Oct. 2007 Noise Chart

Reporting stations: WAAF, WBCN, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC, WZBC

1. Hallelujah the Hills – Collective Psychosis Begone
2. Receiving End of Sirens – Between the Heart and the Synapse
3. The Campaign for Real-Time – LA Tracks (1933-1969)
4. Buffalo Tom – Three Easy Pieces
5. The Big Disappointments – The Big Disappointments
6. Polyethylene – What Goes On Inside Houses
7. Frank Smith – Heavy Handed Peace and Love
8. Jake and the Jakes – Last Call
9. Tristan Da Cunha – Instanter
10. Cheater Pint – Cheater Pint
11. Reports – Mosquito Nets
12. Dear Leader – All I Ever Wanted Was Tonight
13. The Gobshites – Another Round
14. Johnny Irion – Ex Tempore
15. The Lights Out – EP
16. Brendan Murray & Seth Nehill – Silage
17. Trans Am – Sex Change
18. AKACOD – “Happiness”
19. Cheater Slicks – Walk Into the Sea
20. Je Suis France – Afrikan Majik
21. The Luxury – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
22. Marissa Nadler – Song 3: Bird on the Water
23. The Glass Set – Something Unknown
24. Prime Movers – back in line
25. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Let it Roll
26. The Daily Pravda – She’s So Mature
27. Desolation Bells – What is Your Trajectory?
28. Atlantics – Atlantics (Live)
29. The Gulf – Chinatown
30. Peter C. Johnson – Yaka Yaka

Catching up on some reading

Here are some recent headlines I have had the chance to look over.
["CBGB Made Hilly Kristal a Millionaire—His Ex Got Nothing"]
What a PR guy. With all that money, he probably could have saved CBGBs. In addition, think about all those times he short-changed bands claiming to be barely hanging on. Wow.
["Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike"]
Why am I not surprised by that?
["NASA spacecraft finds possible Mars cave"]
Very cool. All the more reason to get that manned mission to Mars up and running already!
["Rather: Government influencing newsrooms"]
This seems a stretch as the reason for his suit but whatever. We all know that his point is pretty dead-on.
["Alan Keyes Jumps In for the 2008 GOP Nomination"]
Oh yeah, this is just what the Republicans needed. Not that Alan can't run for the third time. There have been other three-timers. Some who I've even admired. But, was there really a "calling" for Keyes to get in? No, there wasn't.
["Why is Tony Snow's 401(k) empty?"]
The key section of the article is this one:

Snow conceded that he has been very lucky to have the government fund his health care. "I've been lucky I work at the White House, I've had the use of diagnostic care. I'd like to find ways to help those who, for whatever reason, … don't get diagnostic treatment, don't take care of themselves, may not have the resources that I've had at my disposal," he said. But that hasn't made him rethink his opposition to using federal resources to expand coverage for fellow cancer sufferers. "That does not mean that I'm going to be necessarily banging the tin cup for federal funding. It may be that I'll go out, try and raise some money myself to try to help people directly."

Oh yeah. One plan for me but not for thee.

Canceled elections
I want to offer some quick comments and links and then get back to some other stuff.
First, another city cancels an election: ["Patrick allows city to waive preliminary election"]. I don't really know if it is such a good idea to make a habit of this. Surely, the 5th Congressional District race could have been lined up to be held on the preliminary election for Lowell, since Marty Meehan left plenty of time after his resignation to hold a special election. I'm surprised Secretary of State Bill Galvin didn't line it up to jibe with elections already being held in some cities, like Lowell and Lawrence. Then, it would not have needed to have been canceled.
Speaking of canceling elections, here is a preview in the Phoenix of the Boston City Council race: ["The rumor mill"] . Note the bit about the potential sixth place finishers. Some folks are always a day late and a dollar short.

The earth
Two stories about the planet worth looking at. First, this one, about a monstrous asteroid which could come very close to hitting the planet in 29 years: ["Civilization Threatening Asteroid Now Viewed by NASA, Others"]. and this one, about the earth's axis being off: ["Earth's Axis Tilts"]. Could this be the cause of "global warming" and not humans? It would make sense.

R.I.P. Hilly Kristal
The guy who opened CBGB's which pretty much created the alternative music phenomenon died recently: ["Hilly Kristal; His CBGB Nurtured N.Y. Punk Scene"]. I never met the man but would often walk by him at the club when I would go to shows. He would be up on a stoop, chain-smoking, and looking down at everyone.

TWA 800
I've always wondered about this one, considering what has been going on in this country over the last 15 years. But now, there is more evidence available and it's beginning to look like this was a terrorist attack: ["TWA 800 FOIA Suit Yields Smoking Gun"].

Preview
The NAB Radio Show is happening in a few weeks. I won't be going this year, even though it is in North Carolina and not that far away. But here is the site: ["NAB Radio Show"].

Dodd gets big endorsement ... but will it really help?

I don't know. But the IAFF, representing tens of thousands of firefighters, could help in some key states. It might give Sen. Dodd a few extra points. I just don't see him getting much more than that out of this. He, frankly, is too far down in the polls at this point to really factor in. He is barely middle tier, if there was a middle tier. Richardson is middle tier, alone. Dodd is barely a blip on the screen, a point or two above Gravel. Unlike John Kerry, who was in the top tier of candidates when he received the IAFF endorsement.
Anyhow, here is some video from the endorsement:



Bubba's $$$
I was sent this link from an aquaintaince who thought I might be interested in Hillary Clinton's financial disclosures. I wasn't, really, but clicked through anyway. Here is the link: ["U.S. Senate Financial Disclosure Report"]. What shocks me about this disclosure is that Bubba is making $150k to $250k a speech! No wonder everyone wants to be president!! The post-presidency speaking fees!

I love this woman
Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien, rightwing trollop or gadfly Goddess? You decide, but I know what I think: ["Inquisitive NH Voter Reacts to Giuliani Remark"]. This is the same lady who asked Al Gore in 1999 during a town hall meeting what he thought about Juanita Brodderick's rape allegations against Bill Clinton and Gore looked dumbfounded and said, Hmm, hmm, alot, without really saying anything. Had he had the stones and said he believed her or thought Bubba should apologize or something relevant instead of looking like a mannequin, he would have shown he was a true leader ... and champion of women's rights, too.

Short cuts
* Someone punk'd Rove's car: ["White House pranks punk Rove's car"].
* Ted Nugent was a chickenhawk!: ["Facing a draft, Nugent wet his pants"]. For all his big, bad-ass talk about machine guns and Democrats, and he found a way to get out of it. He should shut up and play his guitar.
* Interesting potential czar find: ["Find Could Be Russian Heir's Remains"].

