Better Days
June 16th, 2005
10:00pm - 12:00am PDT
Guest Host: Paul Norton
CFRO 102.7 FM by signal
www.coopradio.org on the web

The June 16th edition of Better Days is inspired by
the latest release by Los Super 7, called 'Heard It
on The X'. The title track was originally a song written
by ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons of all people. It was LS7's
desire to conjure up the feel of the legendary freewheeling
Mexican border radio stations with their recording. So,
we'll hear liberal dosages of that CD, featuring guest vocalists
like Lyle Lovett, Delbert McClinton, Raul Malo, Joe
Ely, Rodney Crowell and Freddy Fender.

XERF and XERB in their heyday from the 1930s right
up to the mid-1960s had an unregulated signal that was
so strong it could be heard all the way to Canada. They
presented a freewheeling mosaic of western swing, blues,
folk, country, Tex-Mex, r&b and Latino music. You could
hear Bob Wills, Lydia Mendoza, Muddy Waters,
The Carter Family, Clifton Chenier, Fats Domino,
Jimmie Rodgers and Bill Monroe all in a single hour.

The commercials were for the greatest collection of scams
the world has seen. Crazy Water Crystals, glow-in-the-dark
Jesus paintings, cheap bibles and Doctor Brinkley's male virility
cure for the old get-up-and-go-that-got-up-and-went
(involving implanting of goat gonads in a very sensitive place).

We'll hear from some of the people that you might have heard
on the stations way back then, and also a few people who were
listening as children, and were inspired to become musicians as
well - Dave Alvin, Sam the Sham, Doug Sahm, Marty
Robbins, Los Lobos, Flaco Jimenez, Tish Hinojosa and
as many more as we can squeeze in.

As if that wasn't enough, we'll also treat you to a few choice
sound bytes from actual border radio way back when. It should
be a fun and fascinating edition of Better Days. Hope you can
tune in.

-Paul Norton, guest host