ShareThisBy CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Like the "Sopranos" scene where he and Adriana went for a ride, Little Steven Van Zandt got behind the wheel of his own FM radio show three years ago with vengeance in mind.
"I don't know how we got there, but there was a radio format for every kind of music except new, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll," the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band said by phone from New York recently.
Satellite and nonprofit radio outlets have broadened formats since then, but you still won't find a cooler two hours of straight-ahead rock 'n' roll on the radio than "Little Steven's Underground Garage."
Van Zandt's syndicated show ties together rockabilly from the '50s, doo-wop and garage-rock from the '60s, punk from the '70s and bands from today that echo those sounds. Between songs, Van Zandt offers wisecracks, monologues and heartfelt raves that are part Alan Freed, part Lester Bangs and part Silvio, his character on HBO's "The Sopranos."
With the no-duh mission statement that "this kind of music sounds best live," Van Zandt and his radio team have put together the Little Steven's Underground Garage Tour, featuring '60s hitmakers the Zombies, '90s retro-fuzz band the Woggles and modern noisemakers Mooney Suzuki and the Gore Gore Girls.
"Like the radio show, we try to have bands from different decades at our concerts," Van Zandt said, also referring to his annual Underground Garage festival in New York.
The tour wouldn't have happened without the on-air success of "Underground Garage." Now one of the top syndicated music shows in the country, it airs on 200 stations to a million-plus listeners each week.
Not surprisingly, many other rock legends have been wooed into doing their own radio shows since Van Zandt hit the air. The most notable include Sex Pistol Steve Jones, Tom Petty and even Bob Dylan, who's surprisingly chatty on his XM satellite series.
"I absolutely love his show," Van Zandt said with a laugh. "He took my idea of having a theme each week, but where I sort of just use my theme loosely, he really sticks to it.
"I think those of us who've made the music provide a different perspective on it. We aren't radio pros, but we help to loosen things up."
Van Zandt quickly found out that doing radio is real work. A year into it, he struggled to fit his broadcasts in around E Street Band tours and "Sopranos" shoots.
"Sometimes it's hard, but then it's never that hard to make room for the things you love," he said. "Even on the road with Bruce, we put in ISDN lines in the hotel rooms and sometimes I'll do the show at 2 in the morning after a show."
Might an E Street Band tour or album sessions be a problem again anytime soon?
"We've talked, but honestly nothing's serious yet," he said. "You know, we found out with the last album how extremely efficient we work together. That whole record took seven weeks from beginning to mix, so with that in mind, I wouldn't rule out something in '07."
Next year is definitely the last for "The Sopranos," though. The final eight episodes are expected in the spring. Van Zandt said, "I'll miss it as much as the fans will," but he doesn't plan to keep on acting.
"I've fired every agent in town, so probably not," he cracked. "Those guys are the most fraudulent, lazy, incompetent people in show business. I work for a living, you know? They should try it."
So many battles, so little time.
(Contact Chris Riemenschneider at chrisr(at)startribune.com)
