Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room? Well, it was kinda like a garage-sale high-speed mixmaster missing its top, slinging a messy slop of surf, hot rod, '60s garage, primal pop, primitive rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, psych and traditional twang since April 1991. Shortly after reaching tbe show's 19th anniversary we decided to retire it. Radio Rumpus Room's final show was 'round Memorial Day, 2010. Ron and Jean continue to fill-in host on whatever KFAI shows will have us.

Getting out in the community: In addition to our weekly radio show we hosted the monthly First Saturday Surf Stomp at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis for the first four years of its five-year run. Featured at this event (also known as Surf Night) was a revolving cast of surf and instrumental rock bands, with twang and vocal groups frequently included as well. We also hosted the Radio Rumpus Room Hootenanny! series at Lee's Liquor Lounge, featuring a mix of bands from the RRR musical melting pot of surf, twang and rock'n'roll. We have been the primary media sponsor of the Minneapolis Messaround traditional hot rod and custom car show for the past three years, and the Twin Cities Riot multi-day garage blowout too. We hosted sold-out Trashmen/Neanderthals/Davie Allan & The Arrows surf'n'garage spectaculars at the Turf Club, and one-off shows at various bars around town as well.

Yeah, it was a lot of work. But we had an awful lot of fun doing it.

Email: You can still contact Ron and Jean right here.

Website: For a very long time we updated our original, standalone Radio Rumpus Room dot com website where we posted playlists going back to 1995, a calendar of upcoming musical events, and my favorite part, the Bird Dance Beat site devoted to the rockin' '60s sounds of the Upper Midwest. We lost our freebie provider (the SuperFord site!) a year or two back though and I didn't renew the domain name.

MySpace: Jeez, I guess our MySpace page, is still out there somewhere. You might remember MySpace -- that's what people did before they discovered that Facebook thingie. As I remember it, we had a lot of interesting stuff up there. Ah, the memories!

Recent Playlists

5/28/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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Well, to paraphrase an old Wisconsin saying: Good gravy, Gertie — it’s the last Radio Rumpus Room! Yep, with tonight’s show we wrapped up just a shade over 19 years of our always-evolving mistake-in-progress. It’s been a great time and we’ve made many great friends, but simply put we figured it was best to give someone else a shot at the airwaves, rather than hunkering down liked we owned the spot. Because, you know, we don’t. (The friends, we guess, we get to keep!) This was a very fun show this week, and all the more terrific with all the friends and fans who came down to participate in this final stomp. Coupled with three of our favorite bands who trotted down to play live in the studio — Cockfight, Nordic Surf, and the Fret Rattles — well, it was pretty much a perfect evening.

Be assured that we won’t be going away; we’re just considering it a lengthy break from the weekly grind (though it never felt like a grind). We both think it would be nice to come back eventually with another regularly scheduled show — one probably feeling a lot like the time-tested Radio Rumpus Room. Meanwhile we’ll be very content to fill-in and sit-in on some of our friends shows, and just keep doin’ what needs doin’ at KFAI. The station deserves your support, and we hope you’ll continue to be there for it.

Thanks again, friends. It’s been a fantastic time, and we expect to see you around!

5/21/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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As this was our second-to-last Radio Rumpus Room ever, we doubled down on the guests. The St. Paul surf’n‘drag combo the 99ers joined us in the studio for a half dozen live ‘uns, and Tony Andreason and Dal Winslow, founding members of the legendary Twin City stomp kings the Trashmen hung out with us to chat and spin some tales. Whoa dad — don’t be a hodad! Check out this show while you can!

ALSO, and VERY IMPORTANT: We want to keep in touch with as many of our Highly Valued Listeners ™ as we can. Please please please pass along your name and email address (or a phone number if that’s the only way) so we can let you know when we sit in or sub for another show, OR when we put together some in-person RRR-type event in the Cities. You can reach us at rumpus2 (at) bitstream.net or snail mail us at Ron and Jean, 3119 37th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406. We’d love to hear from ya!

5/14/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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As we wind down the last shows of our 19 years on-air, it seemed only proper to have on a trio that has been indelibly linked to RRR: Big Surf. Chris and Phil and Steve allowed us to share a stage with them for four-odd years, during the better part of the run of the monthly First Saturday Surf Stomp (aka Surf Night) at the Hexagon Bar. Checkout the half dozen thunderers Surf Stomp’s host band performed in our little concrete- and glass block-lined shack on East Lake Street!

