WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia: The Monster at the End of This Marathon, part 2

Continuing our celebration of the impending end of the Marathon, we revisit another DJ performance from a Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia Finale in the past.  Today, it's the utterly infectious charm of Mister Monday Morning Man Charlie Lewis back in 2003, with a cover of a cover that takes on all comers and mops the floor with 'em!

Charie Lewis "Photograph" (mp3 download, 4.6megs)

It's the Camper Van Beethoven version of the Ringo hit.  We'll be posting a different star turn by a different DJ every day throughout the Marathon, so check back often.  And don't forget to pledge!

This Week in Sex: Fat Tuesday

If you're gonna do it, do it today. Lent starts tomorrow, when "some people give up something they enjoy doing a lot, and often give the time or money spent doing that thing to charitable purposes or organizations." In other words, tomorrow you're going to have to stop fucking around and pledge to WFMU. But today is Mardi Gras.

Pet Parades are a Mardi Gras thing. There's the Mystic Krewe of Barkus, and the Mystic Krewe of Mardi Paws, and I think the only limit on starting your own pet krewe is how many pet puns you can put up with. At first I thought the pet krewes were only a little gay (I have a policy about dogs and clothes). And the pictures of the royal court were kind of gay (left, H.R.H. Queen Lucille). But then I found out that this year's Mardi Paws theme was "The Wizzard of Pawz...There's No Place Like Home," and I didn't have to wonder how gay it was any more.

New Orleans has it together enough to have Rivercam, Bridgecam, Beadcam, Paradecam, and Quartercam up and running, but the truly compelling Bourbocam is all you need. Live Tuesday until midnight.

Penis Police. I was trying to find out more about the legendary New Orleans Penis Police, and instead I found a story about how a frightened convenience store clerk in Pittsburgh thought she had microwaved a severed penis. So I decided I didn't really want to know more about the Penis Police.  Maybe they police penises, or maybe they are police with penises, or maybe they police police penises, but once you've got the image in your mind of a severed penis coming out of the quickie mart microwave, you can't think about anything else.

"For some the shady side of the street beckoned with money, glamour and fame." The New Orleans burlesque scene of the late 1940s through the 1960s, and shady B-movies of the 60s.

Mardi Bras are available in two sizes: less than a handful and more than a handful.

If you like round, colored things, check out the Smart Balls in the Bucket of Smut. You put them in your vagina to get it ready for the SAT's. They are part of a whole box of stuff from Good Vibrations, which is part of the $700+ worth of prizes available to anyone who pledges $65 or more to any WFMU show and also emails amanda (at) wfmu (dot) org to get in the running. Details here.

Thanks to John L for the Mardi Gras stuff.

This is a special daily marathon fundraising edition of This Week in Sex, which usually appears every Friday on WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

March 2006 Blast of Hot Air

Posts from this point on down are from the March 2006 Blast of Hot Air, WFMU's monthly e-mail newsletter.

Flypaper for Misfits and Malcontents

I'm an ardent capitalist. Marx is for chumps.

Given a choice between gummint and the private sector, I default to the free market 96% of the time. I defend Wal-Mart -- though I don't shop there. Three times I've bought and sold Philip Morris stock after shares spiked -- and I don't smoke. If Exxon Mobil rakes in "windfall profits," good for them -- even though I don't drink the stuff.

And yet, every week for 30 years I've suffered a cognitive disconnect with my walking, talking entrepreneurial self.

Since February 1975, I've worked at WFMU -- for free. It's fun. But there's labor involved, as well as time, effort, commitment, and sacrifice. In some ways, it entails a small measure of compromise. As a WFMU DJ, despite the "free" in "free-form," you can't do anything you damn well please. Ask Kenny G. We are a station of by-laws, which impose restrictions and penalties for violations. The paradox of WFMU policymaking is that most of those who make and enforce rules are bigger troublemakers than the rank and file.

But let's talk economics. How much money has a weekly radio program put directly in my pocket over the past three decades? Not enough to pay the rent from here to the next paragraph.

