Here be last night's playlist. It was nice to get back on air on a Wed. night, after missing most of the summer. And I even got requests (Maynard Ferguson, Tranquility Bass) and a phone call (to ask about the Legendary KO tune). I was glad to get a chance to do a little NO remembrance set. It's never a bad time for a little "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" and I love the new stuff from dj BC. Too bad only 3 of the tracks are available for download. The whole album is available as a torrent (not that that does me any good).

Anyway, I had a blast. Someone on the XDU mailing list made a crack about Paul Simon so I couldn't pass up the chance to play some. I was actually wanting to play something from Rhythm of the Saints but the live Central Park concert was all we had. I think it fit into the set pretty well tho. My personal fave track of the show was "the American", which I hadn't heard in years and years. It might have been the first Simple Minds track I ever heard, back on either college or new wave radio back in the early 80s.

I've read several mentions of this neo-automat Bamn! that's just opened in the East Village, NYC. First off I have to give a definite tip o' the hat to whoever was doing the press/publicity for these guys. They did a great job of catching the buzz and getting mentions all over the place. There's some pics at Gothamist (plus as a bonus you get some fine haterade chugging in the comments). I'd link to the NYTimes mention except, as usual, their rss hates me. Plus they failed to correctly identify the spam musubi so why do they even deserve a link anyway...
There's a chance I might be passing thru Manhattan next weekend. If so, I'll stop by for a closer look.

What I learned so far tonight is that maybe you can find everything on the internets but you might not be able to figure out how to buy it. To elaborate. I was cleaning up some stuff and came across a cassette that our friend Francesca had sent me, probably about 10 or so years ago. There's not much written down except a list of songs and a name: Fuoco Centrale. I probably knew more details back in the mid-90s but they're now long gone (like many other things from those days). Googling around tonight, I was able to determine that Fuoco Central was actually a stage production, the music for which was done by Bevano Est. I was able to find several other recordings they've done but not the one I want to replace my slowly decaying tape copy. I even found an internet radio station playing Italian roots music. It's frustrating. Dammit, I want my instant gratification and I want it now.

Today, apparently, was the day to be reminded of things I hadn't thought of in a while. Including:

According to the Cartoon Network site and a few other resources I checked, it's not even on the air any more (and hasn't been for years). Yet there it was in the wee small hours this AM. Granted, a little Cartoon Planet can go a long way but at its best it was f-ing hilarious and even when it wasn't, it's just one of those things I have a soft spot in my head for.

a staple of 70s PBS programming, long before anyone even thought of the awful coinage "Britcom". I'm pretty sure there's some Two Ronnies vinyl floating around amongst the stuff I've left behind at my Mom's house over the years.

Voodoo Ray!!! I'm pretty sure XDU's got a copy of Automannik in the library. If not, I've got my copy of 808 State's Newbuild that I can spin Wed. night

So I'm pretty sure that some friends of mine were at this event, a benefit concert in NYC for Dave Eggers' 826NYC. Possibly supporting that theory is this shot of the Beacon Theater. I have many fond memories of shows at the Beacon (inc. my first times seeing the Cure and the Banshees).

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here innocently watching World Poker Tour when what should ooze across the screen but a commercial from the cable providers of America telling me that net neutrality is bad. Bad bad bad, they say. Because the consumer will pay more. I can only assume because if the cable companies lose on net neutrality they'll just jack us all for even more money. And that they must think we're completely stupid. All I can say is that I return their contempt, tenfold.

Here, yoinked from the Rte 6 Art Car Tour flickr page, is the awesome Dave Major and his newest creation, Aerocar 2. Amazing!

I think the Rte 6 trip (essentially, a group of art cars driving around rural Nebraska for a week) is probably the event I most wish I could attend. Maybe one of the years when we're going to Houston...

Anyway, they're also blogging the trip. It's not much like being there. But it is very silly, so it's got that going for it.

After several hours of fussing and experimenting (of the "connect wire A to wire B" variety) and much trial & error and multiple phone calls with my much handier bro, I've determined that, no, I cannot change that outlet so that the back porch light and living room ceiling fan are switched separately. Or at least not without a large-scale rewiring (of the "opening up walls" variety). So now everything's back the way it started, except with a slightly better switch. And only four full days after I started.

With those kinds of results, who wouldn't need a drink? As cool as the blog and site are, though, I'm bummed to discover that there was an actual cocktail history display up in Vegas when we were there. And we even walked right by Commander's Palace. Ah well...
(found via Looka!)

