Tune in today, Tuesday April 2nd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

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My radio was stolen for the fifth time. This one was a Kenwood. It only lasted a day and this time they broke the console. My insurance was canceled and I gave up. I drove my 2002 for years with no problem, and then all of a sudden I couldn’t keep a head unit. I decided to leave the console broken, and I went to one of those discount electronics places on Beverly and bought a twenty dollar radio. You know, about 8×10″. I’d place it in the passenger seat, extend the antenna, and dial in the stations when I wasn’t shifting.

And then the antenna broke. Which in retrospect I should have foreseen. For I couldn’t leave the radio visible when I parked, I had to put it under the seat, hide it, and somehow in this many times a day movement the antenna snapped. So I got one of those wires with an alligator clip and clipped it to the stub and let it flop on the seat and it worked pretty well.

This was the summer of ’84. The heyday of alternative rock on KROQ. Nascent hair bands on KMET and oldies with a few cherry-picked new cuts on KLOS. And soft rock on KNX. It was the heyday of L.A. radio. Then again, KWST, the Led Zeppelin station, had gone by the wayside a few years prior.

And I lived to hear the Thompson Twins’ “Hold Me Now.” Sure, I was aware of “In The Name of Love,” it was played incessantly on KROQ, but there were so many English bands that came and went so fast I didn’t buy their album. But when that intro flourish came on the radio, it was exciting. If you wanted to know what was going on, you listened to KROQ, before every home had MTV, when you felt you were part of something, a movement, led by these English bands experimenting.

But “In The Name of Love” didn’t prepare me for “Hold Me Now.”

Now at the time I was working in a house a hundred yards up from the Rainbow, and every night there was an event and I oftentimes didn’t drive home until midnight, or thereafter, and when I heard the notes of “Hold Me Now” on the radio, I was soothed, I smiled.

Hold me now, warm my heart
Stay with me, let loving start

You’ve got to know, L.A. nights are not hot. Maybe a week a year, at least before climate change. But as the sun goes down, it gets cool. You can almost sense the dew descending. And “Hold Me Now” ran shotgun, literally, as I drove home.

I had to buy the album “Into The Gap” so I could hear it more.

I love that LP. Especially the opening cut, “Doctor! Doctor!” This was back before everything had to be in-your-face, when a record could be an invitation, to a journey to a place you’d never been before. You didn’t need drugs to experience the music, the tunes were drugs themselves.

Like the second side opener, “The Gap.” Akin to a journey to the East.

No one ever talks about “Into The Gap” anymore, never mind the Thompson Twins, but the album is one of my all time favorites. And I went to see the band at the Greek, it was a celebration. And Arista held a party afterwards, I remember the exquisite chocolate cheesecake. And I foresaw great things for the Thompson Twins, but they never materialized.

But Foreigner was well known. They appeared when KROQ was still a free-format station. They were too hip to play “Feels Like The First Time,” but KMET and KLOS banged it. It was a one listen wonder, I had to drive to Music Odyssey to buy the album the day it was released, I couldn’t live without hearing the track on demand. It was a masterpiece. With the squealing keyboard, the buzz saw riff and the sweet powerful vocal.

But the rest of the LP was not quite as good.

“Cold As Ice” was a bit cheesy in my book.

“Headknocker” a little too formulaic.

“Long, Long Way From Home” was better, but I didn’t buy “Hot Blooded,” the follow-up. Maybe I didn’t need to, the title track lived on the radio, along with Foghat, who I came to love.

Stone blue, rock and roll sure helped me through

And “Double Vision” was serviceable, it didn’t bug me, but it didn’t stick to me either.

And “Head Games” was even worse. “Dirty White Boy,” talk about corporate rock. Although, as the decades have gone by, I’ve learned to love “Head Games.” What can I say, it’s the unexpected change into the chorus, and, even though Mick Jones was the mastermind, Lou Gramm was the special sauce that put the act over the top.

But expectations for the act were low, especially now that the new wave had gotten traction.

And then we read that they were working with Mutt Lange.

This was after “Back In Black,” when the combo of the two was a head-scratcher, what was the resulting album, ultimately entitled “4,” gonna sound like?

Like nothing that came before.

“Urgent” exploded out of the radio, and was brought to the goal line by Junior Walker’s saxophone, a sound most hadn’t been exposed to since “Shotgun” fifteen years before.

I could feel the excitement, I had to own the album.

And there was another killer cut, “Juke Box Hero,” reminiscent of Bad Company’s “Shooting Star,” and I love Bad Company.

