilling for me now as it was when I did my first show in 1989 at WRIU FM — I still learn something new every week when I get my show ready — and it breaks my heart to have to stop. Thing is, I’ve got some shit in my life that I need to deal with, so for the time being I have to step down. For my own peace of mind, I am thinking of this as a sabbatical; if I can come back to LRC at some point, I will. It could be next season, but it also could be never. We’ll see what happens.
I am psyched to be leaving the Friday slot in the able hands of Ben Shanks. Ben rocks. Joanie and I have been trying to kidnap this guy for a few years now; finally, thanks to his MIT class schedule, we got him. At least for awhile. The overall schedule is shaping up to be pretty damn good for this spring, and I know I will be tuned in.
So enough of that already. Tune in. Per usual, it’ll be a lot of new stuff, and requests will be most welcome — I have no intentions of making this a fucking funeral party. I will, however, have a bunch of my longtime faves thrown in for good measure, as well as some of the great live appearances I’ve been lucky enough to have on the program. So yeah, wake up and tune in. I’ll be there.
Brendan again: tune in on Friday. Don’t be a loser. And in the words of the immortal Angus Young, “For those about to rock, we salute you!”
One Response to “Last Call for Rock-n-Roll”
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Holy fucking shit. The Supersuckers are one thing, but to be associated with Bon and AC/DC is mindblowing. Jesus fucking Christ. I’m not gonna die, and I will be back on the air again, and when that happens, I will play some Bon-era AC/DC on my first show.