It's been uncomfortably warm - I recommend sacking everything off, travelling to the coast for the breeze and doing nothing (but dance)

Shirley Lites - Heat You Up (Melt You Down) was the first track to go on my 1983 master list. It's a Philadelphia affair. I can't tell you if Shirley Lites is a Philadelphia native but it's certainly when her career is. Heat You Up (Melt You Down) was written and co-produced by Philadelphia stalwarts Frank Fioravanti (who produced William DeVaughn, including Be Thankful For What You Got) and his regular collaborators the Parente brothers, it was mixed by Philly legends Nick Martinelli And David Todd who had began working with West End Records in 1982

(Melt Down Mix) - instrumental

Part 1 covered West End Records releases (A-T-2 191) in part 2 we have other labels and solo work...

Like Master Jam - Dancin’ All Night (Party Mix Instrumental) which is mixed by Nick Martinelli alone. Dancin' All Night is by D. W. Clayton who had co-produced Brenda Taylor's You Can't Have You Cake for West End

Big record popular with Frankie Knuckles that borrows a bassline from Help Is On The Way by The Whatnauts. On WMOT, Martinelli's previous employer, Martinelli co-wrote and co-produced this classic

Fat Larry's Band - Acts Like You Know

Bootsy's Rubber Band - Body Slam engineered by Bruce Weeden of Q (A-T-2 293)

Just David Todd mixing this one

Chris Thomas - Celebrity Funk (instrumental) 

Song of the Day

@dramatistsguild

Playwright, actor, and director Dave DeChristopher became Artistic Director of the Toledo Repertoire Theatre a mere fifteen months ago. However, this longtime member of the Guild wasted little time in creating a new outlet for dramatists in his hometown. In February 2017, DeChristopher produced the first iteration of Toledo Voices, a series of play readings that is intended to serve as the foundation of an ongoing development program. “I think finding a group or a home—a place where [playwrights] can have [their] work read and responded to—it’s really important,” DeChristopher says. “That was the impetus.”

DeChristopher began the process for Toledo Voices with an open call for scripts. Plays of varying lengths and styles were chosen; directors were hired; casts were assembled through open auditions. Then, on February 11, the series launched with a reading of Tania by Nina Wright, billed as “a droll retelling of the saga of Patty Hearst.” Additional readings on February 25 and March 11 featured playwrights Tanner DuVall, F. Scott Regan, and Deborah Coulter-Harris, and wrapped up the first year’s activities. For DeChristopher, this sequence of biweekly meetings became the blueprint for what he envisions as a long-running program, one that can extend beyond staged readings to other forms of support. “The next step,” he says, “would be to have a group that meets every couple of weeks, and is able to develop their work with actors.” Looking ahead, DeChristopher’s ultimate goals include full productions of new plays, perhaps self-produced by a company that evolves out of this workshop. This would build on Toledo Rep’s other efforts such as their production of Toledo-based playwright (and Guild member) Eric Pfeffinger’s Human Error this coming November.

DeChristopher derived the concept of Toledo Voices in part from his experience with Aural Stage, a playwriting group he worked with during his years in New York. Of his own writing, DeChristopher says, “My style is a bit absurdist. Even my full-length plays tend to have one-act components in them.” He identifies social topics such as “bigotry, ageism, homophobia, and violence” as recurring preoccupations. Despite his busy schedule managing Toledo Rep and holding down a teaching position at a local academy, he still manages to see “one or two plays a year done.” In addition to five published plays, his credits include a series of spy novels entitled The Force.

Although his writing experience is extensive, DeChristopher enjoys the variety of duties he performs as Artistic Director. “I think I’m sort of a ‘slash’,” he laughs. “Actor – slash – director – slash – playwright. It seems like doing multiple things is helpful in terms of invigorating you for [all] aspects of what you do.” This comes in handy at Toledo Rep, where, DeChristopher says, “I sort of oversee everything.”

When asked why he belongs to the Guild, DeChristopher says, “It seems like a natural step. For one thing, for finding places to have your work done. That was really where it started. I thought it was natural from an informational standpoint, and also as an imprimatur of your professionalism.” For playwrights in the Toledo area, it is thrilling to see what will develop with this Guild member’s support.

We discovered Feeding Back: Conversations with Alternative Guitarists from Proto-Punk to Post-Rock by David Todd early in the writing process for our book. Bob Mould has told the story of finding his 1987 Lake Placid Blue American Standard Strat Plus (with Lace Sensor pickups) a number of times over the years. It’s a good story, and it’s central to the story of Workbook and his own reinvention.

He tells the story again here, but what the Todd interview gets at that other interviews fail to reach is the depth of the reinvention that occurred as a result. Sure, he swapped the Ibanez Flying V Rocket Roll for the Strat and a Yamaha APX 12 string, but he also changed up the way he played, teaching himself to erase his muscle memory and relearn to play guitar.