It was a a heartbreakingly sweet Christmas Eve as I snuggled in bed with my little son waiting for Santa. We couldn't fall asleep, and who in the world could? For God's sake, Santa Claus himself would be coming to our house that very night! With all the Reindeer and the Sled and the Presents? He's only the biggest pop icon the world has ever known-way bigger than Elvis! Fall asleep? 

That'd be like if someone said to me, "Martha, go to sleep-quickly-right now, because as soon as you do...all four Beatles are going to get together right downstairs in your living room. They're gonna hang out, sit on your own couch, eat some snacks, and then hit the road before you wake up. So hurry up and get some sleep!" 

It was an almost impossible task but we must have dozed off, I swear it was just for one second, 'cause sure enough Santa snuck in during that blink of an eye. Uncanny!

I wondered, as we gazed out at the stars, if this would be the last year I'd be able to be able to breathe in that anticipation. Talk at length about the sleigh, where the reindeer might land, would Santa like the cookies, remember to bring the carrots to Blitzen and the boys...what would happen if he forgot to go to someone's house, or if he left a present back up in the North Pole?

I begged my consciousness to remember each question, the feel of the small hand enfolded in mine, and every thread of the Puppy Pirate pajamas. It was so beautiful it almost hurt. 

Yes I blogged! This is part of my New Year's Resolution. Ride my bicycle and blog. And fix my website so I can put in a podcast feature. I'm shocked to report that almost 20,000 people visited my website this year. 19,403 to be exact. Thank you! I love that the internet has allowed all of us to keep in touch, all of us who remember the name of the girl who was dancing on the sand. 

I hope you all are having a happy and safe holiday, and are planning to hit 2009 with your best shot. I'll write again soon! And if I don't you can bug me about not keeping up with my New Year's Resolution!!!

xoxoxoxo,

Martha 

Oh dear god it's been ages since I've updated my site. I keep getting snared in the "well I'm gonna completely re-do it so why bother" trap, but then I never have time to "completely re-do" and then no blogs. But today is the day I'm making it happen!

Today I'll be working on MARTHA QUINN'S LIKE, TOTALLY AWESOME, RAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL.  It'll air on Sirius XM December 20th. First of all, exciting to hardcore 80's fans, I found Joe "King" Carrasco's Party Christmas! I'm excited to have that chestnut.

I've also tracked down "Karma", the guy who sang Christmas in Malibu that I've played for the past few years during the holidays. Turns out he's Karma Auger, son of Brian Auger, who is a rock and roll forefather. He was in the British Blues scene with young Rod Stewart, Elton John, Long John Baldry, among others. So I wrote to Brian (god bless the internet) found Karma, and he's coming in to talk about that surfin' Christmas classic in the next few days, in time for the special! AND The Bangles, Naked Eyes, and John Oates came out to Malibu to our Radiobu studios and did in-studio Christmas songs. Berlin's Terri Nunn is coming in tomorrow and we'll slam that into the show as well. Here's the press release I wrote for the extravaganza:

On December 20th, Sirius XM will debut MARTHA QUINN'S LIKE, TOTALLY AWESOME, RAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL at 9pm EST, 6pm PT on 80's on 8. 

From her Radiobu Studios in Malibu, California, Martha will be rockin' around her Radiobu Christmas tree with exclusive in-studio Radiobu performances by Naked Eyes, Berlin, John Oates, and The Bangles!

Tis the season for Christmas in Malibu, and Martha will give the gift of bodacious 80's holiday classics from way cool 80's on 8 artists like Billy Squier, Run DMC,  Joe "King" Carrasco, Eurythmics, Bon Jovi, and Pat Benatar to the Sirius XM 80's On 8 listeners.

For all card-carrying members of the Molly Ringwald fan club, grab your leg warmers, cut-up sweatshirts, and jellies, and tune in to MARTHA QUINN'S LIKE, TOTALLY AWESOME, RAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL December 20th at 9pm EST, 6pm PT on Sirius XM's 80's on 8.

