ATTENTION! FOR MAXIMUM LISTENING PLEASURE, HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON AND ALLOW THE CLIP TO LOAD BEFORE PLAYING!!!

We've been slowly moving toward a CD of Pat's Dad's songs. "Palaces & Mansions" was the first (see below) and now you can add "Riding On The Bottom Line" and "Homestead On The Moon"(written by Bill Fitzgerald) . Both feature the fantastic Bob Banghart (from Juneau) on fiddle and our pal Alex Clarke on lap steel.

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Also hot off the presses, from Melissa Beck's new CD, Home Front: These Blue Ridge Mountains.

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Hot of the presses, Bobby Joe, a rock & roll song about a rodeo from the new CD by our own Junkshow.

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A tune from around 1978. Robin on clawhammer banjo, George Page (Joe's brother) on 3 finger melodic-style banjo. The rest of the band may be what was known then as Tanana Grass, a long-lived band that went through many members. But since Robin usually played bass in her version of that band we're not sure who's on bass here. If it is TG then it's Jay Zemotel on guitar and Dave Manheimer on fiddle. A song called Sleighride.

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Did ya know we love us some jug band music here at the Planet? Oh yeah. Goin' back to the Jim Queskin Jug Band and later, the much older Memphis Jug Band and the Mississippi Sheiks. And we just had to share this tune from the fine local purveyors of such, The Bac'untry Bruthers live at the Marlin: Don't Hate the Playa

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We had the pleasure of having Leighton Nunez in the studio with his lovely daughter Jesse (both of Louisiaska fame) to demo a group of songs and he said we could share one with ya. Here's I Thought You Loved me.

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We lost one of Fairbanks own this past week (4/14/08). A fine picker & singer and an encouraging voice for all musicians. May he rest in peace. Here's Dan Ison, Mary Ann

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A track from late '70's by Dave Ratliff and Joe Page as they were just forming the Rhythm Romancers: Cannonball Rag. Recorded at the UA Pub.

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A track Pat recorded a decade ago on his ancient 4-track Tascam cassette recorder. (Just for that tape sound.) "All I need's some "Action Tonight".

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OK, just 'cause we love you here a couple more gems from the master, Gene Ryder: Spinning Your Wheels & 100 Years Too Late.

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Just in case you're shy, just in case you can't bring yourself to press the candy-like button that sends you to 45 heaven (we got a theme goin' with these 45s...) In case you need help, here's a little helping of DJ Kave-In from his Wiggle Room #15 along with proof of what makes us wiggle on the Planet. Don't be afraid of the sound. We told you in the left hand column about the Wiggle Room and the busted neon sign. Now go for it!!!

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OK, it's colder than a rich man's heart out there but guess what? It's been colder! (Make ya feel better?) This song was inspired by the temperature at the corner of 2nd and Cushman one winter long ago. Later that summer, Uncle Buck was on the board of the Solstice committee (that put on the fabulous Solstice festivals of the late '70's/early 80's) and helped procure a small grant to have a 45 rpm disc printed. Here 'tis 56 Below.

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Here's a couple more songs by the great Sidewinders string band (see Pat's Blog). These, songs, some of ,their only studio recordings,, were saved from the trash in a purging of our local public radio station's archives in the 90's. Check out "Fox On The Run" and a song that's popular nowadays for some reason (oh yeah, Old Crow Medicine Show) that the Sidewinders were famous for, "Tell It To Me." Bust Down!!!

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For fans of garage rock(see sidebar to the left)and honky tonk there are no more impassioned singers that in the Alaska Native communities. Here's a sample: The closing tune of the Athabaskan Fiddle Festival of a couple years ago. Sorry no info on the artists but dig one of the classic songs, Indian Rock & Roll.

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Happy 80th Birthday, Doc South! (January '08) Here's a tune from his prime Fairbanks years (1970's). Joe Page is on mandolin (a Gibson A40 with the serial #s scratched out bought from Clyde Boggan (R.I.P.) , Brent Edwards on a Lane brand banjo and Doc, as always, on fiddle: Doc South Band. And how 'bout a bonus track? Old timey at it's best by two people who shared stages with Doc back in the Fairbanks days. Danny Consenstein and our own Robin Dale Ford recorded "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" back when they were part of the infamous Sidewinders, an old timey band that packed the Howling Dog (Ester and Fox)in the 70's.

