'Tis the season for podcast resurrection! Sound masher extraordinairre People Like Us returns to the WFMU podcast roster this week with brand new episodes of her ultra-fab show, Do or DIY (currently on hiatus from WFMU's on-air schedule, but periodically popping up as a web-only show).
Glitch out on a weekly basis with PLU's surrealist sound collagery by visiting WFMU's podcast page. Go on... git!
Noah Zark's incredible underground hip-hop podcast, Coffee 2 Go, went on hiatus for a few months, but is now back due to popular demand! Hop on board and hook yourself up to WFMU's audio feeding tube by visiting our podcast page, where you can subscribe to Coffee 2 Go or any of our 18 other podcast shows.
Mike Warnke is one of the most famous figures in American Christianity. However, unless you're a Christian, a Satanist, a scandal fiend, obsessive internet troll, or a vinyl collector, there is still a good chance you don't know his tale. Mike Warnke is a stand-up comedian. A Christian stand-up comedian. And despite a scandal-ridden career that would put Jim Bakker to shame, Warnke alone is responsible for what has turned into an enormous multi-million dollar industry - Christian stand-up comedy. Kinda nutty, ain't it?
In reality the Mike Warnke story has been recounted several times over the past decade and, yes, we're about to go through it again. This piece is more than that, however. It is a history of Christian stand-up comedy, from its roots in ventriloquism to its modern day standing as perhaps the wealthiest of all weirdo subcultures.
In 1954, Decca Records released a fascinating ten-inch relic titled Music For Screaming!? Jerry Colonna at his Best.* - the majority of which I have posted for your listening pleasure here (podcast number twenty). Bob Hope's sidekick was not as some might assume Bing Crosby, nor was his closest ally in show business simply constant US military intervention. Although there is little question that those were among his most dependable associates, his real right hand partner was the unmistakably bug-eyed, and with each passing year increasingly forgotten, Jerry Colonna - one of the most strangely compelling figures of American radio and film in the thirties, forties, and fifties.
Colonna's persona could have easily been described as an "ethnic character" back in the day, if it were not for the fact that his odd accent wasn't exactly an Italian stereotype, that of the hackneyed European emigre, or anything else particularly specific. Instead his accent was vague, a put-on of undetermined origin, for the most part void of any Italian references - thank goodness - as many of those Vito Scotti type characters can be cringe inducing today. In almost all the films in which the beloved moustachioed comedian appeared, his vocal gymnastics were on display.
When the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, passed away last Christmas his memory was honored with multiple funeral services. During the time of his death it was mentioned many times over that there was no way to fully articulate the sheer importance, breadth, influence, and status that James Brown held within American Black society. This will have probably been, however, the only time in history that a man so famous, so revered, so incredibly big, will have had a funeral procession in a building that is equally as great in terms of sheer importance, breadth, and status.
Now open for ninety-four years, The Apollo Theater has catered, shaped, and determined African-American cultural trends for seventy two of the ninety-four. It might seem absurd, and perhaps on the other hand hardly surprising, that from 1904 to 1934 the Apollo was a whites-only establishment. In the past year it has been in the process of refurbishment at an absolutely incredible financial cost. It is hard to tell whether this has anything to do with a devotion to preserving history and culture or is merely another phase in the corporatization of ... everything. The three key note speakers at the launch event announcing the project were Mayor Bloomberg, Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons, and sometime Harlem resident Bill Clinton - three outrageously wealthy men - two of which are white - and by most accounts - all slimy. Now then, why all this talk of the Apollo - this beacon for the greatest performers of the 20th Century? What with all the legendary Apollo stories (it is said that Ella Fitzgerald was one of the first ever African-American performers to perform on the club's legendary amateur night after the Apollo finally opened its doors in '34 to those who made up the majority of Harlem's population), one fascinating event hasn't been told in thirty years and is pretty much forgotten.
Google the name Dick Davy and the only information you're likely to find is the article you're currently reading. Davy was a New York born East Village folk singer in the early nineteen sixties. Self-described as "much more soulful and quiet [than the average folk singer] ... intimate ... and I wasn't making it. But I'd be talking in between and people would laugh at things I said. So I'd start out like very traditional ... Barbara Allen ... about forty seven verses of that. And people weren't listening for a while. And because nobody was paying attention, I'd just start talking and they'd laugh. And eventually whatever I'd say, they laughed at. And I really felt bad that I didn't have more things to say because I really had 'em with the first few things I said and they were ready ... and then I'd go back to singing another song, and they'd go back to bedlam. So I started writing down whatever they were laughing at ... "
Continue reading "You're a Long Way From Fame, Whitey! The Dick Davy Story" »
Even in this age of the internet making the obscure common place and DVD reissues coupled with YouTube making vague childhood memories concrete again, one cornerstone of pop culture wish lists has remained elusive.
I have never met anyone who does not love the background music from the original animated Spider-man cartoon. Although the theme song from the 1967-1970 series has been released and covered several times, the P.D. Francis, Bob Harris, Stu Phillips and D. Kapross penned ditty (four writers were used for that theme song!) pales in comparison to the underscore. Listen to a muddy sounding bootleg of some of this music here. The problem for years was that no living source could remember from which music library the background ditties were pulled. Doubling the problem is the fact that these amazing instrumentals, most likely, did not have a name - let alone any musicians credited with composing them. As often is the case with music made specifically for the purpose of generic use, whether it be for radio station promos, commercials, or in this case, a low-budget cartoon, the fly-by-night companies that produced this stuff often went out of business and their many hours worth of musical reels soon disappeared, ending up who-knows-where. Furthermore, it can be nearly impossible to unearth music that was used for a particular show when the reels were never marked "background music from Spider-man" but instead with titles like "action scene," "city scape," "outer space," or "police chase."
Continue reading "The Music Everybody Loves! Everybody Wants! Nobody Has!" »
The WFMU podcast army has recruited a new soldier: Michael Shelley!
This special podcast will feature the interview portion of Michael's weekly radio program, during which our #1 Hit fanatic chats up high-profile rock, soul, country, and jazz personalities. And just to prove that we don't throw around terms like "high-profile" willy-nilly, Michael's inaugural podcast is an interview with Johnny Rivers. That's right, the Johnny Rivers!
Visit WFMU's Podcast Central if you'd like to subscribe to Michael's weekly podcast (instructions are here), and be sure to take a looksie at our other fab podcast offerings.
Who keeps the metric system down? Gay black masons do.
I love New York, but not that way. New York City is the country's HIV/AIDS capital, and to deal with that we're going to start giving out free condoms, which will be branded like subway lines with color-coded foil packets. Next up: actual full body subway condoms you put on for protection before any mass-transit experience.
Santa's Butt is comin' to town. Confirming my belief that New England is one cranky-ass place, the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement is finally allowing Santa's Butt Winter Porter to be sold just in time for Martin Luther King Day.
We'll leave the light on for you. Of course we all see motel rooms like this and think about renting porn and doing dirty, dirty things. OK, maybe it's just me and the way boring postcards make me shiver with delight. via MUG
You know what would be like so funny? If we filled condoms with flour to look like we were drug traffickers as a joke and I took them on an airplane during my college vacation and got arrested for being a drug trafficker and then sued for having my civil rights violated and got $180k. Who's got the oregano and dime bags for spring break?
Sex education:
Shoe size is everything. Did you know short guys walk on tippy toes when they wear shoe lifts, just like girls in high heels?
News of the nude: Naked yoga, naked dance, naked male church calendar, naked art. Al Gore is right: this global warming shit is having serious consequences. Put some clothes on, people!
Waaah. I want my robot mommy.
If you have yet to connect your digital feeding tube to WFMU's podcast bag (or even if you're already sucking down our sonic goo), allow me to tempt your sensibilities with the addition of a brand spanking new podcast-only show, Anti Static.
Hosted by Mike Lupica, this podcast features three tracks each week, culled from the wonderfully obscene number of independent 45s that were released throughout the 80s and 90s. Mike resurrects forgotten grooves from WFMU's singles collection, along with a few of his own gems from back in those halcyon days when mail order and 'zines ruled.
Visit WFMU's podcast page to get a weekly blast of 7" rarities (or any of our other great podcasts) delivered automatically to your computer or MP3 player. All you need is iTunes or an RSS reader.
Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest athletes who ever lived and arguably the most charismatic. His trash talking poetics are well documented in both film and print and an always increasing amount of books and documentaries are released on a regular basis dissecting every aspect of his life . Well, almost every aspect.
