Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Obviously Five Believers"

Formed in 1980 by the Kentucky-born former roadie for X, Top Jimmy, his band Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs were local L.A. heroes. Playing a wicked blend of American roots music and scrappy R&B, Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs were a band that sizzled with equal parts howl and groove. Top Jimmy was a wildly charismatic frontman once described as an unholy combination of Howlin' Wolf and Shakespeare's Falstaff and he was such a ubiquitous presence in L.A. his outfit was once dubbed the scene's punk house band. The live show, which was a sweaty, frenetic blast of sweaty, rootsy bliss, found everyone from Tom Waits to Stevie Ray Vaughn joining them onstage. By the way, if you're wondering if the Van Halen track "Top Jimmy" is about the Top Jimmy I'm speaking of, let me just say this: there could only be one Top Jimmy. So: yes. The band's only album Pigus Drunkus Maximus which came out in 1987 on Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate's Down There label, was just reissued for the first time ever on CD and on pig pink colored vinyl and it's an essential addition to your record collection. Top Jimmy sang with Maria McKee and Phil Alvin, was seen getting a tattoo from John Doe in the Decline of Western Civilization and hung out with David Lee Roth. The guy was everywhere and remains, to this day, one of the most charismatic characters in rock and roll history. As for his sax player Steve Berlin, well, Mr. Berlin after leaving the band, went on to become one of the greatest rock and roll sax players ever. The Philadelphia born Berlin is a full time member of Los Lobos, and the list of people he's played with and produced is just ridiculous. Let me give you a partial list: The Tragically Hip, R.E.M., Faith No More, the Go-Go's, Great Big Sea, The Replacements, Rickie Lee Jones and the Beat Farmers. And believe me, I could go on. An unbelievable player of steady finesse and power, Steve Berlin is an absolute legend and I wish this conversation could have gone on for hours.

www.topjimmyandtherhythmpigs.bandcamp.com (http://www.topjimmyandtherhythmpigs.bandcamp.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

Threads + Bluesky + Instagram: @emberspodcast
Email: [email protected]

"Songs of Douglass and Littell"

It's hard to think of a more beautiful voice than that of Inara George. Filled with elegance and finesse, the Maryland-born, L.A.-raised George is one of my favorite singers on the planet. She's got this subtle power that glides through each composition with subtlety, nuance and harmonic sophistication and grace. George's body of work, from her time in the Bird and the Bee, the Living Sisters, and Merrick to her winning run of solo albums, Inara George is a continuous melodic wonder. Over the years she's collaborated with Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Jason Mraz, Idlewild, and Flight Of The Concords. Her new album Songs Of Douglas And Littell is a different kind of collaboration and one that hits very close to home for Inara. Comprised of a collection of songs written over thirty years ago by her longtime theatre pals Eliot Douglass and Philip Littlell, this album is a celebration of friendship, profound artistic bonds and creative comradeship. Filled with flourishes of jazz, indie folk and melodic pop, Songs Of Douglass and Littell is a moving and stirring homage to solidarity and artistic kinship. I love Inara George's work and I want to point out that she was an early believer of this program, nearly a decade ago, appearing on episode eight before anyone knew who we were. I've always been grateful for that, but the fact is, I'm just grateful for her. Inara George is a thoughtful, focused and generous artist and this album of songs written by two of her oldest friends is a sonic testament to the power of friendship and art.

www.inarageorge.com (http://www.inarageorge.com)
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)

Stereo Embers:

IG + BLUESKY + Threads: @emberspodcast
Email: [email protected]

"Song Writers On The Run"

Perhaps best known as one of the co-founding members of the late great Australian band The Go-Betweens, singer/songwriter Robert Forster has been putting out critically acclaimed
solo albums since his 1990 debut Danger In The Past. His new novel Song Writers On The Run has just been released to rave reviews and he talks about the writing process in this chat. As for his music, over the years he added to his solo discography titles like Calling From A Country Phone and I Had A New York Girlfriend, and now the Brisbane-born Forster is checking in with his ninth solo effort Strawberries. The follow-up to 2023's rousing and affecting The Candle And The Flame, Strawberries is startlingly beautiful and emotionally precise. Produced by Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn and John, the eight numbers on Strawberries range from the jangling album opener "Tell It Back To Me" to the stirring blues of "Good To Cry." Elsewhere, the seven minute "Breakfast On The Train" is not only a great song, it also doubles as a great short story; the title track is a brilliant and simple study of the gobbling of strawberries as a metaphor for domestic bliss and the album closing "Diamonds" quite literally reaches new vocal heights for Mr. Forster. This is one of the best albums you'll hear--it's satisfyingly precise, unreasonably melodic and filled with observational wisdom, meditative self-analysis and quietly unforgettable character studies. This is a great chat--I love talking to Robert and I hope you dig listening.

