Playlists for Robin Plan's show at WRBA, 1440 AM

September 1983 Playlist:

"Thanks to the Red Rockers who greeted my listeners last month with free albums, posters, buttons... plenty of handshakes + hospitality for all y'all [me, Carrie, and maybe one or two other girls]. Had an invigorating (!) interview on WRBA, posed insolently with yours truly for above snapshot, then off to Mabels where they rattled the rafters with their rock-n-roll riot. That's RED rockin, remember, + its as good as gold! We still need just a couple thousand more signatures to save my show, friends. If you have any petitions circulating please get them in to BRBA by 11/1. With your help we'll make it, or my name isn't Robin "Wave-a-billy" Plan."

Capsule Concert:

Gang Of 4, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ramones, Reggae, Killing Joke, B-52s, Specials, Kinks, Split Enz, Rockabilly, David Bowie, Surf, Lords/Dead Boys, X, Red Rockers, Kate Bush, Iggy Pop, Graham Parker, Bow Wow Wow

September Playlust:

Heavy Rotation:

The Adicts, Alien Sex Fiend, Atila, Aztec Camera, Batcave, Bauhaus, Adrian Belew, Big Country, The Bongos, Rocky Burnette, Ray Campi, Comateens, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Howard Devoto, Einsteins Riceboys, Fleshtones, Gang Of Four, Green On Red, Hunters & Collectors, Jason & The Nashville Scorchers, Jazzateers, Killing Joke, Lords Of The New Church, Los Lobos, Naked Raygun, Nihilistics, Oingo Boingo, Romantics, Safety Last, Shakin Pyramids, Suicidal Tendencies, Translator, The Wallets, The Wedge, X

Recurrents:

Atomic Rooster, Big Daddy, Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic, Black Uhuru, Chrome, Dave Davies, Flesheaters, The Group, Ian Hunter, Juluka, King Sunny Ade, Lex, Maurice & The Cliches, Mutabaruka, Neil & The Shocking Pinks, Graham Parker, Psycho, Pylon, Red Rockers, Riflesport, Pete Shelly, Stocking Heads, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, UB40, Violent Femmes, Will Powers

Regular Rotation:

Bad Religion, T Bone, Chameleons, The Dicks, Effigies, Figures On A Beach, Fun Boy 3, Michael Guthrie, Insect Surfers, Killing The Pink, Oil Tasters, Payolas, Jonathan Richman, Roman Holliday, Romans, Skafish, Stray Cats, Third World, Tidal Wave, Joachim Witt

Bubbling Under:

Barnes & Barnes, The Beat, Big Daddy Sun, The Cred, The C.S. Angels, Depeche Mode, Midnight Oil, Propeller Compilation, Peter Schilling, Slickee Boys, Style Council, Jeff Waryan

December 1983 Playlist:

"December was a scream. Thanks to these sciffle pop folkabillies. The Violent Femmes were here, daddy, here for a fabulous gig, and we are looking forward to their return."

January Concert Capsule:

Translator, Stranglers, Tom Tom Club, Flesheaters, Cure, David Johansen, Wall of Voodoo, Siouxsie Sioux, Boomtown Rats, Madness, Teardrop Explodes, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Nina Hagen, Bauhaus, Rockabilly, SKAFISH, Warren Zevon, Fleshtones, The Jam, Toxic Reasons, Waitresses, Roots Reggae

December Playlust:

Heavy Rotation:

Avengers, Black Uhuru, David Bowie, Burning Spear, Butthole Surfers, China Crisis, CRAMPS, Creatures, DOA, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gene Loves Jezebel, Green on Red, Higsons, ISM, The Jam, Lets Active, Personality Crisis, Pretenders, Proletariat, Roxy Music, Savage Republic, Social Distortion, Sisters of Mercy, Suburbs, 3 O'Clock, Tomek, Tom Waits, What Surf, The Wipers, X, XTC