It's worth slogging thru the ads and whatnot on Salon to read their interview with Michael Shermer, founder of the Skeptics Society and author of the new book Why Darwin Matters.

Or if you'd rather not be doing too much heavy thinking just about now, please enjoy instead this guide to the world's many varieites of fried dough. (which reminds me that we're just about 2 months away from the NC State Fair)

Too much craziness the last couple of days. Spent hours on Sunday failing to complete what should have been a basic rewiring project in the kitchen. Monday AM my car declined to start (well, actually it did start but with much squealing and smoking and smell of burning rubber), leading to the towing and the repairing and the I-hope-you're-sitting-down-when-I-tell-you-how-much-this-will-cost. Add in some bad traffic and cranky software and 3+ hours of meetings. Ah well, nothing so bad that I can't whine about it here.

This is left over from the weekend but can I just say: NYTimes, WTF?!? In Sunday's Magazine section the headline for the (mostly worthless) "Funny Pages" said they were on hiatus until 9/17. But, as you can see by clicking here, there actually was a new installment of Jaime's La Maggie La Loca. Way to bury the lede, boys...

Here's a heartwarming tale. Glad to see the gu'mint is keeping us safe from novel writin' soccer moms. (found this via Bookslut)

Papers, please!!

XDU wrrld music top 8 (week ending 20 august 06) ::

Artology :: JPP
Metal Notes :: Gamelan Son of Lion
Lenine :: Lenine
the Streets of Bollywood and Beyond :: various
Dog Daze :: Csokolom
Mexaton on the Rise :: El Angel
Radio Algeria :: various
Yellow Fever :: Señor Coconut & his Orchestra

Here is yesterday's playlist. Overall, a pretty good show. I only had one fubar moment (when I cued up the wrong track), way down from the AM show last week. Unfortunately, I was trying to cue up the LNV track from Red Hot and Blue when I missed and got the k. d. lang track. Lovely song but completely out of format so I had to pull it down and start the set over. No calls (other than someone begging for free tickets), which is disappointing. Also, the promo co. decided to only send us a 3-song sampler instead of the complete CD of Yat-Kha's Re-Covers, which is very disappointing.

So that was the highlight of the afternoon. The highlight of the evening was seeing Snakes on a Plane at the drive-in with some of the local blogerati and party of favorites (w/ dog). Clearly the best airborne reptile movie. Evah!

and I owe it all to beef brisket... if I hadn't been eating same at the Q Shack, I wouldn't have run into L. and would have probably spent the evening lying on the couch watching Feasting on Asphalt (which is what I ended up doing when I got home from SoaMFP)

Been catching up on Cosmos episodes over the last few days. Science Channel had taken it off the air for a while, but they've started back thru the series again. Next time it comes around, I highly recommend episode 7 ("the Backbone of Night") in which, among many things, Sagan delivers a concise explanation of why Plato was full of shit.
Altho I can't help but notice how much change there's been in the 25+ years since Cosmos (see: any episode that shows "state of the art" computer technology), it's also hard to escape the suspicion that a show like that could never get produced today. Well, maybe on a narrowcast cable network, like the one it's being shown on now. But the idea that PBS or anyone would produce for a mass audience a show that both unapologetically discussed evolution as the fact that it is, and which approached organized religion and pretty much all mystical traditions with either healthy skepticism or complete disdain (with smatterings of disinterest)... well, I fear we won't be seeing any new series like that again anytime soon.

Oh joy... Looks like this week is trying to turn into the week o' not going to the radio station. Tonight, I was planning to meet Xta after Divaville, to pick up her CD collection so Sarah can use them when she's subbing next week. (are you confused yet?). Anyway. I walked out the door only to discover my rear passenger-side tire was flat. At least the spare wasn't flat and I was able to get the flat changed pretty easily. And Xta and Ray swung by to drop off the CDs. But still, this doesn't bode well for Saturday afternoon. Let's think positively, though. I have some new Fela to play and maybe some new CDs on the way. Plus whatever new stuff might have been in last week's mail. And some other stuff too. (just don't ask me what because I have no idea yet)

Was s'posed to be on air tonite. But while I was driving home I realized that I'd be a lot happier if I could find a sub. Just too much stuff to do helping Sarah get ready to head out for Florida tomorrow.
So tune in (or not... I'm not the boss of you) on Saturday, 1-3pm EDT. I'll be bringing the wrrld musical biscuits (note: no actual biscuits will be involved).

