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Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

trinitySOUNDTRACK: GREASY KID STUFF–WFMU 91.9, New York City (1997-2006).

grekidIn my vast exploration of Greasy Kid Stuff (seriously, at least 15 minutes at work), I found the WFMU website.  It turns out that Greasy Kid Stuff, the radio show broadcast weekly from WFMU from 1997 until 2006.  Then they moved to Portland and couldn’t manage the remote connections properly, so the show ended on WFMU.

The good news is that you can hear weekly playlists of all of the shows from 2000-2006 on the playlist page.  They have playlists that date back to the beginning, but there’s only audio starting in 2000.  The bad news is that you the shows are all archived in Real Audio.  Which, I don’t know, may or may not really work anymore.

But for a historical look at a funny and weird kids show check out the archives, and if you still have Real Player, give it a listen.

[READ: June 17, 2014] Operation Trinity

The Cahill Files were a series of “books from the vault” of the Cahill family.  They were originally released as e-books and some of them have been collected as print books.  The first was Operation Trinity.  And like Vespers Rising, it chronicles the history of the Cahill Family.

The story is broken into three parts, each one chronicling the “life” of a painting.  The painting in question is Jan Van Eyck’s altarpiece (see bottom of post for picture of it). The first part is set in Ghent in 1566.  In reality, the painting was finished in the 15th century and was installed in the Saint Bavo Cathedral.

The story follows Matheus Jacobs, an ordinary, some might say even less than ordinary, boy whose family doesn’t seem to think all that much of him.  Until one day when his mother says that she wants him to become an altar boy so he can protect this altarpiece from the Vespers.  (His father doesn’t think he is worthy, but she disagrees).  He doesn’t know why his mother chose him, or what his mother has to do with anything like this, until she reveals that she can speak several languages and is well versed in the history of the Vespers.  He rides his untrusty mule to the church, where he marvels at the beautiful painting.

He soon meets Father Gerard who sends him on an errand.  While away, he hears a man inciting a mob against the church.  The mob grows incensed, as mobs do, and sets out trying to weed out the Catholics in the village.  Matheus is freaked because they are heading for his home village.  And when he arrives, he sees that the mob is trying to burn down his house.  In the fracas, one of his family members is killed, and the rest of his family insist that he head back to the protect the altarpiece because the Vespers are behind the mob and they are headed for the church. (more…)

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rattleSOUNDTRACK: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS-“Greasy Kid Stuff” (2013).

3This song was recorded especially for the Greasy Kid Stuff radio show and appears on Greasy Kids Stuff Vol 3.

It starts out like a very TMBG song–with funny lyrics (by John L) over a simple keyboard melody.  The lyrics are about his unruly hair (it needs some schooling).  But it quickly turns into a plea to the radio for songs about Greasy Kid Stuff!

The chorus sounds very “rock n roll” (with old style backing vocals).

It’s only 1:40 and it’s the kind of song TMBG seems to be able to whip out in a couple of minutes.  But it’s really quite catchy.  It’s nice to get some new fun from John and John and the Dans.

[READ: August 11, 2014] We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes

Indeed we cannot all be rattlesnakes. Even the main character of this book, a gopher snake, can’t be one, despite how much she looks like one.

The gopher snake is unnamed because even though she is the main character, she has just been captured by a boy named Gunnar.   Well, actually he calls her Crusher, but that’s not her name, and she refuses to acknowledge it (especially since she doesn’t crush her prey, she asphyxiates it).  We see everything that happens to her from her own eyes. This allows us to see everyday human items (like a video game console) as completely foreign.

Gunnar is a kinda dumb, kinda violent boy, at least that’s what the other captive animals claim (reptiles can communicate telepathically, you know).  Speedy the tortoise and Rex the lizard tell Crusher all about how things are in this house.

Gunnar plays violent video games, disobeys his mom, has dumb friends and refuses to accept that Crusher is a girl.  At first Crusher is really angry about being captured and she vows revenge.  Not only won’t she eat the dead mouse he puts in there with her, she refuses to eat the live mouse he puts in there with her.  In fact the mouse, named Breakfast, becomes quite taken with Crusher, and cuddles up next to her. (more…)

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gd2SOUNDTRACK: GLORIA BALSAM-“Fluffy” (1983).

wwrThis song is also on Greasy Kid Stuff 3 (I was disappointed to realize that I couldn’t find all that many of the other songs online).  But when I found the video for it, it had also been gathered on a compilation called The Rhino Brothers Presents The World’s Worst Records.

