IVANA HITS TWO RADIO FESTS AND RAVES ABOUT A MAJOR WORK OF FICTION

MY MATHEMATICAL MIND: What year is this? I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach, beyond excited about going to see Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson tonight at the Wilshire Theatre (or maybe I’m misdiagnosing butterflies for nausea from last night’s finale of The Bachelor). Regardless, I feel like it’s the late ’70s again, and I’m skipping work to be first in line at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park for Utopia or Joe Jackson, or any of the countless other shows I drove in from Easton, PA. to attend. Arriving at the HFStival this past Saturday before doors opened, surveying the throngs of kids hoping to rush the stage to be as close as possible to their favorite band, reinforced my belief that if you play it, they will come. Radio is still the #1 way to reach a large audience. While everybody seems to be trumpeting the almost certain demise of the PoMo format, WHFS recovers from a near-fatal blow by finding a new home in Baltimore, where, even with truncated hours of music programming, their ratings exceed expectations. The cornerstone of their year, the HFStival, has one of the strongest lineups in its storied history and manages to sell 50,000 tickets! And you’d be surprised how many in the music industry are still completely unaware that WHFS is back on the air. This year’s HFStival highlights were wide and varied: My 10-year-old niece liked They Might Be Giants, while I am still reeling from meeting David Johanson and finally getting a chance to see the New York Dolls. The crowd favorites appeared to be Billy Idol on the main stage and Sum 41 on the side stage, although impending performances by Coldplay and the Foo Fighters kept the crowd from leaving during the inevitable lightning storm. Once my responsibilities as minder to both The Bravery and Interpol (who were commanded to do an encore by the audience chanting “In-ter-pol, In-ter-pol,” but were unable to oblige) ended, I could enjoy the festival through my niece’s eyes. Congratulations to Lisa and Libby at WHFS for pulling off a seemingly insurmountable feat! Can you imagine what it will be like next year, once the station is playing music 24/7 (wishful thinking)!...

This weekend, we’ll all be heading to the O.C. for the annual KROQ Weenie Roast. My “posse” (The Bravery and Interpol) will be there, of course, as will every other band you could hope to see. The addition of Motley Crue to the lineup will undoubtedly reintroduce the backstage brigade of strippers that has been relatively invisible the past few years. Will there be fisticuffs between The Bravery and The Killers? How can KROQ goddess Amy Stevens walk in those heels? Will Carlos from Interpol join the Crue onstage for an encore? How come I can’t name any Motley Crue songs? Will Chris Cornell remember me? Will I be the oldest fan in the pit for Jimmy Eat World? Will Dave Grohl remember me? Should I tell him we went to prom together, and then watch for the panic in his eyes? Will I have time to go to South Coast Plaza before the Bravery plays? There’s a lot to think about before Saturday’s Weenie Roast!…

This week marks a first for indie heroes Spoon: KROX Austin, their hometown station, added one of their songs! It’s crazy that both have been creative forces in the same market for a decade without any prior “intersection” of their artistry, but KROX fearless leader Lynn Barstow has rectified that by adding “I Turn My Camera On,” after making sure we knew that he had supported Spoon during the glory days of K-NACK. The latest Spoon masterpiece, Gimme Fiction, is Merge Records’ first-ever Top 100 debut, with sales of nearly 20k! Spoon’s in-store at Amoeba in L.A. was the store’s second most-crowded in-store since it opened, with at least 800 kids packed into every available bit of space. If you need a copy of the CD, email Christina Rentz at Merge: [email protected]…

Congrats to Howie and Christine at Island on landing Q101 on The Bravery’s “Honest Mistake” this week! This is the only song by a band with a 2005 debut CD currently in the Modern Rock Top 20. The research is insane! Every station, even the “Red” ones, will be playing this band!… Bill Carroll and Howard P. at Virgin scored huge adds on The Gorillaz’ “Feel Good, Inc.”: Q101, WMFS and KROX! Guess that iPod ad is helping, huh?… Jacqueline Saturn and the Epic gang won a hard-fought add on Mudvayne’s “Happy?” from KROQ! It’s funny—Mudvayne played a massive part in KPNT St. Louis selling out 20,000 PointFest tickets in advance, yet the “Blue” states are slow to respond. Can’t we all just get along?… Ted Volk has a big PoMo hit on his hands with Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound,” with early call-out indicating that this song tests HUGE with males. Maybe it isn’t a “Red” Vs. “Blue” format, but a Purple one, where we can all coexist. All Prince radio! Sign me up!…

BAND TO SEE LIVE: Athlete, currently on tour with Snow Patrol. This Astralwerks band will be a meaningful presence in the PoMo format very soon!