Live Jive

While I am out of town, and cannot do a live show this week, I was able to piece together a retrospective podcast-only show that I think does a great job at looking at 2009. Ob-soive:

Episode 052: "It's Alive Part IV: 2009 In Review"
(Featuring live performances by artists that appeared on Blasphuphmus Radio in 2009.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Special thanks to my sister and brother, for letting me record this in their apartment while I'm visiting. Couldn't have done it without you.

Stay tuned for at least one-more podcast-only show. We'll be back to business as usual on January 2nd. See ya then.

The Holidays

I will be out of the Portland area for the next two weeks, visiting family up north. I will still be available via the Inter-Web-A-Tron and by phone if you want to reach me, as per the usual.

Happy Holidays.

All Things Must End... For Now

Well, 2009 has come to an end, and today marked the last new live episode of Blasphuphmus Radio, and in honor of that, we decided to revive The Grumpy Punk, and brought in a special listener guest who provided an assortment of excellent records to deliver a fantastic last episode of the year. Ob-soive:

Episode 051: A Grumpy Punk Christmas (w/ Special Guest, Will!)
(Featuring musical selections from the collection of a listener, Will, focusing again on Christmas Music for people who don't like Christmas Music.)

Playlist & Footnotes

I know, I know. There's still two more weeks in December, and there will not be a live broadcast. This cannot be helped; the holiday season requires family togetherness, and I will be out of town. But fear not! If you keep your eyes focused on the Podcast Feed, you'll find some year-end, Inter-Web-A-Tron only episodes that will wrap up this year in Blasphuphmus Radio. It should be a good time, and of course, any requests can easily be sent via e-mail.

We hope you're having an excellent holiday season, and tune in for a new season of Blasphuphmus Radio starting in January. Hell yeah.

See ya next year.

Well, That Was Something

For better or for worse, however the dice may fall, I just finished my last test for my last class this term.

I feel like there's something strangely foreboding about calling a cumulative test a Final. A Final what? Is this the end? Is this a Pheonix-rebirth metaphor, or a symbolic death that I will never recover from? It's the finality of the word that is getting to me this time.

With the last goal having been achieved, there is a certain listlessness that is setting in, a sort of disorientation that seems overwhelming. There is no shortage of things that I can (and will) be doing for the next month, and the whole process will repeat again soon enough anyway, so the miniature reprieve almost seems like a cheat, or a false sense of hope before having to dive back into the fray again.

My final Final may be complete, but what that means for the long term - or even for just today - is somewhat lost on me.

Radio Schedule Update

As we move into the end of the year, there will be a couple of unexpected changes for Blasphuphmus Radio to accommodate the holiday season. Sadly, I will be unable to bring you live broadcasts for December 19th and December 26th, as I will be out of town with family. I know it is tough, and this year I've already taken one week off. Nonetheless, I will be enjoying the warmth and hospitality of family for a few weeks, and cannot turn down free food or stories told by my grandmother. All in all, it should be fun.

For those who listen online, however, there will be a few podcast-only shows to make up for my on-air absences. I may do more than two, actually, as I have a few ideas for the end-of-the-year that I haven't been able to fit into the schedule this year, so keep an eye out for those. If you don't already get this show as a podcast, and have never listened via the Inter-Web-A-Tron, this handy link works as a podcast feed, or as a streaming archive, depending on your preference. You can even download the shows, and play them in your .mp3 player of choice. How 20th Century of us?

We will be back on the air, doing live shows again, beginning January 2nd, which brings us to our next announcement: the Blasphuphmus Radio 2010 Programming Schedule is now up. If you've been enjoying the show this year, then expect more of the same. There are a variety of "empty" weeks so far (as it is far too early to know the entire schedule), and there are some bands and guests that I am waiting to hear back from. As usual with this kind of thing, nothing is permanent, everything is subject to change, and even if I've said otherwise, never believe anything you think you'll hear until you actually hear it. More than anything, it's a roadmap for me to follow when I feel like I'm lost, if that makes any sense.

We may have some new announcements regarding some projects that are in the pipe, but the cold weather, personal economic collapse, and the dim portents of things to come are conspiring together to make such announcements seem somewhat moot. When things are more specific than that, you'll be the second to know.

Comics / Books / Records

I need to get rid of a lot of my stuff, and it turns out that 99% of everything I own is either Comics, Books, or Records. I don't exactly have anything that is particularly collectible or valuable per se, only in that they are important to me, and I don't really want to part with them. But that's neither here nor there. I just can't afford to keep this stuff anymore, and sometimes you don't have a choice.

If you are interested in Comics, Books, or Records, and would like to peruse this stuff before I begin selling it off in a more public way, please contact me. My Comics are mostly centered around '80's DC Superhero crap, and my records are all over the map. (Again, typical hipster bullshit.) The books look like a collection a PSU student / pseudo-literati would happen to hang on to instead of sell back to the bookstore like he should have. Go fig.

I want this stuff to go to a good home, so drop me a line and we'll talk. I would rather someone I know get something they want to have (and will use).

I Think I Broke Something

And I don't know what to do to fix it.

It's deep inside. Above the neck and in my chest. And it hurts. A lot.

This sucks. And it's been getting worse and worse all year.

Lame lame lame. I give up.

New Is Old

For today's show, I decided to delve into the archives again and pull out some selections from my favorite Holiday shows of the past. I'm not a big Christmas person (for the most part), and when I do get into Seasonal Music, it's generally not what you would hear in the Mall. So consider this a snapshot of what I like to bump this time of year. Ob-soive:

Episode 050: Ghosts Of Christmas Past
(Featuring selections from previous broadcasts on 12/23/98, 12/14/04, 12/13/06, and 12/20/06.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

If nothing else, you should really listen to my rendition of The Cremation Of Sam McGee from 2006, near the end of the show.

Next week: tune in for the return of The Grumpy Punk, with a special co-host, who will be helping me pick the tunes for that hour. Should be pretty epic.

See ya in seven.

So Much Food

Today listeners got a double-dose of radio, featuring live music, and leftovers of the musical variety. We love to pull out all the stops, even on Thanksgiving, and we think this one will be right up your alley. Ob-soive:

At 12 Noon, I ran sound for Ricardo Wang:

What's This Called? with Howlin' Houndog, Live!
(Featuring a live performance and interview with Howlin' Houndog himself.)

Then, at 1 PM I presented:

Episode 049: Thanksgiving Leftovers
(Featuring songs about Turkey, Potatoes, Hiccups, and Food, Food, Food.)

Playlist & Footnotes

All this food is making me sleepy. But one more slice of pie can't hurt, right?

See ya in seven.

Things I Used To Like, And Now Find Annoying

My mind seems to be thinking in terms of lists. So it goes.

01.) Zombies.
02.) The Simpsons.
03.) Facial Hair.
04.) Pirates.
05.) Young Girls.
06.) Vampires.
07.) Record Collectors.
08.) Older Women.
09.) People With Enough Education To Be Interesting But Not Enough To Actually Know What They're Talking About.
10.) Everything.

Dirty Secrets

In list-format, no less:

01.) I'm not a Prince fan. And yes, I've listened to a lot of his music. I just don't get it.
02.) I haven't read Catcher In The Rye, and haven't really been inclined to do so, either.
03.) I wish I liked porn as much as everyone else does.
04.) I pretend to understand WAY more than I actually do. Pretty much all the time, about most everything.
05.) I don't think Bob Dylan is all that exciting, either.
06.) I'm jealous of most other people.
07.) I have a terrible understanding of grammar, and can't spell anything without spellcheck to save my life.
08.) Almost everything I hate is something I'm guilty of, myself.
09.) I'm not as extremely Left Wing as I'd like to make myself appear.
10.) I'm absolutely terrified of being alone.

Unwinding

Let the time and the season dictate what you listen to, and tune in to a miserific, two-hour episode of Blasphuphmus Radio featuring long songs, moody instrumentals, lonely droney audio, and one depressed DJ. What more could you ask for on a cold and stormy day?

