Playlist

And just like that, my reign as a WCBN dj concludes. I promised myself that if I went back to school, I would get on the radio. That was a good plan.

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The show was pretty much The Very Best Mixtape from Esay Mwamwaya and Radioclit plus a few other songs. You can get it here, or many other places around the internet.

Hey, can you believe that 50+ shows later, I’m still finding hours of music I really want to play? Some of it isn’t even repeats.

Or, “Please Put Out Her Grace’s Hair”

, a sentence not actually included in this week’s show, but which I enjoyed despite of myself in “The Duchess”, which is no longer playing at the Michigan, sorry.

Or, “Huh!”, a la Neil Diamond in “Cherry Cherry”, which was indeed included in this week’s show. Except that Huh! doesn’t quite capture the glottal drop at the end of syllable as Diamond performs it, and “Hugh!” is a misrepresentation in the context of this website.

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This week’s set break music courtesy of the OC Remix community and Super Street Fighter II Tubo HD. Now that’s a video game title.

Here’s Neil Young live at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, 1968, via NPR.

I didn’t get around to this. Next week:

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Drink some of this, it will put colour in your cheeks! Includes two attempts at Frank Zappa.

BTW, the podcast has been acting strangely lately. Apologies for any inconvenience. It should be mostly OK now, but let me know if you encounter any ectoplasm.

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Because several people asked, the answer is James Howard Kunstler. You can hear the entire talk here. Because several other people asked, the answer is National Lampoon’s Radio Dinner album, specifically the “Phono Funnies” track.

As promised, one of the greatest album covers of all time.

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I don’t know if that’s good music, but it sure is something.

A couple of weeks ago John Hodgman was in town, and as engineer for T. Hetzel’s Living Writers show, I got to meet the man and watch him through a glass partition for an hour. JKH may only score as a minor celebrity on the vertigously logarithmic US celebritometer scale, but he’s one of the few that I might actually be giddy about meeting, and I was giddy.

The interview was great, and John is by any metric of sober non-giddiness a real pleasure to interact with. He’s (surprise!) funny and interesting and affable. Which may actually be surprising if you’ve read Kurt Vonnegut’s description of the social lives of writers; roughly paraphrased: people expect writers to be articulate and sparkling, since they may write articulate and sparkling things. But the truth is they require two years locked in a room to get just a few basic thoughts out of themselves, and when forced to relate to humans in real time (here I’m quoting) “drag themselves through society like a gut-shot bear”.

Hodgman’s books are about being funny and interesting and affable, and yet that is what he is, so there you go.

The interview is great, T. did a lovely job as she usually does and John needed little prodding. They do in fact engage in a thumb war at one point.

Which brings me to my involvement. Since I first listened to this audio, I have been gradually forgiving myself, but it still pains me to say this: I screwed up the levels. John initially asked for more volume in the headphones, and I chose a very stupid way of bringing those levels up. Consequently there is clipping and distortion, to a degree that significantly detract from the experience. No, I couldn’t hear it when it was happening, but there were three different meters that I failed to absorb visually. Oh man, it still hurts. It does start getting better around minute 8, but it never gets good.

Anyhow, I’m putting the audio up because despite my ineptitude, it’s still worth listening to.

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Not actually an election-day show. But it was more than usually driven by people calling in and telling me what to play or commenting on what was playing, so that is democracy of a sort.

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Starts slow and builds, more or less, less or more. Ends with back-to-back frenetic Fred Eaglesmith and Nina Simone. I haven’t listened to it since, but in the studio I thought I might even have gotten away with that bit.

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After borrowing the jumper cables from Tom, wandered through southern rock, hip hop, groove, pop and inevitably ended up flailing around in the mash-up end of the kiddy pool. Fresh trax from Lucinda Williams and Vampire Weekend. It was good for me.

How great is that new station ID that was playing before my show started?

And does anybody have more ideas for dj names that start with the “hyu” sound?

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Colour me cathartized.

