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The Famous Polka + Balkan Fever

KAFM Grand Junction, 9pm - 12am

It was a day of jet-setting, starting in the dark hours of morning, and it wasn’t going to be over until the studio light went off. To keep up the energy levels, we presented a double-header of a special, first an hour of The Famous Polka, featuring songs titled after real (mostly) people, and following that two hours of Balkan Fever, with music that was far from exclusively Balkan but all fed into that manic two-step non-stop feeling.

It was a day of jet-setting, starting in the dark hours of morning, and it wasn’t going to be over until the studio light went off. To keep up the energy levels, we presented a double-header of a special, first an hour of <strong>The Famous Polka</strong>, featuring songs titled after real (mostly) people, and following that two hours of <strong>Balkan Fever</strong>, with music that was far from exclusively Balkan but all fed into that manic two-step non-stop feeling.
SongArtistNotes
Brian Eno
MGMT
Making the Happenings
— • BREAK • —
Clint Eastwood
Gorillaz
Something about muesli
D. Boon
Uncle Tupelo
Guitar for the Minutemen
Alan Bean
Hefner
The fourth man on the moon
Jackie Onassis
Human Sexual Response
You had me at big sunglasses
— • BREAK • —
Paul Revere
Asylum Street Spankers
A double whammy
Abe Lincoln
Bishop Allen
Very fast walker
Dean Martin
Poor Little Fools
A smooth operator
Frank Sinatra
Cake
That’s enough
— • BREAK • —
Meg Ryan
Self
It’s the dream
Bill Cosby
Shibboleth
Different times
Peter Tripodi
Spot 1019
Self-referential
Vincent Van Gogh
The Squirrels
He loved color
— • BREAK • —
Carl Sagan
The Boneless Children Foundation
Billions of stars
James K. Polk
They Might Be Giants
More presidentialism
Jack Ruby
Camper Van Beethoven
His hat tilted forward
— • BREAK • —
Tortapapír
Besh o drom
Put it all in the blender
Shy Kind of Guy
Gogol Bordello
Like Peter the Great
People Are Strange
Brave Combo
As it was meant to be
Bucovina
Shantel
Sad and lonely
— • BREAK • —
Adir Alam
Balkan Beat Box
Eastern driftings
Hir aj kam, hir aj go
Magnifico
Wandering wandering
Ani Meki (I'm Throwing Up)
Habiluim
Feeling queasy
— • BREAK • —
Havana Nagila
Hip Hop Hoodíos
What about telekinesis?
Optisani
Boban Markovic Orkestar
The haze has reached the mountains
Lei Toi
Mitsoura
A rare mixing
— • BREAK • —
Lautlos
DelaDap
Dig that squeezebox
Magic Mamaliga
O.M.F.O.
Fluting on the hump
Usti, Usti Baba
Señor Coconut vs. Koçani Orkestar
Please form an orderly conga
Sidi Mansour
Sir Richard Bishop
A standard
— • BREAK • —
Sadagora Hot Dub
Amsterdam Klezmer Band
Via Shantel
The Souvlak
Boom Pam
A true odyssey
BBBeat
Balkan Beat Box
Dusty street scene
Mahalageasca (Bucovina Dub)
Mahala Rai Banda
Plenty of mileage left on this one
— • BREAK • —
Goldregen (n.o.h.a. Mix)
DelaDap
Opa!
Disko
Shantel feat. Boban Markovic Orkestar
Sounding old-fashioned
Jungle Shadow
Kiril feat MC Wasp & Rucl
Relentless
Siki, Siki Baba
Gaëtano Fabri vs. Koçani Orkestar
Strict, strict father
— • BREAK • —
James Bond Theme
Fanfare Ciocarlia
Next level
Gypsy's Kolo
Jony Iliev + Band
A dramatic presentation
The Lark
Kalman Balogh
Red hot cimbalom
L'Orient est Rouge
Lightning Head vs. Koçani Orkestar
Hit those timbales
— • BREAK • —
Soske Murseske Manglape Kurva
Goran Bregovic
Truly operatic
Archives

Approximately Relevant

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Mixtape 261 :: The Famous Polka I

Mixtape 261 :: The Famous Polka I

Welcome to a near-biographical experience as we focus on songs named after (and occasionally about) real people you may have heard of.

Carnage Bargain

Carnage Bargain

Would the tour of palaces never end? Having visited several monarchical residences, the cobbler had become habitually underwhelmed with the perpetual ostentation. Taking a seat at a padded bench to admire the mosaics of Dar al-Makhzen, the topologist hummed a Balkan square-dancing melody. The ancient Land Cruiser that had brought them here, well-cared for and highly-modified, sat in a modern parking lot that clashed with the surrounding Moroccan geometry. They pretended to take some selfies while monitoring the 360° camera feed coming from the vehicle.

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Version Control

It’s time for the return of Version Control, the occasional gathering of music as interpreted by someone other than the artists that wrote the song or made it famous. You know, covers. After the notorious Cover Drought of 2023, we have a full episode of covers ranging from the obscure to the revolutionary.

Upbeat Ritual

Upbeat Ritual

The haberdasher heard a light thump and roll, then felt something tap against a shoe. It was a peach pit. Looking up from the stack of brochures, they saw the orthodontist grinning and wiping their mouth with a sleeve, glancing at the gap on the blanket where the fruit was drying in the sun, clearly suggesting that perhaps another one was in order. The tandem moped leaned against the back of the Gate of Hercules, shielded by its bulk from the bright Croatian summer sun. The peaches had hours to go, and they had forgotten to bring a game., having only whatever reading material they had managed to scrape up in the Hotel Pula lobby.