SHINDIG PUNK ROCK RADIO was a radio show that I listened to religiously during my freshman year in high school in Rhode Island. The was broadcast on WRIU from the University of Rhode Island by men definitely too old to still be students there. I started listening around 1994, midway though SHINDIG's ten year run. It was hosted by Liam Lunchtray and Kevin Shindig, along with a rotating cast of goofballs such as Richard "Chicago" Borges, "Father" Mike, members of the FIDs and many others.
For me at 12 years old, discovering their world of punk rock, cheesy humor and nerdy obsessions with things like The Misfits, Kiss, Star Wars and Coca-Cola gave me hope for life after 15.
I started calling in and making requests and comments every week with my friends from junior high and soon I was friends with guys from SHINDIG. This led to hanging out with them, appearing on the show and going to see the F.I.D.s way more times than would be considered logical.
I went to quite a few other shows with Liam and Kevin- Billy Childish, Guitar Wolf, The Pist, The Misfits (after which there was drunken party at my Mom's house while she was out of town. Sorry, Mom). They also introduced me to tons of great music. Their playlists ran the gamut from East Bay pop-punk and early youth-crew straight edge to snotty garage and more East Bay pop punk. And a smattering of crust and thrash, Kiss and tons of rediculous promotional carts.
I started compiling a downloadable "Ultimate Shindig mixtape" awhile ago without considering two things: 1. Legal downloadable MP3s are rather difficult to find these days. Most of the links for Mp3s on google take you porn or gambling sites run by Chechnian gangsters. 2. The guys from Shindig are big enough nerds that they must have audio record of their 10 year broadcast somewhere online. And lo and behold, many early SHINDIG show are available for download now on MYSPACE. Most of these are from a period before I started listening (I was probably still listening to Stone Temple Pilots or something). I still have a box of poor quality Shindig tapes from the 95-96 period in basement somewhere that I may unearth at some point. Until then, here's a list of some of my favorite songs from Shindig (notice the conspicuous absence of KISS from this list) some of which are downloadable and some of which you will have to do the legwork yourself to make your DIY SHINDIG mixtape. But really, any SHINDIG tape without usage of the words "Gonad", "Mothereffer" or "Toolhole" is severely lacking.

Jawbreaker- Busy (an obvious choice)
Sewer Trout- President of the Anarchist Club (severly underrated jokey East Bay pop punk)
Freestone- Bummer Bitch. (story here)
Spitboy- The Threat (Lesbian Feminist rage never sounded so good)
G/I/Z/M- Endless Blockades for the Pussyfooter (There's is nothing I can say about this song, so I'll take a moment for an aside about G/I/Z/M. Yours and my friend Sharkey told me that when he was in Japan touring with 9 Shocks Terror kids in the hardcore scene would not talk to him about G/I/Z/M. Apparently Sakevi is so down with the Yakuza and such a violent psycho himself that if you so much as mention their name (not even in a negative sense) you will get the shit kicked out of you. Sharkey tells me that Sakevi owns a store near Shinjuku station and sells the only official G/I/Z/M t-shirts for like 50 US a pop. Another store in another city was selling bootleg shirts and had their store smashed up along thier faces, I believe is the going rumour amongst "Jiggers".)
Registrators- No Situation (More Japanese fun. I was looking for "Pogo Machine", but this had to do)
Iconoclast- I like you less than apple pie (A classic. Compare this raging slab of discontent to the eyeliner-wearing MTV pin-up boys they call "emo" these days)
Assfactor 4- Sometimes I suck (more ripping proto-emo-core)
DYS-Wolf packk (Don't Ya Gimme no Shit!)
Crucifix- Another mouth to feed
Hey Shadow- The Humpers (Here Montreal's The Humpers effortlessly conjure up their world of Leather Jackets, Poutine, and being Dopesick on St. Cathrine)
Fifteen- Petroleum Distillation , Inspiration (live) (Real Audio files) (I list these two but I could have put basically anything pre-LUCKY. I think Shindig was single-handedly responsible for my adolescent obsession with Fifteen.)
Homomilitia- Multinational (I wish I could have found an Mp3 of this. Truly fucked up, distorted crust-core from Poland about the evils of Coke and McDonalds. I think)
Born Against-9 Years Later (Real Audio File) (If listening to Born Against doesn't make you feel like you are 16 again and really need to go overthrow the government, you are officially dead)
The Queers- Wimpy Drives thru Harlem (On the SHINDIG myspace page Liam comment "Why did we ever like the Queers?". This may be a valid question if you are referring to "Don't Back Down" or something, but I don't see what's not to love about this infantile, racist pile of post-proto-punk from the Granite State. Now why we ever liked The Donnas is another matter)
J Church- Your Shirt (actually, I don't like this song! But they certainly do. I was looking for the song "Racked", which is the best hangover song ever written)
Judge- New York Crew (Oh, Yes)
New Bomb Turks- I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms (just a streaming clip, sorry)(NBT's bring their over-caffeinated (or possibly methinated?) brand of garage core to a classsic Modern Lovers song. Indispensable)
and of course...
SAVE THE CHILDREN! (a spoken word message from Sam McPheeters and some other dude from the Vermiform records "Feer of Smell" comp. You really must listen to this. It will change your life. "Learn the Ancient Ways!")
"Preposterous Tales in the Pub With Ken MacKenzie" I couldn't find the Mp3, but here's a transcript of the lyrics to give an idea of what we're dealing with. Imagine it sung/spoken in a cockney accent accompanied by cheesy casio and the ambiance of a British Pub...

"Hello, Ken! Well, here we are again. Another Friday night. I heard someone singing about you on the radio. Well, what can I get you? That's two light bitters then. Before you start, Ken, let's keep it clean.

I went out with a famous DJ's sister's friend,
I was on Crackerjack at the age of ten (oh really?)
And I saw the Sex Pistols play down the Hundred Club (yeah, we all did)
And I spent New Year's Eve at Sensible's Den.

Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales in the life of Ken Mackenzie,
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales in the life of Ken Mackenzie.

Well, you're drinking fast tonight, Ken. Well I've been a bit off my beer since you gave me that homebrew. What did you put inside it? Neat alcohol? I like a strong beer, Ken, but that was ridiculous.

I lost a thousand pounds playing brag last night (come off it, Ken),
I flew to Amsterdam to start a riot (oh really?)
And I once saw the Palace score four goals away from home (oh yeah?)
And I've won every game of Trivial Pursuit I've ever played (you've never played me, Ken)

Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales in the pub with Ken Mackenzie,
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales (now then, now then),
Preposterous tales in the life of Ken Mackenzie.

Same old stories, eh Ken? Ken's drinking heavily again. Nothing changes. Is it my round again? I thought I got the last. How much money did you bring out with you? I've got me cashpoint card if necessary. If necessary?! So come on, let's have some more yarns.

I once ate six Mars bars in half a hour (did you Ken?),
While working on a site I unearthed a bomb (oh didy you Ken?),
And I once had a shower with two American girls,
(What, at the same time, Ken? Ah, that's preposterous!)"

Thank you, SHINDIG, for introducing me to things like this. To quote Billy Madison, "I am now stupider for having heard it."