Episode 048: "In A Mood" Part I
Episode 048: "In A Mood" Part II
(Featuring long & dour music from the Austin Rich collection.)

Playlist & Footnotes

As today's show features songs of an unusual length (for radio), I decided to dig up a show from 2005, which also featured music with equivalent attributes, which got played during the 11 AM hour.

Retrocast of "Long Songs" (11/01/05)
(Featuring long, but decidedly less dour, music from the Austin Rich collection.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

The claim made in the playlist for the retrocast is accurate: that is the fewest number of songs I've ever played in a single show. But, somehow, it works. Really.

Blah. I need a nap.

See ya in seven.

Now Big Brother Just Wants Attention

Yes, our lives are driven by advertising, television, the Inter-Web-A-Tron, and cell phones. I understand that. But this recent article on Slashdot really disturbed me, which discusses Apple's recent Patent on a technology that pulls up ads on your Apple device, and then requires User Interaction before it will dismiss the ad and let you continue using said device. It's not enough to be plagued by advertising everywhere we go, but now our computers are demanding attention from us, before they will perform the tasks we want them to.

I shouldn't be surprised. After all, most advertising is fairly intrusive, and marketers have always been trying to pry more and more or our attention away from the things we want to be looking at so they can make us look at something else. Still, this bothers me in a whole other way. When I buy a piece of technology, I think of it as a tool. It serves certain functions, and I want it to perform those functions. Aside from existing as a physical artifact that, itself, can function as a way to advertise itself, I don't want things I own to advertise to me anymore than they already do. The Inter-Web-A-Tron is bad enough as it stands; I don't want my iPod to seize up every time Apple wants to sell me something.

This annoyance is part of an on-going problem with digital technologies in the last 10 years. Intellectual Property Rights, DRM, downloading as a crime, and the issues surrounding Net Neutrality, are all pointing to a future where technology works less and less for me, and more and more for a corporate empire that wants to sell me stuff I don't need. And again, I shouldn't be surprised; the portents have been in place since I first got my TRS-80 way back in the day. And all you have to do is watch an episode of Mad Men to get the other point: advertising has ALWAYS been that evil.

Still, I can't help but feel that my urge to move to a cabin and live alone in the woods for the rest of my life is entirely justified.

Electric Folk Freak-Out

Covering for What's This Called? this week, our show expanded to a two hour block that is, for all intents and purposes, two different shows for the price of one. How, exactly, can we do that? By having an hour of rock music (picked out by myself and a bewildered member of our listening audience that wandered into the station), and then by having an hour of Electric Folk, selected by my good friend, DJ Sackbut. I hadn't seen him in quite a while, so there were plenty of behind-the-scenes shenanigans. However, that in no way interfered with the awesome radio we were able to bring you. Ob-soive:

Episode 047: Part I: "Audience Participation"
Episode 047: Part II: "Electric Folk w/ DJ Sackbut"

Playlist & Footnotes.

And, as a special feature to those listening to the webstream (and the PSU FM signal at 98.1), I re-ran the podcast-only episode from last weekend. So, now, you can get that show twice. (Which, it is worth listening to at least that many times.)

Re-run of Episode 046: "Living: Then And Now"

Playlist & Footnotes.

And, lastly, I want to give a big shoutout to GUYVE, who I have done sound for a few times at KPSU. They have a brand new release that came out, called Live Straight Outta KPSU 06/27/2009, which features a full set of music I recorded on that particular date. I'm not sure if this is an official Buddah Palm release, or if this was just a nice, well-packaged gift that I got in the mail today. However, I will totally add it to my musical resume, and will forever be in debt to them. Until the next band I run sound for does the same thing. Thanks!

Stay tuned for another two-hour show next week. What can you expect? I guess you'll have to wait until I have a clue, myself.

See ya in seven.

Better Late Than Never

Over the weekend we had some extreme radio craziness, which ultimately resulted in a Podcast-only broadcast from us, and a live performance by a local Portland two-piece. However, it took a little while for everything to shake itself out, so now, finally, I bring you the Saturday Radio report. Ob-soive:

Episode 046: "Living: Then And Now"
(Where I bring you some music I've been into lately, revolving around an all-to-common theme.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Plus, I ran sound for What's This Called?, which ended up being a two-hour episode of How's It Named? Check it out:

The Passengers on How's It Named? Part I
The Passengers on How's It Named? Part II
(Part 1 features DJing, musical selections, and the beginning of a live performance, hosted by Ricardo Wang. Part 2 features the rest of the live performance by The Passengers, and an interview hosted by myself.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Special thanks to Hao, our web-director, for accommodating us during all the craziness, and to Chad Clark, our tech-director who tag-teamed the live sound for The Passengers. Can I get a Hell yeah?

Tune in this coming Saturday for the first of many holiday guests on Blasphuphmus Radio. Who, and what you can expect, is something you'll just have to tune in to find out about. (Oh yeah, I went there.)

See ya in seven.

Some Good News

As was recently reported on Sound Opinions (footnote 3), a UK study has been researching the actually financial impact that music downloaders have on the Music Industry. The narrative that has been spread by the Music Industry has been consistent since downloading music even became possible: downloaders are killing the Music Industry, costing the labels millions of dollars every year. I have always been highly suspicious of this argument, as personal experience has proved that, when you have the ability to listen to a lot of music for free, you actually tend to spend more money on albums you actually want to own. For those who don't have access to free music like this, they tend to be more cautious with their record buying dollars.

Well, the results are in, and it appears that I was right. According to the research, downloaders spend 75% more money on music (physical records as well as digital sales) than people who do not. The access to free music online, according to the research, creates more music fans who are more dedicated to the bands and genres they love, who then go out and buy the albums they become fans of. This behavior injects into the Music Industry four times the amount of money than your average, non-downloading music consumer does. So, downloading isn't actually a lost sale, but rather, much like radio exposure to music that a fan might not get to hear any other way. Well, duh. I could have told you that. And did, many, many, times before.

My question, now, is: where does The Music Industry get the $330 million figure that they say they loose in sales to downloaders? In light of this research, it seems that the figure in question has to have been completely fabricated in order to gain sympathy for new Internet Legislation, and other means of keeping huge Media Entities in power. Plus, labels have to account for the lagging sales from Mainstream Media, so they don't get in too much trouble from their stockholders.

Yes, new records are not moving in the same numbers that they did in the old days. Boo hoo. But overall sales, new and used, are up, and spread out among small bands, labels, and in other areas of the Music Industry that are not easily controlled by big Media companies. Yes, U2 and Brittney Spears are not the cash cows they used to be. But the number of fans that are spending their money on a larger number of less-famous artists and albums is going up. Fans are diversifying, and you can't just expect a new Springsteen or Mariah Carey album to cover your ass. If anything, rather than blame downloaders for causing you to loose money (which is not true), here's a suggestion for big Media that will benefit everyone, CEOs, stockholders, bands, and fans alike:

Only release good albums by good artists, and make the records affordable (and accessible) to fans.

I know, I know. I must be crazy to even suggest it. Sorry to interrupt your morning. Now, go back to playing Second Life and reading Yahoo. Thank you for your time.

Yearly Servotron Reference

I always wanted to join the official Servotron Robot Allegiance, mostly because humans that did qualify for cyborg status (meaning: you weren't killed when the robots took over), were given the opportunity to serve their robot masters after they were stripped of their emotional desires and drives. The idea that you could finally have all these messy emotions removed, and work entirely with reason and logic, seemed like the ideal life. No longer would you be at the beck and call of your every emotional whim, caving into those mood swings that you weren't really interested in having in the first place. Ah, to be reason and logic based. Every hominid's dream, right?