Off to the studio, but now I'm back. At least until I start thinking, "well, I'm going to overhaul the whole site so I may as well wait..."

Missed you!
xoxoxo, Martha 

My brother-in-law sent me this e. He's working hard for a great cause, thought I'd share.  


What's up friends, family, fellow lovers of animals,



First of all, sorry if you hate mass emails. You know this isn't like me.

Second: Please read this anyways. Es muy importante. 



The 2008 Walk for Farm Animals is fast approaching, and I've received the dubious honor of being the chief coordinator of New York City events. This annual event has been taking place in Central Park for nearly 10 years, and this year is gonna be the best yet.



The Walk is a fund and awareness raising event for Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. They do vital work sheltering and advocating for abused farm animals. Farm Sanctuary operates the two largest farm animal shelters in the nation, and they also have some amazing campaigns to eliminate the worst practices in animal agriculture. Right now, they're working hard to ensure the passage of Proposition 2 in California, which would ban several of the most cruel aspects of factory farming in the state. To learn more about this amazing organization, please see www.farmsanctuary.org.



This year's Walk, scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 28th at noon and beginning at Merchant's Gate in Columbus Circle, will include a walk around beautiful Central Park with tons of outreach opportunities, and then end back at the Circle, where there will be live music (afrobeat allstars Shokazoba and indie songstress Bess Rogers), delicious (and free!) vegan food (from the Groovy Baker), appearances by leaders in the animal protection movement (including Princess Superstar, Vegan Ironman champion Brendan Frazier, Senator Liz Kreuger and Farm Sanctuary Executive Director Jeff Lydon), and raffles for some incredible prizes. In short: this is going to be awesome. 



If you are interested in walking with me, you can learn more at: 

www.walkforfarmanimals.org



and registering at 

www.firstgiving.com/farmsanctuary.



But here's the meat (okay, bad pun) of why I'm writing you: if you can't make it but still want to support Farm Sanctuary, it would be great if you could sponsor me by going to my donations page:
www.firstgiving.com/pigasus.
 


Thanks so much for your support! Please forward this far and wide to any animal lovers you may know!



All my love,
Cody

It was 27 years ago...

Around 6:30 pm August 1, 1891, we all, that the first MTV staff, crew, execs, and VJ's, climbed onto a school bus  and drove to a little restaurant in Fort Lee, New Jersey, The Loft.  A school bus. Can you imagine? This is what we all took to the MTV launch. The Loft was chosen because it was the only restaurant we could find in the NYC vicinity who's cable company was taking a chance on adding this crazy new basic cable service called MTV. 

To honor the occasion, Jordan and I packed our hour with as many of the first videos as we could, we got to number 15. It's funny 'cause out of 15 it's the second Rod Stewart video. We didn't have many videos back then to when a top artist had more than one they were in heavy rotation!

One of my favorite tracks in the hour is "Little Susie's On The Up" by PhD fronted by Scottish singer Jim Diamond. It's a steamrolling old-school (and I'm talking one-room schoolhouse!) rock track. The only copy we could find was pretty poor quality but we cleaned it up as best we could, and shortened it a bit so it wasn't excruciating, but since we did include it, we have an official first 15!

Then I got the idea to try to track down Geoff Downes, keyboard player for, not just Yes and Asia, but for the Buggles. He called me from his iPhone in England. The line is a bit rough, but it's worth it to hear him share what goes through his mind when he hears "Video Killed The Radio Star" today, and what it was like for them back then to find themselves at the epicenter of the video music revolution.

August 1st always sees a flurry of MTV staffers e-mails, and here's the one I sent out. It's pretty sappy but I'll run it by ya anyway. I should mention that this was in response to one of the crew remembering they used to have Martini's with their hamburgers at the Sam's, the diner on our little corner of Hell's Kitchen.

What??? Who was drinking Martini's??? 



Remember that day we had no audio everybody had to come back and do all our segments
again? It's ALL MAKING SENSE NOW!!!



I can't believe it. 27 years ago we were on the school bus, heading out to Fort
Lee NJ. Jesus. I can remember being in that dark little basement watching the  blast-off,
all of us holding our breaths, "is this really going to happen?"  It was monumental to me, and I was a newcomer, having graduated from NYU just a few weeks before. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the crew who'd been envisioning MTV for so long. 
History can't repeat a moment like that. There can be more, but that one stands
tall as one of the greats. The thing I love about it the most is the thread of togetherness
it wove through us all.



Ah, getting all sentimental out here in Malibu. Sure wish I was on 33rd and 10th for
 ONE OF THOSE MARTINI'S!

xoxoxoxoxo, Quinski

You'll hear in the Bret Michaels show I ask him, "What was the last thing you shot?" In case you're wondering how I came up with such a random question, I'd read this interview in PR.com where the subject of hunting came up, and it seemed pretty interesting: 

Bret Michaels: I'm an animal freak lover!! I do not kill any animal! However I do love to shoot. I grew up as a kid in Pennsylvania learning to hunt, and I just decided for myself very early that it was not for me. I love animals and I'd rather save them then kill them.



PR.com: Especially for sport. It doesn't make any sense.



Bret Michaels: Yeah, it didn't for me. I'm like, "Hell, we got plenty of hamburger meat. Why do we have to kill this bear???" 

So he told me about his archery a la Ted Nugent, and how, though he loves to have "fun with his guns", he doesn't hunt anymore. 

Closing the hour I said, "This labor of love has been a Radiobu production."  I threw the "labor of love" phrase in because when we put together our tribute shows, that's truly what it feels like. We craft and weave and sculpt, all to present everyone in the best possible light. The featured artist, me, and all the bands who's music we're privileged to play. We call the shows our "sonic symphonies." I hope you enjoy the Bret show as much as we enjoyed making it. (btw I believe I stole that line from one of the Beatles, they said it on one of their Christmas records, referring to all the albums they'd released in the past year.) xoxoxo, Martha

p.s. It was Paul, god bless the internet. Check it out: http://www.thebeatles.com.hk/lyrics/lyrics.asp?lyTitle=Another+Beatles+Christmas+Record 

p.p.s. Have you ever heard Coldplay's song, "Yellow?" My husband thinks everyone knows it but I'd never heard it. Just curious...

p.p.p.s. Miss you already! xoxoxoxo, Martha 

Sorry I didn't write sooner, right after Curt left I threw my suitcase into the car and dashed to the airport.

Curt was fantastic, and he and his band sounded like angels. Hearing Curt Smith sing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" in our humble little studio felt like baptizing our new baby. I was so emotional! We worked night and day the past year and a half, putting all our emotion (and quite a bit of our cash) into building our  Radiobu studios, and that moment made me feel like it was all worth it. And we get to share it with you! We'll have 3 live songs in the Curt Smith show, which will air in August. I'll let you know. xoxo, Martha

This weekend we're airing our special, Martha Quinn Presents...Bret Michaels. And what a great weekend to do it, he just announced he's doing Rock of Love 3!

I posted a link over in the clicks section to Joe "Def Leppard" Elliot putting down some of the Sunset Strip bands, and then you can check out Bret Michaels' response. I like it because he gets a bit gritty and emotional. That clip gave me a sense of him as  "kickin' ass and takin' names" Rockstar, more than his soft-spoken, totally together-man interviews do. I like it. Bring it on! Though I do agree with his predominantly high-road stance of not being derogatory about other people's music, and he even went on to say he liked a bunch of Def Lep tunes. That was a good touch. 

We played a few tracks from his new album, Rock My World, as well as some fave Poison tracks. I always love to hear about the brotherhood of musicians coming up through a similar time, and he shares with me a bit about Axl and Motley and Van Halen.

You know how I said I'm so not calm, cool, and collected? Case in point!

Curt Smith from Tears For Fears is HERE at our Radiobu studios RIGHT NOW! He was just practicing and sang "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" with his band. I was freaking out. I ducked out using the "I'm gonna go check on the kids" excuse and ran in to write to you.

I was meditating before, saying to myself, "find the spot deep inside that stays calm no matter what's happening on the outside. Like the bottom of the ocean remains undisturbed regardless of the raging storms on the surface." I better get back out to the studio. I'll keep you posted. xoxoxoxoxo, Martha 

Hi! We're working on a bunch of killer shows for the upcoming weeks on Martha Quinn Presents. At this very moment I'm sitting in my studio working on the Bret Michaels special. It was a little crazy because he was scheduled to come in at 11:30 last Friday morning, and all of a sudden, at 10:30, Jordan came running into the house saying, Bret's coming now! I was still in my Pilates pants!

And I'm not calm, cool and collected, not even close. I still feel like jumping up and down when a guy like Bret makes time in his schedule to appear on my show. I wish I would get jaded already. I wish I'd be like, oh ho hum, he's just a guy, what's the big deal? Instead I'm running around the house all giddy, "Yeay, Bret Michaels is coming!" You can hear me singing "Nothing But a Good Time" 24/7...and I get nervous! Believe me if I sound like I'm just hangin', that's an act! My heart is pounding!

He said something so funny about his early look-he said he thought that spandex pants tucked into cowboy boots was a look that would never go away. Ha ha! That's how I feel about flare jeans and a t-shirt. That's my look and I'm sticking with it.  

And then Curt "Tears For Fears" Smith is coming in with his band to perform a few songs, some solo, some TFF. He's got a new album, Halfway, Pleased, AND he just became a U.S. citizen.  That's happening in just a few days so if anyone has any last minute questions for Curt, send 'em in and I'll ask him for you. 

xoxoxo, Martha 

I'm so excited for you to hear this weekend's Night Ranger show. It was really a blast because the guys, Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy, and Brad Gillis, were extremely funny. And they sound amazing! We open the show with a piece of "Sister Christian" they were performing at Sirius, then we hit the acoustic version from the new album Hole In The Sun. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. xoxo, Martha

That's right, I've been taken over by a Mommy Pod. It's the only explanation. Otherwise how could I even think to say, "Listen Mister, if you need gas in your 'Get-It-Together tank', you might need to go take a nap."

Even as I was forming the phrase "Get-It-Together tank" I was groaning. Who in the world could be talking? The little hipster from Greenwich Village who would scoff at Tipper Gore for claiming parents needed to be forewarned if their kids were being exposed to explicit or violent lyrics? Ha. Now look at me. I think Sponge Bob is too negative.

Pod fer sher. 

I just got my computer back so I can finally do some updating!

I've been dying to ask you-How'd you like the Spinal Tap show??? We worked our fingers to bloody stumps on that one. Can you believe I got "Artie Fufkin" to make an appearance, as well as John "Asia" Wetton, Cliff "AC/DC" Williams, and Curt "Tears For Fears" Smith? Not to mention Derek "Spinal Tap" Smalls!

Write to me ASAP and tell me what you thought!

Right now we're putting together a Night Ranger special. They have a new record coming out July 1st called Hole In The Sun to celebrate their 25th anniversary. 

Did you hear about the beach scuffle between the paparazzi and the surfers? I know some parents who were just hanging out with their kids and all of a sudden this angry mob of photogs came along trampling over everyone to get a shot of Matthew McConaughey surfing. They said it was frightening for the kids, and I felt bad for Matthew actually. 

All for now! xoxo, Martha  

So Jennifer Lopez has declared that "You read and decide what's best" for kids, and she's come to the conclusion that what's best for these twins that she went through tons of IVF treatments for... is formula. That's funny, even the formula companies say, "breast is best." What the hell is she reading? What's the next chapter in this book she's been basing her decisions on, "A Smoke A Day Keeps The Doctor Away???" 

One day I’m gonna write a book called “Believe Me You Don’t Want to Bottle-Feed” and I’m gonna dedicate it to J-Lo. And I'm not going to yammer on about how breastfed babies have less ear infections, hospital admissions, rashes, allergies, and higher IQ’s. I won't even mention breastfeeding moms have significantly less chance of getting post-partum depression and rheumatoid arthritis.

I’m going to talk about what a giant pain it is to bottle feed. Believe me I know, I’ve done both. I'll share with readers how, at night, bottle feeding moms  have to get up, get out of bed, go to the kitchen,  get the bottle ready, warm it up, and bring it back to the kid who by now is near hysterical. All this instead of just (pop) you’re docked and ready to go. Whenever you leave the house, you’ve got to bring tons of bottles and nipples (in addition your own),  containers of formula, and some people even like to bring portable bottle warmers to plug into the car lighters. If you use powdered formula, then you have to bring all that crappola but now add to it a bunch of bottled water.

If you're traveling out of town, pack all the bottles, nipples, formula, and now stuff into your suitcase bottle brushes, dishwashing liquid, a big bowl for washing the bottles cause hotel sinks are gross, the bottle drying rack, and oh yeah, a warmer that plugs into a socket.  If you’re pumping, add to the previous list your pump, tubing, breast suction cups, the little valves, bottles, a cooler, and lots of zip-loc baggies to run around the hotel and find the ice machines with. If you’re on a plane you have to pray you don’t get delayed beyond what you have formula for or you'll have a screaming kid and a plane-full of dirty looks. What if there’s an earthquake or some other natural disaster? Better have weeks of extra formula stashed away or you’ll be the first one throwing a rock through the nearest grocery store window.

When you’re nursing it’s just, “You bring the diaper bag, I’ll bring the breasts, let’s go.” Plane delays? No problem, I've got my secret weapons. Natural disaster? Ready-made emergency kit right here in my t-shirt. And guess what, it's already warmed up and sterilized.

Gotta go, kid just came in and said, "Mom I'm hungry."

I really hope you all enjoy this week's show with Brent Spiner, the actor who played the android Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's hilarious, and I recruited a Trekkie from an e-mail, and I have my college buddy, Hugh Fink (creator of SNL's Hollywood Minute with David Spade, and later Spade's Comedy Central show) to give an analysis of who's higher on the celebrity food chain: Martha Quinn original MTV VJ, or Brent Spiner aka Data. It's pretty funny. Hugh has the best line of the hour when he asks, "Who doesn't love Re-Run?" I don't know why but it cracks me up every time I hear it.  xoxoxoxo, Martha

...but I would gladly give it up to be human." -Lieutenant Commander Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Brent Spiner, the actor who breathed life into everybody's favorite android will be coming into the Martha Quinn Presents studio to talk about his new CD, Dreamland. Brent had the idea to string together a bunch of his favorite classic American standards with a whole "boy meets girl" story. Listening to it is like sitting in a Broadway show with your eyes closed. He hooked up with Fiona Apple's sister, Maude Maggart, to be his female "co-star" and also recruited Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill, to be one of the "actors". Wow. Data and Luke Skywalker? Where's ET when you need him???

We've got an hour, so I'm sure we'll get to some 80's, and maybe a little ST:TNG, if I should be so bold as to go there.

I've posted a few Brent Spiner links so you can check out what his new CD is all about, remember him as Data, and get a feel for how frikkin' funny the guy is. I'm thinking about doing a segment of listener questions so if you've got a good one for Brent, beam it over. If it's not too much tribble, that is!  xoxo, Martha

Brent Spiner
http://www.therealbrentspiner.com/

While buying some organic apples online, I thought to myself, "I hope I'm still alive by the time my credit card expires." I tell ya I'm one non-stop party.

On another note, we'll be having a very special guest in the next few weeks.  The legendary Brent Spiner has agreed to mind meld with me on Martha Quinn Presents Gods of the Big 80's. 

That's right Klingons and Romulans, Tribbles and Trekkies, Brent Spiner is the actor who portrayed android Lieutenant Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. We might have to arm wrestle for 80's icon status.