I love money. I'll work for it. Scheme for it. Conspire for it. Occasionally whore for it. I cheat the taxman. So do you. A drunk, wiping drool from his whiskers, once sputtered to me in a PATH station: "If you had all the money you paid in taxes back, you could have a really good time." The man looked and smelled like he was in the 90% bracket.

There's tremendous value in what WFMU offers, in the public service it provides. To operate, we must pay bills, which entails generating income -- but the phenomenon we've created is not about money, nor is there a cost-based calculus that determines our programming.

This leads to my guilt-tinged epiphany.

What's New for the 2006 WFMU Marathon?

Well that's a loaded question. What do you think we've been doing since last March, sitting around pickin' our scabs? Nope, not a chance. You all know us as a station just teeming with hornblowers, seemingly always on standby to tout our expansion of what the tired old FM band has to offer. Fair 'enough. But keeeee-rist, have you seen the new WFMU Marathon Map that Kenzo whipped up for us?? WFMU has always thought of itself as a community radio station, but the advent of the internet (and subsequent goodies like programming archives, online playlists, Google Earth, webstreams, and more) have blown the doors wide open for just how big or small that community can be.

For this marathon, anyone who makes an online pledge will generate a new, anonymous pinpoint on the map (with an optional comment), so you'll be able to see just how many other WFMU listeners are out there and (roughly) what far off and exotic locales they inhabit. You say you love The Reggae Schoolroom? So does someone in São Paulo, Brazil! Now you know to make sure you wear your WFMU shirt on your next trip. Our new one for this marathon, available for pledges of $45 and higher, is the Dr. Phrankenshop designed masterpiece seen here (right), and bares that most direct of of imperatives: Eat Flaming Death Fascist Media Pigs! Catchy, huh? A bit extreme, maybe? Well, subtlety is someone else's business, especially nowadays. The $45 pledge will not only have you dressed to kill, but equip you with postcards (also designed by the mysterious Dr. Phrankenshop) to write home with on your travels. Dig the lovely designs: Postcard 1 ||| Postcard 2  ||| Sticker and Postcard Assortment

Yeah, yeah, you say. Anybody can make t-shirts and postcards... How about some MP3s?

How about 'em, indeed...

Yo La Tengo Performs Live, and Other Special Marathon Programming

WFMU is proud to welcome Yo La Tengo back to our airwaves on March 7th at 8 PM for their annual covers-for-pledges throwdown, as much a part of WFMU Marathon Tradition as the soaking of Andy Breckman and the consuming of questionably old whitefish salad from the JM in the AM breakfast table. The band will be hosted by Gaylord Fields and Tom Scharpling, who'll solicit the listeneing audiences to issue a cover song challenge to the band along with their pledge. This performance will mark the return of the WFMU WebCam, so you'll be able to tune in and watch the delirium unfold from anywhere in the world with a good internet hookup. Past years have seen the band perform numbers by The Who, Beat Happening, Replacements, Iggy & the Stooges, Boz Scaggs, and more! YOU can add your favorite to the list by pledging during the show at 1-800-989-9368 or on our online pledge page. Wow!
That fearsome webcam will be seeing a whole lot more in the way of action this marathon, too. On March 8th at 6 PM for Seven Second Delay's annual twirling of the wheel o' fate (which last year resulted in a bona fide 'whirlie' being administered not 20 feet from where I am currently typing. Don't know what a whirlie is? Don't feel bad: I didn't either, and I too went to college.) We'll also be web-camming the Sinner's Crossroads particular brand of redemption on March 9th at 7 PM, the Listener Hour on March 11th at 9 AM, and the grand-daddy throwdown finale of this whole festival of fundraising, The WFMU Marathon Finale featuring the Hoof n' Mouth Sinfonia beginning March 12th at 7 PM. (At which time you will either thrill or be utterly cold-cocked at the sights and sounds of your favorite (drunk) WFMU DJs soiling themselves to the classics while backed up by a live karaoke band! -- You will be tired at work on Monday.) Watch WFMU's homepage for the webcam link when each of the above programs go live. And check out the webcam schedule to keep tabs on any late additions!