Between being on top of the sporting world, speaking out against the American atrocities in Vietnam, being demonized by the white sporting establishment, and appearing with the scotch drinking funsters on the 1970s era Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Ali dipped his aching fingers in a number of projects that were absurd in conception and a million times more ridiculous in retrospect. As a showman, Ali never shied away from appearing on television outside of the boxing realm in any capacity. An assortment of cameos on television shows like The Sonny & Cher Show, The Jacksons, Different Strokes, The Flip Wilson Show, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and even the occasional appearance in the other ring at the WWF, can attest to this. In this essay we will explore four of Ali's hammiest moments. His short lived Saturday morning cartoon, his vinyl records dealing with battling tooth decay and reciting poetry, the movie in which Muhammad Ali played himself, and the comic book in which he fought Superman.
Continue reading "Putting the Ham in MuHAMmad: The Greatest at his Worst" »
Check out the latest addition to WFMU's sparkling roster of podcasts: Phun Size Phuj, a short pod-i-phied version of Ergo Phizmiz's weekly radio program, Phuj Phactory. Surrealist audio collage at its finest!
Visit WFMU's Podcast Central to have Phun Size Phuj automagically delivered to your MP3 player every week, and be sure to browse through the rest of our podcast offerings to sign up for even more freeform in feedform.
WFMU is proud to announce the addition of another great podcast-only program. Get your DIY on with Bill Zurat's new Raw Sewage podcast!
Raw Sewage will complement Bill's weekly web-only program (which you can catch every Friday morning from 6-9am), featuring live sets, old Killed By Death-style punk rock, rare power pop gems, noise interludes, forgotten synth pop, and basement concrète.
Visit WFMU's podcast page to sign yourself up for a weekly dose of DIY (or any WFMU podcasts).
While most of us were sleeping, it seems that the culture leaped ahead several hundred yards and firmly planted the once outsider artform of hardcore punk squarely in the lexicon of nostalgia. I'm anxiously awaiting Brian Turner's report on the opening night of American Hardcore, but until then, I'm satisfying the jones with Yellow Arrow's streaming video/online documentary/video podcast called Capitol of Punk. Interviews with and anecdotes from all the key players in DC Hardcore's lengthy and nuanced history, plus tales of unsung heroes like the Urban Verbs right on up through lauded kingpins like the Bad Brains, Bratmobile, and Fugazi. Enjoy!
Via Boing Boing and Jon Solomon
WFMU is proud to present another addition to our growing podcast roster: please welcome to the digital era, freeform radio's controversial un-mascot and preeminent grumpy old man, the Old Codger (right). Fond of old-timey music, the Codger spins classic 78s, with effusive mic-breaks that burst with elderly rage and contempt, accented by the charming tone that only a severe underbite could render. The Codger wants you to think he's the Father of Old-Time Radio -- but he's just a sperm donor.
Here's what an anonymous WFMU staffer had to say about the OC:
The Old Codger (Courtney T. Edison) is more than just a piece of ubiquitous Drew Friedman clip art who pops up with disturbing frequency on WFMU's web pages. He's REAL ... or so he claims... the second-oldest living radio personality (after 163-year-old Paul Harvey). The Codger proudly plays 78 rpm discs "like they're going outta style." Fond of Ukulele Ike, Louis Jordan, and the Brox Sisters, he's cantankerous, crude, and known for his colorfully faulty memory. He refuses to divulge his age, but insists he knew H.L. Mencken when the legendary writer was a wee lad, and he habitually taunts WFMU listeners by jeering, "I've got shoes older than you." The Codger is notorious for on-air come-ons to female admirers, often crooning that he loves "younger women -- age 45 or 50." Although never married, Edison has been linked romantically to actress/comedienne Sophie Tucker, vaudevillian Effie Cherry, R&B siren Nellie Lutcher, and TV sitcom vixen Betty Rubble. His collection of 78 rpm discs numbers 48,000, and his "bunker" also boasts 16 functional crank-wound Victrolas and nine overflowing spittoons.
Please visit our podcast page to subscribe to the Old Codger (or any WFMU podcast). Instructions on how to hook yourself up to WFMU's feeding tube via iTunes are available here.
It’s been three months since I've discussed Air America here at Beware of the Blog, and there’s some fresh news to report. But Perhaps more significantly, there’s rumors aplenty flying around town here regarding the lefty talk network these days. In May, I predicted there would be “some drastic changes” at Air America this year, that seems to be coming to pass. And some other prognostications and hopes I tossed around regarding AAR in these pages may bear fruit as well. But one big alleged “fact” that I passed along here seems to have been either misinformation, bad reporting, or that a certain deal was never final in the first place..
I’ll explain.
