WFMU's Beware of the Blog

WFMU's Myspace Band Buddies - vote for your favorites, FINAL ROUND!

Good morning people! 

This is it!  The last round of voting for your favorite randomly selected bands from WFMU's hefty list o' buddies at a certain social networking site of which you may have heard.  Thanks to everyone who's listened and voted so far.

Here's the deal, in case you missed earlier installments:  the band or bands who get the most "Pump it" votes each week will be forever exalted on my FIRST EVER MARATHON PREMIUM called "In MySpace, No One Can Hear You Scream" (you can still pledge to this year's marathon here). Last round's favorites were Satanicpornocultshop, Porest, Paid in Puke, For Esme, and Bonbomb! Congratulations, band buddies!! 

Who will be next? It's up to you!!!

WFMU's Myspace Band Friends, Vote for yer faves, Round 7!!!

Good morning people! Got some more music goodies this week for you to vote yay or nay to, courtesy of WFMU's hefty list o' buddies at a certain social networking site of which you may have heard. We've got Japanese collagists recycling Missy Eliot, The Ramones recycled by Christians, North American musicians named after recycled French Existentialism 101 exam terms, a track from the guy who put together the Sublime Frequencies "Choubi Choubi" compilation of folk and pop from Iraq, a song named after the capital of Iran, a New Jersey collagist named after a line from one of the greatest teen comedies ever, an atmospheric piece from Germany, and a straight out rocker, just for good measure. Consider it the Earth Day Special... or not....!!!

The band or bands who get the most "Pump it" votes each week will be forever exalted on my FIRST EVER MARATHON PREMIUM called "In MySpace, No One Can Hear You Scream" (you can still pledge to this year's marathon here). Last round's favorites were The Bran Flakes, Slasher Risk, and The Little League! Congratulations, band buddies!!

Who will be next? It's up to you!!!

From the WFMU News Vault: Look Magazine, 1969. Eye Magazine, 1969.

Some really great moldy oldies this week:

On June 24, 1969, Look Magazine published an article about "the new radio" - "stations with a far-out format" including KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco, KMET in Los Angeles, WNEW in New York, and there's a mention about a little station in East Orange called WFMU, which had just managed to raise all of $13,000 for their operating expenses that year.  Also, a creepily prescient scene featuring pot-smoking, mandala-wearing record executives who are none too concerned about "renaissance radio" encroaching on their profits.
Download the article here.  (PDF, 524k)

Later that year, Eye Magazine featured an in-depth 3 page article about WFMU and it's incongruous presence at Upsala College, which in description sounds a bit like the Faber College campus.  This article has some really fascinating facts:

• WFMU's first marathon ever raised $2,500, which was enough to keep the station on the air in the summer of 1968.
• Leonard Bernstein once called the station to tell them "he liked what was going on".
• Some things have really changed, like "A listener could call to request a song and hear it played 10 minutes later."
• And some things haven't changed at all such as the station "being under the care of various dropouts, mistfits and professionals" and the perception of WFMU as being "considerably looser, more spontaneous and less professional".

Interviews with Vin Scelsa, Lou "The Duck" D'Antonio, biker mama Toni Stevens, and the Kokaine Karma guys, among others, round out this very interesting piece of WFMU History.  Download the article here. (PDF, 1.18 MB)

Decorate your Desktop with WFMU Wallpaper

Now you too can decorate your computer desktop the way the Movie Stars do, with our amazing WFMU Wallpaper!  To take advantage of this fabulous offer, simply click the link below for your desired selection, and once it loads, right click over the image and choose "Set as Wallpaper".  Or, if your computer doesn't have that option, you can right click on the image (once it loads) and choose to "Save Image As.." and then set the wallpaper via your computer's control panel settings.  This site has more information on how to set your wallpaper up, or you can drop me a line if you are still stuck. 

Now, on to the fabulousness.  Today's selections include artwork from WFMU T-shirts past:

Making the End Times Happy Times
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Bruno Nadalin designed this happy-calyptic image for a WFMU T-shirt a few years back.   Perfect for the computer user who rarely leaves home.

Jim Flora Kiddie Ensemble
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Inspired by the artwork of Jim Flora, designed by Dave Cunningham for the 2003 T-shirt.  Download this one and imagine that the mad little children are responsible for all that music in your head. 

Investigate Fish Farm
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Steven Keene created this lovely design for WFMU's Marathon 2000 T-shirt.

Powered By Love
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Forget Dell.  Power your desktop with Love.  Danny Hellman designed this super-cute image for the first-ever WFMU Iron-On back in 2003.

Learn Radio
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Impress your friends and family with this Chris Ware creation in which Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, teaches us about the wonders of Radio.

Enjoy!  And, if you would care to decorate your body with any of these designs, take a stroll over to our Olde Time Internet Emporium to take a look at our fine t-shirts, bumper stickers, and more.

WFMU Gets Macedonian Props

Muisc and Program Director Brian was recently interviewed for an article in the Russian music/ culture magazine PNTAM. (PDF) 

If anyone can translate this, please drop me a line.  Otherwise, just check out the sweet coat BT is all bundled up in.  Nice. 

