Programmer Profile

Smitty

The Show

A rockin', stompin' tour through the blues, rock and edgy folk with world beat and jazz accents. No room for the esoteric here.

About Smitty

As an avid music fan who organizes much of my social life around musical events I've had countless festivals and concerts light up my life over the years. When not attending live shows I can often be found at the computer reviewing cds for various regional and national publications including the West Michigan Blues Society, the Capital Area Blues Society (Lansing), The Kalamazoo Valley Blues Association, the Jazz & Blues Reporter and right here at WYCE. In addition to reviewing cds, I've penned feature stories and blues artist interviews with the likes of B.B. King, Roomful of Blues, Buddy Guy, Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Mitch Woods, Catfish Keith, Sherman Robertson, Candye Kane, Liz Mandville Greeson and a host of others for these publications as well as Blues Revue Magazine and Blues Access Magazine. I recently authored a feature about the 2105 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival which can be found in the WMBS archives. While the music side of my life can be a bit sedentary, I take up the slack with long distance racing (30 marathons including 14 consecutive Bostons, 33 River Banks, etc) and downhill skiing. In addition to my jones for all things musical, I've got a bit of wanderlust. I've had the great good fortune of travelling to all 50 states and parts of Europe with my family (there were some concerts involved!) My advice: Skip the freeways, throw away the maps and take every interesting back road that catches your attention. There's still plenty of interesting life to be experienced away from the commerical hub-bub of the tourist traps. When not engaged in one of my hobbies, I crank away at the day job (lawyer) and am on various community boards, like the Grand Rapids Cable Television Advisory Forum, where I can pursue my goal of insuring access to the media by all citizens rather than just the big corporations, the wealthy and the well connected. Oh yeah, I am a big fan of cajun cooking, Southern style BBQ and micro-brews. Let's throw some crawfish in a pot, grab a cold beer and crank up an old Blasters disc!!

Favorite Albums

Wow, this is tough. Not in any order: Billy Bacon and The Forbidden Pigs- Una Mas Cervasa Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers- One Hour Mama Michael Franti & Spearhead- Yell Fire Robert Gordon - Robert Gordon featuring Link Wray Muddy Waters- Hard Again Shelby Lynne- I am Shelby Lynne The Iguanas- The Iguanas Bob Marley- Exodus Delbert McClinton- Live from Austin John Hiatt- Bring the Family Lyle Lovett- Pontiac Lucinda Williams- Car Wheels on a Gravel Road The Blasters- Going Home- Live Michelle Shocked- Short, Sharp, Shocked Roomful of Blues- Turn it on, Turn it Up Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers- Live at BB King's Dave Alvin- Interstate City Zachary Richard- Live in Montreal Springsteen & the E Street Band- Live Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes- Havin' a Party Dylan- Live at Budokan Joe Ely- Live from Antone's Gaelic Storm- Special Reserve Little Feat- Waiting for Columbus Jimmy Buffett- Meet Me in Margaritaville Aerosmith- Get Your Wings The Stones- Sticky Fingers The Who- Who's Next Zeppelin- Vol 4 Tom Petty- Damn the Torpedos

Playlist Archive