Wednesday, December 01, 2010

My Annual Food Show



I have spent almost thirty years behind the mic doing community radio. In most community stations you are picked to do your shows by your knowledge of music and thus are never told what to play on your show. My approach to this kind of freedom was to challenge myself to come up with different ways to explore and present the music on my shows. Theme shows have been one way of achieving this end. They can be very challenging depending on your theme. It could be a show of songs with nonsense titles, like "Papa Oom Mow Mow" or a tribute to Labor Day with songs that are about jobs such as "Working in a Coal Mine." Over the last ten years doing radio for WWOZ, every show was a theme show on my New Orleans Music Show as the show was dedicated to artists who live or had lived and recorded in New Orleans or Louisiana.

Since I am no longer doing radio locally in New Orleans, I missed doing my most popular theme show of the year, my annual food show. I came up with the idea years ago as a way to ring in the holiday season without resorting to "holiday" songs (another theme show left until the days before Christmas). People have always called and emailed to know exactly when my food show was going to be on so they could tape it and enjoy it again later. Over the years my collection of these songs has grown but it was always limited on my New Orleans Music Show since I could not include so many of the fantastic food songs that were done by artists not from New Orleans.

I have been transferring some of my old radio shows from over 30 years ago from tape to a more modern medium and have decided to give you a taste of one of my old food shows that includes a mix of RnB, blues and vocal groups doing songs dedicated to food. I can't think of a better way to celebrate a holiday season where we all enjoy cooking and eating with family and friends. So Happy Holidays, I hope I am back on the air soon and that you will enjoy my collection of food songs from way back when.
http://jass.com/food.mp3

11.27.1995

Everybody Eats When They Come To My House - Cab Calloway
Frim Fram Sauce - Ella Fitzgerald
Potato Chips - Slim Gaillard
Alligator Meat - Johnny Otis
Dig This Menu Please - Red Rodney
One Potato - Three Peppers
Pickin A Rib - Jones Boy Swing Band
Alabama BBQ - Ink Spots
Saturday Night Fish Fry - Louis Jordan
Steak and Potatoes - Willie Bryant
Chicken Ain't Nothin But a Bird- Cab Calloway
Beans and Cornbread - Louis Jordan
I Like Bananas - Willie Bryant
Gimme A Pound of Ground Round - Ivory Joe Hunter
Hog Maw and Cabbage Slaw - Todd Rhodes
Hungry Man - Louis Jordan
Shake Shake - Amos Milburn
Dumplin Dumplin - Margie Day
Hold Tight - Fats Waller
Hot Dog - Chris Powell