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The more times are changin'... This from an editorial by Senator Bernie Sanders: "Meanwhile, the people on top have never had it so good. The richest 1 percent now own more than 34 percent of the nation¡¦s private wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent. The share of the national income held by the top 1 percent is now higher than at any time since 1928." 1928-just before the bottom dropped out. Here's a song of Pat's from the Reagan era written after reading a chapter in Studs Terkal's book "Hard Times" about the bonus army. It's called "Burning Down Hooverville"

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A special present for the new year from the archives: A tw0-fer from Gene Ryder. First up a song from the late 70's probably recorded at KUAC-FM called "Grandpa". Then about 20 years later from the sessions here at the Planet,"St. Elias Through A Cracked Windshield", written after Gene accompanied us on our yearly trip to McCarthy in the Wrangell/St.Elias area.

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In the spirit of the New Year, here's a song from our swing band, Swang!, written by Pat. Here's wishing a right proper "Blast Off" into 2008!

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Here's a "Song for Ramona"written by Gangly Moose's primary songwriter John Knechtel for the Zapatistas of Chiapas. It's dedicated to a member of that group who, though small in stature, looms large in the hearts of the people of that country. (Read an account of a trip to Zapatista territory here.)

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In his job as drummer for the infamous Circle Jerks, Pat's brother, Kevin, recently wrote a tune that became their first recording in 10 years ("I'm Gonna Live"). Here's his follow-up: A demo called "The Mouth", music by the boy wonder hisself and some mysterious band of street urchins in that same sweaty shoebox hotel room described on the left side of this page.

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Here's a first time appearance on the mighty, mighty Web by the mighty, mighty Flyers! Not much of a name, sure, but the Flyers rocked the Howling Dog Saloon in Fox, Alaska for about a decade from the mid '80's to the mid-90's. Here's a cut of an old soul song, "Love Got Me" from July 1990. That's Pat and Robin on the vocals, Pat on lead guitar, Robin on bass, Curtis Cunningham on guitar and John Carnahan on drums.

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A song performed by another old friend, Gary Wescott. Gary played in a few bands long time Fairbansans will remember: The Glass Bead Game and Coyote among others (see Gene Ryder, below). He lives in Seattle like so many expatriates but he visited a couple years ago and we coaxed him into the studio to play on a song of Pat's and also record this song, "Cry Just A Little",written by ones of his musical partners Reggie Garrett.

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Here we have a song by one of our favorite songwriters in the whole 'round world. Gene Ryder drifted up to Fairbanks in the '70's and set a fire under the Fairbanks scene, being one of the first songwriters with a true body of work that was growing by leaps and bounds every day. Besides stirring solo performances , he played his more rocking material in the band Coyote and had a little group on the side called Ryder's Retreads that sometimes provided music for the Doc Ogstad's Medicine Show.He eventually drifted back to his home state of Virginia but visited us in the late '90's and laid down some riveting tracks with just him and his guitar. This one's called "One Door Closes". Our ol' pal Nate Montgomery does a cover of it and there's a lot more in the vaults. Stay tuned!

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"Sad As It Seems", a song from about 1979 performed byDave Ratliff and Lori Rodgers recorded live at the UAF Pub. These two made a lot of music here in the late '70's, early 80's. Dave was in a band called Buckdancer that swung and rocked the Howling Dog Saloon (cuts on them to appear shortly). Lori was in Buckdancer with Dave and our ol' pal Michael "Sparky" Gray (the Flyers' first drummer, now a bit more, ahem, dignified in Seattle's Pearl Django.) All three went on to fame in Anchorage as Three To Get Ready before Dave and Sparky helped form the formidable Rhythm Romancers with Joe Page and our own Robin Dale Ford.

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This one is called "Palaces & Mansions", written by Pat's dad, Bill Fitzgerald. It is part of an upcoming CD of Bill's songs. Enjoy!

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“Waiting for Something to Happen” is from Pat’s album “Wild Harvest,” this one has its roots in seeing a man on a Tucson street corner from a passing bus. It seems to have wider connotations since Sept. 11th. Robin and Pat have begun playing this one live with banjo, acoustic guitar and harmonica.