First, the big headline is that Air America is in fact jumping frequencies here in New York City– moving from 1190 WLIB to 1600 WWRL on September 1, 2006. And like Humpty Dumpty’s tumble from his perch, the results of this fall (note: the broadcast range of WWRL doesn't quite have the coverage of the audible radius of WLIB) may result in local and network AAR programming in a bit of scramble. At least that’s what I’ve been hearing. As you read on, realize that while I’ll link to online sources when I can find other sites that back up what I’m asserting here, other hearsay I’ll offer here is based on innuendo and whispers I’ve heard from people I trust. That said, I also am led to understand that negotiations are ongoing with several of the parties concerned and possible changes being spoke of today could turn into something else over the course of the next two and half weeks when Air America actually makes the switch. If you've listened, you'd know that Air America has always been a New York-centric national radio operation, and if there's going to be a changes in what will be offered here it will probably alter the media footprint of Air America nationally as well.
Now, onto how I have probably misled readers at BOTB when I was basing my commentary on “official” online sources. Contrary to a news story I linked to and discussed, it now does not appear that (the former CEO of Clear Channel) Randy Michaels and his new lefty talk company, Progress First, is actually going to be doing very much, if anything, with WLIB. Yet, at the end of April that was the story and I based what I wrote what I understood to be fact. Then, it was strange. For many weeks, there was no news whatsoever the supposed P1 takeover. As memory serves, when Michaels launches a radio project, he launches big. He's not a coy operator. Something was fishy.
And then early this month Air America announced they were actually going to leap over to WWRL. on the date the story about P1's deal with WLIB said it would have to abandon the frequency. And new reports appeared that Michaels 
“might be interested” in leasing the station, but no longer affirming that it was a sure thing. It makes you wonder where the initial story that P1 was certain to take over WLIB (in MediaWeek and Billboard) came from in the first place?
And now on to get into some more of the unsubstantiated rumors I’ve heard. You know, I know people who know people and I spend too much time Googling the fate of Air America. And from what I understand, the only sure thing about Air America’s move to WWRL is that Al Franken and Randi Rhodes will certainly be broadcasting at 1600 AM in New York come September 1. And that’s not all! According to Mike Malloy’s website, his powerful program will also be returning to late night New York radio with the big frequency switch in September. Good news, but I hear that just like WLIB, WWRL is going to hold onto the six post-midnight hours, as well as the morning drive spot. Which is fairly canny for WWRL I suppose. If they part ways one day as WLIB is about to do, they can maintain their on-air identity in the meantime.
WFMU's International Man of Mystery Award goes to DJ Billy Jam, an Irishman-turned-New-Yorker-by-way-of-California. In addition to his copious travels, basement record-scratching parties with West Coast DJ illuminati, and genre-bending compilation releases on the Hip Hop Slam label, Mr. Jam is also the host of Saturday night's Put the Needle on the Record program, which features hip-hop and beat-happy sounds along with political soundbytes and the occasional noise or punk rock interlude.
If you're not yet a fan of Billy's sonic artistry, trust us, the man has some serious skills. He's been known to reappropriate other WFMU DJs' micbreaks (real audio) and mix together the opening tracks from every WFMU program (real audio) that aired during an entire week.
Now there is yet one more reason to dig Billy Jam: he's created a short, weekly, scratchtastic podcast mix for your enjoyment. Get on board and hook yourself up with Billy's podcast complement to Put the Needle on the Record (or any of WFMU's 18 podcasts) by visiting WFMU's Podcast Central. All you need is iTunes, baby.
Did you know that WFMU now podcasts 17 programs? Interested in filling up your MP3 player with sexy, downloadable, digital freeform? You can follow instructions, right?
1. Fire up the ol' iTunes
2. Go to the Advanced menu and select Subscribe to Podcast
3. Copy any (or all) of the program name links listed below (right-click on a PC or control-click on a Mac, select Copy Link Location), and paste this .xml link into the Subscribe to Podcast URL window in iTunes.
4. Click OK. You are now hooked up, brothers and sisters!
Aircheck
Do or DIY with People Like Us
The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon
Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine
The Secret Museum of the Air with Citizen Kafka and Pat Conte
Seven Second Delay with Ken and Andy
Thomas Edison's Attic
Coffee 2 Go with Noah
The Speakeasy with Dorian
Aerial View with Chris T.
