Have You Seen the Stars Tonight?

This is a good one. It's December 27th 2025 as I write this, and I'm remembering now how I used to have to get to the WPKN studios at the University of Bridgeport an hour early so I could go through the stacks and pull lots and lots of the station's own vinyl, with most of the records sent originally at the time of that album's release as a radio promotional for-airplay copies. (An arduous task, as the stations albums are listed chronologically instead of alphabetically.) A lot of the records are scratchy as f*ck, hence the name Snap CRACKLE Pop. Regrettably - perhaps - I've gotten much lazier, and I rely much less on the station's crackle-filled record stacks and the more on my collection of "clean" individual song WAVs as channeled through my laptop's DJ Pro software.

This night I was filling in for two two-hour shows, one right after the other: "Railroad Dave" Schartz and KC Vaz (Paralelo Zero-Radio Brazil). This show is pretty adventurous and plays lots of good obscure music, and it's making me think I should try to add a bit more of this dreamy/mysterious/old-school free-form FM vibe into my curent morning show, and even more so for the occasional fill-ins I still do, especially those at weirder hours. The more crackles each record has, the more plays it must've gotten on the WPKN airwaves, and the more soulfully deep cosmic vibrations get re-released into the ether.

(What Does It Take) To Win Your Love – Jr. Walker & the All-Stars

Comes The Sun – The Archies
Head Held High – The Velvet Underground
Kings Lead Hat – Brian Eno
The Girls Want to Be With the Girls – Talking Heads
Electrical Way – Zoos of Berlin
I Feel Fine (Really) – The Monochrome Set

Smiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed Truth (producer: Norman Whitfield)
Year of Decision – The Three Degrees
Light My Fire – Four Tops
Baby That's Backatcha – Smokey Robinson
Don't Ever Be Lonely – Cornelius Brothers and Rose
Summer Breeze – Isley Brothers

On the Beach – Neil Young
River Man – Nick Drake
By the Time It Gets Dark – Sandy Denny
I Don't Believe in Miracles – Colin Blunstone
Two Winters Long – Irma Thomas

Aubrey – Bread
With You With Me – Milkwood
First Girl I Loved – John Hammond
If Not for You – Bob Dylan
Blues Run the Game – Jackson C. Frank
Not Because It's Easy But Because It's Hard – Jens Lekman

The Kiss – Judee Sill
Calvary Cross – Richard Thompson
Days – Television
Child's Christmas in Wales – John Cale

Sands of Time – Fleetwood Mac
Sunshine – Sparklehorse
Fuga No. 2 – Os Mutantes
Seabird – Alessi Brothers
How Can I Make You Love Me – NRBQ
Lovin' You Ain't Easy – Pagliaro
Speak Your Mind – Marc Benno

Birth of an Accidental Hipster – The Monkees
Along Comes Mary – The Association
I Wanna Know Girls – Portastatic
Is It Like Today? – World Party
Conquistador – Procol Harum

Flash – Wreckless Eric
Playing Pittsburgh – Amy Rigby
Blink of an Eye – Laish
Optimist – St. Vincent & David Byrne
I Love Every Little Thing About You – Syreeta & Stevie Wonder

Godspell – The Cardigans
Complicated Girl – The Bangles
Country Fair – Joe Walsh
Waste – Smash Mouth

Wild Bird – John Surman & Karin Krog
Hush – Calexico

Have You Seen the Stars Tonight? – Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship