Notes on a Mix for the 10th Anniversary Pink Elephant that Shifted to the Ether

Pink Elephant – full name: Open Bar at Jerry Courtney’s Pink Elephant Lounge – is probably the best thing I do every month it happens. For damn sure the thing the most people talk about and the thing that makes the widest cross-section of people happy. And it wouldn’t have even come close to happening without Anne Courtney. I did not want to commit to one entire Friday night a month when we started; it took serious arm-twisting and persuasion.

More to the point, it wouldn’t be anywhere near the success it is without Anne’s tireless enthusiasm and a hell of a lot of work, 90% hers, every single time (we switched to quarterly after seven years of monthly-unless-we’re-out-of-town). I clean up after; I provide some minor hosting duties; but everything that makes the party is Anne. Months I’m not feeling it, her enthusiasm buoys me and keeps the engine running.

If you’ve ever been to one and had a good time, take a second to thank her. I definitely am. And, of course, when and if we’re all safe to congregate, show your thanks by coming out. There will be another cold drink and a gauntlet of smiles and hugs to run.

So, since we’re celebrating at quite a distance this time – doubly a bummer because it’s the big anniversary and we had some fun plans – I’m doing a greatest-hits mix. Things you’ve heard if you’ve ever been at a party early enough or late enough the speakers were audible over the din and things that I think sum up a subset of the hours-long kitchen sink mixes I queue up and let run throughout the party (with some “judicious” choosing as we get late).

Think of these notes on the songs as my enthusiastic rambles by the porch steps or the fireplace. Enjoy if you have the time or interest but far, far from essential.

This will be streamed on Radio 614 (thank you, Radio 614 folks) 6-8 pm the day of the virtual party, listen in with us! As usual, I made the playlist with more songs than would fit so what’s not in the Radio 614 stream are labeled as bonus tracks but left in their original sequence.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4N1ET5ullmR3qcTDRF4rlL

Continue reading for notes.

1. Scrawl, “Green Beer” (4:07)- There are lots of elements about the party that wouldn’t happen without Scrawl. The one local band everyone who’s ever attended likes and always high on that list when we talk about the best rock band that’s ever come from Columbus. I remember at least four different times one of the cherished PEL regulars quoted this song without prompting and Marcy Mays’ bar, Ace of Cups, has been the running after-party spot for many years. 25 years after first hearing this (I think I first heard Scrawl at 15, but could give or take a year), that riff still gets me excited – still makes me feel like something’s about to happen. Thank you, Marcy. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Carolyn and Dana and Jovan. And thank you Heather and Adam for booking Marcy and Sue to play your backyard for Anne’s and Nora’s and Eric’s birthday, the first music I’ve seen in public since all this happened.
2. The Girls!, “Let’s Get Weird” (4:02) – My favorite thing – bar none – from the party is looking out over our lawn or our living room and seeing multiple conversations of people who didn’t know each other before the party; related to that, I love when generations of my people overlap. Ryan Vile has been my friend since I was 14 and he was 16 and he played keys and sang harmonies in this, one of my favorite bands ever to grace Columbus. RIP Joey, we miss you.
3. Sinkane, “How We Be” (4:17) – Another of my favorite Columbus expats, I don’t think Sinkane has made a poor record. While I never knew Ahmed, several dear regulars are close friends and this tune always heats the living room up a little.
4. Eric Ambel, “Garbagehead” (3:08) – It’s no secret New York’s my favorite city and while I’d been to the Lakeside Lounge once or twice over the years before Anne and I were dating, after a directional tip-off from her friends Mike and Jayna (who we called from an East Village street corner to ask while they were at SXSW), it became our favorite bar anywhere in the country from that first trip in March 2009 till it closed in 2012. After that closing, when the party was monthly, every April we themed the playlist around the memory of the Lakeside and its neighborhood. But this perfect party-off-the-rails song by its owner and guiding light, Eric Ambel, made it onto any playlist where I wanted to encourage a little party wildness.
5. JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, “Want More” (3:06) – No contemporary singer has as deep a pocket in longing wrapped in sweaty, raunchy dance music as JC Brooks, and this title track off his breakout Bloodshot record is one of my constant go-tos.