So, today on the bus I was listening to this Radiolab segment, and had that dream quietly disappear. The short version: in the segment, we meet a guy who, through a series of surgical circumstances, no longer had emotional involvement when it came to making decisions, and the news was fairly grim. Not only was he not able to make decisions because he did not have his emotions there to help him out, but he proceeded to make worse and worse decisions, loosing his job, his money, and falling for scams on a regular basis. Apparently, emotions actually enable us to make better decisions, because they account for the factors that pure logic and reason cannot account for. And vice versa.

I guess things could be worse. Today, my dream of becoming a cold, calculating, and unimaginatively logical robot were thwarted by common sense and Robert Krulrich.

And I guess that's totally fine.

Really.

Obligatory Record Review

I've been really impressed with the number of Great Albums The Flaming Lips have put out so far. Starting with In A Priest Driven Ambulance (their first Great Album), they have done an incredible job of maintaining that kind of energy and songwriting, while rarely repeating themselves, or getting stale. Which is saying a lot; not only are their early efforts extremely illustrative of how far they had to come to be able to record a Great Album, but the number of Great Albums that follow defies all logic, in that most bands are lucky to even record one.

Cursory listens of Embryonic has me convinced that, after a short break, they are back to defying all logic once again. Between In A Priest Driven Ambulance and their newest effort, the band has produced some really amazing (and occasionally quizzical) records. After producing Clouds Taste Metallic - to this author, a peak of songwriting skill that has yet to be fully recaptured - they released three records in a row that were all incredibly different, and each spectacular in their own unique ways. But it seemed as if the band had tapped much of their creative juices by the time At War With The Mystics was released, which, at best, is a well performed tribute to their influences. After nearly 20 years, I was beginning to think that they may want to throw in the towel, or at the very least, become a Greatest Hits band, touring the County Fair circuit, and cashing in on t-shirt and back-catalog sales.

However, Embryonic has, in my mind, proved that I had the band completely wrong. I'm sure I'm not the first to say it, but this record is their Kid A, another reinvention for the band in the same way that both Clouds and Yoshimi were. But what makes this record a must for me is the simple fact that, like discovering Parts And Labor, or that Opal record (that is admittedly over 20 years old itself), this is an album that instantly grabbed me and demanded close, careful listening. That, alone, is something I can't ignore.

Unmistakably The Lips, and unmistakably new territory (simultaneously!), this record will once again polarize fans, critics, and anyone else who has even heard of the band. If you have never been a fan, this is a great place to start. If you've hated them in the past, this could be your entry-point, too. And if you already know and love them, then you probably already have the record, anyway, so, 'nuff said.

The Horrific End... For Now!

Pulling out all the stops for the last installment of our Spook-Tacular series this month, I joined forces with Ricardo Wang of What's This Called? to bring you two hours of insanity to kick-start your Halloween Party Plans tonight. Ob-soive:

Episode 045: How's It Named? Two-Hour Halloween Spook-Tacular! Part I
Episode 045: How's It Named? Two-Hour Halloween Spook-Tacular! Part II
(Featuring scary selections from the collections of Austin Rich & Ricardo Wang.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

This has been a wonderful Holiday Season, and I really enjoyed getting back into the Halloween saddle. I'm not sure what's on the docket for next week, but stay tuned! As the weather changes, and the year grinds to a close, I'll be doing my best to bring you everything musical you need to cope. Pleasant Nightmares!

See you in seven.

Halloween Requests

Last chance to submit your Halloween Music requests for my two-hour special on Saturday. Hopefully you've caught the last four weeks of Halloween shenanigans, and this week is the last time I'll be busting out the rattling chains and creeky doors for at least a year. Until then, comment, e-mail, or otherwise communicate to me your favorite spooky tunes that you would like to hear this weekend, and I will do my best to make them a part of the show.

Scary Monsters! Spooky Chord Progressions! What more could you ask for?

Things I Learned In College #12

Write in you books. Underline passages. Write in the margins. Take notes... and save them! And do not sell back your books. Ever!

Nearly four years ago I was assigned a reading by Flaubert for a class I took, featuring a lot of different fiction from different eras and countries. Now I've been assigned the same story again. In an attempt to reduce the amount of work I have to do, I decided to try and dig up my notes from that class, along with the text, to see if I could avoid unnecessary work.

Having spent a full 20 minutes digging through all the notes I've saved since I started taking classes at PSU, I have concluded that any random system of filing is probably more efficient than anything I've come up with in the last four years. I did manage to locate the book, however, only to discover that during all 23 pages of it, I failed to make any impression on text in any way. It looks virtually unread, and I would even be hard pressed to prove that I owned the book, save for the fact that it is in my house.

I am of the opinion that you should respect your books, as they are not only extremely important, but can offer you solace and comfort in ways that few other pieces of media can. However, I finally came around to the idea of writing in my books over the last couple of years. This behavior, in my experience, is an entirely polarizing one; either you already write in your books and think it's acceptable, or you are horrified by the thought that someone does this, and begin to rethink your opinions with regards to whom you will now lend your books to. I have never met anyone who didn't respond enthusiastically in one direction or the other, and it generally tips off an intense discussion of right and wrong.

I used to think that you should never write in a book, even if you owned it. But as I've had to do more and more research, and read more and more books, I've found that it isn't exactly easy to synthesize the text you've just read into a useful form entirely from memory. In fact, I would say it is now impossible for me to do that. This was hard for me to come to grips with, and the solution was right in front of me: underline, highlight, and write in the margins as you read. It hardly takes any time, has actually improved my retention and comprehension, saves a lot of work down the road when it comes to writing papers, and creates an intellectual dialog between you and the author that will baffle anyone else who reads your copy of that book. (Try it! It's fun!)

Of course, in some cases, this lesson is too little, too late. Much of what I have read in my lifetime has remained unmarked, and as I continue my education (wherever it may lead), I will probably have to re-read texts that I failed to interact with in the past. Well, at least I finally figured it out.

However, if the thought of writing in a book is still too weird and upsetting, there is an alternative: post-it notes. I started using them for my comics when I couldn't actually bring myself to mark them up, and have actually been surprised at how many comments I have to make about them as I'm reading, and how much better I remember the stories.

Yes, I just admitted to writing in my own books, and taking notes on the comics I read. Let the comment-battle royale commence.

Easy Like Cheesey

Two hours of corny music! Plus partial-musical accompaniment... on an instrument, no less! And spook-tacular news concerning next week's show! Can you believe all the exclamation points?! Ob-soive:

11 AM: Retrocast of "Halloween Cheese" (10/11/06)
(Featuring some cheesy, seasonally appropriate songs that everyone knows and loves.)

Playlist & Footnotes

01 PM: Episode 044: Fromage de l'Halloween
(Featuring even more of the same, and then some, from a October 25th, 2006 show.)

Playlist & Footnotes (2009)
Playlist & Footnotes (2006)

Plus:

Night of the Living Tongue on What's This Called?, LIVE!

Playlist & Footnotes

While I did not run live sound for this appearance by Night of the Living Tongue, I did perform as part of the show, playing the ukulele my mom gave me, and later, playing a Dead Air Fresheners CD case for percussion. Night of the Living Tongue was a show that used to appear on KBOO, that took an improvised form while it was on the air, hosted and run by Jennifer Robin, a current collaborator of the aforementioned Dead Air Fresheners. This one is full of spoken word and noise, so don't say I didn't warn you.

However, I am saying: you should listen to it.

Next week: well, the big day is finally here, and in celebration of the finest holiday of the year, I'm doing a two-hour broadcast entitled Soul-A-Ween! Prepare yourself for two hours of Halloween music that has never before appeared on my show, with a decidedly soul-infused sound. This is what it's all been building up to, so you really don't want to miss this one. I promise.

See ya in seven.

