Radio Nowhere

OilCan Drive is going to be on the radio!

Yes, OilCan Drive, the cartoon band that lives in my head and comes to life in a small corner of my living room, is going to be on an actual radio station program!

One of the great things that happened last week after I found out OilCan Drive had joined the ranks of Johnny Cash, Nancy Sinatra, and Joan Baez in covering a Bob Dylan song was that www.expectingrain.com linked to my blog about the story I wrote. My hits skyrocketed!

One of the people who came across my blog and the OilCan Drive music I was working on was Bob Reitman, host of the WUWM radio program out of Milwaukee, "It's Alright Ma, It's Only Music." Bob seemed to like what I was doing and asked where he could buy some of my music. Since I don't have any of the music for sale (soon, I promise...soon!) I sent Bob off a few MP3s.

And it looks like, if all goes well, OilCan Drive will be on Bob's show tonight playing a cover of Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece."

Wow. How weird is that?

I originally recorded the song because I always wanted to do a punk rock twist of some of Bob Dylan's music. Rob Kelly, one of my great friends, is a HUGE Bob Dylan fan so I asked him, if he could choose any song for me to cover, which one would he choose? Rob, without missing a beat, chose "Masterpiece", one of his favorite Dylan songs.

So, "When I Paint My Masterpiece" was the first cover song OilCan Drive ever did. And I did it for Rob.

So much so that when the song starts and the band is warming up and ready to start Ryan Burke, lead singer for OilCan Drive, says, "this one's for Robbo!" And then, at the end of the song, Ryan changes the last line to, "someday everything's gonna be different, when Rob paints his masterpiece." So, if you listen to the broadcast and hear the song and wonder who Robbo is, now you know.

I hope I do the three Roberts: Dylan, Kelly, and Reitman (oh yeah, and Tiffany, my Dad is a Robert too!)...I hope I do them all proud.

So, if you can, listen to "It's Alright Ma, It's Only Music" tonight.

Bob's show is an amazing mix of music I love. I caught his show for the first time last Saturday. It was dedicated to Elvis' 75th birthday. He celebrated by playing Elvis, covers of Elvis, and songs about Elvis. It was an amazing mix of great music and, if nothing else ever comes out of this, I've found a great new radio show to listen to.

So, thank you Mr. Bob Reitman for this opportunity. I am humbled and amazed.

Bob's show, "It's Alright Ma, It's Only Music" plays at 7pm CST on Thursday and replays on Saturday nights at 9pm CST. You can listen on the web with the WUWM 89.7 FM / HD-1 streaming channel HERE.