Sun Ra Arrival Day 24-Hour Broadcast on WKCR-FM, May 22

New York's WKCR-FM is once again celebrating the life and music of Sun Ra for 24-hours on Friday at 12 am to midnight. 

Here's the scoop... 

New York's WKCR 89.9 FM is excited to announce a 24-hour broadcast on May 22nd celebrating the 112th anniversary of the arrival of Sun Ra! This special broadcast will run from 12am to midnight on the 22nd and will preempt all regularly-scheduled Friday shows.

Le Sony’r Ra began his life in Birmingham, Alabama, where he studied piano under teacher Fess Wheatley at Industrial High School, before attending Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College. By the mid-1940s he had moved to Chicago where he apprenticed with swing bandleader Fletcher Henderson. This mentorship eventually led to him experimenting with his own bands and compositions during the 1950s, often utilizing instruments previously deemed as unconventional for jazz music. Sun Ra’s bands were also some of the first jazz bands to employ electronic instruments, including electric piano, clavioline, celeste, and synthesizers. 

The Sun Ra Arkestra was officially formed in the mid-1950s and led by Sun Ra until his death in 1993. During his roughly forty year leadership of the Arkestra, with whom he relocated to New York in 1960 and Philadelphia in 1968, Sun Ra and the band invented a music that was deeply rooted in spirituality, various philosophies, and multimedia experience. 

While many would be quick to label this new sound as Avant-Garde, Sun Ra held that the music was more than that: “[My Music is] more than avant garde, because the ‘avant garde’ refers to, I suppose, advanced earth music. But this is not earth music.” While the musicians in the Arkestra often changed, several crucial contributors stayed with the group for many years such as John Gilmore, Ronnie Boykins, Pat Patrick, and Marshall Allen.

Sun Ra is an eternal pioneer and cosmic adventurer, and he continues to be a guiding light for those very fortunate to have discovered his music. His music and concepts have ignited inspiration among artists and movements spanning diverse realms, including Afrofuturism, and electronic music. His legacy persists as a testament to his enduring influence as one of the preeminent artists of our time, and WKCR is honored to celebrate him this month on the 112th day of his arrival.

Tune in at 89.9 fm or at wkcr.org

Check out a few Sun Ra clips below. 

GOONS! preview new album Never Go Back with "Jailbird" clip

"Jailbird" is taken from the GOONS! album Never Go Back out June 12 via Hi-Tide Recordings, now available for pre-order. 

When you are looking for trouble, who do you call? GOONS!

Who's waiting in a dark alley looking for a fight? GOONS!

Who's going to start a riot on the dance floor? GOONS!

Guilty of rock 'n' roll in the first degree? GOONS!

The GOONS! Never Go Back album is being released by Hi-Tide Recordings on June 12th but you can pre-order a copy now via Bandcamp right here. While you're there, you can also pick up their 2023 single "Crime Spree" b/w "Junkie For Your Love" – neither of which appears on the new 11-song album. Watch the Bryan Moak-directed videos for "Jailbird" and "Rob Cheat Steal" below. 

Happy 80th Birthday Cher!

Celebrating Cher's 80th birthday today with an early Sonny & Cher performance of their 1964 ska gem "Baby Don't Go."

Don Pyle takes his book Rough Desciption on the road for a reading tour

Don Pyle will be telling tales from his Rough Description memoir and Yo La Tengo's Georgia & Ira will spin records in Toronto!  

Writes Don...

My book, Rough Description, is released on Tuesday, May 26th (you can pre-order from ECW Press here here), although I see that some stores already have it. Here are the current reading/slideshow tour dates. More to come. Could it be where you live?

Joining me at the Toronto launch at Standard Time (165 Geary Ave, 2nd Floor, Unit A) on Thursday, May 28 are writers Jason McBride, Kirby, Tabatha Southey and Chris Colohan, reading their writing. Damian Rogers leads the interrogation after my reading. Extraterrestrial DJs Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo spin records all night. (Get tickets here: https://ra.co/events/2368611). 

Jenny Mitchell conducts the line of questioning at La Poche (40 Quebec St) in Guelph on Saturday, May 30.

Liz Worth will ask probing questions following my reading in the Bright Room at The Staircase (27 Dundurn St. North) in Hamilton on Sunday, May 31.

Pete Crighton will read from his 33 1/3 book Cosmic Thing, along with my presentation at Books & Company (289 Main St) on Thursday, June 4 in Picton.

I will be in conversation with Kirby, about Rough Description, on June 11 at Kitchener Public Library (85 Queen St. North).

And in London, Ontario on June 19, I will be joining (Faith No More co-founder) Roddy Bottum at Midnight Mass Books (1034 Dundas St) who will read from his new memoir The Royal We. I'll read from my own book and show some pictures.

Come to all of them! Links: https://linktr.ee/donpyle.

Here's Don chatting about Rough Description on the Booked On Rock podcast, Toronto Mike'd podcast and more...