5/7/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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We started the final countdown with tonight’s show: just four more Radio Rumpus Rooms before they dump the whole sorry operation in the gaping maw of The Crusher. Tonight we had as our very special guest, local music legend Michael Yonkers. We’ve had the man responsible for Microminiature Love and many other works — from the Sixties to today — on the show several times before, and we knew we wanted to have him back before the damn program drew to an end.

Also tonight: we divulged the real reason Radio Rumpus Room is leaving the airwaves on May 28. In the words of radio icon Paul Harvey, stay tuned for the rest of the story…

4/30/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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Sixties Culture Wars! The very last ever Radio Rumpus Room theme show, featuring young vs old, left vs right, pothead vs juicer. Broadcast for historical purposes only, a show so divisive that 62 percent of a test audience found its content offensive regardless of what side of the issues they favored!

4/23/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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Why, the Very Idea! (The band, that is.) Thanks to the five tuneful members of the Very Idea for braving the slippery conditions inside the Radio Rumpus Room garage (dang oil spill!) as they serenaded us with a half-dozen songs during tonight’s show. It was a blast, folks! Check it out in the RRR archives (right here) when you make the time. Worth it!

And next week, Friday, April 30: our long-promised Sixties Culture Wars extravaganza. Guaranteed something to offend everyone with this one: juicer and pothead, young and old, left-wing commie bombthrower and right-wing caveman misanthrope alike!

4/16/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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Cockfight! As down’n‘dirty as its namesake and half-again as tuneful! We were proud to have these boy-men back in the Radio Rumpus Room garage for another clamor-fest. Check’em out in the archives through April 30 (May 7 if we’re lucky).

4/9/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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Thanks to our Highly Valued Listeners, Radio Rumpus Room blew past all previous show best records in KFAI’s Spring 2010 Pledge Drive. It was our last membership drive on RRR, and both of us dearly appreciate the support for KFAI Fresh Air Radio (and our darn show too)!

— Ron and Jean

4/2/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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We had a great first pledge show, which encourages us that KFAI will make its goal for the Spring 2010 drive. Since we were unable to do our usual mid-winter Day The Surf Stood Still show, and will not be around to do Hot Rods To Hell in mid-June, we combined both for a surf’n‘drag-themed pledge show tonight. Dig it!

If you enjoy listening to Radio Rumpus Room, and support the kind of community radio station that makes programs like this possible, PLEASE take the time to go to the KFAI website (www.kfai.org) by clicking on the logo above. You can pledge using your credit card; it’s a secure site. And while you’re at it, it’s not going to hurt if you indicate that you’re a supporter of this darn program. Thanks, Highly Valued Listener! — Ron and Jean

P.S. Next week: Our final edition of Big Beat Badger Blowout — the too-rarely heard rockin’ sounds of ’60s Wisconsin.

3/26/2010 Radio Rumpus Room

Radio Rumpus Room

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This week’s Ripped from Today’s Headlines (or otherwise removed with an industrial cutting tool) segment, as recounted recently in the Southampton (England) Daily Echo:

HED: Southampton man cut free after getting penis stuck in steel pipe

A man who got his genitals stuck in a steel pipe had to be cut free by eight firefighters using an industrial cutting tool. The heavy-duty cutting gear had to be used to remove the three-inch-long hollow pipe after medics were unable to release it. The painstaking operation took around an hour.

The drama began after the man took himself to the ermergency room at the local general hospital. Restricted blood flow had left the man in a state of arousal, and unable to remove the pipe. A crew of firefighters was called, who arrived with specialized equipment. An industrial cutting wheel with a four-and-a-half-inch rotary disc was used to slice open the stainless steel pipe.

The man, in his thirties, offered no explanation for his predicament but was said to be quite concerned and anxious. He was given an anaesthetic prior to the procedure.

Fire crew manager Adrian Johnson said, It was a very delicate operation. We did not want anything heating up. The person who did it deserves a commendation for his nerve and steady hand. Meanwhile, watch manager Greg Garrett added, I’ve only come across this type of thing three or four times in my 17 years as a firefighter. It’s not a daily occurrence.

True story!

DJs:

Jean Silverberg

Ron Thums

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