rfg #41 - "You see dashes, I see minus signs"

Sorry to have missed you last week. As I indicated during the show, I didn't plan on missing it because I also didn't plan on having my place being broken into whilst I was at work either. When I got home an hour before airtime, I realized I wasn't going anywhere and I waited for the police whilst figuring out what to do with a front door that couldn't be secured. I had no physical harm to myself or any loved ones, just a bruised spirit.

This show was pretty much in the bag then, so pardon any staleness or sense of numb anxiety on my part. I was already a few weeks behind on a tribute to Dolemite in light of Rudy Ray Moore's death, but with the extra time available, I was surprised to find some music of his that was actually safe to play on radio.

Henry, the host of the show before mine, had a few overlapping acts with my proposed setlist, so after conferring with him about what he played as I hung out in Studio 1 during the last half hour of his show, I made a few substitutions for Department of Eagles and Deerhunter. The former act has pretty much lost the lo-fi pastichery of their past recordings which I dug, though their songwriting has solidified. Meanwhile, the latter continues to slowly convince me of sheer genius despite the indie trappings.

As you may have heard, some of the songs had little skips and pauses due to either the older quality of the CD's or the players themselves were starting to give out. I was lucky that more of the selections from the Lost Highway soundtrack didn't completely freeze altogether since the machine thrashed with its error correcting in the studio. Distractions continued as the wall clock stopping midway during the show, requiring me to climb up, see what the story was with the battery, reset the time then somehow place the clock back in a way so that it wouldn't fall. As well, one of the other DJ's previously on the air rewired with the turntables again, messing up the channels and breaking the locks on the shelving below, which caused the station engineer to expand his vocabulary. Then there was an eager student wishing to become a station volunteer, which required a quick two minute rundown before a song ended to tell him about what roles were available and how to sign up for a tour.

Since Henry ran a little late with his show and the various times the studio claimed to have, I realized around the time I played the snappy Raphael Saadiq piece that I had to scale my show back a bit. Thus, no concert listings this week and a shortened selection of Angelo Badalamenti songs at the end. The entire show went by in a blur but I suspect it was an aberration based on everything else that was going on.

And a reminder: starting Thursday at 5pm Pacific, it's the third annual CITR Fund Drive, so the next two shows will be leaner, meaner and asking for money. Times are tight for everyone, including the station that seems ready to fall apart at any given moment, so if you can donate, your generosity will be greatly appreciated and not overlooked.

This is your playlist.