MP3 Download Dinner Bell for March

Homer Simpson Says Pledge To WFMU! (MP3#1) (MP3#2)
As if supporting the premier freeform independent station in the USA during our annual fundraiser wasn't enough to get you to the pledge page or telephone (1-800-989-WFMU), and if the awesome piles of CD/LP/DVD/Book prizes and mega-premiums we're offering still isn't the fire to light up under yer keester, here is Homer J. Simpson himself telling you directly what to do! Yes, Homer took a moment from his busy schedule of sleeping through nuclear plant meltdowns, being shot out of cannons at Lollapalooza, and having peyote trips with Johnny Cash as a wolf to stop by the Oglio Records offices and give these humble pleas, as backed by Sonic Youth's inimitible take on the Simpsons' theme song. Now heed his words and give up the donut money!

Paul Stanley "Let Me Get This Off My Chest" (excerpt 1, 2, 3) (MP3)
How could I resist not downloading 80 MP3s of Kiss' Paul Stanley speaking inanely between songs at assorted concerts. It's a personal passion. “Sounding less like the frontman for an internationally known rock megaband than a shrill Christopher Street queen stuck outside a club at three in the morning, frantically searching on the wet pavement for the last few poppers that accidentally flew out of his hand onto the ground.” Is how Post Punk Junk (found via CSTB) accurately sums up the situation; they also offer up the whole damn zip file for download. Lick it up. (UPDATE: Post Punk Junk got overloaded and took down the zip file, so these 3 MP3s will have to do ya. They claim they may put it back up, so check back with them!)

Terje Isungset "Igloo" (MP3)
Thanks to this Norwegian avant-garde composer and percussionist for this MP3 from his latest release; when it comes down to real traditional sounds from Scandinavia, it's hard to beat ice as the vehicle for true roots music. Isungset's Iceman Is disc from 2002 complemented Terje's "isofon" and "ispercussion" with a variety of electronics, vocals and other instruments, this time out its basically percussion and vocalist Sidsel Endresen providing eerie ambience. This track was partially recorded live  in concert in 2004, mixed in with other recordings that took place inside a bonafide igloo at Jukkasjarvi, Sweden's "Ice Hotel." The All-Ice Record label has a site up here, and some photos from the Ice Festival (text is not in English) here. No word yet as of a Foreigner cover to be delivered in the future.

Will you stop blasting that thing, you're scaring the cat to death!

Basically, there's two ways you can get onto the internet: the main entrance and the gloryhole.  The gloryhole's way too popular, and I'm scared of germs, so it's the main entrance for me.  But those shining white columns stretch for miles into the sky, and the spread before me is vast, limitless even!  Sometimes my head's so empty, I just need a guide, someone to tell me where to go. 

Last week, I sent the following email to the entire WFMU staff: "Say, does anyone have an air raid siren I can borrow?"  With no idea what to expect, I got a delightful response in under 5 minutes.  It was new guy Andy Ortmann, who said "I've got one, and it is fucking loud."  Sold!  Several hours later, Andy entered Castle Wüfmü with an air raid siren under his arm.  Not only did I now have something to play with, I also had someplace to go on the internet!

A new world of beautiful pictures opens up to the person who performs a Google image search on the words "air raid siren".  That's what I did.  Look at that little lovely up top by the title of this post!  You must click on it and view it large -- 2 men testing a siren with their hands over their ears as the US Capitol building looms in the background.  Gorgeous!  Most of the very attractive photos I found were, as you might expect, British in origin.  Here's a sweet number with a crank.  The model Andy loaned me is electric.  It's got a power supply and you stick 2 wires coming off the siren onto the nodes of the power supply.  Switch on the power supply, and yeeeeaaarroooooowwwwww!!!!!!!!!