* While this tart is out of jail after one day, the guy who stole the slice of pizza and it was his third strike, is still in jail: ["Lohan Gets 1 Day in Jail on DUI Plea"].
* A cartoon about Mormon history: ["What Mormon Theology Is Really All About"]. I love the bit about the "Mormon Jesus" and his wives and how blacks are neutral in the war between the "Mormon Jesus" and Satan and that is why they are black. Oh my word.
* Hmm, this is interesting: ["Hannity's "Freedom" concerts are reportedly a money scam"]. I wonder how much money is actually getting to the kids.
* I got a nice mention in Chris Lovett's piece on whether or not Boston should cancel its preliminary election during non-mayoral race years: ["For Council at Large: Later and Less Often"]. Civil Boston, Lovett's blog, is a good read.
* The Weekly World News is now, officially, defunct: ["Weekly World News"].

September Noise Chart
Reporting stations: WAAF, WBCN, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC, WZBC
1.Hallelujah the Hills – Collective Psychosis Begone
2.Buffalo Tom – Three Easy Pieces
3.Frank Black – The Best of Best
4.Polyethylene – What Goes On Inside Houses
5.Reports – Mosquito Nets
6.The Big Disappointments – The Big Disappointments
7.Willard Grant Conspiracy – Let it Roll
8.The Atlantics – Atlantics Live
9.The Luxury – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
10.Everyday Visuals – Things Will Look Up
11.The Gobshites – Get Bombed
12.Trans Am – Sex Change
13.Various Artists – “History of Boston Rock, Here and Now”
14.Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles – Diamonds in the Dark
15.Cheater Pint – “Control Freak”
16.Dear Leader – The Alarmist
17.Frank Smith – Heavy-Handed Peace and Love
18.Three Day Threshold – Against the Grain
19.Viva Viva – Art, Sex, Death, and Time EP
20.Brown Bird – Such Unrest
21.Desolation Bells – What is Your Trajectory?
22.Frog Eyes – Tears of the Valedictorian
23.Girls Guns & Glory – Alt Country Extravaganza
24.The Lavas – Wall to Wall
25.Don Lennon – Radical
26.Prime Movers – back in line
27.Martin Sexton – Seeds
28.Various Artists – “Knock from the Underground – The Best of Underplayed Boston”
29.Dreamers Wanted – “End War Now”
30.Auto Interiors – Let’s Agree to Deceive Our Best Friends

Ted Nugent ... unhinged
Like anyone is surprised by this footage from a recent concert. Should he really be advocating such activity, sauntering around on stage with what looks like two AK-47s, threatening Barack Obama and suggesting that Hillary Clinton and Dianne Feinstein "suck on my machine gun?" Eh ... Even if this is all in "good fun," he really gives advocacy for the Second Amendment a bad name:

New 3WK stream
3WK, the online music streaming station, has added a third network to their site: Classic Alternative Radio. I don't know when they added it but it wasn't there last week. And the stream is pretty good. It features all the best of the 1980s and 1990s. Already today I've heard Translator, Juliana Hatfield's "Spin the Bottle," and the Psychedelic Furs' masterpiece, "Book of Days." Very, very nice.
Frankly, this is the format of the future, as we late baby boomers and X-ers long to hear the music of our lives and I'm surprised that rock radio stations haven't moved some of these tasty tracks into their playlists. While I dig 3WK's indie rock stream, I may be coming back to this stream a bit more often.

Thoughts on Ames

W. Mitt Romney easily won the Iowa Ames Straw Poll, as expected. Here are the results:

1. W. Mitt Romney: 32 percent
2. Mike Huckabee: 18 percent
3. Sam Brownback: 15 percent
4. Tom Tancredo: 14 percent
5. Ron Paul: 9 percent
6. Tommy Thompson: 7 percent
7. Fred Thompson: 1 percent
8. Rudy Giuliani: 1 percent
9. Duncan Hunter: 1 percent
10. John McCain: less than 1 percent
11. John Cox: Less than 1 percent

Some thoughts: First, the Republican nomination is still anyone's race, especially with Giuliani leading polls in various places and nationally, Thompson, the ghost candidate waiting to emerge, and Romney now winning Ames and leading in polls in New Hampshire. But Ames may not mean a whole lot when you consider that McCain was campaigning in New Hampshire and Giuliani was hanging out at home in New York [Giuliani is currently second in most Iowa caucus polls].
Huckabee coming in second and Brownback third is interesting but not a surprise. A former Baptist minister, Huckabee is good one-on-one and Baptists have always done well at this event. Pastor Pat Robertson won it in 1988, scaring the bejesus out of everyone at the time. Brownback reportedly spent more than $300k on the event - a huge amount of money before this campaign cycle. Tommy Thompson is expected to end his campaign. There is no word on anyone else dropping out but there are rumors that Hunter is probably a goner, too.
Tancredo was the victim of a political dirty trick, reported here: ["Hoax aimed at Tancredo's straw poll chances"]. No word on whether the 500 people targeted showed or not. But, if they didn't, the campaign might be able to claim that it affected the results: Tancredo's fourth place finish was 230 votes shy of Brownback's third. A Tancredo third place finish would have probably made big news.
Kudos to the NYT and others for including John Cox in any of their results. Cox has been forwarding himself as the Reagan candidate and has been getting hammered all over the Web for being delusional. No information on Alan Keyes' write-in efforts.
Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix has his take here: ["And the results ..."]. I think Adam is right on Ron Paul, who turned in an impressive 9 percent showing at Ames, even though he is considered a "fringe" candidate. The Atlantic blog has some details: ["Ames: The Romney Victory"].

Speaking of Cox, he has a rock video out now about illegal immigration: ["John Cox video"].
I find it interesting that Cox, while criticizing illegals trying to flee to a better life, at the end says we should only accept skilled immigrants who are willing to become Americans. No disagreement there. But, what about all the thousands and thousands of Americans who can be trained to do the jobs Cox's acceptable immigrants would do? We don't need skilled immigrants; we need the people who are already here trained to do the jobs the marketplace needs filled. In actuality, the jobs which the marketplace needs filled - many of them currently filled by illegals - won't be done by Americans because the pay isn't good enough. I know Americans who will clean office buildings and pick lettuce if the price was right. They just won't do it for $3 an hour.
What is also interesting is that while chatting with Cox after his interview at a local radio station back in 2006, I randomly stated that I thought it was funny when Keyes was filmed by MTV in a moshpit back in 2000 [We were all talking about how great the New Hampshire primary was and all the fun things that happen covering campaigns]. I said, the event and coverage humanized and normalized the candidate. And it was a lot of fun to watch. Cox scoffed at my comments, stating that such activity was an undignified stunt not worthy of the office of President of the United States. But, somehow, a silly music video, which was probably done without the permission of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, is dignified? OK, whatever. We all know that parody is allowed under copyright laws, but this kinda isn't a parody. It is probably a violation of the copyright law. Which would make it illegal and against the terms of agreement for YouTube. How undignified is that?