6. Fred Wesley, “House Party” (4:14) *Bonus Track* – Another ready-made anthem for the party or any party. One of my all-time favorite pop-funk tunes and a fizzy confection, recorded not long after Wesley left Parliament, about needing to gather all your people and lose at least a little of your mind for a while.
7. Eli “Paperboy” Reed and the High and Mighty Brass Band, “Name Calling” (4:16) – Funkdefy represents one of my favorite streams of Columbus culture. Leaving a trail of sweat-soaked dancefloors and moving from a large collective (including where I met one of my absolute best friends, Andrew Patton) to a tight nucleus of two DJs, Funkdefy always simultaneously feels special and like a night at the neighborhood bar, in the best spirit of Columbus. This harkens back to what a lot of us think of as Funkdefy’s golden age when they brought hot bands to town, including Budos and Mr. Reed, but it still warms my heart any time I see them spinning at The Oracle (may both Funkdefy and The Oracle survive this time of torpor and strife). Cheers to Brian Hannan and Adrian Willis, keeping the flame lit, and everyone who’s ever torn up a floor with me – looking at you, Matt Benz – on one of those late nights.
8. Hank Marr, “Wild Shindig” (3:02) *Bonus Track* – Hank Marr was the first legendary B-3 player I ever got to see live. More than that, he was the first inkling there was a plethora of world-class, as-good-as-any-damn-where talent that stayed in (or returned to) Columbus. That first impression, and the hushed silence, when I was a teenager shot me into orbit when the Wexner Center booked Saturday Night Fish Fry when I was 21. This pickup group featured Marr captaining a smoking quartet of Houston Person (Etta Jones) on tenor, Russell Malone (Diana Krall) on guitar, and Grady Tate (Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery) on drums. This tune – and all of Marr’s instrumental R&B sides on King and Federal – is essential, and I can still barely believe how lucky I was to have lived in Columbus at the same time as Hank Marr.
9. Dirtbombs, “Wreck My Flow” (3:14) – Anne’s favorite Dirtbombs tune and one of my all-time favorite riffs. That tour-ending show at The Basement where they opened with this and closed with an extended free-jazz/Stooges vamp that turned into a rusted mecha version of INXS’ “Need You Tonight” burned into my brain. This comes on when the party needs a little more adrenaline.
10. Oblivians, “Call the Police” (3:33) – Greg Cartwright might be the most underrated songwriter working today, but he’s also an unparalleled interpreter. This gnarled rave-up through Stephanie McDee’s ‘80s New Orleans R&B classic is a prime example. Seeing this at two successive Gonerfests, one backing the writer and one reuniting them with Quintron for a run through the earlier collaboration album Play 9 Songs are high-water marks from my life in live rock and roll and sent me back into the Memphis night desperate to talk about how amazing that was. Any time I put this on at the party, it’s a call to arms in the middle of the living room.
11. Jesse Malin, “St. Mark’s Sunset” (3:12) – From my and Anne’s first night of drinking in NYC on that first trip through taking my Mom for happy hour to so many long memorable afternoons and nights – meeting members of The Fatalitees and The Chills, accidentally crashing a sound check in the old tiki room, getting a bottle of Old Overholt set down in front of me to “finish” with easily five shots left because I was friends with Ed Mann – Malin’s bar Niagara has been a beacon and a safe place to land and his songs have that same warm, inviting feeling. This one feels like coming out of the 6 at Astor place and walking east in that brilliant afternoon light De Kooning said reminded him of Venice.
12. Caitlin Rose, “Menagerie” (2:42) – Caitlin Rose’s The Stand-In might be my favorite country record of the last decade, and this glittering, swinging slab of defiance is my favorite song off it. She captures the sunshine of that first chilly day of autumn and those moves where, as she sings, “I’m gonna dance over broken glass and destroy all of these beautiful things,” always with a smile.
13. The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait” (3:02) – If Ace of Cups is the official after party for Pink Elephant, O’Reilly’s Pub is the official nightcap for Kelso Rd. And for many years, there were two songs you were guaranteed to hear if we were there, one of which was this lusty cry of dissatisfaction. The perfect song for a last burst of energy in any bar at the end of the night.