Or perhaps that sound is better illustrated by actual sound.  Here's a real doozy! (link to small .wav download)  That came from a guy in Jacksonville FL who purchased a fire truck in order to start a party business.  Yes sir, Fun Time Fire Department. He's also got many wonderful photos of nuclear air raid sirens on this site.  Would you like to see a nuclear air raid siren that is massive and belt-driven?  Look at this thing, wow!!  (to your left)  Here's a page with some more pretty pictures and some detailed info on the sirens used in London during WWII.

Looky this way, you synthesizer maniac, to a page dedicated to creating sounds for the Arp Odyssey - including a schematic for turning your Arp into an air raid siren! 

Naturally all this dabbling in sirens is bound to lead to the hard stuff -- jump the flip for stuff about air raid shelters!  And more sounds and more links...

Off-Mic DJ Activities for March, 2006

With the beginning of March being hogged by your dual fascinations with A) the WFMU Marathon, and B) the poor fashion decisions of the Academy Award pre-game shows, it's hard to envision anything rolling along that'd be impressive or important enough to tear our attentions away for even a few moments. But imagine for a moment, if you will, the many dances with possibility to be offered for this most glorious National Frozen Foods month...

Recently moustachioed WFMU webstream kingpin John Allen moonlights as axeman supreme for the gallery-hoppin' NYC artrock combo Maxi Geil! & Playcolt, and you can catch the band's headlining slot at Northsix (Brooklyn) on March 12th. You can download a couple of MP3s from their debut album here, or scan through WFMU's index of playlists featuring the band, and click your way through to hear even more in Real Player. You'll be knockin' 'em out in Chelsea in no time. Bear in mind, however, that this event takes place opposite of WFMU's 6th annual performance of the Hoof n' Mouth Sinfonia, so I guess that means John won't be gracing us with another brilliant demolition of a Boz Scaggs tune, but rest assured that he'll be back at ya on the webstreams come 6 AM Monday morning.

Cherry Blossom Clinic hostess Terre T will be spinning the wheels of vegetarian veal on March 4th at the Pussycat Lounge (96 Greenwich, at Rector -- 2nd floor), inbetween and after live sets from Garage Shocker bands including The Black Hollies, Holmes, The Insomniacs, and Creatures of the Golden Dawn. There's a 10 buck cover, and you must be 21 to enter.

Recent Faves From the New Bin

BILLY BAO - Rock'N' Roll Granulator (Mattin)
An appropriate name I suppose for a guy who resides in Bilbao, Spain, and between this new EP and the "Bilbo's Incinerator" 7" two years back I am certain to gobble up any crust this Stooges-worshipping Nigerian ex-pat throws down. Mattin offers up an Mp3 of the 7" on their home page , and as a connoisseur of damaged, destructo-garbage psychedelic punk this slab ranks up there with any hate-fueled insanity committed to wax by the Brainbombs, Sightings, Liquorball, or Jim Steinman. You get piles and piles of brutal, mindless guitar ripping layer after layer into the proceedings, just getting worse as it goes along, but on the new EP, the heavy-handedness instead gets replaced with total confusion and deliberate mind-fuckery with your brain and speakers (note "Evaporogoration", (real audio) which caused several listeners and the Station Manager to call the studio when I played it, asking what was going on with the air signal). As punk rock as it all sounds, the modus operandi of Mattin seems very much to be computer music, and to some extent (my pal T. Hunger has accurately called it "rock concrete") Billy Bao falls under that category. I dunno, then you get "El Grado Zero del Pulso" which is a drum equivalent to Chinese Water Torture, you never know when the minimalism and silent passages are going to erupt into a pure shitstorm, and sometimes it does, sometimes it does not.

