The PopCulteer
June 28, 2024

We’re done with the first half of the year of internet radio programming this Friday as we offer up a classic episode of MIRRORBALL and a BRAND NEW edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found on this very page.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch goes back to October, 2022 for a classic episode of MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a salute to the late OSCAR-winner, Paul Jabara.

Jabara won his OSCAR for the song “Last Dance,” performed in the movie, Thank God It’s Friday, by his friend, Donna Summer. Jabara is also in the movie as Carl, the nearsighted schlub looking for love. Later Jabara co-wrote “It’s Raining Men” with Paul Shaffer for The Weather Girls. and also had a string of club hits as a solo artist. Whitney Houston made her first recorded appearance on one of Jabara’s solo records when she was just 19 years old.

Mel decided to put together a collection to shine the Disco spotlight on this overlooked musical genius, who left us too soon, and we’re glad to present it again this week.

Check out the playlist…

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Paul Jabara/Donna Summer “Shut Out”
Paul Jabara “Heaven Is A Disco”
The Weather Girls “It’s Raining Men”
Paul Jabara “Trapped In A Stairway”
Paul Jabara “Disco Queen”
Paul Jabara “One Man Ain’t Enough”
Paul Jabara with Donna Summer “Something’s Missing In My Life”
Paul Jabara “Dance”
Paul Jabara “Dancin’”
Paul Jabara “Pleasure Island”
Donna Summer “Last Dance”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  9 PM (kicking off a mini-marathon), Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, it’s Big Electric Cat time as Sydney Fileen delivers a special mixtape edition of her show that pays tribute to New Zealand’s greatest musical export, Split Enz.

Sydney focuses on the New Wave career of the band, which was formed in the early 1970s, originally as a progressive rock/art rock band. In 1977 after three semi-successful albums but no major hit, there were several line-up changes. That year Phil Judd departed the band and was replaced by Tim Finn’s brother, Neil, who was only sixteen years old at the tme.

With a newly-energized line-up and the addition of Neil’s vocals and songwriting, the band headed into a new direction and became a worldwide New Wave phenomenon. Sydney brings you a msitape of the music Split Enz made from 1978 to 1984, before continuing line-up changes led to the band morphing into Crowded House. For the bulk of this show’s songs, Split Enz consisted of Time and Neil, the Finn Brothers, plus Eddie Raynor, Nigel Griggs and Noel Crombie & Phil Hester.  It’s the best of Split Enz from 1978’s Frenzy album to 1984’s Conflicting Emotions.

Check out this killer playlist…

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Split Enz
“I See Red”
“Mind Over Matter”
“I Got You”
“Shark Attack”
“What’s The Matter With You”
“Missing Person”
“Poor Boy”
“How Can I Resist Her”
“Things”
“Hard Act To Follow”
“One Step Ahead”
“Walking Through The Ruins”
“History Never Repeats”
“I Don’t Want To Dance”
“Clumsy”
“Iris”
“Six Months In A Leaky Boat”
“Dirty Creatures”
“Hello Sandy Allen”
“Never Ceases To Amaze Me”
“Small World”
“Lost For Words”
“Make Sense of It”
“Bullet Brain and Cactus Head”
“I Wake Up Every Night”
“Message To My Girl”
“No Mischief”
“Conflicting Emotions”
“Breakin’ My Back”
“One Mouth Is Fed”
“The Lost Cat”
“Ninnie Knees Up”
“Double Happy”

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer.

Check PopCult for all our regular features, with fresh content every day.