From the WFMU News Vault: WWOZ-in-exile and Thomas Edison's Attic

A couple of articles this week about the WWOZ-in-Exile stream:

This is a long article from the Nashua Telegraph.  It features interviews with both WFMU and WWOZ Station Managers and a rather somber photo of our own Station Manager Ken.

This is a article about preserving the cultural heritage of New Orleans. (registration required)  WWOZ-in-Exile gets a mention in a few paragraphs.

Speaking of the efforts to save WWOZ, thanks to the many WFMU listeners and WWOZ supporters who have pledged so far!

Also in the news this week: 

A fascinating article (registration required) about Thomas Edison's wax cyclinder recordings.   Jerry Fabris, host of WFMU's Thomas Edison's Attic and curator at the Edison National Historic Site, talks about these early recordings and efforts to preserve them in digital format for future generations to enjoy.

Click here to listen to the August 23, 2005 episode of Thomas Edison's Attic.  (RealAudio)   All playlists and archives for the show can be found here.

From the WFMU News Vault: 1987 - Village Voice Declares Best New York Radio is Made in New Jersey

Back in age of the dinosaurs, I mean, in 1987, the Village Voice ran a lengthy front page article entitled "New York's Best Radio Station Broadcasts from a Jersey Basement."    They were talking about WFMU, which at the time was still located on the Upsala College campus in East Orange, in the basement of Froeberg Hall.  The article features, among other things,  Irwin expounding on the art of freeform, The Hound testifying on the state of radio and the world, and this amusing anecdote from the late Vanilla Bean,  about how he first came to be involved with WFMU:

"The turning point, what got me involved in WFMU, was when they were doing the marathon.  I called them up to tell them the pope had been shot.  This was back when Reagan first got elected.  So I called up and somebody who answered the phone sounded really harried and said 'Who gives a shit?' and hung up.  And I though, 'Wow, they sound like a great bunch of people.'"

Some nice illustrations by Kaz, as well. 

The article can be found in full here, in all its cut and pasted glory.  (PDF, 1.7MB)

From the WFMU Press Vault: Greasy Kid Stuff in the News

Hello blogosphere.  Welcome to the WFMU Press Vault, home of WFMU-related newspaper and magazine clippings, both new and recent and moldy and old.  This week we will cover a couple of articles about everyone's favorite Saturday morning sugar-bomb breakfast treat: Greasy Kid Stuff.

Hova and Belinda and DJ Waah Waah were very recently featured in a front page article in the Sunday Arts section of The Oregonian on August 25th 2005.   In it, we learn some GKS history, find out about their new remote set-up, and discover some secrets that make GKS the magic machine that children (and their parents) enjoy every Saturday.

Here's an excerpt:

"Kindergarten Rock
INARA VERZEMNIEKS Among discerning rock 'n' roll parents -- parents who would much rather raise their offspring on ska, punk or quirky retro-pop than the Wiggles or Raffi -- the names Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian enjoy a certain cult status.

On a recent Saturday morning, Belinda and Hova, as they are known to their loyal listeners, were holed up in their Southeast Portland home, fueling up on coffee and Voodoo Donuts and shuffling through stacks of CDs and LPs in preparation for their two-hour radio show, "Greasy Kid Stuff."

Rather than play music specifically written for children, Belinda and Hova have turned 'Greasy Kid Stuff' into a national phenomenon by playing grown-up music they think kids would like instead."

The entire article can be found online here or, you can download the original article here (PDF, 453k).

The Oregonian's story also refers to a New York Times article from April 11, 2004 hanging on Hova and Belinda's wall.  That entire article is available here (PDF, 433k)!

Next week:  A trip in time to 1987.

The Voice of the People Speaks: Where Have You Gone, Billy Joel?

Yesterday's "Voice of the People" section in the New York Daily News featured this timely letter from Cynthia Ryan of Brooklyn, NY:

"Just wondering if there was a way to persuade Billy Joel to write a sequel to 'We Didn't Start the Fire.'  A lot has happened since it was recorded."

Although I couldn't get through reading this letter aloud to the rest of the staff at the lunch table yesterday without breaking up into that embarassing hysterical laughter where you think you are going to start crying or worse: the truth of the statement is undeniable.

A lot has happened since 1989, when "WDSTF (part one)" reached the #1 spots simultaneously on the Billboard album and singles charts late that year.   Desert Storm, grunge rock, Bill Clinton, the Internet, the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Rwandan genocide, Red Bull, Enron, W, terrorism, electroclash, WMD, Mountain Dew Code Red and countless other head-spinning events, persons and soft drinks.  How are we to make sense of it all?   Where can we find the perspective we desperately need in this uncertain age, as time marches on and history keeps being made every day?

The Voice of the People knows.  And The Voice of the People has spoken.   We all know who it is who can sort this out for us. 

Billy Joel, you are our only hope.

(Thanks to Liz for hooking me up with Schlock Rock's version of the original "We Didn't Start the Fire" she dug out the the JM In the AM Archives.)