John Martyn : 1948 - 2009

On Friday 29th January, the music world lost an amazing talent when John Martyn died at his home in Ireland aged 60. He began playing a blend of blues and folk music on guitar in 1965 when he was 17 and became a rage in Britain's folk scene of the 1960s, making his first album in 1967.

He was continually developing his musical style and by 1970 was creating original sounds by playing acoustic guitar through a fuzz box, phase shifter and echoplex, resulting in a haunting fading echo effect.

He made one of the great albums of the 70s in 1973 when Solid Air was released and which contained a number of great songs including 'May you never' which I have played on my Monday show and which was covered by Eric Clapton on his Slowhand album. Martyn continued to release innovative albums throughout the 1970s.

In 1979, John's marriage to his wife Beverley broke up and , in his own words 'I hit the self-destruct button'. He took to drink and drugs and severely damaged his health but produced a cathartic album called Grace and Danger on which Phil Collins played drums. At first his record company, Island, would not release it saying it was deeply and painfully personal but eventually he got his way and said it was the greatest album he had ever made.

By the 1990s, Martyn had picked up on hip-hop and had blended the phrasing into this own unique style on an album called And.

By now he was struggling with serious health problems including a burst pancreas, and later, in 2003 his right leg was amputated. Seriously overweight now and not well he continued to play and tour and was awarded the BBC 's Lifetime Achievement award for his services to music in 2008.

Though his death can hardly be called a shock, it is very sad for those who love music and innovative musicians. The last word should be left to Eric Clapton who said 'John was just so far ahead of everything, it's almost inconceivable'.

The 'Total Turkeys' List

OK we had a post the other day about a 'Must Have' list - and I think I just about kept my job with 5 1/2 out of 8 (Well I'm giving myself the half anyway just to be on the safe side) But what about a 'Total Turkeys' list (say top 10) - perfect for Thanksgiving - carrying the severe penalty that if you play any of them, the Lizard Boss will come after sensitive parts of your anatomy with an electrified cattle prod. Now I'm not talking hate music or anything that serious nor even some of the current crop to which I have a personal aversion, but just songs that stand the test of time of being so insufferably dire that they should be played endlessly to terrorists to force confessions.

The list of course is off the top of my head and could easily change when I next hear something excruciating:-

In no particular order:-

1. Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

- the grandfather of British pop at his most syrupy. Guaranteed to have you running for the bathroom after the starter and before you even get to the Christmas turkey.


2. Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

- Americans may have been mercifully spared this contribution from the one Osmond who certainly should have been throttled at birth. This falls into the excruciating on just about every level

3. Joe Dolce - Shaddapa ya face

- A bounce along novelty number that sounds mildly sing-alongy ONCE, but when you have heard it twice, let alone 2000 times you have a sudden urge to end it all.

4. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder - Ebony and Ivory

- The ultimate twee racially together song which takes saccharine sweet nausea to new heights (or is it depths?)

5. Band Aid - Do they know it's Christmas?

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH (should suffice)

6. Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red

- They still play this before the start of every Liverpool soccer match (Liverpool play in red you see) and its one sound reason for missing the kick-off. Dreadful sentimental drivel.

7. Donny Osmond - Puppy Love

- The Osmonds are doing well in this list. Donny is a marginal improvement on younger brother Jimmy, but this song of dewy eyed teenage angst is definitely a thumbs down.

8. Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

- Another of those mindless pop mantras that make you want to dash your brains out on the nearest wall.

9. Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart

- I'm almost certain (can't be sure) that when this came out I cried. Damn it, this was the man who was capable of 'My Baby left me', 'Mystery Train', 'That's Alright, Mama'...the finest white R and B man of his age ...singing Eurotrash. Ugggghhhhhhhhhh.


10. Rod Stewart - Do ya think I'm sexy?

- Now I don't know whether my aversion to this is a 'British' thing because I love some of Rod the Mod's early stuff but to have a male artist capering round the stage like a big girl's blouse singing up his sex appeal was just too awful for words. Hate it.


Well that's my ten for which Bill should dish out lethal doses of rat poison to anyone who plays any of them. I have omitted parochial ones which Americans wouldn't know, like seedy fat drunken British footballers who stagger to the mic at Xmas and re-record some famous hit. Legions of British flowers must be growing in thousands of such records converted into flower pots.

So Ive set you a challenge - not too serious - what are the total turkeys which make YOU curl up and want to die...or at least kill the artists. The floor is yours, guys!

The "MUST HAVE" List

We, the DJs at HotTraxRadio, don't have many rules. We don't play hate music, and we don't play more than 2 songs by an artist in an hour. That's about it. We choose our own music, and maintain our own playlists. But this weekend, a new "rule" has been written. I suppose the current DJs will be "grandfathered" in, but there is now a list of 8 songs new DJs MUST have.