JAY DILLA (JAY DEE) - Donuts (Stones Throw)
It's extremely sad to note that this record has appeared the same week as its creator's demise; Jay Dilla AKA Jay Dee passed away February 10th at the age of 32, suffering from a blood disase for several years recently compounded by lupus. The mastermind behind Detroit's Slum Village and tons of much-respected production work for the likes of Busta Rhymes, Madlib, MF Doom, Ghostface Killah and many more, Jay Dee had a real gift of aligning freeform schizophrenic sounds, expanding the parameters of what went into hip-hop production outside the lines most worked within, while still including his deep love for classic soul, techno, disco, and beats. Amazing beats. Donuts was therapy for Jay Dee during his illness; with total disregard for copyright he's scattered 31 amazing sketches of both rhythmic and arhythmic loops, bursts of turntable scribble amidst melodies that disappear as quick as they arrive. It's messy, twisted, and ultimately weird, and it's a total labor of love of someone pouring everything they know into a cement mixer for the sake of experimentation. Three snippets here (real audio).

VARIOUS - Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label (Numero Group)
We're all huge fans of what Numero has been doing for the last couple years: so many private, independent soul labels scattered throughout US locales in the 1950's-1980's have amazing stories to tell, and Numero tells them extensively and succinctly with deluxe-packaged compilations. So far the Eccentric Soul series has covered Chicago's Bandit and Columbus, Ohio's Capsoul label, and this latest retrospective of Miami's Deep City imprint is my favorite yet. Founded by moonlighting teachers Willie Clarke and Johnny Pearsall (and implementing the "Incomparable Marching 100" band as regular session musicians), Deep City served as a launching pad for many notable sessions musicians and some well-respected songwriters Clarence Reid (who later went on to Miami's TK label as a soul/disc staple and eventually became the mighty Blowfly!) Through the 1960's the label skirted success with the likes of Paul Kelly and Helene Smith (who wound up marrying Pearsall and later causing friction when Betty Wright entered the picture as the label's leading soul queen); the sound was driving, Southern-soul inspired, and at times allowed early funk and even some Caribbean influences infiltrate. The hair stands on end though on the tracks from the Moovers (who were primarily backing singers for the most part), "Darling I'll Go" (real audio) is one of the most charged, powerful soul songs I've ever heard, and the Pearsall-penned "Someone to Fulfill My Needs" is in my top ten as well. I would love to see Numero put out a separate disc of their material alone.

Radio News You Can't Use

The $550,000 Nipple
Rumors are circulating concerning indecency's imminent and valiant return to the limelight, following an extended period of hibernation. Almost all of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's pawns are in place to unleash a new line of assault against free speech: democratic and cartoon-butt-hating Commissioner Copps began his second term on the commission recently, republican Deborah Tate was sworn in as the newest member of the commission a few months ago, and republican Robert McDowell is awaiting confirmation for his recent appointment to fill the remaining empty seat on the panel. We also hear whispers of the Christian Coalition attempting to resurrect the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. Things might get messy soon...

Commercial Radio hit with Payola Investigations
NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has moved on from squeezing hundreds of thousands of dollars out of hulking major record labels accused of engaging in pay-to-play, to reprimanding commercial radio conglomerates who received bribes with open arms. Sadly, Mr. Spitzer is under the impression that "payola hurts listeners, because under that system, money, not talent, affects what music they hear and which bands become popular." Silly Spitzer, advertisements affect the music people hear on the radio... talent hasn't factored into the airplay equation in years.

College Station Bullied by NPR Affiliate
WMUC, a small 10-watt station run by students at the University of Maryland, College Park, is in danger of disappearing thanks to a proposed power increase by 10,000-watt NPR giant WYPR in neighboring Baltimore. Although WYPR is fully aware of the repercussions that their power increase will have on WMUC, they plan to proceed with the upgrade anyway.

Undie Rock in Portland
A commercial rock station in Portland is making use of the multi-channel options available with the new high definition (HD) radio format (which, by the way, has lower fidelity than traditional analog radio): one of their sub-channels is dedicated to "Underground/Independent Rock." Although we have no idea what a commercial station might deem "independent" or "underground," we have nothing but respect for their moniker: Undie 100.

