Pledge of Allegiance?

     As the notice in the sidebar on the left indicates, the next show will be this coming Tuesday morning/Monday night. It falls smack dab in the middle of the annual WHPK pledge drive. For those of you who are NPR listeners, you know the drill: along with the typical programming, you’ll be inundated with impassioned pleas to support non-commercial media. Expect, therefore, to hear me doing my share, being down for the cause, taking one for the team or (substitute your own favorite expression here).
     The show won’t consist entirely of pleading, of course. There’ll be the usual amount of ECI-approved music. This time out, you can expect to have your ears tickled by Trembling Blue Stars, Andrea Echeverri (of Aterciopelados), GusGus and other purveyors of sonic confections....
     But a pledge drive just wouldn’t be worth a damn unless there were premiums. Mine is a modest one: a CD containing mp3 recordings of the five shows I have recorded to date. So, if you’re in the listening area and have been unable to tune in to the show, now’s your chance to do so and make it matter. Each caller who pledges something, anything, to the station during my show will receive this little gem. I slaved over the design for the booklet—which bears a striking resemblence to the theme for this page (created for blogger.com by Todd Dominey of Dominey Design, Atlanta).
     So mark your calendar, listen, enjoy, call, give up something to keep shows like mine on the air, and get to relive the best (and worst) moments of my latest foray into radio programming....

Episode 6

     Another one down. I wasn’t too sure how it would turn out, but a couple of last-minute substitutions made it all work in the end. Thanks to the caller (Seth?) who told me both that he dug the Pavement track and that its placement in the flow of songs worked for him. Just when I don’t think I need validation, it arrives and is as welcome as tonight’s summer-like temperature.
     This was perhaps my first glitch-free show: I made all the fades I wanted to, had all the tracks I needed at my disposal, and even managed to record the whole show without a hitch. Rumor has it the CD recorder’s on the fritz, though. If it’s not, Melissa will in fact be able to hear how and where I placed the Combustible Edison tune she turned me on to, George will get to judge how well the Apartments adapted Robert Lowell’s adaptation of Baudelaire’s “Au Lecteur” (from Fleurs du Mal) and Pedro will be gratified to know that I would not have come to hear and love Mice Parade were it not for his open ears.
     (I wonder whether the beds at the Big O Motel are as comfy as the one this tired DJ is about to climb into ....)

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Combustible Edison, “52,” Schizophonic, Sub Pop
• Awry, “Earplugs,” Quiet B Sides, AwrySense
• Goldfrapp, “Horse Tears,” Felt Mountain, Mute
• Calexico, “Si Tu Disais,” Convict Pool, Quarterstick
• Aterciopelados, “Transparente,” Gozo Poderoso, BMG
• Rasputina, “Sign of the Zodiac,” How We Quit the Forest, Columbia
• M. Ward, “Hi-Fi,” Transistor Radio, Merge
• Pavement, “Stare,” Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA’s Desert Origins, Matador
• Jandek, “Mostly All from You,” Chair Beside a Window, Corwood
• Tim Buckley, “I Had a Talk with My Woman,” Lorca, Elektra
• The Hope Blister, “Hanky Panky Nohow,” … Smile’s OK, 4AD
• Jeff Buckley, “Opened Once,” Sketches for My Sweetheart, the Drunk, Columbia
• Twilight Singers, “The Killer,” Blackberry Belle, One Little Indian

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• Clinic, “The Equaliser,” Walking with Thee, Domino
• Jesus and Mary Chain, “Sowing Seeds,” Psychocandy, Blanco y Negro
• Mazzy Star, “ She Hangs Brightly,” She Hangs Brightly, Capitol
• The Style Council, “The Story of Someone’s Shoe,” Confessions of a Pop Group, Geffen
• Pinback, “Bloods on Fire,” Summer in Abaddon, Touch & Go
• Apartments, “Welcome to Walsh World,” Apart, Hot
• Colin Newman, “We Meet Under Tables,” Not To, 4AD
• Siouxsie & the Banshees, “Happy House,” Kaleidoscope, Geffen
• Mice Parade, “Open Air Dance Pt. 4,” All Roads Lead to Salzburg, Bubble Core
• Love, “You Set the Scene,” Forever Changes, Elektra
• Tarnation, “Big O Motel,” Gentle Creatures, 4AD

