Photo by Erik Christopher Lopez

From ANDRAS JONES: If you go back to the very first Radio8Ball I recorded for Starburns on August 8th with Dino Stamatopoulos, in the preamble to my opening question, I make this whole big point about the date 8/8; and how Radio8Ball is taking those numerals back from the Nazis who claim 8/8 as their number. 8 equals H in numerology, so 88 is HH; the initials of their preferred greeting. I could have left it at that but I decided to get clever and suggest, since they already have S.S., and since 1919 is also the year Hitler joined the National Socialists (the only people who study Nazis more diligently than anti-semites are Jews) they should be satisfied with the S.S./1919 letter/numeral combination, and leave 8/8 alone. That was just a few days before the Nazi rallies in Charlotte (so people – white people – weren’t taking Nazis as seriously as today) but still, my willingness to give the Nazis ANY numbers or letters, as long as they weren’t mine, has come back to me a lot this month. The synchromystic has to accept that whether or not we sow the seeds of our own destruction, those seeds are sown into the fabric of our doing regardless.

SYD STRAW asks 2 questions during this, her third session with The Pop Oracle.

Back in September Syd was on the show by phone with All Day Sucker. Her second appearance was in person during the Wild Honey episode in February. This is her first time joining us as a singer, and the sync of her Joni cover being randomly chosen as the answer to her question about Wild Honey and Joni Mitchell is one of those impossible-to-orchestrate moments most people will think had to be a set-up, because it’s just that perfect, but it wasn’t (a set-up) and it was (perfect).

The answer is clear; Wild Honey will eventually tribute Joni Mitchell, or suffer Syd’s wrath. In fact, I’m going to start working on my version of “Be Cool” now. Of course, nothing I could do will ever achieve what I experienced in the room with Syd singing “A Case of You” like The Boss in ‘79 right in front of me with cameras rolling. What came after is nothing I’d have chosen, nor is it anything I can deny.

When Syd posed her second question of the evening, directing it toward me, it wasn’t the time or place for me to answer. Now it is. And what was that question, delivered like the reckless daughter of Pete Townshend & Rickie Lee Jones?

“Who the fuck ARE you!?!”

My answer:

I am the host of Radio8Ball. For twenty years I have been responsible for developing and maintaining the integrity of this Pop Oracle format. A format rooted in my dead father’s dream seminars and my own experiences with the magickal power of song. It’s a vehicle by which I have done some service to my fellow artists where I could and where I can. While the world has seen many rock icons and movie stars and presidents and prophets, until there are others, there is only one host of The Radio8Ball Show, and I believe Radio8Ball is the only musical divination show there is. Maybe that’s meaningless and maybe it’s a big deal. Either way, it’s my life’s work and I’ve learned to trust that what happens on the show IS the show, even and especially if I think it makes me look bad. I’m usually willing to cut someone else’s embarrassing moment out when they ask me to but (and this is something all future participants should take note of); if you agree to be on Radio8Ball and then you get drunk on the booze you stole from my boss’s bar and come into my studio and give one of the great performances we’ve had on the show, I’m going to print the take, the whole take, especially if it includes you shouting “Who the fuck ARE you?!?” and storming out of the room.

Syd, I’m sorry I gave the Nazis your initials but that’s all I’m sorry for because this was the most fun I ever had getting hurt so bad.

https://vimeo.com/262743753

A CASE OF YOU

Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as a northern star and I said,
Constantly in the darkness
Where’s that at?
If you want me I’ll be in the bar
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter
And so sweet oh
I could drink a case of you darling and I would
Still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet
Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I’m frightened by the devil
And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid
I remember that time that you told me, you said
“Love is touching souls”
Surely you touched mine ’cause
Part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter
And so sweet oh
I could drink a case of you darling
Still I’d be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours, she knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds and she said
“Go to him
stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed”
Oh but you are in my blood you’re my holy wine
You’re so bitter
bitter and so sweet oh
I could drink a case of you darling
Still I’d be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
hmm