by Jim McGuinn, Program Director and Host, Y-Rock on XPN

Playing bass in front of 10,000 at the Tweeter Center when Cordalene opened for Weezer. I got my first guitar sometime in the mid-‘70s, but it mostly sat in my closet while I tried to become the next Dick Allen or Julius Erving. But during the summer of my 10^th year, Frampton Comes Alive became the soundtrack to my lazy summer at the Maple Hill community swim club. I’m not exactly sure why, but not long after I acquired the songbook and put my fingers on the strings like the diagrams and learned my first chords – “Baby, I Love Your Way!” (Years later I met Peter Frampton and told him the story of how he taught me to play guitar and he seemed genuinely touched). By the time I saw The Clash and U2, my first high school band Reaction Formation had been formed. Over the years some of the combos I’ve played guitar, bass, lapsteel, or mandolin with include Cordalene, Wayward Wind, McGowan, Regret, The Nelsons, Love Cactus, 100 Faces, and the Glitter Zombies (a one-gig band that consisted of myself playing with Rick Menck and Paul Chastain, later to form Velvet Crush). In 1986 Reaction Formation played a few college shows with The Replacements, a huge thrill, as our van was filled with the ‘Mats, Husker Du, early Soul Asylum, R.E.M., and Hoodoo Gurus tapes as we hurtled about the Midwest on our way to some obscure 7” and cassette releases. Fittingly, I remember Bob Stinson stealing steaks from our band-house freezer at the afterparty. Many years later I played bass with Philly band called Cordalene, and we got a last minute opportunity to open for Weezer at the Tweeter Center. Despite or perhaps because it was only our 7^th gig, we managed to go down well, and I remember the shock on Pat and Brian’s faces when they realized the guy that had been playing their music on the radio for so many years was going to support them on the bill. Some of the many other bands I’ve shared bills with include Phantom Planet, Dashboard Confessional, Ben Lee, My Morning Jacket, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sloan, Concrete Blonde, and the Cowboy Junkies, at Gabe’s Oasis, Iowa City, in 1987, at a show where the paying audience was 3.

Weird Anime version of Cordalene’s “Imaginary” — I have no idea who did this, or why, but it’s cool to have your song Anime’d!