After I announced that the Ann Arbor Dub Project was playing at the Michigan Medical Marijuana Benefit, I got a call.
“Did you say the Ann Arbor Dub Project was playing?”
“Yes, I did.”
“That’s weird, we broke up a while ago. Nobody told me.”
Ouch. Somebody else having a bad day.

“Jean jacket reeks in the warm rain.” — Midwest Main Street, Great Lake Myth Society, 2nd best lyric of the week

“I went down hard, got up like a champ.” — Humdinger, Old Crow Medicine Show, 1st best lyric of the week

In which Reverend Andrew [First Church of the Atlantic (De-Hydrated) Eternal Pope of the Western Lands] and I finally spring a plan we’ve been hatching for a long time: a tribute to Neil Young and Devo’s 1982 apocalyptic-art-comedy film Human Highway. Starring Mark Mothersbaugh (who never takes off his rubber mask), Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper and Neil himself as bumbling gas jockey. Needless to say, this is one of the odder films I’ve seen, and we made no effort to build a less-odd musical sequence around it. We just plugged a vcr into the board, popped in a VHS tape, and let it go. Then played a bunch of related music over top of that, since just listening to movie dialog is mostly pretty boring.

If that sounds like something you’d like to experience, experience it now:

And here’s the rough list of songs we played:

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Bit flustered today, as I arrived in the station to find that I had left my musical selections on my bed. Still, the show went on. There was one really terrible transition (can you spot it?) and a bunch of good old music. Solo Johnny.

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A mix of candy-fun pop, angry political choices, and segues between them. I got to say “I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being the Master” twice and play requests dedicated to the economic crisis. Also spent some time in the west and specifically California.

I’m engineering the Living Writers show for the term. Yesterday T. had Sam Quinones on, and I thought it was an especially good interview, so I’m including it here as bonus radio.

Sam is exactly as chill and interesting in person as he sounds in the interview. It felt like meeting a celebrity, except celebrities are supposed to be dicks, and I’d never actually heard of him before.

(I’m not sure if the audio above will work, as I’m linking to it from the wcbn server. Let me know if it doesn’t play or download for you.)

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This week was great and fun.

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Who Disco?
Who Techno?
Who Hip-Hop?
Who Be-Bop?
Who’s been playing records in his bedroom?

He’s drunk and he’s insistent
Shy but he’s persistent
Boisterous & jumpy
Disorganized & funky
Every day he wonders
What the hell she sees in me?

– David Byrne, The Great Intoxication

When I write the post for each radio episode, I usually say how great/fun the show was. Then sometimes I delete that and write something less adjectivey, or leave it without comment. The thing is, for me every show is great and fun. I love doing radio. When I started (just over a year ago now, oh my) I usually sat in the chair. Partially because back then I was doing the 6am slot and I was tired, but mostly because that was the body language of most of the other djs I had trained with. Nowadays I’m driven to stand through the whole show. Or, yes, dance. I love doing this stuff.

Doing radio is probably an anachronism. Having one clique of the technically anointed choosing the playlist for a region may not make sense in a long-tail world of customized content. Everybody has the technological power to access the zeitgeist, or the many mini-zeitgeists of genre and locale, and shape their own experiences of them. Why would you count on radio djs to pick the music, when their only real credential is that they were willing to jump through some training hoops and caffeinate themselves through a first-term early morning shift? If you have internet and a willingness to deploy peer-to-peer software, you effectively have access to a larger music library than any physical radio station can house. And if you can read some audio blogs and music interzines, or just go to some local shows, you can get just as solid a finger on the pulse of the scene as anybody else, including the wannabegentsia with the clever names on the radio.

Apparently I don’t believe in the relevance of the college dj. So why do it? For one, ego, obviously. It’s fun to think of yourself as a radio disc jockey. But wait, there’s more. It’s true that having a real live person doing the work of putting songs together into a musical comment thread is different than having the intercloud dump a bunch of generally great music on you. Knowing that there is some one person doing it is does enhance the focus somehow. And for some reason, it helps if you know they are within a few miles of you. There is a bit of drama there. The real possibility of failure makes it more interesting. (And that’s one thing I know I can provide to an audience.)

