Now that I’ve done my end-of-year show, I realized it was time to kick back and bust out the vinyl. Favorite moments: Jon calling in to request the Feelies, Yah Mos Def listening during their photo shoot (ooh la la la), Mike G’s text message (”we love soundgarden”), and Julia calling in the moment I started to cue up the Modern Lovers (lady, you have Jonathan Richman Spider Sense).
Once again, another year’s worth of music put to bed. It’s so hard to sit there and think, “Well, does M.I.A. really sound like #1 material?” I don’t want to say it’s pointless and put down everyone’s hard work, but polls aren’t an acceptable form of consensus in the music critic industry, in my eyes at least. Consensus is what I remember from Ladyfest Philly meetings: endless meetings filled with debate until the group collectively reached a unanimous decision. A year-end poll is quantification with statistics, paling in comparison. (I am really, really excited to run data, if I can get any, through SPSS and see what comes up with it.)
When I am called upon to submit lists for polls, I treat them like mixtapes, with the ordinals acting as the sequence of songs, or artists. I throw all my tunes into a playlist and screw around with them until they sound interesting. I know, I know, my attitude is so, like, flippant.
Doing these shows for WPRB are always a blast because I get to take the whole listmaking thing into another level. I’ve been so down on this year, mainly because I was worried I wouldn’t have enough material to sustain a 3-hour program, but I was wrong. Quite a bit was left out, but many of my favorites from this year made it in.
Other notes: like clockwork, the playlist software died during my show. I think there’s something coded into it that says, “On 12/24 of every year, you will self-destruct.” No lie. The first set really depressed the hell out of me, so I made it super-pop on the second one. I’m back on tonight, 7-10 PM covering for Jon, and it’s going to be an all-vinyl rager.
Last but certainly not least, this show is DoubleSuperFun to do because the one following it is my favorite of the year.
Nope, I’m not making this up. Thursday and Friday there is a symposium on James Brown (!!!) at Princeton, and Xgau is coming into the studio to talk about it tomorrow:
On Wednesday 11/28 at 6:30PM EST, Matt (host of “Rhythm of the One”) will interview Robert Christgau, Ferris Fellow of Humanities at Princeton University and the “Dean of American rock critics”. He’ll discuss his work at Princeton, and the upcoming symposium “Ain’t that a Groove: The Genius of James Brown” presented by Center for African American Studies.
Visit WPRB and tune in. Personally, I would like to hear Xgau rate the record reviews we put on all the music in the library. That would be hilarious/awesome.
Fun times today at WPRB! Ned was my special guest in the studio. This turned out to be a very good thing because there was no way possible I could have handled the station on my own. Earlier in the day I had consumed two GIGANTIC mugs of coffee — probably the equivalent of four cups at the Green Line. I was a mess, for serious.
Perhaps that’s why I lost my on-air bet with Ned over the proper way to pronounce “Sonic Unyon”. Two whole dollars were at stake, and we sent an email to our friend Sean over at the label. As it turns out, I have been pronouncing it totally wrong all these years and I am out one dollar. Bah! Ned, I’ll get you, I mean it. Next time around we’ll rematch with yet another frequently misprounounced band/label/artist/etc name.
Big thanks to all who called in, texted, emailed or instant messaged — it was certainly appreciated!
11/23/07 | WPRB 103.3FM | 15:00 - 17:00
Songs in italics are Ned’s contributions to this show. Thanks, Ned!
sea saw - stereo - sea saw
——————————-
ruby & the party gang - hey shut ruby shut your mouth - the sound of philadelphia - C
stormy - the devastator - eccentric soul: twilight’s lunar rotation - C
sarolta zalatnay - egyser - sarolta zalatnay - N
his name is alive - november cotton flower - sweet earth flower: a tribute to marion brown - N
simply saucer - mole machine - cyborgs revisited
lovechild - six of one - 7″
jay reatard - nightmares - blood visions - N
——————————-
jad fair with strobe talbot - daydreamy - twenty pop songs
the aristocrats - dont go - cold heat vol 1: 1968-1974 - C
arthur russell - a little lost - the world of arthur russell
the constantines - ride on - live on jon solomon’s show (8/17/2005)
red buckets - something else again - id rather be in philadelphia - C R
fire engines - everything’s roses - hungry beat - N
no age - boy void - weirdo rippers - N
——————————-
wreckless eric - semaphore signals - big smash - N
st thomas - the cool song - im coming home
georgie james - comfortable headphones - places - N
helium - oh the wind and the rain - the dirt of luck
lush - bitter - scar
——————————-
fiery furnaces - my egyptian grammar - widow city - N
edith massey - punks, get off the grass - 7
boat - illustrate the history - lets drag our feet - N
C.O.C.O - you think but you dont / tamara dobson - play drums & bass - N
lonzine wright - i’ve been searchin’ - this funky thing - C
——————————-
look blue go purple - safety in cross words - bewitched EP
yung wu - shore leave - shore leave
If you haven’t figured it out, based on the sheer amount of posting this blog’s seen in the past week, there is a membership drive going on at WPRB. In a super last-minute change of plans, I was offered the 6-8 PM slot yesterday and I’m really glad I took it. Was worth every minute of sitting in traffic on I-95.
