From decades of listening to music in all its forms, it is plain that I simply love music and have found that ‘Music Is Love’.  When I moved to Vermont 25 years ago, I was surprised and grateful to find myself in an amazing place that provided a great diversity of music opportunities – including the Roots on the River Festival (and the later related Ray’s the Roof productions), the Flying Under the Radar productions, Next Stage Arts, Oona’s, Boccelli’s, the BF Opera House, Popolo, and Stage 33 Live, to name a few local venues. Seventeen years ago, I discovered a place in which I, who cannot play a musical instrument, could express myself musically. That was through this wonderful Community Radio Station, WOOL – Black Sheep Radio.  And Border Radio and Border Pete were born.

Growing up, the radio (tuned to WQXR in New York) was always on in both the kitchen and the living room, as my parents were avid classical music lovers.  Also, like so many kids, I was a huge fan of Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes Cartoons – the musical accompaniment to which was loaded with classical music, show tunes and jazz classics. There were also TV shows with musical inspirations – including the amazing jazz piano work of the Vince Guaraldi Trio on ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas’, the sweet soft rock sounds of Simon & Garfunkel in ‘The Graduate’, the 2^nd movement of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony (one of my favorites) on ‘The Huntley–Brinkley Report’, the Monkeys and ‘The Beatles Cartoon’. Without knowing it, these early background soundtracks ordered my brain to appreciate good music.  I remember that my mother won a portable cassette tape deck, a new magical product, so that we could listen to tapes in the car. At first, it was Broadway musical tapes, and later I was able to record early pop tunes songs off the radio (WABC in NY) including the Doors, Chicago, The Jackson 5, Sonny and Cher, Zager and Evans, and Sweet. It may have been pop kitsch at the time, but still beautiful and inspiring. 

My most significant life changing musical experience came in the mid 70’s when my brother asked me to tape a live YES concert off the radio for him.  I listened to the show – I had never heard YES music before or anything in Rock so extraordinary, complex, layered and virtuosic. I became a fan, particularly hooked by the song ‘Your Move’. I had found my sound -Prog Rock – which aligned my appreciation for classical music with a love of rock music. I was inspired by the music on the radio (my station allegiance changed to WNEW in NY), enjoying the music of YES, along with Pink Floyd, ELP, Mike Oldfield, The Who, Neil Young and many more, and started collecting vinyl albums.  In college in Durham, NH, I constantly listened to the radio (WUNH 91.3 FM), including an all-nighter for a John Lennon tribute, sadly, on the night John’s inspiration was silenced.  On college breaks, I worked as a messenger in NYC, where, out on the streets, I was armed with tapes and a Sony Walkman to add to my eclectic urban experience. After college, I roamed the country working on archaeological excavations, often on large crews in the middle of nowhere. Armed only with tape deck boom boxes, we shared music with each other, like DJs for a small isolated audience.

In February 2007, I learned of our local low-powered community radio station, WOOL (Then 100.1 FM).  My friend, Dickie, had a live music show on WOOL – “The B Side”.  Dickie and I were both fans of the Roots-Rock singer-songwriter, guitarist extraordinaire, Dave Alvin, who we saw perform live together at Boccelli’s. Dickie talked me into the joining the station as a DJ.  Highlighted on the first “Border Radio” show was Dave Alvin’s ‘King of California’ (for Dickie) and David Crosby’s ‘Music Is Love’ (for me). The name Border Radio comes from a Dave Alvin penned song about the old super-high wattage radio stations blasting music into the US from Mexico. 

I have dedicated the Border Radio show to the exploration of music from a broad, expanding list of genres centering in Roots-Rock and Americana music. Currently I am grooving to the music from the Boston ‘90s club scene with artists such as Tanya Donnely and Julianna Hatfield, who were first produced at Fort Apache in Boston with my friend and significant WOOL founder, Gary Smith.  While I was not there to experience the ‘90s Boston music scene, this spring, I was able to re-live that music scene when those artists reunited on stage for the Fort Night concerts in honor of Gary.  Today, I am also enjoying a growing appreciation of early country rock inspired by Gram Parsons, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds and many more artists, the list of which is endless and growing.  

Being a WOOL show host has been an honor and a privilege, and, most importantly, a lot of fun. It has allowed me to share my love of music with the community, and let me expand my musical horizons. Music truly is LOVE.