Lost In The Punk-In Patch

With only a spare few weeks left until Halloween Proper, I continue my holiday-season retrocasts with a fantastic episode from 2006, featuring a wonderful assortment of Creepy Monster Punk Songs, guaranteed to put you in the right mood for rampaging at night and stirring up trouble. Ob-soive:

Episode 043: 10/18/06 Retrocast: "Lost In The Punk-In Patch"
(Featuring all your favorite Halloween classics, from Dead Moon to The Dream Syndicate)

Playlist & Footnotes (2009)
Playlist & Footnotes (2006)

And, in honor of this classic show, at 11 AM I also retrocasted an episode from earlier this year, when I was only slightly younger, slightly more naive, and had slightly more time on my hands. Here goes:

Retrocast of Episode 009: The Grumpy Punk
(Songs like they used ta make - and a handful merely in the spirit - for a full hour.)

Playlist & Footnotes

I hope as many of you as possible will be out at the Scion Garage Fest today, to enjoy some of the local Portland weather, and soak in the rock. I'll be back next week with Fromage de la Halloween. See ya in seven.

It Came From Outer Space!

Halloween draws closer and closer each and every day, and if there's one thing I love more than Halloween and Halloween Music, it's Halloween Music (and radio) with a Sci-Fi bent. With that in mind, I tried to bring you three hours of creepy, Halloween-infused Sci-Fi radio, with an additional self-reflexive hour to kick-start the extravaganza. What would Blasphuphmus Radio's Halloween Spook-tacular be without a little Outer Space Shenanigans? Ob-soive:

10 AM: Sound Salvation Snippets
(Replaying random selections from Episode 029: A Sound Salvation (Radio About Radio))

11 AM: Retrocast of Episode 018: When The Flying Saucers Attack!
(Replaying the entire episode from May 2nd of this year.)

Playlist & Footnotes

12 PM: Episode 041: Recreating "The Outer Limits"
(Where I do an audio-recreation of a lost episode of Blasphuphmus Radio from August 1st, 2007.)

Playlist & Footnotes (2009)
Playlist & Footnotes (2007)

01 PM: Episode 042: The War Of The Worlds
(Where I rebroadcast the Mutual Network's classic October 30th, 1938 episode of The Mercury Theater on The Air featuring Orsen Welles!)

(Note: If you were listening to the show live on the FM or AM signal, there was a complete technical meltdown during the 1 PM hour, and I couldn't actually bring you The War Of The Worlds. Consequently, the above link is to an internet-only feature.)

Halloween is just starting to take off, and stay tuned next week for one of my favorite Halloween Theme Shows: Lost In The Punk-In Patch!

See ya in seven.

Unscheduled Radio Appearance Last Night

I have a long-standing relationship with Ranger Mike of the signal-to-noise ratio program on KPSU, and I always love running sound for his show. Despite this being a last-minute sound request, I was totally stoked to come in and run sound for a local rock band, Silversafe, who did their first ever acoustic performance on our humble radio station. Here's the low-down:

signal-to-noise ratio w/ Silversafe, LIVE!
(Featuring a liver performance by local Portland rock group, Silversafe.)

The show featured several songs from their new EP (Automatic Heart), and three acoustic renditions throughout the hour. I thought I did a pretty decent mix on this one, and as usual, everyone's sense of humor was in top gear.

Stay tuned for a special two-hour show this Saturday as I cover for What's This Called? as I continue to ease into the holiday season. Until then...

Classics From The Crypt!

October is finally here, and that means I can finally stop resisting the urge to listen to Halloween Music all day long. As I build up to the big day, I decided to bring you a retrocast of one of my favorite Halloween shows from years past, a show from 2006 that was everything a Halloween-themed Radio Show should be. Ob-soive:

Episode 040: 10/04/06 Retrocast: "Classics From The Crypt"
(Featuring vintage Halloween Music, presented as a vintage radio broadcast recording.)

Playlist & Footnotes. (2009 Version)
Playlist & Footnotes. (2006 Version)

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! This week, Ricardo Wang and I switched time slots so he could bring you a live performance by local experimental rockers, New Red Sun! (I keep thinking of Superman Comics when I hear that name.) Of course, I ran the sound for it, and have to say, this performance is a must-listen!

New Red Sun on What's This Called?
(Featuring a live performance by, you guessed it, New Red Sun.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

AND AND AND! On October 1st, KPSU celebrated it's official 15 Year Anniversary at 5 PM. As a long-time volunteer of KPSU who was present for the 10 Year Anniversary, I felt it was really important to do something special this time. Myself and DJ Victrola arranged for a slew of KPSU volunteers to say the Legal ID in unison, to commemorate this momentous occasion. This was a pretty awesome event, and you can listen to it now on the KPSU archive!

KPSU's 15th Anniversary Broadcast!
(Scan forward to about 4 minutes & 50 seconds to hear it.)

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for more Halloween Mayhem, more Live Performances, and more KPSU news you can use.

See ya in seven.

Klara's Show

As part of my regular service as a KPSU DJ, I apprentice new volunteers to help train them. For those who tuned in and did not hear the usual Blasphuphmus Radio rig-a-mo-role, this may explain why. Klara, my apprentice, picked out the music, and ran the show instead. I did engineer the first half of the show, and did pick out a few tunes for the middle-section of the broadcast. But let's face it; this one was hers. Ob-soive:

Klara's Show
(Where Klara takes over Blasphuphmus Radio for a week.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

See ya in seven.

From The "Blast From The Past" Dept...

An obscure bit-player from radio history is the focus of today's show, as we replay classic bits from his radio broadcasts from the late '90's, and from his one appearance in 2006. Ladies & Gentlemen, I speak of none other than Mr. Holden Craft himself (pictured here, on the left). Ob-soive:

Episode 039: The Legendary Holden Craft
(Featuring various recordings from Blasphuphmus Radio history where Holden Craft made appearances.)

Playlist & Footnotes

This one has a special place in my heart, as Holden is one of my oldest friends, and really knows how to craft a great Shaggy Dog story.

Tune in next week, as I present something that has yet to be determined at this point! Can you stand the excitement?

See ya in seven!

Here Goes

Today was my first paid day at PSU, prepping for the classes I'll be teaching in a couple weeks. Not a whole lot to report; there was some paperwork, some "Welcome" speeches, and we met a slew of people that it will take weeks to learn the names of, anyway. My favorite moment involved the discussion about trying to create low-paper-use classrooms this year, proceeded by the distribution of about 10 documents, all of which were also available "on-line" in case we lost them.

Some things about work never seem to change.

It's a little too early to tell how I feel about it all, but so far, so good. I haven't had a job in almost nine months, and haven't really interacted in large crowds like that since classes ended in Spring Term, so it's a little weird. While I was milling around today, I managed to sort out my bus pass for the term, and re-connected with other people who will also be teaching, all of whom I met in the Spring.

The biggest change is the morning routine. I haven't had to get up early for any particular reason in a while, and I forgot how quickly the morning can slip away from you when you have to be somewhere before noon. I need to get back into the habit of waking up at 6 AM again, but I have a feeling I'll be fighting that one for the first couple of weeks, at least.

I do find it fairly hilarious that, on the first day of my school year, the Fall Weather took hold of Portland again. We've already had the first few portents anyway, so it's not at all surprising that it rained. But the last few days of my summer were so pleasant, it only made sense that it should turn to crap the day its over.

Personally, though, I'm looking forward to Fall & Winter. This Summer has been depressing in a way I had previously thought impossible, punctuated with extreme poverty, loneliness, and an endless string of watched DVDs that ultimately left me unfulfilled, and empty. After three months of that, any change is a welcome one.

I Ain't No Physciscisk, But I Knows What Matters

You don't have to be no fish to tell when you're flounderin'
What am I? Some kind of barnacles on the dinghy of life?
I ain't no doctors but I knows when I'm losin' me patiensk
What am I? Some kind of judge, or a lawyers?
Aw, maybe not; but I knows what laws suits me
So what am I? I ain't no physciscisk, but I knows what matters
What am I? I'm Popeye, the sailor

And I yam what I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam
and that's all that I yam 'cause I yam what I yam

And I gots a lot of muskle and I only gots one eye
And I never hurts nobodys and I'll never tell a lie
Tops to me bottoms and me bottoms to me top
And that's the way it is 'till the day that I drop
What am I?