The Village Voice has this biting piece on Giuliani: ["Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11"].

If I were a Simpsons character ...

... this is what I would look like! For those of you who know me, you'll see that this isn't a bad representation, although not perfect. I couldn't get the hair or ears correct, but whatever. Feel free to Simpsonize yourself here: ["Simpsonize Me"]. This is a pretty cool promotional tool.

It's difficult to be a journalist these days
A lot has been written about all the journalists who are dying in Iraq. But they are being killed right here at home too: ["7 Arrested in Death of Oakland Newspaper Editor"]. Dan Kennedy also has this interesting piece from the Guardian's Web site: ["The people's presses"].

Gingrich continues his own version of the Straight Talk Express
Like it wasn't juicy enough when he called the entire GOP field a bunch of pygmies, now he's going after the War on Terror: ["Gingrich says war on terror 'phony'"]. Then, he steals a progressive/leftwing line, from the subhead - "Former speaker says energy independence is key" ... gee, how many of us have been saying that? Is Gingrich going off the deep end? One has to wonder.

Tasteful classic music ...
... can be enjoyed or used as a weapon: ["Wash. City Using Classical Music To Chase Gangs from Bus Stop"].

Almost missed ...
Here are some articles worth looking at from the WSJ
I'm catching up on my reading this weekend ... and a pile of WSJs that has been sitting in my dining room. There is about a month's worth, starting in early May and running through mid-June. And I got through them all, finally. I've been able to read it most mornings of late, which is nice because old news is, well, old. However, here are some articles that are worthy of posting even at this late date:

["A Musical Family Affair Revisited"] I noticed that the Sly & the Family Stone CDs had been remastered and re-released at Newbury Comics about two months ago. I didn't buy any, because they weren't on sale and I'm trying to save money. Plus, the "Greatest Hits" record is the best out of all of them because it has all the hot songs on it.
However, as I found out quite by accident with Isaac Hayes, there are some choice tracks hidden on albums. Most of what would be considered the throwaway stuff by Hayes is better than the singles. So, maybe there are some here from Sly, too. Here is the band's site: ["Sly Stone Music"].

One of the things I like about reading the actual print edition of the Wall Street Journal [or other newspapers] versus online editions is that you actually see the display ads in the newspaper. They just aren't the same on the Web.
For example, Nucor Steel had this great full page ad campaign in the May 3 edition. "It just makes sense to use something again. Instead of throwing it away," the ad states in big, bold letters on one of the first two pages. The ad then goes on to talk about how the company is the country's largest recycler, at 22 million tons, including 9 million cars last year alone. They joke, at the end, "Who knows, maybe we'll even use this ad again." So they do - on the next two full pages - repeating the exact same text! Hilarious.
Looking at its Web site, they reveal a bunch of stuff about the company, including that the steel industry has reportedly reduced emissions by 240 percent and is six years ahead of the Kyoto protocols. The stock is trading at about $60 per share, which is not too bad considering the steel industry.
Lastly, Nucor is also a leading example of not laying off workers, according to economic theorist Phil Hyde: ["Timesizing Working Models"].

["How to sink a newspaper"]. This guy, the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, makes some good suggestions about what to do with newspaper Web sites ... and that maybe the free online news model is not the way to go. Or, some modifications need to be made so that we make sure that newspapers are properly staffed. This is the only way the news will be delivered properly.

Here is one article that makes me just a tad uncomfortable: ["To Create Buzz, TV Networks Try A Little 'Blogola'"]. I mean, OK, if some org. wanted to fly me out to wherever to check something out, I might take them up on it. But, to be a shill for them all the time? I don't know. I guess if you have a disclaimer on your site saying that you are not an unbiased, credible journalist, it would be OK to do this. But, if you are, you really should not be doing this. The flip of this is that if Hollywood reporters are doing this, why can't ordinary folks get some of the largess?

["Lawnmower-engine maker Once Had Lead in Hybrids"]. This is an interesting article about what could have been. Imagine, if a company kept working on this instead of, oh, I don't know, building Hummers. We'd have that sports car for $20k which does 100 miles to the gallon already by now! I can tell you from shopping for cars recently that it is pretty sucky that even the sub-compacts are not getting 50 or 60 miles to the gallon. Most are lucky to break 35! It is very, very sad.

["Iraq War memorial sparks fight over property values"]. Here is another important article focusing on the war issue from a different angle. The WSJ is really good at coming up with interesting ways of looking at stories.

["A Fight Over What You Can Do on a Cellphone"]. The issue of cellphone service and what you pay for has become a personal issue for me of late. For almost two years, I have been a happy Earthlink wireless customer. I got a great price on my late model Treo back in 2005 and really liked the service. But of late, I have been trying to downsize my bills in order to save money and pay for other things I need. Since Earthlink is analog wireless and not broadband, the Internet speeds were extremely slow and almost not even worth it. Since I bring my laptop almost everywhere, I can get email to it anytime I want, either at free hot spots or the free wireless near where I work. So, I realized I didn't really need the data package. As well, canceling it would save me $40 per month plus taxes, or more than $500 per year [about 25 percent of a new car purchase over five years]. Not a bad chunk of change.

So, I called them and told them I wanted to keep my phone service but not the data service. They said, No. I was a bit taken aback. Paraphrasing, the phone attendant said: Since you have a PDA, you have to keep the data service on.
I said: No, I don't. I just won't use it.
He said: Sorry sir, we can't do that.
Me: Well, can you switch me to a per KB charge plan and I just won't use it? This would be the same as not having it.
Him: No.
Me: Do you realize you are going to lose my business if you don't do this because I will go out and get service from another company? Why can't you just shut off the data plan and let me keep my phone service with your company?
Him: I'm sorry, we can't do that. Plus, you can't use another service with your Treo. You'll have to buy another Treo.
Me: Hmm. OK, but I could go and get broadband service for the same price I'm paying you and at least the service I would be paying for would be faster.

