From ANDRAS JONES: The Radio8Ball sessions in Missoula in late January were like a swinger party for bands. Everyone was hooking up. Our first two music guests (Caroline Keys & Hermina Jean) started a band together called JUNIOR after doing Radio8Ball. And this week’s band, BEAUTS (a BEAT HAPPENING tribute band with Bente Grinde, Drew Fetherolf and Chris Sand) went from being fronted by CHRIS SAND to being fronted by ROY IVY practically during the taping of the episode. It was a rollicking good time with our guests CALVIN JOHNSON & BRET LUNSFORD (from Beat Happening), JENNY MONTGOMERY (from Oklahoma Scramble), ROY IVY (from The Polyphonic Spree), BONNIE TARSES and SASHA BELL (from The Essex Green). This week I’ll be handing over the narration to Roy so he can tell you what it was like from his particular vantage point.

From ROY IVY: By now, devotees of the Pop Oracle—and all Montanans living or dead—have fallen under the spell of Sandman. He’s a true Missoula treasure who effortlessly exhales talent, easy-going charm, and unflappable confidence. As a spastic caustic dink with zero faith in humans and even less desire to connect with them, I normally detest living rainbows like Sandman, who Johnny Appleseed their way across the land bringing strangers together and spreading joy. Nor do I reside in Andras Jones’ wide-eyed world of wondrous interconnections and fateful happenstance.

I tend to steer clear of folks who use words like “synchronicity,” “serendipity,” and especially (trying not to spit as I say it) “mystic.”

But here I am, deeply and proudly immersed in all of that hippy-dippy shit, thanks to Sandman and the supernatural divinations of the Pop Oracle. It took a little of the acid out of my blood, cemented a few friendships, and even gave me a new band. You’ll hear too much about this later.

For now, savor the strands of synchronicity that weave a sweater of love across these sessions with the Pop Oracle. The Sandman brings you all a special gift with Beauts. It’s a tribute to the most seminal of seminal indie rock touchstones, Beat Happening (and all things Calvin Johnson) and the recordings are just charming and catchy as all hell. It’s the last time you’ll hear the songs this gentle way, because shortly after this taping, I took Sandman’s place in the band. Which is sorta like when they replaced the Dick’s on Bewitched, but this time they replaced the world’s most affable cowboy with an actual dick.

In our first episode, after addressing the party-starting staple of anti-semitism in Olympia, Andras muses on taking his podcast permanently on the road. He asks the Pop Oracle if trotting to new, inspiring locals (like our beloved Missoula) and roosting in random studios is the future of Radio8Ball.

And the oracle answers with the romantic and somewhat cryptic beauty of Beat Happening’s “Angel Gone,” performed beautifully by Beauts: a band of beautiful people covering beautiful people’s songs that I am now in. And I feel pretty.

POP ORACLE Song of The Day (April 15, 2019): SHAKE SOME ACTION “Damaged”

ANGEL GONE

How do you cry
Angel gone
Cheat and lie, cheat and lie
Angel gone
When you have no one tomorrow
There’ll be no kind hearts to borrow
Your galley slaves start rowing (?)
You don’t know where you’re going
But you go there all the time

You were an angel
Turned into a stranger
Heart-shaped wings and halo
You loved to spin your fables
To the music we were makin’
Then the harp strings started breakin’
It got cold in wintertime (?)

It must be tryin’
Angel gone
To wear a halo all the time
Angel gone
When it gets a little crooked
You find another saint who’s lookin’
Still your heaven is in ruins
You don’t know what you’re doin’
But you do it all the time
You do it all the time
You do it all the time

Angel gone
Angel gone

I see you alone and I worry
The past starts gettin’ blurry
Got no one to talk to
And I miss your shouldn’t-ought-to’s
And I miss your tender sighs

Should we try
Angel gone
Crashing heaven one more time
Angel gone
Grab Gabriel’s horn start callin’
All those angels who have fallen
Playing Russian roulette with Satan
We’ll ram those pearly gates in
Saint Peter he won’t mind
Saint Peter he won’t mind

Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone
Angel gone

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