I yam what I yam!
I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam

To be or not to be? Who's askin'?

I can open up an ockean I can take a lot of sail
I can lose a lot of waters and I'll never have to bail
I can pushk up Madagascar grab a whale by the tail
What am I?
What am I?

I yam what I yam!
I'm Popeye, the sailor
I'm Popeye, the sailor
I'm Popeye, the sailor
I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam
I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam
I'm Popeye the sailor man!

Mangled Bohemians, LIVE!

Another two-hour adventure today on the radio, this time with local experimental / ambient / drone artists, Mangled Bohemians! Ob-soive:

Episode 038: Mangled Bohemians, Live! Part I
Episode 038: Mangled Bohemians, Live! Part II
(Featuring a DJ set by Mangled Bohemians during the first hour, and a live performance during the second!)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Mangled Bohemians might win the award for one of the nicest bands I've ever met, though there are several groups vying for that position currently, so we'll just say that you won't be annoyed by any rock star pretension, or uncomfortable behavior from so-called "noise" artists. These guys love music, love making music, and love playing it for you. What more could you ask for?

Tune in next week for a special look back at an obscure character for Blasphuphmus Radio history, Mr. Holden Craft himself. Don't know who he is? Well, tune in next week, and find out!

See ya in seven.

Summer's End

September is here, the rains have begun in Portland, and as my last week of freedom comes careening toward me at breakneck speed, I've been trying to think of a good way to come to terms with Summer '09. It hasn't been easy. Without getting too personal and too weird for an online blog (but that hasn't stopped me before), to sum it up briefly: this has been a difficult few months. I haven't had a job all year, and that combined with all the usual problems that come with being single and over-educated in the northwest has led to some existential evenings and frustrated fidgeting. In a lot of ways, I've been looking forward to working and going back to school more than anything else, which in and of itself makes me wonder what's wrong with me.

The problem vying for the most computational time in the old brain-pan has been that of being in my mid-30's. Americans love to make a national pastime of concerning themselves with age in all of its various forms: we are obsessed with babies, want to appeal to young people, expect the middle-aged to actually do everything, and worry endlessly about what to do with the old. I've fallen into that trap, undoubtedly; one of my favorite movies has always been Brazil, but having finally reached the age of the main character, it's uncanny how much that film captures what I'm feeling and thinking these days. It is surprising how much of our lives are spent running business & goverment created mazes, and how much energy we will spend on looking for (or maintaining) romances.

Probably the most annoying aspect of all of this is the fact that I am not singular in these experiences or sensations. We all have trouble with money, being alone, jobs, dating, and, essentially, living. Even yet still more annoying is that, as we age, our perceptions of these things follow a somewhat predictable trajectory. As we go through the ups and downs of being human, our experience is almost identical to that of a large portion of the people our same age, gender, tax bracket, etc. There's nothing worse than feeling alienated and put upon, except to find that everyone else is too busy feeling alienated and put upon to notice.

The primary frustration I had with this summer (and, to a large extent, this year) is that I freaked out far too often, occasionally in public, but mostly around people I count as friends. I feel terrible about that. While many good things did happen for a lot of people this year, there isn't anyone among my friends who doesn't have some kind of hardship too. If anything, I wish I had been a better friend, and I wish that I could strike that delicate balance between making time for myself when I need it, and making time for everyone else for the exact same reason. I guess I shouldn't hold that against myself too much, as it seems to be a problem for others. But the largest amount of the guilt I carry now comes from trying to deal with the way I've treated people at a time when I should have been trying to maintain as many friendships as possible.

In spite of all of that, summer did offer some good opportunities that I took advantage of, and gave me a chance to spend more time than I ever wanted to participating the art of self-reflection. I completed 1 & 2/3 of the 2 'zines I had planned for the break, maintained a clean house for most of the summer, fully took care of my yard in all the ways it needed to be handled, and didn't renege on my promise to quit drinking. I even managed to fit in a few social activities here and there, and focused a lot of positive energy into the radio station on a more than weekly basis. If I remember summer '09 for anything, hopefully it will be those things.

The week after next I will start my job (finally), and two weeks later I start taking (and teaching) classes. And even considering the logistics of wrapping up the few little things left to be handled in the spare amount of time left, a large part of me still feels like this was the longest summer I've ever had to muscle through.

Supes Is Back! Two Hours Worth!

The Man of Steel is always vigilant, working night and day to keep America safe from evildoers everywhere, and this week, he's trying to stop The Yellow Mask as he shows up again to wreck havoc in a town that could very well have been your own. Ladies and Gentlemen, covering for What's This Called?, I bring you a two-hour, six-part extravaganza, The Mystery Of Dyerville! Ob-soive:

Episode 037: Blasphuphmus Radio Theater Presents!: The Adventures Of Superman Part V, Hour 1
Episode 037: Blasphuphmus Radio Theater Presents!: The Adventures Of Superman Part V, Hour 2
(Where I bring you all six parts of the super-serial, The Mystery Of Dyerville, and some incidental music from a 1939 Broadcast from Washington D.C.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Additionally, I re-ran a previous episode from a month or so ago during the 11 AM hour, to maximize your radio listening. If you missed this one the first time around, this is the perfect opportunity to catch it again:

Repeat of Episode 031: Handed Down From On High
(You heard it before... now, hear it again!)

Playlist & Footnotes

Stay tuned next week for a special live performance from Mangled Bohemians on Blasphuphmus Radio, and where they DJ their own selections on a special version of How's It Named? at 12 Noon. Can you stand the excitement?

Probably not. See ya in seven!

I Could Have Told You That

From the Health News Dept. of the Telegraph.co.uk:

"Men lose their minds speaking to pretty women."

And I wouldn't have needed the funding or the Psychologists at Radboud University in The Netherlands to do it, either.

Classroom Update

As of yesterday, the second section of the class I'm teaching is full, and the third section only has six open spots. I imagine it will fill up eventually anyway, but if you're still looking for a FRINQ course for Fall '09, then I recommend the one I'm teaching.

Course Title: ON DEMOCRACY
CRN 13501 (11:30 AM - 12:20 AM)

Course Number: 131A
Class Meeting Days: Monday & Wednesday
Room: Cramer Hall, 149

Once complication for this class is that I haven't yet had a chance to meet with the professor who is guiding me, and therefore was only able to find out what the books were yesterday, because the PSU Bookstore finally had signs up listening what they were. Only one of them is in the store as of yesterday, but there are three total books required for the course (perhaps more eventually, watch this space for more info). The books are:

The Thirteen American Arguments (by Howard Fineman) ISBN: 0812976355
The Geography of Thought (by Richard Nisbett) ISBN: 0743255356
First Democracy (by Paul Woodruff) ISBN: 0195304543

All three are infinitely cheaper just about anywhere other than the PSU Bookstore. Just sos you know.

Fun stuff.

Slackhabit on signal-to-noise ratio!

Ranger Mike and I have been pretty close ever since we met, and more than once he's tapped me to run sound for his show, signal-to-noise ratio. However, last night was a last-minute request that not only included me running sound for a two-hour event, but also involved me participating in the interview during hour 2. When I say last minute, I mean last minute: I found out about two hours before his show started, and he and I arrived at KPSU with 45 minutes to spare. I've cut things even closer in the past, but not anytime recently. Ob-soive:

Slackhabit on signal-to-noise ratio, Part I
Slackhabit on signal-to-noise ratio, Part II
(Where I run sound for Seattle's Slackhabit, and help out a bit with the interview.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

This reminded me of the old days when I used to be on from 9 to 10 PM, and when all the DJs that were on Wednesdays would tap me to run sound for their bands. Good times. Thanks again to Slackhabit for getting to PDX a day early while they were on tour, just to play at KPSU. If you're not busy tonight, check 'em out at The Twilight, or on Saturday in Eugene.