Needless to say, my interaction with Earthlink proved that the old adage, The customer is always right, just isn't true any longer. It was very disappointing since I like them and I like their corporate mentality.
But, it all worked out. Since my wife needed a new phone - her 2001 analog phone was no longer going to be operable by the middle of the month, according to Cingular - it was a good opportunity to look at a new service provider. In the end, we chose a family plan from Sprint-Nextel. And, we received the same minutes, got snazzy new phones [one for free and an inexpensive PDA for me], and we saved money, too.
As we move along in this technological world, I have a feeling that this WSJ article just nips the tip of the iceberg. If anything, phone and data plans are going to probably go down in price, not up, as the companies will want to nickel and dime everyone to death for every little thing. The cost of the phone service will probably drop to virtually nothing, not unlike long distance has done. Along with it, the data plans will probably also drop.

["'Super Duper' Tuesday May Be Too Big to Matter"]. Last, but not least, something the WSJ is really good for: Charts, graphs, and all kinds of data. Data that is even better when it is political.

Live Earth, what's the point?
I'm sitting here watching some of the Live Earth concert wondering, what is the point of all this?
I thought I read somewhere a couple of months ago that they were going to try and figure out a way to make all the coinciding concerts carbon-neutral. That would seem like quite a task when you consider all the electricity the musicians are using all day, all the trash produced by the hundreds of thousands of people attending concerts, and the thousands and thousands of airline miles musicians, celebs, and fans burned through to attend the concerts.
This Brit newspaper kinda nails some interesting points on the head: ["Live Earth is promoting green to save the planet - what planet are they on?"]. You have to love this line:

Matt Bellamy, front man of the rock band Muse, has dubbed it 'private jets for climate change'.

And this one:

Indeed, Madonna's carbon footprint is dwarfed only by her ego - she has vowed that she will 'speak to the planet' at Wembley. In fact, an apology might be in order - for the superstar's energy consumption is only the tip of the iceberg in this epic vanity-fest.

Ouch. The newspaper later reveals that Madonna consumes about 10,000 tons of carbon annually. Or, how about a little more reality:

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists' and spectators' travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations. Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year. The concert will also generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste at the concert stadiums - much of which will go directly into landfill sites.

Or this expert:

Collins says: "It is patently absurd to claim that travel of this nature doesn't have an impact. Each person attending the event will have to make a return journey to the venue, be it by air, rail, bus or car. This burns fossil fuel - precisely what we are trying to reduce."

Is the Daily Mail a Murdoch rag? I wonder. But either way, there are some pretty good points in that story. And the standard "one rule for them, another rule for us" shines brightly in this entire situation.

And, why won't Al Gore, or anyone else from the global warming crowd, debate these guys?: ["Global Warming Heartland"]. This group has been running small ads in the WSJ for months now, trying to get Gore to debate them on some of the issues. Maybe they are cranks. Maybe they aren't.
What we do know is that there are data out there to suggest that humans have nothing to do with this phenom. In fact, scientists state emphatically that these temperature increases have occurred on earth randomly six or seven times over the last 400,000 years. The problem is that they can't tell us what caused the rising temperatures previously, because, none of us were alive then. In addition, there were no machines then either, so it had nothing to do with industry or humans.
Personally, I believe in global climate change. We can see it happening. We can see that we get sunburns after 45 minutes in the sun when 25 years ago we could be out in the sun all day and nothing would happen to us. But, as a reporter, I have to question everything, look at data, and make my own judgment. And, after looking at a lot of this, I don't know what is actually causing global climate change. I also know that those who support the theory that humans are causing all these problems - and especially Americans, since we are 4 percent of the world's population while consuming 35 percent of the resources - refuse to even discuss any other theories or debate any of this with anyone. They just designate anyone who questions it, or any part of it, as a loon, even though scientists don't actually know. They use words like "this might happen" or "this could happen" or "this may be the cause" ... those are not absolutes.
In the end, it might not be human beings. There are others who challenge that humans are the ones causing this problem. Again, I personally do suspect that humans have a lot to do with the problem or, more accurately, are probably making the problem worse. But I don't actually know it to be fact. We can, as Americans and citizens of the world, all use a lot less. As I was reminded recently, the conservation theme isn't just "recycle," it's "reduce, reuse, recycle." Of course, that goes against American marketing principles so ...
Seriously though, I suspect that much of this global warming "hysteria," for lack of a better word, is an attempt by powerful people in the world to control how we live as Americans. The powerful global elite have been talking about these things for more than three decades. They ideally would like Americans riding bicycles to work like the Chinese do [well, those globalists who aren't in the car business]. Imagine riding your bike to work in say, New England's February. Yeah, some maniacs do it. But the rest of us? Not.
And why do you think they are shipping all the manufacturing overseas? It isn't just about low wages leading to higher profits. It is about lowering our wage standards - which are plummeting for most Americans - and raising global wage standards. The rise globally is happening at a meager pace, BTW. But, how do you think all those Chinese are going to afford E! Hollywood News on their cable systems if they are earning 10 cents an hour, as the theory goes?
This is the myth of free trade, a theory which has had more negative effects on climate change than anyone not recycling a plastic bottle. In the eyes of many of the world's powerful people, Americans have it too good. And, everyone should be close to equal or, more accurately, close to serfdom. Then, the Davos crowd and the people they pull up along the way will be way up here, running things as they see fit, while we are all down here, fighting over crumbs. This isn't a conspiracy theory; many of these people have publicly stated these theories for years and years and their comments have been well-documented in the alternative press.
If you talk to your typical Democrat [one who thinks Hillary Clinton is a Godsend] about stuff like this, you'll lose them ... quickly. But, at the same time, they point to PNAC's 1998 report that a Pearl Harbor-like terrorist event was needed against the United States as reason that George W. Bush is evil and had a role in 9-11 in order to jack up defense spending, control natural resources in the third world, overthrow Saddam Hussein, etc. They don't doubt that one for a minute. It really depends on which side of the bed you sleep on and nothing more. Most folks can't go beyond their personal, political space on anything. It would question their perspective and, we can't have that now, can we?
Personally, I think both theories have some merit because they are essentially the same thing, just different agendas: Powerful people trying to control weaker people. It has always been this way and it probably always will be. But, you can find small ways to carve out personal freedom for yourself. If that means changing all the lightbulbs in your house to save money and carbons, go for it. But if it means that I want to run my ACs at 65 degrees in the summer, then leave me alone [I don't run them that low but I'm just trying to make a point].

