The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. Willie Wisely Trio - Kiss Her And Make It Right Throwback Suburbia - Give And Take Blake Jones & The Trike Shop - Sun Up (unplugged) Honeychain - Lucky One Braam Brothers - Ur Song Jimmy Catlett - Spring Is Coming On Felsen - Felsen's Gonna Save You Boomchick - TGTW The Handcuffs - Dirty Glitter Skip Heller - The Man...
Jan 22, 2013
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. John York - You Just Love Cocaine A Band Called Mithras - The Wayback Machine Kat Jones - One More Second Chance The Taters - Right B4 My Eyes Sexfresh - Dilemma Ruby Free - Bongos And Beards Maxi Dunn - Change The Record Tom Alford - Wasp Lands On Sunflower Jet Electro - Buckle Up Kate Burkart - Cross The Street Lannie ...
Jan 08, 2013
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. Rob Bonfiglio - React The Artist and Me - FadedGiants Kevin Seconds - Forever Try Sue Leonard - Bye Baby Felsen - Don't Turn Your Back On Me Today Melissa Phillips - Centralia Vegas With Randolph - Be The One Lannie Flowers - Another Weekend Maple Mars - Christmastime In The City Throwback Suburbia - Caroline The Corner ...
Dec 18, 2012
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. Kevin Seconds - The Elements And You Popdudes - Desperation Time Lindy LaFontaine - Free To Breathe Felsen - Mary You Could Be Happy The Corner Laughers - 8:18 Kat Jones - He's The One I Need The Most Vinnie Zummo - Cant You See Nelson Bragg - She Used To Love Me Skip Heller - The Man I Used To Be Sal Valentino - Looking...
Dec 04, 2012
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. The Handcuffs - Baby I Love You Melissa Phillips - Centralia Throwback Suburbia - Give And Take A Band Called Mithras - Call Out The Captain The Corner Laughers - Bells Of El Camino Sue Leonard - Bye Baby Felsen - Waterfall Blake Jones & The Trike Shop - Sun Up (unplugged) The Dashing Suns - Sally Moore Onward Chario...
Nov 20, 2012
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. Braam Brothers - Hail Violet Kevin Seconds - Forever Try Sexfresh - Dilemma The Scratch - Homely Crackle The Whiskey Saints - Every Little Thing The Corner Laughers - Chicken Bingo Lannie Flowers - Give Me Another Chance Kate Burkart - Cross The Street Three Minute Tease - Thanks for Lifting My Leg Throwback Suburbia - C...
Oct 23, 2012
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. The Artist & Me - Faded Giants Kat Jones - The Night Is A Veil Lannie Flowers - Give Me a Chance Rose Reiter - Where You Are Kevin Seconds - The Elements And You Poplord - Save the Monkey Lindy LaFontaine - Harmonics Dead Heart Bloom - Sentimental Cures Vegas With Randolph - She Does It For Me The Corner Laughers - (...
Oct 09, 2012
The California Diner brings you some of the finest American indie music available. Chef Mike Lidskin serves up these musical treats from his home base of Sacramento, California. Mad Tea Party - Blues Slip In Rich McCulley - Far From My Angel Katelyn Berreth - The First Time Nelson Bragg - I'm In No Mood Allen Clapp & his Orchestra - Treeline Laurie Biagini - The California Quake The Handcuffs - This is a Test Skip Heller - The Man I Used To Be Sparklejet - The World Before Longitude Emily Zu...
Sep 25, 2012
Chef Mike is back with the all new California Diner! Its an hour of hot freshly made tunes all the way from California. Allyson Seconds - Dig My Pig The Taters - Such A Good Day Vegas With Randolph - Summertime Nelson Bragg - She Used To Love Me Blake Jones & The Trike Shop - Sun Up (unplugged version) Emily Zuzik Band - Motels Lannie Flowers - Give Me Another Chance The Corner Laughers - The Perfect Weather Debora Iyall - A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing) Jet Electro - For Sale By Ow...
Sep 11, 2012
Chef Mike is back with the all new California Diner! Its an hour of hot freshly made tunes all the way from California. Nelson Bragg - Welcome To Nowhereville David Houston and String Theory - Everybody Knows But You Throwback Suburbia - Give And Take The Corner Laughers - (Now That I Have You I'm) Bored Skip Heller - Fools Like Me Ruby Free - Bongos And Beards A Band Called Mithras - I Know What I Know Maxi Dunn - Make It Better Blake Jones and Tom Magill - Life Turns On A Dime Felsen - Mary Yo...