But the best cut on the LP, which I discovered in my house, not on the radio, was “Waiting For A Girl Like You.”

Now if you talked to Bud Prager, Foreigner’s manager, and I did, he believed the apotheosis was “I Want To Know What Love Is,” from “4”‘s follow-up, “Agent Provocateur,” but that LP missed Mutt, and I believed, and still do, that this was a play for the center, with its cheesy video, it might have gotten a lot of plays, but it eviscerated the band’s cred. This was before hair bands cut ballads for airplay, but still…who are you? A sellout?

But “Waiting For A Girl Like You” still fit in the band’s oeuvre. It was ethereal.

And its otherworldliness was its magic. A journey into orbit. Of the world, but somehow removed, just like a music fan. Our music was everything, it got us through.

And what put it over the top was Lou Gramm’s vocal, the way he went up in the chorus, he was WAITING!

Aren’t we all. For love, for our lives to begin.

So long, I’ve been looking too hard, I’ve been waiting too long
Sometimes I don’t know what I will find, I only know it’s a matter of time

The waiting is the hardest part. Back when there was no internet diversion, never mind in the palm of your hand. You had to waste time in bars, searching. But you still believed, there were no incels.

It feels so right, so warm and true, I need to know if you feel it too

He’s not overconfident, they’re in it together.

Maybe I’m wrong, won’t you tell me if I’m coming on too strong

He’s insecure, like we were, maybe still are.

This is the opposite of #MeToo. The bands may have raped and pillaged, but we listeners were lonely nerds, we just wanted someone to talk to us, to understand us, to give us a chance.

This heart of mine has been hurt before, this time I want to be sure

That’s what’s wrong with experience, it makes you gun-shy.

I’ve been waiting for someone new to make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life

She’s gonna solve all my problems.

That’s what you believe when you’ve got more questions than answers, when you’re slogging through life, putting one foot in front of another trying to get…

Somewhere.

But then comes the key line:

Only in dreams could it be this way

Ain’t that the truth. Real life is messy. Perfection doesn’t exist. You have to forgive flaws. You’ve got to be willing to jump in and make it work.

Or you can sit at home and listen to records.

So I’m driving home late one night, twiddling the dial on that radio, looking for “Hold Me Now,” and I hear “Waiting For A Girl Like You.”

It gave me hope, I’ll never forget it.

Waiting For A Girl Like You – Spotify playlist

Finally! After giving that cash hoard back to stockholders, the Cupertino Company has decided to invest in itself. Just like Facebook bought Instagram, Apple is now acquiring Snap. Of course it should have purchased Netflix, but contrary to Steve Jobs’s mantra, if it wasn’t invented in Apple Park, they’re not interested, especially after the Beats fiasco, where Jimmy Iovine pulled the wool over the eyes of the company, selling them a flawed product with few users that had to be completely overhauled to become functional. An offloading of crap this stinky hadn’t been seen since Evolution sold Palm and its OS to HP, which not long thereafter shut it down, writing it all off.

But Tim Cook is being hassled. Especially after last week’s meh presentation. All anybody can ask is how much does their TV channel cost? And how can it compete with Netflix, never mind Amazon and Disney. It’s a conundrum. Jobs believed in thinning the product line as to not confuse consumers and loading up thousands of songs and photos on iPhones whereas Cook keeps broadening the product line, confusing customers, and creating a TV channel with very little product. And after getting beaten by Iovine, et al, they should know better than to get involved in Hollywood, where the most successful independent studio, i.e. Carolco, went bankrupt, because it’s all about catalog/library, and Tinseltown has ripped-off investors from time immemorial. DISTRIBUTION not PRODUCTION! Distribution is king, why are they making programs? They’re not buying record labels because they know this would piss off the industry, why get involved with these creative charlatans?

But that’s Silicon Valley for you, especially Apple, they think they know better.

So this is a sudden move. Especially now that Snap is cheap because of its stalled growth, caused as a result of Instagram’s me-tooism.

But with so little on the market, as tech consolidation continues, Apple didn’t want to be left out of the game of musical chairs. As for building a social network itself, can you say PING? Look, even Google couldn’t compete with Facebook, it was not in their skill set and Zuck’s company had too much momentum. You buy market share.

And the cost to Apple for Snap is a drop in the bucket.

But Snap has advantages, most notably privacy. Facebook gets beaten up in the press seemingly daily, Snap is more controlled. Without advertising clutter. Sure, Cook famously said that Apple would not trade on its customers’ information, but he’ll weasel out of that by saying Snap is a separate company.