Songs I thought would be great for that galactic hour are:

• 
She Blinded Me With Science
• Major Tom Rapture ("man from Mars")
• The Final Countdown (Europe) 
• Walking On The Moon
• Some UFO song
• Something from ET, also from Close Encounters  

Sorry if this list isn't perfect, I'm a doctor, not a DJ! ha ha ha.

Feel free to send in song suggestions and QUESTIONS for DATA! Of course it's all via this space-age technology called the internet. Beam me up! xoxoxo, M

Van Halen's tour is cancelled??? I've put up a TMZ link where they're claiming it's true. Apparently Eddie is having "issues" and he's been out of it lately and playing "atrociously" Of course, Eddie playing horribly is still better than anybody else. I really hope this is a rumor 'cause if it's for real, that would really suck for anybody with tickets to these shows:

Mar. 5 US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH
Mar. 7 RBC Center, Raleigh, NC
Mar. 9 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, MD

Mar. 11 Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH

Mar. 13 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ
Mar. 17 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Mar. 19 Giant Center, Hershey, PA
Mar. 21 Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
Mar. 24 Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI

Mar. 26 Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT

Mar. 28 Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ

Mar. 30 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO

Apr. 1 Value City Arena, Columbus, OH

Apr. 3 Allstate Arena, Chicago, IL

Apr. 5 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

Apr. 7 Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

Where have all the good times gone?

Speaking of not lasting, I met a guy tonight who worked at Mtv in 1987. He said he always wishes he'd gotten there earlier for the glory years. I told him I recently saw a stack of polaroids from those early days, and we all looked so earnest and happy. We were rebels with a cause because everyone, the advertisers, the record companies, the press, they all said we'd never last.

And you know what this guy said to me? He said, "But MTV didn't last."

I thought that was pretty brilliant. The MTV that MTV set out to be didn't last. It evolved to Real Worlds and Hills and whatever else. The three letters, "MTV" are still there, but MTV Music Television is no more. 

To: Martha Quinn
Subject: Flash in the Pan



HELP. Do you remember a band called "Flash in the Pan"?  They used to play them on the local "album rock" station back around 1980.  I can find no trace of their existence. According to my cloudy, yet occasionally accurate memory their music was ahead of their time due to the different way they presented their lyrics.  It was like their lyrics
used a staggered timing that bordered on a rock-rap theme with a hint of pre-new wave.  Seems like "walking in the rain" was one of their songs.



Also, Do you have any idea where can I find a recording of an obscure song from 1980 or 81.  It's "Eugene" by Crazy Joe and His Variable Speed Band?  I can't find it anywhere.  If you can't help me, then I guess I have to accept the fact that it's gone into obscure music oblivion! 



Michael, Lexington, Tennessee




Dear Michael, 



Yeah, no kidding.  I have one of those cloudy yet occasionally accurate memories too!



Your mind was right about the band doing "Walking in the Rain." Accurate! But the band name? Partly cloudy. They were actually called Flash AND The Pan. They're from Australia, and it was Malcolm and Angus "AC/DC" Young's brother, George. He and his partner were also the core of the Easybeats.



Glad I could solve that mystery for you, 'cause you solved one for me! I swear, months ago, I got an e-mail regarding that song "Eugene" and my mind was cloudy to the point of thundershowers 'cause I couldn't for the life of me figure out who did it. It was driving me nuts! Crazy Joe and His Variable Speed Band.Thank you!!!



I couldn't find a version anywhere, either. I'd love one for my show! Did you try Limewire? 



Thank you so much for writing! xoxoxo, Martha


Dear Martha, I've tried limewire and no luck with Eugene...It's out there somewhere though and sooner or later I'll dig it
up on album at some yard sale or 2nd hand store.  When I do, I'll share with you!!



Thanks! 
Mike

We did it, we put the Listener's Choice Extravaganza together, it was really fun. Thank you so much to everyone who sent song choices. xoxoxo, Martha

btw-I'm putting together the Listener's Choice hour right now as we speak. If you e me tonight or tomorrow morning I can probably get your song on. xoxoxoxo, martha