“Prolix Logorrhoea, and how!”

Sunday, August 30, 2009

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.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

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.

Monday, August 17, 2009

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...

Sunday, August 16, 2009

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.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

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.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

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.

Monday, August 10, 2009

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.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

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.

Friday, August 7, 2009

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?



Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Knot Woolen Sun and other Radio Happenings

There are a few live radio events that are in the pipe for the coming months, and one involves a minor schedule change, so I thought I'd keep ya'll abreast of what the good word is, so you can arrange your listening habits accordingly. There's nothing better than a good selection of live music to brighten your future.

On August 15th, What's This Called? & Blasphuphmus Radio are having a live double-header, where I'll be running the sound for both shows. At 12 Noon, tune in to hear Knot Pine Box, a solo experimental artist who recently made a really well-received appearance at the Olympia Experimental Music Festival. Then, at 1 PM, tune in for a live performance by Portland's very own The Woolen Men, a three piece rock combo that's just getting off the ground, and is ready to prove themselves the same way countless other bands have done in the past: via a live radio broadcast. This should make for a good double dose of rock, so mark your calendars!

Then, on October 3rd, What's This Called? & Blasphuphmus Radio will be switching hours for a single week. I'll bring you the usual stuff you've come to know and love at 12 Noon. Then, at 1 PM, stay tuned for a special performance by New Red Sun, where I'll be running sound and doing my usual shenanigans while Ricardo Wang is at the helm. I'm looking forward to all three of these events, which should be a lot of fun, and, in these trying and troubling times, entirely free!

Watch this space for more info. Until then, take care!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Handed Down From On High

What happens when even a left-leaning media organization tries to impose ridiculous broadcasting suggestions to their lowly peons? The answer to that question lies in this week's episode. Ob-soive:

Episode 031: Handed Down From On High
(Where I play a bunch of stuff that I wanted to hear, despite that being a direct violation of an order from the heads of Blasphuphmus Radio.)

Playlist & Footnotes.

No theme, no gimmick, no special guests. Just a lot of awesome, awesome music, flying in the face of those who think they run the show. This one, fortunately, ROCKS!

See ya in seven.