The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling
Dave Emory
The Antique Phonograph Music Program
Professor Dum Dum's Lab
Audio Kitchen with The Professor
Sinner's Crossroads with Kevin Nutt
The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment
If you are linguistically-challenged and require pretty pictures to go from zero to podcast, we've got you covered! Giddyup, and ride your pony over to WFMU Podcast Central: be sure to check out these easy-to-follow instructions, gratuitous screen-shots and all.
FCC Summer Menu
Just in time for a party-line battle over relaxing media ownership regs, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin posed for a chummy photo (left) with the VP of XM and a high-rolling telecom lobbyist (who also moonlights as Bill Frist's lawyer), which appears in the June/July issue of Details Magazine. With nothing but the playing cards' -- er, the public's? -- best interest in mind, Martin is looking to use his republican majority on the commission to revisit loosening media ownership restrictions (a similar ploy failed to fly past the courts in 2003). The commission's democrats are raising a stink over the issue, hosting community forums that examine big media's ability to deal with local issues and underrepresented viewpoints.
Meanwhile, on the Copyfight Front...
A House committee met to discuss the merits of audio and video broadcast flags, which will prevent consumers from legally "taping" or transferring legally-obtained programming between their satellite radios, MP3 players, Tivo, DVD players, and TVs. Public Knowledge submitted an excellent written statement to the committee in opposition to both flags, which you can read here. Of course, the content industry would like to charge consumers multiple times for viewing/listening to the same work, but that's just because they don't understand how to use the digital revolution to their financial advantage. The RIAA and music licensing industry prefers to send nasty cease-and-desist letters to kids who post fan videos on the internet (how dare you enjoy our music!), while at least a few TV and movie companies have finally embraced digital technologies, discovering new ways to make money and create buzz by partnering with YouTube.
FCC Remixes Doreamon
As you can see in the side-by-side comparison to the right, the FCC's Kidszone page mascot gently samples more than a few qualities from popular Japanese cartoon character, Doraemon. P2Pnet reports that the FCC claimed ignorance when the cartoon's creators raised the issue a few years ago. The Dinosaur Gardens blog uncovered even more fun with the FCC: they've posted an MP3 of Cary Grant singing the federal requirements for station identifications, which you can grab right here (Thanks, Kim).
Embezzlement at Seton Hall
A former director of the very metal student radio station WSOU in South Orange, NJ, was recently arrested for embezzling over half a million bucks. (Thanks Mike and Therese!)
Manilow, Every Single Day
A commercial radio station in New Mexico recently took up an all-Barry Manilow format. (Thanks Bryce!)
WFMU proudly introduces 4 additions to our growing roster of podcasts...
Aircheck: Once again, an hour of radio ghosts recaptured. Once in a lifetime
occurances and remembrances (some from WFMU's own archives). Aircheck seeks out some of the more unusual and
unpredictable moments and personalities in radio that probably wouldn't
get attention anywhere else.
The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon: Although Clay is taking the summer off from our on-air schedule, we're now offering archives of his show from the past year. Expect multi-sensory soundscapes, intimate monologues, street
interviews from all walks of life, intensive quik-cut sound editing, social commentary, gladness/sadness, cornfields, gravel
roads and urban sprawl.
Do or DIY with People Like Us: The triumphant return of all things avant retard. Found sound, field recordings, and pop culture detritus all woven into a joyous, hour-long audio collage.
Secret Museum of the Air with Citizen Kafka and Pat Conte: This program is no longer being produced but we're re-running it as a podcast. Citizen Kafka and curator Pat Conte scour the world of international 78 rpm recordings to bring you the Secret Museum of Mankind.
For a listing of all WFMU podcasts, check out this page. Hook up your MP3 player with scrumptious freeform in feed form (via iTunes) by following the instructions right here.
When he's not throwing coffee at Jimmy Pursey, renaissance man Johnny Rotten likes to kick back and record fashion commentary for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many museums in NYC and elsewhere are offering their audio tours as podcast downloads, and the Met selected Mr. Lydon as chief expert for their current exhibit, AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion (link to NY Times review).
Curious to hear what an ex-Sex Pistol has to say about British fashion? Download his commentary here (MP3).
Aside from his painful recitation of the lyrics to "God Save the Queen," his blather about safety pins and bondage suits, and quoting Shakespeare, the man unleashes a few zingers:
- I am neither anarchist nor monarchist. I'm a monanarchist.
- If you have no comprehension where I stand on the subject, then you are not really clearly listening.
- I'm a stand-up bloke, and you should be, too.