Whatever the time, it's never too late to get your coffee on! (another fine Gothamist link)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 13 august 06) ::

Yellow Fever :: Señor Coconut & his Orchestra
Artology :: JPP
Lenine :: Lenine
the Streets of Bollywood and Beyond :: various
Farewell Ferengistan :: Banco de Gaia
Dog Daze :: Csokolom
Best Off :: Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Mexaton on the Rise :: El Angel
Radio Algeria :: various
Radio Thailand :: various

Straight outta Sesame Street, it's Law and Order: Special Letters Unit.

w00t!

(thanks, Gothamist)

It's the return of the exploding plastic inevitable. Or, you knew it had to happen (part two): snakes on a cake(!!). I found this on Slashfood, but they found it here, which is a pretty cool looking site. I'll have to investigate further.

In other news, here's a post from last Thursday on Slog, the blog for Seattle's the Stranger. [2008 edit: no surprise, the link to the Slog post originally in this post is dead; don't worry, you didn't miss much]
Enjoy the fun as the original blogger and several others (inc. editor Dan "Bob Casey Won't Take My Money" Savage) sip some vintage art car haterade. Extra bonus fun: actual art car drivers (inc. Conrad Bladey and Extremo the Clown) politely tell Dan & co. to bacdafucup

Here's a fun link. I'm not as meme-averse as the Blogger Who Shall Remain Nameless, from whence I was directed to the following, less a quiz than a survey of how many metros around the world you've ridden on. I note, once again, that the world is a very big place and I haven't seen most of it. I debated whether to give myself credit for Milan, but we didn't really ride the Metro there. We took inter-city rail from Milan to Florence, which is not quite the same thing. There are also a few cities where I've ridden non-subway/metro mass transit systems (aka buses). Again, not quite the same thing. Anyway, an interesting thing. It was fun just looking at all the different logos.

Got at b3co.com!

You knew it had to happen... all your snakes are belong to us. (!!) (seen everywhere by now, I'm sure; I found it on memepool) Note 1: clicking on this link will result in sound and video being played at you. Note 2: not FCC clean (as we say at the radio station), if you care about such things.

And speaking of everyone's favorite insect overlords, here's a recent update on the state of the insanity, from FMU's Beware of the Blog.

image created by John Castle. found via boing²

Woke up this morning and wandered over to the radio station. Here's the playlist which fortunately does not reveal just how shambolic things got at several points. Perhaps the fact that I haven't been on the air in almost a month showed a touch. Still, I had a good time. There was even a phone call (just as I was getting ready to leave, and thus answered by fellow DJ and fellow traveler Mark J) from a listener wanting to know some more about the 20 min of Fela I ended the show with. Any time is a good time for some Fela. I recently came into some free downloads from iTunes which I used, in part, to expand my Fela collection a bit. Sadly, much of the Fela available on iTunes is full-album-only but I did manage to find several songs I could download.

I was going to pull together some more thoughts on the Louisville weekend but the combination of over-indulging at the Q Shack earlier and then getting side tracked onto the side bar (added a bunch of art car links) have drained off my enthusiasm for the project. There was one odd moment on the drive back. We're driving along on 77 in Virginia and I notice that the car ahead of us has NC plates and an XDU bumper sticker. Just as I'm about to say something about it to Sarah, she says "hey, why is the driver of that car waving out the window?" So we pull up to pass and it turns out to be fellow XDU DJ Mark J. Turns out he was headed back from Ohio, had been on the road for about 8 hours and thought at first that seeing Sarah's car in his rearview might be some kind of fatigue hallucination. That was definitely a new one -- running into (fortunately not literally) someone from home on a highway in a completely different state.

And speaking of XDU, I'll finally be back on the air, tomorrow morning, 7am to 9am. (for all you early risers)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 06 august 06) ::

Mexaton on the Rise :: El Angel
Lenine :: Lenine
Yellow Fever :: Señor Coconut & his Orchestra
the Streets of Bollywood and Beyond :: various
Farewell Ferengistan :: Banco de Gaia
Radio Algeria :: various
Soul Gospel, vol. 2 :: various
Ethnic Minority Music of Northeast Cambodia :: various
Lagos Stori Plenti :: various
Trafico :: Think of One

So I know there was some more stuff about Louisville and the art car weekend that I wanted to say, but I'm blanking just at the moment. While I try to recall, let me vamp for time by talking about my two most recent beer finds. From before the trip, Immort Ale, one of Dogfish Head's limited edition brews. The vanilla and juniper aren't immediately obvious, except as a kind of lush sweetness. The oak comes thru a bit more. I think. On the other hand, whenever I start sounding like too much of a beer snob, I just wanna slap myself. Whatever. So anyway, it's not a beer you're gonna chug but it's damn good, like everything else of theirs I've tried. While in Louisville, I had a bottle of Old Engline Oil (seemed appropriate for an art car weekend), a Scottish ale -- dark and with a lot of porter characteristics, except not quite so heavy.
Both recommended if you should happen upon them at your local beeratorium.

