HANDSOME DICK MANITOBA AND OGNIR AND THE NIGHT PEOPLE

I've written about my love of Little Steven's Underground Garage channel before. There are some of the best, most interesting, most well-informed DJs that you'll ever hear there, including radio legend Kid Leo, Detroit garage rocker Ko Molina, former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Woggles frontman The Mighty Manfred and Dictators frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba. (Oh yeah, and Little Steven.)

Last night, Dick was talking about how, when he was a kid, what a huge part of his culture it was go buy records: LPs and 45s. They would take a bus to Alexander's department store to check out new music. I can relate: when I was a kid, it was all about riding bikes to the flea market on weekends to buy tapes, or getting a ride to the mall.

Anyway, Dick was talking about how, his bar recently hosted a record release party for The Fleshtones' new album. The band sent Dick a bunch of copies of their new album on vinyl. And his five year old was like, "What's that?" The generation gap gets ever wider these days, I guess.

After that, he was quiet for a second (pauses usually aren't allowed on radio stations, I think they're referred to as "dead air," but The Underground Garage keeps it real in a way that most stations can't). Then he sighed and said, "Well, where else are you going to hear Ognir & The Night People?" I'd never heard this band, and I'd never even heard of them. I sat in my car and listened to the entire song, "I Found A New Love," and then ran right inside and bought it on iTunes. OK, so it isn't a busride to Alexander's. But it's 2008, and it's still exciting for me to discover new (or not new) music. So thanks Handsome Dick, Kid Leo and Little Steven, for keeping the excitement in rock and roll radio.

(By the way, this picture was taken at Little Steven's Underground Garage Rock Festival a few summers back: a great show that featured The Dictators, The Stooges, The New York Dolls, Bo Diddley and a bunch of other legends. I'm sorry to say it's the only time I've ever seen The Dictators, but they were great).