The song is about the narrator trying to find her missing dog, Fluffy.  In all honesty I don’t know if she ever found the dog because her voice is so (intentionally, I hope) off-key and distracting that it’s hard to pay attention to what she is saying  The music is a big sweet ballad, which is completely undermined by her voice.

I suppose this is funny, but I’m honestly not sure what to make of it and I don’t intend to listen to it again to find out.  Maybe that Greasy Kid Stuff album isn’t as desirable as I thought.

[READ: August 3, 2014] Guinea Dog 2

When I picked up Guinea Dog, I also grabbed Guinea Dog 2.  Since the kids enjoyed the first one so much that we started #2 right away.

This book picks up right where the first one left off. It may even be the next day.  Everyone has learned about Fido and her amazing tricks (thanks mostly to Dmitri taking a video and threatening to show it on YouTube).  And Lurena is so totally in love with her (she has offered to take her home many many times, but Rufus keeps refusing).  Heck even his dad seems to like her now.  Rufus has had it with the attention.

So he decides to stop playing with her like a dog.  He doesn’t let her out of the cage as much.  He stops treating her like a dog too–he wants to untrain her, to make her a proper guinea pig.

Now, like in the first book where I didn’t understand the motivations behind Rufus’ actions, here again I don’t get it.  No matter how much he hates the attention, how can he not think that having a guinea dog is awesomely cool.  (We have guinea pigs and they are certainly cute but they are not awesomely cool).  So the more he protests and tries to hide how cool she is the more weird it seems to me (and to his friends).

Murphy of course wants to get a guinea dog just like Fido, even the wicked Dmitri wants to buy her from him.  And rodent loving Lurena would do anything to own her.  But Rufus doesn’t want to give her away, he just wants her to be normal.  Which I guess is motivation enough, I suppose. (more…)

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gdSOUNDTRACK: KEY WILD & MR. CLARKE-“Favorite Names” (2012).

wild This is a simple song (as kids songs should be).  But what appealed immediately was the big fuzzy guitar that introduces the song.  Lyrically it’s very simple: a list of the singer’s favorite names (all of which start with the letter J).  After repeating them twice, a voice asks about girls names, and we get a few J fronted  girls names.

The twist comes with the next verse when it is sung “en Espanol” and a new collection of Spanish names crop up (with the rest of the words in Spanish, too).  And then they switch the en Francais.  It’s multilingual!

greasyI found out about Key Wild & Mr Clarke from WXPN, but I see that this song comes from an album that sounds awesome: Greasy Kids Stuff 3, a collection of songs from KNRK in Portland.  The collection sounds great and I’ll mention more songs from it this week.

[READ: July 31, 2014] Guinea Dog

I was unfamiliar with Patrick Jennings when I grabbed this book.  The title sounded intriguing, especially since we own guinea pigs.  Interestingly, after reading this book we read several other Patrick Jennings books, so this will be like Patrick Jennings week here at I Just Read About That.  I enjoyed reading this book to the kids, and they found it rather funny as well.

Guinea Dog is about a boy named Rufus. All he wants is a dog.  He would like a big, friendly, fast, funny dog.  Like the one his best friend has.  In fact, he would love his best friend’s dog.  The problem is that his father hates dogs. He hates them big time.  He has a list of reasons why he hates dogs and that list goes on for two pages (and it was fun to read aloud).

Rufus’ father is an anal retentive, stay at home annoyance (a little over the top frankly, but it works for dramatic comeuppance, right?) who needs everything to be perfectly clean and who doesn’t want to be bothered while he is working.  And there is no way he will cave on the dog thing.

Rufus’ mom looks for a way to make things better, so she buys Rufus a pet.  The pet is…  a guinea pig.  Rufus is devastated.  He decides to mock the guinea pig by naming her Fido.  Rufus and his dad finally agree on one thing–they want the guinea pig taken back to the store.  But when they go look for Petopia, the store is gone, without a trace.  They are stuck with Fido.

But very soon, Fido starts acting like a dog.  She makes little barking sounds, she plays, she catches Frisbees (sort of), she runs with him, she fetches things.  She does everything a dog can do.  Frankly, she is amazing (I certainly looked askance at my guinea pigs after reading this).

