Raised On Radio #2: Marty Balin

Okay, you knew all my choices couldn't be hip British new wave bands. There is bound to be a guilty pleasure or too.

Being pressed a bit for time this morning, you will get one of those today.

Most of the songs I include here will be from the area's contemporary hit station of the time, but of course, I only listened to that when I was in my room.

The preferred station of my parents (and everyone else I knew over the age of 12) was the hometown station.

They played adult contemporary music (or whatever it was called at the time) which meant a lot of Fleetwood mac, Laura Branigan, ABBA, Cat Stevens, Juice Newton (who was huge at the time, but we only think of her with one song "King of Hearts" if we think of her at all) and a whole bunch of (pre-Faith and Shania) crossover country - Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, Oak Ridge Boys, Sylvia, etc...

I didn't like a lot of that stuff, but certain songs are drilled in from that time.

Which is where "Hearts" by Marty Balin comes in.

Balin is best known as being the male singer in Jefferson Starship. (If you are not that familiar with the whole Jefferson legacy, you may be thinking of Mickey Thomas. Thomas was the guy who sang on the 80s and 90s Starship hits like "We Built this City", "Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now" and "Sara")

I love Balin's voice for inexplicable reasons and think "Miracles" is just thee greatest song ever, though there's no reason it should be.

Of course, Balin isn't the public figure he once was. He is (I am assuming) out there with a competing Starship on tour (I know Mickey Thomas is, anyway) or at least still performing solo.

I also suspect Balin (who wrote the song "The Ganja of Love") is one of the most stoned men on the planet.

Still, if it makes him plaintive like this, I dig it.

1981's Balin reached #35 while "Hearts" went to #8. The follow up single went to #27, and the follow-up solo album stiffed (#156). Balin has since been in and out of various Jefferson Airplane/Starship projects (usually with another Jefferson icon Paul Katner), and recorded two records in the 90s.

Thanks to the video age for giving us a way to really express the metaphor of heartbreak as prison.

Things to to do in Des Moines When You're Dead: Sculpture

Like any major city, Des Moines has some interesting sculpture.

The most interesting are part of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park.

As an aside, John Pappajohn is a venture capitalist, like an Iowan Warren Buffet, who spends a lot of money on doing good things like contributing to art and music.  What is funny is I was once in a group of people (who should know better) in which two fell over each other trying to tell some one from out of town that Des Moines was the home of Papa John's Pizza and that their founder was a giver to the community.

I wasn't even going to try to correct that conversation as these were people who liked to hear the sound of their own voice, and wouldn't have been interested in truth anyways.  Though, for me, some questions would come to mind.  Why is it that Papa John's doesn't put their name on more usual fare like stadiums and sporting events (a la a real Des Moines-based company Principal Financial Group).  Why isn't Papa John never on local news like other local celebrities?  Why aren't their big Papa John's offices downtown?  Also why wouldn't it be called Schnatter's Sculpture Park.

There are a quite a few memorable pieces.  This to me seems to be the most talked about (at least from my experience)- Nomade- who has a brother on the French Riviera and his own twitter account (natch).




Another sculpture that stands out for me is the Big Red Shovel.




I don't want to ruin the Big Red Shovel for you, so if you don't really want an explanation of why, I wouldn't blame you for stop reading now,

However, if you feel a need for some sort of explanation why a snow shovel is randomly featured in downtown Des Moines, it is this:  this particular shovel is front of the headquarters of Meredith Corporation -which is the home of Better Homes and Gardens.