Episode 5

     Hmmm.... there might be something to this time change thing. I don’t mean the change from standard to daylight time. I mean my having a new, earlier time slot. I actually got requests this morning, though I was unable to accommodate the second one, at least not with what was in the studio’s library.
     I think it was a good show, and I got most of it recorded. While I was waiting for the CD of the first hour to be finalized, the phone rang. By the time I finished talking to the caller, it was time to cue the next track, and ... well ... it took about 20 minutes for me to realize I wasn’t recording the second hour. So, when the next installment of huge mp3’s becomes available, part of it (again) will be a reconstruction. And it’s too bad. Right after the Crowded House tune ended, I came on air to explain why I played it: as a tribute to Paul Hester--the drummer in CH as well as in the last version of Split Enz. He had apparently battled manic-depressive illness for a long time and disappeared a couple of Fridays ago after taking his dogs out for a walk. When the authorities found his body the next day, they ruled his death a suicide. Neil and Tim Finn were on tour in London when they got the news, and rather than cancel their show that evening, they performed (with another member of Crowded House) in tribute to Hester. One of the most moving moments of the evening, according to an article I read, was when the three of them sang “Throw Your Arms Around Me” by Hunters and Collectors.
     Anyway, the playlist is below. I hope you can tune in two weeks from now. Maybe by then the station will be webcasting. One can always hope ....

• 12:00–1:00 a.m.:
• Lisa Germano, “Cry Wolf,” Geek the Girl, 4AD
• Lush, “Sweetness and Light,” Gala, 4AD
• Medicine, “She Knows Everything,” The Buried Life, American
• Chris Whitley, “Chain,” Rocket House, ATO
• His Name Is Alive, “No Hiding Place Down Her,” Ft. Lake, 4AD
• Chocolate Genius, “Hangover Nine,” Black Music, V2
• Jimi Hendrix, “Angel,” Voodoo Soup, MCA
• Shuggie Otis, “Aht Uh Mi Hed,” Inspiration Information, Luaka Bop
• Scritti Politti, “The Sweetest Girl,” Early, Rough Trade
• Sun Kil Moon, “Salvador Sanchez,” Ghosts of the Great Highway, Jetset
• Lou Barlow, “Legendary,” Emoh, Merge

• 1:00–2:00 a.m.:
• John Cale, “The Sleeper,” Artificial Intelligence, Beggars Banquet
• Akron/Family, “Italy,” Akron/Family, Young God
• Apartments, “No Hurry,” Apart, Hot
• Piano Magic, “Help Me Warm This Frozen Heart,” The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic, Green UFOs
• Crowded House, “Private Universe,” Together Alone, Capitol
• Decemberists, “Los Angeles, I’m Yours,” Her Majesty, Kill Rock Stars
• Systems Officer, “Signature Red,” Systems Officer, Ace Fu
• Felt, “The World Is as Soft as Lace,” The Splendour of Fear, Cherry Red
• Tones on Tail, “Twist,” Everything, Beggars Banquet
• The Jazz Butcher, “Partytime,” Bloody Nonsense, Big Time

Plan B

     There’s been a change of plans. The first episode of ECI for this quarter will air on Tuesday, 5 April, rather than on 12 April. Afterwards, I’ll be in the studio every other Tuesday. So, if you’re up tomorrow night and in the listening area, you know where to go on the dial as midnight approaches....

Time Shifting ....

     The more geeky/techie among you might know already what “time shifting” means. For people like me, it goes back to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Betamax case in the 1980s, the very one whose precedent may prove important in the current one involving Grokster. In the BM case, it meant recording broadcast material for viewing after air time. In this case, I mean it much more literally ....
     ECI is moving to a new time slot, one perhaps more favorable to potential listeners (whoever they might be, if in fact they exist). For the foreseeable future, the show will be shifted back in time, as it were, two hours. Thus, rather than airing from 2-4 a.m. on Tuesdays, the show will be broadcast from midnight to 2 a.m. on Tuesday mornings (or, and I cringe in saying this, Monday nights), beginning 12 April.
     So, mark your calendars, and get your recording gear in order. And do so especially if you’re interested in hearing what’s been tickling my ears of late (hint: many items are directly related to my second, as-yet-untitled book project). Expect, therefore, to hear songs by Colin Newman, Suicide, Cabaret Voltaire, and various New York No-Wave bands (James White and the Blacks, DNA) when you tune in next. Fear not, though. It won’t be a completely nostalgic show. Tracks from Akron/Family, Pinback, Systems Officer, Lloyd Cole and others might find their way into the mix.
     Are you salivating yet?