Because of the nature of this week’s programming, DJ’s were asked to treat their sets like a “Best Of”, so keeping that in mind it’s not a groundbreaking one. Style issues aside, there were practical reasons to approach the set in this manner, the main one being that — and perhaps you may not realize this on the opposite end — this week, the station has been absolutely B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Usually when one does a show, there might be at best 3-4 other station members around, making the process of DJing a fairly solitary (and sometimes lonely) act. During the drive, however, the place has been crawling with countless folks from WPRB’s extended family, and it’s turned into this gigantic party, or what I like to call, “CAMP WPRB”. I really wish every week was like this week at the station — it’s so much FUN. Having a tried-and-true set makes it waaaay easier to cope with the station’s high energy.
Not that I made it through my set flawlessly, and yet, that’s exactly why I love radio (and why I think our listeners love WPRB, too). I definitely made the timeless mistake of setting the turntables to the wrong speed and blanked out on-air. But it was fun and I hope everyone who tuned in enjoyed it.
Big thanks to Lizbot of Doubleplusgood for co-hosting the show with me. I love that girl to pieces, and had a total blast gabbing it up with her. Here’s the short list of premium items that were available on my show:
- Signed copy of No Wave by Marc Masters;
- Custom mix tape/cd/mp3, curated by yours truly (and congrats to WPRB alum Matt R who took me up on this!);
- One year of free admission to Making Time;
- A copy of the Daydream Nation 4xLP box set, signed by Thurston Moore & Steve Shelley;
- Rio 2GB MP3 player (Have I mentioned that my ipod was stolen 2 weeks ago?);
- Copies of The Evens & Get Even, signed by Ian Mackaye & Amy Farina
That’s a really nice list of stuff. Congrats to those who donated during my show — I helped raise 400$ for WPRB! Given the last-minute nature of my slot and not being currently on the schedule, that’s really good.
And while I’ve got your attention, if you haven’t donated yet, why not? There’s only a couple days left and we’re more than happy to accept what you can give. Keep WPRB alive; we’re all better for it.
Found this quote from my journal about the very first radio show I ever did:
oh gosh, what a frightening experience of a radio show today. too many PSAs, not enough time to pick out records - but the rush! so good.
Today. 6-8PM. WPRB.com or 103.3 FM. Listen today and make a donation — support the good cause that is WPRB!
This Thursday 6-8PM EST, instead of being “on-air talent”, I’ll be DJing a show on WPRB. Very excited about this! If you missed out on donating today, you’ve got a second chance.
In addition to WPRB’s incredible pledge gifts, I have a specialty thank you for becoming a member: donate 103.30$, you can receive your very own custom “mixtape”. You specify the format (cassette/CD/mp3), I’ll provide 30 minutes of exclusively curated tunes… just for you.
I’ll be helping out with WPRB’s pledge drive on Tuesday 10/9, from 11AM-3PM EST. I’m what they call “on-air talent” — I’m not doing an actual radio show, but you’ll be hearing from me throughout those hours on how you can make a pledge, and whatnot.
Please consider tuning in (103.3 FM or wprb.com) and making a donation during my hours!
To borrow from the James McNew/Dump album, a plea for tenderness, folks: WPRB is quickly approaching on its inaugural membership drive, and please, I hope you’ll consider making a pledge.
Read on for details!
I was at the station yesterday afternoon tending to some business stuff when quite unexpectedly I wound up partially covering a shift. Given that I only had six minutes to get my act together, this could have been a lot worse:
9/17/2007 - 15:45-17:00
the breeders - so sad about us - safari ep
—————————
helium - xxx - pirate prude
tomorrow’s friend - who asked you anyways? - some days yes, some days more than yes! - N
—————————
new pornographers - all things that go to make heaven and earth - challengers - N
the feelies - high road - the good earth
gore gore girls - loaded heart - get the gore - N
the stereos - stereo freeze - chicago soul - C
ESG - talk it - step off
spanky wilson - sunshine of your love - FunkSoulSisters - C
—————————
the evens - no money - get even
sonic youth - candle - daydream nation - N
oakley hall - no dreams - ill follow you - N
home blitz - my town - home blitz - N
slade - do we still do it - in for a penny: raves & faves - N
eleventh dream day - ice storm - stalled parade
18th dye - glass house failure - tribute to a bus
—————————
versus - yeah you - secret swingers
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