Things I Will Never Understand

1.) Why people get married.
2.) Why people have children.
3.) Why people have bad taste.
4.) Why people buy into The American Dream.
5.) Why people aren't rioting in the streets regularly.
6.) Why I can pour out my heart and soul constantly in a never ending attempt to relate to humanity, and why it ultimately never works, or merely allows for me to be more easily manipulated.
7.) Why everything is too expensive to allow us to be comfortable or happy for very long.
8.) Why vices are the only means through which we can cope with reality.
9.) Why everything that benefits us in the workforce reflects rather poorly on who we want to be when we're not working.
10.) Why I keep believing that someday these things will make sense if I read enough books and listen to enough records.

I Hate Painters

This showed up in my inbox today, regarding Saturday's radio broadcast. Glad to be of service, Mr. Joe. It's for people like you that made me want to do radio in the first place. I always wanted to turn on the radio and hear this kind of stuff. So I return the favor as often as possible. Thanks.

* * * * * *

From: Spam Joe
Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 1:32 PM

hello,

I am an old school DIY punker from orange county that just migrated here to oregon..
so glad to hear your program for the 1st time this weekend coming back from the zoo yesterday...
"carson girls" at the top of my lungs man....we do (did) that one as a warm up for the band I was in with my best friends in the OC...

I am 42 and remember almost everything of the "movement" from those grand old days that will never return...no matter what the youngsters try to do to revive it....I LIVED IT....fortunate enough to go to a lot of house parties back there and see bands like the minutemen...Channel 3, angry samoans, dead kennedy's..the vandals...TSOL....etc....right in my very own backyard..

I am just getting settled into this area so once I get "organizised" I will slide some stuff I have collected along the way...really glad to find there are some like me (writers, love punk and reading) that have not forgotten how important and influential these things are to people nowadays....ah!!! a little taste of home right here in oregon...thanks for the eugene excerpts as well...I HATE PAINTERS!!!!

punk monk

band website: http://www.myspace.com/lunchmeatoc

The Return Of The Grumpy Punk

Another extended block of radio yesterday, and this time filled with more music, "Like they usta make." Ob-soive:

Episode 036: The Grumpy Punk Part II: Hour 1
Episode 036: The Grumpy Punk Part II: Hour 2
(In which I wax nostalgic with a lot of new and old "punk" songs, and the censor beep goes off far too often.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

I like the fact that it took me two shows before I was actually able to get back on track with the schedule I had written for myself only a few weeks ago. Yeah, like I said, "tentative." Hopefully, we'll be on track until the end of the years.

Fingers crossed.

See ya in seven.

FOUR HOURS OF RADIO!!!!

Very rarely have I done shows that were over two hours long, so this week was quite a surprise for everyone. First, the listeners, who got a three hour version of a 60 minute show. Then, for myself, who had THE POPE of the Church of Blasphuphmus (featuring to the right, with myself, in our old Cathead days) show up to join him for 2 1/2 of those three hours. And finally, the space time continuum was rocked as I retrocasted a show, the premise of which was about the past intersecting with the present and the future as it itself was already retrocasting material from a similar show. Confused? Well, you soon won't be. Ob-soive:

Episode 034: The Pope Comes To Visit, Has Some Tea, Brings His Assistant Michelle, And Then Goes Home.
[Wherein kiisu d'salyss, The Pope of The Church of Blasphuphmus (Not Jesus), drops by with Michelle to play a bunch of music they love.]
Hour 1. Hour 2. Hour 3.

Playlist & Footnotes

Then, if that isn't enough:

Episode 035: 07/18/07 Retrocast: "It Looks Like Thousands Of Stars."

Playlist & Footnotes

I can't believe I did that much radio, or that I was able to convince The Pope to do it with me. This opens up new possibilities for this show, and personally, I can't wait.

See ya in seven.

The Calm Before The Storm

I've been steering away from the usual kind of blog content I was so-very-good-at for years, and have more or less let my radio show take over my online presence as of late. But that's not to say that a lot of stuff hasn't been going on 'round the old homestead, and in fact there have been many blog-worthy things happening. I'll try to keep it as concise as I know how to be:

1.) Movies: The new Star Trek movie was awesome; J.J. Abrams perfectly captured the geek, the humor, the ships-fighting-in-space, and the all around corn that was at the core of the Trek franchise, while jettisoning a lot of the techno-exposition & clunky stories that have been a problem since the beginning. The big disappointment this summer: Green Lantern: First Flight. How, exactly, a direct-to-DVD movie of a space-cop comic book character failed to entertain this aging, jaded fan is beyond me. Perhaps casting Michael Madsen as Kilowog, or John Larroquette as Tomar Re, was money spent that could have been used to improve the weak (and non-canonical) story. But who am I to nit-pick when it's Green Lantern? I'll probably watch it a few more times anyway, as that's the kind of guy I am, and more to the point, I now own it.

2.) TV: Blew through all 12 episodes of The Middleman fairly quickly, which is a bummer because now I've seen it all. For those of you who like the clever dialog of Buffy and the sense of humor when Lost gets funny, this is for you. Essentially a satire of comic book-like adventure stories, it uses a bit of The Avengers formula, and references every wonderful thing imaginable in it's very short run. My major complaint: it was aired originally on ABC Family, who's influence is all over the final product. Still, very funny, and has been a nice reprieve from my on-going Doctor Who marathon, which is finally into the Patrick Troughton years (which are, admittedly, better than the William Hartnel episodes).

3.) Comics: As I'm entirely broke, I'm working through some stuff that I've had lying around, but haven't had a chance to get to: Vols II & III of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, all the Prelude To Blackest Night issues I bought before I went broke, and a bunch of odds and ends that slipped through the cracks. The best thing in that batch: the latest collection of work by Jason contains a story, "Low Moon," which apes the western motifs where chess games take the place of shoot outs. It's probably one of the most amazing things I've seen in a comic since Frank by Jim Woodring. (With the possible exception of the incredible Ganges #1 by Keven Huizenga, which I also just finished.)

4.) The House: Every room, from top to bottom, is clean. I finally gave away the two carcasses of non-functional bicycles that I had inherited, caught up on all my laundry, and did an intensive deep clean of the Kitchen. The "front" and "side" yard are finally whipped into shape, and 3/4s of the back yard is weeded, trimmed, raked, and finally is a place you could spend some time and enjoy it. It would still be in my best interest to pare down my personal belongings by about half of what I currently have stored in never-to-be-opened-again boxes, but having already thrown out a third of the things I had stored like that BEFORE, I'm not in any real hurry to purge any larger chunks of my past (at least, not yet). My records and CDs, after quite a long bout of being in complete chaos, are almost entirely in alphabetically order. (Minus three crates of records, which I may or many not even keep. I'm still undecided, and may try to sell them in an upcoming Garage Sale we're organizing. TBA.)

5.) Radio: I have the rest of the shows for 2009 planned and ready, and have archived all my existing previous shows on a grip of DVDs that are easily accessible if need be. I've been volunteering and helping out a lot at KPSU over the summer, and of course, any new radio appearances will be announced here if you miss them.

6.) Writing: Finished one 'zine, and am about 2/3s of the way through finishing a second, this one with a CD of music accompanying it. Sort of hit a bit of a block with finishing that one, but I'm hoping that I can finish it in a month, which should be more than enough time to get "unblocked," or as I've said in the past, inspired.

7.) School: I'm fully registered for my regular classes, and have prepared as much as I can this far ahead of the actually term beginning. I have written a rough-draft version of my Syllabus for the courses I'm teaching, which I can't finish until I meet up with my faculty partner, who doesn't get back from his vacation until September 25th. I threw out a bunch of old school documents that I will never want to look at / read again, and filed the rest. I still need to find a gym / workout class that is compatible with my teaching schedule, though, but as that is for me and not my degree, I'm willing to give it a few more days. I have my academic planner (this time using Google Calendar) programmed out until June of 2010, or, at least, the stuff I know about.