And yet, Rufus doesn’t want anyone to see this creature.  He doesn’t like having attention drawn to himself (unlike his best friend who is a major attention hound). So he doesn’t want anyone to know about Fido’s skills.  But of course Fido is a playful, outgoing creature (who follows hm to school one day).  And soon, more and more people are aware of Fido. (more…)

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44SOUNDTRACK: WNYC SOUNDCHECK GIG ALERTS (2009-).

soundcheck There are so many places to listen to free music.  But i prefer places where you can (legally) download free music.  So here’s a place I’ve just discovered: WNYC Radio’s website which features a section called “Gig Alerts.”  The feature talks about a different interesting band playing that night (in New York).  After a small blurb, there is (almost always) a free downloadable track.   There’s twenty listings per page and 86 pages.  Do the math and that’s a lot of songs.

The feature covers virtually every genre, although there is a preponderance of alt- and indie- rock (mostly lesser known bands).  If you are interested in new (to you) music and in exploring different artists, this is a great resource for a ton of free music.  So, check out Gig Alerts here.

[READ: May 20, 2014] McSweeney’s #44

I was pretty pleased with myself when I got caught up on the McSweeney’s issues.  But I remember wanting to take a break when this one came in.  I now see it has been almost a year since I read the last issue.  So the break was too long and now I have three issues to catch up on again.  Sigh.  But this one proved to be a great issue to return on.

This is a pretty quintessential issue of McSweeney’s.  It’s got letters, some fiction, a special section dedicated to Lawrence Weschler (which includes a lot of art), and a cool, interesting section of plates with full color art.  It’s also got an interestingly designed hardcover with a kind of raw cardboard in the back, a slightly raised colorful section for the spine and then a further raised section for the giant 44 on the front cover.

LETTERS (more…)

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SOUNDTRACK: stickman2JUSTIN ROBERTS-“Pop Fly” (2008).

popflyThis is a wonderful pop song from Justin Roberts.  Roberts is regarded as a top-notch children’s song writer.  I hadn’t heard him before, but i was totally sold by this one.

It’s a poppy almost dancey song–it certainly makes you want to move around, anyway.  There’s a catchy acoustic guitar and a fast beat and Roberts’ voice is really solid and warm.  Interestingly I didn’t even realize this song was about baseball when I heard it on the radio (I missed the song title).  I was totally hooked by the pa pa pa pa pa pa chorus.

And there’s a great third section of the song that changes the mood but not the tempo.  This reminds me a bit of Ralph’s World, but a bit…more full, perhaps?  Or maybe like something from Phineas and Ferb.  I’m going to have to check out more from him.

Oh, and the video, while cheaply made, is quite funny when the chorus kicks in.

[READ: April 8, 2014] Stickman Odyssey, Book 2

I enjoyed Book 2 of this series more than Book 1. It felt like it had a little more plot and was a little less slavish to the original myths.  or maybe I just like quests.

The story starts in the middle, with Nestor having captured Zozimos and having tied him up for failing to avenge Sticatha (which was Nestor’s plan all along).  He says that Zozimos has been doing nothing all this time. But Zozimos says no, he has been on an epic adventure.

Which brings us to where book one left off.

Praxis (the strongest man in the world) Atrukos (a guy who looks like a frog) and Zozimos set off to find a piece of the sky.  In book one, Praxis had knocked a piece of the sky out when he hurled a cyclops at it.  He wanted to retrieve it to prove to his love that he was actually a worthwhile person.  This story is left all of a sudden (in a very funny way) so they can help Atrukos with the witch who cursed him before Book 1 even started.  That’s when Nestor captured Zozimos, as he was on his way to help Atrukos. (more…)

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stickman1SOUNDTRACK: DANNY WEINKAUF-“Archaeology” (2014).

noschoolDanny Weinkauf is one of the Band of Dans that plays with They Might Be Giants.  In 2014 he successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign to create his solo album, No School Today.  (I knew nothing about the Kickstarter campaign).

The album comes out this month and I have to say I really like what I’ve heard so far.  This song has been played on Kids Corner a lot.  It’s very catchy and reminds me of good indie pop music.  There’s even a feel of 70s British pop (or like Davy Jones singing).  It’s super catchy.  The chorus and the oft-repeated “arc” “arc” “arc” before “archaeology” can be a bit much at the end of the song, but for the most part this is a real winner.

Danny also wrote “I am a Paleontologist” from They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science album, so his bona fides are good.  And the lyrics are clever and smart, too:

Archaeology It’s human evolution From the Caveman to you and me analyzing their solutions (yeah now)
/Archaeology the secrets they left for us We can study activities Of those who came before us

[READ: April 7, 2014] Stickman Odyssey, Book 1

While I was looking for Stickdog books for C., I came across Stickman.  There are two books in this series (with book two being set up for a third, but no sign of it yet).

