Katherine Kersten: A maverick spins records, gets to roots of rock 'n' roll

Who's that guy at the Como Zoo, serenading a giraffe while serving up its daily diet of alfalfa? If you're intrigued, you can hear him again every week. He's Pete Lee -- chief giraffe trainer and disc jockey extraordinaire.

When Lee's not caring for zebras and giraffes, he's spinning eclectic discs on his radio show, "Bop Street," 3-6 p.m. Mondays on KFAI radio, 90.3 FM and 106.7 FM. It may be the most innovative radio show in Minnesota.

Lee's passion for American popular music dates back to his high school days in Red Bank, N.J., the home of jazz great Count Basie. During the mid-1960s, "music was in the air," said Lee. At his senior prom, a hurricane-force guitarist performed, but his singing had the locals begging him to "shut up and play your guitar," recalled Lee.

It was a local guy on his way up -- Bruce Springsteen.

Like his friends, Lee listened to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But his ears picked up earlier echoes that few of them heard. "Whose music were the Beatles and Stones listening to?" he wanted to know. "Who were their musical heroes?"

Lee's search led him back to blues singer Muddy Waters, Tin Pan Alley and beyond. As he explored the connections among them, he came to know the twisting tributaries of the river of American popular music.

In an era when other disc jockeys click computer-generated play lists, Lee helps listeners solve the riddle of musical roots. Putting "Bop Street" together, he says, is like trying to "create a musical crossword puzzle."

Last Monday, as I watched him in action at KFAI, he played country great Hank Snow's hit "I'm Moving On," which Ray Charles converted to a rhythm and blues classic. A series of Johnny Cash songs about trains followed, illustrating the Man in Black's evolution as an artist and beginning with his first recording -- "Hey Porter," from 1955.

"Bop Street" listeners learn about what Lee calls "the oldest story in American music" -- the way that black music has expanded to capture a wider audience, from minstrel music and ragtime to jazz, swing and hip hop.

They also hear about "the Great Shift" -- the period in the 1950s and '60s when hit songs from the movies or musical stage gave way to rock and roll. Prior to the shift, "melody, harmony and lyrics all came in a package," said Lee. Wordsmiths like Ira Gershwin and Johnny Mercer labored for days to bring a lyric to its full beauty.

Who can sing an American classic like Hoagie Carmichael's "Stardust"? Anyone with sufficient musical craftsmanship, says Lee. "Even a so-so singer can make it work, because the song is so powerful it will carry any decent performer along."

And when a master like Frank Sinatra -- "Saint Francis of Hoboken," as Lee calls him -- interpreted those songs, the result was magic.

In a way, the Beatles can be viewed as the end of the line of popular music's sophisticated songsmiths, says Lee.

"The Rolling Stones were the beginning of the next big thing -- what might be called 'attitude masquerading as talent,' " he said, adding: "That's the unkind way to express it. Music has become a lot simpler. That doesn't mean it's worse, just different."

"Caesar salad and steak are both good, but salad doesn't have meat in it," he said.

The Stones' songs are powerful too, says Lee, but "they are essentially vehicles for personality. They have to be played and sung by the Stones. If anyone else sings the Stones' 'Satisfaction,' it sounds like a joke."

Are the zoo and KFAI two different worlds for Lee? Here too, he finds connections. Como Zoo is one of four free zoos in the nation, he points out, and KFAI is a non-commercial station dedicated to public access, where all DJs are volunteers. Como Zoo is a "crossroads of the world," filled with immigrant families, while KFAI offers programs in 12 languages, he says.

Do the giraffes and zebras have a favorite song from Lee's vast repertoire? He shakes his head. Apparently, he gets the Bruce Springsteen treatment.

"Their favorite part is when I stop."