Shockingly, or, I guess not so, Sting [or Stink, as I call him, to irk my wife] admitted to the woman from "Today" that, as a rock star, his global footprint is huge. So true. Nice that you could admit it. But, at least Sting has done some things, as both he and his lovely second wife Trudie noted, via their Rainforest Foundation. You had to have loved her comments about the oil companies mucking everything up in Peru or wherever. Hey, Trudie, what does your Rolls Royce run on, BTUs from rice? How do your maids get to work? I'm not happy with the oil companies either but come on.
Later, Al Gore came on after thanking Melissa Ethridge for this great song which we didn't even get to hear [Who's editing this damn show?]. Gore urged us to sign a bunch of pledges. Paraphrasing, pledge that all the developed nations cut emissions by 90 percent while the rest of the world cuts them by 50 percent. Hmm. OK. So, you can kiss goodbye more U.S. jobs, probably millions more, which will leave the country for countries where the emissions are less stringent. That will put more of our people out of work. Why can't we all sign the same pledge and be equals in the world? Next. Paraphrasing, that no new coal-burning plants get built. Oh yeah, go off on the coal-burning plants without any alternatives except nuclear, which is not an alternative at all. You can just hear the WSJ editorial board and the lunatics who don't give a crap about the world wringing their hands in glee at the thought of building more and more terrorist targets and 100,000 year cancer camps, i.e., nuclear power plants. Watch the global warming folks get suckered into building more and more Seabrooks in the name of saving the earth [BTW, they already are: http://www.climatechange.org/]. Sorry, no thanks.
Maybe we should be thinking a little more creatively about combating global warming. How about building hundreds and hundreds of desalination plants which would convert salt water into fresh water. This water could then be piped to areas of the world without water. If we started now, this process might be able to curb 50 years worth of melting ice caps and glaciers which are predicted to flood Manhattan and Florida in water by 2060. And, the money spent, probably hundreds of billions of dollars, is surely a better way to spend the money than to turn the sands of Iraq into DU-glass. I don't know if this would actually work but combined with all the other efforts, it might work. It is also probably more doable than getting folks to stop buying SUVs.
So, again, I ask the question: What's the point? If it is for all the little 5 second PSAs about everything people can do to stop global warming, OK, that seems like a worthy effort. Some of us though have already replaced virtually every lightbulb in our house just to lower the astronomical electric bills we pay [we've replaced 10 of them in our house, sans the bathroom, where we need more light]. If it is to get us to recycle paper, most of us are already doing that even if some municipalities, like mine, don't offer corporate recycling. But really, after that, what is the point?
Sure, none of us want to fry. None of us want to drown after the ice caps melt. We all want a healthy world for our children and their children. But some of Gore's pledges aren't realistic answers to the problems and that's what we really need.

Update: What? Wolf Mother? Who the heck are they? Nice Zepp ripoff. They also should have let Crowded House play the entire version of "Don't Dream It's Over."

Update 2: OK, I'm less cranky. The Beasties just played "Sabotage."

Update 3: Oh yeah, "Girls on Film," by Duran Duran. Nice.

Update 4: Stink singing off-key fronting The Police. Yikes. I won't be paying $110 per ticket to see the reformed Police anytime soon.

A few quick things
Here are a few quick things before heading into the office:

* What a terrible tragedy: ["Pro wrestler Chris Benoit, wife and son found dead"]. Yeah, I still watch wrestling sometimes, although I haven't seen it in weeks and never pay for it. If it is on TV, I'll watch it. Since downgrading my cable, however, I don't think I get many channels with wrestling anymore. Oh well. I was never into Benoit's vibe as a character but damn, this is so terrible.
Speaking of sports deaths, there was another one this week too: ["Former All-Star Rod Beck dead at 38"]. I think what makes this all the weirder is how close these guys are to my age. I mean, when you read about guys in their late 30s, early 40s, who seem to have it all, up and dying, you start to think about your own mortality a bit.

Update: Needless to say, I'm completely shocked about the situation with Benoit's family. What a huge, huge tragedy. I guess when President Bush was rambling on and on about steroid abuse and other things a few years back, we all should have thought more about it. Of course, there is an even more tragic war going on, so, we're all worried more about that. Still, this is such a shame.

* All eyes will be on "SiCKO" to see if it moves anyone like some of Moore's other films: ["'Sicko leaves top Democrat ill at ease"]. The fact is that Democrats can't keep running on just not being Republicans. They need to do some things or they need to move out of the way. They're falling into the same trap that they fell into after Clinton was elected in 1992 ... and that ushered in Republican control of Congress, where all the action is, for 14 years in 1994! Gosh, these guys are so pathetic.
FAIR, the liberal media watchdog group, has this action alert about CBS' spin on single-payer health care: ["CBS's 'Sicko' Spin"]. Personally, I've always supported single-payer because I believed it would be better than what we have now. But I don't know anymore. It isn't that I support what I have now or what anyone else has now. But I now question whether it will work or whether we will end up with tiered health care in the future, with those who can barely afford anything getting the least amount of coverage and the rich getting the Mercedes version. If we can't all get the Mercedes version for the Hyundai price, then there is a problem, in my mind. It should be regulated like electricity or some other utility. We all get the same electric, phone, cable, and Internet services, for the most part, with minor fluctuation in price. It should be the same with health care.
As well, if our government keeps letting millions and millions of illegals in, as well as unregulated refugees, who depress wages and raise the costs of social services, we are never going to get control of the problem.
And, lastly, I refuse to pay any more in taxes. I already pay enough and the government is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars killing people in foreign lands. I just won't pay any more. They need to figure out a way to get us to some sort of health care without a huge jump in taxes because those of us on the lower end of things already pay enough. So, I don't know how we fix the problems but I will know the answers when I see them.

* Finally one good thing the Democrats can do: Revive the Fairness Doctrine: ["Sens. Lott, Feinstein on 'FOX News Sunday'"]. I've never been a huge fan of Sen. Dianne Feinstein and I agree with conservatives who are trying to kill the immigration bill. But she is right on this one. There needs to be legislated balance on the publicly-owned airwaves. Satellite? They can do whatever they want. Newspapers and the Internet? Do whatever you want. There are no limits to what you can do with publishing and the Web. Don't like the newspaper? Start your own. But radio and TV have to have balance to them because there are limited numbers of stations and very few are accessible to the public. There are moves underway to fix that: ["Lower Power Radio gets new push"]. But those are long-shots, at best. Radio and TV stations don't currently have balance to them and it is clearly influencing people in a negative way.