WFMU Heavy Airplay List

WFMU Top 30 compiled by Music and Program Director Brian Turner
(click on artist name or compilation title to hear a sample tune in Real Audio)

Boris - Pink (DIW/Phalanx)
Bridget St. John - Thank You For... (Cherry Red)
Various - Check the Water (Leaf)
Naing Naing - Toothbrush Fever (Re-Aktion)
Various - Alright, This Time Just the Girls (Sympathy)
Various - The Environmental Sounds of Crawford, Texas (Koch)
Various - New Rubble Vol. 1 (Radioactive)
Black Lips - Let It Bloom (In the Red)
Prima Materia - The Tail of the Tiger (Die Schachtel)
Spunk - En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom (Rune Gramofon)
Uske Orchestra - Niko et la Berlue (Sonig)
The Band - A Musical History: Selections (Capitol)
Derek Bailey - Carpal Tunnel (Tzadik)
Speedy West - Guitar Spectacular (Sundazed)
Jens Lekman - Oh, You're So Silent, Jens (Secretly Canadian)
Himuro - Mild Fantasy Violence (Zod)
LimoNada - Limonada (Lion Productions)
Various - Un Hommage a Moondog (Trace)
Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra - Unfinished Symphony (KUFALA)
The Fine Lines - Looking Everywhere (Licorice Tree)
Sunroof!  - Silver Bear Mist (VHF)
Aldo Clementi - Punctum Contra Punctum (Die Schachtel)
Billy Bao - Rock N' Roll Granulator (Bilbo Rock/Mattin)
Burning Star Core - Let's Play Wild Like the Wildcats Do (Hospital)
Plastic Crimewave Sound - No Wonder Land (Eclipse)
The Finches - Six Songs (Ulrike)
Veda Hille - Return of the Kildeer (Ape House Ltd)
Jacques Coursil - Black Suite (BYG)
Julia Sarr / Patrice Lsrose - Set Luna (No Format)
Soundtrack - Born Into Brothels (Koch)

Sites for Sore Eyes

Once again, we hereby present a busy-person's guide to the internet. Tired of surfing newsfeeds for cool links, only to be redirected to some irritating designers's flash resume page? We sympathize.

Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers
You know that horrible urban legend about the guy who goes on vacation, stays in a hotel, comes home, finds a strange videotape in his suitcase, watches it, and then finds out the horrible things the hotel employees did with his toothbrush? Yeah? Well, this movie is nothing like that.

Hindu Hells
And the only slightly talented cartoonists who populate them.

Balloon Hats from Around the World
Gives all new meaning to the phrase "tying one on". Although this website's compiler was very thoughtful to have broken down the gallery by continent and region, I must confess that balloon hats from the USA are pretty much exactly like the balloon hats from the Balkans, only their's probably have better music.

Austin Punk Photo Archive
The Big Boys, The Dicks, Butthole Surfers, Offenders, and more. And if you dig around a little bit, naked people.

Russian Polar Bear Portraits
And all the reasons you need to... you know, not jump in the Atlantic Ocean anytime this month. Especially if you value your gentle and clear complexion. Some porno banner ads, so possibly NSFW.

The Pulp Art Palace
Bitchin' babes, nerdy sci-fi, corny captions, and shameless overuse of the same font about 1000 times.

Joe Vaux Gallery
Creepy sound effects, a creepy pig navbar, giant hairy monkeys destroying cities. A bit like cnn.com, now that I think of it.

Make Your Own Jesus out of a Toilet Paper Tube
You know, if you feel like it, I mean. That's not a directive. We're sooooo not about being bossy here at WFMU.

Suicide by Lego
And the most amazing part is, these people only look like they might have jobs!

Kinetic Sculptor Arthur Ganson's Amazing Machines
Short movie clips of these incredible, moving works of art.

Winnebago Man
I don't want any more bullshit any time during the day, from anyone. That includes me. (NSFW)

This month's links were sent in by Irwin Chusid, Ken Freedman, Steinski, Bryce, Listener Daniel, and the editor.