But these are reasons why I like listening to radio, not why I like doing it. I should point out: I don’t just like listening to campus radio. I love it. College djs didn’t know they were getting me through my first two years of undergrad. They didn’t know they made my computer-staring existence in Virginia a degree of exciting. They don’t know they chivvied me through a good portion of this new degree thing I’ve been doing. They don’t know I miss them now that I’m in an office and can’t crank the radio when other folks are in there.

I recently had an email exchange with the wcbn programming director in which we both admitted that we kept cassette tapes of campus radio during undergrad. That’s right, when I got home from class I used to sit down at my desk, turn on the radio on my early 90’s stereo and press record on the tape deck. If the song wasn’t good, I would back it up, then press record again, in case the next one was. And those tapes got played again and again, and I regret not knowing where they are today.

So I definitely like listening to campus/community radio, but again: why do I like doing it? I could play the same music at home. And I sure do. Well, the ego, as mentioned. And the sense of power. Driving the transmitter tower, coating the whole town in radio frequency electromagnetic waves of my own choosing! And I really think I have some music to play that someone in town might like, as so many djs have played music which was a big deal to me. When you’re in the booth it’s hard to conceptualize the audience, but they must be out there. Sometimes they even call to tell you so. If there’s a slim chance I’m replicating the role of the djs who have shown me so much great and unexpected music, that’s an exciting chance.

Anywho, this week’s show was great and fun. I think it started out strong and dissipated towards the end, but it hardly matters does it? Because I had fun. A whole hell of a lot of fun.

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Swing-season radio, principally masterminded by un-dj janeboles. Good stuff, I promise.

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Covering for Laurel’s Constellations show. It was supposed to be a random mishmash just to prevent dead air, but I’m worried there was some good music in there.

The first 20 minutes didn’t get recorded. To duplicate the original experience, play The Israelites by Desmond Dekker, talk a bit, then play Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt 3 by Ian Dury, talk some more, then Lay It in the Cut by Sharon Jones and Whole Lot of Walking to Do by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Then play the recording. Should be good.

OK, so I haven’t been posting the radio episodes. I have been broadcasting! But CIDO is a home-grown affair, and arranging the recording and distribution of the show has turned out to be trickier than I had thought.

Eventually all the episodes may yet be podcast. Except today’s, which isn’t happening because of an inconveniently locked door. If I was a real rock and roll dj I would smash a window. I’ll think about it.

update: thanks to Emory (?), CIDO’s senior youth computer tech, I’ve got podcasts up now.

Some bad musical puns inspired by the land we’ve been working, a set of tunes from the parties we’ve been holding, and some other stuff. Mostly upbeat. Go figure.

More music from the clearcuts, and a goodbye to Utah Phillips

CIDO steamrolled my show application through an emergency meeting of the programming committee. Their words. So Mountain Pine Beats went on the air. Yes, it’s music from the clearcuts, produced during the treeplanting season. If anyone else has done a (loosely) treeplanting-themed radio show, I’m not aware of it, and if anyone has done it while actually on a treeplanting contract, I’m especially not aware of it. What it lacks in soul it makes up for in novelty.

The first 20 minutes or so were a complete technical disaster. But hey. The last part was mostly audible. I’ve cut out the meltdown at the start, so the podcast starts midshow. I’ve left in a few of the later glitches for authenticity. Minor variations in the colour of your garment are natural and add to it’s character. Do not use your Mountain Pine Beats to break rocks or pry roots. Do not overuse your Mountain Pine Beats. Your Mountain Pine Beats is a specialized tool and if treated with care will function well for you.

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This week I finally figure out what my dj name is, and dedicate the show mostly to treeplanting, which I will now leave to go do. So this is the last show of the term. I’ll be back in town later in summer, and I’m already looking forward to doing random time slots then.

Our music server has been acting up lately, and towards the end the left audio channel drops out. Sorry about that.

All of the explicitly planting-related songs can be had for free at the Peppermill Records website.

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This week was mostly long material left over from last week, which was a blessing because I had even leass time to prep this week.

Does anybody else think that Squarepusher East Flatbush Project remix is really remarkable?