* I like this column from this morning: ["Kelly Clarkson's dispute with Clive Davis made her music hard to hear"]. It's a fast read but it really does give you an open view of what is going on in the music industry right now, especially with all these acts who target young girls [I think they are called 'tweens or something, whatever]. I especially like the "fighting the man" line in it. Hah. I don't listen to Clarkson and I probably couldn't identify a song she performs except maybe that song with the line "since you been gone ..." But at some point, she should be given some creative control over her life, especially when she has already made a lot of money for the company. If she tanks her career, so be it, it's her life. She is a human being; not a product.

The Noise Top 30 Chart

July 2007: Reporting stations: WAAF, WBCN, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC, WZBC

1. Polyethylene – What Goes on Inside Houses
2. Shadows Fall – Sounds from the Underground
3. The Sterns – The Sterns
4. The Bags – Mount Rockmore
5. Bon Savants – Post Rock Defends the Nation
6. Hallelujah the Hills – Collective Psycosis Begone
7. Frank Smith – Red on White
8. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Let It Roll
9. Electric Laser People – Straight Talk on Raising Kids
10. Three Day Threshold – Against the Grain
11. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
12. Medicated Kisses – Medicated Kisses
13. Mary Timony Band – The Shapes We Make
14. Trans Am – Sex Change
15. Auto Interiors – Let’s Agree to Deceive Our Best Friends
16. Girls Guns & Glory – Pretty Little Wrecking Ball
17. Prime Movers – back in line
18. Reports – Mosquito Nets
19. Wheat – Everyday I Said A Prayer For Kathy and Made a Once Inch Square
20. Gene Dante & the Future Starlets – Gene Dante & the Future Starlets
21. Girl on Top – “Superman”
22. Hooray for Earth – Hooray for Earth
23. Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles – Diamonds in the Heart
24. Tiger Saw – Tigers on Fire
25. Corin Ashley – Songs from the Brill Bedroom
26. The Glass Set – Something Unknown
27.The Information – Natural Language EP
28. Don Lennon – Radical
29. Emergency Music – You’ll Be the Death of Us All, Honey
30. The Kin – The Kin

Top 30 Noise Chart June
Reporting stations: WAAF, WBCN, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC, WZBC

Tie
1. Shadows Fall – Threads of Life
1. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
3. Polyethylene – What Goes on Inside Houses
4. The Bags – Mount Rockmore
5. The Luxury – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
6. Cheater Pint – “Control Freak”
7. The Everyday Visuals – Things Will Look Up
8. The Glass Set – Something Unknown
9. Los Wonder Twins Del Rap – Feast of Steven
10. Don Lennon – Radical
11. Bang Camaro – Bang Camaro
12. Tiger Saw – Tigers on Fire
13. The Underpainting – The Underpainting
14. Spouse – Relocation Tactics
15. Auto Interiors – Let’s Agree to Deceive Our Best Friends
16. Black Fortress of Opium – Black Fortress of Opium
17. The Charms – Strange Magic
18. Hooray for Earth – Hooray for Earth
19. The Vinyl Skyway – From Telegraph Hill
20. The Appreciation Post – Brighter Sides
21. Christians and Lions – More Songs for Dreamsleepers
22. Girls Guns & Glory – Pretty Little Wrecking Ball
23. Hands and Knees – Hands and Knees
24. Mystery Tramps – Cure for the Common Misconception
25. Stephen Brodsky’s Octave Museum – The Octave Museum
26. Reports – Reports
27. The Prime Movers – Back in Line
28. The Winterpills – The Light Divides
29. Willard Grant Conspiracy – let it roll
30. Pernice Brothers – Live a Little

Okay ...

So, is the latest position on the war for the GOP just posturing or are they going to finally come to their senses and bring the troops home?: ["GOP Senator: Patience on Iraq Is limited"].
Jeez, patience, wow. Tell that to the folks back home. Tell that to the folks in Kansas who have so many troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan that they can't clean the state up after those massive tornadoes this week. Tell that to the families waiting for their loved ones to get home safely.

2008 roundup: Another "Law & Order" star and indie Angus King talk about Unity08: ["PostTalk"]. Biden has this pretty cool head to head site comparing his answers at the recent South Carolina debate to other candidates on the stage: ["Head to Head 08"]. Florida moves its primary way, way up: ["Florida ignores national party threat, sets early primary for Jan. 29"]. Some disillusioned Bush supporters are flocking to Barack Obama, allegedly: ["Republicans defect to the Obama campaign']. MSNBC had a poll on its site after the Reagan Derby Debate the other night and with more than 65,000 responses, Ron Paul swept all categories: ["Vote on the Republican Candidate Debate"].

Strike two for former Bass aide: Oh man, this has gotta suck for Charlie Bass: ["Former Aide Runs Far Afield of Main Street"].

Jesus?: No, not Hey-zeus, this guy claims he's Jesus, yeah, Jesus, the real thing: ["Growing in Grace"].

Hmm ...: The SEC is investigating suspicious trading in the wake of Rupert Murdoch's bid for the WSJ: ["US regulators probe trading in Dow Jones before Murdoch's bid"]. Very interesting.

Shortcuts: Learn about digital filmmaking at these seminars: ["Digital Filmmaking Workshops"]. I just found out that Al Quint continues to publish stuff about punk rock only now, he does it on a blog: ["Suburban Voice"]. You can also download his Podcast here: ["Sonic Overload"].

Sunday ... er, Thursday night link dump

Well, this was supposed to be a Sunday night link dump but I started it and then, got distracted. So now it's a Thursday night link dump. I haven't done one in awhile so I thought I would take a moment and put together one since I'm doing nothing but watching the stupid television. So here's a bunch of stuff which I thought was worth reading.

First, who needs a record company?: ["The songbird who's outselling Take That with her homemade album"]. This is one of the great things about technology and the good side of the state of the music business. An artist doesn't need a record company anymore. Everything can be done online, without the middle people. Sure, the artist still needs PR - how else do you think this newspaper got the story? But other than that, what else is a record company good for anymore? Crappy radio? Crappy videos? Payola schemes? As Jello Biafra used to sing, "If The Doors or John Lennon were getting started now, the industry wouldn't sign them in a million years." And yet, there they are, staples of the classic rock radio format, playing the same songs over and over and over ...