However, the truly big news is that Evan Spiegel will have a dual role. Just like Jobs before him, with Pixar and Apple. Not only will Spiegel run Snap, he will also become Cook’s number two, his visionary. No, it’s not far-fetched, it’s brilliant, because Spiegel employs the same reality distortion field as Mr. Jobs. Spiegel keeps testifying as to Snap’s assets and future when the facts point to the opposite. Come on, talk about snookering the public!

But, like Oprah Winfrey said, with Snap now in a billion pockets with Apple, it’s gonna go gangbusters. People trust their information with Apple. So, this will be the social network people cling to, especially the oldsters who make up the majority of track purchasers at the iTunes Store. They may not know how to use Snapchat, but infatuated with being hip, they’ll do their best to figure it out. There will be no phone support, but if you go to the Genius Bar, you’ll be able to get help. Actually, this is why Angela Ahrendts got pushed out of Apple retail. She argued for putting high fashion and makeup in Apple Stores, utilizing her expertise from her stint at Burberry, she’d even lined up an exclusive with Kylie Jenner. But Eddy Cue shut her down, saying it’s best to sell air, there’s no inventory, only upside, physical objects don’t scale the same way.

You see it’s all about apps and software and Apple has little ability to monetize its air, especially now that operating system software is free. So, expect a ton of potential upgrades to Snapchat. You’ll be able to get virtual Hermes outfits. And Kanye is going to deliver virtual shoes. Apple decided to get the genius on board. The announcement of Kanye’s deal was supposed to be announced at Coachella, during his Sunday Service, but the news was leaked on WeChat of all places, but supposedly Cook is still set to helicopter in.

But what will seal the deal is the inclusion of Trump. That’s right, with a gift of stock, Apple has convinced the President to give up Twitter and make Snapchat his sole social network. Brilliant idea if I do say so myself. Best to have his snaps disappear, before they can be analyzed, and few remember what he said anyway. And yes, Ivanka and Jared will get stock too, they’ve got the same deal. But Eric and Don Jr. are being left out, because they almost got their dad nailed in Russiagate. But Tiffany is gung-ho. And they’re finally bringing Barron Trump into the spotlight. He’s the key to driving adoption by the younger demo. You see you don’t have to be a certain age to play on the new Snapchat. It’ll be safe for all ages. And if there’s any trouble, well, with the Trump deal Apple’s connected.

And just to be safe, they’ve contracted with Elizabeth Warren too. Shutting her up and adding to her campaign chest in one quick stroke. That’s right, the senator has been behind in fundraising. Now she’s got deep pockets. And, she can’t complain about corporations.

So what’s next, that’s the question.

Apple has pivoted, from hardware to software.

And the vision problem has been solved. If you can’t develop it, you buy it. Hell, Jobs bought SoundJam so he could build iTunes.

And news is the music of today, and the new News app puts Apple squarely in the center of the discussion.

But they need to buy more. Netflix is too big to be bought, maybe they’ll scoop up Hulu, that would give them a steady stream of product to launch their TV service upon.

So Apple lovers can finally breathe easy. The messiah has come. Evan Spiegel is going to jet Apple into the stratosphere. And Miranda Kerr will appear in new commercials, thus garnering the vapid vote of teenage girls addicted to fashion and makeup.

As for Apple haters… This is a way to voice your disgust with Facebook. But, Facebook still has its killer app, i.e. WhatsApp, even though no one in the media seems to be aware of this.

A deal this important hasn’t occurred since AOL bought Time Warner.

Get excited. A safe way of wasting time is coming to your handset. You’ll be able to boast to friends and have plausible deniability when your pictures disappear. There’ll be no bread crumbs to ruin future employment. And when Apple buys IAC and adds dating… Whew, think of the possibilities!

It’s gonna happen. As soon as Barry Diller acquires Grindr. Then he’ll deliver Cook the whole package.

It’s all about people. This is an end run around the rest of the tech behemoths. A stealth move. Apple is about to own social networking. Zuckerberg and his lame Facebook will turn to dust. It’s Apple’s world and we just live in it.

Maybe.

The only people who know how to party harder than Canadians are Australians.

Greetings from Whistler, Canada. Where your money goes far and the hills are long. And from the moment I got here, Andy has told me I need to see the Hair Farmers.

Hmm…

You know we insiders, we can go hear live music every night of the week. Name talent. Do we really want to see a cover band?

But I did. And it was the best music experience I’ve had in quite a while.

It’s been warm here. But you can still ski to the bottom. Freezing level is 1900 meters, i.e. two-thirds of the way up the hill. The glacier is still winter, but the rest of the mountain is spring.