14. Sam Cooke, “Having a Party (Live)” (4:09) – If Fred Wesley’s “House Party” is the aspirational party anthem, this Sam Cooke barn-burner – especially in this humid, blurry recording from Miami’s Harlem Square club – is the platonic ideal.
15. Claudine Clark, “Party Lights” (2:20) – “Girl group” music and northern soul always features heavily in the PEL playlists, and this – one of Anne’s favorite songs – is a gold-plated example of the genre. If you don’t want to move to this, I don’t know what to say.
16. Old 97s featuring Exene Cervenka, “Four Leaf Clover” (3:20) *Bonus Track* – The Buddy Rich-meets-rockabilly drums and bass leading this off are always exciting to me and always cut through any lull in conversation. Plus, this seals the case that every song is made at least 25% better with the presence of Exene.
17. Prince, “7” (5:09) – Anne’s favorite Prince song and one of my favorite jukebox songs – you know a room is in the full flower of Friday or Saturday night based on the reaction when this comes on.
18. The Patsys, “Knock Yourself Out” (3:05) *Bonus Track*– It’s hard as hell to follow anything Prince but possibly the best Columbus band with only one full-length and one singles comp to their names are up to the challenge. One of my favorite grooves ever coming out of this town; there’s never a moment I don’t want to hear this. And never a time hearing Tutti Jackson and Jon Stickley’s vocals snarling, “Come on” doesn’t make me smile like an idiot.
19. Watershed, “Something Wrong” (3:14) *Bonus Track*– Friends of Anne’s since college, friends of mine since Anne and I have been dating, and definite friends of the party. This track to me sums up the appeal of the band: big drums, big guitars, in service of a hook I defy you to shake off.
20. Sugar Stems, “We Only Come Out at Night” (3:50) – Out-of-town guests are always a great surprise at a PEL. My pal Ken Hite from Chicago made it to two, and I was honored both times (there was a side-party planned for this year’s Origins in honor of our friend Hal’s, also in from out of town for the convention, birthday, another thing sadly consigned to next year) – his and my musical taste overlaps about 50% but there’s a special joy when I find something up his alley and I will always remember Ken’s face lighting up when I played this and the ripple effect of the conversations around us pricking their ears up for this Madison band, one of my favorite discoveries from Gonerfest. Also special on here because we had plans to see them again on their home turf at the Dirtnap 20th anniversary party in June. Hopefully next year.
21. Tricky, “Overcome” (4:30) – Since I first got turned onto Tricky in High School his music has been a constant in my life, especially those first two perfect records collaborating with Martina Topley-Bird. Drawing the grind and the darkness out of the previous two tracks and bringing it more to the surface.
22. The New Mastersounds featuring Corinne Bailey Ray, “Your Love is Mine” (4:00) – In the vein above of overlapping friend groups, that also applies to any after-party action. One of my favorite of those evenings found PEL MVPs Andrew Patton, Dave Wyatt, Dave Wallingford and I, leaving the party (with friends including Todd May who appears twice on this playlist still having laughs) to see a ferocious New Mastersounds dance party downtown where we ran into three other different universes of people I love.
23. The Detroit Cobras, “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand” (2:20) – I think I once described “my” genre as punk rock covers of classic soul songs and when they were on, nobody plowed that turf better than Rachel Nagy, Mary Ramirez, and their revolving cast of players. This burning cover of the Hoagy Lands classic has always been one of my favorites.
24. 6 String Drag, “Kingdom of Getting It Wrong” (2:54) – 6 String Drag was the dark horse favorite of the golden age of alt.country and their comeback record added extra colors to their palette and lost nothing. This tune crosses Nick Lowe power pop with Everly Brothers harmonies and Stax horns. One of my favorite nights after a Pink Elephant led us straight to Natalie’s to see this tour with Anne’s childhood best friend, Mary, and her husband Chris.
25. Mary Weiss, “Stop and Think It Over” (3:18) – One of my favorite Greg Cartwright songs in (for me) its definitive rendition by Shangri-Las singer Weiss, backed by a version of Reigning Sound including Carol Schumacher from my favorite version of Columbus soul-rockers The Tough and Lovely (who damn sure would have been on here if they were on Spotify). One of my favorite shows ever was seeing her up in Cleveland for this tour with perpetual PEL MVP Matt Benz and a merry gang of out-of-towners.