Flying desserts: Sticking with music for a minute, what happens when the singer of your "famous" punk rock band doesn't want to do the nostalgia/reunion/401k tour crap? Well, you find another singer - or two. Hmm. OK. So, what happens when you're a fan of said band and you aren't happy with this? Umm, well, you plunk down some money for the tickets and you shower the band in Jell-O: ["The 'Dead Kennedys' Get Jello-ed by Axis of Evil"]. This is well worth the six-plus minutes of your time. And while you're there, check out these two other clips of Jello back when he ran for mayor of San Francisco: ["Jello Biafra clip"] and ["Biafra Election News"].

Rush and the Fairness Doctrine: Speaking of You Tube videos, has anyone seen this?: ["Obama the Magic Negro"]. This was put together by Rush Limbaugh contributor, Paul Shanklin, who has done a ton of these over the years, including some pretty hilarious anti-Clinton stuff. However, with all the Imus stuff which went on a few weeks ago, you have to wonder why this is allowed on the air without criticism. Of course, a reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, which is badly needed, would change all that: ["Dingell Backs Return of Fairness Doctrine"]. Dingell and others are correct to take this on. It's badly needed. And if reimplemented, folks like Limbaugh and Imus wouldn't have to worry because after three hours of their shilling, someone on the other side of opinion would get three hours to counter their nonsense.

Sunday shows: Media Matters released a report a few weeks ago analyzing the Sunday morning talk shows. In previous reports, they have shown the Sunday show guests to be overwhelmingly conservative. After seeing the report, a number of producers stated that the slant was there because Republicans controlled the House and Senate, and therefore, were in a more influential political position. But guess what? Seven months after the Democrats swept into power, the slant remains: ["If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative"]. I used to be a regular watcher of "Meet the Press." I often joked that it was my church or, that I couldn't go to church because "Meet the Press" was on at the same time. Of late, probably since after the midterm elections, I haven't watched the program, mostly because I've been doing other things on Sunday mornings. So, I haven't really noticed whether there was a difference or not. The other part of this, of course, is the issue of journalists. I get sick of seeing and hearing the same Washington beltway-types on the roundtable shows. Personally, I don't mind some of the opinions of George Will, David Broder or the insipid Cokie Roberts. But, I would like to see some fresh blood on the programs. This is one of the reasons I prefer to watch the weekday political shows like "Hardball" or even "Scaraborough Country," which has actually been pretty good of late. I would like to see some different political reporters every now and again, not just the same ones, over and over again.

The Death of Internet Radio is coming: ["CRB Denies Appeal of Internet Radio Royalty Rates"]. I'm beginning to wonder if the next step for Internet radio is to go directly to the artists and say, Hey, if you waive your huge royalty fees, we'll play your music on our Internet radio stations. Or, just play indie people who aren't interested - or obsessed - with the fees. I bet there are a lot of cool - and good - bands out there who are interested in the airplay.

Update: It looks like there will be a delay in implementation while the fee structure gets another look: ["Music webcasters' fee increased delayed"].

Other stuff: It looks like some Gore folks are forming a political team after all: ["Gore campaign team assembles in secret"]. It doesn't mean he is running but who knows. More fallout from the Gravel appearance ... in other words, he is getting some much-needed press: ["Mike Gravel: After Debate, Little-Known Democrat Draws a Crowd"]. Rate hikes for small publishers? Maybe: ["Stamp Out the Rate Hike"]. More cool space stuff: ["Potentially Habitable Planet Found"].

The Noise Top 30 Chart, May
Reporting stations: WAAF, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC and WZBC

1. Winterpills – The Light Divides
2. The Charms – Strange Magic
3. Jake and The Jakes – War Is Over
4. Don Lennon – Radical
5. Big D & the Kids Table – Strictly Rude
6. The Glass Set – Something Unknown
7. The Snowleopards – Debut
8. Tiger Saw – Tigers on Fire
9. Read Yellow – Radios Burn Faster
10. Hooray For Earth – Hooray For Earth
11. Dinosaur Jr. –Beyond
12. Willy Mason – If the Ocean Gets Rough
13. The Gobshites – Get Bombed
14. The Vinyl Skyway – From Telegraph Hill
15. Jake Brennan – “Do You Remember What Joe Strummer Said?”
16. Christians and Lions – more songs for dreamsleepers and the very awake
17. The Fun Years – Life-Sized Psychoses
18. The Hotel Alexis – Goliath I’m On Your Side
19. The Luxury – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
20. Girls Guns & Glory – “Pretty Little Wrecking Ball”
21. Piebald – Accidental Gentlemen
22. The Prime Movers – Back in Line
23. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Let it Roll
24. Auto Interiors – Let’s Agree to Deceive Our Best Friends
25. Caspian – The Four Trees
26. E.R. aka Eldridge Rodriguez – A Conspiracy Against Us
27. Frank Smith – Red on White
28. The Sterns – Sinners Stick Together
29. Marlene Tholl – Kore
30. Ron Noyes Band – Come Hell or High Water

Webcasting problems
I'm in the process of putting together my first Podcast from home. It will happen sometime late this week. I have most of the basic gear I need to produce them and I'm truly excited about giving it a run through.
I don't know yet when - or where - I will be posting it. Blogger doesn't offer audio options on its service. If it did, it would get so bogged down. Imagine, millions of bloggers posting millions of gigs of audio. It would crash the world! Anyhoo, when I find a service that will allow me to post the audio in an inexpensive manner, I will start doing it.
Ideally, the Podcasts will be a slight extension of the blog. I'm going to read some stuff, talk a bit, and play DJ too. I'm shooting for them to be produced in one-hour segments so that I actually do them more than sporadically and so they aren't too big to download or listen to.
Please feel free to forward any tips if you know of any.
In thinking about my future Podcasts, the issue of changes in Internet broadcasting has come to mind, specifically a couple of issues which have been raised by small broadcasters and have made their way into, of all places, the Wall Street Journal: ["Royalty-Rate Hike Alarms Web Broadcasters"] and ["Can an Ohio Radio Station Reinvent Itself Yet Again?"]. Bob Bittner, of Cambridge's WJIB, who has also gotten some publicity about the issue, talks about it here: ["WJIB Announcement"]. Thanks to Bob Nelson for posting this on the Boston Radio Archive List.

