Mondays @ 11am, Fridays @ 7pm

This week on You Bet Your Life: Summer songs for hot weather. Music about the ocean, tropical carnivals, swimming, and sunburns. 

Pictured below: The tropical beaches of Tahiti, Georgia White, James Brown, and Bjork. 

If you like the show and have any comments or requests, email me at youbetyourlife@protonmail.com

This week on You Bet Your Life! (Monday at 11am & Friday at 7pm)

A musical interpretation of the news. Songs that speak to the crazy.

Music to keep you holding on. And at some point, you just gotta laugh. 

Including: AniDifranco, the Honey Drippers, Janelle Monae, the Beastie Boys, Woody Guthrie, and many other surprises...

Woody Guthrie & the Beastie Boys

Ani DiFranco & Janelle Monae

Rich Sims and I started talking about this show two years ago.  We thought combining two of our passions, music and food, would lead to a fun, fulfilling hour.  I put together a list of some of my favorite food movies, Rich located the sound tracks, and chose selections that, along with our banter, will bring back memories or prod you to watch the film for the first time.

I won't give away all the films we're going to feature, but the menu will include music from Ratatouille, Moonstruck, and Chef.  Join Rich and I, and if you have any input, give us a call in the studio during the show on Wednesday from 7:00-8:00 pm CDT at 641-109-1082.

Tune in to KRUU today, Thursday Dec. 1, from 4-5 PM for an audition of a new music show: In Root. Not the latest and greatest music out there, rather the roots of rock and roll via the blues, folk, and country. People like Lonnie Johnson, Robbie Fulks, Johnny Cash, RL Burnside, and Paul Reddick will be bringing their particular brands along. There are lots of frequently forgotten artists that get rediscovered these days, thanks to folks out there unearthing old tapes and studio sessions. Here is a new showcase for some blue collar craftwork. This is a one-off, no replay, tune in today.

The one and only Mike Ragogna (aka the encylopedia of pop/rock music). Mr. Ragogna is a singer songer writer who hasbeen in the business since the age of fourteen. Mike writes for the Huffington Post and also had a radio show on KRUU LP 100.1 FM. He has interviewed music greats Paul Simon, Tony Bennett, and Brian Wilson to name a few.

Major Jonathan Freeman of the United States Army Reserves. Jonathan served two tours of duty in Iraq and one tour of duty in Afghanistan. Major Freeman is currently a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics.

Mr. Keelan Dimick is an award winning jazz pianist. Keelan took first place in both the junior and senior divisions at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival. Mr. Dimick is a graduate of the prestigious Manahattan School of Music and was one of a dozen jazz musicians chosen from around the world to participate in Mission Jazz. Keelan will be performing at FAIRfest on Saturday June 20 at the Sondheim Center of the Performing Arts.

Dr. Randolph Carter is the former Director of Diversity for the National Association of Indpendent Schools. Dr. Carter currently directs the Eastern Education Resource Collaborative in Washington DC. The non-profit advances diversity and multcultural education in pre-K - 12th grade schools, colleges, and community based non-profits. 

Time to highlight the roots of my Ultra Lounge Show, Crime Jazz, the Signature Sound for TV and Movie Detectives.

In the 1950s and 60s, when Hollywood brought private eyes to the big and small screens, jazz was the music of choice to accompany their lives of danger and dames." "Crime jazz captured the mood not only of our post-war cities, but of a character as distinctly American as the cowboy – that soulful, solitary seeker of justice, the private eye."

Classic film noir selections from Leonard Bernstein; Jerry Goldsmith; Roy Budd; Pete Rugulo; Kenyon Hopkins; Count Basie; Henry Mancini and MORE will be played.

The creativity of an artist comes from within, one has to have vision, the ability to focus, and a mind that can travel without being transported.

This month we will focus on the on The Music, The Mind, The Matter of March.

Tune in to Lyrical Venus for an interview with Mouths of Babes! Wed, 2/25 9:30am.

Mouths of Babes is Ty Greenstein (Girlyman) and Ingrid Elizabeth (Coyote Grace). This tender tomboy and rough-and-tumble lady come together to melt hearts and shake souls with undeniable chemistry and a truly unexpected heralding of wisdom. Mouths of Babes' sound is equal parts celebration and blues, folk and soul, salve and anthem—an invitation to love this life, to sing your sob story and end it with a smile. These two songwriters light up the stage—juggling harmonies, guitar, bass, foot percussion, cajon, banjo, harmonica, and ukulele from song to song, inviting the audience to join the choir, and engaging listeners with sentiments that range from heartfelt to hilarious.

They will be gracing Fairfield with their tunes at Cafe Paradiso on Sat 2/28, 8pm.

It's already looking like 2015 is going to be another great year in music. On this Tuesday's edition of That Righteous Jive we'll be looking at some of the albums I can't wait to drop in 2015.

The Mighty Sceptres: A duo composed of guitarist Nick Radford and vocalist Angeline Morrison. Together they play both floor-shaking and sentimental soul & jump blues. I loved their earlier collaborations on Radford's solo project, Frootful, so I'm real excited to hear their first full length record together: All Hail The Mighty Scepters!. Out Feb 24th on Ubiquity Records.

Modest Mouse: The Northwest indie rockers are back (and, yeah, I know I put them on this same list for 2014, but it's for real this time guys, I swear!). On March 3rd they will release their first album together in eight years: Strangers To Ourselves.

Dead Weather: The gritty blues rock side-project from Jack White will be back with a yet-to-be-named third full-length album. They released two 45s last year with singles off the new album and they're both rock solid. No word on release date.