26. Firewater, “Electric City” (4:38) – Another perfect jukebox song, testing a room when the gas needs turned up just a little. Among my favorite compliments was Andrew Patton texting me when I was out of town that the song came on, “And, of course, I needed a shot.”
27. Blueprint, “Radio-Inactive” (4:16) – One of my favorite Columbus rappers on my favorite of his records.
28. Loose Joints, “Is It All Over My Face?” (6:56) – There’s always space for some classic Arthur Russell disco at any party I throw and this also makes me think of our fantastic (at the risk of immodesty) Disco Demolition Revenge party.
29. The Saints, “Every Day is a Holiday, Every Night is Party Time” (2:48) *Bonus Track* – One of my favorite rock bands of all time, these Australian horn-drenched swaggering songs capture a hope for the next moment and a surging sense of despair.
30. Budos Band, “The Sticks” (4:02) – We follow The Saints’ rippling horns with the funky instrumental avalanche of Budos. One of my favorite shows any time I’ve been lucky enough to see them and a guarantee to crank the energy up.
31. Nouvellas, “Satisfied” (3:35) – Riding this wave of thick, choppy grooves, this band’s lone record blew me away and I still treasure seeing them at a bubblegum night in the backroom of Otto’s Shrunken Head.
32. Lyn Collins, “Rock Me Again and Again and Again and Again” (3:28) *Bonus Track* – This James Brown-produced and co-written showstopper never gets old.
33. Howlin’ Wolf, “Moanin’ For My Darlin’” (2:48) *Bonus Track* – One of my signature songs on the Lakeside’s (mentioned above) best jukebox in the world, as good at a 4am last call as a 4pm early happy hour, as good looking out on a street full of snow or a park full of sunshine, for one more round at the little bar before walking over to the park to see a legend like Maceo Parker. There’s never a wrong time or context for Howlin’ Wolf.
34. John Paul Keith, “We Got All Night” (3:49) – A songwriter Anne turned me onto who we’ve made a point of seeing in our Memphis journeys every time he’s in town. This is off my favorite record of his, Memphis Circa 3am, and some of my favorite Memphis moments involve watching him sandwich this between two stone-cold classics like Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis” and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Further on Down the Road” and having it hold its own.
35. Amy LaVere, “Last Rock ‘N’ Roll Boy to Dance” (3:08) *Bonus Track* – One of my favorite Memphis songwriters; she and this song hold an extra special place in my heart because she was my last show (at Natalie’s) before the lockdown started. Since there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be, I at least have that memory to go out on a high note.
36. Wendy Rene, “Bar-B-Q” (2:29) – I’d like to say this song about barbecue – that never fails to make me smile as much as it did when I first heard it at 12 of so – is placed after a trifecta of Memphis classics by design but it did make me smile when I realized and I left it there. God, I would kill for some Memphis barbecue right now. And an ice cold High Life at Earnestine and Hazel’s.
37. Raphael Saadiq, “100 Yard Dash” (2:18) *Bonus Track* – Another highlight of the first or second trip Anne and I took up to NYC was Raphael Saadiq at SOB’s touring this record. Mind-blowing and the next couple times I got to see him – especially at Crobar in Chicago with one of his brothers from Tony! Toni! Tone! and one of the Spinners guesting – were even better. Another of the handful of shows I was lucky enough to travel for (Louisville) only a couple weeks before all this.
38. Lydia Loveless, “Wine Lips” (3:42) – This record and this song, in particular, strike me as a prime example of the ecstasy instead of the anxiety of influence. When I first heard it, I was sure it was a Todd May co-write, and his high-in-the-mix backing vocals help that impression but this shows her taking his influence after years as her lead guitar player and turning it into something unmistakably her own. “Tell your mama that my French has finally improved” might be my favorite single line to ever come out of this town.
39. Jorja Smith, “Rose Rouge” (6:04) – Had to throw in a new song or two, generally when I do the PEL playlists at least a third of it is hot-off-the-presses for trying out as much as anything. But this isn’t entirely new, up and coming British jazz singer Jorja Smith covers the St. Germain deep house tune – which has shown up on many a Pink Elephant mix – with the right dose of reverence for the great Marlena Shaw sample down the spine of the original and playful joy.