www.robertforster.net (www.robertforster.net)

www.stereoembersmagazine.com (www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (www.alexgreenbooks.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (www.bombshellradio.com)

Stereo Embers

Bluesky + IG: @emberspodcast
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

"I Should Be Happy"

Singer/keyboardist Anne Richmond Boston showed up on the musical timeline in the late '70s when she joined the Atlanta indie rock outfit The Swimming Pool Q's. Before the goldrush of bands like R.E.M., Soul Asylum, O Positive, Big Dipper and Poi Dog Pondering signing to major labels, The Swimming Pool Q's kind of led the way, inking deals in the mid-'80s with A&M and Capitol Records. They put out five marvelous albums, including Blue Tomorrow and The Deep End, toured with Devo and The Police and garnered a reputation for being a spot-on live act, their brand of idiosyncratic pop filled with jittery rhythms, sterling sax fills, jangling guitars and sonorous vocals. Richmond Boston left the band in 1989 but roared right back with her 1990 debut solo album Big House Of Time. Filled with soaring originals like Dreaming and covers of numbers by Neil Young, John Hiatt and The Lovin' Spoonful, Big House Of Time made a huge splash at college radio. And then? Well, Richmond Boston designed album covers, worked in graphic arts, sang with The Drive By Truckers and Widespread Panic and rejoined the Q's. And that was that. But what about the rumored follow-up to Big House Of Time? Well, it was recorded and sitting on a shelf in a closet in Richmond Boston's house. Titled I Should Be Happy, her sophomore album was worth the wait. A riveting collection that's filled with meditative and melodic numbers, I Should Be Happy is contemplative and moving and finds Richmond Boston tackling the big questions with peerless harmonic grace. 

www.annerichmondboston.bandcamp.com
www.bombshellradio.com
www.stereoembersmagazine.com
www.alexgreenbooks.com

Threads + BLUESKY + IG: @emberspodcast
[email protected]

"Louder Than You Think"

Like many Gen Xers, I knew Gary Young as the drummer of Pavement, but for anyone from Stockton, he was way more than that. Let me back up. A key figure in the Stockton underground, Young played in a bunch of bands like The Fall of Christianity and he was responsible for bringing Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys to play shows in Stockton. Though almost twenty years older than the guys in Pavement, Young was their original drummer and played on their first few EPs and the seminal Slanted and Enchanted record. Young was one of the great characters of rock and roll and to get a real idea as to how charismatic, magnetic and mercurial he was, the documentary Louder Than You Think traces his life in art and music with unvarnsihed honesty and shambolic joy. The soundtrack, which features The Authorities, Edward Dahl, Pavement, Hot Spit Dancers, and Gary Young's Hospital, among others, is a wonderful tour of the Stockton Underground. Yes, Young got fired from Pavement, but what's cool about his story is that he stayed connected to the band--and that's the secret with all these Stockton kids--they stuck together even when some of them fell apart. As for Kelly Foley,
the former singer of The Torn Lords had a career in Forensic Psychology and when he retired, he devoted himself soley to making art. Kelly knew Gary for decades and even had a project called Blue Boy Cometh which featured Young on drums just before his death. Foley is a lovely guy and he's kind of become the forensic archivist of the Stockton underground, making sure the paths of all the artists he knew--from Grant Lee Phillips to Crill--have their work preserved.

www.independentprojectrecords.com (http://www.independentprojectrecords.com)
www.bombshellradio.com
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
wwww.alexgreenbooks.com

Stereo Embers:
THREADS + BLUESKY + IG: @emberspodcast
Email: [email protected]