Back from Louisville. I learned from the TV last night -- therefore it must be true -- that the city is at the center of a pronunciation controversy; apparently there are multiple variations, including Louie-ville and Lou-uh-vull. If I'd known earlier in the trip, I'd have paid more attention to how the locals were saying the name of the city. Anyway, a great trip. A great event. Big ups to Karen and Scott for organizing and everyone at the Museum of Art and Craft. And to all the super cool folks I was hanging out with and talking with for the last few days: Carl, Paul, Lewis, Alan, Gary and anyone else I'm forgetting in my befogged state. I'll check back in tomorrow with some (hopefully) more coherent thoughts on a great weekend.

Things I saw while walking around Louisville this morning: statue of a pointing man (apparently a visionary developer involved in the resurrection of downtown), a statue of a pointing king (Louis XVI, aka the beheaded king), the covered-street-mall/high-end nightlife zone (complete w/ Hard Rock, martini lounge, bourbon lounge, bowling alley), a street corner reading of Hersey's Hiroshima right next to a plaque commemorating Thomas Merton, a giant baseball bat, a protest in front of a local carpentry company, complete with classic gospel-inflected labor chants. Oh yeah, and some art cars too. Pictures of at least some of this stuff, eventually.

It's a new month, and there's an excellent new playlist up on David Byrne's website (note to future blog-surfers: this link will relate to this post only for the month of August 2006. If you're looking at it and it's not 8/06, then it'll be a completely different playlist). It's a history of Luaka Bop and it's loaded with excellent music. Plus some fabu notes from Byrne. Altho I was sad to learn that the Vijaya Anand CD was one of the worst sellers in Luaka Bop history. It's so good. And I'm so glad that I grabbed it during it's brief lifespan on CD

Because we're planning on getting an early start for Louisville tomorrow, the birthday-celebrating portion of the week got bumped up to yesterday night. We had dinner at Jibarra, in Raleigh. Which was amazing. In many ways, they have a similar approach to food as Starlu, I think. Starting from a solid understanding of the classics and then improvising, re-inventing, etc. If my next visit occurs while it's still hot-weather season, I probably won't order the birria again. It's a great dish, but a bowl with a big honkin' lamb shank is maybe not the top #1 choice when it's bazillionty degrees outside. I do, however, highly recommend the pear-cilantro margarita, whatever time of year it is. After dinner we came home and had our impromptu MTV Day 1 viewing party. And there were presents, too. Sarah gave me My Life In France, Julia Child's memoir and the season two DVDs of Penn & Teller: Bullshit. w00t!

Of course, now I have to go to work. (at least it's indoors and air conditioned)

So it's the 25th anniversary of MTV today. Of course, since MTV doesn't actually play music videos any more and no one who watches MTV was alive 25 years ago, the occasion is being marked on VH1-Classic, where they've been showing the entire first 24 hours all day today. Alas, they've cut out most of the VJ segments. But it's still been fascinating to watch. Some things were not suprising -- way too much Rod Stewart, Styx and REO Chuckwagon, and a good deal of repetition. Some things were -- much more good stuff than I was expecting, including acts I'd have thought had been too obscure, alternative, whatever for MTV, inc. the Specials, Kate Bush, the Selector, Ultravox. Biggest surprise: the video for (mostly) forgotten novelty hit "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard" by Blotto. They were a bar band from Albany, NY who I saw play live more times than I can remember, back during my undergrad days. What's been especially cool about seeing MTV Day 1 is that it's an unedited vision of a moment. Any sample show for 80s or 90s music now is filtered by memory, either things that everyone remembers or things that you thought only you remembered. But looking back at a whole day of programming unmediated, it's surprising how much stuff I've never heard of (Shoes? Boot Camp? April Wine?), not even on the level of "oh I remember seeing that record in the cut out bins on St Marks Place," which is how Robin Lane and the Chartbusters sneak thru.