This Week in Sex: This'll Get Your Goat

For the duration of the marathon, This Week in Sex (which, as the name suggests, is a weekly event) goes daily. It pains me that our first daily item is about goat fucking, because usually we deal with classy things like talking vibrators. But this is what happens when you dilute the product. From the tony BBC:

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi. "We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat. "When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

The goat-fucker should have saved his $50 and put it toward a $65 pledge to get in the running for the Bucket of Smut, the special TWiS marathon prize. The Bucket includes an item called the Concubine Masturbator (NSFW), which has a set of boobs framing a "seductive vibrating pussy," topped by a stumpy penis head. I guess the penis head is there so you have something to look in the eye as you do your business. The whole contraption has the consistency of an over-done jello-mold, and it weighs a ton. Granted, it's no goat, but you don't have to clean up after it, and the village elders probably own one themselves, so they can't give you a hard time about it.

Details on the rest of the $700+ worth of objects of desire in the Bucket of Smut are here. Just make a pledge, then email amanda (at) wfmu (dot) org and mention the bucket.

goat photo by !sathyajith on flickr; thanks Bob W for goat smut

This is a special daily marathon fundraising edition of This Week in Sex, which usually appears every Friday on WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia: The Monster at the End of This Marathon, part 1

This post is the first in a series that will appear daily throughout The Marathon.  It concerns the end of The Marathon, an event that we usually celebrate with a big party and a live band.  Past bands I recall include Planet Filly and the Losers Lounge Tribute to Queen.  Since March 2001, we've been blowing out the Marathon with an inhouse Karaoke band supporting upwards of 35 of your fave DJs and mine as they "soil themselves aurally" for your entertainment... and mine. 

In this "Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia" series of posts, we focus daily on one performer from past Marathon finales.  We inaugurate the proceedings with this staff fave meltdown from 2003 starring Jeffrey Davison of the Shrunken Planet in this stunning performance of Pere Ubu's "Non-Alignment Pact". 

Jeff Davison "Non-Alignment Pact" (mp3 download, 4.6 megs)

Check in every day thoughout the Marathon for a new Hoof n'Mouth mp3, then catch the brand new edition live in the flesh on Sunday March 12th, from 7pm to midnite, on the radio and streaming A/V at wfmu.org

Talk Radio Redux

I’m giving my DXing series on the WFMU blog a rest this week, because this last weekend has been my first opportunity to really test the reception possibilities here in Brooklyn. With the rest of the family off on a Florida vacation, I’ve set up a radio listening post in the kitchen for the last couple of nights. I’ve even been serious enough to keep a log of sorts. Over the coming weeks I’ll go over the recordings, and sort it out for future posts.

So, as I’m dumping the cassette audio into my laptop for all that, I’d like to talk about some of my more conventional media intake for a moment. In fact, this post is a follow up to a couple of my previous posts regarding AM talk radio that I actually care about. Like Lionel. I’ve said enough good things about Lionel’s show on this blog, and you can read the posts here and here. His program has been has been as sharp and manic as usual, and I continue to recommend it. However, I’m just mentioning him again here to let you know that WOR is now offering a FREE podcast of this show. It’s a commercial free hi-fi MP3 delivered to your computer within hours if you subscribe with this link. Or you can just download the individual hours of each show on the this page. Check it out.

On the other hand, Air America just started charging for their podcasts. They now require that you subscribe to their “premium” service to subscribe to their podcast (like Rush). And if you get lucky, you might be able to stream a live video of Jerry Springer doing his radio show right on your home computer! Now that’s entertainment.

Speaking of that, experiencing Air America on WLIB here in New York lately has gotten kind of depressing in general. Both Al Franken and Mark Riley sound lost without the original co-hosts who gave their show weight and substance. And somebody must have told Randi Rhodes that her recently perfected George Bush impression was either accurate or humourous. Because it’s neither, but she just continues working it into her monologs. I have to turn the radio off.