40. Johnny Guitar Watson and Larry Williams, “Two For the Price of One” (3:14) – Speaking of playful joy, this late-60s meeting of two titans of raunchy ‘50s R&B is a three-minute party all its own.
41. The Funkees, “Acid Rock” (2:54) *Bonus Track* – My listening habits – and damn sure any mixes I make – wouldn’t be the same without the expert compilations from British label Soul Jazz Records that started when I was in High School and I think I found on my first pilgrimage to Chicago’s Dusty Groove Records. This Nigerian rock band of the ‘70s was one of a million discoveries I made on their comps that immediately turned into one of my favorite bands.
42. Big Mama Thornton, “I Smell a Rat” (2:43) *Bonus Track* – Just as important to the way I make mixes is the DJing of a number of people: first, locals like Andy Robertson, Dorian Ham, and Scott Shelton; but a close second Jonathan Toubin in New York. Being in a crammed basement, sweating through as much as the bottle of beer in my hand and hearing this come through the speakers, something I knew but didn’t (I was a big fan of the Young Jessie version) was a come-to-god moment.
43. Mariachi El Bronx, “I Would Die 4 U” (3:22) *Bonus Track* – Another band Anne’s turned me onto who we’ve gotten stymied trying to see multiple times. This Prince cover delighted me as I was searching for something else new (but not entirely new) to fill a slot here.
44. Nicole Atkins, “Girl You Look Amazing” (3:56) *Bonus Track* – I was a fan of Nicole Atkins before this, I’m an even bigger fan of the records since, but there’s something so jubliant and dark at the same time about this song, so defiant and sexy and sharp, that it’s been on every party mix since the second I heard this record.
45. Novalima, “Diablo (DJ Smash Remix)” (6:14) *Bonus Track* – I love this Peruvian band and one of my favorite Chicago moments found Anne and I in the much-missed club Sonotheque as they DJ’ed an afterparty that felt like a perfect cross section of everything I love about Chicago and everything I love (loved? love) about a good dance club.
46. The Dictators, “Stay With Me” (4:10) – Another on the list of New York bars I miss, Manitoba’s (owned by and named for the singer), one of my favorite ‘70s rock songs of all time, and a sweet memory from a sad occasion: an astonishing Hexers cover of this at a memorial show for Joey Blackheart.
47. Andre Williams, “You Got It and I Want It” (2:13) *Bonus Track* – I love those ‘50s Andre Williams hits – “Jail Bait”, “Bacon Fat”, “Going Down to Tio Juana” – like oxygen but I love these ‘90s-’00s gnarled garage rock comeback records damn near as much. Featuring the Dirtbombs as his backing band on this.
48. The Mavericks, “Dance The Night Away” (4:22) *Bonus Track* – My Grandmother is probably the root of 90% of my taste, from Sarah Vaughan to George Jones to Count Basie to Lerner and Lowe, and probably her last favorite band was The Mavericks. We saw a ferocious 25th anniversary set last summer outside of Dayton (planned by the aforementioned Heather Stockwell, an excellent traveling companion with fantastic taste) and I have crystal clear memories of talking about it at last year’s August Pink Elephant in our lawn.
49. The Gun Club, “Sex Beat” (2:45) – One of my favorite ‘80s songs, a dance song I’ve heard hundreds of times and never, ever get sick of.
50. Ugly Stick, “Drive-In Shut Down” (2:29) *Bonus Track* – Another of my favorite local bands, full of great friends and excellent party guests Dave Holm, Ed Mann, Jeff Clowdus, and (now in Brooklyn) Al Huckabee. Taking the rough edges and pop sensibility of the Replacements and refusing to be confined by it.
51. Todd May, “Bright Lights” (2:52) – It’s been an honor and a privilege to call Todd May and his wife Kathy my friends for roughly 20 years – and goddam if Todd doesn’t make every other songwriter in town have to work twice as hard. May also came up with the wonderful, terrible idea of modifying the once-an-hour shot time with “soft shots.” One of the new ones, but if this doesn’t make the party playlists at least 80% of the time for the next ten years, I’ll eat somebody’s hat. So it’s only fitting Mr. May gets the last world: “Who knows when I’m gonna find myself back here again in the company of you, my friend? I’m hoping now that this won’t ever end.”