This book is a kind of spoof of Homer’s Odyssey, but not really. It is set in the time of the ancient Greek gods and some of those gods make appearances.  Even the style is done in a generically Homeric epic storytelling style.  But none of the characters from Homer appear.  This is an alternate reality of sorts.  The Great Whirlpool exists (shades of Scylla and Charybdis), but so does Candy Island and a place called Odonoros and Stickman’s home world of Sticatha (which made me laugh once I pronounced it correctly).  So, you don’t need familiarity with Homer to appreciate this, indeed, it kind of confused me at first because I wasn’t sure if I should be looking for parallels.

Stickman’s name is the awkward Zozimos (which I want to be significant but can’t figure out any reason why it would be).

The gods do play with the humans, though.  On the second page we see that Athena wields a giant pen and makes Zozimos a raft while he is struggling in the ocean.  Days later he lands on what he thinks is Sticatha, but no, he lands on an island with fair maidens.  He tries to charm one of them, Asteria, but is immediately grabbed by a golem and dragged to jail.  The evil King Marnox imprisons every castaway who lands on the island–he has his reasons.

But Asteria is mad that her father is locking up all of these eligible men, so he brings Zozimos out of the jail for him to tell his story.  And it is…epic! (more…)

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CV1_TNY_11_04_13Brunetti.inddSOUNDTRACK: LEE RANALDO AND THE DUST-Live at KEXP (December 8, 2013).

leeThis show was recorded before the holidays in 2013.  For some reason, it wasn’t posted online until Jan 31.  But whatever the reason, I’m glad it was featured.

During the dissolution (or whatever) of Sonic Youth, much has been made of both Thurston and Kim’s new projects.  But Lee Ranaldo tends to get lost in the shuffle (which is probably how he likes it).  During the break, Lee has been plugging away on two solo albums.  His latest one, with The Dust, is more of a band effort, with contributions from everyone: Steve Shelley (talk about getting lost in the shuffle, poor Steve) on drums, Tim Lüntzel on bass and Alan Licht on guitar.  Licht plays some wonderful guitar solos and sounds (although Lee handles most of the weird sounds).  I think what’s interesting about these songs is that although they feel like Sonic Youth, they have a “pretty” guitar solo which really changes the overall feel of the song.

Ranaldo has written (and sung) some of my favorite Sonic Youth tracks.  I always assumed that his tracks sounded great when they were balanced with the rest of the album.  But these songs sounds very Ranaldo and they are all fantastic.

The first song, “Keyhole” is part beautiful melody and part beautiful noise.  Ranaldo writes chords that work perfectly together and yet which don’t sound like an obvious pairing.  And his vocal phrasing is always perfect for the music he makes–his voice is not spectacular but it is really quite perfect.  The second song, “Off the Wall” has the most commercial-sounding chorus I’ve heard from a Sonic Youth alum.  I almost don’t like it, although the rest of the song is very cool.

They play a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Rock n Roll” which fits in perfectly with their sound (even if Lee doesn’t hit the falsetto “fine fine” notes).  The final song, “The Rising Tide” is perhaps my favorite.  Clocking in at 10 minutes, this song is expansive and full of textures and sounds.  It goes in a  bunch of different directions and is really fantastic.

There’s a very long interview in the middle of the four songs, in which we learn what Lee has been up to, about how Hurricane Sandy affected him and about The Dust’s tour in India.  Lee’s an engaging talker and the interview flies by.

I don’t have any of Lee’s solo albums, but I think this one Last Night on Earth (and it seems like perhaps the previous one, Between the Times and the Tides) are total keepers.  You can watch the whole show below.

[READ: January 5, 2014] “Take It or Leave It”

I was surprised and pleased to see a piece from Zadie Smith in here.  Her article is mostly a comparison of take out food in New York and in London (or more broadly, the U.S. and England).

She tells how the first time she ordered Chinese food in New York, she wondered why the delivery guy just stood there after getting paid.  So she closed the door on him.  Her companion was shocked.  They just don’t tip delivery people in England.  British people grumble about it when they come here and have to tip.  They say that people should be compensated fairly for their work (although Smith notes that no one actually says if delivery boys are fairly paid in England) .