Sensei Rebel's Archive Picks of the Week (2/20/06 - 2/26/06)

I first heard Vashti Bunyan on Andy Waltzer's old show, and it was a rare moment where music itself really felt priceless. If you enjoy the song "Diamond Day" (which you can stream below), seek out Vashti's albums and get lost in her heavenly sound.

All RealAudio links are streaming links from the WFMU Archives.

Rock And Roll
Wolf Parade - "We Built Another World" RealAudio from Inflatable Squirrel Carcass with Rich Hazelton, February 26, 2006

International
Taz - "Apna Sangeet" RealAudio from Transpacific Sound Paradise, February 25, 2006

Experimental
Jah Wobble - "Love Comes, Love Goes" RealAudio from Stan's show, February 21, 2006

Dance
Push/Pull - "Tribal Riddim" RealAudio from Bring That Beat Back with Billy Jam, February 22, 2006

Humor
Bruce McCulloch - "Doors" RealAudio from Ken's show, February 22, 2006

Ambient
Mouthus / Axolotl - untitled RealAudio from Acapulco Dance Party with Acapulco Rodriguez, February 23, 2006

Fave Song of the Week
Vashti Bunyan - "Diamond Day" RealAudio from Acapulco Dance Party with Acapulco Rodriguez, February 23, 2006

Videomania

(1 video and tons of links to videos in this post)

Recently several websites such as YouTube, Google Video, iFilm, and Veoh have started offering free video hosting, without much questions asked. (The great video collections on the Internet Archive and the Open Video Project are different, they take licenses far more seriously.) Of those four, iFilm has by far the most annoying commercials, Veoh requires you to install their software and basically runs a peer-to-peer file sharing network in the background. Only Google and Veoh let you directly download and save the videos, but as always you can circumvent the restrictions of iFilm and YouTube and download directly from them.

Right now these sites seem like a video version of early Napster, combined with lots of vanity stuff. There are many gems among tons of garbage, and I suggest you start downloading the good stuff now before it is too late. Earlier this month, NBC forced YouTube to take down a Saturday Night Live video, and I bet that this is only the beginning of legal battles to come. Following some earlier posts on this blog, I will give you a few of my personal favorites, after a short commercial break (1.2 MB Quicktime video).

Sly Stoned (video)

Here is Sly Stone, high as a kite, but not so addled that he can't mess with Dick Cavett's head, from a July 1970 interview on Cavett's TV show (download video, 29 meg Windows Media File). You can also stream this from YouTube here.

This Week in Sex: Sweet Amanda, Sex Blogger

I'm a Gonzo Girl. I don't know how it happened, but somewhere along the line Gonzo and I became rather intimate, and our unholy offspring is "Sweet Amanda, the Sex Blogger." (Note to self: seek genetic counseling before procreating again.) In case you were wondering, I look and live exactly like her. I am about 7" tall, and I am usually barely clothed. I have a great view of midtown Manhattan from my little house in Brooklyn, and since I don't wear underwear, you have a great view of my naughty bits. I always keep a dildo on my coffee table in case I have company. Sometimes when I'm blogging, I get so excited I fall off the chair, but then I get right back up, partly because of the editor boss-lady with the whip, but mostly because I know you have a hard time finding sex-related content on the internet, and I am here to help.

Gonzo generously donated 2 of his figurines to the wfmu fundraising marathon. Details on how you can get in the running for them, and more, are with all the Bucket of Smut prize package info. Give it up for Gonzo.

Google. Google stole porn.

Meat on a stick. China's first all-penis restaurant. Get your franchise license now.

Recycle condoms, sure. But resell them? Genius.

Good wood. An interview with "the ridiculously brilliant" Wilfrid Wood.

Public service announcement: Guy kills roommate over empty toilet paper roll. Just because it happened in Florida doesn't mean it couldn't happen here. Like right here. Just saying.

Talking animals are an international threat. Like Bush, China is also against hybrids.
Here's a good reason why: loser bunny can't get laid.

When I Am King.  A cool story without words, which makes it a little easier to read, or a little harder, depending. via artdorks