Midweek Mixdown: Call Me Cannibal with J.R. Williams

Blast off with J.R. Williams for another expedition into uncharted sounds where few podcasters dare to venture for entertainment.  

J.R. Williams presents a selection of futuristic sounds from outer space along with some entertaining film, T.V. and radio ads. Listen to the May 2026 edition of Call Me Cannibal via Boss Radio 66 right here. Tracklisting below.  

Call Me Cannibal with JRW, May 2026

00:00 - Ennio Morricone/Audrey Nohra Stainton - CANNIBAL (Chitarra E Voce) (excerpt)

00:54 - Movie trailer audio - THE GREEN SLIME

01:48 - The Green Slime - THE GREEN SLIME (movie theme)

04:08 - John Keating - THE UNKNOWN PLANET

08:07 - Barry Gray - UFO MAIN THEME (from the TV series “UFO”)

09:15 - William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy - STAR TREK ANTI-DRUG PSA

10:16 - Phase Five - STAR TREK (Theme from the T.V. Series)

12:32 - Leonard Nimoy - HIGHLY ILLOGICAL

15:20 - “Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space” LP - WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

17:43 - The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra/The Glitterhouse - BARBARELLA (movie theme)

20:22 - Marty Gold - DAY TRIPPER

23:19 - Criswell - Excerpt from “THE LEGENDARY CRISWELL PREDICTS!”

23:33 - Hugo Montenegro - MOOG POWER

26:33 - Hot Butter - POPCORN

29:00 - Don Knotts - THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT (movie radio spot ad)

29:54 - Don Spencer - FIREBALL (I WISH I WAS A SPACEMAN) (from the TV series “FIREBALL XL5”)

31:58 - Barry Gray - JOE 90 (TV theme)

34:18 - Nelson Riddle & his Orchestra - SUPERCAR

36:22 - Rhet Stoller - THE DR. WHO TV THEME

38:52 - Movie radio spot ad - A BOY AND HIS DOG

39:20 - Ginette Reno - IN THE YEAR 2525 (“En L’année 2525”)

42:21 - The Marketts - OUT OF LIMITS

44:29 - The Ventures - PENETRATION

46:33 - Gene & the Esquires - SPACE RACE

48:52 - The Bonzo Dog Band - BEAUTIFUL ZELDA

51:11 - Luis Enriquez & his Electronic Men - RIGEL 1

53:35 - The Centuries - THE OUTER LIMITS

55:45 - Bob & Jerry - GHOST SATELLITE

57:40 - The Rolling Stones - 2,000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME

1:01:50 - Movie radio spot ad - ZARDOZ

1:02:52 - Zzebra - ZARDOZ (Beethoven Opus 92)

1:05:37 - The Jeff Wayne Space Shuttle - APES’ SHUFFLE

1:08:54 - Meco - STAR WARS THEME/CANTINA BAND

1:12:38 - Ennio Morricone - DOVE SEI, DOVE SIETE VOI (Organo) (from the film “I CANNIBALI”)

1:14:52 - Wendy Carlos - TITLE MUSIC FROM A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Dallas Good's final recorded project due from Yep Roc on June 26th

Dallas Good's Were The Watchtowers, features Kurt Vile, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Jon Spencer, Scott McCaughey, Gary Louris, Neko Case and others.  

From Yep Roc HQ...

Yep Roc is honoured to announce the June 26th wide-release of Were The Watchtowers, the final recorded work of Dallas Good, completed before his unexpected passing in February 2022. Written and recorded slowly over more than a decade with Richard Reed Parry, the project captures a deeply collaborative, cosmic strain of psychedelic Americana. Guest appearances include Neko Case, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo, Jim Jarmusch, John Doe, Jon Spencer, Scott McCaughey, Gary Louris and Margaret Atwood. 

Listen to the single "Echo the Part" (below) and order a physical copy on White vinyl or CD at https://goodparry.lnk.to/echothepart.

ES:MO launch Sunshine In My Bones @ Hugh's Room, Saturday

Elizabeth Shepherd and Michael Occhipinti will be playing songs from their latest ES:MO recording at Hugh's Room on Saturday. 

ES:MO (Elizabeth Shepherd & Michael Occhipinti) 

at Hugh's Room (296 Broadview Avenue)

Saturday, May 23

Show at 8pm, Doors at 7pm

$30+ in advance, $37+at the door

Elizabeth Shepherd and Michael Occhipinti (ES:MO) have been featured in each other's projects for almost a decade, with Elizabeth being the vocalist and pianist for Michael Occhipinti's The Universe of John Lennon, and Michael touring as the guitarist in Elizabeth's group promoting her albums Montreal and The Signal.  Their duo album, The Weight of Hope, was nominated for a 2022 JUNO award and we can’t wait to hear their new album to be released at Hugh’s Room on Saturday May 23. Get tickets right here. 

Check out the new video for the ES:MO version of Jason Isbell's "If We Were Vampires" along with a few tracks from the Sunshine In My Bones album out now. Get the album right here.