Sep 04, 2012
Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you with a title like that--”Not-so-grand finale”. What a horrendous name--I mean that word--”finale”--it sounds so...final. So here’s the scoop. Nearly three years ago, I sent a fan letter to a presenter whose radio show I heard, and really liked. I thought this guy did a bang up job with his show. It was one of the most exciting hours of radio I’d heard in a great while. I just wanted to tell him “thanks, great job”. That presenter turned out to be none other than...
Apr 17, 2012
Well, your old Chef Mike doesn’t have a lot of new news this week. As we say here in the States, “I got nothin’!”. Well, not really “nothin’”, poor grammar notwithstanding. I’ve simply got two hours of the finest indie music available for your ears. This week is spring break, the time that people take off before Easter. And since it is, I’m going to give you a bit of a break from my usual carrying-on. I just want to let you know that there is a whole bunch of great new music this week, including...
Apr 03, 2012
Maxi Dunn - How Was I To Know? Last Breath - It's My Time The Vinyl Junkies - Gangs Maple Mars - Beautiful Mess The Corner Laughers - Bells Of El Camino The Mike Brown Band - Pay Patrick Campbell-Lyons - All I Do Is For You Natalie Cortez & The Ultraviolets - Three Times Laurie Biagini Interview/Session Laurie Biagini - The Heart of the Song Laurie Biagini - The California Quake (live) Laurie Biagini - A Go-Go Girl in a Modern World Colin Heppell - Poltergeist In High Heels The Big I Am - To...
Mar 27, 2012
A brief history of the world. Way back in the day, commercial radio sounded good. Then people got greedy, and then commercial radio didn’t sound good anymore. The end. Okay, that’s not exactly the kind of bedtime story you want to tell your little ones, unless you want them to stay up half the night, scared and worried about the future. There is actually a happy ending and a bright future to this. Radio was invented about a hundred years ago or so, by a dude named Marconi. So influential, that t...
Mar 20, 2012
I need to go back and check my records. I’ll bet that last year at this time, I whined and complained about the annual time change to Daylight Savings Time. You know, the one where we lose an hour. We set the clocks forward by one hour, in an effort to make evenings last longer. Great idea, right? I gripe about it every year. How wrong is this? Let me count the ways. First off, legend has it that the American version of Daylight Savings Time was originally conceived in an effort to maximize work...
Mar 13, 2012
In an effort to bring you the most tenuous of themes, this week I bring you Geology and Geography. Those are a couple of things I studied in college long ago. Believe it or not, Geography has changed some since then--a few countries changed their names, perhaps to keep it interesting, or maybe because they hired a marketing department. Some countries split into pieces, others merged. In any case, the map doesn’t look the same as it did back in the day. And Geology--now there’s a rock and roll fi...
Mar 06, 2012
So when it’s your birthday, what do you want for a present? In my case, I thought it would be pretty nice to have a chat with a singer-songwriter who’s earned multiple gold and platinum records, appeared on a couple of Grammy Awards broadcasts, and sang and toured with k.d. lang. Pretty far-fetched, huh? Unbelievably, this is exactly what we’re getting on this week’s California Diner! Sue Leonard, Canadian vocalist extraordinaire, is my special guest. Sue’s had an illustrious career. Known first...
Feb 28, 2012
For some time now, I’ve been alluding to a musical mecca in California’s Central Valley, known as Fresno. It’s nearly a three hour drive south of where I sit in Sacramento. Most people don’t give Fresno its due--it’s inland, and it’s a bit out of the mainstream. When outsiders talk of California--they’re thinking of Los Angeles and visualizing San Diego. If you mention San Francisco, you get an “oh yeah--that’s right, San Francisco”. Try mentioning Sacramento--you get something like “oh--that’s ...
Feb 21, 2012
No, it’s not the Grammy Awards show. But it is a music awards show, and it does come from the same state--California, of course! I have an annual tradition of missing the Grammy Awards show. Not because it’s a political statement; more because I’m usually not interested. Well apparently, for the first time in a long time, it appears that I really missed a great show! Heartfelt tributes to the late great Whitney Houston, who passed away so young, this past weekend. A 50th anniversary Beach Boys r...
Feb 14, 2012
Being here in California, one sure can get spoiled. And I don’t just mean the good weather, the forward-thinking vibe, or the proximity to great hamburgers and Mexican food. I’m talking about the music. So many genres right here, and so many great bands to listen to. This week, we’ll narrow it down a bit and focus on pure pop music. We’re debuting the Well Wishers on the show this week. Absolutely pure jangle pop goodness from San Francisco. Jeff Shelton, the mastermind of the band, was kind eno...
Feb 07, 2012