One thing I regret: playing Rock n’ Roll with Me. It was a good goodbye to the temporary studio. But it would have made an even better goodbye, played out of the freshly unboxed vinyl collection, to the semester. Which will happen next week.

I’m sure I’ll find something to else play.

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With end of term comes panic, sleep deprivation and anxiety, and this term is no exception. I’ll be taking advantage of my limited prep time to play some longer musical selections today.

On the menu is a Vaughn Williams piece which may be cheesy by classical standards but has long been favourite of mine. Also a complete run through Metropolis Suite 1: The Chase, by Janelle Monae. I can’t believe I’ve only once before played all of The Chase, and I think that was just during a substitute slot. And an Allman Brothers guitar vehicle that kept me on my porch with my ipod for 2 extra cigarettes. In February.

post-show analysis: I didn’t get to the either the Williams or the Allman Brothers. One of these days.

A subtheme on ice cream. Inspired by: Satan’s Ice Cream Truck

I’m committed to playing whoever the current leader is in the officially sanctioned Radiohead Remix Project. Which currently is this:

I tried to play the Radiohead remix, but the player wouldn’t load. One of these days.

I’ll be using this video as setbreak music:

It’s decent music I suppose, but the video is the hot business. By all means, set it to full screen.

Apparently that video comes from Kanye West’s Vimeo account. This seems like a good time to pause and reflect on the video for You Can’t Tell Me Nothing Zach Galifiniakis shot on his farm. I know it got a lot of play when it was at least half fresh (including right here), but it was one of the best mass media products of 2007, and worth a revisit. Well, sort of mass media. Mass media in the new sense of media. Unfortunately, since 2007 Kanye’s site has deteriorated into a partial flash blob, so I can’t link to the video. But go here and look for Can’t Tell Me Nothing - Alternate Version. And set your browser to allow pop ups. Oh fuck it, just try and remember it in your mind. Oh yeah.

OK, I just watched it again and it’s still magic.

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A special mix tape presentation this week. I’ve been promising a mix to a friend for many months, but have failed to deliver. In part because said friend has been bouncing around in a foreign country. But still apparently catches the podcast occasionally. So here it is.

This answers the question “why do you like country?”. Over an hour of sweet rural tunes. So ease out the throttle, drop another quarter mile of furrow into the fertile earth, and turn up the speakers you duct taped to the tractor cab. Afterwards, a non-country chaser.

This week’s technical issues were intially cd-related, and then deviated into weird left/right channel drops. Word is we’ll be back into the real station in a couple weeks, so we can get back to the old familiar screw ups.

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We’ve been having a debate on the internal wcbn mailing list about the artistic merits of playing unedited selections from movie audio tracks. Hence the Waking Life clip. I was going to do more, but didn’t have enough time to scrub around in the video trying to find appropriate scenes. Also, I was pretty satisfied with the one that got played, and how it tied into the following track, and quitting while ahead seemed reasonable.

That clip spawned a call identifying the video ranter as being someone called Alex Jones. Here’s a youtube version of Alex Jones in Waking Life:

(And if that isn’t enough Richard Linklater-animated amplified Alex Jones for your, here’s a clip from A Scanner Darkly)

Another exciting call was a producer from the CBC’s A Current Affair. I assumed at first she was calling about my weekly repurposing of the How To Think About Science clips. I recognize that the CBC is not likely to take notice of my choice of material, but what else would it be calling about? It was not about that.

Other than that, it was a bunch of music. A lot of which I really enjoyed. Where was Lee Dorsey all my life?

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It’s the new, ultra-condensed version! From now on noon till 1pm will be dedicated to It’s Hot in Here, but don’t worry. I’ll still be doing two hours of music radio, and it will always be secretly close to my inner heart.

This week’s show featured a nostalgia-laden tribute to my former theme song, and some Reasonably Good spoken-word/music layering.

The discussion of the place of science in post-modernity society comes courtesy of CBC Idea’s series on How to Think About Science. In particular the episode with Ulrich Beck.

The poem was Allen Ginsberg’s A Supermarket in California.