She says that a guy comes to your door, gives you food, gives you change and leaves (sometimes without even taking off the motorcycle helmet).  And they never say to have a nice day.  (“Have a good one” is the best you’ll get). (more…)

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CV1_TNY_11_18_13Tomine.inddSOUNDTRACK: TALLEST MAN ON EARTH-Tiny Desk Concert #26 (September 14, 2009).

tmoeI was not aware of The Tallest Man on Earth before hearing him on All Songs Considered.  And then WXPN started playing one of his songs, so he became somewhat familiar to me.  I have since listened to some of his concerts and this Tiny Desk Concert and I really like him a lot.

So the Tallest Man on Earth is Kristian Matsson, a Swedish folksinger with a great guitar picking style and a deep powerful gritty voice.  He plays three songs in this set.  “I Won’t Be Found” has wonderful fast guitar picking that contrasts wonderfully with his simple singing melody.  It’s a great song.  As is “The Gardener” which sounds very different.  This one is largely strummed–a bouncy, jaunty strum. It seems to contain the origin of his unusual stage name (or perhaps it just a fun allusion to it).

“Pistol Dreams” has more great finger picking (and reminds me a little of Richard Thompson).  It’s a sweet song, and his gruff voice once again provides excellent contrast.

I hope to hear more from The Tallest Man on Earth.  Check it out.

[READ: January 30, 2014] “Find the Bad Guy”

This story was surprisingly dark (I don’t think of Eugenides as quite so dark).  It starts out with the narrator talking about the house that he and his wife have owned for 12 years.  And yet they still haven’t gotten the smell of the previous owners completely out of it.  (There’s a nice payoff to this idea later in the story).

But that’s not the point.  The point is that he has recently been kicked out of his house—given a restraining order, in fact.  But since he knows the plans of his house he knows that he can stand right where he is—just inside the front fence—and know that he’s not too close.

The story has trappings of being current—he plays Words with Friends with his daughter (her name is mrsbieber), which I found to be just slightly out of touch.  But that’s irrelevant.

The narrator is Charlie Daniels (not that one—he goes by Charlie D to avoid confusion, especially since he works in music).  He met his wife at a radio station.  She worked at a country station, although she didn’t like country music.  Johanna was from Germany (her name was Lübeck, but everyone pronounced it Lubbock).  But the thing about her was that she was very tall (not that tall in Germany, she said).  And Charlie D was suave, so he asked her clever things like how the weather was up there and if she ever played basketball.  She didn’t fall for this, of course, but then one day she asked if they could get married so she could get a green card.  He said sure. (more…)

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2014-01SOUNDTRACK: NOBEL PRIZE PLAYLIST-CBC Radio 3 (2013).

cbcIn honor of Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize, CBC radio has a playlist of “Literary Music.” Now, I have made many literary playlists over they years myself (including “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors” by Moxy Fruvous which is not included here), but this one consists of a few bands that I don’t know (and two that I do).

  • Library Voices–“Generation Handclap”
  • The Darcys–“Pretty Girls”
  • Kathryn Calder–“Right Book”
  • AroarA–“#6”
  • Arkells–“Book Club”
  • Dan Mangan–“Road Regrets”
  • John K. Samson–“When I Write My Master’s Thesis”

Samson is the only artist I know well, although I know Dan Mangan a little.  It’s a good listen and I’m sure if you scrutinize the lyrics you’ll find their literary worth.

Listen here.

[READ: January 18, 2014] “Her Big Break”

I’ve been a fan of Alice Munro for a while, and I’m always happy to see her in the New Yorker.  Strangely, I have never read any of her collected short stories.  Maybe some day….

When Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature, I imagined she’d get a lot more press.  And then I realized that it’s a literature prize.  And she’s Canadian.  So, perhaps a few columns in Canada’s The Walrus is all she’ll get.

But this article, which is really entirely this below letter and a brief introduction, explains that on November 18, 1976, Charles McGrath, a fiction editor at The New Yorker, sent Alice Munro her first acceptance letter from the magazine for her story “Royal Beatings.”  Soon after this, she signed a first-reading agreement with the magazine, which I gather means that they will see any of her short stories before she can send them anywhere else.

I am including this letter in its entirety because I assume that most people, like me, have never actually seen an acceptance letter from a magazine for a piece of fiction (I have several rejections).  But even if you have seen an acceptance letter, I can’t imagine that it will every be as thoughtful and considerate as this one.  i also love that as recent as 1976 The NEw Yorker was kind of prudish about their fiction.  I mean, now, the cursing is rampant, but back then the fiction was a more genteel breed.

I have not read “Royal Beatings,” but you can bet I’ve added it to my short list. (more…)

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