8.) Personal: Cut my hair, spent some time crying over stupid bullshit, have spent a fair amount of time with my family, and acclimated myself to the new living situation with varied (but positive) results. Finally crested the "Six Months Without A Date" mark, which was a bit of a setback, but aside from that bump, am doing well enough. Entirely quit drinking (now at the 8 month mark), but have yet to make a major dent in smoking (lots of false starts, though). Still, I cook nearly all my own food now, have gotten pretty good at making bread, and have learned to fill the hours with plenty of things to keep my mind off of being single. In spite of everything, I have exactly enough money to get by until my job starts, provided I don't want to eat three times every day, and provided I don't mind my phone and internet occasionally not working. (Besides, the Library is for free computers, and free phones exist all over PSU and at the radio station.)

All in all, I've had a very productive summer, despite spending most of it alone, at home, working in some capacity. I'm one of those personalities that does not feel content unless I've been "productive," and big breaks like Summer and Winter tend to drive me a little batty. The difficulty in being a student is that your whole life gets rearranged around the notion of deadlines, as you can use them not only to motivate you, but to tick off the things that you should be doing to make it to your next goal. (They're like milepost markers on the Highway of School.) So, when those deadlines go away, or don't affect you for another two or three months, it's like suddenly slowing down from 120 MPH to a leisurely 25 MPH in the space of a few blocks. You either crash and burn, or you stop suddenly, and suffer from emotional whiplash. I go through this every time I get a break, and have yet to really figure out the best way to mediate it.

Anyway, there has been a lot going on, but ironically, I have made less and less time to write about it. I imagine when the pace picks up again in 29 days, you'll be able to tell that something changed, as I'll be writing about it every six hours.

Until then...

Blasphuphmus Radio Schedule Update

There's a few things that are coming in the pipe for the coming months, and I thought it would be a good time to sort out the programming schedule for the remainder of 2009 while I'm at it. There aren't any major changes, really; we're still on Saturday's at 1 PM, and we'll still be bringing you the usual radio goodness well into the 2020's. But here are a few things that are worth noting:

1.) For one week (September 12th) What's This Called? and Blasphuphmus Radio will switch times. At noon, be prepared for Part V of The Adventures of Superman. And at 1 PM, keep it locked for a mind-melting performance by Mangled Bohemians, in their second WTC? appearance. Mark your calendars, 'cause this will be an awesome day.

2.) Two shows have been expanded to two hours this year (so far): August 22nd (from 1 PM - 3 PM), and September 5th (12 PM - 2 PM). The former should be a show I'm calling "Summer Sounds." The later: a return appearance by the first guest I had on my KPSU incarnation of this show, Ian Murray! We'll play some of his music, classic clips from his first appearance, and a bunch of new material for your listening pleasure.

3.) October marks the beginning of the Holiday Season at Blasphuphmus Radio, starting with five weeks of Halloween music that will culminate in a special broadcast actually happening on Halloween! In the 11 years I've been doing this show, I don't believe I have ever broadcast on Halloween Day, and as a collector of Halloween Music, this is a very special event. That, plus another Election Day Show, a post-Thanksgiving wrap-up, and three weeks of "Holiday Music For People Who Hate Holiday Music" in December, will provide you with all the year-end audio treats you could ever need. Watch this space for Holiday News and updates.

4.) There are a handful of Retrocasts coming, including an entire show dedicated to my long-lost co-host, Holden Craft! For those of you who were not listening during the KWVA years, Holden was my right-hand man, and until I met DJ Revolting Earwig, was the person who made more appearances on my show than anyone else. (I believe Revolting Earwig has surpassed him now.) While collecting all the golden moments from his time on our show would be a several-hour broadcast, we'll be selecting the best and funniest moments from his news-casts and other appearances, and allow you to re-live these moments for the first time in almost 10 years. Plus, an appearance by Cerebus The Aardvark? All that, and more.

5.) Our December 26th broadcast this year will be pre-recorded, and only available via the Podcast. I will be out of town that day, and another DJ will be covering that hour, which will also be great for those of you who tune in live. But the podcast that day will be spectacular, I promise.

That's it for now. As I mentioned before, this calendar is subject to change. But for right now, it looks pretty solid. As usual, you'll be the first to know when something comes up.

Woolen Pine Box!

Another KPSU double-header today, featuring two live bands! It's more live radio than you'll know what to do with! Ob-soive:

First, we feature a live performance by Knot Pine Box on What's This Called?, featuring some of the most incredible guitar improvisation I've seen in quite some time:

Knot Pine Box on What's This Called?
(A Live Performance, engineered by Austin Rich.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

Next, we move on to another Live Performance by The Woolen Men, this time on my own show:

Episode 033: The Woolen Men, Live! Part I
Episode 033: The Woolen Men, Live! Part II
(Featuring a live performance, interview, and many selections from the PDX Pop Now! 2009 Compilation.)

Playlist & Footnotes

The Woolen Men Photoset, and Slideshow.

This show is spread out over two hours to accommodate the band during sound check. The first 25 minutes of the first hour include PDX Pop Selections. Additionally, only the first 16 minutes of the second hour have Woolen Men antics. Eventually I will edit down a single hour version of this show, but for now, it's in two parts.

Whew. I'm beat. Good thing radio like this only happens once a week.

See ya in seven.

Noise

Why were there two different people, on opposite sides of my house, using extremely loud engine-powered equipment, at 7:30 AM this morning? You don't start construction or start adding a porch to your house until after 10 AM. That's the rule; always has been, always will be.

Somehow, I have a feeling that if I was making a lot of noise in my house at 7:30 AM (like, playing bass really loud in my basement), I would receive a complaint. Or perhaps the police would just show up. Why are people building things at ungodly hours of the morning exempt from this?

The only thing worse that living in a world with so many assholes in it is living in a world where nearly all of them have no idea they are assholes.

Fall Courses

PSU finally contacted me with the information about the course I'll be teaching this Fall. For those of you who don't yet know, I received an undergraduate scholarship to start teaching three Mentor Session courses, twice a week, for the 2009 / 2010 PSU school year. The job involves pay, benefits, full tuition reimbursement, and a sense of focus and purpose that other jobs I've had in the past lacked in some way. I can't believe I was lucky enough to get this, and I only hope that I impress everyone enough to make a long-term career out of it.

The course I'll be teaching is called On Democracy, and my faculty partner is Friedrich Schuler. The full description is embedded in the link, but to summarize: the course will be looking at Democracy through a variety of lenses, where students will be approaching the concept through readings, research, and discussions. As someone who considers themselves political, but rarely devotes time to reading about politics in my leisure time, some of this will be new for me, too. I'm really excited about the possibilities, and already have some ideas on how to address different topics.

If you're going to be a Freshman at PSU in the Fall, and are looking for a FRINQ course that you want to take, I highly recommend signing up for On Democracy, so you can get into one of my Mentor Sessions. The first one is already full, but I promise that if you get in, I will do my best to be entertaining & informative. This is, of course, my first class like this, so I only ask one thing of you: be gentle.

Course Title: ON DEMOCRACY
CRN 13495 (8:00 AM - 9:15 AM, Main Session led by the Prof.)
CRN 13500 (9:30 AM - 10:20 AM, already full)
CRN 13502 (10:30 AM - 11:20 AM)
CRN 13501 (11:30 AM - 12:20 AM)
Course Number: 131A
Class Meeting Days: Monday & Wednesday
Room: Cramer Hall, 149

See ya then.

15th Anniversary

This one slipped through the cracks while I was busy with other projects (and, of course, summer): KPSU put together a publication to celebrate their 15th Anniversary, to tie into the party they threw at Pioneer Square at the end of June. While the actual 15th Anniversary isn't until October 1st, the publication gathered together a lot of detritus and ephemera from KPSU's history. Since I was on staff for four years, and have been a volunteer now for over five, I turn up in the publication in a number of ways: first, there's an interview about my two-year stint as the host of Live Friday, a few pictures of me (shot mostly by Ricardo Wang), and a few pictures of my friends (who were guests on my show).

