31 Jan Matador Playlist 1/29/26

Gear: Can’t live with it, can’t live without it! Ye Olde Matador Bar & Lounge has its share of Gear: A DVD/BluRay player, hundreds of movies, a rack full of amplifiers, crossovers and EQs, turntables, mixers, speakers, a sub-woofer, and cables—LOTS of cables. The Gear rack originally contained a professional dual CD player but I don’t think it was ever used and it went the way of the dodo bird years ago. Much of the Gear is covered in a thick layer of greasy bar dust and grime and I generally try not to touch any aspect of it that I don’t absolutely have to touch. Cesar set all the Gear up and all concerns and requests are best referred to him.

A fair amount of this Gear has been here since the bar opened and, generally speaking, it has held up quite admirably these past 19 years. Various bits and pieces of the Gear have been retired and replaced but none of it has caught on fire or emitted clouds of toxic Gear fumes… at least not that I’m aware of. Be that as it may, the sub-woofer has seen fit to go AWOL these last couple of weeks. Katia and I twiddled around with the few knobs and cables that we felt were within our approximate pay grade, but to no avail. One (or more?) of the other DJs might possibly have tried to compensate for the absent subwoofer tones by cranking the bass in the stereo mains. On bass-heavy songs it was getting kinda muddy last night so I, in turn, compensated by dialing the bass down on my trusty Numark M1 mixer. Good sound—always a bit of a high wire act.

Not long ago the Gear was augmented when a microwave oven mysteriously appeared on one of the shelves behind the DJ ‘booth.’ I found this puzzling. I inquired with Katia and she had no idea why it was there or from whence it had appeared. I asked Cesar about it and he said ‘We needed a microwave and it wouldn’t fit anywhere else.’ Okay, but what is it for? ‘It’s for your burritos!’ was the reply. Makes sense. Admittedly, it had never occurred to me to bring a burrito to the bar, but then I’m a weirdo. But good to know that when national ‘Bring Your Burrito To Work’ day rolls around the Matador stands prepared.

All told, a relatively quiet night at the Mat, Gentle Reader(s), what with the legislative contingent having settled in somewhat since the session kicked off last week. Some interesting requests, though: Any night that I field requests for Parliament, Nancy Sinatra, David Bowie, the Ronettes and Grupo Frontera qualifies as a victory in my book. So have a look at the list below and if the evening’s offerings tickle your fancy I say unto you—PLEASE cue up the YouTubeish version by clicking right HERE. You’ll be glad that you did.

One more week before Your Humble Narrator (aka DJ Inky) takes off for the swampland! Till then…

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Funtime – Iggy Pop
Close Up The Honky Tonks – Flying Burrito Brothers
Territorial Pissings – Nirvana
Sheela-Na-Gig – PJ Harvey
Morning Glory – Oasis
Spooky – Dusty Springfield
California (Hustle & Flow) – Social Distortion
Tony’s Song – Tijuana Panthers
Earthquake – This Is The Kit
Long Tall Sally – Little Richard
I Must Be Dreaming – Public Image, Ltd.
Out In The Streets – the Shangri-Las
What You Need – INXS
God Only Knows – the Beach Boys (request)
Hot Burrito #1 – the Mavericks
Be My Baby – the Ronettes (request)
Flashlight – Parliament (request)
Davey Crockett – the Traditional Fools
Some Velvet Morning – Nancy Sinatra (request)
Taxes – Geese
Broken Face – the Pixies
Itchycoo Park – Small Faces
Anyone Can Play Guitar – Radiohead
Bebe Dame – Fuerza Regida & Grupo Frontera (request)
More Human Than Human – White Zombie
Hot for Teacher – Van Halen
Army of Me – Björk
La Negra Tiene Tumbao- Celia Cruz (request)
Rumble – Link Wray
So What’cha Want – Beastie Boys
Porcelain – the Pretenders
The Linear Way – Linear Movement
Lock Groove (In) – Liquid Liquid
Fuck And Run – Liz Phair
On A Plain – Nirvana
Walkin’ After Midnight – Patsy Cline
Space Oddity – David Bowie (request)
Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith
Te Boté – Nio Garcia, Casper Magico & Bad Bunny (request)
Dry – PJ Harvey
Aly, Walk With Me – the Raveonettes
I Feel Fine – the Beatles
Ubangi Stomp – Billy Hancock
Tarnished Angel – Silkworm
Something In The Air – Thunderclap Newman
Do Your Hair – Ty Segall & White Fence
5:15 – the Who
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes – X
You Can Have It All – Yo La Tengo
It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock & Roll) – AC/DC
I’d Rather Be Sleeping – D.R.I.
Aerial – Chris Whitley
No More Trouble – Bob Marley & the Wailers
Machine Gun Etiquette – the Damned
Smokestack Lightnin’ – Howlin Wolf
I Hate Danger – Bikini Kill
99 Luftballoons – Nena (request)
The Wizard – Black Sabbath
The Guns of Brixton – the Clash
Ramble On – Led Zeppelin
Santa Fe – Zach Bryan
I’m Not A Loser – the Descendents
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien – Edith Piaf
Pierce the Morning Rain – Dinosaur Jr.
Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie – Eddie Cochran
Battle Without Honor or Humanity – Hotei
Mother In Law – Ernie K-Doe
I Can’t Stand It – the Hotrats
She Drives Me Crazy – Fine Young Cannibals
Before the Next Teardrop Falls – Freddy Fender
Bacchus – Galactic feat. Allen Toussaint
Salad Days – Minor Threat
Big River – Johnny Cash
Bad Indian – the Gun Club
Going Underground – the Jam
Baby Says – the Kills
TV Dream – La Luz
Streets of Bakersfield – Dwight Yoakam
Back In Your Arms Again – the Mavericks
Ooh Las Vegas – Gram Parsons
Bohemian Like You – Dandy Warhols
Thursday – Morphine
Mistaken For Strangers – the National
Will The Wolf Survive? – Los Lobos
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Taxi – Bryan Ferry