April Noise Top 30 Chart
Stations reporting: WAAF, WFNX, WMBR, WMFO, WTCC, WZBC

1. The Snowleopards – Debut
2. Piebald – Accidental Gentlemen
3. The Winterpills – The Light Divides
4. Bang Camaro – Bang Camaro
5. The Glass Set – Something Unknown
6. The Charms – Strange Magic
7. Kristin Hersh – Learn to Sing like a Star
8. Hooray for Earth – Hooray for Earth
9. Apple Betty – Let’s Play
10. The Blizzard of 78 – Where All Life Hangs
11. The Larkin Brigade – Paddy Keys for Mayor
12. The Luxury – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
13. Emily Grogan – At Sea
14. Big D & The Kids Table – Noise Complaint EP
15. The Gobshites – Another Round
16. Don Lennon – “Gay Fun!”
17. Medicated Kisses – Medicated Kisses EP
18. Pernice Brothers – Live a Little
19. The Prime Movers – Back in Line
20. The Appreciation Post – Brighter Sides
21. Various Artist – Ace of Hearts: 12 Classic 45s
22. Hanneke Cassel – Silver
23. Christians and Lions – More Songs for the Dreamsleepers and the Very Awake
24. Hot Chip – Remixes and Rarities
25. Monique Ortiz – Reclining Female
26. The Slip – Eisenhower
27. Frank Smith – Red on White
28. Barnicle – Take Me to Your Room
29. Girls Guns & Glory – Pretty Little Wrecking Ball
30. Ray Mason – A Man and His Silvertone

R.I.P.: Brad Delp

Brad Delp, lead singer of the rock group Boston and The Beatles cover band, Beatlejuice, passed away last night. He was 55. What a tragedy: ["'Nice guy' rocker dies at 55"].
I'd always heard Delp was a nice guy and everyone raved about how good Beatlejuice was. I never met the man but it sounds as if very approachable, not unlike others in the business. Boston rockers like Peter Wolf, lead singer of the J.Geils Band, would almost always talk to anyone he ran into [Wolf even did a stint on WMFO's "On the Town" show for kicks]. Gary Cherone of Extreme, at the top of his game, was still working out and playing basketball at the Y in Malden, as another example.
I was never a big fan of Boston but I never shut it off when it was on the radio either. Just thinking about the band brings back a flood of memories. Boston were always on the radio after 1976. That first album was so huge back when records sold respectively and didn't really sell like they do today. It is estimated that the debut album sold 16 million copies in the United States alone. That is quite amazing when you think about it.
I was young when that record came out - maybe 10 or 11 - but I was old enough to know what rock 'n' roll was. This is mostly because my parents listened to all kinds of music and it trickled down, even if I was more into the early 1960s Beach Boys or Sly & the Family Stone than Boston or Aerosmith. I didn't quite understand everything I was listening to at the time. But in later life, I learned to appreciate some of that music more than I did when I was younger. Not so much Aerosmith, although I laugh at "Big 10 Inch Record," and still play the old version of "Walk this Way" and "Back in the Saddle" on my mp3 player, but the serious, more arty rock bands.
At the time, Aerosmith were a big deal. They were kids who hung out at Lake Sunapee, just up the road, during the summer when they were just starting out and poof, they get a record deal. Later, parental influence would lead me to the Moody Blues, the Doors, and Isaac Hayes. I think about that sometimes now with my own child. Will he be influenced by the fact that his dad listens to the Flaming Lips in the car the same way I was influenced by hearing Grand Funk Railroad? I still listen to "We're an American Band" for kicks, again, on mp3 [although, their version of "Loco-motion" has the most amazing guitar solo on it]. I understand now what the rock 'n' roll lifestyle was about having lived in on a mini-scale back in the mid-to-late 1980s. I've actually seen "sweet, sweet Connie," the groupie, on TV, and understand what she was doing with Grand Funk and other bands, and, allegedly, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. I wonder if my son will still be listening to "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" or something else when he is 40-plus dragging his kids around wherever.
Back in the 1970s, I remember one time complaining to the bus driver about the music he was playing. At the time, kids in Warner had this extremely long bus ride to the New London Middle School. We would get picked up at the beginning of the bus ride, near Exit 8, only to be schlepped around the entire community of Warner and then back to town center, traveling along every bumpy dirt road you could find. We would then all wait at Simonds Elementary for all the buses to get together and switch high school and middle school students. And then, finally, the middle school students would get shipped off on the long haul to New London. It was all so hideous and dreadful and bet the Warner kids still have to endure it.
Any-hoo, the bus driver suggested I bring some music in and he would play. The next morning, I put the few cassettes I had in a paper bag and brought them on the bus. The bus driver pulled them out and looked at me strangely: What are these? You don't have 8-tracks? Well, no, I didn't have 8-tracks, I had cassettes. My parents were semi-audiophiles. They had the latest in sound technology whether it was reel-to-reels in the 1960s or cassettes in the 1970s, which was the superior format. So the bus driver couldn't play any of the music which I had and we kept listening to the radio or his 8-tracks. Even at 11, I was a music critic and didn't even know it. Cassettes and 8-tracks have gone the way of the DoDo bird. Reels are still used in some analog recording studios. But it is amusing to think about this all now.
Radio was a big deal because it was the only form of communication in which you could hear music. Now we have all these other things like streaming audio or mp3 players. Back then, DJs were cool; now they are somewhat annoying. You never met the DJ - because they were in far away places like Boston. But you heard their voices and got to know them. Now, you can't wait for them to shut the hell up and play some more music, if you even listen to the radio at all.
One of the stations we listened to as kids was WCOZ. The FM rocker actually had a radio contest to give away a kilo. The connotation was that they were going to give away a kilo of marijuana at the end of the summer even though it probably never happened. I don't remember. I just remember hearing that "giving away a kilo" thing over and over again. Oh, have times have changed though: You can't even smoke a cigarette on television, never mind a joint, and WCOZ is now this hideous rap station, WJMN.
And radio itself has changed and not for the better in many ways. So obsessed is everyone with the commercial and revenue component, we have all now forgotten about the joys of doing and listening radio. One of the reasons I participate and subscribe to some of the radio chat boards is to be around other people who miss the old days of radio when it wasn't programmed on a computer and when it was about hearing something new which challenged you as a listener. Some of the smaller stations, like college stations, still do that. But if you live in the woods - or semi-woods - it is difficult to hear those kinds of stations.
I guess everything must change. Generations before me have been saying the same thing. But you would think that we would be able to hold to just a few things which are precious. In some ways, I can. It's called programming your CD player or mp3 player and having complete control over what you hear. But it would be great if there was one place where you could go back and have it be the way it was, even for just a few hours a week.