The publication is really only available if you stop in to pick up a free copy at the KPSU lobby, but I will gladly send one to you if you're interested. I didn't put this together, and often the photo credits are off. In fact, this publication is less of The Story Of KPSU and more of a Here's A Bunch Of Stuff Related To KPSU. But I managed to find my way into it without lifting a finger or really being asked to contribute. (Well, I was asked to do the interview, but it was everyone else's idea, not mine.)

Get 'em while supplies last; there are only a few hundred or so left in the lobby of KPSU.

Warning: Bad Pun Alert

Who doesn't like sitting around, listening to a big stack of records? I know I do. Ob-soive:

Episode 032: Vinyl Solution
(A show where I played only 12" records.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

I had a lot of fun with this one, and hope it's just as fun to listen to, too.

See ya in seven.

Wilhelm Weirdness

Here's a little something that I found last night that is exactly up my ally: The Wilhelm Scream sound effect, and it's history.

My friend Steve sent me the DVD for The Middleman, a short lived TV show on ABC Family that is to Comic Book Fiction what Buffy is to Vampire Fiction. The primary creator and writer is Javier Grillo-Marxuach, with more nerd credentials than I thought possible. (Not only does he write comics, but he was one of the writer's and producers for the first two seasons of Lost. As I hadn't heard of The Middleman before (how, exactly, I missed it is a mystery to me), I turned to the above-linked Wikipedia entry for more information, one of the first things I noticed was the short sentence, "Every episode used the Wilhelm scream in some way." I couldn't let a quick reference like that go un-Googled, so within a few minutes I had the whole story sorted out.

The short version: In 1951, a Warner Brothers movie called Distant Drums used a set of recorded screams that became popular among sound effects editors. As the years wore on, the scream became an in-joke among those editors, who would go out of their way to sneak it into films in any way they could. It is claimed that the effect appears in over 140 films. Sooner or later, film nerds began to catch on: George Lucas, Steven Speilberg, and Joe Dante were some of the first people to revive it's usage, and the tradition has been picked up by Tim Burton, Quinten Tarentino, and Peter Jackson. As more and more film nerds become hip to the effect, it becomes used even more often, only perpetuating it as a sound chiché. It's only fair, then, that when something as pure-geek as The Middleman starts being produced, you'd have to pull out all the stops and put it in every episode. At least Javier is following in a good TV tradition too: Wilhelm has screamed in Maverick, The X-Files, Angel, The Family Guy, and in commercials for both Dell and Comcast.

(I can only imagine that this kind of obscure referencing could have only contributed to ABC Family just scratching their heads before giving up and canceling something this idiosyncratic. Perhaps that's why it is so appealing.)

For those of you not exactly sure if you can place the effect in film, some kind person has created a great YouTube video that collects some of the best useages of Wilhelm in an easy-to-digest 3 1/2 minute form. If this doesn't bring a smile to your face, then really, what will?

News From The Blasphuphmus Radio Offices

Taking a cue from NASA, The BBC, and other organizations who have made other similar errors in the past with regards to archiving, we thought it would be a good idea to undertake the first ever official Blasphuphmus Radio Archive Project, where we make an attempt to collect all the various recordings related to the show in all of the various different forms they have taken over the years. As of 2:00 PM today, every known existing recording is now safely archived on six DVDs, containing almost 400 broadcasts that I participated in, and includes many of the long-since-thought-lost KWVA shows from 1998 and 1999.

This project originally began last summer, when we began analog-to-digital conversion for the KWVA shows that were, on the whole, entirely stored on cassette tapes. Many of these tapes began to show wear and tear, or had been lost over the years, and it made sense to make the conversion to a digital format to increase the longevity of these recordings, and to make them more easily accessible in a world where cassettes are a (supposedly) dying format. After the mass-cassette conversion, the project continued until this morning, where the last of the known recordings were all assembled, and then backed up (in .mp3 format) to a series of DVD discs, now being stored at the Blasphuphmus Radio Offices in beautiful Portland, Oregon.

One of the reasons the archive project took so long is a simple matter of media formats: Blasphuphmus Radio has been archived in a variety of ways over the years, many of which were not the best means of capturing audio for repeated future listening. For the KWVA years, cassettes were the only format available, and many of the shows were heavily edited for the cassette archives. Playlists were not kept as dilligently as they are now, and so many of the early shows exist in little as 20 minutes versions, a far cry from the two hour broadcast presentation. (Only one show from that era exists in it's near complete form, missing only the commercials.) The last few months of broadcasts from that period are gone entirely, which may or may not be uncovered as secret stashes of cassettes crop up in the Blasphuphmus Radio Offices. (Shades of Dr. Who again, no doubt.)

At KPSU, the show was archived in a variety of ways: cassette tapes, minidiscs, CDs, mono .mp3 recordings, and finally, full stereo .mp3s. Various means and methods of keeping these shows were used between 2004 and today, and not all of them were successful. Many shows were, again, edited in the cassette tape form, and while we were able to recreate these shows in an as-complete-form-as-possible, there are many that are missing, or don't contain everything. When .mp3 archiving began in mid 2005, the initial archive was spotty at best (and in a very cheap mono form, utilizing only one of the two stereo broadcast tracks). Only the 2006 broadcasts are (nearly) complete, and some of the later (and, by many accounts, best) 2007 shows were lost in a hard drive crash that occured in early 2008. Fortunately, all of the 2009 Season shows exist, in their entirety, some of which are even in stereo, thanks to the podcasts going stereo earlier this year.

In the process of assembling this archive, many rare gems were unearthed, and over 100 recordings of live performances were found, too (some by bands that either were, or went on, to become fairly famous). Some of these recordings will make appearances in future Blasphuphmus Radio Retrocasts, while the live recordings will begin to surface in other forms as we move into our 12th Year as a media entity. (Watch this space for more information.) One thing that caught our attention in undertaking this project were the numerous individuals who made appearances on the show, helped make a show possible, or in some way encouraged us to keep going. It would be too labor-intensive to name everyone, but I promise you, each and every one of you will be thanked in some way or another, and your contributions mean the world to each and every one of us.

In the last 11 years I have been lucky enough to broadcast music I love to the people I love in a variety of means and ways. It has been a real treat to get to do something like this, and I hope that in the next 11 years, I can continue to offer better and better shows, in whatever form they take.

Keep up the good work, and I'll see ya Tuesday. Walg.

Things I Love

In an effort to pull myself out of my funk, and to try to embrace some positive things for a change (rather than complaining until I'm blue in the face about nearly everything), I've decided to make a list of things I love. So often, I think, this gets lost in the shuffle of trying to look cool in a town that is often predicated on exactly that. Being cool is one thing; being willing to admit to the things that make you happy, and proudly wearing them as a badge of honor, is even cooler if you ask me. Let's begin:

01.) My Family
02.) My Friends
03.) School
04.) Radio
05.) The Public Library
06.) Records
07.) Comics
08.) Writing
09.) Making A Mix Of Music For Someone
10.) Shared Physical Intimacy
11.) Fresh Fruit
12.) Watching Something Fun With A Friend
13.) Shopping For Food I Like To Eat
14.) Ginger Ale
15.) Hanging Out In The Kitchen, Making Food & Listening To Records With Someone
16.) When I Have A Date
17.) Genuine Compliments About My Creative Output
18.) Having My Bills Paid, And Having Money Left Over
19.) Loud Rock 'n' Roll Shows
20.) Knowing That You're Hearing Something For The First Time
21.) Invitations To An Event
22.) Finally Understanding Something Complex
23.) Getting Packages Or Letters In The Mail
24.) Seeing Pretty Girls
25.) Knowing That I'm Trying To Be A Better Person