Another indicator of a DJ's mindset is...

...checking your thermometer and singing softly to yourself, to the tune of Foreigner's "Hot Blooded," "Thank goodness I'm still alive, despite a fever of one-hundred-point-five..."

That was my temperature not too long ago.  It also exceeded 101 a few times, but immediate, natural-sounding rhymes didn't come to mind for those temperatures.  Time to go back to sleep...

FM dial scan highlights XCV

Saturday through Tuesday standouts:

KDHX 88.1 FM

• I Was A Fool-Sunflower Bean (My favorite song of 2018, so far.  That might sound like faint praise, as it's only February 6.  Nevertheless, this track from the "Twentytwo In Blue" release, due out March 23, combines at least three strong elements; Julia Cumming's vocals remind me of Blondie and Harriet Wheeler from The Sundays, the guitar arrangement brings the best of Real Estate to mind, and the alternating vocals between Nick Kivlen and Cumming remind me a bit of The Human League.)
• Right Back Where We Started From-Army Navy (The Maxine Nightingale hit, reworked to fun, energetic effect with crunchy guitars and indie rock vocals.)

WSIE 88.7 FM

• Novocaine Heart-Kandace Springs (When your heart takes a pounding, it takes considerable fortitude to grapple with the pain.  Springs sings with a strong, convincing level of pathos here.)
• Limehouse Blues-Lionel Hampton (The rhythm section's prowess with a brisk melody and Hampton's mastery of a propulsive vibraphone part conjure up images of the hippest train on the tracks.)

K297BI 107.3 FM, a.k.a. KNOU-HD2

• Machine Gun-The Commodores (Yes, you read that right.  The same station that plays copious amounts of Beethoven, Mahler, and Vivaldi also has room during "The Jazz Collective" on Saturdays to accommodate the first hit by The Commodores.  Seemingly scored for an early '70s action film, this instrumental, which would segue well with Billy Preston's "Outa-Space," has a very different sound for the band that would become known mostly for Lionel Richie's ballads.)

An overlooked cover tune XLIII

Thanks to an infectious rhythm track and sing-along vocals, Sly & The Family Stone's "Sing A Simple Song" has endured on the radio for 50 years.  In 1969, however, The Meters recorded a noteworthy instrumental cover of it.  The of-its-time organ accompaniment and rhythm section as a whole show that the tune stands on its own, even without vocals.  Music beds just don't get much funkier than this, and the tune's confident strut is right in line with scores of other Meters tracks.

"Just the stats, please..."

In all the years I did radio sports reports, I'm proud that I avoided one of the most overused cliches.  When spotlighting a player's achievements on the field, I never once said, "He (or she) came to play."  When a player racked up major points, I thought the numbers spoke for themselves.

Reconsidered merit II

I've written about my appreciation for singer-songwriters many times on this blog.  On the surface, Billy Joel's "Piano Man" would appear to be my kind of song.  It tells the story of a cast of characters who listen to the entertainer's music at a bar and mentions the challenges they face in life.  I rarely listen to it all the way through when it's on the radio, though.  Something about it just doesn't click with me.

Recently, however, after listening to "Betty's Diner" by Carrie Newcomer, I've been viewing "Piano Man" in a different light.  Both songs capture a cross section of humanity.  Maybe the people in the songs haven't always made the best decisions; still, as a human being, you can't help but root for them and hope that things will turn out alright for all of them.

"Piano Man" will never capture my attention the way "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" does.  Nevertheless, I understand why it resonates with so many listeners.

Giving the instructor his due?

At the end of a tape critique session, the other broadcasting school students and I got up to leave.  The instructor, a St. Louis radio veteran, asked sarcastically, "What? No 'Thank you for nurturing our careers...'?"  No one batted an eye at this, as we all understood.  Radio is a precarious business.  When you have to move from station to station, earning only modest amounts of money, how could you not be at least a tad jaded and acerbic?

A pre-Google consultation

Approximately 23 years ago, I was recording some concert announcements for an information-by-phone service.  There was a concert at which an ensemble was going to perform works by J.S. Bach and C.P.E. Bach.  At the time, there was no Internet access in the office, and there was no music reference book handy.  I asked my supervisor, "I know that J.S. Bach is Johann Sebastian Bach, but what does C.P.E. stand for in the other Bach composer's name?"  Neither of us knew, so she called her father, a Classical music aficionado, and asked.  Her father replied, "Carl Philipp Emanuel."

It had to have been at least a little more satisfying to be a music aficionado in pre-Google times.