HFS RIP, but the HFStival Lives

As most of the guys who chime in here probably know, DC's original alternative rock radio station 99.1 WHFS went to a Latin pop format recently, dismaying many but putting a quick end to its slow, painful death in the eyes of many more. While I intended to start a thread discussing whether rock radio as we know it is pretty much dead in the water in 2005, I didn't get around to it. (I'd still enjoy doing so at some point.) Meanwhile, WHFS has sort of, kind of been resurrected . . . on a Baltimore talk radio station during certain hours in a frequency that doesn't really reach DC's airwaves. And from what I have read, they're still churning out the same overplayed, underthought playlists from Billboard's Top 100.

The powers that be have, though, managed to keep the HFStival alive an well, at least according to this set list:

Billy Idol
Sum 41
Social Distortion
Garbage
Foo Fighters
Good Charlotte
Coldplay
The Bravery
Citizen Cope
Jimmies Chicken Shack
New York Dolls
Unwritten Law
They Might Be Giants
Louis XIV
Echo and the Bunnymen
Interpol
The Stereophonics

The show is in Baltimore, appropriately, at the Ravens Stadium. I saw the HFStival there five or six years ago, and it was a great one. I nearly died in an Offspring moshsmash, and the Chili Peppers unveiled Californication brilliantly. Anyway, I'm not sure I'm even young enough to qualify for admission, even though the concert is chock full of 80's artists (not to mention the New York Dolls!), but it looks like it'd be an entertaining show.

Post-Patty Hangover

Ugh. March 18, international hangover day.

Music can be therapeutic in these instances, but it has to be the right music. Slow, easy tunes. No metal, no hip-hop, nothing danceable. Country and anything that could fall under the singer-songwriter genre do the trick, but you're not limited to easy listening per se to get you through. It always helps if the song is a sad one, even better if it mentions or alludes to alcohol, and it's ideal if the lyrics are about hangovers. Here's a list if you're making a disc or playlist of Hangover Cure Music.

The Ideal:
Johnny Cash, "Sunday Morning Coming Down"
Jimmy Buffett, "My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, and I Don't Love Jesus" and "Trying to Reason with the Hurricane Season"
Old 97's, "Jagged"
The Replacements, "Here Comes a Regular"

The Rest:
Allman Brothers Band, "Whipping Post"
The Band, "The Shape I'm In"
Barenaked Ladies, "Brian Wilson"
Beatles, "Golden Slumbers" and "I'm So Tired"
Ben Folds Five, "Smoke"
Beth Orton, "Stolen Car"
Big Head Todd & the Monsters, "Please Don't Tell Her"
Bill Withers, "Ain't No Sunshine"
Billy Bragg & Wilco, "California Stars"
Blind Faith, "Can't Find My Way Home"
Bob Dylan, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Bob Marley & the Wailers, "Natural Mystic"
Bruce Springsteen, "Jungleland," "Point Blank," "If I Should Fall Behind," the Nebraska album
Cake, "Friend Is a Four Letter Word"
Camper van Beethoven, "Come On Darkness"
Cat Stevens, "Wild World"
Chris Isaak, "Wicked Game"
Coldplay, "In My Place"
Commodores, "Easy"
Connells, "'74-'75"
Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane"
CCR, "Long As I Can See the Light"
CSNY, "Helplessly Hoping"
The Cult, "Black Angel"
Dave Pellicane, "Crazy"
David Gray, "Please Forgive Me"
Dire Straits, "Water of Love"
Eagles, "Peaceful Easy Feeling"
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, "Beyond Belief"
Elvis Presley, "In the Ghetto"
Eric Clapton, "Promises"
Fountains of Wayne, "Hackensack"
Grateful Dead, "Fire on the Mountain"
Hall & Oates, "She's Gone"
Harry Chapin, "Cat's in the Cradle"
Jayhawks, "Blue"
Jim Croce, "Time in a Bottle"
John Anderson, "Seminole Wind"
Keane, "Somewhere Only We Knew"
Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"
Little Feat, "Trouble"
Lou Reed, "Perfect Day"
Lyle Lovett, "If I Had a Boat"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Tuesday's Gone" and "Simple Man"
Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"
Morphine, "Candy"
Morrissey, "Every Day Is Like Sunday"
Neil Young, "The Needle and the Damage Done," "Helpless," "Out on the Weekend," most of his catalogue
Nirvana, "Something In the Way"
Old 97's, "Stoned"
Peter Gabriel, "Mercy Street"
Portishead, "Sour Times"
R.E.M., "So. Central Rain" and "Country Feedback"
Radiohead, "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Ramones, "She Talks to Rainbows"
Random Idiots, "House of the Martha Wood"
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "I Could Have Lied"
Rolling Stones, "Salt of the Earth," "Dead Flowers," "Time Waits for No One," and Mad Fly's fave "Loving Cup"
Ryan Adams, "Harder Now That It's Over"
Seven Mary Three, "Lucky"
Smashing Pumpkins, "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Disarm"
The Smiths, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"
Son Volt, "Windfall"
Spoon, "Everything Hits at Once"
Starsailor, "Alcoholic"
Talking Heads, "Heaven"
Travis, "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?"
U2, "Bad"
Van Morrison, "And It Stoned Me"
Violent Femmes, "Good Feeling"
Ween, "It's Gonna Be (Alright)" and "Baby Bitch"
Wilco, "How to Fight Loneliness" and "Red-Eyed and Blue"

Happy St. Patrick's

Erin go bragh, pogue mahone, and all that.
Here is a smattering of Irishness to enjoy this Thursday whilst slugging Guinness and Jameson:

The Pogues, "The Sick Bed of Cúchulaínn"
Hothouse Flowers, "Don't Go"
The Boomtown Rats, "Up All Night"
Van Morrison, "Domino"
The Corrs & Bono, "When the Stars Go Blue"
Sinéad O'Connor, "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance"
The Cranberries, "Wanted"
My Bloody Valentine, "Sometimes"
Shane MacGowan & the Popes, "Nancy Whiskey"
Danny Wilson, "Mary's Prayer"
Luka Bloom, "In Between Days"
The Undertones, "Teenage Kicks"
The Commitments, "Mustang Sally"
Stiff Little Fingers, "Alternative Ulster"
Thin Lizzy, "Whiskey in the Jar"

and that obscure Irish quartet . . .

U2, "A Sort of Homecoming"