"HEY, BOB, IT'S TOM!"

Even if I wasn't a SIRIUS XM employee, I'd be a huge fan of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour show.  It is awesome. There's so much to love about it. But one of the highlights is when Tom Waits calls in. The man can talk about any topic imaginable.  I loved when he talked about Jewish curses. The great great blog Aquarium Drunkard has posted a bunch of Tom's calls for you to check out. And trust me, check out Dylan's radio show, it is one of the best listening experiences you will ever have.

NEIL YOUNG PLAYING CONAN'S LAST NBC SHOW TONIGHT

Image and info from MTV. So, after you finish watching MTV's Hope For Haiti telethon tonight (or you can listen to it on SIRIUS XM's The Pulse) you can switch over to NBC to watch Conan O'Brien's final show as host of The Tonight Show. As everyone probably knows, Jay Leno takes over after the Winter Olympics. Tonight's musical guest will be none other than Neil Young! I wonder what he will play.

I look forward to see where Conan (along with his great band, The Max Weinberg 7) ends up. 

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS' BOX SET

Times are tough and money's tight, that's why it was cool of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to offer their new box set The Live Anthology in two formats: $20 for four CDs, or $100 for a deluxe five CD, two DVD, one LP set. I was going to go cheap. Then, last week, I listened to the latest episode of Tom's SIRIUSXM show Buried Treasure (hear it on Deep Tracks). He usually doesn't play his own music. But this time, he played all stuff from the box set. It got me so into it that I parted with a c-note for the deluxe version. Totally worth it. Tom is the coolest. There's a big interview with him in the new Rolling Stone (some kid from Twilight is on the cover) and there's outtakes from the interview here. As I mentioned last week on my weekly radio appearance on OutQ, it's a great gift. For someone else. Or yourself!

RADIO ON THE TV: MTV2'S HEADBANGER'S BALL

Metallica - Headbangers Ball - MTV Shows

When I was a kid, there were a few sources that I used to learn about metal. (1) Cooler looking older metal kids (2) the radio show "Metal Shop" and (3) MTV's Headbanger's Ball. When MTV ditched the Ball, I don't think anyone thought it was a good idea. They replaced a true metal show with a show hosted by a chick whose main claim to fame was (I think) that she was nanny to Courtney Love's daughter Frances Bean. Even the MTV people realized that they messed up! The Ball was an institution. It's been back on MTV2 for a few years, and lately, it's hosted by a good friend, Jose Mangin. No, I'm not trying to name drop here - yes, I know Lynn Hoffman from A&E's Private Sessions, and Eddie Trunk from VH1's That Metal Show. But these are cool shows if you are a music fan! And I don't have the channels that Elvis Costello's show airs on, and I don't get the channel that Henry Rollins' show airs on either. I've been meaning to check both of them out. Back to Jose, I know him from SIRIUS|XM, he has been the guy behind Liquid Metal, and before that, Hard Attack, and I've never met someone with the enthusiasm for music that Jose has for metal. He loves all kinds, from Cannibal Corpse to Poison to KoRn, he loves all of it. I'm not always down with his tastes, but like with Eddie Trunk, I appreciate his true passion for the music. I'm not sure what his schedule is on MTV2, but if you love metal, you should check it out.

RADIO ON THE TV: EDDIE TRUNK'S THAT METAL SHOW ON VH1 CLASSIC

A few years back, I happened upon Eddie Trunk on his radio show Saturday Night Rocks. It's a little bit old-school metal - Eddie is into hair metal and stuff that I'm not into - but he's totally into it, and I can appreciate that. I had long given up on terrestrial radio (other than NPR type stuff and Little Steven's syndicated Underground Garage show) when I heard his show, and I was surprised to hear a guy who was obviously picking his own songs, and cared about what he was playing. Honestly: it was a surprise to hear someone on a commercial radio station sound passionate. I got to know Eddie a bit, he's a cool guy. A little later on, I worked with him a bit at VH1 Classic. These days, I sometimes see him around the SIRIUS|XM offices, since he has a show on The Boneyard, and it's fun seeing him back on VH1 Classic on That Metal Show with Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. If you're into metal, I totally recommend it. Below is his interview with the not-totally-metal-but-totally-awesome-band Rush.

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