The glacier… The Horstman t-bar has been closed all year because the glacier is shrinking and moving. They couldn’t open it if the footings hadn’t moved anyway, the top is now too steep. Climate change… Either you believe in it or you don’t. But we see evidence of it everywhere. Did you read about the record temperatures in Alaska? It was 70!

And Canada is a foreign country, but it’s kinda like the U.S., so it’s disorienting. You feel like you’re home and then they order Kohanee beer. Huh? I remember when it was cool to drink Olympia, the other water beer besides Coors. But Olympia and its white cans with yellow accents disappeared, kinda like Fudgetown cookies and everything else you used to love.

And Canadians have no airs. You feel it. No one’s boasting. Sure, there’s money in Whistler, but you just don’t see it the way you do in Aspen or Vail.

And it’s international. Not only visitors, but locals. Hard to imagine the racism we have in the U.S. existing in Canada. Supposedly Toronto has more ethnicities than any other city in the world. And Asian and South Asian people are de rigueur. If you’re racist, Canada is not the place for you.

And Andy and I spent the day skiing with Marcel and his family. Marcel is 77. But he’s a ski instructor and can beat just about anybody down the mountain.

And he loves music! He was testifying about J Lo at the Grammys, how he recorded the performance to watch over and over again. I don’t think J Lo can sing, but it turned out Marcel was enamored of the dancers! He’s a fan of Lady Gaga. They showed me video of him dancing at her show in Vancouver that he went to for his 75th. He pops, he locks, but he doesn’t moonwalk since “Leaving Neverland.”

But I didn’t know all this when we were skiing. At light speed.

We hiked up to the glacier, it’s eerie.

But the best run of the day was Springboard, under the new gondola, it was long with a consistent pitch and the snow was like Cream of Wheat, it was delectable.

And then Marcel said we had to get down to Merlin’s, to get a seat, to see the Hair Farmers!

So we raced down, and it being Canada, they sell cans of beer at the entrance. And we couldn’t get a seat anyway, because everybody was there to see the Hair Farmers!

Now what you get is a bearded husky guy with a high voice playing conga drums and a bearded lanky guy strumming a Takamine who does the harmonies, but it sounded like a full band.

And when we got there, they were playing “Crazy On You.” You know, the Heart song.

And every song I knew by heart, and seemingly everybody else did too.

They led us in a singalong of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away.” And Canadians are not shy, everybody was standing, with their arms in the air, testifying.

And then Marcel got up on stage and started popping and locking and posing and…he was the only one up there, and everybody was paying attention, and he LOVED IT!

He ended up singling out young women in the audience to dance with. He’d stride up to their stool, dance in front of them, and they’d get up and join him.

And they’re playing “Night Moves.” And “Tiny Dancer.” And the only song they played from the last thirty years was “Shallow.” Oh, that’s right, they played a version of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever…,” but it seemed more parody than truth.

And then they said they were gonna play “Highway To Hell,” but they didn’t. But they did play “Heartbreaker.”

And they had the name that tune section of the program. Someone called “Back In Black” in one chord.

And I’m standing there thinking this is the last music all of us knew, before the world fractured. Classic rock is all that’s classic, other than Motown. They played the riff of “Day Tripper” and everybody knew it.

And they even went a bit deeper, playing a non-bar track, “Sultans of Swing.” And you’re standing there, singing along with every line, and you feel part of the group, which is rare in this splintered internet world.

And then to the background of “Iko Iko,” they had a limbo contest. I haven’t seen that since the sixties. And this really tall girl almost won, I don’t know how she did it.

And all nationalities participated and nothing was famous but the songs. The Hair Farmers were having more fun performing them than those who wrote them.

They did an amped-up version of Weezer’s cover of Toto’s “Africa.”

And of course they played “Don’t Stop Believin'”… And I’m thinking “The Sopranos” ended in 2009, can you believe it?

But the music remains.

And people are grooving in ski boots. Old and young. No one was boasting about their billions, there was no pecking order, you were either inside or you weren’t, the music was leveling the room, it was the great equalizer.

And it’s so strange. What happened to today’s music? The youth like it, the media tells us it matters, but classic rock still rules.

And then, as if we were in Fenway Park, the duo went into “Sweet Caroline.”

And we’re all standing, with our arms in the air, singing along with the chorus and I’m wondering, are they gonna do the refrain?

And then, on cue, a great segment of the assembled multitude sang with all their might, for emphasis…

SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!!

And it was.