The Lizard Boss' MUST HAVE List to be a HotTrax DJ
1. Boston - Foreplay/Long Time
2. Eric Clapton - Layla (acoustic)
3. Nickleback - Rockstar (he says it's the HotTrax anthem)
4. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me (I say this is the HotTrax anthem!)
5. Tesla - What U Give (live)
6. Eagles - Get Over It
7. Chicago - Beginnings
8. Enya - Orinoco Flow

I suppose that's not a lot to ask of your DJs. For the most part, they are pretty widely known, and most everyone seems to enjoy them... and they do seem to find their way into CDR (Context Driven Radio) fairly often in our chat room.

Actually, I did a little "research" as I was writing this, and I think most of the DJs have all of these, and those who don't have them all have the majority of them. Of course, the Boss was just joking about this list (sort of) but it makes me wonder... what would be on your list of 8 MUST HAVES? I'd love to hear your answers in comments!

The Excitement is BACK!

In case you haven't heard, we have regained our Featured Station status on Microsoft's Windows Media Tuner catalog. This week you will find us in the Jazz Section of the main radio page at WindowsMedia.com (http://www.windowsmedia.com/Mediaguide/Radio). This exposure has given new visibility to the station and the Smooth stream in particular and our listener counts have gone through the roof. We are having a Special Event this week on HotTrax Smooth, with several of the DJs who normally have shows on HotTrax Live coming over and doing their versions of Smooth shows. Be sure to check the main page of our website (http://www.hottraxradio.com) for the Special Event Schedule. With listener counts that are an order of magnitude greater than we've ever had, this is truly an exciting time for us!

I just want to give a great big THANK YOU to all of you out there that are tuning in. And also THANK YOU to the people at Microsoft's WindowsMedia for selecting us and helping to promote our station! We owe you all a deep debt of gratitude!

The Lizard Boss

It's A Pre-Race Party!

Okay all you NASCAR fans... come join the BIG BASH at HotTrax Live... Saturday, noon to 3 HotTrax Radio time. DJ LilHippie is hosting an end of the season party on Rock Your Racin'! You say you don't follow NASCAR? Well, c'mon anyway... LilHippie is an AWESOME DJ, and she will be playin' tunes that will really pump you up! And my Sista and honorary Texan, LilHippie, can PARTY! I promise, if you come, you'll have a GREAT time! You'll even have more time if you wander into our chat room. "How do I do that?" you ask. It's easy! Just go to our homepage at http://www.hottraxradio.com/. Once there, click on the HotTraxLive Link near the top of the page. On the right side of the page, under the "This Is HotTrax Live" Banner you will find a box that says "Chat." Just choose a nickname, type it in, and hit the "Connect" button. DJ LilHippie will be there. I will be there. And chances are, HardtoH8 (aka DJ Jazzy) will be there, too. And probably that won't be all... but even if it is, we'll be havin' fun.

LilHippie promises to have a spectacular show- better than usual, which in my humble opinion is going to be hard to beat, 'cause DJ LilHippie ALWAYS ROCKS! There will be a lot of Jimmie praisin' and a lot of Shrub bashin'... and all the latest NASCAR news. Hope to see you there!

WOW! What a week!

Yep, WOW is the word! I watched from the moment of my last post here till the listener count on HotTrax Smooth topped 240 listeners. It was at that moment that the server, (which was never intended to handle such loads) crashed and burned and the station came to a screeching halt. It only took five hours to get it back online and that was quite possibly the worst five hours of my life (at least in the last couple of years). It was however, a triumphant moment in that it showed me that people really DID want what we have to offer. And not just a few, but SIGNIFICANT numbers of people.

So after a short time, we've come up with a strategy, and our opportunity has been renewed. HotTrax Smooth will be the Featured Station again for Windows Media Tuner during the week of November 18th. We're so very happy to have a second shot at it.

For all of you listeners out there who may be reading this, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the continuing will to move forward!

The Lizard Boss

OK, I'm officially excited now!

I'll be honest. From the beginning, I have hoped that we could bring our music and fun to an audience larger than that of just our circle of friends. We have worked hard to make more and more available in the hopes that we could draw a good solid crowd of listeners who would enjoy what we have to offer.

Today, we are beginning to realize that goal. For the first time, one of the HotTrax channels, HotTrax Smooth to be specific, has been listed as the feature station on Windows Media Tuner. This in itself is a major accomplishment, but whats even more gratifying is that instead of just the 5 or 10 listeners that we have been seeing on a regular basis, right now we are averaging almost 90.

All I can say is WOW!!! Thank you, to all of you out there listening, and checking us out! And thank you to everyone who has supported this adventure of ours. We will continue to do all we can to bring excellence to what we offer.

This is truly exciting!
The Lizard Boss