Willie Nelson celebrated his 93rd birthday as he prepared to start his summer tour that features solo shows, plus his annual Outlaw Music Festival that includes Wilco, the Avett Brothers and Sheryl Crow, among others.
Bill took his turn saluting Ernie D’Amico, the longtime friend of the show, who passed away on Easter Sunday. He also shared a bit of time with Jan Messer, a Thompson family friend, who also died recently. In spite of the downbeat subject, the tone is celebratory and hopefully brings smiles to faces of people who knew Ernie and Jan.
Bob rails against the silliness that is April Fools’ Day, while Bill offers tributes to Chip Taylor, Jon Dee Graham and Ronnie Bowman, lower profile musicians who made positive contributions to the world.
John London, broadcaster extraordinaire and music lover, joined Bill to debut his format for his own show on WAIF. London, who began his career at a radio station in Sheboygan, Michigan, never lost his love for the format and his talent shows in the second hour of this episode.
This show features a two-pronged tribute: Country Joe McDonald, a breakout star at Woodstock with his version of the FISH cheer and ant-war song, “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die,” and Augie Meyers, a founder of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados.
Bill paid tribute to Neil Sedaka, who died last week at 86. The pop-music savant wrote hits for himself and other artists, and sold more than 50 million records in his career. And yet, he’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his Brill Building contemporaries.
Bob paid tribute to Yoko Ono, Irma Thomas and Skip Battin on their birthdays. Battin might not be a familiar name, but he is the only person from Gallipolis, Ohio, to be in these three groundbreaking bands: The Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of the Purple Sage.
In a role reversal, Bob played a number of new songs, while Bill turned back the hands of time as he previewed the Vicki Peterson-John Cowsill show Friday at the Ludlow Garage and paid tribute to Three Dog Night after the death of Chuck Negron.
Bob reached back to educate listeners about Louis Jordan and Johnny Burnette, while Bill previewed a number of excellent shows coming to town in February.
On the eve of Bill’s milestone birthday, we were the first Cincinnati station to play Bruce Springsteen’s powerful “Streets of Minneapolis,” then switched gears to welcome Cori Wolff, executive director of the Longworth-Anderson Series that debuts Feb. 15 this year.
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