The Emotional Labor of Doing It All Again

Breaking Up (and Fundraising) is Hard To Do

Sigh. This was supposed to be a "Catch a Wave" week fundraiser for WPKN, with the great Dawn Eden Goldstein joining me for the first half and the legendary Rob Silber joining me for the second half. Dawn came up with the idea of playing break-up songs as a theme within the "we need money" theme. Well, I mean, it was a fundraiser, but we didn't get a single donation during my shift, though. It would do me (and our brilliant radio station!) a tremendous amount of good if you donated to WPKN here [https://www.wpkn.org/donate] in honor of Snap Crackle POP... so: Please?   --------------------------------------------- Catch A Wave – The Beach Boys You're Gonna Miss Me – The 13th Floor Elevators Off and Running – Lesley Gore Partially Awesome – Edward O'Connell Alone Again Or – The Damned Shake Hands and Walk Away Cryin' – Lou Christie Valentine's Day – Wild Hares Future Me Hates Me – The Beths So You Say You Lost Your Baby – Gene Clark I'm Not Living Here – Sagittarius The Breakup – Art Garfunkel All I Know – Art Garfunkel Bye Bye Love – The Cars If I Didn't Love You – Squeeze I Summon You – Spoon Lovers Who Wander – Dion Both Sides Now – Judy Collins

Happy (belated) 70th Birthday, Richard Butler!

Song for Hal – U2   A ? of When – Panda Bear & Sonic Boom Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y. D.O.O.) – The Archies Lost & Alone – Aaron Lee Tasjan    Blowin' Up – Kiwi Jr.  All This Disaster – Sarah McLachlan If You Change – Widowspeak     Pretty In Pink – Psychedelic Furs  Radio Free Europe (Jackknife Lee 2025 mix) – R.E.M. Wu-Tang – They Might Be Giants  Eat at Home – Paul & Linda McCartney    Momma Gets By – Paul McCartney It's Over Now – The Beach Boys  What Is Left to Say – Thundercat (feat. The Lemon Twigs) 2 or 3 – The Lemon Twigs    Forgotten (Alternate Version) – Neil Diamond Michigan – Margret Glaspy   Rainbows – Allison Russell  Real Deal – Endearments Pink Lemon – Elder Island   Aht Uh Mi Hed – Shuggie Otis Strawberry Letter 23 – Shuggie Otis

A belated Memorial day radio show, and a tribute to Cynthia Louise Harden (1957-2026)

This show was kind of a "memorial 2-fer". First, it was a belated tribute to Memorial Day; Dawn Eden Goldstein [https://dawneden.blogspot.com/] and I were going to co-host the Snap Crackle POP! WPKN show on the Memorial Day morning of 5/25/26, but due to a family issue we had to re-run the 1/27/26 Beatles REVOLVER special. Secondly, this show served as a memorial of sorts to the memory of Cynthia Louise Harden [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/cynthia-harden-obituary?id=61570927], who passed on 5/26/26 - and yes, that was the family issue. Cynthia was the mother of my amazing daughter Julia Cumming [https://www.juliacumming.com/], my partner and co-leader of the '90s pop-rock-rap duo Bite the Wax Godhead [https://bitethewaxgodhead.bandcamp.com/], and... my ex-wife. I am still extremely sad and in shock, even as I write this. I'm not sure I did her memory justice (much less to the brave and women who lost their lives to war) but here it is anyway. I meant well.  =========================================== The Way We Were / Try to Remember – Gladys Knight    Reflections of My Life – The Marmalade Do You Remember Walter? – The Kinks Remember – John Lennon   Here Today – Paul McCartney    As You Lie There – Paul McCartney   Soho Square – Kirsty MacColl Never to Be Forgotten – The Bobby Fuller Four I’ve Got a Broken Heart – The Lemon Twigs Till We Meet Again – The Cheepskates   Galveston – Glen Campbell Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town – Kenny Rogers and the First Edition Powderfinger (acoustic) – Neil Young    I Can’t Write Left-Handed (live) – Bill Withers The Green Fields of France – Dropkick Murphys  Between the Wars – Billy Bragg   Old World – The Modern Lovers Rivers of Babylon – The Melodians  Keep On Movin' – Soul II Soul  The Captain of Her Heart – Double    Starlight – Nick Kivlen  Only Love Can Break Your Heart – Neil Young

SEDAKA IS BACK! (again!)

This is a repackaging of two live Snap Crackle POPs from March 2nd and 3rd of this year. The lovely and brilliant Eden Dawn Goldstein joins me for the first half. [All songs performed by Neil Sedaka unless otherwise noted.] That's When the Music Takes Me Stupid Cupid – Connie Francis  The Diary I Go Ape    One Way Ticket (To the Blues) Oh! Carol Oh! Neil – Carole King    Calendar Girl Breaking Up Is Hard to Do I Can't Stay Mad at You – Skeeter Davis  Magic Colors – Lesley Gore   When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door) – The Monkees Workin’ on a Groovy Thing Beautiful You   Laughter In the Rain Bad Blood  Anywhere You're Gonna Be (Leba's Song) (Is This the Way To) Amarillo – Tony Christie I'm a Song, Sing Me   Superbird – Neil Sedaka  Solitaire – Neil Sedaka It Hurts to Be in Love – Gene Pitney  Donna – 10cc   Love Will Keep Us Together – The Captain & Tenille Puppet Man – The 5th Dimension     The Hungry Years  Beginning to Breathe Again

WAAAAAH! it's the TWEEEEEEE! episode!

My guest co-host Dawn Eden Goldstein proposed we do a show based on early '90s UK "twee" music, with an emphasis on the 1991 "The Waaaah! CD", and I quickly agreed... Because Dawn always brings the obscure yet utterly fantastic pop songs to the world of Snap Crackle POP! So get into your pajamas and bring out your kittens and let's (politely) TWEE out!  Who Loves the Sun – The Velvet Underground Walking My Cat Named Dog – Norma Tanega I'd Like to Walk Around in Your Mind - Vashti Bunyan Fill Your Heart – David Bowie Think Of Rain – Margo Guryan Dream Lover – The Paris Sisters Going Downtown – Pianosaurus I Don’t Want to Back – Riff Doctors Flowers Through the Air – Tiny Lights The Sunday Way of Life – Smalltown Parade September's Not So Far Away – The Field Mice Ashlands Road – Strawberry Story Sunny Tuesday Afternoon – The Dufflecoats James – Fat Tulips Perfect Day – Ric Menck Air – The Owls Seems So – The Apples in Stereo Voice In My Head – The Sneetches I'll Be Gone – Papas Fritas Disconnect the Dots – Of Montreal Stop Buying Things – Swan Dive Walk The Way You Talk – Dionne Warwick