Regular Rotation:

The Accelerators, Art In The Dark, Black Star Liner, Bobs, Bongos, Bunny Waiter, Code Blue, The Gladiators, Nina Hagen, James Harman, Haysi Fantayzee, I'llBeOnTheFoneToYou, The Itals, Knotty Vision, Leather Nun, Don Morrell & the Meteors, November Group, Parachute Club, The Point, Stutter, Visage, Wednesday Week, Wire Train, Worlds Worst Records, YELLO

Recurrents:

Adam Ant, Adrian Belew, Eric Burden, Bone Men of Barumba, Circle Jerks, Jimmy Cliff, The Cure, Da Pliars, Hardcore Takes Over, Hunters and Collectors, Husker Du, Jazzateers, Leisure Class, Long Ryders, Lords of the New Church, Los Angelinos, Los Lobos, Lounge Lizards, Ray Manzarek, Midnight Oil, Minutemen, Neats, Play Dead, Quando Quango, Romans, Any Scott, Specimen, Spongetones, Trio, UB40, U2, Zerra

Bubbling Under:

Craig Bevan, Nude Ants, The Outnumbered, Pressure, Tao Chemical, Whipping Boy, Mark Z

1983 sweet-talked me up the stairs, then got me drunk and trashed my hotel room

It all started okay. I was in love with everyone secretly, including

all of the members of Duran Duran. My best friend, Carrie, spent

most of her time time wrapping both of us up in her shit, but at

least it kept me occupied. At least she was around, then.

While my previous summer was spent going to church camp (even

though I was an atheist) and getting high on the adrenaline of

sitting next to a boy in the dim light of the bonfire while we all

sang "Kumbaya" (literally), the summer of '83 started in Carrie's

basement, experimenting with every "gateway" form of rebellion

we could find. We listened to the Sex Pistols, "Never Mind the

Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols", Psychedelic Furs and The Tubes -

or Robin Plan on our local radio station, WRBA. We smoked

menthol cigarettes, popped caffeine pills and diet pills, and tried

altering our hair color with bleach, peroxide, and lemon juice.

And we decorated ourselves with safety pins like rhinestones on

Elvis.

I made progress in the pursuit of boys - even had a real boyfriend

for a while - but it didn't exactly come with harp music and fairies.

By then, I was already too punk for love. Besides, the field was

too wide. It was hard for me to distinguish between the guys

right in front of me and all the other shiny objects that sparkled

in the distance. Adding to that confusion was a brush with fame

on the set of "Grandview U.S.A.", a motion picture that was

filmed in nearby Pontiac, Il. I was hired as a dancer for a music video

scene, and spent three days on the set. A real kiss, off-camera,

between myself and up-and-coming John Cusack, reinforced my

belief that all things were possible. It also shot my head so far

up into the clouds, it was impossible for the other, (hopefully)

more grounded people around me to get a lock on my coordinates.

By the end of the summer, everything started changing and falling

apart. My brother headed to college in Urbana, leaving me alone

in the house with my dad. That was okay, but ultimately pretty

lonely. Carrie dropped out of school and took off for Urbana as

well. That was the beginning of the end for us. So I started

making my own trouble, instead of living vicariously through

her. For entertainment, I had moved on to clove cigarettes, pot,

and alcohol -- mostly in a weekend warrior sort of way. I still

held my own in school, to varying degrees of success. True, I

had alienated some friends, but I had no trouble finding others

who were willing to dance in altered dreamtime with me.

By November, however, depression had taken root. Too much

had changed, in too short a time. Then the poems came. Different,

this time. Much more raw. And every day, just pouring out of me.

The vision had arrived. It held me, consoled me, screamed for me,

witnessed me, and carried me through to a better day. 1983 had

come in as a unicorn, dancing on a rainbow of Dionysian pop

fantasies. It went out on the razor's edge, in a haze of confusion,

at a loss for explanation, but not a loss for words...